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Indonesia's Islamic, vigilante vice squad raids nightclubs, churches and more.
Their argument echoes the 1980s "Moral Majority" movement, backed by U.S. pastors seeking Bible-inspired laws for a majority Christian nation. Likewise, the Front demands Islamic piety and Quranic law for Indonesia, where more than 85 percent of the country's 240 million citizens identify as Muslim.
The vigilantes are best known for their so-called "sweeps." Karaoke dives and pubs, particularly those operating during the holy month of Ramadan, are told to shut down.
Those that refuse face a screaming mob clad in white robes. They rush out of trucks by the hundreds, screaming Allah's name, rods clenched in raised fists. Their sheer numbers often overwhelm security guards or hired heavies defending nightclubs.
"The first time I saw this, I was at their headquarters at around 9 p.m. Dozens were returning from sweeping the city with blood all over their jubas [white robes]," said Jajang Jahroni, an Islamic scholar and author of "Defending the Majesty of Islam," an academic examination of the group.
"They said, 'We've just done jihad! Our cuts and wounds will be witness to our struggle in the hereafter!'" Jahroni said. "After evening prayers, they'd keep sweeping the city until dawn. It was a sort of dark justice."
At the dawn of the 21st century, there was much vice to sweep.
Indonesia was redefining itself after the 1998 fall of Suharto, who suppressed both communism and organized Islam as threats during his three-decade iron rule. Street clerics were forced to register with the government. Muslims were jailed on flimsy charges of agitating for an Islamic caliphate.
When the economy tailspinned in the late 1990s, Suharto's grip loosened. Repressed grudges and desires were satisfied violently in the streets. The poor rioted against the rich, namely well-off ethnic Chinese. More than 1,200 were killed and an estimated 160-plus women were raped.
Vice also flourished, particularly in poor communities. "We were like inmates freed from prison," said Muhammed Holil, 35, a social worker in the Jembatan Besi slums. "The police did almost nothing."
Members of the Islamic Defender's Front during a protest in Jakarta in 2008. (Adek Berry/AFP/Getty Images) |
To the Front's founder, a cleric named Habib Muhammed Rizieq, Suharto was the wicked Egyptian Pharaoh in the Quran. With Suharto gone, however, Rizieq, Siddiq and other fundamentalists were free to organize a resistance. The same sense of lawlessness that allowed so much vice also gave hardline Muslims the freedom to fight for the kind of Indonesia they thought was right.
Every booze stall, drug pusher and prostitute was warned first and offered spiritual counsel, Siddiq said.
"Not once, not twice. Three times. If that failed, we used the final resort," he said.
"I stress that jihad does not have to be violent," Siddiq said. "When all those discos were being destroyed, I was trying to negotiate with the owners. But if they hired thugs to initiate fights, we had to defend ourselves."
Through vice raids, the Front won infamy and sympathizers. "If it weren't for the Islamic Defenders Front," Holil said, "this neighborhood would be far worse off."
Their moral policing appealed to Muslims — particularly young men — who feel then and now that Indonesia's immature democracy is incapable of repairing society.
"Sometimes [the Front] does wrong," said Irwan Maulana, a 28-year-old University of Indonesia student. "But sometimes they bring justice. When the government's doing such a bad job, who's going to fix these problems?"
Expanding its influence
In recent years, the Front has expanded its crusade beyond nightlife haunts. The billiard bars and karaoke brothels they've wrecked are too numerous to count. Now, so are their cultural, religious and political targets.
Core founder Rizieq once vowed to "hunt down" American and British foreigners in retaliation for the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. In 2006, the Front stormed offices of Playboy Indonesia (which doesn't publish nudity) and followed up with renewed threats this year to hunt down the publisher. (He is now serving a two-year sentence under indecency charges.)
They continue to burn down churches in Muslim-majority neighborhoods. Two different porn actresses, American Tera Patrick and Japan's Maria Ozawa, were both threatened for filming horror flicks in Indonesia.
More on Indonesia:
Does Facebook lead to adultery? | Court says no porn in Indonesia | Forced church closings spike |


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Kirsten Berg (featured previously) is one of the most well known yogis in the Ashtanga world, with people flying all over the globe to attend her classes in Thailand, Bali and the States, yet for 3 months of the year, she commits her time and energy to gifting amazing art installations at Burning Man. This year, her installation called (In)Visible was supported by the Burning Man organization and had a prominent location next to the Temple of Grace. The sculpture was a 20ft high column of faceted cubes that contained iridescent windows to reflect a variety of colors throughout the day and night.
We had the opportunity to talk with Kirsten Berg regarding her inspiration, lifestyle and future plans for her art. [Read more…]

subset: commoncrawl


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I have strawberry blonde hair, and my eyebrows and lashes (although very long) are so blonde that you cannot see them. Being a young lady in this day in age, I just want to look like everyone else. The trick is to learn what works and what doesn't.
About dyeing your eye brows: it can be expensive if you do it excessively. The color usually washes out within two or three weeks, depending on how dark you go. It's nice if you're going on vacation or something, but I personally recommend using a pencil (check out Maybelline's brow pencil) to shade your brows in; use light strokes going in the same direction, and don't over do it (caked on brows look fake and unnatural).
I'm not going to lie. Dyeing your eyelashes kind of burns, and is generally more expensive than dyeing your brows. Pain is a good indication that it's not good for you; stick with mascara.
If you're a light blonde, I would try a soft black or dark brown before you apply the blackest black shade of mascara. The trick is for the coloring to look natural, so play around with mascara and brow colors before committing to one. I prefer applying mascara on my bottom lashes as well, but some people prefer using a light eye liner instead.


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Blog | Comments |
WoW | 15 Comments |
Recent Comments:
Breakfast Topic: Do you struggle to keep up with the Wrynns? {WoW}
Oct 29th 2010 8:51AM love the get up kids reference
The Queue: The one where Fox takes over {WoW}
Sep 9th 2010 6:27PM as someone that agrees with you on your political pov, this is a wow based blog, lets keep it courteous and separate.
The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Stream of Cataclysm consciousness {WoW}
Sep 3rd 2010 4:42PM I don't think that will end up being a problem, since removing Heroic Strike from the next on swing our rotation still feels a little empty, in addition we will have to worry about hit in this expansion since with the wayHS is supposed to work we essentially wouldn't be able to ignore the white miss percentage by keeping every hit yellow with heroic strike spam. I think this should lend it self to a more scaled dps increase even if we are losing rage to being capped vice losing dps to being rage starved. In addition to the removal of arp I think this is going to be hard to measure the true effect until we can start metering the bet
WoW.com Giveaway: World of Warcraft Programming, 2nd Ed {WoW}
Feb 9th 2010 9:12AM I need this! Just keep that in mind when you're picking them at "random" ;). No really, I want it soooo bad, i need it so much i almost went out and bought one. oh wait. hmmm. well i don't need it but it would be awesome to have it.
The Twelve Days of Winter Veil: Day ten {WoW}
Dec 24th 2009 7:48AM i call dibs!


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Title: | James Logan Papers |
Repository: | ECU Manuscript Collection |
Languages: | English |
Extent: | 0.48 Cubic feet, 12 items . |
December 15, 1971 (unprocessed), 12 reels; Papers (1681-1769), including correspondence, letter-books, land records, scientific reports, etc. Donor: Dr. Roy N. Lokken.
No restrictions
Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.
James Logan Papers (#MF0009), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.
Encoded by Apex Data Services
Online access to this finding aid is supported with funds created through the federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). These funds come through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services which is administered by the State Library of North Carolina, a division of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources. This grant is part of the North Carolina ECHO, Exploring Cultural Heritage Online, Digitization Grant Program.


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Tue, Aug 31, 10 at 23:54
After 3 years, my curry leaf plant finally grew 6 inches this summer and I was so excited but suddenly, the leaves started drooping. They look healthy but in one plant especially, they look like they will fall off but when gently pulling, they don't. I can't figure out why this is so. I did water them once with the water from washing some lentils. Had read somewhere that it contains some nutrients like vitamin b etc. Please let me know if you have any suggestions on how to help it look better. I've had these plants for over 8 years and am attached to them even if they are only a foot tall :-( Thanks! |
Follow-Up Postings:
- Posted by gardendawgie (My Page) on Sat, Sep 11, 10 at 11:30
Can you report on progress. What has happened. I am concerned about your plants. I know nothing of the curry leaf plant. I wish I did. |
- Posted by teauteau KC5/6 (email@example.com) on Mon, Oct 4, 10 at 16:56
I bought a curry leaf plant (Murraya koenigii) from Logee's early this summer. The plant was rather small. Probably about 4 or 5 inches tall but healthy. I put it in a large pot and it get sun for about 6 hours out of the day maybe 7. It is now almost 10 inches tall! It has really like its environment. It's starting to get cool around here and we probably won't have our first frost until close to Halloween so, I've been watching the weather to make sure I bring it in before the first frost. It got down to the low 40s this week but is going to warm up a bit for then next week so the little guy gets to stay out a little longer. I hope it makes it through the winter. Have you tried feeding it? Potted plants need continuous nutrition because the nutrients are leached out of the soil when you water. |
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Date: December 23, 2013
Recommend :-
Know about Best Available Models within 7 Lakh Price Range in India
Indian consumers, searching Online have highest searches for cars under 5 Lakh and under 7 Lakh Price Bracket.
Though - there are many cars and 'n' number of Variants - which are available in market. We tried to put in the best Models of the 7 Lakh Segment by bifurcating into various Categories for an Easy Shortlisting of Prospective Buyers
Below are some of the best Available Models within 7 Lakh Price Range
» Hyundai I20 Asta (Petrol) - Look no else than I20 Asta with Sunroof, it has as name suggested - Electric Sunroof with Tilt and Slide Function, 6 Airbags, ABS, EBD, Push Button, Automatic Climate Control, Projector LED Headlights, Power Foldable ORVM and one of the best Interiors with Excellent Legroom, Shoulde-room as comparable to any Mid Sedan Car. Available at Price of Rs. 6.9 Lakh
» Tata Vista D90 Zx (Diesel):- The combination of Power, 1.3 Lit with 89 BHP with 200 NM Torque along with Comfortable and Spacious Interiors with a Sedan Feel. Add on Modern Styling Features like - Automatic Climate Control, 6.7 Inch TFT Screen with DVD Player, GPS Navigator, Contrast Roof, along with Top of Line Features - ABS, EBD, Dual Airbags, Alloys, Steering Mounted Controls, USB, Aux, Bluetooth - Tata Vista D90 Zx is epitome of affordable Luxurious Feel with Powerful Engine, yet at a value price of Rs. 6.83 Lakh
» Tata Manza Club Class (Diesel):- A Sedan with Best in Class Premium Length Space, Knee-room, Legroom, Premium Length, Shoulder room and yet loaded with Descent Features at a Value buy or for those looking for Chauffeur driven car at a value price.
Available at 6.65 Lakh - it has Power Steering, All 4 Door Power Window, Remote Central Lock, 2 Din CD Player with Steering Mounted Control with USB and Aux Support makes it a Value Buy in this Price for a car of this Cadre. Add on Fair Mileage in Diesel to help you bring down your running costs
» Ford Ecosport Ambiente (Petrol) :- A SUV with 1.5 Lit Powerful Engine with 110 BHP Power and 140 NM Torque - which is comparable to best in class Engines. Add on the SUV Sporty Feel, Looks, Features - Power Steering, Tilt & Telescopic Steering, Front Power Window, Electric ORVM, FM System, 15 Inch Bigger Wheels - its perfect for both City and Highway usage. Also - range of additional accessories which are available and can be fitted to customize this SUV further. The Current Price of Ecosport Ambiente is Rs. 5.83 Lakh
» Maruti Swift Zxi (Petrol) - You will love the Sport Pep with 87 BHP Power in 1.2 Lit K Series Engine. Styling and Sporty Body Dynamics, Fully Loaded Features with 15 Inch Alloys (Even there are strong news that Swift Zxi in 2014 will be more stylish with Push Button Ignition, LED Daytime Headlights and may also have as per rumours Automatic Climate Control too). If seeking Petrol hatch - you will love to drive it with absolute ease
» Volkswagen Polo Diesel - You will love it driving with Short Throw Gear Box, Easy Driving, Powerful Peppy Engine, the Best Fit and Finish in which European maker has actually set a benchmark for other car makers. You wont regret buying it with the Quality, Fun and Driving Style. Priced at Rs. 6.69 Lakh - it has all to give you a feel and pride of owning a Volkswagen brand
» For Petrol its among Swift Dzire and Toyota Etios Vx
Maruti Swift Dzire Zxi (Petrol) - It still rules - if you looking with a car having Space, Best in Class Mileage, Low Maintenance, Rich Features, Styling and Youth Feel. Its a perfect Urban City Usage car with Safety Features - ABS, Airbags, 2 Din CD Player, Automatic Climate Control, Bigger 15 Inch Alloys and other host of features backed with After Sales Service Network with Economical Spare Parts
Toyota Etios :- With Dual Tone Interiors, ABS, Airbags, CD Player, Premium Length, Unmatched Boot Space, Best in Class Legroom, Space for 5 Passengers, Bigger and More Powerful Engine, Exterior Body Styling, Brand Image of Sedan and Toyota genuiness for its Quality Products, with Value Features makes it a contender for Best Buy of the Segment
» For Diesel - its one among Honda Amaze or Chevy Sail Sedan
Both Diesel cars have Descent Powerful Engine (Amaze though has best in class with 1.5 Lit I-Dtec Diesel Engine @ 100 BHP Power as against 1.3 Lit 77 BHP of Sail @ 205 NM). Both have Descent Body Styling, Good Ergonomics, Legroom, Kneeroom, Features (Sail however has additionally Driver Side Airbags, 2 Din CD Player), Mileage (Amaze scores slight better), Length (Sail Looks more premium as against Compact Amaze)
However - both yet do not score too high on Interiors, Interior Aesthetics and plastics. Still - as an overall factor - both are as on date best available diesel cars in 7 Lakh Price Range
*Classification done basis Ex-showroom Price in Delhi, prevailing as on date
Connect with Author on:- Google


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Qi Universal Wireless Charging Plate
- Category: Accessories
August 20, 2013
Editor's Rating
- Wireless charging
- Sleek, stylish design
- Bright LED light
Charging your smartphone doesn't always mean you have to be tied to a cable. With the Qi Universal Wireless Charging Plate, you can wirelessly charge your smartphone. To do so, your smartphone must have a compatible inductive charging case.
The Qi has an ultra-slim design that also looks very stylish too. It measures 7.1 x 4.3 x 0.8-inches (wdh) and weighs 5.3-ounces. It's all white with a blue LED light and turns on when a phone is charging.
To charge your phone, just place it onto the pad and the light will turn on. The wireless induction technology will then quickly charge your phone without any wires. If your phone does not support wireless charging, you have a few options. First, you can buy a microUSB wireless charging adapter. Second, you can buy a case that has supports inductive charging for your phone.
For example, if you have a Samsung Galaxy S4, you can purchase a wireless inductive charging backplate to make it compatible with the Qi.
When your phone is completely charged, the Qi will turn off to not overcharge your device. The LED light will also light up to show your phone is finished charging. We should mention that we found the LED light to be rather bright, so probably not a good idea to put it right next to your bed.
The Qi Universal Wireless Charging Plate is available from MobileFun.com for $45.99.


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Welcome International Customers
We're excited to share our jewelry collection with you!
Just choose your country and currency to personalize your shopping experience.
We're excited to share our jewelry collection with you!
Just choose your country and currency to personalize your shopping experience.
Item#: 832866
C. 2000. Here is the key to love and romance! Follow your heart and go for this diamond-accented padlock pendant necklace from our Estate collection. Suspends from rope chain with springring clasp closure. 14kt white and yellow gold necklace. Exclusive, one-of-a-kind Estate Jewelry.
Our 100%
Necklace Drop DROP: A dangling or stationary detail which "drops" from a bale, strand or earring backing. Length: | 5/8 inch |
Necklace Drop Width: | 1/2 inch |
Metal: | 14kt 14KT: Karat (abbreviated kt or K) is a unit that indicates the purity of gold in the metal. 14kt is 58.33% gold. In the United States, 14K yellow gold is most favored and used in jewelry. Two-Tone Gold TWO-TONE GOLD: Gold is a precious metal which is often alloyed with other metals to increase strength and create different colors. A two-tone gold piece includes two colors of gold: yellow, rose, white, or gunmetal-finished gold. The purity of the metal is indicated by a unit called a "karat," with 24kt having the highest percentage of natural gold. |
Finish: | Polished POLISHED: A buffed-out finish used to produce a mirror-like shine. |
Chain: | Rope ROPE: Chain links that are twisted or looped together in a pattern that creates a look similar to that of a rope. |
Chain Size: | 1 mm |
Clasp: | Springring SPRINGRING CLASP: Invented in the early 1900s this diminutive device is highly effective. It's a hollow circular metal fastener with a spring opening. This keeps the clasp closed. |
Safety: | Figure 8 |
Bale: | Single |
Fits Chain: | 2 mm |
Chain Included: | Yes |
Stone 1: | Diamond Diamond: The hardest and most brilliant of all gemstones, a diamond can make the heart race with its pure and fiery spark. An ancient symbol of love, a diamond is the preferred gemstone for tokens of affection, such as rings, earrings, necklaces and bracelets. Diamond is the birthstone for April. (Quantity: 13, Shape & Cutting Style: Round Single-Cut, SINGLE-CUT: A gemstone cutting technique that dates back to the 1300s. Still used today, the single-cut usually features 18 facets that go in one direction without crossing each other. Color Grade: G-H, Clarity: SI1-SI2, Weight: 0.07 ct. t.w.) |
All weights and measures are approximate.
You May Also Like
Learn More About: Diamond Buying Guide Estate Jewelry Earring Buying Guide Polished Finish Rope Chain Springring Clasp Diamond


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I need to make a decision this week, so please help me. I am in the process of getting lighting for my kitchen. Its 20"x7", and the island will have pendants, which are not expected to be a prominent source of light. At this point I don't have many options for ceiling fixtures - I could either do track lights or wire mould with surface fixtures. Do track lights give enough lighting? I have always used surface fixtures, and am nervous about using tracks as main source of lighting in the kitchen. How many lights should I have?
My contractor says that track should be fine, but I am not sure. For under-cabinet, I am confused between LED and Xenon. My countertop is flashy so I want one that will bring out the best in the counter. |
Follow-Up Postings:
I used a 35 lumen per sq foot guideline for the kitchen. The number of lights you need depends on the output per light, type of light. For under cabinet, xenon will give off more heat than LED. I'd recommend LED. |
- Posted by texaskitchentoo (My Page) on Fri, Apr 9, 10 at 5:48
While LED certainly consumes less power it has other drawbacks. Many are not dimmable, but they may have pre-set power levels (hi, lo, off). Like CFL's the tend to put out whitish/blueish light. Even the warm light versions are not what you are used to with incandescent and the warm light LEDs put out less light. Bare LEDs are very bright as point sources, if you have dark granite you are going to get reflections in the countertops. If you have a sample of your granite I'd take it with you when you shop for lights. If you spend a ton on a nice multi-color granite and then wash it out with 'blue' LED lights you may not like the results. I'm struggling too between LED and Xenon. I like the light qualities of Xenon but want the efficiency of lED. I just think LED is not quite there yet. Maybe in another year or two the quality of light and price will be better. Meanwhile I need lights now. I may go with 12v Xenon for now and see if I can 'upgrade' in a few years to LED. I found the mini track lighting from Juno. It runs on 12v (or 24v) and they have both Xenon and LED fixtures which can be placed anywhere on the track. The problem is to convert from Xenon to LED may need a different dimmer or transformer. If the wiring is no different than I can handle that. Once the backsplash goes up I don't want to be changing the wiring! I'm still reseaching exactly what I'd need to install this and later upgrade to better LED fixtures. But this is looking promising and while I have the old backsplash torn out it makes wiring much easier. Other companies sell this type of lighting normally called linear lighting. The other advantage is that you can put fixtures anywhere along the track as long as you don't exceed the power or min spacing limits. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Juno Trac 12
Texaskitchentoo, I like this idea but do you have to have the lights now? I know the cost of the xenons is minimal when compared to quality leds but why not just wire for a future install of an led system. This is what I'm thinking if I can get the DW to agree. I also plan install a low voltage recessed dimmable halogen lighting system to be upgraded to leds in the future to take care of the lighting needs. In our kitchen, I see the uc lighting being used more for a mood setting even though I know it will be used for task duties also. I just expect newer and better led technology in the future and hopefully lower pricing. |
- Posted by tomorrowisanotherday (My Page) on Fri, Apr 16, 10 at 9:34
My xenons are HOT. Be aware of that if you keep food/medicines in the cabinet above a xenon fixture. The light quality is great, but I don't use them as much as I wanted to because of the excess heat. I would not install them if I had it to do over. What good will a fixture do if you don't like to use it? I like footwedge's suggestion. |
The backbone of any undercabinet lighting system is the wiring. For low voltage, there is a transformer (or 2) located somewhere in a cabinet or other hidden spot(s). Changing from 12V to 24V or 24V to 12V would entail replacing the transformer & lighting strips. Changing from standard AC to low voltage could be more involved. |
- Posted by dancingsams (My Page) on Thu, Apr 22, 10 at 18:22
We are going LED. There is a lighting show in Las Vegas - Lightfair International, May 12-14, that will demo a huge amount of residential lighting. Although locals are not always up to speed, there are many manufacturers making excellent, effective LED lights right now! |
It's difficult to wade through the exagerations and false information presented by the dozens of "me too" vendors at that show. Buyer beware. It's hard for the real technology leaders to stand out because they tend to be honest about their product's performance. |
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Des Moines, IA, Sep 22, 2011 -- DES MOINES, Iowa – September 22, 2011 – Bill Menner, USDA Rural Development State Director in Iowa, today announced that Jan Finn-Takes and Dan Speed are this month's Vilsack-Wallace Award recipients for exceptional contributions to USDA Rural Development in Iowa.
The Vilsack-Wallace Award is given each month to USDA Rural Development employees in Iowa who goes above and beyond their normal work duties to assist rural Iowans and USDA staff.
Finn-Takes and Speed are both Single Family Housing Specialists in the agency's Tipton office serving homeowners in Benton, Cedar, Clinton, Dubuque, Iowa, Jackson, Johnson, Jones, Linn and Scott Counties.
"Our Tipton office is widely known for excellence in delivering home loan programs to rural residents in eastern Iowa," Menner said. "Jan and Dan have a have a significant role in that. They are great public servants who have a tremendous impact on their region."
Finn-Takes and Speed continuously exhibit excellent customer service and go the extra mile to help customers and staff. They take great pride in the work that they do, especially in teaching lenders about the agency's guaranteed home loan program. They are team players in the Tipton office and are always happy to assist others with any questions.
The Vilsack-Wallace Award is named for the two most recent Iowans to serve as U.S. Agriculture Secretary. Tom Vilsack served as Iowa's governor from 1999 to 2007. Henry A. Wallace was the first Ag Secretary and later Vice President under Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He also perfected the first corn hybrid and founded Hi-Bred Corn, which later became Pioneer Hi-Bred.
USDA Rural Development is an equal opportunity lender with a variety of direct and guaranteed rural credit programs involving single and multi-family housing, community facilities, water and sewer development and business and cooperative programs.
During the past year USDA Rural Development funds have allowed the agency to help create or retain more than 2,200 jobs in rural Iowa, aid 2,500 families in buying their own homes and assist more than 250 rural communities as they make improvements to their facilities, services and infrastructure.
For more information about finance programs through USDA Rural Development, please call the Tipton office at (563) 886-6006 Ext. 4.
USDA Rural Development has 11 offices across the state to serve the 1.7 million Iowans living in rural communities. Office locations include a State Office in Des Moines, along with Area Offices in Albia, Atlantic, Humboldt, Indianola, Iowa Falls, Le Mars, Mount Pleasant, Storm Lake, Tipton and Waverly.
Further information on programs available through USDA Rural Development is available by visiting the agency's web site at www.rurdev.usda.gov/ia.


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Minor in Business |
The Business program ensures that the student is exposed to additional areas of accounting, economics, finance, management, international business, and information systems.
You will be introduced to investment information such as investing in securities, commodities, and options; and methods and techniques for analyzing investment opportunities and assessing financial conditions for investment purposes. The program also includes exposure to advanced topics that are important to business such as money and banking, and advanced managerial and cost accounting.
The following apply to all minors:
- A minor must be comprised of 18 credit hours taken at Webster University.
- No course counted toward a major can also count toward a minor.
- Students may have a major and a minor within the same department; they may not major and minor within the same area of emphasis.
- Students must earn a grade of C- or better in any course they wish to apply toward a minor.


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Most Amazing Place Evar!
I should have written this review when we first got home, but got so busy and I wanted to put much thought into the review. We were really hesitant to rent this now that the main house is occupied. But, this turned out to be the best place we've ever stayed! The price is incredible! You won't find a better price. It was close to the ocean for me to go fishing. We are used to staying at homes near the ocean with a pool that cost a lot of money. This has the most amazing pool we've seen, right near the ocean and dirt cheap! The owners are some of the greatest people I've met. The accommodations, I was worried would be too small. But there was more than enough room, and the ohana was more thought out than any place we've stayed. Quiet location. You cannot find any place better than this. Not only did we have an incredible time just hanging out here, but we've found fabulous friends in Kim and Toni! Malama pono and peace!


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Amidst Production Drama, 'Jane Got a Gun' Finally Gets Around to Casting Final Major Role
Casting Couch By Kate Erbland on April 10, 2013 | Comments (1)With its revolving door of cast members and production drama in the wake of director Lynne Ramsay's departure, Jane Got a Gun has scarcely had time to hook a new director, let alone fill the one still-vacant leading role. Now that Warrior director Gavin O'Connor has taken over the film, Jane is finally getting a hubby in O'Connor's frequent collaborator, Noah Emmerich. Brian Duffield's Western script centers on Natalie Portman's eponymous Jane, who discovers that her outlaw hubby (Emmerich) is the target of Bradley Cooper's baddie gang and then subsequently hires on her own ex-lover (Joel Edgerton) to help her protect her farm from Cooper and his desperado pals. Deadline's scoop that Emmerich is set to fill the husband role (which, admittedly, I think most of us had forgotten about in the wake of all the Jane drama) doesn't come as a surprise – Jane will be the fifth film that Emmerich has starred in for O'Connor, as the pair have also worked on such projects as Miracle and Warrior (which also starred Edgerton).
Kevin Carr's Weekly Report Card: June 10, 2011
Features By Kevin Carr on June 10, 2011 | Be the First To CommentThis week, Fat Guy Kevin Carr relives his childhood by running around with a Super 8 film camera, trying to capture a train derailment on film. He deftly uses the cover of shooting a home movie with a bunch of local tweens who ride around on their bikes all day like some extras in a Spielberg film. However, when the cops come after him for suspicious behavior, he ducks into the local cinema to catch the live-action big screen adaptation of the Judy Moody books. This might not be helping his case.
Review: 'Super 8′ Is Soaring, Slightly Hollow Entertainment
Movie Reviews By Scott Beggs on June 8, 2011 | Comments (3)There's nothing quite like returning to the old neighborhood to find that your childhood playground hasn't been torn down. You run your hand along rope ladders deemed "unsafe" by modern standards, feel the crunch of pebbles beneath your feet that did more to cut than soften a fall, sit in the swing and think for a moment about jumping out at the highest point. Super 8 is the cinematic equivalent of unearthing a time capsule and finding everything inside is still impossibly shiny and new. It's impossible to remove the film from its own nostalgia, except for its intended audience of children discovering this type of filmmaking for the first time (and maybe even seeing their first Amblin logo). That's a pretty powerful thing. With everyone clamoring to tap a market of adults eager for their own past while simultaneously getting kids into seats, J.J. Abrams's latest is one of the few that actually succeeds.
Kevin Carr's Weekly Report Card: April 1, 2011
Features By Kevin Carr on April 2, 2011 | Be the First To CommentThis week, Fat Guy Kevin Carr recovers from a full day of watching Armageddon back-to-back to crawl back to the multiplex. He re-lived the last eight minutes of Source Code over and over, thoroughly confusing himself. Then he stumbled into the theater next door to learn about the true meaning of Easter from Russell Brand and James Marsden. Things take a decidedly creepy turn when he watches Insidious and wets himself more than once. This led to a very unfortunate scene while he watched the sexual-predator cautionary tale Trust. No one would believe him it was just wee wee.
Based on the real life backstory of the 1980 U.S. Men's Hockey team, a team that defied all odds and rallied a nation by defeating the Soviet Union during a time of great sociopolitical tension, Miracle is also the very human story behind one of the greatest moments in sports history.
Neil Miller
Scott Beggs
Rob Hunter
Kate Erbland
Christopher Campbell


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Business Economics - Inside Tech City
The International Business Times is producing a series of short videos on life, work and enterprise inside Tech City - a fast-growing hub of digital start ups and established tech businesses centred around Old Street / Digital Roundabout. The clips reveal the energy of the start-up economy in this part of London and the importance of network effects, collaboration and attracting human capital in accelerating routes to market for lean start-ups. This series of short videos is worth a look if you are interested in this potentially significant catalyst for growth in the UK economy and to learn more about the factors that influence the emergence and success/failure of start ups.
read more...»Paul Ormerod: How sticky is unemployment?
How sticky is unemployment? Will it take three years to fall?
The views expressed by the new Bank of England Governor, Mark Carney, on interest rates and unemployment remain a hot topic. Interest rates will not be raised until unemployment falls below 7 per cent, a process he thinks will take three years.
read more...»Unit 4: Introduction of Employment Tribunal fees as a supply-side policy
As of today, any employee wishing to take their employer to an unfair dismissal, unequal pay or sexual discrimination tribunal will have to pay a fee. This fee will not be automatically refunded on a successful tribunal outcome meaning that employees who are making choices about such an action have to be aware of the potential financial cost of such an action.
The government argue that this removes some of the burden of tribunal costs away from tax payers and should also reduce the number of frivolous claims made (and thus reduce a further burden on businesses). As such, you could claim that the tribunal fee represents a supply-side policy by the government - an attempt to improve the efficiency of the operation of businesses by reducing some of the red-tape that can stop a business working effectively (particularly small businesses).
Trade Unions are unhappy about the fee introduction. They argue that it reduces the opportunity for poorer workers (or unemployed people who have lost a job) to seek justice for what may have been unfair treatment. An evaluative argument here, therefore, might suggest that the tribunal fee acts as a barrier to fair pay, particularly in cases of discrimination.
Follow this link for some details as illustrated by the New Statesman.
Unit 2 Macro: Costly child care hurts economic growth
Access to affordable comprehensive child care and schooling is widely regarded as being crucial to improving the incentives for mothers to actively search for and take paid work. Effective early years education also has a long run positive effect on employment prospects and is important as part of the overall supply-side capacity of the economy.
read more...»Unit 2 Macro: IMF Report on UK Economy calls for Increased Investment
In its annual assessment of the U.K. economy, the IMF called on the UK to invest in skills and infrastructure and increase banking sector competition in order to foster growth and achieve a sustainable recovery.
The report can be found here and contains plenty of relevant background information on the current situation facing the UK - here is a selection of quotes from their summary
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Unit 4 Macro: Public Social Spending and the Welfare Cap
The UK Coalition government has introduced a controversial welfare cap - imposing a maximum on the total social security spending per year for each family. The welfare cap limits households to £26,000 a year. Couples and single parents receive no more than £500 a week in benefits, while the limit for single people is £350, although there are some exemptions.
The cap is designed to ensure that benefits payments do not exceed the income of the average working household and is designed both to cut total welfare spending and as part of a strategy of improving incentives for people to actively look for and take paid work.
Critics argue that a welfare gap does little or nothing to address deeper underlying problems such as the soaring cost of renting property and the lack of affordable child care.
Social spending varies greatly across different countries. The Economist live chart below looks at some of these differences.
read more...»Unit 4 Macro: Innovation and New Sources of Growth
This short video from the OECD looks at the importance of knowledge capital as a key driver of innovation and growth for businesses and economies across the world. Innovation -- building on human knowledge - is booming, changing the way business invests and grows. As coal drove the last industrial revolution, software, databases, research and development, designs, new business models and the skills people bring to an organisation are driving revolutionary changes today.
read more...»Narrowing income inequality
For students' exam answers to be lifted from the ordinary to the higher levels, they really need to add some convincing evidence for their statements of theory. Here is a nice, simple report from the BBC of the latest figures from the ONS which shows what happened to household incomes in 2011-12, which would really fit the bill nicely.
In summary:
Average household income has fallen by £1,200 since 2007-8 in real terms;
Before tax and benefits, the average income of the top fifth of households was £78,000 and of the bottom fifth was £5,400 - a ratio between them of about 14:1
After tax and benefits these had changed to £57,300 and £15,800 - a ratio of four to one
Between 2007-8 and 2011-12, the average income of the top fifth has fallen by 6.8% and the bottom fifth has risen by 6.9%, so the gap between the two has narrowed (- note that the latest changes in benefits are not included as they took place after the end of the 2011-12 year).
All groups paid more in indirect tax in 2011-12 than in the previous two years, due to rises in VAT in 2010 and 2011.
Transport Economics - Sorting out Transport in London
We link here to a recent lecture given by Professor Doug McWilliams at Gresham College that might be of particular interest to students and teachers who are taking the transport economics option.
London has some major disadvantages that would make any transport policy difficult. However, even given the constraints, the current policy mix is so far away from ideal that it could be costing each household about £1,000 more than it should if transport were to be organised rationally. The lecture outlines some proposals for transport reform in the capital.
Unit 4 Macro: How Demographics Drive Global Economics
We link here to a recent 45 minute illustrated lecture given by Professor James Sproule on the impact of demographic change on competitiveness and growth prospects for the UK and other economies.
Economic growth depends on productivity gains and changes to the workforce. With service sector productivity gains diminishing and baby boomers across Europe approaching retirement, businesses face crucial questions on how they will fare. What can be done to maintain levels of prosperity in the UK?
Unit 2 Macro: London Gateway Super Port Prepares to Open
The scale of the new London Gateway Super deepwater Port is truly stunning and its importance to the economy as a trading nation is hard to underestimate - Britain will have a new world class hub port in a key location impacting on many trades and services in and around the South East and beyond. It has taken 10 years to establish and build this huge new infrastructure project, building eventually started in 2008.
Behind the port sits Europe's largest logistics park connected to the South east by road and rail.
This Financial Times news video looks at the background to the project - it is a good example to consider of the macroeconomic consequences of the investment. What price a new Thames Estuary airport (supported by Boris Johnson) to amplify the transformative impact in the years ahead?
Update: BBC news (November 2013) - click here
London Gateway is new competition for Felixstowe port
read more...»Rise in the number of working women could improve the GDP of the UK and Japan
Students looking for a good example of a supply-side policy for improving the economic performance of the UK may be interested in this news article about how increasing the labour participation rates of women in the UK could lead to an increase in GDP by up to a staggering 10%. This growth could be achieved by encouraging the number of women wishing to provide their labour (or increase the provision of their labour) to the same level as men.
The common view now is that legislation is no longer good enough in itself to provide this encouragement. The Equality Act of 2010 combined the various equal opportunity laws together to penalise businesses that operate unequally. What appears to be needed is an improvement in the accessibility, availability, cost and quality of childcare facilities to allow more mothers to work (or work longer).
A further article (follow this link) explores how this principle is equally true of the Japanese economy. This article has a fantastic graph comparing the female participation rates for many of the major economies which might be a fantastic data example for teachers to use as a compare and contrast exercise.
As for the costs on society of such a policy....... That's a different question!
Taxation breaks as an incentive
Much of the recent talk about tax has been linked to the avoidance stories by big multi-national companies like Google. An alternative angle that students may find interesting as a counter argument is the use of tax concessions as an incentive by government. The most commonly used example is the concessions given to more environmentally-friendly cars when their owners pay road tax.
Another interesting example has been highlighted this week, in concessions given out to those people who give away items classified as culturally significant. Follow this link to read an article on how some handwritten lyrics penned by John Lennon have been given away by their owner as part of the Cultural Gifts tax relief scheme.
Will all the tax avoiders in the front row please jangle their jewellery?
Zero hours contracts and youth employment
From the
employer's point of view, a zero hours contract is a great example of the
benefits of the flexible labour market. They allow the employer to change the
number of hours an employee works each week, with more shifts offered when they
are busy, and fewer when they are not; costs can therefore be controlled and
matched more exactly to revenue. Neil Carberry at the CBI says that they have
helped to save jobs during the recession and stagnant growth: "It's zero
hours contracts and other forms of flexible working that mean there are half a
million fewer unemployed people than there might otherwise have been." Now
figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS)
show the number of 16 to 24-year-olds on zero hours contracts has more than
doubled since the start of the economic downturn, rising from 35,000 in 2008 to
76,000 in 2012. This means that one in every three people on a zero-hours
contract is under 25 (- although that proportion doesn't look as if it has
changed very dramatically throughout the period shown). If this is good for the employer, how is it for the
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Positive indicators for the UK economy I - May the Force be with us
Apparently this is how George Osborne ended his tweet last night, announcing that the next Star Wars film is to be made in the UK - how nice to have some good news for a change! It looks like a great example of supply-side fiscal policy being effective. As long as at least 25% of the total production expenditure takes place in the UK, the film will benefit from tax relief, up to a maximum of 80% of the total budget for production costs in the UK. This seems to be acting as a powerful incentive: hundreds of films have been made here in the last few years and benefited not only from the tax relief but also from the comparative advantage which the UK is establishing in the creative industries with major film studios such as Pinewood, Leavesden and Ealing. How much is this worth to the UK economy?
Analysis of Youth Unemployment
This two-minute video from The Economist analyses the growing problem of youth unemployment in selected developed economies since the start of the financial crisis in 2007, including Greece, Spain, the UK, France, US and Germany. The chilling statistic from The Economist is that almost a quarter of the world's young people eligible for employment are without a job.
Youth unemployment in the UK
In the period from June to August 2013, 958,000 young people in the UK aged 16-24 were unemployed. The unemployment rate for those aged 16-24 was 21.0%
read more...»UK Economy Revision - Policies to Reduce Unemployment
Here is a streamed (and downloadable) presentation on policies to cut unemployment in the UK economy.
read more...»The UK Peace Index - highlighting the opportunity cost of violent crime
I'm always sightly dubious about statistics and information represented by campaign organisations - I'm left with the reservation that information can presented in any way that you want to prove whatever point that you are trying to make (wasn't it an economist who came up with the phrase 'lies, damned lies and statistics'?). So this fascinating report from an organisation called 'Vision of Humanity' needs to be looked at with an open mind.
However, if you take it at face value, it offers some really interesting information.
read more...»Unit 4 Macro: Migration flows across the world
Fantastic interactive website here lets you check out migration flows both inward and outward from any country you care to look at.
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Unit 2 and Unit 4 Macro: Economic Simulation - the Government Game
Introducing The Government Game - tutor2u's new Economic Simulation game that is just perfect for revising for AS & A2 Macroeconomic Policy topics!
read more...»Unit 4 Macro: Research on the Economics of Migration
The annual NORFACE migration conference at University College London this week has generated plenty of new research papers on the economics of international migration, a topic that of growing significance for students of globalisation, competitiveness, innovation and growth. Some of the key findings are summarised below together with external links to relevant articles and news reports
read more...»Unit 2 and Unit 4 Macro: Unicef Child Well-Being Report 2013
Unicef have just released their latest 'report card' on the relative state of well being among children in 29 of the most wealthy countries. The report (a full version and a summary) are available from this link.
The report shows pleasing progress for the UK (our place on the overall ranking has gone up from last place to 16th) with an improvement in obesity levels and a reduction in consumption of alcohol, cigarettes and drugs compared to the 2007 report.
However, worryingly, the UK is ranked 24th in the table with regards to its provision of Education. The biggest weakness highlighted, is the fact that the UK has one of the lowest percentages of young people continuing with education post 16 (only 74%) and very high levels of young people not in education, employment or training at all (nearly 10%). Students of economics could use this as evidence of government failure with regards to supply-side policies - with such a low level of participation in comparison to our major competitors can we guarantee that we are developing skills that will allow the economy to grow in the future? Could your students suggest (and then evaluate) suggestions for how this situation could be remedied?
Unit 2 Macro: Wealth of Nations and Human Capital
A recent World Bank report asked 'Where is the Wealth of Nations?' Calculations presented at the Economic History Society's 2013 annual conference show that for Britain, the answer is undoubtedly in its people.
Dr Jan Kunnas and his colleagues calculate that Britain's 'human capital' has grown by a multiple of 123 over the past 250 years. The main drivers of this phenomenal growth have been the growth in the workforce and the growth in wages.
The researchers define human capital as the knowledge and skills embodied in individuals – and they measure it by the discounted earnings the population is expected to earn during their time in the labour force.
We have an extended revision note on human capital and economic growth - read it hereThe Changing Wealth of Nations - World Bank reports can be accessed here
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Unit 4 Macro: Getting Back to Growth - Lessons from the 1930s
How Britain escaped from the travails of the Great Depression and achieved 4% a year growth in the years from 1933 to 1937 has important lessons for today's policy-makers, according to research by Professor Nicholas Crafts, presented at the Economic History Society's 2013 annual conference.
read more...»Unit 2 Macro: The Great Productivity Puzzle
GDP per hour – labour productivity – in the UK remains lower than at the beginning of the recession in 2008. A special session at the Royal Economic Society on Friday 5 April held jointly by the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) and Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) investigated the causes of this mystery. It was also the subject of BBC Rradio 4 In Business - click here
See also: the Job Rich Depression (The Economist)
read more...»Unit 4 Macro: Unemployment in Germany - The Hartz Reforms
Germany's low unemployment is in large part due to the 'Hartz Reforms', which started as early as 2003 and have reduced the long-run rate of unemployment by 1.1%. That is the central finding of research by Matthias Hertweck and Oliver Sigrist, to be presented at the Royal Economic Society's 2013 annual conference.
Unemployment rates across much of Europe have surged to unprecedented levels in recent years, particularly among the southern countries. In contrast, German unemployment has continued to fall even during the Great Recession. The authors conclude:
'Our results build a solid basis for the macroeconomic effectiveness of such labour market reforms. This is particularly important for policy-makers across Europe who are currently planning to undertake similar structural reforms.'
Unit 3 Micro: Small firms and innovation
The success of small firms is crucial to hopes of a sustained recovery in the UK economy and the government is keen to promote innovation within small and medium sized enterprises with a range of tax incentives including the Patent Box. The Patent Box system allows companies to apply an effective 10 percent preferential rate of corporation tax to profits attributable to patents and is introduced from April 2013.
Will this fresh supply-side fiscal policy prompt a significant boost to patent applications from UK firms? The evidence so far is mixed. The number of patent applications to the UK Intellectual Property Office from within the UK was just 15,370 in 2012, almost equal to the 2011 figure of 15,343. (Source: Independent, March 2013). But there has been a large rise in the number of patent applications made in the UK by foreign businesses especially in the pharmaceutical sector.
The reality is that most small businesses are too busy reinvesting their revenues back into growing their businesses rather than going through the lengthy, uncertain and often costly process of making multiple patent bids on their new product and process ideas. In a recent blog from the Wall Street Journal it was claimed that "it is almost impossible to defend software or business process innovation patents in the UK." Others are more optimistic - read this short piece from the Scotsman which claims that the Patent Box fits well with the ambition of the Scottish government to attract inward investment from high-knowledge businesses.
read more...»The Angry Economist! - a macro-economic objective resource
Here's a 5 to 10 minute activity for your post-Easter classes on macro-economic objectives - The Angry Economist! The design is very loosely based upon the 'Angry Bird' game.
You will need up to 8 volunteers to answer the 'Angry Economist's' questions.
Each student can choose a Government policy named on-screen and then the Angry Economist randomly chooses a macro-economic objective. The student has to to apply their knowledge and understanding of their chosen policy to the macro-economic objective shown.
The screen encourages the student to analyse and evaluate their own answer.
Use this link to access the resource. Give it a go!
read more...»Revision Quiz: AS Economics: Supply-side Policy (1)
This 10-question revision quiz focuses on supply-side policies.
Launch Revision Quiz: AS Economics: Supply-side Policy (1)
UK Social Welfare Reform April 2013
I know that it is April Fools Day, but the new and quite radical social welfare reforms are starting to come in to play from this week and they are genuine!
Use this link to access a document that summarises the main changes to the welfare reforms. You can use this document as a lesson activity to discuss government policies to achieve macro-economic objectives.
Are these reforms just aimed at reducing the government's debt or are they aimed at improving the unemployment situation? Are they part of a wider supply-side set of policies aimed at making the UK workforce more effective and flexible?
Could students discuss each policy's strength and weakness? Could they suggest alternative and (possibly) more effective policies.
Bitter losers and winners 2013 Budget
Office For Budget Responsibility forecasts for the economy in 2013. The Treasury's Budget details are here.
Politicshome's live Blog showing that hell hath no fury like pressure groups scorned, with plenty of useful links to early comments on The Budget.
Evening Standard's coverage here, it managed to pre-empt the Chancellor's statement.
Budget 2013 stimulus presentation
With Evening Standard-like speed, please follow this link for a short set of questions about today's Budget.
Unit 4 Macro: Trade Costs Higher for Developing Countries
Attention is often focused on the tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade and in particular, the extent to which trade from developing countries to advanced high-income nations is influenced by import taxes. Average tariff rates have come down to historic lows in recent years although non-tariff barriers proliferate.
New research from a group of European economists finds that trade costs - a concept that captures the broader expenses of getting goods and services across borders into international markets - are much higher than tariffs. And for developing countries these costs have not fallen to the same extent as richer countries.
read more...»Infrastructure spending: perhaps the UK is not so bad after all…..
The economics news, and this blog, has recently featured the debate between those who favour more government spending on public infrastructure and those who favour sticking to the role of austerity, in the search for growth - see the debate (or spat) between Krugman and Sachs, Vince Cable's article in the New Statesman and Liam Fox's speech to the IEA last week for a range of different views. The idea that more UK spending on 'shovel-ready projects' (if such a thing exists) would help to kick start the economy through multiplied growth of GDP suggests that we don't spend enough. And this view would be borne out by those who suffer damaged car tyres from potholes, hold-ups on the roads and railways from lack of maintenance, and delayed or re-routed air travel when the airports can't cope with adverse weather. However, an article in the Wall Street Journal this weekend suggests that the UK's spending is well ahead of other countries,and that Germany in particular has a real problem with aging, collapsing infrastructure.
read more...»Is this the start of Plan B?
It's not often you read such a clearly set out, even-handed article on macroeconomic policy, so this relatively lengthy piece was interesting in itself as its writer appears to deal relatively equally with both sides of the big austerity debate. But you really have to take notice when the writer is the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Vince Cable.
All Change at The Bank?
Tomorrow's Financial Times leads with a headline, "Osborne to hand Carney powers to kick start the economy." Budget to alter Bank of England's remit...Loser Monetary Policy."
Stephannie Flanders, the BBC's Economics Editor, considered if the UK's present monetary policy with its use of Quantitative Easing had played a part in pushing up share prices and wondered if other unorthodox measures would be effective to deal with a stagnating economy.Vince Cable the Business Secretary provides an outline in The New Statesman of the economic problems the current coalition government has faced, how monetary, fiscal and supply side measures might be used to stimulate the UK economy in response to what he calls the long economic stagnation of post-crisis Britain.
The FT implies that The Chancellor is not wholly convinced by arguments from Vince Cable to boost growth with a new programme of infrastructure spending on schools, roads and housing, funded by extra borrowing. The arrival of Mark Carney at The Bank of England may signal a sea change in how monetary policy is used to stimulate the economy, breaking with the 2% inflation targeting approach. The MPC may be encouraged to focus on targets for inflation and employment. Some of The Committee's members support more quantitative easing whilst The Deputy Governor Paul Tucker said the idea of negative interest rates should be considered.
Link to coverage of Cameron's Speech http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/mar/07/david-cameron-rules-out-extra-borrowing
The Economist wades in with an analysis of why the slump in consumer spending has contributed to a flatlining economy with low or barely perceptible growth. Household saving has increased to c.7%. Falls in real wages, coupled with rising 'administered prices' of gas and electricity have also helped lower consumption. But the cycle of higher costs and prices isn't helped when Sterling depreciated by 6% in the course of the New Year.
Other useful articles on the case for a growth and the difficulties of turning on the taps with additional infrastructure spending are considered.
Unit 4 Macro: A Manifesto for Growth - the LSE Growth Commission Report
On Thursday 31st of January 2013, the long-awaited LSE Growth Commission Report was published and launched in London. The document itself is available for download from this link and I urge all teachers and students interested in growth, competitiveness and the fairness agenda to have a look at it. It is full of rewarding and important insights into the drivers of balanced growth in a modern advanced economy.
I will be adding new resources and links to this blog following the launch event
Key Points from LSE Growth Report
Existing Strengths
- Strong rule of law
- Generally competitive product markets
- Flexible labour market
- A world-class university system
- Openness to foreign investors and migrants
- Independent regulators including competition authorities
- Strengths in many key sectors including high end manufacturing
LSE Commission Growth Agenda
- Greater autonomy for schools, tackle the long tail of under-performance. Conditional cash transfers for families to pupil attendance and performance. Focus league tables less on % attaining 5 A-C grades. Reveal performance at the bottom end.
- Concentrating on skills (improving human capital) gives people the resilience to recover from global shifts in the division of labour
- Critical infrastructure essential for competitiveness in modern economy. For the UK, transport and energy are infrastructure areas with biggest issues; there has been a lack of clear strategy and lots of dithering / political delays.
- Huge opportunities for UK - industrial revolution driven by search for low-carbon technologies driving innovation - can the UK keep up?
LSE Commission proposes:
- 1) Strategy Board (for planning)
- 2) Planning Commission (for delivery)
- 3) Infrastructure Bank (for funding)
- Innovation is the third channel for increased growth
- Problems in UK capital markets mean innovation is not properly funded - short-termism remains a structural weakness of the markets
Banking/ Finance
- More competition in retail banking
- Business bank that prioritises lending to SMEs and innovative firms
Changing the compass of economic performance
- Commission suggests that focus on GDP is not helpful
- GDP misses out on who gets the growth and measures production not income
- Need more focus on Median Household Income
- Median household income and GDP per capita have been decoupled since about 2002. GDP no longer tracks it
UK trend growth rate can be lifted by 0.5% with effective structural reforms - large compound effect on incomes over the long run
Institutions and incentives matter for growth. Macro stability important too. UK politics too short term and adversarial. Fundamental weakness is the failure to create a stable policy framework.
More focus needed on evidence based policy making to make government smarter.
Here Professor John Van Reenen, Director of CEP and co-chair of the LSE Growth Commission, presents a 'manifesto for growth' for the UK economy over the next 50 years, backed up by the Growth Commission's report.
read more...»Unit 4 Macro: Global Economic Power Shift Continues
There are several research organisations out there producing regularly updated forecasts on what is likely to happen to the relative shares of global GDP and income per capita over the long run. Typically the forecast stretches out to 2050 and necessarily involves plenty of uncertainty. But these over the horizon studies are quite interesting in their own right because they remind us of the changing drivers of growth in the world economy.
Here is one of these reports - World in 2050 The BRICs and beyond: prospects, challenges and opportunities - produced by economists at PriceWaterhouseCoopers
read more...»econoMAX - Who's for a Living Wage?
Robert Nutter explains that, over recent years, the fear that the minimum wage would cause increased unemployment has not materialised, although since the start of the current economic crisis employers have expressed some concerns that employment may be affected in low paid jobs. Another concern has been the belief that a national minimum wage is inappropriate for an economy where costs and labour market conditions vary significantly between regions. The national minimum wage may perhaps provide a living wage in North-East England but certainly not in London.
read more...»Unit 2 Macro: Key Term Glossary
An updated glossary of key terms for AS macro
read more...»Prospects for the UK Economy in 2013
As the sun rises on another year will the headwinds be favourable for Britain or are we facing up to another year of stresses and strains? Here is a brief commentary and overview of some of the key macroeconomic data for the UK economy together with some links to external articles and videos on economic prospects for Britain as we head in 2013.
read more...»Unit 4 Macro: The effect of immigration on wages and prices
Immigration lowers the wages of relatively low-skilled native employees in sectors of the service economy that hire bigger shares of foreign workers. But the cost reductions that employers enjoy from lower wages are typically passed on to consumers: price inflation is much higher for services with no change in immigrant employment than for services where immigrant employment is growing.
These are among the findings of research by Professors Bernt Bratsberg and Oddbjørn Raaum, published in the latest issue of the Economic Journal. Their study confirms that there are clear winners and losers from labour migration: low- and semi-skilled workers face increased competitive pressures on their wages and employment while consumers enjoy more services at lower prices.
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Unit 4 Macro: Student visa restrictions may curb growth and innovation
Any visa policies that restrict entry by highly productive foreign students are a significant barrier to science and ultimately to innovation and growth. That is one of the conclusions of research by Professors Eric Stuen, Mushfiq Mobarak and Keith Maskus, published in the latest issue of the Economic Journal.
Their study of 700,000 postgraduates in the science and engineering laboratories of the top US universities finds that American students and foreign students are both highly significant contributors to the development of scientific knowledge. But greater diversity in the origins of foreign students raises their joint contribution to knowledge.
These findings imply that visa restrictions limiting the entry of high- ability foreign students – as well as visa policies that prioritise students' ability to pay tuition fees over their technical merits – would significantly undermine scientific output.
UK Economy: Returning to Growth - Lessons from the 1930s
Here is a link to a video of a talk given by the eminent economic historian, Professor Nick Crafts on whether there are important lessons from the 1930s for policy-makers as they search for growth enhancing policy measures. The opening statement is gloomy, but the historical sweep and arguments are impressive! A stretch and challenge talk for ambitious sixth form economists.
read more...»Unit 4 Macro: Paul Collier on Key Development Issues
At our Teaching the Global Economy at the RSA (London) in November 2012, the distinguished development economist Professor Paul Collier spoke on some of the leading development issues of the moment. A-level student Mark Austen was there to scribe some notes on the talk and the subsequent Q&A discussion. Here are his notes together with some connecting links and other resources. We hope that you find them useful.
read more...»Nobel Winner address youth unemployment
Youth unemployment is higher than adult unemployment even in normal economic times. But in recessions, especially in countries with rigid labour markets, young people typically stay unemployed for too long. In these circumstances, urgent policy action is needed to avoid long-term unemployment, which destroys talent and creates social problems.
Peter Marsh - A New Industrial Revolution
Peter Marsh's talk at our Global economy conference in London on Monday challenged us to think in fresh terms about what manufacturing is and the opportunities for British businesses to make successful headway in premium and precision manufactured products in a fast-changing global environment. Here are the slides from his presentation. The FT special reprot - Making the Future is well worth tapping into - here is the link. We have also linked to some of his recent video pieces for the Financial Times
read more...»Waseela-e-Taleem in Pakistan - showing how education is an example of a merit good
I'm sure you don't have any problems convincing your students that education is a merit good/service. Every so often, however, it may be difficult for young people in the UK, aspirational and aiming high, to see how their own learning impacts so positively upon the wider society. Although we constantly debate the quality of education in the UK and strive to improve, many young people will take opportunities to access schools and colleges for granted - perhaps arguing about local differences and the cost of higher education but rarely about actual access to basic education. With such relatively high levels of literacy and numeracy amongst British youngsters it is difficult for them to imagine a society where this is not the norm. The Waseela-e-Taleem initiative in Pakistan, however, could prove a useful example of how government intervention into education is about more than just the structure of assessment and paying teachers - but a country's drive to improve access to basic education and shift its economic as well its political and sociological prospects.
read more...»Paul Ormerod: Our Friends in the North are trapped in a monetary union
Michael Heseltine's report on economic growth came out last week. It contains 89 recommendations. A mere 57 varieties, to recall the famous Heinz slogan, might have connected it more with popular culture.
read more...»
Unit 4 Macro: Changing Patterns of Exports
Here is a selection of visualisations from the MIT Media Lab Observatory of Economic Complexity - these cover changes in export patterns for a small cluster of developing and developed countries. What are the most notable and perhaps significant changes that students can identify?
read more...»


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Importers expect promotable volumes of high-quality sugar snap and snow peas, French beans and other Central American vegetables this winter.
In December, volumes of sugar snap and snow peas from Guatemala were ramping up for Southern Specialties Inc., Pompano Beach, Fla., said Charlie Eagle, vice president of business development.
Both items will be available in 10-pound bulk containers and 8-ounce microwaveable packs, Eagle said. In addition, sugar snaps will be packed in 2-pound convenience packs.
All items will be packed in new Southern Select packaging the company introduced in 2010, Eagle said.
One objective of the new packaging rollout was to extend the Southern brand further into club stores and the microwaveable category.
It's worked. Southern now offers 10 items in its microwaveable lineup.
"Since we introduced the new packaging, we've experienced significant lift in sales, and we continue to expand the line," Eagle said.
"Customers have typically more year over year sales when compared to other vendors. That's really encouraging."
It's not that the Southern Selects line is priced lower than the competition, Eagle said. Customers respond to the presentation of the Southern brand.
The company knows — it commissioned surveys before launching the packaging, gauging consumer wants and needs.
The Southern Select line was introduced in 2002, and Southern Specialties has expanded it every year since, Eagle said.
Also on tap for this winter from Central America, Southern Specialties plans to bring in French beans and hand-peeled baby carrots with tops from Guatemala, Eagle said.
The company's French beans will ship in a variety of packaging options, including 8-ounce, 1-pound and 2-pound packs, Eagle said.
Demand continues to be strong for the hand-peeled baby carrots with tops, which come in orange and rainbow packs, Eagle said. The rainbows, introduced in the past year, have been a hit, he said.
"It's a gourmet item that's different from traditional machine-peeled carrots," he said.
New this year for Southern Specialties are Guatemalan brussel sprouts, which come in an 8-ounce peeled microwaveable pack, Eagle said.
The company expects to add a 1-pound pack in the near future.
The product is on some retail shelves now, Eagle said, with plans to expand distribution significantly in 2012.
The genesis for the product came not from Southern Specialties, Eagle said, but from its customer base.


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Lesson learned. Don't say what your next topic is going to be in a post. I've skipped around so much in the last few weeks of research and at the moment, I'm not interested in the installation of HBase/Hadoop.
So, what am I interested in at the moment?
- NewSQL vs. NoSQL.
- Cassandra
- NuoDB
- Clustrix
- VoltDB
- ElectronDB
- AWS S3 Cloud Storage
- Sample big data for download (here, and here)
- PHP CodeIgniter framework
Just to name a few…
Dev Environment Setup
So, to catch up… I purchased a commodity used desktop PC for $70 on eBay (an IBM Lenovo MT-M, CoreDuo, 2GB RAM, 80GB hard drive) and installed Ubuntu Linux 12.04.2 LTS on it. Installation was easy… mostly just follow the prompts. I've been re-learning Linux command-line, and leveraging those VI editor skills. I've set up vsftpd (ftp server), x11vnc (for remote access), lamp server (apache httpd web server, mysql and php), and phpmyadmin (for web based mysql administration).
Why did I abandon the Oracle VirtualBox environment that I previously set up for my Linux sandbox? Primarily because I had set up multiple sandboxes on different laptops that I use, and I wanted to have one central, always-on, server to consolidate my work. My multiple-sandboxes situation was getting more challenging to manage and keep the configurations in sync and to share code and databases between virtual boxes. One central Linux server (built out of a cheap used PC) was a worthwhile $70 investment.
I then set up port-forwarding on my home router to allow me to connect to certain ports (ssh, http, https, ftp, vnc and the like). I'd love to figure out how to set up a home VPN, to eliminate the port forwarding rules and the Passive FTP requirements. But, this is a project for another day. For now, I have my hello-world Linux development environment set up and accessible to me wherever I go.
HBase and Hadoop frustration
I spent a bit of time following online tutorials on setting up HBase and Hadoop. Perhaps I wasn't patient enough. I wanted it to be as easy as mySQL to setup (sudo apt-get mysql). LOL. Didn't happen. There's a boat-load of configuration to do at the OS level and the app level to get it to work. Now, I'm no stranger to working through error messages, config edits, stackoverflow.com searches, and general block-breaking to make something work. HBase just irked me enough that I decided to take a break from it for a while. Don't get me wrong, I will go back to it and push through. I just needed to get some space from it before I started saying things about it that might hurt its feelings. I figure I also need to read up on it more before I just hack my way blindly through online installation tutorials. So, that's a topic for another day…
PHP and CodeIgniter
I figured that before I got too deep into big data technology installation, I should brush up on some of my coding skills. I've programmed in over 40 programming languages over the years, so learning or re-learning a language is kind of fun. It's just that I've been galavanting around as a CTO / CIO type for so long that my coding skills have rusted a bit. SQL is about the only thing I've maintained expert status with, but Perl, C++, C#, Javascript, I'm ashamed to say have fallen into the noob category again for me.
My goal with PHP is to get back to the point where I can productively and efficiently whip up scripts to scrape the web for monstrous amounts of big data to stuff into my own little hidey hole for experimentation. Of course, I expect to build some web code and traditional SQL front-end code to get by.
I didn't want to invest heavily in this area (time wise), so I researched open source frameworks that I could use to get up and running fast. Symfony and Zend look awesome (and prolific), but the entry price (time) looked higher than I wanted to spend. So, I went with CodeIgniter; which has its limitations and imperfections, but for a soon-to-be ex-PHP-noob, it was perfect.
Within an hour I had some MVC hello-world web site working. Within another hour, I had it talking to a mySQL database.
The biggest challenge I had was getting the URL rewriting working so I could eliminate the "index.php" segment from my URI's. I kept following online advise to modify my .htaccess file with various rules. Nothing worked. I finally found a hint about setting these rules in my /etc/apache2/sites-available/default config file. I was able to set up an Alias for my /var/www/ci folder and setup the Rewrite conditions. I also had to run a2enmod to enable the "rewrite" module in apache. This probably burned through about 3-4 hours in various hack sessions before I finally figured it out and got it working.
So, now I'm practicing my skills at fundamentals (like building a basic web-based databases administration site that uses reflection to discover data structures and generates basic editor screens for the database). This is my equivalent to what typing students do when they practice typing the phrase (The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.) or (Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.). It gets me familiar with the database manipulation framework calls, the MVC model of the CodeIgniter framework, the basic language constructs (conditionals, loops, variable scoping, function variables, object orientation), and lets me dive into some of the inner bowels of the language (reflection, dynamic code generation/execution, and security). I'm sure this will take me a few weeks, as I've only been able to make time for "geek out" sessions (as my wife calls them) about 4 hours a week.
A couple of friends of mine suggested that I take a look at a few technologies they've been looking at for Big Data. They tend to fall into the NewSQL category. I'm most excited about NuoDB, as it seems to be one of the most innovative and disruptive of the NewSQL databases out there. Highly elastic (cloud scale), compatible with Amazon Web Services, free to use for personal use and for developers. However, it has a pricetag (unknown to me as of yet) for commercial/enterprise use. I love the concept of intelligent, self-replicating, self-preserving atoms that they use as a fundamental architectural design concept.
VoltDB seems amazing in its own right, and it makes me think about how enamored I was just a few weeks ago about SAP Hana. VoltDB may very well be more impressive than HANA, but now that I've peeked at some of these NewSQL technologies (like Clustrix and NuoDB), I find VoltDB to be a mere "major step forward" and not a quantum leap forward. Funny how unimpressed I now am with technologies that are merely cloud scalable and use in-memory columnar data for fast big data access. There's so much more to Big Data than just columnar data and multi-node, replicated storage.
I was going to say that next time I will talk about NewSQL technologies in more depth, but I've learned my lesson. I have no idea what I'll talk about next. So, until next time, do whatever you were going to do…


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Select () or exclude () categories to narrow your recipe search.
As you select categories, the number of matching recipes will update.
Find exactly what you're looking for with the web's most powerful recipe filtering tool.
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"I made this when my sister came to visit as I knew Cracker Barrel was her favorite restaurant and this is her favorite dish there. We all loved it! She had seconds, and even got up in the middle of the night to sneak some of the leftovers from the fridge! She asked if I would make this again at Thanksgiving. So I guess you would say it was a succe..."
"We made this a few days ago and it was really good. Our only changes were using Hillshire Farms Smoked Sausage in place of the chorizo, and chives instead of the onion tops, and we omitted the shrimp this time (although we really want to try it with the shrimp, now!) I thought it was great, my guy loves his stuff really hot so he added a few shake..."
"I made this yesterday and already everyone is asking when I am going to make it again! I followed the recipe exact, except I baked it in a 9X12 pan and I made a butter frosting instead of a cream cheese frosting, and left off the nuts as I didn't have any. The cake was so moist! This recipe is a keeper! Next time I will put the nuts on top, that c..."
"This was one of my favorite treats from when I was a kid! Going to King's back in the day, was an event. I have made these Cheese Frenchee's and they are as good as I remember. Gooey Cheesy yumminess inside a crunchy crust. These are even better with a slice of ham between the cheese slices, and Velveeta cheese slices are even better than American..."


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Winemaker notes from Allison Tauziet:
"The 2007 Cariad blend is composed of 52% Cabernet, 28% Merlot and 12% Cabernet Franc all from Madrona Ranch and 8% Petit Verdot from Thorevilos vineyard. In order to make the best blend year after year, we rely on our French consultant, Alain Raynaud, to give us his thoughtful insight. Slowly and meticulously we construct the blend together.
The 2007 vintage of our Cariad blend is one of my favorites ever since the picking of the fruit. This blend reminds me of a Graves wine when I close my eyes. The gravelly notes jump out of the glass. Beneath the essences of the terroir, are juicy, savory aromas of grilled duck and grilled steak. Exotic spices of cardamom and coriander seed fragrance the nose. The tannin coats the palate with unctuous layers that are both broad and rich. This seductive wine possesses a huge amount of minerality, more than ever before. The lusciousness of the tannin makes it appealing upon release, but as always with this bold and intensely structured wine, we recommend a minimum of 5 years of aging."
We released 550 cases of the "Cariad" Napa Valley Red Wine in March 2011.


text: Inamo Restaurant in London Posted on September 23, 2010 by 7ojozat Posted in Attractions, Europe, Restaurants, video Inamo Restaurant in London brings a unique experience for their customers. An interactive table that is the menu at the same time. I guess they would loose a lot of time just for people to play and have fun with it. Hotels in London


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4Media DVD Creator for Mac can easily and speedily convert and burn AVI to DVD, DivX to DVD, MPEG to DVD, and WMV to DVD on Mac OS. Other supported input video formats include MOV (shot by iPhone 4), 3GP, 3G2, ASF, DAT, DV, VOB, FLV, MP4, MKV, DVS(R)-MS, MPG, TS, MOV, RM, RMVB, NSV, M2TS and MTS. You can convert these video files into DVD folder or ISO file as well.
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DVD to iPhone Suite is versatile iPhone converter software including DVD to iPhone Converter and iPhone Video Converter. With variable settings and super fast converting speed to convert iPhone movies, it is an affordable, easy to use iPhone converter with high quality. Just download it and enjoy your favorite video files and DVD movies on your iPhone.


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Follow-Up Postings:
- Posted by hopefulauthor z5IL (email@example.com) on Fri, Oct 21, 11 at 11:28
Beetle..It's beautiful!! The flowers look waxy. Is your house fragrant? I've never looked seen Steph flowers close up..Are they growing all over the stems or or are the tips? Beautiful, it's fantastic..Toni |
- Posted by meyermike_1micha 5 (email@example.com) on Fri, Oct 21, 11 at 11:42
Yahooo! Finally, there is HOPE for all of us Stephanotis geeks! Have you considered making a book called 'Stephanotis for Dummies'? If you write one, I might consider buying it and giving it a shot. Great work and a beautiful specimen! Like a fragrant fireworks display. Mike |
- Posted by pirate_girl Zone7 NYC (My Page) on Fri, Oct 21, 11 at 12:41
Just gorgeous, wondrous amount of blooms, smell must be intoxicating. Did you grow this yourself? So nice, congrats on the blooms. |
- Posted by beetle_2007 3 (My Page) on Fri, Oct 21, 11 at 13:47
Thanks Toni:)Where the plant is [our bathroom,] is real sweet smelling Lol. Meyermike, Thank you:) and ROFL!! Stephs for Dummies.... too funny! Hi pirate girl:)Thanks:) Nope... didn't grow this my self, I purchased it last year, in flower. The look and the fact its fragrant drew me like a moth to a flame lol. I might try cuttings after it flowers. |
That is gorgeous. I would like to grow one. I had to look that name up. LOL. Was it hard to grow? How did you keep it alive to bloom again? I know lots of questions but I would love to have one in my bathroom. |
- Posted by asarumgreenpanda z6 MA (My Page) on Fri, Oct 21, 11 at 23:25
That's an incredible display, Beetle! Great growing. Amanda |
- Posted by pirate_girl Zone7 NYC (My Page) on Sat, Oct 22, 11 at 0:21
Well still Beetle, if you got it to re-flower, I repeat, Wow!! I've lost 2 of these so I really envy your success in keeping one over the year (or the winter). I'd bought both as Mother's Day items several different times in that time of year in full bloom; so beautiful & fragrant. For those who don't know, these plants are related to Hoyas & Ceropegias, they're commonly called Madagascar Jasmine (I believe). The one person I know who grows this has a greenhouse. Good for you!! Thanks for the luscious view. |
- Posted by beetle_2007 3 (My Page) on Mon, Oct 24, 11 at 13:27
Thanks for your comments. marquest, it actually is a fairly easy plant, if you remember to neglect it a bit Lol. I let it get quite dry, before watering with very diluted fertilizer. [ teaspoon to two gallons water]. This last summer, it went outdoors from end of May, to about Sept 20th. Got rained on a few times,and seemed to love that :) Thanks pirate girl, for the info on this plant, I guessed it might be related to the hoya, but wasn't sure . |
- Posted by loveplants2 8b Virginia Beach V (My Page) on Mon, Oct 24, 11 at 15:40
Hello Everyone, I have some that have grown from seed. Haven't had the pleasure of ever seeing one in bloom, but yours is so beautiful and it gives me hope that one day ill see blooms just as gorgeous as yours!!! Here is a pic of my seedlings. The six on the left hand side are Stepanotis and the other six seedlings on the right are DR seedlings... Take care , |
- Posted by hopefulauthor z5IL (firstname.lastname@example.com) on Mon, Oct 24, 11 at 16:33
Laura, very impressive. When did you sow seeds? Your seedlings are doing great, very healthy. Are you going to graft the Adeniums? You have Crassulas in Row 3. Were they started from seed, too, or cuttings? Toni PS. Beetle, are flowers still alive? |
- Posted by beetle_2007 3 (My Page) on Mon, Oct 24, 11 at 20:36
Wow, Laura, That is so cool! Did you have your own seed pod, or buy the seeds? I sure would love to have my plant grow one:) Hi Toni, yes the flowers are still alive and two umbels are still not open . Yay, That means more scent to come. :) |
- Posted by loveplants2 8b Virginia Beach V (My Page) on Tue, Oct 25, 11 at 20:20
Hello Everyone, Hi Toni!!! You have a great eye!! LOL...I did post those Jades on Mikes Thread here on Houseplants. The Jades were all from cuttings. But, the Stephanotis were from seeds as well as the DR's. My big DR's do have pods on them now and are ready to slip anytime. I havent grafted any at this time. But that seems like a great idea. Ill have to try this!!! Beetle..Thanks!!! Ill show you my DR with seeds pods... Here are a few pics of the DR's with pods... Take care, Have a great day!!! Laura in VB |
- Posted by loveplants2 8b Virginia Beach V (My Page) on Wed, Oct 26, 11 at 1:46
Hello EVeryone, LOL....Sorry for the strange pics!!! I was at work with my netbook and it seemed to work well, but after i got home and viewed this...Opps! You have to look across to see the DR's...Go Figure!!! It was one of those days!!! OH well.... Tonight when i arrived home, I checked on the DR seedpod!! It opened and looked very unique!!! Ill post a pic tomorrow, its late !!! I have never actually seen seeds like this before, so i cant wait to show you All.... Take care, Laura in VB |
- Posted by meyermike_1micha 5 (firstname.lastname@example.com) on Wed, Oct 26, 11 at 8:14
Laura!! Amazing to look at and all your success too! Will those bloom at such a young age? I have always wanted to grow yet another plant, the Stephanotis and yet have yet to buy one.lol Did I ever tell you that I LOVE not only the DR with the but, but the one with that huge Ball? It looks like that plant is straddling a stone of some sort.lol Hello Toni!@! Hope you all have a great day. I have not been feeling that great latley Hugs to you all Mike |
- Posted by hopefulauthor z5IL (email@example.com) on Wed, Oct 26, 11 at 13:28
Beetle. I can smell your flowers here...hmmmmm.. Laura, gorgeous. How long does it take Adeniums, etc, from seed to the size they are now? You might have given a time frame before but I can't find it. MIKE... good to see you, too. I'm fine. How's the foot? Healing? Healed? Is that the reason you aren't feeling well? Or is something else going on? Hope not! |
- Posted by loveplants2 8b Virginia Beach V (My Page) on Wed, Oct 26, 11 at 21:09
Hello Everyone, Hi Toni, The seedlings are from this spring. Now the large DR's, and im guessing since when i bought them they were quite small and only maybe two years old. I think they are about 6 yrs old. That is a guess!!! Could be a year older...but not sure... Someone on the Plumieria Forum thought the one with the ball looked like the"Mandrakes" from Harry Potter!! LOL... I had to chuckle at that one because i see what she is talking about!!! Mike, Thank you for the kind comments!!! You have helped me a great deal when i needed advice and I cant thank you enough!!! You have been a great friend in helping me move toward making my plants healthier and happier than ever before. Im glad that we have helped each other, your Plumeria have done very well!!!! Great JOB!!! As far as blooms on the Stephanotis at this early age, Im dont think that i will see blooms this year. Hopefully next year i may get to see some beauties!!! Ill keep my fingers crossed!!! I hope your feeling better? Let us know how you are doing... Take care, Laura in VB |
- Posted by loveplants2 8b Virginia Beach V (My Page) on Thu, Oct 27, 11 at 0:17
Hello Everyone, Here is the DR seedpod that i was talking about that i viewed last night when i got home form work!!! Please excuse the Plumeria leaves behind the DR!!! The seed pod was exploding with seeds...Loved the look!!! Take care, Laura in VB |
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text:
He thought he was on the set of ABC's "Good Morning America" Friday morning to test a new video game.
But a little boy from Richland, Mich. got quite a surprise when his family revealed on air that they were really there to celebrate his 11th birthday.
Colin, who turns 11 Sunday, told his mother he didn't want a birthday party this year because he doesn't have any friends; there'd be no one to invite.
Colin has a sensory processing disorder similar to autism that makes it difficult for him to socialize.
So his mother, Jennifer, went online and created a Facebook page called Happy Birthday Colin to solicit a few well-wishes. But the response, she says, was overwhelming.
"That people want to reach out and do something for my son, it's amazing," Jennifer said on the show.
In a month's time, more than 40,000 letters, cards and packages have arrived at the Richland post office, near Kalamazoo, says spokeswoman Sabrina Todd.
And 2.1 million people have liked the birthday Facebook page for Colin.
On air Friday morning, the "Good Morning America" crew revealed the surprise, and announced that Colin and his family are leaving this afternoon for Walt Disney World.
Colin was all smiles.
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Comments (3 Responses)
Hw wonderful.
That is great for that little boy but there are many out there just like him for whom life has not changed. The bigger question is Has he really made any friends through this? Will he really have friends to celebrate his birthday with next year and the year after?
This was shared all over Facebook for about a month myself being one of the people who wished him a happy birthday on the page. I hope he had a good one.


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With a biscuit on top and the recipe below!
Recipe from Real Simple:
* Note: we used whole wheat flour for the biscuits, and slow cooked the chicken bone-in and with skin.
Serves 4 | Hands-On Time: 30m | Total Time: 8hr 30m
- 8 ounces cremini mushrooms, stems trimmed and halved if large
- 4 carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 8)
- kosher salt and black pepper
- 1 sheet puff pastry (half a 17.3-ounce package), thawed
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 cup frozen green beans
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- In a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker, mix together the mushrooms, carrots, onion, flour, thyme, bay leaf, and ½ cup water. Place the chicken on top; season with 1 teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper.
- Cover and cook until the chicken and vegetables are tender, on low for 7 to 8 hours or on high for 4 to 5 hours (this will shorten total recipe time).
- Thirty minutes before serving, heat oven to 425° F. Using a 4½-inch cutter or large glass, cut the pastry into 4 circles. Place on a baking sheet and bake until golden, 8 to 10 minutes.
- Ten minutes before serving, add the peas, green beans, cream, and ½ teaspoon salt to the chicken mixture and stir to combine. Cover and cook on high or low until heated through, 5 to 10 minutes more. To serve, place the chicken mixture in bowls and top with the pastry rounds.
By Charlyne Mattox, February 2012