text:
Your visit to Savannah is not complete without experiencing Aqua Star, critics' choice for "Restaurant with the Best View of the Historic District" as well as "Best Sunday Brunch." Watch ships sail by on the tranquil river while enjoying Southern cuisine with a modern flair. This signature restaurant's award-winning chefs specialize in fresh seafood daily, Certified Angus Beef®, and locally inspired, innovative cuisine from the Coastal Low Country.
Indulge in a bubbly experience with Savannah's biggest and most diverse Champagne and sparkling wine selection. And Sunday Jazz Brunch is a grand affair, featuring entertainment by Jeremy Davis and the Equinox Trio. Voted best brunch in Savannah by Eat It and Like It and by the readers of Connect Savannah and Savannah magazines, this savory, sweet, and healthy bounty is a treat for the eyes as well as the palate.
Executive Chef Roger Paul Michel studied at the Culinary School Bellegarde in his home country of France, where his talents shined from the start—Michel was awarded a certificate designating him the "Best Culinary Student in Ain." He has since earned numerous other honors, including "Chef of the Year" (BHRCA England); "Best Apprentice in France" semi-finalist (as deemed by a panel of world-renowned Michelin Chefs); two silver medals in the IKA Culinary Olympics; and more.
Chef Michel began his professional career in London in 1970, before being recruited and requested to relocate to the U.S. with Hilton International in 1981. After seven years in the Lowcountry, Michel is no stranger to Savannahians! He continues to awe with his culinary creations, ranging from inspiring the Gingerbread Village to sweeping the Taste of Savannah competition.
Michel's menus can be tasted at any of the resort's three restaurants: Aqua Star, Midnight Sun, and the Club Grille.
Starbucks Café at Midnight Sun, located in our lobby, proudly serves Starbucks coffee as well as pastries, fresh fruit, cereal, and bagels daily.
Located in The Westin's Club at Savannah Harbor, Champions offers an enticing range of lighter American fare, including original soups, salads and sandwiches, and also features a full bar. Spa-inspired menu items available. Open daily for continental breakfast and lunch; bar open 11am-6pm.
Relax over a bite in our intimate lobby or sip on a top-shelf drink while enjoying this comfortable and romantic setting. Named for famed American songwriter Johnny Mercer who lived in Savannah, the lounge offers cocktails and lighter fare daily from lunchtime through the evening. Mercer-themed drinks are a favorite, as are our frozen summer specialties. Breakfast paninis are served Sunday morning, 8:30am-11:30am.
Resort guests can choose to dine inside the lounge or at one of our tables outside by the pool, on the adjacent deck, or in the Midnight Sun Tent (which also features billiards and a projection screen for movies). Cigars are available; smoking is allowed outside in designated areas only.
Take in enchanting views of Historic River Street from our relaxed resort setting. A poolside oasis, Escape serves refreshing iced cocktails, juicy grilled burgers, and lighter fare. Enjoy live music seasonally; please contact us for our entertainment schedule.


text:
AN elderly woman has died after a crash near a bus stop at Herbert Avenue, Parkstone, Poole, on Wednesday night.
The pedestrian was involved in a collision with a white Renault Megane car near the Tesco Express at around 7.45pm.
Police closed the road between Sark Road and Arne Avenue for around three hours.
A Dorset police spokesman said just before 1am on Thursday morning: "Emergency services attended a collision on Herbert Avenue, Poole, near the junction with Stanfield Road at around 7.45pm.
"A white Renault Megane being driven by a local female was in collision with an elderly female pedestrian.
"Ambulance attended the scene and administered emergency first aid.
"The lady was taken to Poole hospital where she sadly died as a result of her injuries.
"Her next of kin have been informed."
Witnesses or anyone who has any information on the incident should contact Dorset Police on 101 quoting incident number 19:415.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
So here's a big surprise…I'm super lazy when it comes to painting my nails. I don't know why, but it just seems like the whole drying process takes forever with me. And I always dent them or mess them up. I'm kind of a klutz by-the-way. I had a few minutes to spare this weekend when I was in Las Vegas, so I decided to paint them. I used L'Oreal's Coulour Riche nail lacquer in Club Prive ($5.99). My brother said it reminds him of pistachio ice cream…mmmmm…ice cream. It reminds me of blue cotton candy.
What does this color remind you of?
Disclosure: This item was gifted for review purposes only. The above is my true and honest opinion. I was NOT paid for this post.


text:
Boot Barn Item #: 2001132
Color: Click a button belowcolor
PrintBuckle Features:
Style(s): 61558P
- Nickel and gold electroplated
- Hand Painted
- Protective coating to prevent tarnish
- Size: 4" X 4 7/8"
Buckles with attitude! Attitude buckles are Kickin' Buckles at Kickin' prices! This buckle will make a perfect gift! These cast buckles may sometimes have slight blemishes which adds unique character. Actual colors and patinas may vary slightly. Montana Silversmiths protects the finish with a protective coating to prevent tarnishing.
Style(s): 61558P
Lifestyle: Western
Print A leader by design, Montana Silversmiths is a pioneer of innovative western products that preserve and celebrate the culture of west with the best in buckles, jewelry or western home décor. Count on Montana Silversmiths to provide an incredible array of distinctive buckles and jewelry inspired by the west featuring classic authentic designs with unique modern flair. Fit your life and style with Montana Silversmiths extraordinary quality and classic styling, make them you own "The West Your Way." Montana Silversmiths distinctive western home decor "Montana Lifestyles" makes the perfect compliment to any western interior by richly capturing the spirit of the West in authentic sculptures, tabletop dinnerware, picture frames and more. Montana Lifestyles set the stage for family and friends serving as conversation pieces and as a backdrop for memories that will be treasured for a lifetime. Established in Columbus, Montana in 1973, Montana Silversmiths® is a pioneer manufacturer and distributor in the western industry. Their skilled craftsmen are the finest in the western industry, perfecting a combination of traditional western designs and crisply executed engraving styles which include buckles, jewelry, and lifestyle products for the western enthusiasts. The company has a solid stable of trusted brands including Montana Lifestyles™, Cowboy Kickers™ Footwear, Attitude Buckles, and of course, the world renowned Montana Silversmiths® Buckles and Jewelry.


text:
The sprinklers of Stephanie and Ed Pacheco's next-door neighbor chk-chk-chk-chk churn, spraying past the patch of green lawn onto the Pachecos' walkway and darkening the paving stones there.
If the Pachecos had a yard like almost any other in this Fountain Valley neighborhood, that water might have landed on a similar patch of green grass, or their sprinklers could return the favor, spraying their neighbors' yards.
But the Pachecos have neither grass nor sprinklers on their 0.3-acre lot, which is a Surfrider Foundation-certified Ocean Friendly Garden, along with seven others in Orange County and many more in Southern California. Instead, their property teems with all varieties of foliage: fruit trees and native grasses, vegetable gardens and seasonal flowers.
The Surfrider program, which started four years ago, aims to keep oceans clean by reducing urban runoff. In many cases, that runoff originates at homes like those in Fountain Valley. During heavy rains, water sheets off turf lawns and straight into the storm drain, or off the roof, through gutters, onto driveways and eventually to the ocean. That runoff is the No. 1 cause of ocean pollution, officials said.
At first glance, gardens and the runoff from them might not seem like an issue for a surfer-oriented group. But for Paul Herzog, national coordinator for Surfrider's Ocean Friendly Garden program, it makes perfect sense because surfers spend so much time in the ocean and are the first affected by pollution there.
"Surfers are really at the end of the pipe when it comes to urban runoff," Herzog said. "Surfers are really the canary in the ocean because they're telling us if a surfer is getting sick, it's primarily water coming off the land."
Twenty-two years ago, when Stephanie and Ed got married and moved into Ed's Fountain Valley home, hybrid Bermuda grass stretched across the whole property.
On a recent tour of the garden, Stephanie recalled how she persuaded Ed to tear out the turf.
"Can I have a vegetable garden?"
"Oh, I don't know."
"How about over here where no one can see it?"
"Oh, OK."
Stephanie laughed.
"And as you can see, I've taken over," she said. "But he loves it now. He really loves it because we get a lot more wildlife we'd never get from a lawn."
The Pachecos' garden is designed to require little water and prevent rainwater from escaping the property. Water from the roof runs into rain barrels, which are used to irrigate fruit trees and vegetable gardens. Those plants require minimal supplemental irrigation. Nothing else requires any.
Ed said the Ocean Friendly Garden is a "tremendous savings in cost and a tremendous savings in water." Businesses, too, can get the Ocean Friendly certification.
Rainbow Environmental Services in Huntington Beach had a different reason for installing an Ocean Friendly Garden at one of the entrances to their waste disposal and processing facility.
Legally, water must be filtered before leaving the 18-acre property. Runoff from the largely asphalt and concrete property is funneled into grates that lead to 91 underground filters that can process 1,350 gallons per minute.
But during rainstorms, water would rush past the grate at Gate 6, escaping the property unfiltered. So Rainbow installed a small Ocean Friendly Garden at that gate – one of seven – that would slow the water and allow it to sink into the ground before being funneled to the filters.
"Nature has a great way of dealing with issues," said Sue Gordon, Rainbow's vice president of environmental and public affairs. "If you employ that, it's really effective."
1. Tear out turf grass: That green medley of French-style grasses is consuming gallons upon gallons of your water – and money. Replace it with a garden that has more color, requires less maintenance, lessens carbon emissions from mowing and doesn't take nearly as much water.
2. Direct downspouts off the driveway: Water that flows from the roof of your house down the downspout and to the storm drain is a waste, and it has all the pollutants that have settled on your roof. Instead, shunt water into rain barrels, or bioswales, where the water can soak into the earth.
3. Grow your own fruits and vegetables: Sure, watering fruit trees and vegetable gardens takes more than zero water. But the savings in your wallet from buying less food, the ecological savings of transporting less food and the pleasure of eating homegrown avocados make up for it.
4. Break up hard surfaces: Water normally sheets straight down your driveway to the storm drain. Break up that concrete slab with a gravel stripe down the middle. For walkways around the sides of the house, use paving stones with gravel in the gaps rather than solid concrete.
5. Mix and match native plants: Not all the plants in your garden have to be from here – some species from regions with similar climates will also fare well. And there are many more options than cacti and stumpy shrubs. Seasonal flowering grasses and certain kinds of trees do well here.
Surfrider Foundation certification: You get a sign to place in your garden marking it as officially Ocean Friendly. The sign costs $18, and you have to order it after filling out a checklist of prerequisites and submitting a report. The requirements are extensive and range from having less than 20 percent of the lawn be turf grass to limiting spray irrigation to 100 square feet, having no chemical additives to installing permeable walkways. A Surfrider-affiliated person will verify the garden is ocean friendly. Contact your local Surfrider chapter for details, or go to surfrider.org
That green lawn is contributing to a natural resource crises in the western United States: water. According to Greg Goran, chairman of the Surfrider Foundation's Ocean Friendly Gardens program for Huntington Beach and Seal Beach, "Lawns are not friendly to wildlife and not friendly to the ocean.
"About 75 percent of the water we consume as Americans goes on the landscape, and most of that goes to watering turf grass.
"(Herbicides and pesticides) don't stay there, but during the next watering, they're going to wash off into the storm drains.
"When we have a significant rain event, it usually absorbs pretty quickly and becomes saturated, and then it sheets off.
"We're the only country in the world that embraces turf grass as the norm. Everybody else embraces their native flora.
"It's the number one irrigated crop in the country, more than food. Three of five major rivers in the state are drained exclusively for watering turf.
"We are literally transporting a precious resource hundreds of miles and then dumping it down the drain."
Water district offers removal incentives
For those who want to tear out turf grass on their properties, the Municipal Water District of Orange County is offering an incentive of $1 per square foot of turf removed. The district has seen more than 1 million square feet torn out already. Funding for the period from July 1, 2012 to June 30 has expired; the district is not taking applications at the moment. However, new funding may be available at the end of the month.
For more information, visit mwdoc.com.
Contact the writer: firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Civilization 5 lead designer Jon Shafer has kickstarted a new 4X turn-based strategy game called Jon Shafer's At the Gates, coming from his new three-person indie studio, Conifer Games. The game is about half-way complete already and he is looking for a modest $40,000 target to get it officially off the ground.
"The core aspects of the game are all in-place, but a lot of the peripheral, more 'boring' work still needs to be done," he told Shacknews. "Things like sound effects and hotkey systems. We also want to polish up the art and add nice 2D animations for all the units and the landscape. The gameplay also needs iteration time. The features are in but the game hasn't had much playtesting, and I'm sure it's not very much fun to play at this rough stage! Thereâs also a lot of AI work still left to do."
Shafer has already taken a cue from the Sid Meier school of game naming. "Making games is a tough business, especially as an indie," he said. "You really have to take advantage of every possible opportunity to spread the word about what you're up to. I was very fortunate to have been chosen as the lead for one of the biggest strategy titles of the past decade. As a result there are a few people who actually recognize my name. If putting that in the title will help increase the chance that the game succeeds. As a brand-new businessman I have to take advantage of that. Though, yes, I do feel a little bit dirty about it."
At the Gates lets the player take on the role of a barbarian tribe battling the Roman Empire in its waning days. It may look a bit like a Civ game, he said the differences run deep.
"The fact that the game transforms as you play is a huge difference," Shafer said. "The effects of the seasons means that you have to be more flexible and plan ahead more. Sending an army off in the winter without making sufficient preparations is a death wish. And if you don't have enough food saved up your people will starve. Much of the time in a Civ game you can pretty much just play on autopilot. Hitting the end turn 10 times in a row might not make much of a difference. Well, in ATG that would be a really, really bad idea."
When seasons change, rivers will swell, farms stop producing food in winter, and coastal areas can turn to ice. Shafer said the game's resources will deplete over time, so you can't sit back and hunker down waiting for the enemy to come to you. You will need to continue to explore, meet new leaders and be diplomatic.
"The main way of building relations is through completing requests, and these requests are all situational," he said. "You can't just give another leader some food and expect them to like you. Just imagine how that sort of thing would go over with someone you've just met. But if that same person is starving to death and you give them a meal the context and effects are completely different. That's the idea behind diplomacy in ATG."
Shafer said that there is a possibility of modding for the game as well. "We've been thinking about XML modding, a map editor and even releasing some source code for the game, but it all takes work. Honestly it depends on how the Kickstarter campaign does. ... We'd really like to flesh out the modding side, as well as add more factions and gameplay options. If the campaign does really well, we might even look at crazy stuff like making the Roman factions playable."
With the modest crowdfunding goal, Shafer is optimistic. "Our scope is tight. We don't have a complex, expensive 3D engine, nor are we including multiplayer. We know what we want from the game and there's very little risk," he said. "One of my goals with ATG is to really mix things up with the 4X genre. I feel that there hasn't been a lot of innovation in that space during the past decade, and I'm hoping that ATG shows that there's still a lot of meat that we haven't yet gotten to. I strongly feel that the 4X genre has been underserved and people really want more of these types of games. The fans are a passionate group, and I think they'll be really excited by ATG."


text:
Return to ads
All categories For Sale Miscellaneous Goods Other - Miscellaneous Goods
F54w/t5/865/eco (40 Pack)
F54w/t5/865/eco (40 Pack)
Posted by Spotman Lighting
Posting ads for 7 years
Posting ads for 7 years
Spot Lighting Supplies
(866) 950-2852 Ext # 1
Over 4,000 lamp types in stock!
Ship Today.
New Ads


text:
The entire list
New Information
Kıbrıs Ada TV, 1 August 2008
Adnan Oktar: If you could see, you could not recognize the Turkey of future. In the real sense of the word, it will be the super state of the region and as a result Israel will be saved, Armenia and Palestine willfeelrelieved. Israel willattain an unprecedented peace and security. The problem of Palestine will be solved completely. THE FOCAL POINT OF ALL EVENTS IS TURKEY AND THERE IS AN EXPLICIT REQUEST. Iraq also requests. It wants to unite with Turkey and so does Syria. Syria also wants to unite with Turkey and wants to remain under the administration of Turkey. But surely their states will be seperate. They want Turkey to be the spiritual leader.
Azernews, 23 October 2008
Adnan Oktar: TURKEY WILL BECOME THE GREAT TURKEY. I am not saying by ninety-nine percent; it is one hundred percent. IT WILL BE THE LEADER OF THE TURKISH-ISLAMIC UNION.TURKEY WILL BECOME THE LEADER OF THE TURKISH-ISLAMIC UNION.WITHIN TEN-TWENTY YEARS, THE ENTIRE WORLD WILL SEE THIS. I am here and so you do. Everyone is here; by Allah's leave this is clear. There is no other way. That is, there is not an alternative. This is the destiny of humanity, Insha'Allah. This will happen so. Turkey already has some sovereignty over the Islamic world as the leader of the Turkish-Islamic Union. But the Turkic states are generally Islamic countries…Consequently Turkey will become the leader of Muslims, Christians and Jews Insha'Allah. That is, it is the leader, it will be the leader. And it will present peace, bliss and justice to all.
Sabah, 11 December 2010
Yevgeny Primakov, the former Prime Minister of Russia, stated that in order to solve the Middle East problem, the Middle East quartette must be put into effect and the leaders of the region must be included in the organisation. Vitaliy Naumkinde, the Chairman of Russian Academy of Sciences Orientalism Institute said that Turkey must also take its place in the Middle Eastern quartette.


text:
U.S. vacation homes for $250,000
Real estate is cheaper than ever in 15 popular vacation spots
Real estate is cheaper than ever in 15 popular vacation spots
If I had a spare 250 grand, and wanted to live in US, I would be moving to Savannah, GA. Looks like a lovely old character home. And ever since reading 'midnight in the garden … ' I've wanted to check out Savannah.
And whoever took the photo of the home in Myrtle Beach, SC needs to try again. There's no reason to cut off top of the home in order to accentuate brown lawn.
if i had a spare 250 thousand i would be spending it my own country – Canada – first
Easy there, man.
… Honolulu – groan – what a deal ! A friend of mine just got back from Chicago where he and a few dozen others went on a bus charter all are canadians looking at buying up american real estate some righteious deals available now that boggle the mind. I am sorely tempted and have a few dollars .. am giving it serious thought!
I bet there are good deals to be had. Banks must be keen to offload all those foreclosed homes.
better start buying before the chinese snap it all up.
Much as I like the idea of reasonably priced and spaciously sized homes, and I even like putting those two together in the same package even better, I don't feel that purchasing anything in a closing society such as the USA is such a good idea.
Considering the incredible number of parrallels with late-30's/early 40's Germany, perhaps it will be safer to stay away from the USA until their current "Homeland Security" reich has run it's course…
you got to be kidding me….:]
You left out the Coachella Valley, best winter climate in the Americas, Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, La Quinta, etc. Homes are way down here.
Tampa Bay Home Inspection Company QCI, Inc.
Tampa Bay Home Inspections. New problems with Sulfur in drywall from China.
It has been reported that drywall imported between 2004-2006 from certain areas in China, can release sulfur-like odorous components. These compounds can corrode air conditioning coils and other copper-bearing materials, causing them to be replaced repeatedly. It has been determined that the problem is related to presence of iron disulfide. There have been reports that large quantities of drywall produced in China were kept on sea barges for months awaiting permission for importation to the USA. This drywall has a higher than typical density and a higher propensity to off-gas sulfur compounds.
Drywall is usually made of gypsum (hydrated calcium sulfate). Therefore, sulfur is one of the main components present in the sample. All drywall has sulfur in its elemental composition; therefore the odor is not explained by an analysis of the total sulfur content.
Tampa Bay Home Inspections.Offers our expert opion or questions on this matter. The extent of the indoor air quality issues related to this is still unclear. EPA is currently investigating the severity of the problem. However, it is well known that exposure to sulfur compounds can create irritation and breathing disorders. Also Sulfar has been damaging aircondition unit coils. This damage can ruin an A/C unit in as little as 6 months. Contact us at http://firstname.lastname@example.com
Drywall may be to blame for homeowners' illness
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Questions about Home Inspection Services.


text:
Need help? Check out our Support site, then
Back to WordPress.com Forums
- Member Since
- August 17, 2007 (10 years)
- Website
- http://brandonweber.wordpress.com
User Activity
Recent Replies
- Twitter support User last replied: 9 years ago. Most recent reply: 9 years ago
Threads Started
No more topics posted.


text:
When John Adams proclaimed, "I believe in a government of laws, not of men," he couldn't have imagined just how many laws—or how much legal mumbo-jumbo—his descendants would have to endure. In his day, after all, people didn't do things like put an empty sheet at the end of the Constitution labeled, "This page intentionally left blank."
Today, legalese and lawsuit-avoidance techniques confront us at every turn. Movie DVDs begin with the shocking news that opinions expressed in their commentary tracks are actually those of the people expressing them. Emails end with statements about how "this message, together with any attachments, is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed." TV car commercials show drivers performing death-defying stunts while fine print warns, "Professional driver on closed course. Do not attempt." (Thanks for telling me. I was just about to floor the accelerator.)
And have you read any software agreements lately? Of course not. Nobody but lawyers wades through those things. But they can be enlightening. I mean, who would have guessed that Apple disallows use of its App Store for "any purposes prohibited by United States law, including, without limitation, the development, design, manufacture or production of nuclear missiles, or chemical or biological weapons"? That's right: If you download the Facebook app and manage somehow to convert it into an atomic bomb, the folks from Apple will see you in court. (And if you think I'm making this up, just read Clause G of the company's poetically named Licensed Application End User License Agreement.)
So what does all this have to do with business aviation? Well, if the App Store's agreement seems impossibly longwinded and abstruse, what do you suppose the typical business-jet-related legal document reads like? Yup—an even more incomprehensible mess. If you're not getting results with Lunesta or Ambien, try spending a little time with the Federal Aviation Regulations, which feature such heartfelt prose as, "An operator may substitute for the required plan a notice, certified as true plan (under penalty of 18 U.S.C. 10001) by that operator, that no change in the plan or status of an airplane affected by the plan has occurred since the date of the plan most recently submitted under this section."
Of course, it's not just the government that's spewing forth this sort of gibberish. I recently attempted to decipher the contract employed by one of the leading fractional-jet-share providers and gave up after about 350 words—all of which were part of one sentence. This thing made James Joyce's Ulysses seem like Goodnight Moon—and it went on for more than 40 pages. There ought to be a law against contracts like this, but it would probably be written by lawyers, so it would just compound the damage.
If you're reviewing a contract for a new jet, fractional share or jet card, you're probably in a mood to echo Shakespeare's famous line from Henry VI about how we should "kill all the lawyers." But if you can't do that, better get your own.
And be careful what you do with those App Store apps.


text:
No binding decisions will be made at Thursday's select schools meeting.
But there will be two sides — the select schools and the Louisiana High School Athletic Association — seeking answers to major questions as plans to implement a football playoff system with separate divisions for select and nonselect schools takes shape for this fall.
"I think the important thing is to go in with an open mind and listen," Parkview Baptist principal Don Green said. "But we need to get some specific answers from the association and some guidance from the LHSAA.
"One thing we need to know is who all the select schools are. And also, what makes one school a select school and another nonselect? What are the specific criteria? How will it be regulated? There are questions about charter schools, too."
The meeting at 9 a.m. at the LHSAA office is expected to last between two and three hours, said LHSAA Executive Director Kenny Henderson, who wants the meeting to function similar to the group's annual convention meeting.
"It (agenda) won't be finalized until later today (Wednesday)," Henderson said. "The idea I have is that we come in and present a series of plans and get input from the schools. We want to see what they like, and what they don't."
The ideal meeting for Henderson would end with select schools in attendance recommending a select playoff plan the LHSAA's executive committee could ratify at its March 20 meeting. Once a plan is in place, the LHSAA could begin planning to extend its current championships from two to three days at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans or look for a second venue. The LHSAA previously has hosted five title games over two days at the Superdome.
Henderson said executive committee members have been invited to Thursday's meeting, though he is not sure how many will attend.
Thursday's meeting is the second the LHSAA has hosted since its member principals voted last month to split its football championships into separate divisions. The plan calls for select and nonselect schools to compete together in the districts that were approved for 2013-14 and 2014-15 and then branch off into separate divisions for the playoffs.
The largest division is for nonselect or traditional public schools and will consist of approximately 210 schools of the LHSAA's 291 football-playing schools. The other division is for select schools, which includes private schools, magnet schools, charter schools, laboratory schools and dual curriculum schools with magnet components that draw 25 percent or more of their enrollment from outside traditional attendance zones.
Options and emotions
The original proposal by Winn-field Principal Jane Griffin mandated five classifications for nonselect schools and two for select schools, though Griffin and other authors said they wouldn't oppose changes to the select plan to offer more select classes.
Six days after the Jan. 25 vote, the LHSAA's nonpublic school committee comprised of select schools met, and that meeting led to some intense moments as several administrators expressed displeasure with the split plan. Karr-New Orleans Principal John Hiser repeated his contention the split plan is a form of segregation.
Though Henderson presented a plan to provide a power-rating system for select schools and offered a plan for three select classes no agreement or vote was taken. Parkview submitted sample plans for three and four select classes. E.D. White Catholic president David Boudreaux was among those who suggested five classes should be offered to select schools.
"There are so many questions that people don't have the answers for," Catholic High Athletic Director J.P. Kelly said. "Catholic High enjoys competing with all the schools, public and private, and we've never won a state title in football and we're OK with that.
"You have to remember, this is something we didn't want or ask for. It was put on us. That's why there's so much emotion surrounding this. Ultimately, you want what's best for student-athletes. Right now, you've got adults with two different opinions about what that is."
University High Athletic Director Jill White hopes to see progress but is guarded in her optimism.
"The thing I want first and foremost is some relief for my school," White said. "We're the smallest 3A school with 200 boys to draw from and would have to play Jesuit and Rummel and other (5A) schools that have over 1,000 boys to choose from if there are two select divisions. And we're not the only one in this situation. There are other schools in the same boat with us. My biggest concern is that things could be as contentious as the first meeting, and nothing will get done. I hope that doesn't happen."
Updated data
Henderson said the LHSAA can provide some answers about dual curriculum schools. To date, the LHSAA has received data from less than half of the 20-plus dual curriculum schools and only two, Baton Rouge-based Scotlandville Shreveport's C.E. Byrd, have submitted percentages that put them in the select category.
Captain Shreve, Carroll-Monroe, BR's McKinley and Lafayette High have submitted percentages that would make then nonselect. Henderson said those percentages must be verified.
When asked about charter schools, Henderson said any school classified as a charter school before the fall would compete as a select school in 2013. This group would include schools in the East Baton Rouge Parish School System that could be converted to charter schools later this year and others currently in Louisiana's Recovery District that might be revamped as charter schools.
What's next?
Private/select school groups have held two major meetings since the convention. The first was held before the nonpublic school meeting and the other afterwards. Other smaller groups of private schools have also met.
Private schools make up the majority of select schools and have agreed to follow the LHSAA process that continues Thursday. Kelly, Green and The Dunham School's Bobby Welch all noted forms of litigation and possible legislation to stop the split playoffs are options. Leaving the LHSAA to form a separate association is considered to be a final option.
Kelly said he sees select schools working with the split playoff system for 2013 and then evaluating their options.
Welch's outlook is less optimistic.
"If all we talk about at this meeting is the playoff system, then I'm not sure what good it will be," Welch said. "This thing needs to be delayed. But I think the die was cast when the vote took place. You have a majority that has spoken, and the LHSAA will be bound to follow what they want. If I was in the LHSAA's position, that's more than likely what I'd do.
"I'll be honest, at Dunham we're preparing for a worst-case scenario. That would include not being part of the LHSAA in the future."


text:
STEVE Casey may have taken over the armband at Chippenham Town but he is adamant that he isn't the only leader his side have on the pitch.
Casey, who has been a mainstay in the Bluebirds back line since he first joined the club in 2008, was promoted from vice-captain by boss Nathan Rudge after the departure of Scott Rogers last month.
The defender is proud to have been tasked with leading Chippenham out on to the pitch every week.
But he believes that the responsibility of leading by example doesn't rest solely on his shoulders.
"It's a nice accolade to have and I enjoy doing it because I've been here quite a while too," said Casey.
"Rudgey said to me 'be a leader' and that's what I'm trying to do but we've got a lot of lads who could quite easily do the job.
"That makes a difference because you've not just got one of you trying to do it – there are quite a few big personalities out there so it works quite well."
The Bluebirds notched up their third straight victory last weekend as they comfortably triumphed over bottom-of-the-table Kettering Town at Hardenhuish Park.
Casey added: "We've had three wins in a week and we've only lost one in seven so things are feeling a lot more solid.
"I think we've just found the team that's got a bit more balance to it.
"It's been some time coming but we always knew that we needed some time to click.
"If you look at the starting eleven (on Saturday), it's got a good shape and a good balance to it.
"If you look at the bench too, you've got people like Harvs (Iain Harvey) and Griff (Alan Griffin) and they were probably our better players in the early parts of the season.
"I think ever since I've been at Chippenham, we've struggled against the teams at the bottom end of the table, who come here and play 4-5-1 to get a point.
"But we took the game to them and got that early goal, which changes everything."


text:
Nintendo DS Lite
I travel a lot for work and for the last year I have wanted a Nintendo DS. I love puzzles and games and typically bring some crossword puzzles or something along with me, but they get crumpled and ripped and are kind of bulky. Plus, I only have what is in that one book. With a DS I can swap between arcade style games AND brain teasers.


text:
From Uncyclopedia, the content-free encyclopedia
Moodiesburn is a small barbarian village in the vicinity of Cumbernauld and is also near Glasgow. The barbarians of Moodiesburn have fought in many clan wars, including the bloody war of 2010 with Kazakhstan, frequent battles with Canada, and the more recent battle with the Moon.
edit Life In Moodiesburn
The people of moodiesburn (from what evidence has shown) are a very unitelligent bunch. Bones show thick skulls and long arms with thumbless paws. They live off a diet of cannibalism, buckfast tonic wine and The odd chippy from "Fat Doms" chip shop, yet some collected faeces suggests that a chinx from the "wok inn" or a chocolate confectionary bar from "Normans" may be ingested in times of famine. "M'burners" are known to drum upon their vests, it is a weird and unusual tradition that dates back to the invasion of the pigeons from Stepps in 2003, a dark day in the proud history of the community.
edit Culture
The natives of Moodiesburn, worship passing planes and have many a time constructed large towers in an effort to reach these "Gods of the Sky". The plane is represented on the moodiesburn coat of arms above the motto "Il fukkin stabb ye ya wee bawbag kunt!
The town is at perpetual war with several Ned gangs or "Teemz" fighting for territorial supremacy. Some of the most prominent gangs are Mburn , loosely translated as the "Manure Burners" and the Y.M.H. (no information at present, researchers keep showing up dead with ritualistic wounds in the face known only as "Chibbinz").
edit The future is bright?
The British government home office has recently cancelled all initiatives to regenerate Moodiesburn and has given up all territorial claims to it which have been taken by the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh (sources show that the landlock is avoided by underground tunnel networks that have already been found in neighboring towns Kilsyth and Croy, in which a recent cave in has killed over 32 crojans (crojans=people from Croy).
The local youngsters attend St Michael's Primary School, which was once a borstal. Former pupils include George Galloway, Jeremy Paxman, Mel Gibson, William Hague and Prince Charles. The village's other school - Glenmanor Primary school - is in fact a secret SS missile silo. Fuck knows where the kids go.
Moodiesburn has a terrible problem: due to global warming, penguins have begun to migrate, and under the protected species protection act of the protectorate of protected penguins, they cannot be killed by the inhabitants of moodiesburn; the penguins have caused terrible overcrowding.
edit Economy
Tourists often visit this town, or at least, try to drive past or through it without attracting the attention of the local Neds. Similar to Neds from other parts of the country (Scotland), these ones are distinctive by their viciousness and ugliness.
edit Fame
Moodiesburn shot to fame recently when Jo Brand (Pictured right) performed 'Physical' surrounded by hunky men (Mel Gibson, Anne Robinson, Jesus, your_mom, you, and the crew of the USS_Enterprise).
Newspapers and television cameras were everywhere, and quite a few celebrities were visible in the audience including Joseph Stalin, Jeremy Paxman, Daniel Craig, George Best and Angus Deayton. In the same week, it has been reported that orphan-stealing Madonna is thinking of buying a house in the area.
Recently a statue of a miner made from lead was stolen days after it was erected.It was stolen from a memorial and is possibly being melted down to make "special hats" to shield moodiesburn inhabitants from the harmful gamma rays that have made the youths of the town look like extras from "Wrong Turn"


text:
This year the bird is getting cooked on the egg. so any recommendations would be appreciated.
I will brine before smoking. But what kind of wood to smoke with, I heard the lighter woods like cherry or apple is a nice taste for turkey, any thoughts on that one would be appreciated.


text:
HOUSTON - Detectives have identified a man who was shot to death by an officer after he put a knife to a 1-year-old's throat.
Houston police said a woman called for help about 6 p.m. Wednesday, saying her husband was threatening a woman and a 1-year-old boy in a unit at the Woodchase Apartments in the 2900 block of South Gessner.
The woman somehow got the wife's phone number and sent her text messages about the incident, officials said.
When officer's arrived at the apartment, they heard a woman scream and forced their way inside, investigators said.
Officers said they saw the husband, 34-year-old Kenny Detrellas Montgomery, holding the baby in his arms and continually putting a 7-inch butcher's knife to the boy's throat.
Detectives said Montgomery ran into a bathroom and tried to shut the door. Officer J. Fisher then opened fire, killing Montgomery, investigators said.
The baby was not hurt.
Copyright 2013 by Click2Houston.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


text:
Human Rights Watch Film Festival: "The Undocumented"
01.25.2014 7:00 pm
Q&A with filmmaker Marco Williams, Kat Rodriguez, Intake Specialist with the Colibrí Center for Human Rights and Norma Chávez-Peterson, Executive Director of the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties
Marco Williams, 2013, 88 min.
Since 1998 the remains of over 2,000 border crossers have been found int the southern Arizona desert. The Undocumented tells the story of Marco Hernandez as he searches to find his father who disappeared after attmepting to cross the border to the United States.
Ticket information: $4 MOPA Members, $6 Students/Seniors/Military, $8 General. Festival passes: $15 MOPA Members, $25 Students/Seniors/ Military, $35 General. (Festival passes cover admission to all six festival screenings)
Online ticket sales are no longer available. There are still tickets available at the door.


text:
A UNIQUE theatre company is returning to its hometown to bring the curtain down on an award-winning tour.
Vamos Theatre, who are based at the Worcester Arts Workshop, presents Finding Joy for the final time at the Swan Theatre on Wednesday and Thursday, June 11-12 at the end of its latest 53-date tour.
Finding Joy is a piece of full mask theatre based on a true story and inspired by one family's remarkable and unconventional experience of dementia.
The show has received eight five-star reviews nationwide and was also a winner of an Argus Angel Award at the Brighton Festival and Fringe, which is an award that recognises artistic excellence during the month-long festival.
Artistic director Rachael Savage said: "Finding Joy has been received incredibly positively on both its recent tours, and we're very proud of our reviews and our Argus Angel award.
"We're delighted to be finishing the tour here in Worcester, where we'll get the chance to celebrate the success of the show with our friends and supporters. "
While dementia is a tough, often heart-breaking condition, the company's production encourages people to remember the person beyond the dementia, and shows how positive caring can make a world of difference to everyone facing it.
The shows start at 7.30pm and tickets are £13 (concessions £11).
For more information and tickets, go to worcesterlive.co.uk or call the box office on 01905 611427.


text:
I hope you have all had a happy holiday, and since you are an amazing reader of All Things Thrifty, today you get the chance to win a SILHOUETTE CAMEO!!!!!
Then I designed the shirt with my silhouette software. Every Christmas Eve, we open new pajamas to wear, and I wanted my hubby to have some new jammies too. BUT, whenever I have made t-shirts with transfer paper or iron on materials, it has never lasted. So, this time I wanted the shirt to last. I used my Silhouette to cut some vinyl to use as my stencil, and to make it easier, you can use Silhouette's stencil vinyl. I had already used my stencil vinyl that I had on hand on a top secret project for Jill's house, so stay tuned for another project coming up soon that you are going to LOVE!!! So, I used some jade vinyl that I had on hand. Next, I stenciled on blue fabric ink. I was careful to dab off the wet paint onto a paper towel before I dabbed it onto the shirt.
Then I let the paint dry and removed the vinyl with a small hook. I'm tellin' ya, the shirt looks like it was printed in the Nike shop!!
My husband was cracking up when he read the shirt! What a hunk, huh!?! The saddest part of all of this……. was that during his imaginary playoff game over Christmas, he lost by 1/10th of a point! Lameness!
I'm telling ya, YOU WANT A SILHOUETTE. You won't be sorry. My hypothetical project list has never been longer. I have used my Silhouette at least ten times this month already.
How to enter, you ask!?! (don't forget to leave a separate comment for each entry)
All you have to do is:
1. Like the Silhouette Facebook Page and
2. Follow Silhouette on Pinterest.
3. Follow All Things Thrifty on Twitter.
4. Like All Things Thrifty on Facebook.
5. Follow All Things Thrifty on Pinterest.
6. Tweet about this giveaway on Twitter. Include a link to this giveaway.
7. Post about this giveaway on Facebook. Include a link to the giveaway.
8. Add an All Things Thrifty button to your sidebar. (include a link to your blog in your comment.)
9. Add All Things Thrifty to your blogroll. (include a link to your blog in your comment)
10. Return every day and tell me an idea of a project you would make with your Silhouette if you won.
The details…the winner must be a US Resident and will be announced on January 3rd, so you can enter the giveaway daily until then.
Oh and for those of you who want to spend some of your Christmas cash on getting a Silhouette, there is a promotion running right now (Dec. 29-Jan. 3) where you can get a Silhouette and a Fabric Ink Starter kit for $299.00. Just use the promo code "THRIFTY" to get the deal.
There are other Silhouette Giveaways happening right now, so if you want more chances to win, head over to the other giveaways!
The giveaway is now closed, if you would like to see the winner, check out the winner announcement post!


text:
Tummy time — placing a baby on his or her stomach while awake and supervised — can help your baby develop strong head, neck and shoulder muscles and promote certain motor skills. Tummy time can also prevent the back of your baby's head from becoming flat (positional plagiocephaly).
A baby's skull is soft and made up of several movable plates. If a baby's head is left in the same position for long periods of time, the skull plates might move in a way that creates a flat spot. While it's recommended that you place your baby on his or her back to sleep to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), tummy time gives a baby the chance to experience a different position. This can help reduce the risk of flat spots.
Research also suggests that babies who spend time on their tummies crawl on their stomachs earlier than do babies who don't practice tummy time. The more time babies spend on their tummies, the earlier they might begin to roll over, crawl on their stomachs, crawl on all fours and sit without support.
Start by laying your newborn on his or her tummy across your lap two or three times a day for a few minutes. As your baby grows stronger, place him or her on a blanket on the floor after a diaper change or nap. Arrange age-appropriate toys within his or her reach. As your baby gets used to tummy time, place your baby on his or her stomach more frequently or for longer periods of time. For a 3- to 4-month-old baby, some research suggests aiming for at least 20 minutes of tummy time a day.
Remember, however, to never leave your baby unattended during tummy time. If your baby becomes fussy or sleepy during tummy time, change his or her activity or place your baby to sleep on his or her back in the crib.
Jay L. Hoecker, M.D.
Original article: http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/infant-and-toddler-health/expert-answers/tummy-time/faq-20057755
Any use of this site constitutes your agreement to the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy linked below.
Mayo Clinic is a not-for-profit organization and proceeds from Web advertising help support our mission. Mayo Clinic does not endorse any of the third party products and services advertised.
A single copy of these materials may be reprinted for noncommercial personal use only. "Mayo," "Mayo Clinic," "MayoClinic.org," "Mayo Clinic Healthy Living," and the triple-shield Mayo Clinic logo are trademarks of Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research.


text:
I have a ServInt Signature VPS dedicated server ( CentOS 5 - i386 (32-bit), WHM/CPanel). This server is just for our website so I am trying to max out the number of emails I can send per hour.
My current "email per hour" settings for CPanel is UNLIMITED. When I have a few thousand emails in the queue, based on my calculations it is sending about 26 emails per minute or 1560 emails per hour, this is fine but I would like to send more/faster.
The excellent crew at ServInt mentioned I might be able to increase the servers output by changing some "exim.conf" settings. Does anyone have any info on what settings have to be changed in this file? I am interested in doubling or tripling my email output because while we are sending out marketing to opt-in clients, our outbound email is clogged for sometimes up to 20 hours as we send out 30,000 emails to our clients.
Please advise!
Aw, I can't find it now but there is a setting in WHM which is used to throttle (control the number per hour) outgoing e-mail.
Still trying to work this out, thanks for taking a look DK.
Anyone know how to open up WHM to push out more email per hour?
I would look at swiftmailer.org as it has several features that allow for what you are after.
Thank you for the suggestion (it applies in my other thread), however in this case I am sure that WHM is maxed out. I need to find a way to configure the server to send more email after it is in the queue.
SwiftMailer will allow you to throttle emails so you don't have to send them all at once which should help in reducing the maxed-out WHM.
Thanks Steve, but still looking to configure my server. I am already throttling the outgoing email and would like to focus on the original post
If anyone has any suggestions otherwise, I will take it
Swiftmailer has a anti-flood plugin that so you can limit the number of emails sent through the SMTP at one time. You don't have to baby sit this as it can be set to stage a batch of emails at predetermined durations. This helps you not run into trouble with your ISP by keeping it in an allowable range.
Some of these tweaks are worth a look:http://linuxconsultant.info/tutorials/exim_cpanel.html
Also, you can move the spool to a ramdisk if you don't mind the added riskhttp://wiki.exim.org/MakeEximFast
Rather than making these mods on a live server, I'd set up a clone vps, and benchmark before/after any tweaks.
Your hourly rate seems quite low, by all means post up your exim conf content, there's stuff to do with the number of parallel processes in there that might need added.


text:
Lewis turns in five solid frames, but rally falls short
Rangers can't cash in with bases loaded after Blue Jays' Stroman exits
TORONTO -- So much for momentum.
A day after snapping a season-high eight-game losing skid, Texas' offense was flat.
The Rangers threatened late but came up short in a 4-1 loss to the Blue Jays in front of a sellout crowd of 45,802 at Rogers Centre on Saturday afternoon.
"We created some opportunities for ourselves and we just couldn't cash them in," Rangers manager Ron Washington said.
The best opportunity for the Rangers to climb back into the game came in the eighth inning, once Toronto starter Marcus Stroman left the contest.
Down by four, the Rangers -- who struggled to get on base and went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position -- snapped the Blue Jays' shutout bid on a run-scoring single from Elvis Andrus, before loading the bases with two outs for Jake Smolinski.
But Smolinski, representing the potential go-ahead run, was unable to come through and was retired on strikes by right-hander Dustin McGowan.
The Rangers went down easy in the ninth and had no answer for Stroman early.
Stroman, making his ninth career start, threw seven scoreless innings, holding the Rangers to four singles while punching out five. Only once, in the fourth, was Texas able to put two runners on base against Stroman in the same inning.
The rookie got out of it by striking out a pair before getting J.P. Arencibia to ground into a forceout to end the inning.
"It was an important part of the game, and I felt like I really beared down when I needed to," said Stroman, who improved to 5-2 while lowering his ERA to 3.58. "It was first and second with no outs, and I knew I needed either a double-play ball or some strikeouts, and I was lucky to get the strikeouts.
"That pumped me up going into the next inning -- [it] got me excited to get out of that with no damage."
After Stroman got the Blue Jays out of the jam, his offense rewarded him in the bottom half of the frame.
Rangers starter Colby Lewis surrendered a leadoff single to Colby Rasmus to begin the inning and didn't help his cause moments later when he threw a wild pitch with Dan Johnson at the plate. An alert Rasmus advanced two bases on the play after the ball bounced away from catcher Robinson Chirinos toward the Rangers' dugout.
Johnson promptly delivered by turning on a 2-1 pitch and driving in the first run of the game with a double off the wall in right to put Toronto ahead.
Lewis allowed an infield single to Munenori Kawasaki later in the inning, which cashed Johnson to give Toronto a 2-0 lead. Kawasaki's single extended his hitting streak to a career-high seven games.
The 34-year-old Lewis exited after working a clean fifth in favor of lefty Ryan Feierabend, whom the Blue Jays scored two runs off of in the seventh.
"When [Lewis] left the ballgame after the fifth inning, we were still in it," Washington said. "And that's his job. We would have liked him to go deeper, and he would have liked to go deeper, but the pitch count got up there pretty quick."
Lewis, who threw 106 pitches, two off his season high, allowed two runs on eight hits over his five innings, walking three and striking out five.
Although Lewis was tagged with the loss, he bounced back strong from his last start in which he allowed a personal- and franchise-high 13 runs (11 earned).
"I don't really dwell on this start, next start, last start," said Lewis, who fell to 6-7 on the year. "I felt like my stuff was great. Was able to locate, especially a lot of the offspeed stuff. The changeup was really good today. They just put together a couple runs and that was all they needed."
Lewis had faced 101 consecutive batters without issuing a free pass -- the longest streak by a Texas starter this season -- until he walked Jose Bautista with two outs in the first inning. It was the first time Lewis had walked a batter in five starts, a span of 21 1/3 innings.
Right fielder Alex Rios was forced to leave the game in the first inning after spraining his right ankle on the follow-through of a swing. He's considered day to day.
The Rangers fell to 2-13 in July and will look for their first series win of the month in Sunday's finale with right-hander Nick Tepesch on the mound.
Chris Toman is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


text:
HTC Touch Pro2 for T-Mobile Review
0. phoneArena posted on 14 Aug 2009, 06:35
It's been a long time coming for T-Mobile customers, but HTC is back with a vengeance in the form of the Touch Pro2. As this is the first US version of the smartphone to hit the market, it will surely become a major topic of discussion among business users...
This is a discussion for a review. To read the whole review, click here
1. mmayer54 (Posts: 19; Member since: 15 Jun 2009)
Phone arena's grading system MAKES NO SENSE! The Touch Pro 2 had very low scores across the board (7.5 avg.) but hen give it a 9 overall. They gave Samsung i8000 FOUR 10's w/ nothing lower than a single 8 score (avg. was 9.37).....But gave it an 8 OVERALL Where is the "credibility" here?
2. Vandro (Posts: 17; Member since: 12 Aug 2009)
Not to mention the i8000 received 4 higher scores than the i8910, with only one lower (by .5), but the Symbian Omnia achieved a 9 overall compared to the WinMo's 8. Just think "8 for great, 9 for fine" and it, somehow, makes sense. Haha.
4. behold--me (Posts: 650; Member since: 22 Jun 2009)
ya rly what up wit ur damn grade system phonearena?
5. mr. anderson (Posts: 92; Member since: 16 Apr 2009)
did you click the "how do we rate" right below the score? obviously not
6. Kiltlifter (Posts: 742; Member since: 11 Dec 2008)
I am pretty sure that Phonearena weighs certain parts of the rating heavier than others... the ones that the TP2 for T-Mo received were design and multimedia... as this is a business professional phone, hence the Tough "PRO" in the name, other objects like organizer, connectivity, battery and display are more important. Also phonearena rates the devices compared to other devices provided by the same carrier, i do not know what the i8000 recieved and where, but I would assume that this had something to do with it... if it rated similar in all these categories, I apologize, I am just speculating. But I would still say this is a good phone.
8. LGVX1993 (Posts: 260; Member since: 27 Jan 2009)
Ive read that before and they still don't explain it as fully as I would like. But as I have said before in the Palm Pre review, there must be something different they do.
3. Vandro (Posts: 17; Member since: 12 Aug 2009)
This phone is already sold out at my local T-Mobile's, and none of them have a display unit on the floor. Either it's really that good of a phone or there are a lot of idiots with large business expense accounts.
12. Vandro (Posts: 17; Member since: 12 Aug 2009)
Yeah, tried it out myself: awesome speaker quality, responsive and gorgeous screen, superb keyboard, and very quick performance. And, all on 6.1. Can't wait to have one of my own and run a custom ROM off that hardware. I actually prefer the new version's color and overally feel, sort of like a mocha mirror with a soft touch back. Really glad that they got rid of the unlocked's giant speaker grille that runs the length of the back, because the speaker is only in the top third around the camera. Solid construction all around, with a reassuring feel to the slide and tilt mechanisms. The camera is relatively quick, and, maybe I'm fooled by the beatiful WVGA display, but the colors and detail are represented nicely. TouchFlo is very responsive and optimized very well to fit the architecture, as I didn't have any occurence of glitches or lag over a several hour test session. The only thing missing IMO is a trackpad or trackball, just for the optional control. I really like the navigation on the Android HTC's. Oh well. The best phone for a power user, with all the features you could want. Android phones are still lacking, so it looks like either this or the Omnia II will be my next phone.
7. Schmao (Posts: 365; Member since: 05 Jul 2009)
They tell you the ratings but the overall rating has nothing to do with the other ratings. The overall rating tells whether or not the phone is good on as a whole.
9. zag92 (Posts: 1; Member since: 17 Aug 2009)
I tested the phone quite a bit at the local TMO store the other day, and was surprised by the sound quality on calls. Quite disappointing, actually. Reminded me of the Verizon Tour which I tried ever so recently and ultimately returned, owing to the muffled, anything-but-crisp voice quality of voices on the other end. I think the TMO version of the TP2 has the same flaw (call quality) that PhoneArena rightly spotted several months ago when reviewing the unlocked GSM version. I was really hoping it would be resolved with its US release. So wanted this phone to work... Will wait for the Verizon model (Sorry TMO, it's tiring to have to strain to understand whoever you're speaking with on a call) and cross my fingers. Big Red, please get this right!
10. Galen20K (Posts: 545; Member since: 26 Dec 2008)
That's not correct at all. I find the Sound on the TMob TP2 Quite Excellent. Crisp CLean and Clear and don't have to strain at all to hear anybody at all.
11. remixfa (Posts: 14605; Member since: 19 Dec 2008)
i dont care what it sounds like. you can dress up a WinMo phone as much as you want, they have never been as stable as a BB or even a jesusphone. Concidering HTC phones dont normally come cheap, i can never recommend one to a customer unless they have a dire need for WinMo. WinMo phones are boomerangs in the industry and I wish people would quit giving them such high scores, when their reliablity has all the stability of a 3 wheeled pinto.
13. cdgoin (Posts: 570; Member since: 28 Jul 2010)
Spoken like someone that hasnt used a WinMo 6.5 phone. I love my WinMo phones and don't understand why so much hate out there. They do things no other smart phone does (Office, NATIVE Tethering) and add the HTC Sense UI and you have a phone that runs circles around iPhone or a BB. As for stable I havent has a WinMO phone that wasnt stable. I HAVE had a number of Androids that were bricks more often than not.


text:
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Please, Indulge My Narcissism
30 comments:
- scottweberpdx said...
Hahahahah...I LOVE it! I do hope you'll share cuttings of those Hostas and Heucheras with the rest of us ;-)
- December 22, 2011 at 2:47 PM
- HolleyGarden said...
haha - Yes, I want #2 and #4 too!!! :) Have a Merry Christmas! I hope Santa brings you everything you've asked for!
- December 22, 2011 at 2:54 PM
- Rebecca said...
Hope you find all your garden wishes are granted! (It hadn't even dawned on me to petition Santa for my garden. I hope it isn't too late.)
Merry Christmas!
- December 22, 2011 at 3:01 PM
- Alison said...
That's a great list, Grace! Heucheras that don't melt away to nothing would be most welcome. Love the beginning of your post too. "It's all about getting." LOL I'd prefer to keep my gray matter (hair and brain) as well.
- December 22, 2011 at 3:08 PM
- HeatherF1 said...
I want those things, too! Slugs are the bane of my existence. And...I keep running out of room in my yard, which means I keep having to pull more plants out in order to fill it back up again. I guess I am not alone. ; ) Merry Christmas!
- December 22, 2011 at 5:29 PM
- lil red hen said...
This is good!! Merry Christmas -- and I hope you get at least part of the things on your list!
- December 22, 2011 at 6:50 PM
- Jenni @ RainyDayGardener said...
ooooh, #4, that would be great! Merry Christmas Grace from achy body to yours! Cheers, Jenni
- December 22, 2011 at 7:25 PM
- Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...
I hope I could get a replacement tree for my very messy pine that seems to drop needles year round creating all sorts of work cleaning the roof and gutters.
Merry Christmas Grace!
- December 22, 2011 at 8:14 PM
- MrsLittleJeans said...
Great list Grace.. : ) I wish they all come true : )
Merry Christmas! xx
- December 22, 2011 at 8:22 PM
- danger garden said...
Here's hoping if you get your zone 9 wish that Santa casts a really wide net and that my NE Portland gardenis swept up in the change!
Merry Christmas Grace!
- December 22, 2011 at 9:46 PM
- heather @ whats blooming this week said...
We both need the same thing - a new body. But you're right about the head - wouldn't want to be 18 again, nor 25, nor even 30 - like where I am in my head. Just wish my body would comply.
Merry Christmas.
I'm giving away a cobrahead weeder on my blog!!!
- December 23, 2011 at 5:37 AM
- MulchMaid said...
What a fun, realistic (sorta) list, Grace!
I'm with you about #2 and want my head, wrinkles and all, with a replacement for my tired, almost 60-year-old body.
As for zone 9, with global warming (oh, wait, you're supposed to say "climate change" now) I just wonder what surprises that warming factor would bring with it? I would take my chances along with you, though!
- December 23, 2011 at 2:08 PM
- Jess said...
Merry Christmas to you!
- December 23, 2011 at 5:44 PM
- Darla said...
What a great post Grace! Sorry I haven't been communicating much as of late...so, so busy...soon, very soon!! Merry Christmas dear Gracie!!
- December 24, 2011 at 4:13 AM
- Anna said...
Your second request is top of my list :) Wishing you peace and joy at Christmas Grace and happy gardening in 2012 xxx
- December 24, 2011 at 6:33 AM
- Annie said...
I hope all of your wishes come true! Of all the people I know you deserve it the most! Merry Christmas to you and yours!
- December 24, 2011 at 12:51 PM
- linda said...
Happy Christmas,may all your wishes come true, so you can share them with all us other zone 8 gardeners.
- December 24, 2011 at 1:34 PM
- Janet, The Queen of Seaford said...
Change zones??? Genius!! Merry Christmas Grace.
- December 25, 2011 at 11:51 AM
- Arlee Bird said...
I'd love that 18 year old body again. Heck, I'd go for my 40 year old body back.
Wrote By Rote
- December 25, 2011 at 7:17 PM
- The Garden Ms. S said...
Clever and charming list! How can Santa refuse? :)
All the best for the new year in your garden!
- December 25, 2011 at 9:43 PM
- Tatyana@MySecretGarden said...
Dear Grace, I hope you'll get what you asked for! I am not so wise as you, so I would ask for a younger face too (I don't like to see a stranger in my mirror every morning)!
- December 26, 2011 at 10:57 AM
- Sissy said...
Grace, what a great idea, just ask Santa!
I hope all your dreams come true, and if the zone thing works for you, let me know!
- December 26, 2011 at 1:34 PM
- CanadianGardenJoy said...
Gracie girl I forgot to ask Santa for my garden wish list .. do I have to wait until next year now ? eekkk !!
I agree with all of your wishes perfectly reasonable ones indeed !
Joy : )
- December 26, 2011 at 2:41 PM
- Amy - Get Busy Gardening said...
LOL, it's not too much to ask! I would like many of these things too. Hope you had a great Christmas and Happy New Year.
- December 27, 2011 at 9:42 AM
- Christine B. said...
There you go and make me look super greedy, Grace, with your five measly demands, er, requests. I suppose this means next year I can only ask for three things! And just what kind of miracle worker do you think Santa is? Not even Donald Trump knows the secret of making Heucheras long lived and he must be 186 years if he's a day.
Christine in Alaska, greed queen
- December 28, 2011 at 10:30 PM
- greggo said...
a little more testosterone for me please! it's seems I'm running out of energy lately. thanks for the nice comments btw. and your list of vintage garden stuff is great.
- December 29, 2011 at 3:57 PM
- jeansgarden said...
Happy Holidays, Grace. #2 especially cracked me up. The year I turned 50, I went dramatically from excellent health to a variety of health problems -- including my first experiences with more medical tests than I care to remember, my first course of physical therapy, my first surgery, my first hospitalization, etc. I told a friend that my 50-year-old body seemed like a car that had just passed 100,000 miles on the odometer: just as the extended warranty was up, one system after another was developing problems. Her response: "So why can't I just trade it in for a new model?" (But I agree with you about not wanting to go back to relive youth. Ugh!) -Jean
- December 30, 2011 at 2:45 PM
- Organic Tomato Garden said...
Haha! I like your humor! Happy holidays! :)
- January 1, 2012 at 3:26 AM
- Wendy said...
ha ha - I love it!!! I've got a few wishes too!
- January 1, 2012 at 5:59 PM
- linniew said...
This was really fun Gracie-- I meant to comment earlier but got swept away by the holiday tide of stuff... You are better all the time with finding the humor, love it. Hope your new year is already awesome!
- January 2, 2012 at 8:36 AM


text:
- This article is about the fifth episode of Book One: Water. For the titular character, see Bumi. For other similar uses, see Omashu (disambiguation).
|"Instead of seeing what they want you to see, you got to open your brain to the possibilities."
|— A young Bumi to Aang in Omashu.
"The King of Omashu" is the fifth episode of Book One: Water of Avatar: The Last Airbender and the fifth of the overall series. It debuted on March 18, 2005.
The group arrives at the Earth Kingdom city of Omashu, where Aang shows Katara and Sokka the famous mail delivery system; Aang tells them that he and his friend Bumi rode the system for fun a hundred years previously. The trio gives the chutes a try, but they are soon discovered and arrested. Omashu's old king quickly discovers Aang is the Avatar and decides to put him through three deadly challenges to test his skills. After successfully completing his challenges, Aang discovers the king is his old friend Bumi, who reveals Aang's destiny: master the other three elements and defeat Fire Lord Ozai.
Aang and his friends arrive in the Earth Kingdom city of Omashu. Sokka and Katara look on in amazement and cannot believe they have buildings that do not melt from the heat. Aang hurries to the city, but Katara thinks he needs to hide his identity as the Avatar for his safety. He uses some of Appa's shed fur as a wig and mustache, and adopts a fake, old man voice, crouching and using his staff as a walking stick.
As they approach the city's walls, Aang remarks that Omashu is one of the friendliest places in the world. However, guards at the city wall are giving a cabbage merchant trouble for trying to bring rotten cabbages into the city, and earthbend his vegetable-filled cart into the valley below, prompting the dismayed merchant to scream, "No! My cabbages!" Telling Sokka and Katara to keep smiling, Aang and the siblings approach the guards, though are immediately halted by one of them levitating a boulder over Aang's head, demanding he states their business. Throwing a tantrum about his business being his own and that he ought to bend the soldier over his knee, Aang introduces himself as Bonzu Pippinpaddleopsicopolis the Third and Sokka and Katara as his grandchildren. After eyeing them suspiciously for a second, the guard tasks Katara, who introduced herself as June, to keep her "grandfather" out of trouble in the city and lets them pass. When Sokka walks by him, however, the soldier stops him and berates him for not showing respect for his elderly by letting his "grandfather" carry his own bag. Hearing this, Aang immediately tosses Sokka his bag. As they reach the wall, it is bent open, shocking the siblings with the immensity of the city. Walking through, the gates closing in their wake, Momo, who was hiding in Aang's wig, pokes his ears out, much to the guard captain's surprise. Before he can do anything about it, however, the gate closes and hides the threesome out of sight.
Aang shows them the Omashu delivery system, which consists of miles of tubes and chutes that send packages throughout the city via earthbending. He also tells them that, one hundred years in the past, he and his eccentric childhood friend Bumi would slide down the Omashu delivery system for fun. Bumi told Aang to always open his brain to the possibilities in life, and Aang affectionately called Bumi a "mad genius".
Aang promises Katara they will go to the North Pole once they have a ride down the chutes. They go to the highest point in the city and slide down, almost getting killed by a package of spears following behind them as they slide. Aang derails them from the chute, and their bin scrapes across the rooftops of several houses. Panicking, they cannot stop and crash into the cabbage merchant's cart, who screams once again in dismay for his ruined cabbages. They are surrounded by guards and taken captive to be punished by the King of Omashu for "vandalism, traveling under false pretenses, and malicious destruction of cabbages."
The king, an aged old man, looks for a while at Aang and, instead of punishment, orders that they shall be thrown a feast, to the surprise of the guards. At the feast, the king inquires about where Aang came from, to which Aang lies that he came from Kangaroo Island. The king cracks a joke, saying he is heard that place is "really hoppin'", which only Sokka laughs at. Feigning his departure from the table, the king suddenly throws a chicken drumstick at Aang, causing him to catch it with airbending out of reflex, revealing to everyone that he is the Avatar.
Aang and the others try to leave, but are detained by the guards. The king declares that the Avatar shall face three deadly challenges the next day to win the freedom of himself and his friends, and locks them in a recently refurbished chamber.
The next day, Aang wakes and finds Sokka and Katara are missing. The king holds them hostage and promises to return them once the challenges are completed. Aang threatens the king and demands he return his friends immediately, but the king brings forth Sokka and Katara and has rings of jennamite placed on their fingers. Known as "creeping crystal", the crystals will grow until they cover the entire body, and only the king can undo the process. For the safety of his friends, Aang agrees to undertake the king's challenges.
For the first challenge, Aang must retrieve a key hanging from a chain within a powerful, cascading waterfall. However, it is not as simple as it seems. The force of the water is too powerful for Aang to simply dive in or approach from below. Even by using airbending, Aang cannot get to the key. The crystal creeps up to cover Katara and Sokka's arms. Aang resorts to breaking the tip of a stalagmite off, and, using airbending, shoots it like a dart into the waterfall, breaking the chain and carrying the key to the king, who is watching from a balcony.
For the second challenge, Aang must return the king's lost pet Flopsie to him. Outside, Aang sees a rabbit and chases after it, but a large, monstrous goat gorilla appears, and begins to chase Aang. The rabbit escapes and the monster closes in, but Aang suddenly has an idea. He turns to face the monster, and realizes the creature is actually Flopsie. Flopsie picks Aang up tenderly and gives him a huge lick before dropping Aang and running to the king, who rubs the monster's belly. Katara and Sokka are covered from head to ankle in crystal, and Aang demands the final challenge begin.
In a large arena, Aang must battle an opponent. He is allowed to choose which opponent to fight, with the king warning him to choose carefully. He can pick one of two nasty-looking gladiator-like warriors, but he realizes that he can choose to fight the king. Aang chooses the king, who declares he made the wrong choice, removing his robes to reveal a surprisingly muscular physique for such an old man. Aang recoils, realizing his mistake. The king claims he is the most powerful earthbender Aang will ever meet, and begins the battle.
The king immediately launches several boulders at Aang; the Avatar dodges, but the king taunts him for such a predictable airbender tactic. As they fight, the king continues to taunt Aang for his unwillingness to fight back. Eventually, Aang begins to counter the king. With tremendous effort, the king tears a massive chunk of earth out of the ground and holds it over his head. Aang screams in terror and begins to run in circles, airbending a tornado. The king throws the massive mound, but the tornado redirects it back at him. He bisects it neatly in two, but Aang appears out of the dust and pins the king with his staff.
The king concedes defeat, but before releasing his friends, requires the Avatar to figure out what his name is. Recalling the point of all the challenges, Aang realizes they all forced him to think differently than he usually would. He realizes who the king is, and calls his old childhood friend Bumi, now the old King of Omashu, a mad genius. The two embrace, and Bumi declares Aang has not changed a bit, literally. Bumi shatters the crystal encasing Sokka and Katara, and eats a piece, revealing jennamite is made from rock candy.
Bumi wishes Aang luck in his quest to defeat Fire Lord Ozai, and hopes when he confronts him that he will think like a mad genius. Aang tells Bumi he now has a challenge for him, and the two of them go sliding down the Omashu delivery system like the old days, which results in them crashing into the cabbage merchant's cart, just like before.
- Written by:
- Directed by:
- Starring:
- Also starring:
- Additional voices:
- Dee Bradley Baker - Flopsie
- Jack DeSena
- Daran Norris
- James Sie - Cabbage merchant
- Andre Sogliuzzo
- Mae Whitman
Production notes
- Main article: Transcript:The King of Omashu
Avatar Extras
- Main article: Avatar Extras for Book One: Water
Series continuity
- This is the first episode in which Zuko and Iroh do not appear.
- This is the first episode in which the Fire Lord is mentioned by his given name, Ozai.
- The cabbage merchant makes his first appearance in this episode when his cart is destroyed by an earthbender on his way into the city.
Character revelations
- Aang reveals that he is a vegetarian.
- After the guard does not allow the cabbage merchant into the city and Team Avatar walks forward, the cabbage merchant is nowhere to be seen.
- After Aang tells Bumi that he does not eat meat, Bumi shoves the chicken leg he is holding into Sokka's mouth, leaving Aang's plate empty. After Katara asks if Bumi's crown is a "little crooked", the camera angle changes to a wide shot and the chicken leg is back on Aang's plate.
- When Bumi throws a chicken leg at Aang, which he catches using airbending, there appears to be a piece of meat on his plate already. When he stops airbending the meat, however, it lands on an empty plate.
- During Aang's first deadly test, he is thrown out of the waterfall twice, but both times he emerges completely dry without using airbending to dry himself off.
- When Aang uses the stalagmite to complete his first deadly test, the key dangles from it on its chain, but after Aang demands his friends be released and the camera switches to Bumi, the key and stalagmite in the wall are gone.
- Flopsie is lowered into the pit as if he were hanging from something, but when the camera angle pans out there is nothing nearby from which he could have hung.
- When Aang finishes the second challenge and King Bumi is rubbing Flopsie's stomach, they are on the platform above the ring where Aang completed the challenge. After he talks to Sokka and Katara, however, Bumi and Flopsie are in the ring.
- In the third challenge of a duel, Aang chooses to fight Bumi with two other choices of men, with all of them on the same balcony. However, after Bumi straightens up, the other two men on the balcony disappear. In the ring, when Aang sees that Bumi is a strong earthbender, Aang points in the direction of where the man holding the ax was, although that man is already gone.
- During Bumi and Aang's duel, the earthbending symbols in the corners of the ceiling change shape with almost every shot.
- During Aang and Bumi's fight, the rocks Bumi launches at Aang frequently disappear while they continue fighting.
- During their fight, once after Aang sends a slash of wind at Bumi and once after Aang barely flies over a rock sent at him, which are right after each other, there is a scene of all the balconies, but Katara, Sokka, and the guards cannot be seen on the side balcony on either of these scenes.
- When Bumi lifts up the main balcony, Katara, Sokka, and the guards who were previously standing on a side balcony cannot be seen on it or in the hallway behind.
- When Aang and Bumi go up to the side balcony where his friends are, the guards are no longer there.
- The jennamite that exploded disappears a few seconds later, when a shot of the entire throne room is shown.
- Kangaroo Island is a real island off the coast of South Australia.
- A very old Nickelodeon website separate from the one commonly used on this wiki for referencing called this episode "The King and Aang".[1]
- This episode is the first time earthbending is seen outside of the opening sequence.
- In this episode, Bumi claims he is the most powerful earthbender in the world, though Toph also claims this multiple times throughout the series.
- This is the first and only time Katara and Sokka's grandfather is mentioned in the series.
- This episode is the only one in which the cabbage merchant's cabbages are destroyed numerous times: one time by the guards at Omashu front gate, one time by Team Avatar when riding the mail delivery system, and one time by Bumi and Aang, again using the Omashu delivery system as a game.
- This is the first of two episodes with the word "Omashu" in the episode title, the other being "Return to Omashu".
- Aang conjures a tornado to use Bumi's attack against him; this is a technique often used in waterbending, foreshadowing his quick learning of the art in "The Waterbending Scroll".
- According to Avatar Extras bonus commentary, some Avatar fans believe this episode is simply "filler", having no real plot involvement, instead focusing on developing Aang's past. Those fans are described as being as crazy as King Bumi.
- Avatar Extras bonus commentary states that Omashu's prime trade resource is making weapons for use by the Earth Kingdom against the Fire Nation.
- When Bumi tells Aang to always open his brain to the possibilities in life, Avatar Extras states that this is an example of the expression "to think outside of the box".
- Avatar Extras reveals that "initially, Bumi was supposed to have the body of a frail old man, the idea being that you don't have to have muscles to be a great earthbender, but it was decided that he looks cooler with abs."
- The initial title of this episode was "The King and Aang".[2]
- ↑ Nick.com archives. Nickelodeon. Retrieved on January 1, 2013. Archived from the original on April 27, 2006.
- ↑ Sifu Kisu (January 26, 2017). Original episode name. Facebook. Retrieved on January 27, 2017.


text:
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Revenues at each of Ohio's four casinos declined in December, leading to the worst statewide showing in the nine months that all four were open.
Figures released Tuesday by the Ohio Casino Control Commission show casino revenue statewide declined 9.8 percent. The casinos are in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and Toledo.
The Cincinnati casino opened March 4, and the others opened in 2012. The statewide December revenue of $63.2 million was the lowest full-month total with all four facilities open.
For December, revenues were off 19.1 percent in Cincinnati, 9.6 percent in Cleveland, 5.8 percent in Columbus and 3.9 percent in Toledo.
Gambling options in Ohio expanded in December with two new horse racing tracks with slots-style video lottery terminals. Those new racinos opened north of Cincinnati and near Cleveland.


text:
Let's face it, accidents happen. And when they do, your derailleur hanger sometimes gets bent. Most of the time it can straightened with a proper derailleur hanger tool, but sometimes not. And when you can't safely straighten it for precise derailleur function, you need to replace your hanger. This replacement derailleur hanger is made by Wilier for the Cento Uno SL, the Cento Uno, the Gran Turismo, and the Imperiale. Simply unbolt the old bent one and install the new one in its place. Fasten your derailleur and you should be able to get back on the road in no time.
This replacement derailleur hanger does not include bolts, so you'll need to save your frame's existing bolts to attach it.


text:
Monthly Archives: June 2013
Today is a rather strange day indeed, especially when you consider the number of leaks that have occurred concerning smartphones in the market. We have seen the Nokia EOS images leaked(allegedly of course), as well as the HTC Mini One not to mention the ZTE Mustang and Sprint Vitalyesterday. Well, why not add yet another model to the mix in the form of the Meizu M035?
The Meizu M035 is an upcoming smartphone device from the folks over at Meizu of China, where it has been given the codename Charm Blue in the process. Images of it have already started to make their way online, where it will come with a 4-inch display. The resolution on this puppy is rather disappointing, so you know for sure that this is not going to be a high end device, but rather, an entry level or perhaps mid-range model with a resolution count of 640 x 960 pixels. Other than that, the Meizu M035 would be powered by a dual-core 1.5GHz Exynos 4212 processor, where it is accompanied by 1GB RAM, 8GB of internal memory, an 8-megapixel camera at the back and dual SIM slots. We do expect an official announcement of the Meizu M035 to happen this June 13 in Beijing.
It seems that previous rumors concerning the HTC One Mini has proven to be true – that this particular smartphone was also given the codename "HTC M4". Hmmm, is it me, or is HTC following Samsung's footsteps by including the "Mini" suffix in their flagship device? After all, we have seen two successive Minis roll off from Samsung's production line – the Galaxy S3 Mini and the Galaxy S4 Mini.
Of course, it is not merely an HTC One that has gone through a shrinking ray, but rather, there are sacrifices that must be made along the way – including not carrying a Full HD resolution but rather a 720p display is more likely, crammed into a metallic unibody alongside Beats Audio branding on the back. The HTC One Mini is tipped to roll out later this year, with Q3 being the "hot date", running on Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean with BlinkFeed accompanying it.


text:
Celebrate Mother's Day with the Women of Fair Trade
Meet the Women of CECANOR, Peru
As Mother's Day 2011 rapidly approaches, we'd like to take a moment to think about all the ways the world is strengthened when women have equal rights, economic empowerment and opportunity for leadership. Whether it be through education, mirco-loans, business training or democratic participation, the women of Fair Trade are working hard to shake the branches of social change and break cycles of poverty – not only for themselves, but for their families and communities as well.
Almost two-thirds of women in the developing world work without labor rights and social protection. This is especially true in the coffee industry where cultural stigmas often limit the role of women in both business and the community.
Women coffee farmers often perform the most labor-intensive work without access to more skilled positions.
But in the Lambayeque region of Peru, a Fair Trade Certified cooperative is swimming against the tide and making positive changes to the way their organization does business. The women farmers of Central de Servicios Cafetaleros del Nor Orients (CECANOR) wanted to be involved in all aspects of coffee production: coffee cupping, marketing, cooperative administration. More than ten years ago, they formed a partnership between three regional coffee cooperatives committed to revolutionizing their farming culture by giving its women workers the chance to be leaders. Café Femenino is the result of these women's determination, as it became the first women-grown coffee brand ever to come out of Peru.
The success of the Café Femenino blend has elevated the status of its women members, helping them to fight against poverty and gender discrimination.
The women use earnings from Fair Trade coffee sales to provide micro-loans for women farmers wanting to buy equipment, purchase farmland, or get training. Cooperative member Juana Garcia, pictured at right, participated in coffee cupping training to improve her ability to monitor coffee taste and quality. Café Femenino is also improving the quality of life for its women members through health and nutrition education and social services for abused women.
Their story is a powerful one, but the women of CECANOR are not alone in their success.
There are more than 200,000 women working in Fair Trade cooperatives across Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Fair Trade standards protect women farmers and workers with strict social and economic guidelines:
- Labor rights for all workers with special attention to the empowerment of women through training and capacity building.
- Equally shared decision-making power. Cooperatives are required to address minority population needs, with special attention to women.
- Standards for the health and safety of women, including a minimum maternity leave of eight weeks on full pay, exemption from work that could be a health hazard during pregnancy or while nursing, up to nine months of nursing time, and freedom from sexual harassment.
Click here to learn more about the women of Fair Trade and the Fair Trade standards that empower and protect these mothers, daughters, sisters and friends that work so hard to bring us the products we love.


text:
>Running 101>Long run distance
This has been an interesting read. I'm curious how these ideas translate to training for ultras. I would assume the general 'time on your feet' standard would not apply when training for a race 10, 20, 25+ hours long races. Do folks here run 30m+ or back to back days ~20 milers? How close to the event? And how often?
This has been an interesting read. I'm curious how these ideas translate to training for ultras. I would assume the general 'time on your feet' standard would not apply when training for a race 10, 20, 25+ hours long races. Do folks here run 30m+ or back to back days ~20 milers? How close to the event? And how often?
Many people do 8+ hr long runs while others do b2b - maybe 5/4hr or 6/3 or whatever.
The model that was suggested to me by an experienced ultra runner is to do your longest long run (8hr or whatever) about 5 wks out and a 4-hr run about 3 wks out. In the 3 months prior to that, do long or b2b every 2 wks, alternating. IOW, 8hr, then 2 wks later b2b, then 2 wks later another 8hr, etc so you have 3 8-hr runs and 3 b2b (say 5/3hr) in those 3 months.
In my case, since my main race is early Aug/late July, those 3 months are April-June. It's still snowing in April, so 8hr runs in April don't help me with fluids, etc in heat of summer. So I tend to start with b2b, let the first day get longer, and maybe shorten the 2nd (or not), until in May I'm doing 8hr long runs. Through accidental experimentation, I've found I (slowpoke) do better with at least 3, preferably 4, runs in the 8ish hr range (for a 13-hr race).
My races generally don't have aid stations, so need to carry food for 38mi but can refill bladder or bottle from streams. Weather changes in that time period, so some gear for cold, driving rains may be desirable.
We frequently use time on feet rather than miles because most physiological adaptations are based on time and intensity. I've been told that the endocrine adaptations for running many hours doesn't really start getting trained until about 4 hrs. Also, it's going to take a lot longer to run, say, 30mi with 6000ft of uphill and 6000ft of downhill on trail than it does to run 30mi on a flat road. Miles is a useful metric only if you're on similar terrain. While there are some ultras on non-mountain terrain, many are in the mountains.
Purpose of long runs (besides physiological adaptations):
Figure out hydration, electrolytes, and fuel for running that duration under those weather conditions. Yes, it changes, that's why the need for multiple runs to experiment. Some people near lots of races may just use races, rather than training runs, to figure out some of this.
Figure out gear and how to use it. Do shoes that are comfortable for 2 hrs suddenly become painful as feet swell 8 hr into a race? What about chafing from clothes or packs? Blisters?
Gear for weather. These aren't big city marathons with sag wagons, although some are fairly close to roads or on roads. You may be on your own with no cell phone reception, no roads, etc. Be prepared to deal with whatever nature dishes up across a many hour period in the mountains. Hypothermia can be dangerous, even for runners - or maybe especially for runners (I don't need no stinkin' rain gear). I've seen more than one runner DNF when they weren't prepared for weather. Practice getting gear out of pack and putting it back in as weather changes.
(Sorry, but being unprepared for weather is a pet peeve of mine. Sounds like a few folks got surprised at UTMB this past weekend. A friend of mine collapsed in the last 5ish miles of a 100-mi race but fortunately was found by snow machiners in the area and brought to race headquarters.)
How to refill bottles / bladders or whatever you're using from stream (purification) or aid station, depending on your race.
For me, a 4-hr run doesn't help me that much with figuring out fluids, etc when you're going to be out there 10+ hrs. Tastes change, stomachs revolt, etc. Most days I can go 3-4 hr with only water or sports drink. You can't foresee everything and train for it, but the more experience you have, the better. And experience isn't measured by miles per week. At the very least, it includes differences in terrain and weather.
So there are benefits to many hour long runs. They may not be the same types of benefits being discussed in a marathon training book.
(note: I've only completed one 50k and one 50mi race, but have run 38mi a few times. Others with more experience will probably have other thoughts.)
Some people near lots of races may just use races, rather than training runs, to figure out some of this.
Some people near lots of races may just use races, rather than training runs, to figure out some of this.
Yeah. Marathons on successive days is good training. Any marathon is enough training to at least complete a 50K, 50Ks are good training for 50 milers, etc.
Yeah. Marathons on successive days is good training. Any marathon is enough training to at least complete a 50K, 50Ks are good training for 50 milers, etc.
Are they good training for your first marathon?
Well at least someone here is making relevance to the subject. - S.J.
Just to add to this with my own personal training and a few questions.
I plan to run/race a marathon in about 5 weeks. I haven't run one in about 20 years (41 now) but in ramping up my training my goal was always to quality for Boston, which is currently 3:20 (7:38/mile) for me.
Over the past few months my long runs have looked like this:
14 miles 2:04:44 8:44/mile
15 miles 2:04:24 8:17/mile
16 miles 2:22:03 8:52/mile
15 miles 2:06:23 8:25/mile
17 miles 2:16:45 8:02/mile
19 miles 2:42:18 8:32/mile
20 miles 2:41:14 8:03/mile
21 miles 3:30:16 10:00/mile
You will notice on tonight's run that I drastically changed pace and ran more for "time on my feet" as opposed to strictly building miles. Was that a good thing or would I have been better off doing the 21 miles in under 3 hours? I think from a confidence perspective it helps because I know I can last 3.5 hours which is kind of my "worst case" goal.
I'm still not even sure I am capable of a 3:20. My most recent PR's are 34:15 for 8k and 43:44 for 10k. I have another 10k this weekend that should tell me about how much my fitness level has changed in the past few months since I ramped up my mileage and training quality. I am hoping for sub 43.
Am I better off just shooting for a 3:30 pacing in the first marathon and then go for the 3:20 after I've got a little marathon experience?
2016 Goals
2000 miles
Get ready for my 2nd Boston Marathon
No race goals, just stay healthy and work on flexibility and strength.
I've only gone over 20 miles twice, neither had anything to do with a race coming up, just kind of out for a run. I run 25-29km (15.5-18 miles) regularly to prepare for a half-marathon. I haven't done a marathon, and don't have immediate or definite plans to.
I guess the one in August was 20.6 , and the one in June 21.25 in miles, both around 8 min/k. I hadn't realized they were over 20 miles until I went back and looked and did the math.
Both of them were just out running with someone else who was working up to a marathon. The one in June I was in pretty good condition myself, the one in August I hadn't been running much at all, but had just been up in the mountains and did a couple runs, and stayed almost a week, then came back down do sea level. Don't know if that actually helped, but it happened. Having done it before, I think I'd probably do a couple runs of this distance or a little longer.
To Rick Stone: Your last long run is much more the idea. 20 mile runs at race pace isn't quite the idea of long runs in training. You also need to do more running outside of your long runs, they're ½ of your running in most of your weeks. As far as your question about going for 3:30 or 3:20, it comes down to how bad did you feel after 20 miles at 8 min pace? You had two days off coming in to it, so should have been pretty fresh. If that was just out for a run, then the 3:20 is in play. If you felt like that was a race effort or close to it, I might think twice.