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Thursday, June 28, 2012
UNREAL #5 Chocolate Caramel Nougat Bar
How lovely would it be to have a candy bar that starts with a fluffy plank of nougat and is then topped with some buttery caramel all wrapped up in rich milk chocolate.
The description matches the Mars Milky Way bar pretty well. It's been around since 1923 and pretty much established the Mars candy company. Companies come and go over the years trying to make that simple formula better, and right now the prime contender in the field is the new line called UNREAL which features all natural ingredients and even some nutrient fortification.
The UNREAL #5 Chocolate Caramel Nougat Bar is 22% smaller than the Milky Way bar, so that right there makes it a more responsible portion. (Milky Way is 57 grams, UNREAL #5 is 45 grams.)
What's so bad about a Milky Way? Well, just look:
According to UNREAL, the junk ingredients are partially hydrogenated soybean oil, GMO corn syrup and artificial flavor (I'm guessing vanillin. )
The UNREAL #5 bar is pretty impressive to look at. The insides contain just as many ingredients, though I wouldn't say that all are specifically better.
The bar is 3.5 inches long and a little over an inch wide.
It smells good, quite a bit richer and darker than a standard Milky Way. The cocoa notes are far more pronounced. The caramel has a wonderful, stringy and chewy pull without being too stiff to chew easily. The caramel isn't really a buttery caramel, as far as I can tell from the ingredients it's just sugar with more palm oil than real cream like they promise. The chocolate is much darker than the standard milk chocolate of Mars, it's rich and has a smooth melt on the tongue, though a light bitter note.
Oh, but that nougat. I'm not fond of the nougat in the Milky Way or 3 Musketeers. But this nougat, this is something else. It's like a fluffy Tiger Milk bar. There's a lot more protein in this bar than the Milky Way, and it's easy to assume that it's in the nougat as "milk protein concentrate". It's grainy, it tastes like cardboard and stale Nestle Quik powder. It really ruins it for me.
I was concerned that I got a bad bar, so I actually went out, to a different store across town, and bought another. It was the same texture and flavor profile. (The did share the same expiry date of 5/4/2013.)
I think the rest of the line is doing great things, but this one is a huge miss for me. Fortification is one thing, but it shouldn't come at the expense of the primary reason I'm eating it: for enjoyment. (And the burps later on remind me of B vitamins.) For a bar that wants to be transparent, I'm having some trouble getting info directly out of the company. I've tried emailing them and messaging on Twitter. They haven't replied to either. They say that they're sourcing things ethically and sustainably, but there's nothing to back that up. (Where does the chocolate come from, what kind of Palm Fruit Oil is that? Is that really non GMO soy lecithin? Why doesn't it say those things on the package?)
The bars are made in Canada. They contain milk, soy, eggs and wheat. They're made in a facility with peanuts, wheat and tree nuts.
UPDATE 8/1/2012: I have sent multiple messages to UNREAL on several different addresses. The first was to the address they published on their website on June 20, 2012. In the interim I've sent twitter messages. Then on July 20, 2012 I sent another message to a named contact at UNREAL at an email address given to me by a reader who met her at a twitter event. I have still not heard back (and sent another message today). So my confidence in the company's transparency is quite low at the moment. Eat it for the taste and what you know is in the package, but I can't buy into the ethics at the moment for the claims on the website.
UPDATE 9/17/2012: After many months and more than a half a dozen attempts to get answers from UNREAL, I did get a reply. Here is what I can tell you:
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POSTED BY Cybele AT 2:38 pm All Natural • Candy • Review • UNREAL • Caramel • Kosher • Nougat • 5-Pleasant • Canada • Sav-On/CVS • Comments (5)
Monday, June 25, 2012
UNREAL #41 & #54 Candy Coated Chocolates
Candy coated chocolates are so simple, yet so many folks find many of the commercial ingredients objectionable. It seems like it would be easy to make a good chocolate lentil with all natural, wholesome ingredient. Yet, here we are in 2012, and I can't say that I like any of the alternatives to M&Ms very much.
You can imagine that I greeted the new UNREAL candy line with a bit of trepidation and suspicion. After all, if it could be done, why isn't it done? (Try Sundrops.)
The UNREAL line uses all natural ingredients, specifically no artificial colors, no preservatives, no GMOs and no hydrogenated oils. The two elements that are interest in the instance of M&Ms would be artificial colors (which can make some colors taste bad to some consumers and have been linked with hyperactivity and other sensitivities with some kids) and genetically modified organism.
Part of what irritates me is their positioning of this candy on their website. They compare the candy to M&Ms and to a fresh peach. The listing of qualities below the specs for #41 Candy Coated Chocolates is:
Okay, that's great. But to be fair, M&Ms do not have any partially hydrogenated oils and no preservatives. And a peach also has none of those (though I'd say that somewhere out there, there are GMO peaches, I don't think they're commercial at this time.) The comparisons are also a little skewed by the portion sizes. M&Ms are sold in bags of 1.69 ounces (47.9 grams) and UNREAL #41 are 1.5 ounces (42 grams). So the grid is not converted to a one to one comparison.
The little candies are pretty, and I appreciate that they don't look as unnatural as I ofter regard M&Ms to be (the blue and red ones, especially). However, the colors are a little on the dark and morose side. Honestly, I don't know why they have to be so dark, why couldn't it just be a touch of color, instead of some sort of thick slathering of turmeric extract?
The lentils are slightly smaller than M&Ms but consistent for the most part and well made. The package protects them, they weren't crushed or cracked.
The flavor is interesting and far different from the wide appeal of M&Ms. They're creamy and smooth, the melt is great and only slightly sticky. The crunchy shell is crisp and has a great dissolve, depending on your eating style. But the chocolate is where these little lentils are completely different from M&Ms or any other chocolate candy lentils.
The chocolate is smoky, rather dark and has a toffee and charcoal note from both the cocoa and milk. I get a lot of bitterness from it, something I noticed in the peanut butter cups, but it was well moderated by the peanut butter center. Here, it's just the chocolate and the candy shell. I didn't care for the intensity, however, I recognize that not all people detect bitterness in the same way. So some folks may find these delightful, I found they required a little more effort on my part to appreciate.
Rating: 7 out of 10
The UNREAL #54 Candy Coated Chocolates with Peanuts have a consistent package with the rest of the UNREAL line, this one with a neon or highlighter green and yellow logo and little candies scattered across the front of the package.
This packet also holds 1.5 ounces with the same sticker price as the non-natural M&Ms which are 1.74 ounces.
I've often found that Peanut M&Ms, though good, are not my favorite when given a choice. In this case, I preferred the UNREAL #54 to the UNREAL #41. The nuts were fresh, big and not roasted too dark. The bitterness of the chocolate was still there, but moderated by the savory characteristics of the peanuts.
A curious item on the nutrition panel says that the Peanut variety has 45% of your daily value of Calcium and the Milk Chocolate one has 50% of your daily value. The full ingredients list shows that it's not the milk that's contributing that (M&Ms have about 4% of your DV), it's Calcium Carbonate. (No source is given for that, is it oyster shell? Egg shells? Bone meal?) Full ingredients:
So, it still has that inulin stuff in it that I remarked about in the #77 Peanut Butter Cup review. It's basically a nice, clean candy that has some nutritional fortification. Personally, I'd prefer just clean candy and let me get my nutrition elsewhere.
Rating: 8 out of 10
I like the line. I'm annoyed at the marketing and lack of true information (but they're new and I'm still waiting for a response to my email on Saturday). But the candy is good, they're on the right track and I'm excited about it. It would be fun to see where they go with it, if they create a few candies that are vegan as well, or at least dairy free.
UPDATE 9/17/2012: After many months and more than a half a dozen attempts to get answers from UNREAL, I did get a reply. Here is what I can tell you:
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POSTED BY Cybele AT 1:42 pm All Natural • Candy • Review • UNREAL • Chocolate • Kosher • Peanuts • 7-Worth It • 8-Tasty • United States • Sav-On/CVS • Comments (13)
Thursday, June 21, 2012
UNREAL #77 Peanut Butter Cups
UNREAL is a new line of candy that may finally be the solution for people looking for sweets with fewer dubious ingredients. It just launched and I picked up one of each of the new candies at CVS last week. They're not reinventing candy, each of the products is just a standard tried-and-true candy format, just with "unjunked(tm)" ingredients.
To start with, I thought I'd examine one of my favorite candies of all time: the peanut butter cup.
UNREAL has given their candies some odd code names. Their PB cups are called UNREAL #77 Peanut Butter Cups. Their other candies also have what seem like arbitrary numbers assigned to them. Their caramel nougat bar is #5 and the candy coated chocolates are #55. I don't know if there are plans for 77 different candies in the line, or if they've gone through 77 different formulas. You can read more about the candy line's origin story on their website and in this Wall Street Journal article.
The packaging for UNREAL is unlike other candies, that's for sure. It did not entice me. In fact, I didn't recognize it as something I'd be looking for. The packaging is black (a heat absorbing color, for the record, which is bad when it comes to chocolate candy) with neon colors and a difficult to read logo. It looks more appropriate for a caffeinated product than a candy touting the purity of its ingredients.
That said, it is different and as an isolated design, it's interesting. I like the logo as a use of lines and typography. The color choices do not say "delicious" to me, they do not say "natural" or "wholesome."
The website says:
However, there is no actual statement on the ingredient panel or the candy packages that say that any of the ingredients are actually "grass fed milk" or "non-GMO soy" or "Rainforest Alliance chocolate." The closest is the web page for each candy does say NO GMOS (but never specifies which ingredients were verified that way).
So the big evil wolf in this story is the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, made by Hershey's in Pennsylvania. The portion is modest, two cups are an ounce an a half and total 210 calories. I did not eat these side by side with the UNREAL #77 for comparison. But I have a great recollection of them, having eaten one about three weeks ago, and hundreds before that. (Including a full bag of the miniatures in May.)
The milk chocolate is cool on the tongue, very sweet and lacking a noticeable cocoa note but a strong taste of dairy. The center is crumbly, salty and with an overwhelming taste of fresh roasted peanuts. It's grainy, almost crunchy and rustic. The combination is great, the portion size is ideal for me. After eating one I want another but after two I'm completely satisfied.
The ingredients, while not pure nor verified as ethically sourced are also not completely horrible:
The items of contention might be the corn syrup solids (basically dextrose) which are almost assuredly from genetically modified corn, the soy lecithin is also likely to be GMO. The PGPR is also an emulsifier, made from castor beans, last time I checked with Hershey's. The TBHQ is the biggest item that people complain about in Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. TBHQ (also known as E319) stands for Tertiary Butylhydroquinone, which is an antioxidant which keeps the peanut butter from becoming rancid. While high doses of TBHQ are dangerous, rancid oils are also very bad for you.
So, what about this UNREAL #77 Peanut Butter Cup?
While all those ingredients sound nice and wholesome, I do have a bone to pick with Unreal for putting inulin into the chocolate. First of all, I don't think the standards of identity for chocolate allow the addition of inulin, as it's not an accepted sugar. Inulin is a soluble fiber, it's slightly sweet (only slightly, about 10% of the sweetness of sucrose but generally has no other flavor to it) and has a good, smooth texture that makes it appropriate in both solid foods and liquids (many folks add it to smoothies). In larger quantities, however, it can cause digestive upset in some people. Agave is one of the hot sources for inulin these days, but it's also found in chicory and Jerusalem artichokes. While it has some lovely qualities, it's basically an inert filler. (Not a cheap one, by any means, certainly more expensive than sugar, but when you see what it does to the nutritional panel, you see why it may be considered worth it.)
The UNREAL website has a comparison chart (I pulled a screengrab because I think they changed it since I looked at it last week) but it compares them based on the portion size, not ounce for ounce, like I prefer to do things.
Basically, the Reese's has more sugar and less fiber. If you want sugar in your candy, then you know where to go. If you want more fiber and fat, then get the UNREAL. Oh, wait, I still haven't reviewed the actual UNREAL #77 cups for you.
The cups look great, and what really impressed me was the attention to detail. The logo on the bottom of the cup? Gorgeous. The cups are not in a little fluted paper cup, but are still protected bu a little white paperboard sleeve inside. This makes it easy to get the candy in and out of the package.
They smell great, like cocoa and peanuts. The chocolate is interesting, and for the record I tried these without reading the ingredients first, so I noticed that the chocolate was a little different without knowing why. It's a dark milk chocolate, with a lot more discernible chocolate notes than a Reese's Cup. Not as dark the actual Dark Chocolate Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, but notable. The melt is silky, quite different from Reese's. The peanut butter center is where things got radically different. The UNREAL peanut butter is like actual peanut butter. It's not dry, it's thick and pasty. There's a little bit of a cookie dough quality to it, but overall the flavor is fantastic. Like true, fresh peanut butter. It's sweet, it's a little salty, but mostly it's smooth without being sticky.
They were great. I loved them. I want to try them again. What I loved about them as well was the fact that they cost the exact same amount at CVS as the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Of course the regular price for a candy bar at CVS is $1.19, but perhaps with volume will come better pricing or at least sales.
So I have oodles of misgivings about the packaging style, the marketing spin and the lack of transparency of their claims ... but when I got down to the actual experience of eating it, all of that can be forgotten.
The candy is made in Canada and is Kosher. It contains soy, peanuts and milk and may contain traces of tree nuts. There is no gluten statement on the package (along with no statement regarding the sourcing of the ingredients). The shelf life appears to be approximately 6-9 months (these were good until 1/24/2013).
UPDATE 9/17/2012: After many months and more than a half a dozen attempts to get answers from UNREAL, I did get a reply. Here is what I can tell you:
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Thursday, May 31, 2012
Nestle Crunch Girl Scout Cookie Candy Bars: Peanut Butter & Caramel and Coconut
Yesterday I reviewed the new, limited edition Nestle bars made in conjunction with the Girls Scouts. They're based on popular flavors of the seasonal Girl Scout Cookies.
The trio of bars represent some pretty popular cookies and great candy bar combinations. The bars are pretty small, they consist of two small wafer based bars that clock in at a mere 1.3 ounces for the whole package. At regular price they were $1.19 each at CVS, though you may be able to find them on sale at some point. Nestle and the Girl Scouts have been trying to whip up a fervor over these bars, so be prepared that they'll never come on sale or be hard to find. (Or not. They were just sitting on the candy shelf at CVS, probably a week before they were supposed to be out for regular folks to buy them, I'd heard that they were internet pre-order only plus a week of exclusive purchase at Dylan's Candy Bar in New York City.)
The bars are attractive and though the packaging is spare and kind of generic looking, it does a good job of protecting the bars themselves without out a lot of extras. The wrappers looked a bit like nutrition bars to me from a distance, and I almost didn't notice them, but the line at the drug store was long, so I had plenty of time to stare at everything.
The Limited Edition Girl Scout Cookie Flavors: Crunch Caramel & Coconut is supposed to be, I believe, like the Samoas.
Samoas are a vanilla cookie base with coconut and caramel then a little series of mockolate stripes. I've had them a few times and found them to be a little too sweet and sticky for me, but definitely more on the side of candy than cookie.
The description of the candy bar on the wrapper was: cookie wafers, coconut caramel creme and chewy caramel topped with toasted coconut. Notice in that description there's no mention of chocolate, because there isn't any here, just a mockolate coating, and then some other orange striped stuff on top of that.
The smell is disappointingly artificial. There's a note of fake butter that overpowers the coconut scent almost entirely. The wafers are definitely crisp, but the creme filling is grainy and has more of the fake butter notes to it. I couldn't finish the second bar. I had to sequester it in the trash in another room because the smell was driving me crazy.
I know that some folks are going to be obsessed with these, but I found them completely disappointing. The fake flavor, the lack of real chocolate, the use of useless artificial colors and simply missing an opportunity to satisfy.
The Limited Edition Girl Scout Cookie Flavors: Peanut Butter Creme is based on the Tagalongs cookies. (For years I called them Tagalogs, some sort of a misreading where I thought they were inspired by a traditional Filipino peanut cookie, you know, because there were Samoas, I thought there was a series that was all themed for Pacific Islands.)
The package describes the candy bar as Cookie wafers and peanut butter creme topped with airy cripsies. Again, no mention of chocolate, that greasy coating on it because it's not actually chocolate.
This bar was particularly messy, unlike the others. It was simply soft and sticky, even though the ambient temperature was 70 degrees or so. The bar is very peanutty smelling, roasted and really appetizing. The wafers are thick and airy with a good crunch. The peanut butter creme is salty and the mockolate coating is thin enough and just barely sweet enough to make this a candy. Though the coating made this a little on the greasy side, they're good. Much better than the Butterfinger Crunch Crisp bars, which also have that fake butter flavor.
Again, Q.Bel makes a much better quality Peanut Butter Wafer Bar, though it actually doesn't have quite the same proportions or salty peanut butter oomph that this does. Trader Joe's also has a peanut butter wafer crisp bar that's a fraction of the cost of this (only $1.99 for 7 ounces instead of $1.19 for 1.3 ounces) and has none of the crazy additives and lackluster ingredients.
On the whole, I'm underwhelmed. I'm sure Nestle and the Girl Scouts are going to make out well with their social outreach programs and strong brand identities. Maybe I'm just too old for this, jaded or suspicious of these sorts of stunts.
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POSTED BY Cybele AT 4:22 pm Candy • Review • Nestle • Caramel • Coconut • Cookie • Kosher • Limited Edition • Mockolate • Peanuts • 4-Benign • 7-Worth It • United States • Sav-On/CVS • Comments (2)
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Nestle Girl Scout Cookie Bars - Thin Mints
There was a time when I was obsessed with Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies. I would buy boxes of them and gobble up what should have been months of rations in mere weeks. Somewhere along the way they lost their charm though. I found out that there were better cookies out there, cookies made with real chocolate and more importantly, cookies that were available consistently.
So when I heard that Nestle was coming out with a limited edition candy bar version called the Nestle Crunch Girl Scount Cookie Thin Mint Candy Bar, I knew that the internet would be abuzz. But I didn't really care one way or the other. Q.bel makes a superb wafer bar with mint creme with real ingredients, why would I want a version made by Nestle?
But there I was at CVS last evening and I saw them at the check out, and I figured I should give them a chance.
So here's one of the main reasons I stopped eating Thin Mints, the ingredients. It's not real chocolate. The current ingredients, according to the Girl Scout Cookies website:
So no chocolate, barely even enough cocoa in there to even be considered an actual mockolate product. But then I was curious how one of the kings of mockolate, Nestle, would treat an already established mockolate cookie.
The Nestle bar is formatted like the Nestle Crunch Crisp Bar. Again, this bar has some wonderful attributes, a series of crispy light wafers filled with greasy chocolate cream and then covered in mockolate and some more little rice crispies. The change here is the darker mockolate product and peppermint. The ingredients are equally ghastly:
But hey, it's candy. It's a treat, and in this case, for $1.19 it's only 1.3 ounces and 200 calories. It's a limited edition production, so it's not an every day thing.
The wafer layers are structurally sound and lightly flavored with cocoa. The cream between has a light minty flavor and rather smooth texture and though it's sugary, it's not overly sweet. The mockolate coating is firm and doesn't flake off but doesn't do much else. In cool temperatures, especially just slightly chilled, this is a pretty good bar. But in the warmth of summer, it's a sticky mess. It's not too sweet, the textures and proportions are excellent. Still, my interest level is low because of the sub-par ingredients and lack of an authentic chocolate coating.
Yup. I'll stick with the Mint Q.bel Wafer Bars or maybe Mint Milanos. I can't say I'm disappointed at Nestle's take on the Girl Scout Cookie, it's entirely consistent and I guess that's the sad part. It could have been great.
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POSTED BY Cybele AT 7:21 am Candy • Review • Nestle • Cookie • Kosher • Limited Edition • Mints • Mockolate • 6-Tempting • United States • Sav-On/CVS • Comments (4)
Monday, April 2, 2012
Gimbal's Sour Gourmet Jelly Beans
Gimbal's Sour Gourmet Jelly Beans were introduced on the heels of Gimbal's other gourmet panned offerings, their Lovers line of heart shaped jelly candies like Cherry Lovers, Honey Lovers and Sour Lovers.
The jelly bean mix has a gourmet price point, at $4.49 for me at the CVS, but the bag is big and it's made in the USA.
The mix includes 12 flavors in bold colors.
The beans are absolutely lovely to look at. They're small and well made, each was quite perfect. The Gimbal's factory advertises that it's free of most major allergens, including peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, eggs, gluten, gelatin and soy. As a jelly bean product they're also fat free and contain no high fructose corn syrup (but I've never actually seen a jelly bean made with HFCS). The front of the package says they're made with real fruit juice, and that'd be apple juice. It also says that it's a good source of Vitamin C, but that's only 10% of your RDA in a serving of 37 beans (about 1.4 ounces).
But as much as they tout the freedom from allergens, there are still plenty of other ingredients some folks may avoid, such as artificial flavors and colors.
Most of the beans were opaque, but in the case of beans of similar colors, one was translucent, the other opaque. The structure of the bean is the same as other jelly beans. A jelly center (modified food starch give it its smooth texture) covered in a grainy and flavored shell. In the case of these beans, they jelly center is the sour part, so the sourness goes through and through.
They're tiny, sized like most other gourmet beans like Jelly Belly.
Sour Lemon was fully formed, a mix of juice and peel but with a more boiled marmalade note than a raw flavor.
Sour Grapefruit was fantastic. There was a lot of zest and that pine-type bitterness along with a biting tang of juice.
Sour Tangerine was sour and juicy but unlike the other two citruses, the zest notes didn't come out until the very end.
Sour Mango was also orange, but opaque. The flavor was similar to peach, and if I wasn't told it was mango, I probably would have guessed that. It was soft and tart but had that fuzzy fruit flavor that mangoes and peaches share.
Sour Watermelon was the darker green bean. It was pretty good, it reminded me a lot of Jolly Ranchers in the best way possible.
Sour Apple was kind of difficult for me to like. At first I though it was watermelon, it was just too vague. There was an authentic note of apple to it, but not much else.
Sour Lime was almost a key lime. There was soft vanilla note to it but it really finished sour.
Sour Blueberry was refreshing, it had a good berry note to it, almost a raspberry. I wouldn't say it was really blueberry, but still quite fun.
Sour Grape is an unusual flavor for jelly beans. I see it a lot in hard candies but not so much in jelly beans or gummis. This grape is much like a Pixy Stix, tart and with that malic acid tangy bite and vague artificial grape flavor of soda.
Sour Strawberry had a great mix of flavors, it really had a nice floral start, like a fluffy wad of cotton candy. Then the flavor developed with strong tartness and finished with strawberry jam.
Sour Pomegranate had a lot of very dark floral berry notes to it. It never quite rang true as pomegranate, but it was still a very good bean, not as sour as the others.
Sour Cherry was well done. The flavor was bold and less medicinal than some I've had, with green notes and of course that sour finish that most of the beans had.
Overall, it was a good bunch of beans. Even those that I didn't really like that much such as cherry or mango were still quite good enough that I just ate them instead of trying to pick them out. It's hard to tell some beans apart unless you're someplace well lit, so sort before going to movies if you really don't want to get a flavor you dislike. I did like this flavor set better than the Jelly Belly sour variety which only has five flavors, but that's purely personal preference.
The intensity satisfied me quite quickly, without giving me acidic burns on my tongue. The price is a bit high compared to generic beans but less than half of what you'd pay for Jelly Belly. They do pack quite a punch and I'm unlikely to finish this 13 ounce bag before Easter even with daily grazing.
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POSTED BY Cybele AT 11:48 am Candy • Review • Easter • Gimbal's Candy • Jelly Candy • Kosher • Sour • 8-Tasty • United States • Sav-On/CVS • Comments (5)
Friday, January 6, 2012
Luden's Honey Licorice Throat Drops
It's the time of year when I find myself turning to cough drops. Not so much this year because of any particular cold, but it makes me feel like it's winter. There's something about the flavors of cough drops that are as essential to the early months of the year as cinnamon and nutmeg is to Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Spice and herbal flavors have all but disappeared from hard candy on the shelves at mass market retailers, so cough drops are a good place to find that. I picked up this classic looking box of Luden's Honey Licorice Throat Drops just before I found the revived Pine Bros Softish Throat Drops. I was attracted to the name of the flavor, licorice and honey are both soothing and uncommon.
The box is simple and elegant and features a belt & suspenders form of freshness protection. The drops themselves are inside a thick waxed paper sleeve inside the box, which has a tab top closure. Then the whole thing was inside cellophane shrink wrap. I appreciate the inner waxed liner, because the plastic overwrap only protects the drops while they're in the store, not after I've opened them.
There are 14 drops inside and because these are therapeutic items, they're not considered food and taxable in California. They're marked as Kosher, but have no weight listed or a full nutritional panel.
The drops are petite, with smooth rounded corners, they are about 3/4 of an inch long. The color is, well, rather dull, but at least it isn't enhanced with artificial colors (or flavors). The dissolve is smooth and there aren't any sharp voids in the boiled sugar base. The flavor is strong on the menthol, light on the honey and with only a touch of anise/licorice. It reminds me of a hard candy version of Fisherman's Friend. The menthol is strong enough to give me that cool feeling in my sinuses, which are pretty clear at the moment.
I finished the box and now I'm inclined to try some other flavors, like Honey Lemon.
As a side note, the cough drop and candy connection really isn't that surprising. William H. Luden, who made Luden's Throat Drops, also created the 5th Avenue bar and made various other items like peppermint patties, chocolate covered raisins and peanuts plus hard candies. Though Hershey's now owns the rights to the Luden's candy products (though only makes the 5th Avenue now), Luden's cough drop business is now owned by a company called Prestige Brands which makes products like Cloraseptic, Efferdent and Compound W. (Let's hope they never combine the attributes of all three of those products.) The package I've reviewed, however, still said McNeill Consumer Healthcare, which sold off Luden's in late 2010. So there may be some differences in packaging and more current products.
UPDATE 3/2/2012: The packaging has changed. I have to say that I'm a little disappointed, because they've looked the same as long as I can remember. But then again, the new boxes are quite nice as well.
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POSTED BY Cybele AT 12:59 pm Candy • Review • Hard Candy & Lollipops • Licorice Candy • 7-Worth It • United States • Sav-On/CVS • Comments (6)
Monday, December 12, 2011
Pine Bros Softish Throat Drops
When I was a kid and candy was hard to come by, there was always the old standby of cough drops. I grew to love Hall's Honey Lemon Eucalyptus drops as if they were decadent candy. Of course they are, there's little that's nutritional or therapeutic about them. But sometimes it's a small pleasure that lifts the spirits when you have a cold.
My favorite cough drops as a kid were Pine Bros, which were about as old school as they come. They weren't like the standard hard candy lozenges, instead these were a glycerine pastille, similar to Grether's or Dr. Doolittle's. The ingredient they all share is glycerine, which is viscous and has soothing properties as it can coat irritated membranes.
Pine Bros Throat Drops and I were born in the same city, about a hundred years apart. Once I moved to the West Coast from Pennsylvania, I couldn't find Pine Bros any longer. Part of it was that Pine Bros, which was made by Life Savers between 1930 and then Life Savers was bought out by Leaf (I believe they were manufactured outside of the US for a while and the formula changed) then when Leaf divested in 1998 a company called IVC picked up the Pine Bros name. By 2005 they were gone.
The word softish is perfect for these. They truly aren't hard or soft, but have a great squishy quality. The pieces are nicely formed and comfortable for the mouth. The pieces are about three quarters of an inch long and have a little indentation in the bottom, which I believe is caused by the piece shrinking a bit due to evaporation as it cures in its mold.
The flavor is mild, a combination of a jammy wild cherry flavor and a little hint of honey (though there's not actually any in there). The flavor is rather similar to blackcurrant with its deep wine notes. It's more floral than many other cherry candies and because they're colored naturally (with elderberry juice) there's no weird aftertaste.
Most cough drops are hard candies, but these are soft, pliable yet tacky and stiff and pretty much impossible to chew up. They're not quite bouncy like a gummi (which contains gelatin, which is a protein) but still have some of that firmness. The other great thing is because they're so smooth, there's little danger of sharp voids like some cough drops can have - so no little cuts or scrapes inside the mouth.
I picked up the Value Size not because of its value but because it was the only format available. It holds 32 drops for $3.49 (2.38 ounces) while a little tin of Grether's of a similar quantity would be about $10.
If you always wished that Grether's came in Wild Cherry and at a fraction of the price, Pine Bros may be the solution for you.
My favorite Pine Bros flavors were Licorice and Honey. So I was excited that even though the Licorice wasn't in production yet, the classic Pine Bros Natural Honey Throat Drops were back.
The package is new and sharp, but still has a classic feel to it. The color coding is similar to the boxes I remember as a kid. Cherry came in a deep red box, Menthol was in Blue and Honey was in a deep amber. The new packaging is a bit brighter, with more of a mustard yellow.
The ingredients are listed as a medicinal product, not a candy. My Pine Bros Throat Drops were also taxed, so were not considered food so do not have any nutritional/caloric information.
I was a little confused by the "Gum Acacia" item until I looked it up on Wikipedia. It's Gum Arabic with a fancy new name in an attempt to hide from an urban legend.
The pieces are beautiful little amber drops. They actually remind me of true amber. They sound like it when dropped and feel lighter than they look they should. But they're a little weird. They're not like I remember them.
The package smelled quite a bit when I opened it. Not just like honey but like roses, like a jam made from rose petals, so it's a very sweet, syrupy rose scent. It's not a bad thing, but it's not the toasty and more cotton candy notes I was prepared for.
The texture is smooth, the melt is wonderful and they truly are soothing for a throat a bit raw from the drying and dusty Santa Ana winds. But the flavor, which I was hoping would be mild and sort of fleeting is rather stubborn. It tastes, well, old. Like old flowers, old tea ... not fresh. I actually found myself reaching for the Wild Cherry ones.
There are two other flavors that Pine Bros is hoping to bring back: Licorice and Honey Lemon. So here's to hoping that it's actually Honey Lemon that I love so much and that my favorite will be restored. But I also have high hopes for Licorice.
They are made in the USA in a facility that also processes peanuts and tree nuts. They're not listed Kosher but the non-honey versions should be considered vegan (unless the glycerine was from an animal source, which is pretty rare because it's so much more expensive).
I'm not planning on reviewing cough drops on a regular basis, but now's a good time to ask: what cough drop do you eat like candy? (My other favorite is Thayer's Slippery Elm, which also has a dreamy smoothness with the flavor of maple sugar considering it starts out looking like a small tablet of rabbit food.)
Related Candies
POSTED BY Cybele AT 11:02 pm All Natural • Candy • Review • Pine Bros • Jelly Candy • 5-Pleasant • 7-Worth It • United States • Sav-On/CVS • Comments (16)
Meticulously photographed and documented reviews of candy from around the world. And the occasional other sweet adventures. Open your mouth, expand your mind.


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LODI – City officials have confirmed that the Lodi Branch of the San Joaquin County Superior Court will close March 4.
One of two courtrooms was closed in October, 2011, as the court system was cutting budgets, but this will close the final courtroom in Lodi.
Lodi officials had hoped to be spared this cut because it will add costs for Lodi to prosecute cases. Lodi is the only city in San Joaquin County with its own jail, and now, instead of arresting and holding inmates through arraignment, Lodi will have to transport them to county jail.
Read Friday's Record for more on this story by staff writer Keith Reid.
Location, ST | website.com

subset: commoncrawl


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China's Reservations About the Dollar
Back in 2007, a previously unknown Chinese politician sent the dollar to record lows against the euro after suggesting China should diversify some of its huge foreign-currency reserves.
That politician, Cheng Siwei, has retired from his post as the vice chairman of the National People's Congress, but his profile has only grown.
That's partly because he's filling a vacuum left by China's still media-shy officials. So, while he's no Alan Greenspan or Ben Bernanke, he makes the rounds at high-profile international seminars and his comments make headlines.
He also leads a think tank, the International Finance Forum. Even if he doesn't speak for the government, his view reflects the views of at least some within it. If that weren't the case, the government would have barred him from traveling abroad or otherwise warned him against speaking.
Today, Mr. Cheng was at the Asian Financial Forum in Hong Kong with some mildly supportive words for the U.S. dollar. Mr. Cheng said the dollar would remain the world's dominant reserve currency for the short term, but its dual roles as a domestic and international currency were inherently contradictory. China is among the developing countries complaining about U.S. expansionary monetary policy. That's in line with written comments recently from Chinese President Hu Jintao to The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Cheng suggested that special drawing rights—a synthetic international currency created by the International Monetary Fund that Chinese officials have embraced—could play a greater role, for example to be used in central bank credit swaps.
Mr. Cheng also had reassuring words for the growing offshore yuan market in Hong Kong, where banks were recently hit with new limits that cap their ability bet on the yuan's future value. The regulations came after mainland press reports alleging huge piles of foreign capital were amassing in Hong Kong for a speculative assault on the mainland. They appeared partly aimed at soothing fears that loosened capital controls could leave China vulnerable.
Beijing "is keeping one eye on speculation and risk," Mr. Cheng said. But he added: "What we most want to see is robust growth" of the offshore yuan.


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Yesterday morning (4 am my time), I received an anonymous question from a new reader. She's had a, shall we say, colourful life, but now has settled down, has become a Christian, has a husband and is growing in Christ. But, while we are all forgiven, forgiveness does not always equate to a blank slate. While it does in God's eyes, the fact is, we still bear the consequences of our actions, grace or no grace. These aren't punishments from God, they are just us getting through life following our own will, or sometimes being subject to the will of others.
And so, this dear sister in Christ comes to me with a question that I'm sure is weighing on many of our sisters in the christian community. In fact, I'm almost positive this is a gender wide question for wives regardless of faith:
Does my husband still find me attractive? Continue reading
I've seen this question in a few places where all of a sudden a wife lets out that she wants her husband to tie her up. Note: I've been seeing these WAY before 50 Shades of Grey was even a concept. I am not writing about that book! There are a billion reasons why you shouldn't read it, go read Pulling Back The Shades if you want more info. But what about these genuine wives who have a real desire, not brought about by some piece of fiction, to try this? I've been that husband who sat there and thought, "Is this OK", "What do I do?", "How do I start?"
I like to pull Bible passages when I can, but the Bible is pretty silent on most sexual practices. There are prohibitions against things like bestiality and incest, against adultery, impure thoughts and practices, but what about what happens in a marriage bed between mutually consenting adults? Continue reading
The other day, I had a thought: Why don't I give my wife more massages? Seriously. This isn't a rhetorical question. I mean, let's think about it. In my marriage (and I'm guessing many more), massages:
- Help her relax
- Help her transition from "mother" or "teacher" or whatever-else to wife
- Help get her in the mood
- Help get her ready for more sexual touch
- Let me see her body
- Let me feel her body
- Let me give her pleasure
- Usually lead to better-than-average sex (and our average is pretty amazing already). Continue reading
This must be the most frequent question I get. Readers always want to know "how do I get my spouse to do …", whatever. It's not always phrased this bluntly, there are a myriad of subtle variations (like this comment on my last post), but at the end of day the spouse A wants spouse B to do (or not do) something they aren't (or are) doing. We want an action plan, and people have made millions creating action plans and selling them to the masses, because we all want to believe that if he did A -> B -> C and got to D, we can follow the same steps.
What did you do?
I've been pretty clear that my marriage was not always what it is now, that we started off being a "sexless" marriage, but we have, over the years, improved. I often get asked "what did you do to fix it?" I know what you want. You want a turnkey solution to fixing your marriage. Continue reading
We had a pretty rough Christmas break in 2012. December started with everyone in the family getting colds, which, with 4 kids is a fairly regular event, nothing new. We all got over it, except my wife. Hers persisted for weeks. She went to the doctor after the first couple of weeks, was told it's just a cough and cold, you'll get over it.
A few weeks later with no improvement, she went back. Turns out she had bronchitis. So, she went on the medication, which made her feel worse than ever. Finally, by mid-January, she's pretty much back to normal.
So, what does this have to do with Sex Within Marriage? Well, basically, our sex-life tanked during this sickness. Now, our marriage is pretty solid, and we can weather dry-spells like this these days. I'll admit, after a while, I do get a bit cranky, but I'm not feeling depressed or wondering if my wife still loves me like I used to.
But, after a week or two of our frequency being back up near normal, I have noticed quite a few things are different that I wasn't really noticing during the month. Now, I always knew that I performed better in life when we're having regular sex, but I didn't realize how much. Continue reading
I often read, in forums and comments, complaints from one spouse or another who isn't getting what they want out of sex. Sometimes it has to do with a very simple problem of the spouses not knowing each others goals in a sexual encounter (or all of them).
So, what are some potential goals for a sexual encounter? Continue reading


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Top Definition
A service most telephone company's offer that displays the calling party's name and number on a display device, which is connected to your phone line.
I wish to God Caller ID was never invented.
作者 Anonymous 2003年7月28日
Trending Now
Can you define these popular missing words?
While having sex with a girl, call her cell phone and when she goes to get it start to masturbate behind her. When she gets to her phone, she'll see its you, look behind her and then you blast her in the face.
"Jenny couldn't believe it when she saw the Caller ID, the look on her face was priceless"
作者 The Bees 2005年1月29日


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Woman describes decision to report chained teen
A woman who helped alert authorities about a 17-year-old boy who was handcuffed in the basement of her home said she's happy that the child is out of there.
Dawne: Had a very interesting meeting at work this past week, where my company held a session to discuss HB2. They had an employment lawyer come in to speak to (1) what the law entails, (2) what the media has left out (because it doesn't sell), and (3) clear up misconceptions that are out there. For all I knew about this bill, and that most of us there knew, what we learned made all of us walk out of that auditorium LIVID at the state of N.C. 1 - Safety was a reason cited by the Gov. for this bill. There are 44,000 people in the state that have identified themselves as part of the LGBTQ+ community (I hate that term - is there a "heterosexual community"???). There are ZERO cases in the state of N.C. history where someone who is LGBTQ+ has sexually assaulted another person in a restroom/locker room/ etc. 2 - there are 18 states that have laws allowing someone who is transgender to use the bathroom they identify with. Again, ZERO cases in all 18 of these states where someone who is transgender or gay has sexually assaulted another person in a restroom. 3 - When the governor was confronted with these facts, he admitted there were no cases. Media never reported that he had to backtrack. 4 - ANY business - restaurant, taxi service, hotel can now discriminate and refuse service based on sexual orientation. You can be straight as an arrow, but if a business doesn't THINK you are, you can be refused service. 5 - The original ordinance put in place by the mayor forced companies that even contracted with the city to pay workers better...pay a "living wage". HB2 killed that. 6 - No longer can lawsuits for any form of workplace discrimination, or harassment (including wrongful discharge) be heard in N.C. court. Had I brought lawsuits against prior employers for hostile workplace or wrongful discharge (which I could have), those cases would now be tossed out. 7 - Federal law of Title 7 (which protects against workplace discrimination) and Title 9 (which originally allowed for girls/women to be allowed to participate in sports, and now also covers that both accuser and defendant in school sexual assault cases are to be treated equally) among other laws, are the minimum standard by which each state is required to operate. States and cities may add EXTRA layers on top of the Federal law, but are not supposed to go beneath it. HB2 has stripped cities and towns of the ability to add any extra layers of discrimination protection, and is also in violation of Federal Law, as it is allowing for discrimination that Federal Law protects against. 8 - While the governor backtracked enough on HB2 that it would allow state lessees to make their own bathroom rules (ie, Time Warner Cable Arena), in an effort to try to keep the NBA All-Star game, it still allows for discrimination by hotels, restaurants, taxis, etc. 9 - Charlotte Convention & Visitors Bureau typically receives anywhere from 5-7 inquiries a week for conventions. Since HB2 was passed? ZERO. 10 - Yes, companies have travel bans in place, not allowing their employees to travel to NC. Because they are protecting their employees from discrimination/refusal of service. What company wants to send their employee to an area on a business trip, that when the employee gets there, if the hotel *thinks* the person is LGBTQ+, they can refuse to rent him/her a room? 11 - The DOT, state schools and she mentioned one other state organization (blanking on it), all receive federal funding (so this would go towards any state service that receives federal funding) are all also supposed to abide by Federal discrimination law. That is part of the contract/charter that comes with that funding. With HB2 being in direct contest to Federal law, it means those terms are being violated. 12-Yes, companies have elected not to come here to build. It's not because of simply a bathroom. it's that this law allows for discrimination ACROSS THE BOARD. Studies have shown that areas that discriminate don't attract the best talent. They aren't going to build here if they can't attract top notch people (logical move!). I believe it was Des Moines that was one of the first cities to put extra protection in for LGBTQ+. They have enjoyed a huge boom thanks to that. Millennials are attracted to diversity (Millenials cover the group through at least 35 y/o), not to discrimination. Would you build your office in a place where you wouldn't be able to attract top talent and grow your business? 13 - To continue the above, HB2 means that businesses that are already here, will not be able to attract top talent, even if their internal policies are about non-discrimination. This bill damages the ability of current businesses in the state to recruit. 14 - Why should a tourist come to NC when they have to fear they will be refused service if someone so much as thinks they are LGBTQ+? Would anyone willingly go somewhere they could face discrimination? Or spend money somewhere that they KNOW there's a lower risk of it happening? 15 - The case is currently still before a Federal judge in Winston-Salem (Judge Schroeder) . The judge has ordered the governor's lawyer to produce proof that this bill was properly vetted through the public. Legally, that's how it's supposed to be done. This was never vetted through the public, or at least with enough lead time for their to be discussion, etc. with it. This of course, didn't make the mainstream news. 16 - the judge asked point blank how this would be enforced. *crickets* no provisions for how this was going to be enforced. McCrory's lawyer, when asked about it stated "My guess is that some transgender people will use the restrooms they always have, and no one will notice." (you mean what's happened all along?), and the judge responded "then why have the law"? This of course, didn't make the mainstream news. 17 - Interesting to hear that one of the earliest stories of a hermaphrodite, dates from 16th century Spain, when a "woman" was too good at fencing, and had to prove she was female. It was discovered that she was actually a hermaphrodite. When presented before the 16th century Spanish judge, for the Judge to decide what gender she actually was, the JUDGE said that it was up to her. If she felt she was a woman, then that was what she was. If she felt she was a man, then HE was a man. Esteban lived out the rest of HIS days as a man. The amount of damage this bill has already caused is well over $100,000,000 (the estimate from losing the NBA All-Star game alone). Because it's unknown how many events that were cancelled were due to HB2, it could be higher than that. Should the Judge rule in favor of the state with HB2, the damage is going to easily go into the billions, and the Federal Government will keep this fight going. This is about more than a bathroom. This is about people not being discriminated against based on yes, their sexuality, but also their age, their gender, and about being paid a living wage.


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Event : Fashion & Design
Brussels Fashion Days
- Opening periods
- Event planned for the month of October 2016
Dates and programme may be subject to change
- Event planned for the month of October 2016
- Address:
The Egg,
Rue Bara 175
1070 Brussels (ANDERLECHT)
- MAPS: Google Maps
Experience this year's biggest fashion event in Belgium. 10.000m² entirely dedicated to fashion await you in Brussels in October 2014!
Discover a complete overview of the Belgian fashion scene. It's the biggest event in the Belgian fashion industry! The event is unifying and represents all sectors of the fashion industry, which gives it a multitude of things to see and do:
- More than 50 creators such as Calogero Di Natale, Luc Deshayes, Fanny Myard, Niyona and others
- 4 fashion shows under the stewardship of G. Joveneau
- a fashion show by some of the best fashion schools in the country
- exhibitions of fashion photography and illustrations and video projections
- a couture workshop and a permanent space for makeovers
- even a casting for IMM modelling agency!
- not forgetting the restaurant/bar, and the lounge zone.
The aim of the event is to bring together, in one place, for a weekend, all the players of this fascinating universe.
Some of the best schools in the country such as La Cambre, Les Ateliers Lannaux, Francisco Ferrer, and many more will also be present to show their activities and, of course, their students' best work.
- website : http://www.brusselsfashiondays.be/fr/reservation.php
- website : http://www.brusselsfashiondays.be
Visit our partners' webpages
- The Tour & Taxis E-Experience
- Exhibition: The Awakening of Consciousness by Gao Xingjian
- The paleoLAB at the Museum of natural Sciences
- ID#2016, Digital Sound & Light installation in Brussels
- Creative Workshop at the Museum of Cocoa and Chocolate
We are not responsible for any changes in dates and/or programmes. Please contact the organiser prior to departure.


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Definition of pacemaker in English:
1An artificial device for stimulating the heart muscle and regulating its contractions.
Example sentences
- The most common forms of heart failure are treated with drugs and electrical devices such as pacemakers and implanted defibrillators, but if symptoms continue to worsen, other therapies are needed.
- For the medical device industry, only ads for risky devices such as pacemakers or artificial hearts must disclose negative side effects.
- Medical devices such as cardiac pacemakers, cochlear implants, and bone growth stimulators are valuable tools in the treatment of patients with multiple medical needs.
1.1The part of the heart muscle (the sinoatrial node) that normally performs this role.
Example sentences
- This node is called the pacemaker of the heart because it sets the rate of the heartbeat and causes the rest of the heart to contract in its rhythm.
- The sinus node is a natural pacemaker in your heart that helps your heart beat steadily.
- Sinus dysrhythmia refers to a malfunction of the sinus node, the heart's natural pacemaker.
1.2The part of an organ or of the body that controls any other rhythmic physiological activity.
Example sentences
- For this reason, the researchers decided to examine the output of the body's internal clock, called the circadian pacemaker.
- Escape rhythms are the result of spontaneous activity from a subsidiary pacemaker, located in the atria, atrioventricular junction, or ventricles.
- In 1998 the journal Science published a report that indicated that light exposure to the back of the knee may reset the human circadian pacemaker.
2 another term for pacesetter.
Example sentences
- That is some record for a horse used primarily in those races as a pacemaker.
- The pair was among seven for the 2,400-meter race, including both their respective pacemakers, Diyapour and High Action.
- He and Chris Chataway were the pacemakers as Bannister became the first man to break the four-minute barrier for the mile.
pacemakingadjective& noun
- Example sentences
- Going into this game two points adrift of the pacemaking Potters, the Saints pulled out all the stops to win in devastating style.
- The Saul side now occupy second spot, one point behind pacemaking Round House with a host of teams lining up behind them.
- At the moment they trail pacemaking Comber Rec by six points, but have two games in hand.
Words that rhyme with pacemakerlacemaker
For editors and proofreaders
Syllabification: pace·mak·er
Definition of pacemaker in:
What do you find interesting about this word or phrase?
Comments that don't adhere to our Community Guidelines may be moderated or removed.
= trending


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Yoshi Sodeokas Analog Synthesized Video
Yoshi Sodeoka is the man behind the latest video Elephant from Tame Impala. WHat you should know is that the man has been making analog synthesized videos since 2005 along with DVD, prints and also audio pieces. My favorite video has to be Violet Dark Spring of the Numinous Orb(poster and video above), its a little more my speed.


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Money can buy happiness. Whoever said otherwise didn't receive the SUPERCOMPRESSOR email. Don't be like that guy.
We won't post without your permission. Promise.
Forgot something? Enter the email address you use for Thrillist and we'll send you a link to reset your password.
Never mind. Back to Log In.


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Welcome to Genotox Laboratories
Genotox laboratories is dedicated to providing health care professionals with the information they need to smoothly initiate and then monitor certain medications. We are a CLIA certified high complexity lab utilizing two different methodologies ...We genetically test for variations in a patient's ability to metabolize certain drugs and also provide comprehensive urine drug screen confirmations .We utilize powerful liquid chromatography technology for quick sample turnaround assisting clinicians in their controlled substance medication monitoring programs. We serve pain physicians, family practice, internal medicine, psychiatry ,addiction specialists and recovery centers.
Our genetic testing and toxicology services
- Help you avoid the "one drug fits all" trial and error approach by determining your patients genetic variation in metabolizing such classes of drugs like TCAs, SSRIs , benzodiazepines and opiates
- Monitor patients compliance to a particular plan of care
- Help alert physicians of possible overuse or diversion
- Detect unprescribed medication that could lead to adverse events
- Help identify possible doctor shoppers
Genotox will provide you with lab results that help you deliver a more personalized, patient centric prescribing and medication monitoring program.
Because a closer look today brings better care tomorrow.


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Monday, February 25
John 4:27-42
This passage picks up right in the middle of a story. Jesus has met a woman, a Samaritan woman in fact, at a well. He has a conversation with her, which has just concluded when the disciples arrive. The conversation must have affected the woman because she leaves in a rush. So much so that she leaves her water jar behind. We aren't told if she rushes off in excitement, fear, or disbelief, only that she goes into the town.
While she is gone, Jesus and the disciples have a conversation. The disciples offer Jesus food, which he refuses, claiming to have his own food. Of course the disciples are confused, but Jesus goes on to tell them that his food is to do the will of the Father. He instructs them to look around and to see the fields that are ripe for harvesting. He invites the disciples to enter the harvest, one they have not labored for. The focus then returns to the woman as the people from the town rush out to see this man she has told them about. Because of her testimony many Samaritans come, meet Jesus, and believe in him. The good news of the story is that God uses an unlikely woman to bear his message into the world. She goes into the city as a witness, testifying to what she has seen and heard. Because of her witness people meet Jesus and their lives are transformed. They come to believe not because of her words, but because of their own encounters with Jesus. We, like the woman, are called to be witnesses. We are not called to be judges. We are not the ones who decide who is included or not, not the ones who deem individuals as worthy or unworthy, not the ones who determine who is in or who is out. Rather, we are called to be witnesses. We are witnesses to the loving kindness, gracious initiative, and saving work of God the Father through Jesus Christ. God is at work in the world and we, unlikely characters as we may be, are invited to be part of it, by living as witnesses in the world. That is good news!Kimmy Stokesbary, Seminary Deacon
© Princeton Theological Seminary P.O. Box 821, 64 Mercer Street, Princeton, NJ 08542-0803, 609.921.8300 An Institution of the Presbyterian Church (USA)PTS Calendars | A to Z Index | Information Technology | Trustees Website
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Finance Turns Boring (and Less Profitable)
As investors grapple with problematic earnings news across the financial industry, David Weidner over at Marketwatch, cousin to the Journal Online, has an a good column that analyzes the plight of Wall Street.
His argument: "Without a bubble, Wall Street is a lackluster industry."
It's true that Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and just about every other investment bank had a lousy quarter in comparison with the recent past. Bank of America is caught up in the foreclosure fiasco and questions about earnings quality dog Wells Fargo, Citigroup and J.P. Morgan.
David may be onto something. Or it might just be a bad quarter. Hard to say at present.


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About Us
Welcome to Insurance Servicing & Adjusting Company (ISAC).
ISAC was established in 1956 as an independent adjusting firm in Miami, Florida. In 1989 ISAC became a subsidiary of Jardine Insurance Brokers; in August 2001, the company management concluded a management buy-out; and in July, 2006, ISAC was acquired by DMA Claims Services, headquartered in Los Angeles, CA.
For over a half century, ISAC has delivered high quality personal and commercial lines claims services, field adjusting, catastrophic claims support, and complete claims administration to insurance providers and their insureds. In addition, ISAC also acts as a Third Party Administrator (TPA), for property and casualty insurance programs. Today we work with primary and excess insurance companies, municipalities and self-insureds to provide TPA and field adjusting services across the United States.
Headquartered in Ft. Lauderdale, FL., ISAC has over 100 employees with offices in Dallas and Houston, TX, and Atlanta, GA. Combined with DMA, we offer 120 locations, in 32 states and nationwide catastrophe assistance.
In our business, experience is the best teacher. And we've been learning for more than 50 years. That's why so many property and casualty insurance carriers, Managing General Agents, and Lloyd's brokers turn to Insurance Servicing & Adjusting Company for Catastrophe services, and claims management and administration.


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Decades-Long White House Vigil Interrupted
By Katy Stech
For decades, anti-nuclear protester Concepcion "Connie" Picciotto has led a nonstop peace vigil outside the White House. But Thursday morning, her camp was gone.
Ms. Picciotto had camped in a makeshift hut in Lafayette Park since the 1980s. Ms. Picciotto, originally from Spain, was known for advocating for peace to tourists who would listen, and she has been called the president's closest neighbor. In recent years, she had been assisted by protesters tied to the Occupy movement, according to a recent Washington Post profile.
A spokesman for the U.S. Park Police wasn't immediately available to comment. Officials are allowed to remove unmonitored encampments.
The patch of bricks where her structure once stood was visibly dusty on Thursday morning. Only a few cigarette butts, wrappers and broken binder clip remained.
In a report posted Thursday, the Washington Post reported that Ms. Picciotto and fellow protesters said that the Park Police acted after an activist who was manning the site walked away early in the morning.
The Post profile of Ms. Picciotto earlier this year said that her shelter was a plastic sheet draped over a patio umbrella and held together with binder clips. The article, which published in May and said she was 77 years old, said that her health has suffered since she was hit by a taxi cab.
The city's nonprofit community kept an eye on her.
Julie Turner, a social worker with the Downtown Cluster of Congregations nonprofit, said that Ms. Picciotto has willingly moved from her spot when Inauguration celebrations called for parade viewing stands to be built in her space. But on Thursday, Ms. Turner said she was surprised to hear that the shelter was gone.
"I'm wondering 'why now' because there's nothing going on there," she said.
By Thursday afternoon, photos posted on Twitter showed Ms. Picciotto returning to the protest site.
Connie returns to Lafeyette Park, expects tent to return soon pic.twitter.com/UDo7mM93Z0
— Andrew Rafferty (@AndrewNBCNews) September 12, 2013


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If you would like us to publish a review from you below, please send us your comments through our Contact Us page.
"I have camped at Mill Creek Resort many times before and loved it. after selling my camper my friends in I rented cabin 30 for our yearly 3 day First Monday shopping frenzy. we were treated like royalty from the moment we arrived. the cabin was beautiful and we recovered from our shopping sitting by a roaring fire in the raised fire pit. we have already booked the same cabin for next spring.
My husband and I stayed in cabin #99 from March 28 – 30, 2013 while visiting 1st Monday Trade Days. From the moment we arrived to the moment we departed we were treated like family. Our cottage was clean and comfortable. It was a very quiet and peaceful place to rest after a long day of shopping. Although you cannot park at your cottage, we rented a golf cart to go back and forth. We felt very comfortable leaving our vehicle in the parking lot by the Grand Lodge. Our only disappointment is that upon leaving we tryed to rebook for the October market and there was no availability. We would recommend Mill Creek Ranch resort to anyone who wants a clean, safe and quiet place to stay when visiting Canton, Texas. Everyone was very helpful and friendly!!
I will rate this park as the best park yet. And we have stayed in many across the nation. Everyone was very helpful!
It was great to be able to be disconnected from the city for seven days. The cottage provided great accommodations. Cottages have all that you need to have a relax time. I am glad that we paid extra to have a fire pit and barbecue. The cottage had very nice finishes inside. We will definitely look forward to visiting again soon. "
"Outstanding!!! We could have not picked a better place to have a wedding. We cannot thank Ashley and the staff enough for their great job in taking part of making this a memorable day for my daughter and family members. They helped us plan the wedding, took part in the rehearsal and planned the reception. The wedding ceremony went off without a hitch and the reception was fantastic. The food, drinks, chocolate bar, deserts couldn't have been any better. The food was phenomenal, and the service was even better. We had so many people come up to us at the reception and make positive comments on the food! It was so helpful to let the staff at MCR take care of everything while we enjoyed such a special occasion. We had family come in from out of state and the convenience of them staying on site was so nice. The cottages are beautiful and services were terrific. It was just like being at home. I really like the idea of no vehicles allowed in the cottage area. This provides a very peaceful and tranquil atmosphere. The landscape is very well groomed and the running streams throughout the park makes for a very quaint setting. The Grand Lodge provided a breath taking entrance for the wedding party and all guest were chauffeured to the wedding ceremony via golf carts and then chauffeured to the reception area. If you are looking for a good place to get away for the weekend or a wedding venue, Mill Creek Ranch Resort would be my recommendation. Thank you MCR! "
– Kevin Gattis- Hawkins, Tx
"We made our second stay at Mill Creek Ranch this past weekend. I don't think we have ever stayed at a nicer campground in 20 years of travel. Without exception, every employee was friendly and helpful. They all made us feel like family. The grounds were neat and clean and beautiful. Keep up the good work and thanks for a great time. We will be returning."
– Larry Dellinger, Mustang, OK
"I just wanted to say thank you so much. I think everything went wonderful for the wedding this weekend, better than I imagined. We had a wonderful time, and everyone was incredibly nice and helpful. We will definitely be back, and I will recommend Mill Creek to anyone I know looking for a place to have an event. THANKS AGAIN!!"
– Marla and Barry Sheets – Longview, TX
"I would like to thank the resort for allowing Kemp High School to hold prom there. It was a beautiful place that was perfect for prom and I had fun. It was one of the highlights of my senior year so i really appreciate it. May you all have a blessed day."
– Jessica J – Kemp, TX
"My wife and I were guests at your ranch May 28th, 29th and 30th. We stayed in space 85 and would like to tell you how impressed we were of the place. Of all the RV parks that we have visit, Mill Creek Ranch is by far the best. Everything was so clean and maintained. We came up for Trade Days but will return other times beside Trade Days. People that we meet there and talked to was also impressed even it was their first time or not. The staff was friendly and very professional. The things that you had planned for the evening was a pleasant surprise and very enjoyable. Again thanks for a great weekend while visiting your ranch."
– Leon & Edwina Adams – Houston, TX
"Easter at Mill Creek Ranch"We visited Mill Creek for the first time during Spring Break 2009, and we immediately fell in love with the resort. The staff that greeted us were so nice and helpful, and they even escorted us to our RV site. The next day we visited the cottage models, and we quickly became intrigued by the possibility of owning our own cottage at Mill Creek and earning rental income each month. We enjoyed our stay so much that we have decided to become cottage owners, and we look forward to becoming frequent visitors to Mill Creek. We were back at the resort in our RV for Easter, and our son loved the Easter Egg Hunt and the visit from the Easter Bunny."
– Frank, Deana and William Seigler – Rowlett, TX
"… My husband and I stayed at Mill Creek Ranch Resort from March 13, 2009 – March 18, 2009. We have been members of Coast to Coast for approximately 15 years and having stayed at numerous campgrounds thru the years – we have not stayed at any that can begin to equal the Mill Creek Ranch Resort in attractiveness, amenities and courtesy shown by the employees to the campers. … If a resort can be rated over a 5 – this one is a 10! I urge anyone traveling to the Dallas/Ft Worth area to reserve time to stay at Mill Creek Ranch Resort."
– E. Dolors Carraher – Beeville, CA
"This was our first visit to your park. We were very pleased with the facilities and the extremely friendly staff. Of all the RV parks we have visited, we would have to say this was the nicest of all. We will plan on coming back soon. We were even shocked to meet the owner who personally checked on us as we were setting up and again the next day. Lovely place to stay!!"
– Terry Weaver – Granbury, TX
"We visited your site and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Your establishment is very well maintained, friendly service and smiles everywhere we went. The Saturday night BBQ was wonderful along with the entertainment. You can bet we will become frequent visitors to your location."
– Donald and Ann Moseley – Elkhart, TX
"Mill Creek's staff is warm, very outgoing, extremely proud of their new resort, and out to ensure that your stay is enjoyable. Some of the little things that Mill Creek does to further separate them from other RV parks includes: making your trash mysteriously disappear within minutes after you set it out; checking and cleaning the restrooms and showers every hour; providing a free Saturday night BBQ with live music; free concierge services to guide you to your site and assist with set up; shuttle bus to get guests to and from First Monday Trade Days; and making sure that your site's fire pit has wood. Mill Creek is perfect for outdoor weddings".
– Mike Sharp – www.texasoutside.com
"I had the privilege of visiting this beautiful resort twice this month, be assured I will recount my experience to all who will listen. The staff is excellent at making a weary RV'er feel welcome."
– Thomas King – Dubin, GA
"The stay at Mill Creek was great. It was our first time to stay with you. We were very pleased with everything. I can't finish the email without mentioning the staff. Every staff member we came in contact with were extremely friendly. We are new to RVing and it is refreshing to see a staff with a servants heart. That's difficult to find today. Thank you for a great weekend. We look forward to coming back soon."
God Bless – Todd and Rhonda Zara – McKinney, TX
"Please tell ALL, what a great time we had. The facility is beautiful and your staff is #1. The Saturday night dinner and 50's and 60's band was fantastic."
– Donnie Lord – Waxahachie, TX
"I have to say that this place is the best. The personal attention we received when we arrived was top of the line. Will be telling everyone how wonderful it was at Mill Creek."
– M.J. – Cedar Hill, TX
"Just wanted to thank you and your staff for all of your assistance in making our recent meeting a success. Your facility is lovely and the staff is so friendly and helpful…(Jaime was most kind to drive me back and forth from my cottage and a real delight). The food was great and everything looked so nice. Our bankers enjoyed themselves. Thanks again. You made my job easy!"
– Mae Beth – Austin, TX


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Student Disability Services
The College of Medicine Disability Services work with graduate and medical students with documented disabilities. In order to provide students with disabilities every educational opportunity, disability services will make reasonable accommodations in accordance with Section 504 Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act to ensure full academic involvement while attending Penn State College of Medicine.
Student Disability Services
Basic Process for Applying and Receiving Reasonable Accommodations
1. Any medical or graduate student of the College of Medicine with questions regarding disability services or the Americans with Disabilities Act is encouraged to contact the College of Medicine Office of Disability Services for information. If any student believes they may have a disability, they should feel free to initiate the review process.
2. To request review regarding a possible disability, students must initiate contact with the College Office of Disability Services or the Disability Services Coordinator (DSC). Though others, such as faculty members or advisors may recommend that students contact the office, the office may not initiate contact with any student.
3. Before the office can initiate any action, the student must complete the Penn State College of Medicine Disability Services Information Request Form to provide a written request for services.
4. The DSC will contact the student upon receipt of the form to gather information regarding the student's possible disability. The DSC will also discuss the types of reasonable accommodations which may be available to allow the student equal access to the educational opportunities of the College of Medicine, available services, the student's rights and responsibilities, and documentation guidelines needed to establish the existence and severity of a disability.
5. If the student does not already have detailed documentation of the nature and extent of their disability from medical practitioners, the Office can suggest referrals necessary for obtaining such documentation. However, the cost of obtaining the necessary documentation is borne by the student.
6. Once documentation is provided to determine the existence of a covered disability and the appropriateness of the request for accommodations, it is reviewed by the Disability Services Committee.
7. After review, the student will receive a formal letter from the committee approving or denying their request for accommodation.
8. The DSC will be in contact with the student regarding the implementation of any granted accommodations.
9. The DSC will also be the liaison between the Committee and either faculty members, course directors, or the College administration on matters associated with a disability.
The following detailed descriptions of common conditions, and the information used to support requests for documentation for each of these conditions, are taken from the web site of the Office of Disability Services of Penn State University. The forms provided on these links may be used directly, or as a guide, for providing the essential documentation. Requests for accommodation for the College of Medicine should be made to, and discussed directly with, the College of Medicine Disability Services Coordinator.
- Hearing Impairments
- Learning Disorders
- Mobility Impairments
- Neurological Impairments
- Physical Health Disorders
- Psychological Disorders
- Visual Impairments
Commonly Utilized Accommodations
- Distraction Reduced Examination Environment
- Extended Examination Time
- Note Taker for Lectures
- Textbooks in Alternate Format


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You wouldn't guess it from looking at it, but Liguria has only been open about 20 years. It's modern and festively-decorated, but it gives you the sense that it's got more history than its 1990 founding date would indicate. It was opened in 1990 by the Cicali Genoese family, and maintains a traditional feel, with suited waiters and old photos and memorabilia on the walls.
It's popular with the upper-middle class set, artists, intellectuals and foreigners alike, with good drinks, starting with the excellent pisco sours and all the way through the post-meal digestif. In between, enjoy specialties such as spicy crab claws, steaks and fish dishes, and don't skip dessert for the complete experience.


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Automate your Hardware Support Experience
By Miriam Brace -Oracle on Mar 15, 2012
Oracle understands that optimizing support interactions helps your business to stay efficient and competitive - especially when it comes to known technical issues. Our Oracle Auto Service Request (ASR) capability gives you a clear advantage by eliminating unnecessary phone calls for support on a broad spectrum of system events. ASR works by automatically notifying Oracle -- 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year -- when a qualifying event occurs.
Built-in diagnostics help to further streamline the support process and accelerate our ability to dispatch any needed parts or resources directly to your data center site. The one-way event notification engine ensures that all communications go directly from your system to ours, thereby eliminatingany security concerns you may have.
During the month of March, 2012 we will be reaching out to customers with a short 2-4minute survey to enable you to tell Oracle about your Auto Service Request experience. Please take a few minutes to answer the survey questions as your feedback will drive improvements.
Learn More about Auto Service Request by watching this 2minute video
Get Started today at @


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our dog (when he lives with my MIL but he was my husbands and we pay the bills/decide treatment) has an eye ulcer. Dr wants to treat with plasma, 2 eye medications (1 to lubricate, 1 is a pain killer) plus 2 additional pain killers (around $400 for all this, can pay it if its needed). Then they'll check in 3 days and if its better thats good, if its worse we're off to an eye specialist.
Also, they suggested boarding since my MIL is a teacher so she's gone part of the day. They said he should be watched. (I'm not sure how critical this part is, MIL can over react).
I'm just looking for feedback. Sometimes we've done agressive treatment before (lots of medicines, etc) and it turns out to be nothing more than a minor isssue but we are treating worse case scenario. They are first doing a test to confirm its an eye ulcer.
Can an untreated eye ulcer cause the eye to burst? The ulcer started developing last week.


text: A Comcast spokesman contacted an IDG reporter whose report bubbled up to the New York Times today: "Comcast has made no final decisions on how to manage network congestion, despite news reports Wednesday that it will slow traffic for heavy users for up to 20 minutes during times of peak network use." More likely, said the spokesman, the heaviest network traffic users will be slowed for a minute or two at a time whenever parts of Comcast's network get congested. Comcast has been forbidden by the FCC from blocking applications such as BitTorrent outright. But stupid quote of the day comes from the guy at Public Knowledge: "If there was competition, could you slow down your best customers?" No, you could charge them more. (Chart by the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems)


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ALO/CIO Discussion Board
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This page presents a list of the nineteen members of the Accrediting Commission for Community & Junior Colleges, the Commission staff, dates of Commission meetings, and other information.
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The Sound and the Fury
by William Faulkner
Analysis: Tone
Take a story's temperature by studying its tone. Is it hopeful? Cynical? Snarky? Playful?
Grab Bag
Wait a second, that's not a description!
You're right. But give us just a second to explain, anyway. See, Faulkner's a tonal chameleon. Or a total chameleon. Either way, really. He switches his tone up so often (and so well) that it's hard for us to give it an official title.
When he's in Jason's head, Faulkner's tone is acerbic, sardonic, and downright cruel. Remember Jason's delightful opening line, "Once a bitch, always a bitch, what I say" (3.1)? Exactly. It's almost as if Faulkner's trying to make us hate the guy from the moment we meet him. Quite frankly, it works. Jason is so unwilling to believe that anything good could ever come out of another human being that we find ourselves feeling the same way. Of course, that also means that we're unwilling to believe that there's any good in Jason. Here at Shmoop, we're betting that Faulkner wanted us to feel that way. Check out our analysis of Jason in the "Character Analysis" section for reasons why we feel this way. We promise that it's good.
When we're in Benjy's section, however, the tone of the novel is less easy to pin down. Faulkner's completely committed to representing Benjy's inner world. Because Benjy's mentally handicapped, Faulkner resorts to an impressionistic language of the senses in order to describe Benjy's world. In other words, we don't actually read about Benjy eating oatmeal. Instead, we get a description of how he sees a bowl emptying:
It got down below the mark. Then the bowl was empty. It went away. "He's hungry tonight." Caddy said. The bowl came back. I couldn't see the spot. Then I could. "He's starved, tonight." Caddy said. "Look how much he's eaten." (1.879)
See the difference? It's almost as if Faulkner's trying to avoid a specific tone when he's inside Benjy's mind, if only because Benjy himself hasn't developed a personality which asserts itself in the world. He observes things; things happen to him.
In Quentin's section, however, Faulkner's tone is educated (even pedantic) and frequently neurotic. Quentin's the smartest of the Compsons, sure, but he's also cracking up. Faulkner uses lots of big words and lots of literary/biblical references to make sure that we know just how much stuff Quentin has knocking around in his head, but that doesn't stop him from making Quentin a pretty hard guy to follow. As he delves further and further into his memory, his tone becomes less and less educated, more and more emotional.
The final section of The Sound and the Fury may just be one of Faulkner's biggest literary triumphs. We admit, it's actually a pretty normal part of the novel, right? The Faulknerian voice (if we can call it that) seems to have disappeared completely. There's a third-person narrator whose approach to the events of novel is sedate, even detached. It's almost like a breath of fresh air, isn't it? Here's a sample:
The day dawned bleak and chill, a moving wall of gray light out of the northeast which, instead of dissolving into moisture, seemed to disintegrate into minute and venomous particles, like dust that, when Dilsey opened the door of the cabin and emerged, needled laterally into her flesh, precipitating not so much a moisture as a substance partaking of the quality of thin, not quite congealed oil. (4.1)
We'd just like point out how incredibly literary Faulkner's tone is at this point. The narrator's relaxed, sure, but it's also totally in control of the story that's about to unfold. We love it – if only because it's a reminder of just how crazy the other sections of the novel actually are.


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Princella Hartman, 107, gave time to others
Photo: Sarah Hoffman/Staff Photographer
Princella Hartman clasps her hands while playing dominos on August 14, 2013 at her home in Dallas.
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VIENNA: The price for crude oil produced by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) fell for the ninth day in a row Thursday, data released by the OPEC Friday showed.
One barrel (159 litres) of OPEC-produced crude stood at $122.42 Thursday, down $1.47 from $123.89 the previous day.
OPEC calculates an average basket price based on 13 important brands produced by cartel members.


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Subpoenas Allowed in AutoAdmit Suit
For all you AutoAdmit junkies out there, there's a development in the lawsuit filed against 39 anonymous Web users who allegedly posted defamatory remarks about female law students on the popular, sometimes-raunchy law-school discussion board.
A federal judge in Connecticut is allowing the plaintiffs, two Yale law students, to subpoena the Internet service-providers responsible for the posters' IP addresses in order to identify them. (Background on the saga can be found here, here, here and here.)
In a motion for expedited discovery filed last week, the plaintiffs said informal attempts to obtain the identities of the posters from their Internet service-providers, including Yale Law School; the Universities of Virginia and North Carolina; and Microsoft (owner of Hotmail), among others, had failed. They asked for expedited discovery because, they argued, some of the ISPs may have already deleted information that would help identify the posters. Yesterday's order also allows the Yale students' pro-bono lawyers from Keker & Van Nest to depose former and current site administrators Anthony Ciolli and Jarret Cohen, and another individual who allegedly has information, Ryan Mariner.
As Jonathan Zittrain, professor of internet governance and regulation at the University of Oxford, once told the Law Blog: "It's a cat and mouse game of forensics, and if people don't go to some effort to stay anonymous, it's frequently possible to figure out who they are."


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Flight 360: The Takeoff is the second studio album by Atlanta duo Playaz Circle. The album was released on September 29, 2009. They released a single on iTunes called "Stupid" featuring OJ da Juiceman. This became the first official single, featuring OJ Da Juiceman. Featured guests include Korleone, OJ Da Juiceman, Ludacris, Bobby Valentino, Lil Wayne, The Casey Boys of Jagged Edge, Raekwon, Young Dro, Cee-Lo & Sunni Patterson.
Flight 360: The Takeoff
Buy It Now


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2015 Fellowships
2015-16 Graduate Programs
Summer 2016 Internships
Students, check back here often for information about Summer Internships and Application Deadlines. There are many wonderful Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) opportunities every year.
- Children's Hospital of Philadelphia REU
- Smithsonian
- Upstate Medical University
- Temple Univ. School of Podiatric Medicine
- Central Penn Nursing Care
- Turkey Hill Quality Assurance Intern
NSF - REUs
- Univ. of DE Marine Science
- Roswell Park Cancer Institute
- Neuroscience Related Internships
- University of Nebraska
- Harvard Forest Summer Research Program
- CHOP Research Institute Summer Scholars
- W.E. Kellogg Biological Station REU
- Lehigh Valley Summer Research Program
Huyck Preserve & Biological Research
- Stroud Water Research Center
- SCRiM Summer Scholars Program
- Annis Water Resources Institute


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by Mickey Z.
Sigmund Freud sez: "America is gigantic; but a gigantic mistake.".
America is a nation built upon myth. If you don't believe me, consider the
Florentine merchant-adventurer after whom this country was named. Amerigo
Vespucci probably made at least two voyages to the Americas, but he was not
the leader of any expedition or the first European of his era to set foot on
the mainland. (America named after a self-hyping fraud? It's just too
perfect.) Yes, the USA is a nation built upon myth...and the greatest myth
of all is that the land of the free is gonna last forever.
I'm sure the Aztecs, the Incas, the Romans, and the Mongols were pretty damn pleased with themselves and figured what they were doing could never end.
Known and very popular cialis coupon which gives all the chance to receive a discount for a preparation which has to be available and exactly cialis coupons has been found in the distant room of this big house about which wood-grouses in the houses tell.
Yet, like Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Ozymandias," they are ancient history.
(Shelley and his brand of poetry, alas, are also prehistoric.) The Ottoman Empire ran longer than ³Cats,² for chrissake, and all they left is a place to put your feet after a long day of trading pork bellies.
America the Beautiful. The Declaration of Independence. The Statue of Liberty. Baseball, apple pie, and internal combustion engines built by Chevrolet. All of these are nothing more than the castles made of sand Jimi Hendrix sang about. Hendrix, for that matter, is yet another sandcastle.
Take it even further: Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, and, as Fight Club's Tyler Durden reminds us: "Even the Mona Lisa's falling apart." Our denial forces us to ignore this reality but, whether we admit it or not, what we call "civilization," is indeed fleeting.
If you don't believe me, I have one word for you: Maya. If that civilization is viewed from Pre-Mayan to Pre-Columbian, it would span roughly 3500 years before collapsing. America is 230 years old. The Mayans had us beat by more than 30 centuries but are now barely more than a footnote for most humans.
No one is certain what happened to cause the demise of the Mayan culture but this description from the One World Journeys website has an jarringly recognizable ring: "History is a continual ebb and flow of civilizations, but the collapse of many great Maya cities occurred within a fairly short amount of time centuries before the Spanish arrived. Archeologists are still trying to answer the mystery of why this happened. Several answers are emerging, with overpopulation and the resulting exhaustion of land resources leading the list. The soil of the rain forest is actually poor in nutrients.
Crops can be grown for only two or three years, then must be allowed to go fallow for up to 18 years. This requires ever increasing destruction of the rain forest (and animal habitat) to feed a growing population. Other reasons for the collapse include increased warfare; a prolonged drought; a bloated ruling class requiring more and more support from the worker classes; increased sacrifices extending even to the lower classes; and possible epidemics owing to the dense populations in the urban centers.". It calls to mind the words of jazz legend Sonny Rollins: "What I am more concerned about is whether our whole civilization will be around in the next 25 years.".
(Inspired by the recent assassination of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya) There's no shortage of outrage on the Left. Plenty...
Put a frog into a pot of boiling water, the well-known parable begins, and out that frog will jump to escape the obvious danger. Put that same...
If one were to believe the hype, nothing less than the fate the civilized world is riding on the results of the upcoming midterm elections....
by Mickey Z. Thanks to the nuclear aspirations of North Korea and Iran, there's no shortage of rhetoric along these lines: "We can't let...
by Mickey Z. A casual stroll through most major U.S. cities would provide ample opportunity to encounter numerous stickers, buttons,...
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This is a compact, wide angle lens which enables tilt and shift movements. Designed with UD glass to minimize and compensate for chromatic aberrations, its floating optical system, with aspherical lens element, corrects distortion and other aberrations resulting in high image quality and glare-free imagery. This is the perfect lens for shooting architecture, landscapes and other wide angle shots.
Rental Package Includes: Lens, front & rear lenscaps and lens hood
Note: This lens is a manual focus-only lens
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Brenton signs pro deal to play in Japan
July 17, 2013
Stony Brook, N.Y. - Stony Brook men's basketball all-time leading rebounder and 2013 Lefty Driesell National Defensive Player of the Year Tommy Brenton is headed overseas to play professional basketball. The two-time graduate of Stony Brook University has signed a contract to play in the Japanese Basketball League (JBL).
Brenton becomes the 15th Seawolves basketball player to sign a professional basketball contract and the ninth during current head coach Steve Pikiell's tenure. In the last three years alone, eight Seawolves have gone on to play in the pros, including the entire senior class of 2012 - Danny Carter, Bryan Dougher, Dallis Joyner and Al Rapier.
"Tommy made an impact on the Stony Brook men's basketball program like no other student-athlete, and it excites me to now call him a professional basketball player," Pikiell said. "He exemplifies everything we hope to develop in a student-athlete; he competed hard on the court and helped us win championships, he earned not only his bachelor's degree, but also his master's degree and now he's a pro. We wish him well as he moves to Japan to begin a new and exciting chapter of his career."
The JBL has many former U.S. college players currently active in the league, including Nick Fazekas (Nevada), Magnum Rolle (Louisiana Tech), Jamar Smith (Maryland) and Jameel Watkins (Georgetown).
Brenton grabbed 1,115 rebounds in his Stony Brook career, by far the most of any man who put on the Seawolves uniform. He also finished first in program history in steals (220) and first in the program's Div. I history in assists (405). Widely regarded as one of the nation's top defenders, he was the recipient of the 2013 Lefty Driesell Award as the National Defensive Player of the Year and was also an Associated Press Honorable Mention. He also was the 2013 America East Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, just the second student-athlete in conference history to win both awards in the same season. Brenton finished his career as a three-time All-America East and three-time America East All-Defensive team recipient.
The program's all-time leader in games played (127), Brenton captained the Seawolves his junior and senior seasons and helped Stony Brook win three America East regular season championships and earn three postseason NIT berths. Stony Brook was 85-42 (.669) overall and 49-15 (.766) with Brenton on the court.
Brenton earned his bachelor's degree in sociology and history from Stony Brook in 2012 and completed his master's in professional development in coaching in 2013.


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Collaborate 12: The Week That Was
By Kellsey Ruppel-Oracle on Apr 27, 2012
Today's guest post comes from Jake Kuramoto (@theappslab). Jake is Product Strategy Director on the WebCenter Evangelism Team and spent the week out in Vegas for Collaborate. Thanks for sharing your reflections Jake!
Collaborate 12 (#C12LV) has wrapped, and overall, I really enjoyed the event.
I'll lead off with a big thanks to all the organizers from OAUG (@oaug1), IOUG (@ioug) and Quest (@questusergroup), with a special mention for the IOUG WebCenter Special Interest Group (SIG) who made sure we found the right sessions and networked with the right folks. This is a definitely a special group, e.g. they rocked togas at the 80s Party on Wednesday night. Legit.
Another highlight was Christian (@cfinn) and his flying monkeys. I won't give away the specifics, but if you find him speaking at an event you're attending, make an effort to go.
I then spent several hours working the Sites demo booth. Booth duty always seems like a chore until I get into it. I enjoy talking to people and listening to what they have to say, and once the traffic starts to flow, the time flies.
Andy's session was unfortunately timed to overlap with lunch. Had it been a smidge later, I suspect he would have drawn ten times more people, given the content. Andy showed several key features of OSN, including how to connect it to other business applications.
By the end of the conference, I left Vegas feeling like I had put in a good week. I had the pleasure of meeting dozens of new people and reconnecting with people I've know for years.