text:
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Things every blog should have
32 comments:
- Libby Boyes said...
I LOVE your new design and layout!!! And think this post is super helpful and a great reminder to all bloggers!
- February 26, 2014 at 10:49 AM
- Casey Aslan said...
Crap I should really remove my social from my blog ;)
You crack me up! Great tips! And loving your simple design
- February 26, 2014 at 10:53 AM
- Kayla White said...
Love, love this post!
- February 26, 2014 at 11:09 AM
- Rachel said...
Amen! I do a lot of blogger outreach during my day job and it's crazy how many people don't have thier e-mail is an easy-to-see place. DRIVES ME NUTS
- February 26, 2014 at 11:10 AM
- Katie @ A Beautiful Little Adventure.com said...
Great post! I really to get to work on a popular post page. Also, about me's are always SO awkward. I'm never satisfied with mine, but I LOVE reading other blogger's bios. Ah, what a conundrum!
- February 26, 2014 at 11:16 AM
- The Handey Way said...
I love your clean look! And to each of those points, amen. I definitely need to update my about page.
- February 26, 2014 at 11:19 AM
- alyssa said...
Great advice! I just scrubbed and relaunched my own blog after a year+ hiatus and it's a totally new "genre" for me, so I'm basically a baby blogger once again. Perfect day to get some tips like these :)
- February 26, 2014 at 11:43 AM
- Eva Marie Taylor said...
I have been working on putting together a popular posts page. I really need to finish that! I love to check out people's about me pages, too!! I have most of my social media widgets on my sidebar but need to get my little icons up there. I hand drew them all to go with the rest of my hand drawn graphics but need to change the colors since I changed my color scheme recently and just haven't found the time to do that! Great tips! I am doing the happy hour hangout with Amber and Ashten on the 14th, and I was tempted to do the hangout this weekend but I'm not free this weekend. Have fun!!
Eva Marie
- February 26, 2014 at 11:55 AM
- Abby A said...
Way-wa-Wait!? Are there bloggers out there crazy/stupid enough to put their social security, bank account, or credit card number on their blog?!? It made me laugh that you put that up. :)
- February 26, 2014 at 11:59 AM
- Kay said...
These are good tips! Especially for any "new" blogger!! But it also reminded me that I need to update my About Me page and my Popular Posts page! That's something you should mention too, that you should update these pages every once in a while to keep them recent!
- February 26, 2014 at 12:35 PM
- Steph G said...
The About Me page - I'm still stuck. I really need to makeover mine... UGH. I feel like my whole blog needs a makeover :) Great tips though.
- February 26, 2014 at 12:44 PM
- Jenni@FlyingOnARainbow said...
Great tips! I have so many things I want to do to improve my blog, but I'm glad to say I have these basics covered at the moment. They just need some prettying. Phew!
- February 26, 2014 at 1:08 PM
- Jessa @ Life of A Sports Wife said...
I love these tips and I love the new layout!! BTW So excited to spend another weekend with you.. kinda at least one day!
- February 26, 2014 at 1:32 PM
- Night Owl said...
i wish i knew how to add the social media to my page. that would be lots of help. instead of just putting a post up with it
- February 26, 2014 at 1:47 PM
- Kaysie said...
You are so fresh and so clean! I love this design. Also, like you said, it's good to know who you're reading. in your case, I think I connected over your mention of cheese, which is an instant follow factor for me ;)
- February 26, 2014 at 2:00 PM
- Fairy Princess Jord said...
These are great tips girl! My blog needs a total facelift but paying for a new wordpress layout is practically like signing over my first born child.
- February 26, 2014 at 2:03 PM
- K @ Keeping Up With K... said...
I'm so mad that I'm going to be out of the country this weekend - would've loved to have a few mimosas and chat it up about blogging!
- February 26, 2014 at 2:18 PM
- brooke lyn said...
loving the new spruce up! i am afraid to really start figuring out design for fear i would want to change it every other week!
- February 26, 2014 at 3:25 PM
- Anna said...
Can't wait to hangout with you guys on Sunday!!! whoop whoop!
- February 26, 2014 at 3:30 PM
I hope people can come to Saturday's hangout but Sunday's will be off the chain!
- February 26, 2014 at 3:44 PM
- Rachel said...
Love the new design! And thanks for the great advice :)
- February 26, 2014 at 4:14 PM
- The Running Nurse said...
Your new design looks so professional! ;)
- February 26, 2014 at 4:21 PM
- jessica nicole said...
I need to work on that stuff. Too bad I'm not hip with how to spice up my blog nor have the money to have someone do it. Booooo :-)
- February 26, 2014 at 7:39 PM
- Amanda - Voyage of the MeeMee said...
I agree with you on ALL of these things... they're definitely key!!!! CAN'T WAIT FOR SUNDAY!!!!!!!
- February 26, 2014 at 8:07 PM
- The Artistic Brunette said...
Such a great post! I have yet to create a 'favorite' post page. That will be my spring break goal! :)
- February 26, 2014 at 8:33 PM
- Amy @ No Longer A Dreamer said...
Love this! This was super duper helpful to me as I have been procrastinating on each one of those things. And this pretty much summed up a good starting point for each.
Thank you ma'am!
- February 26, 2014 at 9:49 PM
- Amber Thomas said...
So basically I almost got rid of my popular posts page because... I wanted to?
And also, I hate managing my blog's facebook page. So i almost ditched it and linked to my own... but then I didn't want personal mized with blogging. Oh my soul this shit's hard.
- February 27, 2014 at 12:34 PM
- Whitney Alison said...
I really like your new design! I've had a blank about me page for ages....I really need to work on that this weekend.
- February 27, 2014 at 2:02 PM
- Lisa @ Two Martinis said...
FINE, I'll take off the number of sexual partners I've had from my 'About Me' page. But I still think it's relevant. And I'll take off my shoe size, too, but I don't know how anyone is going to buy me shoes now.
Way to ruin all of my fun, Kalyn.
(But seriously, love this post. Great points, entertaining per usual!)
- February 27, 2014 at 7:27 PM
- Terra Heck said...
I just now found out about the blogger hangouts. Sounds fun. These are all great pointers. I have a small 'About Me' section on the right of my blog but it probably wouldn't hurt to have headers like you suggested.
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- September 13, 2017 at 8:52 PM


text:
About Social Studio
Friday, May 27, 2011
Day 333/365: Being *inspired* by 1980s white!
Introducing the 'Being inspired by 1980s fashion' checklist:
-- Shoulder pads? Check.
-- White dress? Check.
-- Batwing jacket? Check.
-- Beading, ribbons and lace applique to jacket? Check.
-- Oversize glasses? Check.
-- Ken Done? Check, check, check!
You too can create your very own 1980s checklist too! So many options! And here's a place to start with the last *essential* item :-) Have a wonderful Friday, dear readers...
6 comments:
- birdmonkey said...
amazing outfit today xx
- May 27, 2011 at 11:04 AM
Wow, that jacket is truly incredible. Great work today...you do the 'neutral colours' so perfectly well - quite a calm and serene look.
- May 27, 2011 at 2:03 PM
The model on the beach seems to have confused Catwalk with Crabwalk
But you, on the otherhand, have not confused a thing.
- May 27, 2011 at 4:13 PM
i reckon you are channelling Xanadu, or Princess Leia. I like it.
- May 27, 2011 at 7:59 PM
- Lyndel said...
fantastic look... what about the 'Big Hair'? you forgot that little treasure.
- May 29, 2011 at 1:01 PM
- What Ken Be Done? said...
Birdmonkey: Thanks for lovin' the look - it certainly felt special to wear! xo
Anon x 1:Glad you like the jacket - it is pretty a bit of a quiet gem... :-)
I also love that you say I look 'calm and serene'; I think I rather startled some Sydney commuters wondering if they got on a train at Central and were heading BACK TO THE 1980S!!
David: Ha, ha! You are a word master, and *good* at the compliments too xo
Anon x 2: Now those are two great cultural references! And makes me wonder why I wasn't wearing roller skates or had two hair buns either :-)
Lyndel: Oh yes! I LOVE BIG hair too... what an omission to almost make. Thank *goodness* we have you here to keep me on track xo
- May 29, 2011 at 7:28 PM

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The Malloy administration has created a far-flung network of private email accounts to conduct the public's business.
Instead of using the state's "ct.gov" email address that is assigned to each member of the administration, officials have used Gmail, Yahoo, Comcast and other private accounts to communicate and avoid the collection of their messages by the central state server. The practice subverts the purpose of the state's public documents access law and allows for important information to be hidden or lost from public view.
I heard troubling rumors of the practice during the General Assembly's consideration of Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's 2012 education law proposals. Administration officials were becoming promiscuous in their use of the private network.
I made a request for emails pertaining to the education proposal from two staff members' Gmail accounts under the Freedom of Information Act. It took Malloy's office many months to compile the records that I received in July. It is clear from reviewing hundreds of pages of messages that administration officials at the highest level have engaged in a continuing course of conduct that promotes secrecy and damages the public interest.
On March 3, 2012, for example, Malloy advisor Roy Occhiogrosso responded to a message about "chaos" over a meeting of legislators, "Feels like this is spinning away from us. We lose this one and we have big problems." Panic can explain much that follows in government. These moments should be part of the normal public record.
The state's records administrator, LeAnn Power, told me last week that "public officials should not use private email accounts for public business." There are rules against it, and the administration has ignored them.
Former Malloy legal counsel Andrew McDonald, now a member of the Connecticut Supreme Court, was also part of the private network. Most members of the administration in 2012 used a private Gmail account to conduct public business. Occhiogrosso has also left the administration. Somebody needs to make sure departing officials turn over those public documents.
Malloy's spokesman, Andrew Doba, said in an email Wednesday that its staff members "are trained on record retention and are aware that FOIA laws apply to the documents and correspondence relating to official business, regardless of what email system is used."
According to the 2012 emails provided me under the Freedom of Information Act, current Malloy administration officials were then using a variety of private email accounts. Mark Ojakian, the chief of staff, used a Comcast account. Budget chief Benjamin Barnes had one at Yahoo. Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor used a Gmail account, as did many other Malloy staffers, including Andrew Doba, Michael Mandell, Liz Donohue and Meagan Cowell.
Some documents that fell under my request could have been missing. In compiling them, the administration relied on self-editing by the people whose accounts are the subjects of the request. The person with the private account decides what to disclose. That's not how the system of open access to government documents is intended to operate in Connecticut. Some of the most telling documents may not have been disclosed. In the state system, the emails are preserved and protected by the Department of Administrative Services. Malloy's office declined to say whether or how the emails in private accounts are preserved.
Lobbyists are also part of the conspiracy. Many assisted Malloy in passing what was ultimately a shadow of his original education proposal. They communicated with Malloy's people through private email accounts, providing extensive comments on their meetings with legislators and others. The Connecticut Business and Industry Association's Bonnie Stewart was especially prolific in sending reports of her meetings. She wrote that Senate leader Don Williams told her "he doesn't care about politics, that he only cares about true reform. Despite this, he seemed to be regurgitating the [Connecticut Education Association] lines."
The use of private email accounts to conduct public business constructs a barrier that could keep people who do not possess the direct power to compel disclosure from obtaining records that should be publicly available. Federal investigators have broader powers to collect information. As they investigate how a Hartford insurance agent snagged $126,320 state grant and loan package to move his business a few miles from Windsor to the Hartford building owned by a politically connected family, investigators will want unfettered access to Malloy's shadow email network.
Kevin Rennie is a lawyer and a former Republican state legislator. He can be reached at email@example.com.


text:
Frequently Asked Questions
What time are the worship services?
Sunday mornings at 9:00
Wednesday nights at 7:00
Is there a dress code?
No, there is not a dress code, however, respect for the house God (modesty) is expected.
Is there a nursery or babysitting for young children?
Yes. We provide a learning and fun atmosphere for our youth and children to learn about God. While it is not a nursery, per se, you can rest assured that we will care for your child as we care for our own. Our Youth and Children Ministry leaders are background checked and trained to deal with all of the children entrusted to us.
How can I reach the administrative staff?
Via Mail - 2360 Kings Road, Jacksonville, FL 32209
Via Phone - 904-765-7620
Via Fax - 904-352-1815
Via Facebook - www.facebook.com/TheSanctuaryMtCalvary
Via Twitter - www.twitter.com/PastorsHeart1
Via E-mail - email@example.com
What if I want to become a partner of the ministry (join the church)?
Visit us at either of the worship times or call the office and make an appointment. One of our ministers will be more than happy to serve you.
What if I have had death in my family?
Contact the administrative staff and your information will be forwarded to the Bereavement Ministry. You will be contacted immediately to determine the way the ministry can be of service to you.
What if I want to get married?
Contact the administrative staff and your message will be forwarded to the appropriate person who will contact you immediately to determine how we may serve you.


text:
The leading
December 2011 Visa Chart Shows Strong Movement In China and India EB-2 Categories
by Alan Lee,Esq
The December 2011 visa bulletin showed forward movement in most categories, with the EB-2 (Advanced degree/NIW (National Interest Waiver)) preferences for China and India jumping from 11/1/07 to 3/15/08. The monthly bulletin was largely in conformance with predictions for the first six months of fiscal year 2012 as stated in the 10/18/11 American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) /Department of State (DOS) Liaison Meeting. DOS predicted three to six weeks monthly movement for the F-1 category of unmarried sons and daughters of U.S. citizens over the age of 21, and that category moved from 7/22/04 to 9/1/04; three to six weeks for the F-2A category of spouses and unmarried children under the age of 21 of green card holders, and the category moved from 2/15/09 to 3/22/09; one or two weeks for the F-2B category of unmarried sons and daughters over the age of 21 of permanent residents, and that preference moved from 8/1/03 to 8/15/03; one or two weeks for the F-3 category for married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens, and that category moved from 9/22/01 to 10/8/01; and up to one month for the F-4 category of siblings of U.S. citizens, and that preference moved from 6/15/00 to 7/15/00. These family based predictions and results were for all countries of the world other than Mexico and the Philippines.
For the employment based categories, DOS predicted that the EB-1 category for extraordinary aliens/outstanding professors and researchers/multinational executives and managers would remain current, and it did so; that the EB-2 category would remain current except for China and India, and the form held; and that the EB-3 category would move up to one month except for China only advancing one to three weeks and India one or two weeks. For December, the EB-3 category for skilled workers or professionals went from 12/22/05 to 1/15/06 worldwide except for China moving from 8/22/04 to 9/8/04 and India from 7/22/02 to 8/1/02. For the EW-3 category of unskilled workers, the December visa chart showed movement of one-and-a-half months from 11/15/05 to 1/1/06 for all of the world except for China which remained static at 4/22/03 and India which advanced from 6/15/02 to 7/22/02. DOS predicted that both the EB-4 category for certain religious workers and EB-5 category for immigrant investors would remain current and they did so.
In looking at the DOS predictions, an important one was that with respect to expected movement for the China and India EB-2 categories, there would be significant advances up to February, but that such movement would not be the norm throughout the fiscal year, and there was a possibility for retrogression of the dates during the summer months.© 2011 Alan Lee, Esq.
About The Author


text:
Updated June 14, 2017
Every day, the media bring up "Russian influence" in the 2016 presidential election. Hearings, reports, articles, and social media are filled with discussion of the "meddling," met by calls to action by Democrats for additional investigations. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told Meet the Press he is "1,000% certain" the Russians "interfered" with the election, adding that they must be "punished" for their behavior. Senator John McCain described Russia's election interference as an "act of war":
Threatening to start World War III with a nuclear-armed enemy would be irresponsible without a full investigation. Here are the two theories: Russia vs Not Russia, head-to-head.
Timeline of Events
The FBI notified the Democratic National Committee of a hacking intrusion that took place sometime around August 2015; however, the DNC denied the FBI access to its servers and computers. Over the next several months, the FBI says it made repeated requests to inspect the DNC network. The DNC later denied receiving these requests; however, the fact remains that an FBI inspection of the DNC computer network never took place.
After not allowing the FBI to inspect its server, in September 2015, the DNC paid $60,000 to Good Harbor Risk Management, a firm owned by prior cabinet-level security expert Richard Clarke, for an extensive cybersecurity review. The review focused mainly on proper procedures and training; however, many of the warnings and recommended procedures were apparently ignored. Based on later reports, at least one Russian hacking group was already in the system at that point, but for unknown reasons was not discovered and rooted out–even with $60,000 worth of intervention from a professional security analyst, who presumably would have checked for hacking attempts.
In a December 2015 email, Clinton Campaign Chairman John Podesta discussed using allegations of a "bromance" between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin to discredit Trump.
From March to late April 2016, over a period of five weeks, private cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike spent 128 hours performing an investigation for the DNC into unauthorized access by members of then-primary candidate Bernie Sanders' campaign staff into Hillary Clinton's section of the DNC's voter file system. The breach lasted a total of one hour on December 15, 2015, after an internal firewall failed and provided the Sanders employees with unexpected access to the files. The DNC issued a press release about CrowdStrike's findings on April 29, 2016, which confirmed–five weeks and 128 hours later–that a few Sanders staffers accessed Hillary Clinton's voter data for an hour. For unknown reasons, no Russian hacking was detected at that time, suggesting CrowdStrike missed one or both of the Russian hacking groups that were allegedly present in the DNC network at the time.
Just days later, in late April 2016–nearly 10 months after the FBI informed the DNC it was exposed to hackers–the DNC re-hired CrowdStrike to evaluate its computer network. The company quickly assessed, using its own software, that two hacker networks affiliated with Russian intelligence likely carried out the attacks, one entering in 2015 and remaining (obtaining emails and messages) and the other entering at the end of April 2016 (taking opposition research files). CrowdStrike speculated that spear-phishing emails, which when opened install malicious software, were the method used; however, the firm denied having "hard evidence" in that regard. Notably, CrowdStrike was "not sure how the hackers got in," per a Washington Post article covering the story two months later, on June 14, 2016, which began the "Russian hackers" media narrative.
Per a CrowdStrike executive, Dimitri Alperovitch, the reason for the two-month delay between discovering the hackers in the DNC network and disclosing this information to the public was to perform a "remediation," which involved the following:
We had to conduct a remediation—a major event involving the entire network. The attackers were very well implanted into the network so, this past weekend, we shut off the entire network from the Internet. We rebuilt every machine and cleaned everything up. The announcement came out after that was done because we didn't want to tip off the adversaries.
Alperovitch indicated that the DNC decided to "go public" with the hacking information on June 14, 2016, because it was a matter of "national security":
Q: Usually, there is a high degree of confidentiality when these attacks occur. Organizations generally don't reveal that they have been compromised. Why did CrowdStrike and the DNC choose to go public with this attack?
Alperovitch: Well it wasn't our decision—it was the DNC's decision. They thought it was very important to highlight to the American public that this is a national security story and they wanted to highlight what the Russians were doing to the US political system—that was very important. Then, we were able to convince [the DNC] that if you are going to go public, would you allow [CrowdStrike] to release indicators actually related to the attack and tell the story of how the adversaries did it so that others can better protect themselves and [the DNC] was fully supportive of that. We do these things almost weekly and never can we talk about them but in this case, [the DNC] brought it up…and we were thrilled.
Presumably, the thorough forensic analysis by CrowdStrike identified all of the ways in which Bernie Sanders' employees, various Russian agents, and possibly even internal leakers, had breached the DNC network. It also appears that CrowdStrike then "cleaned everything up" by scrubbing or replacing the devices. Notably, the FBI was not involved in these efforts in any way whatsoever.
On July 6, 2016, just four days before his death, DNC Staffer Seth Rich was offered a job with the Hillary Clinton campaign, and would likely be moved to her Brooklyn office for the remainder of the campaign season, according to his father, Joel Rich.
On July 10, 2016, Seth Rich was walking down the street near his home, on the phone with his girlfriend, when he was gunned down by unknown assailants–shot twice in the back. While some believe he is the Wikileaks source behind the DNC leaks, others attribute his death to a botched robbery. No belongings were taken during the crime.
On July 22, 2016, Wikileaks released the first batch of DNC emails. Before the first document was ever released, the Russian hackers narrative was already infused into the Wikileaks publications by the Washington Post and New York Times.
On July 26, 2016, a New York Times article, titled Spy Agency Consensus Grows That Russia Hacked D.N.C., indicated that anonymous "federal officials" had "largely echoed" the findings of private security firms in concluding that Russians hacked the DNC emails.
The same day, then-President Obama indicated that Russia was a suspect in the hacking investigation, but noted that "anything's possible," adding that the FBI was still investigating:
On October 7, 2016, Wikileaks released the first batch of Clinton Campaign Chairman John Podesta's private emails, which were hosted on his Gmail account. Podesta, in turn, immediately blamed "the Russians" for the hack, despite a complete lack of forensic evidence to support that conclusion.
The same day, the Obama administration followed suit, broadly blaming Russia for cyber attacks against various US institutions, as described by NBC News:
With no additional evidence, the unnamed intelligence "officials" had gone from "echoing" a private report to being "confident" that only Russia's "senior-most officials" could have authorized the hacking of both the DNC and John Podesta's emails. Notably, that was the first day Podesta's emails were known to be hacked, so the level of confidence in the suspect seems to be matched by an even greater level of blind faith.
On November 17, 2016, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Russia was behind the virtually all hacking surrounding the election; however, the agencies lacked "good insight" into the connection between Russian email hacking and Wikileaks, describing the evidence as "not as strong." Notably, in January 2016, DNI Clapper had his phone and personal email hacked by teenagers. Earlier, in October 2015, CIA Director John Brennan's personal email account was hacked by the same teenagers. The hackers weren't Russians–they were potheads:
After Donald Trump was elected President, the stories became wilder and less connected to reality, to the point where a New York Times reporter compared the supposed Russian hacking to Watergate just a month after the election. At the time, Trump wasn't even sworn in.
On December 22, 2016, CrowdStrike upgraded its report regarding the certainty that Russian military intelligence hacking groups had hacked the DNC. The reason for the increased confidence was that CrowdStrike had found similar malware used against the Ukranian military in its howitzer units, which were controlled by a hacked Android application. At that point, CrowdStrike had "high confidence" that Russia was responsible for hacking the DNC. (More on this below.)
On December 30, 2017, Mark Maunder, the founder of cybersecurity company WordFence, which protects WordPress sites, released an extensive blog post that analyzed the evidence underlying the "Russian" hacking malware. Based on his company's methodologies and information released by the US government, they concluded that the malware code used in the DNC hack was both old and commercially available, as well as not specific to Russian intelligence:
The malware sample is old, widely used and appears to be Ukrainian. It has no apparent relationship with Russian intelligence and it would be an indicator of compromise for any website.
On January 6, 2017, the much-anticipated CIA, FBI, and NSA inter-agency intelligence assessment was released regarding Russian hacking of the US election. Notably, there were virtually no technical specifics describing how the DNC and John Podesta–whose accounts were hosted on completely different servers–were successfully hacked. Instead, the report relied heavily on "Russian behavior":
The CIA and FBI both expressed "high confidence" that Vladimir Putin interfered in our election. These agencies speculated that Putin's motive was payback for then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's interference in Russia's domestic affairs:
Although not backed by any detailed evidence, the agencies claimed that Wikileaks received the DNC and Podesta emails from Russian intelligence agencies, which in turn used fake accounts such as Guccifer 2.0 and DCLeaks to conceal their identities. It's unclear what, when, or how any of this information was obtained and then transmitted by these parties to Wikileaks, yet the report indicates the FBI and CIA had "high confidence" in that conclusion.
While light on details describing the hacking, the majority of the report focused on how Putin and other Russian officials deeply disliked Hillary Clinton, which according to the intelligence community made them the lead suspects in the case. The fact that Putin couldn't stand Hillary was no secret, but it was a sentiment shared by millions of people in both Russia and the US–hardly specific:
The report also took up an inordinate amount of space, spanning nine pages, describing intelligence community complaints about Russia-based RT television network, which was accused of spreading "discontent" about American politics and ruining Hillary Clinton's stellar reputation. Not discussed was the fact that nearly all of this content was produced in US alternative media as well, read and watched by millions of people in both Russia and the US–hardly specific:
The New York Times described the report as "damning," despite its vagueness and the near-complete lack of proof supporting its conclusions about Russian hacking. The rest of the mainstream media has followed the same narrative until the present day, without ever questioning the reasoning behind the intelligence agencies' "consensus." If they did, they would know that these agencies outsourced most of the investigation to a private contractor with little-to-no oversight by the agencies themselves.
CrowdStrike issued reports containing its findings to the FBI, but did not grant the FBI access to the DNC computer network to verify the findings. Excluded from evaluating the actual computers and servers, the FBI was forced to rely on CrowdStrike's report to render any conclusions, according to former FBI Director Comey's testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on January 10, 2017, and House Intelligence Committee on March 20, 2017:
While former Director Comey expressed regret for not playing a more active role in the investigation, he referred to CrowdStrike as "pros," testifying that using CrowdStrike was an "appropriate substitute" for conducting his own agency's investigation. Like the Clinton email case, where Hillary's lawyers and staff were allowed to print and sort "work-related" emails before destroying the rest, Comey let the DNC pick its own degree of cooperation.
What resulted was that the FBI not only allowed the DNC to obstruct justice in a national security matter, but then allowed DNC officials to substitute CrowdStrike's report in place of a proper FBI investigation. In turn, CrowdStrike subsequently blamed Russia for the DNC hacks, the FBI and other agencies rubber-stamped this conclusion, and the mainstream media and establishment politicians uncritically accepted these findings. As noted above, Senator McCain described the Russian hacking as an act of war in January 2017. Just one month later, in February 2017, Sen. McCain was fooled into thinking a prank caller was the Prime Minister of Ukraine:
In early January 2017–the same month the "consensus" intelligence report was released and Comey testified before Congress–CrowdStrike became embroiled in controversy and was accused of misrepresenting data in a case involving one of the same hacking groups that allegedly hacked the DNC.
As Voice of America reported on March 24, 2017, CrowdStrike claimed that one of the Russian hacking groups involved in the DNC hack had installed similar malware on an Android-based artillery app used by the Ukranian military. This malware program allegedly provided Russia with the geolocation of Ukranian howitzer batteries, of which up to 80% were discovered and destroyed based on the malware revealing their locations. These events were flatly denied by the Ukranian military and think tanks, resulting in CrowdStrike dramatically revising the initial assessment and deleting significant portions of the assessment.
On April 13, 2017, the UK Daily Mail reported that CrowdStrike refused to testify in front of the House Intelligence Committee. Given that the FBI failed to examine the DNC servers, adopted the CrowdStrike "pros" report as absolute truth, and then CrowdStrike refused to testify about its methods and conclusions, it follows that refusing to testify is an indication that the DNC hacking report is not credible.
As noted above, CrowdStrike's initial evaluation of the Ukranian hacking event directly influenced the company's certainty that Russia was responsible for the DNC hack, elevating that conclusion to "high confidence," followed by the joint-agency intelligence report a few weeks later indicating that they too had "high confidence." It follows that the high level of collective confidence of our intelligence agencies was built, in large part, on the misinterpretation of the hack in Ukraine.
Even after these troubling revelations, former Dir. Comey still praised the company's competence. His refusal to admit mistakes and change his opinions is reminiscent of the same reticence he displayed in the Clinton email case, during which he refused to change his opinion on that case after receiving devastating evidence proving obstruction of justice, followed by aggressive questioning–to the point of embarrassment–by the House Judiciary Committee.
With similar rigidity, CrowdStrike also stood with the Obama administration's conclusion that North Korea hacked Sony in 2014, even after many other cybersecurity experts warned that the evidence suggested an inside job. North Korea can't even translate a tweet into English correctly, but according to CrowdStrike they're master hackers.
CrowdStrike expressing extreme certainty that North Korea was responsible for the Sony hacking incident, even when other scenarios appeared to be equally or more probable, suggests a willingness to unwaveringly agree with the US government's assessment of blame in questionable cases.
Furthermore, in the DNC case, there was no concurrent or subsequent FBI investigation of the same network, no verification of the software used to identify the hackers' country of origin actually works, and virtually no oversight of CrowdStrike's secret investigation, the results of which were disclosed to the FBI shortly before the public was informed of the same. With virtually no oversight, an intelligence report based on an incorrect interpretation of other data, an unwillingness to testify about methods used and conclusions reached about Russian hacking, and the existence of competing facts regarding how the emails were obtained, it's hard to trust the CrowdStrike report at all.
Even more troubling, Wikileaks' recent Vault 7 CIA releases included a program created by the CIA that provided the means for creating false digital fingerprints that suggest foreign countries were behind hacking operations. Assuming this program was operational last year, the possibility exists that CrowdStrike was misled by our own government into thinking Russian hackers were behind the intrusions. As noted above, CrowdStrike had no "hard evidence" about how the DNC hack was accomplished, yet claimed it could conclude Russia was the source.
CrowdStrike is a private, profit-seeking entity with a financial interest in convincing governments, political parties, and militaries that their unique services and proprietary software are needed for protection against powerful hacking groups. They are alleged to have significant ties to Google, a Ukrainian oligarch, and possibly even Hillary Clinton. As a rapidly growing company, CrowdStrike's reputation for accurately identifying hackers is intimately tied to profitability. Getting the DNC hackers' identities wrong or waffling on the conclusion would be bad for business. As noted above, the DNC publicly disclosed the hacking for the purpose of blaming Russia for hacking its emails.
Presumably, a private security company's employees are not vetted in a similar manner to FBI agents. It goes without saying that no one would ever find it acceptable for the DNC to pay the salaries of FBI agents investigating its network, but that's exactly what happened in the business relationship between the DNC and CrowdStrike–a blatant conflict of interest. Further, choosing not to testify about methods and conclusions at an oversight hearing is not optional for the FBI, which is controlled (in theory) by our Constitution.
Additionally, there is no information (other than generalized assessments of "Russian behavior") to establish that John Podesta's Gmail account and the DNC emails were related hacking events. Besides using Gmail on a completely different server, Podesta had some of the worst cybersecurity practices imaginable. At least one of his passwords was p@ssw0rd. He lost his phone in a cab, before later retrieving it. And he apparently didn't use two-step authentication. He eventually received a notification telling him to change his password after a login attempt from a Ukranian IP address–not Russian. Additionally, there is no indication that Google investigated and found evidence of Russia hacking his account. With such lousy security and a complete lack of investigation, there is no basis to believe Russia hacked John Podesta.
Further, given his coarse attitude toward staff displayed in the email below, it wouldn't be surprising if Podesta was subjected to an inside job as well:
By contrast, Wikileaks has a perfect record for accuracy in its publications. Julian Assange has consistently and repeatedly denied that Russia was involved as a Wikileaks source in the DNC or Podesta email releases:
Further, former British Ambassador Craig Murray said he was the go-between who collected the DNC emails in a Washington-area park from "Americans with authorized access to the information," presumably DNC employees, who were disgusted by the corruption of the Clinton Foundation and believed that the DNC's conduct in the primary election was unfair to Bernie Sanders.
Although Wikileaks has a strict rule against revealing sources, they unexpectedly announced a $20,000 reward for the July 10th murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich, which created considerable suspicion that Seth Rich was the source of the DNC email leaks:
A private investigator recently indicated that he is aware of emails between Seth Rich and Wikileaks that are contained on a laptop, and that the investigation is being obstructed by authorities, with the recently revelation that critical witnesses weren't interviewed by police. The Seth Rich connection to Wikileaks was also recently reinforced by Kim Dotcom recently reporting that he was in contact with Seth well before the election, and later assisted him in providing information to Wikileaks. If this and other forthcoming information eventually proves that Seth delivered the DNC emails to Wikileaks, that should finally end the Russian hackers narrative and prompt a serious investigation into his murder, which is currently being considered as a botched robbery by DC Police.
The received evidence does not inspire "high confidence" that Russia hacked either the DNC or Podesta emails, or otherwise played a significant role in our election. To recap:
- Wikileaks denies connections to Russia, and others have provided information about how the DNC emails were obtained by insiders.
- The DNC obstructed the FBI's investigation for ten months before it hired a private cybersecurity firm, then gave the intelligence agencies that report as the basis for the intelligence community "consensus" that somehow followed.
- The same private firm has subsequently evaluated one of the same Russian hacking group's activities and assessed important facts incorrectly during the process, in addition to having questionable judgment in a subsequent case and refusing to testify in this one.
- Obama's CIA may have had a program that was able to create the false impression of "Russian hacking," the inappropriate use of which sounds more plausible after his agencies spread false stories about incidents such as Benghazi.
- And based on his security practices alone, it's very likely that John Podesta could have been hacked by almost anyone.
In matters of war or peace with Russia, we deserve better than a political party that refuses to cooperate with law enforcement investigations and a lousy intelligence assessment that was based almost entirely on the report of a questionable cybersecurity contractor.


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This explosive 5 pieced combo formed 20 years ago in the spanish city of Vila-Real (Spain) has managed to reflect an attitude and unique sound. Under influences from bands such as Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson or White Zombie, sharing stage with well known acts such as Dope, Guns n' Roses, Korn, MotorHead, Ministry, Nightwish, In Flames, DeathStars, Avatar, Fear Factory, Behemoth or Marilyn Manson themselves.
The staging of the band if one of their strongest points, equipped with a powerful sound and a striking image, which turns Killus into a whirlwind live.
After five albums (God Bless Us – 2007 Extinction – 2009 , Never Something Was So Real – 2011, Feel the Monster – 2013 and Ultrazombies – 2016) in the market with those who obtained great reviews both nationally and internationally, Killus has done three tours (April, November & December) around Europe and UK presenting "Feel the Monster" with the Swedish band Avatar and the British The Defiled.


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Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
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Boycott Wired or Chris Anderson is a foof
Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by JayFarrar, Jul 29, 2009.
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text: A good friend of mine knows that each time someone dear to me passes on to eternity, I put up my John 11:35 profile picture on Facebook. But this friend asked me why I posted this profile at this time, when (thankfully) no one in my family passed away because of Typhoon Yolanda? This passage isn't as comforting as the Psalms because it's only about the time when Lazarus died and Jesus wept. To which I replied:


text: Cliq Remote/Webmanager course /Abloy/AbloyCOUK/AboutSection/industry-solutions.jpg CLASSROOM Who should attend? Installers, security managers, Lock Centres, specifiers, engineers. Course Duration Full day. Course Synopsis The course provides a solid understanding of the Protec Cliq product group. It will cover both hardware and software aspects: Hardware Cliq technology overview Available products Keys and C-keys Fitting Cliq devices Software Cliq Webmanager Cliq Remote Installation and SSL Certificates Handing Out/In keys Access rights for keys Key and cylinder audit trails Key schedules Operator levels and tasks.


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Beverage World:
By Bill Anderson
As each segment of the beverage industry gets more crowded and competitive, the need for old and new beverage entrepreneurs to deliver compelling business plans has become more acute.
In our small private equity group, we have reviewed over 100 business plans in the last year. Here are a few key takeways from the best plans we've seen:
Be very clear about why your product is differentiated from the rest of the pack. If, for example, you're planning a new relaxation drink, you better have a clear message as to how you are going to compete against the 350 other relaxation products currently in the market or in development. The same goes for any homebrewer who plans to compete against the 1500 other craft brewers currently out in the marketplace.
Be honest about your management team's strengths and weaknesses. It's important for investors to know how your current team will be able to execute on the business plan and who else you will need to hire to be able to hit your projections.
And speaking of projections, it's critical that they be based on conservative growth expectations. Good products take time. It took 15 years to build Blue Moon into what Coors management refers to as their 'overnight success.' It's also wise to always build in a substantial cushion of additional capital. If you think you need $1.5 million, you probably better raise $2.5 million.
Knowledgeable beverage investors are going to want to know your go-to-market strategy in detail. If you're adopting the DSD model, it's critical that you summarize your distribution successes to date and why distributors are going to take on your product.
Authenticity and purpose is critical for any new brand – not only for marketing purposes but for the success of the team and the organization overall. Brands that are built with passion on a mission to bring a great beverage product to the market, with a fun, hard-working and extraordinary team, have a much greater chance of long-term success than business plans from founders who are motivated solely by a 'get rich quick' mentality.
Finally, investors will want to know if there is a well-conceived exit strategy. If you plan to sell out to a major supplier, you need to show why any of the strategics will be interested and whether there will be any hurdles to getting a Coke or an ABI to the table.


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The Turnbull Government has today introduced legislation to strengthen Australia's competition law, reforms that will benefit consumers, businesses and the economy by boosting innovation, opening new markets and increasing choice for communities.
The Harper Review recommended strengthening section 46 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 after finding that current misuse of market power law is not reliably enforceable and does not effectively target and deter anti-competitive conduct, to the detriment of Australian consumers.
Our adoption of the Harper Review recommendation will create a commercially and legally robust law to prevent firms with substantial market power engaging in conduct that harms competition in Australian markets. This is particularly important for Australia's more than two million small businesses which make up more than 97 per cent of all businesses.
Extensive consultations preceded the Government's final decision to reform the law and a last round of consultation on the draft legislation was held before today's introduction. Concerns raised by stakeholders were taken into account in finalising the proposed law.
The reformed section 46 will prohibit a corporation from engaging in conduct with the purpose, effect or likely effect of substantially lessening competition in a market in which it directly or indirectly participates.
The new provision will more effectively address anti-competitive conduct, protecting the process of competition rather than individual competitors.
These reforms represent an important step towards ensuring Australia's competition laws are fit for purpose and support competition in a dynamic economy. They are a key part of the Government's response to the Harper Review, which is all about increasing choice and delivering better services and outcomes for Australian consumers.
Amending the law will provide another important tool to ensure Australian businesses can flourish. It will help to create a better environment under which new and innovative firms will be able to enter new markets, aid the introduction of new technologies into Australia and encourage availability of the best quality products at the lowest price for consumers.
Additional amendments to the competition law contained in the exposure draft for the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Competition Policy Review) Bill 2016 are being finalised and will be introduced to the Parliament in early 2017. The reforms to section 46 were previously contained in Schedule 7 of that Bill.


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Did you know that a recent survey found that 62 percent of law firms maintain a presence on social networks, up from 55 percent in 2012?
78 percent of lawyers themselves manage one or more social networks for professional purposes, with those in litigation, commercial law and employment/labor most prominent.
Around 1.7 hours per week is spent using social networking sites, and slightly more than one third (35 percent) of lawyers have obtained clients from these channels.
Check the visual below for more insights, which comes courtesy of MyCase.
(Source: MyCase.)


text: This 2017 3D animated film from Disney/Pixar prominently features Ukulele music. This songbook features 7 songs in melody, lyrics and chord diagrams for standard G-C-E-A uke tuning. Includes the signature song and 2018 Best Original Song Oscar winner "Remember Me" by Kristen Anderson-Lopez & Robert Lopez; original songs "Everyone Knows Juanita," "Proud Corazón," "Un Poco Loco" and "The World Es Mi Familia" by Germaine Franco & Adrian Molina; and more.


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Sending low-frequency shock waves through injured muscles could rapidly accelerate their recovery, according to a groundbreaking study.
The findings could have a significant impact on the treatment of sporting injuries, potentially enabling athletes to make a swift return to training.
Researchers at the University of Salzburg tested Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy (ESWT) on rats and discovered that the procedure triggered muscle tissue to kickstart the self-healing process.
Dr Angela Zissler, leader of the study, said: "Our study indicates that shock waves increase the levels of chemical signalling factors in muscle tissue. These factors wake up 'satellite' progenitor cells which gradually become new muscle fibres."
See also:
Student Extinguishes Fire With Nothing But Sound
Put Salt On A Speaker And Something Really Cool Happens
This 'Star Trek' Style Tractor Beam Can Hold Objects Using 'Holograms' Made Of Sound
ESWT has already proved to be successful in treating injuries such as ligament and tendon damage, but this is the first study to look at its role in healing muscles.
In an ESWT session, probes send shock waves to the damaged muscle at a rate of roughly 1 pulse per second. Because the shock waves use only a small amount of energy, there is no need for a local anaesthetic.
Dr Zissler added: "This therapy only needs sessions of around 15 minutes, so easily complements traditional practices such as physiotherapy."
Shock wave therapy is uncomfortable but not painful, according to Total Health, which explains that the more energy a patient can tolerate, the greater the chance of a speedy recovery. Surgeons start off by applying very low-energy pulses, which increase as treatment continues.
ESWT has been used to treat a range of conditions from heel pain to breaking up kidney stones.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
Source: huffingtonpost


text:
Birch & Waite Professional
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The rules of the offer are solely contained within these Terms and Conditions. Further information can be found at:
The promoter reserves the right to cancel or amend the offer and these terms and conditions without notice in the event of a catastrophe, war, civil or military disturbance, act of God or any actual or anticipated breach of any applicable law or regulation or any other event outside of the promoter's control. Any changes to the free tastings will be notified to requesters as soon as possible by the promoter.
The promoter is not responsible for inaccurate details supplied to any entrant by any third party connected with this promotion.
No cash alternative to the offer will be offered. The free tasting offer is not transferable. Free tastings are subject to availability and we reserve the right to send sample products. The promoter accepts no responsibility for the arrival or non-arrival of any offer made in this promotion.
The promoter will contact the requester within two weeks of receiving a free tasting request, with fulfillment up to 12 weeks.
The promoter's decision in respect of all matters to do with the offer will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.
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Hasselback potatoes are a fun side dish that I've enjoyed, so when I saw a recipe for Hasselback apples, I thought, "Why not?" The original recipe called for an oatmeal crumble, making the dish something like an apple crisp. While I'm sure that recipe would be delicious, it wouldn't be something that I could indulge in on a regular basis. I decided to eliminate that topping and just kick these baked apples up a notch.
- 3 large apples, peeled and cored
- 1 tablespoon butter, melted
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- Pre-heat oven to 375°.
- Starting at the outer edge, make thin slices at 1/8"-1/4" intervals cutting most (but not all) of the way through each apple half.
- Place apple halves, cut side down, in an 8-inch square pan sprayed with cooking spray.
- Combine butter, sugar and cinnamon and brush evenly over each apple piece.
- Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes.
- Uncover and bake for an additional 10 minutes
These apples were delicious and with just a bit of butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon on them, they were very figure-friendly. I may add a lightened oatmeal crumble next time.


text:
Welcome to SnoopaVision, a fully immersive experience that lets you watch any video on YouTube in 360 degrees, with Snoop Dogg.
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New album "High Definition" dropping soon
Oh, and by the way, Happy April 1st.
Video brought to you by YouTube and Portal A


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State Colleges
Carradine sets tone for Butler
EL DORADO — They have decorated the walls of the Ramon and Betty Criss Football Complex with their accomplishments, so numerous and so grand that they fill the space with ease.
The stories from the Butler Community College football team's six national titles are told on these walls.
But one wall — one very important wall in the main lobby — remains bare.
That is where they will honor their very best; Rudi Johnson, Austin Panter and Markus White. All NJCAA national players of the year.
Thursday night, Butler coach Troy Morrell pointed at the empty spot on the wall and said that soon enough, there would be another.
"That's where we're going to put all the pictures from our national players of the year... that's where we'll put your picture, Tank," Morrell said to Butler defensive end Cornellius Carradine. "You'll be right there with the very best players to ever come to Butler."
Carradine, a 6-foot-5, 257-pound sophomore, is the top junior-college prospect in the nation. He has already been named the Defensive Player of the Year in the Jayhawk Conference thanks to his 109 tackles and 16 sacks — both league bests. He has led the top-ranked Grizzlies (11-0) into today's national title game against No. 2 Navarro (10-1) in the Citizens Bank Bowl at Pittsburg.
"Since the end of his freshman year, when we lost to Fort Scott in the final game, his sole focus has been on getting this team to this point," Butler defensive coordinator Tim Schaffner said of Carradine. "When we have discussions, it's about what we have to do to win... he is gifted, he is motivated and he has the mindset of an overachiever. You put all that stuff together and that's a dangerous thing."
Carradine has routinely been at his best in the Grizzlies' biggest games this season.
In the season-opener against Navarro, Carradine had nine tackles and 3.5 sacks in a 16-10 win at Cessna Stadium.
When the Grizzlies traveled to No. 3 Coffeyville on Oct. 16, Carradine's 39-yard fumble return for a touchdown gave Butler the lead after digging a 12-0 hole to start the game. His 11 tackles and three sacks did the rest in a 38-26 win.
"Against Coffeyville, there was a play where he had four guys trying to block him and he went right through the middle of them and got to the quarterback," said Butler's other defensive end, Ian Knight. "He's just so fast. Everything he does on the field is a split-second ahead of everybody else."
Carradine had 11 tackles and two sacks the next week in a 28-0 win over No. 2 Hutchinson, and then posted 10 tackles and one sack in the Region VI title game, a 48-0 rout of the Blue Dragons.
"You see what he's done and you understand why he's so wanted right now," Morrell said. "And I think he is so humble, so down-to-earth, that it kind of overwhelms him that all of these schools want him."
Carradine has received scholarship offers from, among others, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida State, Georgia, Kansas State, Tennessee and, most importantly, Ohio State, just an hour-and-a-half drive from his hometown of Cincinnati. His mother, uncle, brothers and sisters have made the trip to Pittsburg to watch him play today.
He is also on track to finish school Wednesday, in just three semesters, and start the winter semester at whatever four-year school he chooses.
"All of my focus has been on the national title game, and I feel like it'd be selfish of me to be thinking about what school I'm going to go to with so much on the line for all of us," Carradine said. "After the season is over, I'll get together with the coaches and we'll figure all that out. Right now, my focus is completely on the game.
"The idea of winning a title is the motivation for our team. We feel like we can do it, together."


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Food Friday Featuring: The Best Pasta Salad (Perfect For Back To School Lunches!)
• 310g/11oz small shell-shaped pasta
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 255g/9oz yellow cherry tomatoes
• 255g/9oz red cherry tomatoes
• 1 handful of black olives, pitted
• 2 tablespoons fresh chives
• 1 handful of fresh basil
• ½ a cucumber
• 4 tablespoons white wine vinegar, or to taste
• 7 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Throw in the pasta and cloves of garlic, boil until al dente, drain and run under cold water to cool. Put the garlic to one side to use for the dressing. Put the pasta into a bowl. Chop the tomatoes, olives, chives, basil and cucumber into pieces about half the size of the pasta and add to the bowl. Squash the garlic cloves out of their skins and mush in a pestle and mortar. Add the vinegar, oil and seasoning. Drizzle this over the salad, adding a little more seasoning to taste.
Photo credit & source: Jamie Oliver


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Round Twenty AFL Picks
GWS v MELBOURNE
GWS are in a World of bother here missing Patton, Cameron and Greene all up front. It makes hard to see them kicking a winning score in Canberra and also appears to make the current odds still not right.
Pattons omission yesterday has only dropped the line 3-4 points from 11.5 to 8.5/7.5. That doesn't seem enough for me. Let's face it the Giants are not playing particularly well as it is and can ill afford these key outs against a good side like Melbourne.
The Demons themselves will be without there key forward in Jesse Hogan but he has been absent for most of the season and the Dees do have other targets up forward in Tom McDonald and Jack Watts with the dangerous Jeff Garlett at there feet.
The value here remains Melb who should almost be fave. Back the Dees both ways.
OTP Recommendation
Melbourne +8.53 at 1.94-3
OTP Recommendation
Melbourne to Win2 at 2.35-2
ESSENDON v CARLTON
Essendon has the chance this week to get back to the winning board and get some handy percentage when they take on Carlton at the MCG on Saturday.
The Bombers lost a high quality match to the rejuvenated Western Bulldogs. John Worsfold will be concerned that they allowed the Dogs a127 points but they shouldn't face as much firepower from a Carlton side that hasn't managed to reach 100 in a game this year. The Bombers on the other hand have had no issues scoring and little wonder with Joe Daniher wreaking havoc up forward. The Bombers have pasted 100 ten times this year.
Essendon lost to Carlton in Round 3 this year so they will be on high alert and looking to get one back on there arch rival. If Essendon harbours any hopes of playing finals in 2017 then this is a must win game. The Blues are really starting to look tired and no Patrick Cripps has really hurt them. Bryce Gibbs numbers have dropped right off since Cripps went out injured.
Go with Essendon at the minus 26.5 here.
BRISBANE v WESTERN BULLDOGS
The Western Bulldogs have finally got there act together in Season 2017 and now are on a four game winning run. Last week's win over Essendon was high quality and there best for the season. It was certainly the closest they have looked to the Premiership side of 2016. The quick ball movement has returned and suddenly the forward line as a result of quick entries is looking potent.
The Doggies head up to Queensland for the second time in three weeks when they play the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba in the Saturday twilight game. These two sides played an entertaining game in Round 5 with the Lions going into half time with a five goal lead to the shock of everyone. The Dogs ended up fighting back to win by five goals themselves. They won't want to be giving the Lions to big a start at home this week.
The Lions won't be a pushover here. They rested four of there young budding stars last week from the long trip to Perth and also Dayne Zorko who has been the Lions best this year also missed with suspension. So you can expect a few fresh young Cubs ready to rip in this week.
The Dogs have lost the last four encounters between these two sides at the Gabba.
The Dogs are in to good a form to drop this but the Lions will offer plenty of headaches. Take the Doggies at the margin 1-39 here.
OTP Recommendation
Western Bulldogs 1-392 at 2.30+2.6
ST KILDA v WEST COAST
St Kilda are back at home this Sunday after there desperate last second loss to Port Adelaide. The Saints looked like they had done the perfect hit and run job last week until they conceded two goals in the last minute.
The West Coast Eagles will be the Saints opponents this week. The Eagles had a comfortable win against an under strength Lions team last week. The Eagles gave the impression they never really got out of second gear but its hard to know if they can go up another gear these days. Watching the Eagles this year you get the impression they are a very one paced side who rely heavily on individual brilliance and the experience and bigger bodies to get them over the line. Sides are well aware when the Eagles travel to Melbourne they go to Josh Kennedy without fail and even against Collingwood when he kicked six goals it still wasn't enough.
The Eagles have of course had there usual troubles when playing in Melbourne this year but have won two games at Etihad in 2017 and really should have won against Collingwood two weeks back. The Saints of course play there best footy on the fast track that is Etihad and this is sure to worry the slow paced Eagles midfield.
If the home side can contain Kennedy and Darling then I expect them to be a little to quick around the packs and with Nick Riewoldt back into side the Saints with be inspired here to see there inspiration leader go out in the last few weeks of his career with a few wins.
RICHMOND v HAWTHORN
Richmond and Hawthorn are set to do battle in a ripping contest at the G on Sunday afternoon. The Hawks took care of the Swans for the second time this year last Friday as Alastair Clarkson continues to weave the magic wand and keep the faint finals hopes alive.
Richmond continued it's winning ways with a comfortable win over the Suns on the Gold Coast. More importantly the Tigers didn't get any injuries but they will still be without Jack Riewoldt this week. They were able to cover the absence of Riewoldt last week without to much drama but you get the feeling it won't be so easy this week against the organised Hawthorn defence which itself will be minus Luke Hodge due to suspension.
Richmond will know they can ill afford to get into a shoot out here with no genuine marking forward and therefore will try to make this a tight scrappy affair. The Hawks won't mind that either. The teams that have worried the Hawks the most this year are the ones that have moved the ball fast and wide and scored heavy. When Clarkson can get the game on his own terms he makes the Hawks so difficult to beat.
In a predicted tight contest take the value with the Hawks to win at 2.10/ 2.05. And take them at the margin of 1-39.
ADELAIDE v PORT ADELAIDE
The final game of Round 20 is the Showdown. This looms as another great contest between the two sides who love to hate each other but also love to put on ripping games.
The Crows somehow came from 50 points down last week against Collingwood to scrape a draw with a goal after the siren. It was a remarkable fightback that not many sides in the comp could manage. That said they should never have allowed themselves to be so far behind. This week they will be switched on from the onset and they will also likely have some handy inclusions in Eddie Betts, Jake Lever and Brad Crouch.
Port Adelaide pulled off the great escape last week. The Power have looked a little ragged the last fortnight and of course have only managed to win against one other fellow final 8 side all year. That's not a good stat. Chad Wingard is still out and is probably the one player they didn't want missing for this clash.
The Crows have won the last four showdowns and I think they will have a little too much quality and firepower for the Power here. Take the Crows at 1-39.
WEEK RESULTS STAKES ROI Grand Final +9 11 82% Finals Week Three -4.2 12 -35% Finals Week Two +0.42 11 4% Finals Week One +7.18 11 65% Round Twenty-Three -9.09 21 -43% Round Twenty-Two +9.47 16 59% Round Twenty-One +8.55 13 66% Round Twenty -8 17 -47% Round Nineteen -9.2 13 -71% Round Eighteen +3.01 15 20% Round Seventeen +9.88 16 62% Round Sixteen -4.05 15 -27% Round Fifteen +0.12 13 1% Round Fourteen -2.48 15 -17% Round Thirteen +1.93 5 39% Round Twelve -6.3 14 -45% Round Eleven -2.1 9 -23% Round Ten -5.26 10 -53% Round Nine +4 11 36% Round Eight +10.01 9 111% Round Seven -10.26 17 -60% Round Six -2.4 14 -17% Round Five -12.3 18 -68% Round Four -5.21 11 -47% Round Three -1.16 10 -12% Round Two -11 11 -100% Round One -0.27 6 -5% Total -29.71 345 -9%


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To say that 2012 has been rough on my body is an understatement. Last year was mentally tough in every way possible. I thought I would never get out alive. Now, I'm not even sure my body will make it to the proposed end of the world on December 21, 2012; however, NASA put out their argument against this set date for the end of the world).
I have had two, COUNT THAT TWO surgeries in one year. I had a scope done on my left ankle to find out why after 15 months, I am still swelling up and in pain. The scar tissue damage was cleaned up, but my ankle still swells and causes pain. So, it's pain management for the rest of my life I guess. Then, I caught a viral infection, which caused me to have vertigo for the first time ever. And in true Kristi weird fashion, the vertigo came first before the actual deathbed sickness (typically, it's the other way around). I did lots and lots of tests. Having the vertigo first threw the norm out the door and we had to test for EVERYTHING. This lasted for four weeks straight. Also, this weakened my immune system. If someone gets sick around me or I just catch a simple head cold, I would be out of commission for a week. Then, I had surgery again to deal with my cyst removal. This was so hard for me, because the anesthesia made me sick...really sick. I didn't leave the hospital at a normal time, because I was kept under observation. The nausea and vomiting lasted for about 48 hours.
|It's red for the holidays. I never miss an opportunity to be totally holiday cliched'.
But in spite of all that listed above, I did do some really awesome things and some related to my Goals post for 2012 (obviously I failed miserably with my goal to make it to 2013 without an injury):
- The big one for me in 2012 was that I finally FINALLY learned how to not only drink wine, but really and truly love it. I started off slow, but my friend Gary said, "You have to just have a glass with whatever meal and get used to the taste (paraphrasing since I don't remember what he actually said...I tune him out alot). That advice helped...oh and sharing with people. Mal even got me a wine journal and I kept track of wines that I liked vs. wines I didn't like (thinking Merlots). Going to France in May was my turning point since the wines there were fantastic. However, it did take awhile to like red wines, but I do love them now. I think Malbec is my favorite red wine (Gracias Luciano...but you may have spoiled me). I also took a wine education class and went to a winery with the intent of liking the wine (Veramar Vineyard) instead of just tasting it to be nice. If you are in Northern Virginia and looking for a good winery, head that way. It was so beautiful.
|Northern Virginia in October brings out some of the most amazing colors...and wine.
- Haley and I finally went on our kayaking adventure in February. It was a long time coming, but we managed to go out there for a fun time. I couldn't have asked for a better experience tandem kayaking with my girl. Afterwards, we had discussions of learning to sail, which is next on the list.
- I joined two outdoor bootcamps that kicked my butt and I loved every minute of it. Mean Green was my favorite and bonus that it was closer. Silverback Fitness was still a good option.
- One of the things on my list was to travel to a new U.S. city. Well, I traveled to three different U.S. cities. I went to San Diego for the first time to watch my beautiful friend Susan get married to the awesome Dan (my designated driver for life since he likes to drive my Porsche). Even though I completely missed the wedding, I enjoyed the reception and loved her mother's friends. I also traveled to another part of Northern Virginia to see my friend BranDee marry Martin (who I haven't seen in several years). While I was there, I stopped in Washington D.C. to make up for my quick car trip through D. C. several years before this. I went on a family trip to take my grandmother to see Mt. Rushmore, which was a bucketlist item for her and an amazing experience for me.
Susan and Dan cutting the wedding cake. Yes, this a Sabre sword as a tradition from her parent's wedding.
|BrandDee and Martin walking down the aisle as husband and wife.
|Three generations of women at Mt. Rushmore.
- Because I couldn't run a large percentage of this year, I was handed down my mother's bike for me to use. I became a Tour de Force. I'm still not used to it, but I have had some good biking adventures. Also, my wonderful man, Jim gave me a bike for me to have when I visit him in England.
- I participated in the Sprint For Life 5K in honor of MaloRee, BranDee, and MegGan's mother. We raised over $1,700 for our team. This was also the first time I ran with Kate and well, Kate's first of many 5K's with me. She's an athlete now.
|Me and Grease lightening leaving Sykes House Farm, England.
|Kate is an ATHLETE!
- Another 2012 goal checked off was running the infamous El Chupacabra de Houston night run with Sara and Kris. I had so much fun and I hope to do it again next year.
- And again, another 2012 goal was checked off. My plan in life is to travel to a new country once a year. Last year, I traveled to England and Ireland. This year, I traveled to France and had basically the trip of lifetime that included beer festivals, wine, cheese, England's only defeat on English land by the French (you know I had to throw that in there), Normandy invasion and all the WWII stuff I love so much (by far the most moving thing I have EVER seen), family, birthday fun, hiking, and kayaking the great water terror.
|We plan to welcome the visitors from another planet.
|I'm standing on Omaha Beach where many soldiers lost their lives in the D-Day invasion.
- I finally participated in a costumed themed run. Now, I have done the 2011 Hot Undies Run before, but this time, I managed to convince four girls to dress up as Team MadeIn USA for the 2012 Hot Undies Run. Next year, we have an even better costume idea that may just get us close to winning.
- One of my goals was to hike with Ashley; however, we couldn't make our schedules work. I did get to hike in America in 2012, but with someone else. I reunited with Ingrid (who I haven't seen in YEARS) to hike the Boulder Flatirons. It was so good to catch up with her and do something fun.
|Team MadeIn USA at the 2012 Hot Undies Run.
|Ingrid and I hiking the Boulder Flat Irons.
- I participated in my first ever volunteer job for a 5K run.
- I participated in the 2012 Turkey Trot alone and realized that I'm not a fan of crowded runs.
- I finally bought a filing cabinet to organize ALL of my documents. I have been dealing with some financial things out of my control that forced me to get organized quick. It's been great. In fact, I had an invoice for the dogs and I immediately put in the correct folder instead of just placing it in a box somewhere. At work, I have gotten alot better at organizing my printed files, electronic files, and the files for our group. It's still a working progress, but I'm getting better at it.
- Haley and I had a 2012 Bakeathon of Christmas goodies for friends, coworkers, neighbors, etc. on Sunday. We made Christmas cookies, peppermint chocolate pretzels (the best ever), chocolate cornflake balls, and pumpkin spice muffins. We also added a candy cane to each bag. I handed them out yesterday and everyone loves the pretzels. I learned that I am not a good icer and I can only decorate the candy cane cookies.
|Me at the 2012 Turkey Trot
|My fridge in an explosion of chocolate.
|This really only shows a quarter of the Christmas cookies we made.
After I got through that, I started to get worried that I was really lost since I hadn't seen a white dot in a long time and then finally I spotted one. We headed in that direction and met up with more people. We went through some pretty crazy areas of the trail and I kept thinking I hope I don't get poison ivy.
|Look at that smile...yeah, I found my home. I just need to stay injury-free.
So, I bid farewell to 2012, with much anticipation for 2013. Hopefully, I will have some awesome surprises in store for me. I only ask that I don't endure anymore injuries. Paapappaallleeeeezzzeeeeeeee!


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The traditional bedside nightlight looks pretty shabby when compared to 'Flowall Lights.' The product was designed by Jiel Park (Songjae Park), and is meant to be mounted above your bed. The lights rush back and forth across your headboard providing a relaxing and dazzling light show.
Flowall Lights consist of many LED lights whose intensity can be turned up or down using a built-in control system. The design of the lights is unlike anything seen before, and it is for that reason (among others) that Park's design won a 2011 Red Dot Design award. While these lights are just a concept now, there is a large chance this product will go from concept to reality in the near future.
Flowing Headboard Illuminators
More Stats +/-
Wall-Sculpted Illuminators
Incognito Concrete Illuminators
Contemporary Eco Illuminators
Aggressive Geometric Illuminators
Quirkily Composed Lights
'Flowall Lights' Provide a Dazzling and Relaxing Show
- By: Michael HinesJan 14, 2012
References: red-dot.sg & yankodesign
References: red-dot.sg & yankodesign


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Patsy McGonagle looking forward to his fifth Olympics
Patsy McGonagle is a veteran of five Olympic Games, four as team manager and one as a member of the management of the Irish Track and Field athletic team.
In all he has been part of the Irish Track and Field team from Sydney in 2000 to the last Games in London, four years ago, in 2012.
He was the manager in Sydney in 2000, part of the backup management in 2004 in Athens, and manager again in Beijing in 2008 and London last time out.
And this month he will once again manage the Irish Track and Field team at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
He insists that he does not do highs and lows and justs gets on with the job of managing the team of athletes and doing his job to as high a professional standard as humanly possible.
"All of the athletes at that level have their own coaches and it is up to Athletics Ireland to provide the support staff such as medical, physios, psychologists, dieticians and other supports," explains Patsy.
"It is my job to co-ordinate all that and liaise with the athletes and the various support staff to ensure that everything is just right for the athletes."
The Finn Valley coach has been to Brazil already on a reconnaissance trip to find a training camp for the Irish team in the lead-up to the Games.
Patsy, along with Athletics Ireland officials, was in Brazil back in May and selected a camp in the city of Uberlandia.
Back to the highs and lows over the five Olympics.
"Obviously Sonia O'Sullivan's silver medal in the 5,000 metres in Sydney was the highlight of them all," Patsy said.
"It was special because she had been such a favourite and while there was initial disappointment that she had not won a gold, it was fantastic because she had experienced so many huge disappointments at previous Olympics and at other major games.
"Rob Heffernan's fourth place finish in London, just outside the medals, has to be the biggest disappointment. I know it has since been upgraded to bronze but I was really disappointed for Rob at the time because I knew the effort he had put into getting into the medals in London.
"Rob is fierce competitive and a very strong individual and mentally very tough. He has been at the last five Games with me and he is also going to Rio which is testament to his dedication and commitment and I have nothing but admiration for the man.
"He is one of our medal hopes again for Rio."
Patsy and most of the 18 strong Irish Track and Field team jetted out to Brazil last week (Thursday 28th) to their training base in Uberlandia. They are sharing the base with the Irish swimming and cycling teams.
Finn Valley AC's American-born pole vaulter, Tori Pena, is one of the Irish team to skip the camp. Pena has instead opted for a training camp in Phoenix, Arizona and will fly directly to Rio de Janeiro ahead of the start of the pole vault competition.
"Tori has decided to go to camp in Phoenix where the facilities are much better for the pole vault than those available in Uberlandia."
The Irish Track and Field team is also made up of two other Donegal athletes in Mark English from Letterkenny and Brendan Boyce from Milford.
Letterkenny woman, Sinead Jennings, is a member of the Irish Rowing team at the games and will also be in the Irish camp once in Rio.
"It is brilliant for the county to have such a high representation at the Games and obviously I will be taking a keen interest in how they all do in their respective competitions.
"Rob Heffernan is again one of our medal prospects and we will be hoping that Ciara Mageean can make the 1,500 metre final."
Mageean was a bronze medal winner at last month's European Athletics Championships in Amsterdam. The Down native, a student at UCD, has been labelled the next Sonia O'Sullivan.
McGonagle is also keeping a close eye on the progress of Mark English, an 800 metre prospect, as he recovers from an ankle injury suffered earlier in the season.
"Mark has been desperately unlucky to have suffered the injury and it has really set him back and has hampered his Olympic preparations.
"We are monitoring his progress and keeping our fingers crossed that he is back to peak condition in time for the start of the athletics.
"There is no question but that he will be competing at the Games, it is just we are hoping that he is at his best so that he can challenge for a medal."
As the athletics does not begin until the second week, the Irish Track and Field team are going to miss the opening week of the Games.
Patsy McGonagle and the team will only fly into Rio at the beginning of the second week, just in time for the start of the athletics and in the hope of least one medal and a host of personal best performances.
For Pasty and Ireland that would be a good Olympics.


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Cameras are set to roll across Northumberland as a new horror movie is filmed.
Sinema: The Movie will be shot exclusively in the North East and many cast members are from the region.
As the book is set in Northumberland, it made sense to film in the local area.Rod Glenn, writer and actor
The film is the brainchild of Newcastle writer Rod Glenn, based on his best-selling novel Sinema: The Northumberland Massacre.
It tells of a newcomer to a village who claims to be a novelist researching a crime thriller about a serial killer, but as a snowstorm traps the residents he is revealed as a monster intent on slaying them.
Mr Glenn, who will play the lead role of Han Whitman, said: "As the book is set in Northumberland, it made sense to film in the local area.
"Seeing the book come to life has been a dream come true. Many of the featured locations are exactly as I imagined them whilst writing.
"The film involves a huge cast, multiple locations and a gripping snowstorm finale. It has the potential to be the largest independent feature film the North East has ever seen."
It will be directed by Kev Harte, from AbandonHope Films, who has produced many films, including The Sceptic, which featured at film festivals and premiered on horror channel Crypt TV. It is produced by Glen Harris and stars Nicolas Vince, of Hellraiser, and Eileen Day, of Life. Love. Regret.


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Bishop Eric Menees
During this season of Epiphany, my Bishop's Notes are focusing on how the Holy Scriptures make the person and character of Jesus manifest as the Son of God. We've seen how God spoke to Jesus: "You are my beloved son; with you I am well pleased." (Mk. 1:11) And Nathanael, having encountered Jesus proclaimed: "Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel." (John 1:49) In last week's gospel, Jesus himself proclaims: "The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near, repent, and believe in the gospel." (Mark 1:15)
This week's gospel is a continuation of the passage from the Gospel of Mark. Jesus has called the first disciples and immediately sets about doing his primary ministry – teaching about the Kingdom of God. St. Mark tells us that the people present were amazed because Jesus taught "...as one who had authority, and not as the Scribes." (Mark 1:22) We don't know exactly who these people were, however, they were able to understand that Jesus wasn't simply restating the scriptures, but rather explaining the realities of the Kingdom of God and how the scriptures pointed to that reality.
However, the worshipers in the synagogue were not the only ones who recognized Jesus' authority. St. Mark tells us that a man with an unclean spirit was also present. The unclean spirit sees Jesus and immediately knows who Jesus is, and it announces for all to hear: "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God." (Mark 1:24 ESV) It correctly recognizes Jesus and his power to destroy unclean spirits. But more importantly, the unclean spirit proclaims: "I know who you are – the Holy One of God!"
The men in the synagogue recognize one who teaches with authority, but the demon recognizes the person and character of Jesus! Too many people in this present age recognize Jesus as one having authority – the moral teacher; the religious leader – but they fail to recognize Jesus as the Holy One of God!
My prayer for you and me is that we will assist those people who see something in Jesus, but don't realize who he really is – the Holy One of God!
I pray you all a truly blessed Lord's Day!
Catechism Questions 67 - 69
67. What is the result of the Ascension?
Jesus ascended into heaven so that, through him, his Father might send us the gift of the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit, Christians are united as Christ's Body on earth to Jesus, our ascended and living Head, and in him to one another. (1 Corinthians 12:12-13, 27; Ephesians 4:15-16; John 14:15-29, 15:5-9)
68. What does it mean for Jesus to sit at God the Father's right hand?
The throne on the monarch's right was traditionally the seat for the chief executive in the kingdom. Ruling with his Father in heaven, Jesus is Lord over the Church and all creation, with authority to equip his Church, advance his Kingdom, bring sinners into saving fellowship with God the Father, and finally to establish justice and peace upon the earth. (Isaiah 9:6-7; 32:16-18; Ephesians 1:22; 4:11-12; Philippians 2:5-11; Hebrews 5:9-10)
69. What does Jesus do for you as he sits at the Father's right hand?
Noting my needs and receiving my prayers, Jesus intercedes for me as our great high priest. Through Jesus and in his name, I am now granted access to the Father when I make my confessions, praises, thanksgivings and requests to him. (Hebrews 7:23-25)


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If you've recently upgraded to HTC's Sprint Mogul, the fancy Windows Mobile 6 phone we looked at last month, you should head over to HTC to grab the latest update. Along with adding Sprint Music Store support, which lets you purchase songs over the air off of Sprint's network, you also get the ability to play these songs. Fantastic, eh?
George says the update makes the phone slightly more responsive as well, but that's only one man's take. Make sure you've got enough battery life left in your phone before you update, since it takes up to 25 minutes. Oh, and make sure to back up all your contacts and data as well, just in case. [HTC - Thanks George!]


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14 February 2013
Happy Valentine's Day!
4 comments:
- The enchanted home said...
Love you memories...great idea for the potluck. And the feasting on KFC and wine is so cute..sounds like a good scene for a movie!
Hope your day is a happy and sweet one:)
- February 14, 2013 at 6:43 AM
- MCW said...
One Vday my friends and I did a bar crawl called "hogs and dogs." We ate hotdogs at someone's apartment and then went to all the bars in NYC that had a pig in the name. It was quite amusing!
I don't have Vday, but I don't live it either :) Just another day in my book at the moment!
- February 14, 2013 at 8:32 AM
- McKenna Bleu said...
How fun is this! Happy Vday love, hope you have a fab day!
- February 14, 2013 at 8:41 AM
- Jennifer @ Belclaire House said...
Haha I love this! I'm not a Valentine's Day hater either. Although, I sometimes miss the days of spending Valentine's Day with my girlfriends. But I also feel liek I owe it to my younger single self to enjoy it now. Plus, it's way more fun to celebrate than not, right? Happy Valentine's Day!
- February 14, 2013 at 10:50 AM


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Friday, June 25, 2010
awesome chinese ladies part one: i will not go quietly
Hua Mulan is Chinese, and Sei Shonagon was Japanese, but she was a total Sinophile. And they are pretty famous! But there have been other awesome, inspiring Chinese ladies, and I would like to share them with you! Feel free to find them inspiring and/or amazing, and to share stories of other ladies in the comments!
Empress Dowager CiXi (慈禧太后) was defacto ruler of China for about a billion years (okay, 47), bringing one male relative after another to the throne so she could be the fearsome power behind it. She was a super politician, being fairly expert in balancing between different factions. She was pretty famous for being a) a despot, and b) really in to luxury. She used funds from the navy to build a summer palace, held 150-dish banquets, and had lots (and lots and lots) of jewellery. She also had A LOT of names. My favourite representation of her is a steampunk one by James Ng, as the immortal empress. There's lots to read about her at Wikipedia, IF YOU ARE INTERESTED. Also there are lots of books about her! (I don't recommend the Anchee Min books, they bored me)
Ching Shih (郑氏), also known as Zheng Yi Sao and Shi Xianggu, was a PIRATE ADMIRAL. She was at one point a prostitute, and she married in to a famous pirate family. As Big Pirate Boss, she commanded (at her peak) 400 ships , robbed from lots of people and sometimes imposed taxes on them, and evaded capture for decades, and when she retired from pirating she opened a gambling house. A pirate running a gambling house! MAYBE SHE SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, I AM JUST SAYING, SHE COULD HAVE BEEN PLAYED BY JOAN CHEN AND IT WOULD HAVE BEEN AMAZING. It would have been amazing. You can read more about her in this article.
Guo Zhenshun (郭真顺) stopped an army with a poem. WITH A POEM. What can you do with a poem?! (My poetry is nowhere near that magnificent). You can read more about her here (in Chinese) and here (also in Chinese).
Huang Guigu, also known as Lady Sima, was (maybe, probably, it was two thousand years ago so it's hard to tell okay?) a military commander under King Zheng of Qin (who later became the first emperor of China). She was super fierce, strong, and good at military campaigns.
Zhao-Hong Wenguo is sometimes referred to as the grandmother of the anti-Japanese resistance. When she was sixty, she would charge in to battle with A GUN IN EACH HAND. I can only hope I'm that fierce when I'm sixty! She was a commander of troops!
Wu Zetian (武则天) was the only woman to ever be Empress of China. AWESOME. She was defacto ruler for a while (and Empress Dowager), but established her own dynasty (the Zhou - 周), and was known as the Sacred and Divine Empress Regnant. She started out as a lesser, not-favoured concubine, and later was Empress for fifteen years. She promoted Buddhism over Daoism (uuhhh) and tried to increase the importance of women in Chinese history by commissioning a lot of biographies of awesome Chinese women. She also had heaps of secret police, and some people think that her efforts meant that there was better gender equality in subsequent dynasties. Also she promoted a lot of women to positions of power, including Premier. When I was looking for links for you to read, I stumbled across someone asking for Famous Chinese Women, 'I can only find out about Empress Wu and she didn't seem very nice,' this person wrote. Well, we can't all be nice, but we can all be fierce? I SUPPOSE. You can read about her at Wikipedia, and at women in world history.
FURTHER READING FROM THE COMFORT OF YOUR COMPUTER (it's raining, so I certainly don't want to go outside):
Mad, Bad and Dangerous Women of the Han: The Shocking Story of Lady Dai (not that shocking, really)
Chinese women in history - soldiers, pirates, scholars, sages and rulers
8 comments:
AWESOME! I must know more! Thanks for the links!ReplyDelete
Mistress Ching in POTC3 was supposed to be a reference to her.ReplyDelete
REFERENCE? OR COP OUT?!ReplyDelete
You KNOW they would have gotten her wrong. Then we would have demanded AN ENTIRE INDUSTRY OF CHINESE WOMEN PIRATES TO MAKE UP FOR THEIR ERROR.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJune 27, 2010 at 10:32 AM
thanks for this awesome list. the only woman i know from the list is Empress Dowager CiXi thanks to the books by Anchee Min. now that i think about it, does Madame Mao qualify as an awesome Chinese lady?ReplyDelete
@eccentricyoruba - I totally think that Madame Mao is an awesome Chinese lady (for the definition of awesome, not necessarily 'did good things'), but for this list I decided to focus on women that a) were a bit more historical (rather than modern history), and b) were less likely to be known. Everyone knows Madame Mao!ReplyDelete
But that is why there's a part two to come!
- AnonymousJune 29, 2010 at 9:09 AM
you've got a point steph, i only knew Empress Dowager CiXi from this list. i'm looking forward to part two.ReplyDelete


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International Women's Day is a global celebration of the strides we have made towards a more equitable world and a commitment to continue the work that still needs to be done.
Every day is International Women's Day at Shanti Uganda where everything we do is about working towards a world where birthing mothers and women living HIV/AIDS are supported, empowered and able to develop their full potential. For us, today is a day to celebrate the advances in the community while also reflecting on the challenges that are ever present.
While many women currently enjoy the benefits awarded by the struggles and fights of our grandmothers, mothers and sisters, it is important to reflect that there are still great challenges to face around the world. 99% of maternal health deaths occur in the developing world, 1 in 7 girls in developing nations will marry before the age of 15 and 1 in 5 girls who are enrolled in school will not finish their primary education.
Connecting Girls and Inspiring Futures is the theme of this year's International Women's day and we are proud to run programs that help bring this theme to life for the girls and women of Uganda. Here's what invite you to celebrate with us:
Turning Poverty into Empowerment: Not having basic needs such as menstrual pads can have far reaching consequences. In Uganda girls often miss school or refrain from daily activities due to menstruation. We have supported over a hundred girls through our Teen Empowerment program that provides workshops which focus on health, HIV/AIDS prevention, menstruation and feeling confident in your own body. Each girl also receives a washable menstrual pad kit that allows her to not miss school because of menstruation, ensuring a brighter future for herself and a more empowered participation in her own life.
Turning Oppression into Opportunity: A country marked by struggle and conflict has left the legacy of high maternal and infant mortality rates with many women in Uganda not having access to the medical care or supplies needed for healthy pregnancy and birth. The Shanti Uganda Birth House and many other amazing grassroots maternity centres offer a safe place for women to birth their babies and receive care. A community garden to feed the birthing mothers, birth kits for community midwives, employing local men to help run the centre, offering weekly immunizations for babies and support groups for teen moms, helping to reduce HIV/AIDS transition rates from mother to child and midwifery education are just some of the ways that our Birth House has already had a reach of over 10,000 people. Averaging 10 babies born every month, each healthy birth is a new opportunity to help strengthen women, families and the community.
Turning Marginalization into Momentum: Shanti Uganda's Income Generating Group provides HIV positive women with the skills and training they need to earn a living. Whether she is a grandmother taking care of multiple grandchildren, a woman living in extreme poverty or a widow, we are helping HIV positive women to create better futures for themselves with business training, health and nutrition educational workshops and our financial savings program. In the last year alone, we have supported our Women's Income Generating Group with more than $18,000 in funds through the fair trade sales of the jewellery and textiles they produce.
A better tomorrow starts with a more hopeful today. Empower a young girl and you are nurturing the strong woman she will become. Decrease infant and maternal mortality rates and you increase the health and safety of families. Support women struggling in poverty and you inspire sustainable communities. Join us in creating a better world by making every day International Women's Day.