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The Russian connection: See all our coverage | Read about our investigation
Andy KrollNov. 7, 2012 2:02 PM
Senator-elect Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin.
There she goes again, making history.
Liberal congresswoman Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin ended Republican Tommy Thompson's four-decade political career, winning 51 percent of the vote on Tuesday in the state's bitterly fought US Senate race. Baldwin will be the first openly gay senator in the institution's history and Wisconsin's first female senator, just as she became the first openly gay Wisconsin State assemblywoman in 1992, and the first openly gay candidate to win a US House election in 1998. Baldwin knows the significance of her election: "Sometimes I think my most significant contribution is not the legislative initiatives I introduce, but the stereotypes I shatter."
Baldwin said that in 1993. During her victory speech Tuesday night, she downplayed her history-making win. "I didn't run to make history; I ran to make a difference," she said. "A difference in the lives of students worried about debt and seniors worried about their retirement security."
That comment speaks volumes about the campaign run by Baldwin and her team. They didn't tout Baldwin as a pathbreaker; instead they pitched her to Wisconsinites across the state as a champion of working people and an avowed defender of Wisconsin manufacturing.
Baldwin's first campaign ad set the tone: It was a broadside against China's currency manipulation and a full-throated defense of Wisconsin's paper industry. "In Wisconsin, we lead the entire nation in paper industry jobs," Baldwin said. "But China, they lead the world in cheating." You could imagine a tea partier saying that—but a Democrat from Dane County, Wisconsin, a bastion of liberalism "surrounded by reality"?
Political experts praised Baldwin's decision to focus on economics and jobs. "You're talking about someone stepping outside the stereotypes and representing herself in a way that is right up the alley of job creation," Charles Franklin, a political scientist who oversees Marquette University's polling, told me this summer. "I don't think you can win on just the paper issue, but she's chosen the issue that seems to me to have the potential for much broader appeal."
Baldwin's focus on manufacturing and blue-collar workers, and also the discipline and hard work I saw her put in on the trail this summer paid off in the end. "I think Tammy ran a flawless race," Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "She was unflappable."
Tommy Thompson...not so much. He courted controversy during his campaign by, for instance, claiming he was the man to "do away with Medicare." His years as a Washington lobbyist and the money he made from that gig dogged him all the way to Election Day. (Wisconsin Democrats made sure of that.)
Thompson, who served four terms as Wisconsin governor, also began his battle with Baldwin short on cash after a tough primary fight. He raised $7.4 million for his Senate campaign, well short of Baldwin's $12.6 million haul. As the general election got underway Baldwin used her financial advantage to blitz the airwaves with ads supporting her. Both candidates saw outside money-funded ads hammer them. Of the $66 million spent in the Baldwin-Thompson race—a state record, by the way—almost $46 million came from super-PACs and nonprofit groups.
Thompson led Baldwin in the polls right after his mid-August primary win, but Baldwin's barrage and finely tuned message paid off. She took the lead in the race in late September, and never relinquished it.
Adam SerwerNov. 7, 2012 12:34 PM
Until Tuesday night, the anti-gay rights movement had been undefeated at the ballot box, winning every single time same-sex marriage rights had been put to a popular vote. Thirty-two states had voted to restrict same-sex marriage, including deep blue California.
Then last night, for the first time ever, as my colleague Kate Sheppard noted last night, Americans voted to legalize same-sex marriage through statewide referendums in three states: Maine, Washington and Maryland, while defeating a proposed amendment to the Minnesota state constitution to ban same-sex marriage. After losing at the ballot box thirty-two times, last night supporters of marriage equality swept all four contests where those rights were put to a vote.
Anti-gay rights activists have worked for years to build up firewalls in the states against same-sex marriage, hoping to hold off the tide of historical inevitability. In several of theses contests, polls that showed support for marriage equality ahead would turn out to be painfully wrong when the votes were counted. Opponents of same-sex marriage read this as proof that in the privacy of the voting booth, their moral vision would prevail. The National Organization for Marriage saw their path to victory in peeling off socially conservative and religious minority voters who usually vote for Democrats and enlisting them in the fight against same-sex marriage rights. Internal documents showed that NOM believed that by putting forth black and Latino spokespeople, they could discredit the idea of same-sex marriage as a civil rights cause and drive a wedge between two typically Democratic constitutencies. In several states, legislatures passed laws legalizing same-sex marriage, but NOM's frequent wins at the ballot box whenever same-sex marriage rights were put to a popular vote, they argued, proved that the arc of history did not necessarily bend towards marriage equality.
That changed Tuesday night, as voters went to the polls in three states and voted to grant same-sex couples the same rights as heterosexual ones. The results are harbingers of the future in several crucial ways: LGBT activists' win in Maryland, which has a large population of black voters, suggests that NOM's racist wedge strategy is crumbling. With the Supreme Court potentially taking cases challenging the constitutionality of bans on same-sex marriage in the near future, the Justices may see wins in Maryland, Washington (if the lead holds) and Maine as a sign that if they ruled in favor of same-sex marriage rights, they would not be seen as foisting a drastic cultural change on a country that is not prepared to recieve it. Instead, the Justices assumed to be on the fence, like Anthony Kennedy, could be more easily persuaded that this is a cause whose time has come.
Regardless of what the Supreme Court decides however, this is the beginning of the end for the anti-marriage equality movement. They long ago began to lose in the courts and state legislatures. Now they have begun losing at the polls. This battle may go on for years, but there is no longer any doubt about the outcome.
Stephanie MencimerNov. 7, 2012 12:18 PM
Mia Love speaks at the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida.
Utah Republicans must be apoplectic today. Despite gerrymandering his district for the second time in a decade, despite the presence of a Mormon GOP presidential candidate on the ballot, and even after spending a combined $5 million, the GOP has once again failed to rid the state of its last remaining congressional Democrat, Rep. Jim Matheson.
This year, the Republicans took their best shot yet at Matheson, who has survived a host of close races in his career. In this election cycle, Matheson faced a surprisingly strong candidate, Mia Love, the Haitian-American, Mormon, tea party conservative mayor of Saratoga Springs. Starting out as a virtual unknown, the telegenic part-time fitness instructor and former flight attendant landed a major speaking slot at the Republican convention in Tampa and became a national media darling. The party's biggest names stumped for Love in Utah, bringing her from a double-digit polling deficit in the spring to a five-point lead right before the election. The race shattered state spending records, and at $10 million, became the most expensive House race in state history. But in the end, even robocalls from Mitt Romney weren't enough to push Love into the winner's circle.
There had been much fear among Democrats that Utah voters would simply vote a straight GOP ticket thanks to Romney's presence at the top. But at least in the 4th District, where Matheson was running, that simply wasn't the case. The results of the election seemed to prove that Matheson knew what he was talking about when he told me this summer that Utahans are not the straight-ticket Republican voters they're often made out to be. He said his constituents really are true independent voters who vote the person, not the party.
Love's tea party policy views may have been too extreme even for one of the nation's reddest states (she even supported ending the federal school lunch program), though it's almost certain that she suffered from her campaign's disorganization. Despite reinforcements from Washington, Love's campaign was plagued with logistical problems (she stood up Romney when she was supposed to introduce him at the NAACP convention), staff turnover and embarrassing media episodes. After Mother Jones raised questions about the story she'd been telling about her family's immigration history, Love's campaign tried to deflect some of the fallout by releasing an internal poll claiming she had taken a 13-point lead in the race.
Love's campaign seemed unable to manage even the basic paperwork required to rent a table at a Utah teachers' convention this fall, a mishap that left her wandering the exhibit hall handing out flyers in violation of the rules. Making the jump from mayor of a town of 18,000 (where Love was elected with a mere 800 or so votes) to member of Congress representing more than 700,000 people in a brand-new district, required a well-coordinated ground game, and that's probably where Matheson outhustled Love. Matheson prevailed by only about 2800 votes, according to the still-unofficial count. But Utah's Democrats, who have been very lukewarm on Matheson because of his conservatism, seem to have rallied to save their voice in Congress. Reports the Deseret News:
Utah Democratic Party chairman Jim Dabakis said his party saw the Romney tsunami coming.
Utah Democratic Party chairman Jim Dabakis said his party saw the Romney tsunami coming.
"We worked harder. We knocked on more doors. We organized as we've never done before, and I think it made a difference," he said, citing the work of the newly formed LDS Democrats and other groups for Matheson's win.
"We worked harder. We knocked on more doors. We organized as we've never done before, and I think it made a difference," he said, citing the work of the newly formed LDS Democrats and other groups for Matheson's win.
Matheson has been criticized by some in his party for being a "Democrat in name only," because of his vote against Obamacare and other key liberal legislation, and they've suggested that it wouldn't matter much for the state whether he was reelected or not. But while Matheson has been a solid Blue Dog Democrat, the differences between him and Love were stark, especially when it came to the environment. Matheson, who was once a lobbyist for a DC environmental group, has been an strong voice in the House for protecting Utah's wilderness and watershed areas. Love campaigned on a platform calling for turning Utah's federal park lands over to the state, which would potentially open them up for mining and drilling.
Despite her loss, Love will probably not disappear from the political scene. She's still mayor of Saratoga Springs, of course. And like Sarah Palin, she clearly has a future as a Fox News analyst. But also, the Romney campaign and the national GOP relied heavily on Love during this year's campaign season to dispel criticism that theirs is a party of old white men. Even if Republicans can't take another shot at redistricting Matheson for another eight or nine years, they can prep Love for a rematch in 2014, and after her embarrassing defeat this week, she will probably be spoiling for a fight.
Dana LiebelsonNov. 7, 2012 12:13 PM
Each man in the Montana Senate race wanted to prove he was the bigger cowboy. The contest attracted record-breaking campaign donations that worked out to about $16 per cow. And after a long night of ballot counting, the Associated Press announced Wednesday morning that the winner of this Western standoff is seven-fingered incumbent Democrat Jon Tester, whose victory ensures Democrats and their allies will control at least 53 seats in the Senate.
The race between Tester and Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg was among the most closely watched of this election cycle, with the two candidates running neck and neck throughout the campaign. Outside groups, including Karl Rove's American Crossroads, spent at least $23 million running attack ads in the state, making it the most expensive race in Montana's history.
Tester, a third-generation farmer, has served on the Senate since 2007. He's pro-choice, supports Obamacare, and voted to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell, even though he doesn't support gay marriage. He took a strong stance against the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling, predicting it would be "disastrous for our democracy." He even proposed that both he and Rehberg should pledge to refuse any Super PAC or third-party group support during the Senate race—a suggestion that Rehberg shot down.
Rehberg, a fifth-generation rancher, tried to portray himself as a maverick by skipping the Republican National Convention and highlighting his opposition to the Paul Ryan's budget in campaign ads. But the GOPer drew criticism over his enthusiasm for domestic drilling, staunch denial of climate change, and past opposition to AIDS funding. According to Rehberg, "The problem with AIDS is, you get it, you die, so why are we spending any money on people that get it[?]"
A super-PAC funded by Tester supporters made a last-minute $500,000 ad buy for Dan Cox, a libertarian candidate who looks certain to draw more than 5 percent of the vote. The Montana GOP has accused Tester supporters of dirty tricks for allegedly trying to funnel Rehberg votes to Cox. They're right to be peeved: Cox's vote total is currently greater than Tester's winning margin, adding weight to the theory that the libertarian's presence in the race may have made the difference.
This year's Montana Senate race will also be remembered for its strange, entertaining campaign ads: Rehberg supporters made fun of Tester's haircut, accused him of not tipping and said Obama and Tester were twins. The Montana Democratic party tried to frame Rehberg as a drunk and showed Tester bringing Montana beef to Washington. And then there was the ad for Cox showing a guy on a hunting trip with his son shooting out a security camera. Boring, the Montana Senate race was not.
Nov. 7, 2012 11:29 AM
Sgt. Kyle M. Crance, weapons and tactics instructor and CH-46E Sea Knight crew chief, Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 364 (Rein.), 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, fires a M240D machine gun while flying over the Indian Ocean, Oct. 25.
U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. John Robbart III.
Andy KrollNov. 7, 2012 3:39 AM
The news moved slowly through the crowd. There were no boos, no hisses, no dropped glasses. Country singer Jamie O'Neal and the band had just finished the last song of their set. But there was Fox News anchor Bret Baier, on the big screen at the Republican National Convention's election night party in downtown Washington, soberly delivering the news: President Obama was projected the winner of Ohio's 18 electoral votes.
"That's the presidency," Baier said.
"It's over," added Fox White House correspondent Ed Henry.
[Read more]
Kate SheppardNov. 7, 2012 3:23 AM
Tuesday was an historic first for gay marriage—three times over.
Voters in Maryland, Maine, and Washington all approved ballot measures—by significant margins—allowing gay marriage in their states. Never before have voters gone to the polls in any state and directly approved gay marriage.
Maryland's vote affirms the state legislature's passage of same-sex marriage in February. Maine's reverses a 2009 referendum that blocked gay marriage. Washington state's decision to approve marriage equality builds on its 2009 vote that expanded domestic partnerships to something called, at the time, "everything but marriage."
Meanwhile, marriage rights advocates await a final tally in Minnesota, where a ballot measure asked voters whether to amend the state constitution to explicitly ban gay marriage. Since the state already has a law banning same-sex marriages, a defeat of the measure wouldn't make gay marriage legal. But it would prevent the state from erecting yet another obstacle to approving them in the future.
UPDATE, 12:40 PDT: Minnesotans have defeated the attempt to amend the state's constituition to ban gay marriage, giving four victories to same-sex marriage supporters.
Tim MurphyNov. 7, 2012 3:12 AM
Update: The Associated Press has called Minnesota's 6th district for Rep. Michele Bachmann, who held off Jim Graves by one point. With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Rep. Allen West trails by about 2,500 votes, but the race has not yet been called.
Adding to the GOP's misery on Tuesday night: The continued demise of the tea party wave. Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Allen West (R-Fla.) were both locked in tight races with their Democratic challengers as of early Wednesday morning, with recounts possibly forthcoming. (Update: As of 4 a.m. EST, the district's final tally showed West losing by just under 2,500 votes.) A third ringleader, Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.), lost to Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth by nine points.
Bachmann's poor performance—she led by just 1244 votes with 91.4 percent of precincts reporting as of 4 a.m. EST—was a reflection of her own dimming popularity in a district she's represented since 2006. She was expected to cruise to re-election after a non-partisan redistricting panel made her suburban Twin Cities seat, already Minnesota's most conservative, even more red. But after a quixotic presidential campaign and a never-ending string of embarrassing statements (such as her assertion that a top Hillary Clinton aide was a Muslim Brotherhood plant), that's not how it turned out. Bachmann faced off against Jim Graves, a Minneapolis hotel magnate who was able to give his campaign seed money and—critically, in a tight race—persuade the Independent Party not to field a candidate in the race. That the race was tightening was evident over the final weeks of the campaign, as Bachmann sought to redefine herself, improbably enough, as a independent-minded deal-breaker capable of working across party lines to bring home pork for her district.
West, a freshman legislator, sought to win a district that went to Obama by just three points in 2008. But he faced a formidable challenger in Patrick Murphy, a former Republican whose family runs a huge contracting business in South Florida. Murphy picked up the backing of national Democrats (Bill Clinton flew to West Palm Beach for a fundraiser) and raised more money than almost any other challenger in the country this fall. He also received a boost from a super-PAC, American Sunrise, seeded with $250,000 from Murphy's father, Thomas. Like Bachmann, West tried to shift attention away from his bomb-throwing rhetoric, running campaign ads portraying himself as a defender of the social safety net, and a dyed-in-the-wool environmentalist. To wit:
In one of the campaign's most memorable television spots, he drew a contrast between his two-decade military career and Murphy's youth—seizing on a disorderly conduct arrest from 2003, when West was on the verge of shipping to Iraq. (Left unmentioned: The detainee abuse that sparked West's return stateside.) Watch:
With 97 percent of precincts reporting, Murphy led West by just over 1,000 votes.
Josh HarkinsonNov. 7, 2012 2:06 AM
Colorado on Tuesday night became the first state in the nation to legalize recreational marijuana, beating out Washington by about an hour.
Barring a legal challenge, anyone over the age of 21 can soon walk into a marijuana dispensary in the Rocky Mountain State and buy some bud—and not the kind made by Anheuser-Busch.
But the fight for legal weed in Colorado and around the country is far from over. Cracking down on pot is still a centerpiece of federal drug enforcement policy, and the feds may try to quash Colorado's legal weed program before it gets started.
Kate SheppardNov. 7, 2012 1:48 AM
When the new Congress is seated in January, it will include a record number of women.
Wins for Democrat Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts, Republican Deb Fischer in Nebraska, and Democrat Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin will make all three the first female senators from their state. And Democratic women successfully defended their Senate seats in Missouri, Minnesota, California, Michigan, Washington, and New York. Meanwhile, Hawaii will send either Democrat Mazie Hirono or Republican Linda Lingle to the Senate, meaning that there will be at least 18 19 women in the Senate—and it could still be 19 20 if Democrat Heidi Heitkamp pulls out a win in North Dakota.*
* It looks like we undercounted in our initial estimate.
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Stay connected with us to get the latest health and fitness news, innovative workouts, healthy recipes and wellness tips.
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This sauce is like a creamy béarnaise sauce except it skips the butter, egg yolks and fuss. It's spiked with lemon juice, zesty Dijon mustard and, of course, tarragon. Try it with poached eggs or even grilled steak.
Nutrition Profile:
Diabetes Appropriate
Healthy Weight
Heart Healthy
Low Calorie
Low Carb
Low Cholesterol
Low Sat Fat
Low Sodium
Serves 16
Prep Time 10 min
Total Time 10 min.
Step 1
Whisk yogurt, mayonnaise, tarragon, lemon juice, water, mustard, salt and pepper in a small bowl.
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Flatten your stomach and build strength in the muscles that provide stability and mobility for the spine, pelvis, ribs and hips.
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This workout provides a challenging total-body workout that can be done from the comfort of home with no equipment other than bodyweight and space.

subset: commoncrawl


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Baidu's Margins: Have They Bottomed?
Baidu's (BIDU) shrinking margins have been the sore point for the company and its investors, as the company spends more and more to earn less and less. And following last week's earnings report, few analysts were willing to predict an end to the trend.
Macquarie's Jiong Shao, George Meng, and Jose Pun, however, think Baidu's margins have found a bottom, with reservations. In a report dated April 26, they write:
We continue to believe Baidu has embarked on a potential multi-year investment cycle. That said, Q1 non-GAAP op margins of 39%, down 7 percentage points QoQ, may be trough margins at least in the near term.
The risks, however, are high. They note that the cost of acquiring content has jumped, its online-video site iQiyi is sucking up money and margins could also get hit by more acquisitions. As a result, they preferQihoo 360 Technology (QIHU), Youku Tudou (YOKU), Sina (SINA), and Ctrip.com International (CTRP).
Baidu has gained 1.6% today to $86.41 today, while Qihoo has risen 0.8% to $34.15. Youku Tudou has surged 7.1% to $20.25, after the company's chairman said mobile viewership rose 50% this month from the end of last year. Sina has jumped 10.2% to $55.45, after Alibba bought an 18% stake in the company.


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Sponsor message.
Motorsport: Quickchat with Ross MacKay
12:05 PM Wednesday Oct 24, 2012
The New Zealand Herald motorsport correspondent and nzherald.co.nz motorsport host Eric Thompson chats with Ross MacKay, editor of Kiwi Rider and a man with interests in many other pies. We talk about the Malaysian MotoGP, why New Zealand hasn't a world class road racer at the moment and hat the solution might be. Also, we discuss karting and how it helps youngsters get into motorsport and what might happen at the Gold Coast 600 with all the international drivers turning up.


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Like regular bling but of web sites, web bling is flashy show off graphics and animation valuing bling excessive flash over substance.
Wow the web bling of that site is so cool, too bad they don't have any details that back up their claims, some actual function to the site would be nice too.
by pwvl April 15, 2011


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The Sweet Stillness of Wine Country
Auberge on the Vineyard • Cloverdale, CA
Escape Kit
- A Two-Night Stay for Two in the Victorian House, Sundays through Thursdays ($192) or Fridays and Saturdays ($215) from Now to June 30 or from November 1 to December 31
- Or, a Two-Night Stay for Two in the Carriage House, Sundays through Thursdays ($255) or Fridays and Saturdays ($290) from Now to June 30 or from November 1 to December 31
- Daily Three-Course Breakfast for Two
- Master Wine Tasting Pass to 120 Area Wineries
- $50 Credit Toward a Massage for Two at Main Street Spa
There are countless reasons Budget Travel named Cloverdale, California, the #2 Coolest Small Town in America in 2010. But for some, it was written in the stars: "I didn't realize what a difference the clear, dark skies make," one resident told the The Press Democrat. "You can look up and see the stars. It's just amazing."
Clear your head amid the constellations with this week's Escape to Auberge on the Vineyard, a Healdsburg-area B&B where the sky's the limit—and the views of Alexander Valley vineyards are nonpareil.
You'll get a two-night stay for two in one of three Victorian House rooms, Sundays through Thursdays ($192) or Fridays and Saturdays ($215) from now to June 30 or from November 1 to December 31. Or, opt for a two-night stay for two in one of four Carriage House rooms, Sundays through Thursdays ($255) or Fridays and Saturdays ($290) from now to June 30 or from November 1 to December 31.
The 1910 Victorian House is divided into three rooms—the Hermitage, Margaux, and Lorraine—and each offers plentiful window seating with views of the valley, period furniture, heirloom antiques, and luxe linens, plus plush towels in each private bathroom.
Meanwhile, the Carriage House, split into four rooms—the Sancerre, Vouvray, Echezeaux, and Montrachet—was added to the property in 1980 and boasts a large common area with vineyard and mountain views, as well as a west-facing gallery, fireplace, flat-screen TV, and butler's pantry with complimentary drinks and snacks.
You and your moonstruck companion will be treated to a daily French-inspired three-course breakfast at 9 a.m. in the dining room of this Queen Anne Victorian inn. Past guests have called the experience "mind-blowing" and promise that "each breakfast surpassed the next."
Post-pastry, use your two-day Master Wine Tasting Pass at 120 area wineries in Northern California Wine Country, where "eating and, above all, drinking are cultivated as high arts," says Fodor's.
Then, head back to Cloverdale to use your $50 credit toward an astronomically soothing massage for two at Main Street Spa.
This week's Escape proves our theory that you can while away in Wine Country—without the Big Bang on your wallet.
"The most enjoyable bed and breakfast we have ever visited. Cloverdale [is] slower paced, quaint, and unassuming. Roxanne is simply a wonderful hostess and a very accomplished chef. ...each breakfast surpassed the next."-- TripAdvisor
escapes 30-day promise
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- Merchant cancellation/re-scheduling policy of 8 days applies; voucher subject to forfeiture and a $25 administration fee
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Rental vacancy figures get a boost.
According to new retail property market data, Australian retailers trading in New Zealand appear to have performed better here than they have back home, helping leasing activity stay positive in Auckland over the past 12 months, says Alan McMahon, chairman of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in New Zealand.
"The retail market has been a surprise stand-out in terms of performance this year," says McMahon. "Despite that, rental growth remains elusive and incentives are still playing a part in lease negotiations, especially in secondary locations."
Hot spots of high demand are concentrated around prime locations as well as in sites where significant retail projects are underway, for example in the underserviced area of Stoddard Rd, Mt Roskill and the growth area of Silverdale, north of Auckland.
Weakness in consumer spending in the Australian market continues to pose a risk to New Zealand expansion, with some chains closing stores in Australia, while others have reallocated resources to open stores in emerging markets such as China.
"Our projection for Auckland anticipates a modest increase in prime retail rentals. For the moment, there is still steady demand from New Zealand and Australian retail chains for prime retail outlets," McMahon says.
Overall vacancy in the Auckland retail market has remained virtually constant over the past year, up 0.5 per cent to five per cent in June 2012. Close to 27,000 sq m of retail space remains empty across the Auckland CBD, Newmarket, Dominion Rd, Takapuna, Ponsonby Rd, Parnell and Henderson precincts.
However, four of the seven retail precincts experienced a reduction in vacancy in the past 12 months. Takapuna in particular showed a noticeable improvement, declining to 3.1 per cent after peaking at 5.6 per cent at the end of June 2011.
Vacancy in the larger and higher profile areas of Queen Street and Newmarket are 3.8 per cent and six per cent respectively, each declining 0.3 per cent over the past 12 months.
Henderson recorded the highest retail vacancy, at 7.8 per cent in June 2012. A year ago Dominion Rd vacancy reached a record low of 4.5 per cent and has remained relatively flat since then, up 0.3 per cent to 4.8 per cent in the year to June 2012. On the other hand, vacancy along Ponsonby Rd remains tight at just 1.9 per cent. "As the economy continues to slowly gather momentum, we anticipate a reduction in prime retail vacancy in Auckland over the next 12 months," McMahon says.
"In terms of new supply in Auckland, two retail developments along Stoddard Road have been a welcome addition to the Mt Roskill precinct, which has been underserviced for many years," he says.
McMahon says the activity of supermarkets and general merchandisers has stimulated the development of the retail areas around them. New World recently opened on Stoddard Road and The Warehouse and McDonalds are also due to open, along with 20 smaller format stores, in a new centre expected to be complete by the first quarter of 2013.
The Silverdale Centre, situated in an area experiencing rapid population growth, has proved popular among retailers and opened last month.
The Warehouse serves as a major anchor tenant in the new Silverdale centre with 34 other retailers, adding about 24,000 sq m of retail space. Other tenants confirmed there include Countdown, Noel Leeming and Number One Shoes.
NZRPG's plans for a new metropolitan centre at Westgate includes distinctive precincts for mall and street-based retail, bulky goods and homemaker retail, and trade-based retail.
"A staggering 192,000 square metres of space will be offered in the Westgate centre as stages become available over the next few years," says McMahon.
New life has been given to the 13,609 sq m former DYC Vinegar factory site in Ponsonby after its owner, Progressive Enterprises, unveiled plans to invest $73 million into a new development. The site will comprise Cider, a new commercial and retail development, and a residential precinct known as Vinegar Lane. The proposed Cider building will feature a 4360 sq m Countdown supermarket with five underground parking levels as well as four levels of office space above the supermarket.
Retail spending is showing some signs of growth, developments are being planned and built, and vacancy levels in the best shopping precincts are stable or falling. But any talk of recovery has to be tempered with a degree of caution - as it will be patchy, McMahon says.
"Most shopping centres expect stable rents and values. That is better than the generally declining picture of the past two to three years, but not encouraging enough to trigger new retail supply around the country," he says.


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New Rasmussen poll in NC shows Obama's same-sex marriage bounce
posted at 10:01 am on May 16, 2012 by Ed Morrissey
Eight days ago, North Carolina voters added the previously existing statutory language defining marriage as between one man and one woman to their state constitution. The very next day, Barack Obama — who won North Carolina by 0.3% in 2008 — endorsed the legalization of same-sex marriage. A new Rasmussen poll shows the predictable consequences, which will likely end North Carolina's status as a battleground state this cycle:
Mitt Romney has moved out to an eight-point lead over President Obama in North Carolina after the two men were virtually tied a month ago.
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in the Tar Heel State shows the putative Republican nominee earning 51% of the vote to Obama's 43%. Two percent (2%) like some other candidate, and four percent (4%) are undecided.
That's a big change from last month when Romney posted a narrow 46% to 44% lead over the president in Rasmussen Reports' first survey of the race in North Carolina. Democrats have signaled North Carolina's importance as a key swing state by deciding to hold their national convention in Charlotte this summer.
Yes, that decision is certainly turning out well for Democrats in and out of the state, isn't it?
Let's take a look at the numbers inside the poll. The D/R/I is pretty even at 36/35/30, probably a good electoral model; in 2008 it was 42/31/27, but obviously the turnout model is going to look different this time around. Independents break narrowly for Romney, 49/45, but Romney also gets 18% of Democrats while losing only 6% of Republicans. That 18% of Democrats looks awfully close to the 20.3% that voted "no preference" in last week's primary rather than cast a vote for Obama, too, for a little independent corroboration of that number.
Romney leads among men 50/44, but does even better among women, 53/41. That will send a shiver up spines at Team Obama. Rasmussen uses three age demos, and Obama wins the youngest, but only 50/39, another red flag. Romney wins wide majorities in the other two, including a whopping 68/30 split among seniors.
Rasmussen didn't have a favorability question for Obama, but they did test for job approval. Obama's underwater at 46/54, slightly better at 49/51 among independents. Romney's favorability looks much better at 54/43. In both cases, there is very little room for change, with almost no one undecided on these questions. On the economy, 89% rate it fair or poor, with only 10% rating it good; 31% think it's improving, but 41% think it's getting worse, while 24% think it's staying the same. These are bad numbers for an incumbent President, especially one who just alienated more than 60% of voters the day after they went to the polls.
One more interesting note from the poll: voter-ID laws are remarkably popular, at 80/15. Two-thirds of black voters support ID checks at the ballot box in North Carolina, a very surprising result given the usual claims that such laws are discriminatory. Only 26% of likely voters believe that to be true, according to this poll, although black voters split almost equally on that question, 46/44.
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- Mitt Romney Gets A Bounce In North Carolina After Obama Evolved On Gay Marriage; Republicans Should Take Notesb
- Romney Leads Obama In NC » Pirate's Cove
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- Obama's dead-cat bounce in NC | Right Angles
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- NPR Spreads False Claim About Black Voters 'Targeted' by Voter ID Laws|PolitifreakPolitifreak
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- Thom Tillis Promises GOP Convention Voter ID in North Carolina | Camel City Dispatch


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"Abbondanza!" That's what Chris Arcoleo from Chris' Sportfishing in Monterey said about fishing the Monterey Bay right now.
"We had no problem getting 84 Dungeness crab (limits) for our cutomers this week, and then topped it off with about 50 sanddabs each," added Arcaleo, who will continue the crab-and-dab trips through the next couple months, weather permitting.
Conditions and catch rates are just about the same here in Santa Cruz. Dungeness reports indicate the crab are still numerous along the North Coast waters and near the canyon edges. Though the numbers of crab per pot may be dropping slightly, limits are still the rule. And, most of the crab remain very firm, with few shorts and the ocasional giant brought up in the crab pots.
For local trips, Stagnaro's Sportfishing is running affordable trips for sanddabs all winter, and six-pack boats from Reel Sportfishing and Captain Jimmy Sportfishing are going for crab and sanddab combo trips. Capitola and Santa Cruz boat rentals are also available all season, for those who prefer to steer their own ship while engaged in piscatorial pursuits.
Perch fishing slowed near Santa Cruz this week, likely due to the lack of surf. Surfcasters did well further down the coast, near Moss Landing and on toward Monterey. A few beach anglers ran into striped bass while fishing near the Pajaro and Salinas rivermouths. Most stripers caught were in the 18- to 22-inch range, what we call "schoolies." It's worth it to include a couple Kastmasters or Krokodiles in your tackle kit while perch fishing, and maybe use a heavier leader, just in case.
Speaking of perch fishing, the ninth annual Sand Crab Classic is scheduled for March 9 at Portuguese Hall in Santa Cruz. This yearly surfperch derby provides tons of fun for hundreds of Bay Area surfcasters and families, with a BBQ banquet, raffles, silent auctions and coveted perch trophies for winners in a variety of categories. All proceeds from the event go directly toward supporting the Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout Project. Further information and sign-ups are available at www.theletsgofishingradioshow.com.
A significant swell is forecast for the coming weekend, which could improve a surfcaster's chance at big, hungry perch. Remember to use caution when the waves are big. Watch for sneaker sets and be aware of tidal flows to stay safe while having fun.
Bushnell can also be heard with the Friday Morning Fish Report on KSCO radio 1080 AM. Send your photos, comments or questions to firstname.lastname@example.com


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The Dowds' Country Inn is a quaint bed and breakfast in a beautiful 1780's home in the heart of Lyme, NH. It has been owned and operated by Tami Dowd & family since 1989. The Dowd family strives to provide quality & friendly customer service and comfortable, modern amenities to all our guests in our historic home.
We are conveniently located near 2 major Interstates, close to many attractions in both New Hampshire & Vermont, and just 15 minutes north of Hanover, NH.
For more information about the Bed & Breakfast, please click here.
We also host conference, receptions, wedding & other events, with full catering & bar services. For more details on hosting an event with us, please click here.
We do hope you join us when you visit the Upper Valley. Come for a weekend, or for a week! We welcome your visit!
Dowds' Country Inn © Copyright 1999-17, All Rights Reserved


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Cold Memorial Day Weekend for Stateliners
Stateliners enjoying the Young at Heart Parade. Children enjoying the candy. Their parents are making sure they stay bundled up. Or at least attempting to.
Parade watcher Joe Kachmar says "it's a little chilly, I asked him if he needed a coat, but you know how kids are, and I'm the one that's wearing the jacket."
A cold and rainy Memorial Day Weekend is no surprise to some Stateliners. Even though last year was quite the opposite.
Thomas Beard of
Kachmar says "normally the weather here, for this kind of season, it's either raining or cold."
Meanwhile at
Nancy Kauzlarich of the Rockford Park District says "golfers just come out. They wear their gear or light jacket, and just come out and enjoy playing the game of golf."
Golfers like Keith Crawford. He plans to golf all Memorial Day Weekend with his buddies. He says nothing stops them from playing. Well maybe one thing.
Crawford says "thunder and lightning. That's pretty much the only thing that stops us from playing because in the cold weather, we just dress for the cold and be prepared for the hot."
It's been a long winter, and these golfers are excited to finally see grass....instead of snow.
Kauzlarich says "they've been waiting a long time to get out on the golf course."
More Stories
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Lawmakers in Chicago are considering a measure to change who can…
City officials in Oregon are set to vote on a proposal for a new…


text: The tried and true, dime a dozen small block chevy. So far I don't have a dime into this, so all is well. ::Monster Garage Voice:: FREEBIE! 85-95 LO5 350, one piece rear main, 4 bolt mains, roller cam block w/ TBI heads the first of the "swirl port" heads. The motor has had a recent rebuild, .030" overbore and crank turned .010"/.010" more freebies. L31 vortec heads with complete fuel injection. I already removed the poppet spider. I already tore the block down and discovered why this motor was put on somebodies backburner. Cyl # 5 had an exploded piston, but did minmal damage to the cyl wall. The minor ring scuff will get taken out with another .010" overbore. BTW, I love the use of the flat tappet RV cam in a roller motor.


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Land preps for The Falls has residents concerned
BRISTOL, Va. - It's full speed ahead for The Falls project as workers prep the land for the 1.47 million square foot development.
But for the last four to six weeks, it's been making a lot of commotion. "The blasting is what gets me because it does shake the house quite much," said Deborah Murray, a resident of the area.
Murray lives right beside the construction site. She says she can hear and feel everything. "In my mind I think that's an earthquake right at first. It startles me and scares me. And then I'm like, 'oh, yeah, it's just a blast'," said Murray.
And it has her concerned about her home. "I don't want my home to be damaged," said Murray.
Fire Marshal Eric Blevins tells us the construction company is required by the state to follow certain guidelines when blasting.
Those guidelines include having a certified blaster, having insurance and checking the distance from the site to the closest building. "The distance you're away from residential buildings describes how much [explosive] you can use, because the closer you are the less you can use. So hopefully you can minimize any issues," said Blevins.
Blevins says the blasts are small and many are underground, causing minimal debris. However, the shaking can't be completely stopped. "Whenever you light a blast off in the ground there is going to be some shaking or things like that, that are going to take place," he said.
He said they're unsure of how long the blasting will continue to go on. "As you can see from the interstate there's a lot of site prep left at this point, so it's not something that's going to end tomorrow," said Blevins.
On average, Blevins told us there are three to four blasts a week. If you are driving on the interstate near Exit 5 during these times, the Virginia State Police and Bristol Virginia Police Department will be doing rolling blocks to keep cars out of blasting range as a safety precaution.
The city is adhering to an explosive materials code to keep residents safe. The code is as follows:
NFPA 495 Explosive Materials Code
2013 Edition
11.4 Flyrock
11.4.1- Flyrock traveling in the air or along the ground shall not be cast from the blast site in an uncontrolled manner that could result in personal injury or property damage.
11.4.2- Flyrock shall not be propelled from the blast site onto property not contracted by the blasting operation or onto property for which the owner has not provided a written waiver to the blasting operation.
11.4.3- Where blasting operations do not conform to 11.4.1 and 11.4.2, the AHJ shall require that special precautions be employed to reduce or control flyrock.
10.1.15 Blasting mats or other protective devices shall be used when determined to be necessary by the blaster-in-charge to prevent fragments from being thrown beyond the blast area.


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The basic thesis is straightforward. McKibben has made drawings based on photographs and arranged the images to reflect his own meditations on the subjects. The core group is photographs taken from Serge Klarsfeld's book French Children of the Holocaust (NYU Press, 1996). Klarsfeld collected some 2500 photographs of the 11,000 Jewish children who were interned in a holding camp at Dancy, in Vichy-controlled France, during World War II, and deported in convoys to death camps, mostly Auschwitz.
McKibben shows his drawings of these photographs paired with a stenciled number that is the same size as the picture. The number looks like it could have been an identification code stenciled on a railroad boxcar. It evokes an atmosphere of crude mechanical systems employed in the service of a ruthless bureaucracy. No one would use numbers like this except to keep things in order in the simplest and cheapest way possible.
By choosing to draw these images McKibben has required himself to concentrate his attention on them for long periods. Drawing a face carefully means that you have to look at it carefully, finding nuances of light and shadow to create the information that we can recognize as a face. By drawing them he has had to come to know these faces extremely well. By exhibiting them, he has invited us to share his detailed experience of engagement with the images, and to contemplate with him the children's grim fate.
The stenciled numbers accentuate the sense of what Hannah Arendt called "the banality of evil." Making and presenting the drawings of the doomed children is a simple but thoughtful memorial, the opposite of banality.
Arendt comes to mind again in McKibben's drawing "Masters of Autarchy," a dual portrait of Hermann Göring and Martin Heidegger, rendered with a hint of family resemblance. Göring, of course, was a Nazi political leader, Luftwaffe commander, and Hitler's designated successor. Heidegger, whose philosophy was central to development of deconstruction and postmodernism, was a member of the Nazi party until the end of World War II. Arendt, who wrote an important work on totalitarianism, had been a student and sometime lover of Heidegger's and had testified in his behalf at his de-Nazification hearings so he could continue to teach. McKibben's drawing is a reminder of the simple fact that one of the founding figures of current academic thought was an unrepentant Nazi.
McKibben also turns his contemplation of the ironies of history toward the left. In "A Saint of the Revolution," he has drawn the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, who had been a leading propagandist and activist in the early years of the Russian revolution. Mayakovsky, in his disillusionment over Communism, committed suicide in 1930. He is shown here paired with a skull. It brings to mind the grim Stalin-era joke: What were Mayakovsky's last words? "Don't shoot, comrade!"
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Live Eucalyptus & Berry Wreath
Grown, cut fresh and made by hand at a family-owned farm in Salinas Valley, California, our Live Eucalyptus & Berry Wreath beautifully captures the spirit of the season.
- Hand made from hand-picked materials on a family-owned farm.
- Our Live Wreaths and Garlands are freshest within a week of their arrival at your home, then they dry beautifully. If you would like your wreath or garland to be fresh for a party or event, please see Shipping Info to time the delivery.
- Not available for rush delivery.
Dimensions & Care
- Overall: 22" diameter
- Wreath is made with freshly cut elements.
- Wreath will begin to dry once shipped and will dry out in one to two weeks.
- Factors that affect drying time are temperature of the room where wreath is displayed, direct heat sources and direct sunlight.
- Once dried, wreath will last six months to one year.
Shipping & Return Info
This item is perishable and ships directly from the supplier to arrive within 5 business days. Perishable items cannot ship outside the contiguous 48 states and are not available for rush shipping or Next Day Delivery service.
UPS can deliver most in-stock items within 4-5 business days.
Next Day Delivery and Processing
We can arrange for next day delivery to most destinations within the contiguous 48 states, for an extra charge of $17.50 per address. If we receive your order by 6pm PT Monday through Friday, you'll receive your order the next business day; orders placed on Friday after 6pm PT through Sunday will arrive on Tuesday. Note: Next Day Delivery service is not available for some oversized items, White Glove Delivery, out of stock items, personalized items or for items shipped directly from the manufacturer.
Select oversized items have an additional delivery and processing surcharge; this charge is listed below the item price.
View the complete Shipping and Delivery Information page.
We take great pride in the quality and craftsmanship of each and every Pottery Barn product and we hope you love your purchase. If for any reason you do not, you have 30 days – or 7 days for all Quick Ship upholstery items – to return your purchase for a full refund or exchange. You can return most non-furniture items to your local Pottery Barn store – FREE.
Delivery fees are non-refundable and prior purchases are not eligible for a price adjustment. The following items are non-eligible for returns or exchanges:
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Questions? See our full Returns Policy.
Live Eucalyptus & Berry Wreath
|Live Eucalyptus & Berry Wreath
|No Longer Available


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Federal Tax Accounting
Product Information
Frequency of Updates:
2 times/year
Cited regularly by both the IRS and the courts, Federal Tax Accounting is the authoritative treatise on the subject of tax accounting, offering the information, analysis, and insights necessary to both comply with regulations and realize substantial tax savings. It provides lucid, practical guidance that will help you save money on your clients' or your company's tax accounting work. It also offers advice on handling an IRS audit on tax controversy. Federal Tax Accounting explains in depth the tax accounting rules, illustrates how they work, and sets forth planning opportunities and risks.
In particular, this treatise:
- Is written by a noted expert in the field, an active practitioner who has addressed the tax accounting issues of both major publicly held corporations and small businesses
- Has been repeatedly cited by the courts and the IRS as an authority in decisions
- Covers the full range of tax accounting issues in greater breadth and depth than any other reference available
- Provides expert analysis with clarity and sophistication
- Makes an ideal audit-preparation tool
- Gertzman: Federal Tax Accounting
- Chapter 1: Tax Accounting—What Is It?
- Chapter 2: Methods of Accounting
- Chapter 3: The Cash Receipts and Disbursements Method
- Chapter 4: Accrual Methods
- Chapter 5: The Installment Method
- Chapter 6: Inventories
- Chapter 7: LIFO
- Chapter 8: Changes in Methods of Accounting
- Chapter 9: Accounting Changes Not Requiring IRS Approval
- Chapter 10: Accounting Periods
- Chapter 11: Time Value of Money
- Chapter 12: Annual Accounting and Transactional Concepts
- Federal Tax Accounting Sample View


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Montreal Was Jackie Robinson's Refuge From Racism
Bill Mann | Posted 06.11.2013 | Canada
Read More: 42, Jackie Robinson, Montreal Rickey, Jackie Robinson Movie, Montreal Gazette, Jackie Robinson Racism, Jackie Robinson Montreal, Racism Baseball, Jackie Robinson 42 Movie, Canada News
I'm pretty sure I did the final interview with Jackie Robinson. I'm glad I grabbed the chance to approach Robinson, already a legendary figure, when I did. He was gone shortly after. It took place in Montreal, where Robinson loved living and playing baseball. The new film about Robinson,42, virtually overlooks Montreal. A shame, but totally predictable.


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This article, entitled "Fun, Educational Apps for Summer Learning," comes from Pam Tauscher, MomsEveryday correspondent from Madison, WI.
Want to turn your electronics into learning devices? There are apps that actually don't feel like homework.
Check out Presidents vs. AliensTM where kids use information about past presidents or historical events to fling presidential heads at aliens.
Try Sound Uncovered from the Exploratorium Museum in San Francisco. Kids record sounds, modify recordings and even test your hearing so you can find out, "how old are my ears?"
Practicing a foreign language? Try MindSnacks where you need quick reflexes to play and vocabulary words to keep your character alive.
If your child is fascinated by dinosaurs, check out Dino Walk and spend time with creatures that roamed the Earth long ago and watch the continents split.
With Math Bingo, you can get rid of the old flash cards and practice adding, subtracting and multiplication to earn cartoon bugs for bingo.


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Twitter Account! https://twitter.com/DragonSoul
Football has been very, very good to us.
After losing seasons 2013-15, the giants put up 11 wins in 16.. they are on way Back
But for now we can console ourselves with this fact-
# of Super Bowl victories since 1985:
1-Chicago, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Indianapolis, New Orleans, Seattle
2-Washington, Green Bay, Pittsburgh, Baltimore
3-San Francisco, Dallas, Denver
4-New York Giants!!!
Let's make it 5 in 2016 so we can be on a LINE NE again!!!
***Stat provided by "Schloss22"***
The Giants are easily my most hated team outside the North. Actually I hate the Lions alot less. Actually it would be better if they got to the playoffs and we crushed you guys in New York.
what happened to you, seriously?
you were kind of cool at one point but now?
I really had nothing against the Pack, and still don't, but if YOU really represent so many of the fandom of the Pack, I might have to rethink it.
I have a good friend, who is from Wisconsin, he and his wife, and he never disrespects me or my Team. He is the epitome of class and he and I have a good laugh at the Bears and their fans.
You sir, strike me as a either a young snot-nosed kid playing at being grown or otherwise a pathetic "grown-up" who is overly obsessed with his Team.
Guess what? No team, no matter the sport, will win every game on their schedule.
Someone has to win, someone has to lose.
This is a game, a diversion, in a REAL world full of all kinds of socioeconomic problems, ethnic killing etc.
and you mean to whine, moan and ***** about a game in the PAST that HAS NO BEARING or MEANING on the real-for-real world?
go away.
NFL Championships : 1927 1934 1938 1956 Super Bowl Champions: XXI XXV XLII XLVI
My wife and I too are friends with a couple that are from Wisonsin and are huge Packers fans, and they are a class act. The husband came over a month or so back when a tree had fallen in my yard from a storm. He brought his chainsaw and helped me to cut it up. We discussed the games from last year. We also talked about what Clay Matthews said regarding the Packers beating themselves and not giving the Giants any credit. His response was that Clay and others need to shut their mouths and go out and make plays, not excuses. He even invited us over for the Nov 25th game this year to watch on his big screen in his "Packers" room(spare room).
I also work with 2 guys originally from Chicago, who are big Bears fans. They show no disrespect to me or the Giants. We joke back and forth about the Bears and another co-worker who is a Packer fan.
...because, in the end, it's only a game.
NFL Championships : 1927 1934 1938 1956 Super Bowl Champions: XXI XXV XLII XLVI


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D.C. Rampage: Emory & Henry student relieved her father is okay
EMORY, Va. - A local college student is relived after finding out that her father is safe, following Monday's DC Navy Yard shooting rampage.
Deryn Pappano is a sophomore at Emory and Henry College in Emory, Virginia.
Deryn's father, Captain Scott Pappano was inside of a clinic on the yard when shots rang out on Monday morning.
When Deryn heard the news on between classes Monday morning. After receiving the news she was only concerned about father's safety.
"What happened to my dad is he ok when will I hear from all I wanted to know at that point is if he was safe or not," said Deryn Pappano.
Deryn was relieved after receiving a text from her dad Monday afternoon.
"If you hear anything going on about the navy yard right I just want to let you know I am safe and love you. And I just responded to him saying I've already heard and I am relieved that you're okay," said Deryn Pappano.
Deryn hasn't spoken to her father on the phone and she believes that he is still on yard.
But she fears that a family may have may in close contact with the shooter.
"The office building that the shooter was in occurred on the fourth floor my friend's dad was on the floor when the shooting happened but as far as my dad's office I don't know where it's located. But I'm just glad he [father ] wasn't in the office at the time," said Deryn Pappano.


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I lack self-discipline, I'm a complete hedonist, I become intensely passionate about the things I love, and I'm impulsive. This spells trouble not just for my eating habits but it makes many aspects of my life challenging. Carlos, who is the complete opposite, has reformed me to some extent, and being a mother has forced me to change my ways, but it's a daily fight.
Recently when I decided to get serious about my health, I reached out to mi amiga, Barbara to ask for guidance. She gave me a lot of encouragement and was also kind enough to send me a copy of her book, "…Barbara por Atras: A Latin Woman's Guide to Fitness."
I've read a lot of books about health but this one connected in a way that other books couldn't. With mentions of Celia Cruz, nalgas, and piropos as well as healthful ways to prepare arroz con frijoles, tostones con mojo, and flan – I feel like finally someone "gets" me! This book is the jump start I needed. I'm taking steps in the right direction – poco a poco, I'll make it. Gracias, Barbara.
Disclosure: The book was provided to me at no cost. I did not receive any compensation for talking about the book. All opinions are my own.


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Occurs when a male ejaculates in a woman's eye and it runs down the woman's face. When accomplished, it makes the woman look as if she has tears rolling down her face.
I blew one right in Lara's eye the other night! I gave her a Clown Tear so thick, she was able to blow bubbles with it as it oozed over her mouth!
by James Milhowse November 23, 2010
Slang for pre-ejaculate (also known as pre-ejaculatory fluid, preseminal fluid, or Cowper's fluid, and colloquially as pre-cum) is the clear, colorless, viscous fluid that emits from the urethra of a man's penis when he is sexually aroused.
by oskie October 26, 2009


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Montréal Poutine
"ça va faire une maudite poutine"
Some poutines are made in the style of the house, displaying the personal innovation of the owner-chef. Others convey the greasy-spoon terroir from which they spring. Poutines are the convenience-meal of their roots in fast-food joints. And some places, they are just spun-out obediently to an expectant clientelle, who would no more forgive its absence as the absensc of something to drink.
How to rank? Some poutines excel in one way, but are unacceptable in others. We rank them 1 to 4, with the following meanings:
So on to the reviews:
|Maamm Bolduc
|4351 Lorimer
Poutine Bourguignonne and Sainte-Perpetue at Maamm Bolduc.
|Poutine Lafluer
|3665 Rue Wellington; Verdun, QC
|(May 2005) This is a single-owner place which does hot dogs and poutine. Without question, the poutine served here is the best classic poutine in Montreal. The curds are the fresh fresh fresh, and squeeky-delicious in every bite. The sauce was perfectly balanced with spices and meat, with a bit of chocholate taste. The fries were very good; perhaps not as crispy as a perfect fry would be, but 80% of the way there. If you want a classic poutine in a classic casse-croute, this is the one place you must make sure you go. It is simply the best classic poutine in Montrél.
|La Banquise
|994 Rachel Est
Bacon Poutine at La Banquise.
|Patati Patata
|4177 St. Laurent (at Rachel)
|(Jan 2004, updated March 2006) If you have only one poutine in Montreal, this should be it. This tiny diner (seats 12-14, all told) has wonderful character, and if you aren't in a poutine way, try the tofu burger, or regular burger for that matter. The classic poutine (one size: $4.00) is such a richly flavorful dish that you should not skip it. The fresh-cut fries, if a bit limp. have that dank musk of a well-thought out potato, and you will love them. The curds were perfectly fresh -- not over-humidified like those stored for weeks in a bag, but just wonderful. And the poutine sauce, well, it is unmatched for its deep, velvety flavor, as you can tell from its first bite. The young woman helping me answered a customer's query, that it is indeed made with a mix (as per usual in a Montreal eatery), but that they use chicken stock and wine in it as well. Using wine in the sauce is a signature variation -- I've never seen it elsewhere, and it's done to such fantastic effect at Patati Patata, that the poutine is unique, memorable, and delcious. Congratulations to Patati Patata! This is a giant step forward in poutine, probably the second big step forward in poutine sauce, since the trend away from the sweet/salt taste using tomato (which you can still taste at Roy le Jucep; it reminds one too much of sweet/sour chinese food). At an earlier sitting, I had the "poutine with everything" ($5.00). The portion was on the small side for a dish whose charming glory is to fill one up with something hot, cheesy and starchy. The adventurous poutine which I ordered had on it sliced peppers and ground beef, which added interest. Just you try to get a seat!
|La Quebecoise
|3520 Ontario
|(June 2005). La Quebecoise is a casual dinner located on the Ontario Promenade in East Montréal (hours 8a-10p 7 days a week). They serve a variety of poutine, including: classic, smoked meat ("viande fumee"), "a la sauce BBQ", italianne (with marianara sauce), and "La Quebecoise", the house special. On my visit, I had "La Quebecoise" ($5.75 for a large), which turned out to have sliced turkey, which was a delicious addition to an already great poutine. The cheddar curds are the freshest curds of any poutine in Montréal, with that characteristic squeek of fresh curds so loud that you'll wonder if your dining company can hear. The fries were a very tasty platter, and the sauce was a light brown sauce, with a little bit of pepper. The sauce was better than the familiar light-brown sauce, due partly to its spice, in such a way that you will be glad that you'd ordered the poutine, and leave you wanting more, if only you had the room for it. Strongly Recommended!
|Frite Alors
|(Dec 2003) This chain can be found everywhere, and is centered around poutine, serving many different types and combinations. The poutine they serve has all the correct elements: crispy fries, a spicy, peppery sauce and cheddar curds. I had the sausauge version, which added extra spice. The fries held the sauce well. The cheese melted modestly without slathering.
|Cafe Local
|200 rue Saint-viateur O.
|(Oct 2005). This is a hip bar/dinner place, great for a drink with a few friends. The evening I went, I was with 30 of my closest friends at a weekly get-together, and I was surprised to find a poutine on the menu among the pastas and other plates. The poutine I got was based on sweet potato fries (regular fries also available), a beef gravy and grated mozzarella. It should be said that this correspondent is not a fan of grated cheese on poutine; it tends to melt completely and become incorporated into the sauce, and that happened here. The cheese has to be its own distinct component (why not break up a buffalo mozarrella on top instead?) However, once you dig way into the pile, is where the poutine gets good: the formidable gravy and sweet fries plow together fantastically, and the plate has a delicious distinctive taste you will come back for. The use of sweet potatoes in a poutine should be a ready innovation which is widely adopted: why isn't this done everywere? And they work perfectly with the beef gravy; the standard chicken veloute would not stand up to the sweetness of the sweet potatoes. The poutine served here shows real inventiveness, something of which to be proud.
|Au Pied Du Cochon
|Duluth, near St. Hubert
|3 (regular)/3+ (for the fois-gras)
|This is an outstanding restaurant, with an imaginative and star-quality chef, regularly turning out some of the most memorable dishes a foodie could hope to come across on travel. You'll need a reservation, well in advance, unless you go alone, and plop yourself down at the bar in front of the open kitchen. So, it's somewhat surprising to find a poutine on the menu and, in fact, you find two. The first is a standard-type poutine, with a pork-stock based sauce, ginormous cheddard curds, on top of the house-special french fries. It works well as a poutine, and is worth a taste, with the possible exception of the curds, which, due to their large volume to surface area ratio, fail to melt adequatly to contribute to the mess of the sauce. However, the star attraction poutine is the poutine with fois-gras, which appears in this dish in two forms. First, as a healthy slab layed atop the mess, it contributes as fois-gras contributes to anything. However, fois-gras layed across a cement slab would make the slab taste delicious. The innovation here is that more fois-gras is pummeled into the sauce, and creams it well above its breed. You might ask to have the poutine fois-gras, but without the slab on top, and to break up the curds more, creating an unforgettable poutine experience. If I can't quite move the poutine here into "4", it is largely because the curds call too much attention as a separate aspect of the poutine due to their oversize. But the sauces and the fries are a worthy culinary experience, even if they don't live up to the outstanding level of the restaurant's other plates. (Regarding the plates: have the canard confit).
Poutine at Pipeline.
(Oct 2005, updated March 2006). This joint, under new management, is nestled in the heart of Montreal's theater district, and is connected to an lively, if morbidly so, club (I think it was classic Industrial night when I visited recently; Skinny Puppy anyone?). I first visited only a few weeks after its new managers, and already we're talking about a good poutine. The main feature is the Poutine Jack Daniel's, which appeared in early 2006: a typically good batch of fries, curds to enjoy, and a rich sauce, made with the usual poutine mix, but with a shot of ol' Jack in there to liven things up a bit. Now, this is a sauce worth remembering, and a big step forward for poutine sauce everywhere. Pipeline, with Patiti Patata, have discovered for us that a well-chosen shot of a musky alchohol makes the sauce so much better, that special kudos must be awarded both these eateries. If every place in town isn't doing this in a year, then poutine-restaurant owners aren't getting out much. Hurrah for Pipeline! A great poutine!
|6507 Papineau (at Beaubien)
Bacon and fried onions poutine at Jojo's. Note the Itallienne style sauce, which is standard on all 34 poutines at Jojo's (the typical chicken-based sauce is not available).
|Chez Claudette
|351 Laurier Est
|(Dec 2003, updated Sept 2005) Proof that if you don't go out, you can't eat great poutine. This is a diner where you'll find workers in the daytime, and it used to be revellers late late late. Unfortunately for the revellers, Chez Claudette switched to 7am-8pm hours, 7 days a week, beginning Sept 2005. A poutine which is not available after 8pm is somewhat curtailed in its usefulness. I had the small poutine bourguinonne style ($6), which I highly recommend. This was an outstanding plate of poutine. The fries were perfectly crisped, with meaty potato inside. The sauce was from scratch from the grill, with all the expected bits one might require, and had added to it grated beef and onions (bourguinonne style). The cheese curds were minisculistly sweet. Once a king on this list, Chez Claudette has moved down in the rankings over time, as your correspondent has found better examples of the poutines served here, and (most importantly) Chez Claudette clipped it's hours, closing at 8pm, making it's poutine inaccessible during prime poutine eating hours. Tis a shame, but, turn turn turn.
|Casse-Croute Paulo & Suzanne
|5501 Gouin Boulevard
|(June 2005). This 24-hour counter-place is a perfect hamburgers/hotdogs joint to get away to for a minute away from a hectic day, and the grande poutine ($4.95) is a great little plate to tuck into. The light brown sauce has a tiny citrus taste, and just a little sweet, in contrast to the usual pepper taste of poutine sauce. Squeeky fresh curds cover nicely the modest french fries. An enjoyable plate.
|Resto Du Village
|1310 rue Wolfe
|(June 2005). The Resto is a 24-hour diner, located 1 block south of Ste. Catherine, and one block east of Amherst, in the Gay Village of Montreal. The typical fare is short-order food. The poutines here are the standard style, and with of the most typical variations: Italliene, Bologna, poutine with Smoked meat, "sausauge", one "with everything" (pepperonie, onions, mushrooms, peppers), and "du Resto", which is same as "everything" except smoked meat instead of onions. The "sausauge" style I had was a bit of a disappointment, having instead of a spicy sausauge as I expected, had hot dogs sliced into it. The sauce was a typical ready-made style, uniform and dark with a deep chicken flavor, but no pepper. The curds were past fresh, but were were fine. This is a good place to grab a late-night poutine if you're out with yer mates.
|L' Anecdote
|801 Rachel Est. (at St. Hubert)
Poutine at L' Anecdote.
(Nov 2005) Here, we have a perfectly good plate of poutine; and it is on this plate of poutine that we stake the reputation of a "2" scoring. The cheese curds here were not the traditional curds, but an emmanthaler cheese, which served the purpose well enough, but didn't add much new to the dish, sufficient to warrant deviation from tradiation. The peppery light brown chicken sauce, with a nice pepper snap, would be recognizable to all poutine afficianados, and the fries were even a very good restaurant type. No major surprises here but, heck, it's a good plate. Go with it! Note that, as a diner, there are plenty of possibilities for off-menu poutine types (helllloooooo bacon) but they only have one poutine on the menu.
L' Anecdote, however, is just an adorable diner, with a great range on the menu, a beautiful and carefully cultivated interior. It's a kind of place I could see myself eating great brunch at time and time again. So, I'll be back. It closes every night, 7 days a week, at 10pm, with different opening times day to day.
|Chez Philippe
|1877 rue Amherst
(Mar 2006) This counter-front place largely keeps daytime hours, but but has a nice little poutine going on, with absolutely delicious fries. The standard mix-sauce and the cheese curds don't stand out in a crowd, but you won't be complaining after you finish off a large dish here. Enjoy it well enough.
|4494 St. Denis
|(May 2005). An interesting little 24hr greasy-spoon diner in the heart of the Plateau, at St. Denis and Mont-Royal. The poutine served here is a standard platter. The fries were better than average -- perfectly browned and crisped, and that tips the score up to the plus range. The sauce was a standard light-brown, and the cheese curds were as they should be. A good plate of poutine, to satisfy the late night crowd. Update Oct 2005 . The interior is recently renovated, to a cooler vibe.
|Rose Bowl
|6510 Saint Jacques Rue (1 Block south of Sherbrooke and Cavendish).
|(May 2005). The snack bar at the Rose Bowl bowling alley was recommended to me by a Montreal native who did not seem to be a big bowler. Naturally, I was a bit skeptical that what would be served up would be anything better than blah. To my surprise, my order was filled with a poutine which makes you forget you're in a bowling alley. The fries were fair (meaty, a bit greasy) and were covered with a dark brown poutine sauce, just a little bit gravy-like, and the smallest taste of chocholate and salt. The cheese curds weren't special, but were reasonably well mixed in, and loosened up well in the heat. This is a gut-bomb of a plate of poutine, after which you're likely to feel like you're carrying an extra 13 pounds, whether you're carrying a bowling ball or not.
|(Oct 2005). A family-style restaurant chain most famous for its smoked meat, with carefully masoned faux-brick on the walls, you can find Dunn's all over the city, and perhaps most centrally located at the corner of Ste. Catherine St. Oest and University. A range of poutine is offered on the menu, including one with smoked meat, one with BBQ sauce, and a poutine Itallienne. I had the peppercorn parisienne sauce (see Recipes ) on mine; the result was a reasonably good plate. However, the curds were past squeeky freshness, the fries were uninteresting, and the sauce was so completely homogenized as to belie its institutional origins. You might leave, asking, where is the love? If you're there, it's still a lip-smakin' midnight favorite.
|PFK (Kentucky Fried Chicken)
|Somewhat surprisingly, the best of all fast-food poutines. Extra points for the light-brown chicken-based poutine sauce which works perfectly with meaty fries and cheesy curds. A great peppery snap.
|La Belle Province
|(Dec 2003) I had the poutine at the location on Ste. Catherine near Peel. This was my first interaction with poutine, and I was steered to it by a shopkeeper. La Belle Province is a chain, which was occupied by various students and late-night workers just gettting off as I walked in. They serve hot dogs, poutine, sodas: typical casse-croute faire. First, the basics: Fries were crusty. The sauce was sauce, uniform and uncomplicated. The cheese curds were cheddar. The best part of this poutine was the sauce, which was smoky and beefy. The cheese curds added nothing with no character itself. The french fries were not particularly memorable.
|(March 2005). This is a hot-dog fast-food chain, where the menu includes a poutine. The poutine ranks a pedestrian, obedient mixture of the basic three. But no more. After having had a Lafleur poutine, you can say you've eaten a poutine, in the same way someone who's been to McDonald's can say they've had a hamburger.
|Le Peu Belle Province
|Parc at St. Viatuer
|(Nov 2004). This seems to be a one-of-a-kind fast-food joint, in the Mile-end district, easy walking distance from the St. Viatuer bagel shop and the fantastic La Croissantiere Figaro. But why make the walk? The fries are the boring post-freeze-dried, a canned sauce, a bagged cheese curd. Mom will forgive you if you skip this one in your postcard.
|Montreal Pool Room
|1200 St. Laurent (1 block S of Ste. Catherine)
(June 2005) While there were certainly pool tables in the darkened
back room on the Wednesday night I went, the Montreal Pool Room is
more a quick-bite counter-diner than a pool room. An overhead menu of
hot dogs, fries and drinks in a no-nonsense sort of environment, with
single-width tables lining the walls. Located near the music halls, the street
outside is strewn with passed-out bodies, an area of town for
over-the-top revelry.
That aside, the poutine (large, $3.75) was a typical casse-croute one. The fries, it should be said, were outstanding -- well above a typical casse croute fries -- and probably do well on their own. When the cook piled on mounds and mounds of cheese curds, and about a ladel and a half of light-brown sauce, a minor chord struck: too high of cheese to sauce ratio, the fries were barely wet. But, after waiting a few minutes (while I was distracted elsewhere) the platter had successfully melted into the required glom, always a good sign when a poutine maker knows how sauce the hot needs to be. The Pool Room serves a useful poutine, perfect for the end of a head-bashing, beer-soaked night.
|Du Parc Pizza
|4827 du Parc
|(Jan 2006). This pizza delivery joint also has a poutine, served cheap ($5 for a large, although it's more of a medium compared with the city average) and hot. Not much to go crazy over, but it's the classic sauce-mix (if a little thin), fresh curds and fries that you wouldn't kick out of bed for being eaten by Geena Davis.
|Le 940
|940 Ave du Mont-Royal Est
Poutine, at Le 940, comes regular with gorgonzola cheese.
|Roy le Jucep
|1050 Boul St. Joseph, Drummondville
Roy le Jucep, in Drummondville.
Being located in Drummondville, in the region where fresh curds are made daily, a daily fresh supply which is absolutely necessary for an outstanding poutine is insured. Indeed Jucep's has squeeky fresh curds. However, the primary innovation claimed by Jucep's is their Jucep's sauce, which was first added to the potatoes in 1964 (it was restaurant guests who took bags of cheese, also sold by the restaurant, and added them to the mix, leading its owner to introduce it as a regular menu item).
Today's sauce is a corn-startch thickened base of stock, flavored mostly by the sugary-sweet taste of tomatoes, and a bit of onion. It reminds one mostly of a sweet/sour sauce of a Chinese diner, both in flavor and texture. The sauce was poured too cool to do anything to the cheese, and so the mixture remains a disparate pile of curds and fries, covered in sauce. If this is the plate which inspired future poutines, we can safely say that it did so largely as inspiration on the potentiality of sauce and cheese curds, rather than as a template to be copied. I doubt the claim that anyone has tried to copy this sauce, or to mass-produce it, made by the restaurant's website. The tomato-tasting stock sauce is too sugary-sweet to be an interesting or appropriate counter to potato starch. We would not score this poutine as worth travelling for (a 1, at best).
If there's a lesson to be drawn from Jucep's poutine, it is that embracing history for history's sake may be good for remaining connected to one's roots, but not for cuisine, which advances and improves. Jucep's poutine demonstrates that it is now a dish which has clearly moved well beyond its roots.
|(Dec 2003). It's not clear why McDonald's appeared in montrealmirror.com's best of 2003 Poutine list, and again in 2004, and 2005 - but I'm willing to chalk it up to late-night deadlines and a lack of imagination. The fries are the usual McDonald's fries, which lack the requisite crunchiness to hold up to a real slathering of sauce. The sauce used by McDonalds is a made-to-purpose uninteresting brown sauce whose chief asset and characteristic seems to be its color (brown). As of this writing, I have not yet been able to differentiate between quality of cheese curds, so the cheese curds used by McDonalds were as good as anywhere else.
|75 Ave du Pins, 288-1128
Poutine au Bacon, at Mamma's.
|Mondo Fritz
|3899 St. Laurent
|(June 2005). A former champion, Mondo Fritz has recently changed its poutine recipe. They've dropped the curds for a shredded cheese. The sauce is flat and uninteresting. Sadly, where the Poutine au Steak was once something I brought friends from out of town to eat, and they would leave with eyes rolled into the back of the heads, the plate is now a shadow of its former self.
|Deli Jack Tooney
|rue Berri at Ste. Catherine St. O.
|(Dec 2003). This is an expensive -- for what you get -- diner-style restaurant, largely occupied by tourists, with bad poutine. The fries sogged up (not crispy), the sauce tasted canned as canned can be, and the cheese was a shocking replacement of curds, which aren't in short supply it should be said, with string cheese. String cheese! If abandoned alone in a cell, with a loaded gun and a plate of poutine from this place, I would first reach for the gun, to put the poutine out of its misery before putting me out of mine.
|These Celine Dion-owned family style restaurants serve a poutine for which my heart will not go on. Diner-style skinny fries, a blank-canvas brown sauce and second rate cheese grains insure that the $5 a pop poutine will be quickly forgotten.
|3455 St. Laurent (284-2823).
|Reports of a special duck-based poutine sauce can be found on the web. Inquiries have been made during several visits over a span of 2 years, and it has never appeared, and management states it is not a regular menu item.
|In-N-Out Burger
|various, in California
In-N-Out Burger is a favorite fast-food burger place in Southern California. Owned by a single family, the chain is expanding in Northern California and elsewhere. They have a famous (and not advertised) off-menu, which the employees won't tell you about, which involves the creative mixture of available ingredients. All they list in their restaurants are their burgers, fries, shakes and soda.
The fries "animal style" at In-N-Out Burger in Southern California is a popular "off-menu" item.
|Le Club-Sandwich
|1578 St. Catherine St. E.
Poutine at Le Club Sandwich.
|Pommes Frites
|123 2nd Ave (at 7th St.) New York, NY
A large poutine at Pommes Frites in the East Village in New York.


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yep, a standardized metric would be very helpful in sorting this all out.
dean, what do you think should be measured? i wonder if we could come up with some sort of protocol so that you, i, and others on the forum who may be selecting for mite resistance would have a means of comparison.


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Latest results for Zeiss lensesMonday March 28 2011 Lens Review
Planar T 85mm f/1.4
The 85mm f/1.4 ZE has a remarkable light transmission capacity. But transmitting light is not everything, and this lens has the same problem on both APS-C and full-frame sensors: it is very soft at wider apertures—but only at widest ones, since stopping down a little bit changes everything.
This is rather well summed up by its DxOMark score, showing the best low-light performance of this lens at f/2.8. This will be the key aperture.
The rest is solid: good transmission, no distortion, little vignetting, and a reasonable amount of chromatic aberration contribute to making this 85mm a good candidate for portrait shooting and even for sports on an APS-C, where its focal becomes 136mm.
On a full-frame sensor (EOS 1Ds MkIII):
Everything changes at f/2.8. Opened wider than this, the lens produces a very soft image. Hardly 20lp/mm at f/1.4… this is quite poor. Stopping down to f/2 makes the center better, but still soft. Things seem dull… but when f/2.8 is reached, everything changes. The center is suddenly very sharp, around 60lp/mm, the first one-third is solid, and the edges are almost good. Between f/4 and f/5.6, the whole first one-third is very good, and the rest of the field map stands above 50lp/mm. By the way, this area is the best one for this lens. Stopped down to f/8 and above softens the center, but maintains the field around 50lp/mm.
On an APS-C sensor (EOS 7D)
On an APS-C sensor, the scenario is the same. Wider than f/2.8, the lens is not sharp enough. At f/2.8 it suddenly becomes sharp all over the field map, and remains so until stopped down to f/8. Precise and regular.
Vignetting is noticeable, although very light when the lens is fully opened, but vanishes when stopped down to f/2.
Comparison 1:
Zeiss Makro Planar T 85mm f/1.4 ZE Canon v. Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L USM
Comparison 2:
Zeiss Makro Planar T 85mm f/1.4 ZE Canon v. Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM
This 85mm achieves its best DxOMark low-light score at f/2.8 on both APS-C and full-frame sensors, and its best mid-light score at f/4. Sharp, it produces almost no distortion, limited vignetting, and limited chromatic aberration on the edges of the field.
This is a good companion for portraits, and even for sports, thanks to the crop factor that an APS-C sensor provides.
On a full-frame sensor (D3X):
As with the 50mm we studied earlier, the maximum aperture lacks definition on the whole field and the lens has to be stopped down by 2 stops to offer a central zone above 50lp/mm. At f/4, the center becomes very good, and at f/5.6, the sides of the field rise above 50lp/mm as well.
Vignetting, visible at wide apertures, completely disappears at f/2.8 and smaller apertures.
On an APS-C sensor (D300s):
The resolution scenario is very similar here. Very soft when wide open, the lens has to be stopped down to f/4 to reach both its best resolution and to achieve good homogeneity on the whole field.
Already very limited at full aperture, vignetting completely vanishes 1 stop later. At f/2, there is no visible vignetting.
Zeiss Planar T 85mm f/1.4 ZF2 v. Nikkor AF 85mm f/1.4D IF
Further readings for the Latest results for Zeiss lenses
To provide photographers with a broader perspective about mobiles, lenses and cameras, here are links to articles, reviews, and analyses of photographic equipment produced by DxOMark, renown websites, magazines or blogs.
Carl Zeiss is one of those almost mythical lens makers. Focusing on quality, its lenses almost always rely on complex optical formulas. Their price reflects this involvement in quality, and logically Zeiss lenses are on the same shelves as the very high-end Canon or Nikon models.
The review is available here.


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Since I'm new to beekeeping and thought the information would be useful to others, I wanted to share my experience about my recent order with H.T. Krantz. I have ordered all of my woodenware from other companies like Mann Lake, Rossman, Brushy Mountain, etc.
I ordered unassembled frames from H.T. Krantz along with a screened bottom and some wax foundation. I went with them because I saw their ad here on Beesource. Once I placed the order I saw their front webpage said 2 to 3 week delay on woodenware. Oh well...I will have to wait. Anyone that reads this forum would know that this time of year is busy for everyone...and H.T. Krantz was no exception.
A week after I placed my order with them, which was over the internet, I got a call from them. "Hey just wanted to check to see about this order....you ordered medium frames with shallow foundation...is that right?" Wow, they called me to check to make sure what I ordered was what I really wanted. I haven't had that kind of service yet. Not to say anything is wrong with the other companies, but Krantz just wanted to make sure before sending it out. I got my order well before they said I would have it.
The frames are what I wanted to check into because of price. The quality is fair, not as sharp of cuts like the others and the wood is not as smooth but they work and the frames parts lock into place with each other. For .80 cents they work great.
Just my 2 cents and experience I wanted to share with other new beeks.


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A mom who, during the winter months, wears a hoodie and sunglasses while dropping children off at school. The look is eerily reminiscent of the police suspect sketch of the infamous serial killer Unibomber, AKA Ted Kaczynski, who targeted universities and airlines with homemade bombs sent through the mail. The acute embarrassment suffered by offspring of this particular breed of kick ass mother is devastatingly quick and awesomely powerful, kind of like a bomb.
Cletus was dropped off at school by an older mystery woman in a hoodie and sunglasses. She was even sporting a fuzzy newborn baby 70s porno stache. I think it was his Unimomer.
by Moxie Freaking CrimeFighter December 06, 2010
The vengeful act of crapping on a lover's chest while they sleep.Buy the plush


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Grain trucks on country roads at harvest time
06/11/2013 , 6:16 PM by Petria Ladgrove
This week on Late Afternoon's Annette Marner has been taking a close look at grain trucks and the condition of local roads.
Over the week we have heard from a number of key players and callers from across South Australia.
Click below to listen to audio from -
Steven Griffiths, MP for Goyder, who covers much of the Yorke Peninsula.
Charles Mountain, Senior Manager of Road Safety at the RAA.
Steve Shearer, Executive Director of the South Australia Road Transport Association.
and Callers from across South Australia
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
The comments to this entry are closed.


text: I've noticed over the last couple of weeks that there have been at least a couple of folks reporting that their bees were stolen. It got me to thinking, for you folks who have multiple yards, and many many hives, do you have insurance to protect yourself in the event that something does happen like a theft. Is there even such an option?


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Excerpt: "Let's continue our series of positional reviews for the New York Giants by looking today at wide receiver.
Victor Cruz -- The only reason Cruz' 2012 numbers don't look that special is that he spoiled us with an other-worldly performance in 2011. Cruz caught a team-best 86 passes, second-most in franchise history behind Steve Smith (107), and had nine touchdowns, but 2012 didn't feel quite the same. He surpassed 1,000 yards (1,092) but that pales next to the franchise record 1,536 he had in 2011.The biggest reason? With Hakeem Nicks slowed and a third wide receiver not consistently stepping up, teams paid much more attention to Cruz and his yards per catch averaged dropped from an insane 18.7 yards per catch to a more pedestrian 12.7.
Hakeem Nicks -- Give Nicks immense credit for doing the best he could despite first a broken foot that limited his pre-season time and then an injured knee that took away his burst. His best, though, wasn't good enough. In 13 games he caught 53 passes, down from 76 and 79 the two prior seasons. He had a career-low three touchdown catches, and a career-worst 13.1 yards per catch average.Nicks just wasn't himself, and the Giants failed to recognize soon enough that he wasn't really playing well enough to give them what they needed.
Rueben Randle -- Caught 19 passes, three for touchdowns, and by the end of the season showed that he has a bright future. Nicks caught 47 passes as a rookie, but Randle's first season compares favorably to many other Giants' rookie receivers. Here are the numbers of some standout Giants' receivers as rookies:" Read more...


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Meet the squishiest, sleepiest little baby I've photographed. He has rolls and was just so easy to move around. He was literally a limp noodle in my hands. 🙂
While I was taking the maternity session, we had talked about me being in the delivery room taking pictures of "C"s birth. Well, Kim didn't deliver until around 2 in the morning…so needless to say, I wasn't able to be there. However, before work a day or so after his birth, I went to the hospital to capture his cuteness. I love how they came out.
Day 4: I met at their house to get some more studio style shots. 🙂 Enjoy some of my favorites!!


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Katy B (featuring Ms Dynamite) - Lights On (new video!)
After catching wind of this nice new jawn earlier this week, Katy B and her RinseFM backers released the official video clip of Lights On, the singer's new single, which features the equally talented Ms. Dynamite's spit stylin'. Easily my most played track this week, and it's a no brainer as to why: any song about dancing and not wanting to stop chalks right at the top of my list. Also, the beat and bending vocals kinda slay face. Big ups to Geeneus and Zinc on the production tip.
So now, here are your visuals, which frankly are on the underwhleming side, but in doing so, at least gives us the complete song to listen and love as opposed to that radio rip we sneakily posted a few days back...cause that's just annoying for everyone.
Video first. Complete track after.
mp3: Katy B (featuring Ms Dynamite) - Lights On