text: Master the light for a glowing smooth and refined complexion.Pure luminous perfection:Lancôme's breakthrough PhotonicNetwork, a unique association of coated pigments and micro-pearls, produces endless radiance from within. Fine lines, pores and imperfections visibly vanish for pure luminous perfection.Visibly refined smooth complexion:Silky soft texture glides on to visibly refine skin's surface for a smooth even complexion. Exclusive Aqua-Catch Complex locks in moisture for up to 24 hours for all day hydration for a youthful complexion.Results:A photo-finished, smooth, even complexion illuminated from within. Flawless in any light.Moderate to full coverage. Radiant finish.Oil free. Non-acnegenic.Department: CosmeticsStyle: 7688-01


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Eyeball Cookies RecipeRead Reviews Be the first to add a review
4.5 40 52
All eyes will definitely be on these adorable cookies when they're set on any buffet table. I created them for my son's kindergarten class for Halloween. —Sherry Lee, Columbus, Ohio
- 5 ounces white baking chocolate, chopped, divided
- 20 to 25 vanilla wafers
- Paste food coloring
- 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- Red liquid food coloring
- In a microwave, melt 4 ounces of white chocolate; stir until smooth. Dip vanilla wafers in melted chocolate; allow excess to drip off. Place on a waxed paper-lined baking sheet. Chill until set.
- Melt remaining white chocolate; stir until smooth. Tint as desired. Spread a small amount onto the center of each cookie; place a chocolate chip in the center.
- For bloodshot eyes, use a toothpick dipped in red food coloring to draw lines from circles to outer edges of wafers. Chill until set. Store in an airtight container. Yield: 20-25 servings.
Originally published as Eyeball Cookies in Simple & Delicious September/October 2006, p45
Reviews for Eyeball Cookies
Please Log In or Join to add a rating and review.
Click stars to rate
Any changes to your rating or review will appear where you originally posted your review
Reviewed Oct. 6, 2014
"Spread a thin layer of peanut butter on the wafer then dip in the melted chocolate."
Reviewed Oct. 31, 2012
"I made these for an office Halloween potluck. They are so simple. Very tasty & people loved them!~"
Reviewed Sep. 3, 2012
"Little kids loved these at our Halloween party and they were sooo easy to make with my little helpers"
Reviewed Oct. 21, 2011
"I would buy double the amount of the baking chocolate. Also used blue tube frosting instead of buying the blue paste."
Reviewed Oct. 4, 2011
"Made these for a Halloween party with the help of my two children (2yrs and 3yrs old). Tasted great and kids loved the look of them."

subset: commoncrawl


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Celestron, the world's leading manufacturer of telescopes and maker of the award-winning SkyScout Personal Planetarium, has done it again… In 2011, we are proud to unveil another ground breaking new product line – SkyProdigy – the first truly affordable smart telescopes, turning everyone into an instant astronomer!
These revolutionary new telescopes, recognized as an Innovations Honoree at the 2011 CES, are designed for people without any prior knowledge of astronomy or telescopes. All you have to do is turn this amazing telescope on… The SkyProdigy will simply "look" up to the sky to get its bearings and, in less than three minutes, you can be taking an exciting tour of outer space using SkyProdigy's internal database of over 4,000 celestial objects.
Celestron's SkyProdigy telescopes use an integrated imaging camera and patented StarSense Technology to automatically align with the night sky and determine where the telescope is currently pointing. The camera automatically captures an image of the sky, which is processed internally to positively identify the stars in the image. Once a positive match is found, SkyProdigy determines the coordinates of the center of the captured image. The process is automatically repeated two more times so that the system has three known alignment points that can be used to make an accurate model of the night sky. From this information the user can select any celestial object in the hand controller's database, and SkyProdigy will automatically move itself to the correct position.
*The SkyProdigy's internal camera does not have an external output allowing users to view or save the captured images. The captured images are used internally solely for the purpose of self-aligning the SkyProdigy telescope.


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[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/mJruQmdlU10" width="550" height="445" allowfullscreen="true" fvars="fs=1" /]
California-based producer Nick Waterhouse may be a newcomer but he's certainly already creating a space for himself within the realm of vintage soul.
His dedication to preserving a vintage sound is impressive when you consider his technique, which includes "entirely vintage analog equipment, open-reel tape machines, lacquer cutting machines, and even hand letter-pressed labels."
If you dig Mark Ronson or Mayer Hawthorne, you need to pay attention to this dude.
Also, grab his EP, Is That Clear, that dropped a couple months ago and keep a lookout for a full album out in 2012!
Purchase Is That Clear on iTunes | Amazon


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Insuring The Integrity Of The Electoral Process: Recommendations For Consistent And Complete Reporting Of Election Data
Submitted by admin on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 14:49
Many factors affect the quality of election administration. To name a few, personnel, preparation, equipment, polling places and legal regulations each play a role in determining how well the voting process works. However, an election in a democratic nation is actually an accounting procedure. Voter preferences must be counted precisely and fairly so that the correct, winning candidates can take their positions and those who lose can vacate theirs. A variety of steps can be implemented to insure that an election is just, accurate, trustworthy, and can withstand expert and public scrutiny.
Date Published:


text:
Pay for college
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How it helps: Demystify the process of paying for college
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Short Break Cottages
All of the following self catering holiday cottages accept short breaks.
Please note that our cottages can only be booked for a minimum of 3 nights. If you would like to book a cottage for 3 nights but stay for only 2 nights, please feel free to do so - indeed, on the third day, you can sightsee in the day, pack at your leisure and leave the cottage as late as you like!
If you are looking to book a short break this weekend or within
the next 7 days, please see our last minute
cottages. With our last minute short breaks, you can
save 35% on the normal weekly rental price.
If you need any help booking a short break, please do not hesitate to call one of our Holiday Cottage Advisors on 01244 356666 or let us phone you.
For more detailed information on booking a short break, please click here.


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Make this wallhanging to remember a special trip, complement your decor, or for a seasonal accessory. Select a special fabric to fussy-cut for the centers of each of the octagons. Log cabin borders on each block form a pineapple quilt design. Uses the View & Do Octagon and the Starmaker 8 and meaures 21" x 21". Designed by Kaye Wood
Item : KWP401


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John is dedicated to preparing children to make a contribution to the media world. He teaches school age children a variety of skills, from the basics of using a camera, to filming and editing their own movies. His ultimate goal is to transform schools by helping the rising generation become active contributors to, instead of passive consumers of, the media. These youth have the ability to shape the future. Find out how in our exclusive interview with John.
What are you doing to transform schools?
"My nonprofit Children's Media Workshop (mediadivide.org) has been in existence for almost 30 years. At one time we built the largest teacher training in US history, putting over 600,000 educators through Visual Learning Workshops on how to effectively use the seeing in the learning process. In general, our guiding principle is that the latest studies report that the average American student is involved with media for over 10 hours a day (yes, a day). There is almost no substantive media literacy in schools, so our job is to put the language of the students (media) into the system. The concept is simple, empowering students to use media actively rather than remain passive consumers; our society's very existence depends upon it."
Do you focus on teaching children to take pictures and make movies?
"Yes and no. Media is a means to an end. Our real goal is to transform schools into 21st Century learning communities characterized by inquiry based activities (make a movie about the pros & cons of using different ways to travel to school ...) that require students to become critical thinkers, innovators, and problem solvers."
What's your own background in photography/movie making?
"I graduated with economics and education degrees, but I loved photography and was lucky enough to be thrown in with a group of serious Utah artists who were also pursuing photography under the direction of Brent Herridge. There were about 12 of us and every one is still practicing the art of photography. A rare moment in time. One of my early breakthroughs was when Robert Redford asked me to live for a time at Sundance and document the beginnings of the Institute and subsequent film festival. I have had various interesting projects including photographing President Ronald Reagan using highly experimental film. As digital video developed and democratized the movie making process, I found myself creating short films, including a movie with architect Moshe Safdie on his design concepts for Salt Lake's Main Library. Then of course making movies with students, and of students making their movies, drew me more deeply into the process. I learn from them every day."
What inspired you to spend so much time to transform schools?
"It seems like a necessary ingredient to revolutionize our culture, helping people move from thoughtless consumerism to active creativity. Besides, it's great, great fun."
What will you be doing at the Leonardo?
"All of the above, with a special emphasis on using all the media tools in people's pockets with a personal aesthetic, critical thinking."
What do you hope people will walk away with after visiting you in your exhibit?
"The excitement and enthusiasm to use their own media substantively. Nothing's more fun than taking it seriously."
How can school officials get a hold of you to help them transform their school?
801.455.1456. email@example.com
"The Lab" is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday. The Leonardo is located at 209 E. 500 South in Salt Lake City.
Admission is $14 for adults, $12 for seniors, $10 for youth (6-17), and free for children five and under.
Check theleonardo.org for more info about artists and family discounts.


text: Alan K. Stout is a music journalist who helped cover rock and pop music for The Times Leader and The Weekender for more than 20 years. He was voted NEPA's "Favorite Newspaper Columnist' seven times and earned a Keystone Press Award for Excellence in Journalism for his music coverage. Though his interviews include conversations with Billy Joel, Steven Tyler, David Bowie, Don Henley and Eddie Van Halen, he's also spent much of his career in music journalism focusing on local talent. He was the founder of the former "Concert For A Cause" and "Weekender/Mountaingrown Original Music Series." His radio show, "Music On The Menu Live," features some of the best music from regional artists and airs every Sunday from 8-9 p.m. Alan can be reached at email@example.com


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Jan. 31, 2013
Nine members of the UCLA cross country team will travel to St. Louis on Saturday to compete at the 2013 USA Cross Country Championships.
The USA Cross Country Championships brings together America's distance runners to serve as the trials race to select the Team USA squad that will compete at the 2013 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. The top six finishers for men and women will advance to represent Team USA in the World Cross Country Championships. That meet is scheduled to be held in Bydgoszcz, Poland on March 24, 2013.
Competing on the women's side are Nicole Evans, Katja Goldring, Rachel Brajkovich. This is the second appearance for Schmitt and Goldring in the annual event. Schmitt, a junior, competed at the 2011 event in San Diego, finsihing 37th overall. She was joined by fellow Bruins Hannah Valenzuela and Amber Murakami. This will be Goldring's first appearance since she competed here in 2009.
The men's race will feature Michael McCabe, Jacob Wood and Nohe Lema. Wood was another member of the Bruin's squad that competed in 2009 in San Diego. He finished 32nd overall in the 8k race that also featured Dustin Fay and Chase Zukerman. McCabe, a freshman, will be making his first appearance.
The women's 6k race kicks off at 1pm, followed by the men's 8k race at 1:45pm. For more information on the championships, click here.


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This template is a responsive and retina-ready HTML5 website with grid system layout. Mobile Touch optimized.
WordPress Version here
Drupal Version here
Joomla Version here
DemoLive Preview without Banner
Different Header Version
- Valid HTML5 / CSS3 pages
- Perfectly Responsive
- Retina-Ready
- Cross browser compatible – tested in IE 8,9,10,11; Firefox; Safari; Chrome and Opera.
- Well formatted and commented, so it should be easy to adapt and extend
- One-Page Website includes:
- Home (+ different Header Version)
- Services
- Portfolio (+ 2 separate Single Work pages)
- About
- Blog (+ separate Blog Post page)
- Contact
- Working Ajax Contact Form with Validation and working PHP Mailer Script
- Retina-Ready icons included
- Custom print css stylesheet
- Extensive documentation
- PSD included
- February 2014 – initial release
- February 2014 – update 1.1
– added slideshow captions, buttons, another single work page, and different header version
– hover-state with title/info on images is now visible on tap on touch enabled devices
- March 2014 – update 1.2
– fixed flickering of mobile menu button when tapped and increased smoothness
– fixed a double tap issue on main menu items on mobile/touch devices
Documentation / Support
An item documentation is included and the source code is properly commented and formatted, so you shouldn't have any problem working with this item.
If you need support, please submit a ticket on our support forum. Please include the template name, website URL and detailed information about your problem. You can expect a response within 48 hours on weekdays, depending on the number of requests in queue.


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ZF-12047: Zend_Cache_Backend_File cache_file_umask and hashed_directory_umask are not umasks but octal permissions
The documentation and class uses the name "umask" for what is not an umask (see umask(2) man page for the definition : "umask() sets the calling process's file mode creation mask (umask) to mask & 0777"). Rather, the Zend_Cache_Backend_File uses the option "cache_file_umask" to chmod (http://php.net/chmod) the file. In effect this is an octal permission definition rather than a umask.
This is quite misleading.
Indeed. I've updated the documentation (inline and manual) to make note of the fact that the option name contains 'umask' but intent is actually octal file mode:
Index: library/Zend/Cache/Backend/File.php
--- library/Zend/Cache/Backend/File.php (revision 24626)
+++ library/Zend/Cache/Backend/File.php (working copy)
@@ -71,7 +71,8 @@
* for you. Maybe, 1 or 2 is a good start.
* =====> (int) hashed_directory_umask :
- * - Umask for hashed directory structure
+ * - Mode to chmod hashed directory structure to
+ * NOTE: ensure you use an octal file mode (chmod) and not a umask value
* =====> (string) file_name_prefix :
* - prefix for cache files
@@ -79,7 +80,8 @@
* (like /tmp) can cause disasters when cleaning the cache
* =====> (int) cache_file_umask :
- * - Umask for cache files
+ * - Mode to chmod cache files to
+ * NOTE: ensure you use an octal file mode (chmod) and not a umask value
* =====> (int) metatadatas_array_max_size :
* - max size for the metadatas array (don't change this value unless you
Index: documentation/manual/en/module_specs/Zend_Cache-Backends.xml
--- documentation/manual/en/module_specs/Zend_Cache-Backends.xml (revision 24626)
+++ documentation/manual/en/module_specs/Zend_Cache-Backends.xml (working copy)
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@
- Umask for the hashed directory structure
+ Mode that directories in the hashed directory structure are chmoded to
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@
- umask for cache files
+ Mode that cache files are chmoded to
@@ -131,6 +131,13 @@
+ A note about cache_file_umask and hashed_directory_umask
+ Despite having 'umask' in their names, these options set the octal file mode which will be passed to the chmod PHP function. Be aware that you are not mistakenly passing a umask value, which is the inverse of the file mode. The file mode defines the permissions to grant, whereas umask defines the permissions not to grant.
moved to Zend_Cache
Added patch: - added *_perm options - *_umask triggers E_USER_DEPRECATED error and move value to *_perm options
fixed for 1.12 in r24677 (trunk)
note: triggers E_USER_NOTICE instead of E_USER_DEPRECATED because E_USER_DEPRECATED doesn't exist on PHP < 5.3


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@PUSoftball Ends Visit to Baltimore With Two Wins
On its final day of two weekends in Baltimore, the Princeton softball team picked up Saturday's suspended game at UMBC and finished off the Retrievers with an 11-3 win before heading over to Coppin State for a 7-2 win.
Princeton (9-4) and UMBC (6-17) left the field Saturday evening due to darkness tied 1-1 after three innings. UMBC led briefly after getting a run in the fourth against starter Meredith Brown, but the Tigers came right back with four runs in the top of the fifth. Tory Roberts and Cara Worden each had two-RBI singles, giving the Tigers a 5-2 lead.
Though UMBC got one back in the bottom of the sixth, Princeton put it away with six runs in the top of the seventh. Three of those came on a home run from Emily Viggers, while Candy Button chipped in a two-RBI hit.
Brown got her first win of the year in her second appearance, striking out six and giving up six hits without a walk in six innings of work over the game's two days, while Shanna Christian struck out the side in a clean-sheet seventh to close it out.
Five Tigers had multi-hit games against UMBC, with Viggers, Roberts and Alex Peyton each getting three hits.
Against Coppin State, the Tigers jumped out to a 5-0 lead through five innings as Liza Kuhn carried a shutout into the sixth. Kuhn finished with 11 strikeouts and only three hits and one walk allowed in a complete-game effort. Five Tigers had two-hit games in the nightcap, with Peyton and Viggers driving in two runs apiece.
Lizzy Pierce and Sarah McGowan each had a home run for Princeton in the nightcap, bringing the team's total to 18 home runs while allowing just four to their opponents.
Princeton will stay in the Mid-Atlantic for the remainder of its spring break, heading to Georgetown, James Madison and George Washington for midweek games before going to Delaware State next weekend for a series of games against Colgate, Lafayette and host Delaware State.
Postgame notes
• Princeton is at least 10-4 through 14 games for the first time since the team was 10-4 at this point in 2005.
• The Tigers have out-homered their opponents 18-4, and 10 Tigers have hit a home run already this season. Alex Peyton and Candy Button lead the team with three apiece.
• Nine Princeton batters are hitting better than .300, and two are hitting better than .500. Emily Viggers leads the team with a .542 (13-24) average, and Alyssa Schmidt (.513) has a team-best 20 hits in 39 at-bats.
• Every player on the roster has started at least two games this season.


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There's no missing Danai Gurira's character, Michonne, on the number-one cable show among women, AMC's The Walking Dead. She's a dreadlocked zombie fighter who's armed with a razor-sharp samurai sword and a glare that could melt metal. Gurira, a classically trained actress who, until she was hired, had never seen the Robert Kirkman comic books the series is based on, loves playing a gutsy woman who is two steps ahead of everyone else. "She's kind of gone beyond survival and into thrive-al," Gurira says. "She's like, 'I'm going to figure out how this world now works and make it work for me.' "
In real life, Gurira, 35, knows a thing or two about finding her place in a new environment. She was only five years old and living in a small college town in Iowa when her chemistry-professor father and librarian mother, who had immigrated from Zimbabwe, decided to take their four kids (Gurira is the youngest) and move back to their African homeland. "It wasn't hard for me to adapt," says Gurira, who found that what distinguished her in Zimbabwe was not only her American accent but also her tendency to speak her mind. "I was a little mouthy for a girl."
Her post–high school trajectory took her from Zimbabwe to Macalester, a small liberal arts college in Minnesota, then to New York University's storied Tisch School of the Arts. She credits the hypercreative atmosphere at Tisch for In the Continuum, an Off-Broadway play about two black women living with HIV that she cowrote with classmate Nikkole Salter. It won an Obie in 2006.
What made her famous, however, was a gory TV series in which moaning, lumbering dead people subsist on human brains. Now she is often stopped on the street by fans, most of whom describe her character the same way. "Badass is the term they use," says Gurira.
It's a tribute to the force of her Walking Dead presence that those viewers recognize her at all without her series wig: Offscreen, Gurira's head is not dreadlocked but close shaven. "There's something kind of confident about it—you are just putting your face out there," says Gurira, who started shaving off her hair in 2003. "It's like, 'Well, here I am. I'm not going to distract you with anything else.' "
Gurira moved from Manhattan to rural Georgia to film Walking Dead but is relocating to L.A., where she feels surprisingly at home. "Los Angeles reminds me of Zimbabwe—the space, and folks have backyards. Its weather is semiarid, and we have the same vegetation. Sometimes I'm in L.A. and I'm like, 'This is crazy. It feels like Zim.' "
Want to read about other interesting women? Click here to read about Padma Lakshmi, the host of Bravo's Top Chef.


text:
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Suri Duddella, 20+ years full-time Futures/Equities/Options Trader. Patterns based Algorithmic Trading. Author -- "Trade Chart Patterns Like The Pros" book. Automated Pattern Galleries/Research/Blog: http://www.suriNotes.com
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text:
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum will celebrate the exhibit 1950s Radio in Color: The Lost Photographs of Cleveland Deejay Tommy Edwards with songwriter, musician and author Chris Kennedy and Rock Hall President and CEO Terry Stewart on Wednesday, March 21, 2012 at 7 p.m. in the Rock Hall's Foster Theater. Kennedy, who discovered the Tommy Edwards photos, will discuss the stories behind the images with Stewart, who wrote the forward for the book that inspired the exhibit. As a prominent deejay at WERE in Cleveland, Edwards enjoyed unprecedented access to rock, pop and country music's biggest stars. Capturing artists as they visited WERE's studios to plug their latest record, or at the many high-school sock hops that he presented between 1955 and 1960, Edwards shot more than 1,700 slides. Immediately following, a book signing with Kennedy and Stewart will take place outside the theatre. Copies will be available for purchase.
This event is FREE with a ticket reservation online at http://tickets.rockhall.com or at the Museum Box Office. Tickets will be available to Members on Thursday, March 8 at 10am EST and will become available to the general public on Friday, March 9 at 10am EST. Seating is limited. A limited number of tickets will be available for those without internet access through the Rock Hall's RSVP phone system by calling (216) 515-8426.
This event will be live streamed on rockhall.com.
Songwriter, musician and music historian Christopher Kennedy discovered Cleveland deejay Tommy Edwards' photography collection during his research into the long-lost rock and roll film, The Pied Piper of Cleveland, which is rumored to contain some of the earliest footage of Elvis Presley. Kennedy's discovery resulted in his 2011 book, 1950s Radio in Color, which features more than 200 images from Edwards' collection.
Tommy Edwards may never have imagined his photographs would someday be seen in a gallery. Fortunately, history has finally caught up with him, allowing us to feel the wonder and excitement he must have felt every day while witnessing a cultural revolution. Through his camera's eye, the stars became mere mortals and at the same time somehow even grander than before. The exhibit, in the Baker Gallery of the Museum's Main Exhibit Hall, will run through the summer.buy tickets


text:
Dude, what the Christ, that shit's amazing. Did you make the art?
I was expecting geocities. This was much better.
Geocities is dead...
"I prefer a sane world where you are rewarded by providing people with something they want. Not arbitrarily rewarded in a status game that reminds me of chimpanzees." - nazgulnarsil
Here I am with my empire
Ill bring you to your knees
Ebb and flow with my desire
Cause its all that youve been taught to be
Yahoo gave you the option to save your site before they closed it I think
What I really meant to say was though: "I expected something like you would see on geocities"
Like ugly html, a bunch of gifs and background music. And a guestbook.
i remember webs. i made my first site back when it was stilled called freewebs.
back in 2000 i would make shitty webpages using expages, which was the easiest(but looking back incredibly inefficient) thing to use back then
"I'll go," said Chagataev. "But what will I do there? Build socialism?"
"What else?" said the secretary.
i was pretty technologically incompetent back then, i could never really figure out how to work geocities or angelfire.
"I'll go," said Chagataev. "But what will I do there? Build socialism?"
"What else?" said the secretary.
angelfire started having paid memberships a short while before i started attempting to make websites
Man I made a freewebs website. Good shit.
Buckwheat's obviously lacks the level of literary merit and general appeal my site providedFinnally, a virtual life game that's portable and in 3-D. If don'tknow what nintendo wi-fi connection is it's a connection into the internet on which you can play with friends who have the same game all across the globe. This makes it much more superior than the average "D.S. download."
Update that shit, man
I like how the last update for Solly's site was in '06, yet all of the guest book posts were from '08
golden sun midis are timeless


text:
ZF-7978: method Zend_Mail_Protocol_Imap::_decodeLine() incorrectly parse some tokens
Try to parse (using Zend_Mail_Protocol_Imap::_decodeLine() ) the following line "* STATUS blurdybloop (MESSAGES 231 UNSEEN 0)", in the result you'll miss last "0" token. It's because of incorrect parsing of tokens in the following code fragment (file Zend/Mail/Protocol/Imap.php)
// only add if token had more than just closing braces
if ($token) {
$tokens[] = $token;
In input line above last token is "0" but expression "if ($token) {" treat it as numeric 0 and hence as a FALSE value. So instead of adding string "0" code ignores it.
Sergei, I think following code, do you think? If "(some strings 0 )" would be passed, it seems to work fine.
if (rtrim($token) != '') {
$tokens[] = rtrim($token);
Yes, it looks fine for me.
Thanks, solved at SVN r18498 in trunk


text:
Following a rough winter for visitor nights, Park City hotel and lodging properties were happy to see numbers even out over the summer. It wasn't a great summer, but it was good.
"For summer, I am hearing that numbers are up," said Teri Whitney, General Manager of Snowflower Condominiums and Treasurer for the Park City Area Lodging Association. "I think it has been a good summer for a lot of people."
According to data collected by the Park City Chamber/Visitors Bureau, lodging properties experienced a decline in guests from the year before for January, February and March, the largest in March at a 10.1 percent drop.
Since then, business has been on par or better for June, July and August. Hotels and lodging properties reported a 3.5 percent increase in business in June and a marginal increase of 0.1 percent in July. August dipped slightly by 2.2 percent from the year before.
"It was so bad for so long," said Chris Eggleton, General Manager of Newpark Resort and board member of the Park City Area Lodging Association, "but we started to feel good this summer. There were a few really bright times, which helped fill in what winter didn't bring in."
Eggleton attributed the strong summer at Newpark Resort to group business, conferences and meetings held at the hotel. Before this year, group business booked space with three months or less to the event, where before hotels and lodging properties could expect group business reservations booked out six months or more.
At Westgate Resort, General Manager Brian Waltrip said the resort increased occupancy by 120 percent from last year, making this summer the best on the resort's books.
"What really spiked everything was group business," Waltrip said. "We did a ton It was an unbelievable summer for us."
The Park City Chamber/Visitors Bureau Executive Director Bill Malone described a typical summer as a series of peaks and valleys for hotels and lodging properties, with business centered on events and holidays. But this year, meetings and conventions kept business steadier than in past years.
"We've seen a significant bump in meeting business this summer," Malone said. "Corporate meeting business is coming back strong. And we're continuing to see leads for meetings and conventions, which bodes well for properties with meeting spaces."
According to Malone, the number of leads for group business the Park City Chamber/Visitors Bureau doubled from last year. But with so many visitors coming in for group events, Malone speculated that leisure guests were not as strong as in the past.
"Summer was strong, but could it be better? Yeah," he said. "In leisure business, we have a lot to offer, but a lot of other places have a lot to offer. It's extremely competitive."
Paul Christensen, General Manager of the Park City Marriott, said business was better than last year, but only by single-digit growth which he also attributed to group business such as meetings and weddings.
"Our summer was better than the prior summer," Christensen said. "It was good, but nothing fabulous, nothing that made me jump up and down."
Shoulder-season business was strong for the hotel he added, with one conference pulling in 300 people in September.
With summer come and gone, hotels are starting to focus on their pre-winter bookings, and numbers are weaker than last year, according Malone.
"What I'm hearing for winter and I'm hearing it over and over again from different lodging properties is that January, February and March are looking good when you compare those months to last year at this time. Christmas is problematic, and pre-Christmas reservations are struggling at this point. It's going to take early season snowfall to change that."
Eggleton echoed the sentiment.
"My perspective on 2013 and the pre-winter bookings is that they are not the way they were last year," he said. "And it's because people are waiting to see if snow is going to come."


text:
Quoting Quintana
"Brianna is entering her senior year and, after a great breakthrough on the track, she is expecting to make a similar jump in cross country. She is highly committed to her running and I am excited to watch her reap the benefits of all that hard work this fall."
2010 Outdoor: Ran in a pair of events... clocked a personal-best time of 4:42.75 in the 1,500m run at the Sun Angel Track Classic... ran a best of 17:34.25 at the Mt. SAC Relays... won the 5,000m run at the Puma Invitational while competing unattached from ASU... named Academic All-Pac-10 Honorable Mention... 2010 Indoor: Did not compete... 2009 XC: Posted a pair of Top 6 finishes... took fourth at the ASU Invitational and was sixth at the Mesa Thunderbird... was 71st at the Pac-10 Championships... earned Academic All-Pac-10 Honorable Mention... 2009 Track: Redshirted... 2008 XC: Redshirted.
Moorpark: Earned an Associates degree from Moorpark College (Moorpark, Calif.) in 2008... competed in cross country and track & field for two seasons at MC... earned All-America honors at the California State Championships in cross country in her sophomore season... set the school record in the steeplechase.
High School: A 2006 graduate of Royal High School (Simi Valley, Calif.)... lettered in track & field and cross country three times each... earned first-team all-county in cross country.
Personal: Majoring in kinesiology... parents are James Smith and Beverly Ray... born October 5, 1988, in Simi Valley, Calif.... full name is Brianna May Smith.
Personal Bests 1500: 4:42.75 5000: 17:34.25


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A selection of seeds and plants with interesting leaves and different growing habits to give your beds, borders and containers an exotic flair. From low, dense border fillers to tall, leafy banana plants, there's something for every garden.
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Snow Banana
Ensete glaucumPossibly the hardiest Ensete species, this plant originates from high altitude China so is accustomed to cooler regions. The huge, glaucous leaves are architectural and decorative, great for the tropical borders or large containers. More info
Musa sikkimensis
Banana, PlantainHere's a unique chance to grow this new hardy species of Banana, from the Himalayas. A strong and vigorous grower with tough green foliage, often flushed with ruby-red tints. Very hardy, tolerates wind and suitable for large containers or growing in the border.Height: 3-4m (9-12ft) More info
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Product Description
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- Date submitted: 1 Nov 2011
- Stakeholder type: Major Group
- Name: Programme for South-South Cooperation between Benin, Bhutan and Costa Rica
- Submission Document: Download
Programme for South-South Cooperation between Benin, Bhutan, Costa Rica.
In the frameworkof the UN Conference on Environment and Development (1992) in Rio de Janeiro, Benin, Bhutan and Costa Rica separately entered into bilateral Sustainable Development Agreements (SDA) with the Kingdom of Netherlands being formalized in 1994. The Programme for South-South Cooperation between Benin, Bhutan, Costa Rica and the Kingdom of the Netherlands (henceforth PSC) grew out of those Bilateral Sustainable Development Agreements, in 2002, at the Rio+10, World Summit for Sustainable Development (Johannesburg). In the frameworkof this decision however, Benin, Bhutan and Costa Rica realized the enormous potential for South-South cooperation and sustainable development that their past collaborations presented. In 2005, based on the priorities agreed inJohannesburg and the Millennium Development Goals, Costa Rica, Benin and Bhutan came under the umbrella of South-South Cooperation, with a US$13.2 million grant from the Kingdom of Netherlands. PSC was adopted into the foreign policy and national plans of each partner country by the respective High Level representatives. This set the stage for each government to incorporate SSC into their international relations agendas. In Bhutan this agenda was included in the 5-year Development Plan, Benin adopted it into its national policy and Costa Rica incorporated SSC into its National Development Plan and state policy in 2007. Aiming to convert ideas exposed in the Strategic Partnership Agreements and the Millennium Development Goals into concrete results, the four countries attended a multi-stakeholder workshop, a reunion where priorities, common challenges, and opportunities for collaboration were identified. Specifically, PSC identified four development goals that it would work towards.
1) Develop reciprocal projects on the ground that will generate knowledge and empower stakeholders. The results of these projects would be used as inputs for sector strategies and policy making. 2) Mobilize national governments, the civil society, and the academic and private sectors in partner countries to renew and reinforce commitment to sustainable development. 3) Contribute to sustainable development and poverty reduction in partner countries, taking into account environmental, economic and cultural idiosyncrasies.
4) Explore the potential of South-South partnership to promote international commitments and mutual cooperation for sustainable development and experiment with a new North ? South ? South model of development cooperation.
These goals were set around four thematic areas which included: 1) sustainable tourism, 2) sustainable production and consumption chains, 3) conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, 4) access to sustainable energy and efficient energy use. Gender equity and women empowerment was a cross-cutting theme emphasized in all PSC projects. The PSC was meant to execute reciprocal projects of common interest between 2007 and 2011.
PSC ensures sustainability:
PSC recognized that the participation of private sector, local and community organizations ensures projects continuation in the medium and long run, by creating a strong sense of ownership among the stakeholders. In order to be eligible for PSC funding, the projects had to establish their sustainability in three ways:
? Organizational: each project described the organizational structure in place when the contractual relationship (between the PSC and the organization) would end. Roles and responsibilities, and the authority and control that will be exercised over the operations in each participating country were clarified at the onset.
? Economic: each project was expected to develop mechanisms that allowed actions to continue once the funding from PSC ended. These mechanisms included the development of new commercial products and services, income generation, new jobs options, improvement of efficiency in micro enterprises, development of new microenterprises.
? Environmental: each of the projects intended to efficiently manage water resources, energy, solid and liquid
waste, and CO2 emissions during project implementation.? PSC catalyses the transition to sustainability by supporting innovation in policies, seeding initiatives, replicating successes, establishing new partnerships with civil society organizations between the partner countries, and disseminating information.
Impressive Results The value of allowing the Southern partners take ownership is reflected in the impressive results achieved by PSC to date. Only 5 years in running, and with a relatively small fund, PSC has involved over 180 organizations to achieve the following results:
? 26.706 directbeneficiaries
? More than 2500 new jobs
? 374 new microenterprise
? 1.280 people participating in productive activities
? 1.227 people that are working in a productive activity related to the training
? 477 communities benefited
? 1.533 indigenous people trained
? 673 new products and 179 new services developed.
? 1160 women involved in decision making
? Microenterprises generated $250.000, 00 of incomes on 2010, by the sales of products and services made by
the project. The results obtained by each of the projects over-achieved the Indicators that were planned since the beginning of the programme. PSC has incredible results on agricultural production, sustainable and efficient production schemes, green microenterprises and green jobs, products and services; a national and international impact that transferred technologies and knowledge among developing countries, and an important advance to sustainable development efforts and an example of how this kind of partnerships can generate green economies.
Given the commendable results that PSC has achieved over the years, efforts are currently underway to find a new source of funding showcasing PSC as a successful model of cooperation that can be easily replicated and improved with the participation of more partner countries of the South, PSC evolved into Partners for South-South Cooperation (PSSC), with the intention of including new partner countries.
PSC partnership,a replicable and scaling up model:
One of the most attractive features of PSC has been its transferability and sustainability. The ease and success of these adaptations can be attributed to the simple but ingenuous methodology of PSC, that allows efficient standardized training and technology transfer, while remaining flexible and responsive to varied contexts.It is reflected in the verifiably positive impact that it has had on the stakeholders at both the local and national level on the three countries.
A recent UNDP report on scaling up MDGs argues that local actors play a pivotal role in achieving MDGs. These local actors include the government, local communities, the private sector and the civil society (UNDP, 2010). National and local leadership efforts are wasted if the stakeholders of these initiatives do not develop a sense of ownership. Without
this sense of local and national ownership among the different stakeholders, the actors involved will not put in an effort into the Project. The sense of ownership on the micro level can best be illustrated through the experience of the PSC, it is a good example of how local and national partnerships work together to achieve success.
The government continues to pass legislation, fund and implement initiatives, make declarations and set national goals to ensure persistence in conservation. The PSC is a good example of how local leadership can make an impact at the national level and international level. As a local action, had the advantage of knowing precisely the gaps in environmental context, it also had an easier time entering the communities, something that is always a problem for outside North-South partnership.
However, neither the scale up of each of the 36 projects, nor the successful implementation of sustainable development policies, would have been possible without the support created by the comprehensive institutional structures. PSC illustrates the importance of national institutions to environmental protection. Ownership at the micro-level feeds ownership at the macro-level where the government takes responsibility for sustainability. It?s important tooutlinethat government has taken on the onus of the overall management of sustainability efforts. Inspired by and working together with international actors, the government should create a comprehensive framework of policy, institutions and incentives that both support local ideas and promote national and international efforts.
PSC a successful partnership seeks for international support.
SSC is an innovative approach to development, an approach promoting effective development by learning and sharing knowledge, best practices, resources and technical know-how among developing countries (reciprocal learning). PSC were expected to generate results that would empower local communities but also provide inputs for national policies. In areas where grassroots initiatives were already well developed, PSC hoped to start second phase projects that would form the bridge between the micro and macro level implementation. PSC was aiming to initiate grassroots and micro-level projects the results of which would inform multi-stakeholder policy dialogue in the three partner countries. PSC projects were also expected to facilitate policy dialogue between the private and public sectors. PSC would also streamline and systematize knowledge transfer and best practices generated by the projects to allow for ease of transfer to beneficiaries within and outside of the projects.
The success formula of PSC was independence from donors, emphasis on real reciprocity and equality between members. Through PSC the three countries have come together sharing skills and knowledge on agriculture, environmental issues, efficient use of energy and much more. The reciprocal knowledge exchange and mutual learning had strengthened sectors such as academic, governmental, non-governmental organizations, private and civil society, and at the same time had increased cost effectiveness, promotes transfer of appropriate technologies and ensures local ownership, leadership and capacity building. This experience has shown that south-south countries can learn best practices from each other, by working closely together countries were able to tap into the diverse knowledge of each partner. The contributions of the 36 projects, to more than 25.000 beneficiaries in the three countries, have been not only financial but also technical, including services (training, technical assistance, information and business development services), market access, technology transfer, research and others. This was possible by adapting to the national reality of each of the partners, the knowledge and the techniques exchanged.
With the PSC experience and the ideal of ?Thinking globally, acting locally? the program introduces a new perspective on cooperation, and invites development countries to establish strategic partnerships that allow them a unique development process to face similar needs, interests and challenges by supporting South-South Cooperation. As it was mentioned, one of the main lessons learned through PSC is that the exchange of experiences between countries allows and improves the
capacity building of all the participating partners. The exchange of knowledge, technologies and culture represents a new way to achieve sustainable development.
So in accordance to this experience, developing-country partners can support this process by:
? Increasing the scale of engagement, by enhancing technology transfer and learning, enact effective financial and political compromise to developingpartners programs and iniciatives. It?s also important to encourage reciprocal actions (SSC) that focuses on relevant topics like:
? o Environmental protection through the sustainable use of biodiversity and the efficient use of energy.
? o Establishment of gender equity as a cross-cutting theme on every action.
? o Development of productive initiatives in order to generate employments and increase incomes (reduce poverty).
? o Enhancing people?s access to sufficient food through organic agricultural production and commercialization.
? o Climate change as a result of implementation of low-cost effective technologies, organic production, etc. among many other themes for sustainable development.
? Cooperationthrough the implementation and support of partnerships as an essential model to eradicate poverty (an indispensable requirement for sustainable development).
? To give special priority to ALL developing countries, as the most vulnerable actors. Adaptation and mitigation actions that seeks for environmental improvement and development of all developing countries.
Additionally, the triangular cooperation like the one developed on the PSC Program (between the Kingdom of Netherlands, Benin, Bhutan and Costa Rica) demonstrates how countries from the South with the economical help of the North can co-operate in a spirit of ?global partnership?, were everyone is aware of their responsibilities and take part of a common action to improve the quality of life of the people.The North, representative by development countries and international organization, has a vital role to play in SSC provided this role permits the South partners the autonomy needed to carve out their own paths towards development. It is important to support through South-South Cooperation a more cost effective type of cooperation, since developing partner countries have similar societies, economies values and visions when compared with northern partners.
From the other hand, it?s also valuable the support of international organizations, as mechanism that support South-South Cooperation mainly through programs, networks, and information systems that promote cooperation among developing countries.
PSC partnership important lessons for Rio+20and: future SSC activity:
? South-South Cooperation can and has produced very impressive results despite possible skepticism surrounding the idea. At the start of PSC many were worried that the overhead and management of a program between three vastly different Southern nations would be too complicated for a successful development initiative. 3 years and more than 26.000 direct beneficiaries later, the PSC results speak for themselves. The program has indisputably shown that once momentum is gathered, the running of SSC is neither complicated, nor expensive.
? PSC can generate green economies through the implementation of a model that look to transfer technologies and knowledge among developing countries, and the promotion of social development by agricultural production, sustainable and efficient production schemes, green microenterprises and green jobs, products and services
? Language, culture, religion and geography are not barriers to cooperation. Although language and culture may establish a first start problem, these problems were long forgotten. If anything, experiences from PSC projects have showed that language ceases to be an issue at the grassroots level where beneficiaries learn through
hands on experience. All interviewees were eager to learn about the culture of their partners and most project involved cultural learning along with technology and skill transfers.
? Permitting greater autonomy and responsibility among the Southern partners leads to a strong sense of ownership and accountability and hence more efficient results. Traditional North-South relationships had engendered an expectation of the beneficiaries that the North will always give them money as a ?gift?. So when the funding ran out, projects would stop because the beneficiaries were expecting the donor to give them more money and to tell them what to do with it. The PSC has done a lot to change this attitude. PSC has shown that when the providing partner is willing to allow the receiving partners make their own decisions, the receiving partners take on responsibility for the project?s success, by creating a sense of ownership; SSC has made the Southern partners a lot more active in their projects. PSC went from one partner only giving and the other partner only taking to a relationship of give-and-take. They become accountable not only to their constituencies and to the provider, but also to each other.
? Technology and knowledge transfer is most efficient when counterparts identify with each other. Being able to see firsthand the success of other farmers or producers using the same techniques that they were teaching proved to be a lot more convincing for beneficiaries than any set of empirical evidence would.
? South-South Cooperation has to be based on reciprocity, equality, and participation in order to succeed.
The absence of any one of these pillar would distort the SSC, hampering the comfortable and conducive environment that allows partners to freely express their views. This ensures that all partners are on the same page and everyone ones that they have the right to complain if they feel that one of these principles is violated.
? International actors and pressures can play a role in conservation but only as motivators for national actions. Many important conservation efforts were initiated and the indispensability of international funding cannot be denied, but these efforts would have been wasted had they not been matched by national creativity, local enthusiasm and hard work. This sort of interaction between international and national actors is noted on PSC.
? SSC will not replace North-South Cooperation. PSC?s North-South-South collaboration shows that development will only be possible if both the North and the South come together under a respectful and reciprocal partnership that makes the best of each other?s comparative advantages and allows each partner to put in the greatest effort. Each partner has a lot to learn from the other and achieving development goals without help from the North would be impossible.
Developed and developing countries lacks of sufficient high-level political support to carry on international climate change commitments. PSC?s experience provide the impetus, results and necessary lessons for the introduction of a new model of development cooperation, based on mutual respect, reciprocity, participation and the willingness to teach and be taught, to improved path towards achieving global development goals. This made possible the effective implementation of PSC on the development of each of the 36 reciprocal projects.Developed countries play a key role as a financial support of SSC; this kind of cooperation and results are possible with the financial support of North countries.
PSC. (2005). Regulations: Programme for South-South Cooperation on Sustainable Development between Benin, Bhutan and Costa Rica.
UNDP. (2010). Scaling up Support for the MDGs at the Local Level: A Global Programme Partnership Proposal.


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Templating with JSF 2.0 Facelets
By Janice J. Heiss on Aug 18, 2011
From the article itself:
"Facelets is a templating framework similar to Tiles. The advantage of Facelets over Tiles is that JSF UIComponents are pre-integrated with Facelets, and Facelets does not require a Facelets configuration file, unlike Tiles, which requires a Tiles configuration file.
JSF Validators and Converters may be added to Facelets. Facelets provides a complete expression language (EL) and JavaServer Pages Standard Tag Library (JSTL) support. Templating, re-use, and ease of development are some of the advantages of using Facelets in a Web application.
In this article, we develop a Facelets Web application in Oracle Enterprise Pack for Eclipse 11g and deploy the application to Oracle WebLogic Server 11g. In the Facelets application, an input text UIComponent will be added to an input Facelets page. With JSF navigation, the input Facelets page is navigated to another Facelets page, which displays the JSF data table generated from the SQL query specified in the input Facelets page. We will use Oracle Database 11g Express Edition for the data source. Templating is demonstrated by including graphics for the header and the footer in the input and the output; the graphics have to be specified only once in the template."
Read the complete article here.


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The dappled appaloosa is wired, kicking and snorting at the white sand that covers Cabo Polonio, a remote beach settlement on Uruguay's eastern coast. The gaucho saddle cinched to her back and topped with a sheepskin is foreign to me, and the stirrups are ancient. "Sorry, they can't be adjusted," says Roberto as I mount the horse and ask about shortening them. "She hasn't been ridden in four months," he adds ominously. "If she senses you can't handle her, she'll throw you down. And stomp you."
The wily mare, descended from ancestors brought over by Spanish conquistadors, suddenly bursts off, galloping along the shore and bucking wildly. She's mad, on fire. She tries to hurl me over her head, then off her back. Then over her head again. I reach for the saddle horn that doesn't exist and for the stirrups, which fling around uselessly. Uncertainty spreads through my gut. I grab for the back rim of the saddle, willing my herniated disks to stay put, and think, Once upon a time, I would have taken this moment in stride.
A Week Earlier
Magic hour sweeps over the glimmering, rocky fields of Uruguay's Pampas region. In the distance, little gray puffs of grazing sheep dot the slopes. Herds of cattle amble over bright-green hills, their moos a happy din. Every once in a while I see a man on a horse with a wide-brimmed hat and high leather boots, his silhouette briefly turning toward the road.
This is gaucho country.
I'm taking a detour from a TV assignment in South America to explore off-the-grid parts of Uruguay and a persistent feeling that it's time for me to leave New York City, a place defined by cement and the tyranny (and opiate) of screens, where the din arises from traffic and arriving e-mails and texts, not moos. I've long wanted to live on a wild patch out West. But can I really pull up stakes and drive them in elsewhere—a move that would fly in the face of practicality and career, even if it might make deeper, happier sense? Lately, in my dreams, this desire shapes itself around a memory of my nine-year-old self riding bareback through an Illinois cornfield, my legs gripping my horse with thoughtless confidence, our long manes streaming behind us in the humid Midwestern air as we playfully blaze a tunnel through head-high stalks of corn.
For a few years, in the 1970s, this image was my reality, but as I entered my teens, that visceral sureness, that solid glee I found in nature, was eroded by the gaze of the outer world. Of course, few girls outrun the avalanche that hits us at adolescence—hormones, institutionalized sexism, a damning pop culture. But three-plus decades later, as the heat of the outer gaze cools and old instincts rumble, I remember that barefoot, bold nine-year-old who thought nothing of going full tilt and saddle free.
Harvard researcher Emily Hancock regards the age of nine as magical, writing that "women come fully into their own and become truly themselves only when they recapture the girl they'd been in the first place." "That age was about being unclouded," muses journalist Sharon Lerner, "about knowing the right thing to do without thinking about it." And I guess part of what has landed me in Uruguay, driving a lonely stretch of gorgeous terrain far from the urban chaos of my everyday life, is an impulse to dig up that lost, instinctual clarity. In my rented Volks-wagen, I head into the wildest off-grid parts of the country. My first stop is Pa-n-agea Estancia, a 2,200-acre working ranch in the heart of gaucho culture.
Juan Manuel, the ranch's owner, is a fourth-generation gaucho with a quiet, commanding presence. Early gauchos, descended from Spanish, indigenous Quechua and African ancestors (the last brought to the Americas by slavers), were skilled, nomadic horse people, he tells me. They tended and drove cattle on the open range until the government issued an edict in 1877 requiring fences and branding. Gauchos were—and still are—often solitary figures "who find freedom in the landscape," says Juan.
Along with his wife, Susanna, and two hired gaucho hands, Juan manages 1,000 cattle, 2,000 sheep, 84 horses and four dogs. The recent economic collapse led the couple to open their ranch to visitors. But make no mistake—Panagea Estancia (panagea-uruguay.blogspot.com) is a working ranch, and visitors earn their keep. The homestead runs on traditional gaucho values: austerity, discipline and self-sufficiency; an independent spirit forged by a demanding physical reality. The house, built by Juan's great-grandfather, has no flushing toilet, and the electricity—available only two hours a day—comes from a generator. Visitors sleep in the main house, usually two or three in a room. At 5 am, Juan sets out coffee and water in the kitchen and politely tells me to make my own breakfast. Cups for maté—the hot, grassy herbal drink ubiquitous in South America—litter the mantel. Pigs, chickens and orphaned foals meander outside the house.
Down in the corral, where we're saddling up, a sign reads it's not about the horse. Immediately intellectualizing, I say to Juan, "Oh, riiiight, people bring their own baggage, their aspirations, their dreams, pinning it all on the horse, but in fact it's about them?"
"That's too deep for me," he responds dryly. "Everybody blames the horses when the horse doesn't do what they want, but it's always the rider's fault." I shut up, and we gallop off on smart, responsive horses, chasing down stray cattle and rustling groups of outliers. Juan's hired gauchos are in the nearby town of Taquerembó for an annual festival, so I am his only helper. Every time Juan corrects me, I work harder and faster to redirect the herd; I cling to every Perfecto! with pride.
By 2 pm we have corralled 30 cows. Now it's time to determine which of them are pregnant and therefore to be spared. Juan, a large-animal vet, pulls out a razor-thin clear glove the length of my arm and blows into it. Then he explains how I must screw my hand into the rectum of each cow (going in via the vagina would introduce bacteria and probably cause abortion). I take heart in knowing I would not be involved in this had I not earned his respect in the roundup, but still I falter.
"Can't she just pee on a stick?" I ask, half joking.
Silence. The man does not waste words.
"Have no mercy!" he bellows as I feebly try to gain entry, apologizing to the cow. Suffice it to say, diving into the huge, hot intestinal tracts of cows is an athletic, sloppy job. Messy for sure, but by the fourth cow I am secretly inspired. When I am up to my shoulder, earlobe to arse, I curve my arm down and feel for an amniotic sack, telltale cyst-like bulbs or a fetus itself. "Sometimes the fetal calf will even try to nibble on your hand," says Juan. After each examination, Juan checks my work; my record of success in identifying pregnancy is 100 percent.
There's no real explanation for this. My diagnoses felt somewhere between guesswork and just knowing, but they kept being right. I think of Sharon Lerner's comment about being "unclouded."
"Wild guesses," says Juan, straight faced but quietly pleased. "It usually takes years of training to identify pregnancy. I should take you to a casino."
As we relax over ice-cold local Patricia beer and spicy fresh chorizo, we talk about Juan's two young daughters, who are outside, exploring, nearly all the time. Before leaving for Uruguay, I'd conducted a straw poll among my middle-aged peers, asking about their experiences in the preadolescent years. They often spoke of a link between a childhood spent immersed in the natural world and their authentic selves. Richard Louv writes about this vital connection between kids and nature in Last Child in the Woods and about the piles of new research that link "our mental, physical, and spiritual health directly to our association with nature." Maybe spending time -shoulder-deep in the natural world is not a luxury but an essential—and not just for nine-year-olds?
The next day, Juan and I climb into his pickup and drive to Taquerembó, an hour away. Thousands of gauchos, and as many horses, have come from all over South America and taken over the small town for the 26th Fiesta de la Patria Gaucha, the biggest gaucho festival in the world.
"First I am a gaucho, and second I am Uruguayan," Juan told me during our time on the range. "The word gauchadameans an act of kindness or integrity." Clearly, gaucho is not simply the South American version of cowboy, and it's not just a job; it's a rich, old culture with deep traditions. Gaucho is a way of being connected to the natural world and other people. "Because we have so few relationships, we value them more," Juan says. I wonder aloud how long the gaucho ethos and lifestyle can exist in this era of globalism and industrial food production. To my surprise, Juan feels optimistic. "The entire world, I believe, will have a return to values from Mother Nature," he says. "Modern societies eventually will start degrading. I see the signs in the visitors who come to the ranch, who are unable to perform the most basic things, like make a fire, use a hammer and nails. And you see all the young gauchos at the festival? It is cool to be gaucho. Their parents left for cities, but their grownup children are back."
On the fairgrounds, hundreds of gaucho families—women, men and -children—are camped out. Women wearing long period dresses serve up platefuls of traditional fare—tangy hot beans, tongue, other meat and more meat and more meat, and sweet, silky flan. When the gauchos' nomadic era came to an end in the late 1800s, gaucho often became a family (not solo) affair, and there was a clearer place for women: the kitchen, with all its attendant domestic oppressions. But from what I see at the festival, women are also corralling cattle, shoeing horses and participating in traditional dance and song. Gaucho culture hasn't transcended the continental penchant for machismo, but as I watch clear-eyed young girls—nine, 10, 11—ride bareback throughout the grounds, I sense something familiar and share in Juan's optimism. They aren't just Riding a Horse; they are Going Places with unconscious ease.
A grating, tinny loudspeaker announces the beginning of the bronco-busting event. A sea of gauchos in hats and baggy pants—some with wide, traditional ornamented belts, and daggers dangling off them—fill the grandstands to watch young men (no women riders in sight) compete to see how long they can stay on a wild horse.
A lithe chestnut filly is run into the ring, tethered between a pair of gauchos on horseback. They are struggling to control her. The horse is blindfolded and held in place while a gaucho in his twenties climbs on her back. The blindfold is pulled off, and the horse lunges toward the center of the ring, ferociously bucking and trying to eject the young man, who hangs on to her mane with one hand and swings his other arm in huge circles, trying to stay on until the clock ticks out. She throws him off quickly and with vigor, circles around and, before she dashes for the gap in the fence, steps solidly on his neck. The crowd freezes with a collective "Ohhh!" An ambulance and medical personnel come out to help the gaucho; eventually he walks off to cheers.
As I say good-bye to Juan and his family and prepare for the last leg of my journey—to Cabo Polonio, on Uruguay's coast—I think about how incredibly hard Susanna and Juan work; what living so close to the animals, the earth, the capricious seasons, demands. "People who come always tell me how to 'improve' the ranch," Juan told me. "How to run more water, electricity, cattle. They don't understand that this is the way we want to live." I'm reminded of my old friend Sunny Speidel, who left the city for rural life and recently extricated herself from decades in the family business to pursue Reiki bodywork. "Huh, funny you should ask," she responded when I e-mailed her my questions about age nine. "I recently put up a picture of myself at that age because I felt it was a representation of my true self."
Another friend, Kathleen Gasperini, was a country girl at nine, and a gifted equestrian. She now lives in Los Angeles but is scheming to buy a ramshackle 1870s farm in upstate New York. "I have no idea what I would do with it other than go into the hole financially," she says. "But I feel compelled."
Clarity of vision, supremacy of curiosity, connection to some special corner of the outdoors—this is the turf of the nine-year-old and what my pals in their forties and fifties are reaching for. And so am I.
When I called my mom weeks earlier to float my theory about the consequential nine-year-old in all of us, she merely listened. But now she's sent me a seven-page e-mail describing the exhilaration she experienced during childhood trips to Yosemite. After living in Chicago much of her life and raising four children during two marriages, she finally, at age 55, returned to her passion for the mountains, where she now spends most of her time, feeling truly herself. I read this cautionary tale in a dusty Internet café, before boarding a bus to Cabo Polonio, and think, My God, I don't want to waste time off course.
The sweltering old bus stops at a deserted gravelly patch 15 kilometers from my destination. There's no road to Cabo Polonio, an outpost surrounded by sand dunes and rumored to have no running water or electricity, thus putting it even further off the grid than Panagea Estancia. I'd been warned against staying overnight because of the rugged physical realities—but that only made me more determined to go. An inner compass is drawing me toward what is raw and wild.
I climb aboard one of the infrequently scheduled giant dune buggies that take people to the settlement. It claws and rumbles over the sandy ridges for half an hour, then bursts onto the beach in a Mad Max–meets–Gilligan's Island fury before skirting roiling surf and dead baby sea lions, both results of last night's storm. I'm sitting on the buggy's roof, loving the gusty ride, when a smattering of dwellings on the edge of the Atlantic comes into view. They are rickety, colorful structures anchored, it seems, only by ingenuity and the rainwater barrels on their roofs. I drop my pack on a bunk in a hostel and head outside. A young woman gazes at the ocean while pedaling a rusty stationary bike that powers a decrepit washing machine. I figure Cabo Polonio is the sort of place where young people sell braided bracelets for a few months before moving on. Then I meet Roberto, one of 80 or so residents, who is in his midfifties and has a rasping voice and a shoulder contorted by an old injury. At first, I think, This guy is running away from something. But over the sound of surf, I come to understand the opposite is true. Roberto describes his British education and his former life as a restaurateur in Uruguay's capital, Montevideo. He talks about visiting Cabo Polonio a few times and crying when he left, not understanding why. After a divorce, he felt free to return here and live permanently, which he has done happily for a decade. "I found a place for myself in the world," he says. "And it is Cabo Polonio." Roberto's eyes twinkle, and his shoulder relaxes when he speaks about his grown daughter and his fiery Appaloosa. The horse, he says, is a force of nature. "Do you want to ride her?" he asks.
After 15 hellfire minutes of snorting, bucking and resisting, the Appaloosa has finally stopped trying to dash me to the ground. We are both worn out, panting in a taut moment of truth on the deserted beach as Roberto watches us from a long distance, smoking in the shade of a lonely tree.
I can get off or parlay the moment. Riding a horse through an Illinois cornfield has been a hazy iconic image in my psyche, but here and now I'm given the chance to call up that girl for real.
I notice the exceptional sparkle in the rollicking blue surf and the sleek sand dunes that hug the beach. I push aside the useless long stirrups and grip the horse with my strong legs. I let go of the back rim of the saddle, and a strain of visceral sureness climbs out of my muscle memory—and it's as if the horse feels it, too. I click, and squeeze her sides; she responds with might and respect.
Over and over again we tear along the water's edge of the deserted beach. My thinking-planning-yearning mind empties, and a clear, fleeting vision of a life on Montana's Rocky Mountain front washes over me. Maybe not this year, or next, but the move will happen. I feel as if an old friend has sprung from dormancy into the fresh light of day.


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One hundred years in the making, the Major League Baseball All-Century Team was an all-time roster chosen from the more than 15,000 men who played Major League Baseball in the 20th Century. Created by Major League Baseball Productions, this program presents these 30 legendary players who set the standard for baseball brilliance across every era of modern baseball. With rare archival footage, exclusive interviews and compelling stories, the MLB All-Century Team program honors the greatness of these all-time heroes through the awe-filled words of teammates, opponents, and even their own recollections. Narrated by Bob Costas and including numerous bonus features, this DVD collectible is the perfect gift for the MLB enthusiast in your life! Running time is approximately 60 minutes plus extras.
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April 15, 2012, marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Robert Ballard discovered the wreck in 1985, and the Society is marking the anniversary with a commemorative map and a host of special events. National Geographic's Titanic 100th Anniversary mapa two-sided infographictells the story of the Titanic from a geographic perspective. Using diagrams, photographs, and information on the ship, its passengers, and its history, the map details the ship's fateful route of 1912 and the shipping lanes before and after the disaster; the journey of the fateful iceberg; charts and statistics from the official hearings; an inset locating ice and rescue ships; deep-ocean diagrams of the search process; and Titanic-related points of interest. The ship diagram side of the map features color-coded deck plans; a cutaway view and escape routes; portraits of noted passengers and crew lost and saved; Titanic's size compared to the world's largest objects; and the debate over her future. Each map is printed in the U.S. on high-quality 80# paper, printed with environmentally-friendly low VOC inks.
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Loved the sea lanes shown by the seasons of the year.
Bottom Line Yes, I would recommend this to a friend
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ZF-2554: Validation errors not XSS-attack save
I'm using the form example from the manual. When submitting the following string bq.\"> I'm getting 2 errors: bq. * '\">' has not only alphabetic and digit characters bq. * '\">' is greater than 20 characters long and also 2 alert boxes. I should get: bq. * '\">' has not only alphabetic and digit characters bq. * '\">' is greater than 20 characters long without the 2 alerts
attached patch for Zend_View_Helper_FormErrors adds html escaping for form error messages.
Fixed in r7851; error messages are now escaped.
Sorry for opening that again. But shouldnt only $value be escaped instead of the whole error message string? In some cases someone could have HTML tags or entities in the translation messages which will be escaped with that patch.
Maybe escaping should be done on the Zend_Validate_Abstract level having setEscape()/getEscape() methods (similar to Zend_View) which allows escaping in _createMessage().
Zend_Validate's messages may or may not be used in an HTML view -- a common use case for them would be logging. Adding escaping to Zend_Validate blurs the boundaries between the business logic and the view layer.
Thats right, my solution was just a shot in the dark. I also forgot to make clear in my previous post that escaping should be disabled by default and can be enable by something like Zend_Validate_Abstract::setEscape('htmlspecialchars').
Just stumbled upon it working on a current project where the error messages contain escaped german umlauts (ü etc)...