text:
After years of jointly offering youth sports in El Dorado, then a change in that agreement this past year that left the YMCA not offering youth baseball last summer, the El Dorado Recreation Advisory Board and El Dorado YMCA are working on a joint plan to offer youth sports.
After years of jointly offering youth sports in El Dorado, then a change in that agreement this past year that left the YMCA not offering youth baseball last summer, the El Dorado Recreation Advisory Board and El Dorado YMCA are working on a joint plan to offer youth sports.
"I believe we are all here because we all care about our community and doing what we believe is in the best interest of our youth participants in our programs," said Kevin Wishart, El Dorado Recreation and Parks director. "We know that there's been good history and not so good history between our two programs. Where we go from here is kind of what we are trying to determine tonight and what direction we take."
"Our main objective," added YMCA Executive Director Ben Coffey, "is to approach this with a blank canvas. With a lot of what ifs. We want to investigate serving the community a little better."
"Our joint goal is to keep this focused on today and the future," Wishart said.
Rec Board Member Loren Anthony asked how the Andover YMCA works with the Andover Rec.
Coffey said it is similar to what was done here in the past.
Rec Board Member Russ McCaig also asked about what each program needs to be successful.
"From the Y's side, what do you guys need to stay successful and productive?" he asked. "As a rec board what do we need to stay busy and successful where we can both serve he community and one is not losing or hurting the other one?"
Coffey said in order for them to become profitable in some of their sports they would almost have to double their current capacity.
Rec Board Member Miles Harvey said they would have to look at how they judge success.
He said in addition to looking at the number of participants, they also should look at how many start and finish a sport. He asked if they could get numbers of participants going back 10 years from both entities.
"To me if we boil it down, success means we have more kids participating, more kids finishing the season and we provide multiple opportunities for them to participate," Harvey said.
City Commissioner Bill Young added they also need to look at how many kids return to a sport the next year, something that is not as easy to measure.
YMCA Board Member Jim Wilson agreed they need to look at how to increase numbers.
Currently, there are a lot of questions for parents about whether they should sign up at the Y or the Rec.
"Right now the community is in a state of confusion and some didn't sign up," McCaig said.
"It's our goal to have every resident participate in El Dorado play in El Dorado," Wishart said.
He added that the rec staff believes if they had all the participants in El Dorado playing here, the teams would be better balanced and there would be a fairly competitive league.
Anthony also asked if the Y had any inner branch competition. Locally, it is just in track.
The new field at the middle school also was a factor in the discussion. The field will be striped for football, baseball and soccer.
"The turf was put in to serve the most amount of kids possible," Coffey said. "I don't think we can do that without these two groups coming together."
McCaig said to keep both programs productive, they would have to look at where they draw lines.
"In my mind, to a majority of people the Y seems more like a development, teaching program," he said. "I think the only way to do it is to look at age group. That way we don't get a mix of classmates with half going here and half going there."
Coffey agreed that was probably the easiest solution.
Another possibility was to be sport specific for each program.
He challenged the group to look at it as one program, El Dorado sports, and to use the resources everyone has to serve the kids.
Anthony suggested they would need to coordinate rules with all age groups so they move up seamlessly.
They also discussed coaches clinics, with the suggestion they have joint coaches clinics to get the benefit of the resources the Y has to bring in someone who has expertise to do the training.
"If we all have kind of a common goal, kind of a followed curriculum the coaches have as they teach kids the fundamentals, it makes it easier to divide up the program in age groups between the Y and Rec," Young said. "You're teaching coaches to coach in the same way."
Wilson said a positive aspect to that is coaches may want to move up with their own kids and they would have that common core knowledge.
Another way Coffey proposed them working together was with the Y helping assist in providing staffing at the rec gyms so there was an increased opportunity for people to play basketball.
The group agreed they wanted to have a plan in place before spring sports rolled around.
Another thing they want to address is public perception that the competition level of the Y is different than the Rec.
Rhodes said he did not think that was a true today as historically, but he thought they needed to address that.
Wishart said there are a number of things that need to fall into place for a plan, including how coaches are selected and teams are formed, all of which needs to be consistent from the beginning.
The group agreed they wanted to get the numbers on participants before the next meeting so they could discuss that, as well as bring their own ideas to the meeting. After discussion on if the meeting would be open if held at the YMCA rather than City Hall, it was pointed out any time the Rec Board meets it has to be a public meeting. They set the next meeting for 5:30 p.m. Nov. 13 at City Hall.


text: Chic, sophisticated and classic -- from the Chanel 'Cotton Club' collection. This quilted black leather tote features the Chanel signature logo on one side while a diagonal zipper decorates the other. Braided chain and leather straps. Zip top closure opens to burgundy fabric interior with two zip pockets, cell phone pocket and two slim pockets. Dimensions: 14"L x 6"W x 10"H; 9" drop handle.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Are your looking for a way to make your CELKON A118 Signature HD work faster? Do you wish to clear all of the data on your CELKON A118 Signature HD before selling it to someone else? Well what you need is the factory reset.
What is it? Factory reset (aka hard reset) is an operation which deletes all data (including settings, applications, calendars, pictures etc) on your CELKON A118 Signature HD and brings back the default settings which makes your device as if it came right from the manufacturer. When do you need to perform such operation? When you need your CELKON A118 Signature HD to work faster, when there are some difficulties in the preformance of the operating system or when you just want to get rid of everithing that has been stored in your CELKON A118 Signature HD. http://hardreset.info is a website with factory reset descriptions of more than fifteen thousand devices. But that is not all. You will also find the some useful tricks, interesing articles, vidoes with the tutorials, answers to the frequently asked questions and more. Just click on Hard Reser CELKON A118 Signature HD button and you will see it all.


text:
Bruce Venzke and Gail Grabowski
Theme: Extra! Extra! — Theme answers start with the words "Read all about it."
Theme answers:
- 17A: Do some palmistry (READ ONE'S FORTUNE).
- 26A: Groundbreaking 1970s sitcom (ALL IN THE FAMILY).
- 47A: Link on a writer's site (ABOUT THE AUTHOR).
- 61A: Hilly Clinton bestseller (IT TAKES A VILLAGE).
- 68A: When repeated, start of an old shout that ends with the starts of 17-, 26-, 47- and 61-Across (EXTRA).
For some reason, the LA Times archive on cruciverb.com hasn't been updated yet, so I had to solve on the applet this morning, which is no fun. I will say this for the LA Times's applet: it seems to be more user-friendly than the applet on the NY Times's site. Of course, that's not saying much. I can't figure out why there isn't a decent applet out there yet. What year is it again? Let's just talk about the puzzle before I get myself all worked up.
Fun theme today. Using the applet distracted me, so I wasn't able to pay attention to it as I was solving, which is kind of a bummer. I also found myself a little distracted by SMERSH (in case you hadn't noticed) but that's not the theme's fault. I especially like the entry ABOUT THE AUTHOR — a phrase that looks like a partial, but that you've actually seen a million times if you read at all. And any reference to ALL IN THE FAMILY is always good. I don't know if I've ever mentioned this to you before, but when I used to watch the show, I was a kid in Fargo, North Dakota, which means I basically had no idea what they were talking about half the time. When I got a little older and saw a little more of the world it all came together for me and I was like "Ohhhh yeeeah … that's funny."
- 22A: Fine distinction (NICETY). I tried "nuance" first.
- 23A: Tavern tussle (MELEE). I tried "brawl" first. (I don't usually have this much trouble on a Monday!)
- 25A: Delaware senator who sponsored IRA legislation (ROTH). Did you remember he was from Delaware? Me neither.
- 38A: "Midnight Cowboy" hustler Rizzo (RATSO). And here's our friend RATSO again.
- 44A: Soviet anti-spy group in some James Bond novels (SMERSH). SMERSH!
- 10D: Armstrong's nickname (SATCHMO). I'm all "Neil Armstrong had a nickname? What was it, like … Space Boy?"
- 28A: In poor taste (TRASHY).
Crosswordese 101 Round-up:
- 20A: Giant legend Mel (OTT).
- 7D: Condé ___ Publications (NAST)
- 11D: Turn on an axis (SLUE).
- 35D: Andean stew veggie (OCA).
Everything Else — 1A: Make mention of (CITE); 5A: Bamboo lover (PANDA); 10A: Army NCO (SSGT); 14A: Eight, in Essen (ACHT); 15A: Look forward to (AWAIT); 16A: Tiger or Twin, briefly (AL'ER); 21A: Chick's digs (NEST); 33A: Excessively ornate (FLORID); 34A: Sensitive skin spots (SORES); 35A: Not operating (OFF); 40A: __ Kan: Alpo alternative (KAL); 41A: Welsh dog (CORGI); 51A: "__, old chap!" (I SAY); 52A: Laura's cry on "The Dick Van Dyke Show" (OH ROB); 54A: Small gun (PISTOL); 57A: Western tie (BOLO); 60A: Stag party attendee (GUY); 64A: One who might 17-Across (SEER); 65A: Begat (SIRED); 66A: Top draft status (ONE-A); 67A: Music boosters (AMPS); 69A: Cold War initials (USSR); 1D: Billiards bounce (CAROM); 2D: Summer refresher (ICE TEA); 3D: "__ be the day!" (THAT'LL); 4D: LAX datum (ETD); 5D: Window section (PANE); 6D: Leaves speechless (AWES); 8D: "What's the __?" (DIF); 9D: Numerous (A TON OF); 12D: Lady's partner (GENT); 13D: Low card (TREY); 18D: NBC correspondent Roger (O'NEIL); 19D: Hayworth and Moreno (RITAS); 24D: Wrapper for Santa (ELF); 25D: Obstacle for Moses (RED SEA); 27D: Hide-hair link (NOR); 29D: Blackjack request (HIT ME); 30D: Aggravate (IRK); 31D: Grassy expanse (LEA); 32D: French designer's monogram (YSL); 36D: Watch chain (FOB); 37D: To's opposite (FRO); 39D: Tulsa sch. named for a televangelist (ORU); 42D: Rock instruments (GUITARS); 43D: "Not to worry" ("IT'S OK"); 45D: Seat that often swivels (STOOL); 46D: 1968 loser to RMN (HHH); 48D: "Honor Thy Father" author Gay (TALESE); 49D: Instruments with many pedals (ORGANS); 50D: Cheek colorers (ROUGES); 53D: How some learn music (BY EAR); 54D: Tuscany tower site (PISA); 55D: Agenda unit (ITEM); 56D: Twelve-__ program (STEP); 57D: Homer's son (BART); 58D: In excess of (OVER); 59D: "__ Rose": "The Music Man" song (LIDA); 62D: Common dinner hour (SIX); 63D: Comic Costello (LOU).


text:
As awesome as Cracker Jack and home-field hot dogs are, taking yourself out to the old ballgame is so 20thcentury. Why suffer through the crowds when you can bring the ballgame to you?
No matter which side of the Red Sox/Yankee rivalry you fall on, the best mobile apps for baseball will keep you on top of your game around the clock. You bring the root, root rooting for the home team and the $9 beer, and they'll take care of the rest.
If other apps are sunflower seed-spitting utility players, MLB At Bat is the steroid-shooting powerhouse that crushes balls and makes opposing pitchers weep. This home run hitter offers a pitch tracker, live radio broadcasts, extensive post-game highlight reels, in-progress video look-ins of key plays, and more stats, scores and all-around info than you can shake some world-famous Gilroy Garlic Fries at.
Even better, MLB At Bat broadcasts a free, live HD video feed of one game per day, while MLB.TV subscribers($24.99/mo.) can watch any game live through MLB At Bat; and they get the app for free to boot. If you have to settle on one baseball app, MLB At Bat is the All-Star to pick… if you can afford its big league price tag.
All fantasy baseball apps offer up player scores as well as the ability to endlessly tinker with your team during fits of George Steinbrenner-esque fancy, but the specific app you'll need depends on the league you're signed up with. Fortunately, each of the big dawgs – Yahoo Fantasy Baseball, ESPN Fantasy Baseball, CBS Fantasy Baseball and Fox Fantasy Baseball – stocks their bullpens with free apps for both Apple and Android devices.
In addition to live box scores (yawn), FanGraphs dishes out lifetime stats for every player who's swung a bat since 1974, complete with minor league performance and salary numbers. What, that's not deep enough? How about shifting probability-based graphs that display how likely a team is to win at any given time during any given game, based on up-to-the-minute plays and events? Careful, Poindexter – your inner stat geek is showing.
Who needs talent scouts when you have EvriThing Baseball? This app pulls in baseball news from thousands of different online sources and sorts the massive feed into over 30 different sub-channels, including one for each MLB team. Bust out the smelling salts 'cause this'll make MLB lovers' heads spin.
"Get lost in the game" is a classic sports metaphor, but actually getting lost at the game – or on the way to the game – flat out sucks. Ballpark Envi keeps you on the proverbial base path by slapping beautiful photos of all the major league stadiums into your pocket, complete with seating charts and maps-based location information.
Is the umpire really, truly blind or are you just ignorant about the minutia of baseball's intricate rules? Check with this free app before you start spluttering peanuts over a supposed bungling of the infield fly rule.
No matter which of the best baseball mobile apps make it into your e-lineup, be sure to protect your lead (and your personal data) with a strong mobile security app – because all it takes is one malware-carrying curveball to turn your tablet into a tool of the zombie horde.
Play ball!
By Brad Chacos


text:
Ford has launched its OpenXC vehicle application research platform. Described as a combination of open source hardware and software for developers to build vehicle-centric custom applications and pluggable modules, standard (and well-known) tools will be available to the programmers who use it.
The launch of OpenXC is in fact the second developer platform to be offered by Ford alongside the wider Ford Developer Program, which has made the SYNC AppLink API available for the creation of smartphone apps that can be controlled inside the car using your voice.
While AppLink is available in Ford vehicles now, the company positions OpenXC as "focused on the future" as an open-source hardware and software platform. Ford is hoping to "unleash" the power of the open-source hacker community to explore what can be done with vehicle data.
Ford positions OpenXC as an API to the car — by installing a small hardware module to read and translate metrics from a car's internal network, the data becomes accessible from most Android applications using the OpenXC library.
"[Developers] can start making vehicle-aware applications that have better interfaces based on context, can minimize distraction while driving, are integrated with other connected services, and can offer you more insight into a car's operation," says Ford.
The company worked with partner firm Bug Labs to create what they are calling a "standard way" of creating aftermarket software and hardware for vehicles.
"Every new car is full of computers and electronics, and there is growing interest in connecting the output from those systems to third-party applications and the Web. Many companies are already offering tools to hook into the driver's interface, but for the most part they have limited availability for hobbyists and developers," says Ford.
NOTE: Right now, OpenXC supports over a dozen different measurements on a growing list of Ford vehicles.
The OpenXC team "imagines" a time when a car will be as easy to program as a smartphone. So the OpenXC version released now runs on a combination of Arduino and Android — hence, the reference to "well-known" tools.
According to Ford, drivers will be able to plug the OpenXC vehicle interface into a car and then, from Android, read data from the vehicle in real-time like the steering wheel angle, GPS position, and vehicle speed.


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One of the gay stereotypes that absolutely refuses to die is that we all like to wear women's clothes, or that we all have a sexual attraction to men who wear women's clothes. Going about thus attired is commonly known as "doing drag." Those who cross-dress are known as "drag queens."
While it is true that drag is an old and established part of the gay scene, wearing dresses is no more a universal practice among gay men than the taking of Roman Catholic Holy Communion is a universal practice among Christians.
And oddly enough, all of the men I've known who expressed a sexual fascination with cross-dressing were heterosexual. You think I'm kidding? Think again.
Mind you, I'm sure there are gay men who find a guy in a Jean Harlow wig a turn-on. I just haven't met any in the past 36 years.
My first encounters with drag queens took place when I was a mere stripling of 15, lying about my age to get into bars. (Sorry, Ma. They didn't have high school groups in those days. Unless you count Drama Club.) The very first was either Jerry or Charisse, depending upon the day. Jerry was an amiable fellow who wore bow ties. Charisse was a spangly, red-hot mama with an Anita Baker fixation who scared the living daylights out of me.
I've often wondered why. She never did or said anything threatening. In fact, she never spoke to me beyond a casual greeting. I think the fear must have arisen from my lack of experience with those who defy category. At that age, I needed other people to fit neatly into the little boxes stacked in my head. It was difficult enough not knowing what my place in the world was supposed to be.
These days I've relaxed sufficiently to appreciate people who wander hither and thither, obliterating the boundaries that separate male and female, gay and straight. If that sounds anarchistic and objectionable, try to see it from my side. When you're a member of a minority group so controversial that your fellow citizens consider your right to exist open to debate, you welcome almost anything that makes it more difficult to decide what exactly is "normal."
However, even though I've come to appreciate drag, I still don't enjoy it. Not on me, and not on others. I once got suckered into attending a performance at a local club called "Night of a Thousand Drag Queens." I made it to number 26, but my nerves were shot for the rest of the weekend.
And I'm no better about wearing women's clothing.
It has happened twice, both times on stage. First, I played Lady Bracknell in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest - a stunt that got me into hot water at my lousy high school. Our costumer was a stickler for period detail and I wore a corset, a fifty-pound brocade dress with underskirts, and a fifteen-pound hat with an entire stuffed bird on top. By the end of our two performances I had aches in my back and neck that lasted for two solid weeks.
Years later, with a company in Boston, I played a nun in John Guare's The House of Blue Leaves. I had to shave my tough beard every night just before the show in order to avoid five o' clock shadow, and my starched wimple chafed terribly.
Some men are just not strong enough to be women.
Given all that, I have had more than my share of drag names, all bestowed during the operatic phase of my young adulthood:
- Mademoiselle Folie de Grandeur
- Signorina Cavatina Caballetta ("Tina" for short)
- Dee Fledermaus
- Dieta and Tulita Pepsi (a sister act from, I believe, St. Louis)
- Formica Dinette
- Regina Upright
- Frida Lay
Dear God, can't you just imagine the wig that goes with that?
*If you lived on 14th Street, you can substitute your mother's maiden name. If you lived on 14th Street in New York City, it's entirely possible your mother was a drag queen.


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And if you are taking a little time out to stop by and say hello today we wanted to thank you with a giveaway!
My sister Torri officially launched her new design shoppe, Digital Confection Design, this week and in honor of her new site she wants to give one lucky reader a complete blog makeover!!
Torri offers various design services at affordable prices but for this giveaway she will be offering up the ultimate overhaul with her complete blog package.
Not sure what that means? Here is the description from Torri's site:


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Where did the Canadian Bear come from? Let us trace its roots...
Well first of all, probably 90% of animated cartoons around the world can be traced back to Disney. Disney cartoons had more influence on the world than any other more creative cartoons from the same period and earlier. It's gotten to the point where most animators can not even imagine straying from what they think the Disney rules of design and motion are (after 7 generations of copying and forgetting what the reasons for the style were in the first place).
Even Anime is a direct descendent of Disney design style. But the funniest imitation of Disney's blandness is Canada's. It's like a caricature in reverse. Canada has taken the weakest aspects of Disney and emphasized them, while leaving out all the useful and appealing parts.
Disney invented a particular style of cuteness in the late 30s and early 40s. Its pinnacle is the 1942 film Bambi.
This style serves 2 purposes:
1) Functional for animation
The characters are made of simplified forms that rotate well in space. They are very solid and at the same time organic. Two seemingly contradictory concepts perfectly combined into one design style.
When animated by experts like Frank and Ollie, Milt and the rest of the great Disney animators, it makes for a beautiful and almost magic visual experience.
When people copy Disney, they miss this aspect of Disney's design. - that it has construction and flow.
This is not the only way to design solid flowing characters, but it's the one that worked for Disney, and Disney convinced the world that they were the only animators who had any reason to exist.
2) To make Moms go "oooooooooooH!"
Besides being well designed for movement, they are also emotionally designed to be ultra cute.
Almost every character is the exact same character design. It is a generic but perfectly balanced set of huge cute eyes perfectly mapped onto a perfectly solid egg shaped head. A huge head compared to body size with a huge cranium relative to muzzle size.
Baby proportions, and thus cuteness to Moms.
The only real variance in design from character to character is the length of the muzzle and what kind of ears it has.
It's the same face on different types of animals. They all have rounded triangular eyes, that are mirrored by a light shape around them. Big-ass pupils that take up about half the space of the eye itself.
Here is the Disney formula character design and construction at its apex. This is where Cal Arts eyes degenerated from. The textbook animation design is right here and obvious for all to copy. More modern copies of these characters do not quite get it.
Here it is again. Exact same design; different beast.
As the decades wore on, the characters got less and less construction, and less cuteness - even drawing the same characters.
They added angles to the same designs in the 1950s and the pupils started to shrink.
By the 60s, the heads got much smaller, the proportions got blander, eyes got smaller, they lost the framing rings around the eyes and the construction started to melt as the animators got older and shakier. The angular style was still there, but a much milder, less daring version of it.
This eventually led to the tiny head Bluth style as the cartoons got less and less cute. You still see the same Disney construction formula. They are still the same designs they used in the 1940s - just way toned down.
Father and farther away from the source; still copying, but copying the previous copy, instead of trying to understand the original.
same same same same same....
I've always wondered why when before they start animation on a Disney movie, they spend tons of money experimenting with variations on their stock design style.
All these preproduction drawings are much more interesting than the designs that finally appear in the movie. These are all still based on the stock Disney formula, but they experimented with the proportions at least.
Technically they are all beautiful animation drawings. They have all the fundamentals and some artistic flair on top of them.
In the end, of course they settle on everything in the middle:
Even though this is pretty generic and sappy, I still love the Bongo film. The animation and backgrounds is just so stunningly expert and at times beautiful, that it sucks me right in.
In the 60s, Disney took Winnie The Pooh and animated it
They combined their own cute style and construction with E.H. Shepard's quaint and charming style.
This eventually did serious damage to Disney's style in the 80s. It ushered in blander small-eyed bears by the hundreds.
By the 1980s, the drawing skills were gone and so was the cute appeal. We had a super bland even more generic version of Disney with none of the good things about the studio left. Now you think this is ugly?
Here is the Canadian copy of the bland 80s Disney.
No construction, no line of action, no silhouette, no animation functionality and really tiny unappealing eyes - yet this was sold on its "cuteness". And there's nothing remotely cute about it, except that it sort of reminds you of Disney from long ago. We've been trained to think even crummy 7th generation imitations of what was actually cute once, is still cute now.
Here's the same design in another show, only even lousier.
My gosh, aren't these adorable?
A great irony is that the success of these fake Disney shows in turn influenced Disney to steal from us Canadians.When characters are this generic and faceless it's impossible to sue those who steal from you.
So now you know how we got from here:
To here:
Imitators think that by imitating the superficial aspects of a 10th generation of other imitations, they will somehow absorb instantly the quality and appeal of the original.
That means this:
equals this:
This is the basic Canadian entertainment thinking. Whatever America does (or did 60 years ago) we will copy the copy of the copy of the copy of the copy, until there is nothing left. - Instead of actually trying to entertain with skill, knowledge, varied individual influences and experiences from our own lives and personalities.
Here is the modern insincere animation look. Just as we've seen the Disney character design style copied and mangled for decades, now we have spent almost 2 more decades copying (without knowing why) the Nickelodeon/ Cartoon Network "style".
Who do they make this look for? Each other? Certainly not a regular audience of humans.
I don't even know what these are, but it's obvious where they came from.
Postscript: I don't want other Canadians to thinking I am bashing them. I'm proud to be Canadian and there are many unique and wonderful things in Canada.
I also realize (as most Canadians do) that we copy American culture. And don't do it very well. And do it too late.
I'll do another post about this in more detail, but I find it ironic that Canada wants so bad to distinguish itself as having its own culture, but in the process destroys any chance of letting it happen.
The government has crazy complicated bureaucratic rules that stifle creative competition, skill and originality in entertainment and art, while thinking it is encouraging it.
I can say from lots of direct experience in both countries that if say anyone with money in Canada actually wanted to seriously compete with American animation, we would kill all competition. Not in a year, but easily within 5. The talent is there. We could be known as the leaders in quality creative money making cartoons all over the world and force everyone else to imitate us. Instead the whole business is set up to stay way behind America's own backwards business model and to badly imitate its every mistake and awful trend.
More on this later...


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Rosa May Sturdivant, 70, of Greensboro, died on Tuesday, July 31, 2012, in Tallahassee. She was a member of Pine Bloom M.B. Church of Greensboro. Viewing will be from 5PM to 7 PM Friday August 10, 2012 at Bradwell Mortuary (850-627-3700). Services will be Saturday, August 11, 2012 at Pine Bloom M.B. Church in Greensboro, with future interment in Hartford, Connecticut.
She is survived by her children, Maggie Conyers (Cedric) of Greensboro, Emory Colston (Johnnie) St. Petersburg, FL, Bobby Peterson, Stephanie Scott and Tracy Gunn, all of Hartford, CT; Fredrick Gunn of Greensboro, FL; her sister, Louise Ratliff of Atlanta, GA and her brother, King Thomas Jr. of Greensboro, Fl.
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This wonderful concotion was thought up by the sheer fact that I had many food items in the pantry to use up. So, everyone in the pool!
I had been craving toasted coconut for a while now. I was too lazy to make toasted coconut marshmallows by Ina; those are a big weakness of mine. But I was also craving pumpkin-something. The toasted coconut on this bread was soooo good. The good thing with homemade breads is you can add whatever you want to it. And now after having this bread, adding in some milk chocolate chips would be wonderful!
pumpkin-coconut bread
print recipe
1 (15 oz can) pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie puree, just plain pumpkin puree)
½ cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 ts vanilla extract
1 ¼ cups of white sugar
1 ½ cups flour
½ ts salt
½ ts baking soda
½ ts baking powder
½ ts ground cinnamon
½ ts ground nutmeg
½ ts pumpkin pie spice mix
½ cup pecans
½ cup shredded coconut
½ raisins
½ to ¼ cup of pecans
½ to ¼ cup of shredded coconut
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Grease and flour a 9x5 inch loaf pan. Or two smaller loaf pans.
In a large bowl, mix together the pumpkin puree, oil, eggs, vanilla extract, and sugar.
In another bowl combine the topping mix and combine.
In another bowl combine the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and pumpkin pie spice mix. Mix well, then slowly add to the wet ingredients until well combined. Don't over mix!
Then fold in the pecans, raisins, and coconut into the batter. Pour the batter into the greased loaf pan.
Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, then add on your toppings, gently push down the topping into the loaf (if you don't push them into the loaf they may burn). Then bake another 20 to 30 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into bread comes out clean. Cook times may vary depending on your oven.
pumpkin-coconut bread
47 comments:
INCREDIBLE concoction :-)ReplyDelete
Happy V Day!!
Another cool combination Dawn! I love pumpkin bread, but never tried it with coconut before. I totally know what you mean about blogger.. it's so annoying! I just upload all my pictures to flickr and then copy the link into my post.ReplyDelete
you can use windows live writer...it plays together very well with blogger...and you can resize your photos very easily. I've been using live writer for ages and wouldn't be without it now. :-)ReplyDelete
ooo anything with coconut has to be good!ReplyDelete
I have to use HTML so i cant help with phot question- sorry!
Happy Valentine's Day!
Kelly Turner
omg, you kill me. everytime!! sorry i got nothin on blogger, still trying to figure all that stuff out...ReplyDelete
This looks delish! AND I love the coffee mug!ReplyDelete
I've never had any issues with uploading pistures on Blogger...and as you know I upload a lot of them.ReplyDelete
I have found though, that if you want small pictures, or large pictures, then you need to click what size you want. DOn't try minimizing or stretching the photo once it has been uploaded. Doing this will cause it to look pixilated and unfocused, when originally the picture was clear.
Hope that helps. Email me if you have any other questions. I fool around alot with Blogger layouts just to try and figure things out.
I also love those "cleaning pantry" baking days! Love that bread, it's screaming "moist and delicious"!ReplyDelete
It's like you are in my mind. I was just thinking about pumpkin this morning. Happy valentine's!ReplyDelete
I love any dessert with pumpkin.ReplyDelete
Happy Valentine Day!
I'm so glad to see something pumpkin, sometimes we forget about it after the holidays, this looks fantastic Dawn!ReplyDelete
I have the same problem with my photos. I think Pumpkin and coconut is a great combo, yummy!!!ReplyDelete
I LOVE pumpkin bread but have never had it like that before!! Yum!ReplyDelete
- Anonymous2/14/09, 11:08 PM
This is how best recipes get created. Looks delicious!ReplyDelete
Great pairing! Love that mug. :) Happy Valentine's Day Dawn!ReplyDelete
Genius. I adore toasted coconut anything!!!ReplyDelete
Whenever I want to post a large picture I upload it to Flickr.com. Once it's uploaded, click the all sizes link and copy the second code for the large picture. Then go to blogger to add picture and paste that code into the "get picture from the web" section. Email me if that didn't make sense--- it makes a huge difference on terms of quality.
I really like the sound of a coconut pumpkin bread with pecans.ReplyDelete
Well, this just isn't right...I tried to sneak a piece of this decadent looking bread off the plate and the monitor screen got in my way. :(ReplyDelete
Dawn, this looks heavenly-I love coconut anything and pumpkin too....gotta try this soon!
This looks so yummy, Dawn! I've been thinking about baking something with coconut because I have a big bag of it in the pantry and I need to come up with an original recipe for the BloggerAid cookbook.ReplyDelete
You should submit a recipe too. Your recipes are all so creative and your photos are wonderful!
All the good advice about the photos is helpful to me too! I haven't noticed a huge change in quality, but I always upload the photo in the large format.
I actually have three cans of pumpkin left over from the holidays, I am definitely making this!ReplyDelete
Toasting the coconut probably made all the difference, didn't it? Sounds fabulous!ReplyDelete
lovely mixis'!! happy vday! the flowers by ur husband are gorgeous. hurray for pretty flowers!ReplyDelete
Oh Dawn seriously this is heaven in a loaf. I love coconut so much this is just a beautiful masterpiece.ReplyDelete
oh wow, you just combined two of my FAVORITE ingredients! i've been on a coconut kick lately...in fact, i just posted about coconut cupcakes (with streusel topping, which i thought you would appreciate). can't wait to try this delectable-looking bread!ReplyDelete
i definitely don't think pumpkin should be used only during the fall months, and coconut needs to grace the top of every loaf of bread ever made. :)ReplyDelete
nice job, this looks so good and pecans instead of my allergy - walnuts...slap some butter on a piece for me.ReplyDelete
I love homemade breads, and this one looks so tasty. I got tulips too! I hope your Valentine's Day was awesome, mine sure was.ReplyDelete
I love the quality of your pictures Dawn! I'm glad flickr worked!ReplyDelete
- Anonymous2/16/09, 8:33 AM
Woman - you are killing me. This is my idea of the perfect breakfast. I sure wish we were neighbors. Love the tulips.ReplyDelete
I love the coconut on top!! It looks super tasty!! I will have to try this one! Glad you had a nice V-day! The flowers are beautiful!ReplyDelete
Due to the fact that I love toasted coconut, this would be so delicious, in my opinion. Great combination of all my favorites right in one easy package. Looks like you had a perfect Valentine's as well...the tulips are gorgeous. Makes you long for spring, doesn't it?ReplyDelete
Ok Ok Ok the bread looks yummy but what the heck are Irish Eggs Benedict?ReplyDelete
YUM! There is something about this time of year that encourages the pantry clean out. I've been making lots of quick breads to get rid of the random alternative flours in my pantry. I bet I could slip some oat and soy flour in this and it would be great.ReplyDelete
You did an amzing job using up items in your pantry. This "concoction" has me sdrooling; I can smell the toasted coconut!ReplyDelete
Pumpkin taste so good with spices doesn't it?ReplyDelete
This cake looks wonderful Dawn I would love a slice with my tea. :-)
P.s beautiful flowers.
i love coconut bread and pumpkin bread, so the two together would be amazing, i'm sure! yum.ReplyDelete
You read my mind. I have been craving something coconut all day. Salivating.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous2/18/09, 11:28 AM
YOu're welcome albeit its late!! LOLReplyDelete
Love you
Bookmarked. I'm making this soon. Looks unbelievably moist and sounds really sweet, what do you think about reducing the sugar just a bit for more of a nutritionized breakfast?ReplyDelete
Hi Dawn,ReplyDelete
My friend makes a pumpkin-coconut bread and it is fantastic. She has never given the recipe so I will have her take a look and maybe she will divulge--haha!
Great idea for the pumpkin and coconut! I LOVE those tulips!ReplyDelete
Wow, this bread looks to die for. Your site is wonderful, so much good stuff here. I have to go searching your archives.. Love your pictures!! That chocolate espresso cake looks awesome too!! Holy cow!ReplyDelete
Wow, this looks awesome!!ReplyDelete
- Anonymous3/4/09, 2:23 PM
Is everything on your site deliciously amazing???? We'd have to say YES!ReplyDelete
Thanks for the great recipe - I made these into muffins and loved them - still have some for the rest of the week!ReplyDelete
Everything you make gets me going, I need this for dessert ASAP!ReplyDelete


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Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Moving On - Day One
We left about 9:15 this morning. I ran a couple errands first, but we got on the road toward Florida by 10:00. We drove to Lebanon, IN where we stopped for a potty/stretch break. The winner of a signed book from that stop is -
C Barnes
Then we drove on to Louisvile, KY, where we stopped for gas/potty break. The winner of a signed book for that stop is -
Simple Country Girl
We continued on and didn't stop again until we got to Franklin, KY where we had some dinner. The winner for that stop is -
Clay refused to eat and I couldn't figure out why. When he started crying, I felt his head and sure enough he had a fever. I knew this because I had a thermometer in my purse because Brooklyn's been running a fever since Sunday night. I gave both Clay and Brooklyn a dose of Motrin and got back on the road. I could've driven a few more hours, but the kids had been really good all day and I didn't want to push it, so we stopped somewhere in TN (I think Murfreesboro). The winner of the signed book for that stop is -
It was a long day, but on the bright side, there haven't been too many tears, the boys haven't turned my van into a gas chamber of death (yet), and we survived all the idiot tail-gating, crazy drivers in TN. Oh yeah, and thanks to my family for pitching in and buying me a great GPS, we didn't get lost! At all! Not even once! I know!!!
It's not too late to get in on the fun! You can still win a signed copy of my new book, Because I Said So (and other lies from a less-than-perfect parent)! Just watch my video here! Then leave me a comment on my blog. I'll be giving away more signed copies every time I stop during my travels tomorrow! For extra chances to win, share the video on your Facebook page and leave me another comment here letting me know. And please leave contact information in your comment! Thanks! :)
Winners from today's giveaways, please contact me within 48 to claim your signed books.
Posted by Dawn at 9:02 PM
49 comments:
- Jennifer said...
Good Luck on your move! Having taken long car trips as a kid with my parents and four brothers, I know how dangerous it can be to trap boys in a small confined space. We had a large house and even THAT wasn't big enough to escape being a "gas chamber of death."
- June 28, 2011 at 10:18 PM
- Stephanie said...
Haha that video was hilarious!
- June 29, 2011 at 12:32 AM
- Stephanie said...
Good luck!
- June 29, 2011 at 12:33 AM
- Ankasp said...
I just found your blog. What timing. What a video. What a family. I'll follow to see just how crazy your life gets. God bless your travel.
- June 29, 2011 at 2:08 AM
- Mark said...
Dawn: I am in dire need of an UPDATE:
Did you SELL the Chicago homestead?
Or... are you going to have to deal with TWO mortgages?
My other question is about what you described as your NEW BOOK...I have bought the only TWO titles I was aware of..is there a THIRD?
Obviously, I realize you are quite BUSY these days..nonetheless, should you find a spare moment...
hint hint!
Mark in MASS
- June 29, 2011 at 2:35 AM
- Kia said...
We're just about to embark on our "first move". Admittedly there's just the two of us and we're not moving quite as far as you are but sheesh the idea of packing up our entire home is daunting!
- June 29, 2011 at 4:01 AM
- Shelomita said...
I have watched your video and it was sooooooooooo hillarious! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.....what an awesome ideas! it really reminded me of both my kids, two boys both below three years old and everyday is rock and roll for me too..I really love your video Dawn! and your blog is super-awesome like always.
PS: I have shared you video on my facebook too..you can check in my profile Rina Shelomita...
I really hope (crossing my finger) to get one of the signed copy of your book (plizz..plizzz..plizzz...I promise I will read it..pliizzzzzzzz!!)
My contact is firstname.lastname@example.com
- June 29, 2011 at 4:09 AM
- Sarah said...
Glad day 1 went well. Hope the sick kiddos will feel better soon and that the others (and you!) won't get sick.
- June 29, 2011 at 6:23 AM
Good luck on the rest of your trip. It's a real adventure for your family. Sounds like it's going really well so far. By the way, I didn't enter the contest because I already own both of your books! Stay safe!
- June 29, 2011 at 6:45 AM
- Sharon said...
Sounds like you are making great progress! Way to go for taking on all the driving by yourself. I hope Wednesday's drive is just as smooth!
- June 29, 2011 at 6:59 AM
- Taeriefale said...
Loving your blog! Y'all were close to me at one point in KY haha. I'm in Lexington. :)
- June 29, 2011 at 7:14 AM
- wendy said...
i would love to win a copy of your book, and i would love to be able to be the one to throw the fit in the grocery store while my daughter looks on and feels the frustration and embarassment that i usually feel. good luck with the move!
- June 29, 2011 at 8:10 AM
- Shannon said...
The grocery store scene made me think of my kids. I laughed at how the people looked at you! Hope you continue to have a safe trip!
- June 29, 2011 at 8:17 AM
- Shannon said...
I forgot to leave contact info!
Hope Brooklyn and Clay feel better!
- June 29, 2011 at 8:20 AM
- Fran said...
I shared your hilarious video on my FB wall. :)
- June 29, 2011 at 8:35 AM
- Brandi said...
I am still shocked stores didn't kick you out for thinking you were crazy.
- June 29, 2011 at 8:56 AM
- peg said...
I'm keeping you and your family in my prayers. Have a safe journey.
- June 29, 2011 at 8:57 AM
- Angie H. said...
I love reading your blog.. there is never a dull moment; and while I do not have 6 kids I can fully understand it with the 3 I have (1 boy (20) and twin girls(15). Good luck on your new adventure. :)
This trip and move will surely be material for your new book... :)
- June 29, 2011 at 9:02 AM
- Kay said...
I remember doing some of those same things when my kids were little. Stay safe on your way to the new house!
- June 29, 2011 at 9:38 AM
- Avasmommy said...
Gotta love the GPS!! I hope Clay and Brooklyn feel better! Safe Travels!
- June 29, 2011 at 9:52 AM
Oooh I would love a signed copy of your book. That video rocked, btw. It was hilarious!! Loved the bloopers at the end. Your kids are so adorable. Easy for me to say, right? :) You can email me at firstname.lastname@example.com if I win. (hope hope!) G/l on your journey! Your new house is amazing!!! ~ Karen from Menopause Dairies
- June 29, 2011 at 10:42 AM
- Brassy said...
Ooo, which post do we comment on? I watched the video already but somehow missed the book giveaway.
- June 29, 2011 at 11:23 AM
- Krista said...
Worms in the sink? Parts of this video should come with a warning! haha I hope you have safe travels today!
- June 29, 2011 at 1:24 PM
- Krista said...
and, b/c I forgot to leave my contact info - I'll share your video on my facebook too! my email is vthawk01 at gmail.com :)
- June 29, 2011 at 1:26 PM
- Michele said...
Just watched the video for a second time, and laughed just as hard this time as I did the first. I hope your travels are safe and that your children are feeling better!
- June 29, 2011 at 1:28 PM
- dj.brumbaugh said...
I loved your video! I watched it the first time you posted it. You are very talented and your family is wonderful. Have a great trip and look forward to being in your new house.
- June 29, 2011 at 1:35 PM
- Carrie M. said...
I hate to even ask this but what did Joe say about you guys moving? Did he at least say goodbye to his kids?
- June 29, 2011 at 1:58 PM
- jennifer said...
I posted your video to my facebook wall!!!
Love you and your kids! And your blog! And your stories!
- June 29, 2011 at 2:03 PM
- South Carolina Mom said...
Love the video! I have 5 kids & am prego with the 6th. I couldn't agree with you more about the crazy behavior of kids...for some reason I keep having more thinking something will change. ;)
- June 29, 2011 at 2:37 PM
- MB said...
I loved the video! Would love to win a copy of your book! firstname.lastname@example.com
- June 29, 2011 at 2:37 PM
- Mary-Leah said...
The video was hilarious and your kids remind me of my own kids. I cannot fathom driving that distance with three kids, let alone my four, and I've never driven more than five hours with them. I SO prefer to be the passenger so I can sleep. Kudos to you for being so strong. I wish you all the best in FL. I, too, am an assistant teacher, and it's a great and rewarding job. Plus, works great with the kids' schedule. I wish you all the best!
- June 29, 2011 at 2:54 PM
Ok I posted your video on Facebook too. :) Thank you for the opportunity for a second entry. Karen @ Menopause Diaries (firstname.lastname@example.com) Yay!
- June 29, 2011 at 5:49 PM
- Notsopc said...
I moved from my home when I was almost 15 so I feel for all of you. Funny I moved to Fla too. Don't forget to stop at the Welcome Center when you cross into Florida.. Get orange juice... Hope the kids are okay and be safe...
- June 29, 2011 at 6:02 PM
- lisapenn said...
Hey Dawn,
Long time stalker first time commenter! : ) You are so awesome! I admire you greatly. Raising kids is a tough job and doing it alone is even tougher.
I LIVE in Murfreesboro!! Too bad I wasn't in town when you stopped by. ; ) Yes we are crazy drivers. Sorry! Good luck in Florida. We will be following your adventures.
- June 29, 2011 at 7:02 PM
- Rohde101 said...
Well you ARE awesome and funny, but you are dogggone BRAVE too. I remember my family vacations in the back of the station wagon with my 4 sibs and my dad threatening to stop and spank us every 100 miles or so...I don't think he ever did but he did slo-o-o-w down a few times and aim for the shoulder. Seriously beyond being brave for the drive in an enclosed space for several days, you are an inspiration for starting over at an, ummmm, "certain age " I had to start over with a 7 month old ( now 9 years) with Down syndrome when I was 42. I certainly did not have your awesome sense of humor but I did have a great support system. For the record, I'm pretty sure that my ONE "Hurricane Ella" equals your six-pack at least in the confines of a mini van LOL
- June 29, 2011 at 8:06 PM
- Bailey's Leaf said...
GPS! A great thing! So happy that you have one and did you know that you can choose from a bunch of different voices to tell you which way to go? I think that you could even have somebody with an English accent! How fun would that be?
Be safe!
- June 29, 2011 at 8:31 PM
- Gilsner said...
So glad it's going well (despite you not picking my name, lol). In case I haven't said it lately... I'm proud of you! It takes courage, strength and a whole lot of heart to do what you're doing. You're amazing! Remember that! *hugs*
- June 29, 2011 at 8:31 PM
- alokey said...
Great Video!!! Safe Travels! :)
- June 29, 2011 at 8:51 PM
- alokey said...
Great Video!! Safe Travels! :)
- June 29, 2011 at 8:51 PM
- Craig said...
Love the video! Praying for your journey, we have moved across the country a few times with 5 kiddos! Good luck!! When you get into Florida Honk going through LAKE CITY FL...it'll be the first city you come to off I-75...that's where we call home now! Safe travels!!
- June 29, 2011 at 10:10 PM
- Queenie662 said...
I think my favorite part is the tantrum about wanting to press the elevator button. So true to life!
- June 29, 2011 at 10:14 PM
- Handyman said...
Great Video! My Friends considered me a handyman. I have built 2 houses and I fix my on cars. Wife and I are moving to Florida also, to be with my 80+ y/o parents. When we get settled I will let you know, If you need something fixed I will help you out, One Yankee to another. Luckily Florida is a northern state!
- June 30, 2011 at 4:28 AM
- wendy said...
love your blog, love the video, wish i could act like my 4 year old sometimes just to see what she would do. would love to win your book. good luck with the move.
- June 30, 2011 at 7:06 AM
- Heather said...
Thanks for checking in. Sorry Clay and Brooklyn are sick. :( Glad GPS is working and trip going well so far.
God bless you all.
Heather (in Scotland)
- June 30, 2011 at 7:45 AM
- C Barnes said...
Yay! I won :) Thanks Dawn!! Not sure I left contact info so... email@example.com
- June 30, 2011 at 2:55 PM
- Angie said...
Sounds like things are going well so far. (Well, all things considered, anyway.)
- June 30, 2011 at 9:12 PM
- Bethany said...
I shared on twitter!
- July 1, 2011 at 2:09 PM
- Alice said...
my goodness, you came so close to me! Grew up near Franklin, and live near Nashville! You could have stayed over! (we have six kids, too)
bless bless.
- July 1, 2011 at 6:11 PM
- Lynn said...
Hey Dawn, I hope you all made it to your new home safely. I thought you might be interested in knowing that the Sonic drive-in in Homestead, Florida is going to begin serving wine and beer. A Fort Lauderdale location will start serving wine and beer in August. Hopefully, your new home is close to one of these locations.
- July 2, 2011 at 9:24 PM


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text:
Friday, August 23, 2013
Sepia Saturday: Before It Was Unlawful
45 comments:
It looks like they have taken there hats off while waiting as I think I can see hats sitting on the table.... All that litter I hope it's not there's !ReplyDelete
Now see, I didn't even notice the hats!Delete
I also saw the hats...but didn't see the litter at first. Although some people visiting Niagara Falls still drop their litter wherever they please...so sad.ReplyDeleteReplies
People can be trifling!Delete
Unfortunately, many people still haven't learned that lesson. I am waiting for winter, to get in amongst the weeds and rushes across the road to get out someone's garbage of cans and crap.ReplyDelete
I do love the photo, Wendy. Maybe they picked up all their trash before they went home.Replies
It never occurred to me that they might have done the good deed and picked up their trash. You must be nicer than I am.Delete
That is quite a trio, even aside from the litter.ReplyDeleteReplies
Yeah, a fun bunch.Delete
Here we go with this language business -- knickers in THIS country are NOT what they are in England, right? And tsk, tsk on that littering!ReplyDeleteReplies
Oops ~ This post is PG13.Delete
I still have to look twice every time I see my maiden name in your posts. The boat must have been late - they look a tad unhappy or maybe it's the sun in their eyes. I guess people just accepted litter as part of life in those days.ReplyDeleteReplies
Ever since you told me that, I think about YOU whenever MY Helen makes the post.Delete
The knickers are probably what we would call knickerbockers here in Australia so it's close.ReplyDelete
Yet another photo with the photographer's shadow evident :)Replies
Yes, the photographer must have been one of the girl's date. Since my great aunt is not in the photo, I'm wondering why she had this picture at all. They didn't have Facebook back then for easy sharing!Delete
I looked down and saw the litter but the photographers shadow littered the photo too!ReplyDelete
Oh, those clothes, what an era!Replies
I bet those socks were hot.Delete
I think the photographer should have moved the litter out of the photo. Maybe there wasn't a trash can nearby. I still see people intentionally throwing things on the ground even when there is a trashcan.ReplyDeleteReplies
Spoken like a true photographer!Delete
There is something to be said for 'Lookie here I'm taking a snapshot' instead of setting up for a photo shoot. That snapshot reveals soooo much more. You've done a great job of picking up the trash...pun intended...and linking it to the 'Keep America Beautiful' campaigns history. I did not know that! Good job!ReplyDelete
Sue CollectInTexasGal~Today's Post~
Older Sister Syndrome~Sepia SAT Sibling 3SomeReplies
I guess that's the difference between a staged shoot and spontaneous. We get a number of stories.Delete
My eye was drawn to the plaid skirt and not the litter I have to say, but like Kat, I like to think they gathered it up and took it home.ReplyDeleteReplies
Oh, all you nice people! But honestly, that skirt - wow!Delete
I'm afraid I was looking for the English knickers so did't see the litter either. Judging by the amount of litter in the UK a ;ot of it seems to be invisible here too.ReplyDelete
If I had held the camera I would have picked the trash up.Replies
Ha -- sorry about that. I guess you'll have to keep looking!Delete
I was drawn in by their facial expressions. Quite intriguing to me --- stuff that stories are made of.ReplyDeleteReplies
The girl on the left seems ready to just go home.Delete
Wendy, you've highlighted a term that still needs a British/American dictionary. My wife is English and I keep a copy handy for just these occasions. Mainly because after years in the USA she will sometimes forget the appropriate phrase of her majesty's English language. And once in a while I need to translate for myself what she meant. But not knickers. Those are always either in a twist or in the washer.ReplyDeleteReplies
I had a little British boy in a class one time who complained about his "vest" being too hot. Of course, all I saw was a little polo shirt, so I was confused for awhile.Delete
I think you should give them the benefit of the doubt - they were going to pick it all up before they boarded the boat.ReplyDeleteReplies
Where did all these Pollyannas come from all of a sudden? Now I look like a cynical clod. ;-)Delete
Yes very true what a shame. But the handsome man in the middle, appears so much like Dapper Dan, quite smashing indeed!ReplyDeleteReplies
I had to go back and check out Dapper Dan. I never paid attention to him to before.Delete
Give a hoot, don't pollute!ReplyDelete
This is a great picture, Wendy.
Kathy M.Replies
Another memorable slogan!Delete
- AnonymousAugust 25, 2013 at 7:59 PM
I don't think anyone has mentioned the interesting shadow. It looks as though there's a big boy behind the camera. Very broad.ReplyDeleteReplies
He was big, you're right!Delete
An interesting reflective post Wendy. Even though the three are together the lady in the plaid skirt takes one's eye because she's not visually linking to the others, not to mention the vibrancy of the skirt.ReplyDelete
As to the litter, we could be forgiving and say it's not theirs but....or perhaps they picked it up before they left. A shame the photographer didn't notice it before the image was taken.Replies
At least by ignoring the litter, the photographer has forced us to see how far we've come in our attitudes about littering (even if our behavior hasn't changed all that much).Delete
I noticed the litter on the ground too. See how well trained we've become? And I did notice those cute hats on the table to their right as well. Hmm. What is the girl on the left looking at? She's not looking at the camera like the others. Great photo!Replies
I wondered too what she was looking at. Maybe pondering the mess they made??Delete
Welcome to Geneabloggers!ReplyDelete
Regards, GrantReplies
Oh wow, yeah -- 2 years. Thanks for the reminder.Delete
Dropping by to wish you a happy 2nd blog anniversary, Wendy!ReplyDelete
It is interesting how the photographer didn't notice the litter distracting the viewers eye. It is like they were so used to it being part of the environment. I'm glad we wouldn't tolerate it now. A nice trio all the same.ReplyDelete
Well, if the photographer didn't notice the shadow he was casting, it is hardly a wonder he ignored the litter next to it... Perhaps he knew that one day, there would be a thing called photoshop that could handle all of that as if by magic...ReplyDelete


text:
Bloomberg -- Corporate-bond brokers may face a squeeze on profits as regulators start publishing prices for almost $1 trillion of privately sold debt, if the past is any guide.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, seeking to foster more competitive pricing, plans to start disseminating trading levels for securities issued under a rule known as 144a on its 11-year-old Trace system within the next year. That means the notes, sold only to institutional investors, will face the same price transparency as publicly registered corporate bonds for which buyers demand half a percentage point less in yield spreads. Brokers typically are paid larger fees from higher-yielding debt.
Firms from Knight Capital Group Inc. to Gleacher & Co. and Pierpont Securities LLC sold or shuttered credit units this year as corporate-bond trading volumes fell to the lowest proportion of the market on record and smaller price swings shrink potential profit margins. In the 90 days after Trace started disseminating prices of junk bonds, trading in the securities dropped 41 percent, according to Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University researchers.
You get a certain amount of insecurity because of how opaque this market has been, Ari Gabinet, OppenheimerFunds Inc.s general counsel in New York, said in a telephone interview. Without active market information, you dont have a good way of assessing your execution.
Sprint Corp. and Tenet Healthcare Corp. are among companies that have issued bonds under the 144a rule this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The securities have grown to account for 33 percent of dollar-denominated junk-bond trading, the greatest percentage on record and up from about 25 percent a year ago, Barclays Plc data show.
There are as much as $300 billion of speculative-grade notes in the U.S. filed under the rule, and about $670 billion of dollar-denominated investment-grade corporate bonds, according to Barclays.
Investors are demanding an average of 54 basis points, or 0.54 percentage point, more yield to own speculative-grade 144a bonds, which require less financial disclosure than publicly registered securities, Barclays data show.
By selling bonds under Securities Act Rule 144a, corporate borrowers can avoid filing financial disclosures as long as they sell the notes only to qualified institutional buyers, saving them money otherwise spent on regulatory compliance. That often leads to higher yields to compensate investors for the reduced transparency and liquidity that can make it tougher to sell the bonds.
The change will enhance pre-trade price discovery, foster more competitive pricing, reduce costs to investors and assist market participants in determining the quality of their executions, Finra said in a July 17 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, asking for approval to expand Trace to include price dissemination on 144a bonds.
The Trace expansion is coming at a time when dealers already are dealing with increased legal, compliance and other costs, including tightening capital regulation, said Russell Sacks, a partner at law firm Shearman & Sterling LLP. You can see how small dealers especially, but dealers of any kind, would see themselves as being under pressure from both sides.
Elsewhere in credit markets, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. plans to sell bonds in a two-part offering that includes its second 30- year securities this year. China National Offshore Oil Corp., parent of the nations biggest offshore energy explorer Cnooc Ltd., signed $3 billion of syndicated loans with 11 banks.
The cost to protect against losses on U.S. corporate debt was little changed. The Markit CDX North American Investment Grade Index, a credit-default swaps benchmark that investors use to hedge against losses or to speculate on creditworthiness, declined 0.3 basis point to a mid-price of 78.7 basis points as of 11:55 a.m. in New York, according to prices compiled by Bloomberg.
In London, the Markit iTraxx Europe Index of 125 companies with investment-grade ratings increased 0.2 to 97.7.
The indexes typically fall as investor confidence improves and rise as it deteriorates. Credit swaps pay the buyer face value if a borrower fails to meet its obligations, less the value of the defaulted debt. A basis point equals $1,000 annually on a contract protecting $10 million of debt.
The U.S. two-year interest-rate swap spread, a measure of debt-market stress, fell 2 basis points to 13.25 basis points, reaching the lowest intraday level since Sept. 16. The gauge typically narrows when investors favor assets such as corporate bonds and widens when they seek the perceived safety of government securities.
Bonds of Verizon Communications Inc. are the most actively traded dollar-denominated corporate securities by dealers today, accounting for 7.7 percent of the volume of dealer trades of $1 million or more, Trace data show. The New York-based telephone carrier raised $49 billion on Sept. 11 in the largest corporate bond issue ever.
Wal-Mart, the worlds largest retailer, intends to issue senior unsecured debt due in December 2018 and October 2043, according to a person with knowledge of the sale, who asked not to be identified because terms arent set. Wal-Mart has $44.2 billion of bonds outstanding, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The offering will be of benchmark size, typically at least $500 million, the person said. Wal-Mart is rated Aa2 by Moodys Investors Service and an equivalent AA at Standard & Poors and Fitch Ratings.
China National Offshore Oil obtained $2 billion in a one- year term facility and $1 billion in a five-year term portion, according to three people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the details are private. The deal was signed on Sept. 17, they said.
The company completed the loan as the oil and gas producer seeks to raise even more debt. The company is considering selling U.S. dollar-denominated bonds and has hired banks to arrange meetings with investors in Europe and the U.S., a person familiar with the matter said last week.
The lenders are Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., Bank of America Corp., Bank of China Ltd., Barclays, China Construction Bank Corp., Citigroup Inc., Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., HSBC Holdings Plc, Mizuho Bank Ltd. and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., the people said.
Finras plan to publish trade information for 144a bonds, the first expansion of Traces corporate-debt offerings since 2006, drew a dissenting opinion from the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. Disseminating the privately sold debts pricing is not appropriate or necessary at this time, Sifmas Chris Killian wrote in a Nov. 16 comment letter, citing concerns around changes in market liquidity and the impact of many regulatory changes.
The SEC approved Finras plan to publicly report trades of 144a corporate bonds this month. Finra has until Nov. 6 to release a schedule for its implementation, which then must take effect within 270 days of the publication of that regulatory notice.
Trace reporting, which was introduced in 2002, has contributed to a reduction in trading of corporate bonds while cutting price volatility in the market, researchers at MIT and Harvard said earlier this month in a study of Finra data. Junk- bond trading fell 41.3 percent and price dispersion shrank 24.7 percent in the 90 days after the final phase of Traces implementation started, according to the study.
As with all fixed income, youre talking about an asset class thats thinly traded, said Mark Hepsworth, president of pricing and reference data for Interactive Data Corp. The more market color can be shared the better. We think it can be a contributing factor in increasing trading liquidity.
Trading volumes have dropped to 0.3 percent of the $5.4 trillion corporate-bond market in the U.S., about the lowest proportion ever, as transactions fail to keep pace with unprecedented issuance. After reaching a record-low 3.35 percent on May 2, yields on securities issued by the riskiest to the most-creditworthy borrowers are holding more than a percentage point below the average of 5.18 percent since 2008, Bank of America Merrill Lynch index data show.
The extra yield investors demand to own the debt instead of similar-maturity Treasuries has plunged 586 basis points during the same period to 218 basis points, reducing the potential margin for broker profits.
The difference between prices at which brokers will buy and sell bonds typically widens as yields increase and tighten as they decline. The MarketAxess High-Grade Bid-Ask Spread Index, which gauges liquidity in U.S. corporate bonds, plunged to 8.18 on Sept. 23 from 42.6 on Nov. 3, 2008. In that period, yields on the debt dropped to 4.09 percent from 10.96 percent, according to the Bank of America Merrill Lynch U.S. Corporate & High Yield Index.
Stamford, Connecticut-based Pierpont, one of the dealers started after the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. decided to exit the high-yield bond and loan business this month. New York-based Gleacher said in April that it was exiting fixed-income trading and sales. Knight in Jersey City, New Jersey, sold its credit-brokerage unit to Stifel Financial Corp., according to a July 1 statement.
Jefferies Group LLC, the investment bank owned by Leucadia National Corp., said profit plunged 83 percent in the three months ended Aug. 31 as trading revenue fell to the lowest since the depths of the financial crisis.
Were in a more regulated world, said Eric Gross, a credit strategist at Barclays in New York.
As the 27-country Basel Committee for Banking Supervision increased capital withholding standards for banks, the 21 primary dealers authorized to trade with Federal Reserve have cut corporate-debt holdings 11 percent, to $16.6 billion on Sept. 11, from $18.7 billion on April 3. That follows a 76 percent reduction in inventories from the peak in 2007 through March, when the Fed changed the way it reported the data.
Its a balance between consolidation in the brokerage industry and inefficient business models, OppenheimerFunds Gabinet said. When the balance gets out of whack in either direction, those markets get squeezed.
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text:
Recursos de colección
PANGAEA - Publishing Network for Geoscientific & Environmental Data (863.788 recursos)
The information system PANGAEA is operated as an Open Access library aimed at archiving, publishing and distributing georeferenced data from earth system research. The system guarantees long-term availability of its content through a commitment of the operating institutions.
Datasets of project "Physical Oceanography of the Eastern Mediterranean"


text:
Pollyanna Penguin's (hopefully) Big AdventureSeptember 14, 2009 at 7:49 pm | Posted in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) | 3 Comments
Tags: Barcelona, Jane Seymour, My Day for R.A., R.A., Rheumatoid arthritis, Spain, Wyeth pharmaceuticals
I've been invited to an (almost) all expenses paid trip to Barcelona next week for an event about managing R.A.! I just knew there had to be some perks to having this dratted disease! Always look on the bright side, I say – and this time the bright side is taking me to (hopefully) bright and sunny Spain.
I had an email sent through the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society in mid-August saying that this event, My Day for R.A. (www.mydayforra.com), was taking place and that if you wanted to be involved you had to fill in a form telling your inspirational/positive story about living with R.A. They apologised for the short notice but they'd only just been told about it, about three days before the deadline of 14 August.
Well, work was fairly quiet so I thought what the heck – nothing ventured etc. and filled it in.
Fast forward three weeks to Penguin on holiday in sunny Sussex – in fact sitting on Brighton beach soaking up the sun and lapping up an ice cream – when the phone goes. It's my colleague saying, 'Can you phone this woman urgently – something to do with an R.A. event or something …' So I did, and it was a nice young lady wondering if I'd got the email inviting me to the event in Spain … which of course I hadn't.
Short notice seems to be a feature of the whole event – they said they'd let all shortlisted people know by end August, then sent round an email that said there would be a delay due to the large number of responses. They let me know on 10 September and I'm (hopefully) flying out on Sunday 20 September … but I have yet to receive any flight details. I've got to get myself to the airport, after which they take over and arrange everything … hopefully! They pay for the travel to the airport too, just ask you to arrange it … which is fine, provided they tell me sharpish which airport I'll actually be flying from and when!
It should be a really interesting event – people from all over Europe discussing their ways of dealing with R.A., and culminating in a celebratory dinner featuring Jane Seymour (Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, bond girl in Live and Let Die, and, by astonishing coincidence, on the cover of the book I'm reading in my 'gravatar' photo on my home page, as Lady Blakeny in The Scarlet Pimpernel, amongst many other things). They hope it will also feature lots of journalists for some good publicity for Wyeth Pharmaceuticals who are funding it, and hopefully also to improve people's understanding of R.A. – both those who've got it and those who haven't and make those annoying comments about 'Oh, isn't that wear and tear on the bone' etc. etc. They're even providing participants with a workshop on how to deal with the media – so if nothing else, that might well have some useful learnings!
I'm really hoping that there'll be a little bit of time to see something of Barcelona before they fly me home again on Wednesday – we shall see. Either way, I'm looking forward to it and hoping it makes a contribution to people's understanding of rheumatoid arthritis!
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Hooray! The Pollyanna Principle obviously works.
Hope you have a fantabulous time ;o)
Comment by Maggie— September 15, 2009 #
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Aycock Grabs All-American Honors
State College, Pa. - Junior Wyatt Aycock finished his second night of all-around competition with an 85.200 at the Team and All-Around Finals in the NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships. The Orlando, Fla., native finished seventh overall, grabbing the Huskers' first all-around All-American honors since 2007.
Six other Huskers competed on the evening, with freshman Ethan Lottman earning a 14.25 on pommel horse, sophomore Grant Perdue scoring a 15.00 on vault, sophomore Josh Ungar picking up a 14.40 on high bar, junior Mark Ringle earning a 14.15 on parallel bars and freshman Sam Chamberlain finishing with a 14.90 on parallel bars.
Friday night also served as the team finals at the NCAA Championships, where Michigan grabbed the top spot with a team score of 443.200. Oklahoma battled with the Wolverines throughout the night, but fell behind on the last rotation, finishing in second place with 440.100. Stanford rounded out the top three, picking up a score of 436.150.
Ungar started off the night for the Huskers, competing first on high bar. The sophomore hit his routine, earning a 14.40, tying his qualifying mark from yesterday afternoon. Ungar tied for 14th overall on the evening among all 42 high bar competitors.
Aycock was up next, starting his all-around rotation on floor exercise. Aycock earned a 14.00 or better on five of the six events. The junior barely missed the mark on high bar, earning a 13.95. Aycock finished seventh overall, earning him his first All-American honors.
Lottman competed in the second rotation for Nebraska on pommel horse. The Gretna, Neb., native posted a solid score of 14.25, tying with three other gymnasts for 15th on the event.
The fouth rotation took Ringle to parallel bars and Perdue to vault for the Huskers. Ringle grabbed a score of 14.15 on the event, tying him for 29th place. Perdue earned a 15.00 on his vault, placing him 8th and transfering him into the finals tomorrow.
Chamberlain took to parallel bars in the sixth and final rotation of the night. The freshman performed a solid routine and stuck the landing, earning a 14.90 and tying for fourth on the event.
Perdue and Chamberlain will compete tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. CST in the individual event finals alongside the other nine top scorers from Friday night. The top eight finishers tomorrow night will earn All-America honors in their respective events. Perdue will look to become Nebraska's first All-American on vault since 2005 (Stephen Tétrault), while Chamberlain hopes to earn the first parallel bars All-American honors for the Huskers since 2003 (Steven Friedman).
2013 NCAA Championships
Team/All-Around Finals
Individual Semifinals
Recreation Hall
State College, Pa.
Wyatt Aycock: 85.200 (7th)
Pommel Horse
Ethan Lottman: 14.25 (T 15th)
Grant Perdue: 15.00 (T 8th)
Parallel Bars
Sam Chamberlain: 14.90 (T 4th)
Mark Ringle: 14.15 (T 29th)
High Bar
Josh Ungar: 14.40 (T 14th)
Team Finals
1. Michigan: 443.200
2. Oklahoma: 440.100
3. Stanford: 436.150
4. Penn State: 436.100
5. Iowa: 426.450
6. Illinois: 422.550
All-Around Champion
Sam Mikulak (Mich): 91.150


text:
Huskers Look to Punch Ticket to NCAAs
The Nebraska cross country team is set to compete at the NCAA Midwest Regional in Ames, Iowa on Friday afternoon. Hosted by Iowa State, the meet will begin with the men's race starting at noon (Central), with the women's race following.
Head Coach David Harris is excited to see what the young group of Huskers can do at such a high caliber meet. Harris noted that the men will look to come back strong after their appearance at the Big Ten Championships two weeks ago.
"I think we want a little bit of redemption and to get back up on the horse after the Big Ten Championships." Harris said. "We kind of got bumped off. We did not run well there, I think we have a chip on our shoulder from that."
With the NCAA Regional marking what could be the end of the 2013 season for the Huskers, Harris believes that the Huskers are capable of a great performance at the meet.
"We are trying the finish the year with a good meet and I think both the men's and women's teams are definitely capable of it," Harris said. "As I have said all along this year, the team has progressed really well, they have won some meets and learned how to compete better. We are also training better, which all should count for better racing at the Regional."
On the women's side, Harris hopes the team can break into the top 15 of competition, noting that the women are the healthiest they have been all season.
"We had a little success at the Big Ten, now we are going to try and build on that at the Regional," Harris said. "I think the goal is to try and get into the top 15, we are as healthy as we have been this entire season. We have recovered from some injuries and we have been training well."
Check Huskers.com for updates Friday afternoon as the Huskers try to punch their ticket to the NCAA Championships.