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Juf & Meester
Ik hoop echt dat jullie me nog niet beu zijn, want ook dit jaar kun je me overal terugvinden: in scholen, lezingen, worshops, magazines,…
In de voorjaareditie van Juf & Meester (Van In) staat een interview over mijn project Beeld in de Klas en het boek Kijk! Spelen met fotografie.
Het interview zelf was heel fijn. Ik kreeg de tijd om mijn hele verhaal toe te lichten, van de roadtrip met Pablo de Kever in Mexico tot het aanleren van de beeldtaal. Het is niet eenvoudig voor journalisten om door het bos de bomen te zien met al mijn activiteiten en doelstellingen.
Het is een mooie samenvatting van de oorsprong van het hele project. Wat mijn visie is. En natuurlijk de verschillende activiteiten om daar te geraken!
Heb je als leerkracht dit exemplaar in het lerarenlokaal liggen? Dan kun je deelnemen aan de wedstrijd en een exemplaar van Kijk! Spelen met fotografie winnen!
Boekenbeurs 2013
Was je maandag 11 november op de Boekenbeurs? En heb je een Pablo de Kever ingekleurd? En samen met je mama of papa iets grappigs geprobeerd bij de fotografe Evy Raes?
Kijk dan snel, want jouw foto staat in dit album!
Wil je graag nog eens Pablo de Kever kleuren? Of heb je deze workshop gemist? Dan kun je hier de kleurplaat opnieuw downloaden.
Boekje nr2
Wie mij op twitter volgt heeft af en toe iets zien verschijnen over "boekje nr2″. De meeste mensen hebben hun handen vol met één boek en een bijhorende expo. Voor mij is dat niet genoeg. Dus was ik tussendoor ook nog een ander boek aan het schrijven. Eentje dat véél meer tijd opslorpte dan een doorsnee fotoboek!
De kennis en ervaring met kinderen en fotografie van de voorbije 3 jaar zitten gebundeld in mijn boekje nr 2 "Kijk! Spelen met fotografie". Op dit moment zijn er 2 boeken rond fotografie voor kinderen op de wereldmarkt. Oersaai en vol 'regeltjes'. Verwacht dat dus niet van dit boekje! Mijn uitgangspunt is om kinderen een hoop kapstokken te bieden om anders te leren kijken én op een speelse manier fotografie te ontdekken.
De voorbije maanden werd hard gezwoegd op het fotograferen, herschrijven, testen op kinderen, zoeken naar de juiste woorden,… Het resultaat is een boekje vol illustraties en foto's waar kinderen uren zoet mee zijn!
En natuurlijk speelt Pablo de Kever in dit boekje een belangrijke rol! Hier en daar duikt hij op. In een fotopuzzel, in een opdracht waarin kinderen hem laten krimpen en hij zit ook verstopt in Mexico Stad! Je kan de Mexicaanse sfeer voelen, zonder de clichés. En de controlefreak in mij zorgde ervoor dat de route door Mexico, in de inhoudstafel, ook klopt met de verschillende foto's genomen in Mexico.
Ik tel hier alvast de dagen af om het boekje in levende lijven uit te proberen. Geniet eerst nog van de zonnige zomer, en dan zorgt Pablo de Kever voor een leuke afsluiter!
Love Bugs Parade
Voorbije zondag had de 5e Love Bugs Parade plaats in Brussel. Honderden broertjes en zusjes waren aanwezig. En de pers was ook nieuwsgierig naar de kever met een naam… Mijn liefde voor Pablo de Kever kun je hier nog eens bekijken:
TV Brussel
De Love Bugs Parade stond dit jaar in het teken van de Mexicaanse kever, naar aanleiding van de "Vochol" die geëxposeerd wordt in Bozar. Deze vocho gemaakt in huichol kunst werd gemaakt door miljoenen parels en wordt binnenkort geveild.
Vocho Verde
Sommigen hebben mijn fotoreeks "Vocho Verde", over de groene kevertaxi's in Mexico Stad, al bewonderd in Autoworld in 2010.
Voor diegene die toen de kans niet kregen is er goed nieuws. De reeks kun je nu gratis bewonderen op de knalgroene muur van het koffiehuis De Dikke Kat, Kasteelpleinstraat 26 in Antwerpen. De foto's hangen nog omhoog tem 26 januari. En voor wie ook verbonden is met een beetje nostalgie met deze groene kevers, de foto's zijn ook te koop!
Als je meer wil weten over de fotoreeks, dan kun je een kijkje nemen op de website over de Vocho Verde. En voor diegenen die al een déjà-vu voeldenopkomen… Ja, natuurlijk lijkt Pablo de Kever op deze taxi's! Ik heb hem speciaal in het leven geroepen om deze verdwenen iconische taxi in ere te houden!
Een spetterend 2013!
2012 was een mooi jaar. Ik heb helemaal mijn draai gevonden in fotografieworkshops voor kinderen. Leerkrachten en leerlingen zijn laaiend enthousiast telkens Pablo de Kever en ik langskomen in de klas. Dus meer van dat in 2013!
De voorbije weken was het hier nogal stil op de blog. Maar mijn hoofd en leven waren overladen!
Achter de schermen werk ik hard aan de laatste voorbereidingen van de expo Vlaamse Interieurs in september. Maar met mijn gedachten zit ik al in een grotere expo. In het echte leven heb ik afspraken met partners, aanvragen voor subsidies, etc. Alles krijgt vorm, beetje bij beetje.
Ook Pablo de Kever domineert mijn leven. We zitten nog altijd in de homologatiefase. Misschien is er deze week een kans dat we verder geraken… Mijn handen heb ik vol met het voorbereiden van de workshops. En voorbije weekend stond er een lang artikel in De Morgen! Nu nog achter de schermen verder werken aan dat nieuwe project…
The adventures of Pablo
Pablo the Beetle has been in Belgium for only 3 months. Giving me a lot of joy when I see his smiling face. Or when I see kids turning their heads to follow this bright green car driving down the street!
But these Belgian rules have been keeping my head busy to get Pablo registered! Everyone wants some money, nobody knows what to do exactly. Sounds pretty Mexican to me! We should be on the right track now. I only need to save to get some modifications done and start the procedure of homoligation.
In the mean time, I'm allowed to drive around with his Mexican licence plate in Belgium. I love the Angel and 682-SEE!
As for the project, I'm preparing some workshops for summer. Pablo the Beetle will introduce children into the colourful Mexican world and photography! Next Friday I'll hold a Mexican party for 44 kids, including enough homemade piñata's, jamaica drinks and corncake. But the aspect that triggers me the most is the children's questions. They'll challenge me as a photographer to capture the answers. I do not need to finish up the workflow for that!
For sure I'll keep you posted about Pablo and his adventures!
Getting ready for Pablo!
I dedicate the upcoming week totally to Pablo de Kever (Pablo the Beetle).
On Monday I'll speak about the whole project on an ICT-Day for teachers in Belgium. On Tuesday I'll pick Pablo up at the harbour in Zeebrugge. Giving an interview to the radio and spend the next days to get everything done with the customs and other administration. On Friday I will present him to the press and everybody who wants to meet him!
In between I'm getting ready to visit different places with Pablo. You can check out his planned visits on this map!
Pablo de Kever in Belgium
Very good news, Pablo de Kever is almost in Belgium!
You can meet him for the first time in Belgium on Friday the 11th of February at 11am at 't Steen in Antwerp. Afterwards I'll be using him as my personal transportation. So you can bump into him while driving on the Belgian roads!
The childrens' blog will continue. Kids can ask questions about any subject. They will challenge me to answer with images! It gives them the opportunity to discover the interaction of blogs (social media) and educate them with visual inputs.
Pablo de Kever to Belgium!
The last two weeks have been busy and stressfull! I felt a bit sad of the unfortunate news that none of the companies I contacted want to sponsor in getting Pablo to Belgium. Without knowing anything about international transportation, I asked friends, Facebook and Twitter for companies.
Only 3 of the 10 companies I found answered my requests, most with pretty high costs for such a small car! By Wednesday little time was left… So I headed to the office of Wallenius Wilhelmsen here in Mexico City. In 90 minutes Pablo's ticket was fixed! For a darn cheap price! The good news was that the boat leaves already on Monday (10th of January). Which meant that he had to be in Veracruz fast to get Pablo registered on time!
So Thursday I woke up before sunset and headed for Veracruz, 409 km. The customs agent was really nice. I paid all the costs for him and the port. He would take care of putting him on the boat. So I had to leave Pablo behind, feeling sad and happy at the same time. The only thing I can do now is wait…
I have one week left in Mexico City to take my flight. Yes, after months of trying, calling and e-mail I fixed the flight with KLM (for the ones who didn't know it yet!). And yes, I fly in Business Class because they had no other space left, bummer for them!
I still got loads of adventures and pictures left to share. Which I will do in the next weeks. Once Pablo gets in Belgium, a new adventure starts. To begin with getting him registered to drive on the smooth Belgian roads!
San Cristobal de las Casas
I was very eager to get to Chiapas. In my 10 previous visits to Mexico, I never made it up to there. After hearing so many good stories, I had high expections!
My first stop was Tuxtla. The main city of the state. Feels like Mexico City on a smaller scale. So I headed soon to San Cristobal de las Casas. There I got totally shooked up…
During my 3,5 months I was free to take pictures. Suddenly the people started to ask money to shoot their bananas on the market?! I got stunned by the high amount of tourists. I saw about 50 Flemish people in 2 days! Which I normally never meet on my trips to Mexico. Having all their camera's pointed to the Indigenas, I felt embarrased to use my camera.
Everyting made me wonder… The bunch of tourists, plenty of Indigenas in traditional clothes, busses of tourists overwhelming nearby villages, paying to visit a church, not being allowed to take pictures of their traditions,… For me, it's the perfect example of how tourism has a (negative) impact on a society. It's a good thing that the Indigenas keep their knowledge of making craft. But if they start inventing objects, it's too weird. Like a cover to keep your tortilla's warm, or a traditional cuddle in the shape of a giraffe or lion – which can't be found in Mexico!
At the end I felt very sad for the Indigenas. I'm sure there's a more constructive way for them to keep their traditions and make a living. This kind of tourism is exhibiting them. San Cristobal feels like a zoo where tourists gaze to the locals and fling by very quickly.
Of course, San Cristobal de las Casas has some nice things to offer. Loads of places offering good coffee, freshly roasted and grown somewhere nearby in Chiapas. And for me thé place to spot VW Beetles! I will miss these colourfull cars and their smiling face a lot! And if you love nice shops and coloured houses, it's definitely worth a visit.
Acapulco – Mexico City
There are a lot of rules in Mexico, most of the people don't apply them. But because I am a foreigner here, I can't take any risks. So we have to get back to DF to get the verification of Pablo. Otherwhise we'll get a big fine.
A bit improvised, we decided to spend more time to discover the area between Acapulco and Mexico City. Our first stop in Chilpancingo was fast. Too big city, too hot, too crowded and little to see. We drove some more kilometers to get to Iguala. Just a quick stop to move on again the next day.
In Iguala we hoped to see something interesting. It's the birtplace of the flag. We saw a few statues in the city centre. But no tourists at all. Well, that's because there's nothing much too see!
The next stop was exhausting to find our way in the city, Taxco. With steep hills and curved streets, it's hard to figure out where the centre is. The loads of beetles and nice atmposhere around the main square during the night, make this city worth to see!
Nearby, there's a town Ixcateopan where you can see the dead body of Cuathemoc. It's a though and dangerous trip, luckely I didn't used Pablo the Beetle to get there. If you're curious to see how an important Mexican (the last Aztec emperor) is honoured in a disabandoned, humid improvised museum. It's a must see. But probably you don't have the time so you can better leave behind this dissapointed attraction!
I heard that Cuautla is the place to find out about Zapata. Because there are several questions about sombreros, I hoped to find some information and some hats to take to Belgium. It was another big dissapointement. OK, there is a museum with the steam train that Zapata used. The lady of the tourist information looked suprised when I told her the city is the place of Zapata. She told me his house stands in a little village about 10 km away, in Anenecuilco. But the museum there was closed! It does has a nice big rural painting about the live of Zapata.
Next day we left to Tepoztlan, the place where Cuetzalcoatl (the feathered snake) was born. There are a lot of 'spiritual' people stranded in this place, believing that there is a special energy coming from the earth… But it's NOT the birthplace. It's another town Amatlan 6 km away. I was curious to check out this 'energetic' place. But there's only a statue, hidden under a tree, refers to this other special item of the Mexican history…
I also stopped in Cuernavaca. Yes, another big city with little sightseeing. There's no shopping centre, the nice stores are spread all over the city. The only reason to go there is the good weather, if you can afford a hotel with pool or has Mexican friends with their own!
I am looking forward to visit the South of Mexico. Let's hope the colours, food, traditions and people can charm me more…
Oh, tourists in Belgium shouldn't be dissapointed anymore when they see Manneken Pis. Believe me, it's more worth a visit than the things I saw the last week! #Zapata #Cuathemoc #Cuetzalcoatl
Pablo, almost ready to hit the road!
The last days have been extremely busy:
– fixing newly discovered failures (catalysator, steering box,…)
– find a painter to put the name "Pablo" on the beetle (I felt soooo excited, like he finally got real!)
– obtaining a declaration at the police station of my boyfriends robbed wallet (after visiting 5-6 different stations, only a bribe worked :( 35 EUR is expensive!)
– photographing the 200 years of Independance (at a school to show later on Pablo's blog!)
– …
After some adventures (see below) we managed to get Pablo the Beetle ready for the roadtrip tomorrow! I am so excited and nervous! But I love the way he looks! I hope to post a small video of his whole transformation soon. I need to go and pack first for the trip!
The stereotypes of Mexican did kill our schedule last week… A friend of a friend didn't show up after being late for 4 hours. So I wanted to check Lucha Libre for kids and we took the metro with too many documents (which I normally never do). Due to that we lost a lot of time. Not only trying to find another person to take Pablo into the crazy centre of Mexico City to replace the tires. But also to find a decent police officer to make a declaration of the robbery.
Until now I never got in touch with the Mexican police. Yes, I am very proud I never had problems in visiting Mexico for 10 times! But this trip is different… The moment of the robbery, the police didn't do anything (only complaining we were too loud!). We asked several police officers and police stations to make a declaration. They always invented a new excuse to put us through: it happened in another district, the other side of the street is not our responsibility, your boyfriend needs a translator,… I exploded after 4 days trying to just make a simple declaration! The emergency number of the Belgian Embassy didn't work, so we felt very alone facing the police officers trying to get rid of us.
A Mexican lawyer, who was helping a friend, approached me and told me the Belgian Embassy should join us and force the police to make the statement. If not it would take us a long time, being transfered to other places. And it would cost us money.
An officer, a friend of him, showed up and said he would call to his boss to see if they could help. And than you know… only a mordida (bribe) can make things work. He fixed the papers, we payed him all the money I had left in my wallet (600 pesos =35 EUR) and that was it! That's how things still go in Mexico (City), even after 200 year of Independance! #sad
But I don't feel bad about the bad "service" in Mexico. Corruption and bad workers are all over the world… Also KLM still didn't fix my problem of my return flight (still 5 weeks to wait for a standard answer! #fail #customerservice).
Conclusion. If you bump into the Mexican police, try first to avoid them! If you need to, pay them a mordida so you fix your problem fast. So you might better have the help of a Mexican. Call your Embassy for help (I dunno how much they want/can help). Or you can also try one of the Police Stations for Tourists. (I couldn't try them myself because we live 1,5 hour away from them.)
Historical Centre
Calle Victoria, 76 Colonia Centro, Delegacion Cuauhtemoc
Phone: 53 46 87 20 Ext 20 (24/24)
Zona Rosa
Calle Amberes, 54 Delegacion Cuauhtemoc
Phone: 53 45 53 82 (9am-5pm)
Paseo de la Reforma, 42 Delegacion Cuauhtemoc
Phone: 53 46 87 40 (9am-5pm)
"Waiting" is a keyword in Mexico. It takes a while to get to another place in Mexico City due to a lot of traffic. People are late so you wait for them and loose half of your day. And it takes some time to get Pablo ready for the trip!
People who know me can confirm that waiting isn't my strongest point… But I have to be strong right now and try to be good at it, in waiting!
Only 10 days left to start the roadtrip. Mentally, I am totally ready to kick off. The last days I will use to show some parts of Mexico City to my boyfriend: Casa Azul of Frida Kahlo, Xochimilco, Lucha Libre…
We are also finishing Pabo itself. And he needs more attention than expected: 2 new front freigns (18 EUR/each), one rear freign (25 EUR), bougies (12 EUR for 4),… Luckely all his parts are cheap! But all these little bits are killing my budget.
So I was very happy to eat Comida Corida for 40 pesos (2,5 EUR) at the market. It's a "homemade" meal including soup, maindish, drinks and sometimes desert. My daily budget is set on 15 EUR per day, which is possible. But at the moment I spend much more. Thousands of pesos dissapear every day… I'll be happy to have this expensive part behind me and enjoy cheap food on the markets!
Today I visited Pablo again. The top completely wrapped in plastic, covering the nice light gray colour. He was ready for the next step, turning grass-in-spring green on the lower part!
(Click on the picture for a serie on flickr)
I felt really excited to see him becoming real, until now he was just a drawing on the blog.
He needs a few more days to dry and polish. On Saturday I should have him on my side. He will only need some small replacements to get totally ready for the trip. For sure I'll post some more pictures soon!
But excuse me, I have to pick up my boyfriend at the airport and get some quality time :) I want him to show the Angel de la Independencia by night on Reforma, the Zocalo, Templo Mayor and Museum of Antropology. Busy schedule for 1 day!
Pablo getting ready for the paint job
Today I went to visit Pablo de Kever to check out his paint job. He's totally disarmed: no lights, no mirrors,… Scrubbed to get ready for his new colours light gray and ecological green!
I did some inspection and they do a good job. They will cover all the details and remove paint from the previous owner sticked on the windows!
It takes over 5 days to paint the outside of the car and it takes 5 500 pesos (350 EUR) of my budget. I will keep his original colour inside, just for the memory. And because I don't have the time or money to paint the inside. At least another week and 10 000 pesos (600 EUR), I have neither of them! If this seems a lot of money… In Belgium you pay 4 000 EUR to get a vocho painted on the inside and outside!
Tomorrow they paint the light gray on the top, on Wednesday they will finish the green. I'll have a peek again on this stage to take some pictures of Pablo being surrounded by green clouds!
Oh, for the VW freaks. Here a view of the engine! I also bought some original pieces to remplace: bougies, cables,…
Very good news! After seeing many horrible VW Beetles, we managed to find Pablo! Look! Mira!
Model – 2003 – Classic
Weight – 820 kilos
Kms – 87 000
Color – Green Jade Perla
He's in good condition: engine, exterior and interior. He needs to be fixed just a little bit. Replacements of bougies, tires, franes,… thanks to the sponsoring of orginal VW parts by Antonio Trejo (email@example.com – contact him if you need any VW Beetle parts anywhere in the world)!
And of course, Pablo needs to get his right colours! That will happen this weekend. Of course I will follow this process with my camera and will share his transformation on the blog!
At this moment I have only 5 pesos left, well Antonio lent me some. Although I had loads of money in my MasterCard, the daily withdrawal was cut. It was a challenge to get the last bit of the money this morning. He's twice the budget I had in mind 34 500 pesos (2 100 EUR), but he's worth every peso!
It's the first car I ever bought in my life… A black VW Beetle was the first car I drove. And I used the Vocho Verde (taxi) every day to get to my internship in Mexico City 6 years ago. I never imagined at that time to have my own, but today I have! Where's the champaign?! Oh, right Mexico. I'll get some the tequila this weekend ;)
Hasta luego, with new adventures!
The mystery of VW Beetles vanishing in Mexico City
Another day went by… It seems like each day there are less VW Beetles for sale in Mexico City. I did discovered why…
The search is difficult and little time is left. So I got some extra help, thanks to an e-mail from Belgium! And I am verry happy to have Antonio Trejo on my side!
After checking the internet, we saw two vochos. Both in a very sad condition, although the adds mentioned "muy bueno condiciones". For them this includes holes in the ceiling, missing bits in the door, broken windscreen, missing parts in the engine…
So we went back to search on the internet and newspapers. But they have just 1 or 2 new adds with vochos each day. And the famous second-hand newspaper Segunda Mano is not released on paper anymore, only on the internet since 2010. There is another newspaper left, Segunda Trato, release on Thursdays. So lets hope a lot of people who don't use internet put their vocho for sale in Segunda Trato!
And really sad news, the Beetles in Mexico City dissapear fast! The government of Mexico City wants to get rid of them, but there is still a high demand in other cities. For example Acapulco, where they still have loads of white Beetles as taxi's – I will check this myself in a few weeks. I did see the first piece of evident today! I saw in a garage plenty of green taxi's and white Beetles. They were fixing only green taxi's to sell them outside Distrito Federal.
Let's hope we find Pablo soon, and keep him safe from unrespectfull drivers or wholesalers!
Where is Pablo?
Yesterday I spend the whole afternoon with the mechanic. I got to practise my Spanish again. He explained me the new colours of the taxi's, but still no vocho!
After 1,5 hour of delay, the guy arrived with his beetle of '94. It got a decent investigation of the mechanice and it failed… The engine was too old, not working smooth. It should cost about 25 000 pesos (1 500 EUR) to fix everything! On top of the purchase of the car 20 000 pesos (1 000 EUR). My budget can't handle that.
Any old vocho would face this problem. So we focus on finding a model of 2000 or more recent. People didn't answer their mobile phone of the adds. We checked one, but it has been a taxi. Although he claimed it never was.
So back to zero. The mechanic and I will spend the whole day together on Tuesday to call and check beetles. He's confident we will find a good one that day! He claims he has loads of time to fix and paint to car. So that job should be done fast.
While waiting, he told me that the new colours refer to Bicentenario. I heard that before, but never received a detailed explanation. Now I did. The golden colour refers to the 200 years of Independance of Mexico. The red/magenta colour is to remember the Mexican revolution in 1910. I assume they refer to the blood that got spilled, like the Mexican flag. Red for the people who died, white for hope and green for the nature.
Conclusion of this weekend. It's easy to find and buy a vocho, but it's hard to find one that could take us 7 000 km or more!
How to buy a beetle in Mexico City? Part IV
It's not that easy to find a good one. Mexicans love their bochito! So they are not eager to sell them. Or it sells really fast!
I keep on repeating Step 6 (Tell everybody you are looking for a vocho + handout your phone number) in combination with Step 5 (waiting!). I am not that kind of person to sit and wait… So I got the next step.
7. Check out the internet (Be Aware! You get dizzy by the numbers and all the windows popping up!)
There are Models 2003 – the ultimate ones! – in offer, but 7 500 EUR is out of my budget. I found today about 15 vochos who seem to be in a good condition (models '90 -'00) and fit more or less in my budget (1 000 – 1 500 EUR). The next thing I can't do myself…
8. Ask your friend to call all these people (Most of them are already sold, but you might be lucky!)
During my search on the net, I bumped into some funny vochos! No Photoshop!
My schedule of the last days was soooo busy…
I visited some AIESEC friends I hadn't see in for 5-6 years. It was great to catch up again, after I survived the heavy rain with all my luggage!
The meeting with Volkswagen México was fine, but it didn't help me a lot in my search for a vocho. The one that an employee sold was in a bad condition. His "new" motor was a homemade modified fuel injection motor – which could explode any minute. And the "oil" of his engine was grease, in stead of motor oil. We wouldn't survive 6 000 km with that one! No Pablo yet! But I have now some friends looking in Puebla to for vocho's. We'll find Pablo soon!
The rest of the weekend I have been shooting a reportage for the Belgian childrens' news Karrewiet. It was a lot of fun and very interesting to see how a Belgian family lives in Mexico – with the necessary amount of Belgian chocolate! It will take a long while to show the result 'cause I'll edit the video when I get back in Belgium, January 2011.
And of course, heading back to Mexico City is always an adventure! You plan your return on Sunday evening, but you end up leaving the next morning. I got stucked in an enormous traffic jam with the bus. So there was only one (Mexican) solution. Ask the busdriver to let me out and open the trunk in the middle of the road to get out my luggage. Than cross asap to avoid the fast cars on the other lane. And jump in a vocho taxi to get home, finally! Sorry, no pictures of that because I avoid to take out my iPhone or camera in these crowds when I am alone.
VW México
Today I met Volkswagen México to see if they could help me with finding a vocho… Bad news, all the vocho's they had are sold! They only have very important models left :(
But they were very kind to help me and look for a solution. Tomorrow I'll check one of the employers who sells his car. *fingers crossed* Maybe I can hug "Pablo" tomorrow!
Oh, social media is not in their vocabulary… Too bad. Pablo de Kever is a good opportunity to communicate about their brand. Let's hope they grab the chance before the project is finished!
Stamps of Pablo the Beetle
Last night I spend hours on making prints of Pablo the Beetle. My sister was so nice to make me a stamp. And now I use it to make small gifts to hand out to the Mexican children who helped me with the video. I have about 100 now, but I don't think it will be enough for the whole trip…


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subset: commoncrawl


text:
COVINGTON, Ind. —
Once I wrote that if one nation had the largest, most well-equipped and best trained military, few would likely challenge it — out of fear of reprisal more than any other reason. It is always better to negotiate from a position of strength than one of weakness.
What has President Obama done? Reduced our nuclear missiles while negotiating with the Russians. Heard on a open microphone telling the Russian president that after being re-elected he would be able to do more. Cut our military and has plans to reduce it further. This while Russia and China rush to build their military.
Russia has a long history of reneging on treaties. Afghans kill our soldiers for handling of the Qur'an and Obama apologizes. Our ambassador and three other Americans are killed. Muslims in Egypt start killing Christians two days after our embassy was attacked. Obama apologizes for the video and offers the Egyptians $450 million more in aid.
Max W. Morgan
Covington, Ind.


text:
MARKSVILLE, La. (KALB News Channel 5) - According to Avoyelles Parish Sheriff's Department a man was arrested late Thursday for allegedly trafficking drugs in the Marksville area.
Thirty-year old, Troy Dominick of Marksville was arrested after an investigation in the Marsville area by the Avoyelles Parish Sheriff's narcotics investigators.
Dominick was reportedly arrested for having suspected heroin, powdered cocaine, and five dosage units of Roxicontin in his possession.
A search of Dominick's residence reportedly revealed additional suspected heroin, 64 dosage units of Roxicontin and Xanax, powdered cocaine, approximately 32 rocks of suspected crack cocaine, marijuana and a Ruger 9mm semi-auto handgun.
Deputies said they seized $15,550 in cash believed to be the proceeds of illicit narcotic trafficking.
Dominick has numerous prior arrests relating to narcotics and crimes of violence.
Dominick was booked into the Avoyelles Sheriff's Office and charged with the possession of schedule I, IV CDS with Intent to distribute, resisting an officer, resisting an officer by force or violence, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
He was also charged with cruelty to juveniles and obstruction of justice.
No bond has been set.
The investigation is ongoing.


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LAS VEGAS — The idea of Manny Pacquiao being knocked out cold was shocking enough. The sight of him face down on the canvas, unresponsive even as bedlam broke out all around him, was positively frightening.
Pacquiao's wife, who broke down in tears, tried to get in the ring to aid her husband.


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The Dreamy Knits We Want for Fall
Why the Rose Is Beauty's New Secret Weapon
Meet the Jewelry Industry's Next Superstars
Summer-to-Fall Street Style: Celebrity Edition
Deciphering the Kristen Stewart Phenomenon
10 Ways to Get Over the Late Summer Scaries
Emma Watson Is Also Disgusted By Those Nude Photo Leaks
Your Fall Shopping List, According to Your Horoscope
Here's who put their best face forward this week.
For every personality type.
Emma Stone doesn't look like this anymore.
The most gorgeous hair and makeup of the night.
Steal the top model's signature look.
We assembled a list of ELLE-approved salons in every state. ...
Bey has the most requested cut in the country.
We surveyed the top 100 salons across the country to bring y...
Straight from her longtime friend and hairstylist.
The secret to great hair is all in how you wash it.
Because it's chicest way to beat the unbearable summer heat.
Salons and stylists share the most popular cuts so far.
How to style it, when to wash it, and (most importantly) who...


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Colin Kaepernick doesnt do failure easily.
Frankly, hes not good at it. Every coach whos guided him, from his youth in Turlock through Jim Harbaugh with the San Francisco 49ers, quickly understood what Kaepernicks about.
Winning. Success. Out-competing the other guy.
Those qualities, combined with Kaepernicks special physical skills, make him one of the most appealing athletes on the American sports scene. He carried his team into the Super Bowl last season in only his 10th career start. In the dog-eat-dog NFL, thats downright unreal.
Which brings us to todays NFC Championship game in Seattle, the 49ers final barrier toward a return trip to the Big One. Theres really no need to downplay it the game is Kaepernicks biggest challenge to date.
OK, I already can hear your argument: So last years Super Bowl wasnt important enough for you and your shriveling attention span? Wasnt Kaepernick already front and center for the game that defines Western civilization? Did you go AWOL that day?
Granted, I was there I did survive some fun in the French Quarter the night before and chronicled the whole thing for posterity. And Kaepernick, though he and his team fell 5 yards short of the most dramatic comeback in Super Bowl history, didnt fail that day. He lifted his team through a 28-6 deficit and a power outage. He was the reason the 49ers created all that excitement in New Orleans.
Heres why todays game trumps the Super Bowl on Kaepernicks career ledger. He returns to arguably the only place on Earth, CenturyLink Field, where hes failed on a massive scale.
Its impossible to spin the ugliness from 42-13 and 29-3, the twin 49er flameouts in their last two trips to Seattle, Harbaughs two worst losses as 49er coach. The latter, absorbed in September when everyone on both sides knew the consequences, is why Kaepernick and Co. slog back to that architecturally-induced noise machine.
In those two games, Kaepernick threw for one touchdown and four interceptions. His passer rating was 20.1. Worse, he appeared to be unnerved and his anxiety affected his teammates. They collapsed, crushed by the Seahawks and the decibels on which they rely.
I doubt if Kaepernick ever has washed out on an athletic field to that degree. His response, however, adds to this games importance. He must rise above the ghosts and deliver what his team needs.
If youve followed his career at all, you know this is the kind of challenge Kaepernick loves. Hes fueled by slights both real and perceived, from the drivel on Twitter to nitpicking TV talking heads.
Those 2011 draft-day numbers his No. 36 selection, 35 below Carolina QB Cam Newton were stamped on his brain before last weeks win. They formed the roots of Kaepernicks much-discussed Superman celebration. He uses that stuff as more wood thrown onto his fire. He simmers on the surface. If you look close enough, you might even see that chip on his shoulder.
Professional athletes, at least the good ones, are hot-wired to bust down barriers stacked in front of them. For Kaepernick, those barriers arent more daunting than at the Seahawks home.
His load will be heavier than his counterpart, Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson, who will hand off to Marshawn Lynch as a conduit to his play-action and scrambling.
The 49ers own their own reliable running back in Frank Gore, but their test is more complex. They run headlong into the best secondary in pro football, a clingy, vocal and aggressive bunch that has confounded Kaepernick. Hes yet to rush for a touchdown against Seattle.
Kaepernick must fit his passes into tiny places, away from defenders like Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor. Tight end Vernon Davis and receivers Anquan Boldin and Michael Crabtree will have no other choice but to contort their bodies to clutch passes over their heads and near their feet while they wear the Seattle defense like a second skin.
This is not groundbreaking strategy. The 49ers recognized their task against the Seahawks long ago. But in their last two trips to Seattle, Kaepernicks tosses into traffic have produced some of the nastiest carom-job interceptions hes seen as a pro. Those sudden changes melted his teams confidence.
Wiggle room? There will be none. Hell be confronted by the same exam against the same team that delights in tormenting him. He and his receivers must be precise and on the same page, or Seattle will write its own book.
The 49ers victory against Seattle in December demonstrated personal growth in Kaepernick. Hes been the anchor of the teams eight-game winning streak, including the playoff victories in the Arctic freeze of Green Bay and the East Coast cool of Charlotte. His 3-0 record in road playoff games towers over the combined 1-7 by Joe Montana and Steve Young.
But can he slay Beast Mode and the other monsters from the Northwest? Can he succeed where hes failed so dismally?
Bee staff writer Ron Agostini can be reached at email@example.com or (209) 578-2302. Follow him on Twitter @ModBeeSports.


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For those with a DVR, basic cable or satellite television and a penchant for Formula One racing, you know of Vitaly Petrov. For those who lack the aforementioned penchant, be clear that Petrov is not the provocation of any Pussy Riot demonstration, at least to my knowledge.
Ice Ice Billy
A modest proposal: Have NHL players pay to play
Finding value at the gas pump
The thermocouple on my water heater had to be replaced this week – on Wednesday to be exact – in that sliver of time that fell between returning home from a day at the office and the scheduled dinner at a friend's house at or about 7:30 pm.
Thunder Road in Switzerland? Take a right at the light…
Bruce Springsteen's European audience also knows its cues. Over a run of European shows that flew through sets as long as 4 hours, 6 minutes and drove noise curfew police to hard liquor, fans knew when to raise and wave their hands and sing along in English.
Reward: Fly missing since July 6
After boarding a connecting flight in Chicago that was bound for Düsseldorf, three things immediately occurred to me. First, there was virtually no leg room, and this will be a claustrophobic ten hours. Secondly, my chair back doesn't recline enough to compensate for any lack of leg room. And lastly, this fly, which is buzzing around the cabin, has plenty of leg room.
Talking Las Vegas while on tour in Germany
Sven revealed he had recently visited Las Vegas while attending a conference. And so, in a selfish effort to turn the conversation back to being about the local, I asked the local what he thought of the tourist's local city since he had been a tourist there before.
Anthony Davis' unibrow in for rude awakening
Former University of Kentucky basketball player and National Basketball Association draft prize, Anthony Davis has trademarked two phrases that refer to his famous unibrow. "Fear The Brow" and "Raise The Brow" are now off the table to potential marketers and apparel companies. Will it do any good?
Hooterville, Nev.: It's time
I asked my buddy T.J. this week by text message to tell me his favorite moment from the television series Green Acres. "Any Arnold (Ziffel) moment…" he said. "Cracks me up thinking about Arnold."
Inner peace at 193 mph
Anthony Anderson earned 14 traffic tickets last week for doing 193 mph on a motorcycle in the rain near Albany, New York. One of the tickets was for speeding.
The road to six-toed cats and Mayor Bubba
Two-lane Highway 41 blends into the grayed rain shower on the horizon ahead. The rented but dented east-bound Dodge Avenger coasts with its cruise control locked in at an easily steered 56 mph. Erica and I are putting distance between us and a bride who hit the rental car in a shopping center parking lot, and a Las Vegas Wranglers overtime loss in Game 3 of the ECHL Kelly Cup Finals.
Kelly Cup, Southwest Florida demand perfection
Southwest Florida is a dangerous place. Losing one's footing near a canal can mean a sizable meal for an alligator. An awareness lapse while driving will cause one's rental car to be collected by the scores of lane-drifting senior citizens wafting down the roads.
Like a good neighbor, your teammate is there
Dennis is my neighbor. And quite frankly, I don't know what he does all day.
Wranglers' game 1 promotion is next to the legal pads
In 2008, the Las Vegas Wranglers hosted Games 3, 4 and 5 against Cincinnati in the ECHL Kelly Cup Championship Finals. As the Wranglers were in the Queen City knotting up the series at one game apiece on a late third-period goal by current Wrangler Adam Miller, "Red Sea in Game 3" was the marketing message back here at home.
Las Vegas beats a stacked deck
With so much hyperbole about the Las Vegas Wranglers and Alaska Aces organizations standing on different sides of the demarcation between good and evil, I have yet to be anecdotal about the differences between the two. Until now.
Rumor: Alaska has Fembots
The details of the Alaska Aces are quite inconsequential. But these evil geniuses – with Mr. Bigglesworth presumably in tow – are bringing their top-seeded collection of sharks with "lasers" attached to the tops of their heads to Las Vegas.
Searching for Alonso Winkleman
Facebook is the refrigerator door of our times. We post our hand-traced drawings of turkeys for all of our friends to see there. Oddly enough, most of these friends would probably never be invited over to see our real refrigerator door, even if it guaranteed a thrilling avalanche of accolades over the macaroni art depiction of your house ravished by beams of bright yellow sunlight.


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As an Authorized Internet Retailer with Wizards of the Coast, we can only ship current Magic the Gathering sealed products within the U.S and its Territories.
Each 2012 Core Set Fat Pack contains 9 Magic 2012 booster packs, The Magic 2012 Player's Guide, 1 learn-to-play insert, 1 pack of 40 Magic 2012 basic land, 1 Magic 2012 Spindown Life Counter (available only in this Fat Pack).
The Magic 2012 Core Set follows the same blueprint as the Magic 2011 Core Set, -the best-selling Magic core set of all time.
Like the Magic 2011 Core Set, a significant proportion of the Magic 2012 Core Set will be new cards. The rest of the set will be familiar to players from throughout Magic's 18-year history.
249 card Core set.


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I got to watch our first edit film of good/bad plays of yesterday's practice. Now comes teaching time - learning from our mistakes and reminding everyone of the things they excelled in practice - especially when we started slow but had a good practice.
A lot of guys are still adjusting to the altitude. It takes some time to get used to being in the mountains if you've never been here before.
Really impressed with Tim Hardaway, Jr. (Michigan). He has a great shooting routine everyday, I wish I could videotape it. I may try tomorrow. He is REALLY good and his approach to the game is very professional. He's been coached and raised RIGHT!
Lunch was light and quick. Back to the video room for quick film study.
At night, we had a scrimmage against some Air Force Academy players. Our effort was good, but our execution needs work.
This is great for me as an assistant again as I get the chance to talk to players during games as well asa before/after practice.
Our dinner was top notch again. This time we ate at the athletic training center - reminded me of being in the Cafe at JU again with lots of variety.
The highlight of dinner was meeting some of the athletes that are out here training in other sports. I would really love to see the boxing workout - they train REALLY HARD!
Back to the room and time for some film.


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We've all heard about the rumours regarding Modric, Milner, Bale, Silva. What I don't understand is, why aren't there more news coming out of the Man U camp regarding VFL Wolfsburg's E. Dzeko.
Highly sought after by all the major European clubs, including Chelsea, Real Madrd, and AC Milan, this Bosnia international has been in fine form all season, with 22 goals in 34 games for the German side.
The only negative about this guy: he has a 40M release clause, and that seems like a bit much for a performer of his caliber.
More after the jump.
Edin Dzeko
Age: 24
Nationality: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Height: 192cm
Weight: 80kg
More importantly, after playing in the Champions League, (and doing quite well against Man U in the group stages), VfL Wolfsburg will be finishing mid-table this year, and will not be able to compete in Champion's League football.
The allure of a bigger payday, playing for a top club in the world, and Champion's League action should be enoug to entice him into coming.
For a player of his talents, I'm surprised at the lack of news regarding his imminent transfer.
What do *you* think?


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You'll "bow wow" over this gorgeous, life-sized Boston Terrier plush dogs! Featuring an adorable face, warm eyes this Boston Terrier Stuffed Animal Plush is extremely lovable. ***Oversize/Overweight Shipping Charges Apply***
By Melissa & Doug
Enter your email address below to receive exclusive updates, special deals and more!
I always get all of my kids' toys from Kazoo Toys. They have the best selection and always ship so fast! Thanks!-Karen, FL
Keep up with us on social media!


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For media inquiries or to request a LegalZoom press kit, please contact:
Johanna NamirLegalZoom.com, Inc323-962-8600 email@example.com
Sign up for our monthly newsletter, always packed full of helpful tips and informative articles.
The purpose of small claims court is to allow people to bring relatively minor claims before a judge without incurring considerable expense in the form of attorney's fees and court costs. By its very nature, small claims court is a simple, inexpensive and reasonably fast alternative to a full-blown lawsuit.
So, why do people end up in small claims court? These are just a few of the reasons why people typically go to small claims court to resolve their problems:
The first thing you'll need to do to sue in small claims court is to find out whether your claim meets the small claims court's jurisdictional requirements. Each state has established a maximum monetary limit ranging from $2,000 to as high as $5,000 or $10,000. If your dispute exceeds your state's limits, then you may have to file your case in a court with a higher jurisdictional limit, such as superior court.
On the other hand, if your case barely exceeds the maximum, you may wish to waive the excess amount in dispute. For example, you are owed $5,500, but the law only allows an award of $5,000 in small claims court. You can decide it is worth it to you to sue for only $5,000 rather than have to incur higher court costs or substantial attorney's fees.
Once you've decided that small claims court is the right place for your case to be heard, the next step is to determine the proper county for filing your claim. Proper "venue" for a court case is determined by a number of factors and depends on the nature of your claim. For example, if you are involved in an automobile accident, proper venue generally lies in the county in which the defendant lives or in which the accident occurred. If you entered into a contract, proper venue is usually in the county in which the contract was formed. If you need assistance determining the proper county for filing your claim, many counties have small claims advisors who will be able to assist you.
Now that you have a proper county for filing your claim, you will then initiate a lawsuit by filling out and filing the appropriate paperwork with the court clerk.
Once you have completed and filed your paperwork, the clerk will assign you a hearing date. The clerk will also, in most states, serve the defendant by certified mail with a copy of your claim documents and notice of the hearing. If you are required to serve the defendant yourself, you may pay a nominal fee to your local county sheriff's department to serve the documents for you, or you may hire a process server to serve the documents. Because you are a party to the case, you may not serve the documents yourself.
Make sure the defendant receives copies of all documents filed with the small claims court and any other documents that are required to be served. Once the documents have been served, you will be required to file a "proof of service" with the court so that the judge knows the defendant received proper notice of the hearing date.
While waiting for your hearing date, gather all documentation that in any manner supports your claim. Appropriate documentation may include contracts, letters, receipts, cancelled checks, memos, even photographs. If you are not sure whether a document is relevant, include it anyway. If you don't include it, and if your luck is anything like mine, that single document will be the only document the judge wants to see.
Organize your evidence and make several copies to take with you to court. You may be asked to provide copies to the judge, to the landlord or even to the clerk or a court reporter. Make sure your documents are organized so that you can locate any document to which you need to refer quickly and easily. By simply being the best organized litigant at the hearing, you will have a huge advantage over the defendant.
At the hearing, take your cues from the judge. When asked to do so, state your case clearly and concisely. Do not ramble--get right to the point. Do not interrupt the defendant or, heaven forbid, the judge--always wait your turn. Most of all, be prepared. Make sure you have answers ready to any question that may arise, even (and especially) regarding those issues that may be damaging to your case. Make sure you have documentation or evidence to support all of your answers and claims.
If you follow these steps, you will give yourself the best possible chance of prevailing on your claim.


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Delivery and returns
Collect in store
- Free next day delivery to store is available on certain products if you place your order by 12pm (noon). Your order will normally be available for collection from 12pm the next day.
Exclusions apply^
- Service terms may be amended during peak periods or sales. Please ask in store at the Customer Order point or see marksandspencer.com for full details.
- FREE Home delivery (within 5 working days) when you spend over £50
- Home delivery (within 5 working days)
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- *Products are subject to availability. Please note some of our products may be sent from multiple warehouse locations and therefore some of your order may not be available for next day delivery. If this happens, we will simply hold back your order to the next available day.
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Returns and refunds
- It's free to return your order to most of our UK stores (excluding Outlet, Simply Food and stores at service stations, railway stations and airports).
- Or you can post it back to us for free within the UK using the pre-paid label that came with your order.
- Some items, like bedding, lingerie and swimwear, can't be returned once the original packaging, tags and hygiene seals have been removed. This does not affect your right to return faulty goods.
More details
As seen in 'The Sun' February 2012, and 'Daily Mail' March 2012. Award winning Ragdale Hall's experts have created a range of indulgent products designed to pamper and relax. Enjoy the luxury of your very own spa at home. After a bath or shower apply this luxurious body butter all over.
With butters of shea, kokum and illipe this is the answer to instant long lasting moisturisation.
Item details
- Assorted fragrance
- Moisturising
- With shea and kokum butter
- Made in UK
More information
- Product Size: 200 ml
- Fragrance Free: No
- Skin Type: Suitable for all skin types
The Leaping Bunny logo means this product and its ingredients comply with Cruelty Free International's strict no-animal-testing criteria. These products comply with Cruelty-Free International's stringent testing criteria. Please click here for more info.


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Salmon, Black Bean, and Corn Tostadas
Serves 4| Hands-On Time: | Total Time:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 6-ounce pieces skinless salmon fillet
- kosher salt and black pepper
- 4 tostada shells
- 1 cup black beans, rinsed
- 1 cup fresh corn (from 1 or 2 ears)
- 1 1/2 cups shredded romaine lettuce
- 1/2 cup salsa verde
- 1 lime, cut into wedges
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
- Season the salmon with ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper and cook until opaque throughout, 5 to 6 minutes per side.
- Using a fork, flake the salmon into pieces.
- Dividing the ingredients evenly, top the tostada shells with the salmon, black beans, corn, lettuce, and salsa. Serve with the lime wedges.
Nutritional Information
- Per Serving
- Calories 445Calories From Fat 145
- Fat 16g
- Sat Fat 2g
- Cholesterol 107mg
- Sodium 667mg
- Protein 45g
- Carbohydrate 31g
- Sugar 3g
- Fiber 6g
- Iron 3mg
- Calcium 72mg
What does this mean? See Nutrition 101 .
Similar Recipes
Quick Tip
When cutting corn off the cob, place your cutting board in a rimmed baking sheet to catch flying kernels and juices.
Did you try this recipe? How did you like it?
High in vitamin C, these hard, tart berries are grown in bogs in colder regions of North America and Europe. They're almost always eaten cooked, as in the classic Thanksgiving relish.


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RFA Says New DOE Research Highlights Economic Success of RFS
The Renewable Fuels Association notes a recent research article concluded the Renewable Fuel Standard is producing significant positive economic effects in the U.S. The paper is authored by researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The study finds that the RFS is reducing crude oil prices, decreasing crude oil imports, increasing gross domestic product and having only minimal impacts on global food markets and land use - and that these economic benefits will be amplified once the advanced biofuel requirements of the RFS are fully implemented. According to RFA President and CEO Bob Dinneen - the bottom line is the FRS is an unrivaled American success story.
As Congress returns and hearings are scheduled - Dinneen says Big Oil and Big Food will undoubtedly ramp up their campaign to smear the RFS. Instead of listening to oil lobbyists or giving credence to sham studies funded by grocery manufacturers - he says independently funded, unbiased, third-party research like this study should guide the debate. Dinneen says we can't allow profit-protecting fear mongers in the oil and snack food industries scare Congress into changing a flexible policy that is making important contributions to the American economy and environment every day.
© 2014 Rural Radio Network. All rights reserved. Republishing, rebroadcasting, rewriting, redistributing prohibited. Copyright Information


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Spring-run steelhead can be difficult to catch in rivers when flows run high and dirty.
Tracking studies have verified that river largemouths make major spring migrations from wintering areas to shallow backwaters. Though miles may separate these habitat zones, fish unerringly arrive once ice has departed.
As lakes warm in the spring, largemouth bass move into shallow cover in coves, canals, and harbors. They seek warming water offered by these spots that also provide plentiful baitfish.
Carolina-rigging has been the favored fall tactic of pro anglers for probing reservoir structure. Some call the technique power fishing with finesse because you use stout tackle, but the action of the lure is subtle and tempting to fish.
Within a specific range of sizes and actions, plastic worms are the most versatile and most effective tools to use for smallmouths in lakes. The right worm is 4 to 5 inches long and relatively thin.
The fundamental livebait rig consists of a slipsinker sliding on the main line, followed by a snell consisting of a swivel, length of line, and hook.


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6 locations
Celebrate New Years Eve in Sydney with the best views of the NYE fireworks display across Sydney Harbour, Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House.
4 locations
Follow the latest whale sightings with Wild About Whales and plan your coastal adventure now. Keep an eye on this page for coastal and whale watching activities.
3 locations
See Dragon in action at this year's Crooked Mountain concert in Warrumbungle National Park, near Coonabarabran. Bring your camping gear and stay the weekend.
Don't miss the spring flower open season at Muogamarra Nature Reserve. Located near Hornsby in Sydney's north, join a Discovery guided walking tour.
Celebrate New Year's Eve in Sydney Harbour National Park.
Start planning your activities in coastal national parks this whale watching season.
Dance the night away in Warrumbungle National Park, with Dragon headlining this year's Crooked Mountain concert.
With spring in sight, don't miss Muogamarra's spring flower open season.


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The wait is over! Download the BeerAdvocate app on iTunes or Google Play now.
Get 12 issues / year of BeerAdvocate magazine for only $9.99!
ABC Fine Wine And Spirits
Ratings: 5 | Reviews: 5 | Display Reviews Only:
4.41/5 rDev +4.3%
I used to always go to this store to buy my wine and liquor and they always provided me with very nice and friendly service. I am a scotch fanatic and they always order a scotch for me if they are out or if they don't carry it.
I recently started getting more into beer, as it is the only thing my wife drinks. ABC has helped me learn a lot about beer and they always try to sell me something good, even if its not the most expensive beer that they sell. Their prices are reasonable and match up with some of the local competitors.
12-29-2012 16:50:41 | More by Adomanator
4.86/5 rDev +14.9%
I went to this store, because my friends and I were in the mall area and wanted to get some beer before we got home. We walked into the store expecting a little convenient store like atmosphere with a few local beers. I was totally wrong. They had an astonishingly large selection of beer ranging from Founders to La Trappe. The thing i loved the most about the store was their build your own six-pack. I think that they had more single beers than Sicilanos. The staff was also very helpful and I received help from Rick. His knowledge of beer was quite large and he gave me some pretty good suggestions. I will definitely stop in there again!
12-29-2012 16:23:36 | More by rahul13
4/5 rDev -5.4%
I never knew this place existed until I saw it listed on here. It's not the biggest bottle shop in the world, but it has a nice selection. It is recently under new ownership, and they are trying to get their name out there...
The best things about ABC, in my opinion, are the helpfulness of the staff, and the price. I picked up a bottle of Arcadia Barrel Aged Shipwreck here cheaper than anyplace else I've seen. The staff is helpful, but not pushy. Inquiring about what styles of beer you like, and then asking if you have tried specific brands.
Another really nice thing is that all beer is in the cooler. No warm beer at all in the store (at least not that I saw). The only downfall to the place is that it's dedicates so much space to wine and booze.
Now that I know it's here, I will send my business their way more often...
04-05-2011 01:54:26 | More by sm0key
3.55/5 rDev -16.1%
ABC has a huge selection of wine and the hard stuff. There were three cooler doors worth of bottles to build your own 6er and I was told the you got 10% off if you did so. They had a little bit of each style. Most of their stuff was MI beer.
There were 2 people working in the store, both approched me at different times to see if I needed assistance and to tell me about their newest beers they had just gotten (KBS).
Prices were in the middle of the normal range.
More likely to stop in the next time I need to get some wine.
03-25-2009 02:24:30 | More by Roeters
4.35/5 rDev +2.8%
My brother and I visited this place the other night, just to see how to compared to the other local beer stores. Nearly all of its beer was in coolers, which was nice, and it had a wide variety of brews from all over the place. It was pretty empty and the two employees on hand asked to help us. I think the selection is just a smidge behind that of the nearby G.B. Russo's - it had offerings from many different beer genres, but not a "complete" offering. I almost missed the bottles of Chimay, but they had the red, whereas I'm pretty sure other places would have all three. Their prices were respectable. It did have a better selection of singles than Russo's, but Siciliano's is still the clear winner for Grand Rapids area selection and singles availability, and for the SE side I think I'll still head to Russo's, but this place is easily above average, too.
02-22-2009 20:17:39 | More by MDekker
ABC Fine Wine And Spirits in Grand Rapids, MI
- out of 100 based on 5 ratings.


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Search Results
Keywords: The Bubbles
Historical Items Showing 3 of 14 View All
Item 79048
Title: Jordon Pond and the Bubbles Acadia National Park
Contributed by: Northeast Harbor Library
Location: Mount Desert
Media: panoramic black and white postcard
Item 22262
Title: Jordan Pond and the Bubbles, Mt. Desert Island, ca. 1940
Contributed by: Great Harbor Maritime Museum
Date: circa 1940
Location: Mount Desert; Mt. Desert
Media: Postcard
Item 66100
Title: Bubble Pond, Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, ca. 1935
Contributed by: Boston Public Library
Date: circa 1935
Media: Linen texture postcard


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Affiliate Members
Researchers, Scientists and Non-Urologist MD's
$155 Annual Dues – Fall Application Deadline is September 8, 2014.
Researchers, scientists and non-urologist MD's who are significantly contributing to the field of urology are eligible to apply for Affiliate membership.
Whether you are conducting research, trying to stay up-to-date on the latest breakthroughs or striving to provide the best urologic patient care, membership in the AUA provides the tools and resources to support your professional mission.
The links below will provide you with information on the value of Affiliate membership, the application process and how you can join the AUA.