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Miranda in Italy
Posts Tagged Mountolive
Calling up the Dead
Posted by mirandainnes in Writing on April 4, 2012
'It's too hot to go.'
'Have you seen a manila envelope? Hell's bells! There's something I want to show you.'
'That one?' Fastening an earring, she indicated with her elbow the small package lying on his bedside table. 'The food will be awful. She's the most wearisome, opinionated woman. She has nothing interesting to say, and she says it ad nauseam. Her friends are terminally stuffy. Remind me, why are we going?'
He pranced up behind her and sought her eyes in the dressing-table mirror. She was busy outlining her full lips with a brush loaded with waxy blood-red lipstick, and he knew better than to interrupt. She blotted her lips carefully, patted her black hair — glossy as molten tar and swept up Betty Grable style — and gathered lipstick, powder and a silver flacon of Mitsouko into an ostrich skin clutch bag. She rose, unfurling from her seat to stand eye to eye with her husband.
'I don't know how you do that. Three children, and you still rise like Venus from the waves.'
'What what?'
'You wanted to show me something.'
'I'll show you some other time. Beatrice may be dull, but she's had a consignment of Plymouth gin. And Teddy may yet get us out of here.'
They stepped out into the searing dust, the ragged palm trees, the beggars, the smell of donkey shit, the sound of jingling caleches and men shouting hysterically in Arabic that engulfed them beyond the gates of their small ugly house in wartime Cairo.
Boy — who had a name, Mohammed — had polished the chandelier in Beatrice's courtyard house, had watered the bougainvillea and strewn the garnet rose petals in the murmuring fountain. He stood, undecided, fingering the buttons on his white jacket, dreading another staccato barrage from his employer.
'Boy? Boy! Come here. Flowers — flowers for the table. The roses. Where have you put them?'
Mutely he indicated the red confetti dancing on the troubled meniscus.
The blonde dumpling was for a moment paralysed. Sweat pearled her upper lip.
'Are you mad? Oh my God. Why do you always….I told you to put the roses in water.'
She turned, muttering sticky imprecations, and entered the dining room whose double doors were open to the courtyard and whose ceiling fans rotated lazily. A long table was laid for twenty, crowded with calendared napery, prismatic cut glass, gold-rimmed porcelain and buffed cutlery. It was punctuated at precise intervals by Georgian silver candelabra. It did not need flowers.
'Boy? Boy! Come here. Fetch candles, from the ice-box'. To herself she murmured, 'don't think they'll melt now. Thank God, it'll cool down soon.'
At this point Teddy joined her, tall and spruce in immaculate ivory linen.
'Ice!' he called after Boy. 'Well, Bea. Time to see if we've been sold a pup.' He opened the clear glass bottle and was reassured by the sharp cathedral smell of juniper that wafted nostrilwards. 'Smells like the real thing. Lemon!' he flung after Mohammed as he shook the bottle of Angostura bitters.
'Ice as per instructions? Boiled water? Good. Don't want the High Commissioner to come down with dysentery.'
He rarely looked at his wife these days, finding her a disappointment now that her belly quaked and her dimple was lost in fat. There was no shortage of available women in Cairo, but Beatrice ran the house and looked after his interests. He was sorry for her. They'd never managed a baby. Pity. It would have absorbed her fussing, kept her busy.
Instead he looked at the billowing sails of the Mayflower on the familiar gin label. 'Tonic, Bea? I'm having a pink gin, there's some Noilly Prat if you'd prefer…. This glass has got a fingerprint on it.'
Following this discovery Beatrice made a minute inspection of the crystal tumblers, handing Mohammed another that did not pass muster. 'Look!' She brandished them under his nose, 'not good enough.'
'Who did you invite to replace George Cousins?'
'It was very last minute. I invited that writer, Lawrence Durrell.'
'Well! I just hope he behaves. I thought he'd gone to Alexandria.'
'Someone saw him at the club. He goes back and forth.'
'You'd better be careful, Bea. They say that since his wife left he's slept with so many women he can't remember them. A genuine Don Juan. Apparently women can't resist him. I'll be keeping my eye on you.'
'That's very crude, Teddy. I don't believe it anyway. I don't understand why anyone would fall for him. He's not exactly Errol Flynn. I hope none of the women tonight…. I don't think so….we know them all. Well, except Paul Innes's wife, Eileen? It is Eileen isn't it? I've only met her twice — at bridge and at the Williams's. She seemed a bit racy. Scarlet lipstick…..No, no…. out of the question, they've got three children. And Paul is such a good-looking man. She's very tall. Durrell's tiny, shorter than me, and well, that pug nose. Not good on a man. No, I don't think so.'
She noticed that Teddy was still holding an empty glass.
'Boy? Boy! Where is that creature? Spends his life in a dream.' Beatrice marched towards the kitchen.
Teddy, with a narrow catlike smile on his face, moved Durrell's place card to seat him next to Paul Innes's wife. 'Randy, meet Racy.'
'Well, that went well, I thought. They liked the vol-au-vents.'
'Paul is quite a raconteur. I'd heard the story about the Chinese cook and the whisky bottle before though.'
'I thought it rather coarse. I have to say, I really don't like his wife much. I don't know why Durrell engineered himself a place beside her — I put her next to that military chap, Ashbury. As it happened, she hardly spoke to Durrell. I almost felt sorry for him. Silly chump.'
'Didn't seem to worry him — he was his usual ebullient self after a drink or two. He got her to dance with him. They made a pretty ridiculous couple….She's a good-looking woman.'
He had been disappointed by the failure of his scheme to reveal an illicit passion. He was embarrassed in fact, to find himself rather taken with her, surprised to have been piqued by a sharp little pinprick of jealousy, as he watched them in the courtyard, dancing close. Twice. Sinatra, 'All or nothing at all', and Lena Horne. Nothing remarkable there — everyone was dancing, it was the standard finale to a dinner party. Teddy himself was still in a cloud of Mitsouko after they'd danced to 'Rhapsody in Blue' under the stars.
Bea shattered his pleasant reverie. 'Mother would say she's got ideas above her station — she comes across as so superior, but what is she? What has she done?'
'I think she's a bit of a scholar. Someone said she got a double first at Cambridge.'
'Well, I certainly don't believe that. And what about him? He's nothing special. He's just a glorified salesman, when you come down to it.'
'Bea, my angel. If I didn't know you better, I might think you were jaundiced. Paul kept the Shanghai side of Shell in operation, almost singlehandedly. A bit more than a salesman. They both speak Mandarin. There have been hints that he was placed there by the government. MI6. There's a rumour that she's in it too. Did you notice, she didn't drink a drop?'
'What? Are you saying that they're spies? Oh, come on! I don't know who you've been talking to, Teddy, but they need their heads examined.'
'Who'd have thought she came from Argentina?'
'Don't be ridiculous. For God's sake, how much did you drink? She's from Bedford. Or Banbury. One or the other.'
'Bea — when we played 'Down Argentina Way', she burst into tears. She grew up on an estancia, near Cordoba. Both her brothers are fighter pilots — she doesn't know where they are, whether they're still alive, even. She was genuinely upset — you must have noticed. Don't give me that look. You don't know her — you said it yourself. You're being very unfair.'
'Well, you two certainly got chummy. I'm off to bed. Boy? Boy! Get him to clear up, will you? I'm asleep on my feet.'
Teddy poured himself another whisky, turned off the lights, and put Lena Horne's smoky version of 'Stormy Weather' on the record player again, low. Resting his heels on the table, by the muted lightning of sputtering candles, he smoked a cigar.
'Never again. Never have so many dull people been marooned around a table to eat such indifferent food. Don't blame me if you get dysentery — I saw you wading through those vol-au-vents as if Escoffier made them. What was in them? It looked like vomit. I couldn't touch them.'
'You're a hard woman. By Jingo, I felt proud to be among staunch compatriots: it sounds like our boys are really getting somewhere. Look, this war'll be over by Christmas and we can go home.'
'Home? Where is home? I certainly don't want to go back to Blighty. You go, I'd rather go back to China….England isn't home. Durrell calls it Pudding Island. Not affectionately.'
'So you did talk to him? From where I sat, you didn't seem to have much to say to him.'
'No. Nor he to me. '
Paul was on the balcony outside their bedroom, smoking a cigar. Somewhere in the maze of streets behind the house a woman was ululating — a marriage. Eileen unpinned her hair in front of her mirror. Slender, languorous body hinted at by a nightdress of oyster silk satin — one of the few things she'd managed to bring from China — she was a voluptuary's dream. He stubbed out the cigar and ran his hands over her shoulders, with a louche grin.
She removed them.
'Oh, no. Much too hot. Pass me the Pond's, will you?'
Paul was nettled.
Smoothing cold cream onto her high cheekbones, she continued: 'For a writer Durrell was curiously inarticulate, well, until the drink got to him. Then he was moderately entertaining. Not my cup of tea.'
'You danced with him.'
'You danced with Therese, Beatrice and that giraffe-like secretary from the embassy.' She paused. 'What are these? "Apology Card"?'
'Have a look.'
She tipped a wad of small cards from the manila envelope. She read:
regrets exceedingly
his deplorable conduct while a
guest at your
and humbly craves your pardon
for the breach of etiquette checked in the
adjoining column.
'Oh, really, Paul. What nonsense is this?'
'Turn it over. I thought I'd send Teddy and Bea one. As a thank you. It'll make them laugh.'
'"Spanking female guests. Picking nose at table. Indiscriminate goosing." Do you really think they'll find this funny? "Failure to button pants. Failure to unbutton pants." Oh dear.'
She removed the cold cream with cotton wool. '"Locating female's complex" and "Looking for hidden mole" are amusing.'
She pushed them aside wearily. 'You're still a child, aren't you?'
This hurt more than her rejection of him, and he turned away from her in bed.
And she, who had a secret penchant for short, funny, unmanageable men, and could still feel Durrell's hand, surprisingly clearly, surprisingly strongly, imprinted on the small of her back, turned away from her husband.
Eileen's friend, Dilys Arbuthnot, invited her for a birthday drink among the palm trees and jasmine of Shepheard's Terrace. 'Eileen, I'm taking you out for a proper bash. Cocktails, like it or not. We're going to gossip, we're going to ogle chaps in uniform, and you're going to get squiffy. You're only 36 once.' And so, Paul having previously committed himself to a bridge evening at the club, and the children happy to be in the care of bosomy Khadija who made them sugar and cocoa sandwiches, Eileen went on her own.
Her birthday gift from Paul had been an opulent emerald silk shawl. She knew that such expenditure betokened guilt, but defiantly wore the beautiful thing to signal forgiveness of his venial peccadilloes. Whatever they were. It rippled in the evening breeze as the gharry trotted to Shepheard's, where she found Dilys toying with a plate of olives, an empty glass at her elbow.
'Hello Dilys. I'm not late, am I?'
'No. I was ravaged by thirst. They're terribly habit forming. Gin fizz. That was my second.'
Eileen raised her eyebrows.
'I did have some water first, but it didn't do the job. I needed a proper drink.'
Half-way through her fifth, when her top button had undone itself to expose a heaving, sweating cleavage, and her coppery hair was stuck to her forehead, it transpired that the occasion for this drink was not in fact Eileen's birthday, but the defection of Reggie who had recently announced that their marriage was at an end.
'No reason. He said that one more evening with me, and he'd….' Eileen never discovered what Reggie would do, as Dilys slithered from sight beneath the table, landing with a soft flump.
'Waiter!' Eileen stood and waved to attract the attention of one of the boys, whose fez bobbed weaving among the chairs and tables. 'Oh Madame. Madame is on the ground!' Someone joined them from another table and between them they retrieved Dilys. The waiter ran to fetch coffee.
'I know you. You're the diva from Argentina.'
Eileen looked up, startled. 'Oh, Mr. Durrell, thank God! I'm so glad to see a friendly face. We were celebrating my birthday, and I think Dilys had…'
'Five drinks to your one. I know. I was sitting just there.'
'I don't know how I'll get her home. She lives in a flat over by the Services Club. It's not far, but I don't think she can walk. I certainly can't carry her.'
'I'll give you a hand. Let me just get my stuff.' He paid the bill with an involuntary groan, and between them they frog-marched Dilys to a gharry. She lived on the third floor. Getting her there took some doing, but eventually she was in her own bed.
'Whew! That was warming.' Eileen passed a hand over her damp forehead. 'Thank you so much. I'll stay here with her.'
'Absolutely not. She doesn't need you. She'll just sleep it out. I've got a much better idea.'
It was not yet ten when they climbed over the fence of the Services Club. There was some kind of party taking place within. There had been rumours that day of some significant allied putsch, and they could hear Vera Lynn predicting an outbreak of bluebirds over the south coast.
'My husband was born in Dover,' whispered Eileen.
'Shh.' The garden was absolutely still, not a whisper among the palm leaves that made a mysterious Rousseau backdrop, lit by a cold half-moon reflecting placidly in the pool. She sat on the edge, her feet in the water, and Durrell lay back next to her looking up at the sky.
'You've just had a birthday, so what are you? Taurus. Mmm. Don't know what Taurus looks like. Bullish I suppose. There's me. Look, over to the right. There — Pisces. That zig-zag.' He took her hand and guided her fingers towards the cluster of bright stars.
With a little shock of excitement, she retrieved her hand. Leaving her shoes at the pool's edge, she slipped into the inky shadows of the garden. A moment later her ghost-white body emerged.
'Oh, God, that's wonderful,' Eileen whispered from the cool dark water.
They swam lazily, and then lay naked on the radiant warmth of the stone terrace. The seductive musk of frangipani floated on the warm air.
'What's in the notebook, the book you had at Shepheard's?'
'Notes for a book I'm writing about Corfu.'
'Prospero's Cell.'
'Not Caliban's?'
He turned over and ran his fingers along her upper arm, causing an outbreak of gooseflesh.
'Not Caliban's.'
This exchange drifted ineluctably into what Eileen referred to, decades later, as a 'skirmish in a taxi.'
Pisces had almost slipped from the sky when Durrell asked 'Another swim?'
'Larry!' she hissed, 'Spawn of the devil. I'm in such trouble already. I must go home right now.'
'Please don't go yet. Have a last dip with me. You know you want to. Come on. Carpe diem — we may all be dead tomorrow.'
'Five minutes. That's it. Oh! This water's like silk.'
'You know, I almost wish you didn't have to leave. I like your company. In Alexandria I'm awash with languorous, musky women craving my body, but I rarely come across an odalisque with intellect.'
'You didn't come across me.'
'Don't be smutty. You're much too grand. It doesn't suit you.'
They stood, very close, in the water.
'What is this gorgeous amulet?'
'Gorgeous amulet? Oh, that. It's a key-ring. Thoth. The Egyptian god of writing. Writing and wisdom. Here, have it. So you remember me when we're apart.'
He fastened it round her neck, taking his time. She held his face and kissed him, then climbed out of the pool and dabbed herself dry with Durrell's trousers.
'Larry, we'll never do this again. If we meet again, it'll be as acquaintances, not lovers. You've got your life. I've got mine — three children and a loyal husband.' Her voice was firm, decisive.
'I've got a daughter, a little girl too….. somewhere or other….. Penny.' Very quiet, very sad.
Eileen allowed a glimmer of doubt to dilute her resolve: 'If we'd met 20 years ago, it would be different.'
'Yes. For a start I'd be twelve.' He snorted. 'I mean I like older women, but…. Oh, hell. You're being serious, aren't you?'
Eileen was looking for her shawl.
'Yes. And I must go. Now. It's way past midnight.'
'How will I manage? I need you now. I didn't know until tonight. Can we write?'
'No. And no, we can't be friends. I'm not going to join the sorry ranks of your rumoured liaisons.'
He was quiet for a couple of minutes.
'OK. So be it. Let me take you home.'
Unknown to them, this very minor skirmish happened to take place on what was subsequently known as D-Day, June the 6th, 1944. It has been estimated that 4,414 allied soldiers were killed during that operation, which decisively changed the course of history.
Exactly 40 weeks later during a relentless, gritty khamsin, Eileen gave birth to another Piscean, a girl whose snub nose was generally considered to be a legacy from her aunt, Daphne. Eileen christened me Miranda.
Eileen's brothers were both killed shortly afterwards, within days of each other, in the final throes of the war. Their mother Evelyn left Bedford to join her other daughters, Daphne and Clare, back in Argentina. Eileen brought all her four children to the UK in the polar winter of 1947, when Larry and Eve happened to be there. The following year, Eileen took my brother and me to visit Evelyn, coinciding with Larry and Eve's time at the British Council in Cordoba, a four hour drive away.
When Eileen, Paul and I returned permanently to Pudding Island, the year of the new queen's coronation, there was no one and nothing there to welcome us. Eileen was not happy in commuter-belt Essex, and an inexplicable rancour had infected her marriage.
With my three siblings away in boarding school, I was a dreamy, withdrawn creature. Eileen had no truck with just wanting her children to be happy. She wanted intellectual superstars, or boys. She was convinced that I was stupid, and could not look at me but with exasperation. I was not a boy.
My parents and I cohabited each in solitary confinement, sharing nothing but the space we lived in. I had not one memorable conversation with either of my parents. I was fond of Paul who provided the warmth my mother lacked. But we didn't have a single interest or opinion in common. We had no family life — no trips, no holidays, no talk, no jokes, no card games. We were strangers to each other. This is not a misery memoir. One's family constitutes reality, from which anything else is a deviation, an oddity. The result of coming, as it seemed, from a different planet, is that I live in my head — a convenient locus for a writer. And negative criticism acts like capsaicin, a bracing condiment that unleashes a scribble of endorphins.
When I was 15, Eileen gave me 'Mountolive' to read, an event I still remember, as being a unique sign of interest in my cultural development. With embarrassment I confess that I found it boring. It could not compete with the urgent trivia of adolescence: Brook Benton, Buddy Holly, meringue net petticoats and ballet shoes a la Bardot, stalking boys and the hula hoop — although I did read Freud, and filled notebooks with knotted prose.
There were no more references to Durrell until Eileen was widowed twenty years later. After a year of fierce alcoholic mourning, she started reminiscing about that skirmish, implying that Paul might not have been my father, a notion I dismissed at the time as the wishful thinking of a woman who invented what life failed to supply.
Durrell died in 1990, Eileen in 1997, and I forsook journalism in Pudding Island to live in the hills of Andalucia: writing, drinking, practising yoga and Buddhism.
Thoth, battered and oxidised by age, retrieved from the junk in my mother's red leather jewel-box, sits before me now.
Google is a boon for writers — beyond being a source of information it supplies a tsunami of diversion for those bleak droughts when nothing flows. One such afternoon, when my husband was swaying on perilous scaffolding, painting the high ceiling of the yoga room, I turned to Images to see what Lawrence Durrell looked like.
I called Dan from his painting to have a look.
'Christ!' he said, 'It's as plain as the nose on your face.' We were faced with not just me, but my son Leo as well. A possibility, now, that we could wear our noses with pride.
A circuitous path, unexpected connections and coincidences, and I met Durrell's surviving legitimate daughter. Just four years older than me, Penny was lost in the cloudy purlieus of Alzheimer's disease. She embarked on sentences that dissolved as she spoke and left her stranded in a strange place. The only identifiable shape that loomed from the mist was suspicion.
It was a meeting of exquisite poignancy: thick grey rain slicking down the drenched Herefordshire grass, a sudden power cut, Dan and me trying to make sense of Penny's shreds of memory in the softly seeping darkness of a November afternoon, by the light of dying candles wedged into a clotted iron candle-stick wrought by Durrell himself.
Grudging, Penny consented to show me her photos. As she opened the lid of the cardboard crate, I felt a terrific jolt of affinity for Durrell — writer, drinker, yoga student, Buddhist. There he was, at a Buddhist fair somewhere in France, and again, in a fearless Urdhva Padmasana, an inverted lotus pose, in a garden.
She snapped the lid shut. 'That's enough of that.' she said with startling clarity.
Penny's husband was convinced of my case, constantly remarking that I was a virtual clone of Margo, Durrell's sister who had lately died. That I even had the same mannerisms. He repeatedly referred to Durrell as 'your father' and Margo as 'your aunt'.
But he refused to put Penny through the ordeal of giving a dna sample. Shortly afterwards she was dead.
I shall never know.
Carpe Diem.


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TORONTO – A deal on a contentious national job training program — and the Crown jewel of the federal 2013 budget — appears to be in the works.
Almost all the provinces and territories are supportive of the latest federal offer over the Canada Job Grant, a source close to the talks said Thursday.
The premiers reached the agreement in principle during a conference call to talk about the proposed program.
"By working together, the provinces and territories were very successful in moving the federal government in a positive direction on this important issue," the source said.
"Let's be clear, today was only possible because provinces and territories united as one."
Work is still being done on the final wording of the official response, but the source said there are no plans to collectively counter Ottawa's latest offer.
However, concerns remain that it still represents a cut in funding to the provinces and territories. Each one will still have to work out the details with the federal Conservatives, the source said.
But Quebec apparently hasn't budged from its position that the Tories have no business treading on what they consider to be an area of provincial jurisdiction.
The province has maintained throughout the discussions that it wants to opt out with full compensation, or simply renew the labour market agreements it currently has with Ottawa.
Asked whether their position has changed, a spokeswoman for the Parti Quebecois government affirmed: "We still want the money."
Nova Scotia appears to have its own reservations.
"No deal has been reached around the labour market agreement and Nova Scotia continues to negotiate with the federal government in terms of reaching an agreement," said Kyley Harris, communications director for Premier Stephen McNeil.
He also reiterated McNeil's concerns with the funding changes.
"Our businesses are quite concerned with what the ramifications of this agreement would be in terms of the dollars required for training," he said.
The Harper government has been butting heads with the provinces and territories over the job grant, which was intended to replace labour funding agreements that expire at the end of March.
Originally, the plan was to provide $15,000 for each eligible worker, with the cost divided equally between Ottawa, the provinces and employers.
But the provinces and territories refused, saying Ottawa would claw back federal cash for successful job-training programs run by the provinces, while forcing them to find millions more to cover their portion of the grant.
They argued a national approach to training was impractical given the disparate demographics and industries in each province.
After months of back-and-forth with the provinces, Employment Minister Jason Kenney sent them a final offer last week.
His counter-proposal, obtained by The Canadian Press, allows provinces and territories full flexibility in how they contribute to the job grant.
Essentially, it means they can commit $300 million from whatever federal funds they choose, or from their own pocket.
Ottawa, meantime, will continue to transfer $2.1 billion a year in training-related funds to the provinces.
The provinces wouldn't be required to match Ottawa's contribution to the program and would have until July 1 to start delivering the Canada Job Grant.
— With files from Keith Doucette in Halifax and Donald McKenzie in Montreal

subset: commoncrawl


text: Sugar Factory Films takes it back to 2001 by unveiling the previously unreleased video for "Y'all Been Warned" from the Clan's album Iron Flag. While not a spectacular video itself, it's great that this visual has seen the light of day as I'm a big fan of the immensely underrated Iron Flag. Read More


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My Pie Monday: Sicilian Rianata, Nutmeg Pizza and Much More!
Glimpse pizzas made by fellow Slice'rs.
Happy Monday, Slice'rs! This week's gallery showcases some of the holiday weekend creations from your brethren in pizza. There's a classic Neapolitan with peppers and onions from Ev, a B.A.T. (that's bacon, arugula, and tomato) pie from amusebouche1, and a Mack's Pizza clone from Norma427. Alosha7777 gets closer to pie perfection, and Slice-inspired pies come from Kakugori, thanks to last week's Mi Famiglia review, and Jimmyg, after reading Scott Wiener's Sicilian pizza lesson. And, last but not least, we have a first time submission from my mom (cool name to follow).
If your making pizza this week send us a shot for next week's My Pie Monday!
Just take one snapshot of your homemade pizza, describe your cooking method (briefly!), and follow these instructions to get it to Slice HQ by 8pm EST on Thursday night. Be sure to let us know your Slice/Serious Eats screen name!
Want to see more awesome homemade pizza photos from previous weeks? Check them out here »
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.


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I'm big on beef liver. For one, it makes a lot of evolutionary sense in terms of using as much from a kill as possible. Second, if you learn to like it I think you may find yourself surprised at how regular doses (it is nature's multi-vitamin) uplift your spirits. Nothing like topping up on all essential vitamins and minerals in a big way. On that score, I've blogged this before but those of you new to all this, take note:
- A mere 4 ounces of beef liver roughly approximates the total nutrition of 5 pounds of fruit
- Calorie for calorie, beef liver has thousands of times more nutrition than "fortified" bread
I'm so big on the nutritional value of liver that I've decided to put together a "Liver Page" on the blog…something I can update from time to time to serve as a one-stop reference. Consider how many health news articles you see about "the tremendous nutrition in x"—usually some vegetable or fruit—when the reality is that liver pretty much knocks everything else out of the water, particularly all vegetables and all fruits. Soon, you'll be able to pop a link in the comments in order to cure mass ignorance.
The nutritional powerhouse of beef liver is such that it gives me some pause, now, when I see a lot of emphasis on "anti-nutrients." For instance, if the only way you can manage the texture of liver is to dredge it in flour, I'd rather you dredge it in flour and eat your liver. Bottom line, instead of obsessing over anti-nutrients, how about focus on nutrients?
Heretofore, the only thing I've come up with besides the standard liver & onions recipe both I and my wife grew up eating, is beef liver pâté (courtesy of Critical MAS). (And actually, artisanal pâté of all sorts is a great way to get your liver, as is foie gras.) The problem with those products is that they're expensive by comparison ($1-2 per pound for raw liver) and they don't really make a meal. So, for the last month or so, I've been cooking up a couple of pounds of beef liver per week, in liver & onions fashion. That would get us a fresh meal, maybe a leftover meal sometimes, and my wife's favorite breakfast has become a few thin slices of cold liver (2 ounces total) wrapped in a warmed up corn tortilla.
The other day I set out to find other ways to do liver and came upon this recipe from allrecipes.com they call Smothered Beef Liver. I decided on this one because of the tomato sauce…figuring that, above all, might induce liver haters to give it a try. Tomato sauce is very good at smoothing flavors out, such that virtually everything tastes like veal parmesan. :) …Anyway, this recipe is simple, quick, and way less messy than liver & onions. I'll have a different one to try probably next week.
I modified the recipe in a few ways. First, I chopped up 2 slices of bacon, fried it and set the bits aside (added back in with the onions later). Then I added 3 pats of butter to the bacon drippings and just enough olive oil to sauté the onions. On that score, I went beyond just softening them, to slightly browning them. I used gluten free flour for the dredge, and also beef stock instead of water to thin the tomato sauce. Finally, I sprinkled on some dried parsley at the end. Click images for hi-res.
Smothered Beef Liver
I really liked it quite a lot, ate a big helping. So did Beatrice. In fact, she just got back from picking up her parents from the airport and the three of them had leftovers, and everyone liked it. I tried it cold and really liked it. It's a winner for a new idea, new alternative.
Does it have that classic liver flavor? Uh, I found it barely detectable, though I happen to like that flavor. Because it's simmered in the sauce for 10 minutes, it really comes out very tender, without any of the texture issues many complain about.
I think it would go very well with some mashed potatoes. So, give it a try if you dare.


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OPENCities Monitor
The OPENCities Monitor is a new city benchmark developed by BAK Economics on behalf of the British Council. The OPENCities Monitor is a unique collaboration and learning tool to measure city openness, defined as "the capacity of a city to attract international populations and to enable them to contribute to the future success of the city".
Access the [ID monitor_en]OPENCities Monitor[/ID]
Advantages of openness
Seeks to identify the extent to which agendas have been orchestrated within a select group of case study cities.
This book deals with the role openness has to foster internationalisation and the wider internationalisation process.
Cities are all different and such difference must be recognised, there are some distinctive aspects for city development.
There are a number of different ways to define urban population diversity including, linguistics, birthplace, ancestry, age, gender...


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Good Morning,
Equity futures are flat to down slightly heading into the open. The dollar is lower, bonds are flat, oil is higher, gold is higher, silver gapped higher, and most food commodities are substantially higher as well.
New Home Sales are released at 10 Eastern this morning. This is a busy week for economic data, the FOMC announces on Wednesday, Q1 GDP comes on Thursday, and we'll see both "Consumer" Confidence and Sentiment numbers this week – something that commodity prices should be affecting.
It seems like much time is wasted wondering what the Chinese will do – will they revalue the Yuan? Will they sell off their U.S. debt holdings? In the end, whatever they do is the result of the impossible math that WE'VE created. The impossible math is glaringly obvious, yet we continue to do nothing about it except to distract the masses with "investigations" into high oil prices (which never find anything or anyone to blame), or by dropping bombs on other world leader's compounds as if assassinating whoever we want is no big deal.
I have to keep this update short as I will be out of town for the morning – will have more tomorrow.
Thursday: Unemployment Claims, ISM Services
9 hours ago


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Coalition of Neighbourhood Houses
Who are we?
Neighborhood Houses ( https://www.cnhcr.ca/ ) are non-profit community-based organizations that are committed to healthy children, youth families and individuals. We offer a range of programs and services support individuals and families to manage their own well-being, including counseling and outreach, pre-and post-natal support, preschool and childcare programs, parenting courses and youth, family and seniors programs.
The Coalition of Neighbourhood Houses is a group of 8 Neighborhood Houses whose geographical range of service includes Sooke, Saanich, the Peninsula, West Shore, Victoria and Esquimalt. Members include:
Beacon Community Services
9860 Third Street, Sidney, B.C. V8L 4R2
Phone: (250) 655-5309 Fax: (250) 655-4357
Quadra Village Community Centre
901 Kings Road, Victoria, B.C. V8T 1W5
Phone: (250) 388-7696 Fax: (250) 388-7607
Burnside Gorge Community Centre
471 Cecilia Road, Victoria, B.C. V8T 4T4
Phone: (250) 388-5251 Fax: (250) 388-5269
Esquimalt Neighborhood House Society
511 Constance Ave, Victoria, B.C. V9A 6N5
Phone: (250) 385-2635 Fax: (250) 384-2078
Fernwood Neighborhood Resource Group
1240 Gladstone Ave., Victoria, B.C. V8T 1G6
Phone: (250) 381-1552 Fax: (250) 381-1509
James Bay Community Project
547 Michigan Street, Victoria, B.C. V8V 1S5
Phone: (250) 388-7844 Fax: (250) 388-7856
Saanich Neighborhood Place
3100 Tillicum Road, Pearkes Recreation Centre, Victoria, B.C. V91 6T2
Phone: (250) 360-1148 Fax: (250) 381-2433
Sooke Family Resource Society
6672 Wadams Way, Sooke, B.C. V9Z OH3
Phone: (250) 642-5152 Fax: (250) 642-7663
email@example.com www.sookefamilyresource.ca


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Selling: 11 Abandoned & Impounded Vehicles
201-B Airport Dr., Decatur, Texas 76234
Contact: Monty Fitzgerald at (940) 393-8907
Inspection: By appointment only November 23rd between 10:00 AM and 1:00 PM
Catalog - All Items (11) - Abandoned & Impounded Vehicles (11) - Automobiles (8) - Pickups (1) - SUVs (2)
IMPORTANT PAYMENT INSTRUCTIONS: All payments for this auction must be received no later than 3:00 p.m., Wednesday, December 2, 2020.
IF MAILING YOUR PAYMENT - please send it payable to Rene' Bates Auctioneers, Inc. in the form of a cashier's check or money order to:
Rene' Bates Auctioneers, Inc.
4660 County Road 1006
McKinney, Texas 75071
FOR PAYMENTS MADE IN PERSON - you may visit our payment office between the hours of 8:30 AM and 4:00 PM at the following address:
2414 W. University, Ste. 122-A
McKinney, Texas 75071
PLEASE ENSURE THAT YOUR PAYMENT ARRIVES NO LATER THAN THE STATED DUE DATE. All payments totaling over $10,000.00 MUST be paid with a single cashier's check or via wire transfer. (The wire transfer fee will be waived for invoices $10,000 or greater. You will need to contact our office for wire transfer instructions.)
If you wish to use your refundable deposit towards this purchase, please reply to the invoice and request that we process your payment using your deposit. As long as you do not owe any other invoices or are not currently winning any other auctions, you may choose this option. Please note that if we use a portion of your deposit for payment, your account will be deactivated until such time as your deposit account is brought back to its required level. On occasion, we may use your deposit to process a paid receipt on or before the stated due date. If we do not receive payment by the due date, your account will be temporarily deactivated pending receipt of payment.
For any taxable purchases, if you are claiming purchases for resale OR if you are tax exempt, please include the appropriate tax form with your payment. The resale and exemption forms can be found on our website by clicking on the Help Menu and then "Forms". All previously submitted resale or exemption forms are kept with individual auctions so you must send a new form with each payment unless your invoice states that we have your tax form on file. Even if we have your tax form on file, your invoice will still be sent with tax and the tax will be adjusted once your payment arrives. We will not refund sales tax paid after a paid receipt has been issued so please ensure that your resale or exemption certificates are properly completed and submitted with your payment. Any requests for refund of sales tax after the sale is completed will be issued a Form 00-985 Assignment of Right to Refund in lieu of a refund of sales tax paid. There will be no exceptions to this policy. Any items taxed with a TERP sales tax includes the 1.5% State of Texas TERP surcharge. NOTE: PLEASE NOTE THAT IN TEXAS, A RETAILER IS NOT REQUIRED TO ACCEPT AN EXEMPTION OR RESALE CERTIFICATE. IF A RETAILER DOES NOT ACCEPT AN EXEMPTION OR RESALE CERTIFICATE, THE PURCHASER CAN REQUEST A REFUND OF THE TAX PAID DIRECTLY FROM THE COMPTROLLER IF THE RETAILER GIVES THE PURCHASER AN "ASSIGNMENT OF RIGHT TO REFUND".
REMOVAL: By appointment only from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM. YOU MUST HAVE A COPY OF THE PAID RECEIPT AND A VALID DRIVER'S LICENSE TO REMOVE ANY VEHICLES AND/OR EQUIPMENT. All items must be removed by December 3, 2020. NO EXCEPTIONS. After this date, a $25 per day, per item storage fee will be charged to the buyer.
LOCATION: 201-B Airport Dr., Decatur, Texas 76234
Contact: Monty Fitzgerald at (940) 393-8907
If you are sending a third party person, transportation service or movers to pick up the items, you must notify Monty Fitzgerald at (940) 393-8907 one (1) day prior to scheduled pick up. The Buyer will be responsible for giving the Selling Entity the following information so that we may verify pick up: A written authorization from bidder (signed and dated) of the Name/Company of the third party person, the Third Party MUST have a copy of the PAID RECEIPT, and a valid Driver's License or they will not be allowed to take any items. PLEASE CALL AND MAKE AN APPOINTMENT TO REMOVE ITEMS. NO ITEMS MAY BE WORKED ON OR REPAIRED ON THE PROPERTY. ALL ITEMS MUST BE EITHER DRIVEN TOWED OR TRAILERED OUT OF THE IMPOUND YARD.
REGARDING PAPERWORK: All title paperwork will be available for you when you go to pick up your item. Title(s) will be transferred to the successful buyer's name ONLY. Rene Bates Auctioneers, Inc., as acting agent for the Seller, does not possess, cannot process and is not responsible for preparing or delivering title documentation to the winning bidder. The Seller, as posted at the top of the auction listing, will complete and provide all title documentation to the buyer. RENE BATES AUCTIONEERS, INC. IS NOT THE SELLER.
The Seller DOES NOT provide transportation or loading services for buyers to remove their merchandise. Any and all methods of lifting, towing, and hauling, as well as all other methods or requirements for the removal and transport of the materials, equipment and/or vehicles, is the sole responsibility of the buyer. The ownership of any and all items not removed by the final day of removal will revert back to the Seller and they may re-sell or dispose of the property as they see fit.
Thank you for bidding!


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I'll have the programmer look into it asap
Would you please consider changing the way the Rating is counted as a negative one if someone Comments on a site, but forgets, or does not want to leave a Rating? -1 is terribly harsh and damaging to a great Rating!
Doesn't seem fair. I try to go through and delete those comments if I notice a great blog having a lower Rating than seems reasonable, but that's a band aide to the real problem.
Please change this, if at all possible. If they don't Rate, it shouldn't effect the Rating!!
I'll have the programmer look into it asap
Thanks!! I appreciate your quick response very much.
No problem. Strangely enough I thought we had taken care of this issue over a year ago. I'm looking into what is going on....
Ok so I have some information for you - the -1's don't affect the rating at all. You only see a -1 in your admin to signify that it was "not rated". We're going to try to change that to "Not Rated" so we don't confuse any more people.
We did spot an oddity in the way the system deals with deleted comments/rankings which would explain why you might see a site with all perfect 10 rankings have an overall ranking of less than 10. We will see what we can do to fix this.
Everything should be ok now - let me know if you see any issues.
I have since deleted the -1, but I did have one member with 2 ratings, a 10 and the -1. They showed a rating of 6 on the TopList, so I don't know for sure that you had it fixed or not.
I'm going to comment without rating on another member who has only the 10 I give when they become members. I'll see what happens to that one, and let you know.
I just tried it out, and it worked fine. Maybe the one I thought was a no rating was really a 1 with no comment. Anyway, it's fine now. I'm going to delete the comment now, and see what that does to the perfect 10. I'll be back :wink:
After deleting and manually re-ranking, she still has a 10. Worked fine!!
Thanks for explaining the -1 and for checking on it.
No problem. The problem we found with the deleted comments/ratings not actually changing the rating should be fixed as well.


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I always share my personal history. It makes it easy for me to stand up in front of employees and authentically talk about 'driving your own career' because I am leading by example.
Bärbel Ostertag
Walldorf, Germany
At SAP, we believe that when you bring everything you are, you can become everything you want.
I always share my personal history. It makes it easy for me to stand up in front of employees and authentically talk about 'driving your own career' because I am leading by example.
Bärbel Ostertag
Walldorf, Germany
By Kathryn Silverstein
When Baerbel Ostertag, SVP, Global Head of Total Rewards, originally moved from Germany to Vancouver to take a job as SAP Canada's head of human resources, her SAP colleagues in Vancouver helped ease her transition considerably. "It was easy to blend into this new role because Canada is so diverse and open-minded", Ostertag says. "Everybody in the office was very open and inclusive."
That ability to welcome change and accept differences uniquely positioned the Canadian offices of SAP to serve as a testing ground for Autism at Work, a pilot program the company started with the aim of hiring individuals on the autism spectrum. It's expected to expand the company's talent pool significantly, and it's "one of the projects I am most proud of being involved in", Ostertag says.
Having helped to launch this initiative at SAP Canada, is one of the things Baerbel is most proud of in her career. The program began in May 2013, with the goal of recruiting autistic individuals as one percent of the company's workforce by 2020. As a leader in business software, SAP employs more than 90,000 people and is always searching for skilled individuals to hire, and this task is especially difficult in the competitive IT field. "We are constantly looking for new talent with competencies relevant for us as an organization", Ostertag says. "We might be a little further ahead because we are open-minded about where we find talent."
In order to ensure that it doesn't pass up qualified candidates, SAP has revamped its selection process to screen qualified autistic job seekers. "Normally, we are looking for candidates that are communicative, have good eye contact, are easygoing, and speak comfortably", Ostertag says. "From our experience, individuals on the autism spectrum do not bring that to the table. They are not the best communicators. Automatically, they might fail for the wrong reasons. However, certain roles, including data analysis, quality assurance, and technical support, require strong focus and great attention to detail, which is traditionally in the skill set of individuals with autism."
To this day the initiative has become an integral part of SAP Canada and has brought about a great deal of change within the organization—even beyond the addition of new talent and the diversification of the workforce. "People on the autism spectrum need a different communication style," Ostertag says. So SAP has conducted training sessions aimed at educating employees about how to communicate effectively with autistic colleagues, encouraging them to speak more directly, to not use sarcasm, and to avoid "playing politics."
In addition, several employees have come forward to get directly involved with the program in some capacity. Many are supportive of SAP's forward-thinking initiative because they themselves have autistic family members. "It's been a huge benefit for everyone and a real win-win in creating positive attitudes and improving the workforce", Ostertag says.
In order to ensure the success of Autism at Work's screening and onboarding process, SAP partnered with Danish company Specialisterne. "It has been a tremendous experience working with our partner," Ostertag says. "In my opinion, many companies could benefit from this type of hiring experience, especially with the right partner."
Ultimately, she believes that regardless of size, an organization that is willing to invest more time in training and awareness will find that including autistic individuals as part of the workforce pays huge dividends in terms of employee engagement. And helping individuals meet their career goals is one of Ostertag's personal passions and what motivated her to go to Vancouver back in 2013. "It was not the easiest thing to uproot my family and move to a different continent, but it's part of my individual career-development story.
All employees are looking to develop their own careers, too, and Ostertag enjoys helping them find their path. "When I talk to people [that] I mentor individually or in front of a group, I always share my personal history. It makes it easy for me to stand up in front of employees and authentically talk about 'driving your own career' because I am leading by example."
After another 2 years in the USA, Baerbel has moved back to SAP's headquarters in Walldorf, Germany. She is truly passionate about Human Resources and leads SAP's Global Total Rewards team. Together with her team they focus on improving the overall employee experience and help them understand the value of telling the story through the eyes of our employees rather than focusing exclusively on processes, policies, and systems. We are appreciative of how leaders like Baerbel have broadened employee perceptions to help build confidence in their work and themselves.
How do we keep our entrepreneurial spirit? We hire students, recent graduates and young professionals who think differently and push businesses to do things smarter and more sustainably. Check out our university programs to get a head start.
We go to great lengths to ensure you have every opportunity to succeed – in your own way. Flourish in an environment that encourages free expression, collaboration, individuality, and diversity. Learn how we operate, innovate, work, play, and give back – to make sure we're the right fit for you.
Want to work in your hometown, on the other side of the world, or somewhere in between? SAP has offices on most continents, in more than 78 countries – and we're continuously expanding our presence in new and exciting places.


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Candy Cane Striped Cookies Recipe
Quirky, cute, sometimes controversial, always delicious recipes from Jessie Oleson.
It's true: Italian Flag Cookies, or Rainbow Cookies, as they're sometimes called, are already sort of Christmas-hued.
But if you, like me, prefer something more substantial than preserves between layers, you might adore this equally festive frosting-filled Candy Cane Striped Cookie variation. These cakey cookies are a pretty addition to any holiday cookie tray, and easy to tailor to your tastes. Not content to merely mimic the candy cane stripes? Make them minty: flavor the filling with a touch of peppermint extract for a sweet flavor complement to the almond flavor and chocolate topping.
- Yield:makes 48 cookies
- Active time: 50 minutes
- Total time:1 hour, 15 minutes
- 1 can (8 ounces) almond paste
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 eggs, separated
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup buttercream frosting
- red food coloring (the amount will depend on the type you're using)
- 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract for frosting (optional)
- 6 ounces semisweet chocolate (or 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips)
Grease (or line with parchment paper) the bottoms of three matching 13 x 9-inch baking pans. Set to the side. (Note: if you don't have three pans, you can re-use one three times).
Place almond paste in a large bowl; break up with a fork. Cream with butter, sugar and egg yolks until light, fluffy and smooth. Stir in flour. In another bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold into dough, mixing until thoroughly blended.
Divide the dough into three even parts. Spread the dough into the prepared pans.
Bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes or until edges are light golden brown.
Invert onto wire racks; remove the parchment paper, if you used it. Place another wire rack on top and turn over. Cool completely.
Place one of the layers on top of a large piece of plastic wrap. Spread evenly with frosting. Top with the second layer and spread with more frosting. Layer the third piece on top (do not frost the top), forming a 3-layer stack of cake. Bring plastic wrap over layers. Slide onto a baking sheet and set a cutting board or heavy, flat pan on top to compress layers. Refrigerate for at least an hour, or as long as overnight.
Later or the next day, melt chocolate in a double boiler. Spread over top layer; allow to harden. With a sharp knife, trim edges. Cut into 1/2-inch strips across the width; then cut each strip into 4-5 pieces. Store in airtight containers.
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.


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MarqART Gift Shop
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Bugling Elk Head - Jewelry Box 3 Drawer
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This hand-crafted jewelry box with a unique design is sure to gain attention in any surroundings. This wood box is designed to age gracefully on your dressing table. Built of solid Rubberwood and provided with a Satin Lacquer finish, the three drawers and their accent grooves add a touch of flair to the jewelry box. It is approximately 10"x12" x6.25" and comes with a black velvet finish inside which naturally accentuates your jewelry. To top it all off, this expertly handcrafted wooden jewelry box has exact proportions using select pieces of Rubberwood. A special technique of mitered joints in addition to rabbet joints and a spline gives it greater strength and durability. A good piece of craftsmanship need not advertise how it's been welded together. That is why the hinges are inset and slotted for that clean, elegant look.
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Frame/Box - Rubberwood (natural finish)
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MOSCOW, Russia - After trading accusations over alleged violations of the three-decade-old Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (IRN) Treaty, in October, the U.S. officially announced that it would scrap the pact.
Despite proactively pursuing better ties with Russia, the U.S. President Donald Trump dealt a deadly blow to the increasingly frail bilateral ties, after he first revealed his intentions to withdraw the U.S. from the landmark treaty.
While his announcement was quickly dubbed as a 'Trumpesque tactic' and was compared to his previous strategy through which he managed to renegotiate NAFTA - two days after the President's announcement, the U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton travelled to Russia and officially conveyed the message.
Trump's threat to exit yet another international pact - especially one that involves a nuclear arms control framework that emerged from the Cold War, caused widespread fears.
Allies feared that America's exit from the INF would imperil transatlantic security, while Russia called it "blackmail" and warned that Trump was threatening to trigger an arms race that would inevitably jeopardize global stability.
Despite rising global fears of an arms race and war, Trump emphasized that the U.S. would build up its overall nuclear arsenal, if necessary.
He said, "We have more money than anybody else by far. We'll build it up until they come to their senses. When they do, then we'll all be smart, and we'll all stop. And by the way not only stop, we'll reduce, which I would love to do. But right now, they have not adhered to the agreement."
Comply or suffer
Earlier this week, the Western military alliance NATO, formally accused Russia of breaking the treaty.
The NATO Foreign Ministers' statement said, "Allies have concluded that Russia has developed and fielded a missile system, the 9M729, which violates the INF Treaty and poses significant risks to Euro-Atlantic security."
Further, NATO emphasized that the member nations "strongly support" the U.S. claim that Russia is in breach of the pact.
The military alliance called on Russia to "return urgently to full and verifiable compliance."
Following the NATO statement, the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took a harsher tone and slammed Russia's "flagrant disregard" of the terms of the treaty.
The top American diplomat declared that the U.S. was giving Russia "60 days to return to compliance with the treaty," and threatened that after the deadline, the U.S. would suspend its own compliance.
Pompeo announced, "During this 60 days we will still not test or produce or deploy any systems, and we'll see what happens during this 60-day period."
He further stated, "Russia's reply has been consistent: deny any wrongdoing, demand more information, and issue baseless counter-accusations."
Pompeo also accused Russia of filling multiple battalions of the SSC-8 missiles.
He said, "If Russia admits its violations and fully and verifiably comes back into compliance, we will of course welcome that course of action. But Russia, and Russia only, can take this step."
Further, the U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis accused Russia of "duplicitous violation of the INF Treaty."
Russia's open challenge
U.S. threats made earlier this week, were met with strong Russian defiance, with the country's president Vladimir Putin warning that Russia would start developing the missiles banned under the Treaty if the U.S. exits the pact.
Trump has accused Russia of violating the terms of the Treaty that was negotiated in December 1987 by then-President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
The INF treaty, which bans nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with a range of 300 to 3,400 miles, has caused friction between the world's two most powerful nations for years.
Both the countries have accused each other of violations of the 31-year-old agreement over the last decade.
Most recently, in 2014, Trump's predecessor Barack Obama accused Russia of violating the INF Treaty, citing ground-launched cruise missile tests that dated back to 2008.
It was revealed at the time that the U.S. informed its NATO allies of Russia's suspected breach, however, the military alliance officially declared Russia's activity as a likely violation only recently.
Even though Obama was resolutely in favor of exiting the pact in 2014, he decided against the move after European allies raised concerns over the move triggering an arms race.
U.S. authorities believe that Moscow has already deployed a ground-launched system in violation of the INF treaty and could launch a nuclear strike on Europe at short notice.
Trump has stated, "Russia has violated the agreement. They've been violating it for many years."
He has also raised the prospect of developing a new set of weapons and argued, "If Russia's doing it and if China's doing it and we're adhering to the agreement – that's unacceptable."
In October, Trump said, "And I don't know why President Obama didn't negotiate or pull out. And we're not going to let them violate a nuclear agreement and go out and do weapons and we're not allowed to. We're the ones that have stayed in the agreement and we've honored the agreement. But Russia has not, unfortunately, honored the agreement. So we're going to terminate the agreement. We're gonna pull out."
However, Russia has repeatedly denied U.S. allegations that it has produced and tested a missile in violation of the treaty.
Responding to Pompeo's recent threat a spokeswoman for Russia's Foreign Ministry said Russia "scrupulously abides by the provisions of the treaty, and the U.S. side knows this."
Further, Putin has argued that the accusation by the U.S. is a pretext for the country to leave the pact.
He said in televised comments on Wednesday that many other countries had developed weapons banned under the INF treaty.
Putin said, "Now it seems our American partners believe that the situation has changed so much that [they] must also have such a weapon. What's our response? It's simple - in that case we will also do this."


text: Looking for more info... and its coming the 22nd, I put 21st in subject in reference to the tomorrow. Slingbox Is that SlingPlayer Mobile for Android knocking at the door ....? UPDATE: SlingPlayer Mobile for Android ready to entertain you for $30 starting tomorrow By Chris Ziegler posted Jun 21st 2010 8:07PM After a public beta spanning a couple months, Sling is rolling out the latest piece of its expanding SlingPlayer Mobile portfolio this week -- this time for Android, plugging the biggest coverage gap it currently has. This is the same app we recently had an opportunity to check out, but since that preview, we're happy to report that it's been massaged into a more stable, more usable setup -- gone are the disconnect crashes we'd had before. Furthermore, Sling claims they've specifically worked to improve load and response times with this version, and we have to say that the effort is noticeable -- this definitely feels like the fastest SlingPlayer Mobile we've used to date. It's officially available starting tomorrow from the Market in Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, and the US for $29.99. Follow the break for the full press release. PRESS RELEASE Sling Media Launches SlingPlayer Mobile for Android Smartphones Application now delivers your home TV experience to Android phones anywhere you have mobile phone access Foster City, Calif., – June 22, 2010 – Sling Media, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS), announced today the availability of its SlingPlayer Mobile™ application for Android™ Smartphones. The all new application gives Android phone users easy access to their home TV experience anywhere they have mobile phone or Wi-Fi internet access. Now anyone with an Android phone never has to miss a favorite TV show when they're away from home. "We're committed to the Android platform, and users of our new and improved SlingPlayer Mobile application will experience one of the most complete mobile television experiences available today," said John Gilmore, Sling Media Senior Vice President and General Manager. "Now the full spectrum of viewing, including local channels and sports teams, video on demand, pay per view and even control of their home DVR, is available to the growing number of people moving to Android." How it Works When in your mobile phone provider's area of 3G, 4G or Wi-Fi coverage and connected to a Slingbox® SOLO, PRO or PRO-HD, SlingPlayer Mobile makes it simple to watch and control your living room television at any time from any location. Watch live and recorded TV and schedule recordings of new programs from any Android Smartphone. SlingPlayer Mobile for Android features faster startup and control response times, and it works among a variety of Android-based mobile phones in the United States, Canada and United Kingdom. It also has a new user interface that gives quick-touch access to the most critical remote controls and recently viewed channels. Current Pricing and Availability SlingPlayer Mobile Android is available now for download for $29.99* in the Android Market in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States. *Price is in U.S. dollars. U.S. dollar to local currency exchange will be carried out at purchase via the customer's bank or credit card provider. Pricing and availability subject to local laws. Visit http://www.slingbox.com/go/android for more information. About Sling Media, Inc. Sling Media, Inc., an affiliate of EchoStar Technologies L.L.C., which is a wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS), is the leading provider of video placeshifting products and services for consumers and television service providers. Sling Media's product family includes the internationally acclaimed, Emmy award-winning Slingbox™ that allows consumers to watch and control their living room television shows at any time, from any location, using internet-connected PCs, Macs, PDAs and smartphones. For more information, visit www.slingmedia.com. http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/21/slingplayer-mobile-for-android-ready-to-entertain-you-for-30-st/


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Bliss Cappucino Stone and Glass Square Mosaic Tiles
A well balanced blend of browns and cream coloured glass combined with creamy travertine and emperador dark marble. A very popular choice for a kitchen backsplash. Cappucino is also available in a random strip linear glass tile.
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Please note, these are general guide lines and tips for installing glass and stone mosaic tiles. They are not meant to replace the expertise of a tile setter. Hiring a professional tile contractor is recommended for proper tile installation.
Recommended Application: Residential, Light Commercial, Medium Commercial, Bath/Shower, Fireplace, Indoor, Wall
Grout: A non-sanded grout is recommended to avoid scratching/damaging your glass tile. Stone and grout sealer should be applied before and after grouting. The first coat will help to avoid risk of hazing on the stone tiles while grouting. A second coat of sealer should be applied after the grout has fully cured.
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Wet Areas: You may require use of a waterproof membrane when your tile is being installed in wet areas such as a tub surround or shower. We recommend using redgard. .


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Course Description
Advanced Excel Training
The Advanced Excel class is designed for everyday users of Excel, who want to take their skills to the next level. Advanced Excel training covers more intricate formulas, creating validations, writing macros , embedding other documents, and protecting your data in Excel. The class includes useful functions for various business applications, as well as how to combine them with other functions.
Training Class Goal
In the Advanced Excel class students will come from this class feeling confident using many advanced features within Microsoft Excel, including nested IF statements, VLookups, Hlookups, Macros, and Validations. The largest focus of the Advanced Excel training is around formulas, specifically functions and how to nest them with other functions for more advanced automation. Tools for making your spreadsheets easier for others to use and view, are also included. These include validations, custom views, protecting worksheets, and embedding other documents or spreadsheets in your workbook.
Understanding of Excel fundamentals including formatting, navigation, basic formulas, basic functions. Students should be comfortable with basic IF statements.
Topics Covered
Advanced Formulas
- Viewing available Excel functions
- Basic text functions
- Basic "IF" conditional formulas
- Nesting "IF" statements
- Concatenate and "IF" statements with concatenate
- ISBLANK Function
- COUNTBLANK Function
- Arrays
- Using name ranges in formulas
- Other classes covering Formulas and Functions
Look Ups and Other Functions
- Lookups and Lookup functions
- HLookup
- VLookup
- Calculating days of the week
- Calculating number of weekdays from a date
- Calculating months between 2 dates
- SUMIF Function
- Other classes covering Lookups
Data Views, Layouts, and Rules
- Transposing Data
- Validations for length and drop-down lists
- Custom Views
Introduction to Macros
- Developer Tools
- Saving Macros
- Absolute vs Relative Macros
- Recording Macros
- Creating Macro buttons
Additional Tools in Advanced Excel
- Embedding and linking
- Editing and embedded object
- Editing a linked object
- Linking as an icon
- Protecting worksheets
- Locking cells
- Protecting a workbook
The advanced excel training helps students learn new functions to enhance their spreadsheets as well as tools to make their spreadsheets easier to share with added automation.
Upcoming Classes
Live & In-Person
All of the classes on this page are taught by live instructors who are present in the classroom.
Class Retakes
Retake any public class up to 6 months after original class date....Read more
Hands-on Learning
Interactive classes allow you to immediately try out new skills....Read more
Live Training
Live instructors deliver our classes in an engaging and interactive way....Read more
Small Class Sizes
Classes limited to 12 students for more individual attention....Read more


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Opinion: From Russia to Assad with Love
Hoover Institution fellow Fouad Ajami on Russia abetting Syrian president Bashar Assad, and President Obama's summit with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Photo: Getty Images
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
... I ... welcome back to Opinion Journal I'm Mary Kissel ... Russia upped the stakes in Syria this week by sending warships agreeing to some missile defense systems ... meanwhile President Obama met with the Turkish Prime Minister instead ... aside it must go ... what the situation go from here Hoover Institution fellow Korea the Johnny is here with me and ... we had been the bomb up accomplish anything this week with the Turkish friend he just broke the heart of the Turkish Prime Minister ... is in fact you know ... the one hand the huge amount on on politically ... on prison Obama he will ... do one convince himself ... that eventually prison Obama would come into the flight from Sydney ... he convinces of the detention Pres Obama in the aftermath of the election ... would come in ... he did nothing on this load ... lifted its holding the bag pretty much ... and I think we see the consequences for the Turks ... have been really tragic ... well when you say blessed that are holding them back ... let's go through the is up and down fighter jets a very Sears bombings on the border ... thousands of refugees ... for them to deal with on why was the situation gets ... but to ... too big and too troublesome for one and sell ... to take unilateral action ... you don't want to miss him so that is the most consequential to the chalet to assist with the Falcon nine ... the debate then ... and now he's got the city of crisis ... I spent a fair amount of time on this and it could keep order ... in the province of Thai desserts with this the Leeson Fiji's of Convergent ... master the humanity of come into Turkey and that it's been wonderful ... in terms of hosting ... the refugees I know some of the people who in the midst of this program ... but four hundred thousand people ... and a burden on the tariffs have been huge and then that is the problem ... in this province of hottie ... it's very very the ... nice Italian composition ... of hotties very complicated ... the very many I was in this Turkish province of Thai ... and a simple puzzle The Sharma said ... and they seem premise that it was cold feet ... as a pro Sunday ... foreign policy so the flight of sitting at ... a speed into Turkey I'm glad theres that because Syria itself now seems to be disintegrating into a civil war ... spilling over into Turkey could that spill over ... into ... other parts of the Middle East is going into it and in the city in IBD is the contagion in many ways ... and when you see what's happening to city itself will what's in the death of the country was to be very ... clear about this city is dying as the country ... people speak a petition and the Kurdish bloc that would be ... a Sunday plus ... they would be don't spot they would be out only blot on the coast ... it won't matter ... because the country is dying ... and the enmity of this people is enormous ... and some of the things that didn't happen on and on we don't you want to see them one and ... the cruelty of forgot it was for example in the Tunku of enhanced ... when a pregnant woman ... the the the the fetus was put out of the loan ... and the fetus was attacked and then we heard about something else ... equally gruesome equally in many ways ... the whole thing that's happening ... on the other side it's ... come to an in country dies ... I mean we what's this ... in the case of Levanon rednecks North City but that things were never the bad end of the ... player that could assign survive given Russia's support what we saw this week ... in the sun is the difference ... is actually the city and people who don't have to make friends ... Assad has the right friends ... in Russia ... Iran and Hezbollah ... you'll committed to him ... and they provide him with money to provide him with guns they provide you with bitumen ... the simplicity and people who load of bull was promised that ... salvation is not on the corner ... they leave this for two years with Secretary Clinton ... another's suffering the same with said could take a ... will was leaking from the deal will was leaking ... for salvation for the most of its another conjures up thirty seconds left is there any prospect that the Obama administration ... will intervene ... in a meaningful way and on the thirty second no ... ok and that's the final word ... local train station fall flee added Johnny thank you for the update please come back again ... soon


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Source Guard
Source Guard is PHP class for encoding/encryption and obfuscating your website output source code.
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In my last blog post, I wrote about ARC and discussed in detailed the __strong and __weak qualifiers, which should cover 80% or more of the use cases out there. In this article, I am going to complete the series by discussing the other two ARC ownership qualifiers __unsafe_unretained and __autoreleasing.
The __unsafe_unretained Qualifier
Variables qualified with __unsafe_unretained are telling the compiler that they do not want to participate in ARC at all. Hence the programmer is responsible for allocating/releasing memory and for handling object lifetimes.
Qualifiers __unsafe_unretained and __weak are actually similar in function. They both claim no ownership of any object that the variables are assigned to (hence "__unretained") but merely act as a reference the objects. The key difference is that while a __weak variable is assigned to nil after the referenced object is released, a __unsafe_unretained variable to the same object still points to the memory space that was allocated to the object. Because of this, you can't safely infer if an object has been of disposed with __unsafe_unretained (hence "__unsafe").
One scenario where you would use __unsafe_unretained is when you declare a data member in a C-struct or union as an Objective-C object like NSString. See below:
struct MyStruct { NSString *text; // Won't compile. }
You will get an error when you compile the code above. Under ARC, NSObject types can't be members of a C-struct. This is because the compiler can't manage the lifetime of a C-struct as it can't determine the lifetime of a struct member. Therefore the developer must manage the ownership of the Objective-C object manually (usually through CFRetain and CFRelease). Read here for a full explanation on the use of __unsafe_unretained in C-struct and the compiler error "ARC forbids Objective-C objects in structs or unions."
struct MyStruct { NSString __unsafe_unretained *text; // Now it compiles. };
The __autoreleasing Qualifier
From Apple document Transitioning to ARC Release Notes: "__autoreleasing is used to denote arguments that are passed by reference (id *) and are autoreleased on return."
The __autoreleasing qualifier is used to track objects created outside the scope of the caller but still be "retained" so that the object can be accessed by the caller. __autoreleasing is typically used in a method (eg. see method doSomething: below) that returns a BOOL to indicate if the method call is successful or not. If the method fails, we can then access the NSError object for details of the failure. The NSError object is created in the method and returned as an __autoreleasing object to the caller.
@interface MyClass : NSObject - (BOOL)doSomething:(NSError * __autoreleasing *)myError; @end // ... int main(int argc, const char * argv[]) { @autoreleasepool { MyClass *obj = [[MyClass alloc] init]; NSError * __autoreleasing error = nil; NSError * __autoreleasing * ptrToError = &error; [obj doSomething:ptrToError]; // This following works as well. I used a more complex approach // above to illustrate the intricacies of __autoreleasing. [obj doSomething:&error]; } }
How should we implement doSomething:? If the following won't work.
- (BOOL) doSomething:(NSError * __autoreleasing *)myError { NSError *error = [[NSError alloc] init]; myError = &error; // ... return NO; }
The problem is that the object variable error is declared implicitly as __strong. And when error varialbe goes out of scope after the control flow leaves doSomething, the error object will be disposed. This won't work if we want to retain error so that it can be passed back to the caller. To make it work, qualify error with __autoreleasing.
NSError __autoreleasing *error = [[NSError alloc] init]; myError = &error;
Or simply do the following:
- (BOOL) doSomething:(NSError * __autoreleasing *)myError { *myError = [[NSError alloc] init]; // ... return NO; }
By qualifying the parameter myError as __autoreleasing, we ensure that the NSError object created in doSomething is assigned to the autorelease pool and can be safely assigned to an object variable when the control flow is returned back to the caller.
Last but not least, note that all id * is implicitly qualified with __autoreleasing.
Reference and Further Reading
- ARC Best Practices, Matt Nunogawa – great practical tips on ARC (highly recommended)
- Unsafe at Any Speed, Mark Dalrymple – a more detail look into __unsafe_unretained
- CLANG technical documentation – deep-dive into the guts of ARC
- Pro Multithreading and Memory Management for iOS and OS X, Kazuki Sakamoto and Tomohiko Furumoto
- Beginning ARC in iOS Tutorial, Matthijs Hollemanns


text: Manchester United and Chelsea played out a 0-0 draw at Old Trafford on Monday in a game that failed to live up to its pre-match billing.The fixture marked the first time that David Moyes locked horns with Jose Mourinho as United manager but neither manager could gain the psychological upper hand, although the point puts the Blues clear at the top of the Premier League.Oscar tried to prise open a tight United defence in a lacklustre first half but twice wasted good opportunities with weak efforts straight at David de Gea. Robin van Persie had United's best effort when he hit the side netting from inside the area.The second half followed a similar pattern and England international Danny Welbeck will rue his wastefulness after digging an effort wide after good work from Wayne Rooney. United also had claims for a penalty when a Tom Cleverley shot struck Frank Lampard's hand in the box.Moyes named Rooney in his starting XI for the first time, with the striker the subject of two rejected bids during the close-season from Monday night's opposition. Ryan Giggs dropped to the bench to allow for his inclusion.Chelsea started the game with a surprise as Andre Schurrle led the line. Kevin De Bruyne was also given the nod as Juan Mata and Demba Ba were omitted from the side that started against Aston Villa on Wednesday. Both sides struggled to create openings in a tepid opening 45 minutes. It was the away side who had the first chance in the 10th minute when a low De Bruyne cross rebounded to Oscar who hit a tame effort straight at De Gea.Chelsea had managed to quash the threat Van Persie for the opening 20 minutes but the Dutchman had United's first meaningful effort. Michael Carrick dispossessed Ramires in midfield and the former Arsenal man picked up the loose ball on the edge of the box but he went too wide before firing his effort against the side netting.Rooney then had his first effort on goal. He showed a neat piece of skill to feint inside Gary Cahill but his shot from 20 yards was weak and rolled harmlessly to Petr Cech.United were beginning to enjoy more of the ball and, in the 38th minute, Phil Jones's low cross was only half-cleared by John Terry and Cleverley hit a first-time shot from 20 yards that cleared the crossbar.The half ended with a weak shot from Oscar after a series of neat passes in the Chelsea midfield – the Brazilian will feel that he could have done more to trouble De Gea. After a slow start to the second half, United should have taken the lead after 56 minutes. Rooney showed good control just outside the area before slipping a neat through-ball to Welbeck but the striker fluffed his lines as he chipped his effort over from 10 yards.Cahill was unlucky with a 30-yard drive that De Gea got down well to save, before United had claims for a penalty.Cleverley's half-volley hit Lampard's hand in the area but referee Martin Atkinson deemed that the midfielder had not deliberately made contact with the shot.Rooney almost had the last say late on when he tested Cech with a strong 25-yard effort. The shot may have been going wide but the Chelsea man took no chances.With two minutes remaining, United had another penalty shout when John Obi Mikel turned into Van Persie's volley but the decision would have been harsh on the Nigerian who knew had no time to dodge the shot.


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Mac clone maker Psystar has caught a lot of flak since announcing its Open Computer and Open Pro computers with Leopard preinstalled a few weeks ago. Last week, the company posted a video to its website showing off the new office as well as a trio of Open Computers running Windows XP, Ubuntu, and Leopard. The video indicates that Psystar really does have an office and its computers really do run Mac OS X.
Gizmodo reader Patrick boots his Psystar Open Computer into Leopard "pretty damn fast."
Now, a customer says that he has actually received an Open Computer, and sent a video to Gizmodo showing the machine booting Mac OS X. The video clearly shows the monitor cable connected to the Mac clone (just so we all know Psystar's machine is the one booting Leopard). The reader, identified as Patrick, says System Profiler reports the machine as a Mac Pro, but Software Update won't recognize the machine for updates.
Now that the Open Computer is apparently shipping, this should hopefully allay some fears that Psystar is a fake company ripping people off. Maybe Woz will order his this week. Of course, we here at Ars are strong believers that "the proof of the pudding is in the eating." We continue to patiently wait on our review unit that we were promised two weeks ago, and will report our findings when, and if, we do receive it.


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This is an archive page. The links in this content are no longer being updated.
June 18, 2010
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has lifted temporary restrictions and additional testing requirements it had placed on the importation of sexually intact bovines (cattle and bison) from British Columbia. Those restrictions were put into place on May 25, 2010, and were based on the recent importation of three cows from the province found to be reactors for brucellosis upon testing at slaughter.
Effective immediately, APHIS will no longer require brucellosis testing for sexually intact bovines imported to the United States from British Columbia, Canada, for purposes other than immediate slaughter. This action is based on additional technical and epidemiological information received from Canada after a thorough investigation of the disease situation by Canadian authorities.
As part of their investigation, Canada quickly identified the herds of origin; and all animals belonging to those herds over the last year were tested negative for brucellosis or have been otherwise adequately accounted for. No other positive results were found through Canada's tracebacks. APHIS has concluded that the positive results in the original group of reactors may have been due to the presence of cross reactive antibodies detected in the tests used. With the removal of the temporary brucellosis testing requirements, bovines from British Columbia, Canada, may again be imported to the U.S. under the guidelines that applied prior to May 25, 2010.
Brucellosis is a bacterial disease that causes decreased milk production, weight loss, infertility, loss of young and lameness in cattle, elk and bison. The disease is contagious and can, though rarely, affect humans. There is no known treatment for brucellosis in animals.
USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call (800) 795-3272, or (202) 720-6382 (TDD).


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Burbank, CA November 10, 2008 � Brian Frons, president, Daytime, Disney ABC-Television Group, today announced three new series for SOAPnet, including the reality series "Greg Behrendt's Wake-Up Call," the scripted drama "Being Erica" and the docusoap "Southern Belles" (working title). The series will premiere on SOAPnet in 2009.
"SOAPnet remains committed to growing the soap genre and is increasing its original program offerings next year with new series that contain �soapy' elements and complement the serialized drama found in our daytime and primetime offerings," said Frons. "In speaking to our viewers, we have learned that they are on a path of self discovery and each of our new series taps into that journey."
Produced by Avalon Television, "Greg Behrendt's Wake-Up Call" is a reality series of six one-hour episodes in which Greg Behrendt, acclaimed consultant for "Sex and the City" and co-author of "He's Just Not That into You" (now a major motion picture set to hit theaters on February 6, 2009), will address one couple's major issues each week and use his practical and funny relationship expertise to give them the tools to fix theirs. The reality series will air on Thursdays at 11:00 p.m., beginning January 8.
"Greg Behrendt's Wake-Up Call" will also kick off SOAPnet's "Sugar-Free Valentines," a six-week programming event beginning on January 8 that is dedicated to the fun and romance surrounding Valentine's Day without the sweet, gooey center. Behrendt will also host a series of interstitials throughout the event, providing his no-nonsense approach to relationships.
"Being Erica" follows the life of 32-year-old Erica Strange, a highly educated, underachieving single woman who struggles to understand why her life is heading nowhere and why she has not found her right path "yet." She's made years of bad decisions and has a list of regrets several pages long as a result. Enter Dr. Tom, a mysterious man who is part therapist and part rogue. In each episode he enables Erica to go back in time and re-live an event from her past that caused regret. This time she makes different choices and, in return, gains a new perspective that helps her with her present day life. The show stars newcomer Erin Karpluk (Erica), Michael Riley (Dr. Tom) and Tyron Leitso (Ethan). The one-hour series, created by Emmy-Award winning writer Jana Sinyor, is executive-produced by Sinyor, Aaron Martin, Ivan Schneeberg and David Fortier, and is produced by Temple Street Productions in association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The series has been picked up for 13 episodes and will premiere in Spring 2009.
"Southern Belles" (working title) follows the lives of five single, modern Southern women in their 20s and 30s and gives an intimate look at the professional and romantic lives of this circle of friends. Currently shooting in Louisville, Kentucky, the series has been picked up for ten one-hour episodes. The series is produced by Endemol USA (�Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,� �Deal or No Deal,� �Big Brother�) in association with ABC Media Productions (formerly Buena Vista Productions). David Goldberg is president and CEO of Endemol USA. Joe Livecchi serves as executive producer.
SOAPnet offers same-day episodes of popular daytime dramas including "All My Children," "Days of our Lives," "One Life to Live," "General Hospital" and "The Young and the Restless" at night for convenient viewing. In addition, the network provides original programs, including "MVP," "Relative Madness," and "General Hospital: Night Shift." Wrapped in a 24-hour environment, SOAPnet also offers primetime classics including "The O.C.," "One Tree Hill" and "Beverly Hills 90210," as well as former daytime series "Ryan's Hope."


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Lately, Karate has been taking a back seat to my increasingly busy schedule.
Before my Shodan grading, training was priority #1 for obvious reasons. I was at the Dojo four days a week, staying late after class and committed to polishing every technique. After it was over, I breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Perhaps I'm still breathing that sigh of relief. Without a grading looming over me and consuming every thought, feeding my need for perfection, I find it much easier to talk myself out of class - and it's a slippery slope. I need to stain the fence, I need to do yardwork, I need to just take a night off, I need to... there are so many things on my to-do list that every moment of my life could easily be consumed.
What I really need to do though, is go to Karate, it is my me time. It is how I have always cleared my mind. When I'm in class I don't think of that list and I don't think of work, all I think about is my technique and training. Above being physically beneficial, I also find it mentally beneficial.
Lately I've been learning a lot of new Kata - Kanku Sho, Bassai Sho, Jitte, Chinte, Tekki San Dan - and to keep them top of mind, I need to go to class consistently. Maybe I don't have to go four days a week anymore, but I can at least commit to two or three. I don't want to lose what I have, I've done that once before and the uphill climb was extremely difficult.
I will not allow myself to slip down that slope, no matter how bad the lawn needs to be mowed.
Monday, July 16, 2012
1 comment:
- AnonymousAugust 3, 2012 at 11:08 AM
The route to the top of any mountain is difficult, but so rewarding when you reach your goal. The journey down the mountain, however, is very easy, very fast, and takes very little effort. The sad truth is that once down the slope so very few ever climb back up again.ReplyDelete
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


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San Joaquin Pest Control has been proudly serving the city of Modesto for over 40 years! When you call us we listen to your problems and solve them. At SJPC we deal with pest control and exterminator issues for all nuisance problems including the following:Ants, Roaches, Spiders, Earwigs, Crickets, Fleas, Ticks, Bed Bugs, Beetles, Bees & Wasps, Crickets, Silverfish, Millipedes, Snails, Birds, Rats, Mice, Squirrels and much more.
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