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SSPS:Educational Plans
Individual Educational Plan (IEP)
The IEP is a written document designed to meet the individual needs of students with disabilities. Parents and staff are partners in the development of the IEP. The written document may be reviewed and amended as the needs of the student changes. An IEP meeting must be held at least annually to review and rewrite. The document is current for a calendar year.
The IEP meeting is scheduled at a mutually agreed upon time and place. The written Meeting Notice in PEER to the parent, student and/or agency includes:
- Purpose
- Time
- Location of the meeting
- Who will be in attendance
- Statement informing the parents that they have the right to invite individuals with special knowledge or expertise about their child.
- If neither parent can attend, the district uses other methods to ensure parent participation including individual or conference telephone calls or video conferencing.
- A meeting may be conducted without a parent in attendance. In this case, the student file contains a record of at least two reasonable attempts. These records include such items as: detailed records of telephone calls or attempts, and/or copies of correspondence sent to the parents. Parent responses should be recorded in the "Edit Comments" section for the Meeting Notice in PEER. Edited comments should be printed and filed with the Meeting Notice.
Recording of IEP Meetings
The recording of IEP Team meetings is prohibited unless a parent, authorized representative of a parent, or IEP team member, is unable to understand or meaningfully participate in the IEP process or the planning of the relevant student's education due to a disability, language barrier, or some other impairment.
- A. If a parent believes that recording an IEP Team meeting is necessary, s/he should notify the principal or designee, or the Director of Student Support Programs and Services in writing, preferably at least two (2) school days before the IEP Team meeting, of his desire to record the meeting and the reason the recording is required. The principal or designee, or the Director of Student Support Programs and Services, will notify the parent at least one (1) school day before the meeting if s/he intends to grant or deny the parent's request to record the meeting.
- B. If the District representative denies the request, s/he will state in writing the reasons for the denial. Authorized exceptions to the general prohibition against the recording of IEP Team meetings involve situations when a parent, or authorized representative of a parent, or other IEP Team member, is unable to understand or meaningfully participate in the IEP process or the planning of the relevant student's education due to a disability, language barrier, or some other impairment. If a parent is permitted to record the meeting, s/he must use his/her own recording device and the District will similarly record the meeting.
For purposes of this policy, a recording is defined as the capture of moving visual images, voices, and other ambient sound electronically, digitally, or by any other means for the purpose of retrieval and review. Recording moving visual images at an IEP meeting is strictly prohibited. The requirements of this policy shall not be interpreted to be in conflict with the provisions of Policy 5136 - Wireless Communication Devices as it pertains to recordings. Moreover, the requirements of this policy shall not be interpreted to extend to school-sponsored public events where there can be no expectation of privacy. A school-sponsored public event is any school-related activity, whether free or at which an admission fee is charged, that members of the public may attend. These include, but are not limited to, athletic competition, plays, musical performances, awards ceremonies, and graduation. See Policy 9160 - Public Attendance at School Events for additional information about restrictions on recording at such events. If the District audio records an IEP Team meeting, the resulting recording shall become a part of the student's educational record and will be maintained in accordance with State and Federal law. 34 C.F.R. 300.322 and 300.501, F.S. 1003.57, F.A.C. 6A-6.03311, Adopted by FLDOE 4/5/16
IEP Team Participants
- 1. Local Education Agency Representative (LEA): A representative of the school district who is qualified to provide or supervise the provision of specially designed instruction to meet the unique needs of students with disabilities, is knowledgeable about the general curriculum, and is knowledgeable about the availability of individual educational resources of the district.
- 2. The parent/guardian
- 3. Student, if appropriate or required
- 4. At least one regular education teacher of the student, if the student is or may be participating in any regular education environment including electives and specials at the elementary level
- 5. ESE teacher(s)
- 6. Staff member who can address evaluation data, which may be the ESE teacher
- 7. Agency representatives, as appropriate
- 8. Additional participants at the parent's request
The IEP Team Considers:
All relevant aspects of the student which include but is not limited to:
- Academic and behavioral interventions
- Strategies for the student
- Medical documentation and impact
- Classroom accommodations
- Modifications
- Related services
- Supplementary aids and services
- Supports for school personnel to be provided for the student
'Considerations for Development and Review of the IEP
- Strengths of the student and concerns of the parents for enhancing the education of their child
- Results of the initial or most recent evaluation or reevaluation
- As appropriate, results of the student's performance on state or district-wide assessments
- Academic, developmental, and functional needs of the student
- In the case of a student whose behavior impedes the student's learning or the learning of others, strategies including the use of positive behavioral interventions, supports and other strategies to address that behavior
- In the case of a student with limited English proficiency, the language needs of the student as related to the IEP
- In the case of a student who is blind or visually impaired, provision of instruction in Braille and the use of Braille unless the IEP team determines, after an evaluation or the student's reading and writing skills, needs including future needs and appropriate reading and writing media (Including an evaluation of the student's future need for instruction in Braille or the use of Braille), that instruction in Braille or the use of Braille is not appropriate for the student
- The communication needs of the student
- In the case of a student who is deaf or hard-of-hearing, the student's language and communication needs, opportunities for direct communications with peers and professional personnel in the student's language and communication mode, academic level and full range of needs, including opportunities for direct instruction in the student's language and communication mode
- Whether the student requires assistive technology devices or services
Content of the IEP
Each IEP must contain the following:
- 1. Identification of Domains or Transition Services Activity Areas (for students who will turn 16) that will be addressed in the IEP.
- 2. For each Domain or Transition Services Activity Area identified, a statement of the student's present levels of academic achievement and functional performance, including strengths, current levels of functioning, and how the student's disability affects involvement and progress in the general curriculum.
- 3. Measurable annual goals, including academic and functional goals designed to meet the student's needs that result from the student's disability to enable to student to be involved in and make progress in the general curriculum; or for preschool children, as appropriate, to participate in appropriate activities and meet each of the student's other educational needs that result from the student's disability.
- 4. Benchmarks or short-term objectives for students with disabilities who take alternate assessments aligned to alternate achievement standards, or any other student with a disability.
- 5. Special education services, related services, and supplementary aids and services.
- 6. Classroom accommodations, modifications, or supports for school personnel that will be provided for the student to advance appropriately toward attaining the annual goals. A parent must provide signed consent for a student to receive instructional accommodations that would not be permitted on the statewide assessments and must acknowledge in writing that s/he understands the implications of such accommodations.
- 7. An explanation of the extent, if any, to which the student will not participate with non-disabled peers in the regular classroom.
- 8. Individual appropriate accommodations necessary to measure the academic achievement and functional performance of the student on the state or district assessments. If the IEP team determines that the student will take an alternate assessment instead of the regular state or district assessment of student achievement, the IEP must include a statement of why the student cannot participate the regular assessment and why the particular alternate assessment selected is appropriate for the student. If a student does not participate in the regular state assessment, the district must notify the student's parent and provide the parent with information regarding the implications of such non-participation.
- 9. The projected date for the beginning of the special education services and accommodations and modifications described including the anticipated frequency, location, and duration of those services.
- 10. Identification of how the student progress toward meeting the annual goals will be measured and when the periodic reports on the progress the student is making toward meeting the annual goals (such as through the use of quarterly or other periodic reports, concurrent with the issuance of report cards) will be provided.
- 11. During the student's eighth grade year or during the school year of the student's 14th birthday, whichever comes first, a statement of whether the student is pursuing a course of study leading to a standard diploma or a special diploma.
- 12. Beginning no later than age 14, IEP teams shall begin the process of identifying transition services needs of students with disabilities, to include consideration of the student's need for instruction or the provision information in the area of self-determination to assist the student to be able to actively and effectively participate in IEP team meetings and self-advocate, so that needed postsecondary goals maybe identified and in place by age sixteen (16).
For students who will be age 16:
- 1. Measurable postsecondary goals based on age-appropriate transition assessments is required. It needs to relate to training, education, employment and, where appropriate, independent living skills and the transition services (including courses of study).
- 2. Beginning at least one year before the student's 18th birthday, a statement that the student has been informed of his or her rights that will transfer from the parents to the student on reaching the age of majority.
IEP Amendments
Generally, changes to the IEP must be made by the entire IEP Team at an IEP Team meeting and may be made by amending the IEP rather than by redrafting the entire IEP. However, in making changes to a student's IEP after the annual IEP meeting for a school year, the parent and the school district may agree not to convene an IEP Team meeting for purposes of making those changes, and instead may develop a written document to amend or modify the student's current IEP. If changes are made to the student's IEP without a meeting, the school district must ensure that the student's IEP Team is informed of those changes. Upon request, a parent must be provided with a revised copy of the IEP with the amendments incorporated.
In summary, there are some situations in which a minor change to the IEP is required that does NOT change placement, more restrictive services, and/or graduation options. In these cases, the team can consider an amendment without a meeting with the entire IEP team.
The IEP will be accessible to all teachers and providers. They will be informed of their specific responsibilities related to the implementation of the IEP and the specific accommodations, modifications and supports that must be provided for the student.
Educational Plan (EP)
The EP is a written document designed to meet the individual needs of students determined eligible for gifted services. Parent (or provided written input), a teacher of gifted, a basic education teacher(or provided written input), and the student, when applicable, are partners to develop the EP. The written document may be reviewed and/or revised at any time. The EP must be updated at least every 3 years unless the student will be graduating at the end of the current school year. EPs should be reviewed and updated when the student transitions from 2nd to 3rd grade, 5th to 6th grade, and 8th to 9th grade. EPs may be written to cover the four (4) year period a gifted student is expected to attend high school.
The EP must contain:
- Present Level of Performance (PLS)
- Two or more measurable goals that are related to the priority needs identified in the PLS
- Description of service, frequency, and location
- Description of how student progress toward goal mastery will be reported and frequency of reporting
Service Plan (SP)
Part B of the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 2004) requires that school districts locate, identify and evaluate at public expense students who are parentally placed at private schools and who are suspected of having disabilities and needing special education and related services. This part of the general school district responsibility is known as Child Find.
The requirement to make available a free appropriate public education (FAPE) does not extend to private school settings when children with disabilities are parentally placed in those settings.
There is no individual entitlement of parentally placed private school students to receive special education services. However, some students may receive services under a Service Plan.
Please note that these services are only available to parentally-placed students with disabilities (ESE) who attend nonprofit private schools within Pasco County.
A Service Plan is a written statement that describes the special education and related services that a school district will provide to a parentally-placed student with a disability enrolled in a private school. An IEP cannot be used as a Service Plan as it contains additional information that might imply that the student is entitled to FAPE services. The Service Plan contains only information relevant to special education and related services to be provided to the student.
Service Plans should only be written after a request for ESE services has been submitted to and approved by the Office for Student Supports and Program Services at the District Office.
After such a request is approved, the contract therapist will write the Service Plan and hold the meeting at the non-profit private school site. The only exception is if a school-based SLP is serving a student for Clinic Speech Services (e.g., Home Ed request).
A Service Plan must parallel the IEP content requirements and must be developed and amended consistent with the requirements for the IEP. The plan needs to include information related to those specific services that the school district has determined the student will receive.
The school district ensures that a representative of the private school attends each meeting for development of a Service Plan. If the private school representative cannot attend, then other methods, such as individual conference, telephone class should be used.


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On June 3rd I mentioned a new Edinburgh based project currently underway entitled Addressing History (see Edinburgh based AddressingHistory project). The team behind the venture has been receiving some positive feedback about its proposal to link street directories to the relvant contemporary maps, initially for the Edinburgh area, and so has now added a new page detaling how you can get involved once the project goes live.
For more information see http://addressinghistory.blogs.edina.ac.uk/how-do-i-get-involved/.
Professional genealogical problem solving and research
Researching Scottish Family History (New book)
The Scottish GENES blog has now ceased publication - for continuing Scottish news please refer to its sister blog, British GENES, at http://britishgenes.blogspot.com. The Scottish GENES posts will remain online as an archive of Scottish genealogical news from 2007-2011. Alba - agus Scottish GENES - gu bràth!
Sunday, 13 June 2010
Get involved with AddressingHistory
1 comment:
- Nicola Osborne said...
Thanks for letting people know about the new page we've added.
We would really love to hear from anyone interested in local history in Scotland so that we can build your needs into the AddressingHistory tool.
Look forward to meeting some of you online (or offline) as the project progresses!
- Nicola Osborne
EDINA Social Media Officer & AddressingHistory Project Officer
- 15 June 2010 at 12:34
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

subset: commoncrawl


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You may have tried to build memcached with SASL support on OpenSolaris with the following result:
trond@opensolaris< ./configure --enable-sasl [ ... cut ... ] checking sasl/sasl.h usability... yes checking sasl/sasl.h presence... yes checking for sasl/sasl.h... yes checking for library containing sasl_server_init... no configure: error: Failed to locate the library containing sasl_server_init
This is because configure only tries to look for sasl_server_init in libsasl2, and OpenSolaris use libsasl instead. Yesterday I pushed a fix to my github repository that search for the symbol in libsasl as well.
Configuring SASL may also be a challenge (I want to spend my time writing code, not be a system administrator), so I decided to add support for plaintext passwords as well. You probably don't want to use this on your production servers, but it comes in really handy if you just want to test your favorite client.
You enable support for plaintext password by passing
--enable-sasl-pwdb to
configure. I didn't want to spend any time to writing a new parser or come up with a new file format, so I decided to use fgetspent_r to read the password file. This means that as long as you follow the format for a shadow file, you're good to go :-) You have to set the name of the file to use as the password file in the environment variable
trond@opensolaris> echo "myname:mypass:::::::" > /tmp/memcached-sasl-db trond@opensolaris> export MEMCACHED_SASL_PWDB=/tmp/memcached-sasl-db
With a password file in place, you have to create a config file for SASL to instruct it to use plain text password authentication:
trond@opensolaris> echo "mech_list: plain" > memcached.conf
If you don't want to install this as the global configuration for memcached, you should specify the location of the file in
trond@opensolaris> export SASL_CONF_PATH=`pwd`/memcached.conf
You then start the memcached deamon with "-S" to enable SASL authentication:
trond@opensolaris> ./memcached -S -d
So let's run some commands to the server and see how this works. I'm using the SASL support I implemented in libmemcached (not integrated yet, but you may download it from https://code.launchpad.net/~trond-norbye/libmemcached/sasl):
trond@opensolaris> ./memcp --servers=localhost:11211 --binary \ --username=myname --password=inncorrect \ memcp.c memcp: memcp.c: memcache error AUTHENTICATION FAILURE trond@opensolaris> ./memcp --servers=localhost:11211 --binary \ --username=myname --password=mypass \ memcp.c trond@opensolaris> ./memcat --servers=localhost:11211 --binary \ --username=myname --password=mypass \ memcp.c [ ... output of memcp.c ... ]That's all for now. Happy hacking :-)


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Hilton Grand Vacations (HGV) announced the start of construction of its newest resort, Hokulani Waikiki by Hilton Grand Vacations Club, an upscale urban timeshare resort in world-famous Waikiki. Coinciding with the start of the extensive renovation project was the official launch of sales for the resort, which is the company's seventh timeshare resort in Hawaii. The property is located at the site of the former OHANA® Islander Waikiki Hotel and was acquired from Outrigger Enterprises Group by HGV in May 2011. The resort is anticipated to open in late 2013.
Leading architectural firm Group 70 International of Honolulu has been commissioned to design the fourteen-story resort, which balances Hawaiian aesthetic with modern elements. Los Angeles-based studio Indidesign will oversee the interior design and Hensel Phelps has been selected as Construction Manager.
Hokulani Waikiki will be comprised of 143 one-bedroom suites with elegant and personalized touches, which include a living room, boutique kitchen and spacious bathrooms. Both interior and exterior designs will utilize natural elements and tones to showcase Hawaii's unique cultural heritage and lush environment. Mahina, the spacious open air lobby, will provide a relaxing arrival experience as well as a personalized area to enjoy throughout the stay. Guests and owners will also have access to Nalani, an exclusive rooftop deck with a pool lounge, bar, private cabanas and dynamic views of Waikiki.
According to Bryan Klum, executive vice president of Hilton Grand Vacations-Asia/Pacific, Hokulani Waikiki was created with the sophisticated and active traveler in mind.
"We will deliver a guest experience that is contemporary, vibrant and fun," Klum said. "We have incorporated a number of features and design elements that will distinctively set Hokulani Waikiki apart from other timeshare resorts in Hawaii. It will be the perfect choice for the traveler who wants to be in the center of Waikiki and is looking for an exciting, action-packed vacation. Hokulani Waikiki will be a great complement to our timeshare properties at the nearby Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort."
The suites at Hokulani Waikiki have been superbly designed with surprising features and a decor approach that interprets Hawaiian motifs in a modern way, Klum said. "We think it will appeal equally to our domestic and international customers, especially those with urban sensibilities and appreciation for quality."
Hokulani Waikiki is located at 2181 Kalakaua Avenue, adjacent to Lewers Street, which will provide guests with immediate access to premier shopping, dining and entertainment selections in the exciting Waikiki Beach Walk entertainment district.
Klum added that Hokulani Waikiki is further proof of the growing popularity of HGV's timeshare offerings in Hawaii. It is also an opportunity to tap into the demand and awareness created by the Waikiki Beach Walk. "We are incredibly fortunate to have a wonderful working relationship with Outrigger Enterprises Group, and together we are committed to providing owners and guests with an opportunity to discover the wonders that can be found in Waikiki and throughout the island of Oahu," he said.
"It's a real pleasure to welcome Hilton Grand Vacations into our expanding ohana at Waikiki Beach Walk," said Barbara Campbell, vice president of retail development and leasing for Outrigger Enterprises Group. "With a diverse array of dining and shopping opportunities, guests staying at Hokulani Waikiki will be able to experience firsthand our warm island hospitality and a genuine spirit of aloha."
A blessing ceremony will be held later this month to signal the start of the renovations. Attendees will include company VIPs and other dignitaries.
Upon its completion, Hokulani Waikiki by Hilton Grand Vacations Club will join award-winning properties at Oahu's Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort and Waikoloa Beach Resort on Hawaii's Big Island.
Filed under: aloha, Announcements, Hawaii, Oahu, Something New?, Tourism Tagged: | Hilton Waikoloa, Hokulani Waikiki by Hilton Grand Vacations Club, Waikiki


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The software used for the earlier version of Chemdex packed in totally after a server update and so the update planned for summer 2009, which is not finished, is here now. The bad news is most of the links are not yet in the system, but will appear slowly in the next few weeks. The good news is the links get checked automatically now and therefore the link fail rate of some 25% on the old system will be well under 5% or so and should stay at that level.
Keeping web site links up to date is a problem for any directory site, as you may have spotted on this and other chemistry directories. Hopefully the new system (the wonderful open-source Drupal) will do a lot of the updating, so benefiting all of us.
Searching for sites is improved vastly using the new"facetted search"system being built to the right. It allows you to refine searches based on key words in a comfortable sort of way. You can also search on words as well
For the moment I am not accepting link suggestions. A number of new features are planned. More soon.
It is very poor form to label web sites as"under construction", so for the moment Chemdex is a work in progress.


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Local Auto Glass Repair Shops in Your Area
1. Action Auto Glass Service
336 Hempstead Avenue , West Hempstead , NY 11552
Action Auto Glass Service has been in business since 2012, offering convenient mobile auto glass services for all types of vehicles, including cars, vans, trucks, RVs, and heavy-duty trucks.We service all different models of foreign and domestic cars, including Nissans, Chevys, Mercedes, Bmws,view details hide details view deal
Auto Glass, Auto Glass In-Shop Service, Auto Glass Mobile Service, Auto Glass Replacement, Commercial Truck Glass, Windshields
Certifications: Certified Auto Glass Technician (CAGT), Certified Auto Glass Shop Manager (CAGSM), Certified Master Auto Glass Technician (CMAGT), Dow Certified
Memberships: Independent Glass Association (IGA), Auto Glass Safety Council (AGSC), PPG ProStars, Sika Certification
2. Pay Less Auto Glass
408 Bedford Avenue, Uniondale, NY 11553
**We do not repair mirrors or tinted windows** **Only Windshield Repair** Painless Auto Glass is here to help you our with your auto glass needs! When it comes to windshield repair/replacement, auto window/mirror repair, commercial truck/RV repair, or window tinting, we are the guys to come see.view details hide details
Services: Auto Glass, Auto Glass In-Shop Service, Auto Glass Mobile Service, Auto Glass Repair, Auto Glass Replacement, Auto Glass Window Tinting, Auto Mirrors, Auto Windows, Commercial Truck Glass, RV Glass, Windshields
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Call 24/7 to make an appointment with one of our experienced auto glass professionals.view details hide details
Services: Auto Glass
Glass Repair in Castle Hill, NY
Results for Castle Hill Auto Glass Shops
AutoGlassSearch.com provides updated information on glass repair in Castle Hill, NY.
Learn more about a Castle Hill glass repair shop by clicking "view details," or enter a new zip code in the search box below to search again.


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Template:Cub Scout Good Manners/req
From MeritBadgeDotOrg
Mobile Menus: Cub Scouts - Scouts BSA - Venturing - Sea Scouts
Belt Loop Requirements
Complete these three requirements:
- Make a poster that lists five good manners that you want to practice. Share your poster with your den or family.
- Introduce two people correctly and politely. Be sure that one of them is an adult.
- Write a thank-you note to someone who has given you something or done something nice for you.
Academics Pin Requirements
Earn the Good Manners belt loop, and complete five of the following requirements:
- Meet one new person, shake hands properly, and introduce yourself. Extend your hand, grip the person's hand firmly, and gently shake hands.
- Talk with your family about polite language. Include "please," "you're welcome," "excuse me," "yes, sir," "no, ma'am," and so on in your talk.
- Explain to your den or family how good manners can help you now and as you get older. Copy the actions of someone you know who has good manners.
- Go over table manners with your family. Eat a meal together where the table is set correctly and everyone uses good table manners.
- With an adult, discuss what foods are proper to eat with your fingers. Practice eating some of these foods the right way.
- In your den or with your family, practice using good phone manners.
- Explain how treating things that belong to other people with respect is a part of having good manners. Show three examples of how you can show respect for others.
- Talk with your friends or family members about following the rules and having good sportsmanship when playing games. Then play a game with your friends or family members. After playing the game, tell how you showed good manners.
- With your family or den, list five rules to remember in being polite and respectful when in a public place. Go to the public place and practice the rules. Explain how the rules helped you to have good manners.
- Demonstrate the proper outfit to wear at school, at play, and at a social event.
Please report any issues with this page.


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Common descent
Common descent is a principle of Darwinism which holds that life on Earth evolved from a common ancestor. Darwin's theory of descent with modification led inexorably to this conclusion as is illustrated in the following quote from Prentice Hall Biology (2008). The theory draws support from homology (physical similarities), embryology (developmental similarities), and the geographic distribution of organisms.
|Descent with modification also implies that all living organisms are related to one another. Look back in time, and you will find common ancestors shared by tigers, panthers, and cheetahs. Look farther back, and you will find ancestors that these felines share with horses, dogs, and bats. Farther back still are the common ancestors of mammals, birds, alligators, and fishes. If we look far enough back, the logic concludes, we could find the common ancestors of all living things. This is the principle known as common descent.[1]
By contrast, creationists believe that God created many kinds of organisms, and that innumerable species developed from those original kinds through microevolution via inherent genetic variability and natural selection. That tigers, panthers, and cheetahs share a common ancestor is a view accepted by most young earth creationists. However, the belief that biological evolution supports that these felines share ancestors with horses, dogs, and bats is a point where evolutionists and most creationists part ways.
- Main Article: Homology
Belief in common descent is largely derived from the existence of homologous structures shared by many forms of life. Homologies may include structural (morphological) components, such as the forelimbs, which illustrate a similarity of construction overall, but are yet unique in other ways, providing varied functions. Cellular and molecular similarities are also considered to be derived from a common ancestor and therefore homologous, as in the existence of common organelles in eukaryotes, and nucleic acid (DNA/RNA) as the universal genetic code. Such homologies (similarities) are used as one of the main proofs for macroevolution and the common descent of all life on Earth.
|By Darwin's time, researchers had noticed striking anatomical similarities among the body parts of animals with backbones. For example, the limbs of reptiles, birds, and mammals—arms, wings, legs, and flippers—vary greatly in form and function. Yet, they are all constructed from the same basic bones,... Homologous structures provide strong evidence that all four-limbed vertebrates have descended, with modifications, from common ancestors.[2]
Based on these observed similarities, evolutionists infer that all life is related through one original life form that generated naturally through abiogenesis. Creationists on the other hand infer that life and the natural laws that sustain it were designed by a common Creator, namely God, Who supernaturally created many original kinds of animals. It is important to note that creationists do not reject fully the idea of common descent, only its ultimate evolutionary conclusion.
- Main Article: Embryology
Since the time Darwin published The Origin of Species, embryology has been used to support common descent. In fact, Darwin referred to embryological homology as the strongest single class of facts that existed to support his theories. A theory later put forth by Ernst Haeckel, known as the biogenetic law, asserted that the evolutionary history of an organism was recapped during embryo development. Although the biogenetic law is now discredited, in recent years, embryology has reemerged as a tool used by evolutionary biologists that attempt to establish phylogenetic relationships by identifying developmental similarities between taxonomic groups. Evolutionary developmental biology is a merging of developmental biology and evolutionary biology that is commonly known as "evo-devo".
Challenges to the theory of common descent are numerous. It is especially important to realize that modern evolutionists are now refining their original theory of common descent to one that now includes more original life forms at the beginning.[3] They have argued against a single-celled evolution and thus posit the original existence of no less than three "loosely constructed cellular organizations."[4]
Tree of life
Charles Darwin's "tree of life" is not born out in scientific observation. This is concluded through more modern research, on example of such coming from the Proceedings for the National Academy of Science (PNAS). The research found that "there is no independent evidence that the natural order is an inclusive hierarchy" and that "the only data sets from which we might construct a universal hierarchy including prokaryotes, the sequences of genes, often disagree and can seldom be proven to agree."[5]
There are what are called evolutionary "bushes," but according to Public Library of Science (PLoS) research, these bushes do not support the conclusion of a single cause of a complete tree of life as proposed by Darwin.[6]
- Main Article: Abiogenesis
The asserted improbability and impossibility of this completely naturalistic mechanism is a severe problem for modern evolutionists. Abiogenesis is the spontaneous appearance of the first, self-replicating protocell which can be argued has neither been observed nor comprehensively explained.
Morphological gaps in the fossil record
- Main Article: transitional form
Differences in morphology, or "gaps in the fossil record," exist, across which it is argued there is no fossil evidence of transitional forms. For example these gaps are glaring when the context between reptiles and mammals, reptiles and birds, or apes and men is understood.
Because of the absence of substantial hard evidence to support belief in common ancestry, creationists and even some evolutionists acknowledge that evolution is a philosophical belief, not scientific in essence. Evolution is referred to as a fact without providing sufficient explanation for the means. The assertions made by evolutionists are often not falsifiable and cannot be observed in nature or tested by experimentation. It therefore, falls outside the boundaries of the scientific method.[7]
Common ancestry is an ancient idea, articulated by many pagan philosophers throughout history. In Europe, it fell from prominence when Christianity was dominant, but regained popularity in the 19th century, with secularization. It is an ancient idea, held by ancient pagan philosophers such as Anaximander as early as the 7th century BC, and returning to popularity in 19th century Europe.
- Plutarch, Symposiacs, Book viii, question viii: Anaximander founded the first school of Greek philosophy and lived circa 610-546 BC.
|Anaximander says that fish and men were not produced in the same substances, but that men were first produced in fishes, and, when they were grown up and able to help themselves, were thrown out, and so lived upon the land. Therefore, as the fire devours its parents, that is, the matter out of which it was first kindled, so Anaximander, asserting that fish were our common parents, condemneth our feeding on them.
- Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis (1698-1759), Vénus Physique.
|Could one not say that, in the fortuitous combinations of the productions of nature, as there must be some characterized by a certain relation of fitness which are able to subsist, it is not to be wondered at that this fitness is present in all the species that are currently in existence? Chance, one would say, produced an innumerable multitude of individuals; a small number found themselves constructed in such a manner that the parts of the animal were able to satisfy its needs; in another infinitely greater number, there was neither fitness nor order: all of these latter have perished. Animals lacking a mouth could not live; others lacking reproductive organs could not perpetuate themselves... The species we see today are but the smallest part of what blind destiny has produced...
- The Temple of Nature in 1802.
- ↑ Miller, Kenneth & Levine, Joseph. Prentice Hall Biology. 2008. p382.
- ↑ Miller, p384.
- ↑ Jeriström, Pierre. "Is the evolutionary tree turning into a creationist orchard?" Journal of Creation 14(2):11-13, August 2000. Accessed October 16, 2008.
- ↑ Barlow, Jim. "New cellular evolution theory rejects single cell beginning." News Bureau, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, June 17, 2002. Accessed October 16, 2008.
- ↑ Doolittle WF and Bapteste E. "Pattern pluralism and the Tree of Life hypothesis." Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 104(7):2043-2049, January 29, 2007. doi:10.1073/pnas.0610699104 Accessed October 16, 2008.
- ↑ Rokas A and Caroll SB. "Bushes in the Tree of Life." PLoS Biol 4(11):e352, November 14, 2006. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0040352 Accessed October 16, 2008.
- ↑ Johnson, Phillip. Darwin on Trial, Downers Grove IL. Intervarsity Press, 1991. (p9-11)
External links
- A Primer on the Tree of Life By Casey Luskin, Evolution News & Views. May 12, 2009
- Science Article Acknowledges Convergent Similarity Is "Contrary to Expectations" of Neo-Darwinism By Casey Luskin March 25, 2011 9:47 AM
- Baraminology Study Group
- The metapopulation genetic algorithm: An efficient solution for the problem of large phylogeny estimation A word on the immense difficulties associated with compiling a complete phylogenetic tree of life
- Darwin or The Angel of the Lord: Who Guards the Tree of Life?
- Phylogenetic MCMC Algorithms Are Misleading on Mixtures of Trees
- Field Museum plays key role in massive project to map Tree of Life Costing $12 million, the project will take 15-20 years. (2002)
- UCLA molecular biologists uproot the tree of life
- Discordance of Species Trees with Their Most Likely Gene Trees Public Library of Science showing further difficulties in assembling genetic ancestry in DNA
- Scientists say Darwin's 'Tree of Life' not the theory of everything
- Darwin's Failed Predictions, Slide 9: "Saving the Tree of Life" (from JudgingPBS.com) by Casey Luskin. January 2, 2008.


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|Louisiana Division
New Orleans Public Library
|Administrations of the Mayors of New Orleans
T. Semmes Walmsley (1889- )
During his service as Acting Mayor, Mr. Walmsley probably felt handicapped by a feeling that he should maintain the policies and political practices inherited with his succession. Beginning the new term as mayor in his own right, helped to his office by the support of thousands of independent voters who in past elections had registered their dislike and condemnation of political and factional practice that violates sound public policy and militates against good government, he enjoyed an exceptional opportunity for the betterment of city administration.
In August 1929, Acting Mayor Walmsley and the Commission Council were attacked in the council chamber by an incensed mob, because the council chose to take under advisement a petition for immediate appeal of the "jitney" ordinance during the street car strike rather than submit to the demands for immediate action. As the results of that attack of organized government, Acting Mayor Walmsley announced his candidacy for mayor predicated on law and order.
T. Semmes Walmsley was nominated for Mayor of New Orleans, February 4, 1930; carried fourteen of the seventeen wards, defeating Francis Williams by a margin of 8628 votes; was re-elected to the office May 1934. This present term would have expired in 1938.
Before a throng that packed the commission council chamber and the corridors at the City Hall, he was inaugurated Mayor of New Orleans, May 5, 1930. The oath of office was administered by Chief Justice O'Neil after a brief address of tribute. A fine gesture by Mayor Walmsley was an introduction of a resolution asking authority of the council to commission an artist to paint a portrait of the retiring mayor, Arthur J O'Keefe, who had been on sick leave, to be hung with the portraits of other mayors in City Hall. This was voted favorably. He ordered the mass of floral offerings received for his inaugural taken to the hospitals, homes of the aged and asylums at the close of the day.
T. Semmes Walmsley was born in New Orleans, June 10, 1889, the son of Sylvester Pierce Walmsley and Myra E. Semmes, members of old and highly honored New Orleans' families. His father was a prominent cotton factor and his grandfather, Robert N. Walmsley, was for years President of the Louisiana National Bank.
He was educated at Spring Hill College, Mobile, Alabama, afterwards taking a course of law at Tulane at University, from which he graduated with honors in June 1912. During college days he was an outstanding athlete, achieving much fame as captain and halfback of the football teams of 1909-10-11. He was one of the few four letter men Tulane ever had and the only one to ever receive fourteen varsity letters.
Upon his graduation he practiced law until 1917 when he entered the World War as captain of his company. On his return he again practiced law and in 1919 was appointed Assistant Attorney General of Louisiana which office he held until May 5, 1924. He served as City Attorney under the late Mayor Behrman from 1925 to 1926. Upon the death of Mayor Behrman he was elected Commissioner of Finance when Mr. O'Keefe was elected mayor.
On April 15, 1914, he married Miss Julia Havard of New Orleans and from this union a daughter, Augusta, was born. The family residence is at 2001 Palmer Avenue.
Shortly after Mayor Walmsley took the reign of office, he seemed to have incurred the displeasure of Huey P. Long, then Governor of Louisiana, who put forth every obstacle to prevent the functioning of city affairs.
On July 31, 1934 Mayor Walmsley felt that in order to prevent further conflict between the state and city, he would offer to resign his office. Provisos attached to this offer were not met by the opposing faction, so his resignation did not go into effect.
In July, 1935, the political developments reached the point where the Old Regular organization leaders asked for the resignation of Mayor T. Semmes Walmsley. Mayor Walmsley refused to meet this request.
On September 8, 1935 during the session of the Louisiana Legislature, Senator Long was shot and fatally wounded.
On June 30, 1936 after eleven years of service in City Hall, Mayor Walmsley resigned from office in a ceremony none the less dramatic for all that its details were prearranged. His resignation was in accordance with his promise that he would relinquish the office of mayor when and if legislation restoring home rule to the City of New Orleans was enacted and a sound program for the city's finances was promised. He expressed the opinion that these conditions had been "satisfactorily met."
Finance Commissioner A. Miles Pratt served as Acting Mayor for about two weeks and then retired to become Collector of Customs for the Port of New Orleans. He was succeeded as Acting Mayor by Mr. Jesse S. Cave, who was slated to replace Mr. Pratt on the Commission Council, also by Commissioner Fred. A. Earhardt. In fact, on July 15, 1936 New Orleans had the unique distinction of having been served by three mayors on one day.
Robert S. Maestri, Commissioner of Conservation, was already endorsed by the Old Regular organization and the Louisiana Democratic Association, as a candidate for mayor. A special Democratic primary was called by the Orleans Parish Democratic Committee on July 25th, and Robert S. Maestri was elected mayor without opposition for a term ending 1942.
Among the public accomplishments which have weathered the hectic years of this administration was the construction of the Municipal Auditorium, the completion of the new Criminal Courts and prison buildings, the paving of over one hundred miles of streets in New Orleans, the extension of City Park to the lake, the conversion of Canal Street into a great white way, one of the world's most beautiful and best illumined business thoroughfares. The issue of six millions in bonds for the completion and development of Pontchartrain lakefront was approved by Marshall C. Hoppin, airport specialist of the Federal Department of Commerce, who desired early construction of the great lakefront airport. The installation of seven or more giant pumps, the largest in the world, is only a part of the broad drainage system of this city.
A plan for the complete rebuilding of twenty-three public markets within two and one-half years at an estimated cost of $3,000,000, a long recognized necessity from the standards of cleanliness and sanitation; the substitution of trolley coaches for trolley rail cars, all these were some of the accomplishments carried to a successful conclusion in the early days of the administration of Mayor T. Semmes Walmsley.
|Members of the Walmsley Administration
July 15, 1929-June 30, 1936
Next: Pratt
Back to the Introduction


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Walt Disney is once again turning to the Brothers Grimm for theatrical inspiration.
The studio that brought the classic Grimm's fairy tale "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" to the big screen in 1937, said it began production last week on "Into the Woods," a film adaptation of the award-winning musical that is a modern take on the popular Grimm stories.
The movie, set for release on Dec. 25, 2014, will shoot in studio and on location throughout England, Disney said in a statement. "Into the Woods" is the latest coup for the U.K., which has drawn a string of high-profile Hollywood movies in recent years, including "Captain America: The First Avenger" and the upcoming "Star Wars: Episode 7" movie, due to its strong film incentives.
PHOTOS: Upcoming Disney fall films and beyond
Rob Marshall, the filmmaker behind the musical "Chicago" and Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides," is directing the movie.
"Into the Woods" is based on the Tony-winning original musical by James Lapine, who also wrote the screenplay, and renowned composer Stephen Sondheim, who provides the music and lyric — including a new song for the movie.
The story follows the classic tales of "Cinderella," "Little Red Riding Hood," "Jack and the Beanstalk" and "Rapunzel" — all tied together by an original story involving a baker and his wife, their wish to begin a family, and their interaction with a witch who has put the curse on them.
SNEAKS: Movie trailers, full coverage
The ensemble cast includes Meryl Streep, who plays the witch; Emily Blunt, who is the baker's wife; James Corden as the baker; Anna Kendrick as Cinderella; Chris Pine as the prince; and Johnny Depp as the wolf.
"Into the Woods" premiered on Broadway on Nov. 5, 1987, at the Martin Beck Theatre. The production, which ran for 764 performances, won Tony Awards for best score, best book and best actress in a musical.
The musical has been produced around the world, including a 1988 U.S. tour, a 1990 West End production, and Broadway and London revivals, in addition to a television production, DVD recording and a 10-year-anniversary concert.
Kevin Hart filming comedy in L.A.
Prop house in tune with a string of nostalgic music-related films
Film insurer's role is to keep the cameras rolling
ON LOCATION: People and places behind what's onscreen PHOTOS: Biggest box office flops of 2013 PHOTOS: Celebrity production companies
ON LOCATION: People and places behind what's onscreen
PHOTOS: Biggest box office flops of 2013
PHOTOS: Celebrity production companies


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text: Raising Poultry has information on equipment, housing, poultry biology, managing the laying flock, brooding and rearing young stock, fertile egg production, meat bird and turkey production, waterfowl and game bird production, flock health, and home processing of eggs and poultry. Also references and appendices on feed requirements, poultry manure, resources, and a glossary. Paperback, 344 pages, 2001.


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Previously: Spartacus abaondoned Paris Hilton in the woods like a more evil Snow White.
The Artist Formerly Known as Tiberius and some doomed random are guarding our heroes' ruined-temple-squat. Not very effectively, as Naevia ends up having to wake everyone with a warning that they've been invaded by Roman soldiers. Except they haven't - it's Gannicus and Crixus, testing them. This seems like a pretty stupid plan, given most of these characters' tendency to spear through the face first and ask questions later.
Gladiator Groupie is moping by the bath, her unhappy state of mind symbolised by the camera starting off upside down. Haldir doesn't seem to have noticed that her attitude towards him has completely changed. He's also cheerfully confident that Paris Hilton is definitely dead - which is her cue to make a super-dramatic entrance, throwing open the doors like Aragorn at Helm's Deep, hair all messed up like an avenging angel, then ploughing headfirst into the pool in the atrium, since walking goodness knows how far with no food and little sleep while heavily pregnant is not, in fact, all that good for you.
She's not sure whether she's still alive or not when she wakes to find Haldir bending over her (the Romans didn't have a concept of purgatory, or I'm sure she'd have thought she was there). He's not at all happy, but he does take the oppportunity to pump her for information. She doesn't seem 100% sure if the writing she saw at the temple was Greek, which suggests she never paid attention to whoever educated her, because a well-off young woman in this period ought to know Greek. Haldir has also, rather untactfully, stuck her in a new bed so he can continue shagging Gladiator Groupie in theirs - though he points out this is hardly surprising given her previous behaviour towards him.
Spartacus' men are squabbling over whose fault the not-Roman-invasion was, and then they all fight over what weapons they should all use (I love the way Number One holds a warning finger at German Blonde when she insults GirlFriend in German). Spartacus is forced to defend letting Paris Hilton go without letting on it's because she's pregnant with his baby. DSG takes charge and things calm down, because he is awesome. Spartacus realises his speechifying is getting him nowhere - he is starting to turn into Buffy from Season Seven, which is not a good sign. But it's OK - he has a Plan. A cunning one.
Whatever it is, it's unlikely to help him with his current personal situation. It seems to be him who's done the dumping in his broken relationship with GirlFriend, over the attempted murder of Paris Hilton, and because she wants him to love her, which he doesn't. So they have The Conversation and she goes off to train more archers.
(By the way, someone asked me earlier this week if I thought there was a link between Katniss and Artemis because they both use archery. I think archery alone isn't enough of a connection - women, elves and children all get put with the archers in fantasy or historical fiction, because it's the most logical way to have someone smaller and not as strong fight a big tough man with a sword. Artemis/Diana uses a bow and arrow because she hunts, which Katniss also does, but the goddess does it for fun and exercise and because she's deliberately taking part in a traditionally masculine activity, rather than hunting for survival. Anyway, I'm yet to be convinced that there's much of a link there, but it's something I'll keep an eye out for, and that goes for the ladies of Spartacus as well).
Xena and Paris Hilton are reunited and seem genuinely delighted to see each other (which they probably are by this point - though I'm still suspicious of Xena's motives. She wants that baby, I'm telling you...). They catch each other up on all the important developments - the baby is Spartacus', Haldir and Gnomey Guy killed Gladiator Groupie's brother and Gladiator Groupie now knows it, etc etc. They both seem to have matured and grown and understood their past mistakes - it can't last. They cement this bond by plotting Haldir's potential horrible, untimely death.
Haldir and Gnomey, through a combination of plotting Spartacus' attacks and, even more helpfully, getting people to identify Crazy Old Guy's decomposing head, have worked out where Spartacus is and plan a final attack. Which is a shame because Spartacus, it turns out, has finally come round to Gannicus' way of thinking and sent Number One out to steal them all some wine. He gets a party going in which they'll punch out their differences in non-lethal slow-motion wrestling matches, to cheer everyone up, and finally, we get some genuine joy in these characters. Spartacus spoils it all by speechifying again, falling prey to what I'm going to call Buffy Season Seven Syndrome (constant speeches intended to build tension and bond characters, but which actually just bore the pants off the audience and even, in severe cases, the characters themselves). Since Spartacus' creator, Steven DeKnight, was a regular writer on Buffy in the later seasons, this may not be a coincidence...
At this point it was apparently necessary for Gnomey Guy to pick up the Idiot Ball and really run with it. He appears to have totally lost it, as one of the series' most clever and cunning characters decides to tell Xena, the woman he's been repeatedly raping, all his secrets. He tells her that he and Haldir will attack Spartacus that night, where they're attacking (at Vesuvius), what he's getting out of it (freedom) and he finishes the cocktail of idiotic gut-spilling by adding that, once free, he intends to force Xena to marry him and re-open her dear departed hubby's ludus with himself in charge. He seems really to think that they're having some kind of love affair. This does at least explain why he bothered to save her life at the beginning of the season, but still. It's far too dumb for this character.
Haldir's plans are interrupted by the return of Varinius, who tells him the Senate would like politely to suggest that he leave the Spartacus-hunting to someone better qualified and come back to Rome. Paris Hilton emerges to stick up for him, pretending she was never kidnapped (using a fabulously wispy-little-girl voice to do so). She shoots Varinius quite the look as she leaves though. With Gnomey not in the scene, Haldir picks up the Idiot Ball and lets slip that Spartacus is at Vesuvius, and Varinius plans his own attack, telling Haldir again to go home. (I gotta say, the area around Vesuvius is pretty big, so really only Gnomey Guy and Haldir, who have a precise location, should be able to find our heroes).
It turns out Gladiator Groupie sent for Varinius, who now refuses to believe that Paris Hilton was kidnapped at all and is doubting Gladiator Groupie's accusations about her brother - apparently she wants to prosecute Haldir in court, but Varinius refuses on the basis of lack of evidence. Gladiator Groupie is not impressed.
Back at the squat, the slow-motion wrestling is still going on and seem to be working, with everyone venting their anger on each other and then making up afterwards. Even German Blonde and GirlFriend work together to bring down one of the guys. Spartacus then puts Number One with Crixus against Gannicus and DSG. You would have thought these two pairs would hate each other far too much to solve it by beating the snot out of people together but amazingly, it seems to work, and even Number One and Crixus shake hands, while DSG and Gannicus grin at each other. Apparently, if you sleep with your best friend's wife, it's all better and forgiven if you beat up two of your other friends together. Men. Though since this gives us an excuse to see the quite fun spectacle of four of the main characters punching each other for a prolonged period of time, I suppose we should let it go.
Gladiator Groupie is much less happy, sobbing on Xena's lap about Haldir. Xena has given up on subtlety and just gives her a frickin' big knife to go stab him with. Gladiator Groupie really ought to consider why Xena is making her do this, instead of just doing it herself.
The soundtrack starts to get really excited as Xena and Paris Hilton run and stalk about the House of Death, dresses flowing dramatically behind them. Haldir is getting ready to leave for Rome, as ordered, and stripping off his armour (and everything else - woo-hoo, hello tackle!). As he goes over to Gladiator Groupie looking for some sex to take his mind off things, she whacks him over the head with a vase and then prepares to stab him - at which point Paris Hilton jumps her from behind and forces the knife on her instead, stabbing her and then slitting her throat. The camera lingers on the huge amount of blood spurting out from her neck for at least a minute while Paris Hilton waves around dramatically in the background. The director is practically screaming at us, 'Look! Look at this Important death! I bet that's not what you expected to happen, eh? EH?!' (Well, actually Mr Director, it was pretty darned obvious it was never going to be as simple as 'Gladiator Groupie stabs Haldir and that's it'). Gladiator Groupie falls in the bath and Haldir gets absolutely covered in blood but remains alive and well.
Paris Hilton tells Haldir they should give up on feeling affection for each other and just join forces to be totally evil together. She'd mentioned to Xena earlier that she'd give him one last chance, and have blood if he didn't take it - this is his chance. He takes it. They have some blood-covered make-up sex before Haldir rides out to fight Spartacus and show his quality.
Crixus and Naevia are also having some rather more romantic sex, as it seems she has started to recover enough to do so. Gannicus still thinks Spartacus will be the death of them all, but has cheered up because it will be a glorious death. Which is handy, because at that moment a signal appears to warn them that the Romans are coming. Spartacus summons the troops and gives them some hints on how Romans fight before leading them out and both the soundtrack and the director think they're in Lord of the Rings now, with a big pan over the (correctly pointy, as pre-eruption) mountain and swelling music as they leave.
Fighting happens. Our heroes get in the first arrows, then all Hades breaks loose. At one point they trick the Romans into thinking they're retreating, then jump them, which is quite entertaining. The Romans make it into their squat, but another group, led by Crixus, are there to meet them.
It turns out this particular group of Romans is led by Varinius, who is allowed to live because he's the wrong praetor. Spartacus takes him prisoner, steals all his weapons and just as they think it's all over, Haldir attacks them with fireballs (one of which soundly dispatches Varinius - face first, of course). Haldirs' troops are led by the random Egyptian from the well, I think.
As the battle starts to go really quite badly for them, it seems our heroes have an escape tunnel prepared and they start heading towards it (are they bringing a special sword and have they remembered the household gods?!). DSG gets stabbed in the hand and eye, though he still seems to be alive, and they all start heading for freedom while a full choir sings enthusiastically on the soundtrack (this isn't the wailing woman, this is a full on, mostly male voice choir, as if all the miners of Wales got together to make noise as one). Crixus, Spartacus and Number One glare angrily at Haldir and Gnomey one last time, and they run for it.
On their way out, however, they run into yet more Roman soldiers. They manage to escape up the mountain, but Spartacus has to give up on Haldir. They get away up a narrow path, which they manage to hold, and Haldir decides to starve them out. End of episode.
I've been assuming all season that we're working up to killing off Haldir in the final episode, and I still think that's probably the case (he's an historical character, but since we don't know what happened to him after he fought Spartacus, there's plenty of leeway - they've already divided the historical Varinius Glaber into two characters, Varinius and Gaius Glaber, anyway). But I'm even sadder about it than I already was. Glaber and Ilithyia deciding to just be totally evil together, more or less for the lolz but also for power and possibly some money is a fantastic scene. With her scheming and both of them throwing themselves into pure villainy with gusto, this is the sense of over-the-top, ridiculous fun that this season has been lacking (and I'm not especially mourning Gladiator Groupie while she bleeds out behind them, she had promise but not much bite in the end). If I turn out to be wrong, and these two survive to come up against Caesar and Crassus next season, I'll be very happy. He's pretty easy on the eyes, too. Even Paris Hilton doesn't really annoy me any more, she's too gloriously evil.
Talking of next season, I've noticed the body count has been significantly higher among the Romans than among our heroes this season (of course, that may change in the next episode's season finale, but at least a few of them are historical and will probably last out the year). I suspect this is a balance of sorts to last season, when they were dropping like flies both in and out of the arena, and next season - there's a particular historical event I expect next season to lead up to as its season finale, which I won't spoil for the moment. Season Three will also bring us a lot more unkillable Romans with well known historical fates, so I expect Spartacus' group to really start to suffer...
This was a step up - a lively episode with plenty of action, forward movement, some significant secondary characters getting killed off and most importantly of all, a sense of joy, fun and pleasure coming from both Roman and rebel characters. Long may it continue! Well, you know - into next season.
Asher: Together we shall see The Rise of the House of Asher. I laughed out loud at that. I knew the House of Death wasn't done with murder and mayhem yet.
Ilithyia: We are both monsters, Gaius. Let us be so together, and seize the f*cking heavens!
Glaber, echoing the title of the Season One finale: We shall kill them all.
All Spartacus reviews


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I would like your readers to know how great Dorie at Assemblyman Michael Miller's office has been, and to publicly thank her for all she did for me over the past week in my struggle with Verizon.
After being without telephone service for 14 days, and then being told by Verizon that it would be another 10 to 12 days before repairs could be made to my telephone line, I contacted Assemblyman Miller's office for assistance.
Having had bad experiences with Verizon over the years, I was not very hopeful, but Dorie worked tirelessly to help me. Lo and behold, she was able to move the proverbial mountain and within two days of my initial conversation with Dorie, Verizon installed Fios at my home.
Many thanks to Dorie and Assemblyman Miller for making it all possible.


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U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission
EEOC Said Concession Manager Fired for HIV Condition
BALTIMORE - Innershore Enterprises, Inc., doing business as Marlow 6 Theater, will pay $20,000 and significant remedial relief to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today. The EEOC had charged that the company unlawfully fired a concession manager because of her disability, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).
In its suit (Civil Action No. 8:09-cv-02481-DKC) filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, Southern Division, the EEOC charged that the Temple Hills, Md., theater fired Robin C. Adams when the company became aware that she was HIV-positive.
The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) makes it unlawful to discriminate against a qualified individual because of an actual disability or because he or she had a record of disability or was regarded as disabled. The EEOC filed suit after first attempting to reach a voluntary settlement.
In addition to the monetary relief, the consent decree resolving the case requires that Innershore Enterprises / Marlow 6 Theater provide mandatory training for all employees and managers on the ADA. The company will also post notices at its facilities affirming its commitment to complying with the ADA, be enjoined from discriminating on the basis of disability and be monitored by EEOC for compliance with the ADA for the decree's five-year duration.
On July 13, 2010, President Barack Obama charged federal agencies to implement the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, one goal of which is to better serve people living with HIV—including by preventing barriers to employment of people with HIV or who are perceived to have HIV.
"This suit is part of that effort, and highlights the need for companies to take proactive and preventative steps to educate themselves and their employees about the ADA and its prohibition against discrimination on the basis of HIV or perceived disabilities," said EEOC Regional Attorney Debra M. Lawrence. "It is illegal to treat employees or applicants based upon myths, fears and stereotypes about HIV and AIDS."
EEOC Supervisory Trial Attorney Maria Salacuse added, "We are pleased that the company agreed to resolve the case by entering into this consent decree and by providing monetary relief to Ms. Adams – and agreeing to other terms that will help protect other employees from disability discrimination. The EEOC is committed to protecting people with HIV who are discriminated against in their places of employment."
During fiscal year 2009, disability discrimination charges reached a record level of 21,451 -- an increase of 10 percent from the prior fiscal year.
The EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Further information about the agency is available at its web site at www.eeoc.gov.


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2016 Lexus TX: Key to Lexus Fortune
To take on the futuristic SUV segment and also prove its mantle in the field, Lexus is planning to come up with the improved and completely new model of 2016 Lexus TX, which will not only sort the issues the company has been facing from customer's end but will also strengthen their foothold in the futuristic crossover segment. There will be no denying in saying that the 2016 Lexus TX holds major fortunes for Lexus if they wish to stay in the highly competitive crossover market. There have been a lot of expectation from Lexus TX from both its producers and buyers because Lexus has promised that they will bring the first of its kind futuristic SUV in the market, thus making buyers keep their hopes high. So far the company has refused to divulge to many details about the 2016 Lexus TX but you can surely expect some really good things to come up with this. Speculations are high that Lexus has been planning to use the base of Toyota Highlander as a platform for Lexus TX, which means the car will be more spacious from inside.
The luxurious interiors of Lexus TX are expected to be taken from architecture of Lexus IS and Toyota Camry and are also expected to remain available in both FWD and RWD versions. Lexus is also planning to use the latest available technology to make the 2016 Lexus TX secure and safe from inside. Use of advanced technology will ensure to give drivers better operating option. The remodeling of Lexus TX will be modern and rejuvenated to maintain the interest of the buyers in their luxury vehicle for a long time. This has also been seen as a desperate attempt from the car maker so that they can make Lexus TX linger on the minds of the buyers for long time, which will also inflate their sales figures in the long run. Going by its standards, Lexus will surely not make any compromise with the luxury and comfort of their 2016 Lexus TX.
Even though the car maker has not made any official announcement about the tech specs of 2016 Lexus TX it has been highly speculated that the car will feature nothing less than a 3.5L V6 petrol engine with the ability to generate 290 horsepower effortlessly. The same engine is expected to provide atleast 267 pound feet torque, which is being considered some serious arrangement under its hood.
Like all the other specifications, Lexus ahs kept TX's inner details and prices undisclosed till date and it is quite clear that the 2016 Lexus TX will not hit the market anytime before late 2016 or early 2017, thus giving its producers a lot o time to decide what will be the best available option for their promising futuristic SUV. The company is leaving no stone unturned to implement ideas that can make it the best available futuristic SUV in the market. However, whether the Lexus TX will manage to answer all the questions pertaining to a best available futuristic SUV can only be confirmed with time.


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The Middlebury College community now has trial access to Torrossa, an online resource with full-text in Italian, Spanish, French and Portuguese.
Browse arts, literature, and lots more.
(Note that when you're looking at an e-book ("monograph"), only a "sample page" displays . To see the full text, choose the full-text icon.
When viewing a journal ("issue"), select an article from the right-hand menu, then the full-text icon.)
Update July 17: Not all of the 160 publishers that provide content for Torrossa allow their works to be printed or downloaded. If you have trouble printing, it may be that it simply isn't allowed. Disallowed functions are shown by minus-signs by the icon(s), as shown here:
Hovering over the icon will show "Download not allowed" for example.
The trial will expire August 16th. Please let us know what you think – email firstname.lastname@example.com


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Photo: Fresh Boutique in San Francisco Union Square
While I was in SF this week, I stopped in the Fresh boutique near our hotel. We have nearly everything in Chicago, but we don't have a free-standing Fresh store. The experience of shopping in store at Fresh is far more luxurious than snagging my goods at the crowded Sephora. I spent about as much time in Fresh as my husband could bear (about 30 min!) I tested the new Rose Cleansing Foam (so rosey – I love it) and googly-eyed all of the holiday gift sets. And then I locked eyes on this sleek yellow tube of Fresh Seaberry Restorative Body Cream. A fan of the Seaberry in the pump bottle, this was an exciting surprise. While I love the bottle, it's hard to get every last drop out. And when I splurge on a body cream, I want to be able to get every last drop. The smell of this is lovely — neutral but distinct. But it's what this does to my skin that makes it this week's Beauty VIP. The formula is so soothing thanks to the powerful antioxidant seabuckthorn oil, omega-rich cranberry seed oil and moisturizing sal seed butter. It's a powerhouse moisturizer. And the pampering experience of shopping in a Fresh boutique goes unmatched. And worth noting, Fresh harnessed the amazingness of sea buckthorn oil into a new facial oil. It's curently exclusive to Sephora – check it here.


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Read online or Download Lives on the Boundary: A Moving Account of the Struggles and Achievements of America's Educationally Underprepared (Full PDF ebook with essay, research paper)
by Mike Rose
Remedial, illiterate, intellectually deficient—these are the stigmas that define America's educationally underprepared. Having grown up poor and been labeled this way, nationally acclaimed educator and author Mike Rose takes us into classrooms and communities to reveal what really lies behind the labels and test scores. With rich detail, Rose demonstrates innovative methods to initiate "problem" students into the world of language, literature, and written expression. This book challenges educators, policymakers, and parents to re-examine their assumptions about the capacities of a wide range of students.
Already a classic, Lives on the Boundary offers a truly democratic vision, one that should be heeded by anyone concerned with America's future.


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Knowing the Rules and following them are Very Different Things
Troy Ladd's Respect Tradition Deuce roadster will most likely be familiar to regular R&C readers, as many of you will have followed its Brookville body sectioning and build-up over the past two years, culminating in its appearance at this year's Grand National Roadster Show as an AMBR contender. Its story of an average guy competing in a decidedly non-average arena has already been documented, along with much of the radical bodywork. That doesn't leave much to say, which should make this the shortest feature in R&C for some while!
But, truth be told, there's so much more to say about this particular '32. It never started out with the intention of being in AMBR competition, but rather as a vehicle to showcase the talents of Troy and his crew at Hollywood Hot Rods. With the "Rides" TV show under his belt, the Big Sister and Little Sister '32s finished and attracting increasing interest in his business, Troy saw the opportunity to further increase awareness of Hollywood Hot Rods by building a high-end rod, but one that built upon his personal interest in traditional rods.
As Troy told us, "Both the Pinkee's-built Royce Glader roadster pickup and Roger Ritzow's Trepanier-fabbed '32 were big influences. They had an impact on the industry because you think they're traditional, but they're not traditional at all. And I wanted to push that direction, with traditional styling, aesthetics, and creativity, but with modern variations where you're not strangled by the rules of how things were built in 1950. We don't have to follow the rules. We can do whatever we want. I'm already pushing that further with our next projects in the shop."
This roadster was actually started three years ago, but when the decision was made to enter it in competition, it "got out of control and turned into a monstrosity of a project!" As Troy put it, "I don't have the money for things I can't control, like paint, upholstery, and chrome. The creative side-the machine work and the metal shaping-we do at the shop, and it's just time. I ended up selling cars to finish this, plus borrowing money. I sold an entire car for a paint job! But I still spent a fraction of what we were competing against in AMBR."
It's a good thing, then, that Troy has the total backing of long-term girlfriend and ace parts procurer Davida.
"Another thing I wanted to do at the Roadster Show was to stir it up and put a traditional car in there. I was hesitant, as I'm a newcomer trying to build a name and I didn't want to screw up, but everyone I spoke to was excited. Lots of people said there should be traditional cars at the show and that I had to do it. Maybe I wouldn't win, but I had to do it. And the car got the attention, just like the Pinkee's truck did, and that was what I was after for the shop."
Troy has been quoted as saying that he and his crew-Garret Wilson, Troy Morris, and Chris-worked very hard to not add unnecessary parts, but it's the small details that make this roadster what it is. Every single part is modified or handmade. That's how high the bar has been raised for competition at the GNRS level. It's important to have a cohesive theme, such as the identical radii used for the detailing on the frame-horns, door hinge moldings, and taillights, as well as on the hairpin and shock bracketry under the car.
It can get very complicated making a car look simple. For example, there are very few mechanical parts showing on the underside. Two six-volt batteries are hidden in sections behind the seats, and to keep the undercarriage symmetrical and uncluttered, all the wiring, as well as the trans cooler lines and fuel lines, run up through these sections, then on to their destinations through the inner side panels in the trunk. Even the brake lines take tortuous routes through the body. The trans cooler is mounted behind the rear axle, above a vented panel, and accessed through the trunk floor, completely hidden from view, along with the fuel pump. Pretty much all you'll see if you get down under the car are the driveshaft, exhausts (and even they are mainly hidden behind die-stamped semi-bellypans), and three identical stainless lines running down each side of the floorpan. To maintain the symmetry, the brake master cylinder lives up under the cowl, thanks to modified ABS Power Brakes components.
Those 16-inch '34 Dodge artillery wheels look great, don't they? Certainly a step past the painted and trim ring-equipped steels Troy originally intended to run, yet there's a lot more to them than meets the eye. Apart from the wider rim welded to the Dodge centers on the rear, Wheelsmith in Santa Ana, California, modified all four by cutting out the sections where the caps mount and replacing them with sections from Chevy Rallye wheels so Troy could run smooth caps instead of the Dodge-lettered versions. That's an insane amount of work for a small detail, but again, necessary for a car of this caliber.
Obviously one of the most visually striking parts of the roadster is the 392ci Hemi parked in front of the firewall, its impact helped by those angled injector stacks. Troy very much wanted to use the vintage cross-ram Hilborn fuel injection, but wanted modern EFI, so set about converting it, hiding all the necessary electronics under a false aluminum valley cover, and fitting all new butterflies. The motor can now be set up and tuned using a laptop that plugs in under the dash, and yes, it does run, and run well-I've witnessed it.
There's more tradition with a twist in the ignition system too. Troy seems to have a thing for rare Spalding Flamethrower distributors, with a few in his collection, and has converted this one to electronic operation controlled by the ECU. Not wanting to make life easy for himself, the roadster runs twin coils, and yes, both are operational, thanks to modern four-cylinder Volkswagen electronics doubled up inside the Flamethrower. Some trial and error saw a few burned-out components, but it's all working just fine now.
The race-inspired look lent by the injected Hemi, which itself was once slated to bolt between the 'rails of the Rat Trap Fuel Altered in the '60s, is echoed in the interior, with much of the tubing left on show above the upholstered panels, ably stitched by Mark Lopez of Elegance Auto Interiors. The '58 Volvo seatbelts were an inspired choice; the large chromed ring they connect to on the center "console" is a neat touch. There's plenty more chrome in evidence on the cool hand-fabbed pedals (with one-off rubber Hollywood Hot Rods logo embedded in the brake pedal pad!) and the '37 Chevy brake handle that was converted to actuate a Gennie shifter mechanism on the 200-R4.
Probably the biggest surprise about this '32 is that Troy is still in his mid-thirties, and with no obvious hot rodding in his blood (his father was involved with VWs, but this is R&C, so we'll leave that there) it has been his dogged determination to learn and improve his craft that got him to where he is. From street-racing Mustangs in the '80s to evolving an ex-dirt-track racing '36 five-window from a 283 small-block-equipped daily into a dual-quad-fed 400ci street rod, learning as he went, through a '34 Chevy coupe that he chopped in the parking lot of his apartment complex, he now owns a hot rod shop (www.hollywoodhotrods.com) with some very cool projects underway, and the desire to tackle more projects in a similar vein to this one. He's learned well, and while he respects hot rodding traditions enough to use the phrase as his car's moniker, he isn't constrained by them. And that's a good thing if this '32 is anything to go by.
Rod & Custom Feature Car
Troy Ladd
Burbank, California
1932 Ford Roadster
Troy used one of his own Hollywood Hot Rods (HHR) signature super-low '32 chassis with a Model A rear crossmember in the kicked-up rear, a flat front crossmember, incorporating chrome transverse leaf springs at both ends, HHR gusseted hairpins with teardrop rear mounts, exhaust cutouts and modified Pete & Jake's-style ladder bars. The dropped and drilled front axle uses hidden disc brakes behind Buick-style drum covers, modified with added bleeders and bolts, while underneath are dimpled and ribbed aluminum belly panels. Faith Plating handled all the chrome work, though the Vega steering box is polished aluminum.
Body & Paint
California Roadster Company and Brookville Roadster supplied the steel body, which HHR sectioned 2 inches, moving the rear wheelwells by 5 inches at the same time. The cowl was smoothed, the cockpit edges radiused and re-shaped, reveals added round the taillights and door hinges, and the license plate recessed. Pretty much every panel was modified in some form, including the grille shell, which houses a Dan Fink insert, before Butch Lynch at The Hop Up Shop applied the custom-mixed PPG paint, Troy extending his thanks to Scott Smith at PPG for the color. Handmade rear lights and side-mounted Guide headlights are used, with custom HHR rear nerf bars and European decklid hinges and gas filler up on the rear deck. The center post of the DuVall-style windshield was modified to flow into the trim on the as-yet unfitted hood, while no one ever notices the bottom edge of the firewall was rounded to curve under the body. Maybe the dimple die gussets and feet attract the eye first!
The 392ci Hemi was rebuilt and treated to a vintage Hilborn fuel injection system Troy converted to electronic injection. Twin coils and a Spaulding Flamethrower, converted to electronic operation and controlled by an ECU, fire the motor. Lakes-style headers with oval tubes were designed and fabricated in-house at HHR, feeding into a 2 1/2-inch mandrel-bent stainless system. A race-prepped 200-R4 trans courtesy of Transaction Transmission in Sun Valley, California, sends the power through a polished aluminum Inland Empire Driveline driveshaft to the rare vintage Franklin quick-change, with Lynn racing cover and Detroit Locker, set up by Ken Sapper at Speedway Engineering.
Wheels & Tires
Heavily modified 16-inch 1934 Dodge artillery wheels replace the steelies the project started out wearing, wrapped in 5.00 and 8.90 Firestone dirt-track tires front and rear, respectively-not that you'd know the sizes, as they've had all lettering ground off and the sidewalls smoothed.
A roadster's interior can make or break the overall look, but Troy and upholsterer Mark Lopez nailed this one! It's probably the most contentious part of the car, but Troy's glad it gets people talking. There's a tube framework under the cowl to prevent cowl shake, which you can't see, but the remainder of the tubing used to attain a semi-race look is all on show. Redline Gauge Works restored the '41 Pontiac dash insert that now lives in the one-off HHR-fabbed dash, with the steering wheel coming from the same year Poncho. More in-house fabrication produced the rearview mirror/windshield brace, the seat frames, pedals, and modified '37 Chevy brake handle that now shifts gears, as well as the stainless trims on the Daytona weave carpet in each footwell and the modified aircraft handles that now open the doors.


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I've posted this on a few other forums but as Blutack asked I may as well post it here as well.
First the disclaimer. I am self taught at leatherwork and may well be doing everything the wrong way. I have read a few books but do not always follow what they say. That said I am pretty pleased with my results and have been asked to document the way I have made the wet formed bags I do and so here is how I do it (not necessarily how it should be done)
We are going to make a wet formed bag. From the same mould I make both shoulder bags and possibles pouches. This tutorial is for the possible pouches but there is little to change for a shoulder bag.
Once finished we should end up with a bag looking like this
First thing to do is cut the piece of leather to wet form the front of the bag. In the following pictures I am working with 2.5mm leather but later we will switch to a front I formed from heavier leather (3.5mm). So what I am saying is you can do this with almost any weight of leather.
So lets cut out a bit of leather for the front. Remember to allow plenty of spare. The size you need will of course depend on the size of your form.
Once cut out I let it soak in warm water for 15 minutes to half an hour. You get a feel for when it is ready. Sometimes I will let it sit for another half hour or so before I start forming and sometimes not. So far I have never really noticed a difference in waiting.
The form is a piece of pine, shaped and varnished. I have also glued it to a backing board but you do not need to and it is probably not a help as I cant move it about once there are too many nail holes round the edge. I also use a bone folder to help shape the leather but you can use a bit of plastic or a butter knife if you do not have one.
I will be nailing the leather in place with copper coated nails, which still stain the leather the same as steel ones. (note; this staining can be remove with Oxalic acid but as this was being stained a dark colour I did not bother)
Place the wet (cased) leather over the form and put the first nail in the centre of the bottom.
Next nail one round the corner but remember to not pull round the corner tight or you will have too much spare leather as you go up the edges. You want to use as much leather as possible between the central nail and being round the corner.
Put a few nails in the curve of the corner to hold everything in place. This sounds easy and it can be but it is quite difficult to not end up with too much leather at the sides from going to tight round the corners. Once one corner is done start on the next. You can already see that I have too much leather for the sides and it is starting to stick up away from the face of the form.
To solve this problem we cut away the spare leather at the corners. Then cut a dart at the last nail on the side. Pivot the leather round at this nail to take up some of the slack. Nail a bit further up, cut another dart and pivot some more to use up more leather. Remember to not cut in too close with the darts or you will end up with part of the dart still showing when the edges are trimmed.
Repeat this on both sides and you should end us as shown below with the leather tight across the whole form. As you can see I have ended up with leather extending over the top of the form. Rather than cut this away I slide the piece of plastic (shown on the right of the picture) under the leather, above the form, to hold this top edge out and allow me to make the bag deeper.
I use a modelling tool to ensure there is a good crease along the angle where the form meets the backboard. I tend to go over this every few hours or any time I am passing to ensure this crease stays well defined as the leather dries to shape. I also use the modelling tool to rub out any tool marks from the forming.
I leave the leather nailed to the form for a few days to make sure it is completely dry. You can remove it sooner but I have found it will tend to shrink a little if you do, so now I ensure it is completely dry.
Once dry I pull out the nails and pop the leather off of the form.
Now at this point in the tutorial we are going to switch to a piece of leather that I formed earlier. This is purely to help with timing as these steps were actually carried out while the above bag was drying. It is formed from a piece of 3.5mm grade b hide so it has lots of blemishes etc. I only point this out as the more observant of you will notice a big difference in the quality of the leather and I dont want you thinking it is because the forming makes the leather blemish etc.
So off the form we trim the edges of the bag and round the corners. At this point I also shape the top end of the bag. I form a semi-circle on the sides and cut straight across from the bottom of these along the front edge. This means the sides will seal against the flap as it curls round and stop stuff falling out. I have rarely seen this done and cant understand why. It seams obvious to me that a flat top to the sides allows things to fall out the bag.
Now place it onto the leather we will use for the back and flat so that we can mark the width of leather we need.
Cut a strip wide enough for the back and flap and hold this in place to mark where to cut for length to suit the bag.
Now mark the rounding of the flap corners with my patented circle drawing tool.
Cut the corners to shape
Then check it looks right in place
We now cut the tongue that will attach to the flap and go through the buckle. I prefer a shield shape at the top but any shape that takes your fancy should work. You could also just form the tongue into the piece of leather for the flap but I prefer the look of the sewn on one.
I cut the end of the tongue with a strap end cutter but you can just cut it to shape with a knife if you dont have one. (a handy hint is to buy the biggest strap end cutter you can get. It will cut the end of every strap as small as you want to go so there is no need for a selection of different sized ones)
The bag will have 2 D rings at the back to take danglers to attach to a belt as well as a buckle on the front to hold the flap shut. These are attached to the bag with ¾ inch strips of 1 1.5mm leather as shown below. I use a slot cutter to cut the slot for the buckle but you can just cut this shape with a knife. (a handy tip if you are buying a slot cutter is to just buy the ¾ inch one. You will rarely need a smaller size and for larger slots you just cut then move the cutter along and cut again to extend the slot)
I also use the slot cutter to cut the slot for the tabs of leather to go through where the buckle is to be located (I also cut the slots for the D ring tabs but have not photographed this). You can either put the leather back on the form to give you a bearing while stamping the slot or use another piece of wood or cutting block to give a rest under the piece to be cut.
I now mark out the stitching on the tab for the buckle and round the edge of the bag. I have used a pricking iron. If you dont have one a fork will do. You can use a marking wheel but they do not always leave very clear marks unless you are doing this while the leather is wet. I have also stamped a small makers mark in the centre of the tab stitching.
Time to dye all the pieces. Gather them all together along with your dye and a wool dabber. I use a spirit based dye and buy it in the 1 litre bottles as it is much cheaper that way. I still tend to decant it into the smaller bottles for use though as it is easier to handle and has a larger neck.
I dye the inside of the leather as well. A light inside looks strange and I can never finish with a clean edge anyway. Give the leather a good coating with the dye then set aside to dry
Once the dye is dry it is time to stitch on the buckle and D rings. First mark out your stitching with your pricking iron (or fork). I like the triangular pattern and my pricking iron is just the right size for marking this out.
Put the buckle onto its tab. Thread the tab through the slot. Open the tab out and sew in place.
Same thing with the D rings. Here we see one sewn and one about to be sewn.
And once done you can trim the tabs in the inside as seen here.
Some people glue the bag to the back to keep it in place but I have never got on with this method. I tend to tack the front to the back with stitched spaced an inch and a half apart. I only make the holes for these stitches with the awl at this time. I punch through the rest of the holes with the awl as I go along.
I punch the holes between the first two tacks, stitch this section, remove the tacks at this bit, form the holes in the next section, sew that bit and so on
Once finished sewing I trim the back piece round the bottom corners and also trim the edges along the sewn section to ensure they are even or as even as I can get them. Then I dye the freshly cut and trimmed bits.
Before I stitch the tongue on I finish the edges of the bag and the tongue with gum tragacanth and rub down with a piece of canvas.
Then clamp the tongue in position ready for stitching
Tongue stitched on.
Pull the end of the strap through the buckle and mark the position for the one hole needed.
Punch the hole. Dye the edges of the hole (cotton buds are great for this) and we are nearly there.
Now I cover the bag with carnauba wax. Inside and out and work it well in. (I managed to spill the wax which is why there is a puddle of it in the background)
Let the wax dry for a little while then polish with a soft brush.
Now the droppers are just two strips of leather, about ¾ of an inch wide with two press studs to close them over. You can easily work out how to make them from this picture. Cut, dye, finish edges, punch for studs, wax polish and attach studs.
A handy hint for attaching the press studs. Use a punch a bit bigger than the part of the press stud that goes through the leather to push the leather down. A light tap with the mallet makes sure you have enough of this bit exposed to ensure the two parts of the stud lock together well.
So thats us all finished. You should now have a bag that looks like this
I hope you found this interesting and or useful. Any questions just ask.


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29th June 2019
see listing for details
Every Saturday
We offer a range of different classes to suit your preferences, including indoor and outdoor Circuits, Running courses for beginners or intermediates, Boxercise, Fitness Pilates and Nordic Walking. All classes are conveniently located, competitively priced and fun.
Outdoor Circuits
Outdoor Circuits is an all year and all weather exercise class combining core, resistance, and cardiovascular exercises in a circuit training style.
It's the ultimate outdoor workout for all abilities, set in our beautiful local parks. We guarantee a fun, challenging, and varied work out each time.
You don't need to be a runner to join Circuits, however if you are or want to, we also focus on strengthening the areas that will improve your running experience and technique.
Saturday (9.00am-10.00am) Wendover Hampden Meadow (map)
Wednesday (7.30pm-8.30pm) Wendover Squash and Tennis Club
Thursday (9.15am-10.15am) Wendover Hampden Meadow (map)