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Barley and sauerkraut is a traditionally Polish combination of foods that are delicious, and easily paired with a variety of meats or other ingredients for a full meal. With knowledge and practice, any modern mom will be whipping up fabulous barley and sauerkraut dishes in no time. Barley has fiber and B vitamins, while sauerkraut is high in vitamins A and C, providing excellent health benefits for your family. After you've made this dish, you can easily heat sauerkraut and also add it to other dishes.
Barley and Sauerkraut
Add six parts water and four parts sauerkraut, including the sauerkraut juice, to a large pot or Dutch oven. Bring to a boil.
Once the sauerkraut is boiling, stir and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for one hour.
While sauerkraut is simmering, rinse one-half part barley. Rinsing barley is important as it minimizes the amount of starch in the grain and keeps the dish from having a slimy taste.
Add barley to the pot. Continue simmering until you see that the barley is fully cooked, which is approximately 30 minutes.
Add any additional ingredients you desire, stir to mix, and serve. Onions, mushrooms, celery, or pork are flavorful additions to a barley and sauerkraut dish. Simply saute the foods separately before adding the extra ingredients.
Add three parts water or broth to a large saucepan. Using chicken or vegetable broth adds flavor to the barley. If you prefer an unflavored barley, use water with a large pinch of salt.
Bring the water or broth to a boil.
Add one part barley and stir. Turn heat to low and simmer, covered, for 45 to 50 minutes.
Remove from heat and let stand uncovered for five more minutes. Drain any excess liquid before serving or mixing with other foods.
Put two parts sauerkraut and three parts water in a pot. Add any juice from the sauerkraut container to the pot as well. It will add extra flavor to the sauerkraut.
Cook the sauerkraut until it is boiling, stirring occasionally.
Simmer for an hour before serving or before using it with other ingredients.


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The next installment of Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten downloadable content adds a challenge mode to the Item World plus Lord Zetta's daughter, Peta. Trials mode adds rules like clearing Item World maps only using a few moves or beating a stage quickly. Finish ten floors and you unlock Peta HD. Peta first appeared in Makai Kingdom Portable as Lord Zetta's daughter blasting a Peta Beam.
Nippon Ichi will release the trials pack for Disgaea 4 on October 18 for 600 yen ($8). Peta and Lord Zetta are also coming to Disgaea for Android on October 27. NIS America confirmed they will localize the mobile phone version of Disgaea under the name Disgaea: Netherworld Unbound.

subset: commoncrawl


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So many countries, so many ways people prefer to transfer funds. This process is one of the vital elements of a business chain. No doubt, knowledge of clients' payment customs and habits plays a great deal in further growth and development.
Wise payment thinking enables the business to be run with ease and pleasure. In this case, not foreign merchant will be looking for partners, but local entrepreneurs will be searching the way to collaborate.
Previously, it was reviewed a great number of markets around the world. Now it is turn of African direction.
African perspective direction
In fact, Internet technology intervention is gaining pace towards African market. E-commerce obtains more and more dynamic features. A lot of African market places are laying idle, waiting for merchants to participate the cross-border trading.
Due to the lack of operating system, capable to support digital payments, e-commerce sector faces with lots of obstacles to develop faster. However, population here is inspired to go international and to expand their businesses across the local boundaries.
One of the main hurdles in front of e-commerce formation is a common belief, that phishing is a frequent threat on African digital markets. Thus, many entrepreneurs scruple to start online business here.
Another deterrent is shortage of infrastructure development that concerns post offices, broadband and transport system. All these elements implemented, along with ensuring private data security will lead to effective business running results.
Cash over credit cards. Few words about payment methods
Unlike the major part of the world markets, African one generally is flooded with payments via cash on delivery. Most clients prefer cash to pay for online purchases, the exception is South Africa. In this region the majority of transfers are made with credit cards or checks. However, credit card option choice is becoming more and more popular across the African market, despite the fact, that cash on delivery is still used in more than 50% of shopping in the Internet.
As an alternative to credit cards, mobile payments also expand their usage. This method is quite usual in such countries, as Nigeria and Kenya.
Nigeria. E-commerce leader
Almost ninety per cent of Internet users in Nigeria are potential online customers. One third of them tends to make shopping across the Africa. The two main electronic commerce directions are South Africa and Kenya.
On the Nigeria territory act several payment processors. One of the most famous all around the world, is PayPal. Due to its guaranteeing the payment process security, this system is of high demand.
Among popular payment systems Interswitch InternetPay must be mentioned. It provides three ways of purchasing process conducting: direct payments, redirected option and one without reporting information. Most systems implement transactions, only if there is an appropriate e-mail and bank account.
Clients appreciate the most transfers safety, in order to avoid being a victim of fraudulent attack.
Kenya is moving mobile
Payment methods in Kenya experience revolutionary period. Being pretty criminal place, the country decided to prevent dangerous threats by mobile payments penetration. Thus, popular here mobile platform, M-Pesa has turned upside down the customers' payment thinking.
Cash widespread remains the core challenge to resolve in Kenya. But this region is on the right way to change the situation.
South Africa. E-commerce perspective region
South Africa is considered to be a potential prospering e-commerce market. Nowadays only one fourth of the region population is involved in digital trading. But there are all the ingredients to become a strong online market.
The hitch lays in the imperfection of the payment mechanism, notably the obligation to enter the necessary client's information every new order.
Egypt review
Clients' mistrust includes and Egyptian market. But it is only the beginning of the whole obstruction. Moreover, there is neither judicious government regulation of the digital market, nor proper infrastructure to support the electronic commerce.
Despite all this, Egyptian region is quite promising. Investigations have revealed, that population here is ready to commit electronic purchases and to promote online payments via cards, as well as mobile ones.
Now African direction is standing before significant transformations, which require serious approach and maximum efforts. Today's world is filled with various gadgets and technological innovations, so becoming digital is inevitable in order to be in the loop of modern lifestyle.


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Our Cabinets
About us
Contact us
Ideal Kitchen & Bath offers so much more than the ability to design and install cabinets — we are a partner in planning your new kitchen or bathroom.
We understand that transforming your kitchen or bath to a more attractive, harmonious and functional space is a daunting proposition. But relax, the hardest part is getting started… and the best way to get started is to call Ideal Kitchen & Bath.
While we're best known for our exceptional quality cabinets, we help plan and coordinate every aspect of your project, helping you keep an eye on the form, function and finances. And the results are beautiful. Time and again.
Cabinetry flexibility in Style and Budget
We offer a wide variety of custom cabinetry, including the ability to manufacture our own custom cabinets utilizing our in-house production facility.
Call us for a free estimate
Phone: 239.289.5000
The Team
"The Ideal difference" is that every project is centered on your home, budget and desires. We truly focus on our customers and work with them to create a solution to many of their seemingly unsolvable kitchen or bath design-related problems.
Ideal Cabinets has an established reputation in Naples, Fort Myers and Cape Coral that we take very seriously.
Ideal Kitchen & Bath cabinet installer contractor and manages our clients' entire kitchen project from conceptual kitchen design through renovation and completion.


text: Photographer Blake Wood proudly holds up his TASCHEN publication. Blake with Amy Winehouse's mum, Janis Winehouse. Kelly Osbourne Guests walk through the gallery space to view a selection of Blake's photographs. Blake catches up with an old friend of Amy's. Guests browse through Blake's intimate photographs of Amy. Blake personalizes copies of his book. Dionne Bromfield performs an acoustic set to a crowd of fans. On the evening of Friday, July 27, TASCHEN London and Blake Wood celebrated the launch of Amy Winehouse. Set in the historic Covent Garden Painting Rooms run by Amy's friend Robin Scott-Lawson, the night was co-hosted by Kelly Osbourne, who was the mutual friend that originally introduced Blake and Amy. Blake personalized copies of his new book to the sounds of Bioux, Amy's old DJ partner. Gathering fans and press alongside Amy's friends and family, the evening ended with a special acoustic performance by Amy's goddaughter Dionne Bromfield. All guests came away feeling they had been part of a touching and personal tribute to the much-missed singer, whose legacy remains alive and well. Share


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A Lost Thing of Great Beauty
Today, on the NE corner of 12th Street and State, Emporia, is a church. The church, completed in 1948, replaced an extraordinary house, one of the finest in Emporia. The house was certainly the work of architect Charles W. Squires, who designed more buildings in Emporia than any other architect.
Squires designed my Cross House, hence my interest.
The house was, I believe, built for G. W. Newman, who owned Newman's department store in the city.
The Newman House and the Cross House share characteristics:
– round towers.
– octagon towers.
– paired porch columns
– prominent limestone foundations.
– a porte-cochère.
The Newman House was comparable in scale to the Cross House. Today, the Cross House is the largest (by far) Squires-designed home remaining in Emporia.
It pains me to look at the above images and know that this fabulous structure was just smashed to bits.
Recently, somebody told me that many interior fittings were remove from the house, and installed in a new home in Emporia. Who told me this? I cannot remember. Which new house? I cannot remember.
Is the story true?


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Looking for a new opportunity as a Cleaner? A step towards your new career? Or maybe you want to move up a level and take on more responsibility?
Look no further as we have an exciting opportunity for an experienced, multi-talented and highly skilled Cleaner to perform a variety of tasks associated with the maintenance of a safe, clean and hygienic environment.
The successful Cleaner will undertake the following duties:
If our Cleaner position is right for you and you match our criteria of highly honed skills and qualities - please apply today with no hesitation, we want to hear from you!
We look forward to receiving your CV.
ESS Support Services Worldwide, part of Compass Group UK and Ireland, is the defence, government, offshore and remote business sector of Compass Group UK & Ireland. It provides food and support services to major companies and organisations operating in remote sites, defence, central and local government departments, police, prisons & offshore sectors.
Please note: This vacancy may close before the advertised end date.


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Conference Cancellation - Sat 19 Feb 2011
The Officers of the NAC realise that the member choirs are due an explanation for the late cancellation of the 2011 annual Conference. Large numbers of our usual attendees have other commitments that weekend, and combined with the current financial climate, the number of advance bookings meant that Conference would not have been viable. The Officers are particularly disappointed because the number of Trade Stands had increased and there were some prestigious new businesses represented. The arrangements for next years Conference in Bowness-on-Windermere are already in place, and the weekend will be more reasonably priced. We expect a good turnout and look forward to seeing you there from 23rd-25th March 2012.


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Tag Archives: compost
Are you ready for the Organics Ban?
Metro Vancouver is implementing an organics ban beginning tomorrow. Are you ready? What it means for you: Ensure you have an organics bin** Arrange for organics collection from a waste hauler** All pre- AND post-consumer food waste must go into … Continue reading
$2,500 Scholarship Available – Growing Talent in Composting
We love seeing talent grow in our field. If you're a student considering the wonderful world of composting, have a look at the following announcement from the US Composting Council: With the support and donation from Filtrexx International, the Composting Council Research … Continue reading
Posted in Green Spotlight, Zero-waste Tagged compost, scholarship Leave a comment


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Dripping Elegance
An an elegant three pitch mixed route above Köfels. Bolts were placed on-lead on 26 December 2010, and the route was subsequently redpointed on 2 January by both Leichtfried and Fiegl.
Drive into the Ötztal, continue past Umhausen to Köfels. Park the car at the Alpengasthof Köfels.
Walk up the valley along the edge of the forest to reach the forest road. Continue past this upwards to reach another forest road. Follow this right to a hairpin bend. Leave this and continue through the forest, no path, diagonally to the base of the route. Crampons and walking sticks recommended, circa 45 minute walk-in.
P1: WI5, 50m
P2: M10, 35m, 5 bolts, bolt belay
P3: WI5+, 25m, bolt belay
Abseil down the route. 1 bolt has been placed at the start of P2, circa 10m left, for the abseil.
Two 50m ropes, set of Cams #3 , short screws
Warning: the route faces south
Car park: 47.120069,10.916256
Base of route: 47.127106,10.912018
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Kirk Eye Center is seeking a well-qualified ophthalmic technician that has experience in all phases of testing, exam elements and use of EMR. There are several things that would make a candidate stand out to us; coding experience, ability to perform FA's or is bilingual.
We are a fast paced practice but never at the expense of a great patient experience.
We offer great pay and benefits including health, dental and life insurance, Simple IRA retirement plan, generous PTO... Read More


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This Leather Feather Necklace with Gold Leaf is the perfect spring accessory.
It's really easy to make, with just a few simple supplies.
- Leather
- Scissors
- Leather Hole Punch
- Gold Leaf
- Gold Leaf Adhesive
- Gold Chain
- Jump Rings
- Wire Cutters
- Sewing Machine
- Thread
1. To begin with, create a feather pattern you're happy with and use it to cut out your leather. Punch a hole in the top of the feather.
2. Apply gold leaf adhesive to the bottom of the leather feather, creating a spotty coat so that some of the leather will still show through. Wait for it to set, according to the manufactures directions, and then apply gold leaf.
3. Using a sewing machine and coordinating thread, stitch a line down and back up the centre of the feather. Pull threads through from the front to the back and tie off to finish.
4. Cut fringe along the side of the feather with sharp scissors, stopping short of your stitch line, on each side.
5. Using jump rings, add some pieces of gold chain in varying lengths to create a tassel, and then a chain.
I can't wait to wear this pretty feather necklace with some spring outfits. It would also be great to make two and turn them into earrings.
With a DIY Leather Feather Necklace, life really is a party!


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French woman Caroline Afonso made history in the South of France Friday, becoming the first ever tournament winner on the Ladies European Tour Access Series.
Afonso closed with a final round of two under par 70 for a 54-hole total of five over par 221 on a fine and breezy last day at Terre Blanche near Nice. She posted a two-stroke victory over Italian Sophie Sandolo and Ana Larraneta from Spain, earning a first prize of 3,448 Euros. England's Holly Aitchison, Jade Schaeffer from France and Italian Margherita Rigon shared fourth place on eight over par.
The victory was Afonso's first in two seasons as a professional, as she also has a full card on the LET, where her best finish to date was a tie for eighth in 2008 in Austria.
The tricky sloping greens on Le Riou course at the Four Seasons Resort provided a significant challenge for the players and Afonso, who had been working hard on her chipping over the winter, three putted only twice all week, which she believed was the key to her triumph.
She credited her coach of five years, Phillippe Mendiburu, who caddied for her at the tournament and also thanked her fitness coach, Jean-Jacques Rivet, for getting her into shape.
After the successful completion of the first event on the LET Access Series, the next tournament will be the Dinard Ladies Open at Dinard Golf near Rennes in Brittany, North Western France, from 15-17 April.


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Detroit Skyline - Reflection (Single Color)
Shipping calculated at checkout.
This item is a single color, die cut vinyl decal. Please select the size and color you wish to purchase. Slight adjustments can be made to the decal if there is a specific size you need it to be. Size measurement is based on the decal's longest side. Vinyl decals are best applied to a smooth flat surface and should be wiped clean prior to applying the decal. If the decal arrives damaged please contact us as soon as possible. We will replace any unused decals that were damaged during shipping.
Designed by Up North Signs, LLC


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I just returned from my latest Puppets Without Borders expedition which took me to Cambodia; what a trip!
Having been selected as one of the Cambodia Creative Four, I spent a month volunteering with Let Us Create, an NGO that serves more than 100 kids, providing education, nutrition, and artistic experiences. They provide a safe and nurturing environment where kids can just be kids.
The Khmer Rouge's reign of terror in the 1970's took a serious toll on Cambodia's culture; 90% of the country's artists were executed, and those who survived were left understandably fearful of practicing their craft. Decades later, Cambodia is still struggling to rebuild the culture that was lost; Let Us Create works with artists like me to help inspire the younger generations with various art forms.
In late November I landed in the capital, Phnom Penh, and within a few hours had tracked down my people... The shadow puppeteers of Sovannah Phum Art Association. I attended an amazing performance of shadow puppetry, dance and music, then came back the next day and took a workshop in making the traditional leather puppets; you can read all about that on the Small Pond Arts blog. It was important for me to get some exposure to traditional Cambodian shadow puppetry before teaching the art form to kids at LUC.
A few days later I was on my way to Sihanoukville, on the south coast. The first week at LUC was orientation. One day I was whisked off down bumpy back roads on the back of a motorbike. My two guides - the other on his own motorbike - are social workers, and they took me to visit a number of the families of the kids I'd be working with. The families live in extreme poverty; meeting these parents face to face was vital in helping me understand their children. That week I also started working the lunch service, doling out rice and soup, and helping with the clean-up. All in all, a humbling beginning.
By the second week I was ready to launch into some workshops. The LUC centre is divided into three age groups: nursery, junior and high school. The little nursery kids were massively adorable, and my sessions with them included playing with hand puppets, drawing shapes, colouring paper dolls and singing.
|Found Object Mandala that I made at the beach with
the kids as part of LUC's Mobile Learning program
I spent the most time with the junior group. They were a huge ball of energy and jumped into any activity I presented them with. We did lots of sewing, including hand puppets, sock puppets and felt pins. We did paper cutting, artist trading cards and drawing comics.
Lastly, I worked on creating a shadow puppetry performance with the group of 30 + high school students.
The story I selected for our play was Crocodile Nen Thon, which I found in Khmer Legends by Demaz Tep Baker. It's the story of a young monk and his extremely loyal pet crocodile. LUC's director, Sopheap Kong, translated the story into Khmer, and the story was read in both languages to the students. I started working with the youth building their puppets. Despite our very limited time together and a bit of a language barrier, they made some really great puppets. We had two rehearsals, and then it was showtime!
The shadow play would be part of the first ever performing arts show at LUC. I worked with one of the other Creative Four, João Telmo from Portugal, to program the rest of the show that would include all the 100+ kids from the centre. Although I thought this was all a pretty big deal, I wasn't sure what to expect. Would the kids show up? Would their families?
The day of the performance arrived, and the kids not only showed up, but they were dressed in their best clothes and bouncing off the walls with excitement! I'd made all of the junior students colourful wristbands from scraps I picked up at the local tailor, and the kids went crazy for them. The energy before the show was electric - everyone was so excited!
The day of the performance arrived, and the kids not only showed up, but they were dressed in their best clothes and bouncing off the walls with excitement! I'd made all of the junior students colourful wristbands from scraps I picked up at the local tailor, and the kids went crazy for them. The energy before the show was electric - everyone was so excited!
The performance started with the shadow play, which went off without a hitch. I was so proud. Next up, the nursery kids sang two songs while waving around the puppets I'd made for them. The huge group of juniors ran out in their colourful arm bands, doing a choreography João had taught them, followed by a song. Last up on the program, the high school students performed a powerful spoken word piece. That was supposed to be the end of the show, but then something really incredible happened.
The biggest success of the day was something we had nothing to do with. A group of 5 high school boys stepped on stage, and performed a choreographed dance that they'd self-organized and rehearsed... And they were fantastic! Now this may not seem that special, but in a culture that is somewhat out of touch with performing arts, this was huge, as it came from the kids themselves.
Following the performances, the place erupted into a huge dance party. Staff and kids of all ages danced with abandon - there was so much pride and joy that day at Let Us Create, I think it is a day we'll all remember for years to come.
The show was a pretty tough act to follow, but I had two more days of workshops before wrapping up my stay at LUC. We did some more sewing, and the juniors got a chance to try making shadow puppets, too.
I left Sihanoukville on Christmas Eve to meet my husband Milé in Phnom Penh, and we spent the next two weeks touring around Cambodia. During this time we attended a number of performing arts events, including another show at Sovannah Phum, music and dance at Cambodian Living Arts in both Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, and a circus show at Phare Ponleu Selpak in Battambang. Each performance was so unique and performed with both gusto and grace. There is a tremendous amount of energy coursing through Cambodia's younger generation, and the enthusiastic audiences proved there is an appetite for the arts.
|Dance performance at LUC
If you'd like to help Cambodian kids discover the arts in a safe and nurturing environment, you can support Let Us Create by making a donation via their website.
A huge thanks to my friends and family for your support - this trip would not have been possible without your donations, and so the success of this project belongs to you, too. And of course, thanks to the volunteers and staff at LUC for your friendship and assistance.


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Florida's Premier Destination Management Company
Creating and delivering innovative & extraordinary events, activities, tours, team building for our clients.
Destination Planning Corporation is the southeast region's premier destination management company, providing flexible, tailored services to corporations, national and state associations, government agencies, charitable organizations, private organizations, professional societies, and wedding clients. Our pledge is to deliver unparalleled value, guided by principals that place trust and client relationship above all else. Allow us to show you that we are truly a "new dimension in destination management."
Destination Planning Corporation has been named one of the Top Women-Owned Businesses by Jacksonville Business Journal & Anne Urban has been named a Small Business Leader of the Year by the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce.


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About Us
CKL Multimix was established in 1996 and today Multimix is a leading brand in Malaysia and market leader in the mixing technology and machinery, specialized in the various mixing principle namely, Mixing, Dispersing, Emulsifying & Milling. Experts in Process Mixer, Laboratory Mixer, Planetary Mixer, Vacuum Mixer, High Shear Mixer, and their related parts.
The main strength of Multimix is to provide a simple, practical, cost efficiency and versatile knowledge in the various process applications. Multimix has developed revolutionary processing knowhows in the production of emulsions & dispersions. Today Multimix is able to produce fine emulsion at Nano particle size and fine dispersion without "fish eye" which are two important components in any mixing process.
Multimix has developed patented "Vee" type of rotor/stator. The stator has a special Veeshaped slots cut in the circular rim which provide longest cutting or shearing edge to the mixing fluid in operation. The rotor also is having Vee shaped provide extra scope force to the mixing fluid in operation. Therefore, Multimix unique design of rotor/stator provides both higher shear force and higher flow rate. There criteria are important when particle reduction and flowing are considered.
Multimix today has developed and provide a "Total Solution" to the processing applications. Multimix is able to reduce production time and enhance productivity, improve product's quality by introducing new ways of processing methods.
Conventionally, in the production of toothpaste industry which requires 4 to 5 hours of production time, Multimix is able to produce maximum 1 to 1.5 hours only, which tremendously reduce the production time, at the same time improve the product's quality and finishing.
In the production of any kind of emulsion, Multimix developed the new method of producing emulsion at Nano particle size, which guarantee "No Separation" of the emulsion, at the same time, reduce the production time and improve the quality of the emulsion, namely in the production of cream and lotions, mayonnaise, silicone emulsion, margarine, yogurt, cheese, flavor emulsion. Palm oleo related group namely Sime Darby, Mewah and Sinar Masa are some of the customers currently using Multimix machines.
Multimix has also developed new method of heavy duty with vacuum operation for construction and building materials such as sealants, floorings, adhesives, etc. Multinational company such as BASF, Flowcrete, Elantas(BYK), Mapei are the few customers of CKL Multimix.
Multimix has a strong market share in Malaysia in the production of latex compound which is widely used in the rubber glove and condom industry. Multimix has developed a simple and efficient technology for the production of water based additives, flame retardants dispersions, Tio2 & Ca2co3 dispersion as well as polymer emulsion.
Multimix has introduced new method in the production of pesticide and bio chemicals such as herbicides, insecticides and fungicides in which the powders are being transferred by vacuum process and dispersed with multi stages rotor/stators. As result, production time has been reduced tremendously with fine dispersions.
Today, multimix is able to offer a complete full range of mixers ranging from the laboratory to the production machinery. From Malaysia, Multimix is sold too many countries particularly in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Northern & Centre America.
Multimix is proud to be considered the very first Asian based manufacturer of mixers competing with giant makers from the Europe & America. CKL Multimix is aware of the new challenges and new requirements by the customers, therefore, Multimix will keep on improving the product's quality in term of features and outlook, the new technology and new method of applications.


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As food, medicine and other fields huge demand for packaging, packaging machinery maintained a remarkable pace of development. Meanwhile intelligent, automated, controllable, compatibility of the technical requirements of the domestic packaging machinery manufacturing industry has put forward higher requirements. China's packaging machinery products due to less variety, low level of technology, product reliability and poor reasons, faced with fierce international competition. Packaging machine in the process of development itself is there are many problems, which is to adapt to the market development aspects there is a gap, a lot of products out, but did not welcomed by the market. This is inconsistent with the requirements of the development. Packaging machine to adapt to the market development and business needs before they can, the only way we can give the packaging machine industry enterprises have been affordable and convenient, thus forming a virtuous cycle, but also makes our country toward greater packaging machine , better direction. Packaging industry is a combination of the pursuit, simple technology, removable packaging equipment, little by little, in constant progress, the most favored trusted devices. The future of packaging machine is still very broad, domestic producers will choose to actively enhance the technical level, through technical innovation and improve the industry's ability to adapt to the market, to better meet the needs of the production of packaging, packaging machines suitable for the development needs of the market is king , is the best fit.
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- WWE's website has a new poll up asking fans which is their favorite persona of the late Nelson Frazier. With over 10,000 votes cast, 45% have voted for Viscera, 42% have voted for Big Daddy V and 13% voted for Mabel.
- Steve Austin noted that he's recording a podcast interview with UFC Hall of Famer Stephan Bonnar this afternoon.
- Jim Ross tweeted the following about Hulk Hogan returning to WWE:
"I think it's great that @HulkHogan is returning to @WWE. Can fill many roles in a hall of fame manner. Great name identity. #TrueStar"


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Cool thing I learned from the Jian Ghomeshi scandalPosted: October 31, 2014 Filed under: Canada Leave a comment
Lucy from Trailer Park Boys is now a captain in the Royal Canadian Air Force.
(background if you don't follow Canadian public radio – a story worth reading about troubling sex/power stuff, thanks to KB Jr. for calling it to our attention)
Menino, Street HarrassmentPosted: October 30, 2014 Filed under: America Since 1945, Boston, New England, New York Leave a comment
Once Mayor Tom Menino of Boston came to speak at my high school. He was a terrible speaker, had a bad speech impediment. He said that when he was a kid he told his teacher, a nun, that he wanted to be an engineer when he grew up, so he could build bridges. The nun told him he wasn't smart enough to be an engineer. So, he said, he became the mayor to build bridges between communities.
(photo by Jim Rogash, Getty Images, swiped from here)
2) This video is all over my Facebook. I have a tale of New York City street harassment.
One day in 2009 I was walking around looking for apartments with a real estate broker. The broker was an extremely attractive woman, the girlfriend of a friend. It was a really hot day, she was wearing like a bare-armed shirt thing under a jacket and she took the jacket off.
The catcalls and stuff yelled at her was INSANE. Like, at least ten dudes said something, most of it muttered after she walked past.
Now, being a self-absorbed dude, my reaction to this was fascination but also like "am I supposed to do something about this?" Like, "I'm walking with this woman, and presumably it could be my girlfriend or my sister or something, am I supposed to like beat up all these dudes? Because that would take a long time and also would by no means be a guaranteed victory." She rolled with it as though it was no more significant than the squawk of pigeons but man.
Anyway, now I have successfully made this story about me.
Contra Joyce Carol Oates:
this was in Union Square and literally Washington Square Park and the heart of the West Village, also mostly white dudes.
I defer to Mero on this one:
The story of CahokiaPosted: October 29, 2014 Filed under: adventures, America, history, UNESCO 2 Comments
Anyone who traveled up the Mississippi in 1100 A.D. would have seen it looming in the distance: a four-level earthen mound bigger than the Great Pyramid of Giza. Around it like echoes were as many as 120 smaller mounds, some topped by tall wooden palisades, which were in turn ringed by a network of irrigation and transportation canals; carefully located fields of maize; and hundreds of wooden homes with mud-and-straw plastered floors and high-peaked, deeply thatched roofs like those on traditional Japanese farms.
Located near the confluence of the Missouri, Illinois, and Mississippi Rivers, the Indian city of Cahokia was a busy port. Canoes flitted like hummingbirds across its waterfront: traders bringing copper and mother-of-pearl from faraway places; hunting parties bringing such rare treats as buffalo and elk; emissaries and soldiers in long vessels bristling with weaponry; workers ferrying wood from upstream for the ever hungry cookfires; the ubiquitous fishers with their nets and clubs. Covering five square miles and housing at least fifteen hundred people, Cahokia was the biggest concentration of people north of the Rio Grande until the 18th century.
That is from the great Charles C. Mann's 1491: New Revelations Of The Americas Before Columbus.
I can't recommend this book highly enough. Every American should read it.
Cahokia is very close to St. Louis – it's about thirty miles away between what's now East St. Louis and Collinsville, IL.
I wanted to visit, but I didn't have a car. I explained the predicament to the Ethiopian taxi driver who picked me up at the airport. I asked him if he'd pick me up, take me there, wait an hour and take me back. So the next morning he took me out there. He and I visited the Cahokia Mounds Interpretive Center and Museum together. We watched the award-winning 17 minute movie. Cahokia Mounds is one of only 22 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the US, and they do a nice job.
"It was very interesting," agreed the cab driver.
The idea that native Americans built cities was and remains a challenging ideas to different views of what life was like here before 1492. It fights with both 19th century views of Indians as primitive savages, and later ideas that they were chilled out wanderers in perfect harmony with nature.
How many people lived at Cahokia?
6,000, say some archaeologists, 40,000 say others. Charles Mann is really good at sorting through competing views of numbers, and if he says 1500 I'm prepared to believe him. In the grandest view, the museum's view, at one time Cahokia looked like this:
and like this:
How did Cahokia emerge?
Cahokia archaeology is wildly controversial. But it seems like there's more or less consensus that Cahokia grew up around the year 1000 in a "big bang." Here's Mann:
As the millennium approached, the American Bottom had a resident population of several thousand. Then, without much apparent warning, there was, according to the archaeologist Timothy R. Pauketat of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, what has been called a "Big Bang" – a few decades of tumultuous change.
To his way of thinking, the Big Bang occurred after a single ambitious person seized power, perhaps in a coup. Although his reign may have begun idealistically, Cahokia quickly became an autocracy; in an Ozymandic extension of his ego, the supreme leader set in motion the construction projects.
Don't worry: there's lots of arguing already:
[William] Woods [of U. Kansas, who spent 20 years excavating the mounds] disagrees with what he calls the "proto-Stalinist work camp" scenario. Nobody was forced to erect Monks Mound, he says. Despite the intermittent displays of coercion, he says, Cahokians put it up "because they wanted to."
Who knows? Julian Jaynes might say that these people just started building because the two hemispheres of their brain weren't yet in alignment so they heard voices like schizophrenics:
But that's a topic for another day.
At the Cahokia gift shop, I picked up a copy of Pauketat's book:
It's terrific, just the right length. Pauketat says:
Civilizations can rise and fall, to adapt Margaret Mead's famous quotation, as a result of the actions of a small group of people combined with the inaction of many others. Making sense of these actions and inacations can be a difficult task for archaeologists, who must distinguish between how people lived and how they wanted to be perceived as living. Cahokia's big bang is a case study in how people can combine to great historical change.
OK, groovy – but why did this happen around the year 1000? If I can jump ahead in Pauketat's story: This combination of the cultural power of immigrants and the economic base of Old Cahokia [don't worry about that], with its access to large amounts of easy-to-farm river bottom, was a recipe for explosive growth. That explosion might have been sparked early one morning in 1054.
On that morning, recorded by a Chinese astrologer as July 4, a brilliant new luminary appeared in the sky. It was a "guest star," a supernova, a visitor in the constellation Taurus, visible today with a high-powered telescope as the Crab Nebula. One of only fifty supernovas ever recorded – only three in our own Milky Way galaxy* – this nuclear detonation was the last gasp of a dying star. The inaudible explosion discharged a billion times more energy than the small star had previously emitted, and that morning a brilliant beacon – four times brighter than Venus – appeared in the daylight adjacent to a crescent moon…
Whatever i might have meant to the native peoples, a New Mexican Mimbres valley potter commemorated the celestial event by painting a pot with a star ad the foot of a crescent-shaped rabbit, a representation of the rabbit many indigenous North Americans believed resided in the moon. Ancient rock art in Arizona also appears to illustrate the supernova, as do petrogylphs in Missouri, which show the moon and supernova astride rabbit tracks. And in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, a map of the night sky in July 1054 was painted on the sandstone cliffs above a palatial-sized, multi-story Great House called Penasco Blanco, under construction at about the same time in the middle of the eleventh century. The pictograph shows the exploding star next to a crescent moon and a human hand, the later possibly representing a group of stars still known among Plains Indians today as the Hand constellation. Also in Chaco Canyon, construction began around this time on a massive new kiva, an underground ceremonial building, now called Casa Rinconada, just south of the largest Great House, Pueblo Bonito.
Pause for a sec. This is a sexy theory: a supernova creates a new star, and everyone goes into a religious building frenzy. But let's take a look at the Penasco Blanco petroglyph. Here is is, in a photo by Ron Lussier:
Could it be that we're stretching things a BIT here? That star/moon pattern appears in other petrogylphs that weren't from the 1054 period.
Anyway, here's some things we do know about Cahokia:
They had human sacrifices.
Pakutet, talking about Cahokia's "Mound 72":
Over the next four summers, Fowler's crew turned up pit after pit and row after row of human skeletons in other parts of the mound. The lengths and widths of the pits were precisely suited to contain exactly the number of bodies interred within them. The excavation of the largest pit was supervised by Al Meyer, who noticed the telltale signs of a tomb originally lined with logs (which had since disintegrated) as he dug around the pit's margins downward to the bottom. At the bottom were the remains of fifty-three sacrificed women, fifty-two of whom were young (most between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five). The fifty-third individual was an "elderly" (thirtyish) female, whom Meyer thought of as "the matron," sparking the notion that she had been the elder wife of some man's harem. Since there were no skeletal indications of how the women had died, it is likely that they were poisoned or strangled or that their throats had been slit…
Nearby were:
the bodies of thirty-nine men and women who had, without a doubt, been executed on the spot. In the dispassionate language of a forensic report, Rose describes: […]
Evidence of violence also distinguishes these burials from the other mass graves. Three individuals had been decapitated prior to being thrown into the pit. The heads were thrown in before the burials were covered. Another male appears to have been incompletely decapitated
They played a game called chunkey.
Man, read about Cahokia and you are gonna hear a lot about chunkey. It was a game where you rolled a stone, and then tried to hit it with a spear. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but it's all over what little art we have from the Mississippian culture. Pakutet has a lot more patience than me for the differences in various chunkey stones found at Mississippian sites:
Anthropologists seem to think that this was the same game native Americans were playing seven centuries later when whites first saw them. Said Swiss painter Rudolf Kurz, who was traveling around:
they bet high; here you may see a savage come and bring all his skins, stake them and lose them, next his pipe, his beads, trinkets and ornaments; at last his blankets and other garments, and even all their arms, and after all that is is not uncommon for them to go home, borrow a gun and shoot themselves; an instance of this happened in 1771 at East Yasoo a short time before my arrival.
I'm telling you, the guys who get into Cahokia get deep into chunkey:
Emerson took the next step. He worked with a geologist and an archaeometric specialist to develop, with the aid of the National Science Foundation, a new short-wave, infrared-light-beam method of measuring the mineral composition of rock. Their device is called a Portable Infrared Mineral Analyzer (PIMA for short) and has the advantage of being able to precisely measure a specimen's mineralogy without damaging it. Functioning like a ray gun, the PIMA is powerful enough to determine where the Chunkey Player pipe and two dozen other Cahokia-style objects were made. Between 2000 and 2003, Emerson and his team published their results: the red stone sculptures were made not from bauxite but from a raw material called flintclay, which could have been obtained only at a single source of stone originating from an outcrop as close as twenty miles west of Cahokia.
I gotta say, chunkey does not seem that fun to me that I can understand why they were shooting themselves over it seven centuries after it was invented but I've never tried it.
They had massive feasts.
Based on the sheer density of excavated remains, individual feasts that took place over the course of just a few days would have involved killing, butchering, and carting in as many as thirty-nine hundred deer, the use of up to seventy-nine hundred pots, and enough smoking tobacco to produce more than a million charred tobacco seeds.
I have no idea how much tobacco that is. A lot? Worth noting that Charles Mann points out that the tobacco back then was way stronger, possibly even slightly hallucinogenic.
Now as I'm reviewing Pakutet's book I can't help but be impressed by how much he likes archaeology. here he is talking about a site that wasn't even very important, it was basically twelve huts from poor people who lived miles away from Cahokia Central:
The trash itself was impressive, in both amount and type.
Imagine spending years digging up people's trash from a thousand years ago so you could make discoveries like "THEY ATE DOGS!" and "THEY ATE MOSTLY CORN"!
At Cahokia Mounds Interpretive Center they make a big deal out of "borrow pits," places where they took the dirt to make the mounds. Borrow pits? It's like: "dude, do you mean holes?"
God bless you, archaeologists. Some of the characters he describes were pretty wild:
[Preston] Holder also joined the armed forces. He signed up with the navy and was sent to fight the Japanese. Years later, he would tell stories about his time as a coast watcher on a small island in the Pacific. The Japanese had established an airbase on one side of the island, he was stationed on the opposite side, and the people of Espiritu Santo, who had practiced head-hunting before the war, were trapped in between. Holder, intrepid archaeologist that he was, apparently convinced the natives to revive their traditional practice, and they began taking heads again, this time preying on the unsuspecting Japanese troops. Holder's unusual ploy demoralized the Japanese, and when American forces finally retook the island in 1945, the Japanese were all too ready to surrender.
They were into a mythological birdman.
That was the only Birdman image I saw at the Interpretive Center, but artist Herb Roe has painted a more fanciful depiction of the Birdman supposedly crucial to the Mississippian culture or "Southeastern Ceremonial Complex."
Now, what don't we know about Cahokia?
What happened to them?
Nobody knows, seems to have collapsed around 1250.
Did they have any connection to the big cities that sprang up in Mexico?
There's no evidence of it, really, unless you realllllllly stretch the birdman idea. Some of the archaeologists got into the idea that the 52 human sacrifices has something to do with the Mayan calendar, but c'mon bros.
I find the idea of a pre-Columbian city in the what's now United States fascinating, and the tantalizing, inevitably frustrating effort to sort out what was going on in a place that left no record is a cool mystery. As usual, the history about the history is as good as the history. Here we have archaeologists spending five years digging in the mud of Illinois to try and figure out why people 1000 years ago dug in the mud of Illinois.
On the other hand, what we're talking about is some piles of dirt.
Anyway, glad someone's working on it.
By the way, for more on the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex, check out this great essay by John Jeremiah Sullivan.
Unicorn TapestriesPosted: October 27, 2014 Filed under: adventures, art history Leave a comment
The first time I went to Paris I went to the Musee de Cluny and spent a long time trying to make sense out of the unicorn tapestries.
The lady stands in front of a tent, across the top of which is written "À Mon Seul Désir", an obscure motto, variously interpretable as "my one/sole desire", "according to my desire alone"; "by my will alone", "love desires only beauty of soul", "to calm passion"
I heard an interview once with Joseph Campbell where he talks about being a 23 (or so) year old student in Paris – must've been 1925 or so. He was there to study Provençal and medieval French. He says one day he sat down on the steps of the Musee de Cluny and thought to himself, "what the fuck [I'm paraphrasing] am I doing learning Provençal? I don't even know how to make a decent meal for myself!"
The tapestries were rediscovered in 1841 by Prosper Mérimée in Boussac castle where they had been suffering damage from their storage conditions.
The next time I went to Paris I didn't waste my time staring at 16th century tapestries. I partied all night with Chris McK and his friends at some underground club or someplace and in the morning Durbin and I scalped tickets to the French Open.
What was up with European witch trials in the Middle Ages?Posted: October 22, 2014 Filed under: history, writing Leave a comment
This tweet by Chris Schleicher:
got me to thinking. What with plagues and beheadings and barbarians, droughts and wars and rumors of wars and all, it can feel like end times. But there's nothing new there, people have pretty much always thought it was end times. In 2 Thessalonians Paul has to calm down the panicky Thessalonians that the second coming hasn't already happened – he's like guys, I promise, you'll hear about it.
A good book on this subject is In Pursuit Of The Millennium:
The Pursuit of the Millennium: Revolutionary Millenarians and Mystical Anarchists of the Middle Ages (1957, revised and expanded in 1970) isNorman Cohn's study of millenariancult movements.
Covering a wide span of time, Cohn's book discusses topics such as anti-Semitism and the Crusades, in addition to such sects as the Brethren of the Free Spirit, flagellants, the Anabaptists, and the Ranters. The Pursuit of the Millennium concludes with a discussion of the theocratic king John of Leiden, who took over the city of Münster in 1534.
(You can, apparently, still see the cage where they left John's body on the steeple of St. Lambert's in Münster)
Germany is twisted. Anyway: read Cohn in high school because I was interested in what kind of weird and creepy cults emerged from the bubonic plague. Cohn doesn't have a ton on that, if I remember, but he does have lots of interesting stuff about flagellating cults of penitents and so forth. And he talks about the Children's Crusade, a deeply sad event which is all the more intriguing because of how hard it is to sort out.
ANYWAY: went to wikipedia Cohn, and learned about another topic he was into: witch trials. In this book:
Cohn tries to sort out what the hell was going on with medieval witch trials.
Within the book, Cohn argues that there never were any Devil-worshiping witches in Early Modern Europe, and that all of those persecuted for being so were innocent. In this he specifically rejects the Witch-cult hypothesis put forward by English scholar Margaret Murray, which argued that there really had been a witch-cult religion which had been pre-Christian in origin. Cohn notes that accusations of worshiping a beast-headed deity, eating children and committing incest were not new to the witches of Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe, but had originally been leveled at Jews in the first century and then at Christians in the second, before being reused against Christian heretical sects like the Waldensians and the Knights Templar during the Late Medieval.
Now, the Margaret Murray hole is a great one to go down. Basically, her argument was that there was a pre-Christian folk religion in England that worshipped a horned fertility god, and that witch hunts were Christian efforts to stamp this out.
Amazing book cover.
Murray's is a great, exciting idea and it still can put a twinkle in the eye of deep English folk hippies. But the prevailing historical view started to go at it:
In his 1962 work A Razor for a Goat, Rose asserted that Murray's books on the witch-cult "contain an incredible number of minor errors of fact or of calculation and several inconsistencies of reasoning."[75] He accepted that her case "could, perhaps, still be proved by somebody else, though I very much doubt it."[75]Highlighting that there is a gap of about a thousand years between the Christianisation of Britain and the start of the witch trials there, he asserts that there is no evidence for the existence of the witch-cult anywhere in the intervening period.
That last part seems like the best argument to me – if there was a horn-god religion, why didn't we hear about it before the 1400s? But, of course, there were ancient pre-Christian religions in Britain:
In keeping with what was by then the prevailing academic view, [Ronald Hutton's boo] disputed the widely held idea that ancient paganism had survived into the contemporary and had been revived by the Pagan movement. In turn, it proved somewhat controversial among some sectors of the Pagan community, with two prominent members of the Goddess movement, Asphodel Long and Max Dashu publishing criticisms of it.
The Murray "witch-cult hypothesis" was talking about Britain, but people picked up on it elsewhere:
During the 1930s and 1940s, Heinrich Himmler organised a branch of the SS to undertake the largest survey of witch-hunt trial records in Europe ever taken, with the dual aim of using it as anti-Christian propaganda, to claim that the inquisition had been a repression of an indigenous Völkisch Norse-Germanic nature religion, and as evidence for reconstructing that religion.
Ultimately it seems like your more serious British historians, going through more and more documents, picking away at Murray, found it didn't hold up. But that still leaves us with the question of what the fuck was going on with witch trials?
Down in Italy in the '60s, Carlo Ginzberg started looking into benandanti:
The benandanti ("Good Walkers") were members of an agrarian visionary tradition in the Friuli district of Northeastern Italy during the 16th and 17th centuries. The benandanti claimed to travel out of their bodies while asleep to struggle against malevolent witches (streghe) in order to ensure good crops for the season to come. Between 1575 and 1675, in the midst of the Early Modern witch trials, a number of benandanti were accused of being heretics or witches under the Roman Inquisition, and their beliefs assimilated to Satanism.
He suggested that these guys were in line with "shamanistic" traditions which anthropologists note all over the world. Over in Hungary, Éva Pócs started getting into a similar idea:
But man, some people weren't into it:
Writing in the journal Anthropos, T.O. Beidelman lamented that despite the huge amount of source material that Pócs had to work with, "No account whatsoever is provided to set these witch-hunts and trials (and thus the data at hand) into any kind of historical, cultural, or social contexts. We gain no idea of just what kind of materials may be found in these accounts, who transcribed them, or how these transcriptions may or may not relate to what actually occurred and just who believed what." He argues that Pócs "displays little sense of proper historical procedures" in her method, and that she also "has little concern for any anthropological, sociological, or psychology theory", remarking that ultimately the work is "essentially [a] folkloristic, neo-Frazerian account content to describe a large aggregation of terms, beliefs, and practices mainly with the aims of comparing them to materials from elsewhere in Europe… and of tracing the possible origins of such ideas and customs to earlier beliefs and customs of the pre-Christian or even prehistoric past." He furthermore criticised the style of writing, claiming that it was "rambling and discursive", to the extent that it became "the most serious weakness of this volume". He similarly criticises the translation into English, asserting that it "reads poorly".
(Let me pause here to note I'm just digesting all this from wikipedia, Helytimes' greatest friend, and haven't read these books).
They got into the shaman idea in Germany, too:
Anyway, back in England, Emma Wilby at the University of Exeter picked up on this "shamanic" idea:
she has published two books examining witchcraft and the cunning folk of this period. In these, she has identified what she considers to be shamanic elements within the popular beliefs that were held in this place and time, which she believes influenced magical thought and the concept of the witch.
Wilby started digging into on something interesting, the confession of a witch named Isobel Gowdie, who was arrested around 1662, but apparently confessed without being tortured:
Wilby herself was able to obtain copies of the trial records, which had been presumed lost for two centuries, from which she concluded that Gowdie had been involved in some form of shamanic visionary trances.
Isobel sounds like an interesting lady:
A young housewife living at Auldearn, Highland, Scotland, her confession painted a wild word-picture about the deeds of her coven. They were claimed to have the ability to transform themselves into animals; to turn into a hare, she would say:
- I shall go into a hare,
- With sorrow and sych and meickle care;
- And I shall go in the Devil's name,
- Ay while I come home again.
(sych: such; meickle: great)
To change back, she would say:
Hare, hare, God send thee care.
I am in a hare's likeness now,
But I shall be in a woman's likeness even now.
What was going on here? Were these people psychotic? Is a word like that even useful or transferable across centuries and cultures? Was there some kind of folk shamanism that stayed alive all over Europe through the Middle Ages? Is that so different from what Margaret Murray was saying?
I don't have time to sort it all out, but I'm glad somebody's on it.
I'm just talking about Europe, too – the Salem witch trials are a whole different ballgame. There you can get into theories about West Indian psychotropic hallucinogens, real estate dynamics, wild ergot poisoning, social politics, post-Indian wars PTSD, proto-feminism and fear of adolescent girls' sexuality, and so on forever down the worm hole.
I guess my point is, 1) history is interesting and 2) dope book cover from Margaret Murray.
There's hope for all of us!Posted: October 21, 2014 Filed under: history Leave a comment
It is easy to forget, but on the eve of the Russian Revolution, Stalin was in his late 30s and had nothing to show for his life. He had "no money, no permanent residence, and no profession other than punditry," meaning that he wrote articles for illegal newspapers. He certainly had no training in statecraft, and no experience managing anything at all. The Bolshevik coup d'état of 1917 brought him and his comrades their first, glorious taste of success. Their unlikely revolution—the result of Lenin's high-risk gambles—validated their obscure and fanatical ideology. More to the point, it brought them personal security, fame, and power they had never before known.
from here.
The tallest cow in the worldPosted: October 20, 2014 Filed under: America Since 1945, animals Leave a comment
Blosom lives in Illinois and was recently declared the world's tallest cow.
She says she knew Blosom was special when she was a calf.
I found it a little disappointing, but thanks to Tyler Cowen for the ht. Please send any agricultural oddities to helphely at gmail.


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Corbyn hasn't won, but Labour got its biggest vote share since 2001 (41%), and the biggest swing from one party to another since 1945.
Thanks to an abysmal nineteenth-century voting system, those gains haven't translated into a majority Labour government, let alone a landslide (in 2005, Blair got a majority of 66 on the back of just 35% of the vote, because of the way those votes were distributed around the country) — but a Tory Prime Minister who said, 'if I lose just six seats, I will lose this election' lost twelve.
Now the commentariat is trying to compute what's happened. Pundits have spent eighteen months insisting Corbyn would be an electoral catastrophe. In fact, he's become the most successful Labour leader since Blair — despite going against almost everything Blair stood for.
They're now claiming this result was utterly unforeseeable. "No-one expected this!", exclaimed Huw Edwards, doing that irritating speak-for-the-nation sweeping generalisation thing BBC types like to do on big occasions like these.
Actually, quite a lot of people did. I've heard Aaron Bastani and others moot 40%-plus as a possibility. Personally, I wasn't expecting Labour to do as well as that — 35%, maybe? — but the level of bafflement we're seeing could only come from people who genuinely believed no-one in their right mind would ever vote for Corbyn.
So why did they think like that? Why were they so spectacularly bad at grasping Corbyn's potential appeal?
Firstly, it's their blinkered vision of politics. To them, the only politics that matters is in Westminster. Grassroots activism is fringe — it's divisive, and spooks respectable voters.
Secondly, it's their quasi-religious faith in 'centrism'. They looked at Labour's performance in the Blair-era — three successive election victories, having shedded its left-wing identity and enthusiastically embraced neoliberalism — and assumed that was the only way the party could win elections in post-Thatcherite Britain.
They thought British politics had changed forever — and that the British electorate had been put off 1945-style social democracy for good.
In fact, New Labour only 'worked' when it did — or at least delivered majority Labour governments — because of a specific set of circumstances. Those circumstances have now drastically changed — and 41% of the voting public have shown themselves willing to vote for a party led by its most radical leader since George Lansbury in the 1930s.
I have a cod-psychological theory that everyone has a worldview that legitimises the way they live their life, and casts them as one of the good guys. A generation of journalists, commentators and Labour politicians didn't just rationally calculate that centrism was the right political position to adopt — it became an integral part of their identity, and their sense of self-worth. Socialism was dead, people like Corbyn were dinosaurs, and they got to be rich and selfish and individualistic, and still be the progressive good guys.
To me, at least, that explains the ferocity with which the liberal commentariat attacks Corbyn. It's not just (if at all) rational critiques of his policies — it's also a primitive psychological backlash against someone whose very existence threatens to undermine their sense of self-righteousness and self-worth.
Today, that's why we're seeing so many of Corbyn's liberal and inter-Labour critics interpreting events in the way that's least upsetting to that worldview — because otherwise they'd have to confront the fact that they've been wrong about almost everything for 25 years, then deal with the resulting trauma.
So David Miliband congratulated voters for 'rejecting hard Brexit'. Alistair Campbell declared that 'this election is a rejection of May and hard Brexit'. Laura Kuenssberg decided it was 'worth saying a lot of Lab MPs who've done well were prominent critics of Corbyn'. As I type, she's on TV downplaying the scale of Labour's achievement and saying 'Labour lost as badly as they did in 2010' (yes, Brown won 258 seats, but only 29% of the vote cast). Various pundits have made the laughable claim that Labour would've won with a better leader (would 18–24s have rushed out to vote for Yvette Cooper?)
Some, like arch-New Labourite John Rentoul, are more self-aware — he refreshingly admits that he'd got Corbyn wrong, but still says he needs to be replaced before the next election.
Even those who are being a bit magnanimous tonight are likely to revert to type before too long. They're practically allergic to Corbyn, Corbynism and everything it represents. They deeply, passionately, irrationally desperate for a centrist Blair figure to emerge and wrench back Labour for them and their view of the world.
I'm sure I'm not alone in finding it hard to believe a Tory minority government propped up by religious extremists in the DUP will last until 2022. That means we're likely to face another election with Corbyn as Labour leader — one we could genuinely win.
But if we're ever going to see a radical left-wing government in Britain, we need to build new institutions, to counter both the centrist fundamentalists of the liberal establishment, and the Mail and Murdoch axis of evil. And that includes a new media.
Last night, I got my election coverage from Novara Media. It's a left-wing news organisation that produces podcasts and videos and puts on live events. At the moment, it's small and London-centric, but with more support, it could grow into something much bigger and more powerful.
I'd encourage you to subscribe, as I've just done — you can do so for as little as £1 a month — or make a one-off donation. I'm going to be making a conscious effort to plug them as much as I can.
It's easy, and often feels much safer, to be pessimistic. I'm pessimistic. I supported Corbyn, and privately thought he had less than 1% chance of even getting on the ballot paper when he first stood for Labour leader. But if we put the effort in, and keep building our own institutions and ways of communicating with one another, I think it's possible we could see something resembling socialism in our lifetimes.


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Charlotte Tilbury. A brand I've lusted after for years but never been brave enough to take the plunge to buy. Wayne Goss introduced me to this brand after chatting about how much he loves the Magic Cream (mental note; try this one day!) and I just knew it was a brand I had to check out. Wayne is basically the God of makeup to me, I'd trust him with my face entirely. After the Charlotte Tilbury counter FINALLY opened in Newcastle after months of teasing us, I was all over it. I wanted everything. At the time, I couldn't really afford anything so I thought I'd wait. A few weeks later it was my birthday and I turned out to be the luckiest girl ever on that day!
My brother got me Glastonberry Matte Revolution Lipstick and the matching Lip Cheat liner. I was so so happy and excited to use them but not until I'd photographed it, of course… It's a beautiful deep, purple berry. It's absolutely gorgeous and can take a makeup look from drab to daring. Definitely not a lipstick for the people who like it natural, but coming out of your comfort zone once in a while is great, right? I didn't photograph the lip liner because they are AWFUL to try and get a nice photo of. They're too small, seriously. I can't do it.
The other Matte Revolution lipstick I received is Love Liberty, a deep pinky-red that compliments my skin tone so well. I don't think my friends could have picked a red colour that would suit me more. This is the ultimate wearable, everyday red for me. I just love it. I'd wear it every day if I could. It's rare now that I wear any sort of formulation other than matte, unless I want an extremely glossy look. I just have so much trouble actually keeping products on my lips that I don't bother wearing anything but matte. I'm lucky if a lipstick will last longer than an hour. Mac's matte lipsticks don't have great staying power on me and tend to go a bit flakey, so I figured these would be the same. I was proved wrong, thanks Charlotte! I was so surprised when I applied this lipstick at 8am, drank my morning coffee and got to about 11am without needing to apply. It's actually a miracle for me. I even ate a greasy burger and the lipstick was still there! I mean, it wasn't perfect and had faded a little but the colour was definitely still there and it was still very in tact. Not like other lipsticks that have no staying power on me.
The last thing I received was the Charlotte Tilbury Luxury Palette in The Vintage Vamp. It took me a long time to use this palette because it's just so beautiful I didn't want to mess it up. One day I give in and had a little go and the pigmentation in this palette is amazing. The shadows are so buttery and gorgeous, I've fallen in love. I also love wearing a dark, vampy gold/red smokey eye and I don't think my friends could have chosen a better palette for me. One day I'll do a tutorial doing a very bold, deep smokey eye using this palette. I can't wait. It's going to be great.
If you're thinking of buying any high end lipsticks, definitely go Charlotte Tilbury. It's a cut above the rest, I've never experienced a lipstick so creamy, buttery and pigmented that is long lasting too. I'll be buying more and I really want to try a nude, a red and a nice English Rose pink!
The same goes for the eyeshadow palette. The formula isn't really comparable to many types of shadows that I own. I find some higher-end shadows can be quite talc-y and chalk like. These shadows blend like a dream without losing pigmentation. There's nothing worse when you blend an eyeshadow and it vanishes. I'd like to try a more neutral palette next, but I'm not sure if I could justify buying another when I already have what seems every single neutral colour under the sun for my eyes!
Here's a photo of me wearing Glastonberry and Love Liberty.
Hope you enjoyed my little review, if you have any questions comment below and I'll be sure to answer them. Are there any products from Charlotte Tilbury you've been wanting to try? I think I'll be after trying an Eyes to Mesmerize Long Lasting Cream Shadow.
Thank you for reading, talk to you all soon! ♥


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"She's the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy… " was Lando Calrissian's description of the Millennium Falcon during his original introduction to the saga back in The Empire Strikes Back.
However, Billy Dee Williams, the actor who uttered those famous words, never saw the Falcon in its glory.
Many fans have seen the below clip at the theater (in pre-show video and preview format in showings of Avengers: Infinity War), but today the official Star Wars Twitter and YouTube accounts posted Donald Glover's tour of the Falcon.
This version of the ship is hardly "junk."
Join Donald Glover for a tour of the iconic Millennium Falcon in this featurette for the upcoming Solo: A Star Wars Story. See the film in theaters May 25. #HanSolo pic.twitter.com/D2Jg1Jd19R
— Star Wars (@starwars) May 2, 2018
"This is where the magic happens," said Glover–a.k.a. "young" Calrissian–as he entered Lando's quarters and led cameras around the interior set of the modified YT freighter.
"But I think the coolest part of this entire ship is in here," added Donald. "The cape room.
"I've got every cape…"
Even beyond Edna Mode's closet of nightmares, this sleeker (sexier?) version of the ship is well appointed, with a galley, guest quarters, couches, and a sound system.
However, don't take my word for it. Take the tour! JB


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One of my clients, Colette, contacted me today to let me know that her home was filmed for House and Home, and that the art she purchased from me could be seen! Hurray!
The entire home tour is stunning, wow, her place is incredible. If you watch closely after about the 3 minute mark you will see an ADOP deer painting in her family room, and a fox in her sons' bedroom. I have to say, Colette's home is exactly the type of home I picture when I create my nursery pieces. They look so perfect in the space! I love seeing this :)


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Macroeconomic policies are the actions and adjustments by governments – either on the local or the international level – to influence the economic health and stability of an entire country.
Today, macroeconomic policies imposed as part of loan conditions constrain many developing countries and have a direct impact on people's health. The long-term effects of these policies can be quite severe and can impair a country's ability to build effective health systems or respond to health emergencies, such as Ebola.
International trade agreements, which are often negotiated in secret and without the presence of civil society at the table, often include policies that favor multinational corporations (such as pharmaceutical companies) at the expense of affordable, easy access to medications for the poor and most vulnerable people.
It is essential to understand the relationship between macroeconomic policy, trade, and health, as well as what we as concerned citizens can do to lift these crushing restrictions and allow governments to invest in their health system.
The history of macroeconomic policies and development
Following the oil crisis in the 1970s, the initiation of aggressive lending by commercial banks, and the increase in interest rates in the U.S. and other wealthy countries, the developing world faced mounting debts. In response, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) implemented structural adjustment programs to ensure that countries would pay back their creditors, regardless of the legitimacy of these loans. Structural adjustment programs included cuts to subsidies on basic food products, fuel, water and sanitation, public transportation and medicines, which were particularly harmful to poor and vulnerable communities.
Health systems in poor countries were hard hit by the reduction in public spending and by the increased debt and interest rates that came along with loans. In many countries, structural adjustment programs implemented fees in public hospitals and clinics that had previously offered care free of charge. These user fees reduced access to care, especially for the marginal communities.
While the IMF and World Bank have publicly stated that they are no longer in favor of user fees, the charges persist in many countries that now rely on this revenue as one of the only dependable forms of income in the context of permanently strapped budgets. Quality of care and the morale of health workers also suffered as salaries were slashed and limits were placed on the number of health care workers that can be hired.
The situation today
While there have been some improvements, macroeconomic policies continue to play a critical role in influencing what resources are available for ministries of health. The outbreak of several public health emergencies, such as Ebola, have underlined the urgent need for further reform and debt cancellation. Recent opposition to trade agreements have included the people's voice against unfair regulations that would increase the cost of life-saving medicines.
One area of particular concern is the severe shortage of health care workers in low-resource countries. In 2006, the World Health Organization estimated that there is a need for 4 million additional health care workers. Despite this, the International Monetary Fund has imposed restrictions such as salary caps so that poor countries can't hire more health workers, even if they have the funds to do so.
We support a number of campaigns led by global economic justice advocates, and recommend them for more information or to get involved. We also partner with Seattle based partners, such as Community Alliance for Global Justice and Washington Fair Trade Coalition, to work for more just macroeconomic policies and fair trade policies.


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Grand VisionMultiple Interim Management assignments
|Advisory, Ketenbesturing & -inzicht, Professionals
|Retail & Wholesale
Interim Supply Chain Management
Districon has provided GrandVision Benelux Interim support in roles like Supply Chain Director, Supply & Demand Manager and Forecaster within their Supply Chain department to fill temporary gaps in the organization due to project implementations, vacancies and maternity leaves.
GrandVision is a global leader in optical retail and is committed to delivering superior, high quality and affordable eye care to people around the world. With over 5.800 stores and online, GrandVision is present in 43 different countries. GrandVision delivers expert optical services, prescription glasses including frames and lenses, contact lenses and sunglasses, both plain and with prescription lenses through a portfolio of optical retail banners. The stores operate under well-known local retail banners, like Pearle, Eyewish, Solaris, Vision Express, Apollo and GrandOptical which in some cases look back at a heritage of over 120 years.


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Filio Galvez & Axel Void collaboration
La Perla, San Juan, Puerto Rico for Los Muros Hablan
Today we took a break to go to this charismatic neighborhood called "La Perla". Mindblowing place. The entrance is through a cemetery. This piece is based on a sculpture that belonged to one of the graves. This neighborhood has a history of violence and a bad reputation. But without a doubt we felt at home. This one is dedicated to the people of La Perla, for their hospitality and for keeping a community such as this one.


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Yarns and fabrics made from selected raw materials are enhanced by special treatments and finishing processes along with exclusive designs and intarsia patterns
The colours depict distant voyages, with unusual contrasts from the cool shades of the Scottish Highlands to the warmest shades of the sunburned lands. Colours melting together or exploding in multicolor stripes, geometric micropatterns with colour changing effect or microcamouflage patterns with optical effect on handmade-looking textured surfaces.
A mix-and-match of classic forms, elaborate textures and vibrant colours. An anti-conformist style playing with unusual contrasts enhanced by special finishing and dyeing processes. Knitwear, the soul of Drumohr's world, is crafted from an ultralight impalpable cashmere yarn, which is called cloud cashmere, with textured patterns and colour effects. Wool, linen and silk in watercolor shades. Cotton is used for lightweight sweaters in solid colors or with multicolor thin stripe trimmings also for eccentric and bold polo styles. Textured surfaces create optical effects and for the summer days stretch linen garments feature the iconic razor blade small-scale pattern .


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A superb Regency circular centre table, the specimen marble top inlaid with radiating panels of 112 various marbles and hard stones including Malachite, Lapis-Lazuli and Harlequin Breccia, all centred by a micro mosaic panel depicting 'The Doves of Pliny'. The light coloured rosewood base with a bronze patinated carved column emblematic of lotus leaves, and standing on leaf carved scroll feet with inset brass castors.
English, circa 1810
Dr J.S Gordon, London
Dr Gordon's collection focused around Tribal art, Antiquities and Furniture and while he also collected other items that included Yoruba, Inuit, Egyptian, and Central Asian pieces, the central theme of his collection was for pieces that had a naturalistic streak, the present table being a fine example.
It is particularly unusual for a early Regency specimen marble top to be centered by a micro-mosaic.
It is also rare to find a table that has retained its original base in such fine condition.
The majority of surviving examples, have replaced bases that were often crudely constructed in the late 19th Century/ early 20th Century in a black rosewood.


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Markus Granlund says his favourite player growing up was Saku Koivu. With 17 NHL seasons in the books and over 800 points, not a bad choice.
It's also an appropriate choice considering that in many ways, Granlund is cut out of the same mould. At 5-foot-11 and 180 pounds, he is similar in stature to Koivu. Granlund is also a strong, play-making centre who can score, just like his idol.
Back in July, centring a line with Sven Baertschi and Coda Gordon in the Flames development camp scrimmages, Granlund – who speaks limited English, let his play on the ice do all the talking and did it ever speak volumes. He drew praise from Baertschi who had nothing but good things to say about Granlund's dynamic game.
"What they learn in Finland is you always have your head up. It doesn't matter if the puck is on your stick or not, your head is always up. As soon as the puck touches his blade, he doesn't look for the puck any more because he knows it's there, he can feel it," Baertschi said at the time. "So when you play with him, he always sees you because his head is always up. You don't have to yell at him because he sees you already. He makes good plays out there and he can also shoot the puck, he has a really accurate shot."
Hearing from the Man, Himself
After Granlund finished his fitness testing Wednesday at the University of Calgary, I had a chance to chat with the quiet-spoken 20-year-old. Using countryman Joni Ortio as his translator in the handful of instances when he couldn't come up with the right words, he talked about his overall game, his time in Finland, and his expectations going forward with the Penticton Young Stars Classic tournament coming up and the Flames main training camp after that.
Granlund played the past two seasons in the Finnish Elite League for HIFK Helsinki. Last year, 19 years old and the youngest player on a veteran team, Granlund established himself as one of the team's go-to players. He finished second on the team in scoring with 10 goals and 20 assists in 50 games.
"It was a huge thing for me as a young player to be put in that kind of role at such a young age," said Granlund, who notched 15 goals and 19 assists in his rookie year. "It's nice to get that responsibility so early on."
Mixed in was a superb showing at the 2013 World Juniors where he tied for the Finnish team scoring lead and was second overall in tournament scoring with five goals and seven assists in six games.
Ortio, who is two years older than Granlund, offers a unique perspective on Granlund's 2012-13 campaign given he had the best vantage point of anybody – a view from ice level. Ortio, also a Flames prospect, was Helsinki's starting goaltender last year.
"At times, he was our No. 1 centre. Just to be in that spot and face all that pressure you have playing in that spot, that builds character and makes you ready for the next step which is here, right now," said Ortio. "So it was great for him to see that much ice time and the role he was playing and for him to pull it off perfectly."
Ortio says Markus Granlund is a very similar player to his talented brother Mikael, who is one year older and was drafted ninth overall by Minnesota in 2010. Mikael played 27 games last year as a rookie with the Wild.
All Finnish, No Swedish
"Yes, I am a playmaker, but I can score goals too," insists Granlund, when asked to describe his overall game. An area he's already notably good at but continues to work on is the quick release of his wrist shot.
"If you shoot, you have to shoot quick because you don't have much time over here," said Granlund, who signed a three-year entry level contract in April. "In North America, everything on the ice you have to do a little bit more quicker than back home. Obviously with the smaller rink, there's not as much as space on the ice to make plays."
Ortio said fans will enjoy watching Granlund as he is an exciting player.
"He's the guy that can set up plays you wouldn't even dream about. At times last year, he'd make a play on the ice and I'd be like 'wow, I didn't see that coming'. He's just so intelligent. He knows exactly where his linemates are at all times."
Then there's this gem from two years ago: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frWLxU_tGFo
Would Granlund like to have Baertschi as one of his linemates again in Penticton?
"Of course, he's a good player. But I don't care who I play with, it doesn't matter," Granlund said. "I just want to do my best every day and try to make my linemates better."
New and Improved Markus
Since being drafted by the Flames in the second round of 2011, 45th overall, three areas that Granlund says he's been working on has been his power, his skating, and his "muscle", pointing out that a big difference for him is players in North America are so much stronger.
During a recent interview on Sportsnet 960 radio, Flames GM Jay Feaster said he's looking forward to seeing how Granlund fares in his first taste of pre-season hockey.
"If there is one guy I really am anxious to see, it would have to be Markus Granlund. When you look at what he did this past season over in Europe and I thought he was one of the most pleasant surprises of development camp," Feaster said. "He's a wildcard in my mind and he's someone I'm anxious to see when he's up against the top guys on these other teams and teams that are our rivals."
Like each and every prospect, Granlund hopes to be pulling on a Calgary Flames jersey a month from now. But if that doesn't happen, he says he'll go down to Abbotsford and continue to work.
"If that's the case, you can't just keep thinking about oh no, now I'm in Abbotsford, I have no chance to get back up. There's always possibilities if you do your best." Granlund said.
Wherever he ends up in 2013-14, perhaps Ortio will be right there alongside him. At minimum, the two of them will be sticking together for September.
"For sure it's nice to have a guy around that speaks the same language," Ortio said. "I don't have any problems with English but it's nice to chat with your own native tongue every once and a while and I bet it's a huge help for him. I was here a few years ago and know the deal and I hope I can help him out the best way I can."
Related Flames Reading
Related Flames Reading
- Ten Storylines I'll be Following In Penticton - The battle in net, can Ryan Culkin earn a pro contract, Emile Poirier vs Hunter Shinkaruk. So many things to watch and I break it all down.


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As a medical malpractice law firm in Pasadena, we know that California's Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act of 1975 – MICRA – was supposed to reduce medical malpractice liability insurance premiums for healthcare providers in this state by decreasing their potential tort liability. The real effect of MICRA, however, has been to limit the rights of medical malpractice victims and their ability to receive compensation for injuries caused by medical negligence. MICRA's provisions were challenged in the courts in the 1970s and 1980s, but most of its provisions have been upheld by the Supreme Court of California or the California Courts of Appeal.
Since 1975, the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act has capped non-economic damages at $250,000 in medical malpractice cases, capped attorneys' fees, reduced the statute of limitations period for bringing medical malpractice claims, and allowed healthcare providers to pay judgments over a lengthier period of time. In many instances, the law also compels malpractice injury victims to submit to binding arbitration, which in practice may provide reduced compensation sums and more favorable results for healthcare providers.
Attorney Gregory Vanni, managing partner at Thon Beck Vanni Callahan & Powell, says the law is unfair to injury victims: "Every day," says Vanni, "we turn away righteous cases of medical negligence because California's medical malpractice laws are rigged against the victims who are harmed by careless doctors and hospitals. Lawyers can't afford to take on such powerful and well-funded adversaries like medical doctors and hospitals because of the severe restrictions on suing them."
Still, a number of myths and misperceptions persist in California regarding medical malpractice victims' rights and their legal options, the cost of malpractice premiums, the effect of damage caps, and the definition and role of "defensive" medicine. Here is a brief look at five lingering myths – and the real truth – regarding medical malpractice and its victims in the state of California:
Myth #1: Limiting victims' rights reduces malpractice premiums for doctors.
The truth is that malpractice premiums for healthcare providers increased for thirteen years after the passage of MICRA in 1975. What reduced malpractice premiums was the passage in 1988 of Proposition 103, the strongest insurance rate regulation law in the nation. "Prop 103" led to a rate rollback and lowered premium costs for all kinds of insurance including medical malpractice insurance.
Myth #2: Injured patients are still compensated for their medical expenses because only "non-economic" damages are capped.
The truth is that many injured patients receive little or no compensation. Typically, only the victims with large wage losses or extensive medical bills are able to find medical malpractice attorneys who will risk representing them. The severe injury or wrongful death of a child or a retiree due to medical malpractice typically does not result in "economic" damages because there is no basis for projecting a future earnings capacity. In these cases in California, there may be no way to hold negligent healthcare providers accountable.
Myth #3: A compensation cap is fair because injury victims may be awarded unlimited economic damages.
By law, California juries are not told about the cap on non-economic damages, so they sometimes award judgments without realizing what the law actually allows. One example is the case of Harry Jordan, a Huntington Beach man, who was hospitalized in 1982 at Long Beach Community Hospital to have a cancerous kidney removed, but the surgeon removed the healthy kidney. The error was blamed mostly on doctors reading Jordan's X-rays backward.
A trial jury awarded Jordan over $5 million, but the verdict was reduced to $250,000 due to California's cap on non-economic damages – plus a mere $6,000 in "economic" costs. Jordan's ultimate court costs, not including attorney fees, amounted to more than $400,000 and his medical bills, which kept piling up after being rejected by insurers, eventually totaled more than $500,000. Harry Jordan's case is just one example of what can happen to medical malpractice victims in California.
Myth #4: Caps on malpractice damages benefit doctors and lawyers.
The real truth is that caps on malpractice damages benefit greedy HMOs and managed care corporations. One shocking example is the case of Steven Olsen. Steven Olsen suffers blindness and brain damage today because his family's HMO plan did not permit the $800 CAT scan that might have saved him from permanent injury when he was two years old. The child fell on a stick in the woods while hiking with his family. The hospital gave him steroids and sent him home with a growing brain abscess even though his parents requested a CAT scan.
The very next day, the child was rushed to the hospital in a coma. A jury eventually awarded the family $7.1 million in "non-economic" damages, but once again, California law forced the judge to reduce the amount to $250,000. The jurors only learned that their judgment had been reduced when they read it in the newspaper. Thomas Kearns, the jury foreman in the case, later wrote that, "Our medical-care system has failed Steven Olsen … I think the people of California place a higher value on life than this."
Myth #5: "Defensive medicine" drives up the cost of medical care.
Those who want to continue to limit the compensation rights of California's medical malpractice injury victims claim that too many healthcare providers practice too much defensive medicine, driving up healthcare costs because doctors are afraid of lawsuits. But in this era of managed care, HMOs are actually seeking to reduce costs, and unnecessary tests and procedures are actually relatively rare.
Moreover, "Defensive medicine is not always bad for patients," according to a report from the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment. The report concluded: "Malpractice reforms that remove incentives to practice defensively, without differentiating between appropriate and inappropriate defensive medicine, could also remove a deterrent to providing too little care at the very time that such mechanisms are needed."
The victims of medical malpractice in California face a number of obstacles when they seek justice, and there's no particular relief in sight. As the nation's most progressive state, it's probably time for California and its lawmakers to revisit the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act of 1975 because, as Pasadena medical malpractice attorney Gregory Vanni says, "More and more victims of medical carelessness go totally unrepresented and uncompensated because of the unfair MICRA law."


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The living room can be a little more complicated to move than the dining room or bedroom, simply because of all those electronics and small items such as figurines, DVDs and books. This guide will help you organize and pack both the small and large items efficiently and effectively.
Sort, Select and Simplify
Like all rooms, you need to sort and get rid of stuff as much as possible. Go through each drawer and over each shelf to determine what items will be moved and which ones can be donated or sold in a garage sale.
Pack All Draperies and Wall Decorations
Remove and pack all pictures and mirrors from the walls, including drapes, sheers and blinds. For paintings and original art that are valuable, you may wish to hire a special packing service. Call a professional packer or talk to your moving company for rates and options.
Use a wardrobe box for drapes and curtains. Specialty boxes can be purchased from a moving store or your moving company. Hang the drapes, curtains, and sheers over the crossbar. Remove the curtain rods and place them in the box. If a wardrobe box is not available, carefully fold the drapes and place them in a bureau drawer.
Lamps, Bases, Knick-knacks and Books
It's a good idea to pack all the fragile items next. Removing breakables will allow you to pack the rest of the room without worry. Make sure you use lots of packing material to ensure items are well protected.
- Quick Tip: Make Your Own Packing Material for Fragiles
- Lamp Shades: Step-by-step Packing Guide
- Lamp Bases: Step-by-step Packing Guide
- Packing Fragiles: Step-by-step Packing Guide
- Find out how to pack books so they don't bend during the move.
Electronics and Accessories
Careful packing is required for all electronics. If you've kept the owner's manual that came with each device, check the section on moving and packing. Also, if you kept the original box, that's pretty much all you need. But if you're like me and have thrown away the boxes, you can always contact the manufacturer to see if they can send you a "return box" - something you would use if the device required servicing.
- Electronics: Step-by-Step Packing Guide
- Speakers: For large speakers, wrap each in anti-static bubble-wrap and ask the moving company to secure padding on top. If you're moving yourself, padding can be rented from moving companies or the truck rental agency. For small speakers, wrap them in anti-static bubble-wrap and place them in a well-protected box such as a dish pack.
- Find out how to move a big screen TV
Furniture and Rugs
- TV Cabinet: If your cabinet has glass doors, try to remove them before moving. If this is not possible, secure them well so they don't open during the move. The moving company may want to wrap the cabinet in padding before loading it on the truck.
- Couches, Chairs, Ottomans and other Upholstered Pieces: The moving company will shrink-wrap any upholstered items to ensure they don't get dirty or stained during the move. Make sure any unattached items, such as cushions and pillows are packed separately in a box. If you're moving yourself, find out how to move your sofa or couch.
- Coffee and End Tables: If items have doors or drawers, make sure they are secured. Corners can be protected from bumps using cardboard protectors available from the moving company or rental agency.
- Rugs: You may want to have your rugs professionally cleaned before you move them. Roll rugs then secure them with plastic ties, then place them in large, plastic bags. Your moving company or moving supply store can provide you with bags that are large enough to accommodate your rugs. If in doubt, have the moving company pack your more expensive area rugs.
- Pianos: Pianos need to be moved by a special mover to ensure they aren't damaged during transition. If you're moving yourself, find out how to move a piano without injuring yourself. Also note that once you've moved into your new home, the piano will have to be professionally tuned.