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Hey, I'm in an app! (called AriVibes)
And what's more it's a really cool reactive app as well, which makes it even more of an honor to be in the app. If you haven't tried it, then you need to try it. What more can I say? Seriously, if you know and love RJDJ or the Inception app or that kind of thing, then you should give this a go. You won't regret it one bit
Oh yeah, and if you hadn't noticed, the preset name is AshPalm, for Ashley from PalmSounds.
The Birds EP – Telefon Tel Aviv
A big thank you to Gerren who pointed out to me that this EP had been released. I had no idea and probably wouldn't have noticed for ages and ages. I listened to it yesterday and it's great, I really do love their blend of electronica, and this EP has some nice remix work on it too. So it's a good addition to my Telefon Tel Aviv collection.
miniMusic, Pianofly Pro Synth and more thoughts …
miniMusic will turn 13 years old soon, and even though they haven't put out anything new for quite some time I thought I'd give PianoFly Pro Synth a go again. It's a lovely app, a lovely synth with some features that still aren't available anywhere else.
I'd hoped that they'd bring out Tympanum, their second app soon, but it still hasn't seen the light of day. I'd like to think that miniMusic would do something for their birthday as they remain one of my favourite developers.
Doctor Who: Wrath of the Iceni
I've been listening to the latest 4th Doctor story from Big Finish. Not bad on the whole, not the best, and I don't think it's as good as some of the Hornet's Nest stories. Even so, it's always good to listen to some Doctor Who, especially with Tom Baker in it, so it doesn't matter too much.
App revisit: Spoke
This wasn't one of the Strange Agency's better ideas although the actual idea is a good one. I guess in any business you have ups and downs and the Strange Agency usually have brilliant ideas. Sadly, this wasn't a great one. It works, but the implementation just wasn't right.
I played with it again recently and whilst you can make a rhythm track with this it isn't easy to get things to sound just as you'd want. I doubt that they'll do much to update this app now, but even so, a good attempt.


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Christian Science Monitor, The
Christian Science Monitor, The
Daily newspaper of national and international news and features, published Monday through Friday in Boston under the auspices of the Church of Christ, Scientist (see Christian Science). Established in 1908 at the urging of Mary Baker Eddy as a protest against the sensationalism of the popular press, it became one of the most respected U.S. newspapers, famous for its thoughtful treatment of the news and for the quality of its assessments of political, social, and economic developments. It strictly limits the kinds of advertising it accepts. It maintains its own bureaus to gather news abroad and publishes a weekly world edition. The newspaper won its sixth Pulitzer Prize in 1996, in the category of international reporting.
This entry comes from Encyclopædia Britannica Concise.
For the full entry on Christian Science Monitor, The, visit Britannica.com.
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text: In the Bakken Oil Fields, Oil companies are setting the stage by using nature to clean nature instead of using synthetic chemicals to clean up an organic matter (oil). When we look to nature for solutions to things that happen when we interrupt nature, we find the best case scenarios. The oil companies in the Bakken Oil fields should be commended for using innovative and sustainable means such as biotic soil amendments to clean up spills. This should be a mandated practice for every rig in America. http://www.scribd.com/doc/86267574/PerMaMatrix-Oil-Clean-Up


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She's not your candy girl anymore.
Katy Perry has hung up her cupcake bra, and in a behind-the-scenes video from her EW cover shoot, the pop star explains how the goth and grunge-tinged movies and music of the 1990s influenced the latest phase in her style evolution.
"It's kind of a medley, but I think it's really based around the '90s, which I'm living for the first time," the pop star explains. "I wasn't really getting to experience the '90s when they were going on the first time because I came from a very sheltered household that didn't have a whole lot of pop culture influence." READ FULL STORY


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Credit:Astronaut photographs ISS007-E-7872 and ISS007-E-7878were taken with an Electronic Still Camera on June 22, 2003 at 13:32;46 GMT. The images are provided by the Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Laboratory at Johnson Space Center. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA-JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth.
This image originally appeared on the Earth Observatory. Click here to view the full, original record.
Data Date:June 22, 2003
Visualization Date:June 29, 2003
Sensor(s):ISS - Digital Camera


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J-E-T-S News and Stuff!
This is where we'll announce the most recent additions to our web site and other information of interest. If you've visited us before and want to know what's changed, take a look here first.
J-E-T-S celebrates 30 years of service excellence in 2014! Phone: 704-987-9858
Send mail to
firstname.lastname@example.com with
questions or comments about this web site.


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It's Not Just About Murdoch - The Whole System Needs Fixing
| Posted 05.07.2012 | UK
Read More: Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson, David Cameron Leveson, UK Media, Rupert Murdoch, News International, Leveson Inquiry, UK News
This week we are likely to see yet more drama and revelations in the sage that is the Leveson Inquiry as the prime minister's former spin doctor Andy Coulson and former Sun editor and horse owner Rebekah Brooks take the stand. You may be starting to tire of the blanket coverage but please don't switch off just yet. There are big issues at stake.


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Savannah Ghost Show Tours
Suite 300
Savannah, GA 31401
912-388-0601 | 800-979-3370
This family-friendly walking tour was creatively designed to combine history from the spooky side of Savannah with an interactive experience for all ages. Blending local folklore, 300 years of history, and magical illusions, this tour promises to amaze, send chills up and down your spine and send you into fits of laughter.
This is not a paranormal investigation. Savannah Ghost Show is a moon-lit mix of lighthearted fun and theatrical tricks of the trade wrapped into a walking show.
The walking ghost tours were created and are performed by Jimi Gibson, who has produced large-scale illusion shows for theme parks and product launches for corporations. He has performed across the U.S. and Canada, including the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Walking tours are limited to 30 guests. Bus tours are welcome. An indoor theater setting is used to accommodate groups of 31-250.
Info & Amenities
Hours of Operation
Sunday: 8:00AM - 12:00AM
Monday: 8:00AM - 12:00AM
Tuesday: 8:00AM - 12:00AM
Wednesday: 8:00AM - 12:00AM
Thursday: 8:00AM - 12:00AM
Friday: 8:00AM - 12:00AM
Saturday: 8:00AM - 12:00AM
Admission & Fees
Adults - 7pm Tour $25
All ages - 9pm Tour $35
Children - 7pm Tour $15
General Information
Family-friendly, Open Year 'Round
Group Amenities
Group Rates Available, Maximum Group Size
Payment Options
American Express, Mastercard, Visa
Suitable for Ages
All Ages
$5 off each ticket
$5 off admission price per person
Valid : 06/12/2014 - 12/31/2014
Enjoy a Savannah Ghost Tour with $5 off each ticket. Click "buy ticket" from website and use promo code for purchase. Or, call (800) 979-3370 8am - midnight and give representative the coupon code. PROMO CODE: SpookyGA
800-979-3370Coupon expires 12/31/14.


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Tuesday, June 26, 2012 - 11:11am
Tetris is all about stacking different shapes into pristine rows. One little hole, and you may find yourself trying to fill it in for the next 20 minutes. These couch cushions definitely raise the stakes: one gap here and you could throw out your dang back.


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In an interview with Hugh MacLeod over at the gapingvoid blog, mega blogger Seth Godin explains why he decided to turn "more than 180 riffs that have appeared in Fast Company or on my blog over the last six or seven years" into a just-published book, Small is the New Big.
It's important not to underestimate the totem value of a book. The same way a white lab coat makes a placebo more likely to be effective (or a witch doctor's hat for that matter), a book delivers an impact that a blog can't.
While there's certainly some ego in wanting your thousands of posts not to disappear, there's also a real desire on my part to give my existing readers the ability to taunt their co-workers by handing them a book instead of emailing them a link. If my job is to make change, I need to use the best tools that are available.
It's also hard to read a blog at the beach.
Of course, Godin is already a bestselling author and public speaker who doesn't have much difficulty convincing publishers to commit his digital musings to paper. For the rest of us bloggers, there's … well, let's just say we here at Blurb HQ are hard at work on a solution to that nasty sand-in-the-laptop problem.
Thanks to BuzzMachine for pointing us to this great interview.


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Been gaming
Morning all.
I'm currently sat in the kitchen with a still warm cup of coffee, Stef's in the lounge booking our tickets for a second helping (3D this time) of The Hobbit and Shakespeare is trying to dig up laminate flooring next to me (now he's just jumped into his tray for the morning 'deposit').
I'll be honest, with illness, Xmas and whatnot I've been a little lax on the writing front. I needed the break, though. Got about 500 words down yesterday on Vulkan Lives, but I really need to up the ante if I'm going to hit deadline. Plus, I've got a radio short to do and I am currently nursing a new Salamanders short story over its 5k finish line. Oh yeah, and I have a bunch of synopses I need to get on with. Phew!
Anyways, during my fortnight's convalescence, I've filled my time with an inordinate amount of gaming. I see inordinate as I don't actually game that much. I own several consoles and even have a bunch of games downloaded to my iPad, but I'm not an online gamer (I really don't have time for all that – even the likes of Mass Effect and Dragon Age put me off with the sheer amount of hours needed to 'level up' or learn some new skill or whatever), and don't play that often.
Illness, of the not serious kind, is a good opportunity for me to rectify that. I've had a bunch of games in need of completion for my PS3 knocking around for a while. I started off with Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, finishing the game before I'd even realised it. Easily as good as Uncharted 2, I was so gutted to have no more story to go at that I almost purchased a Vita to play Golden Abyss but abstained when I read some poor reviews regards download times and Sony's proprietary memory card policy. Still, an awesome game and I even went on iTunes to buy a few tracks from the OST (love Drake's theme).
One game down, I moved onto the next. It was like I was fourteen again, playing on my Sega Mega Drive and trying to finish every game I owned. Tee hee. Man alive, I remember those days playing Spider-man and getting as far as the King Pin, trying to kick his fat ass while Mary Jane was being slowly lowered into some death trap or other. Or Streets of Rage II, taking down the besuited big boss man with the machine gun (I always played Axel because his special moves were awesome). Or Golden Axe, beating the Dickens out of Death Adder at the end. Come to think of it, what happened to all those sideways scrolling beat 'em ups, any beat 'em ups come to think of it – that's definitely a game genre that no longer exists.
Ahem, apologies, I digress…
Next up, I broke out Modern Warfare 3. Bear in mind I'd not long finished Black Ops II, so I wondered whether I'd be a little CoD'd out by this point. Not so. I've played it to the final level and am chasing down Makarov in his hotel. Bring the rain!
Perusing my stack of unfinished games, I still have Max Payne 3 and God of War 3 to go at, not to mention Lego: The Lord of the Rings. I even purchased Far Cry 3 yesterday after much deliberation (in the end it came down to this or Dishonoured, but I went for the former because I figured Dishonoured, whilst good, might end up a bit like Mass Effect in that you can't bloody well finish it or get any sense of closure if you do – what can I say, I'm a completer-finisher).
There is something invigorating and wonderful about a prolonged session of gaming. I've enjoyed it, and it has taken me back to a period in my childhood when there was a very definite console war raging between Sega and Nintendo (tell me back then that Sonic and Mario would star together in their own title and I would have slapped you and told you to stop being silly).
I know it can't last, however, as I'll be back at work in a couple of days, and the writing will have to kick in again if I'm going to finish everything I've been contracted to do to deadline. I suspect Far Cry 3 will be sitting on my shelf gathering dust for a little while, perhaps I'll have the new Tomb Raider to join it or some other title I don't even know about yet. It'll be stacked up with the rest, a last vestige of my childhood calling out to me, waiting for me for when I'm I'll again or when the work schedule isn't quite so time consuming. I reckon the latter is unlikely to ever be the case, but maybe next Xmas I'll return to them, back to gaming.


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M.I.A. Drops New Song, 'Gold'
The song, "Gold", fits the mix's title perfectly -fun, warm, current- and would only be better served if there were an Olympics for which it could be the theme song.
Hear M.I.A.'s Remix of Beyoncé's '***Flawless'
Yesterday (May 13), M.I.A. dropped a remix of the track off Beyoncé's 2013 self-titled album, which she teased last week, with a cheeky tweet that read, "Beyonce camp has not replied for months, SO HERE"
M.I.A. Teams Up with A$AP Ferg for 2014 U.S. Tour
After her appearance at Ultra Music Festival this Friday, the tour will kick off in Pennsylvania on April 25 and run through July.
Frank Ocean, Foster the People, Major Lazer & OutKast to Play 2014 Sasquatch! Music Festival
This year's Sasquatch! Music Festival, like Coachella before it, is offering double the fun by expanding to two weekends. But unlike that Indio, California fest, each weekend of Sasquatch! will have entirely different lineups.
M.I.A. On Her Super Bowl Middle Finger: 'It's Godly, OK?'
M.I.A. has returned with a new explanation for the middle finger, claiming that not only was it not meant to be offensive, but actually a religious gesture known as the Matangi mudra.
Style Files: M.I.A. Teams with Versace for a Collection You Might Have Seen Before
"Versace designs have always been bootlegged, now it's Versace bootlegging the bootleg for the bootleggers to bootleg the bootleg," M.I.A said in a statement. "This is to keep that cycle going."
Jay-Z Announces 'Made in America,' Takes Roc Nation To UMG
Jay-Z is teasing fans with a taste of what's to come at his second annual Made in America festival that is scheduled to take over Philadelphia's Benjamin Franklin Parkway this summer. The rapper posted a video […]
M.I.A.'s Tweets Reveal Messy Custody Battle
Though M.I.A. and former fiancé Ben Bronfman split in early 2012, the aftershocks of the breakup are still being felt. Wednesday (March 13), the Sri Lankan singer/rapper posted a series of tweets calling out Bronfman, […]
Style Files: M.I.A. Debuts Mixtape At Kenzo
Paris-based fashion house Kenzo got a makeover in 2011 when Carol Lim and Humberto Leon, the founders of Opening Ceremony, joined as Creative Directors. With their fall/winter 2013 collection, which was shown on Sunday, March […]
2 Broke Girls: Songs for Single Girls
Only two seasons in and the hilarious trials and tribulations of financially-strapped Brooklyn waitresses Max (Kat Dennings) and Caroline (Beth Behrs) aspiring to start a cupcake business on 2 Broke Girls has raced to the […]


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(Cross-posted on the Official Google Code blog)
Every year at Google I/O, companies arrive excited to demo their coolest new products in the Developer Sandbox. In the past, these demos were only accessible to I/O attendees. This year, we wanted to help spread the love and knowledge from these innovative companies to developers who were unable to attend the conference and to attendees who want to relive the excitement or check out companies they missed.
In addition to the "Who's at Google I/O" guest posts you may have seen from some of our developers on this blog, we've created video case studies from 19 of the companies that demoed their products in this year's I/O Sandbox. These videos highlight innovations that span the entire range of Google product areas, including Google TV.
Watch the full playlist of videos here. As always, you can visit Google Code to learn about Google technologies you can use to build your own amazing new product.
Becky Chappell, Developer Marketing TeamPosted by Scott Knaster, Editor


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Paris Hilton's sister Nicky and her dog Tinkerbell may soon be the only members of the family who don't have their own reality shows. Variety reports that the ''Simple Life'' star's father, Rick Hilton, is pitching his own show to networks called ''777,'' after the winning combination on a slot machine. To cast the show, Hilton is seeking seven ''whales,'' Las Vegas high rollers, who would each ante up $1 million to participate in several episodes worth of gambling contests. The ultimate winner would take home the $7 million kitty.
Co-producing ''777'' are Hilton and partner Jason Hervey (best known for playing bratty big brother Wayne on ''The Wonder Years''), who are also producing NBC's upcoming ''The Good Life,'' in which Kathy Hilton (Rick's wife and Paris' mom) will turn hayseeds into Manhattan socialites. Hervey and Rick Hilton are also currently scouting for Vegas hotels where the show could be based. Hmm, who do we know who's affiliated with a famous hotel chain?


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A dementia-friendly community is a city, town or village where people with dementia are understood, respected and supported and confident they can contribute to community life. Read More »
Wolferstans are delighted to be supporting the Special Olympics Plymouth & District. For more information on the charity please click here.


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Summer 2013 Runway Trends!
Three Great Runway trends that will keep you stylish all-through Summer this year! Colors and accents that will spice up your tried and true summer wardrobe and update date your look without breaking the bank!
Aqua is a fresh and perfect color for this summer, dress it up or down this hue in it's many shades and renditions is perfect for that relaxed blue attitude you've been working on!
[slideshow_deploy id='15443']
GM Flowers
Flowers that truly pop and florals that are otherworldly are IN this summer! Neon blossoms, laser cut petal silhouettes and abstract interpretations of flowers are all the rage this summer.
[slideshow_deploy id='15444']
Flamenco Ruffles
Sultry and feminine ruffles are back in a big way this year with gathered flowing fabric really making a statement on the runway. Do you LIKE ruffles?
[slideshow_deploy id='15445']


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More in Painting
Sophia loves spending time in her room, but she'd love to have a fresh new look with a different color scheme. The lower bedroom walls will be painted lavender; the upper portion of the soft cream walls will be stamped with patterns of nature.
Tape off floor moldings and place drop cloths over the floor.
Using a level, measuring tape and pencil, draw a line around the room to divide the upper and lower wall. If the room has windows, you may want to use the windowsill as a guideline for the height of the lower portion of the wall.
The line is taped off at the top and paint corners are placed at the edges of the moldings. Seal the bottom of the taped lines with a line of varnish to prevent accidental paint bleed.
Roll Wild Orchid paint on the lower portion of the walls.
Paint Colors:
Benjamin Moore eggshell finish paint (2072-40, Wild Orchid)
Benjamin Moore eggshell finish (500, Maidenhair Fern)
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We are Macmillan. Cancer Support
Find out how we produce our information|
Having a breast reconstruction may not make any difference to your sex life. However, women often need to feel relatively happy with their bodies to have a fulfilling sex life so your feelings| about the reconstruction might affect you.
Having breast reconstruction will create a breast shape, but the sensations in the breast and the nipple will not be the same as before. This can affect sexual arousal if you were previously aroused by having your breasts touched.
Although breast reconstruction won't affect your physical ability to have sex, emotionally you may not feel like having sex for a while. Many women need time to talk about their feelings. Some women feel nervous about how their partner will react to their body. There's no right or wrong time or way to talk about these issues. You can wait until you and your partner feel ready. With support and clear communication, you can still enjoy a fulfilling sex life.
You might find it helpful to see our section about sexuality and cancer|.
Content last reviewed: 1 January 2014
Next planned review: 2016
For answers, support or just a chat, call the Macmillan Support Line free (Monday to Friday, 9am-8pm).
If you have any questions about cancer, need support or just want someone to talk to, ask Macmillan.
If you have any questions about Macmillan we would love to hear from you| .
You can also follow us| on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr or YouTube.
© Macmillan Cancer Support 2014
what are these?|


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Gastric Cancer
General Information | Treatment Options | Screening
Prevention | Additional ResourcesScreening
- About Screening
- Screening Tests
- Screening Risks
What is screening?
Screening is looking for cancer before a person has any symptoms. This can help find cancer at an early stage. When abnormal tissue or cancer is found early, it may be easier to treat. By the time symptoms appear, cancer may have begun to spread.
Scientists are trying to better understand which people are more likely to get certain types of cancer. They also study the things we do and the things around us to see if they cause cancer. This information helps doctors recommend who should be screened for cancer, which screening tests should be used, and how often the tests should be done.
It is important to remember that your doctor does not necessarily think you have cancer if he or she suggests a screening test. Screening tests are given when you have no cancer symptoms.
If a screening test result is abnormal, you may need to have more tests done to find out if you have cancer. These are called diagnostic tests.
See the following PDQ summaries for information about prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of stomach cancer.
- Stomach (Gastric) Cancer Prevention
- Gastric Cancer Treatment
General Information About Stomach (Gastric) CancerStomach cancer is a disease in which malignant (cancer) cells form in the lining of the stomach.
stomach is a J-shaped organ in the upper abdomen. It is part of the
digestive system, which processes nutrients (vitamins, minerals,
carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and water) in foods that are eaten and
helps pass waste material out of the body. Food moves from the throat
to the stomach through a hollow, muscular tube called the esophagus.
After leaving the stomach, partly-digested food passes into the small
intestine and then into the large intestine.
The stomach and esophagus are part of the upper digestive system.
The wall of the stomach is made up of 3 layers of tissue: the mucosal (innermost) layer, the muscularis (middle) layer, and the serosal (outermost) layer. Stomach cancer begins in the cells lining the mucosal layer and spreads through the outer layers as it grows.Stomach cancer is less common in the United States than in the developing world.
Stomach cancer is the fourteenth most frequent cause of cancer death in the United States. This type of cancer is much more common in many parts of Europe, Asia, and Central and South America, and is a major cause of death in the developing world.
Stomach cancer rates in the United States have greatly decreased since 1930. The reasons for this are not known, but may have to do with better food storage or changes in the diet, such as lower salt intake.Older age and certain chronic conditions increase the risk of developing stomach cancer.
Anything that increases the chance of getting a disease is called a risk factor. Having a risk factor does not mean that you will get cancer; not having risk factors doesn't mean that you will not get cancer. People who think they may be at risk should discuss this with their doctor. Risk factors for stomach cancer include the following:
- Having any of the following medical conditions:
- Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection of the stomach.
- Chronic gastritis (inflammation of the stomach).
- Pernicious anemia.
- Intestinal metaplasia (a condition in which the normal stomach lining is replaced with the cells that line the intestines).
- Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) or gastric polyps.
- Being older or male.
- Eating a diet high in salted, smoked foods and low in fruits and vegetables.
- Eating foods that have not been prepared or stored properly.
- Smoking cigarettes.
- Having a mother, father, sister, or brother who has had stomach cancer.
Some screening tests are used because they have been shown to be helpful both in finding cancers early and in decreasing the chance of dying from these cancers. Other tests are used because they have been shown to find cancer in some people; however, it has not been proven in clinical trials that use of these tests will decrease the risk of dying from cancer.
Scientists study screening tests to find those with the fewest risks and most benefits. Cancer screening trials also are meant to show whether early detection (finding cancer before it causes symptoms) decreases a person's chance of dying from the disease. For some types of cancer, the chance of recovery is better if the disease is found and treated at an early stage.
Clinical trials that study cancer screening methods are taking place in many parts of the country. Information about ongoing clinical trials is available from the NCI Web site.There is no standard or routine screening test for stomach cancer.
Upper endoscopy has been studied as a screening test to find stomach
cancer at an early stage. Upper endoscopy is a procedure to look inside
the esophagus, stomach, and duodenum (first part of the small
intestine) to check for abnormal areas. An endoscope, a thin, tube-like
instrument with a light and a lens for viewing, is passed through the
mouth and down the throat into the esophagus. It may also have a tool
to remove tissue to be checked under a microscope for signs of disease.
Upper endoscopy. A thin, lighted tube is inserted through the mouth to look for abnormal areas in the esophagus, stomach, and first part of the small intestine.
Some studies show that screening for stomach cancer in the United States would not result in a lower death rate. More research is needed to decide if it would be worthwhile to screen people in the United States who have a high risk for the disease. High risk groups that may benefit from stomach cancer screening include:
- Older people with gastritis or pernicious anemia.
- Patients with any of the following:
- Partial gastrectomy.
- Polyps in the stomach.
- Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP).
- Hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer (HNPCC).
- Immigrants from countries where stomach cancer is more common.
Risks of Stomach (Gastric) Cancer ScreeningScreening tests have risks.
Decisions about screening tests can be difficult. Not all screening tests are helpful and most have risks. Before having any screening test, you may want to discuss the test with your doctor. It is important to know the risks of the test and whether it has been proven to reduce the risk of dying from cancer.The risks of stomach cancer screening include the following:Finding stomach cancer may not improve health or help you live longer.
Screening may not improve your health or help you live longer if you have advanced stomach cancer or if it has already spread to other places in your body.
Some cancers never cause symptoms or become life-threatening, but if found by a screening test, the cancer may be treated. It is not known if treatment of these cancers would help you live longer than if no treatment were given, and treatments for cancer may have serious side effects.False-negative test results can occur.
Screening test results may appear to be normal even though stomach cancer is present. A person who receives a false-negative result (one that shows there is no cancer when there really is) may delay seeking medical care even if there are symptoms.False-positive test results can occur.
Screening test results may appear to be abnormal even though no cancer is present. A false-positive test result (one that shows there is cancer when there really isn't) can cause anxiety and is usually followed by more tests and procedures which also have risks.Side effects may be caused by the screening test itself.
Upper endoscopy may cause the following rare, but serious, side effects:
- A small hole (puncture) in the esophagus or stomach.
- Heart problems.
- Breathing problems.
- Lung infection from inhaling food, fluid, or stomach acid into the lung.
- Severe bleeding that needs to be treated at a hospital.


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Chester Evo II for sale
If you've been around circuit racing circles for any length of time, then you'll have seen Nick Chester's rapid GT1 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution II. Successfully campaigning the Evo for six seasons, Nick took the Evo to podium finishes in all seasons, even winning the Super GT championship in 2005/2006. Having shifted to a Holden Commodore Supercar platform at the beginning of this year, Nick has to finally part ways with the 650hp Evo. Fitted with top-shelf components throughout, the Evo has lapped Pukekohe Park Raceway in 58.7 seconds, Manfeild in 1.09.2 and Taupo Motorsport Park in 1.34.3 seconds.
If you're genuinely interested in getting hold of this car, Nick is offering the setup for an incredibly reasonable $65,000, and has a comprehensive spares package also available with all you'd need to turn up at the track and field a competitive car. If you're keen, contact us here at NZPC and we'll put you in touch with Nick.


text: March 29 (Bloomberg) -- Bloomberg's Rich Jaroslovsky reviews Apple Inc.'s latest Apple TV, the $99 streaming-video set-top box that the late Steve Jobs used to call "a hobby." While a marked improvement over its predecessor, its chief significance may be what it suggests about the much-rumored plans to deliver, sometime this year, a "real" Apple TV -- the kind with its own screen. (Rich Jaroslovsky is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are his own. Source: Bloomberg)


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NRS Education events provide training on important regulatory tasks, rule changes and industry hot topics. Receive valuable compliance knowledge and insight presented by industry experts. Benefit from the real-world experiences of attorneys, regulators, former regulators and seasoned compliance professionals as they offer tips and best practices for managing the compliance challenges you face daily.
When you sign up for our e-newsletter, you'll be the first to know about the latest events, news, and important articles about regulatory compliance.


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Pumpkin Bread Recipe
Submitted by Jenny Smith on
I got this pumpkin bread recipe from my friend Susan. It is hands-down the best pumpkin bread I've ever had. If you make it for friends, you can include the Being Human is like being a Pumpkin poem.
Pumpkin Bread
4 eggs
2/3 cup water
3 cups sugar
2 cups pumpkin
1 cup oil
Then add
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
3 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup chopped nuts
Mix well and pour into greased loaf pans.
1/3 cup nuts
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Sprinkle topping on the top of the pumpkin bread.
Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes until done.
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Being Human is like Being a Pumpkin Next Question:
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Monday December 15, 2014
(0)Falling In Reverse Share "God, If You...
Thursday December 11, 2014
(0)Joyce Manor Kick Off December Tour...
Thursday December 4, 2014
(0)The Menzingers Return Home To Headline...
Monday November 17, 2014
(0)The Ghost Inside "Dear Youth" Out Today
Monday November 10, 2014
(0)Sleeping With Sirens Release New Video
Wednesday November 5, 2014
(0)The Ghost Inside Streams Album At Alternative...
Monday November 3, 2014
(0)The Sidekicks Announce New Album
Tuesday October 28, 2014
(0)Pianos Become The Teeth "Keep You"...
Monday October 27, 2014
(0)Rancid's "...Honor Is All We Know"...
Wednesday October 22, 2014
Bring Me The Horizon
Thursday Premiere "No Answers" Remix, Announce North American Tour
To kick off the tour, Thursday is premiering the newly remixed track "No Answers" from this year's No Devolución by Big Black Delta (http://www.bigblackdelta.com, bbdlp1 Out Now), the solo project of Mellowdrone vocalist / bassist Jonathan Bates. Bates has recently remixed songs for M83 and Daft Punk; and you can listen to the song here here.
On their sixth studio record, the influential band entered the studio with producer Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips, MGMT) to create an enthralling and explosive sound merging elements of post-rock, indie rock, art rock and experimental music with Thursday's post-hardcore roots to create a beautifully cathartic sound unlike anything before. Live the band's set has only grown more enthralling.
"New Jersey hardcore act Thursday upstaged the headliner. Their latest Epitaph Records album No Devolución, is their best to date and finds the musicians re-teaming with producer Dave Fridmann. Its well-executed 45-minute set featured thought-provoking projections on a screen (black-and-white instructional medical and atomic bomb films, Soviet cartoons from the '50s) and an ample sampling of the new songs, which all came off mesmerizing." – Live Review, Orange County Register
Thursday Tour Dates:
Nov. 23 – New York, NY – Irving Plaza
Nov. 25 – Toronto, ON – Opera House
Nov. 26 – Pittsburgh, PA – Altar Bar
Nov. 27 – Milwaukee, WI – Turner Hall
Nov. 28 – Cleveland Heights, OH – Grog Shop
Nov. 30 – Atlanta, GA – The Loft
Dec. 01 – Cincinnati, OH – 20TH Century Theatre
Dec. 02 – Chicago, IL – Bottom Lounge
Dec. 03 – Pontiac, MI – The Eagle Theater
Dec. 04 – Rochester, NY – Montage Music Hall
Dec. 26 – Sayreville, NJ – Starland Ballroom
Dec. 27 – Washington, D.C. – 9:30 Club
Dec. 28 – New Haven, CT – Toad's Place
Dec. 29 – Boston, MA – Royale Boston
Dec. 30 – Philadelphia, PA – Theatre Of Living Arts


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I took my xc to the dealer to find the problem with the bobblng noise in the front suspension. They scratched their heads and said it must be the strut. $700 later, I still have the same problem. I suggested the control arm bushings and they said the car would sway move back and forth when stopping. I had a similar problem a few years back and it turned out to be the bushings on the front sway bar were worn out.
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2003 Volvo XC70 Question: did the new control arm bushings fix the problem?
getforth, Beverly, MA, December 05, 2012, 06:46
1 Answer
Answer #1Bret Bodas from RepairPal Test Shop, December 10, 2012, 17:24Master
These models have problems with the lower control arm bushings, so that could be it, but it could be the upper strut mounts (which they should have checked when they replaced the struts), or the ball joints, or the sway bar link rods.
It's odd that a Volvo Dealer couldn't figure this out, and that they replaced a good part. I would request the shop foreman go for a ride with you and demonstrate the noise for them.
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So says establishment macroeconomist Jeffrey D. Sachs of libertarians. His article on "Libertarian Illusions" caricatures, smears, and slanders libertarians and libertarianism. I take his remarks personally, although his attacks are on Ron Paul and libertarianism in general.
He smears and slanders all libertarians with these words:
"Racism and libertarianism have had their dalliance, as Ron Paul's personal journey makes plainly evident. Even today, Paul opposes the civil rights legislation of the 1960s on the ground that society has no right to deny the 'liberty' of racist behavior. Even if Ron Paul himself is no racist, he gives comfort to racists. "
Where in the thousands and thousands of pages written by hundreds of libertarian authors over centuries is there exposited a known and established linkage, brief or otherwise, narrow or broad, between racism and serious libertarian political philosophy? Can Sachs name half a dozen prominent libertarian writers who have espoused racism? Which of them can Sachs say has tied the libertarian political philosophy to racism, i.e., to a belief that (quoting Wikipedia) " inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination"?
He cannot do it. Libertarianism champions equal rights. It champions the person and the potential of every person to use liberty to the fullest. Libertarians would NEVER have authored Jim Crow laws or denied the vote on the grounds of race or denied equal access to public facilities depending on one's race. Libertarians have for decades preached against the drug war, which severely discriminates against blacks and browns. The prisons are filled disproportionately with people of color. Libertarians have stood staunchly against wars initiated by the U.S. against people of color and fought to a large extent by American soldiers of color.
So where does Sachs get off linking libertarianism to racism when there actually is no philosophical or logical or theoretical link at all and no link that can be found in major libertarian books and journals of record? His attack is on Ron Paul and the Ron Paul newsletters, more of which are being publicized as I write. And attacks based on their content are going to continue in order to discredit libertarianism in general.
Ron Paul and his campaign will have to answer such questions and attacks. But whatever the answers are, I say that those newsletters are not what libertarianism is or has been, and any serious student of libertarian ideas knows this. Sachs has chosen to link racism, libertarianism, and Ron Paul. This is a low blow, and a false low blow. Libertarian philosophy does not hinge on Ron Paul's views now or in the past or on his newsletters, whatever they may contain. Libertarian philosophy does not rise or fall with the status of Ron Paul, with his goodness or badness, with his virtues or sins, or with his success or failure as a candidate or libertarian activist. Libertarianism is a movement. It is a philosophy. It is a set of ideas. It is a field of study and research. It is always in flux while retaining a core set of ideas, much like any scientific paradigm. Racism is definitely not in the core or anywhere else in libertarianism for that matter, and it never has been.
According to Sachs, Paul is tainted by racism because he is against certain aspects of the 1960s civil rights legislation and he is in bed with racists giving them comfort, and libertarians are racist for supporting a man's liberty to be racist. Sachs chooses to ignore the arguments against federal discrimination mandates that act on private property and private behavior. He ignores the arguments against affirmative action. He ignores the very sad and negative effects that inept federal laws on race and poverty have brought about in destroying black families and communities.
Instead, Sachs elects to take the low road and smear the man and all libertarians. He does not have the grace to say that Ron Paul is not a racist and preaches no racist ideas and never has preached such ideas. Instead, he says that "even if" he is not a racist (which implies that there is some doubt on it), he is still comforting racists. If that is true, then so are all like-minded libertarians to be classed by Sachs as closet racists. This is total malarkey.
I too think that affirmative action is a huge error and that a man has a right to do business or associate with whom he wishes and not with those he does not. Am I comforting racists? I rather doubt it. Having looked at web sites of various racist groups, my impression is that they have many other sources of belief than libertarian ideas!
But what if some racist does take comfort in the libertarian support for freedom? What of it? Ideas are the stuff of humanity and freedom. We can't control how others think or what they absorb from the innumerable sources they are exposed to and expose themselves to. I don't control the thoughts of racists. If they misinterpret my ideas, that's their doing, not mine. I can't be held responsible for what others think. My responsibility is to speak as clearly and truthfully as I can. If racists do not understand why libertarians do not want to impose racial preferences in law and if they choose to think that libertarians actually want and like racism, that's on their heads, not on mine or Ron Paul's.
Sachs wants to suppress the racists by force of law. He wants to bring private behaviors under public scrutiny and law. Once this boundary is breached, however, by taking away the liberty to act as one wills in private (without of course initiating violence against others), the door is open to more and more regulation of private behavior. The door is open to totalitarianism. That is the dangerous road Americans are traveling. That is the road that libertarians are against.
What is liberty if it excludes the freedom to choose, and isn't choice always discriminatory? Doesn't every man who marries freely choose one woman among many, and doesn't the woman choose one man among many? If men exhibit a preference for tall women or small women or shapely women or dark-skinned women, will there be some federal law and some newly-invented crime that makes such private choice illegal and punishable? And if racists have the freedom to be racists or people have the freedom to exercise decided preferences in selecting mates, are we to sacrifice the freedom of everyone in order to prevent such choices? Are we instead to make everyone slaves who must instead obey the preferences of government bureaucrats and law-makers? For that is the alternative to liberty.
Does Sachs understand any of this? Has he explored it? I doubt this very much because it doesn't show through in his writing. My way of thinking about it and explaining it is personal and surely can be improved. Others elsewhere surely have made these arguments more clearly and more persuasively. My point is that Sachs ignores all of this thought. Instead he simply tags Ron Paul and libertarians as racists.
I have barely scratched the surface of my problems with what Sachs has written. I will just say that Sachs manages to make out that libertarians are anti-Christian, anti-Buddhist, selfish, immoral, etc.
He also manages to paint libertarians as heartless souls who place their own freedom of action above all else:
"Libertarians hold that individual liberty should never be sacrificed in the pursuit of other values or causes. Compassion, justice, civic responsibility, honesty, decency, humility, respect, and even survival of the poor, weak, and vulnerable — all are to take a back seat."
What Sachs means by being "sacrificed in the pursuit of other values or causes" is that libertarians don't believe in the government making slaves out of people in order to further its own ends in the supposed name of compassion and all the rest. Sachs altogether blurs the distinction between the person and society (and government) here and elsewhere. He doesn't realize that individual liberty is the precondition for the exercise of one's faculties, intellectual, ethical, moral, artistic, scientific, and the rest. Liberty is the atmosphere in which we human beings have to breathe in order to engage in constructive lives.
Liberty does not compete with the exercise of compassion, or charity, or seeking justice, or taking responsibility, etc. Liberty doesn't make any virtues take a back seat. Liberty is necessary to the realization of values. It complements values. It doesn't supplant them. But Sachs clearly was not thinking of individual personality and the person. He was thinking of the government abridging liberty for the sake of causes that he favors, which he classifies as "compassion."
Because Sachs thinks little of people possessed of liberty, he thinks that they will not exercise compassion. He thinks that they must be forced to exercise compassion through the government. Somehow, the very same people who will not exercise compassion as individuals want and consent to governments that force them to exercise it. They stop being persons and become citizens. This is straight out of Rousseau among other sources, but wherever it comes from, it's close to the the heart of the disagreement that Sachs really has with libertarianism. Sachs is foursquare for coercive government imposed on the people and libertarians are not.
Sachs believes in government power being imposed and that government officials will enslave mankind for the good of mankind. He especially believes this if the officials are Democrats. To him the welfare state is hunky-dory. He should take a look at how many Democrats voted for the wars that he has been against and how many voted for bank bailouts.
It's oh so easy for Sachs to say that libertarianism is "extreme" in its wholehearted defense of liberty. Two can play that game. The liberalism that Sachs espouses is extreme in its wholehearted support of government power and suppression of liberty. There is a helluva lot more evidence of the negative effects of government power than of liberty, and a helluva lot more evidence of the positive effects of liberty than of government power.
Sachs is operating in dreamland, it seems to me. He doesn't want to wake up and honestly confront something that could make him change his basic political thinking. That is why he is rejecting Ron Paul and libertarianism. They are a challenge to his comfortable, conventional, and shallow notions of the individual, society, and government. His rejection in this article is superficial on all counts.9:02 pm on January 17, 2012 Email Michael S. Rozeff


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Congratulations to the PWFD Road Runners for taking 3rd overall at the Town of Hempstead/Town of Oyster Bay Tournament. You can learn more about the Road Runners here.
Archive for July, 2011:
PWFD Responds to Back-to-Back MVAs
At 2322 on July 23, 2011 the PWFD was activated for a motor vehicle accident (MVA) involving an overturned car. Fire Medic Co. #1 transported the driver to the hospital. Shortly after the first MVA FireCom toned out a second MVA at 2342 involving a motorcyclist under a minivan. The accident occurred in front of Alper's Hardware
PWFD Rescues Aided Off Roof
At 0954 on July 21, 2011 the PWFD was activated for a rescue call at North Shore Farms. While working on the roof of the grocery store a man sustained a back injury. PWFD and MLFD units worked together to remove the man from the roof via a tower ladder. This rescue call was covered by


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I rarely take a public position when it comes to chocolate companies, but a recent statement in a BusinessInsider.com video brought me up short. Before I go on, I do have to say that what Rick and Mike - and everyone involved - have done is phenomenal. They were in the right place at the right time with the right product with the right ethos, capturing the cultural zeitgeist perfectly - guiding and riding it expertly.
But I have never been a huge fan of the chocolate they make, or more properly, their skills as chocolate makers. I don't mind vintaging in wine where the differences in a particular bottle occur from year to year. My issue with the Mast Brothers stems from the fact that I never know what I am going to get from batch to batch of what is ostensibly the same chocolate. If I find a decent bar and go back several weeks later to get another of the same, it will be different. Sometimes very different. And sometimes difficult to recognize as being the same chocolate. Yeah, I know, small batch variability and all that. When the Mast Brothers are on, they turn out good chocolate - but too often I am left wondering what all the fuss is about. I've even had bars with rancid nuts, purchased fresh from the factory store.
Going back to the video: At just after 3:00 minutes in, Rick claims that they've paid up to 10x the average price for commodity beans (and 3x-5x market price more generally).
Last Friday's spot closing price was $2352.94 per MT (metric ton, 1000kg), down from over $2800/MT in November, 2011. If what Rick is saying is true, then at some point in the last six months they paid between $23,000 and $28,000/MT for beans. 18 months ago, 10x market would have been nearly $40,000/MT.
Really? I'd like to see the paperwork supporting those claims.
If it's true, and the farmer actually received 10x market for their beans, then that's good news and I will be the first out the gate to let people know about it.
But - if it's not true - what are the implications and potential ramifications for the craft chocolate industry? Not just for the Mast Brothers, but for every craft chocolate maker who is trying hard to improve the lives and livelihoods of the cacao farmers they source from.
Your Thoughts?
Do some math. Is it possible to pay $25,000/MT for beans and make a 2.5 oz (71gr) bar of chocolate that can be sold (profitably) for $7?
At $25,000/MT raw, whole beans in multi–ton quantities cost about $11.35 per pound. By implication in the video, that money is paid to the farmer and therefore would not include customs, insurance, freight, and other costs, so the calculation understates the actual landed price of the beans and therefore the following cost basis is low.
Assume an 80% yield on those beans (i.e., every 100 lbs of beans yields 80 lbs of usable nib after roasting and winnowing - this is generous) raises the price per pound of nib to about $14.15. Assuming a 70% cocoa content chocolate, that means that the cost of just the cocoa nib component of a pound of chocolate is north of $9.90 - also assuming zero loss in the process of making the finished product.
Views: 3112
To some degree you're right. I get a tremendous amount of press as well, have been on the front page of every local newspaper, front and center on regional television as well, and have had some of my recipes published - in all over 40 different media appearances/publications.
When you talk to people who are IN the chocolate industry, many people have heard of me. Chances are they have read something I've written, or some review about me somewhere online. However outside of the chocolate industry it's a different story and there's a good reason: Almost nobody pays attention to traditional media these days. The proof is in the pudding so-to-speak. In the past 3 1/2 years, in spite of garnering 10's of thousands of dollars worth of free press in a community of a million people, less than 5% of our gross sales has some from it - 5 % of over 52,000 transactions! What's even more interesting, is that in the weekly events I host in my shop, while everyone claims to love chocolate only 25% of the attendees have ever heard of Choklat. After 3 1/2 years of publicly kicking sand in the faces of every local chocolatier, only 25% of the population has heard of me!
Having said all of that, when you look at the size of New York, or even the US in general (10X the population of Canada), I think you'll find that very few people will have heard of Mast Brothers in spite of all the press they get, UNLESS of course, that person is IN the chocolate industry - and most people aren't in the industry.
I think their words will have more effect on those in the craft chocolate industry, but based on the market research that I continue to do, their words will have a negligible effect on the general public - largely because they didn't hear what Mast Bros said in the first place, and secondly because a large portion of the general public simply doesn't care.
Now, having said all of that, I'm in no way diminishing what you offer here to the chocolate community. It's been a valuable resource for me, which is one of the reasons I keep contributing. However I think if you poll your thousands of members, I think you'll find that almost all of them work with chocolate in some capacity - they aren't just end consumers.
Again, I think it's great that we police each other in this industry, and this popular forum is a great way of spreading the word. However on the grand scheme of things, what we say here will have almost no effect on the general public - kind of like screaming in a vacuum.
I'm completely fine with agreeing to disagree on some levels, but would like to say that I vehemently agree with your stance on deliberate misrepresentation. I'm just trying to be pragmatic in my assessment of the level and scope of potential misrepresentation. For example: You have 5,000 members (I'm guessing). I'm also guessing (optimistically) that another 5,000 people lurk this forum. That's 10,000 people out of the 350 million people in North America alone - or about one person per city. How many of those people do you think will care enough about what Mast Bros (or any other chocolatier for that matter) say to be the town cryer and convince others to change their buying habits? Like I said.... Hardly a ripple to the general public - which is probably a good thing, as maybe what he said was a slip of the tongue, or he was a bit "enthusiastic" about his product. In the end is that one sentence any better or worse than the majority of chocolate shop employees who claim their owner makes chocolate in the back? What's worse?
Noka Chocolate is the poster child for this example. How many people in the chocolate industry would actually "Pay" for one of their outrageously priced and pretentious confections? Certainly not I or you! Yet they still do great business in spite of the negative comments available on the 'net. Most people don't know, and many don't care.
...just my thoughts.
Noka Chocolate is no longer in business. Their brand management has become a textbook example of what not to do. (See Chapter 7 of Dr. Eric Anderson's Social Media Marketing: Game Theory and the Emergence of Collaboration.)
After reading your post I went online and found DallasFood's 10 part article on Noka. It was great, and epitomizes what I've been talking about here in Calgary for a few years. It's much better written than anything I could come up with, and I'm personally glad that Noka's out of business.
Cheers and thanks for the update.
I also just read through the articles. Very interesting and well done.
Well done Scott. I read your series on Noka years ago and thought it was excellent. Congratulations on helping to bring more integrity and transparency to fine chocolate. Exactly why this discussion is important, we need to be consistent about information that goes out to the public, there is so much misinformation around chocolate, we all need to do what we can.
FYI: my business is about doing educational tastings in the SF Bay Area, and I am always learning more about chocolate (aren't we all?) so I appreciate this forum tremendously. I aspire to contribute more here.
Sunita de Tourreil
The Chocolate Garage
Mast Brothers ships their product. Choklat doesn't. It makes sense that the Mast Brothers would be more well known, as more people all over the world have access to their chocolate. That doesn't mean their chocolate is any good though. In fact, given their very limited production ability and the fact that they are in the center of a wealthy city with a daytime population of over 8 million people and need to sell outside of their geographic region, I would seriously question their quality.
If the locals aren't buying it...
Conversely, my business is in a city 1/8th the size and we can barely keep up with demand. In fact some days I'm very happy a lot of this city still hasn't heard of my business (I don't advertise). Why would I care what the rest of the world thinks of my product or business if my supply is constantly sold out locally?
...and anything more than $10k for a ton of beans is a load of bunk in my opinion. Either that, or the buyer got played.
People listen, pay attention, and measure others' performance by what they say.
If my work is being judged or assessed by others because of the spin some hipsters with deep pockets in Brooklyn say, as opposed to the actual quality of the product, then this industry is doomed.
I have not been out to visit the Mast brothers since last fall but have bought some of their bars since at a variety of locations. I like it but am still a novice. I also love what they are doing and hope to somewhat replicate what they are doing but working within the Dominican Republic. The whole pricing and grading thing will be closely examined on my next trip to the DR after having the ability to ask the right questions, primarily from participating on this board. Last summer I bought a 100 pound bag of fermented (Hispanola in the DR) beans from Cooproagro (formally block 1 of Conacado) for about US$190. The commodity price was around $3,000 at the time and farmers were getting around $144 for 100 lbs. for Sanchez which is unfermented and around $158 for fermented. All the fermentation, beyond a couple of farmers in the areas I work, is done by the bigger producers or the farmer cooperatives. Farmers are now encouraged to get the cacao wet to one of these fermentation centers but I still do not know how that is priced from the farmer's perspective. The price for cacao is pretty much the same whether a farmer is a member of a cooperative, associated with a major producer or sells independently from what I know. I will have more to add in July.
About a year ago I read an article somewhere and then saw a video on the Mast Brother's website about them bringing, I think 20 tons of beans from the DR to NYC on a sailing ship. Very interesting and on one of the bags I saw the name of the farmer's cooperative in the DR. About 3 weeks into my trip and after asking around at Conacado, I rode my motorcycle and found the Red de Guaneco and spoke with a women who manages the cooperative. Found out that there has been 5 or 6 Peace Corps volunteers who have worked with the community over the last decade and the last two or three focused on supporting the cooperative. US AID funded much of the construction of the buildings, fermentation boxes, and the plastic covered drying areas. They sell dried beans, and cacao powder which is processed for them in country, and she will make you hot chocolate to drink when you visit. It is a mini version of the blocks which feed into Conacado. There is a list of the 100 members of the Red and how much cacao each supply. I did not get details about grading and pricing but discussed their dealings with Mast Brothers and Taza where I also saw a video implying they developed and supported the farmers in this cooperative without mentioning Peace Corps or US AID.
The big players like Rizek, Roig, Munne, and Hermanos Cortes may also supply them quality beans but I seriously doubt the farmer is getting more than their $158 for 100 pounds (now it is less) of beans which are fermented in the cooperative. The cooperative then receives US$800 a ton more than the commodity price for Hispanola when sold on the open market.
I would love to know what Hector Rizek sells his beans for to Michel Cluizel for the Los Ancones bar which has the Rizek's ID'ed on the back. When you open up the book on chocolate sold in the store, a big picture of Don Rizek is on the first page looking over a couple workers on a farm.
Unfortunately, the chocolate industry is not immune from manufacturers claims that don't match reality; the example of Hawaiian Vintage Chocolate immediately comes to mind. Thus, there is ALWAYS a place for questioning and criticism. As the creator and moderator of TheChocolateLife - and the creator of chocophile.com - this is something that I've been doing for well over a decade. Those who have followed my work know that I come from a place of deep respect for, and interest in growing, the craft and artisan chocolate community and markets.
Those who've followed my writings here and elsewhere know that I am skeptical of the value of the minuscule "investments" being made in sustainable cocoa production by major manufacturers.
It's important to remember that 99% of the people who see the video have no understanding of the market for cocoa - and that includes many people who consider themselves to be chocolate connoisseurs - and what the price paid for cocoa really means.
If the 10x was paid to the growers, then that's interesting to know, especially if the price paid reflected a premium for quality. However, if the price paid did not go to the grower, but went to middlemen, brokers, and/or shippers, then the statement is disingenuous and misleading in many ways - most important of which is that most people outside the chocolate industry automatically assume that growers always benefit from higher prices.
While I may have been off-target in wondering about the profitability of making a chocolate bar whose primary ingredient cost 10x market price, it is an interesting exercise to lead people through, especially for those who make, or are looking to make, chocolate from the bean. Brad's analysis is a cogent one, but I think fails to take into account the cost of doing business in New York City (much higher than Calgary).
In the end, I think that virtually all chocolate is underpriced in the sense that very few chocolate makers are paying a price for beans that represents the true cost of self-sustaining production. Chocolate lovers are in for a rude awakening over the next decade as demand increases and the supply cannot keep up, in part because of a serious lack of investment in farms in major producing areas over the past two decades. Thus, it's more important than ever to question the prices being paid for beans and to understand how much of the money being paid actually makes it back to the grower.
Hi Clay,
I'd like to clarify some of the math that you did. You said:
"Do some math. Is it possible to pay $25,000/MT for beans and make a 2.5 oz (71gr) bar of chocolate that can be sold (profitably) for $7?
At $25,000/MT raw, whole beans in multi–ton quantities cost about $11.35 per pound. By implication in the video, that money is paid to the farmer and therefore would not include customs, insurance, freight, and other costs, so the calculation understates the actual landed price of the beans and therefore the following cost basis is low.
Assume an 80% yield on those beans (i.e., every 100 lbs of beans yields 80 lbs of usable nib after roasting and winnowing - this is generous) raises the price per pound of nib to about $14.15. Assuming a 70% cocoa content chocolate, that means that the cost of just the cocoa nib component of a pound of chocolate is north of $9.90 - also assuming zero loss in the process of making the finished product."
It looks to me like there may be some mistakes in the calculations you used. Here are some calculations that I made:
Assume $25,000/MT
80% yield means that 1 MT yields 800 kg of cacao nibs.
So 800 kg costs $25,000.
$25,000/800 kg = $31.25/kg or $.03125/g
Mast Brothers bars are 71g.
70% of each bar is cacao so 1 bar has 49.7g of cacao.
Putting it all together: $.03125/g x 49.7g cacao = $1.55/bar for the cacao.
Add in the cost of the sugar and they still make a profit. If they paid 5x then the cost per bar is only about $0.80.
Of course, this ideal yield with no other losses, so their profit margin is still lower, but it does seem feasible.
The Mast Brothers also claimed "up to 10x" so it's not at all clear how much cacao they bought at this price. I might suspect that it was a very small percentage of their total volume.
I'm not being critical; I'm just trying to get accurate math. You're right that this was an instructive exercise to do.
I also think that you point about asking how much of this profit actually got to the farmers is spot on.
Not to split hairs here, but you're assuming that the 70% cocoa content is 100% cocoa nib. It may not be. In fact very few chocolate companies use 70% beans, as the fina. cocoa butter content is too low and makes the chocolate thick and hard to work with.
I tried to look at their website to get a more accurate percentage, but there's essentially nothing about their bars on there. I would hazard a guess that it's most likely a 55/15 split between cocoa beans and cocoa butter. However this is just a guess. If I am accurate, then given the price of their beans in relation to the cocoa butter they buy, it would only bring their cost down a bit more.
© 2014 Created by Clay Gordon.


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Son Of Bourye®Jackalopes! Also called antelabbits, these are an antlered species of rabbit, a cross between a jackrabbit and an antelope. It is rumored that pockets of jackalope populations continue to persist in the American West, its native home. When cowboys gather by their campfires to sing at night, jackalopes are frequently heard singing back, mimicking the voices. When chased, the jackalope will use its vocal abilities to elude capture. For instance, when chased by people it will call out phrases such as, "There he goes, over there," in order to throw pursuers off its track. Legend suggests the best way to catch a jackalope is to lure it with whiskey, which they are particularly fond of. Once intoxicated, the animal becomes slower and easier to hunt. That's why High West created the original Bourye®. Now, the legend continues with Son of Bourye®, also a blend of straight Bourbon and rye whiskies, sure to attract even the most finicky of jackalopes. The bourbon (mashbill: 75% corn, 20% rye, 5% barley malt) is a minimum of 5 years old. The rye (mashbill: 95% rye, 5% barley malt) is a minimum of 5 years old. By the way…Son of Bourye® is best enjoyed around a campfire while looking at the Milky Way. Important! Jackalopes will attack if cornered or provoked. To avoid injury, quickly fall to the ground, remain calm and still, while humming the Roy Rogers song, "Happy Trails to You." If there are multiple Jackalopes, they will begin singing in the round with you. Make your escape after the second verse!
Son Of Bourye® is best enjoyed neat and on the rocks.
The Son of Bourye® gets its name from High West's original Bourye®, a blend of straight Bourbon and rye whiskies. As you might expect, Son of Bourye® is made from younger whiskies than the original.
Not chill filtered, not carbon treated. Whiskey #1: Minimum 5 year Old Bourbon- 75% corn, 20% rye, 5% barley malt (LDI now MGP), Whiskey #2: Minimum 5 year Old Rye - 95% rye, 5% barley malt (LDI now MGP). The ratios of whiskies are top secret! However, no bourbon today has more rye in the final product!
Coming Soon!
92 Points
- Wine Enthusiast Top 50 Spirits for 2012


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In a world where it has become increasingly difficult to tell the good guys from the bad, we at iKarma are excited about the potential impact of reputation systems on markets, businesses and the average consumer. We believe that a good name is truly the best marketing money can't buy, and are proud to help deliver that message to the world.
We also believe that the subject poses some very important - and mostly still unanswered - questions. What is the true value of reputation in business today? How much is a really good stockbroker worth? Or an honest auto mechanic? Or simply a dependable babysitter? How much more could a business charge if its reputation were more verifiable, if the experiences of its past customers were more readily available?
We believe the entire subject is fascinating, and underreported. We hope that the stories you find here at iKarma will spark your imagination and provide insights for your readers about this very important and relevant topic.
To that end, iKarma provides a selection of tools and resources available for members of the press to aid in researching interesting story ideas about iKarma members. We call this feature our iKarma Press Pass, and it is available for free to verified members of the media. To learn more about iKarma Press Pass, click here.


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Don't scratch if it itches. No whining. Look lively or die. Those were the aphorisms Paula Brockes liked to reel off briskly to her only child, Emma, whom she raised in a village an hour outside London. Paula was from South Africa, and professed little love for her adopted country. She had nothing but tart disdain for ''the royals, hypocrisy, fat ankles'' but she heaped the most scorn on the country's famous emotional reserve. ''She said the English never talked about anything. Not like us. We talked about everything.'' Well, not quite everything. As Brockes writes in her luminous memoir, She Left Me the Gun, ''We talked a blue streak around the things we didn't talk about.''
After Paula died, Brockes, a journalist, began puzzling over the gaps in their conversations. Paula had rarely talked about her own father, Jimmy. Once she described him as an alcoholic and a pedophile; another time she said she'd brought charges against him. But when Brockes dipped into the online South African judicial database, all she discovered was that her grandfather had been convicted of murder. So she traveled to South Africa and teased out the family story. Jimmy had sexually abused not only Paula but her half sisters too and had avoided conviction when Paula's stepmother refuted the children's claims in court.
She Left Me the Gun is devastating in some places and angry in others. What binds the book together isn't a sordid drama but the indomitable spirit of a mother who refused to let the past poison her daughter: ''If the landscape that eventually emerged can be visualized as the bleakest thing I know a British beach in winter she stood around me like a windbreak so that all I saw was colors.'' A


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Baignoire watch, mini model
Quartz, pink gold, diamonds
The 1906 design of the watch that would later be christened the "Baignoire" demonstrated Cartier's prowess in crafting watchmaking forms. An elegant ellipse uniquely forged in a single line, the "Baignoire" watch is the essence of Cartier style: an unmatched marriage of purity and timeless chic.
18K pink gold set with round diamonds, twelve-sided crown set with a diamond, sapphire crystal, silvered dial with sunray finish, Roman numerals, sword-shaped blued-steel hands, 18K pink gold bracelet, quartz movement caliber 059, water-resistant to 30 meters (100 feet).
Case dimensions: 25.30 mm x 20.795 mm, 7.73 mm thickness
The easy way to find your nearest Cartier boutique.
Receive your Cartier watch perfectly adjusted to your wrist.
You can find the entire set of user manuals for Cartier watches.


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Thanks Chris for posting the URL. I began learning HTML at http://www.davesite.com/webstation/html/ An Interactive Tutorial for Beginners. >>>Or even in an hour: see <URL:http://www.shore.net/%7Ecrism/zeroto.html>, an underused (IMO) basic HTML tutorial, covering HTML Level 2 and providing a good basis for further self-teaching.<<< Greg email@example.com on Monday, 18 May 1998 12:20:39 GMT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.2.0+W3C-0.50 : Tuesday, 19 July 2011 18:13:39 GMT


text: Carine on the Collections In a fashion industry first, Harper's Bazaar has welcomed Carine Roitfeld as global fashion director across all 26 international editions. The famed editor is debuting her first fashion feature for the March 2013 issues. The following editorial was shot in New York and features the faces and designers of the Spring 2013 season. Here, we reveal four of the stunning photographs and the full spread hits newsstands on February 12. Welcome to spring. Sui He, Louis Vuitton By Harper's Bazaar Staff on 2/5/2013 Jumpsuit and bra, Louis Vuitton.Pumps, Gianvito Rossi. Makeup, Shiseido. Carine on the Collections - Page 7


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Book of Saints – Cuno
CUNO (CONRAD) (Saint) Bishop, Martyr (June 1) (11th century) An Archbishop of Treves in the time of the Emperor Henry IV. He met his death while defending the rights of his Church (A.D. 1066) and was at once acclaimed as a Martyr by his devoted people.
- Monks of Ramsgate. "Cuno". , 1921. Saints.SQPN.com. 17 October 2012. Web. 18 December 2014. <http://saints.sqpn.com/book-of-saints-cuno/>


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Roc Nation to manage Kanye
NEW YORK - His throne continues to build: Jay Z's Roc Nation will now manage Kanye West.
The management company and Mr. West's label announced Monday that Roc Nation will work alongside Mr. West's production house, DONDA, on managing the Grammy-winning superstar's music endeavors. Izvor Zivkovic will continue to manage Mr. West as well.
Roc Nation manages Rihanna, Shakira, Timbaland and other acts.
Mr. West burst on the music scene as a producer on Jay Z's albums, and the two eventually collaborated on various songs and albums.
Handler's Oscar tweets draw ire
LOS ANGELES - Comedian Chelsea Handler drew accusations of racism after she was invited to take over The Huffington Post's Twitter account during Sunday night's Oscars and repeatedly touted her upcoming book, "Uganda Be Kidding Me," whenever "12 Years A Slave" received an award.
In one, she tweeted, "Congratulations #12yearsaslave Go to Africa or buy @uganda bekiddingme http://amzn.to/1de1ka9 #aheadofthecurve #Oscars."
People responded via Twitter with words like "disgraceful," "offensive" and "racist."
Huffington Post senior executive director Perri Dorset said the site was upfront about the Twitter feed takeover and has invited celebrities to do so in the past, adding, "the views are theirs not ours."
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