text:
- Research article
- Open Access
Removal of Arsenic (III, V) from aqueous solution by nanoscale zero-valent iron stabilized with starch and carboxymethyl cellulose
© Mosaferi et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014
- Received: 18 September 2013
- Accepted: 16 April 2014
- Published: 24 April 2014
In this work, synthetic nanoscale zerovalent iron (NZVI) stabilized with two polymers, Starch and Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) were examined and compared for their ability in removing As (III) and As (V) from aqueous solutions as the most promising iron nanoparticles form for arsenic removal.
Batch operations were conducted with different process parameters such as contact time, nanoparticles concentration, initial arsenic concentration and pH.
Results revealed that starch stabilized particles (S-nZVI) presented an outstanding ability to remove both arsenate and arsenite and displayed ~ 36.5% greater removal for As (V) and 30% for As (III) in comparison with CMC-stabilized nanoparticles (C-nZVI). However, from the particle stabilization viewpoint, there is a clear trade off to choosing the best stabilized nanoparticles form. Removal efficiency was enhanced with increasing the contact time and iron loading but reduced with increasing initial As (III, V) concentrations and pH. Almost complete removal of arsenic (up to 500 μg/L) was achieved in just 5 min when the S-nZVI mass concentration was 0.3 g/L and initial solution pH of 7 ± 0.1. The maximum removal efficiency of both arsenic species was obtained at pH = 5 ± 0.1 and starched nanoparticles was effective in slightly acidic and natural pH values. The adsorption kinetics fitted well with pseudo-second-order model and the adsorption data obeyed the Langmuir equation with a maximum adsorption capacity of 14 mg/g for arsenic (V), and 12.2 mg/g for arsenic (III).
It could be concluded that starch stabilized Fe0 nanoparticles showed remarkable potential for As (III, V) removal from aqueous solution e.g. contaminated water.
- Metallic iron
- Nanoparticles
- Water purification
- Arsenic
- Adsorption
Arsenic, a notorious poison, is now recognized to be one of the world's greatest environmental hazards, threatening the lives of several hundred million people [1]. In many areas of the world, biogeochemical processes have resulted in a release of naturally occurring As into groundwater; in some cases, large regions are affected [2]. On the other hand, uncontrolled anthropogenic activities such as (mining, fossil fuels burning, smelting of metal ores, and use of wood preservatives, pesticides and arsenic additives to livestock feed) may also release arsenic directly to the environment [3–5]. As a result exposure to arsenic compounds is a major concern to public health in both developing and developed countries [6] and removal of arsenic from drinking water is a worldwide priority.
Exposure to elevated arsenic levels has been attributed to adverse health related issues such as changes in skin pigmentation, diabetes, lung ailments, and cancers of the kidney and bladder [7]. Due to its significant toxicity, the World Health Organization has established a value of 10 μg As/L as the maximum contaminant level for total As in potable water [8].
In Iran, the occurrence of geogenic arsenic in some of rural areas in Kurdistan province, located in the West of country is responsible for health problems related to chronic As exposure from drinking water [9]. Arsenic contamination of drinking water has also been detected in Hashtrud county, in the Northwest of the country [10] and Kohsorkh area in the Northeast of Iran [11] where arsenic concentration in water is higher than the National Iranian Drinking Water Standard, 10 μg As/L [12]. Therefore, it is an urgent need to provide Arsenic free drinking water in the mentioned areas.
As well known, arsenic exists in the natural environment mainly in the forms of arsenite [As (III)] and arsenate [As (V)]. Arsenite is more mobile and toxic than arsenate and most removal technologies are efficient when the element is presented in the pentavalent state [13, 14].
Removal of arsenic contamination from water can be accomplished by a variety of techniques such as coagulation [15, 16], adsorption [17, 18], ion exchange [19], membrane filtration [20, 21] and biological process [22].
A significant problem encountered in the removal of arsenic from groundwater aquifers and municipal water systems is the presence of arsenic in both arsenic states arsenic (III) and arsenic (V). Arsenic (III) compounds are primarily non-ionic whereas arsenic (V) compounds are ionic at natural water pH [23].
In comparison with other removal methods, zero-valent iron (ZVI, Fe0) can simultaneously remove As (V) and As (III) without previous oxidative treatment and does not require the use of additional chemical products, since metallic iron is used for the sustained production of colloidal hydrous ferric oxides (HFO) [14]. ZVI reactions are rather slow, but the process can be notably accelerated using iron nanoparticles (NZVI) [24]. Due to the low amount of nano or micro zero-valent iron used, the mass of the sludge produced in the process is significantly low; so, the flocs may be removed by magnetic techniques, often more efficient and faster than centrifugation or filtration [25].
Despite these advantages, Fe0 nanoparticles were found to be lack in stability in water and in the absence of an effective stabilizer, aggregate rapidly (in a few minutes), resulting in micro-, millimeter-scale or even larger aggregates [26, 27].
Aggregation and sedimentation can significantly alter the mobility of the nanoparticles in aquatic environment and reduce the efficacy of using these nanoparticles for remediation purposes [28, 29].
Surface modification of NZVI by polyelectrolytes, polymers and surfactants, which provide steric and electrostatic stabilization against the particle-particle attractive forces, significantly improves its transport in porous media [30].
Among all reported stabilizers, water soluble polysaccharides have been proved to be the best stabilizer due to their low cost and environmental compatibility [31]. So, it seems that green polysaccharides such as starch and Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) can be used as effective protecting agents to enhance the reactivity of iron nanoparticles.
Starch is a nontoxic, biodegradable and inexpensive biopolymer. Recent study by Alidokht et al. [32] indicated that application of starch as the stabilization agent prevents the aggregation of Fe0 nanoparticles which causes high Cr (VI) removal efficiency in comparison with nonstabilized NZVI.
CMC is a chemical derivative of cellulose and has carboxylate groups in addition to hydroxyls, which may result in strong interaction between CMC and Fe nanoparticles [31]. CMC is also a food-grade ingredient, nontoxic and biodegradable and this is likely due to the presence of highly biodegradable -OH, −CO-, and -COOH groups [33].
Xu and Zhao [34] test the feasibility of using the CMC-stabilized ZVI nanoparticles for in situ reductive immobilization of Cr (VI) in contaminated water and soils and reported these nanoparticles may serve as a highly soil-dispersible and effective agent for immobilization of chromate.
To the best of our knowledge, the improved removal of arsenic using starch and CMC stabilized zerovalent iron nanoparticles has not yet been reported in details. Keeping in view the high toxicity of arsenic and high capability of polymer stabilized NZVI in removal of various pollutants; the present study investigates the performance of these nanoparticles in removing arsenic species from aqueous solutions for the first time. Since the mechanism of arsenic removal using stabilized NZVI remains unclear, the possible interaction between arsenic and two stabilized NZVI was proposed. The specific aims were: (1) synthesis and characterization of stabilized Fe0 nanoparticles; (2) comparison removal efficiency of As (III) and As (V) by starch stabilized nZVI (S-nZVI), CMC stabilized nZVI (C-nZVI) and bare nanoparticles; and (3) determining the effects of environmental factors on the removal ability of selected form of nanoparticles.
All chemicals were of reagent grade. Ferrous sulfate heptahydrate (FeSO4.7H2O), Sodium borohydride (NaBH4), Sodium arsenite stock solution (NaAsO2, 0.05 mol/L) were purchased from (Merck Co, Germany). As (V) stock solution (100 mg/L) was prepared from Na2HAsO4.7H2O (GIFT Co) and stored at 4°C. Water soluble starch and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, (CMC 90 k) were obtained from Fluka and Sigma (UK) Co respectively. The chemical reagents were used directly without further purification.
Synthesis of nanoparticles
Nano-Fe0 particles were synthesized using the borohydride method [35]. A key advantage of this method is its simplicity. It can be safely done in most chemistry lab with simple chemical reagents. Conventionally these nanoparticles can be synthesized by both FeSO4.7H2O and FeCl3.6H2O but during the reaction with the borohydride solution, these two different aqueous solution salts show significant and stoichiometrical differences in reaction. Borohydride reacts more rapidly with FeSO4.7H2O than FeCl3.6H2O, which is important because it tends to be less oxidized in the solution obtained after synthesis and may save time [36]. For this reason FeSO4 is better option for NZVI synthesis.
The product was an aqueous black suspension that iron nanoparticles were separated by centrifuge at 5000 rpm for 5 min and quickly washed three times with absolute ethanol to remove excess borohydrate. Prepared particles were dried under vacuum overnight and then gently crushed into fine powders.
CMC-Stabilized iron nanoparticles were fabricated with the same procedure where 0.2% NaCMC served as stabilizer for ZVI nanoparticles.
Finally nonstabilized iron nanoparticles (Bare NZVI) were prepared without stabilizers loading.
Characterization of stabilized nanoparticles
In this study, the most promising iron nanoparticles form for arsenic removal was selected for characterization study by X-ray diffraction (XRD) method for crystal structure and composition analysis and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) technique. XRD is a versatile, non-destructive technique that reveals detailed information about the chemical composition and crystallographic structure of natural and manufactured materials and is based on constructive interference of monochromatic X-rays and a crystalline sample [37].
XRD pattern of starch stabilized nanoparticles was obtained using a Siemens D5000 (Germany) diffractometer by Scanning from 20° to 85° (2θ) with a step time of 0.3 s and a step of 0.02° (2θ) with monochromatic Cu-Kα radiation (40KV, 30 mA, λ = 0.15418 nm).
The morphological features and surface characteristics of the starch and CMC stabilized Fe0 nanoparticles were obtained from Scanning electron microscope (SEM) (Hitachi S 4160, 15.0 kV, Japan).
Batch experimental system
Arsenic removal experiments were carried out using glass Erlenmeyer 250 mL flasks containing 150 mL arsenic solution with determinate concentration at room temperature (25 ± 1°C). Arsenic solutions with desired concentration were prepared by dilution of the stock solution immediately before use.
At the first stage of study, in order to compare arsenic removal potential of S-nZVI, C-nZVI and Bare-nZVI, in each set of experiments, 0.045 g freshly papered nanoparticles was kept in contact with 150 mL arsenic solution of 2 mg/L concentration. An attempt was made to compare the efficiencies of arsenic removal without pH control (i.e. at circum-neutral pH). The experiment was performed under oxic conditions, whereas the presence of oxygen would help to remove arsenic through oxygen-induced corrosion products of iron [38].
The flasks were shaken with an orbit incubator shaker (Melrose park, ILL, No3595, USA); operated at 200 rpm for time periods up to 120 min. Parallel experiments were conducted in the absence of nanoparticles but under otherwise identical conditions (blank samples). Blank samples showed no significant changes. At certain reaction time intervals, suspensions were withdrawn from the reactors by 5 ml syringe and centrifuged at 3000 rpm for 5 min and then filtered through 0.22 μm syringe filters for analysis.
After selecting the most effective zero-iron nanoparticles form for arsenic uptake, at the next step of the study, kinetic batch experiments were conducted at different initial concentrations of arsenic in the range of (0.25-10) mg/L and adsorbent dose of 0.3 g/L at the period of 5–150 min (25 ± 1°C, 200 rpm, pH = 7).
Adsorption isotherms were obtained by equilibrating arsenic solutions of different nanoparticles dose (100, 300, 500, 1000) mg/L at pH = 7 with an initial arsenic concentration of 2 mg/L at room temperature.
To study the effect of pH on removal efficiency, pH of the arsenic solution was adjusted to values in the range of (3–11) by adding 0.1 M NaOH (BDH chemicals Co, UK) and/or HCl (37%, Merck Co) through a manual syringe injection.
The effects of adsorbent dosage and initial arsenic concentration were investigated.
All samples were analyzed for residual arsenic concentration using graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometer (GFAAS, Buck Scientific, Inc. 210VGP model, USA). All experiments were performed at least by duplicate and the averages were reported. The analysis was carried out using calibration curves with correlation coefficients (R2) of 0.999. Standards were re-measured during each set of experiments to assess accuracy and stability in measurements and to assurance adequate instrument performance.
Results and discussion
Characterization results
Where, D is the size of the particles, K the shape factor, about 0.9, λ is the wave-length of the emitted X-rays (0.15418 nm); β is the full width at half maximum of the corresponding peak of the XRD and θ the angle of incidence of X-ray beam. From this analysis it was determined that the synthesized nanomaterials had sizes of 10 nm approximately.
It can be observed that both coated iron nanoparticles have particle size less than 100 nm.
Selection of most effective Fe0 nanoparticles for arsenic removal
Comparison of arsenic removal efficiency
As can be seen S-nZVI samples removed both arsenate and arsenite with higher efficiency and faster rate than that of bare and CMC-stabilized nanoparticles; therefore this form of nanoparticles selected for using in remaining experiments. During the first 5 min of the reaction, 65.4% of As (III) and 74.6% of As (V) was removed in the presence of starch stabilized particles while only 17.7% and 35.6% of As (III) was removed using bare and CMC-stabilized nanoparticles respectively. In the case of As (V), bare and CMC-coated nanoparticles showed removal efficiency of about 36.6 and 38.2% at the first 5 min of the reaction respectively.
Arsenic removal mechanism using stabilized nanoparticles
Carboxcymethyl cellulose is a weak anionic polysaccharide and starch is a natural uncharged polymer. The use of CMC as a stabilizer can accelerate nucleation of Fe atoms during the formation of ZVI nanoparticles and, subsequently, forms a bulky and negatively charged layer via sorption of CMC molecules on the ZVI nanoparticles [26, 39] and also according to Lin et al. [40] study, CMC was bound to particle surfaces in the form of bidentate bridging via the carboxylic group, which could provide both electrostatic and steric repulsion to prevent particle aggregation.
Herein, SEM images show, CMC kept nanoparticles physically separated and led to produce more stable nanoparticles (Figure 2c).
A fraction of the particles cannot be stabilized by any modifier and rapidly agglomerates to micron sized aggregates, as is also observed for unmodified NZVI. This nondispersible fraction is attributed to strong magnetic attractions among the larger particles present in the polydispersed NZVI slurry as the magnetic attractive forces increase [39].
Starch-stabilized particles are not all separated (referring to SEM image in Figure 2).
Nonetheless based on the aforementioned facts, starch stabilized nanoparticles had superior removal ability toward arsenic and displayed ~ 36.5% greater removal for As (V) and 30% for As (III) in comparison with C-nZVI.
The presumable explanation for this phenomenon is attribute to predominant removal mechanisms for arsenic remediation by NZVI which appear to be adsorption and/or surface precipitation, followed by redox reaction [41, 42]. Coating the nanoparticles with the stabilizers greatly alters the surface potential, which can also affects sorption of the arsenic species [43]. The starch is a neutral polymer and stabilizes nanoparticles through steric repulsion arising from the osmotic force when the starch layers overlap as the particles collide. In fact, starch bridging prevents the nanoparticles from intense aggregating, and thus, maintains their high sorption capacity [19].
Since the predominant forms of As in natural ground-and surface waters (neutral pH like our experimental pH conditions) are arsenate (As (V), as oxyanions and ) and arsenite (As (III), as the neutral species) it might be postulated that the negatively charged layer on C-nZVI particles surface due to electrostatics repulsion do not favor the adsorbing arsenic oxyanions and thus the removal efficiency is reduced while starch as a surface buffer is reduced the effect of H+/OH− on the surface charge of S-nZVI particles and therefore this type of stabilized Fe0 nanoparticles effectively removed arsenic from samples.
Similar result was confirmed in the An and Zhao [43] study in the arsenic immobilization using polysaccharide stabilized Fe-Mn nanoparticles. They also found that from the particle stabilization viewpoint, CMC is likely to be a more effective stabilizer than starch.
According to the results of the first stage of the present study, S-nZVI proved to be an outstanding material from arsenic removal standpoint, however there is a clear trade off to choosing the best stabilized nanoparticles form.
It should be noted that comparison of arsenic removal efficiency by some other nanomaterials shows that starch stabilized nanoparticles are more effective than the others.
Gupta et al. [44] reported that with an initial dose rate of 0.5 g/L of Chitosan zerovalent iron nanoparticles, concentrations of As (III) and As (V) were reduced from 2 mg/L to <5 μg/L, in less than 180 min, while in this study, almost complete removal of As (III) and As (V) (2 mg/L initial concentration) was achieved in less than 120 min when the starch zero-valent iron nanoparticles mass concentration was 0.3 g/L.
Shipley et al. [45] used magnetite nanoparticles for the removal of As and reported that magnetite nanoparticles at 0.5 g/L adsorbed 92.6 μg/L arsenate and 93.9 μg/L arsenite from an initial concentration of 100 μg/L in 1 h. Based on our observations in the next experimental phase, with material loading at 0.3 g/L and pH = 7, all the arsenic contamination (up to 500 μg/L) could be removed and the arsenic residual concentration could drop to zero in just 5 min.
After treatment in the conditions mentioned above, the soluble iron concentration that determines the amounts of iron ion leaching from S-nZVI was analyzed in filtrate supernatant fluid which was below the admissible limit set by the Institute of Standard and Industrial Research of Iran (0.3 mg/L). Nonetheless the iron concentration may be influenced by operating conditions such as pH, dissolved oxygen concentration and the presence of arsenic species.
Kinetic study
The experimental data best fitted the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the adsorption process might be chemisorptions which is suitable for sorption at low initial concentrations [46].
Kinetic model parameters of pseudo second-order
Initial Cons.(mg/L)
Arsenic species
Adsorption isotherms
Adsorption isotherm parameters for arsenic removal by S-nZVI
Freundlich model
Langmuir model
Arsenic species
The results confirmed that the Langmuir isotherm model is the highest fitted model for the adsorption process of both As (III) (qmax = 14 mg/g), As (V) (qmax = 12.2 mg/g). This implies that arsenic adsorption on S-nZVI is monolayer. Furthermore, the values of RL for the Langmuir isotherm were between 0 and 1, and the Freundlich constant 1/n was smaller than 1 (As(V) 0.46 and As(III) 0.57), indicating a favorable process. The fundamental properties of the Langmuir isotherm can be explained in terms of dimensionless separation factor RL:(RL = 1/(1 + kL.C0)).
Effect of initial arsenic concentration and nanoparticles dose
Arsenic species could be removed using S-nZVI in a short time. for example, when the initial concentration was less than 1 mg/L, the removal fraction of both arsenite and arsenate was more than 99% and there was very little arsenic left in the solution after only 30 min treatment however with increasing initial concentration of contaminants, the removal efficiency decreases. It is clear that for lower initial concentrations of arsenic, adsorption was very fast.
For high arsenite concentration of 10 mg/L, the residual concentration in the solution was reduced to about 1.4 mg/L after 60 min (Figure 4b). When initial concentration increase, only a fewer active sites for adsorption of arsenic remain on NZVI and the removal percentage is reduced.
This result has been confirmed by Khodabakhshi et al. [47] which reported As (III) removal with magnetite nanoparticles is inversely related to initial arsenic concentrations.
It is clear, the percentage removal of As (V) is more than As (III) over the range of nano particle concentrations and the removal of both arsenite and arsenate increased from ~ 44% and ~ 60% to more than 95% when the dose of S-nZVI applied increased from 0.1 to 1 g/L over a 30 min period. This is accordance with the fact that the adsorptive and active sites available for a fixed concentration of arsenic on the nanoparticles surface increased when the nanoparticles loading increased.
A similar dose dependency trend in arsenic removal using magnetite [45], goethite [48] and ultrafine iron oxide (α-Fe2O3) nanoparticles [49] has been reported in the literature.
Effect of pH
The removal of both As (III) and As (V) species was found to be optimum at pH range of 5–7 and displayed a maximum uptake at around pH 5 with the amount of 77.26 and 100% respectively. The removal efficiency of arsenite was declined to approximately 30% and 18% and the arsenate removal to approximately 48% and 20% in solution during the first 5 min of the reaction, by changing pH to 9 and 11 respectively.
This phenomenon can be elucidated from speciation of arsenic in solution. The dissociation constants of aqueous As(III) are pKa1 = 9.17, pKa2 = 12.1 and pKa3 = 13.4. When the pH is above 9.17, anionic is mainly As(III) species and the predominant species at pH below 9.17 is neutral, namely H3AsO3. As(V) predominantly exists as and in the pH range of 2.2 to 11.5 [50, 51].
On the other hand, removal of arsenic occurs, predominantly by adsorption on iron oxide species generated by corrosion of zerovalent iron. At pH > 8, these iron oxides present in the monomeric anionic form [52] and repel negative charge arsenic species. As a result, the removal of both arsenic species was significantly reduced due to electrostatic repulsion and also competition between OH− and arsenic oxyanions for the active sites on the surface of nanoparticles as well at pH above 9.
Ferrous iron (Fe2+) is a primary product from metallic iron corrosion process [53] which according to Taha and Ibrahim pH and Fe2+ has a very strong reverse correlation in NZVI system [54] and in low pH iron hydroxides are present as cationic monomers of FeOH+2 and [47], hence arsenic adsorption should be enhanced in acid conditions. Interestingly, our results indicated around pH 3 the arsenic sequestration rate was lower than the maximum rate. Probably the diminished arsenic uptake at pH below 5 can be attributed to the break-down smaller segments of starch and elevated solution viscosity and also decomposition of Fe0 nanoparticles at pH < 5. The study carried out by An et al. [19] shows similar results and they reported that 13% of starch-bridged magnetite nanoparticles at pH 3.2 was dissolved.
It is evident that S-nZVI is effective in slightly acidic and natural pH values. Whereas most natural waters are at near neutral conditions, this result is very desirable.
Comparative evaluation of arsenic removal by different adsorbents
Comparison of adsorption capacity for arsenic with various nanoadsorbents
Experimental conditions
Ads. capacity (mg/g)
Concentrations (mg/L)
Arsenic species
Crystalline TiO2
CuO nanoparticles
Chitosan nZVI
Amorphous ZrO2 nanoparticles
It should be noted that Nano zero-valent iron is the cheapest among other nanomaterials such as Nano TiO2, Nano-Magnetite and Nano Iron-Oxide [60], however depending on the type and amount ordered nZVI, it costs in the range of £50-150 per kg. In order to compete against existing treatment methods, the price of nZVI must reduce to approximately < £10 per kg [53]. In spite of this barrier, their use is likely to increase at the point-of-use/entry scale.
In this work, starch was proven to be an effective stabilizer for Fe0 nanoparticles. The starch stabilized nanoparticles demonstrated comparable high removal efficiency towards arsenic species without the need of pre-oxidation and/or pH adjustment.
As a common trend, it was observed that an increase of S-nZVI loading and contact time and a decrease of pH and initial arsenic concentration determined a higher efficiency of arsenic removal. The optimum removal efficiency of both arsenite and arsenate was found at pH range of 5–7.
As (V) removal was faster than As (III) and both species removal increased with S-nZVI mass (0.1-1 g/L) attaining more than 95% after 30 min of time contact with the 0.3 g/L nanoparticles concentration.
Overall, starch as a low-cost and green stabilizer could be a suitable candidate to enhance iron nanoparticles reactivity for the removal of arsenic contamination from aqueous solutions.
The authors appreciate the support provided by Center for Water Quality Research, Institute for Environmental Research of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences and Iranian Nano Technology Initiative Council.
Authors' Affiliations
- Ravenscroft P, Brammer H, Richards K: Arsenic Pollution: A Global Synthesis. John Wiley& sons; 2009.View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Bhattacharya P, Welch A, Stollenwerk K, McLaughlin M, Bundschuh J, Panaullah G: Arsenic in the environment: biology and chemistry. Sci Total Environ 2007, 379: 109–120. 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2007.02.037View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Choong T, Chuah TG, Robiah Y, Koay G, Azni I: Arsenic toxicity, health, hazards and removal techniques from water: an overview. Desalination 2007, 217: 139–166. 10.1016/j.desal.2007.01.015View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Mohan D, Pittman CU Jr: Arsenic removal from water/wastewater using adsorbents-A critical review. J Hazard Mat 2007, 142: 1–53. 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2007.01.006View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Sharma VK, Sohn M: Aquatic arsenic: toxicity, speciation, transformations, and remediation. A review. Environ Int 2009, 35: 743–759. 10.1016/j.envint.2009.01.005View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Dastgiri S, Mosaferi M, Fiz M, Olfati N, Zolali S, Pouladi N, Azarfam P: Arsenic exposure, dermatological lesions, hypertension, and chromosomal abnormalities among people in a rural community of Northwest Iran. J Health Popul Nutr 2010, 28(1):1–9.Google Scholar
- Luther S, Borgfeld N, Kim J, Parsons JP: Removal of arsenic from aqueous solution: a study of the effects of pH and interfering ions using iron oxide nanomaterials. Microchem J 2012, 101: 30–36.View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- WHO: Guidelines for Drinking-Water Quality, third edition, Recommendations. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2011.Google Scholar
- Mosaferi M, Yunesian M, Dastgiri S, Mesdaghinia A, Esmailnasab N: Prevalence of skin lesions and exposure to arsenic in drinking water in Iran. Sci Total Environ 2008, 390: 69–76. 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2007.09.035View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Mosaferi M, Taghipour H, Hassani AM, Borghei M, Kamali Z, Ghadirzadeh A: Study of arsenic presence in drinking water sources: a case study. Iran J Health Environ 2008, 1(1):19–28. (In Persian)Google Scholar
- Ghassemzadeh F, Arab Z, Mohhamad H, McLennan G: Arsenic and Antimony in drinking water in Kohsorkh area, Northeast Iran possible risks for the public health. J Applied Sci 2006, 6(13):2705–2714.View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- ISIRI: Drinking Water-Physical and Chemical Specifications. 5th edition. Iran: Institute of Standards and Industrial Research; 2009. In PersianGoogle Scholar
- Mishra AK, Ramaprabhu S: Functionalized graphene sheets for arsenic removal and desalination of sea water. Desalination 2011, 282: 39–45.View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Triszcz JM, Porta A, Einschlag FSG: Effect of operating conditions on iron corrosion rates in zero-valent iron systems for arsenic removal. Chem Eng J 2009, 150: 431–439. 10.1016/j.cej.2009.01.029View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Song S, Lopez-Valdivieso A, Hernandez-Campos DJ, Peng C, Monroy-Fernandez MG, Razo-Soto I: Arsenic removal from high-arsenic water by enhanced coagulation with ferric ions and coarse calcite. Water Res 2006, 40: 364–472. 10.1016/j.watres.2005.09.046View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Kumar PR, Chaudhari S, Khilar KC, Mahajan SP: Removal of arsenic from water by electrocoagulation. Chemosphere 2004, 55: 1245–1252. 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2003.12.025View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Daus B, Wennrich R, Weiss H: Sorption materials for arsenic removal from water: a comparative study. Water Res 2004, 38(12):2948–2954. 10.1016/j.watres.2004.04.003View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Singh TS, Pant KK: Equilibrium, kinetics and thermodynamic studies for adsorption of As(III) on activated alumina. Sep Purif Technol 2004, 36(2):139–147. 10.1016/S1383-5866(03)00209-0View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- An B, Liang Q, Zhao D: Removal of arsenic(V) from spent ion exchange brine using a new class of starch-bridged magnetite nanoparticles. Water Res 2011, 45: 1961–1972. 10.1016/j.watres.2011.01.004View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Shih MC: An overview of arsenic removal by pressure-driven membrane processes. Desalination 2005, 172(1):85–97. 10.1016/j.desal.2004.07.031View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Ning RY: Arsenic removal by reverse osmosis. Desalination 2002, 143: 237–241. 10.1016/S0011-9164(02)00262-XView ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Katsoyiannis IA, Zouboulis AI: Application of biological processes for the removal of arsenic from groundwaters. Water Res 2004, 38: 17–26. 10.1016/j.watres.2003.09.011View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Olyaie E, Banejad H, Afkhami A, Rahmani A, Khodaveisi J: Development of a cost-effective technique to remove the arsenic contamination from aqueous solutions by calcium peroxide nanoparticles. Sep Purif Technol 2012, 95: 10–15.View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Morgada ME, Levy IK, Salomone V, Farı'as SS, Lo'pez G, Litter MI: Arsenic (V) removal with nanoparticulate zerovalent iron: Effect of UV light and humic acids. Catal Today 2009, 143: 261–268. 10.1016/j.cattod.2008.09.038View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Rahmani AR, Ghaffari HR, Samadi MT: A comparative study on arsenic (III) removal from aqueous solution using nano and micro sized zero valent iron. Iran J Environ Health Sci Eng 2011, 8(2):175–180.Google Scholar
- He F, Zhao D: Manipulating the size and dispersibility of zerovalent iron nanoparticles by use of carboxymethyl cellulose stabilizers. Environ Sci Technol 2007, 41: 6216–6221. 10.1021/es0705543View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- He F, Zhao D, Paul C: Field assessment of carboxymethyl cellulose stabilized iron nanoparticles for in situ destruction of chlorinated solvents in source zones. Water Res 2010, 44: 2360–2370. 10.1016/j.watres.2009.12.041View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Dickson D, Liu G, Li C, Tachiev G, Cai Y: Dispersion and stability of bare hematite nanoparticles: effect of dispersion tools, nanoparticle concentration, humic acid and ionic strength. Sci Total Environ 2012, 419: 170–177.View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Sun YP, Li XQ, Zhang WX, Wang H: A method for the preparation of stable dispersion of zero-valent iron nanoparticles. Colloids Surf 2007, 308: 60–66. 10.1016/j.colsurfa.2007.05.029View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Raychoudhury T, Naja G, Ghoshal S: Assessment of transport of two polyelectrolyte-stabilized zero-valent iron nanoparticles in porous media. J Contam Hydrol 2010, 118: 143–151. 10.1016/j.jconhyd.2010.09.005View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Cao J, Xu C, Tang H, Tang S, Cao M: Synthesis of monodispersed CMC-stabilized Fe-Cu bimetal nanoparticles for in situ reductive dechlorination of 1, 2, 4 trichlorobenzene. Sci Total Environ 2011, 409: 2336–2341. 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.02.045View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Alidokht L, Khataee AR, Reyhanitabar A, Oustan S: Reductive removal of Cr(VI) by starch-stabilized Fe0 nanoparticles in aqueous solution. Desalination 2011, 270: 105–110. 10.1016/j.desal.2010.11.028View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Wang Q, Qian H, Yang Y, Zhang Z, Naman C, Xu X: Reduction of hexavalent chromium by carboxymethyl cellulose-stabilized zero-valent iron nanoparticles. J Contam Hydrol 2010, 114: 35–42. 10.1016/j.jconhyd.2010.02.006View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Xu Y, Zhao D: Reductive immobilization of chromate in water and soil using stabilized iron nanoparticles. Water Res 2007, 41: 2101–2108. 10.1016/j.watres.2007.02.037View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Lein HL, Elliott DW, Sun YP, Zhan WX: Recent progress in zero-valent iron nanoparticles for groundwater remediation. J Environ Eng Manag 2006, 16: 371–380.Google Scholar
- Choi HC, Giasuddin AM, Kanel S: Method of synthesizing air-stable zero valent iron nanoparticles at room temperature and applications. US Patent 2008, 11: 889–896.Google Scholar
- Kumar PR: Development and potential applications of nanomaterials for arsenic removal from contaminated groundwater. TRITA LWR Degree Project 2011, 11: 07.Google Scholar
- Tanboonchuy V, Hsu JC, Grisdanurak N, Liao CH: Impact of selected solution factors on arsenate and arsenite removal by nanoiron particles. Environ Sci Pollut Res 2011, 18: 857–864. 10.1007/s11356-011-0442-3View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Cook SM: Assessing the Use and Application of Zero-Valent Iron Nanoparticle Technology for Remediation at Contaminated Sites. Washington, DC: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; 2009.Google Scholar
- Lin YH, Tseng HH, Wey MY, Lin MD: Characteristics of two types of stabilized nano zero-valent iron and transport in porous media. Sci Total Environ 2010, 408: 2260–2667. 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2010.01.039View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Kanel SR, Greneche JM, Choi H: Arsenic(V) removal from groundwater using nano scale zero-valent iron as a colloidal reactive barrier material. Environ Sci Technol 2006, 40: 2045–2050. 10.1021/es0520924View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Dong H, Guan X, Lo MC I: Fate of As(V)-treated nano zero-valent iron: determination of arsenic desorption potential under varying environmental conditions by phosphate extraction. Water Res 2012, 46: 4071–4080. 10.1016/j.watres.2012.05.015View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- An B, Zhao D: Immobilization of As(III) in soil and groundwater using a new class of polysaccharide stabilized Fe-Mn oxide nanoparticles. J Hazard Mater 2012, 211–212: 332–341.View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Gupta A, Yunus M, Sankararamakrishnan N: Zerovalent iron encapsulated chitosan nanospheres-A novel adsorbent for the removal of total inorganic Arsenic from aqueous systems. Chemosphere 2012, 86: 150–155. 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2011.10.003View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Shipley H, Yean S, Kan AT, Tomson MB: Effect of solid concentration, pH, IS, and temperature on arsenic adsorption. Environ Toxicol Chem 2009, 28: 509–515. 10.1897/08-155.1View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Cui H, Qi L, Gao S, Shang J: Strong adsorption of arsenic species by amorphous zirconium oxide nanoparticles. J Ind Eng Chem 2012, 18: 1418–1427. 10.1016/j.jiec.2012.01.045View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Khodabakhshi A, Amin MM, Mozaffari M: Synthesis of magnetite nanoparticles and evaluation of its efficiency for arsenic removal from simulated industrial wastewater. Iran J Environ Health Sci Eng 2011, 8(3):189–200.Google Scholar
- Ghosh M, Poinern G, Issa T, Singh P: Arsenic adsorption on goethite nanoparticles produced through hydrazine sulfate assisted synthesis method. Korean J Chem Eng 2012, 29(1):95–102. 10.1007/s11814-011-0137-yView ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Tang W, Li Q, Gao S, Shanga J: Arsenic (III, V) removal from aqueous solution by ultrafine α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles synthesized from solvent thermal method. J Hazard Mater 2011, 192: 131–138.Google Scholar
- Wang C, Luo H, Zhang Z, Wu Y, Zhang J, Chen S: Removal of As(III) and As(V) from aqueous solutions using nanoscale zero valent iron-reduced graphite oxide modified composites. J Hazard Mater 2014, 268: 124–131.View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Couture R, Van Cappellen P: Reassessing the role of sulfur geochemistry on arsenic speciation in reducing environments. J Hazard Mater 2011, 189(3):647–652. 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2011.02.029View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Yao S, Liu Z, Shi Z: Arsenic removal from aqueous solutions by adsorption onto iron oxide/activated carbon magnetic composite. J Environ Health Sci Eng 2014, 12: 1–8. 10.1186/2052-336X-12-1View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Crane RA, Scott TB: Nanoscale zero-valent iron: future prospects for an emerging water treatment technology: a review. J Hazard Mater 2012, 211–212: 112–125.View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Taha MR, Ibrahim AH: Characterization of nano zero-valent iron (nZVI) and its application in sono-Fenton process to remove COD in palm oil mill effluent. J Environ Chem Eng 2014, 2: 1–8. 10.1016/j.jece.2013.11.021View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Park H, Myung NV, Jung H, Choi H: As(V) remediation using electrochemically synthesized maghemite nanoparticles. J Nanopart Res 2009, 11: 1981–1989. 10.1007/s11051-008-9558-xView ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Turk T, Alp I, Deveci H: Adsorption of As(V) from water using nanomagnetite. J Environ Eng 2010, 136: 399–404. 10.1061/(ASCE)EE.1943-7870.0000162View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Chowdhury SR, Yanful E, Pratt A: Arsenic removal from aqueous solutions by mixed magnetite-maghemite nanoparticles. Environ Earth Sci 2010. DOI 10.1007/s12665–010–0865-zGoogle Scholar
- Pena ME, Korfiatis GP, Patel M, Lippincott L, Meng X: Adsorption of As(V) and As(III) by nanocrystalline titanium dioxide. Water Res 2005, 39: 2327–2337. 10.1016/j.watres.2005.04.006View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Goswami A, Raulb PK, Purkaita MK: Arsenic adsorption using copper oxide (II) nanoparticles. Chem Eng Res Des 2012, 90(9):1387–1396. 10.1016/j.cherd.2011.12.006View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Brame J, Li Q, Alvarez P: Nanotechnology enabled water treatment and reuse: emerging opportunities and challenges for developing countries. Trends Food Sci Tech 2011, 22: 618–624. 10.1016/j.tifs.2011.01.004View ArticleGoogle Scholar
This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.


text:
Smithfield RSL is renowned for its staff and their quality customer service.
We aim to provide a friendly, professional and safe environment for all our staff to work in. This will be endorsed by our many long serving employees ranging from five to 40 years of service.
To become part of our fantastic team, simply complete the application form below and our Human Resources team will review your application.
NOTE: You must hold current RSA and RCG certificates to be considered for employment at Smithfield RSL.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Thu, 27 April 2017
The Tai Lopez Show is now available on Soundcloud. Check it out here: Soundcloud.com/TaiLopezShow
"You are what you are, and you have to build on your strengths" - Tai Lopez
(click to tweet)
Have you heard the saying "jack of all trades, master of none?" It comes from the idea that someone who tries to do EVERYTHING might end up not being really good at anything. It's the idea behind specialization. Too many people are trying to be too broad, or are trying to build on their weaknesses, instead of recognizing their strengths and working on those, to optimize their results.
Then, work to surround yourself with people who have strengths in areas that you have weaknesses in, so that every area is covered. To spend too much time, energy, and effort working on your weaknesses will only be a waste of time.
Therefore, the key is to be able to accurately identify your real strengths, and this is something that most people have a very hard time doing. Listen to this episode to learn how to find your real strengths, and build on them, to live the best life possible!
"Awareness about yourself and who you are is the most important, first step" - Tai Lopez
(click to tweet)
Points to Keep In Mind
Direct download: tai_lopez_-_Ep_4-27-17_-_FINAL_MIX.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:00am PDT


text:
If you are in the Tri-Cities ,Washington area and are wanting to learn how to coupon the easy way I would love to come and teach a FREE class for you! I will teach in your homes, for your friends, church groups, or any other type of group you would like. I have had so much interest in these classes that I have also added 2 teachers that teach my exact class! Email me today if you are interested — we are booking for January!
Frequently Asked Questions:
How long are the classes : usually they run about 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours depending on the questions asked
How many people can attend: These are hosted at your home or church or other locations of your choice. We like a minimum of 10 people at the classes, so if you can gather that many people together its a go! We have taught large groups of 50 plus people at a time as well, so there is no maximum.
Is there a cost involved? These classes are 100% FREE, however at the class if you would like to order the newspaper for the coupons you can do it there at a great price, plus we get a commission off of them to help with our gas and time.


text:
"No Juju,I am just a product of God's grace" -AY Makun
Comedian and actor,Ay Makun stage name 'AY' discussed with Punch on his achievement and how it has been by the Grace of God and nothing else. The 45-year-old '30 days in Atlanta' producer said;
"I am just a product of God's grace. When I shot '30 days in Atlanta,' I just set out to go there and have fun but a lot of people are attributing it to something else.
"They are saying maybe I did juju. I've heard all sorts and I'm beginning to suspect myself in the sense that anything I do always comes out well.
"My stand-up comedy show is one of the biggest in the country. Same with my TV show. I'm just a product of grace.
"That is what I tell people. Not because I am the best, not because I know how to do it better. I just have this shining light and I keep praying that the grace remains."
"For now, let me enjoy my grace. I didn't know I was going to make a difference, and right now, I am basking in that euphoria. I feel very happy. I didn't see it coming, not even for a second.
"I mean, I always tell people, I used to go to the library back in the days to just grab that book and read. I had this impression that the people they featured probably had four heads.
"I never knew a day would come when I would see myself in the book. Maybe, somebody is reading it now and thinks AY has four heads too." he joked


text:
|Richard M. Stallman
|Re: thumbs.el and transparency
|Mon, 30 Jan 2006 13:46:06 -0500
(defun tumme-show-all-from-dir (dir) "Make a preview buffer for all images in DIR and display it. I am having trouble following the code of this--it is quite complex. Does it create a dired buffer? Or does it create something else instead of a dired buffer?
|[Prev in Thread]
|Current Thread
|[Next in Thread]


text:
This past Valentines Bank of Memories & Flowers had a contest for customers to summit their love stories for a chance to win a dozen roses. Thank you to all the romantic stories that were submitted; love was defiantly in the air. Here is our winner!
After meeting my future husband-to-be at a party and dating him for several weeks, he asked me to play tennis at the indoor tennis courts at Marquette University, where he was a dental student. As much as I knew I liked this wonderful man, my insecurities of playing on the courts with what I perceived would be gorgeous Marquette coeds in cute tennis outfits was more than I could bear. I actually lied and told him I couldn't see him anymore, that I was back with an old boyfriend which was totally not the case.
I couldn't believe I had slammed the door shut on our relationship without even leaving a crack open for him to reenter. At that point, I prayed every day for God to bring him back to me in his own way and his own timing if it was his will. I decided not to interfere and trust that if it was right, we would get back together.
After 3 months of diligent prayer and thinking about Joe daily, I came home one night, exhausted from a long day at work and ordered a pizza from Lisa's Pizzeria on Oakland Avenue, one of our favorite places when we were dating. The man who took my order sounded just like Joe and I couldn't help wondering if he had gotten a new part time job, since it was two buildings away from his parents' tailor shop. As I was deep in thought after the phone call, wondering if that was Joe, my phone rang. "Hi Susie." I knew immediately that the voice on the other end this time was, indeed, Joe. I said "Joe, I just called Lisa's and ordered a pizza and the man who took my order sounded just like you. Was it?"
Joe stated, "No, it wasn't, but this is. I wanted you to know that I really enjoyed dating you. I know you said you were back with an old boyfriend, but I just thought I'd take a chance and see if your are free. If not, I promise I will never call you again, but if you are, I would love to see you."
With no hesitation, I exclaimed, "Yes, I am free and would love to see you again."
God answered my prayers, we were married three years later, and though he died of a brain tumor 15-1/2 years ago, we had 20 magical years together, culminating in three beautiful daughters, who keep his spirit alive in my life to this day!
When her flowers went out, we signed the card "Loved your story, Love Joe" Her story touched our hearts.


text:
Great Product. Easy to assemble and not too bad of an install, took 45 minutes!
husky hooks. I use these hooks in conjunction with a wall rack to hang all kitchen utensils that have a hole in the handle, plus all hot pads that have a loop. The hooks have a plain, straightforward, functional design. They seem sturdy enough for the heaviest pots/pans that you might have.
My friends all want my pot rack!!! I love this pot rack! I just moved into an older building and storage is a problem. I've had to find ways to maximize the space yet make everything work and be cook friendly, so the only place for my cookware is between two cabinets above the kitchen sink. It fits perfectly! My friends thought it would look out of place, but after seeing it up and full of pots they all want one. The only thing I would say is 6 hooks are not enough, most cooks have several types of cookware. Otherwise, this is a great find and you cannot beat the awesome price!
Excellent product. Used it with the matching bars to display pots and Kitchenware. Looks great. Very stylish and appropriate for our kitchen.
Simple and attractive design. Purchased with the iron bar and brackets. Looks great in our new kitchen.
Serves its purpose but..... the only thing that I didn't like about this piece is the way the mesh that holds the hooks just sits on top of the rack and doesn't actually attach to the rack...a little flimsy...but, serves its purpose....
I would recommend this product. We hung it in the kitchen close to our stove. Very handy and easy to get to. Looks very nice and have had compliments on it.
Great Product for the Price!!! Great product. Easy to assemble, but did not have drywall anchors. I purchased some that where close to the size of the screw. It seemed it was loose but it hasn't moved since I put it up.
hanging potrack is absolutely beautiful. love this product bought new set of pots and pans to hang on it very beautiful its a great addition to our home and visitors all comment on it ALL GOOD
great buy for the right price. provides plenty of space
I'm Well Hooked! Hard to be enthusiastic about a hook, but this design is really good. It's just the right size and nicely finished, and blends in well with the oak pot rack that I designed and built. In addition to the excellent qualities, the price was right!
All Good! Was slightly concerned when I ordered it that it would really be able to handle the weight of my cast iron skillet and more. Installing on studs as was recommended, this thing is rock solid, well made and I think I could do chin ups on it and it would hold the weight. Good product [...] And everyone agrees it looks really nice.
Space saver rack. This is a very goodloooking rack that looks more expensive than it is. Holds all the pots and pans we hung on it and was very easy to install. It matches the new oil rubbed faucet and knobs in our kitchen redo!! Very happy.
Love my new pot rack. Looks great above the island in my new kitchen. Wasn't clear from the description that the chains come with it. A very good value compared to other pot racks I've seen in stores and on line.
I would buy this product again and again. I use the rack to show off my Paula Deen pots. BEAUTIFUL....
Even better than expected. I'm thrilled to have an attraction way to display and store beautiful cookware.This stand makes it easy to access large and heavy pots so I make better use of them.
Imagine all your kitchen's empty, up-above area put to good use. With these pot racks installed, you can save cabinet space and eliminate hassle. Try a hanging pot rack above your stove for quick access. Some of the materials available include gleaming copper, sturdy iron, durable wood and lustrous stainless steel. A lighted pot rack provides sharp, illuminated focus on your cookware. Turn a bare wall into an organized storage area with a wall pot rack. And as your kitchen equipment list grows, having a backup plan's a good idea. Add extra hooks or a shelf for additional storage space.
One of the best known facts by great cooks is the overwhelming importance of organization, knowing where what you need is kept and being able to get a hand on it, literally, in the heat of the moment. These racks allow you to store kitchen utensils, pots and pans stylishly, conveniently and with minimal hassle.


text:
Submitted by Sonya Marvel
Given to me by my Sister in Law
Submitted by Sonya Marvel
Given to me by my Mom
Submitted by Barb
In large bowl stir together flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder and soda. In mixer bowl beat together butter or margarine and sugar on low speed until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat well. Gradually add dry ingredients to creamed mixture and beat until well blended. Shape dough into 1-inch ball and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Press down center of dough with thumb. Place a cherry in center of each cookie. In small saucepan combine chocolate pieces and condensed milk. Heat until chocolate is melted. Stir in 4 teaspoons of cherry juice. Spoon about 1 tsp. frosting over each cherry. Cover cherry. Use more cherry juice to thin frosting if necessary. Bake at 350° degrees about 10 minutes or until done. Remove to wire rack to cool. Make 48 cookies.
Submitted by Barb
Submitted by Kym Smith
To Prepare Crust:
Mix by hand or with Mixer, all ingredients. Blend well-until particles are fine. Press 1/2 of crust mixture into Greased 11x7 Pan. Spread filling on top of this base crust. Once filling is on, crumble the other half of crust mixture over the top.
To Prepare filling:
In Sauce pan, combine Nestle Morsels, cream cheese and milk. Melt over low heat, stirring constantly.
Once melted, remove from heat, stir in remaining ingredients. Mix well.
[ Cookbooks ] [ Recipe Links ]
[ Home ] [ Recipe Index ] [ Marvelicious Graphics ]
Changes last made on: Tue Jul 21, 2009


text:
Nessy needs your help. This fan favorite is a real crowd pleaser. It's not just for gatherings. Schools, company picnics, & anyone else who's looking for some clean old-fashioned fun will enjoy racing one another to see who can fill their milking pail first.
Mess with the cat, you get the hat
Poster Game
Don't let the ladder flip over.
Let's spin around and get as close as possible


text:
The Times reports that the NYPD is to shrink to its smallest size in 15 years. That's a little misleading because the department in never at its budgeted size. The "size" of the department would "drop" to 36,838. But the actual number of officers today is 35,800. So the department could still grow despite this "drop." The horrible irony is that the department has been shrinking ever since 2000. You know, right before the country set on a new path of safety and security. You might think the federal government would want more New York City police to help prevent the next large-scale terrorist attack. You might think that.
This does point to a larger issue of why there are so many unfilled positions. Word on the street is that standards in the academy have already dropped substantially. The answer, for once, is shocking simple: Starting salary: $25,100. Top pay after 5 or 6 years: $59,585. That's not a lot to live in New York. And it's less than most other surrounding police departments pay. You get what you pay for.
The idea the more cops equals more safety is actually surprisingly new. For decades, at least until the mid 1990s, "experts" in the criminal justice field used a lot of trees to disprove any link between police numbers and crime. What matters isn't so much how many police there are, but what those police officers do. But if police are doing the right thing—and that's a big if—more police officers help. And since the early 1990s, police officers in New York have been doing the right thing more often than not.
Nobody knows the "right" number of police to have. Ideally we'd always have more. But when you take the zero-sum world of municipal budgets into account, I think New York City has about the right numbers today. Raising the pay of police officers is an issue of fairness and an issue of getting and retaining better officers.
It only takes one big lawsuit tomorrow—paid out of the pockets of New York City taxpayers such as myself—to negate any financial savings from cheap pay today. Saving a buck or two (or million) now will cost us more later.


text:
BY : Kampuzz Team
Date : 04-09-2015
Total Views : 344
Class X and XII timetable announced by Maharashtra state board
Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education announced the timetable for the Class X and XII, which is going to be held in 2016.The XII board exams will be conducted from February 18 to March 28 and the X board exams will conducted from March 1 to March 22 respectively.
The time table will be available on the board's website, www.mahahsscboard.maharashtra.gov.in.
The Maharashtra Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education had been announcing the time table in the month of July for the past few years, giving students sufficient time to prepare for their board examination. Due to few pattern changes in the syllabus, this year the announcement of the timetable was delayed.
The practical, oral and graded exams dates will be informed to the schools and junior colleges by the board days ahead of examination.


text:
Elai Adai (sweet parcels) is the most delicious dessert exclusive to Kerala. It is made out of jaggery, jackfruit and coconut (what dish out of Kerala doesn't have coconut in it? My handsome and charming son often says: Any recipe you have, adding coconut to it can only make it better). Another delicious treat made of the same ingredients is chaka pradhaman (more about this later). The elai adai can be prepared during the jackfruit season as well as off season and in remote places away from Kerala. The NRK's prepare elai adai by preserving the jackfruits as jam which in itself is quite the delicacy (side dish for adai for instance). As a child, jackfruit jam was the only jam available to us (none of your strawberry-raspberry mixes for us). The taste of elai adai is augmented by the delicious flavour of the plaintain leaf in which it is wrapped and steamed. My h. and c. son reminded me that this resembles the tamales available in Mexican restaurants. Similarly the Saraswat brahmins of Udipi and Mangalore make kadubu which is cooked by wrapping in turmeric leaf. Banana leaves are available in Indian stores, and frozen leaves are available in Chinese stores. The last time I visited the U.S. one of my nieces asked me if I could prepare elai adai for her. I told her that if she could arrange for the banana leaves, I could make them for her and she promptly got the frozen ones from the Chinese store, they were just what the doctor ordered for this purpose. Since my h. & c. son is not so industrious, we made it at his place by borrowing banana leaves from one of his neighbours. Thanks anonymous neighbours! Just goes to show that even in America, you just have to ask and you will receive.
A quick note on the jackfruit (Artocarpus integrifolia). This fruit is particular to India, especially Kerala. It is a huge egg-shaped fruit with a hard and prickly outer green shell, and it weighs some 10-20kgs. The sweet aroma of a ripe jackfruit can be smelt as far away as 50-100 feet (and 1 kilometer in the case of my astute and blessed mother in law). Cutting a jackfruit open is quite the process. You have to keep cutting it into halves to get it to a manageable size. First oil your hands and the heavy duty knife that you intend using. Without the oil, your hands and knife will get all sticky because as you cut it, the fruit secretes a white sticky resin. This resin has to cleaned off the fruit with a rolled up piece of paper of cloth. Because the resin hardens easily, it was used as a sealing agent to fix broken pots, buckets etc. There is a thick white stalk that runs along the center of the fruit. The edible part of the fruit comprises many yellow (yellow when ripe, white when raw) fruitlets that are firmly attached to this stalk. Each of these fruitlets in turn is "protected" by little white sepals. These sepals also have to be carefully peeled off the fruitlet. Ultimately you get a yellow fruitlet that encloses within itself a hard egg-shaped seed. The fruitlet is the most delicious fruit that you'll ever have the fortune of eating. It is full of fiber, vitamins and other nutrients. This fiber is of course a double edged sword. Eat too much jackfruit at one sitting, and you'll pay the price the next day. Now don't throw away the seeds: like many other things we've figured out many tasty dishes that can be cooked with the seeds. But more of that later.
When I was growing up in Kerala, during the summers we used to get huge jackfruits from our family farm or backyard. Each of them used to weigh some 15-20 kilos. We all used to sit in our concreted backyard in a big circle (during summer, our house was full of visiting cousins and uncles, on any day there would be about 50 people at home). At 9 in the morning when the maid had finished her cleaning and dish washing, our Echiyamma (my grandmother) would order the maid to bring the jackfruit and call all the children to come and remove the ripe fruitlets from the fruit. We would all sit in a big circle, the maid would bring a jackfruit and an axe. She would then cut the jackfruit into bits and remove the stem. We children would sit and remove all the fruitlets and de-seed them. While we did that, we would pop a few into our mouths. Echiyamma and my periappa would cut them into small bits to be made into jackfruit jam or adai or some kootan. during the summers many kilos of jackfruit jam used to be made in our house, for immediate use and to be sent home with all our visitors.
The day on which elai adai was to be made, again my echiyamma used to summon all kids for the preparation. A minimum of 100-150 had to be made so that everybody would be fed, as well as plenty left over for sharing with the neighbours.
Finally, now onto the actual preparation of the elai adai. We'll assume the existence of the jackfruit jam. At a later date, I'll post how this jam is to be prepared.
Jackfruit jam: 250g
Jaggery: ¾ cup
grated fresh coconut: 2 cups
raw rice: ¾ cup
boiled rice: ¾ cup
gingelly oil: 1 tbsp
banana leaves: 1 per elai adai, size of 8"x8"
salt: a pinch
Soak the rice for 5 hours and grind to a thick smooth paste. Add the salt while grinding. It should be of spreading consistency. Add the gingelly oil to this paste and mix well.
To make the filling, melt the jaggery with 1 cup of water, strain to remove dirt and other impurities, boil it, add the jackfruit jam and loosen it. When the jackfruit jam is loose and of spreading consistency, add the grated coconut, mix well and remove from the stove. This should now be of a jam like consistency. This filling can be refrigerated for up to 1 month.
The banana leaves need to be mildly seasoned by steaming for a few seconds or (very) briefly held over a low flame. The point of this is to make the leaf pliable, otherwise the leaf tears when you fold it. Otherwise, just sun the leaf for 10-30 minutes (but watch it carefully, too long and the leaves will wither away). I've never tried microwaving the leaves, maybe that will work also.
Now take each leaf, spread a ladle full of rice flour as a thin layer. Now, spread 2 tbsp of prepared filling on top of this layer, but covering only about ¾
Enjoy the elai adai.


text:
This section contains 8,157 words
(approx. 28 pages at 300 words per page)
SOURCE: "Autobiography and the American Myth," in American Quarterly, Vol. XVII, No. 3, Fall, 1965, pp. 501-19.
In the following essay, Spengemann and Lundquist relate American autobiographical writings to the development of the American cultural myth that "in its most general form, describes human history as a pilgrimage from imperfection to perfection. "
Like all of our imaginative writers, American autobiographers have traditionally drawn their materials from the fund of metaphors which grow out of our shared experiences, assumptions and beliefs—the American myth. The main difference between American autobiographers and writers of fiction is that the autobiographers have employed these metaphors in self-scrutiny and self-portrayal rather than in the presentation of fictional characters, but the resulting creation lends itself to cultural analysis as readily as purely fictional characters do. The created character in both cases represents values that are recognized by the reading audience at large. A consideration of several...
This section contains 8,157 words
(approx. 28 pages at 300 words per page)


text:
One thing I love about having a blog is being able to look back and remember some key things that happened throughout the year. You know like when I talked to you about the Genie Bra. Because that's mind blowing stuff that I would never want to forget.
Okay actually I was looking back at things like the time we went Zip-Lining. Or the wonderful Valentine's week I had with family and friends.
And then there was the post that went along with this picture. If you see nothing wrong with this picture then I suggest you go read the post. Just for fun. Some of you may remember it.
Oh and then I found the post about my hubby's birthday and "The Ugly Cake" that I made. If you need a laugh today, I suggest you check it out. It really is quite humorous.
There were a couple of before and afters that actually got accomplished. Like the lamp makeover and the hutch makeover .
I showed my frugal side with a dry laundry detergent recipe and showed you my secret reading spot.
But it wasn't all fun and laughter. For one thing it was the sickest year for us all. I can't remember when we've all been sick so many times in one year. And then to top it off one of my precious friends passed away. It's been a year full of ups and downs, but isn't every year like that?
I'll leave you with this verse. May it carry you into the new year full of hope.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6.


text:
John is our connoisseur of New York Times corrections. The week before last the Times printed this correction regarding an op-ed it had run:
"The Op-Ed page in some copies yesterday carried an incorrect version of an article about military recruitment. The writer, an Army reserve officer, did not say, 'Imagine my surprise the other day when I received orders to report to Fort Campbell, Ky., next Sunday,' nor did he characterize his recent call-up to active duty as the precursor to a 'surprise tour of Iraq.' That language was added by an editor and was to have been removed before the article was published. Because of a production error, it was not. The Times regrets the error."
Today Times ombudsman Byron Calame provides the backstory — a story he seems to think tends to mitigate the outrage reported in the original correction. I can't quite follow Calame's train of thought — the facts suggest an almost unbelievable persistence on the part of the Times in putting the desired words in the officer's mouth — but Calame tells a helluva story: "When an explanation doesn't explain enough."


text:
Advantages of Electro-Acupuncture
Acupuncture Associates of America provides a variety of Oriental Medicine treatments, including both traditional and electro-acupuncture. Depending on your specific needs and goals of your treatment, we can provide a personalized therapy that will help you to overcome struggles like chronic pain; we can also help you have more energy, heightened immunity and reduced overall stress.
Uses of Electro-Acupuncture
Electro-acupuncture is the electrical stimulation of acupuncture points with the goal of affecting the flow of "qi" in the body. This stimulation can occur by applying electrodes directly to the skin or by channeling electrical impulses through pairs of acupuncture needles.
Although it can be used for many purposes, we find that electro-acupuncture is best-suited for certain types of pain conditions to promote healing and improve circulation. It is also good for some neurological conditions. Chronic pain conditions caused by nerve problems, such as fibromyalgia and neuropathy, respond very well to electrical stimulation.
Why Get Electro-Acupuncture?
The primary benefit of electro-acupuncture is its strength. The electrical current allows the acupuncture point to receive constant gentle manipulation throughout a treatment, providing a stronger effect for some patients. However, not everyone is a candidate for electrical stimulation. Some patients, including those with heart conditions, are better suited to other therapies.
When you schedule your first appointment with our doctors, we will help you identify the best treatment methods to take care of your specific needs. Contact us today for more information or to schedule a consultation!


text:
It's time to link up with Katy Upperman once again for a "Currently" post. Here's what I'm currently...
Hamilton! I knew the entire world was obsessed with this Broadway show, but I put off listening to it for the longest time. I don't know anything about rap or hip-hop, so part of me was scared I wouldn't like the show. OF COURSE I was wrong. The soundtrack is amazing, and I listen to it every day! The storytelling and writing are top notch, and the creator/star, Lin-Manuel Miranda, is beyond talented (and seems SO genuine and kind).
Trying to be more engaged with politics has led me to LIVING HISTORY, Hillary Clinton's autobiography from 2004. I'm only sixty pages in, but her life has been super interesting to read about so far. She was the first student graduation speaker at her university (allowed, with much reservation, by the university president), and her speech was pretty polarizing. Afterward, she went for a swim in the lake by her dorm, and the university president ordered campus security to confiscate the clothes Hillary had left behind. Thankfully she was wearing a bathing suit, but she still had to go to the campus security office, dripping wet, to reclaim her clothes! The president said she regretted letting Hillary speak, but Hillary got much attention for her speech, and it helped open doors for her. I was stunned reading that part – what a petty university president!
The Hamilton cast performance from last Sunday's Tony Awards. This is what finally convinced me to learn more about the show. This song has been stuck in my head ever since!
Listening To
One guess. Although, in addition to the Hamilton soundtrack, I'm listening to HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS on audiobook. Now that I'm older, different parts are striking a chord with me. Particularly the Muggle-born Registration Commission, where the (corrupted) Ministry of Magic requires all Muggle-borns to present themselves for registration and investigation. They are thought to have stolen magic if no magical relative can be traced in their bloodline. So relevant in today's society.
Thinking About
My mini-trip to Philly this Thursday with friends. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is being shown with live orchestra accompaniment, which sounds beyond cool! Does any movie have a score like Harry Potter? The music is THE BEST!
My copy of HAMILTON: THE REVOLUTION is arriving in the mail today! Pictures and lyrics from the show, paired with footnotes from Lin-Manuel Miranda. I love peeking behind-the-scenes of Broadway!
I hope you'll check out my short story, "Holes to Fill." The Passed Note published it in its first-ever issue last week!
Making Me Happy
Memories from last weekend's NYC trip with two of my best friends! We explored Central Park (and rented a rowboat!), ate New York pizza/bagels/brunch, and saw The Lion King. The show was fantastic, of course! I saw it four years ago with my mom and brother, and there were things I'd forgotten about. It was fun to be surprised all over again.
That's what I've been up to! How about you?


text:
Travel Promotions
Hotel & Tourism Specials
offer expires soon
arcRes Travel Platform brochure
pdf download
Helping you Excel
Tourism Development Developing Advanced Technology for Travel Shopping, Direct Sales, Branding and
Destination Marketing
Tourism Development Developing Advanced Technology for Travel Shopping, Direct Sales, Branding and
Destination Marketing
Travel Portals Barbados Tourism Encyclopedia
Dominica | Saint Lucia
Media is taking control away from the advertisers,
and giving it to the consumers
not all consumers are alike!
Patricia Brusha (hospitality.net)
says there are 5 distinct types of social users:
the Butterfly, the Selective,
the Connected, the Starter and
the New Norm. This is a good start to
understanding social behavior and creating your
online social media travel marketing strategy.
tripit, Wiki
Linkedin, Plaxo
Sharing experiences, video
and photos
use tools & web2.0 Resources,
elite community
Marketing Strategy
niche website,
themes marketing,
use web2.0 sharing
RSS feeds or alerts,
not interested in online newsletters
easy to use instruction
in photos and text.
Create a non-intimidating place to ask
Social media applications are not for everyone.
But the technology used is becoming a standard
across all platforms. Interaction is the norm
on the Internet. See
- The
new order of the web
Advertise your Vacation Specials and Packages on Smartphone, Facebook and 100's
of Sites
will publish your travel deals, specials and packages to Smartphones, Facebook,
Social Media, Google-Shopping and hundreds of travel sites. Only 25$ per month for global advertsing
will publish your travel deals, specials and packages to Smartphones, Facebook,
Social Media, Google-Shopping and hundreds of travel sites. Only 25$ per month for global advertsing
Facebook /MySpace
Communications Sharing
interests - personal news - event - photos
Use it to get listed on
the Search engines. SEO.COM, a very popular
site with good Search Engine coverage
- if you are there, chances are they will find
Set up arcResBookings on your Facebook
page -
rooms, rates, bookings to Facebook |
Bookings Demo |
to Use Facebook for tourism
Micro Blog
Publish headlines linking to your news
website/blog /company to followers. It's
got to be newsworthy, helpful, interesting
or fun or you will get turned off.
Building followers is
not easy. There are marketing service
that can help, such as http://twitproquo.com
(not focused). The best option is to search
Twitter for a travel market or travel
focus group, like golf. Click "Follow"
on all the results. Most will follow you
in return.
Example: We wanted to announce arcRes
travel marketing and travel bookings application
for Facebook. We searched for Hotels and
followed many - over 100 followed us and
we sent out a 140 character announcement:
Facebook travel app! makes facebook a
booking channel! easy with http://arcResBookings.com
see http://tr.im/FaceBookDemo. example:
Set up a YouTube account
and post the video. Set up your own webpage
and use the YouTube imbedded code to display
the video on your page: see
BarbadosBoardwalk.com environment-talk
note the video is imbedded from YouTube.
A successful creation
- see
will it blend
BookingsStLucia travel
channel on YouTube: http://youtube.com/BookingsStLucia
& imbedded on BookingsStLucia.com
Photo sharing, photography
related networking, worldwide
It is used to share personal
photographs, and is also widely used by
bloggers and journalists as a photo repository.
It allows photos to be tagged and organized
so that others can find what they are
looking for. Putting
hotel, activities and destination photos
online is easy and is good travel marketing
exposure. Flickr gets top rating on Search
engines, use it to list your travel
keywords and get links to your site(YouTube).
Online Articles -
Self publishing
Example: my blog on Hotel
marketing and travel suppler tools
If you care to write
about your destination, travel experiences,
holiday experiences or guest experiences
etc., then a blog is great Travel Marketing
There are many blog solutions to choose
from. Wordpress and Google's Blogger are
amongst the best know. Blogger also allows
you to integrated your distribution with
Twitter, Digg, Facebook, etc. The Blog
can be very strategic; if you find your
Search Engine ranking is low, for certain
keywords write a blog for each keyword
and structure them to get ranked. Neil
Maclean (thetravelprblog.com-travel marketer)
used this technique with great success
- he advises "write conversational,
but targeted and regularly updated content"
with links that are "structured webaddress/category/post".
Good for storing, organising,
sharing, and discovering web bookmarks.
Sharing links can be helpful in travel
marketing. You add your own links and
share them with others. By adding the
Delicious button
Bookmark this on Delicious to your
webpages, travellers
will be able to add your pages to their
You can add any travel
news including your own, but it can't be
a duplicate. The travel news or travel
marketing piece you submit gets voted on
by other users who DIGG it (click the
digg button) - If it gets enough votes
it moves to the top and more people see
it. It's hard to create a travel article
or a a travel marketing slot that will
be popular. Example of a popular piece
is http://digg.com/d1r7dv
But the real advantage
for a Travel Website is that a DIGG increases
your chances of getting good Search Engines
rank (SEO). YouTube:
Digg & Tourism SEO!
How to add a DIGG button
to your page: Go
to Digg
A business-oriented social networking
Off to a shaky start with
gmail integration with that included mailing
that might be considered violation of
privacy. Mails list are recommended now
rather than automatic. Like Twitter, you
can send out news buzzes. You can also
a buzz button to your blog and website
pages (see comment), so that others can
buzz your news for you!
There are a lot more - for an up-to-date list,
see wikipedia
social media
To add all social media links to your website,
use addthis socialmedia linking services
Get it from
Good Social Media Resources for Travel &
Tourism Marketing:
http://tr.im/harvards10tools | http://tr.im/ISMListening
| http://tr.im/2009traveltrends |
the comments below for latest updates and news
It's not a case of which
one to use, if you want to excel, use them all.
You need Social Marketing in conjunction
with all your Web presence. The Social Media
is a new market, with a new approach,
but it overlaps with the traditional.
More importantly, it feeds into and supports your
web marketing, enhancing your SEO and web
exposure in a dramatic way.
Each Social network and channel has its own
following and focus. You can do a lot of it
yourself - But as a Hotel Manager or tourism
operator - don't make this a full time job.
Most likely you don't have the knowledge, time
or the tools (applications) to make it sing!
Your best option is to work with a travel marketing
company, such as AXSES. Together decide what
parts you can and want to do. Get the training
you need and work with your tourism partners
to market your travel business and brand in
conjunction with your entire sales, marketing,
distribution, promotion and reservation processing.
Everything that you do magnifies all of the
parts - Do it all right and your travel brand
and marketing will be a success.
5 Keys to success with Social
Media for tourism
SEO, SEO - all these site are authorities,
listing on them helps your Search ranking
2. New marketing channels -more potential
clients and bookings/reservations.
3. Effective communications medium
- broadcasting message - and one-to-one dialogue
4. New way to engage
By consent marketing - as powerful as word of
5. Fun and Easy to use technology - photo
albums, videos, newswire - events - discussions
- groups
AXSES is a tourism development and destination marketing company, recognised
as a leader in travel marketing technology, branding and travel shopping,
see tourism meets technology.
AXSES travel shopping experience
offers the relevance and clarity of 'Google-like search', 'DoubleClick like
advertising, tracking and reporting', 'RealHolidays like expert systems & dynamic
packaging' and 'Expedia like travel pricing'.
This Next generation Travel Shopping Experience is a First of a Kind. http://TourismPlatform.com. It moves
travel sites from primarily a display vehicle to a strategic branding, direct
marketing, shopping and booking platform for hotels, car rental companies and
travel providers. It provides integrated and targeted messaging opportunities,
as well as the ability to deliver dynamic graphical ads (bookable-ads) and interactive
AXSES builds marketing and
management tools for travel suppliers. Axses owns over 30 travel portals promoting
direct sales to its hotel and tourism clients. AXSES supplier tools
include Internet marketing portals, website tools like calendars, blogs, content
management, guest tracking and travel planning, dynamic packaging, comparison
shopping, reservations, bookings systems and social media applications.
You will need to confirm your request.
This is done by clicking on a
confirmation link in an email that will be sent to the address you enter
Subscribe to our travel technology blogs (in a reader)
Try arcRes
Booking-Expert for Free trial. Use arcRes
publishing to promote
your brand and vacation deals for direct travel
bookings on our special Free Trial
Advertise your Vacation Specials and Packages on Smartphone, Facebook and 100's
of Sites


text:
MakersThere are no makers yet
You need to become a Contributor to join the discussion.
Thomas Soerenes@soerenes · Email Marketing Specialist
Who's read it?
Joshua Pinter@joshuapinter · Product at CNTRAL. Maker of ntwrk.
Great book. Lots of technical details and fascinating personal history.
Alex Spencer@axpence · Pioneer Square Labs
Every time I see Tesla getting praise I wish James Clerk Maxwell would get a pinch. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ja...


text:
|Missing: Bo Hedberg. Please call 978.352.5700
|Way too close for comfort :(
|Missing: Bo Hedberg. Please call 978.352.5700
|Way too close for comfort :(
Uh-oh. That is terrible. When he was injured, was his brain/memory affected? And a bit creepy.ReplyDelete
Oh my, so sad and scary. Stay hopeful.ReplyDelete
That is very sad. I hope it ends well and maybe he wandered off for a walk and is having problems remembering how to get back home. I hope he is somewhere safe.ReplyDelete
a similar story here in maine during the storm as well. not a good outcome. I hope this one turns out differently.ReplyDelete
as an aside--you are unbelievably close to my inlaws! we should definitely run when I'm down next!! which is 2/23 weekend and march 30 weekend.ReplyDelete
That'd be great! I've got Half at the Hamptons on my calendar for 2/24 - any chance you're running that? If not, we could always grab a run on Sat the 23rd. Don't think I have anything going on w/e of March 30th either, so let me know! We could always meet at the post office or something easy :)Delete
What a sad story and I'm guessing from your comments, it didn't end well.ReplyDelete


text:
Yes, we all know the perfect marriage doesn't exist outside the movies, but maybe you're not aware of some of the wackier things that happen after the wedding day. If that's the case, we're here — with the help of real married women — to dish on the silly things they've done since they said, "I do."
1. "My husband locks the door when he goes to the bathroom," says a bride who's been married for four years. "He's terrified that I'll walk in on him one day when he's going number two! I just think it's hysterical that after four years married and two years of dating — during which I've never so much as knocked on the door when he's been in there — that he's still convinced I'll see him in that position and never look at him the same way again!"
See more: Brides Reveal Their Biggest Wedding Day Fears
2. "I still hide my 'period' underwear from my husband," another married gal says. "Yes, I know he knows I have a period. Yes, I understand he understands the concept of spotting. But we've only been married a year, and I'm not ready to show him that I'm not wearing sexy underthings 24/7!"
3. "We have pet names we use with just each other, and then a different set of pet names that we use when we're around other people," says a newly-married woman. "When we're around our friends, we stick with 'baby' and 'honey,' but when it's just me and him, I'll call him 'hot stuff' and he calls me 'snookums!'"
4. "I need a lot more 'me' time than I thought I would before we got married," explains a wife of three years. "So I take a lot of frequent, completely unnecessary trips to the grocery store and mall, where I'll buy one thing and then use the rest of the time I'm 'shopping' to go to the park and just read or relax. I think my husband thinks I have a shopping addiction!"
What are some of the strange things you do now that you're married? Confess them to us on Twitter at @BRIDES!


text:
Katryna Jolene
Katryna Jolene is a mother of 4 beautiful, intelligent and playful children and she holds down 3 separate paying jobs. She is living proof that having a family to support doesn't have to come at the cost of healthy living and eating!
Latest posts by Katryna Jolene (see all)
- Are You Stressed? I'm stressed. ARE YOU STRESSED!?…are you stressed now? - December 7, 2016
- Comfort Soup Recipe - November 30, 2016
- Indoor Aquaponics System: My new obsession - November 23, 2016
I've wanted a farm since I realized I was never going to become a ballerina. When I was little, like most little girls I wanted to become a beautiful swan ballerina and be rescued by Prince what's-his-name and fly off and live in a castle happily ever after. I soon learned, like the first day […]


text:
To get endorsed by Blue America means a candidate has undergone a rigorous vetting process in terms of progressive values, character and courageousness. This page is about something else: beating back the tyrannical Trump/GOP onslaught pure and simple. No, we're not going to include Blue Dogs or Republican-lite fake Democrats on this page, just decent Democratic candidates running in red districts who will advance Democratic values and principles and help slow down and stop Trump and his congressional enablers and rubber-stamps.
Paid for by ActBlue (actblue.com) and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
Contributions or gifts to ActBlue are not deductible as charitable contributions for Federal income tax purposes.


text:
Author Notes: The nutty flavour of brown butter comes through as a subtle and truly unique note in this light yellow mousse. The recipe combines a few fun techniques, but still comes together in less than 30 min. It's also extremely easy to scale – 1 ounce chocolate, 1 egg and 1 tbsp. butter per. person. Chocolate mousse aficionados may recognize it as a ratio picked up from Elizabeth David. —Lise
Makes: 4 portions
ounces best quality white chocolate
eggs (room temperature)
tablespoons unsalted butter
teaspoons water
a a few drops of lemon juice or a nip of cream of tartar (optional)
In This Recipe
- Melt the white chocolate in a bain-marie or in the microwave. Then let it cool slightly. In a small saucepan melt the butter and continue too cook until all the water has evaporated, the solids have turned dark brown, and the smell is deliciously nutty. Keep an eye on the butter, when its done keep it warm in the pan.
- Meanwhile, separate the yolks and whites of the eggs. With an electric mixer (or a balloon whisk if you prefer whisking by hand), mix the egg yolks and water. While whisking continuously, pour in the warm brown butter. At first only a few drops at a time. When half the butter has been added, you can pour in the rest in one thin steady stream. I leave the little specks of browed solids from the butter in the pan, but you can add them to the eggs if you wish (They are delicious). The eggs should turn into an airy mousse, like a thin mayonnaise.
- Mix the melted chocolate into the egg yolks. Start with one tablespoon at a time, then halfway through you can fold in the rest of the chocolate in on go.
- Carefully clean the beaters of the mixer, (or the balloon whisk). Make sure they are complexly clean and dry. Whisk the egg whites with a few drop of lemon juice or the cream of tartar if using, until they form stiff peaks.
- Mix 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Then add the chocolate mix to the bowl with the whites and fold gently until fully combined.
- Spoon into individual serving containers, cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight. The mouse can be served with a bit of fruit compote or some fresh berries. It is particularly nice with a spoonful of ripe passion fruit on top.
- NOTE: This recipe combines five techniques - melting chocolate, browning butter, making an egg/fat emulsion, whisking egg whites, and folding them into the mousse. All are fairly common and easy, so I haven't gone into detail, but if you are unfamiliar with them, you might want to look up a few tutorials (some excellent ones on food52).
- This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Recipe with Brown Butter
More Great Recipes:
Butter|Chocolate|Egg|Lemon Juice|Milk/Cream|White Chocolate|Make Ahead|5 Ingredients or Fewer|Dessert


text:
The majority of Americans, across all religious groups, do not support clergy endorsements of political candidates from the pulpit, according to a recent poll.
The National Survey on Religion and Public Life conducted by the Paul B. Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics polled 3,002 Americans belonging to 18 different religious groupings about their political attitudes, affiliations and preferences.
Fifty-seven percent said clergy should not "be permitted to endorse political candidates during worship services." Only 28 percent said they should (with 15 percent offering no opinion.)
Fifty-five percent of Evangelicals and 66 percent of Catholics opposed pulpit partisanship.
The poll also gauged political party affiliations of differing religious groups. Mainline Protestants tend to self-identify with the Democratic Party (46 percent) while Evangelical Protestants favor the Republican Party (54 percent.)
Overall, the poll's conclusion shows faith will continue to play a significant role in this year's elections.