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Historian Nancy Goldstone examines medieval Europe from the point of view of four Provençal sisters who played key roles in shaping history. Marguerite, Eleanor, Sanchia, and Beatrice were daughters of the count of Provence; through their marriages they became queens of France, England, Germany, and Sicily. This engaging story highlights the crucial role each sister played in shaping history. Narrator Josephine Bailey adds a note of refined elegance with her clear and clipped British accent while expertly pronouncing the often complicated and obscure names. Rather than attempting accents and voices, Bailey keeps a steady and impassive tone throughout, raising her voice only in moments of extreme emotion. This technique enhances the third-person objective perspective of the text.
From a cultured childhood in Provence, each sister was propelled into a world marked by shifting alliances, intrigue, and subterfuge: Marguerite, the eldest, whose resolution and spirit would be tested by the cold splendor of the Palais du Roi in Paris; Eleanor, whose soaring political aspirations would provoke her kingdom to civil war; Sanchia, the neglected wife of the richest man in England, who bought himself the crown of Germany; and Beatrice, whose desire for sovereignty was so acute that she risked her life to earn her place at the royal table.
Four Queens shatters the myth that women were helpless pawns in a society that celebrated physical prowess and masculine intellect. A riveting historical saga for fans of Alison Weir and Antonia Fraser.
©2007 Nancy Goldstone; (P)2007 Tantor Media Inc.
"Fascinating." (Booklist)
"On Goldstone's...rich, beautifully woven tapestry, medieval Europe springs to vivid life....This is a fresh, eminently enjoyable history." (Publishers Weekly)
I enjoyed this light historical biography of the four amazing sister princesses of medieval Provence. The narrator has a pleasant, easy-to-follow style. The historical facts are lightened with some humorous and interesting contemporary quotations and anecdotes. The author makes this world come alive for the listener. Delightful!
"Interesting, informative"
I loved listening to this book! The book itself is well written. One forgets that it is a history and is soon drawn into the world of the Four Queens! The narrator was wonderful as well. I am looking for more books read by her. Highly recommended on all fronts!
"Four Queens ..."
This was both a fascinating story about a period in history of which I knew very little. The narrator is wonderful as well, and the book engrossing.
"A charming narrative"
I fell in love with the narrative the moment I began listening and the book endeared me right till the end. Although primarily about the four Provencen Sisters, The book was a great for those people interested in the life of the top echelon of the society, their aspirations and troubles. I thoroughly enjoyed myself with this book.
The narrator's switching between Accents was charming and enhanced the narrative in no small way, this is a great book, and I'd love to read or listen to more books like this.
"Medieval Keeping Up with the Joneses"
After reading the book summary of four sisters becoming queens of different countries, I imagined four extraordinary women, overcoming adversity, and against all odds, bringing
peace throughout the land (I wasn't a history major).
I bought this book after reading the author's "The Lady Queen" which I liked a great deal. This is a pretty good book- but the storylines of the sisters are quite separate most of the time. And when they do intersect, it's not always a happy family experience, but more in the line of trying to stop a scheming brother-in-law. There's no murder, incest, or insanity. Although, it takes place in the 13th century, the author conveys the personalities and the actions in such a way that it is relatable to the kinds of problems we deal with today. You have an overbearing mother-in-law that her kind son won't stand up to, your three older sisters publically snub you because they're more successful (they're queens, you're not), your husband isn't as smart or successful as his younger brother (even though your husband's the king) so you keep having to bribe the brother for his help to get anything done, etc. are just some of the issues that the sisters face. It's all very human.
I became very interested in Eleanor, the queen of England. She initially seems to have hit the marital jackpot. She had an arranged marriage (at, I think, 12) to an older man, but he turns out to be a devoted, loving husband, interested in the same things as her. One small problem: he's not that good at his job (as king). So she assists him. With her intelligence and initiative, this sounds like a perfect remedy. But she ends up becomes one of the most hated women in England for bringing in her foreign family members to help out.. and get well compensated for their trouble.
Probably one of the most interesting unanswered question for me from the book is why no one seems to like Beatrice. In the book, the animosity towards her is chalked up to inheritance issues. But that still doesn't explain why all three of the sisters (and I think the mother as well) don't care for her. Her husband, while a good husband to her, doesn't keep his word and is only out to enrich himself. But while he definitely contributes to the dislike, I have a feeling that their must have been some incident, lost to history, that led to the problem.
While a nonroyal group of sisters becoming Four Queens is an extraordinary situation that does capture attention, the reality of it is mainly a book of four different queens.
"A Fascinating Study"
Four Queens is a very "listenable" account of the lives of four sisters from Provence. I liked the narrator (who on a few occasions went into dramatic overdrive). I'm going to the south of France soon and I picked up some valuable history along with enjoying a well-told story.
"Light, medieval history"
I disagree with the more negative review, but I understand exactly what the reviewer means. This book is a light medieval history and like many histories the information is cobbled together a bit. It does seems disjointed because the story rotates among the sisters, and it's not in a perfect chronology, though it is _generally_ chronological. It's a good book but it's a more challenging listen than something like a historical romance. Two-thirds in, I was a little tired of it. BUT, if you don't know anything about these sisters and like medieval history, you will find the book fascinating.
"Vastly disappointing"
I had just finished Rival Queens and was so impressed with the story and narration I bought Four Queens. The entire book seemed to be about the husbands and their battles. The narration was without feeling whereas in Rival Queens even the footnotes were interesting. I will not be buying another by this author.
"If you enjoy historical novels then go for it"
I enjoy all historical novels. Some are written better than others and give more information. This gave a brief history of the Provencal Sisters who did indeed rule Europe. Marguerite married Louis IX, Elenor married Henry III, Beatrice became queen consort of Sicily, Sanchia became queen of the Romans. We are talking 12th century Europe. You can tell that these young ladies, because they were very young when they married, 12 and 13. Were very lucky to be brought up by rich and intelligent parents. They were taught to read, and understand finance. These young girls went on to shape the world of the the 12th century. It is a very brief but enjoyable story.
I have heard Josephine Bailey before and was always please with her narrations.
This book is too short to really go into each young woman's life. In the court's they were brought up in and how they learned to survive on their wits and charm. They were all supposed to be amazing beauties. (I'm sure that helped) When you start out as a 13 year old beautiful queen, by the time you are 25, you have learned much to survive, and use your charms to aid your king and country. I would love to read (or listen to a book about each one of these woman)
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Personal Wikis
A wiki is a way for people to easily create simple webpages without needing to have any programming skills. This is a list of all of the Braingle users who have created a wiki.
In order to create your wiki, you need be a registered user for 2 weeks and have at least 50 points.
|Number of Pages
|Last Updated
Popularity is determined by the number of different people who visit the person's wiki.

subset: commoncrawl


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CHINO HILLS – Southern California Edison is expected to release preliminary information related to possibly undergrounding high voltage power lines through this city.
Edison was required by the California Public Utilities Commission to turn in preliminary information regarding rate recovery proposal on Friday and revised supplemental prepared testimony by Monday.
This information is a part of a larger report Edison is currently working on that will be due by Feb. 28.
Edison officials stress this preliminary information could change by the time the full report is turned in.
"There are two issues here, but they are parts of the whole PUC review and decision process," said Paul Klein, Edison spokesman. "There is no decision being made now."
"There is cost figures involved in here that could be updated …could change," Klein said.
The PUC ordered this information Nov. 15.
The $2.1 billion Tehachapi project aims to carry wind-generated electricity from Kern County to the Los Angeles Basin.
The project was originally approved by the PUC in 2009.
Edison already has started extending the towers about five miles into the right-of-way.
But city officials and the grassroots group Hope for the Hills have advocated building the project underground.
Chino Hills officials have spent more than $2 million battling Edison in a lawsuit for more than two years insisting the right-of-way is too narrow for the proposed 198-foot towers and that it causes safety hazards.


text: News Article Three Ways Technology Can Boost Efficiency for SMEs Staff Published October 24, 2012 in Business Matters Magazine For hundreds of thousands of small businesses in the UK, times are tough. Businesses are looking for ways to get the most from every penny they spend. Michael Stephens, UK general manager at Lifesize, explains three ways that technology can boost business. See the Report


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I'm trying to get my head around the best database design from a speed perspective.
I've got 3 tables.
Table A - StationsTable B - SongsTable C - Station Plays
Right now I'm procedurally walking through the steps. PS I
$sql = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM stations") or die(mysql_error());
while($row=mysql_fetch_array($sql)) {
$sql2 = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM songs") or die(mysql_error());
while($row2=mysql_fetch_array($sql2)) {
$sql3 = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM tracking_entry WHERE song_id = '".mysql_real_escape_string($row2['id'])."' AND station_id = '".mysql_real_escape_string($row['id'])."' AND chart_week = '".mysql_real_escape_string($currentWeek)."' AND week_string = '".mysql_real_escape_string($week_string)."' LIMIT 1") or die(mysql_error());
if(mysql_num_rows($sql3) != 1) {
mysql_query("INSERT INTO tracking_entry (id, song_id, station_id, chart_week, activity_log, chart_year, week_string, notes, notes_updated) VALUES ('', '".mysql_real_escape_string($row2['id'])."', '".mysql_real_escape_string($row['id'])."', '".mysql_real_escape_string($currentWeek)."', '".mysql_real_escape_string("Added Record On $date\
")."', '".mysql_real_escape_string(date('Y'))."', '".mysql_real_escape_string($week_string)."', '".mysql_real_escape_string($row3['notes'])."', '".mysql_real_escape_string($row3['notes_updated'])."')") or die(mysql_error());
This script is run nightly because it is currently taking about 25 minutes to complete and pretty much bogs down the server. I know there's a better way. One issue is that when I create a new record I have to bring in some data from the last weeks record.
This may be a really obscure cry for help but perhaps someone can help.
PS: There are about 14,000 records being produced.
This is going to be a one query solution... But real quick, you want to insert a row into 'tracking_entry' where a song_id does not have an entry yet?
So what you want to do is make sure that each song is played once on each station each week?
Basically there will be ONLY ONE record for each Station + Song combination per week. Sometimes a record gets created outside of this script (ie. manually by a user) otherwise a record is created when this script is run. if we have 20 stations and 20 songs we'll have a total of 400 records (1 per station and song combo) for the current week. Make sense?
You can think of it that way. There will be a record regardless of whether or not the station plays it.
So we can write a query for you, we need the table structure of songs and stations please.
Basically you just want to write a single query to find any song_id and station_id that doesn't exist in the tracking entry for that week. There seems to be a little bit of a deign flaw if your doing this IMO..
Another question:
One issue is that when I create a new record I have to bring in some data from the last weeks record.
I don't see anywhere in your current script where you get that data from last weeks record? You are using $row3 array elements in the INSERT, but SELECT query #3 only gets the current week's data, and you never even do a fetch. So where does that data come from?
Right now I've got the last weeks info importing separately and is not much of an issue at this point. Right now I'd simply like to improve my approach at inserting a row if one with the song_id, station_id, chart_string combination don't currently exist.
Something like: INSERT IGNORE INTO tracking_entries SET key = val
I could create a unique key (ie.. song_id+station_id+week_string).
Would this be a better approach? Perhaps a lot faster than looping in PHP?
Concerning the bad design comment - I'm sure there's a much better way to do it but this was most simplistic design approach based on some other things I needed to do. If you have a constructive suggestions by all means please suggest them.
Sorry, I didn't mean to be harsh or anything. I don't fully understand the app and what it's doing yet, but from my experience, you probably shouldn't have to add a column to each station daily as a cron job.
Though if this is indeed necessary, there will definitely be a way to avoid php loops such as this and accomplish it by a single SQL query, once we understand fully what all is going on
So with that being said, top level, what do these tables do, and what does adding a daily record to the tracking sheet for each station / song id do for you? What is the relationship between all these tables?
No offense taken. I'm not adding columns - adding rows. Reason this is needed is because I'm needing to access archive data - it's not just a snapshot of "right now".
Thanks for jumping in here Kyle.
Just a heads up, record = row.
So 1 station has many songs and 1 station+1song has many station plays?
CREATE TABLE `songs` (
`id` int(11) unsigned NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`artist_name` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`song_title` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`label` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`notes` text,
`added` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
`hide` tinyint(4) DEFAULT NULL,
`type_mr` varchar(1) DEFAULT 'N',
`type_ind` varchar(1) DEFAULT 'N',
`type_ter` varchar(1) DEFAULT 'N',
`pos_mr` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`pos_ind` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`pos_bb` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`pos_ac` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`pos_aa` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM AUTO_INCREMENT=50 DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;
CREATE TABLE `stations` (
`id` int(11) unsigned NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`call_sign` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`ind_call_sign` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`mr_call_sign` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`station_type` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`ind` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`mr` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`tert` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`act` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`contact` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`secondary_contact` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`shipping_address` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`shipping_city` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`shipping_state` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`shipping_zip` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`mailing_address` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`mailing_city` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`mailing_state` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`mailing_zip` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`email` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`secondary_email` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`phone` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`station_owner` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`rep` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`call_day` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`alt_call_day` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`old_alt_call_day` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`old_call_day` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`call_time_start` time DEFAULT NULL,
`call_time_end` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`soundscan_market` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`consultant` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`website` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`start_call` time DEFAULT NULL,
`notes_updated` timestamp NULL DEFAULT NULL,
`end_call` time DEFAULT NULL,
`notes` text,
`archive` tinyint(1) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM AUTO_INCREMENT=297 DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;
CREATE TABLE `tracking_entry` (
`id` int(11) unsigned NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`song_id` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
`station_id` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
`chart_week` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
`mr_spins` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
`mr_finalized` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
`mr_position` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
`ind_spins` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
`ind_position` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
`notes` text,
`notes_updated` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
`activity_log` text,
`chart_year` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
`mr_spins_updated` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
`indflag` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`ind_spins_updated` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
`ind_td` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
`last_week_mr_spins` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
`last_week_ind_pos` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
`last_week_ind_spins` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
`last_week_mr_pos` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
`week_string` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
`add` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`poss` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`last_week_ter_spins` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
`ter_spins` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM AUTO_INCREMENT=223817 DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;
Every week a new record is fired up for every station + song combination (ie. 20 stations, 20 songs = 400 records for this week). We work on 400 records for the week and then Sunday night the next week rolls over and all new records are created. Problem is - users have the ability to fire up random records before the week rolls over. Because of this I can't just assume that the record needs to be created - thus my original problem. Creating all of the new (blank) records EXCEPT for those already existing for (station X + song X + week X) which may have been manually generated by a user.
Give this query a try and tell me if it returns all possible combinations (400). artist_name cannot be null for this to work I beleive.
SELECT so.id, st.id
FROM songs so
INNER JOIN stations st ON so.artist_name <> st.id
go ahead and create all 400 new rows
just use INSERT IGNORE and the ones that already exist will remain, the inserts for those will be ingnored
Kyle - what's this operator "<>" - I want to learn more.
r937 - I think that's what I'm going to do. Evidently Insert Ignore is pretty efficient in this use case. I'm going to do a little benchmarking but think that will work a lot better and take a huge step out of the equation.
Thanks both.
Or that, forgot about INGORE :rolleyes:
Does not equal
Oh ok... I use !=. Learn something new every day!
That's PHP syntax. BTW, you'll still want to see if my query works, if so, you'll then convert that to an INSERT IGNORE statement.
Not to keep this thread going but... (for anyone else needing help with this)..
I'm also going to look into ON DUPLICATE KEY which seems to benchmark faster when you aren't needing to validate data types.


text:
Antiphospholipid Antibodies and Early Severe Preeclampsia.
The recruitment status of this study is unknown. The completion date has passed and the status has not been verified in more than two years.
Verified January 2015 by Osvaldo A. Reyes T., Saint Thomas Hospital, Panama.
Recruitment status was: Not yet recruiting
Recruitment status was: Not yet recruiting
Saint Thomas Hospital, Panama
Information provided by (Responsible Party):
Osvaldo A. Reyes T., Saint Thomas Hospital, Panama
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
First received: February 19, 2012
Last updated: January 1, 2015
Last verified: January 2015
- Full Text View
- Tabular View
- No Study Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
The Antiphospholipid Syndrome is an immune disease where the presence of antibodies directed against cell membrane phospholipids (antiphospholipid antibodies) can cause an hypercoagulable state that causes thrombosis and obstetric complications (miscarriages, stillbirths). Since 1999 the Sapporo Criteria for Antiphospholipid Syndrome diagnosis includes the development of severe preeclampsia before 34 weeks of gestation, but this was done without solid evidence of a relation between the two. Our study will try to add information to this particular point.
|Severe Preeclampsia Antiphospholipid Syndrome
|Study Type:
|Study Design:
|Observational Model: Case Control
Time Perspective: Prospective
|Official Title:
|Antiphospholipid Antibodies and Early Severe Preeclampsia (< 34 Weeks of Gestation). A Case-Control Study.
Resource links provided by NLM:
Genetics Home Reference related topics: antiphospholipid syndrome preeclampsiaU.S. FDA Resources
Further study details as provided by Osvaldo A. Reyes T., Saint Thomas Hospital, Panama:
Primary Outcome Measures:
- Lupus anticoagulant [ Time Frame: 15 months ]Number of cases positive for Lupus Anticoagulant.
- Anticardiolipin antibodies [ Time Frame: 15 months ]Number of cases with high/medium levels of IgG/IgM of anticardiolipin antibodies.
- B2 Glycoprotein I [ Time Frame: 15 months ]Number of cases with levels of B2 Glycoprotein 1 > 99%
|Estimated Enrollment:
|Study Start Date:
|June 2015
|Estimated Study Completion Date:
|August 2016
|Estimated Primary Completion Date:
|July 2016 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)
Cases-Early Severe Preeclampsia
Patients with severe preeclampsia before 34 weeks of gestation
Patients with normal pregnancies at term.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|Child, Adult, Senior
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
|Sampling Method:
|Non-Probability Sample
Study Population
Pregnant patients admitted for severe preeclampsia between 24-34 weeks pf gestation (cases) and normal patients in labor at term (controls).
Inclusion Criteria:
- Gestational age between 24-34 weeks
- Diagnosis of severe preeclampsia
Exclusion Criteria:
- Known antiphospholipid syndrome.
- Known presence of antiphospholipid antibodies.
- Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.
Contacts and Locations
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the Contacts provided below. For general information, see Learn About Clinical Studies.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01538121
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01538121
|Saint Thomas Maternity Hospital
|Panama, Panama
Sponsors and Collaborators
Saint Thomas Hospital, Panama
|Principal Investigator:
|Osvaldo A Reyes, MD
|Saint Thomas Hospital, Panama
More Information
Keywords provided by Osvaldo A. Reyes T., Saint Thomas Hospital, Panama:
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on September 21, 2017
|Responsible Party:
|Osvaldo A. Reyes T., MD, Saint Thomas Hospital, Panama
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT01538121 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
|Study First Received:
|February 19, 2012
|Last Updated:
|January 1, 2015
Keywords provided by Osvaldo A. Reyes T., Saint Thomas Hospital, Panama:
Antibodies, anticardiolipin
Antibodies, B2 Glycoprotein I
Lupus Anticoagulant
Severe Preeclampsia
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Antiphospholipid Syndrome
Hypertension, Pregnancy-Induced
Pregnancy Complications
Autoimmune Diseases
Immune System Diseases
Antibodies, Antiphospholipid
Immunologic Factors
Physiological Effects of Drugs
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on September 21, 2017


text:
Week of Burgers Recap
It was another successful themed week here on Beantown Baker. As summer begins to wrap up, I hope you found some inspiration this week for the classic summertime meal.
I kicked off the week with an amazing Salmon Burger.
Next I featured a Chicken Parm Burger.
On Wednesday, I went vegetarian for the Black Bean Burger.
I dressed up a turkey burger for the California Turkey Burger.
And lastly, I made the Burger of the Gods.
And don't forget about the Hamburger Buns I made just before Burger Week.
2 Responses to "Week of Burgers Recap"
You're making me drool. I want a burger now and it's only 9 in the morning!
I always love your themed weeks and now I'm definitely craving a burger!


text:
NOTE: This post was originally published on Feb. 20, 2013
Canadians love curling. They love to play the game. They love to watch the game.
Now, we are going to be able to watch more curling than ever before, thanks to Sportsnet!
Back in August 2012, curling fans were delighted to hear that Sportsnet had purchased the Grand Slam of Curling. With this announcement, we were assured that we would continue to see many of the best teams from around the world battle it out for cash prizes in communities across the country. So far this season, the Grand Slam has made stops in Brantford, Kelowna and Port Hawkesbury. But this spring, we can truly say that there is going to be curling in the heart of Hogtown!
Goldline is very happy to be associated with the Grand Slam series: if you've seen TV coverage or attended one of the events, you will see that all the volunteers and crew are sporting our OSLO jackets.
But Sportsnet has not limited its interest in curling to just the Grand Slam events. In November, Sportsnet announced it had signed a 10-year agreement for exclusive Canadian coverage of the Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario provincial championships beginning this season, and British Columbia as well, starting next year. They will be delivering the men's and women's championship events on television, online and for mobile platforms.
When you add it all up, Sportsnet will be carrying over 200 hours of curling action this season which should be enough to satisfy all the couch potatoes out there! And Kristi Petrushchak, Manager of Grand Slam of Curling, at Sportsnet, says, "We are continuing to look at adding more curling coverage to our schedule".
Sportsnet: keep up the great work!


text:
Lindsay Lohan Casual Straight Updo Hairstyle - Light Blonde (Champagne)
Description(Added: 13th October 2011 )
These luscious locks are pulled back and tied to the nape leaving out the shorter layers through the top and front fall nicely framing the sides of the face and softening the over-all look. This simple yet dainty do is great for any occasion and will need product for hold and shine.
- Hair Category: Casual
- Hair Length: Updo Long
- Hair Elasticity: Straight
- Gender: Women
- Face Shape: Round, Oval, Heart, and Triangular
- Hair Density: Thin/Medium
- Hair Texture: Fine/Medium
- Age: Under 21, 21 - 30, and 31 - 40
- Height: Any
- Weight: Thin/Average/Large
- Glasses: Without glasses suits best
- Styling Time: 30 minutes
- Styling Tip: Allow up to 2 hours styling time for hot roller setting, teasing, pinning and spraying. This long lasting style is great for all occasions and all weather conditions.


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Summer keeps getting more interesting at the library. Just look at what's ahead this week: a travel photography class, a live Skype chat with an author, a Civil War antiques road show, a block party and more. (And that doesn't count the computer skills classes, children's storytimes and music by a group called Toucan Jam.)
Be sure to save Saturday: Back by popular demand is the Civil War Antique Road Show from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 11, in the Library Center auditorium.
Bring your Civil War-era heirlooms and let Civil War historians including several from Wilson's Creek National Battlefield and the State Historical Society of Missouri Research Center – Rolla assess their historical significance. (No monetary value will be placed on items.) As time permits, staff will scan or photograph your items for free and give you a copy on a CD or DVD.
That day from 3-5 p.m., drop by the Midtown Block Party at the Midtown Carnegie Branch Library. Celebrate the beginning of summer with the whole family by joining the neighborhood, library staff and community organizations for music, refreshments and games.
There's more:
Find this article at


text:
Anytime I forget something, I rationalize that what I'm really doing is clearing out space to allow new information to be stored in my brain. It's a bit like cleaning off my desk or deleting cookies from my computer.
The most irritating forgetfulness is when I can't remember that "perfect" password I set up for a particular website. At the time I created it, I was sure I'd remember it. Instead, I have to repeat the site's entire security process to regain access. With so much of my role at Vanguard revolving around information security—and with so much of my life online—this can be distressing, and it's a major inconvenience.
It can be tempting to streamline the number, length, and variety of passwords we use. But a recent New York Times article highlights the danger in this approach, and demonstrates the lack of awareness of those sailing around the Internet. Based on a new study of 32 million social-networking passwords stolen by a hacker and promptly posted on the Web, many people continue to favor easy-to-guess passwords—including the word "password"!
Have you ever used "abc123"? Or run your fingers across the keyboard and wound up with "qwerty"? You're not alone. In this study, the most common password was "123456," followed by "12345." What's more, 20% of this large sample (640,000 people) chose one of the top 5,000 passwords. That makes a hacker's job a lot easier.
Fortunately, there are ways to protect yourself with distinct, memorable passwords. Some of the basic rules to keep in mind:
• The longer the password, the better.
• The greater the combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, the better.
• The more numbers and punctuation marks, the better.
• The more random, the better.
But, of course, for a password to be useful, you have to actually remember it! With that in mind, an FTC report on identity theft suggests using the first or last letters of each word in a familiar phrase.
For example, think of a line from a poem you might have memorized in school, such as "Listen my children and you shall hear …. " Your password might be "Lmcaysh." Or is there a phrase you remember your parents using? I'll never forget "As long as you live in my house … ," which gives you "Alaylimh." Either way, you get a lengthy, hard-to-guess password that uses both uppercase and lowercase letters.
Adding numbers or punctuation is also advisable. Consider throwing in a memorable year—"1775:Lmcaysh," for example, or "Alaylimh-1974." And for even greater security, you might replace certain letters with numerals that resemble them, or vice versa, such as zero for the letter O, or S for the number 5.
It's even better if your numerals, punctuation, and uppercase letters are distributed randomly throughout the password—"L:mCay5H177S," anyone?—but we're going for memorable, so don't go overboard.
Whatever approach you choose, the key is to come up with passwords that seem random, yet are easy for you to remember. With a little creativity, you can help keep yourself from being one of the countless millions of Internet users who are practically inviting hackers to wreak havoc on their lives.
Note: The link to NYTimes.com will open a new browser window. Vanguard accepts no responsibility for content on third-party websites.


text: Cytomax is the world's most scientifically advanced complex carbohydrate, electrolyte performance sport drink. For the last decade, it has been available only in a powder formula via specialized retail locations and sports stores. The same benefits are now available in a convenient RTD formula to fuel the weekend warrior, recreational ball player and every athlete in


text:
BSU Catalog Home
Section V
Student Health Services
Student Center for Health and Counseling
First Floor Cedar Hall
The Student Center for Health and Counseling provides health care and health education/promotion for all registered students on days classes are in session. The Center provides assessment, consultation, diagnosis, and treatment for a variety of health care and health promotion needs. Examples include physicals for women's health, sports, work, and travel, and care for urgent problems such as sore throat, headache, abdominal pain, skin rashes, and ankle sprains. Health education and promotion information is also available. Calling ahead for an appointment is recommended. Service is provided on a limited basis in the summer.
BSU Catalog Home
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text:
|Product standards
|Alcohol: 12%
■ main ingredients are dissolved
Cassis, longan, Hawthorn, Cathy, lycium fruit, hibiscus, coriander, citrus aurantium, licorice, houttuynia cordata, perilla, マムシエキス, Cornel, and ginseng.
■ nutritional ingredients (100 ml medium)
Energy... 125 kcal
Protein. 0.1 g
Lipids. 0 g
Carbohydrates. 14 g
Sodium. 3 mg
|Ads responsibility
|Co., Ltd. pottery porcelain sake honpo
03-5299-1011 (Teen)
|Ceramic pottery wine Mfg. co.
|Spice liqueur
This product cannot be shipped to United States from the store.
Please contact the store for further information.


text:
15 U.S. Code § 78t–1 - Liability to contemporaneous traders for insider trading
prev | next
(a) Private rights of action based on contemporaneous trading
Any person who violates any provision of this chapter or the rules or regulations thereunder by purchasing or selling a security while in possession of material, nonpublic information shall be liable in an action in any court of competent jurisdiction to any person who, contemporaneously with the purchase or sale of securities that is the subject of such violation, has purchased (where such violation is based on a sale of securities) or sold (where such violation is based on a purchase of securities) securities of the same class.
(b) Limitations on liability
(1) Contemporaneous trading actions limited to profit gained or loss avoided
The total amount of damages imposed under subsection (a) of this section shall not exceed the profit gained or loss avoided in the transaction or transactions that are the subject of the violation.
(2) Offsetting disgorgements against liability
The total amount of damages imposed against any person under subsection (a) of this section shall be diminished by the amounts, if any, that such person may be required to disgorge, pursuant to a court order obtained at the instance of the Commission, in a proceeding brought under section 78u (d) of this title relating to the same transaction or transactions.
(3) Controlling person liability
(c) Joint and several liability for communicating
Any person who violates any provision of this chapter or the rules or regulations thereunder by communicating material, nonpublic information shall be jointly and severally liable under subsection (a) of this section with, and to the same extent as, any person or persons liable under subsection (a) of this section to whom the communication was directed.
(d) Authority not to restrict other express or implied rights of action
Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit or condition the right of any person to bring an action to enforce a requirement of this chapter or the availability of any cause of action implied from a provision of this chapter.
(e) Provisions not to affect public prosecutions
This section shall not be construed to bar or limit in any manner any action by the Commission or the Attorney General under any other provision of this chapter, nor shall it bar or limit in any manner any action to recover penalties, or to seek any other order regarding penalties.
Source(June 6, 1934, ch. 404, title I, § 20A, as added Pub. L. 100–704, § 5,Nov. 19, 1988, 102 Stat. 4680.)
References in Text
This chapter, referred to in subsecs. (a), (c), (d), and (e), was in the original "this title". See References in Text note set out under section 78a of this title.
Effective Date
Section not applicable to actions occurring before Nov. 19, 1988, see section 9 ofPub. L. 100–704set out as an Effective Date of 1988 Amendment note under section 78o of this title.
LII has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references LII.


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Miniature wide angle lens under development at UCSD
Researchers at UCSD's Jacobs School of Engineering are working on a miniature wide angle lens by taking advantage of the benefits of spherical lenses. At just a tenth of the size of a traditional wide angle lens, a spherical lens can create wide angle images without chromatic aberration or loss of resolution at corners. The challenge is capturing the lens' spherical projection on a flat sensor. The team have overcome this by using optical fibers fused to the rear of the lens to relay light to electronic sensors.
Researchers were initially concerned that focusing the lens would require the optical fibers to move back and forth, but found that the system boasts large enough depth of field that movement wasn't necessary. Early tests suggest the lens is capable of rendering images of very high resolution - 0.2 milliradian. That translates to 0.011 degrees resolution, or around 7800 lines per height.
The project's engineers describe the design as using monocentric lenses with a bundle of glass optical fibers aligned to the lens' surface in order to relay the light collected by the lens to electronic sensors. Thanks to the lens' spherical design, resolution is (in theory) the same across the image field, making possible a kind of 'zooming without moving parts' anywhere in the field of view without encountering loss of resolution or off-axis lens aberrations.
The UCSD team is currently working with a design for a 12mm focal length with a 5 megapixel sensor and a 30 megapixel prototype. Next, they're hoping to build a system giving an 85 megapixel image.
It seems unlikely that this kind of optical system would be used by smartphones as the school's press release suggests, and more likely that its 'pan and zoom with no moving parts' capabilities would be put to use in surveillance equipment. The project's DARPA funding suggests that the lens will find a home in military applications, where a very wide angle of view rendered without a loss of resolution would be genuinely useful. It probably won't appear on a camera near you anytime soon, but it's an interesting proof of concept.
Nov 11, 2015
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That's cool, now engineer a miniature full frame sensor, miniature DSLR body with all the bits, now gnomes can take up photography too!
Yes, our retina is spherical and we perceive straight lines as straight.
That also means if they can grow (or etch) micro-fibers right on the silicon, they can create sensors corrected for curvature and also improve wide angle sensor performance.
Strange comparison. Comparing the size of the fix focus, fix focal length experimental lens to a commercial Zoom lens. A zoom lens that is for an SLR camera with large flange distance, i.e. a retro focus lens. A zoom lens that can both focus and change aperture.
And then say it is 10 times smaller. 10 times smaller in what dimension? Length, width, lens front area, volume?
Uh, the test lens is pictured next to the wide angle lens for comparison. (to the left)
it's compared with a wrong lens which destroys the credibility of the article in the first second.
a better comparison may be wide angles for large format cameras. they are large but with large apertures, too, and they don't have the long flange-back issue of SLRs. but still we cannot adjust focus with the new lens, not with bloody efforts.
it will get bigger and bigger, more and more expensive, and lower and lower quality as we add features to it.
it may be an interesting idea to design a lens-sensor module for SLR and mirrorless mounts. it can get power from the mount and can use wireless to talk with the camera if it's too difficult to have high speed data through electrical contacts (a hybrid GXR-QX, liveview only for SLR).
An alternative to using a bundle of optical fibers is using a curved sensor. The planar process is the primary process by which monolithic integrated circuits are built, but nonetheless curved integrated circuit, including image sensors, can also be made. The article below from Stanford University is just about curving monolithic silicon for image sensors:
"… a spherical lens can create wide angle images without chromatic aberration or loss of resolution at corners."
I believe there is an imprecision here. A "spherical" (monocentric) lens is intrinsically free from lateral chromatic aberration, but not necessarily from longitudinal CA.
Also, when you project the image in the spherical sensor on a plane (to display it on, well, a flat monitor), the LoCA away from the center is magnified, together with the other aberrations.
Spherical lens? That's the normal stuff we always have had. If we want to be more exotic, we talk about aspherical lenses.
The lenses are monocentric, i.e. it is a number of spherical shells.
high resolution from such a small lens is great, but why are they comparing 1/3.2" sensor and lens to a full frame slr camera and lens?
perhaps they should really be comparing with the lens inside of a gopro in terms of size?
it's valid to compare what the lens can do in terms of field of view, aperture (and transmission light gathering capacity), and aberrations/resolutions as a photographic lens.
it doesn't make sense to compare weight and size with EF8-15/4L for it's not designed for EF or any other SLR mount. it's not even mirrorless but rather a data-only "mount", like Ricoh GXR (physical connector) or Sony QX (wireless).
They are only sampling from a very small area of this lens to show what is possible. This is like cropping in on a full frame sensor's image. Thus the comparison is valid.
Future models will have many more fiber optics feeding into a number of sensors and will cover a wider field of view by assembling the images from several sensors. The concept is that the area of all of these sensors added up will produce a narrow view, normal, or wide angle image from this tiny lens that outperforms current full frame cameras and lenses.
As for comparing this to the Canon lens, we'll have to see how large and heavy it gets once all of the fiber optics bundles and sensors are added. The only connection between that and the rest of a "camera" will be electrical so any kind of mount could be used to attach them.
the design makes interchangeable lens very difficult if possible (no hope for SLR). and one will have at least make it an interchangeable lens before comparing with one.
but maybe we will find it inside a Mirokia 4080 with 160MPix, though the 20mm diameter will make it quite thick.
hope Oly can find a way to do 5-axis stabilization for a m4/3" version of the lens.
Well of course it is nothing like an interchangeable lens on a DSLR. But why can't you compare the images from them? E.g. one total imaging system compared with another.
Consider that there are also a lot of uses for photo imaging besides DSLRs and general photography. They mention right in their paper that one goal is to have smaller cameras and thus smaller UAVs (Drones.) Why do you think this is a DARPA project? Even now individual soldiers can carry and launch small recon aircraft and they also have rc controlled ground based devices that can creep into a building and look around.
This just happens to be posted here at DPReview but don't jump to the conclusion that it immediately has to be relevant to how you currently take photos.
Try to understand that this is a prototype design just to prove concept. You are questioning things that are not relevant to the item at this point in time.
They simply are showing that if you take a narrow area from their lens (which is all they can do at the moment) it produces a better image than that same area cropped from a larger sensor using this much larger Canon lens.
please read this again:
why it's small is because there are things it cannot do.
the spherical focal surface does contribute to smaller size but the comparison is still very unfair for the lens will put on a lot weight if designed for SLR, so no valid comparison.
you should know that we trade off a lot of things for interchangeable lens mounts, from size to image quality.
Forget the camera mounts as this will never be used on an SLR. Simply look at the size and complexity of the glass elements in the two different lenses and study the resolution this smaller optical formula can achieve with fewer aberrations. A spherical design is much smaller and much simpler than a reverse telephoto wide angle design. By the time they add the fiber optics and the sensor it will be larger but should still be much smaller than a comparable DSLR lens/24x36 sensor combination.
They posted very clear illustrations of this on one of the links. It is a new way to create a lens/sensor imaging system. There is no point trying to shoehorn it into your SLR solution.
Wow, a new, small lens. And only from Caliweirdia!
My next Lumia,,,
UCSD is the best school ever!
Fascinating subject. One of the main reasons why FF has become less desirable is the size and weight of lenses.
A different design approach to the lens/ sensor relationship could help miniaturize lenses.
I was put off a Nikon D4 and zoom lenses due to the total weight of the outfit so bought a Leica M9 which weighs much less. No zoom lenses really, just a range of fixed focal lengths by Leica and others. Buy a lot of lenses and you get a very heavy outfit! I could manage with 4 or 5.
dpreview is beginning to sound a lot like a DSLR Anonymous meeting.
Hi, my name is Bob and I used to own a DSLR. I found myself looking at a FF DSLR in BestBuy yesterday, you know, for times when I really need the image quality but didn't succumb to the temptation. I've now been DSLR free for 15 days but I just have to keep taking it day by day.
Well it's not like this engineering school project is likely to be widely available in the camera market in say 5 years.
Then the D4 and the M9 are significantly different cameras.
One is incredibly good in lowlight, with a fast AF, and a staggering frame rate, but doesn't have optically good lenses–unless you use Zeiss manual focus lenses.
And the other, the M9 of course, has staggeringly good lenses, is smaller, but is not good in lowlight, and has very slow buffer.
So the two cameras aren't exactly in the same category.
"Good" yes, but nothing close to Leica or Zeiss. So I should have written: "doesn't have optically excellent".
Hope that clarifies things.
Don't bother with DXO scores for lenses.
Unfortunately, to keep the light gathering ability, the lens/light relationship is what matters, and you cannot collect the same light from a smaller area.
There seems to be no reason why a spherical section sensor couldn't be manufactured. There would then be no need to alter the spherical projection by such a complicated method. Wonder if it's been tried?
If you have a method how to do it you should immediately have patent for that.
All very nice but will they be wether-sealed and have a red stripe?
Antenna engineers have been using spherical lenses since the 1960s at least...
How fast is that lens? f22 or so? Not impressed. Resolving power is a solved problem for most photographers.
I don't think so. A big spherical lens would be impractical.
A 12mm focal length only needs to be 6mm in diameter to be f2. By comparison, look at how large that Canon lens is to achieve f4. And the Canon lens is a fisheye lens. A rectilinear design would be larger.
If you follow the link you'll see the lenses they use are sort of like marbles.
And while we do have high resolving systems today, the idea is to get better resolution in much much smaller packages. If you filmed videos from a quadcopter as I do you'd appreciate the advantage of miniaturization. Just look at what the tiny GoPro has done for that field.
The researchers' paper shows an optical design for a 12mm F1.7 that's 20mm long and weighs 16g.
"Does F-stop really relate to the ability for a lens to collect photons? Hmmm. Can the F-stop in a smartphone lens truly be compared to Canon EF 8-15mm?"
Of course if the F stops are the same the light hitting a given area will be the same. (Assuming comparable transmission ability of the lenses.) The difference is that this Canon lens can cover a larger sensor so it passes more photons in total over a given time period. (It is up to the sensor to collect these photons.)
Thanks Alan.
Keep in mind that while this model is a very wide lens, they are only sampling the image from a very narrow area by using a single small sensor. This is like an extreme crop of an image. But once they are able to run the fiber optics out from a larger area of the lens, section by section, they will have a wider view being "projected" onto a number of sensors. That is the way they will be able to collect a lot of photons from such a small lens.
This is an incredible breakthrough for photography that is only possible by digital technology. At one time the technology for digitizing music and reading via a laser was cutting edge but it very rapidly moved to CDs and readers.
Eyes are tiny and have very good resolving power. Seems like camera technology is closing in...
I wonder if it's possible to connect a biologic eye to an electric circuit. ;-)
Eyes are quite crappy as an optical device. Brain does all the post-processing, that's why it looks good.
To have a good picture you have to have big lens. You can't do much about it, it is the law of physics. If still in doubt, just look at the best telescopes in the world - the bigger the better.
More likely is the idea of having a "digital" eye and feeding that information directly into your visual nerves (if viable) or maybe directly into the brain. This would be to counteract blindness and could possibly have other uses. Cochlear implants work sort of like this for hearing.
" "Next year, we'll build an 85-megapixel imager with a 120-degree field of view, more than a dozen sensors, and an F/2 lens – all in a volume roughly the size of a walnut," Ford said."
I'd like to see the physics of how such a tiny lens can have a fast aperture explained. It sounds like there's no aperture at all as such, just direct piping of light to the sensor.
If they do manage to make this system with millions fibers that would solve the curvature problem and redefine the way lenses are designed.
I love technology!
|Bald Eagle by anisah
from Features - lips/mouth
|heron and fish by APenza
from A Big Year - birds
|Cows Cowering Under Rare California Super Cell by RBFresno
from -The Old Cows-
The new iZugar 3.25mm F2.5 super fisheye lens offers an insane 220-degree angle of view. That means it can basically see behind itself... good luck keeping your feet out of the shot.
You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll remember that time you took a picture of the frozen pizza baking directions.
A Craigslist poster has discovered the worst possible way to photograph a car: taking pictures of pictures displayed on a cracked and scratched up smartphone screen.
With the iPhone X coming out soon, the title probably won't last, but the iPhone 8 Plus is officially the best smartphone camera DxOMark has ever tested, and the iPhone 8 is second.
Kodak's new Facebook Messenger chatbot is trying to bring back the 'Kodak Moment' by digging up your old social media photos and trying to sell you prints and custom coffee mugs.
Affinity Photo for iPad was touted as "the first full blown, truly professional photo editing tool to make its way onto the Apple tablet." This update makes it that much more convenient.
Yashica has released a new teaser video, and this one claims they'll be releasing an "unprecedented camera" in October on Kickstarter. Ready... set... speculate!
Storage solutions company Synology has just released its very first 6-bay NAS tower. Combined with the DX1215 expansion units, it can hold and control up to thirty drives.
We're always expanding our collection of product overview content, and we've just added videos for the Canon EOS 6D Mark II, the EOS Rebel SL2 and EOS M6.
The venerable Canon PowerShot G1 was announced seventeen years ago this week, marking the start of a line of enthusiast-focused compacts that's still alive and kicking.
Super macro photographer Can Tuncer captured these incredible close-ups of a single peacock feather using a special setup and three different microscope lenses.
After successfully crowdfunding the Biotar 75mm F1.5, Oprema Jena is at it again. This time they're bringing back the Biotar 58mm F2: the world's only lens with a 17-blade aperture.
Adobe's move to a subscription model is treating it very well indeed. The company has posted record revenue for the second quarter in a row, hauling in a mind-boggling $1.84 billion.
More details have emerged about the potential sale of Blackstone's 45% stake in iconic camera brand Leica.
Popular mobile editing app Snapseed just got a major update that includes a new interface and 11 new presets for both Android and iOS, as well as adding the Perspective tool to the iOS version.
It might sound like a strange idea, but taking macro photos of boiling water can actually result in some really cool photographs. A good photo experiment for a rainy day.
The database was created to "break with the narrow lens through which history… has been recorded" by equipping those who commission photography with "the resources to discover photographers of color available for assignments.
Lensbaby has released two new optics for their special "optic swap system." The Lensbaby Sweet 80 Optic gives you that trademark sweet spot of focus, while the Creative Bokeh optic gives you 9 different drop in aperture plate options to play with.
TechCrunch has already posted their review of the upcoming iPhone 8 (not yet the iPhone X), and they're calling it "a look into the augmented future of photography."
Affinity Photo is a $50 photo editing software with no subscriptions. That's it – pay for it once and you're done. And we think it's actually pretty darn good.
Instagram is currently testing a major change to the app's profile layout: replacing the 3-photo across grid with a 4-photo grid... and some users are NOT taking the news well.
A report by USSRPhoto is shedding some light on the return of the famed Zenit camera brand. It seems the full-frame mirrorless camera they're working on will be made in part by Leica using components from the Leica SL.
According to a reliable Korean report, Samsung is developing a smartphone sensor that's capable of super slow motion. Translation: Samsung's next batch of Galaxy smartphones may be able to shoot 1,000fps.
This simple photograph of a seahorse and Q-tip has taken the internet by storm. We spoke to photographer Justin Hofman about how it was captured, and what it means to him.
After a massive leak last week, Profoto has officially debuted the Profoto A1: the company's first on-camera flash system that they're calling "the world's smallest studio flash."
"When the first hyperfocal distance charts were designed, someone decided that an acceptably sharp background contained some blur — enough to notice in a medium-sized print [...] After that point, nearly every other hyperfocal chart followed suit."
The Canon EOS Rebel SL2 (also known as the EOS 200D) is the company's impressively compact entry-level DSLR. Packing a 24MP APS-C sensor, DIGIC 7 processor and Dual Pixel AF, it promises a lot of bang for the buck. And while not mind-blowing, it handles most tasks very well.
Correct these four common composition mistakes and your photos will be more balanced, tell a better story, and lead your viewer's eye where you want it to go.
The rugged, compact 360° action camera Kodak unveiled at Photokina in 2016, the Kodak PixPro Orbit 360, is finally available in the United States.
iOS 11 launches tomorrow, and it'll save all of your pictures in a new high efficiency image format called HEIC. Fortunately, there's now a converter that will let you turn those photos back into JPEGs.


text:
These shots were taken in a pizzeria in Milan and show off some nifty pizza acrobatics. Which got us thinking...
What's your favorite move?
Is it stretching the dough on the countertop? Taking advantage of gravity by throwing it into the air?
About the author: Jessica Leibowitz is in charge of all things video at Serious Eats. You can follow more of her adventures on her site mycameraeatsfood.com, or on Twitter at @photo_delicious.


text:
The Young, Conservative Cigar Caucus of Capitol Hill Is Celebrating Its Newfound Power with Plenty of Cigars
(continued from page 2)
"I like being able to smoke at my desk," says Horace Cooper, legislative counsel to House Majority Leader Dick Armey of Texas, as he lights a Cuban Partagas robusto that a colleague has given to him. "That's something that you really can thank a Republican Congress for. The rights of the individual for things like cigars and speed limits are big pluses for me being a Republican."
But in Armey's royal blue outer office, the tough policy question before Cooper, a Houston native, is whether he would rather balance the budget or smoke cigars. "I think if we balance the budget I could smoke more cigars," Cooper reasons. "There'd be more in my pay to take home."
Such talk prompts Peter Roff, the political director at Newt Gingrich's former political action committee, GOPAC. "Not to mention the historical long-term growth that would occur, making the United States a haven for émigrés coming and seeking a better life and making us more of a dominant power positively in the hemisphere," Roff says, tailoring the issue to the Republican doctrine. "Thereby, I think, accelerating the overthrow of Castro in Cuba and the ultimate liberation and restoration of freedom to that island nation, thereby resulting in an increase in the quality of cigars available in the U.S. marketplace."
This is just the type of chatter you are not likely to hear at your local tobacconist's, but the kind of discussion on which those who attend these gatherings thrive. They are conservative, and proud of it. They are cocky, and proud of it. But most of all, they take the opportunity on occasional Friday afternoons to compare notes and strategize while they caucus as cigar smokers. Talk about a private club.
Roff, who previously worked with the conservative Americans for Tax Reform, says that smoking cigars helps when you're talking politics. "Cigar smoking is something you do in the company of other people. One of the nice things about cigar smoking is the camaraderie that goes in dealing with other cigar smokers. I'm seeing more of it," he says, then lapses briefly into the language of a Washington wonk. "I don't know if it's the age-cohort or if it's station-in-life or just the change in society." Age-cohort? Everyone has a laugh at the use of such technical language in assessing the pleasure of the Cruz Real No. 19 that Roff is enjoying.
The 30-year-old Roff is also the one arguing that Richard Nixon was a liberal, spurred by a viewing on video of his recent appearance on a local morning television show. In this genre of capital theater, Roff, analyzing the Whitewater affair, is the conservative pitted against a "liberal" and a "journalist"--two classes for which the cigar caucus generally reserves the same level of disdain.
"As we saw quite clearly in Watergate, there is a real capacity in the White House to obstruct justice," Roff's image booms from the television monitor in the corner, responding to the defense of President and Hillary Clinton made by the liberal.
"Oh sure, throw Nixon to the wolves," chides Katherine Hazeem, chief counsel to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, while she watches and draws on a Partagas.
Roff defends himself, beseeching, "He [Nixon] was a liberal. Wage and price controls? Détente? OSHA?"
"He was a liberal because he didn't smoke cigars," jokes April Lassiter. Lassiter, 27, is a policy adviser to the House majority whip, Tom DeLay of Texas. She has just walked in and is lighting a Macanudo. "I started smoking cigars because they were less harmful to your lungs than clove cigarettes," Lassiter says. At one gathering, the Charlottesville, Virginia, native informed the group that she had been reading about Freud and asked them, "Is cigar smoking phallus envy?"
At another get-together, just after the New Hampshire Republican primary in February that was won by Pat Buchanan, slightly less lofty matters are being discussed, such as which of the presidential candidates most closely reflects the Republican congressional agenda. "Is there a none-of-the-above choice?" wonders Lassiter.
"We need some alcohol to really do this right," advises Hazeem.
"From my perspective, I was a [Phil] Gramm supporter because of what he focused on in straight policy," says Marc Lampkin, 32, counsel to the House Economic and Educational Opportunities Committee, as he puffs on a Cruz Real. "Maybe he didn't cater enough to evangelicals, but his simple 'cut spending, cut government, we want more freedom in this country' message was, I think, in tune with what I think this Congress, especially the House, is about."
"They all have parts of the congressional agenda," Roff says. "They're all running with parts of it. I mean, Lamar [Alexander] had a component, [Bob] Dole's got a component and Gramm had a component and [Steve] Forbes has a component and Buchanan's got a component, but what we still have are a number of people who are running so that they can be president rather than so that the Republican Party can lead America according to its vision. And for us to win in November, there's going to have to be closure on that and everybody's going to have to understand that this is a team effort. Because if it's a beauty contest between Clinton and--put in whichever name you want--we'll lose, because Bill Clinton is willing to be all things to all people at any given moment and he's demonstrated he can do that."
"Well, I guess I would dispute part of that," says Cooper, 29, the indisputable leader of this cigar PAC, er, pack. "I think it would be very important for us to run a team effort because we do need the team endorsement. It would be great for the public to say, 'We want to ratify the vision that Republicans-generic have to offer.' But I am not convinced at all that this man [Clinton], who has demonstrated that he can try to be all things to all people, depending on whatever day you ask him, is going to be able to carry that off again in November. There is a substantial number of people who just cannot stand the man. There are people in his own camp, who would be natural Democrat voters, who have a problem [with him] and I don't think, absent a three-way race, that there's a formula that he's going to be able to carry out to unlock the electoral college."
These are folks who understand how the electoral college works and can do the math in their heads about which presidential candidate needs to win which states. It's just that sometimes they use words that sound odd to the rest of America. Like "default vote."
"That may be true, Horace, but I think Clinton, being the formidable campaigner that he is, may be able to get the default vote," worries Lassiter. "That is, that people could vote for him because they don't see anything that looks any better. I'm talking about the swing voters. We don't have anyone who feels people's pain like Clinton does. We don't have anyone who comes across as being for something more than he is against something."
"I agree with that," Cooper says, but, "what about [Clinton] getting Texas, Florida, South Carolina, New Mexico, Arizona?"
Cooper has previously admitted that Clinton, and this is the only concession he makes to the president, can't be all bad because he smokes cigars. While Cooper has smoked cigars for only a few years, he pursues the pleasure with a passion. "I love going home at the end of a long day and sitting on my deck and relaxing and enjoying a cigar," Cooper says, adding that Dunhill is his regular brand. His favorite cigar moment came after a fact-finding trip last year to Taiwan, where he was able to find a "half-dozen or so Cohibas" after many unsuccessful efforts in trying to get his hosts to understand he was looking for cigars, and not pipe tobacco.
"I spent most of my trip trying to find cigars. Once they even took me to a barber shop," Cooper recalls. "I just couldn't seem to make them understand that I was looking for cigars. Then I discovered that the hotel had a Dunhill shop downstairs, but it was on my last day there. I wish I had budgeted better so I could have bought more cigars." On the flight home, Cooper experienced what is now forbidden on all domestic airlines and most international flights. "I got to smoke on the plane. It was great. I had to ask the flight attendant and she said that if it was all right with everyone in first class, then it was all right with her. Since most of the people were from the same tour I was with, they didn't mind. So there I am being able to smoke, in the air, in an airplane. I smoked three or four great cigars on the 17-hour flight."
Cooper will not admit that the cigars were Cohibas until Roff reminds him that he was flying over international waters. Cooper is smiling as he finishes the story and as his colleagues joke with him about a restaurant that went out of business after it named a new cigar friendly dining room after him. He quickly, though unsubltly, turns the conversation back to politics. "Do they grow tobacco in Bosnia? What is our compelling interest in being there?"
"I think we really need somebody to run against Clinton who actually believes in what he's saying and that there's no doubt that he believes in his convictions," says David Lehman, legislative counsel to Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas. Lehman, whose favorite cigar is the Cuban Romeo y Julieta Churchill, has been quiet until this point, but now he speaks up about Pat Buchanan. "I also think there is a person who does that, that no one seems to like and he just won New Hampshire. He's a force to reckon with. And there's no doubt that people think he believes in what he says."
Hazeem is listening to Lehman, with whom she has a personal relationship outside of Capitol Hill. "I liked Gramm. I really liked what I thought he would do," Hazeem says. "I liked Buchanan and, as I said to someone, I didn't get the memo as to why suddenly free trade is the issue for Republicans....There are other reasons that people don't like Buchanan and it's not about that. I like Bob Dole and I think that Buchanan has really forced Bob Dole to come out and say what he stands for, what he really believes as opposed to what kind of president he would be."
"I would concede this with Buchanan: He certainly says what he believes," says Lampkin. "You know where he stands, but--and it's a huge, capital but--he's not truly a leader because he's playing into the same kinds of things that leaders don't. When he's anti-trade, that's playing to the common denominator, " he says, mimicking Buchanan now, " 'The reason we're losing jobs and the economy's not growing, it's because we're being sold out overseas.' That's not leadership. America has been successful in competing and we don't need to have protectionist policies for us to compete. We have always made better products that sold across the border."
"Let me reclaim the time! Let me reclaim the time!" Hazeem appeals (perhaps thinking she's on C-Span?). "I don't understand why, and Pat Buchanan has raised this, why you can't just say, 'I disagree with him on his trade policy.' Why does every attack on Pat Buchanan turn into an ad hominem attack?"
"Why does he have these kinds of attacks?" asks Lassiter, somewhat incredulous. "Because, quite frankly, I think he deserves them. Based on some of the statements he's made in the past that come across as being racist, he comes across as not being a man who looks across the United States and thinks about the community in terms of people and individuals and Americans; rather, [he breaks] it down based on gender and race and other things. I don't think he's done a good job articulating that. Maybe those comments were taken out of context, but he does not have the character or reputation that a presidential candidate needs."
"He is running a Democratic, liberal, Jesse Jackson-style attack, the rich guy versus the poor working stiff. That's not what Republicans do," says Lampkin. "That's where the Forbes message is the most resonating. You know, he says, 'Let's not take from Peter. Let's not say [AT&T CEO] Bob Allen shouldn't make his $5 million. Let's make sure the economy is growing enough so that business everywhere can thrive.'"
"That's a fair criticism to say that the consequence of [Buchanan's] policy is something we don't like," Cooper says as he mediates the discussion, "but I don't think it's fair to say at all that his motive is not a sincere desire. Number one, his view is not the most popular view, by the way. A majority of Republicans don't agree with him and a majority of Democrats don't agree with him, according to a survey I saw yesterday. So, he could be demonstrating leadership by saying, 'This is my position and I want to persuade the public.' I happen not to agree with him and I'll give you one reason. We can look at the Depression. Historians say that the single reason that the Depression was as severe as it was, was because of the existence of the Smoot-Hawley tariffs and the effort internationally by all countries to say, 'We want to husband our own resources.' What was the consequence of that? The world's greatest depression. What was the consequence of that? You name practically any acronym that's out there on K Street or Pennsylvania Avenue. They were created as a response to the dramatic problem caused by the Depression. So I do not want to say, Let's create an environment where the greatest growth in government is possible again, where we're the enemies of the people, where the big government activists get to come in and say, 'You're downtrodden, you're destitute, the economy is smithereens. Here, let's do this for you.'"
"I don't think it's a question of articulating free-trade policy. I think most Americans are free-traders," Roff says. "I think that as we're moving into the third wave, the information age, the global economy, people are afraid of what may be coming and they are afraid that they are going to lose their jobs to low-wage growth economies in South America, in the Pacific Rim countries. What I dislike most about Buchanan is the foundational negativism of his vision. What made Forbes' rise so meteoric was, in a sense, growth, hope and opportunity. Stylistically, he was a Reaganite in a field of otherwise Nixonian Republicans."
Interestingly, no one has mentioned Alexander. What happened to Lamar? "People confused him with Forrest Gump, walking around all over in plaid shirts," Lassiter says, evoking laughter.
Listening to these staff members, many of whom work 70 hours a week, you'd get the impression that all they do is talk politics and, of course, smoke cigars. Matter of fact, it's possible that the most dangerous place to be on Capitol Hill is not between a member of Congress and a television camera, but between Katherine Hazeem and a cigar. A staffer on the House Judiciary Committee, Hazeem just returned from a fact-finding visit to Cuba, where she looked into property rights and future claims by Cuban exiles. While there, Hazeem further confirmed her love of cigars, which she started smoking at these gatherings. "It's very relaxing at the end of the week to sit and smoke cigars," she says as she puts an Arturo Fuente Hemingway Signature to her lips. "It's tough to get into politics," she says unconvincingly.
The reality is that politics, and cigars, have shaped important parts of Hazeem's life. She has been attracted to cigars ever since her grandfather smoked them before Sunday dinners in Pittsburgh. Hazeem, who attended Oral Roberts University and Catholic University Law School, says she formed her political beliefs "through a process of progressively confronting reality...I used to be a lot more liberal." She takes a puff. "To me, conservatism means there's more than just meets the eye. You have to delve more deeply into some of the issues, because some of the liberal solutions are more attractive: 'People are poor, they don't have money, give them more money.' But when you come right down to it, that's not really going to help people, so it's taken a process of years for me to think about what will really work and the proper role of government and what will really help people and not just what makes you feel good."
Lehman, Hazeem's beau, shares her fundamental conservative views and relates that his outlook was formed while growing up in Orange County, California. "The liberal political philosophy strikes me as being more emotion than intellect; I'm much more attracted to conservative philosophy, especially that which deals with personal responsibility and limited government and that type of thing," Lehman says. "I've sort of always grown up with it, got away from it briefly, but came back to it pretty quickly." He started smoking cigars while attending Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
Hazeem feels good about having found someone who is a Republican who works in Congress and, most importantly, who accepts that she smokes cigars. "David and I were at a St. Patrick's Day celebration at Murphy's in Old Town Alexandria," Hazeem recalls. "And I thought, 'This is a cute guy.' And I kinda knew him. We had left the bar and were going to find a place to eat and we were standing outside and we started talking and he said these words, which I thought was the greatest come-on line of all time--I figured he had completely researched who I was and my background--he said: 'I play golf. I drink Scotch. I smoke cigars and I'm Anglican.' And I thought, 'Well, this is obviously the man for me.'
"You knew I did all those things, I believe," she says to Lehman.
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An easily accessible area is dedicated for recycling.
This library is conveniently located near public transportation.
We use roofing and exterior paving materials that reduce the heat island effect (thermal gradient differences between developed and natural areas). This minimizes our impact on the microclimate and on wildlife habitat.
Windows provide natural light and reduce the use of electricity.
The lighting, temperature and ventilation systems can all be controlled within the branch.
Instead of using new materials, we refinished these durable shelves so that we could continue to use them.
We use environmentally sound products and practices for cleaning this Library.
We use regionally sourced and rapidly renewable materials, such as Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood.
Zero chlorofluorocarbon (CFC)-based refrigerants are used in the building's heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC&R) systems.


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Starting at 29 weeks pregnant and again at delivery, researchers measured the diets and blood levels of omega-3 and omega-6 in 1,250 women, average age 32.
Three years later, scientists measured the thickness of the fat layer (adipose) directly beneath the children's skin.
Children whose moms got at least 1,160 mg of omega-3s per day, including EPA, DHA and ALA, or who ate two servings of fish per week, were 23 percent and 47 percent, respectively, less likely to be obese than kids whose moms got less of these nutrients.
When blood levels of omega-6 were too high compared to omega-3 at delivery, kids were more likely to be obese by age three.


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- 1 cup roasted pumpkin
- 2 tablespoons margarine or butter substitute or butter
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp cumin
- dash of white or black pepper
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup ground cashews (or nuts of your choice)
- 1 1/2 cups semolina flour
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour (or fine flour of your choice)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp dried basil
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tsp olive oil
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 1 hr 20 min
Total time: 2 hrs
1. One pumpkin will yield way more than the one cup needed for this recipe, so you might want to plan on making a pie, soup, and/or the very easy and delicious Pumpkin Saag in Veganomicon the same week as your ravioli. Or quadruple this recipe; ravioli freezes well. Or just drain, bag and freeze your excess pumpkin.
2. Pumpkin seeds are easily and deliciously roasted. Save and rinse them, toss in oil , spread on a baking sheet and roast at 350 for about 30 minutes, stirring half way through.
3. You can make the ravioli ahead of time; they keep very well on parchment paper in tupperware in the fridge.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Slice your pumpkin in half horizontally and scrape out all the seeds and surrounding stringiness.
Place both pumpkin halves cut side down on a baking sheet at roast for about an hour or until the skin is very soft and brown in spots and the flesh is soft and easily separates.
Scrape flesh away from skins and let drain in colander.
Melt margarine over medium heat in a large saucepan.
Add nutmeg, cinnamon, cumin, pepper, salt and ground cashews.
Stir in pumpkin and cook, stirring and mashing, until your mixture is fragrant and the consistency of stringy, creamy mashed potatoes.
Turn off heat and set aside.
Sift together flour, salt and basil. Add oil and water and knead until a stiff dough forms.
If you're going to be cooking your ravioli the same day that you're making them, you'll probably want to put a large pot of water up right about now so it'll be ready to go when you're done with assembly. Add a dash of salt and a dollop of olive oil to the water.
Turn out dough on a lightly floured surface and roll it as thin as you can with a rolling pin if you're like me and don't have a pasta maker (thought if you have a pasta maker, by all means use it). You may want to work with a small portion of the dough at a time.
Cut your dough into roughly matching squares; I like 2.5".
Put aprox 1 tablespoon of your pumpkin filling in the middle of a square, place another square on top, and pinch around the edges to seal. This is a great step on which to enlist the help of family and friends--it will go much quicker with more hands on the job. Place ravioli on parchment paper to prevent sticking.
Gently drop ravioli into a large pot of boiling water.
Cook for 15 minutes and carefully drain.
Serve with sauce of your choice. I braised some minced garlic, onion and fresh sage in a few tablespoons of olive oil and Earth Balance butter substitute.
Serves 4-6
Note on the recipes (all recipes my own unless otherwise noted): A few of these recipes call for vegetable broth. If you join a CSA and feel overwhelmed keeping up with the new vegetables coming in -- or just tend to have veggies in your fridge 'til they get wilty and unappetizing -- homemade vegetable broth or stock is a great solution. Put any combination of vegetables in a pot, cover with water and let simmer for an hour or more. Then strain out the vegetables and freeze the broth; I especially recommend bagging it in one cup increments. This will keep for months, and whenever a recipe calls for vegetable broth you're all set.
I also recommend saving the vegetables you strain out -- puree them in a food processor or blender and freeze them, as well. This makes a good base of soups and thick tomato or other sauces.
Story by Nicole Solomon. This article originally appeared in Plenty in November 2008. The story was added to MNN.com.
Also on MNN:
Almond butternut squash au gratin
Roasted potato beet salad with green beans and creamy balsamic vinaigrette
Garlicky kale and roasted turnips
Roasted sweet potatoes with scallion butter
Cauliflower and mushroom pot pie with black olive crust
(all vegan recipes)


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After claiming his fourth Olympic gold at London 2012 - his fifth medal overall - Ben Ainslie officially became the Games' greatest ever sailor. Triumph on home soil was all the sweeter for the Brit, coming in front of fans in Cornwall, where he grew up.
The 35-year-old has since decided to rule himself out of Rio de Janeiro 2016, but the keen football fan told FIFA.com he is hopeful about seeing England in Brazil at the FIFA World Cup™, as well as telling us about his love for Chelsea and nerves during the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League final.
FIFA.com: So, you're a Chelsea fan, how did that come about?
Ben Ainslie: I grew up down in Cornwall and obviously there aren't that many clubs down there, or not in the Premier League at least. When I was 15 my family moved to Southampton and one of my life-long friends was a massive Tottenham Hotspur fan. During the mid-'90s Chelsea and Spurs were sort of mid-table warriors, so I thought supporting Chelsea would be the best way to wind up my mate! It's turned out to be quite a battle over the years. No-one in my family was really into football or supported a club, so I think that's why I only got into supporting anyone until I moved. I loved watching Gianfranco Zola and Gianluca Vialli - Zola in particular.
What are your favourite games you've been to?
I've been fortunate to go a couple of times as a guest, and I've been with friends and I've really enjoyed it. Stamford Bridge is a lovely ground and being in London is a lot of fun, so I really enjoyed it. My first game was a Charity Shield game about ten years ago, but the best I've seen was a game between Chelsea and Tottenham at Wembley. I was actually with that friend (where his support of Chelsea stemmed from) at the time, so there was a fair bit of a banter going on.
I wouldn't give up the gold medal from London, but I could look at trading in one of the other ones for that!
How has it been watching the team transform over the last decade?
There's always that opinion that the team is only successful because of the money, and I suppose there's an element of truth in that, but at the same time it has to be managed properly and certainly we have seen in the last season what a huge difference it has made by getting some cohesion in the team. Just because you buy a lot of expensive players doesn't necessarily mean you are going to be successful, it's really important that the team is a team and has respect. The last season was an incredible example of that.
Has the last year surprised you, because it initially didn't look to be going that way?
I think that's what made that last season so special. When it started off things weren't looking good at all, but then we managed to turn things around and against the odds win the FA Cup and Champions League. In anyone's books that's a pretty successful year. The league obviously wasn't what everyone was after, but to turn things around like that and have that success is incredible.
How was the final? Were you nervous?
Oh, God yeah. But I think after the Barcelona game there was something that made you think they could pull it off, as that was against the odds in the semi-final and it was the same in the final, but there was something there that gave the sense that they might just do it.
What was more nail-biting for you, watching the penalty shoot-out or taking part in your final race of the Olympics where it was all on the line?
In those high-pressure moments, it doesn't matter whether it's sailing or football, it can be quite nerve-wracking. Obviously I've never come close to taking part in a penalty shootout in a Champions League final in front of 70,000 people, which must be incredibly nerve-wracking, but obviously for me there was a lot at stake in Olympics. I think you just have to focus on your job, the routine and preparation, and if you can get those things right, whether it's a penalty kick or a sailing race, it's going to help you psychologically with the situation.
If you had the choice of playing in that final or winning your gold at London 2012, which would it be?
I wouldn't give up the gold medal from London, but I could look at trading in one of the other ones for that! But the London one was so special, that's such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
In terms of England, what are your thoughts on them ahead of Brazil 2014?
I'm hopeful. It's a funny one with England as you always tend to feel there's an underachievement there, but I think the important thing is to be realistic about where the team's come from. With the new personalities and youngsters in the team you have to start somewhere and build up from that. That seems to be the case now, so if they can build some momentum into the competition, hopefully they can go from there.


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Trying to get back into playing more lately after playing seldom for quite a while. Doing so I had to remind myself, again, that P-PDs are far and away the best disc for long distance/max D shots and I really shouldn't mess so much with S-PDs or Flows. I max out around 330ish most of the time, occasionally will really rip one well out to about 350', and at that distance the P just plain does the job best and gives me more birdies/pars and less mistakes.
Also ditched the Swan and went back to the Pure for putting which I'm feeling is a good thing; the Swan really was my putter for a while just because the first ever putt I used it on was a long turning birdie on a hole I had never birdied before. It never really justified itself beyond that when the Pure gives me a little better release.
My biggest issue right now is deciding whether I want the Mercy or Opto Pure as my putter driver, I really like the Mercy but bought my first Opto Pure today and that's quite nice too. The Star Gazelle I also just bought today, it's domey for a Gazelle but has a high PLH and is very stable, probably a tick moreso than my glow champs started out as.
Zero Pure - Freshish, for putting
Zero Pure - Beat to hell, for approaches
Opto Pure or Zero Mercy, for driving and stable approaches
X Buzzz - fairly beat
Z Buzzz SS
Z Hornet
Neutron Amp
Star Gazelle
P-PD - freshish
P-PD - seasoned
Fairway driver situation is a little weird right now because I just picked up the Star Gazelle and it's quite stable. Too much so for some shots so I really need either one of my seasoned glow champs or a DX in there right now but when I'm using my Squirrel Monkey I don't have the space.


text: PureSmoke has launched its next generation of disposable e-cigarettes in two flavors: Classic Tobacco and Cool Mint. Pre-priced at $9.99, each stick is equivalent to two packs of traditional cigarettes, offering the greatest value to adult tobacco consumers. The 12-count retail carton converts into a countertop display making it easy to merchandise. Build your category


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HOSUTON - The search is on for a man state troopers are calling one of the most wanted sex offenders in Texas.
Officials with the Texas Department of Public Safety said John Enard, 58, managed to take off his ankle monitor early Saturday morning. He then climbed a fence at the Southeast Texas Transitional Treatment Center in the 10900 block of Beaumont Highway in east Houston and escaped, officials said.
DPS officials said Enard was added to the Texas 10 most wanted sex offender list.
Enard was adjudicated as a sexually violent predator and paroled to the transitional center back in December of 2012, officials said.
Enard has a lengthy criminal history. In 1982, officials said Enard was convicted of burglary with intent to rape. He was sentenced to ten years in prison for that case.
Officials said Enard was serving a 75-year sentence since 1986 for aggravated kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault when he was paroled from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Enard has made comments in the past that he will rape again, officials said. He's said to have family in Houston and Lafayette, Louisiana.
Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of up to $3,000 for information leading to his arrest. If you have any information, give them a call at 1-800-252-TIPS (8477). All tipsters can remain anonymous.
Copyright 2013 by Click2Houston.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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And, of course, the fine print:
Get free shipping on your next order when you spend over $100. The discount will be automatically applied to your purchase; no promo code required. The subtotal of your purchase must be $100.01 or greater after any promotional discounts have been applied. Additional fees such as tax or shipping and handling do not apply toward your minimum subtotal requirement of $100.01. Offer applies to standard shipping only. Certain items that require additional shipping and handling are excluded from this promotion and do not apply towards your $100.01 subtotal minimum. Offer subject to change.
These simple earrings toe the line between the modern and the antique, with an elegantly-styled crest, designed with contemporary lines. The original is hand-carved using the lost wax method, yielding a gold crest that's timeless and chock-full of detail. Hangs from simple, sturdy 14k gold vermeil ear wire.
Measures 1" x 1.4".
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Full refund issued for items returned within 14 days of receipt