text:
Venue has no reviews yet
Fitness Centre
|Mon - Thur
|6:30 am
|10:30 pm
|6:30 am
|10:00 pm
|Sat - Sun
|9:00 am
|9:00 pm
Online bookings let you pick date/time for your visit.
If you purchase an eVoucher you will need to book with the venue directly.
Our old Wahanda Gift Vouchers can still be redeemed at over 3,000 locations. Use them to pay as you would with cash. Please note, the Wahanda Gift Voucher's successor – the Wahanda Gift Card – can only be used for online purchases.
We're celebrating the opening of our fabulous new 'Classic' health club in the South Stand at Twickenham Stadium. Sophisticated and stylish interiors, state-of-the-art exercise equipment, and an amazing variety of innovative classes will make looking after yourself an absolute pleasure. Get ready to elevate mind, body and expectations.
Comment | Report as inappropriate
Be the first to comment on this review

subset: commoncrawl


text: This will be my last post as a medical student. As I prepare to walk across the stage this afternoon to receive my medical degree, I find myself overwhelmed by gratitude. I am indebted to my family, my mentors, my teachers, my patients, my peers, my online community of colleagues, my friends, and all of… Continue Reading


text:
No charges for marshal in fatal Utah courtroom shooting
25-year-old defendant Siale Angilau got out of his seat, grabbed a pen and rushed a witness "in an aggressive, threatening manner" during his trial April 21
Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY — Federal prosecutors say they will not file charges against a deputy U.S. marshal who shot and killed a defendant during a federal court trial in Salt Lake City, authorities said.
The case was closed after the Department of Justice reviewed it and declined to prosecute, FBI officials said in a statement late Monday.
The FBI added it will not release the name of the marshal involved because "it serves no legitimate public interest."
Authorities said 25-year-old defendant Siale Angilau got out of his seat, grabbed a pen and rushed a witness "in an aggressive, threatening manner" during his trial April 21.
The deputy fired four shots, all of which hit Angilau, who later died at a hospital. Nobody else was injured.
About 30 minutes after the shooting, U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell brought the attorneys back into the courtroom and declared a mistrial.
Officials said Angilau and the witness he rushed, Vaiola Tenifa, were members of the same Tongan Crip gang.
Angilau was one of 17 people named in a 2010 indictment accusing Tongan Crip members of assault, conspiracy, robbery and weapons offenses. He was the last defendant in the case to stand trial, with previous defendants being sentenced to 10 to 30 years in prison.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press
Copyright 2015 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Recommended Officer-Involved Shootings
Police warn public against using iPhone cases shaped like guns
FBI: No civil rights violations in Calif. shooting of teen carrying replica AK-47
Witness: Man killed in controversial Wash. OIS told cops 'shoot me'
Join the discussion
PoliceOne top 5
- 1 10 secrets cops know that most people don't
- 2 Video: Ariz. shootout injures two cops, kills suspect
- 3 Video: Texas cops fatally shoot man who pulled replica
- 4 Video: Cops, medic, firefighters brawl at T-ball game
- 5 Former LA cop involved in OIS shares lessons on deadly force


text:
Join The House, Levi's(R) rewards program and earn cash rewards on every purchase. It's free to join, and you'll start earning rewards right away.
Sure that's an email address? Please try again.
Learn More
End of Season Sale
Use Code: 30SUMMER
Make your selections:
Slip Dress
Sunset Surf Blue
Was$88.00 Now$59.90
Sleeveless Shirtdress
Was$98.00 Now$69.90
Sleeveless Shift Dress
Whitecap Gray
Mini Skirt
Spotted Blue
Was$38.00 Now$29.90
Sleeveless Western Dress
Light Indigo
Was$78.00 Now$54.90
Tank Romper
Grand Parrot Flight
Levi's ® Icon Skirt
Mission Bay
Was$68.00 Now$44.90
Redwood Groove
We've got a new look - and it's just the beginning of a truly awesome Levi.com experience. + 20% off and FREE SHIPPING on your first order.


text:
SecureBio's mission is to provide state of the art in-the-field chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear (CBRN) and DNA capabilities, run by highly experienced operatives, underwritten by top end science, able to function in the most demanding conditions in order to provide rapid, accurate and attributable results and intelligence.
Core to achieving our mission are our highly experienced and operationally focussed staff.
SecureBio's operational and training teams are highly experienced CBRN users, able to adapt and flex to meet your requirements from the Board room to the Mail room. All of our operators are cleared to UK Secret, having honed their skills on CBRN operations around the world with specialist units from the British Army and Metropolitan Police Service.
We are uniquely placed to provide in depth advice and support to enhance your CBRN resilience.
Our CBRN operational experience, from across the command spectrum, makes SecureBio uniquely placed to bridge the gap between commercial organisations and the wider military and law enforcement community.
Read More
Working closely with our Corporate and Media clients, SecureBio's team of experts will develop a clear, concise and logical CBRN action plan, supported by access to our 24/7 hotline, regular threat updates and bespoke staff training.
Our experienced teams can provide specialist disaster support, including post incident liaison with public and private organisation, victim identification and body recovery to rapidly, sensitively and successfully manage the return to normality.
CBRN incidents, although rare, are likely to have a severe impact on corporate and travel activities. SecureBio's experts can identify CBRN risks and provide bespoke advice to mitigate the risk, in order to reduce impact and loss.
Why Are Health Care Workers (HCW) Becoming Infected With Ebola?
January 7, 2015
Ebola 2014: Mitigating The Holiday Risk
December 9, 2014
Could ISIS Use Ebola As A Biochemical Weapon? Spanish Security Chief Says It's Possible, But Don't Panic Yet
November 25, 2014


text:
More than a few people wrote to complain about my story last week on the potentially damaging impact of the "tea party" movement on the Republican Party's continued outreach to Jewish voters.
The tea partiers "love Israel," one said. Others accused me of just parroting a tired old liberal line equating conservatism to anti-Semitism.
Then came this weekend's Conservative Political action Conference in Washington and the stunning victory of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) in the presidential straw poll.
Why did Paul, a former Libertarian candidate who sees dark conspiracies in the Federal Reserve and other places , beat GOP stars like Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Tim Pawlenty and even Sarah Palin?
According to most analysts – including many in the conservative press – Paul owes his victory to the young Tea party insurgents who are taking their anti-government rage and assorted conspiracy theories into the Republican ranks, hoping to remake the party in their own image. Paul, the most anti-establishment, anti-government figure in the party, apparently won over many of these tea party activists.
And as David Harris of the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) pointed out with unseemly glee, Paul has a "horrendous record on Israel and other issues of Jewish concern." (Read Harris' statement here.)
Among other things, Paul has called for an end to U.S. aid to Israel, slammed AIPAC "control" of U.S. policy and said Israeli policy on Gaza amounts to keeping Palestinians in a "concentration camp." Paul has also opposed Iran sanctions, a top priority of most pro-Israel groups.
Yes, I know: the tea party movement is a big, churning and somewhat diverse collection of people, including some conservatives who think Israel is cool.
But as almost all the political scientists I talked to said, the insurgent movement also includes elements that are likely to scare the heck out of Jewish voters. If Ron Paul's victory in the CPAC straw poll is any indication, that faction is going to give GOP strategists a lot of ulcers in the weeks and months to come.
Related & Recommended
Comment Guidelines
The Jewish Week feels comments create a valuable conversation and wants to feature your thoughts on our website. To make everyone feel welcome, we won't publish comments that are profane, irrelevant, promotional or make personal attacks.


text:
Get ready for a doozy� I was eatin lunch the other day, when I came up on this little cutie, with a skirt on! I happened to notice, that her skirt was flyin up in the air from the wind, and she had no panites on! Now, that�s a girl for me!!! I cruised up on her, and started talking shit� she sounded down, so I figured I could bring her up, and she could bring my Johnson up! Wait till u see her work that shit!
"Poolside Twatie"
"Nasty Noir"
Belle Noire
"Gnarly Knob Gnawing"
"Corner Loving"
Alina West
"Rainy Day Lay"
"Sweet Slurpee"
Hayden Bell
"Peep Show"
Hayden Night
"Suck Session"
Loren Blaine
"Blow Slow"
Talin Shields
"Shift Service"
Chrissie Summers


text: Posted 3 Dec 2009 · Report post When I place two images one below the other on iBlogPro, there is no space between them (this isn't the case with some other themes like Thesis). How do I add space between 2 images by default?] Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


text:
Ecofont: Perforated Font Saves InkDec 23, 2008
In an effort to increase environmental awareness, the Dutch media company Spranq has introduced Ecofont, a perforated font that saves printing ink.more »
Promotional Filmmakers for Linux SoughtDec 22, 2008
The Linux Foundation is sponsoring an official contest for an inspirational Linux commercial. The winner will get fame and fortune and a trip to the Linux Symposium in Tokyo.more »
Linux Defenders Rail Against Dubious PatentsDec 12, 2008
The Open Invention Network (OIN) organization has instituted the Linux Defenders program with the goal to improve the overall quality of patents and shield against patent trolls.more »
FSF Sues Cisco for GPL ViolationsDec 12, 2008
The Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) has filed a lawsuit for the Free Software Foundation (FSF) against network giant Cisco Systems.more »
Browser Security From GoogleDec 12, 2008
The Browser Security Handbook (BSH) from search engine company Google has been published under free license.more »
Linux as Trojan Horse? Forced Adoption of Red Flag LinuxDec 09, 2008
Good news is that China is increasingly shying away from Microsoft and adopting Linux in its Internet cafés. However, can we trust the Red Flag Linux they're using?more »
Bazaar 1.10 Integrates Shelve/UnshelveDec 09, 2008
Bazaar, the open source distributed version control system software has been released in version 1.10.more »
Fresh MoonlightDec 04, 2008
Moonlight is the name of Novell's Linux implementation of Microsoft's Silverlight 1.0 technology. Moonlight is now available in a Beta version for 32 and 64 Bit Linux systems, albeit only for Firefox users.more »
Issue 177/2015
Buy this issue as a PDF
NoScript Flaw
Mozilla's script blocker add-on could be putting malware sites on the whitelist.
RIP SSLv3
The Internet community officially banishes the notoriously unsafe Secure Sockets Layer protocol.
Mate 1.1 Arrives
Popular desktop environment continues the Gnome 2 legacy – with new support for the Gnome 3 toolkit.
US Government Requires HTTPS
The Obama White House has issued a memorandum telling all US government agencies they must use HTTPS for all websites and web communication.
Mozilla Signs Firefox Add-Ons
New program will dial up security for the Firefox browser.
Fedora 22 Arrives
Red Hat's community distro embraces the cloud.
Code.org and College Board Team Reach Out for Talented High School Coders
New partnership will bring more and better CS training to US schools
A Peek Inside TeslaCrypt Ransomware
Criminals offer online help over Tor network
Mumblehard Still Spams
Sophisticated malware is still present on Joomla and WordPress sites around the world.
Launchpad Gets Git
Future versions of Ubuntu's code service will support the popular Git version control system used with Linux and other open source projects.


text:
We offer Travel Bags are manufactured using premium quality raw material and are checked before dispatching to the clients. We are into manufacturing of all type of trolley bags. These trolley bags are provided with plastic long folding handle and wheel with covers. These are mostly used for travel purpose, these are durable and resistant against wear and tear.
Ask your Question :
Question Type :
Nick Name :
Your Question :
Question Type :
Nick Name :
Cool! Your question has been submitted.
Our masterminds are working on getting an answer. We will send you an email about it within 48 hours.POST A NEW QUESTION
Error While Submitting the Question. Please Try AgainTry Again
Displaying questions


text:
SQL Server Profiler - Replay Configuration (Advanced Replay Options)
SQL Server 2016
Topic Status: Some information in this topic is preview and subject to change in future releases. Preview information describes new features or changes to existing features in Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Community Technology Preview 2 (CTP2).
In the Replay Configuration dialog box, use the Advanced Replay Options tab to specify how to replay a trace file.
To view this window, use SQL Server Profiler to open a trace file or table that contains the appropriate events for replay. For more information, see Replay Requirements. While the trace file or table is open, on the Replay menu, click Start, connect to the instance of SQL Server where you want to replay the trace, and then click the Advanced Replay Options tab.


text:
We must live like Jesus to transform the world into the reign of God
The Peace Pulpit: "We are the presence of Jesus in the midst of the world ... That calls us to change our lives, to follow the way of Jesus."
The Peace Pulpit: "We are the presence of Jesus in the midst of the world ... That calls us to change our lives, to follow the way of Jesus."
Global Sisters Report: The whole sad doctrinal assessment and oversight mandate of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious from the Vatican is history. Alleluia!
Pope Francis is considering making a stop in Cuba during his upcoming trip to the United States in September, but nothing has been confirmed, the Vatican announced Friday.
Francis -- who was credited by both the U.S. and Cuba in December for helping facilitate the landmark beginning of normalization of relations between the two countries -- "has taken into consideration the idea" of visiting the island nation, the Vatican said.
Young Voices: Mercy, joy and the poor church? Look closer. The trademark pillars of Francis' papacy are fruits borne of a deeper principle.
A powerful cross-section of Catholics is asking Pope Francis to replace Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, saying the archbishop has "fostered an atmosphere of division and intolerance."
Grace on the Margins: The encyclical will give prominence to the "moral dimensions of environmental degradation" beyond the usual focus on science, technology and economics.
Eco Catholic: The Vatican announced plans Wednesday to host a major conference on climate change this month that will feature leading researchers on global warming.
The cardinals advising Pope Francis on reforming the Curia have discussed the issue of accountability for Catholic bishops who mishandle cases of clergy sexual abuse.
Eradicating male and female identities does nothing to solve the problem of unfair or disrespectful treatment based on people's gender, Pope Francis said.
Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis has been very generous with his words. There have been addresses, homilies, conversations, phone calls, interviews and writings, including an apostolic exhortation on "The Joy of the Gospel" (Evangelii Gaudium). Still, the pope has been silent or very reticent on certain questions.


text:
Phoenix Suns
Shannon Brown only able to sit, watch as Suns struggle
A shower after the game Sunday was unnecessary for Shannon Brown. "I did it earlier," he said with a grin.
Brown, like the 14,923 fans in attendance at US Airways Center, watched the Suns lose to the Spurs, 97-87. He never checked into the game. It was his fourth straight DNP-Coach's Decision, the only four games he has missed this season.
"It bothers me every night," he said. "It bothers me from when the first time I didn't play. But I kind of felt it because my minutes was going down a little bit. You get that feeling, especially when you've invested as much as I am into basketball and basketball being my life and me loving it like I do. I got that feeling kind of and slowly but surely it started to happen.
"It hurts. It is what it is though. I understand it's a business and I can't take it too personal."
Brown is the team's fifth-leading scorer, averaging a career-high 11.2 points per game. This is the fourth-straight season he's bettered his scoring output from the year before.
Yet, these days Brown finds himself on the bench.
With the fourth-worst record in the NBA, the Suns want to get a good look at some of the other players on the roster, those that haven't seen much playing time.
Brown said he was talked to "but nobody gave me no real answer. They just sent me around the world and come back to nothing. I talked to them but they say all the stuff that in the end doesn't justify why or give me a good reason of what's going on."
Said interim head coach Lindsey Hunter, "Nobody wants to sit and not play. I don't want guys that are content with not playing."
Last year, Brown found himself out of the rotation only to start the season's final 17 games when Grant Hill was injured.
"I got to be professional about it," Brown said. "When I get my number called again, get out there and try to be productive.
"It ain't easy. I definitely think it's undeserved. There's a lot of things I could say but I'm going to just stay professional about the whole situation and let the season play out."
Most Popular
Suns Audio
- Melvin Booker, Former NBA player/ Father of Devin BookerMelvin Booker discusses what is was like to have his son drafted by the Phoenix Suns.
- Paul Coro, AZCentral Sports Suns InsiderAll the latest on LaMarcus Aldridge, Tyson Chandler, and a Suns trade
- Amin Elhassan, ESPN NBA front office insiderAmin Elhassan discusses the latest news surrounding LaMarcus Aldridge.
- Derek Harper, Mavericks TV analystDerek Harper discusses the newest Phoenix Sun, Tyson Chandler?
- Paul Coro, AZCentral Sports Suns beat writerPaul Coro discusses the Suns signing Tyson Chandler and if they are in the running for LaMarcus Aldr


text:
Thanksgiving is often a stressful time for many of us — "Should I have the turkey without the gravy?  Can I really stick to the veggies and not have some of the mashed potatoes made with real butter?"  It's like we're in a constant dilemma all day long. (by the way, I love real butter and that's all I use…no margarine in my fridge!)
We worry about how many calories are in each serving, or can we nibble on appetizers without going overboard, or can we really just take one serving of everything? Â So little time, yet so much on our minds.
In the past I wrote about How to Enjoy Thanksgiving Without the Guilt, which is a good read for those of you worrying about feeling guilty after eating a bit more than you normally do, and how to deal with the voices in your head telling you to eat the carrots when what you really want is the homemade stuffing. (You can read that article by clicking here).
But today I'm going to take it one step further. Â
You're probably looking for some "tips" on how to best deal with Thanksgiving. And you've probably already heard them all somewhere: be sure to eat breakfast (great advice), don't eat the appetizers (often tough to resist, and sometimes the appetizers are great!), drink only water and no wine (yeah, right!), don't eat seconds (c'mon, who are we trying to kid…), wear tight fitting clothes so you don't eat too much (really? how much fun is that?!), and just have one small serving of dessert (it's Thanksgiving for goodness sakes!).
While these all have good intentions behind them — and some decent advice — but the problem is there are too many "rules."  Now this doesn't mean throw all caution to the wind. You need to be realistic about how much you can really eat (and how terrible you'll feel if you stuff yourself).
So my one big piece of advice this Thanksgiving is this: Â use common sense.
Yeah, I know, not exactly rocket science….
But think about it.
You know you should have breakfast and not arrive at the Thanksgiving dinner table famished….
you know you should get out for some exercise during the day (preferably in the morning before the big meal)…
you know you shouldn't pile your plate so high that it's a mini-mountain…
and you know that having 3 or more desserts is not the best route to keeping the pounds off.
So listen to yourself, your inner voice, and your inner guidance, and do what you know is best.
Enjoy the day, enjoy the time with family and friends, enjoy the food, and eat with real pleasure. Because that's what Thanksgiving is all about, don't you think?


text:
.Net MVC4 JQuery,IOS, Android, Web-Desktop Apps, Illustrator Experts
India - Last active: 2 days ago - Tests: 2 - Portfolio: 27
HI i have expertise in C# MVC 4 WCF ,Web-Window Apps, IOS, Android, Mac OSX, Flash builder, Action Script, Web Design, Logo Banner Design , Illustration ,Photoshop etc. For my work sample see my portfolio and few quick links are as follows http://instantsolutions.co.uk http://instantsolutions.co.uk/roster_sshots.htm http://instantsolutions.co.uk/metal_contract_sshots.htm http://hdsoftsolutions.com http://bhrigusons.com http://bhrigusons.com/RTS/index.aspx etc etc.... Five Final Games in Appstore 1.Bugs Eater- http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bugs-eater/id561031200?mt=8 2.Fatty Fly- http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fatty-fly/id563790587?mt=8 3.Sky Monster- http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sky-monster/id561031952?mt=8 4.Beat Rabbit - http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/beat-rabbit/id560980704?mt=8 5.Shoot to Home- http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shoot-to-home/id564477492?mt=8 Applications : Seven Final Applications in Appstore 1.SAB Ke Comics- https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/sab-ke-comics/id583630668?mt=8 2.SAB Ka Gadha- https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/sab-ka-gadha/id587732301?mt=8 3.SAB Ka Gulgule- https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/sab-ka-gulgule/id587729349?mt=8 4.SAB Ka Gopi- https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/sab-ka-gopi/id587365833?mt=8 5.SAB Ka Mama- https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/sab-ka-mama/id587727737?mt=8 6 .International Project- 1.WO? Decide With Friends- https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wo-decide-with-friends/id641813302?mt=8 2.Peck: Williams- https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/peck-williams/id702672553?ls=1&mt=8 Android Apps: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.app.amberalertgpstracker&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.approutes.mysportsdiary.view https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.matrix.silentscheduler https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jtmd.android.babyclub.ssg&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.approutes.fakecall&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ummcliver&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.callerapp&hl=en I have 8+ yrs exp in doing projects of. I use standard industry based architecture and methods to build projects. I have delivered projects internationally at London, USA, etc and couple of projects in India
IT and Recruitment Service
India - Last active: 1 month ago - Tests: 3 - Portfolio: 17
Avid Placement is a premium and fastest growing recruitment company. We are providing various services in Field of placement and manpower, Ours is a team of young and energetic professional with High Level of expertise in the field of recruitment. We believe in establishing long lasting relations with our clients. Our mission is to provides best manpower solutions to corporate as well as small and medium scale industries and Help them to grow faster. It is our commitment to assured quality placements with prompt support action and dedicated efforts to end the search of the needy recruiting companies as well as that of the job seekers. Company Website : www.avidplacement.com Company Profile : www.avidplacement.com/Profile.pdf --------------------------- Daze Creations, a world where we work towards stupefying all our patrons, with services inundated with creativity and dedication. Web and Graphic Designing is our forte and we work hard towards meeting client expectations in terms of their business requirements. We work for providing direct web solutions and as an offshore development company in Ahmedabad, India. Company Website : www.dazecreations.com
- Web design
- Drupal
- WordPress
- Website Development
- Graphic design
- User interface design
- Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)
- Microsoft Silverlight
Associated with: Daze Creations
Remote Teams Management in Charlotte, NC
United States - Last active: 4 months ago - Tests: 2 - Portfolio: 2
Looking for the following types of work: Management of remote development teams overseas and different time zones. I have extensive experience with Agile methodologies and remote development management of such processes. The regions preferred: East Europe, India. Product and project management experience, hiring, interviews and setting development and QA workflows. Reporting and metrics. Project health evaluation and forecast. Long term and short term planning. I speak and write English, Belorussian and Russian languages, can also generally understand whole group of Slavonic languages (Ukrainian, Polish .e.t.c.).
ETL, SSIS, BI, ASP.NET, Oracle, SQL Server
India - Last active: 1 day ago - Tests: 1
Over 7 years of experience in developing web apps and products using ASP.NET,C#,VB.NET,AJAX, CSS, MS SQL, Oracle, Jquery, Java, PHP, MVC Over 3 years of experience in Date warehousing and Business Intelligence DataStage, SSIS, Oracle, PL/SQL, SQL Server, Tableau, Business Object, ERP
- jQuery
- Telerik
- SAP Crystal Reports
- SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS)
- Java
- JavaScript
- Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)
- Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)
- .NET Framework
- Microsoft Silverlight
- Oracle database
- Oracle PL/SQL
- IBM InfoSphere DataStage
- "Extract, Transform and Load (ETL)"
- Visual Basic
- Dundas Chart Controls
ASP.NET, C#, TELERIK, DNN, SITEFINITY developer 9+years exp - MCTS
India - Last active: 1 month ago - Tests: 2 - Portfolio: 30
Highly accomplished Web Developer and Web Project Manager with nearly 9 years of experience developing complex web based (internet and intranet) applications and e-commerce websites. Deep understanding of the web development life cycle to carry out creative and innovative solutions. I have expertise in ASP.NET 2.0/3.5/4.0, C#, VB.NET, LINQ, Entity Framework, WCF, Webservices, AJAX, AJAX Control Toolkit, Javascript, JQuery, SQL Server 2000/2005, SSIS, SSRS, Telerik, Dot Net Nuke,Sitefinity, nopCommerce, Code Smith. I do hard working 12-14 hours a day, full time developer.Most important part is communication, and I have good communication skills and manners. If the job is urgent, I'm ready to do overworking.We might have different timezone, but I can manage and have worked with many of customers in United Sates, UK, Australia,etc and I have good experiences in managing the jobs successfully without any trouble.Please check feedback from all my clients here in Odesk. Microsoft certification details : https://www.mcpvirtualbusinesscard.com/VBCServer/sunilbotadara/profile
- Telerik
- DotNetNuke
- Telerik Sitefinity CMS
- ADO.NET Entity Framework
- Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)
Groups: Application Developers Alliance, Microsoft Certified Professionals
Associated with: EBIZ TECHNOLABS
Senior .NET/Java developer
Belarus - Last active: 9 days ago - Tests: 6 - Portfolio: 8
My name is Max. I'm software (.NET/Java) developer with more than 8+ years of experience in creating stand-alone and desktop, web applications. I specialize in desktop, web technologies. I have good experience in software development, all layers, from database to services, to user interfaces. SKILLS: General: Java Flex .NET C# OOP Design Patterns Windows development MS Visual Studio Angular JS Web Dev: ASP.NET Web Forms ASP.NET MVC ASP.NET Web API WCF JavaScript/DHTML jQuery HTML CSS Win Dev: Windows Forms Version Control System: TFS Git SVN Rational Clear Case ORM: NHibernate Subsonic EF Database: T-SQL MS SQL MySQL MongoDB Reports: Crystal Reports Telerik Reporting Microsoft Reporting Server
- .NET Framework
- MySQL Administration
- Microsoft Silverlight
- Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)
- Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)
- JavaScript
- jQuery
- Microsoft Windows Phone 7 App Development
Associated with: ITMINT
Microsoft Certified Developer
Nepal - Last active: 3 months ago - Tests: 5
Over the 10 years, i have worked with different Microsoft developments language and tools. I have very good experience with c#, VB.Net, JavaScript, jQuery, ASP.Net ajax, asp.net mvc(third party controls such as telerik, devexpress, syncfusion) including database MS SQL server and MySQL. I am looking for opportunities in ASP.Net MVC/angularJS/Windows Phone development at the moment.
- ADO.NET Entity Framework
- Telerik
- Visual Basic
- AngularJS
- Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)
.Net, PHP,Wordpress,Sharepoint, Joomla Developer
India - Last active: 09/06/2012 - Tests: 7 - Portfolio: 3
IT Consultant (c#, SSIS, WCF, SQL Server, Biztalk), ATOS Maroc
Morocco - Last active: 2 months ago - Tests: 7
I have 4 years of experiences with c# programming, SQL Server and SQL and 2 years of experiences with BizTalk Server , WCF and Business Intelligence (SSIS,SSAS,SSRS). I'm now an IT consultant for "La Fnac", I build the architecture with a french team and I'm responsible for the design and development of the flows between la fnac and its partners. Certification : Exam 70-595 TS: Developing Business Process and Integration Solutions by Using Microsoft BizTalk Server 2010
Expert WPF Developer with MVVM and prism
Turkey - Last active: 4 months ago - Tests: 1 - Portfolio: 9
A bright, talented and ambitious object oriented programming (C#, WPF) developer with a good technical background who possesses the ability to work with the minimum of supervision. Able to play a good role throughout the software development / support life cycle of a project to ensure that quality solutions meet business objectives. Possessing a good team spirit, deadline oriented and having the ability to organise and present complex solutions clearly and accurately. Working as developer with IDScan company that offers room for progression.


text:
Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
298 reviews
88% would repurchase
Package Quality: 3.7
Price: $$
Package Quality: 3.7
Price: $$
INGREDIENTSExtra-virgin coconut oil.
on 11/13/2014 8:54:00 PM
Age: 25-29
Skin: Combination, Medium Brown, Warm
Hair: Black, Curly, Fine
Eyes: Brown
As a mixed girl with insane curls, I thought my hair would LOVE coconut oil. Oh no. Instead of making my hair less frizzy or easier to handle, it just.....makes my hair look greasy and disgusting. I have fine hair, so maybe this was the issue. I can't even use this in my deep treatments-my hair will be so greasy and stringy and disgusting for days afterwards that it's not worth it.
On my skin? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH.
Oh, what a nightmare. I have combination skin and decided to use this to cleanse, mixed with a little bit of honey. I woke up in the morning with the most blotchy, reddened, evil looking face.....I think this triggered my rosacea that I suffered from back in high school. I thought it would be a nice treat for my dry areas, and I only used it sparingly on my t-zone. Regardless, i had such badly clogged pores and my skin broke out so horribly that it took me almost a month to recover from the experience. Even my boyfriend was concerned because my cheeks were so red and raw looking. I've never had a breakout that bad before.
Coconut oil and I stay away from each other now. Btw, the brand I used was the Trader Joe's brand that comes in a glass bottle.
on 11/6/2014 7:10:00 PM
Age: 19-24
Skin: Sensitive, Tan, Cool
Hair: Black, Wavy, Medium
Eyes: Brown
love coconut oil! I've been using it on my hair for as long as I can remember but only recently tried using it on my face. I can't use this everyday otherwise my pores become clogged but it works great every once in a while (couple times a month) as an overnight hydrating mask. My skin always looks amazing the morning after I've used this!
on 11/1/2014 1:09:00 AM
Age: 30-35
Skin: Normal, Medium, Not Sure
Hair: Blond, Other, Other
Eyes: Blue
I am such a fan of coconut oil. I use it as a daily body moisturiser, hair treatment and for removing makeup. My boyfriend has started using it instead of shaving cream as he kept getting a shaving rash - he's loving it. The best thing about coconut oil is that's it's all natural - no chemicals or preservatives. I will always use coconut oil!
on 10/25/2014 5:03:00 AM
Age: 30-35
Skin: Dry, Fair-Medium, Not Sure
Hair: Black, Other, Other
Eyes: Brown
I have used coconut oil everyday.
- oil pulling in the morning and evening, after brushing my teeth.
- OCM for face every morning and evening.
- facial massage in the evening, while taking a bath
- hair, once for a while.
- eating it by itself or in tea or food
- cooking
it is amazing, and good price when i can find them in holland and barret half price, or in costco for a huge bottle.
[update Feb/25/2015]: because my skin becomes very dehydrated in the winter, I thought to give it a try to use it as facial moisturizer. IT WORKS. I use it every morning and evening very generously. Often one layer between serum and lotion, and one more layer after lotion and one more after it being absorbed. I tend to mix with HA toner with it. I use it very generously, so my face and hand look very greasy. I thought I might get acne, but after two weeks experiment, it is actually the level of oil my skin needs. my skin LOVES it. no more caking on foundation and first time feel hydrated skin in the winter. a MUST for dehydrate and dry skin in the winter.
on 10/20/2014 5:07:00 AM
Age: 44-55
Skin: Combination, Olive, Not Sure
Hair: Brunette, Wavy, Fine
Eyes: Brown
Coconut oil for the face? No way! Too pore-clogging for my liking. But it's ideal for the hair and can be used in place of a serum, for dry hair ends or to tame flyaways. I use it for my hair ends once or twice a week when I'm due a hair cut - the smallest amount possible, warmed between the palms. As I have fine, bra strap length hair I have to be careful not to overload my hair and pure coconut oil is one of the few oils that my hair can tolerate as a leave-in. I can't tell you how great it is for people who 'can't do' oil - it's HG material for me.
on 10/16/2014 2:47:00 AM
Age: 30-35
Skin: Combination, Fair-Medium, Warm
Hair: Brown, Wavy, Fine
Eyes: Blue
This oil has changed my life (or at least my hair)! Really. I use a bit on the ends only after shampooing and conditioning. It helps detangle and fight frizz. My rough blow dry looks smoother and my hair is silky and stays shiny after flat ironing. A little worked through the ends of 2nd day hair that's pulled into a ponytail looks groomed and healthy rather than flyaway. Maybe my hair has just been really dry my whole life and just needed some oil. I thought I'd hate it or it would break out my problematic skin, but I love it. I rub the extra oil on my hands after doing my hair and my skin feels soft.
on 10/15/2014 3:11:00 PM
Age: 30-35
Skin: Combination, Fair, Not Sure
Hair: Brown, Wavy, Medium
Eyes: Brown
As this review is for the coconut oil as a cleanser I will tell you my experience with it (I also have reviews for other uses)- we don't have any relationship, not even as a cleanser. Which I tried once and it was enough because it is horrible. Gave me cysts, pimples and clogged pores.
From time to time I like to massage my eye area with an oil (and then wipe it off) and when I tried with coconut oil it irritated my skin as in small red dots and patches under my eyes. Also left a ''veil '' on my eyes. It is also very greasy and needed a lot of facial wash to clean it off. Yuck.
on 10/7/2014 7:50:00 PM
Age: 18 & Under
Skin: Combination, Fair-Medium, Cool
Hair: Brunette, Wavy, Medium
Eyes: Brown
Ah, what would I do without this? It's great for pretty much anything in my beauty regime. It can be a body lotion, hair mask, eye/face-makeup remover and even a face moisturizer for those with dry skin. Personally I use as a hair mask when I run out of my Organix Moroccan Oil renewing Treatment. It does the job just as well. I use it mostly though as an eye-makeup remover. I think it's really gentle. I first gently wash my eyelids and eyelash with warm water to get rid of the stiff mascara sitting on it then I get a cotton ball put some coconut oil on my eyelids and gently rub off the smudged excess. It's so gentle and doesn't leave my eyes watery. It moisturizes my eyelids and under eyes before I go to bed.
2015 ... omg i found another awesome self treatment with this. I get a teaspoon of this, warm it up with my hands and put some sugar on and it works as an amaaaazing hand scrub. It exfoliates beautifully and i can see the difference as my hand looked whiter after. Plus the coconut oil nourished my hands so well. And trust me it leaves your hands so soft like petals. I do this at least once a week because my hands tend to get dry.
on 10/1/2014 3:12:00 PM
Age: 19-24
Skin: Oily, Fair, Not Sure
Hair: Brunette, Other, Other
Eyes: Grey
*This review is for coconut oil as a cleanser/makeup remover*
I wanted to love this because I thought it would be an affordable and natural way of removing my makeup/cleansing my face, but unfortunately my skin hated it.
For reference, the brand I used was Loving Earth Organic Cold Pressed Extra Virgin Coconut Oil. I used this by applying to dry skin, massaging to cleanse and remove makeup and then used a hot washcloth to remove it. It took more than one washcloth for me to remove the residue of this from my skin and despite the fact that my makeup was removed my skin still felt really dirty.
I broke out in deep, cystic acne on my cheeks that took weeks to heal and I now have scarring that I am trying to fade. This seems to work so well for some people but for me it was awful. I have since started using a cleansing balm that emulsifies when wet and am much more satisfied with the results.
on 9/22/2014 10:42:00 PM
Age: 19-24
Skin: Combination, Tan, Not Sure
Hair: Black, Other, Other
Eyes: Brown
Coconut oil has saved my life! I have had normal/combination skin ever since puberty hit & I use to torture my skin with benzoyl peroxide, alcohol-based astringents & used exfoliating cleansers on the daily. Can you say recipe for disaster?? No wonder I struggled with my skin so much lol.
Anywho, I'm older and wiser now lol & have discovered the amazing world of natural products.
I use coconut oil as a makeup remover ONLY. I start by rubbing a small amount of CO in my hands, apply it to my face and gently massage it all over for a good minute or two. Then, I'll grab for a makeup remover wipe and wipe off the gross oil and makeup mixture. I make sure the wipe is completely dirty. Then I'll use a cleanser (Neutrogena's naturals purifying facial cleanser with makeup remover) and thoroughly cleanse my face. I then pat my face dry with a clean towel and apply moisturizer (Olay's sensitive skin).
Not only is my skin nice and clear, it GLOWS! It feels so soft and I'm constantly complimented on my skin when I'm out and about. I've also noticed that some of old acne scars are fading and maybe it's just me but I feel that my pores have shrunk.
Popular Cleansers


text:
Larry Borsato
User Stats
Profile Images
User Bio
Larry Borsato is the founder of alchemii (alchemii.com), a mobile social networking company, and the creator of igotihav (igotihav.com). A graduate of the University of Waterloo in Electrical Engineering, Larry has over three decades of experience as a software developer, marketer, consultant, public speaker, and entrepreneur. He has worked with organizations ranging from one person startups to Fortune 500 companies with over 90,000 employees. He follows and frequently comments on technology and related subjects and loves to spot trends.
External Links
Related RSS Feeds
Recently Uploaded+ See all 3 videos
Recent Activity
Gary Will followed Larry Borsato


text:
Private Reserve OG - Indica
Private Reserve OG is also known as OG #18. The body high of this strain reduces pain and muscles spasms, and is favored by many patients that have conditions like Multiple Sclerosis or chronic pain. This strain has an intense couch lock effect and is a great for sleep.
Jedi - Indica
This indica produces strong body high with minimal effect on perception; it%u2019s great for chronic pain relief. A High Times bud of the year winner. Moderately heavy and mildly hard hitting, the force is strong with this Jedi Kush well into the second hour. It%u2019s not so much a knock down drag out effect as an enlightened and physically relaxing experience.
Skywalker (Hybrid)
Skywalker is a hybrid product of the blueberry and mazar strains. This 100% indica strain is known to provide above average pain relief, headache management, appetite stimulation and heavy sedation. The skywalker strain is sticky and mildly fragrant with fruity undertones and a flowery scent similar to other indicas. The effects are immediate and last up to two hours.
Agent Orange - Hybrid strain
The Agent Orange strain of marijuana is a three way cross between Space Queen, Jack's Cleaner and Orange Velvet Skunk that delivers its wonders within just 55 and 65 days when cultivated indoors. AO is a hybrid mix of Sativa and Indica the develops very heavy buds, coated with white crystals and blazing orange hairs. It smells like stinky cheese mixed with a bit of diesel fuel and various spices. The taste is likewise spicy, yet sweet and full. The buzz is trippy; mixing feelings of calming body stones with energetic mental lucidity.
Lemon Diesel - Hybrid
Bred by Green Lantern Seeds, Lemon Diesel is the child of California Sour and Lost Coast OG. This cannabis strain grows tall with dense buds, and usually fills in most during the last couple weeks of growth. Its leaves are long and broad with purple-gray color during maturity. Flowering time is generally 9-10 weeks with a THC content up to 14% and CBD of 0.23%.
Northern Lights - (Indica)
Northern Lights is renowned for its ability to be grown very easily. The strain's reputation also comes from the fact that it has won competitions such as the Cannabis Cup. The #5 strain was first entered into competition 1989 when several seeds were mailed from the U.S.A. to Amsterdam. The strain quickly dominated the Cannabis Cup, winning in 1989, 1998, and again in 2009. It is a cross of Cannabis indica and Cannabis sativa.
Blog Categories
- Celebrities (267)
- Concentrates (258)
- Contests (14)
- Culture (1,026)
- Dispensaries (440)
- Events (57)
- Fun (2,450)
- Glass (286)
- Legalization (440)
- Medical Marijuana (1,266)
- News (1,392)
- Nugs (2,218)
- Odd (105)
- Politics (93)
- Product reviews (8)
- Recipes (118)
- Tokers (598)
Popular Articles
Marijuana Will Ruin Your Life184,932 Views Category: Odd
Weed fun images III145,359 Views Category: Fun
Do College Girls Smoke Marijuana?135,424 Views Category: Culture
Rosie Huntington Whiteley Smoking some weed!93,588 Views Category: Culture
Weed photo fun93,051 Views Category: Fun
Celeb hotties caught smoking weed.91,635 Views Category: Culture
The 5 Biggest Marijuana Myths Debunked74,243 Views Category: Culture
Why Weed Is Better Than Sex71,908 Views Category: Odd
Weed fun images VII64,239 Views Category: Fun
Fun weed images III57,191 Views Category: Fun


text:
Moderators: Tonyblack, Jason, Toothy
Dotsie wrote:Joolz wrote:Carpal tunnel op on my right hand 30th May Yay!! All of June off work
All that free time, but you can't use your hand. What are you going to do with yourself?
Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot], Yahoo [Bot] and 13 guests


text:
Here's the full set of vinyl toys & musician portraits I made for the Hues/Muse artist takeover at Chromatic Coffee last month. A few sold, so for the ones that didn't I'm looking into either potential retail spots in SJ or online (possibly Etsy?) to hang a shingle & sell the rest. If you see any you're interested in or if you'd like something in a similar style, let me know!
Here's a preview of two projects-in-progress that will be for sale! In May I'm joining artist Celeste Young for an artist takeover of Chromatic Coffee. The theme of our show is Hues/Muse, a collection of works organized by the moods of eleven different colors. I'm working on 'em all now and will post both sets once they're ready.
I've been in the mood to do more illustration, so the first set of goods are portraits of musicians. It includes the only suitable choice for purple: Prince.
The second set of goods are a bunch of custom vinyl figures. I'm painting/decorating them in different styles of arts/crafts. The green choice is this Topiary creature. Maybe I should name them!
The opening reception is Thursday May 7th from 6-9pm, and they'll be shown for the month of May. More details to come on Chromatic Coffee's Facebook page!
Next batch of the sketches in the Undefined Variables sketchbook I carry around. Enjoy!
I did some quick graphic design work for Hello Good Pie in prep for their annual "Kiss for Pie" event this Valentine's Day.
Our friend Cordelia started this delightful event based on an event we encountered in college. We all went to Cal Poly SLO which used to have an ice cream shop on campus called Julian's. Every Valentine's Day they'd give away free ice cream to couples that would kiss. Cordelia is carrying forward this tradition in Norway by giving away little pies to couples.
Picking up the assets & copy created by Jørgen, I picked a few fonts to perk up the copy. The body font is Arvo which is a serif font by Anton Koovit (via Google Fonts). The fancy font is Amatic which is a handdrawn font by Vernon Adams (via Font Squirrel). Amatic reminded me of a romantic comedy font. The text colors are sampled from the logo.
For the versions with one large photo, I wanted a more decorative edge between the photo and text area. I tried an edge that looked like scrollwork but it ended up not looking right. Instead, I picked a simpler "rick rack"-style edge that evokes handmade valentines.
Last but not least: I was looking for a way to simplify the grid of photos. I ended up using two different approaches here: either interspersing the "Kiss for Pie" text, or alternating the appearance with a simpler black-and-white style. Enjoy!
Since starting the Statement series I've been on the lookout for interesting variations on white fabrics. It occurred to me that there are a few occupations that include uniforms or articles of clothing that fit the bill. My friend Will, who currently pursuing an MD/PhD, has the accoutrement of the practice and kindly posed for me.
This was a fun shoot because it touched upon some of the style I use for user interviews for my experience design projects. I asked him to imagine he was conducting a patient interview and tell me about how it happens. It was interesting to see how he stayed attentive while taking notes (and the occasional teasing about me taking photos). The notes he was jotting down related to a patient interview he'd conducted in a class earlier that week.
When painting this one I tinkered with the order of what to paint when and am pretty happy with the results. I end up using a dry brush type of technique on both skin and the white fabric to eliminate hard edges. Knowing this, I worked on the skin and shirt first (after the initial tones) so I could allow myself a little overspray that I could tighten up when refining the background.
Working on the skin early is also a good way to reduce that antsy low point that comes during a half-finished painting. If the skin looks good, it's okay to have the abstract/unfinished look to the clothing or the background. The core of the figure grounds the whole thing. I'll probably play around with this more in the future when I'm ready to mix figurative work with other styles.
I particularly like the chiaroscuro effect in this one. The lighting adds an extra gravitas to an interaction that already feels serious. This painting feels familiar and friendly to me because I know who it is but I imagine it'll feel very different for anyone else viewing it.
This year, instead of spending my creative energies on a holiday card (doh) I focused on creating a "thank you" gift for Make It Legit. What started out as a theme for my blog became my business name when I decided to strike out on my own this last year. Though there are many people to thank for their kinds words and support, there were a handful of people (okay, maybe two handfuls) that were pivotal in making this a success. These are the people who alerted me to opportunities, stood by me as references, and/or were my key client contacts that made it happen. I wanted to thank them properly at the end of the year.
This was one of those ideas that popped into my head nearly fully formed. I think it may have been my subconscious harking back to the first assignment I had at my first post-college job: creating stamp graphics to use to indicate spec states (draft, final, etc.). I tracked down that file so you can bear witness to the folly of those unnecessary drop shadows…I will only say in my defense that the team liked and used them, and they looked pretty reasonable at the time.
I wanted to make some kind of physical good that would be interesting-looking and potentially useful. An old style wood-handled rubber stamp fit the bill. I got these made at Simon's Stamps where I also bought simple stamp pads. Gotta make 'em usable right out of the package! I hadn't ever thought of a brand color for Make It Legit since my logo is black and white, so I picked the "Grasshopper" ink because it was a cheery shade of green. It's natural, it's positive, it's "go". Why not?
The card is designed in Illustrator, and after a few fruitless attempt to make my printer work with cardstock I took it down to Kinkos instead. I mostly eyeballed the size to leave a reasonable amount of room for the LEGIT stamp. The mat cutter makes clean lines very easy, and a bone folder gave it the proper folded-card edge. The actual stamping was more challenging than I expected to uniformly land 'em centered and at a reasonably jaunty angle.
Originally I was going to send these in bubble-wrap envelopes, but I wasn't happy with the different ways I found to bundle the stamp, pad, and card. At one point I had cut cardboard squares and pseudo-shrinkwrapped them. I took a stamp and pad out for one last attempt to find the right-sized box. With the actual pieces in hand, I realized they'd fit perfectly in CD/DVD mailers. Plus: the way they fold means there's a lid to open for a nice reveal of what's inside. Double plus: by sheer coincidence, the cards I'd made fit perfectly in the opening to be seen first before discovering the rest of the contents.
It was pretty involved but well worth it. I'm grateful for the people that made this happen, and am happy to already have a few folks on my 2015 list!
**bonus: I got motivated enough to write up some career-ish thoughts about this project and the motivation behind it on LinkedIn. Go check it out!
Got this lovely late afternoon shot for the latest painting, part of the Statement series.
My friend Teresita is renting a room in a house with this fabulous master bathroom. The windows overlook trees surrounding the property, and was too good to pass up. She had a white (well, cream) towel, so we tried a bunch of shots here. This was one of the last ones we took, and the best of the bunch due to this great casual hand gesture.
The sun was low enough to highlight just the towel. That towel highlight had particularly nice lighting that matched the tealight. The tiles also had some interesting reflections that took a little effort to figure out – some were from the sun, some from the tealight, and others are reflected light from her. Overall, it's pretty close to how it looked except that I ended up toning down the wallpaper a bit. It was some kind of 80's glamorous and very, very shiny. Quite happy with how this turned out!
Gadget testing time – here's some sketches I made with Adobe's hardware/software offering for tablets, the Ink stylus and Adobe Sketch app. Overall the heft of the stylus is quite nice, and the app is a reasonable minimalist sketching app.
Despite my background, I generally avoid making art on tablets because I end up disappointed with both the feel of making it and the fidelity of the results. For the feel, Adobe Sketch has a bit of pressure sensitivity…which does help, and is a feat given the lack of support for this on iPads. The results, though, are similar to other apps in this class. I can't un-see the frequent hallmarks of digital art: consistent brush edging, unnaturally uniform transparency, recognizable filters, excess dodge/burn, smoothed-out vectors. I always find myself wishing I'd spent the time with a sketchbook instead.
Knowing that, I thought I should come up with alternate uses more suitable to its limitations and a little less focused on creating an artifact. Here I focused mostly on loose studies of lighting and color to exercise my perception of the colors a bit more. These were sketched at Jillian's studio earlier this year.
Another collaboration in the Statement series – this one courtesy of my friends Jennifer and Dave. Dave is a connoisseur of bowties and has written an eBook all about them. He had this great photo for the cover, so in exchange for borrowing it for a painting, I created a few layout options for the cover.
What you see here involved a little Photoshop work on the layout and colors. Though I liked this source photo best, it was opposite of the orientation I hoped to use. I flipped the photo and adjusted the orientation of the hand (right hand = no ring) and the shirt placket so they would be accurate. I also shifted the color of the tie from an executive red to a stylish purple. I came up with three cover variants, and they chose the third one.
Go check out the eBook and elevate your bow tie game!
I ran into my classic dilemma with skin tones here. I usually end up skewing them too pale to counterbalance the warmth of the underlying tones. Those are the middle awkward steps.
The texture of the bowtie fabric was particularly fun to paint. Not only did the fabric weave run perpendicular to the stripes, it also had a little bit of a sheen that created some interesting highlights and shadows. One comment I got upon showing this to a friend: "I just want to run my fingernails across it!"
This one's a return to a style I enjoy for an auction to benefit Works/San José on December 13th. It's based on a painting I made years ago called Release. That's the cheery abstract painting that I'm currently using as a background on my Twitter account. I even decorated my study around it.
This version follows the same color scheme and feel as the original with a few variations. It is a wall-friendly 20″x20″ square, in contrast to the original 48″ x 24″ landscape. I also opted to add more texture to it with a toothy crosshatched base for the background. And: instead of a black border, I kept the border blue to emphasize the wrapped look. Getting the original blue was a little trickier than I anticipated. What you see here was my fourth attempt after starting too thin, then too green-ish, and then too dark.
I picked this one to return to because it is one of the ones that seems to be the most popular when I give visiting friends the "art tour". It's also fun to see what people interpret it to be. While painting it, I was thinking of a combination of a falling motion (flower petals, autumn leaves) and a gathering motion (the feeding frenzy of koi or goldfish). I've also hear that it looks like fireworks, confetti, and – my favorite for being odd – candy corn.


text:
WATCH: Brenda Blethyn Returns in 'Vera' Season Five Trailer
Brenda Blethyn returns to the U.S. in season five of Vera on Monday, July 6, and she's asking all the …Read Now
Brenda Blethyn returns to the U.S. in season five of Vera on Monday, July 6, and she's asking all the …Read Now
Should you be considering a visit to your local planetarium or science center over the next few days, check and …Read Now
The brilliant thing about forthcoming Doctor Who stories is that you can't really tell what is going to happen just from looking at publicity photos. Oh sure, if there's a surprise arrival from an old friend or enemy, that can be ruined. A shot of something irrevocable and key to the plot would be similarly spoiling, but, as you'll see from the latest gallery of shots from this year's Christmas special, "The Time of the Doctor," there's just so much that still needs explaining.
For example: how come the Doctor ends up as a Punch & Judy show (above)? And what is this fan art all about?
It's tempting to assume this is something that happens quite early on, given that the TARDIS has clearly arrived in the middle of a Doctor Who Christmas special.
And then there's a bit of scared villager action…
And some running…
Something tells me we don't really want to know what this is about…
And then all of a sudden we're at home with the Cybermen.
Rise and shine!
The Daleks, meanwhile, have clearly already had their breakfast and are enjoying a morning shout.
This guy is more of a mime artist.
No, that's not a lightsabre. Wrong franchise entirely.
So there we have it. You are now officially as clued-up about "The Time of the Doctor" as we are.
See you on Christmas Day!
See more:
'Doctor Who' Watch: The Official Trailer For 'The Time of the Doctor'
'Doctor Who' – What Can We Learn From The New Pictures From 'The Time of the Doctor'?
PHOTOS: First Look at 'The Time of the Doctor'
Trawling The Trailers For 'Doctor Who' Clues (And A Bit Of 'Sherlock' Too)


text:
Three-toed sloths are one of the coolest animals ever! Super cute and adorable, this design looks like a sloth hugging the wearer. Isn't that cool? Sloth love!
This great custom product in white from our department Accessories and Travel Mug category can be printed just for you in the size and style you like. The design Sloth Love Hug was created by carlhuber and uploaded to Spreadshirt for you to have printed on a Travel Mug. Next to a host of other great customized designs, you can find this Sloth Love Hug design in Spreadshirt's Wildlife category. If you are interested in topics like Hug or koala, then you'll love Sloth Love Hug designs by carlhuber. Spreadshirt also offers a huge selection of custom t-shirts, hoodies and accessories for the category Wildlife as well as top love clothing. carlhuber's designs have already impressed many of our customers, so we are sure that we've got right stuff for you! Spreadshirt is your destination for great designs of all kinds – whether it's Hug, koala or love. We are sure that you will find something nice in our shop, there are many amazing custom Wildlife t-shirts, hoodies, or accessories for you to find! Tags: Design ID: 11770825
I run theWAREHOUSE! Your best bet is to check out the website.
I run theWAREHOUSE! Your best bet is to check out the website.
Happy Last Day T-Shirts Designed by teacher t-shirts
Nah Rosa Parks Quote T-Shirts Designed by The Shirt Yurt
Great Dads Get Promoted to Grandpa T-Shirts Designed by myfamily
WTF WHERE'S THE FIREBALL T-Shirts Designed by jimbosports
Black Lives Matter Designed by forhuman
Red Swiss T-Shirts Designed by sefla
The Women of NPR Designed by Micah Fitzerman-Blue
Narwhal Rainbow Stormtrooper Designed by racoon
We're an on-the-go society. We eat on-the-go, we work on-the-go, we grab and we run. This travel mug is the ideal companion for the "on-the-go" in you. Good for hot or cold beverages, this mug will keep up with the breakneck pace of your day.
still to fill


text:
Thanks for redeeming.{{else}}
Success! Thanks for repurchasing.{{/if}} {{else}} {{#if Expired}}
Increase my visibility!{{else}} {{#if IsMultiPack}}
{{#if HasMultiPack}} You have {{MultiPackCount}} top spot(s) left. Now loading you into the search listings... {{else}} You have used all top spots. Now loading you into the search listings... {{/if}}{{else}}
We are loading you into the search listing pages...{{/if}} {{/if}} {{/if}} {{/if}}
{{Current}} just saw you!{{/if}} {{#if LastTopSpotPurchaseIsMulti }} {{#if HasAnyTopSpot}}
{{#if HasFreeTopSpot }} {{ UnclaimedTopSpotFree }} Free {{/if}} {{#if HasPaidTopSpot }} {{#if HasFreeTopSpot }} & {{/if}} {{ MultiPackCount }} {{/if}} Top Spot{{#if Plural}}s{{/if}} Left{{else}}
0 Top Spot{{#if Plural}}s{{/if}} Left{{/if}} {{else}} {{#if HasFreeTopSpot }}
{{ UnclaimedTopSpotFree }} Top Spot{{#if Plural}}s{{/if}} Left{{/if}} {{/if}} {{else}} {{#if HasResults}}
{{Current}} see you now!{{else}} {{/if}} {{/if}}
You can now invite anyone to meet at your favorite Starbucks.
Limited-time feature
47 year old man | Beachwood, OH, USA | Seeking women 33-43 within 50 miles of Cleveland, OH
Lovely View of Heaven But I Rather Be With You.
You have to have sense of humor. I think in life you either have a positive attitude in life or you don't. I have no time for negatives! If you love life then I'm your man. I am outgoing and adventurous, so much so I hitchhiked to Alaska when I was 18. No I am not crazy-well not anymore. I do not do stupid things like that anymore although it shaped me to be who I am today. I was not encourage to further my education after high school which is a shame, instead I decided to take off and discover the world on my own. I have always had a determination to be my own boss and have had a few very successful businesses. My latest is a tour business which is great for a travel lover. I would like find someone who wants to take off for a year or two to tour the county-including Alaska and Hawaii. South America and Europe will be next on the agenda.
Camping , Coffee and conversation , Business networking , Dining out , Music and concerts , Travel/Sightseeing
Billiards / Pool, Bowling, Cycling, Dancing, Football, Other types of exercise, Skiing, Soccer, Tennis / Racquet sports, Walking / Hiking, Weights / Machines
I exercise 3-4 times per week.
I like Birds, Cats, Dogs, Exotic Pets, Fish, Horses, Other
I have a Green Cheek Conure-no not a Condor. He is only 3-4 inches long, so he is not only cute but manageable.
Middle of the Road
Key West, New Orleans, Austin, TX, and believe it or not Utah which is home to the most National Parks.
Visiting National Parks. I am buying a stylie tour bus in a couple years to travel the country for 2-5 years with jet skis and jeep in tow-then I'll sell it.
I love to travel, going to National Parks, jet skiing, camping, staying luxury hotels as well. I work out and also play racquetball 3 times a week. Houseboating on Lake Powell is an amazing experience.
Searching For the Sound, Author Phil Lesh
Z{{Cta}} {{#if HasMoreInfo}} ?{{CtaSecondary}} {{/if}}
|What he is looking for
|5'9" (175cms)
|5'2" (157cms) to 5'10" (177cms)
|Body type:
|Athletic and toned
|Slender, Curvy, Athletic and toned, Full-figured
|No preference
|Dark brown
|No preference
|No Way
|No Way, Occasionally, Yes, but trying to quit
|Social Drinker
|Social Drinker
|Self-Employed / Entrepreneur
|No preference
|I'll tell you later
|No preference
|No preference
|Have kids:
|Yes, and they live away from home (2)
|No preference
|Wants kids:
|Probably not
|No preference
|White / Caucasian
|No preference
|Christian / Protestant
|No preference
|High school
|No preference


text:
Do bloggers have an obligation to wineries that wine and dine them?
When I was a working critic I was very particular about not letting wineries spend money on me. I had the reputation of not going out to lunch or dinner on the winery's dime. I did it every once in a while, but tried to keep it rare. I also was extremely fussy about letting wineries spend money on me in other ways. This was only partly because of Wine Enthusiast's policies; it also was because it didn't seem right to accept favors (food, travel, etc.) from a winery if I was going to say critical things about their wine. That would have seemed rude and ungrateful. On the other hand, if I said nice things about their wine, it might have given rise to the appearance of a conflict of interest. Better, then (in my judgment), to keep wineries and their money at arm's length (the sole exception being, of course, that I did accept free samples of their wines!).
Now, it appears that the issue of bloggers accepting freebies from wineries, and then not even bothering to write about them, has risen to prominence. Harpers.com, out of the U.K., has written a scathing editorial piece decrying bloggers who accept a winery's hospitality and then claim that their "freedom of speech" gives them the right to not even write about the winery. One Italian producer told Harpers, "If I invite a blogger to my winery, and after I have paid for all of the costs the blogger still thinks I am not worth a mention, it is his/her right to do so. [But] it is also obvious that I, the producer, will never again pay a cent for his/her freedom not to write."
The producer's umbrage is completely understandable, isn't it? The point I want to make here is that there are certain unstated but widely accepted rules in wine writing that include the notion of fairness. If a writer is to succeed longterm at being a success (not just a flash in the pan), the writer has to build up trust and affability among the wine producers she writes about. A wine writer with a bad name will find herself not accepted into the circle of wineries she hopes to cover. To get a good name in wine writing is the same thing as getting a good name anywhere and everywhere else: You have to play nice in the sandbox with the other kids. And if you take somebody's money, and then insult them—either through silence, or by excessive criticism—you're not playing nice, and word will travel, in this small playground we call the world of wine.
My generation of wine writers (whom I exult in running into whenever we're at an event) understood the etiquette of wine criticism. Nobody had to explain it to us; somehow, we just knew that it was wrong to accept a winery's largesse and then bite the hand that had just fed us. Since my main objective as a writer/critic was to tell the truth, I found myself decreasingly accepting largesse of any kind, because I didn't want my hosts to feel that I'd been an ungrateful little so-and-so.
Too many bloggers, however, apparently don't suffer from these inhibitions. They leave hurt feelings in their wake. This is why the Harpers article calls them "an endangered species" and adds this warning shot fired over their bow: "[B]loggers need to stay relevant just as any professional in the sector, and producers are starting to question whether the wine bloggers is, indeed, relevant." Finally, the writer states something I personally know to be true: "Wineries are beginning to distinguish the difference [between informed and relevant bloggers and those who are not], and are analyzing closely as to where they should spend their few available euros." Yes, marketers are drawing up their "A" list and their "Everybody else" list, and the A list is getting harder to get onto.
It's all about being professional, and not just have power because you can push a button on a keyboard and self-publish. The wine press has always been a place of politeness, decency and respect, and blogging hasn't and won't change that.
What does the Galloni purchase of Tanzer mean to wine criticism?
It is, I suppose, the fault of the historian and logician in me that I'm always looking for the meaning of things. I've always thought that all things are connected in some mysterious way, and that certain events have implications, not only for how the future will unfold, but for trying to understand where we are now. Such an event is the purchase of Steven Tanzer's International Wine Cellar by Antonio Galloni, which hit the airwaves yesterday via dueling press releases.
The context here is several-fold. One, both Tanzer and Galloni are enormously influential in this little world of wine criticism in which I and, I assume, most of my readers dwell. Antonio got his fame after being employed by Robert Parker to write for The Wine Advocate, which is how I met him (for the first and only time), at a tasting at the Culinary Institute of America, where Antonio was kind enough to give me a very long interview, which I turned into a three-part blog post. (Here's the link to part one.)
I was very grateful to Antonio for that (he probably knew enough about me to know that my blog could be, ahem, a little controversial). I went away from that experience thinking what a gallant, intelligent and well-bred mensch Antonio is.
Tanzer I never met; not that I recall. But he's always loomed in my mind because of the huge reputation he'd garnered among the people I respect: winemakers, sommeliers and folks like that. Tanzer's name was one of those that mattered in high-class wine reviewing. So what I'm trying to say is that both Galloni and Tanzer earned my respect.
For years we've been tracking the evolution of wine criticism, the dualism of print journalism versus online, the gradual fading away of my Baby Boomer generation, and we've all tried to figure out what's coming next. Who will matter? How will wine criticism and recommending work in the next decade and beyond? For me, a major question has been: Will there continue to be super-important critics (and their associated publications), or will wine critiquing become so crowd-sourced (due to the sheer magnitude of blogs) that no one voice will have national or international authority?
My answer to the latter question has consistently been: We will continue to have "important critics" because some fundamental part of human nature demands it. Humans want "authorities" to tell them what to buy, and to justify their tastes, especially in an area like wine that's so confusing, subjective, emotional and, let us admit it, irrational. A few years ago, at the height of the blogosphere's insistence that "critics don't matter," I couldn't bring myself to believe it. It seemed to me to be wishful thinking on the part of the many (who wanted a piece of the action), against the power and influence of the few (of which, until last Spring, I was part). But I always thought that someone would take the place of the Parkers, Laubes, etc. of wine criticism.
Now, with this acquisition of Tanzer, it appears that Antonio's Vinous is moving forcibly into a position of great influence and its associated power. I welcome this. Both men seemed marked by fairness and objectivity, and an indifference to external influence. Both men, too (as well as their teams) are profoundly talented. So we could be looking at the next great force in wine writing.
The one question that remains for me is whether or not this new Vinous will address itself chiefly to super-ultrapremium wine, or will examine wines from all price points. This is a decision, obviously, that Antonio and his business partners will have to address, and I hope they will review everything, from under $10 wines to the rarest and most expensive bottles. If my two cents is worth anything, that's the way to go.
So it seems to me that the meaning of this marriage is that wine criticism is consolidating among a younger generation, who will continue to publish both online and in hard copy. The torch is being passed, folks, and IMHO it couldn't be placed into better hands.
Real wine-drinking countries don't need wine critics
Matt Kramer makes a good case about the difference between "enjoyment" and "assessment" of wine in his Dec. 15 Wine Spectator column—too good a case, for in describing the importance of "context" in wine appreciation, he carves out a huge exception for "truly great wines" in a way that is not entirely consistent with his argument.
Briefly, Matt's argument runs thus: "Context is everything—or nearly so." A humble little Tuscan wine that was so good in Florence is "a little thin" back home in the States. Port on a hot summer day just doesn't work. A big Napa Cabernet that tasted so good at Farmstead can be "a little too strong" someplace else. Yes, "context" as such is of supreme importance in how we experience our wines.
The logical extension of this is that every wine is a product (or victim) of its context, and therefore, there is something fungible about our impressions of wine quality: it all depends on what Dr. Leary called "set and setting." I can buy into that theory, although it does imply the (rather alarming) wrinkle that there is no such thing as objective quality.
This is dangerous territory for critics, who make their living by appraising quality. Matt senses this risk: he gets this close to affirming it, yet instinctively backs down or away at the last second. (Even his headline, "Context is [nearly] everything," testifies to some inner wrestling with himself.) After telling us, correctly, how context trumps objective quality, he retreats to the following loophole big enough to drive a fleet of trucks through: "Obviously, this is not always the case—and certainly not for truly great wines…".
Think about this statement. It states rather categorically that there is a subset of all wines, namely "truly great wines," that is "protected" (or, in Matt's exact words, "protect themselves") from the context dilemma by virtue of their greatness—a sort of vinous nobility that is above the laws to which the rest of us ordinary mortals are subject. Matt, like wine writers throughout history, creates this exclusive carve-out and contrasts it with "lesser wines." The former need no context to be appreciated, only the discerning powers of the critic. The latter can be appreciated—must be appreciated—only in context.
This is a very strange dualism. For one, if the world can be divided into "truly great wines" and everything else, who's to say which camp any particular wine is assigned to? When the world of wine commentary was restricted to a mere handful of (white, male) critics, this was a simple matter. These men dined and drank at the same clubs and shared the same outlook. But that is no longer the case. As the stranglehold of the ancien régime loosens, so too, and inevitably, must our concepts of what makes for "truly great wines." The Internet unleashed this genie on the world, and we have to live with, and adjust ourselves to, its destabilizing results.
But of course any critic who has made a career of curating wines into the "truly great" and everything else must hesitate before taking the enormous step of declaring that everything is context—even the evaluation of LaLas or Latour. I count myself among them. I am hugely reluctant to declare that wine quality is a myth perpetuated nowadays by a complicit media, and that everything is relative. For I know that everything is not relative. There are degrees of quality, and we in this business are expected to make distinctions.
At the same time, I'm aware of the fact that the way we hierarchize wine is changing. We may in fact be coming to a point where we abandon the notion of objective quality and come down instead on the side of "enjoyment," as opposed to "assessment," where the first duty of a wine is, not to garner praise from "experts," but to please the person who buys it. I don't expect this to occur in my lifetime, but we're closer to it than we ever have been, for the simple reason that America is more of a wine-drinking country than it has ever been, and real wine-drinking countries don't need critics to tell them what to drink.
Minerality: My thoughts
I've been reading lots about minerality, especially in the pages of the Somm Journal, where they've run a couple of articles on it lately. This one in the August-September issue is the poster child for these types of discussions in which very abstruse, hard-to-define issues related to wine are discussed by professionals, with no conclusive results. But rather than be frustrating for their lack of clarity, they advance the discussion, in fun and informative ways. We may never get to a definition of "minerality," or even come to a consensus what wines display it, but meanwhile, it keeps wine writers (and somms) gainfully employed and active and raising the bar ever higher.
I use the word "minerality" a fair amount and have for many years. For example, since I began working at Jackson Family Wines, I've used it in my descriptions of Byron's 2012 Pinot Noir and 2012 Chardonnay (both the regular and the Nielson), Cambria's 2012 Clone 4 Pinot Noir, 2012 Tepusquet Viognier, 2012 Julia's Pinot Noir and 2012 Katherine's Vineyard Chardonnay, and several others.
I know what I mean by "minerality," but obviously it's a word that defies definition, or even clarity. I like wine director Jeff Taylor's (Betony, New York) description: minerality is "the non-fruit and non-oak descriptors for a wine." He lists "chalk, crushed seashells, gravel, gun flint, a sidewalk after a light rain" as illustrations, but these clearly are metaphors, not exact descriptions, since nobody really tastes sidewalks or crushed seashells. Well, I guess you could pound seashells into powder, then put them in your mouth, but even so, it would be hard to draw an exact analogy between that taste/feeling and "minerality" in the wine.
One of the controversies about minerality is whether or not whatever it is can travel from the soil, via the plant's roots, into the grapes; and even if it can, how that "something" expresses itself. Some somms think it happens all the time; others don't. Whatever "minerality" is, it's a good thing: it's bracing and grippy (in a non-tannic way), almost metallic (I think of licking a cold lamppost on a winter day, which is something I have done, a practice whose utilitarian value outweighs its unsanitariness). It's easy in hindsight to theoretically identify where minerality comes from in a wine: for example, all those Santa Maria Valley wines that display it are grown in sandy soils that have quite a lot of ancient decomposed marine matter in them. The wines feel iron-y to me: despite their richness there's a metallic vein that makes them chewy, almost as if a sheet of aluminum foil had been inserted inbetween the flavors. A little minerality goes a long way toward providing pleasurable structure.
On a meta level these conversations about minerality in California wine suggest that we've collectively achieved a new level of sophistication. Twenty years ago, even ten, you wouldn't have heard them. We were too obsessed with describing more obvious fruit and oak flavors, and tannin and acid levels. The fact that we can now talk about things of great subtlety shows how far we've come. Does it also show a shifting style of winemaking, something less ripe, and more streamlined? I think so. Minerality is hard to find in a big, rich, fat, oaky wine. It may be there, but it's smothered under the weight of all that richness. Tone down the wine a bit, and whatever minerality is there shows itself as a bright, lifted tone.
Minerality is one of those things that is good but not sufficient in itself to make for great wine. In an ordinary wine—a simple Gruner or Albarino, for example—it can be pleasant, refreshing and eminently quaffable, yet fail to rise above everydayness—an 86 or 87 point wine, in other words. Not that there's anything wrong with that, if the price is right. But if you take a 90 point wine (red or white) and add a little minerality so that it has that fine, grippy tang, it lifts the wine up a degree or two, to 91 or 92 points. This is what's so important about structure: it's also why it's taken the wine writing community so long to get around to appreciating the structural elements of a wine, including minerality: it takes a certain amount of experience for the palate and mind to grow beyond loving sheer massive hedonism in order to reach that level of understanding and appreciation.
On those mega "wine rooms" that are so popular out there
I myself don't have a "wine room," as these new mega-cellars are being called. In fact, Mr. Casimano's "wine room" is bigger than my entire condo! I do rent space at K&L Wine Merchants for some bottles, and I have one of those 120-bottle Eurocaves, but that's about it. I never did see the sense of piling up a vast collection of wines the majority of which I'd never be able to drink in my lifetime.
That was the situation in which many of the wealthy men whom I met over the years found themselves. They had 50,000, 100,000, 250,000 bottle cellars full of rare and expensive wines, the collecting of which seemed to me to be the symptom of some sort of hoarding mentality, like those cat ladies with 100 felines wandering around a one-bedroom apartment. I used to hear stories of these gentlemen. Eventually, most of them auctioned off their collections, which raised the question: Did they buy them with the intention of aging and enjoying them, or were they investments in the first place?
The concept of "wine as investment" always rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe it was the romantic in me: Wine was the complete opposite of a stock certificate. How could you reduce wine to a commodity that might or might not appreciate in value? Didn't that take all the love, passion and artistry out of it? For me, it did. There was a point, back in the '90s, when I briefly considered buying some First Growths for investment, just as I was day trading at Schwab; but reason soon was restored to my senses, and I refrained.
It was due to my experiences early in my wine writing career, working for a magazine that catered to high-end collectors, that I came to harbor some downbeat feelings about that segment of our wine community. Too many of them were buying wine to out-do their friends in the show-off game. Oh, the stories I could tell (and have told, if you care to wade through my older posts). I felt one could be a good critic while decrying the tendency on the part of some to slavishly label-shop the latest critical darling. What about all the honest, good vins ordinaires of the world, the kind I, and everybody else I knew, drank happily on a day-to-day basis? Was there no room for them at the inn?
Of course there was, and is. But this in turn raises the inevitable question of wine scores and reviews. No matter what system you use—100 points, stars, puffs, 20 points—wine reviewing is a comparative practice: It pits wines against each other, in a sort of sporting or beauty contest, and claims that some wines are better than others. This is certainly true: some are; and some are a lot better than others. To experience a great wine is indeed a memorable experience.
But why does that lead, in some cases, to this relentless piling up of collections? I scratch my head. At some point, having too much wine is like having too much of anything: you get jaded. Scarcity is the mother of appreciation: if you don't have much of something, you love it all the more when it comes your way. Or so it seems to me.
Those Parker scores: Score inflation?
Quite a lot of buzz in the brouhaha-sphere over all the perfect 100s Parker have been bestowing lately. This time the commentary is from Narsai David, the food and wine critic for our local KCBS radio affiliate in San Francisco, and an old acquaintance.
The most common reaction in the commentariat has been to use the word "exponential" or a variant of it to describe the increase in Parker 100s. Wine-Searcher used it last Wednesday ("the list is growing with exponential speed"), while Narsai's phrasing elevated the adjective to adverbial status ("this number has grown exponentially in recent years"). This naturally all gets picked up and echoed on social media; Terroirst blog quoted the Wine-Searcher article, while Narsai's column also was reprinted, as for instance here, at the Daily Meal.
First, the numbers: As Narsai writes, "Wine Advocate has given a perfect score to a total of 511 wines, but this number has grown exponentially in recent years. Just five years ago, only 69 wines scored 100 'Parker Points' and in 2004, the number of perfect bottles was only 17." Narsai calls this rapid increase in 100s "a little troubling," because it implies (to Narsai, anyway) wines that are higher in alcohol than some vintners who are "trying to satisfy Parker" would prefer, thereby leaving them in "a real quandary."
[Fantasy segue: A conversation between a winemaker and her priest-confessor:
Winemaker: "Father, I would like to keep the alcohol-by-volume on my Cabernet under 14%, but then it would never get a hundred points from Parker."
Priest-confessor: "My daughter, wherein lies your heart?"
Winemaker: "That's the problem. I have expenses…".
Priest-confessor: "You are in a real quandary."
The word "quandary" derives from the Latin, and means "a state of uncertainty." American Presidents routinely find themselves in quandaries during crises. Lincoln was in one after the Confederates seized Fort Sumter: Should he abandon it, or fight for it, thus starting a Civil War? FDR, a great Lincoln scholar, similarly faced a quandary after Britain declared war on Germany for invading Poland, in September, 1939. Should he support Britain with materiel, even though he had an election coming up, and the majority of the country was isolationist? And yet a winemaker's "quandary" can hardly be in the same category as either Lincoln's or FDR's.]
The conventional wisdom is that the pace of 100s has picked up because, as Narsai observes, "wine [technology] production in the last 25 years has really improved." That's undeniable. We also have had, here in California, a series of excellent vintages. My own company, Jackson Family Wines, has certainly enjoyed Parker's largesse: perfect 100s for Lokoya and Verite (multiple times), which puts them in the company they deserve: Colgin, Dalla Valle, Harlan, Screaming Eagle and Hundred Acre, among others in California. (Here's a list of all Parker's 100s.)
I've always said that, when it comes to 100-point wines, critics should be either remarkably stingy or generous. I was the former; Parker is the latter. There is intellectual support for both positions, but not for the muddy middle. To be stingy implies that perfect wines are so rare that the awarding of 100 point scores must necessarily be limited as is, for instance, the giving of the Congressional Medal of Honor. To be generous means that, once you have stipulated that perfection exists, you have to recognize that it's more widespread than commonly thought. Both of these positions are sound. The muddy middle makes it seem like the critic who straddles the fence is simply indecisive.
So, to answer my question, Do all those Parker scores indicate score inflation? No. They suggest that wine really is better than ever, and, in California's case, the meaning is clear: We are world class. No ands, ifs or buts about it. If certain critics can't see that, they had best remove the beam from their eye.


text:
SHC Shell Compiler WrappedMar 25, 2014
The Bash Shell Script Compiler converts shell scripts directly into binaries. Compiling your scripts provides protection against accidental changes, but you will have to contend with some quirks.more »
Byobu Byobu, a session manager for the command lineJun 21, 2012
The Byobu session manager extends the shell, adding a range of useful functions, such as splitting the screen, running programs in the background, or organizing programs in tabs. In particular, administrators who rely on SSH will appreciate Byobu.more »
Bash Tips: Passing PasswordsMar 26, 2012
Bash offers any number of simplifications, especially when it comes to pesky individual steps in installation routines for larger software packages. Some caution is advisable, though, if you need to handle database and application passwords, which can easily be compromised.more »
Bash Tips: AutocompletionFeb 28, 2012
Steer around errors and save yourself some typing by adding autocompletion to your Bash scripts.more »
Book Review: The Linux Command LineFeb 24, 2012
A complete introduction to the shell for novices and masters alike.more »
Qemu and the Kernel DebuggerFeb 23, 2012
Debugging the kernel of a running operating system has always been tricky, but now the Qemu emulator supports cross-platform kernel and module debugging at the programming language level.more »
Better Bash Shell scripts from hell: ShebangJan 30, 2012
In the beginning was the double pound sign and the exclamation mark – or at least shell scripts always start this way. The inventor, Dennis Ritchie, really didn't know how much pain this was going to cause users.more »
The sys admin's daily grind Calendar-related crontab issuesMay 31, 2011
This month, Charly considers Jacobin rule, Napoleon Bonaparte's neoconservatism, Jewish and Islamic tradition, and a cronjob that nearly worked.more »
Issue 177/2015
Buy this issue as a PDF
NoScript Flaw
Mozilla's script blocker add-on could be putting malware sites on the whitelist.
RIP SSLv3
The Internet community officially banishes the notoriously unsafe Secure Sockets Layer protocol.
Mate 1.1 Arrives
Popular desktop environment continues the Gnome 2 legacy – with new support for the Gnome 3 toolkit.
US Government Requires HTTPS
The Obama White House has issued a memorandum telling all US government agencies they must use HTTPS for all websites and web communication.
Mozilla Signs Firefox Add-Ons
New program will dial up security for the Firefox browser.
Fedora 22 Arrives
Red Hat's community distro embraces the cloud.
Code.org and College Board Team Reach Out for Talented High School Coders
New partnership will bring more and better CS training to US schools
A Peek Inside TeslaCrypt Ransomware
Criminals offer online help over Tor network
Mumblehard Still Spams
Sophisticated malware is still present on Joomla and WordPress sites around the world.
Launchpad Gets Git
Future versions of Ubuntu's code service will support the popular Git version control system used with Linux and other open source projects.


text:
Category:Sports clubs established in 1868
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Sports clubs or sports teams established in the year 1868.
This category has only the following subcategory.
Pages in category "Sports clubs established in 1868"
The following 17 pages are in this category, out of 17 total. This list may not reflect recent changes (learn more).


text:
Game Stats
Game Stats
W: J. Tata (1-0) L: J. Blanton (8-8)
S: T. Jones (28)
|1st Inning
Sheffield grounded into double play shortstop to second to first, Granderson scored, Polanco out at second.
|4th Inning
Kotsay doubled to right, Scutaro scored.
Suzuki singled to right, Kotsay scored.
|6th Inning
Polanco singled to center, Granderson scored, Polanco to second on center fielder Kotsay's fielding error.
Ordonez singled to right, Polanco scored.
|7th Inning
Granderson singled to center, Monroe scored, Granderson to second advancing on throw.
Polanco doubled to center, Granderson scored.


text:
Detecting Botnets
One of the many tools for sniffing traffic and gathering statistics is ntop. You can download it from www.ntop.org or use a package manager on your system to install it. There already are cooked packages for popular Linux distributions, such as Red Hat, Debian/Ubuntu and SUSE. Before using it, you have to set up an admin password by running the following:
sudo ntop --set-admin-password
And start it with:
sudo /etc/init.d/ntop start
Now you can go to your IP address (http://127.0.0.1:300) and look for some statistics. This is a very powerful tool that provides a lot of information. You can sort by packets, ports, hosts and so on. Network usage graphs also are helpful in determining the amount of traffic getting into your system.
Remember, no packets should be legitimate in Darknet, so this tool provides great statistical data as to what hosts/networks are responsible for illegal traffic.
Figure 5 shows ntop's graphic interface and its ability to detect host operating systems, vendor and other details in Host view.
Figure 6 presents standard ntop graph capabilities, thanks to built-in support for RRDTool.
To get alerts regarding what exploits are used (if any) on your network, you need a network IDS system. The best one that's publicly available is Snort. You can get it from www.snort.org, and it also is available on many systems as a binary package.
One thing you need to configure in /etc/snort/snort.conf is setting your $HOME_NETWORK variable to match IP addresses and netmask to your configuration. Snort is an intrusion detection system based on a pattern database.
If traffic matches, it will write an alert to a log file (by default in /var/log/snort) and record the packets for later analysis (you can reply to them using the tcpdump -r command or examine them using tools like Wireshark).
With powerful yet not complicated rules, you can write your own signatures or edit existing ones to record traffic that matches your custom criteria. Additionally, you can consider installing Snort support tools, such as IDScenter (see Resources).
There also is a Honeynet project, based on Snort and Sebek technologies. It provides a cut-down Linux system, based on Fedora and custom-built tools with a GUI for incident management (Figure 7).
If you want to go further, there also are projects, such as HIHAT (Highly Interactive Honeypot Analyses Toolkit), that transform popular PHP applications, such as PHPNuke or osCommerce, to fully functional logging, reporting and alerting tools.
You easily can detect commands and SQL injections, cross-site scripting and map involved IPs to geographic locations, as shown in Figure 8.
This simple configuration of putting a server on an internal Darknet allows us to detect and receive alerts on the following:
Actively spreading malware.
Covert channels and possible data leakage.
Suspicious activities (deliberate or not), such as abuse of a company's policy and network reconnaissance attempts (for example, port scanning).
Provide audit trails and record evidence for later investigation.
Provide general network usage statistics for base-lining.
Trending Topics
|How to Deliver Hybrid Apps in 2 Weeks [Webcast]
|Jul 07, 2015
|One Port to Rule Them All!
|Jul 06, 2015
|Privacy Is Personal
|Jul 02, 2015
|July 2015 Issue of Linux Journal: Mobile
|Jul 01, 2015
|July 2015 Video Preview
|Jul 01, 2015
|PHP for Non-Developers
|Jun 30, 2015
- One Port to Rule Them All!
- How to Deliver Hybrid Apps in 2 Weeks [Webcast]
- Privacy Is Personal
- PHP for Non-Developers
- Secure Server Deployments in Hostile Territory
- Linux Kernel 4.1 Released
- Django Templates
- July 2015 Issue of Linux Journal: Mobile
- A Code Boot Camp for Underprivileged Kids
- Practical Books for the Most Technical People on the Planet


text:
Trivia: Mr. Driller
- No Export for You: Most of the best Mr. Driller games never saw light outside of Japan, its 99% guaranteed that no one knew that Susumu had a brother, or that his dad was actually Dig Dug until the release of Drill Spirits.
- Then again, it is Namco. The No Export for You article uses the company's name as a Skyward Scream for a reason.


text:
Armida's Restaurant
Denver, CO 80203
- Daily 4pm-1:30am
- $
- Delivery, Patio/Sidewalk Dining, Private Party, Smoking, Takeout, Vegetarian Friendly, Wheelchair accessible
- Dinner, Late Night, Lunch
- Full bar
- Parking Lot Available, Street Parking
- Reservations Accepted, Reservations Recommended
Upcoming Events Here (1)
Mon., Jul. 6 6:00pm
Best Of Awards
Related Stories (4)
Six Best Spanish-Language Karaoke Bars in Denver
3 months ago by Lauren Archuletta
Denver caters to karaoke aficionados, with evenings that offer everything from punk-rock backup bands to songbooks filled with Selena songs. We crowned 100% de Agave as the Best Spanish-Language Karaoke in our Best of Denver 20...
Reader: You Idiots at Westword Wouldn't Know Good Food If You Choked on It
7 months ago by Patricia Calhoun
This week Gretchen Kurtz reviews Adelitas Cocina Y Cantina, a welcoming spot whose deals are undeniable -- but a few dishes there could use some work, she says. Or not, respond readers. "Whoever wrote this is an idiot," writes one. ...
Armida's remodels main karaoke room, opens second floor to make room for more singers
2 years ago by Jon Solomon
When Armida's first started hosting karaoke about two decades ago, it was one night a week. Since then, it's become the Mexican restaurant's main focus seven nights a week. Karaoke has become so popular, in fact, especially on weeke...
Drink of the Week
10 years ago by Nancy Levine
It had been a while since I'd last been dragged to a karaoke bar. It had been such a long while, in fact, that back then, I couldn't even pass the excruciating time with a game that not-so-new trends now make possible. On a recent v...
More American Restaurants in Central Denver
More American Restaurants in Denver
The casual, kitschy Crown Burger has an odd Greek-American hamburger-stand menu that includes gia...American
When you're in the mood to dine with distinction, there's no better place than Ellyngton's. Tucke...American
After three decades, the Market qualifies as a Denver institution -- but it's still a hundred yea...American
Yes, My Brother's Bar has a fascinating history: oldest still-operating bar in Denver, Neal Cassa...American
Let the businessmen watch their portfolios while you peruse this menu of good, old-fashioned, sol...American
The Wazee predates all the hipness, all the gentrification of LoDo. But the bar has aged well, an...American