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A long day that included a team appearance at Pat's Run in the morning led to a sluggish start to Arizona State's 2 p.m. scrimmage at Sun Devil Stadium, but by the time it was over, the Sun Devils put on a pretty good show for several hundred fans who braved mid-90 degree temperatures.
Mistake-prone, lethargic play early in the scrimmage on both sides of the football had offensive line coach Gregg Smith occasionally calling out, "come on, hurry up," and other staff members bemoaning dropped passed and missed assignments. But once junior quarterback Brock Osweiler got the offense into gear, it performed smoothly, and ASU finished with three touchdowns on the afternoon.
Osweiler, who finished 13 of 21 for 145 yards with two touchdowns and one interception, moved the Sun Devils to their first south end zone visit in the third series of the day, culminating with a scoring reception from junior A.J. Pickens, who was aided by an excellent perimeter block by senior Gerell Robinson.
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"I thought it went well," Osweiler said. "Obviously it wasn't perfect by any means but it wasn't bad. I think the biggest thing in spring ball is as long as you get better in certain areas every single day and improve on the things you maybe didn't do so well during the week I consider the day a success and I thought that's what we did today. There were a few errors, a few turnovers, but at the same time we made plays. I'm happy with today and I think as long as we keep getting better we'll be alright."
Junior running back Cameron Marshall had a short touchdown run on Osweiler's next series, a quick 3-play strike with came in large part to an electric 51 yard run by sophomore Kyle Middlebrooks, who skirted multiple defenders in space before eventually being brought down.
Freshman quarterback Michael Bercovici came out briskly in his first series of the day following Osweiler's second touchdown-producing drive, ensuring the energy stayed at an elevated level.
"That's something I pride myself on," said Bercovici, who finished 7-of-19 for 124 yards, numbers which belied how impressive his buzz-worthy performance was. "Those guys, they've been out here for a couple reps, it's my turn to get in and I'm fresh, so I've got to pick up the energy. It starts with the o-linemen, those guys can get tired pretty easily sometimes so if I pick them up and everything is flowing well, one play sparks a drive in this offense because we're so fast getting up to the ball as fast as we can in this offense.
"It's just really important that we do the little things right and the mental mistakes eliminate as fast as we can. That's what our offense is about, three, four (yards), there goes a 50 yard throw and that's what's important."
Bercovici didn't throw any touchdowns in his first Sun Devil Stadium appearance, but his infusion of energy was sustained in Osweiler's subsequent drive, which resulted in his second touchdown pass of the day, an 11-yard strike to Miles, who motioned across the field, received the ball in the flat and used a good block to reach the end zone untouched.
"I did some things I haven't done before," Osweiler said. "I threw the ball away in the red zone and the next play was a touchdown, where maybe a year ago I would have forced something and there would have been a turnover. And then at times, especially at the start of the scrimmage, we started slow and any time an offense starts slow, I put the blame right on myself. I'm the head of the offense and if we don't move, that's my problem. Today was a good day, I got better in certain areas but there's always room to improve."
Secondary makes plays
Though the offense had an improved performance, it didn't come through the scrimmage unscathed. Osweiler had a poorly located and perhaps slightly late throw to sophomore J.J. Holliday that was grabbed by a well located sophomore corner Osahon Irabor. Redshirt freshman Taylor Kelly was picked off on a wildly inaccurate pass by sophomore cornerback Harrison Evens and later, Kelly was intercepted by senior safety Jonathan Clark on a play where Clark broke hard on the play before Kelly had even released the football.
Walk-ons stand tall
With ASU coach Dennis Erickson playing reserves extensively in order to avoid injury, several walk-ons who regularly are with the third team defense, had big performances. Sophomore linebacker Grandville Taylor made three impressive tackles, showing surprisingly explosive burst and sure tackling.
"It feels great man, I walked on to the team two years ago, I'm just out here working hard every day, trying to move up the ladder, represent my school to the fullest, my family, my city, San Francisco," Taylor said. "When I first came I was a little kid, 210 pounds, been working hard in the weight room, now I'm up to 230 pounds. I want to be a part of this defense. I'm excited about the future."
Not to be outdone, sophomore linebacker Brandon Johnson had perhaps the most vicious hit of the spring when he tackled junior walk-on running back R.J. Robinson, who received seven carries and caught two passes for a net of 15 yards.


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Les activités de l'INTRIQ
Dr. Jérôme Bourassa, Cégep de Granby
Dr. Olivier Landon-Cardinal, McGill University
90, rue Stanstead, Bromont QC J2L 1K6
Téléphone : 1 800 304 3433
Note : The INTRIQ Business meeting (reserved for members) will be held in room "Salle des cantons" on November 9th from 9h30 to 10h30
Chartered bus Berri-Bromont-Berri (Departure from gate #3 at Berri on Nov. 9th at 9h00 AM)
When : Thursday, May 11th, 2017
Where : Pavillon Lassonde, Polytechnique Montréal
Organizer : Professor Sébastien Francoeur, Polytechnique Montréal
For registration, click HERE
When : Wednesday, May 10th, 2017
Where : Pavillon Lassonde, Polytechnique Montréal
Organizers : Young INTRIQ researchers in collaboration with the INTRIQ Technological transfer & partnership committee
More information and registration on the event web site at IQID2017
À surveiller
Aux frontières de la physique mésoscopique, 3e édition
Du 11 au 23 juin 2017
Parc national du Mont-Orford - Québec - CANADA
May 14-20 -> International Summer School on Quantum Materials
May 24-28 -> Cracking the enigma of cuprate superconductors Workshop
May 28-June 9 -> 16th Canadian Summer School on Quantum Information and 12th Student conference
June 12-15 -> Quantum Cavities Workshop
June 11-23 -> L'école de pointe aux frontières de la physique mésoscopique
More information at www.usherbrooke.ca/quantumsummer
When : August 7 to 12, 2016
Where: Québec City Convention Centre
Important dates:
Call for papers and registration starts: November 1st, 2015
Abstract submission deadline: March 18, 2016
Paper acceptance notice: April 1st, 2016
Early bird and presenting author registration deadline: May 1st, 2016
Registration an more information at: www.nano2016.org
Institut Transdisciplinaire d'Information Quantique (INTRIQ)
Meeting de l'INTRIQ (Juin 2010)
Meeting de l'INTRIQ (7 - 8 juin 2010)
Monday, June 7th
9h00-10h00 Registration - Continental break
10h00-11h00 Alain Tapp: A computer scientist's perspective on non locality
11h00-12h00 Gilles Brassard: Quantum Foundations in the Light of Quantum Information
12h00-14h00 Lunch
14h00-15h00 Stefano Pironio: Device independent information processing: QKD and random number generation
15h00-15h30 Stéphane Virally Experiment in generation of entangled photons
15h30-16h00 Coffee break
16h00-17h00 Serge Massar: 1) Device independent information processing: coin tossing and bit commitment 2) Frequency Bin Entanglement.
17h00-19h00 Free time
8h30-9h30 Business meeting, members only (breakfast served)
9h30-10h30 Anne Broadbent: QMIP=MIP* 10h30-11h00 Gabrielle Denhez: Error Correction With Superconducting Qubit
11h00-12h00 Marc Kaplan: Non-local box complexity and secure function evaluation
Gilles Brassard
Université de Montréal
Quantum Foundations in the Light of Quantum Information
Consider the two great physical theories of the twentieth century: relativity and quantum mechanics. Einstein derived relativity from very simple principles such as: "The speed of light in empty space is independent of the speed of its source" and "Physics should appear the same in all inertial reference frames". By contrast, the foundation of quantum mechanics is built on a set of rather strange, disjointed and ad hoc axioms. Why is that? Must quantum mechanics be inherently less elegant than relativity? Or is it rather that the current axioms of quantum mechanics reflect at best the history that led to its discovery by too many people (compared to one person for relativity), over too long a period of time? The purpose of this talk is to argue that a better foundation for quantum mechanics lies within the teachings of quantum information science. We postulate that the truly fundamental laws of Nature concern information, not waves or particles. For example, it has been proven, from the current axioms of quantum mechanics, that "Nature allows for the unconditionally secure transmission of confidential information", but "Nature does not allow for unconditionally secure bit commitment" (these are standard classical cryptographic primitives). For another example, nature is nonlocal but not as nonlocal as is imposed by causality. We propose to turn the table round, start from these theorems and possibly others, upgrade them as axioms, and ask how much of quantum mechanics they can derive. This provocative talk is meant as an eye-opener: we shall ask far more questions than we shall resolve.
Anne Broadbent
Institute for Quantum Computing &
Department of Combinatorics and Optimization
University of Waterloo
The way quantum information influences the power of multi-prover interactive proof systems is a long-standing open question. We make progress towards answering this question by showing that the entire power of quantum information in multi-prover interactive proof systems is captured by the shared entanglement and not by the quantum communication. More precisely, we show that that the class of languages recognized by quantum multi-prover interactive proof systems, QMIP, is equal to MIP*, the class of languages recognized by classical multi-prover interactive proof systems where the provers share entanglement. After the recent result by Jain, Ji, Upadhyay and Watrous showing that QIP=IP, our work completes the picture from the verifier's perspective by showing that also in the setting of multiple provers with shared entanglement, a quantum verifier is no more powerful than a classical one: QMIP=MIP*.
Gabrielle Denhez
Université de Sherbrooke
Error Correction With Superconducting Qubit
Most error correcting codes do not take into account the physical particularities of the system used as a qubit. I will discuss the possibility to adapt some error correcting codes to the physics of superconducting qubits. I will focus on the three qubit code using transmon, a particular kind of superconducting qubit. I will also talk about the four qubit code proposed in PhysRevA.56.2567 by Leug, Nielsen, Chuang and Yamamoto.
Peter Høyer
Department of Computer Science
University of Calgary
Protocols for Non-locality Distillation
Popescu and Rohrlich proposed in 1994 a hypothetical nonlocal box (NLB) that attains the maximum value for the CHSH inequality without allowing for communication between two spatially separated parties, Alice and Bob. Their seminal work has have long-lasting impact on how we study quantum correlations and significantly increased our understanding of why certain correlations are not allowed by quantum physics.
A hypothesized world in which nonlocal boxes are available have profound implications. Van Dam showed that perfect nonlocal boxes imply trivial communication complexity for boolean functions, i.e. any boolean function may be computed by a single bit of communication between Alice and Bob. This was extended by Brassard, Buhrman, Linden, Méthot, Tapp, and Unger to include nonlocal boxes that work correctly with probability greater than 0.908. Pawlowski, Paterek, Kaszlikowski, Scarani, Winter, and Zukowski showed that all strategies that violate Tsirelson's bound also violate the principle of information causality which states that the transmission of
n classical bits can cause an information gain of at most nbits. It is unclear if such results hold for all non-quantum correlations. Is the nonlocal box introduced by Popescu and Rohrlich a representative for all non-quantum correlations, or are there foundational differences between non-quantum correlations? In this talk, I will address these questions through the study of distillation of nonlocal boxes. A distillation process for nonlocal boxes takes a non-perfect nonlocal box and makes it more perfect. I will formalize this notion, prove the optimality of a distillation process for oblivious distillation processes, introduce a new distillation process that distill a class of non-perfect nonlocal boxes better than any previously known protocol, and present results on the possible non-existence of a single optimal distillation process for all non-perfect boxes.
Marc Kaplan
Laboratoire d'Informatique Théorique et Quantique
Université de Montréal
Non-local box complexity and secure function evaluation
A non-local box is an abstract device into which Alice and Bob input bits x and y respectively and receive outputs a and b respectively, wherea, b are uniformly distributed and the parity of a+b equals the product of x and y. Such boxes have been central to the study of quantum and generalized non-locality, as well as the simulation of non-signaling distributions. In this talk, we are interested in the number of non-local boxes that Alice and Bob need in order to compute a Boolean function f. We will show tight upper and lower bounds in terms of the communication complexity of the function both in the deterministic and randomized case. We will then show the applications of non-local box complexity to classical cryptography, in particular to secure function evaluation. We study the question posed by Beimel and Malkin of how many Oblivious Transfer calls Alice and Bob need in order to securely compute a function f. We will show how this question is related to the non-local box complexity of the function and conclude by greatly improving their bounds. Finally, another consequence of our results is that traceless two-outcome measurements on maximally entangled states can be simulated with 3 non-local boxes, while no finite bound was previously known.
Serger Massar
Laboratoire d'Informatique Quantique
Université libre de Bruxelles
1) Device independent information processing: coin tossing and bit Commitment.
2) Frequency Bin Entanglement.
Stefano Pironio
Laboratoire d'Informatique Quantique
Université Libre de Bruxelles
Device independent information processing: QKD and random number generation
Louis Renaud-Desjardins
Université de Montréal
Théorème adiabatique et optimisation
L'approximation adiabatique en mécanique quantique stipule que si on commence dans un état propre d'un système quantique déterminé par un Hamiltonien H(t) et que l'évolution est «assez» lente, alors on restera dans l'état propre instantané relié à H(t). Qu'est-ce qu'une évolution «assez» lente? Le critère de lenteur introduit par Born et Fock en 1928 a changé récemment parce que qu'il n'était pas valide pour toutes les situations, notamment un spin dans un champ magnétique constant tournant à vitesse constante. Le nouveau critère sera expliqué pendant la conférence.
Par après, une méthode pour maximiser le résultat de l'approximation adiabatique sera présentée. Avec un Hamiltonien initial connu, un Hamiltonien final connu et un temps d'expérience fixé, cette idée permet d'avoir un test pour déterminer quelle évolution de l'Hamiltonien sera optimale. On utilise un développement variationnel qui s'inspire du calcul variationnel en mécanique classique pour obtenir ce résultat.
Alain Tapp
Laboratoire d'Informatique Théorique et Quantique
Université de Montréal
A computer scientist's perspective on non locality
In this introduction talk I will present the most important aspects of non locality, pseudo- telepathy and quantum communication complexity. This will be done with a computer scientist's perspective and I will not assume any knowledge of the field. I will also introduce the non local boxes.
Dave Touchette
McGill University
Trade-off Capacities for Quantum Channels I: Dephasing, Cloning, and Unruh Channels
An important goal in quantum information theory is to determine the maximum rates at which a sender can transmit information reliably over a noisy quantum channel. In this first talk, we begin by introducing the notion of classical capacity, quantum capacity, entanglement-assisted capacity, and trade-off capacity. The computation of information transmission rates requires an optimization over arbitrarily many parallel uses of a channel and is generally intractable. We show that the computation of a trade-off capacity is tractable for a certain class of channels known as the Hadamard channels. Three natural subclasses of these channels are generalized dephasing channels, cloning channels, and Unruh channels. We can parametrize the trade-off capacity region for these channels, and we find that a carefully chosen coding strategy beats the naive time-sharing strategy. We finally introduce a measure to quantify this improvement.
Joint Work with Kamil Bradler, Patrick Hayden and Mark M. Wilde
Stéphane Virally
École Polytechnique de Montréal
Experiment in generation of entangled photons
Mark M. Wilde
McGill University
Trade-off Capacities for Quantum Channels II: Completing the Analogy between the Classical and Quantum Worlds
A quantum channel has many different capacities for communication, depending upon the type of information that a sender wishes to transmit to a receiver and whether the parties possess assisting resources. For example, a given information processing task could generate or consume the following noiseless resources in addition to many uses of the noisy channel: public classical communication, private classical communication, secret key, quantum communication, and entanglement. An interesting optimization question then arises for future "quantum telephone companies": How can we optimally trade these resources with each other for a given quantum channel? In this second talk, we do not answer the full question for all five resources, but instead discuss two different but related trade-off questions. We discuss trade-off formulas and capacity regions for classical communication, quantum communication, and entanglement, and then discuss different but related formulas and capacity regions for public classical communication, private classical communication, and secret key. The result is a step toward a unifying picture of dynamic quantum Shannon theory. Finally, it is not too often that we can obtain a calculable formula for even a single type of capacity, but here we can compute and plot the full capacity regions for the aforementioned class of Hadamard channels and also for the erasure channels.


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|Rediff India Abroad Home | All the sections
Bandh for Gorkhaland paralyses Darjeeling
June 17, 2008 11:34 IST
Normal life in the three hill sub-divisions of Darjeeling district was paralysed on Tuesday as the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha enforced a second spell of indefinite bandh in the area, to press for its demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland.
Shops, markets, business establishments, banks and post offices were closed and vehicles remained off the roads after the bandh resumed from 6 pm on Monday after a five-day break.
The National highway 31A, linking Sikkim's capital Gangtok with Siliguri, was blocked by GJM activists, virtually cutting off the Himalayan state from the rest of the country, officials said.
All state and central government office also remained closed and the heritage Toy Train, a major tourist attraction, did not run. However, there were reports of normal work in tea gardens and schools and collages as these were kept outside the purview of the bandh.
Inspector General of Police (North Bengal), K L Tamta, told PTI that situation in the hills remained peaceful.
The GJM has also announced that it would stage hunger strikes in many places in Siliguri and Dooars from 11 am today, causing concern to the police and administration.
The administration, as a precautionary measure, promulgated prohibitory orders under section 144 CrPC in both the areas, which saw clashes between pro and anti-Gorkhaland outfits last week.
General secretary of GJM Roshan Giri told PTI that the GJM would go for the hunger strike, as per the schedule at four places in Siliguri and five places in Dooars, despite the prohibitory order.
"We are not interested in violence and it is up to the police to deal with the situation," Giri said.


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With a month to go before the midterm elections and control of Congress at stake, Democrats are scrambling to get their voters fired up.
In particular, they're reaching out to the people who were so important in getting President Obama elected two years ago: African-Americans.
And they're using their most powerful motivator when it comes to black voters -- the president himself.
"The last election was a changing of the guard," Obama said at a recent Congressional Black Caucus dinner. "Now we've got to guard the change."
Getting Out The Message
But polls indicate the very voters who propelled Obama to the White House two years ago are not so engaged now.
"Nobody votes in a nonpresidential year like it's a presidential year," says Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine. He says the challenge is to reach the 15 million people who voted for the first time in 2008.
"That is a body of voters that is 35 percent African-American, is more than 20 percent Latino, is significantly under age 35," he says.
To turn out these voters, the DNC is spending more than it ever has to target minority audiences in a midterm election. During the last one in 2006, the party spent about $300,000 on African-American media. This year, it has already spent $2 million on an urban ad campaign -- and more is likely.
So what's the message?
"Here is an important election in November and it is called the midterm," one radio pitch says. "Republicans are trying to take over and we have to stop them."
But even with ads like this, it's not clear the message is getting through.
"To be honest, I didn't even know it was midterm elections," says Amanda Oden, a 20-year-old student at Xavier University in New Orleans, a traditionally black school. She voted for the first time in 2008.
"It was like, 'Oh! I get to vote!' You know, 'I'm finally old enough,' and you know, it was a black president of course. Now I just don't care. Not that I don't care, but it's not as exciting as it was before."
'I Don't Even Know About It'
All eight of the students in a social policy class at Xavier support Obama and give him credit for passing the health care overhaul among other things.
But only one relates the president's policies to this election, and they have next to no information about the congressional and state races under way. New Orleans senior Terrinesha Williams says the outreach just isn't there: "No fliers, no e-mails, no texts, nothing."
Around campus, there aren't very many visible campaign signs. And this is a district where Democrats are hoping to win back New Orleans' congressional seat from a Republican.
Right or wrong, these students think it's the candidates' jobs to find them.
Michael Harvey, 21, says the Obama campaign was everywhere two years ago.
"And this time, it's just not the case," he says. "I don't feel like it's us not being enthusiastic. But last time, it was brought to our front door: 'There's an election and you need to vote.' This time, I didn't even know about it."
Kiera McKee, 19, says before, she connected to the celebrities, like rapper P. Diddy, to "Rock the Vote." But when it comes to who will control Congress, she just doesn't relate.
"Just when I think about politics, get a mental picture -- I see old white men," she says. "I'm a young black female, so it's like I have no relationship to it. It's like they make the laws and I just have to deal with it."
Xavier sociologist and pollster Silas Lee, who teaches the class, says there's a big credibility gap.
"The students are saying, 'I just don't feel they're talking about me, I don't feel they care, I don't trust them,' " she says. "That is why you're going to see an enthusiasm gap."
Narrowing The Gap
But Democrats think they can narrow that gap in the next four weeks, in part using the same groups that helped them in 2008.
The buzz is under way on black talk radio. Host Michael Baisden has been telling his 5 million weekly listeners that now is not the time to go to sleep.
"We have gone through hell to get this man elected!" he says. "I know you not going to sit back and let this go down. Sarah Palin? Glenn Beck? Are you serious? Are you serious?"
The NAACP, unions and other civil rights organizations will be marching on the Mall in Washington on Saturday to get out the vote.


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Tue 29th Sep 2009 8:00amKing Surf School's Mawgan Porth Surf Report
Mawgan's 1.65 ft today with a cross on shore wind blowing from America. Still surfable if you really want too.
View the Mawgan Porth Surf Report and Forecast. King Surf School's Reports have received a total of 231366 views.
This report has received 482 views since 29/9/09.


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Brooks: 'Gingrich loves government more than I do'
Like Peggy Noonan, David Brooks also uses his Friday column to pan Newt Gingrich, delivering the biting criticism (coming from an on-and-off Obama fan like Brooks) that Gingrich "loves government" too much:
In the first place, Gingrich loves government more than I do. He has no Hayekian modesty to restrain his faith in statist endeavor. For example, he has called for "a massive new program to build a permanent lunar colony to exploit the Moon's resources." He has suggested that "a mirror system in space could provide the light equivalent of many full moons so that there would be no need for nighttime lighting of the highways."
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I'm for national greatness conservatism, but this is a little too great.
Furthermore, he has an unconservative faith in his own innocence. … In the two main Republican contenders, we have one man, Romney, who seems to have walked straight out of the 1950s, and another, Gingrich, who seems to have walked straight out of the 1960s. He has every negative character trait that conservatives associate with '60s excess: narcissism, self-righteousness, self-indulgence and intemperance. He just has those traits in Republican form.


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xoxoxox- your fearlessly traveling/resting leader
Hey y'all, Biscuit here from I <3 Velveteen. I'm filling in for Jamie while she's at BlogHer, and I couldn't be more stoked (read: scared shitless). I figure as long as I mention boobs, ninjas, or cakesters at least once I'm maintaining the integrity of her work. Mission accomplished. Reckon since she's on some sort of vacation, I'd share a glimpse into one of my own family adventures. When we go, we do it right, and last year's vacay did not disappoint. Enjoy.
Shew doggies, I'm back! Monday was a hard, hard day. Not only did the Wiz start with a new sitter, but it was our first day back to reality after basically living in paradise for a week. See here:
I apologize for the chopped up phone pics. What saddens me is that I actually brought my Nikon with me. I think the ol girl came out of the bag once the entire week. Sad.
We loaded up the caravan and headed to the Outer Banks, NC for a week. It's about an 8 hour drive and I have to say, my kid is a fricking stellar traveler. He didn't really kirk out at all, save for a 2 minute jag on the return trip when we were 15 minutes from home. Amazing. I got him settled in his carseat, and myself with a Red Bull.
Sidenote: Red Bulls is cold mang!
When you're in a pinch – diapers make AMAZING coozies, just sayin'.
This was the first real vacation for me and my boy. Last year we went to Cape May, NJ with some friends but it was a dark, dark time for me and he was just too young to really grasp it all. This time around, he was super into everything, he's a wild man. The first day on the beach he sprinted to the water and threw himself into the surf with zero fear. He flopped around in the waves, built shit in the sand, and even took an underwater tumble with me when a wave knocked us down. I swear, I've never held that boy tighter. When we popped back up, he shook the water off and laughed like, "awesome, let's do that again!" He seriously could not get enough of the water.
I'd have to say though, my favorite day was when it rained. My Dad always says, "every good vacation needs a rainy day" and this one did not disappoint. We woke to troubled skies, and shortly after breakfast it was decided that I needed to make a round of my famous bloody murrrrrys. Yes, famous. I've won contests and shit. While I was whipping up my concoction, I stumbled across this lil feller in the icebox:
Oh hey Guy, you look lonely, AND I LOOK THIRSTY. (this never ends well)
I figured we might as well get fancy with it, so I poured our first round (emphasis on first) into wine glasses. Hey, I figure if you're going to start drinking well before noon, you had better be classy about it.
Well, one round led to two, led to, oh, I'd say about five, six, run to the liquor store, 7, 8 rounds. By the end of this "fest" of sorts, we were looking at upgraded, higher capacity goblets as seen here:
Big ol Al was drinking out of one of these, and this pleased Momma absolutely none-skies. Said, "it's offensive how feminine Al's glass is." To which my Dad replied, "the onliest glass that offends me, is an empty one."
Truer words ain't never been spoken Dad, I tip my hat to you.
THEN! A bolt of genius! Let's send the girls out on the beach cruisers to get firewood and Red Bull. At the time it seemed completely plausible that we could get enough firewood to start a bonfire back to base camp in the baskets of our parents beach cruisers, AT THE TIME. Keep in mind, I've been throwing vodka with a hint of Clamato into my face for about 5 hours straight at this point. I mean, shit. My kid was dancing on the table with no pants on. It was THAT kind of party.
Also, folks, I was not the only one "in the spirit." Exhibit A:
If you follow my Twitter, you already know the end of this story. Basically, what had happened was, I saw a truck coming, I got scared, I saw my Red Bull about to spill (priorities) and I had to lay my hog down. In traffic. On a bridge. Turns out, the truck was about 2 miles away and my lack of depth perception bent me over and got me in the no-no place again. Gaw-dangit.
Yes. I am in a port-o-potty. Good lighting in there.
Oh it was quite the story to tell when we came back some time later. Apparently we had been gone for almost an hour despite the fact that the convenience store which sold firewood, beer, bait, and evening gowns was right at the end of our street. I mean looking back on it, I was completely ok to be on the streets. Clear as crystal. Straight as an arrow.
Also, I have NO clue why that says 8:07 am. I'm bad, but not that bad.
Such a good trip, even with the long drive. I haven't laughed that hard in years, and it was so good to have a whole week of uninterrupted family time. The second best part was returning home to the note my housesitting Aunt had left:
P.S. Our cat died 8 years ago
Yes coming back to reality has been hard, BUT I have a date tonight! Yip YIP! A date! I have a BETTER feeling about this one, but I've learned to not expect too much out of these things. Cross your fingers that he doesn't help me add to my "Red Flag List" , and that he doesn't make a Biscuit coat out of me. I WILL NOT put the lotion in the basket! Either way, the memories and peace from this last vacation have given me the necessary fuel to plow through a couple more months before burning out again. When I need it, I can always go here:
Ta-ta for now (pun intended? You figure it out.)
{ check out I heart Velveteen for more stories, follow Biz on twitter, or shop the shop behind the girl. }


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Hope you all have had a great Christmas and are looking forward to an exciting New Year's Eve! I've been dodging snow in Seattle by spending some time in California with my family and working from Microsoft's Mountain View office in the heart of Silicon Valley.
Live Mesh has been nominated for Best Technology Innovation in 2008 at the Crunchies 2008. If you've not used Live Mesh yet, then take a look at www.mesh.com. As a user it keeps your digital life in check with content flowing seamlessly to wherever you need it, on any device.
In the near future, as a developer Live Mesh along with the Live Framework it will provide the "last mile" in your software development journey allowing you to get an online and offline experience for your customers, tap into a 460 million strong social graph and get marketing and distribution too.
If you get a spare couple of seconds, head over to http://crunchies2008.techcrunch.com/votes/?nominee_id=4&category_id=1 and vote for Live Mesh under the Technology Innovation award (it's at the top of list).


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AISB event Bulletin Item
CFP: Intelligent Systems & Knowledge Engineering (ISKE2009)
The 4th International Conference on Intelligent Systems & Knowledge Engineering (ISKE2009) Intelligent Decision Making Systems November 2728, 2009, Hasselt University Hasselt, Belgium http://iske2009.uhasselt.be CALL FOR PAPERS Organizing Committee Chair K. Vanhoof (UHasselt, Diepenbeek, Belgium) Program Committee Chairs G. Wets (UHasselt, Diepenbeek, Belgium) T. Li (SWJTU, Chengdu, China) Scope of Conference 2009 International Conference on Intelligent Systems and Knowledge Engineering (ISKE2009) is the fourth in a series of conferences on ISKE. It follows the successful ISKE2006 in Shanghai, ISKE2007 in Chengdu, and ISKE2008 in Xiamen, China. ISKE2009 in Hasselt, Belgium, once again provides a forum for researchers and practitioners involved in different but related domains to confront research results and discuss key issues in Intelligent Systems and Knowledge Engineering. The major topics include, but not limited to: AI and expert systems Decision support systems Cognitive science Data mining and data analysis Eservice intelligence Soft computing techniques Computational intelligence Intelligent information processing Machine learning and natural language processing Web intelligence Ebusiness information management Transportation modelling and intelligent transportation systems Intelligent logistics Ubiquitous and intelligent systems Policy and decision support Invited plenary speakers: H.J. Zimmermann (INFORM, Aachen, Germany) J. Kacprzyk (Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland) L.A. Zadeh (UC Berkeley, CA, USA) Submission of Papers Papers reporting original research results and experience are solicited. Each paper, written in English, should be no more than 6 pages in a book form titled "Intelligent Decision Making Systems" of World Scientific Proceedings Series, including references and Illustrations. Esubmissions in PDF format are strongly recommended. Submission of a paper should be regarded as an undertaking that, should the paper be accepted, at least one of the authors will attend the conference to present the paper. Web Submission: http://iske2009.uhasselt.be/ Publications All submitted papers will be reviewed by program committee members and selected based on their originality, significance, relevance, and clarity of presentations. Accepted papers will be published in the World Scientific Proceedings Series on Computer Engineering and Information Science submitted for the ISI proceedings index and EI index by the publisher. Authors of selected papers will be invited to submit revised and expanded version of their papers to be considered for publication in international journals. Contacts Ms. Tamara Dewalque Hasselt University Transportation Research Institute Wetenschapspark, 5 bus 6 3590 Diepenbeek, Belgium Phone:+32 (0)11 26 91 01, Fax:+32 (0)11 26 91 99 Email: email@example.com Important dates Paper submissions: April 15, 2009 Acceptance letter: June 15, 2009 Final papers submissions: July 15, 2009 Author registration: July 15, 2009 Conference registration fees: Regular author: 345 Euro Student author: 295 Euro Both regular and student author registration fees include: � Publication of the accepted paper with a copy of the World Scientific proceedings book (to be in the ISI proceedings) � All conference sessions' attendances with conference program and other conference facilities � Welcome reception, 2day lunches, all coffee breaks with refreshments, and conference dinner � 2day Hasselt transport pass and related social activities Special Issues of International Journals for ISKE2009: International Journal of Intelligent Systems International Journal of Information Theories & Applications International Journal of Information Technologies & Knowledge International Journal of Innovation and Learning


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Deal with small fires but not larger issues
Meetings are often used to deal with immediate problems. When meetings focus only on immediate, urgent issues, larger and more global issues, may be ignored. (Opportunities for prevention may be missed.) Consideration of larger issues need not be reserved solely for annual retreats. As a leader you can ensure that you discuss something that is important, but not necessarily urgent, at every meeting.
How to focus on large issues
To ensure that larger issues are not ignored, consider some of these strategies for structuring your meetings:
- At the start of the semester decide which staff meetings will be devoted to which larger issues or topics. UW-Madison Deans' Council meetings provide an example. Meeting topics are identified at the start of the academic year and each meeting focuses on an aspect of the campus strategic plan. The larger issue is on the agenda first followed by other business.
- When composing the meeting agenda make sure you include at least one item for discussion that focuses on something strategically important, but not urgent.
- See Best Practices on how to Allot time for topics based on their significance
- Invite leaders with responsibility for aspects of the larger issues to attend selected meetings to provide a broader context for understanding and discussion.
- Consider asking a neutral facilitator to help plan how best to introduce, segment into manageable parts, and discuss a large or difficult issue. Contact the Office of Quality Improvement for ideas.


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Building Pagely Part4: Scalable and Fast Managed WordPress Hosting
This is the fourth installment of a mulitpart part series where we aim to share with you some of the technical aspects of what powers the Managed WordPress Hosting system we developed here at page.ly, how we started, the recent server improvements and a bit on the things to come. [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3]
Time to go big.
When we started this journey many years ago, we made system choices fitting at the time. We grew, and grew some more, and kept on growing and the old system was straining. In the summer of 2011 we began work on page.ly 3.0. Our most advanced Managed WordPress Hosting system to date. A system designed for reliability, security, scalability and most of all performance. It's all the hawtness of page.ly, just faster and more reliable.
The build process was long and unfortunately not without it's problems. The goals of page.ly3 were:
- It has to scale easily
- It has to be fast
- It has to be secure
- It has to be reliable
That's it. SImple order right?
Our plan was to develop page.ly3 next to pagely2. Build a mansion next to a condo, and then come moving day, everyone just packs up and moves nextdoor. However it turned out that we moved and improved things in pieces.
We started by consulting some of the best and brightest the web community has to offer. I spent some hours consulting with my good friend Joe Stump (Ex lead architect at digg) among others with the 'scaling' knowledge. We developed a simple plan. Use small nodes, to do specific tasks, and scale out in layers.
We decided we needed dedicated machines for mysql, web, varnish, memcache, and the like. We needed load balancers out front and we wanted robust and fast storage behind it. We also had to get rid of Plesk. While it was fine for a smaller page.ly, it simply did not scale and frankly is a festering turd, like all control panels in our opinion.
Phase 1
The first thing we did was add more database servers. 2 new slaves coming off the master. We then added WordPress's HyperDB system wide to segment those reads and writes. We went from a single 8core 17gb machine to 3, 4core 10gb machines. The slaves happily process 700-800 queries a second at 0.20 load.
Phase 2
We then setup the new storage. Instead of running storage local to each machine and working out a rsync strategy we went with NFS. At first we went with a solid 700gb disk but then decided it was better to serve 10x70gb disks up to the webnodes by NFS4. Firehost also upgraded all our storage to Fibre. The disk speeds are crazy fast, and are still in the 90mb/s range serving over NFS. We do all hard file operations directly on the storage nodes which speeds things up as well.
Phase 3
Zeus load balancers were setup out front in a failover configuration, and dual Varnish nodes directly behind it. This gives us a lot of flexibility allowing us to segment and direct traffic around or through specific varnish nodes directly to some or all of the web nodes. It's very fault tolerant as if both varnish nodes fall over, everything goes gracefully to the web nodes. Varnish is of course a web caching system, serving pages and static assets in 20-50ms a 4x improvement over pagely2.
Phase 4
We setup some other nodes to handle a few management tasks like puppet, memcache, cron jobs, backups, logging, etc.
We also had to gut all that code that relied on Plesk, since it is dead to us. It is not terribly pretty right now but we bashed together a temporary set of scripts to install and manage our system. This is just a band-aid for now, and we'll give you a preview of the new system in the final chapter of this series.
Finally we direct certain types of traffic to specific nodes tuned for the task. We dont blanket all web nodes with all traffic. As an example wp-cron.php commands hammer a pool of servers all day, allowing others to work without those nasty processes sapping cpu.
Here is a snapshot of what the page.ly 3.0 server topology consists of. Below we will talk about each part of it.
- All traffic of course comes from the world famous interwebs, a series of tubes that connect you to LOLcats wikipedia.
- That traffic hits the Firehost security layer. This is like fort knox for data. Thousands of nefarious attacks are blocked here daily.
- Good traffic then travels over our 10gb internal wan and hits our twin Zeus load balancers. These bad boys are the latest and greatest in awesome. So much so Rackspace uses them like a mo-fo but calls them Cloud Load Balancers, which is total BS cause Zeus lived above the clouds like a Boss.
- Internal DB read requests are load balanced to the DB Slave pool.
- Web requests are seamlessly routed around Varnish if needed to land directly at the web pool for normal processing.
- Requests are then routed to our Varnish layer where cached content (images, js, css, and full page output) is served directly back to the user at crazy fast speeds.
- Backend requests from Varnish are handled by our pool of Litespeed web servers. These are well equipped but dummy machines that do nothing but process PHP and serve up web pages. The nice thing here is that we can scale out, adding as many as we need for as long as we need. Why not nginx? We are testing some options and benchmarking a variety of webservers for future use.
- The Database queries come from the web servers through HyperDB, a WordPress database class designed and used by the folks at WordPress.com. Reads & Writes go to separate database pools tuned for their particular task. Again here we can scale out as many slaves as we need with replicating masters.
- All Files are served from our latest generation SAN array which we can scale damn near infinitely in size. This large volume is mounted as many smaller NFS shares to provide optimum performance while maintaining a global shared file system. When we feel like it, an upgrade to SSD disks is a click away.
- The entire system is controlled by Puppet with manifests to maintain server configs and handle server cloning.
- Our Utility node does all manner of tasks like taking out the garbage, running Nagios, and keeping my vodka glass filled.
- The Pagely node, is frankly where the magic happens regarding our Managed WordPress system. Server architecture is cool and all, but without badass software it's just 1's and 0's.
- Finally, every node is HA and the entire system is backed up every evening with snapshots. We can restore any node, any data, at any time.
Currently we vary between 16-24 nodes running depending on load.
El Pollo Diablo
El Pollo diablo is essentially the same architecture stack. Typically we route the traffic thru the load balancers, to a dedicated varnish node and web server pool specific to that client. Sometimes the client runs their own mysql pool as well, sometimes they take advantage of our mysql cluster. The flexibility allows customers true 'dedicated' resources but also use of our redundant and failover safe systems as needed. Customers have been very pleased with the hybrid approach allowing them flexibility and a 'managed' WordPress solution.
We did not share every piece of the puzzle as there are a few blackops systems in place to add that little extra awesome that makes Pagely special. Sure it cost us more to roll out than most people's annual salaries but we spent it out of love, you guys deserve it.
This is not rocket science as robust and redundant server stacks are the norm for large scale websites. However we are happy that now we have implemented a system that can keep up with our insane growth AND serve not 1 but thousands of websites at speed and scale.
Phase 5: The transition
Moving clients to the new systen was not easy. It spanned over 3 months from October 2011 to just after Christmas. We moved 1 of the old plesk servers at a time, rsyncing all that data over, popping ip's off those nodes and onto the load balancers. We did the last client move after Christmas and finally shut down those old nodes. After every block, we would tune and test, uncover bad mojo and cure it.
October-December 2011 were probably the hardest days our company has faced, and hopefully ever will. We had hard time getting the balance just right. Redoing our storage setup, and Varnish configs at least 4x while serving live traffic. It's hard to plan for what you dont know. An example of which is a nasty bug in PHP itself.. that essentially lstats a file 4x-8x EVERY single time it requests it. On local storage you probably would not notice the hit, over NFS with the millions of files we access millions of times a day.. it was literally shredding the SAN, and sending IO on the web nodes through the roof. This is just 1 of the handful of things we found at scale, as in they only cropped up under load.
Enjoying this Post?Learn More
Pagely has a number of managed hosting solutions to help big brands scale WordPress.
We had to work through each on of these, again under live conditions. As once we moved a block of customers, there was no going back.
We saw some client attrition as we worked through the issues. We win them with a solid offering and stellar support, but even the most understanding customer is only going to hang around so long if you cant keep the system up for more than 10 hours at time. We wish them well, and we know they will be back. They always come back as the other solutions out there just dont stack up (their words, not ours).
Even with ALL that.. investing over $100k in labor and new hardware, losing some nice customers, and slogging through a painful 3 month transition, we still grew. Every month since we started has been our best month to date and it shows no signs of letting up.
While we were at it, We hired 4 employees in 2011, more than doubled our customer base and Pagely got a new site design as well.
Getting race ready
I enjoyed racing cars back when it seemed I had free time. You always put in a couple warm up laps to heat the tires before rolling on the throttle. The promise of page.ly3 is nearly realized but we still have some tuning to do.
We are investigating alternate storage systems and are looking at everything from gluster to netapp, to GFS. As Joe said, "Disk is always the bottleneck". We are constantly tuning and tweaking the varnish nodes to maximize hitrate and delving deep in to WordPress itself to tune it for our system. At this point we have essentially forked WordPress. We maintain a set of patches we apply to new versions and test before rolling out to the customers.
We are also looking at alternate caching systems around the database, and object cache to make full use of memcache, APC is also running on a very narrow fileset that could be expanded. So we still have a bit of work to do, but we are making progress in days now instead of months.
So the servers are nice and fast now. What about page.ly itself? You know the app. We'll give you a preview in the final part of this series.


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|Deanna Durbin
|Nikki Collins/Margo Martin
|Ralph Bellamy
|Jonathan Waring
|David Bruce
|Wayne Morgan
Young, pleasant Nikki Collins witnesses a brutal murder while riding on a train on her way to New York City. Though she desperately tries to inform others of what she saw, no one believes her. In her scramble to convince someone, anyone, of the crime, she finds an ally in a mystery writer named Wayne Morgan . Trapped as she is on the train, however, the more she tries to raise the alarm, the more attention she draws to herself -- and the killer is starting to notice.


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Once Bitten
Today's Free Kindle eBook: Once Bitten
Millie only cares about three things; pop music, shopping and killing vampires. She heads into Mexico where she meets a handsome local cop who is on a mission to find his missing little sister. The two join forces and hunt down an ancient vampire that has preyed upon the people of the small Mexican town for decades.
Just follow this link to get the freebie:


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Free weekly email packed with travel tips for major world cities, great competitions and exciting features.
Iceland may be ultra fashionable, but it can be dark and cold on this lonely volcanic isle, so build your weekend around hot pools. The Blue Lagoon has almost two square miles of geothermal pools set in a lava landscape 40 minutes' drive from Reykjavik (or 15 from the international airport). For a quieter dip, mix with a few locals at the Vesturbaejarlaug thermal swimming pool at Hofsvallagata (+354 411 5150), which comes with 'hot pots' (Jacuzzi-like pools), a sauna and steam room. Finally, Nauthólsvík Ylströnd is a small, man-made thermal beach developed around a stream of geothermal water running into the Atlantic Ocean. If you want to work up a sweat, take a hike among spectacular geysers at Geysir or hop on a number 140 bus from the harbour to Hafnarfjördur, just south of the city, where you can take a walk across the lava and ride a purebreed shaggy Icelandic horse.
Stay at the 101 Hotel (Hverfisgata 10, Reykjavik; +354 580 0101) which is modern, has great views and is perfectly situated for the old town. Doubles from £145.
Icelandair flies direct from Heathrow, from £197, and offers a range of packages including the Northern Lights City Break which includes flights, three nights' hotel accommodation and a Northern Lights tour, from £299.
Snoeshowing is essentially going for a walk in the snow, but wearing proper snowshoes so you don't get wet feet and totally knackered. And it's made more exciting because you're doing it on Mount Etna. Thanks to its lofty position as Europe's highest active volcano, Etna sees deep snowfalls from its summit at 3,329 metres down to around 1,800 metres, and walking among its four craters in the snow makes for a great weekend. Exodus does a three-night weekend trip from £649, or you can go independently (with local guides) and base yourself in Catania.
Stay at BAD Catania (Via Cristoforo Colombo 24; +39 095 346 903), a fun hotel and mini apartment complex that has kitchens with proper coffee pots and an apartment with a huge terrace. Double rooms from €60.
EasyJet flies from Gatwick to Catania, returns from £60.
St Petersburg is where the serious skaters go, but if you're not confident enough to glide down the Neva, there are plenty of lovely outdoor skating rinks. There are several dotted round the city – most winters, you'll almost certainly find one at Palace Square, at Saltykova-Shchedrina Street and on the Fontanka River Embankment. Afterwards, check out the city's only remaining wood-stoked banya (sauna) at Mytninskie Bani (Ulitsa Myatninskaya 17/19; +7 812 271 7119).
Stay in the affordable and chic Corinthia Hotel St Petersburg (57 Nevsky Prospekt; +7 812 380 2001) and have caviar for breakfast. Doubles from £155.
British Airways flies from Heathrow, returns from £144.
Fly to Inverness or take the night train to Aviemore to visit the Cairngorms where you can spend part of your weekend building a communal snowhole: expect around three hours of digging after four or five hours of strenuous walking. Just the thing to work up an appetite for haggis and a few drams. Bit too active? Andy and Rebecca at Mountain Innovations offer a range of packages in the Cairngorms – or you could hole up in front of their roaring fire at Fraoch Lodge with a big pile of books, taking the occasional self-guided stroll.
At Fraoch Lodge as part of an all-inclusive snowhole-building package that includes expedition and two nights' stay for £382, or room only for £42 per person per night.
By train from Euston or King's Cross to Aviemore, or plane from Heathrow to Inverness with Flybe, returns from £184, or Gatwick with EasyJet, from £87, then taxi or bus.
Don't want your winter wonderland overrun by overexcited kids? As part of a dizzying array of cool breaks, Responsible Travel has an adults-only three-night weekend in an igloo village in Finnish Lapland from £1,025 (including flights from the UK), spending one night in a snow or glass-roofed igloo and two nights in a rather more cosy log cabin. You can add on a range of reindeer and husky safaris or even an ice-fishing trip.
Stay at the Kakslauttanen Igloo Village as part of a package; or book direct – double snow igloos €338, double ice igloos €342 per night.
Finnair flies from Heathrow to Ivalo via Helsinki, returns from £180.
Stay in bed at the Swedish Ice Hotel. It has been around for 22 years, but it still makes for one of the most romantic winter weekend breaks. The Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi, 200 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle, is built as new each December and drips with ice art, design and sculpture. The hotel offers a range of suites and cool public spaces, including an ice bar and ice chapel – should the weekend of romance lead to something more permanent. To warm up, you can split your stay between ice/snow rooms and heated hotel rooms – and the activities that are on offer (if you can stir yourself from your cosy, fur-lined bed) include Northern Lights flights, horseriding, snowmobiling and ice-sculpting.
In a mix of hot and cold rooms as part of a three-night direct-flight package with Discover the World.
Discover the World's direct flight package exclusively offers flights with SAS from Heathrow, from £1,093, and three-day packages via Stockholm, from £780.
It's the colours that stand out as you fly over the fjords into Alesund, Norway – gorgeous turreted and spired buildings in bright blues, reds and yellows lining the docklands and canals. Largely constructed between 1904 and 1907, after a fire virtually razed the town, this concentration of art nouveau buildings is a romantic delight for architecture fans. Walk up the 418 steps to the top of Mount Aksla for a view of the town, and if that gives you a taste for more action, the Unesco-listed Geirangerfjord has some great outdoor activities, including hiking and, at Strandafjellet, a powder paradise with express lifts and a great view of the Geirangerfjord.
In the Hotel Brosundet (Apotekergata 5, 6004 Alesund; +47 70 11 45 00), where the wooden beams and natural motifs will emphasise the fairytale nature of the trip. Doubles from NOK 1,390 (£153).
Norwegian flies direct from Gatwick to Alesund; weekend returns from £180.
The Alps' highest holiday region of Graubünden is a ski mecca, but we're going for tobogganing – with a train ride through twisty tunnels and over lofty viaducts thrown in for good measure. At Bergün, you can hop on the wondrous Rhaetian Railway to the start of the Preda-Bergün toboggan run, Europe's longest floodlit sledging run. With a day pass you can spend the whole day racing down the 6km-long course and taking the half-hourly train back up again, and when you've had enough of that there are 200 kilometres of walking trails to be covered in this most clichéd but gorgeous of winter wonderlands.
Stay as part of a Graubünden tourist board package; £240 gets you three nights in a hotel, a four-day toboggan pass and train link from Bergün to Preda.
With EasyJet from Gatwick to Zurich, returns from £77, then train from there (book at www.sbb.ch).
The Northern Lights are expected to be unusually spectacular this winter. Distance and a lack of direct flights limits the range of weekend trips available, but Tromsø in northern Norway is a very good bet. The thoughtful Norwegians have built a tourist industry around the possibility of not seeing them that takes in mountain and glacier hikes, midnight sun tours, a film festival in January and a music festival in February, as well as a wealth of snow-associated activities, so you definitely won't be short of things to do.
At the Clarion Hotel Bryggen (Sjogata 19-21; +47 77 78 11 00), if only for the rooftop hot tub with views out to sea. The smart rooms are nice too, though. Doubles from £97.
Norwegian flies from Gatwick to Tromsø via Oslo, returns from £180.
Okay, we're allowing one ski scene – but it is a bit special. The 'Switzerland of the Middle East' has five ski resorts, all within easy each reach of Beirut, and all wonderfully surreal – the sight of skiers in Speedos isn't uncommon; you might catch the odd skier in a burkha. Passes and ski hire are cheap compared to their Alpine counterparts (just as well since Beirut is pretty expensive), and the five resorts offer a good variety of options: head for Cedars if you're after natural beauty or Mzaar if you like company. See www.skileb.com for more info.
In a double room at the community-spirited Saifi Urban Gardens (Pastuer, Gemayze; +961 1 562 509) for just $45 (£28), or upgrade to a two-room suite for $80 (£50).
BMI flies Heathrow to Beirut, returns from £429.
© 2017 Time Out Group Ltd and Time Out Digital Ltd. All rights reserved. All material on this site is © Time Out.


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Medium Fish Purse - Purple
Blooming Boutique
$ 22.00
This adorable purple fish purse is the perfect addition to your summer or vacation wardrobe. It features a drawstring enclosure to keep your wallet, keys, and phone safe and the cross-body strap keeps your hands free. The medium fish purse includes fabric gills on both sides.
Each bag is handmade; therefore, the bag you receive may vary in exact color and fabric swatch.
Measures: 12" mouth to tail; 8.5" wide; 24" strap; 3/4" wide strap


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Krispy Kreme Loses in Fight Over Supplies for Franchisees
By FLOYD NORRIS
Published: July 27, 2005
Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, struggling to avoid a bankruptcy filing and come up with a plan to revive its business, is running into a new problem that threatens to drain more cash from the company.
Struggling franchises are trying to force the company to continue shipping doughnut ingredients even though they cannot pay.
A state court in Illinois, responding to a suit filed by the franchise holder for the Chicago and St. Louis areas, has ordered Krispy Kreme to keep shipping doughnut mix and other ingredients to the franchisee. The Dow Jones News Service reported yesterday that Krispy Kreme asked that the case be moved to federal court in East St. Louis, Ill.
In its suit against Krispy Kreme, the franchise holder, Sweet Traditions, complained that it was in distress as a result of mismanagement at the parent company, including the charging of excessive fees to franchisees. It said that it had reached an agreement with its banks to pay only interest on its loans, deferring principal repayments, but could not comply with that agreement if it continued to pay the parent company.
It said that it had asked Krispy Kreme on July 19 to allow it to discontinue payments for royalties, public relations and advertising, but that the parent refused. The suit was filed on the same day.
The franchise holder added that it knew Krispy Kreme had made similar concessions to other franchisees, but did not give details.
In granting a temporary restraining order, the state judge, Richard Aguirre, said Krispy Kreme's ''severe mismanagement'' was a cause of the franchise holder's problems, Dow Jones reported. A Krispy Kreme spokeswoman said the company would not comment on the suit.
In May, a similar action filed by Lone Star Doughnuts, a Houston franchise holder, led to a court ruling that shipments would have to continue pending mediation of the complaints that it had been overcharged.
Lone Star claimed that Krispy Kreme said in May that shipments would be cut off, a warning that came a day after its executives criticized Krispy Kreme officers during a meeting with representatives of Krispy Kreme's board. The board was examining activities that have led to investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission and Justice Department.
Franchisees are required to buy doughnut mix and other ingredients from the parent company, and could not stay open without the shipments.
Krispy Kreme was one of the hottest companies on Wall Street after it went public in 2000, but last year its sales began to fall and investigations of its accounting began. It has not filed financial statements for any period since last July, but its shares continue to trade on the New York Stock Exchange, where they fell 13 cents to $7.03 a share yesterday.
In January, the company hired Stephen F. Cooper, who is also the head of Enron, as its chief, and retained Kroll Zolfo Cooper, a consulting firm that Mr. Cooper serves as chairman, to manage the company.
Since then Krispy Kreme has announced repeated delays in negotiations with Kroll Zolfo regarding terms of a possible success fee to be paid management, and has arranged new financing to repay banks. But it has not announced any plan for reviving the business.


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Job applicants aren't required to reveal disabilities during the hiring process. Many disabled applicants don't because they fear they won't be seriously considered if they reveal their disability too early.
That means you may occasionally find yourself making a job offer to someone you don't realize is disabled. Then, after he has your offer in hand, you learn that he needs reasonable accommodations.
At that point, what you say and what you do may mean the difference between smoothly integrating a new employee into the workforce and a costly, drawn-out lawsuit.
The right approach: Start the interactive accommodations process. Two goals: (1) Assess whether the employee is disabled and entitled to accommodations. (2) Explore accommodations.
The wrong approach: Revoking the job offer.
Recent case: Brian Black applied for a job with Mission Hospital as a technical software engineer associate. After a successful interview, Black got an offer. He accepted and underwent a physical. That exam revealed that he had partial colorblindness.
Black then requested a reasonable accommodation that would allow him to use the hospital's computer systems. Instead, a week passed, and the hospital revoked Black's job offer.
He sued, alleging that it would have been easy to make the software changes. A jury will now decide whether that's the case. (Black v. Mission Hospital, No. 1:1-CV-146, WD NC, 2012)
Final note: Always consider accommodations before revoking an offer. If no accommodation is possible, you will at least have clear documentation to point to if you are sued. Remember that you have already admitted that the applicant is otherwise qualified for the job because you extended him an offer. The only remaining questions are whether the disability is one covered by the ADA and whether that disability can be accommodated.


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Hide Images
1In medium bowl, stir together Bisquick mix, milk and eggs with whisk just until blended.
2Heat griddle or skillet over medium-high heat (375°F). Brush with vegetable oil if necessary (or spray with cooking spray before heating). For each pancake, pour slightly less than 1/2 cup batter onto hot griddle. Cook about 3 minutes or until edges are dry and bubbles form on top. Turn; cook other side until golden brown. Place pancakes on cookie sheet to cool.
3Meanwhile, pour cream into medium bowl; add sugar and vanilla. Refrigerate 10 minutes. Beat cream mixture with electric mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form.
4Spoon dollop of frosting in center of serving plate; top with 1 pancake. Spread 1 to 2 tablespoons frosting on pancake; drizzle with chocolate syrup. Repeat layers with remaining pancakes. Spread remaining frosting on top pancake. Decorate with sprinkles.


text:
" Manufacturer: Green & Black's / Beverage mix "
I am fussy about my hot drinks and I find most hot chocolate powders too weak for me. The only one that I really liked was the Tesco own label one because of it's high cocoa content compared to the branded versions, but as they have changed the recipe I decided to go back to plain old cocoa. Now I wonder why I ever relegated it just to baking in the first place! I buy Green & Blacks Organic Cocoa powder because it is the easiest to get hold of for me, as well as fair trade. A 125g tub most recently cost me £2.20.
The cocoa comes in a smart looking tub with a firmly shutting lid so I don't bother to transfer it to another container. I am confident that it will stay fresh as it is, so the last spoon full tastes as good as the first. This is important to me because it isn't a drink I make everyday. As the recommended use is a teaspoon full of powder per cup, the tub lasts a good while and makes the initial higher price not so bad as it seems. I keep a separate tub for baking with which goes down faster but the intense chocolate taste it brings to the like of cakes and brownies means it is still worth the purchase price to me. The cocoa contains only one other ingredient - potassium carbonate which has apparently been used by chocolate makers for 180 years to bring out the richest chocolate flavours, as well as to take the edge of the acidity. I am happy for it to be there and the lack of any other filler ingredients makes the drink seem higher quality to me.
The aroma is absolutely delicious - it seems creamier and sweeter than the drink actually tastes, but the undertone is that characteristic slightly bitter, almost earthy cocoa smell.. It is mouth watering, and the drink is just as good on the taste buds. It takes a bit more time and effort to make than a similar hot chocolate drink with instant powder as you need to make it up with hot milk, but some things are worth the effort! With a bit of careful stirring it dissolves well and doesn't leave you with any unpleasant lumps. Sometimes a bit of cocoa powder stays at the bottom of the cup but this is tasty to scrape out - yes, I am that much of a chocoholic..
The drink tastes pleasantly milky whilst still being chocolatey if you use a teaspoonful of cocoa per cup, but I prefer to use an extra to one teaspoon for a deeper, richer taste. Either way, it tastes lovely and is a supremely comforting a hot drink, especially before bed. I don't think this powder has the same bitterness that some do, it is more subtle but there's enough there to appeal to those in my family that lacks my sweet tooth. This is nevertheless one of the few hot drinks that I can not only bear to drink without sugar, but actually enjoy that way. I occasionally add a bit, or a stevia sweetener but I always add less than I am tempted to with other drinks.
As a baking ingredient this is excellent. The intense but smooth flavour means a little goes a long way as a flavouring. The fine good quality powder is also easy to blend in with other ingredients after a minimum of sieving. I think it combines well with hazelnut and almond flavours in particular but anything that would go with chocolate goes with cocoa in my opinion.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this cocoa whether you want to bake with it or drink it. It is a high quality product as well as being organic and fair trade. I worked out the supermarket equivalents didn't work out much cheaper per gram when I last checked, and the other problem is they seem to disappear off the shelves for months on end, presumably due to some supply problem. I have nearly always been able to find the Green & Blacks on offer somewhere, which also helps - it is currently on sale for £1.76 in Tesco's for example. I like the intense choc taste and will definitely be stocking up on a tub or two.
I've never been too particular about what kind of cocoa powder I buy, when it comes to baking, since I like to melt some good quality chocolate in with the mix anyway, and cocoa powder is expensive stuff. Instead of cocoa powder when I am making a chocolatey drink, I tend to stick to instant hot chocolate powder because a) it is the economical choice for me, b) it is easier to make and c) you do not have to spend all that time trying to get the cocoa-sugar balance just right. So whenever a recipe called for cocoa powder I used to think I was being clever by scrimping and saving and buying the cheapest brand (or whichever one was on promotion) I could find. I really did not think that there would be that much difference.
It wasn't until a friend made for me some delicious hot Green and Black's hot cocoa that I finally noticed the difference and it occurred to me that I should start investing in some cocoa powder that was actually good quality. This cocoa tasted of quality and lovely chocolatey bitterness. I have loved the dark richness of Green and Black's chocolate, which is really quality stuff so I thought I would go out and buy some for myself.
Price wise, this is not the cheapest cocoa powder to be found. From Tesco, it is currently £2.20 for a 125g tub. Now bear in mind that this is not a huge tub, it is quite small in fact and seemed to me at first to be a little bit of a rip off on the part of Green and Black's. However, after tasting it, the price is easily understood. After all, you do have to pay for quality, and quality is what you will get with this organic cocoa powder. After all, it is 'made with the finest organic fair trade cocoa beans'.
This comes packaged in a classy Green and Black's tub, a nice dark brown colour to match the cocoa powder. It has nice 'embossed' golden writing on it making it look super fancy, and definitely looks good in your kitchen cupboard. The lid (also dark brown) can easily be pulled open (with a helpful 'lift here' printed on the lid) and replaced in order to keep the cocoa fresh. The BBE can be found on the bottom of the tub.
Tastes delicious in cocoa (for drinking) and baked goods also. I recently made some brownie cookies with this in and they were so delicious, deep, dark and chocolatey. They definitely tasted better than they had done with the cheap cocoa powder I used to use. They were so indulgent; you could taste the quality with every bite. Sometimes, when I am feeling super classy, I put half a spoonful inside my coffee as my little something extra. Also, if you are looking to spice up your morning porridge, I would recommend swirling some of this cocoa powder in- a small bit goes a long way- along with a bit of sugar for a chocolatey treat.
As a little extra, Green and Black's is a fair trade and organic chocolate brand.
To be honest, after trying this, I don't think I'll be needing any other cocoa powder, ever! Unfortunately, because of the price I may have to compromise, but if I use this as a treat and upon occasion, then a pot should last me quite some time and actually be good value for money. Yes it is expensive, but yes it is delicious and completely worth it also. I would highly recommend this to you and your friends and your friends' friends with 5 out of 5 stars.
I've been looking forward to reviewing Green & Black's cocoa powder, to have a reason to stop for a while and consider it fully is a real pleasure. I adore the taste of Green & Black's chocolate products, in my view the best on the market. The company started in London 1991 making the world's first organic chocolate, the now famous 70% dark chocolate bar. I love the original values of the company which are there in the name 'Green' represents the chocolate being organic and fairtrade and 'Black' the rich and distinctive flavour of the cocoa beans. Cadbury bought Green & Black's in 2005 and disappointingly the American multinational company Kraft Foods now own Cadbury, however we are assured the quality and ethos of Green & Black's will remain the same.
The cocoa powder comes in a matt chocolate coloured strong cardboard and foil lined tub with a black plastic lid, the Green & Black's famous logo on the front in gold lettering. The packaging represents quality straight away. On the back a description begins with (quote) "Our organic cocoa is made with the finest cocoa beans, grown in the shade of rainforest trees" I may be totally taken in here but I get such a wonderful image in my mind from reading this!
As you open the lid you are met with an intense yet mellow cocoa aroma, the powder is dark, velvety and fine, not as dusty as other cocoa powders I have used. The taste of the pure cocoa is a deliciously deep Green & Black's flavour (like the 80% dark chocolate bar) and somewhat bitter but not as much as I expected.
The cocoa powder in recipes produces rich and delicious results. I find less cocoa powder is required otherwise additional sugar is needed. I think this is to do with the intense flavour, the Green & Black's 70% chocolate bar has more sugar in it than the Green & Black's milk chocolate bar, although it is less sweet by far. So although Green & Black's cocoa powder costs a little more than other well known brands it can work out to be reasonably comparable in price as less is needed.
I have used the cocoa in many chocolate recipes; cakes, cookies, tarts, puddings and sauces. It is especially good for dusting chocolate truffles, the velvety powder gives a perfect coating. When my daughter eats one of these she literally closes her eyes. The recipe Pear and Chocolate Tatin included in the latest Green & Black's cookbook ' Ultimate Chocolate Recipes: The New Collection' by Micah Carr-Hill, lists cocoa powder as an ingredient in the pastry base and this I thought worked extremely well. Cakes or desserts baking in the oven create the most heavenly chocolate aroma I have ever known. Green & Black's cocoa with hot milk for a chocolate drink it is also delicious and it is equally good for milkshakes.
I feel pleased to purchase a product with the ethos of Green & Black's, once again impressed by the quality of their products and delighted with the results from this organic cocoa powder. Highly recommend. If you love the unique flavour of Green & Black's this cocoa powder is a must have.
Thank you for reading this review x
© Lunaria 2012
Well it might be a sign of my age, but I do like a hot, milky drink before bedtime. If I can persuade my other half to make it for me while he makes his tea, even better! Now I should clarify that's about all he does in the culinary department. But I digress. I used to have a mug of Horlicks instant mix or Green & Black's drinking chocolate, but to be honest I don't have a very sweet tooth and I realised I was not really enjoying either of these because they were a bit too sweet for me. I'm one of those people who prefers my chocolate with 70% cocoa solids or more - I don't like Galaxy, for instance, as I find it a bit sickly - so you can see where I'm coming from.
I can't remember for sure when I changed, but I do recall doing my weekly shopping in the local supermarket, being down the beverages aisle and having a bit of a light bulb moment. I was fancying a change, and suddenly thought: 'I used to enjoy a cup of cocoa; why not try it again?' Seeing the Green and Black product, and knowing I liked and trusted their products, I decided to indulge myself and give it a try. More pricey than comparable brands, perhaps, but I was pretty sure it wouldn't be wasted.
Another thing that influenced my choice was its ethical credentials. I try to buy fairly traded products when I can, having seen first hand the poverty in Kenya and having read about some of the reported issues around child labour in the cocoa trade. I wish there were more such products.
I looked forward to my first mug of cocoa when I got home. I think other reviewers have commented that it's not that easy to remove the gold seal and care is needed. I would agree, but it does at least mean that you can be sure that the product is truly sealed. The aroma of chocolate wafted up straight away and I was pretty sure I'd made a good choice even at this stage. The directions suggest that you mix one teaspoon of cocoa powder with a little cold milk, then top up your mug with hot milk. To keep the calorie count down, I will often use half milk and half water. I find the taste still very pleasant. As I said, I don't have a very sweet tooth so I don't add sugar, but to be honest I think you could make it any way you wanted and it would still have a good chocolaty flavour. I found it to be rich and mellow in flavour.
Now for some product details
It comes in a cylindrical tub, coloured an appropriate shade of brown, containing 125g or 4.4 oz. The FAIRTRADE and Soil Association Organic symbols are displayed on the front, either side of the brand details. There is a lot of information in smaller print on the reverse. It's not terribly easy to read in some lights as they have used gold lettering on a brown background. There are the standard potential allergy notices; the product is suitable for vegetarians, and an explanation is given about the addition of potassium carbonate to 'to balance out the acidity and bring out the rich chocolaty aroma.' This is called Dutching, apparently, a technique used for making hot chocolate for close on 200 years so it must be OK! I would have been interested to know where the cocoa was sourced from, but couldn't find the information on the label. Green and Black's website, given later in the review, indicates that their beans come from Belize and the Dominican Republic. I aid £1.89 for it this week at my local Tesco store.
The usual nutritional information is given. The calorie count is probably most important, at 345 per 100g. The website tells me that a 3.5g serving is 12 kcals. A mug made with skimmed milk would be 29 kcals and under 2g fat. You could make a drink of 45 kcals if you mixed the powder with cold milk, as usual, and topped up with hot water. I can't say I've tried this, but if I start that diet I made need to! It reads to me as though both sugar and salt levels are relatively low, though not the fat. I am no nutritional expert but that seems. Of course these levels will change significantly if you're adding sugar and milk, which might be worth thinking about if you're watching your diet.
The thing I haven't said, because it wasn't the main reason I bought the product, is tha cocoa is a versatile product that can be used in a range of ways in cooking. If you make cakes you will probably have used it to make chocolate cakes. You might also use it to make or coat chocolate truffles, ice cream, mousses or biscuits. I don't have the Green and Black recipe book, but if you go to the website, www.greenandblacks.com/uk you will find a good selection of recipes, many accompanied by short videos.
May I give you one of my favourite recipes for a simple chocolate cake? It's a variation of a quick Victoria Sandwich and uses only cocoa powder rather than melting chocolate.
1 tablespoon of cocoa and 2 tablespoons of hot water, blended together in a large bowl & left to slightly cool.
100 g soft margarine or butter if you're feeling indulgent!
100g caster sugar
100g Self-Raising flour
2 large eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon baking powder
Heat the oven to 180˚C, 350˚F, Gas mark 4.
Grease and line a 20cm cake tin.
Add the remainder of the cake ingredients to the cocoa and water. Beat for 2-3 minutes or until well blended. You can do this mechanically or manually.
Turn it into your unturned tin, place in the centre of the oven and cook for abot 40 minutes until the cake is coming away slightly from the sides & springs back when pressed.
Let it cool in the tin for several minutes, then turn on to a cooling rack, remove any paper, and leave to cool completely before icing.
For the Chocolate Fudge Icing:
40g butter - and butter is really good here!
25g sieved cocoa powder - sieveing makes the icing much smoother and easier to mix
2-3 tablespoons milk
Approx 100g icing sugar, ideally sieved but I don't always!
You melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the cocoa. Over a low heat, cook for about a minute. Take it off the heat, add the milk and icing sugar and beat well. I sometimes find I need to adjust the quantity of icing sugar. Cool it to a spreading consistency but beware! It will set a bit like fudge if you leave it too long! Spread over the top of the cake and decorate as liked. [You can make the topping for other recipes, like for decorating biscuits, too; it's yummy but naughty!] Enjoy! Sorry, no calorie count!
Yes, I did eventually train him to make a decent mug of cocoa! Thank you for reading this.
This review can also be found on the Ciao website under the username Viborg
So, I love chocolate; well, who doesn't? I also love baking, so it goes to figure that I might just need to make chocolate cakes. Darn, there goes the diet again! I already have a bit of a crush on Green and Blacks chocolate so I was pretty chuffed to discover they have brought out a new baking range, which includes cocoa powder. In addition there is also a recipe book (which I need to get my hands on!) and a 'baking' chocolate, 72% cocoa solids.
The cocoa powder is organic and is importantly fair trade certified. This is actually 100% cocoa powder; no unrequited extras here.
You can use it to bake with or it makes good hot chocolate made with milk (and for me a decent spoon of sugar and some fluffy marshmallows on top!).
The cocoa powder comes in one size, 125g. It comes in a classy round black container and is foil sealed for freshness. I loved the smell when I cracked the foil, heavenly! When I used this for baking I sifted it as it does clump a little and can go poof and cover you when you start to whisk it with your other ingredients. I made the mistake of tasting my batter, lets just say I was back to being a kid wanting to lick the bowl out!
The results of my labours in the kitchen were a great success and a huge hit with my family. They did not stick around for long. I have made the same recipe with an own brand cocoa and whilst nice it didn't have that rich, luxury taste of the real thing.
***Baking Suggestion***
I made chocolate fairy cakes (cup cakes) today and they were mighty divine, so here is the recipe in case you are looking for some choccie inspiration:
+Chocolate Cupcakes+ (as from Hummingbird Bakery - to be reviewed soon)
*Preheat oven to 1700C (Gas mark 3) and put paper cases in a 12 hole baking tray
*Put plain flour (100g), cocoa powder (20g), caster sugar (140g), baking powder (1.5 tsp) and salt (pinch) in a bowl and beat on a slow setting until combined.
*Whisk whole milk (120ml), an egg and vanilla extract (0.25 tsp) together in a jug and then pour half into the flour mixture. Mix until smooth, then slowly add the remaining milk mixture until smooth again.
*Spoon into the paper cases and cook for 20-25 minutes
*Allow to cool and then decorate (try butter icing with touch more of the cocoa!)
***Where to buy***
I bought mine from Tesco for £1.59. From checking 'My Supermarket' it is available at Sainsburys and Ocado at the same price but isn't sold by Asda.
***In conclusion*
Don't take my word for it; go and get some and give it a go. You won't look back I promise!
One thing I always save enough Weight Watchers points for is a decent mug of hot chocolate at the end of the evening, especially in this cold weather we're having. One I adore is Green & Blacks Cocoa which is made in the traditional way with hot milk and perhaps a spoon of sugar to really round off a delicious mug of hot chocolate.
I use it mainly for my nightly hot chocolate, but have successfully baked with it and made chocolate sauce or added it to icing sugar to create a quick chocolate icing to top digestive biscuits or fairy cakes.
The powder has a rich and rounded chocolate flavour, somewhat bitter because it has such a high cocoa content but with an aroma and flavour of extremely good quality cocoa. It's a fine powder which clumps into small balls, but I find these easy enough to disperses with a hard bang of the container on the work surface. It's not a hot chocolate powder that you can eat from the container with a spoon, it's too bitter for that, but when you slosh the hot milk onto it this seems to sweeten it and the creaminess of the milk adds a wonderful depth to the hot chocolate.
The easiest way to make this cocoa up is to microwave a mug of milk for 2 minutes, while this is warming mix a heaped teaspoon of cocoa with a drop of cold milk to make a thick paste. Stir for the whole 2 minutes that the milk is warming to ensure there are no bits and that all of the powder is dissolved into the milk. As soon as the microwave pings pour the hot milk over the cold paste, stirring thoroughly for a minute to create a lovely frothy mug of chocolate. You can also heat the milk on the hob but this takes longer and leaves you with a pan to wash, use the microwave for jobs like this to save time and energy.
The hot chocolate you end up with is worth making that little extra effort of heating milk rather than just putting the kettle on. It's rich, creamy and full of the flavour of good quality chocolate. It's nicely bitter-sweet, I don't tend to add sugar but will occasionally float a few mini marshmallows on the top which help to sweeten it even more. I'm a fan of these bitter cocoas but my daughter has to add two spoons of sugar before it's sweet enough for her to drink, although in my opinion this overwhelms the flavour of the chocolate somewhat.
The chocolate cupcakes I made with these came out wonderfully, using this cocoa rather than the cheaper variety gave a more grown up feeling to the cakes and added a real depth of flavour which everyone commented on. These were also dressed with a butter cream I'd made using this cocoa and a chocolate icing, also made with my Green & Blacks Cocoa. They were almost too good to serve to the children, but I made sure I kept me and my daughter a few on the side.
I pay £1 a tub from my local cash and carry, who seems to have had unlimited supplied of these for the past 12 months. The last time I bought it in Tesco it was priced at around £1.69 although I have no idea of the current price, this is worth a couple of quid of anyones money though. If you like a quality hot chocolate, one made with milk not water, that will satisfy your chocolate craving AND warm your cockles then this is certainly one to try. The best I've come across anyway.
I quite enjoy the odd bit of baking at home, and nowadays Harry likes to help me stir the cake mixtures as well! I've been making fairy cakes since I was little with my mum, and I've recently experimented with making some chocolate fairy cakes. I tried a Tesco cocoa powder which was disgusting, so I moved onto my mum's old favourite cocoa powder, and they were absolutely delicious!
The cocoa powder that I tried was Green & Black's Organic Cocoa Powder. The company is probably best known for their Organic chocolate which can be found in most shops these days, but they have been branching out producing some cooking products, easter eggs and various other food items. It is a litte more expensive than some cocoa powders in the shops, but for me, those extra pennies are very much worth it!
The cocoa powder comes in a little brown pot with a good sealable lid, so that it stays airtight and keeps your cocoa powder at its best. When you buy it, it does have a foil top so you know it is fresh, and when you peel this back for the first time, the rich aroma of the cocoa hits your nose immediately, and it really is delicious. It isn't overly sweet, but just incredibly rich smelling. Yum!
The powder itself is a medium brown colour, probably more the colour of milk chocolate than of dark chocolate. I did expect that the powder was going to be dark but there you go! It is a very fine powder, with a few lumps in it, which is why it is best for you to sieve the product before using it for any baking purposes. I find if I spill a little it goes everywhere like a chocolate cloud, and even when I'm sieving, it makes a mess, but I guess that's the same for any fine powder when you're cooking!
Obviously I haven't eaten the cocoa powder on it's own because that would just be disgusting, but I have used it in 4 different recipes; a chocolate sponge cake, chocolate fairy cakes, chocolate chip muffins and to make chocolate icing as well. For each of these things, the cocoa powder has created a wonderful sweet yet rich chocolate taste, and never fails me! It isn't too strong of a taste, it's not bitter and it certainly isn't too over-powering but it just a rich gorgeous taste. When I am cooking with this, my house smells gorgeous, the smell from the cocoa powder is just divine.
I think what I like best about this powder is the ingredients. 100% Organic Fairtrade Cocoa Powder. There is no rubbish in this powder, no additives or E numbers, so is completely natural! I make my own cakes because I like knowing what I am putting into them and what is going into Harry as well, so to know it is just completely natural is superb. Also, for a chocolate product, it isn't to unhealthy either. 1 teaspoon, or 3.5 grams of the powder is just 12 calories / 0.8 grams of fat.
So would I recommend this? I really would! There is nothing worse than going to the effort of making a chocolate cake, and then not being able to taste any chocolate in it at all! But with this powder, you can't go wrong because it gives you a great chocolate taste every time. The taste is rich, the smell is so divine and it is just a great little cooking product. Apparently it can also be used to make a cocoa drink too, although I haven't tried this yet!
I get my pot of Cocoa Powder from Tesco, as I can't seem to buy it in my local Sainsburys. For a 125 gram pot, I paid 95 pence today, although I remember last year I did pay over £1.30 so I'm not sure why the price has dropped so much (shouldn't complain really should I?!). I'm making Harry's birthday cake tomorrow (his party is tomorrow, his birthday is Monday 17th!) which is why I bought this one, I just know I will get a great cake from it! Super value for a super little product! A must try for any bakers out there!
For more information on the Green & Blacks company, and their products, visit their website at www.greenandblacks.com/uk
Thank you for reading!
And although Dooyoo have listed this under drink, obviously it can be used as a food as well, so both categories would technically be correct!
Ideal for enjoying with hot milk as a soothing night time drink.


text:
off African Americans. Ronald Walters, a professor of political science at the University of Maryland, claims Republicans only "give lip service" about reaching the black vote.
Steele refutes those claims, stating that the GOP has a nationwide team-leader program enlisting grassroots involvement of African Americans. "I think that's a big step for us because we have otherwise been disengaged as a party coming to the African American community."
Though the vast majority of African Americans vote Democrat, not having any among the Republican ranks is a loss for all blacks, regardless of political affiliation.
Pages: 1 2


text:
Saudi police arrested some 12,800 foreign nationals last week for staying illegally in the kingdom, a security official was quoted as saying Thursday, September 13. Brigadier Hassan Rashwan, head of Haj and Omrah (pilgrimage) at the Passports Department, told Al-Iqtisadia business daily a majority of those detained had entered Saudi Arabia to perform pilgrimage but never left.
The arrests came during a crackdown on illegal residents launched in various parts of the vast oil-rich kingdom, home to Islam's holiest shrines. Rashwan said those arrested, all of them Arabs and Asians, will be deported and people who provided them with shelter will be penalized.
There are around seven million foreign workers in Saudi Arabia and the government has launched a campaign to reduce their number by hiking fees on their recruitment and offering incentives for nationals to work in the private sector. ― (AFP, Riyadh)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com [1])
[1] http://www.menareport.com
[2] http://www.albawaba.com


text:
Heroic Stories From the Southern Snowstorm of 2014
A Few Inches of Snow Has Many Going the Extra Mile
A Few Inches of Snow Has Many Going the Extra Mile
The recent snowstorm that brought the South to a freezing halt left many folks stranded, but that warm Southern hospitality burned strong even in the coldest of temps. Out of the ice came many stories of human kindness and the lengths that are taken to ensure the safety of pregnant women and children.
Source: Getty
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