text:
writing by Emily sent from New England, illustrations by Elizabeth Graeber
Wednesday, May 08, 2013
Monday, April 29, 2013
Away to the Woods, or An Analog Spring
At NELP, we talk a lot about "interstitial writing." In a student's journal, it's the writing that happens off script, between things--after a class or a backpacking trip, before a solo, when an Emerson essay or Dickinson poem has had some time to filter through her mind and experience and come out on the page in her own voice. It could be personal reflection, or close observation, but it is often the time when the best writing emerges--where the tone is honest, the thought is piercing, and the student is writing like only she can.
I've been feeling like I'm in an interstitial period of my life--on both micro and macro levels. I just turned 30, am 2 years out of grad school, wondering if I should go back, and as a freelancer, in a constant state of flux with projects constantly beginning and ending. That process is something I enjoy--to have an intense project for a spell, then let it go and exist in the world. But I feel that I'm at a place where I'm gathering up and filtering ideas through, observing closely, and thinking hard.
Another aspect of this, on a more micro level, is that I am getting ready to go teach in the New Hampshire woods for 2 months, at the New England Literature Program (NELP-- see past posts from/about it here). It's something I've done before--this will be my 4th year as a teacher and I was a student there as an undergrad. While I'm there, I will essentially be off-the-grid, as we relinquish cell phones, computers, recorded music in this 2-month experiment of reading and writing, living communally, making food and playing music and climbing mountains and "living deliberately," as we say, in the Thoreauvian way.
But that means that this space will also be in an interstitial place. While I'll be writing for hours every day and baking regularly, I won't be on a computer or the internet. So in the experiment of that which is NELP, I'm also going to try an experiment here.
For the next 2 months, I'm going to be writing my posts long-hand, or typing them on a typewriter, taking film photos (and maybe even developing them--we have a darkroom here), then sending them to a penpal back home, who will post them here, as scanned pieces of paper and photo prints. My friend Morgan of Panda Head has graciously agreed to be that penpal, my analog-to-digital maven.
I'll also be soliciting some posts from friends and collaborating with pie almanac illustrator Elizabeth Graeber while I'm in the woods and galavanting around New England. I'll be sending her little snippets of my adventures, which we'll post here, if they're pie related, on her blog Hand Drawn Bazaar, and saving some for another project.
Thanks for indulging me in this little experiment. I'm not sure how it's going to work exactly, but I'm excited to see what it becomes. For now, jumping off...
New Hampshire
Friday, April 26, 2013
Birthday Pie for a Gal and Her Dog
I'm going to (try to) keep this birthday pie post short, as it happens to be my birthday and I need to venture out on my annual solo birthday hike, as well as finish packing for two months in the woods. But before I do, I want to share these two pies I made for my friend Elizabeth and her dog Chickpea's birthday. Yes, the share the same birthday, which some might say coincidence, but I say is fate.
Elizabeth and I made the Pie Almanac together, and she would occasionally bring Chickpea to our meetings, which was just fine with me. Chickpea is TINY. Every time I see her I'm amazed that she is actually that small. She is also very sweet and verrrry chill (except when there's squirrels around), and her little wiry fur shakes when she's cold. Seriously cute, and the perfect mascot and occasional subject for Elizabeth's illustration work.
When Elizabeth asked if I would make birthday pies for her and Chickpea, I felt fine about the pie for Elizabeth--a Butterscotch Cream Pie with a Hazelnut Praline from Martha Stewart. But I was very nervous about the pie for the dog.
I'd never made dog treats before, let alone a dog pie. But it was something I needed to do for Chickpea. I found this homemade dog treat round-up on The Kitchn and chose one from King Arthur Flour. I halved the recipe and fit the dough into a small 4-inch pie tin, then rolled out the rest and used cookie cutters to make a little doggie treat bag as an added gift. It all came out well, but I was worried that it might not have enough "dog appeal" flavor. Then, as I was whipping the cream for Elizabeth's Butterscotch Cream Pie, I had a dog pie revelation--bacon grease whipped cream!
Before we get too far down the dog pie rabbit hole, I will say that this here Butterscotch Cream Pie (for people) is a new favorite. It's essentially a homemade butterscotch pudding, topped with a candied-hazelnut studded whipped cream. It almost went just as fast as Chickpea's bacon grease.
Butterscotch Cream Pie with Hazelnut Praline
Adapted from Martha Stewart's New Pies & Tarts
Nothing-in-the-House pie crust, halved
For filling:
3 oz. (6 Tblsp.) unsalted butter
1 c. dark brown sugar
2 c. heavy cream
1/4 c. cornstarch
3/4 tsp. salt
2 c. whole milk
4 large egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla extract
For hazelnut praline:
1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. light corn syrup
1 Tblsp. water
1/3 c. hazelnuts, toasted & skinless
Salt, to taste
1. Prepare half of the Nothing-in-the-House pie crust as per the directions, reserving the leftover egg for an egg wash. Chill dough at least 1 hour before rolling out and fitting into a greased and floured 9-inch pie pan. Pierce the bottom of the shell all over with a fork, and let chill for 15 more minutes in the fridge. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375.
2. Brush edges of crust with egg. Line chilled pie shell with parchment paper and pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 15 minutes just until edges begin to brown. Remove from oven, and take out parchment and dried beans. Return to oven and bake 15 minutes more until the crust is golden brown. Let cool.
2. Brush edges of crust with egg. Line chilled pie shell with parchment paper and pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 15 minutes just until edges begin to brown. Remove from oven, and take out parchment and dried beans. Return to oven and bake 15 minutes more until the crust is golden brown. Let cool.
For filling:
1. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat until the butter begins to brown. Stir in sugar until it dissolves, approximately 5 minutes. Slowly pour 1 cup of the cream down the side of the pan, stirring constantly until smooth (the caramel will bubble, so be careful!). Remove saucepan from the heat.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch, salt, and milk until smooth. Whisk into the butter mixture until well combined. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture is bubbling and thick, about 7 minutes (2 minutes after it comes to a boil).
3. In a medium bowl, whisk yolks until well combined. Pour in the milk mixture in a slow, steady stream, whisking until incorporated. Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until it returns to a boil, about 1-2 minutes.
4. Immediately remove pan from heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Let the custard cool in the saucepan, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.
5. Pour the custard into the fully baked crust. Press plastic wrap directly on the surface of the custard and refrigerate until it is chilled and firm, at least 4 hours and up to overnight.
6. Whisk remaining cup of cream until stiff peaks form (I was rushing and went a little overboard--yours should be a little more smooth). Reserve 2 Tblsp. praline (recipe below) and fold remaining praline into the the cream. Spread the cream over the pie and sprinkle the reserved praline on top. Serve immediately.
For hazelnut praline:
1. Cover baking sheet with parchment paper. In a small saucepan over medium heat, heat sugar, corns syrup, water, and a pinch of salt until sugar dissolves. Continue to cook without stirring until deep amber in color. Remove from heat and stir in nuts. Spread evenly on the parchment-lined baking sheet and let cool.
2. Using a chef's knife, cut praline into small bite-sized pieces. Use to top pie.
When we placed Chickpea's pie in front of her, she dove tongue-first into the bacon grease top. I was worried she might go for the grease and ignore the pie, but she did methodically nibble on the crust and decorative cut "Cs". Maybe with a little work on some recipes and a new dog pie blog "Nothing-in-the-Dog House," I can expand our nation's favorite dessert to our dog's best friends.
Instagram by @Elizabeth_Draws
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Berger Cookie Pie aka Baltimore Bomb Pie
Earlier this week my friend Sara Camp Arnold passed along this Medium article written by the folks at Robicelli's regarding recent press on the bursting of "the cupcake bubble." She directed me specifically to item #7, a response to Jezebel's claim that "cupcakes represent prescribed modes of femininity and our cultural fixation on eternal girlhood." For now I'm not going to get into what I think about that (it's complicated), but the Robicelli's response hit home.
They argue that while lady chefs are common these days, lady chef business owners are not. When the cupcake trend hit in the late 90s, numerous women saw it as an entrepreneurial opportunity. Many opened businesses out of their homes and hired a mostly female staff, catering to a mostly female clientele. This all rings a bell. The idea of women's creative domesticity as an empowering force for entrepreneurship, social capital, and community engagement is a theme I wrote about in my folklore Master's thesis at UNC, where I studied Vimala Rajendran's transition from community dinner home cook to chef and restaurant owner. Running a food business out of a home kitchen is something I've also dabbled in myself--first with Tarts by Tarts and now with Nothing-in-the-House Baking Co. This endeavor has allowed me and others like me to explore my interest in small business, develop my own baking skills, and make connections--creative, social, and entrepreneurial-- in my community. Now that doesn't sound anti-feminist to me.
This pie was one that was a special ordered from Nothing-in-the-House by my friend Martha. She had cousins coming to town and wanted to show off some local flavor, so requested a "Baltimore Bomb Pie". The recipe was developed by Dangerously Delicious Pies, and is essentially a chess pie with Berger Cookies embedded in the filling. Never had a Berger Cookie? That probably means you just haven't spent much time in Baltimore, where they're a cultural icon. The rich, generously fudge-topped cakey shortbread cookie is of German origin and was brought to the Baltimore area by George and Henry Berger in 1835. The cookies are now baked by DeBaufre Bakeries and have only recently made it out of Baltimore's city limits--I found mine just outside DC at the Silver Spring Giant, but here's a list of other places where they're sold.
While the cookies are decadent enough, the pie only makes them more so, the 5 eggs and stick of butter really taking it to a whole. nother. level. I imagine that's the reason for the explosive title. Considering my generally pacifist beliefs and especially in light of current events, though, that name doesn't sit too well with me. Instead, I think I'll call mine a Berger Cookie Pie. Even by a different name, it'll still taste as sweet.
Berger Cookie Pie aka Baltimore Bomb Pie
Adapted from Dangerously Delicious Pies via Biscuits and Such
Nothing-in-the-House pie crust, halved
1 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. light brown sugar
5 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 Tblsp. flour
1/2 c. unsalted butter, melted
6 Berger Cookies (about 3/4 of a pack), quartered
1. Prepare half of the Nothing-in-the-House pie crust as per the directions, retaining extra egg for an egg wash. Chill dough at least 1 hour before rolling out and fitting into a greased and floured 9-inch pie pan. Place the pan in the fridge while you prepare the filling.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place the quartered cookies in the pie crust. In a medium bowl, whisk together sugar, brown sugar, and flour. Beat in the eggs one at a time and add the butter, stirring constantly. Pour this mixture over the cookies.
3. Brush the edges of the crust with egg wash and bake for 45-55 minutes until the center is golden brown and the top is mostly solid (it should still jiggle a little). Let cool and enjoy!
Related recipes:
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
An Interview with Stella Parks of BraveTart
Photos by Sarah Jane Sanders
For the past two months, I've been writing the series "Give Me Some Sugar," on Southern women pastry chefs for the Southern Foodways Alliance & Southern Living's The Daily South blogs. I've interviewed Momofuku Milk Bar's Christina Tosi; Sonya Jones, whose sweet potato cheesecake won over President Clinton (in his pre-vegan days); and Phoebe Lawless of Scratch-- one of my favorite bakeries in Durham, NC. Though I've thoroughly enjoyed conversations with all of the chefs I've talked to, one I was especially excited to have an excuse to chat up is Stella Parks, the pastry chef at Table Three Ten in Lexington, KY and the brain child (bravechild?) behind the superb baking blog BraveTart.
I first found Stella through my friend Francis' twitter and in doing so hit a one-gal gold mine of baking skills, smarts, and quick wit. BraveTart, which Stella publishes with photographers Rosco Weber and Sarah Jane Sanders is a funny, beautiful, well-written, and incredibly helpful blog specializing in updated and creative version of classic American desserts. Think homemade Milanos, Salted Caramel Brown Butter Hazelnut Brownie Chunk Nutella Swirl Ice Cream (yep), and Bourbon Buttermilk Layer Cake.
The profile I was writing on Stella for SFA was just a short little number, but as you can tell from the aforementioned ice cream title, she has a lot to say and it's all worth being said. Though I couldn't use all of her quotes (or just have her write the whole darned thing) for Give Me Some Sugar, I thought all of Stella's musings on gendered flavors, Kentucky sense of place, and "coming full circle" should be shared-- just like her Cookie Dough Reese's Cups.
I first found Stella through my friend Francis' twitter and in doing so hit a one-gal gold mine of baking skills, smarts, and quick wit. BraveTart, which Stella publishes with photographers Rosco Weber and Sarah Jane Sanders is a funny, beautiful, well-written, and incredibly helpful blog specializing in updated and creative version of classic American desserts. Think homemade Milanos, Salted Caramel Brown Butter Hazelnut Brownie Chunk Nutella Swirl Ice Cream (yep), and Bourbon Buttermilk Layer Cake.
The profile I was writing on Stella for SFA was just a short little number, but as you can tell from the aforementioned ice cream title, she has a lot to say and it's all worth being said. Though I couldn't use all of her quotes (or just have her write the whole darned thing) for Give Me Some Sugar, I thought all of Stella's musings on gendered flavors, Kentucky sense of place, and "coming full circle" should be shared-- just like her Cookie Dough Reese's Cups.
This year SFA is focusing on women, work, and food. In light of that, could you talk about how being a woman has informed your work as a pastry chef?
I've experienced sexual harassment and gender discrimination in my life, but happily not at work. Obviously, I spend a lot of time "being a girl," but I don't think being a girl changes my approach to desserts anymore than it changes my approach to driving a car.
I've experienced sexual harassment and gender discrimination in my life, but happily not at work. Obviously, I spend a lot of time "being a girl," but I don't think being a girl changes my approach to desserts anymore than it changes my approach to driving a car.
Someone might say a dessert with malty, smokey, earthy flavors is "masculine." But I grew up in the middle of a tobacco field, literally a stone's throw from the world's most famous bourbon distilleries. Am I making a masculine dessert by pairing tobacco ice cream with bourbon caramel? It doesn't feel that way to me, it feels like a homey dessert.
On the flip side, someone might say floral flavors are "feminine," but I grew up watching the jockeys who won Derby have their horse crowned with roses, watching men go to church with a flower tucked into their boutonnière. Is a dessert made with rose flower water feminine? I don't think so. I don't think flavors are gendered.
How did you get into baking? Did you always know this would be your path?
Late my senior year, I suddenly wondered what that would make me when I grew up. I wanted to be an author. But getting an English major wouldn't make me an author. Writing a book would. And writing a book would take time, and during that time I'd need to eat and pay rent and that sort of thing, so I thought how would I make money with an English degree until I wrote my book?
I had no idea. But I knew I didn't have a personality suited to teaching, or to journalism, or to whatever other English-majory jobs I could think of. I knew I liked working in restaurants, working with my hands and on my feet. Then I started researching culinary schools, thinking I could work in food service and write on the side.
How would you describe your style/approach to baking?
What's your take on Southern food and how does it inform/appear in your baking?
I grew up in a little country town called Versailles, so I have a "Versailles" macaron, which plays on the French/Kentucky dichotomy the name suggests. It's an almond free cornmeal shell with a sorghum buttercream.
What makes food "Southern" in your mind? How do you connect to the history of the South (through food or otherwise)?
What's your favorite thing to bake? Favorite baked good to eat?
What's your most prized kitchen item?
I recently made Stella's Oatmeal Cream Pies, which somehow manage to be simultaneously spot-on accurate and better than the original. You can find many more of her recipes on BraveTart, but for Give Me Some Sugar, Stella shared her recipe for Cornmeal Madeleines--another play on the French/Kentucky theme. Though not a pie, I'm thinking they'd make a great whoopie pie base with a chocolate orange hazelnut buttercream sandwiched in between...
Cornmeal Madeleines
from Stella Parks of BraveTart
Yields 18 cookies
Leaf lard adds an amazing richness to the madeleines and makes my favorite version by far. If that's a problem ingredient for you, or just inconvenient, melted (or clarified) butter will work nicely too.
1 1/2 ounces butter or leaf lard, melted
4 ounces whole milk
1 egg
1 3/4 ounce sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or the scrapings from half a vanilla bean pod
2 1/2 ounces yellow cornmeal, preferably fine or medium grind
2 3/4 ounces all purpose flour, sifted
optional: coarsely ground cornmeal for sprinkling
1. Preheat the oven to 350° F and lightly spray the madeleine mold (it helps the shells brown better with silicon) or mini-muffin tin. If using a cornbread pan, brush the molds with butter or oil and put it in the oven and wait until it's piping hot before filling. This will give you a great crust and prevent sticking.
2. Making the batter couldn't be easier. Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and whisk until no lumps remain. Let the batter stand for 10 minutes, or until it thickens, before filling each shell 3/4 full (about two teaspoons).
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the humps no longer seem to have molten centers. I love these cookies best served warm, but they'll keep for about two days in an airtight container (becoming increasingly perfect to dip into hot coffee or tea). They're also great toasted, with a dot of jam.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Orange & Yogurt Tart
I just got back from a Virginia cabin birthday weekend with some dear friends. These little get-aways, whether at the beach or and old-time festival or for some other occasion, is something our broader circle does fairly regularly, especially because many of us don't live in the same place. But when I thought about what I most wanted to do to celebrate my 30th, this was it.
It took a while to figure out all the details. Initially we had planned for an earlier weekend and then nixed it because it was feeling too complicated. I was stressed about getting ready to go away for the spring and then thought it might not happen at all. Though our original idea was to reserve a cabin in a Virginia state park, we worried we might not have enough room, and mined dozens of Airbnbs and lakehouses for rent-- historic Italianates on peacock farms and treehouse yurts in the woods with saunas and hot tubs. Many were booked and most were out of our price range. In the end, we went back to our original plan, and though there were no fancy amenities and we'd have to squeeze in, we reserved a little (and very affordable) 2-bedroom park cabin on the James River.
Despite most of us encountering some travel complications on Friday--tornados and thunderstorms and traffic and babies on hunger strikes, the rest of the weekend was just so... easy. We played Madlibs and Exquisite Corpse around the fire, drank homemade micheladas and gin and tonics on the deck, went for walks in the woods, read and played records and took turns making meals. My friends Lora and Alex very cutely smuggled in a homemade birthday cake and frosted it last night, crediting the sound of the beater to the "milkshakes" they were supposedly making.
But it was totally relaxed, nothing pressing, no extravagant plans (though we kept checking in about our "hopes and dreams" for the day/afternoon/next hour)-- and it was just perfect. Though I was pretty stressed about all I had to do when we left on Friday, unsure if I should even be going away, it turned out to be just the check-in with friends and self to feel more sane and relaxed. Perhaps the NPR story I heard that quoted Ghandi--"I have so much to accomplish today that I must meditate for two hours instead of one"-- was foretelling.
When I made this dessert (for the same show as the Grapefruit Chess Pie), I kept telling people, before we tried it, that it "might taste healthy," worried that it might not be flavorful or exciting enough. Sure, maybe it does taste a little healthy, but it's also rich and refreshing, like an orange-topped panna cotta with an almond crust. Sometimes the thing that's the most simple and easy is really just what you need.
Orange & Yogurt Tart
From Martha Stewart's New Pies & Tarts
Makes 1, 9-inch tart
For crust:
1/2 c. whole raw almonds
1/4 c. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. coarse salt
1 c. all-purpose flour
6 Tblsp. unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces
For filling:
2 tsp. unflavored powdered gelatin
2 Tblsp. ice water
1/2 c. heavy cream
1 1/2 c. plain Greek yogurt
1/4 c. packed light brown sugar
Pinch coarse salt
3 navel oranges
For crust:
1. In the bowl of a food processor, pulse almonds with granulated sugar and salt until finely ground. Add flour and pulse to combine, then add butter and pulse to combine. Press the crumbs into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch tart pan and place in the fridge or freezer until firm, approximately 30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake until crust is golden brown, about 30-35 minutes. Let cool.
For filling and assembly:
1. In a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over the water and let stand 5 minutes. Pour cream into a small saucepan and place over medium heat. When it begins to steam, add the softened gelatin and stir until dissolved, about 1 minute. In a medium bowl, whisk together the yogurt, brown sugar, and a pinch of salt. Stir the warm cream mixture into the yogurt mixture until combined. Pour the filling into the cooled tart shell and place a sheet of plastic wrap directly on top of the yogurt. Chill until set, about 2 hours and up to 1 day.
2. Use a sharp paring knife to slice the ends off of the oranges. Following the curve of the fruit with your knife, cut away the peel, removing as much of the pith as possible. Slice the oranges into 1/4-inch thick rounds, removing seeds. Just before serving, arrange orange slices on top of the tart.
Related recipes:
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Swiss Chard & Goat Cheese Galette
It's starting to get green around here. I was looking out my window today (procrastinating again), to find that the tree in front of my house has already leafed out with its small, almost fluorescent leaves. Spring is naturally a time of regrowth and renewal, the celebration of the return to life after the cold of winter.
But it has some added import for me. My birthday falls at the end of April and this year it's a big one--my thirtieth (there, I said it). And though I've been away for the past two years, it's also the time when I head to the woods of New England to essentially live off-the-grid, forgoing regular cell phone service and internet and computers and recorded music to read books and write, cook and bake, swim lakes and climb mountains, and teach at the New England Literature Program. Usually this means that I get to see spring green arrive for a second time, and in a way where that transition is a much more present part of our lives.
Last week my friend Martha of Quicksilver Productions asked me to make a sweet pie and a savory tart for her cousins' visit. More on the sweet pie soon, but for the savory tart, her only request was that is had to be something springy, without potatoes but with onions. Immediately I thought greens-- kale perhaps, but in browsing through Martha Stewart's New Pies & Tarts, which I've been baking a lot from recently, I found a recipe for this Swiss Chard and Goat Cheese Galette. Perfect.
Swiss chard is the same plant species as beets--essentially beet greens, but chard has been cultivated to have large leaves instead of the bulbous red root. The flavor is similar though, and I especially love using rainbow chard, which has different colored stems--golden or pink or red, much like beets themselves. Martha (or her editorial team) says that Swiss chard and pine nut tarts are common in Southern France and Italy, where they're sometimes sprinkled with confectioners' sugar and served for dessert. I think this recipe is best for brunch or as a dinner appetizer.
Swiss Chard & Goat Cheese Galette
Adapted from Martha Stewart's New Pies & Tarts
Nothing-in-the-House pie crust, halved
12 oz. (about 1 bunch) Swiss chard (I used rainbow), washed, stems removed and reserved
2 Tblsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, sliced lengthwise into 1/4-inch thick slices
3 Tblsp. balsamic vinegar
Coarse salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
2 Tblsp. fresh thyme leaves
6 oz. fresh goat cheese, room temperature
3 Tblsp. heavy cream
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
2 Tblsp. pine nuts, toasted
1. Prepare half of the Nothing-in-the-House pie crust as per the directions, reserving leftover egg yolk for the egg wash. Chill dough at least 1 hour before rolling out into a 10-11 inch circle on a sheet of parchment paper. Put the rolled crust back in the fridge while you prepare the filling.
2. Slice the chard stems into 1/4-inch pieces. In a large skillet, heat 1 Tbslp. olive oil over medium heat. Add chard stems and onion slices, and cook, stirring occasionally about 8-10 minutes or until stems and onion are slightly browned.
3. Cover skillet and reduce heat to low. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the stems are very soft, approximately 15 minutes. Add the balsamic vinegar and cook, stirring, until the liquid is reduce by about half, about 2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper and transfer mixture to a medium bowl.
4. Heat the remaining 1 Tblsp. olive oil in the same skillet over medium-high heat. Add chard leaves, sautéing until slightly wilted, about 1 minute. Stir in the thyme and season to taste with salt and pepper.
5. In the bowl of a standing mixer, beat goat cheese and 2 Tblsp. cream on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Stir in the nutmeg and season to taste with salt and pepper (my goat cheese was salted, so I didn't need to add any more salt).
6. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Remove the dough from the fridge and arrange the onion mixture evenly over the crust, leaving a 2-3-inch border around the edge. Spread the goat cheese mixture over the onion mixture and top with the chard leaves. Sprinkle with toasted pine nuts and fold in the edges of the dough.
7. Transfer the dough and parchment to a baking sheet. In a small bowl, beat reserved egg yolk with remaining 1 Tblsp. cream and brush the dough with the mixture. Sprinkle crust with coarse kosher salt with desired. Bake until crust is golden about 40-45 minutes. Let cool and serve warm or at room temperature.
Related recipes:
Red & Golden Beet and Goat Cheese Tart
Tri-color Potato, Caramelized Onion, Goat Cheese & Rosemary Galette
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For executives, managers, or anyone in a leadership role who wants to learn how to manage with respect and honesty while still getting the job done; for readers of books like The Servant and The Other 90%.
A field guide for transforming mere managers into servant leaders, people who lead with the idea that managing with respect, honesty, love and spiritualit will empower employees.
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Puglia: introduction
Puglia: land of sun and sea, of endless countryside scattered with centuries-old olive trees, of baroque cities and white-washed towns, of ancient popular traditions and the mystic Taranta.
From the rocky, forest-covered Gargano to the Tremiti islands and further South still, to Gallipoli and Santa Maria di Leuca, the Puglian coastline is one incredibly long and spectacularly beautiful beach. Inland, surrounded by vineyards and centuries-old olive groves, visitors finds both large and small towns, rich in historical interest, culture and folklore. In addition to the inhabitants strong sense of humour, brilliantly expressed in local traditions such as the carnival of Putignano, Puglia is famous for its stunning baroque and Romanesque cathedrals, its beehive shaped Trulli and imposing fortified farmhouses or, Masseria. A food-lover�s paradise, this part of Southern Italy is also known for its excellent cuisine.
Puglia: suggestions from the hotels
Immersed in an organic farm in Apulia. Unique place for relaxation. (Valle Rita) →
Stay at Palazzo Guglielmo and experience an authentic slice of life in Salento - wine included! (Palazzo Guglielmo) →
Terranobile is a wonderful villa in 1898 on the outskirts of Bari, nestled in an olive grove, restored respecting its noble origin. The ideal place for a stay with style, elegance and relax. (Terranobile) →


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The Drill Down is off this week, but until we return next week with our regularly scheduled show, please enjoy this glimpse back to a kinder, gentler place, where the iPhone was new, Facebook was privately held, and US Government surveillance of private citizens was still a rare occurrence. A land we called… 2007.
Here is The Drill Down podcast's very first episode, released July 28th, 2007, featuring the podcast's original panelists, Andrew Sorcini, and Social Media experts Muhammad Saleem & Reg 'Zaibatsu' Saddler.
Show Links
Intro: Pl@stic Soul – "005-1 Electric Guitar" Outro: Freightrain Jones – "Pervs and Pornos"
The Drill Down on iTunes (Subscribe now!)
Add us on Stitcher!
Geeks Of Doom's The Drill Down is a roundtable-style audio podcast where we discuss the most important issues of the week, in tech and on the web and how they affect us all.
Hosts are Geeks of Doom contributor Andrew Sorcini (Mr. BabyMan), VentureBeat editor Devindra Hardawar, marketing research analyst Dwayne De Freitas, and Startup Digest CTO Christopher Burnor. Occasionally joining them is Techmeme editor Lidija Davis.
Pingback: The Drill Down 249: Flashback to Number One | The Drill Down


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Professional Code of Ethics for Kentucky School Certified Personnel
**copy of driver's license & social security card also required**
Current Certified Job Postings:
Director of Exceptional Education/Preschool, District position, contact Rita Voils at email@example.com or 270-343-3191
Mathematics 9-12 grade position, Russell County High School, Contact Rita Voils at firstname.lastname@example.com or 270-3433191
Superintendent, P-12 Position, Submit to: Jeffrey H. Hoover, Hoover Law Office, P. O. Box 985, Jamestown, KY 42629
English/Language Arts, Russell Co. High School, contact Rita Voilsat firstname.lastname@example.com or 270-343-3191
Certified postings can also be accessed via Kentucky Educator Placement Service K.E.P.S. Program)
Current Classified Job Postings:
Current Coach Job Postings:
Assistant RCHS Girls Basketball, contact Rita Voils at email@example.com
Please call 270.343.3191 to inquire about classified positions.
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Note: To view PDF files on this page you will need free Adobe Reader. Click here to download. Page Last Updated: 01/16/2012


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3 Meetup Groups match "Adult Indigo" near Alexandria, VA
Meet fellow Tarot Card Readers and other people interested in tarot in the greater Baltimore area .Come to the Tarot Meetup for fun & to talk about the Major Arcana,Minor Arcana & the experiences you have had with them manifesting in your life. I have Taught tarot & have been a professional Tarot Counselor for several years. The cards truly can be called the book of life. No matter what your religious background using the cards can be a wonderful way to do creative problem solving. I love to sha …
There are no upcoming Meetups.
Welcome to Consciousness DC, the online gateway to expanding awareness in the Nation's Capital!
Meetup details are available only to members.
Welcome to DC Metro Area Starseeds, Created And Maintained By: The International Starseed Network http://www.starseeds.net/ This is a place for starseeds to gather, connect and unify in their missions, If there was ever a time to enact our missions this is it!, Changes are happening through out the world, people everywhere are standing up and letting the world see who they are. Revolutions are taking place, times are changing, the EARTH is changing, WE are changing, we are also PART of the chang …
Get an alert email when new Meetup Groups like this start near you.
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What have gigantic Union flags, plastic cooked breakfasts, Olympic rings and abstract taffeta creations got in common? Give up? They can all be seen perched on heads at Ladies Day at Royal Ascot, of course! Oh my goodness gracious! True to form, no one is interested in whether the going was firm to good, soft or heavy – the form of any of the gee gees in question or anything like that. No! All we dedicated frock watchers care about is the loopy-bonkers Ascot fashion – the shiny bad-taste frocks and the novelty hats – the more literal the fancy dress theme – the better! It's what makes the country Great Britain.
After the amazing array of celebrity race-goers earlier in the week Grazia Daily is proud to present the best of Ladies Day – several royal faces, including Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie (looked considerably toned down from some of the previous hat-wearing events) and more than a few pleasing barmy attempts at headwear. Oh – and Welsh sweetheart Katherine Jenkins looking resplendent in silver. Oh, and a Middleton sighting – though only Carole and Micheal Middleton, not he Duchess. The secret of Carole's fashion success? A brilliantly chic pair of nude heels from Emmy. How marvellous.
Remember – unlike previous years at Royal Ascot, ladies have had to dress to comply with the strictures of a brigade of purple-clad fashion police – who have been on duty, roaming the race course to enforce rules such as 'dresses and tops should have straps of one inch or greater (No strapless tops allowed)' and 'all midriffs must be kept under cover'. Yeeks!
Which looks do you give the thumbs up and down to? You SIMPLY MUST let us know in the comments box below!
Read more fashion and beauty news on graziadaily.co.uk
See what's in the latest issue of GRAZIA magazine
Click here to subscribe to the GraziaDaily newsletter


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Since co-creating A Course In Miracles study group with friends at the Unity Church, I have continued to offer a weekly reading, posting inspiring passages on Wednesdays to keep the channel open. Please add your comments and questions!
This Week's Reading
6/19/13 – Text: Chap.29; Part VIII; Par.8-9
What purpose has an idol, then? What is it for? This is the only question that has many answers, each depending on the one of whom the question is asked. The world believes in idols. No one comes unless he worshipped them, and still attempts to seek for one that yet might offer him a gift reality does not contain. Each worshipper of idols harbors hope his special deities will give him more than other men possess. It must be more. It does not really matter more of what; more beauty, more intelligence, more wealth, or even more affliction and more pain. But more of something is an idol for. And when one fails another takes its place, with hope of finding more of something else. Be not deceived by forms the "something" takes. An idol is a means for getting more. And it is this that is against God's Will. God has not many Sons, but only One. Who can have more, and who be given less?
:: :: ::
Past Weeks' Readings
6/12/13 – Text: Chap.29; Part VII; Par.1-2
Seek not outside yourself. For all your pain comes simply from a futile search for what you want, insisting where it must be found. What if it is not there? Do you prefer that you be right or happy? Be you glad that you are told where happiness abides, and seek no longer elsewhere. You will fail. But it is given you to know the truth, and not to seek for it outside yourself. No one who comes here but must still have hope, some lingering illusion, or some dream that there is something outside of himself that will bring happiness and peace to him. If everything is in him this cannot be so. And therefore by his coming, he denies the truth about himself, and seeks for something more than everything, as if a part of it were separated off and found where all the rest of it is not. This is the purpose he bestows upon the body; that it seek for what he lacks, and give him what would make himself complete. And thus he wanders aimlessly about, in search of something that he cannot find, believing that he is what he is not.
6/5/13 – Text: Chap.29; Part VI; Par.1-2
How willing are you to forgive your brother? How much do you desire peace instead of endless strife and misery and pain? These questions are the same, in different form. Forgiveness is your peace, for herein lies the end of separation and the dream of danger and destruction, sin and death; of madness and of murder, grief and loss. This is the "sacrifice" salvation asks, and gladly offers peace instead of this. Swear not to die, you holy Son of God! You make a bargain that you cannot keep. The Son of Life cannot be killed. He is immortal as his Father. What he is cannot be changed. He is the only thing in all the universe that must be one. What seems eternal all will have an end. The stars will disappear, and the night and day will be no more. All things that come and go, the tides, the seasons and the lives of men; all things that change with time and bloom and fade will not return. Where time has set an end is not where the eternal is.
5/29/13 – Text: Chap.29; Part V; Par.5-6
There is no gift the Father asks of you but that you see in all creation but the shining glory of His gift to you. Behold His Son, His perfect gift, in whom his Father shines forever, and to whom is all creation given as his own. Because he has it is it given you, and where it lies in him behold your peace. The quiet that surrounds you dwells in him, and from this quiet come the happy dreams in which your hands are joined in innocence. These are not hands that grasp in dreams of pain. They hold no sword, for they have left their hold on every vain illusion of the world. And being empty they receive, instead, a brother's hand in which completion lies. If you but knew the glorious goal that lies beyond forgiveness, you would not keep hold on any thought, however light the touch of evil on it may appear to be. For you would understand how great the cost of holding anything God did not give in minds that can direct the hand to bless, and lead God's Son unto his Father's house. Would you not want to be a friend to him, created by his Father as His home? If God esteems him worthy of Himself, would you attack him with the hands of hate? Who would lay bloody hands on Heaven itself, and hope to find its peace? Your brother thinks he holds the hand of death. Believe him not. But learn, instead, how blessed are you who can release him, just by offering him yours.
5/22/13 – Text: Chap.29; Part IV; Par.5-6
How happy would your dreams become if you were not the one who gave the "proper" role to every figure which the dream contains. No one can fail but your idea of him, and there is no betrayal but of this. The core of dreams the Holy Spirit gives is never one of fear. The coverings may not appear to change, but what they mean has changed because they cover something else. Perceptions are determined by their purpose, in that they seem to be what they are for. A shadow figure who attacks becomes a brother giving you a chance to help, if this becomes the function of the dream. And dreams of sadness thus are turned to joy. What is your brother for? You do not know, because your function is obscure to you. Do not ascribe a role to him that you imagine would bring happiness to you. And do not try to hurt him when he fails to take the part that you assigned to him, in what you dream your life was meant to be.
5/15/13 – Text: Chap.29; Part III; Par.3-4
You can overlook your brother's dreams. So perfectly can you forgive him his illusions he becomes your savior from your dreams. And as you see him shining in the space of light where God abides within the darkness, you will see that God Himself is where his body is. Before this light the body disappears, as heavy shadows must give way to light. The darkness cannot choose that it remain. The coming of the light means it is gone. In glory will you see your brother then, and understand what really fills the gap so long perceived as keeping you apart. There, in its place, God's witness has set forth the gentle way of kindness to God's Son. Whom you forgive is given power to forgive you your illusions. By your gift of freedom is it given unto you. Make way for love, which you did not create, but which you can extend. On earth this means forgive your brother, that the darkness may be lifted from your mind. When light has come to him through your forgiveness, he will not forget his savior, leaving him unsaved. For it was in your face he saw the light that he would keep beside him, as he walks through darkness to the everlasting light.
5/8/13 – Text: Chap.29; Part II; Par.1-2
Why would you not perceive it as a release from suffering to learn that you are free? Why would you not acclaim the truth instead of looking on it as an enemy? Why does an easy path, so clearly marked it is impossible to lose the way, seem thorny, rough and far too difficult for you to follow? Is it not because you see it as the road to hell instead of looking on it as a simple way, without a sacrifice or any loss, to find yourself in Heaven and in God? Until you realize you give up nothing, until you understand there is no loss, you will have some regrets about the way that you have chosen. And you will not see the many gains your choice has offered you. Yet though you do not see them, they are there. Their cause has been affected, and they must be present where their cause has entered in. You have accepted healing's cause, and so it mus be you are healed. And being healed, the power to heal must also now be yours.
5/1/13 – Text: Chap.29; Part I; Par.8-9
The body, innocent of goals, is your excuse for variable goals you hold, and force the body to maintain. You do not fear its weakness, but its lack of strength or weakness. Would you know that nothing stands between you and your brother? Would you know there is no gap behind which you can hide? There is a shock that comes to those who learn their savior is the enemy no more. There is a wariness that is aroused by learning that the body is not real. And there are overtones of seeming fear around the happy message, "God is Love." Yet all that happens when the gap is gone is peace eternal. Nothing more than that, and nothing less. Without fear of God, what could induce you to abandon Him? What toys or trinkets in the gap could serve to hold you back an instant from His Love? Would you allow the body to say "no" to Heaven's calling, were you not afraid to find a loss of self in finding God? Yet can your self be lost by being found?
4/24/13 – Text: Chap.28; Part VII; Par.6-7
What can be safe that rests upon a shadow? Would you build your home upon what will collapse beneath a feather's weight? Your home is built upon your brother's health, upon his happiness, his sinlessness, and everything his Father promised him. No secret promise you have made instead has shaken the Foundation of his home. The winds will blow upon it and the rain will beat against it, but with no effect. The world will wash away and yet this house will stand forever, for its strength lies not within itself alone. It is an ark of safety, resting on God's promise that His Son is safe forever in Himself. What gap can interpose itself between the safety of this shelter and its Source? From here the body can be seen as what it is, and neither less nor more in worth than the extent to which it can be used to liberate God's Son unto his home. And with this holy purpose is it made a home of holiness a little while, because it shares your Father's Will with you.
4/17/13 – Text: Chap.28; Part VI; Par.4-5
The body represents the gap between the little bit of mind you call your own and all the rest of what is really yours. You hate it, yet you think it is your self, and that, without it, would your self be lost. This is the secret vow that you have made with every brother who would walk apart. This is the secret oath you take again, whenever you perceive yourself attacked. No one can suffer if he does not see himself attacked, and losing by attack. Unstated and unheard in consciousness is every pledge to sickness. Yet it is a promise to another to be hurt by him, and to attack him in return. Sickness is anger taken out upon the body, so that it will suffer pain. It is the obvious effect of what was made in secret, in agreement with another's secret wish to be apart from you, as you would be apart from him. Unless you both agree that is your wish, it can have no effects. Whoever says, "There is no gap between my mind and yours" has kept God's promise, not his tiny oath to be forever faithful unto death. And by his healing is his brother healed.
4/10/13 – Text: Chap.28; Part V; Par.1-2
God is the Alternate to dreams of fear. Who shares in them can never share in Him. But who withdraws his mind from sharing them is sharing Him. There is no other choice. Except you share it, nothing can exist. And you exist because God shared His Will with you, that His creation might create. It is the sharing of the evil dreams of hate and malice, bitterness and death, of sin and suffering and pain and loss, that makes them real. Unshared, they are perceived as meaningless. The fear is gone from them because you did not give them your support. Where fear has gone there love must come, because there are but these alternatives. Where one appears, the other disappears. And which you share becomes the only one you have. You have the one that you accept, because it is the only one you wish to have.
4/3/13 – Text: Chap.28; Part IV; Par.2-3
There is a way of finding certainty right here and now. Refuse to be a part of fearful dreams whatever form they take, for you will lose identity in them. You find yourself by not accepting them as causing you, and giving you effects. You stand apart from them, but not apart from him who dreams them. Thus you separate the dreamer from the dream, and join in one, but let the other go. The dream is but illusion in the mind. And with the mind you would unite, but never with the dream. It is the dream you fear, and not the mind. You see them as the same, because you think that you are but a dream. And what is real and what is but illusion in yourself you do not know and cannot tell apart. Like you, your brother thinks he is a dream. Share not in his illusion of himself, for your identity depends on his reality. Think, rather, of him as a mind in which illusion still persists, but as a mind which brother is to you.
3/27/13 – Text: Chap.28; Part III; Par.8-9
The miracle would leave no proof of guilt to bring you witness to what never was. And in your storehouse it will make a place of welcome for your Father and your Self. The door is open, that all those may come who would no longer starve, and would enjoy the feast of plenty set before them there. And they will meet with your invited Guests the miracle has asked to come to you. This is a feast unlike indeed to those the dreaming of the world has shown. For here, the more that anyone receives, the more is left for all the rest to share. The Guests have brought unlimited supply with Them. And no one is deprived or can deprive. here is a feast the Father lays before His Son, and shares it equally with him. And in Their sharing there can be no gap in which abundance falters and grows thin. Here can the lean years enter not, for time waits no upon this feast, which has no end. For love has set its table in the space that seemed to keep your Guests apart from you.
3/20/13 – Text: Chap.28; Part II; Par.12
The world is full of miracles. They stand in shining silence next to every dream of pain and suffering, of sin and guilt. They are the dream's alternative, the choice to be the dreamer, rather than deny the active role in making up the dream. They are the glad effects of taking back the consequences of sickness to its cause. The body is released because the mind acknowledges "this is not done to me, but I am doing this." And thus the mind is free to make another choice instead. Beginning here, salvation will proceed to change the course of every step in the descent to separation, until all the steps have been retraced, the ladder gone, and all the dreaming of the world undone.
3/13/13 – Text: Chap.28; Part I; Par.1
The miracle does nothing. All it does is to undo. And thus it cancels out the interference to what has been done. It does not add, but merely takes away. And what it takes away is long since gone, but being kept in memory appears to have immediate effects. This world was over long ago. The thoughts that made it are no longer in the mind that thought of them and loved them for a little while. The miracle but shows the past is gone, and what has truly gone has no effects. Remembering a cause can but produce illusions of its presence, not effects. All the effects of guilt are here no more. For guilt is over. In its passing went its consequences, left without a cause.
3/6/13 – Text: Chap.27; Part VIII; Par.1-2
The body is the central figure in the dreaming of the world. There is no dream without it, nor does it exist without the dream in which it acts as if it were a person to be seen and be believed. It takes the central place in every dream, which tells the story of how it was made by other bodies, born into the world outside the body, live a little while and dies, to be united in the dust with other bodies dying like itself. In the brief time allotted it to live, it seeks for other bodies as its friends and enemies. Its safety is its main concern. Its comfort is its guiding rule. It tries to look for pleasure, and avoid things that would be hurtful. Above all, it tries to teach itself its pains and joys are different and can be told apart. The dreaming of the world takes many forms, because the body seeks in many ways to prove it is autonomous and real. It puts things on itself that it has bought with little metal discs or paper strips the world proclaims as valuable and real. It works to get them, doing senseless things, and tosses them away for senseless things it does not need and does not even want. It hires other bodies, that they may protect it and collect more senseless things that it can call its own. It looks about for special bodies that can share its dream. Sometimes it dreams it is a conqueror of bodies weaker than itself. But in some phases of the dream, it is the slave of bodies that would hurt and torture it.


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Archive for the 'Broadband' Category
BT Openreach's Ethernet delivery and repair worsens
BT Openreach's delivery and repair of Ethernet connections continues to deteriorate, the Office of the Telecommunications Adjudicator (OTA2) reports.
Br0kenTeleph0ne reported earlier that Openreach had suspended a new Ethernet ordering system, Ethernet Access Direct (EAD), on 15 September after communications providers (CPs) had found it didn't work. EAD is meant to process orders for sub-1Gbps Ethernet connections.
The OTA2 described this as "a disappointing set-back for the Ethernet community", adding "Given the strategic importance attached to this key development, and the need to 'get it right', the decision by Openreach to 'suspend' whilst a fundamental re-assessment is undertaken is a decision which is welcomed by the CP community."
BT said CPs could still place orders through the legacy system that EAD is meant to replace.
In its April report just out, the OTA2 said, "We are still awaiting sight of the plan for restarting the (EAD) programme and CPs are expressing concern that the time taken to get to a clear set of strategic goals for the system and for Openreach to share their thoughts on how any new model will work."
OTA2 went on to say, "The Ethernet products are experiencing a deteriorating performance – there are problems with the delays in planning and the CPs are reporting increasing frustration with the responsiveness of Openreach in any direct communication (job controller answer times have increased significantly) and the jeopardy and escalation processes don't seem to be as efficient as needed."
Problems with Ethernet ordering may also affect perceptions that Openreach ignores the needs of business customers. OTA2 said that during summer (2012) a number of CPs complained to Ofcom that "Openreach was not addressing the needs of business-focused CPs and their customers, leading to unacceptable levels of service for this group of CPs."
CPs and Openreach started to review possible improvements for copper-based products (WLR, ISDN, MPF and SMPF). "Good progress has been made against the Q1 objectives and those for Q2 agreed," OTA2 said. "A suite of Business KPIs has been developed, which have identified some key variances with industry as a whole, which are now being collaboratively analysed for root cause and to develop appropriate service improvements."
In other news OTA2 reported that there were 9.02 million unbundled lines, 6.15 million WLR lines and 2.15 million numbers using CPS.
BT's broadband rip-off – the evidence
Credible evidence that BT is charging more than double what it should for wholesale superfast broadband products has probably prompted national regulator Ofcom to investigate a complaint that BT is conducting an illegal margin squeeze.
The evidence is contained in a confidential report commissioned by TalkTalk, currently the biggest user of BT's local loop unbundling (LLU) products, which made the complaint.
Ofcom presently does not regulate BT infrastructure provider Openreach's pricing for SFBB fibre products believing to do so would discourage BT's claimed £2.5bn investment in fibre to the cabinet (FTTC). Openreach's prices are generally meant to be very close to its costs, especially where it has 'significant market power', in this case, outside the Virgin Media Docsis footprint.
The 59 page report found that Openreach's costs to build its FTTC network are £4.39 per line per month. BT Openreach charges resellers £7.40 or £9.95 depending on the bandwidth provided. Current prices for BT's Infinity FTTC services start at £13/month and go up to £26/month. BT Retail offers discounted prices of £6.50 and £20 per month respectively for the first three months.
The report, by German telecommunications analysts Wik Consult, is a sequel to its 2012 report to ECTA, the association of European challenger carriers, that found incumbent operators price LLU access so high as to leave no money for LLU carriers to profit or invest in network upgrades or expansion. It showed that LLU had been a failure in Europe, allowing incumbent operators to retain almost 100% of the market.
"At the prices charged for copper, all the cash flows have gone to the incumbent, and entrants have been persistently cashflow negative," Wik reported, adding the same might become true for access to fibre-based products unless regulators stopped it.
For its report to TalkTalk, Wik modelled Openreach's costs based on publicly available information. It found the main factors that affect its costs are penetration (take-up of GEA on the FTTC platform), the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) including any risk premium applied to NGA, the extent to which existing ducts can be reused for the installation of fibre between the street cabinet and local exchange, the depreciation method and asset lifetimes.
It checked the results produced by its base model and sensitivity tests against BT's own statements and evidence from more developed markets in Europe. The checks suggest Wik's assumptions and conclusions are conservative.
In particular, it suggests that 65% of non-Virgin Media SFBB subscribers will take up an service provided using Openreach infrastructure. Active electronics had a life span of eight years, cabinets and fibre 20 years each, and ducts 40 years, it said.
Almost two years ago Kevin McNulty, Openreach's general manager for next generation access commercial partners, told Br0kenTeleph0n3 BT's NGA financial plan was based on a break-even period of 10 to 12 years and a 20% take-up.
For the record, Ofcom announced on 1 May that it would investigate a complaint from TalkTalk Group that alleged BT has been conducting an illegal "margin squeeze" on wholesale access to Generic Ethernet Access (GEA), BT's FTTC product.
Ofcom said the complaint alleged abuse of "a dominant position in breach of (regulations) in relation to the supply of superfast broadband ('SFBB'). Specifically, (TalkTalk) alleges that BT has failed to maintain a sufficient margin between its upstream costs and downstream prices, thereby operating an abusive margin squeeze."
Ofcom said it could investigate such allegations if it had "reasonable grounds" for suspecting a breach.
TalkTalk said in a statement, "We have long maintained that there needs to be tighter regulation in superfast broadband to ensure a level playing field and therefore deliver real benefits for consumers and businesses. We are pleased that Ofcom is taking this matter seriously and have decided there is reasonable suspicion to investigate BT's fibre pricing."
BT said it was "disappointed" by Ofcom's decision.
Ofcom expects to report its initial findings towards the end of the year. It will decide then whether or not to proceed.
Vaizey sings BT's praises
BT is a great British company doing a great job for Britain. We know this because communications minister Ed Vaizey said so in parliament.
He was answering a question from one of his predecessors, Stephen Timms. Timms wanted to know why the entire rural superfast broadband fund is being handed to one company—to BT. "BT is now behaving like any monopolist that has everyone over a barrel, and we have heard about the consequences from all sides this morning. Why has competition been forgotten?" he said.
Vaizey replied, "It just so happens that BT has won the contracts, and I reject the suggestion that it is behaving like a monopolist. We are getting value for money for our contracts, and BT is a great British company doing a great job for Britain."
He complimented Timms "who did so much to promote competition. As a result of that, BT has just a 30% share of the broadband market, and the market share of the historic incumbent in the copper broadband market is one of the lowest in the world. That is a testament to the right hon Gentleman's great work, but we are carrying it on. We made sure that our process for rural broadband was competitive."
As Francis Urquhart might say, "You may think that; I couldn't possibly comment."
Has BT exaggerated the 15 million homes with SFBB access?
Only 20% of the lines in Cambridgeshire's new fibre to the cabinets (FTTC) cabinets will be enabled for superfast broadband (SFBB). If this is the case in the rest of BT's FTTC roll-out, it suggests that BT's claims that 15 million homes have access to SFBB are wide of the mark.
The revelation came at a feedback meeting to the Cambridgeshire Digital Champions on the county's new contract with BT for next generation broadband.
According to notes taken by Mel Bryan at the meeting, Annette Thorpe, BT's regional director for the east of England, told the meeting that BT would apply the same criteria for populating DSLAM cabinets under the CCC (Cambridge County Council) contract as under the commercial areas. "DSLAM cabinets (which come in two sizes max. capacity 256 lines or 288 lines) will initially only have 20% of lines in the PCP offered SFBB," Bryan wrote.
Almost two years ago Kevin McNulty, Openreach's general manager for next generation access commercial partners, told Br0kenTeleph0n3 BT's NGA financial plan was based on a breakeven period of 10 to 12 years and a 20% take-up.
Bryan reported Noelle Godfrey, programme director of Connecting Cambridgeshire (CC), said CCC expects 90% of premises will be covered by SFBB speeds above 24Mbps plus a further 8% of premises will be covered by "fibre" below 24Mbs. 2% will receive at least 2Mbps. Where this speed is measured is not defined.
Bryan wrote, "This figure of 98% SFBB is somewhat misleading – only 20% of 98% will initially be able to receive SFBB. As customers in the Commercial Areas have already discovered, they may have to wait months post the initial DSLAM installation before BT adds more equipment in the DSLAM cabinet to accommodate the increased demand."
Bryan wrote, "There are no plans to offer FTTP under the CCC contract but after heated representations from the floor who were prepared to pin their money on Annette there and then, BT /CCC agreed to look at this."
Thorpe told the meeting the BDUK's £6.7m contribution to Cambridgeshire had to be spent "within the life time of the current parliament" which ends on 17 May, 2015. This gives BT an installation period of just over two years.
"What happens if a general election is called earlier?" Bryan asks. "What happens post-2015 if a village DSLAM cabinet (capacity 256 lines) becomes full and another DSLAM cabinet is required? Will BT deem that commercially viable? In my village we only have one PCP serving 315 premises."
According to Bryan, Tony Smith, BT Openreach programme manager, told the meeting "it was very difficult, at this stage, to forecast time-scales and even when BT had done their detailed planning down to the exchange level, they cannot forecast how long an installation of the fibre cables and DSLAM cabinets will take, due to the unknown condition of their ducts, planning permission in conservation areas (which most of our villages have), obtaining power supplies, permission to dig up roads and pavements, etc., etc., etc. "
The meeting heard that 20 suppliers had registered an interest in the county's project. Only three were chosen for "dialogue" after which BT was chosen "for offering the widest coverage and best value".
The names of the other suppliers were not disclosed, nor was the methodology by which value was measured.
BDUK whistleblower vindicated by BT cabinet deal
Mike Kiely, the sacked BDUK whistleblower who warned that BT is inflating the cost of street cabinets for next generation broadband access in rural areas, has had his prediction vindicated by a BT deal with a parish council.
BT says it is to supply fibre to two new street cabinets it will install in the Oxfordshire village of Binfield Heath, giving villagers access to an 'up to' 80Mbps broadband service.
BT says the village, 2.9 miles by car from the closest exchange in Caversham, was not included in its commercial roll-out plan. However, the 648 residents (according to the 2001 census) clubbed together to find the necessary £56,000, or £28,000 per cabinet.
BT's press release quotes Paul Rollason, chairman of Binfield Heath Parish Council, saying, "The residents were determined not to miss out on faster broadband speeds, and formed an action group to talk to BT about how we could help the economic case to bring fibre to our part of Oxfordshire. They worked out the extra cost to rearrange and uplift the network, and between us, we have raised the funds."
Bill Murphy, BT's managing director for Next Generation Access, said, "Binfield Heath's residents … really engaged with us around the best solution for their community, and together we found a way to bring fibre speeds to almost the entire village; it's a fantastic result."
For BT. Two years ago the villagers of Iwade in Kent paid £12,667 for a street cabinet and fibre link to the exchange in Sittingbourne 4.4 miles away by car, a mile and a half further than the distance at Binfield Heath.
Iwade's bill was close to the £13,000 average cost of cabinets installed during phase four of BT's next generation (NGA) broadband roll-out in Northern Ireland, according to Kiely's confidential report.
Kiely's report showed that BT was inflating the cost of rural NGA cabinets to around £30,000 each, pretty much what Binfield Heath is paying.
The department of culture media and sport (DCMS), which manages BDUK, sacked Kiely after he blew the whistle on BT's apparent price gouging and his report leaked to Br0kenTeleph0n3.
Binfield Heath vindicates Kiely's report. Culture secretary Maria Miller should re-instate him at once, and sack those who turned a blind eye to his warning.
Kroes dodges tough questions over UK broadband
The European Commission faces tough questions over its role and commitment to an open, transparent and competitive market for next generation broadband.
News that the Valuation Office Agency is assessing how it plans to tax wireless broadband infrastructure prompted one Br0kenTeleph0n3 reader to ask the European Commission what it thinks of the move.
Mike Phillips of West Chiltington, West Sussex, has been battling to get high speed broadband into his village for years. He wrote to Neelie Kroes, the commission's Digital Agenda champion, to question the apparent growing bias against fixed wireless broadband. He also asked Ms Kroes what she thought of Fujitsu's decision not to bid for BDUK contracts, leaving BT with uncontested access to BDUK's treasure, when EU state aid rules require a competitive process.
The reply came from DG Connect. It noted that nine firms had expressed an interest in BDUK's money, but "seven of them withdrew during the selection process due to e.g. financial difficulties, change in strategy or preference for different intervention model than investment gap funding". Fujitsu's withdrawal would be "unfortunate".
DG Connect went on to say that local councils can step outside the BDUK framework but still have access to state aid, including BDUK money. "In such cases the local authorities shall comply with the conditions of openness, transparency and non-discrimination when conducting the tender procedure in line with the principles of the national and EU public procurement rules," it said.
Phillips is not leaving the matter there. He has written back to DG Connect to ask, "Does the EU agree with the principal of state aid being given to an incumbent telco to provide, at best, an overall maximum of 24Mbps, and often less, whilst an established fixed wireless NGA network is available and can be expanded at far less cost?
"Why has the Commission given the fixed wireless industry in the UK a far greater challenge than that given to BT, namely to provide a minimum of 30Mbps and to revisit served premises to upgrade then to fibre when available? BT have publicly stated they will not undertake the latter and cannot provide the former under FTTC."
There are other questions one should ask. DG Connect's reply does not mention the main reason BT is the only recipient of BDUK largesse: the game was rigged. Geo's Chris Smedley, Vtesse's Aidan Paul and others have been explicit and public on this: the Ofcom-approved terms and conditions attached to third party access to BT's poles and ducts in rural areas make it impossible to compete against BT. Why does DG Connect ignore this?
In practice BT has made its NGA proposals to local councils subject to non-disclosure agreements. This has hidden the terms and conditions under which BT could receive up to £1.3bn of taxpayers' money. Is this what DG Connect means by open and transparent?
VOA seeks info on wireless broadband networks – to tax them
The Broadband Stakeholders Group is hosting a meeting at which the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) will set out its views on the potential application of the non-domestic rating regime (aka 'business rates') to wireless broadband network infrastructure.
This meeting marks the start of a public consultation before the VOA publishes a Practice Note to clarify the valuation for non-domestic rates of wireless broadband network infrastructure. It is looking for inputs from industry on rental values and costs of installation.
The meeting comes less than a month after Vfast withdrew its proposal for a wireless broadband network for Tunbridge Wells, saying the VOA had told it the scheme would be subject to business rates taxes.
The VOA is the same organisation that saw fit to subject lit fibre to business rates and introduce three different ways of valuing it, two of which favour BT and Virgin Media. A recent Ofcom report on the market for >1Gbps services found the fibre tax is a serious inhibitor for investment.
Alan Bradford, head of telecoms at the VOA, will provide an update at the BSG meeting and there will be time for Q&A.
The BSG says this meeting is the VOA's first opportunity to begin this industry consultation. However, Vfast's reaction to its meeting with the VOA suggests that the VOA has already made up its mind to tax wireless networks. It is now just trying to fix the rate.
The meeting will take place from 10.00 to 12.00 on Monday 22 April at the Intellect offices, Russell Square House, 10-12 Russell Square, London WC1B 5EE.
The BSG thinks this will interest mobile operators, fixed wireless providers and other stakeholders with an interest in the non-domestic rating regime.
RSVP to firstname.lastname@example.com by Tuesday 16 April. Places are limited so early registration is advised.
Rates threat scuppers wireless broadband in royal town
Vfast, a wireless broadband provider, has withdrawn a proposal to supply Royal Tunbridge Wells because the Valuation Office Agency has told it such as service will attract business rates, making Vfast's offer commercially unviable.
In a letter to Hilary Smith, the Tunbridge Wells' economic development officer, Sean Doherty, Vfast's strategy and business manager, said,"I am very sorry to say that we are unable to continue with the tender for Tunbridge Wells. We had a very exiting (sic) package put together and are really keen to do this however after our meeting today with the head of the telecoms team at the VOA it means that it will not be viable for us.
"We have been told quite clearly that the Tunbridge Wells project will incur Business Rates. The cost of this added to the cost of the franchise added to the share of revenue added to the start-up costs mean that we have regrettable (sic) decided not to proceed."
Tunbridge Wells is not short of broadband. SamKnows says some parts can get Virgin Media and FTTC, not to mention Sky, Tiscali, TalkTalk, C&W, O2/Be and AOL.
Why does the town feel the need for a wireless option? Will BT offer the town a wireless service based on its new 2.6MHz mobile licence? If so, what business rates will BT's new service attract?
Smith and Doherty did not respond to requests to comment. Nor did HM Revenue & Customs, which speaks for the VOA.
This is not the first time Vfast has been denied wireless business in Kent. It was gazumped by BT in Iwade when the incumbent unexpectedly offered to upgrade three of the four cabinets that serve the village for free. This let parish councillors spend £13,000 to upgrade the remaining one, rather than the £49,000 originally promised by Kent County Council for the whole village.
INCA CEO Malcolm Corbett, who attended the Vfast meeting with the VOA, described it as "exploratory".
"The meeting was exploratory in the sense that VOA are trying to work out where FWA (fixed wireless access) providers fit in their scheme of things. If you read the VOA practice notes they either cover mobile operators where masts/towers form part of the hereditament or fixed line NGA providers charged either per user connected or under a receipts and expenditures regime. FWA doesn't fit neatly into either category. Essentially the VOA are going to think about what it all means…"
Given that the European Commission permitted wireless access for state aided next generation projects last year, and that in February BDUK issued guidance to local authorities regarding the use of wireless, the VOA's unsettled position is inexcusable.
Br0kenTeleph0n3 has already highlighted the double standard BDUK is applying to wireless broadband operators. BDUK asks them to meet higher performance targets than BT for NGA and to commit to a fibre to the home roll-out at some point in the future, unlike BT. Further uncertainty due to VOA prevarication begs the question, what is the game here?
Many existing wireless broadband operations are run by volunteers for their communities at cost or less, solely because it is the only way to provide a more or less acceptable and affordable broadband service in those areas. Adding a tax burden would immediately kill most of them.
The few remaining commercial wireless operators would be hard-pressed too, and likely forced to raise prices. If they went out of business, taxpayers would have to give more money to BT's rural roll-out to resupply the service. It is unlikely that the money raised by taxing wireless access would cover the cost of rolling out FTTC to areas currently being served by wireless.
The only party that stands to benefit from a tax on wireless broadband access is BT.
Is that what this government means by a competitive market in telecommunications?
Music piracy drives legal sales (a bit)
For light relief I sometimes follow copyright issues, especially music piracy. So it was with great interest I came across this little tidbit from the European Commission's institute for prospective technological studies.
The good guys there analysed the clickstreams from 16,000 digital music consumers and concluded that a 10% increase in clicks on pirate music download sites leads to a corresponding 0.2% rise in clicks on legal download sites.
Conversely, a 10% increase in clicks on legal streaming websites leads to up to a 0.7% increase in clicks on legal digital purchase websites. The difference in effect between legal and illegal sources on music sales is basically zero, they found.
"Our results suggest that internet users do not view illegal downloading as a substitute for legal digital music," say the researchers.
"Our findings indicate that digital music piracy does not displace legal music purchases in digital format. This means that although there is trespassing of private property rights (copyrights), there is unlikely to be much harm done on digital music revenues."
Bottom line? The Pirate Bay, Megaupload etc were doing the music companies' marketing for them. For free.
It's time to repeal the misbegotten Digital Economy Act, and lift the useless court-imposed ISP blocks on content.
More broadband farce, this time it's BDUK
The Financial Times has come to the belated view that the BDUK procurement of next generation access to broadband is a farce.
The trigger appears to have been Fujitsu's decision not to compete for any of the contracts available under the BDUK procurement framework, a process that has cost taxpayers £10m to create and left BT as the sole supplier.
The formal announcement has been a long time coming, but has been anticipated ever since the Cabinet Office effectively blacklisted the company by describing it as a "high risk" supplier of government IT systems.
That description did not preclude Fujitsu, with BT the only qualified suppliers under the BDUK framework, from bidding for business.The final straw for Fujitsu appears to be BDUK's absurd requirements for wireless suppliers of NGA broadband to rural areas.
These were published on 18 February in response to the European Commission's sensible relaxation of the ban on wireless as a means delivering next generation broadband.
Much of Fujitsu's business plan, at least in Cumbria, relied on wireless to get around the need to access BT's poles and ducts. When this was ruled inadmissible, Fujitsu withdrew, leaving BT as the sole bidder in Cumbria.
The commission then rethought the ban and raised it. However, it still appears to believe that fibre to the home is the end game, but it is willing to acknowledge that high speed broadband delivered by cellular technologies such as LTE are the way to go.
This is making life hard or impossible for fixed wireless broadband providers. In its guidance to local councils regarding the use of fixed wireless in their coverage plans BDUK asks for service levels that not even fixed line suppliers have to meet.
For example, wireless providers must show that their system is capable of providing access speeds in excess of 30Mbps download, with at least ~15Mbps download speed to end-users for 95% of the time during peak times in the target intervention area.
Then it says the wireless operator must put in a fibre to the home network . "The subsidised solution must be an interim solution chosen where a fibre-based solution is not yet economically viable, and there shall be a commitment to replace non-wired connections with fibre at a later stage."
Kijoma Broadband, which supplies high speed wireless connectivity in the south of England, says, "There is no such guarantee (on download speed) for FTTC for example. FTTC starts at 15 Mbps sync speed and as previously reported, 5 Mbps orders will be accepted via wholesale providers," he says.
BT has doubled its original offer of 15Mbps download speeds to "up to" 30Mbps. Ofcom this week reported that the average national download speed is 12Mbps, due largely to Virgin Media's largely urban roll-out of high speed broadband over cable TV channels.
FTTC connection (speeds) will be lower in practice due to line length, crosstalk, ISP contention, traffic management policies, and other issues, Lewis adds.
Regarding the commitment to install fibre, Lewis says, "If fibre in a low density area is viable in around five years, then it is viable now. The only time it would improve is if the rural area in question gained a large new housing estate."
Fibre is going into rural homes and businesses, but it is due to community-based efforts such as B4RN and Gigaclear. Both face hostile responses from BT, which has consistently failed to publish precise coverage plans for both its £2.5bn "commercial roll-out" of FTTC to two-thirds of UK homes, and its BDUK-funded roll-outs in "not spots".
As Ewhurst resident Walter Willcox notes elsewhere on the blog, even having a fibred-up street cabinet in your street doesn't guarantee access to a high speed service because the cabinet's capacity may already be taken up.
This should raise questions regarding the percentage of "homes passed" that can actually be served by the cabinets BT has installed so far. BT has said in the past that it would add more street cabinets if the newly installed ones reach capacity. Ewhurst's experience is to the contrary.


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He told reporters at the LA Times: The Envelope Emmy panel in Los Angeles that cable channel AMC had always intended to hold back new episodes until 2012.
"The scheduling of the show [and it] not being on this year, that's part of the network plan," he claimed. "[Fellow AMC series] Breaking Bad was always going on in the summer. That's the way they do things."
Discussing his recent contract issues with AMC, Weiner admitted that the dispute was "bad, but it worked out".
"It was public, and there was no reason for that," he argued. "But that's what happens. The most important things for me are that after it's over, I get to go back to work and that we get to do three more years of the show."
Weiner also confirmed that the show's writing team began work on the new run "about three weeks ago".
"The show will be about the next part of these people's lives and what's going on in the world will impact them the way things impact us," he explained.
Weiner went on to say that he was "thrilled" to have series star Jon Hamm (Don Draper) direct the upcoming fifth season premiere.
"Jon is already involved very much in every aspect of the show," he said. "He's on set as much as the camera is. I'm glad that he asked to do it."
> Mad Men: A quick chat with Jared Harris


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The clinical internship occurs during the student's first year of study. It is an opportunity to work closely with one of Loyola's clinical faculty developing therapeutic and diagnostic skills. Students are exposed to different disabilities spanning both pediatric and geriatric populations. Typically, students are placed at one of the clinical centers for 2-3 days per week and spend an additional day accruing clinical hours in a specially designed lab-type class that focuses one semester on adult neurogenic disorders, and the other semester on clinical audiology. Student progress is closely monitored, providing weekly feedback and formal conferences at the midterm and again at the end of the semester.
Second-year students transition from the Loyola Clinical Centers to one of the diverse settings offered in the Baltimore Metropolitan area. Equipped with foundational clinical skills and several semesters of academic classes, students apply this knowledge in their externship clinical affiliations. During their second graduate year, students can expect two different externship experiences – typically one that is medically based and one that is focused on education. The goal is to provide students with a well-rounded clinical experience to meet and exceed the standards set forth by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Throughout each clinical experience, students gain expertise with clients of different ages, diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds and a variety of speech-language and hearing disorders. Students are also engaged in professional report writing, multidisciplinary meetings, parent education, and screenings.
Loyola University Maryland has professional affiliations with many outstanding schools, hospitals, and rehabilitation centers in the Baltimore area. Clinical affiliations for externship experiences include, but are not limited to, the following facilities:
All clinical supervisors hold the Certificate of Clinical Competence awarded by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.


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Hi Everyone,
This is an issue I encountered that I struggled to find a solution to. Just wanted to post this topic so that the next poor person who encounters the same problem can find the solution here.
So, in an action state, I was creating a four minute timer. That timer would access flow-scope and modify one of the values stored in it. Later (in a separate action state), I would access flow-scope to check to see if that value was set. The dilemma was that the value was NEVER set, even if the timer-task executed after timer expiry. In debugging, I noticed that if my timer expired BEFORE the return statement for the action, then flow-scope would contain the correct value. But, if my timer expired AFTER the action state function had returned, the value was lost.
The solution was actually to use conversation-scope instead of flow-scope. I believe (and please correct me if I am wrong) that flow-scope gets serialized between states, and that conversation-scope does not. Because I was changing the value after the action state function had completed, the flow scope attribute map had already been serialized, and my values were lost. Apparently, conversation-scope does not serialize, so this problem does not occur.
Feel free to correct me or post a comment. I'm relatively new to web-flow, so it would not surprise me if I said something incorrectly.


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Think of it as a missed cut.
Come Friday evening at The Barclays, some 50 entrants will wind up with a free weekend and no FedEx Cup points after missing the cut at the first stop of the PGA Tour's "playoff" series. Jason Dufner will be no different in that regard.
Except that Dufner won't have spent four days trying to solve a Bethpage Black course that cuffed players around at two U.S. Opens.
The onetime South Florida pro raised a few eyebrows when he didn't bother to sign up for this week's stop. After tying for seventh at Greensboro – where most top names sat out – he'll spend the week recharging his batteries and sharpening his game back home in Auburn, Ala.
"It's big events with me for the rest of the year," Dufner said before departing Greensboro. "I'm going to get a little bit of rest and get fresh for the first two events that I'll be playing in the playoffs."
Scrutinize the numbers, and it turns out to be a low-risk play.
At No.2 in the FedEx Cup standings, Dufner is playing with house money. Not only is he in no jeopardy of missing next week's Deutsche Bank Championship, he could fast-forward to the 30-man Tour Championship finale without hitting a shot.
Last year, Dufner's 2,110 points would have left him 14th heading to East Lake. In 2010, it would have been good for 13th.
That was the year, too, that Jim Furyk was disqualified from The Barclays after oversleeping his pro-am time. Four weeks later, it was a mere footnote after Furyk captured the FedEx Cup anyway.
The only harm Furyk suffered was a couple weeks of indignity. Likewise, Dufner isn't likely to endure any lasting effects. He'll drop out of the Top 10 after this week, but has room to make up ground over the next two.
Then comes the potential upside – a fresher Dufner might have a little edge down the stretch at both TPC Boston and Crooked Stick. If he notches top-15 finishes at both venues, he'll put himself back in position to parlay a win at East Lake into a FedEx Cup crown.


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Schuler Shook News
16 May 2013
It is not every day that theatre consultants don Tyvek suits and respirators as part of the job. Jody Kovalick, ASTC, did just that as part of the design team that helped restore the Paramount Theatre in Cedar Rapids, Ia. >>>
15 May 2013
The design skills and creativity of Schuler Shook's lighting designers were recognized with multiple awards this year from the Illuminating Engineering Society and Illumni. >>>
24 Apr 2013
Harold "Chip" Ulich, Project Theatre Consultant at Schuler Shook, recently received special recognition for his work in the arts from the Oklahoma City University School of Theatre. >>>
18 Apr 2013
Chicago Grid highlights the new offices of the International Association of Lighting Designers, especially the new lighting, designed by Schuler Shook. >>>
21 Mar 2013
Jim Baney, IALD, IES, LC, LEED AP, was part of the 14-member Next Generation Luminaires jury that convened in late February for the NGL Indoor Judging process. A Partner at Schuler Shook, Jim was honored to be a part of the judging panel... >>>
1 Mar 2013
Can light affect your health? Our understanding of the non-visual effects of light and lighting design is constantly growing as the body of research grows. Michael White, EDAC, LC, LEED AP, Senior Lighting Designer at Schuler Shook will be presenting at the Environments for Aging Conference in April. >>>
18 Dec 2012
Mathew Westwood of "The Australian" votes on which theatre seats he deems the best from across Australia. Hamer Hall wins! >>>
29 Oct 2012
Six of Schuler Shook's recently completed projects have been honored with AIA Chicago Chapter Awards. Our lighting designers and theatre consultants are pleased to have been a part of the teams that created award-worthy designs. >>>
25 Oct 2012
Schuler Shook's theatre planners helped perfect the heart of the University of Chicago's "Bold, Hardworking" new Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts: its performance spaces. >>>
23 Oct 2012
Jack Hagler was recently honored as a Distinguished Alumnus of Texas Tech University's Department of Theatre and Dance. >>>
13 Sep 2012
Opening with three days of performances and celebration, the Dallas City Performance Hall is the newest and most welcome addition to the Dallas Arts District. Schuler Shook's theatre planners and lighting designers are pleased to have played a role in bringing Dallas City Performance Hall to life. >>>
23 Aug 2012
Watch a quick video to see the 12-tonne automated floating "technical zone" at Hamer Hall in The Arts Centre Melbourne. The Tech Zone is a carefully designed hybrid stage grid that incorporates all of the new over-stage functionality into a tight steel frame. >>>
23 Aug 2012
Architectural Lighting magazine recognized the inventive lighting design of The University of Chicago's Midway Crossings project with a Special Citation Award in the ninth annual AL Light & Architecture Design Awards. >>>
22 Aug 2012
Bob Shook, ASTC, IALD, a founding Partner of Schuler Shook, sat down with Chris Bentley of Architect's Newspaper to discuss the profession and practice of lighting design...as well as the latest theatre project he has completed. >>>
1 Aug 2012
The Arts Centre Melbourne's Hamer Hall re-opened 26 July 2012 to much fanfare and anticipation. The sold-out crowds were treated to a completely revitalized venue with the most sophisticated concert hall technical systems in the world. >>>


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September 14, 2010
Emmanuel opened the school year with the 92nd Academic Convocation.
Emmanuel's Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Frank Scully opened the ceremony by welcoming Emmanuel students, faculty and staff. Emmanuel student Tristyn Sepersky '11 along with Special Instructor of Performance Arts and Music Coordinator Timothy Evans, performed an opening song followed by a prayer read by Student Government Association President Caroline Dias '11.
Beth Murphy, founder of Principle Pictures, documentary producer, director and author, was this year's speaker.
Murphy's work complements this year's book selection for the summer reading assignment, Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson, which also focuses on social change and education, particularly with regard to Afghanistan.
Sister Janet recognized the Emmanuel students, class by class. She encouraged members of the senior class to continue making Boston their extended classroom, juniors to continue experiencing the real world through internships, study abroad and community service, the sophomore class representatives to remain focused as they declare their allegiance to a particular area of study, and the freshmen to begin to make an imprint on Emmanuel.
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