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If you are disabled and you're no longer able to work, you should learn how Social Security can help you.
Disability is something most people do not like to think about; however, the unfortunate reality is this: the chances that you will become disabled are probably far greater than you realize. Studies show that a 20-year-old worker has a more than one in four chance of becoming disabled before reaching retirement age.
Social Security pays benefits to people with disabilities through the Social Security disability insurance program, which is financed by Social Security taxes. If you qualify, you can receive a monthly disability benefit from Social Security for as long as your disability keeps you from working. The amount of your benefit is based on your average lifetime earnings. Potential Medicare coverage is dependent on several factors and usually starts after you receive disability cash benefits for 24 months.
When you work and pay Social Security taxes, you earn credits. The number of credits you need to qualify for disability benefits depends on your age, and some of the work must be recent. For example, if you become disabled after age 31, you need to have worked at least a total of 10 years, including five of those having been worked within the past 10 years. But if you become disabled before age 24, you need only one and a half years of work in the past three years.
If you have a disability that keeps you from working, the time to get started with your application is now. That's because it takes time to determine whether you qualify for benefits. It usually takes about three to five months for a medical decision from the state agency that evaluates your condition. If your application is approved, your first Social Security disability payment will be made for the sixth full month after the date we determine that your disability began.
Given the time it can take, it's in your best interest to do everything you can to speed up the process. The best first step is for you to read our online publication, Disability Benefits, at www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs. It will tell you all about the process, including the information you will need to apply for benefits.
Then, take advantage of our online disability starter kits. You will find them on our disability website at www.socialsecurity.gov/disability. From that page, simply select the option to apply for benefits online, and on that page you will find the disability starter kits. There is one kit for children and one for adults. Each kit is available in both English and Spanish. The starter kits help you begin the process by providing information about the specific documents and the information that we will request from you.
Take a look at the disability starter kit now at www.socialsecurity.gov/disability.
Once you complete the online disability starter kit and you're ready to apply, the most convenient way to do that is also online. Just go to the same disability website at www.socialsecurity.gov/disability.
Tony Williams is a Social Security Public Affairs specialist in Aiken.
Notice about comments:
Aiken Standard is pleased to offer readers the enhanced ability to comment on stories. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point.
We do not edit user submitted statements and we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click the X that appears in the upper right corner when you hover over a comment. This will send the comment to Facebook for review. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our website. Read our full terms and conditions.


text:
The following press release came out today about GoGrid's parent company, ServePath, and discusses how Gartner has included ServePath as a "Cool Vendor" for development done under the GoGrid brand as related to Cloud Computing.
ServePath Named "Cool Vendor" by Leading Analyst Firm
Vendors selected for the "Cool Vendor report" are innovative, impactful and intriguing
San Francisco, CA April 27, 2009 — ServePath, LLC has been included in the list of "Cool Vendors" in the April 2009 "Cool Vendors in Cloud Computing Systems and Application Infrastructure, 2009" report by Gartner, Inc.
The "Cool Vendor" report by Gartner, Inc. showcases key findings and recommendations to consider when evaluating Cloud server infrastructure services and companies. As defined by Gartner, Cloud services are divided into two general categories: infrastructure and applications. ServePath's Cloud Computing division, GoGrid, represents excellence within both cloud categories as is evidenced through the Gartner "Cool Vendor" selection of ServePath. The report is available on the Gartner website for a limited time.
(more…) «Press Release: "ServePath Named 'Cool Vendor' by Leading Analyst Firm"»

subset: commoncrawl


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Mostly Cloudy
Wind: 0 mph
Facing potential closure, Moretown Landfill Inc. (MLI) is working to improve odor control systems at its Route 2 facility, just last week completing installation of approximately two acres of synthetic capping material and a piping system to drain inundated gas wells.
As construction continues on site, however, state officials continue to sort their way through some 200 public comments detailing the impacts of the landfill's operation.
On January 15, the public comment period to respond to the Vermont Agency of Natural Resource's (ANR) intent to deny Moretown Landfill's recertification of its second and third trash cells was extended by 14 days, so that it will now remain open until February 5 at 4 p.m.
During this time, anyone—including the landfill—can submit testimony, and the ANR will issue a final decision about the fate of the facility in March, 45 days after the public comment period closes.
The ANR granted the 14-day extension after Moretown Landfill requested more time for "its engineers and others responsible with preparing comments on the letter of intent to deny … to address to issues raised," the landfill wrote in a letter to the agency on January 15.
In November, Moretown Landfill received notices of several environmental violations from the ANR, many of them having to do with the facility's demonstrated inability to control off-site odors. The notices came after Advanced Disposal Services took over ownership of the landfill from Interstate Waste Services in September in hopes of fixing the facility's faults.
But when general manager Mike DiMaggio—who was hired by Advanced Disposal earlier this month—started drilling down into gas wells to drain liquid that was inhibiting odor control, the District 5 Act 250 Commission ordered the facility to stop all work, as the drilling technically fell outside of the jurisdiction of Moretown Landfill's existing permit.
Before the Act 250 order, "MLI anticipated having the first work area completed yesterday, [January 14], which would have afforded MLI about a week's worth of data from this area to inform its comments [on the intent to deny]. Obviously, this valuable information is now not available to MLI," the landfill explained in its extension request.
The Act 250 order has since been rescinded, and last Friday, January 25, Moretown Landfill reported that it had completed installation of approximately two acres of geomembrane capping material and a piping system to drain gas wells.
The company has already invested $450,000 in infrastructure improvements to the landfill since September 1 and continues to invest in upgrades to the facility, according to company spokesperson Mary O'Brien in a press release distributed by a community relations consulting firm earlier this week.
Now, the public comment period extension will allow Moretown Landfill the time to test out its upgrades to see how they help control off-site odors. But it will also allow more time for those who do not support the landfill's operations to submit their testimonies.
"We can't change the past. Together we can build the future," Advanced Disposal writes on its website, below a photo of Moretown Landfill's new geomembrane cap.
According to Ben Gauthier of the ANR Solid Waste Management Division, the agency has already received about 200 comments, both in support and in opposition to the ANR's intent to deny the landfill's recertification. "They've been coming in pretty steadily," Gauthier said.
Side bar
According to the press release distributed by Action Circles, Inc., a firm that offers community relations consulting, Richard Heaps of Northern Economic Consulting has recently completed an economic study on the impact of Moretown Landfill that "highlights the ways Moretown Landfill benefits the local and state economy through job creation, tax payments and its convenient central Vermont location." More specifically:
Moretown Landfill generates more than $600,000 per year in revenue for the town of Moretown. The landfill creates a total of 20 jobs across the state of Vermont and generates $271,400 in tax revenues for the state each year.
If Moretown Landfill closes, the cost of waste disposal for Vermonters would rise by approximately $3.6 million per year due to higher disposal fees and increased transportation costs. Its closure would also result in the loss of 44 jobs and a reduction of $1.9 million in payrolls.
At this time, no "shovel ready" sites are available for landfill construction in Vermont. One in-state option under consideration would raise hauling costs, and it is only permitted to accept less than 30 percent of the solid waste that Moretown Landfill can accept.


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Only hotels in Mackinaw City are listed below. Search for cheap and discounted hotel and motel rates in or near Mackinaw City, MI for your upcoming personal or group trip. We provide the best Mackinaw City, Michigan hotel and motel rooms. Browse the Mackinaw City area hotels to find the perfect lodging! Please use the provided map of the Mackinaw City hotels. Group booking? Search Mackinaw City Group Hotel DiscountsThe Mackinaw City center point is about the area of Arnold Line Mackinac Island Ferry and the area of Colonial Fort Michilimackinac.
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In the midst of another gorgeous summer day in Chicago, dozens of girls, ages 7-15, gather inside the Union Park fieldhouse. They're separated into groups based on age, but regardless of where they sit, friendships are quick to form.
"I've made a lot of friends at camp, lots and lots," said Kennedy, 13. "Camp is more fun than school because we all get to do fun things together and there's a lot of support from everyone. You feel good here."
"Here" is Girls in the Game, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the health and fitness of girls in the Chicago area. The program's five-week summer camp is intensive in exercise, social and emotional skills.
"We're been around for almost 19 years," said Amy Skeen, the program's President and CEO. "We were first started because our founding board members really attributed their own professional success and their ability to work on a team and their confidence levels to having had a chance to play sports as girls. They were really shocked to learn that in 1995 there were very few opportunities in the city of Chicago to be involved in those types of activities. Today that is a very similar case, which is why Girls in the Game is so important."
The three pillars of the program's philosophy play out in morning activity rotations at camp. The first stop is in the classroom, where the girls are quizzed about "sportswomanship" and what they think it means.
"Working together and communicating."
"Accepting the fact that sometimes you're going to lose."
"Respecting your teammates and doing the right thing."
Once they've worked out their definitions, they get the chance to act out what the term means, putting on quick skits where they help each other after suffering a fictional defeat on the sports field.
"Our goal at camp is to see the girls doing things they might not get to do on a regular basis," said Heather, a first year counselor. "A lot of the campers are from underserved neighborhoods and they don't get to just have fun and participate in this kind of environment."
Once the inside work is done, the girls head outside to the field for aerobics and dance. Stations are set up for the campers to go through a short "circuit training" workout of push-ups, sit-ups, planks and jumping rope.
Yamerite, 12, Marlene, 12 and Tyra, 12 go through the paces, even trying some of the activities for the first time.
"It's fun here. I like it," said Tyra. "The dancing is the best because it's just being silly."
With that, the counselors bring out a stereo blasting music and start to teach the group dance all the campers will perform together later in the summer. Even the shyest girls in the group can't help but get into it.
"Day to day, we see improvement here," said Heather. "The campers really respond to what we're talking about and what we're doing here. We see their confidence levels going up."
The final station of the morning is a sport, and on this day it's floor hockey, run by the Chicago Wolves. As the girls walk onto the converted tennis court lined with nets and sticks, the looks of trepidation quickly dissipate as mascot Skates comes out to greet them and they start learning the basics of the sport.
"Sadly in Chicago most girls don't get to grow up playing sports," Skeen said. "There is very little access to sports and fitness programs at the elementary level especially and we know if you don't grow up playing sports you're not going to start playing in high school. There are very few places doing female-focused programs. We want girls to grow up learning the power of sports and athletes and realizing how fun it is."
Girls in the Game partnered with Loyola University in Chicago to start tracking the difference the program's activities were making in the campers' overall health and well-being. Loyola has studied campers' Body Mass Index (BMI) and found the program may significantly improve girls' self control, body satisfaction and consumption of fruits and vegetables. The more time the girls spend in the program, they found, the more likely they were to have improved self-esteem and reduce time spent watching television.
"We see a lot of girls come back, which is why we made the decision to have year-long programs as well," Skeen said. "A lot of the camp counselors who are teens started as campers when they were kids. It's a chance to be with us year after year and it keeps them engaged in relevant programming."
As the morning comes to a close, the girls happily fire off as many shots on net at Skates as they can before lining up for a group photo. The day has been another success, introducing girls to something they had never done before.
"I never really played hockey. I do track at school," Kennedy said. "I liked it a lot."
With the campers heading off to lunch, Skeen reflects on what the program ultimately hopes to accomplish for them and what path it could put them on.
"We want girls to grow up learning the power of sports and athletes and realizing how fun it is. Our programs give them a chance to really grow up and be involved in sport year after year. Are they all going to become WNBA super stars or Olympic athletes? Probably not. But if they grow up to be strong, confident women, then we've done our job."


text:
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According to reports provided by the Aiken Department of Public Safety:
A 16-year-old high school student was arrested for third-degree assault and battery after punching a male student in the face, causing the student's head to hit a brick wall.
A 38-year-old Cordova man was detained for shoplifting on Thursday after he tried to push a cart full of merchandise out of a store on Whiskey Road without paying.
A vehicle break-in was reported on Thursday on University Parkway. A man was seen going through the saddle bags of a parked motorcycle and taking items.
A 72-year-old Aiken woman reported on Thursday that she was targeted by a scammer. The woman told police a man with a foreign accent called her claiming to represent a technical support company. He told her he needed to refund her for a past financial transaction and tried to obtain her bank card information. The suspect became angry and started using profanity when she refused.
According to reports provided by the Aiken County Sheriff's Office:
A North Augusta woman reported on Thursday that someone flattened all four of the tires on her vehicle parked on Beaulah Avenue.
Burglaries were reported Thursday on Lackspur Road in Wagener, Luce Avenue in North Augusta, Springdale Road in Graniteville, Connie's Way in Aiken and Dusk Trail Road in Ridge Spring.
Notice about comments:
Aiken Standard is pleased to offer readers the enhanced ability to comment on stories. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point.
We do not edit user submitted statements and we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click the X that appears in the upper right corner when you hover over a comment. This will send the comment to Facebook for review. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our website. Read our full terms and conditions.


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|89 posts found
Elite Member
Joined: 5/14/07
I believe in life before death... So dont forget to enjoy it while you still can.
Originally posted by Xasapis
Everything with less then 10M players is a failure in the eyes of a certain grouop of people
TSW is different enough from other games to warrant a secure place for some time to come among the listed MMO's, but its also different enough to not make the number one spot.
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
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Originally posted by Lord.Bachus
no everything that does not get the expected success is a failure - tera was so far a financial failure - is now somwhere 4th place in korean mmo's with 140-150k subscribers...one of the exec. managers allready resigend because of the bad financial performance... you can look it up its on google
not mentionning the ongoing lawsuit from ncsoft against the game...
Joined: 1/12/07
Originally posted by Nemesis7884
I wouldn't call a failure being 3rd most popular mmorpg and with subscription instead of the more traditional F2P monetary system there. It didn't trample Aion there, I would agree to that, but I would hardly call it a failure. Under this logic, Rift is a failure, since they didn't manage to dethrone WoW, or EVE.
Going back to TSW, the bigger danger is hardly the combat. The biggest danger, imo, is having a story with an ending, SW:TOR style. Since we'll basically make one character that can do everything, the game needs to occupy us with activities that will transcend merely a linear story, no matter how interesting. That will be the real challenge Funcom will be facing.
Originally posted by Xasapis
they didnt reach their financial target
theyre being sued by ncsoft for stolen property - is it even sure now that the game launches at all in the us?
they have hardly any player base and this that soon after launch
they had bad reception in korea and asia
they are not being 3rd buth 4th in korea
but thats no thread about tera - i really dont give a rats ass about that game
Advanced Member
Joined: 10/11/04
Originally posted by Nemesis7884
i havent met a single person so far saying - after playing one of the mentionned games - that he wants to go back to traditional mmo combat
As someone that works in marketing myself, I can tell you that what customers say and what customers DO are very different things. I haven't met many people that played TR and didn't absolutley love the combat system. Yet the game is dead. And vast majority of people agree that TOR's combat is pretty bad, yet all kinds of people are still playing it.
My point isn't that good combat systems don't matter, it's that they don't seem to be making any difference in their games' commercial success.
As a personal example: after playing EQ2 for many years, i have a hard time even with most "traditional" combat systems if they use this retarded "global cooldown" system that's become popular lately (Rift, TOR, TSW and a few other games have it). With EQ2 combat being so fluid, i have a hard time just spamming same button over and over waiting for my spell to trigger in these newer games. But yet, here i am, still playing those games, because ultimately, they are still interesting on some level despite the combat shortcomings. And even though DCUO has better combat, I'm not playing it because i don't like other aspects of it.
"I'd rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."
- Raph Koster
Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO
Apprentice Member
Joined: 1/24/12
Originally posted by Nemesis7884
Actually: they already improved it. If you compare for instance caster animations that are in the game now with videos from half a year ago, you see that it is different...
Advanced Member
Joined: 8/03/07
Originally posted by Nemesis7884
Almost agree with that. However #4 I can't agree with in the aspect of making things "less realistic" any more unrealistic stuff in this game (See 20 foot high bunny hopping for example) and it will have to be reclassified as a purely fantasy genre game.
To find an intelligent person in a PUG is not that rare, but to find a PUG made up of "all" intelligent people is one of the rarest phenomenons in the known universe.
Originally posted by arieste
Originally posted by Kazuhiro
having for example a grenade ripping zombies into pieces, blood, guts everywhere, smoke, a big kaboom, earth/screen shaking, npcs that are clos getting thrown to the ground and half zombie torsos still crawling into my direction is realistc...
impaling the zombie with its own ripped off arm not so much...(altough that would be kinda fun too)
Originally posted by Nemesis7884
1) I'm fine with the speed.
2) Yes
3) Probably not going to happen because that stuff is incorporated with their state mechanic, but a more clear representation of that happening would be nice.
4) I agree with you to a point. I think they don't want our characters becoming super-heroes though. Fine line to ride with this one.
5) I like most of the sounds for combat actually. I can't stand the Assault Rifle however.
6) Well there are some effects that this does work for, but they are generally the more powerful abilities. In general this could be looked at I agree.
7) This I don't even know what it means. You can use any ability on the move. The states you create are combos other players can build off of. Skills are already dynamic and interactive with other skills that you use or other players used based on the states of said target(s). Now if you're talking VISUAL represenation of said mechanics that are already in the game, I completely agree with you. Many times it's difficult to realize when you have a critical hit vs. glancing blow, with the exception of actually reading on your screen that is.
Advanced Member
Joined: 2/03/05
Short answer "have less combat".
The game is very niche, and that niche is all to do with the world, lore and puzzles. I don't think anyone is going to play TSW because "they want to beat zombies up, over and over and over again".
Make combat harder, but make it less frequent.
Novice Member
Joined: 2/08/06
Why do I keep reading these forums?
Remember you have just tried the "noob" area and the "noob" skills. Keep your pants on and wait for what the 133t skills will do with regards to animation, effect and combat tacticks.
Originally posted by BishopB:
Are a lot of the trolls just angry kids with old gaming hardware?
Novice Member
Joined: 4/02/12
Does every weapon involve building "charges" to use for harder attacks, AOE and/or finisher attacks? And is this true of even higher tier attacks? If so, this should absolutely change, but I doubt it will.
"Loading screens" are not "instances".
Advanced Member
Joined: 12/23/07
Originally posted by LagozOriginally posted by Nemesis7884
It's not that deep. My EQ2 dirge has over 60 buttons on his action bar of which 30 or so are actively used in combat. I can not possibly just spam buttons at random so you have to do things like plan your strategy around things like how much health the mob has left, who else is in the fight and what kinds of buffs/debuffs they have, does the current stage of the script require you to be in a certain location, does anyone need buffs, heals, rezes, etc. etc. TSW's system has a much more detailed way to setup my toon before the fight starts but much fewer options on how to execute that fight once you press the first combat once you start a fight. There is no means to swap weapons in combat which would make it more tactical. Nor is there a way to swap skills in combat which would do the same (maybe have a system where you can build points in combat that you can spend by swapping weapons/skiills?). The building attacks that you spend on finishers isn't really a unique or particularly interesting system to me especially when your options for active finishers is so limited.
Novice Member
Joined: 7/07/05
Originally posted by dumbo11
That is a good point. Almost seems like that's what the devs had in mind, but were afraid to take it all the way. Also, would be cool if there were lots of non-combat skills along the wheel, and RP stuff to flesh out the atmosphere with. Then I might be more inclined to agree with the "total freedom" bit, too.
When I want a single-player story, I'll play a single-player game. When I play an MMO, I want a massively multiplayer world.
Originally posted by Lagoz
The combat was supposed to be an upgrade from the traditional mmorpg combat and it certainly does that. TSW has the best combat system of all the previous traditional hotkey mmorpg's. Also the combat system feels dull at first but when you start realising the potential in terms of double finishers, debuffs chains, etc.. it gets a lot more interesting. It's not a flashy combat system it's a deep combat system.
Best combat system of all the previous traditional hotkey mmorpgs? Don't make me laugh, its more like the bottom 10. Its terrible and the vast majority agree, which is why you see so many threads like this and Funcom has said they are already working on it.
Advanced Member
Joined: 12/17/10
The only thing that needs to be worked on is the animations, so that they look really cool. Everything else is just fine.
Oh.. and you can actually dodge attacks in the current system. You only need to do a step to the left or the right, when you see the white cone on the ground.
Seriously. I don't want something ala TERA or GW2 as a combat-system. If I'm interested in action combat, then I go play something like Unreal or SoulCalibur. In TSW I'm looking forward to a slower paced and more ressource-based combat system, which is just fine.
Spotlight Poster
Joined: 2/05/11
Originally posted by dumbo11
Amen to this. Look at EQ1, defeating a mob in that (while too slow) was a big deal. Pulling the mobs was a mini game unto itself.
OP: the combat does not need to be faster, it's plenty fast as it is. It needs to be more tactical. I should need to pay attention to what the mob is doing or I will pay dearly. Less fights but tougher fights is definitely the way to go.
Originally posted by Nemesis7884
Let me just state this need for an action combat is rubbish. I listened to Total Biscuit's mailbag (May 7th edition) and he is pretty much saying the way of hot bar combat is going away. I disagreed with him there and I DISAGREE WITH YOU NOW. Hotbar, tab target combat is here to stay and I know plenty of MMO gamers who enjoy that style way more because it feels more organic to the genre, and doesnt make you have to have the hand/eye coordination of a twitch gamer.
An active dodge button would be kind of cool, but then again TSW is not suited to it because they have things like block parry and dodge on top of defense ratings.
Animations are being worked on but they wont drastically change heres a snippit from one of the blog posts the other day:
EDITOR's NOTE: Since publishing this article, we've heard some feedback from Funcom about our concerns with character creation and the animations. Our Funcom source told us that the character creation is indeed very much limited in this beta build, and will be more fully fleshed out in the future with options and the like. As for animations, Erling explained two things. One is that there are many animations which are not yet final in this build. The second part is that because of the team's decision to allow characters to move while casting skills, they had to untie the upper body from the lower body in the animations. This means there will be times when swinging a sword or using your fist weapons will look odd, but it's the price they've had to pay for allowing players the ability to move while attacking at any time. Basically, it becomes more difficult to structure animations that always look perfect when the characters can't move during the animations.
Disagree all you want but its not going to change and for once a developer has the balls to come out and tell you why they did soemthing the way they did. I like the candidness.
I think you crazy if you think the sound was bad, to me its some of the nost immersive of any MMO I have ever played. From authentic rifle sounds to the whipping of a hammer through the air as it crunches against the side of a zombies head. Funcom got this right.
Again most of your things you want changed are opinionated which has no bearing on anyone other then yourself, its like me asking for McDonalds to change the Special Sauce on their Big Mac because I dislike the Mayonaise in it. Just because you do not like it does not give you the right to change it for others.
Apprentice Member
Joined: 11/21/11
Gw2 doesn't have action combat, its not that different to tsw but with dodging.
I slightly prefer gw2 combat.
Tsw combat I like, its better than your typical wow type combat. The people not liking the combat, I suspect they were trying to play tsw combat like it was wow clone combat. That won't work, your damage will suck and you will get hurt a lot. You can't stand there spamming a rotation.


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Google will no longer offer alerts for web search results and will replace them with comprehensive alerts that include results from Google Web Search, Google News and Blog Search. Marcel Gordon, Product Manager for Google Alerts, says that web alerts weren't very popular.
"We've decided to retire Web alerts because they are used by very few people and an alert of type Everything will find the same results. This week we'll be changing all alerts of type Web into alerts of type Everything. You may receive more results after this change. If you find that you are getting too many results, you can change the "How often" setting to "once a day" or "once a week." You can also change your search query. You can do this on the alerts management page, or by removing the alert using the link at the bottom of each alert email and creating it again with different settings."
Maybe Google should discontinue Google Alerts and provide regular feeds for search results. Right now, you can create feeds for web search results using Google Alerts, but they have URLs that can't be generated automatically. Google News, Blog Search, and Google Video already offer feeds for search results.
{ Thanks, Abhijeet. }
June 10, 2010
Google Web Alerts No Longer Available
This blog is not affiliated with Google.


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Holy shit that was awesome! Great night of fights! All hail the new champ. And may the former champ still put on some epic fights.
The clowning is part of his "aura". Think about it, the crowd was electric, your fighting the best fighter there ever was, he's yelling at you and making fun of you. It totally works, until you get someone who doesn't care to hear he is suppose to lose.
Alright, show of hands. Who thought tonight would end with a discrediting of the winner's victory?
Does the way Silva lost tonight along with him saying he doesn't want to fight for the MW belt anymore sway you guys at all to drop him at all on your all time best list? It does for me. Then again I didn't have him above Fedor because of the guys Fedor fought and him fighting in a division where he was small much of the time.
Favorite Fights: Jonny Bones Jones, Wandy, Hendo, Cain, Matt Hughes, Melvin.
Most disliked fighters: Michael Bisping, Spankie Edgar, Alistair Overeem, Anderson Silva, Tim Sylvia, Chuck Liddell
Weidman campaigning hard for the rematch. Very classy in victory but also a fight that makes great financial sense for him.
This might be my favorite MMA moment, beating out the destruction of Shogun by Jones. Of all the ways I thought Silva might lose, pretending to be rocked only to actually get rocked wasn't one of them.
I gotta go back to my books and find out what are the proper offerings to pay the Greek Fates because apparently they're real.
"I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road."
- Stephen Hawking
Anderson was definitely being more of a clown than usual, he was playing it up significantly more than usual, I would agree, and I would agree he didn't act how he should have versus Weidman - I don't think anyone with a functioning brain will disagree with that. I think Anderson went in there to win the fight in the fashion that Anderson wins fights, by being a clown and then taking his opponent out - only this time he got taken out.
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My granddaughters will LOVE them!!!
By Nana
from Baltimore, MD
About Me Midrange Shopper
Comments about Dean Griff Personalized Sisters Charming Tail Ornament:
Christmas Tree Ornament stocking stuffers.Ornament is acessorized so cutely.
Bottom LineYes, I would recommend this to a friend
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Sisters Charming Tails Ornament
By Rose
from Bunker Hill, WV
About Me Budget Shopper
I loved this item. It is adorable.
(1 of 1 customers found this review helpful)
Overpriced, shoddy details
By Lisa
from Plano, TX
VERY disappointed with this. The red bead right in the middle wasn't smooth and had a noticable white spot on it. Some of the white paint was missing from the heart. The "T" in "Sisters" was poorly done so it looks more like a "P". Without these flaws I would have thought it was overpriced but worth it. With the flaws, it's extremely disappointing and WAY overpriced.
Bottom LineNo, I would not recommend this to a friend
Beautiful- my sister loved it.
By micki
from Wisconsin
I gave this to my sister as a pre christmas present. She loved it and even posted a picture of it on facebook.
Cute item
By Evesa
from South Florida
This is a nice item--glad I bought it.
Absolutely great sister gift. Love it !
By sharon the shopper
from brooklyn, michigan
perfect christmas ornament
By ldeanda
from Albuquerque, NM
Was not entirely infatuated with this ornament when I got it. It is cute but a little on the cheap side in appearance. Photo in catalog and online didn't adequately show it's features. I probably wouldn't buy it again.
Too Cute1
By Missy
from Henrico, Va.
what a cute present to my chosen sister (friend)
Sister Ornament
By missy23
from Houghton Lake, MI
About Me Budget shopper
Gave to my sister as a Christmas present. She loved it! The monogram was beautifully done. I will purchase again.
Bring sisters closer together
By Pamela
from FL
Brought sisters together across the miles.


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U.S. conservatives frightened & confused by pope's moral world.
Grant Gallicho April 29, 2014 - 10:02am
Yesterday Pope Francis took to Twitter to launch a new phase of Catholic Social Teaching. With just seven words he shook the foundations of the Catholic moral universe: "Inequalty is the root of social evil," Francis wrote. Both Catholic and non-Catholic observers alike struggled to find their bearings. Joe Carter of the social-justice think tank the Acton Institute responded quickly: "Um, no it's not. Hate and apathy are the roots of social evil." He wondered whether Francis had "traded the writings of Peter and Paul for Piketty"--the economist whose latest book on the unfairness of capitalism has become a global phenomenon.
Catholic Culture poobah Phil Lawler also expressed skepticism, calling the pope's tweet "a fairly radical statement, [and] as an a piece of economic analysis a very simplistic one." He decided that the best way to understand Francis's tweet was to go to the original Latin: that "version of this tweet is even simpler: Iniquitas radix malorum. That phrase has a somewhat different meaning." Lawler's Latin expertise leads him to assert that "iniquitas" might also mean "iniquity" or "injustice," which would "make more sense," even though the Spanish version of the tweet "admittedly looks more like the English."
Non-Catholic Mollie Hemingway was likewise confused. "I don't understand what this is supposed to mean, exactly," she tweeted, later suggesting "envy and coveting" were really to blame for social evil. Former Catholic Rod Dreher found himself flummoxed too: "What does that even mean?" He continued: "Twitter pronouncements like the Pope's are simplistic and confusing."
It's true. Twitter is not an ideal place to advance complex moral arguments. Wouldn't it be better if the pope developed some of this at greater length, in, say, some sort of letter to the faithful? He might even consider exhorting his people in an apostolic manner, for example, with a title like Evangelii Gaudium or some such, perhaps under a section heading reading "The Economy and the Distribution of Income." Come again? He's done just that? Over the course of several paragraphs? And it's been publicly available for months? Oh. Roll tape.
Way back in November 2013, Pope Francis released his first major document, Evangelii Gaudium. Maybe you remember it. Scroll to number 202, and here's what you'll find:
As long as the problems of the poor are not radically resolved by rejecting the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation and by attacking the structural causes of inequality, [173] no solution will be found for the world's problems or, for that matter, to any problems. Inequality is the root of social ills.
He goes on:
The dignity of each human person and the pursuit of the common good are concerns which ought to shape all economic policies. At times, however, they seem to be a mere addendum imported from without in order to fill out a political discourse lacking in perspectives or plans for true and integral development. How many words prove irksome to this system! It is irksome when the question of ethics is raised, when global solidarity is invoked, when the distribution of goods is mentioned, when reference in made to protecting labour and defending the dignity of the powerless, when allusion is made to a God who demands a commitment to justice.
And on:
We can no longer trust in the unseen forces and the invisible hand of the market. Growth in justice requires more than economic growth, while presupposing such growth: it requires decisions, programmes, mechanisms and processes specifically geared to a better distribution of income, the creation of sources of employment and an integral promotion of the poor which goes beyond a simple welfare mentality. I am far from proposing an irresponsible populism, but the economy can no longer turn to remedies that are a new poison, such as attempting to increase profits by reducing the work force and thereby adding to the ranks of the excluded.
[Update: David Gibson reports that Vatican officials have confirmed that Pope Francis personally approves all his tweets.]
Is this really news to Catholics and those who have been Catholic and those who profess to follow Catholicism closely? Popes--including the two who were just canonized--have been teaching this sort of thing for a really long time. Here's John Paul II: "The disproportionate distribution of wealth and poverty and the existence of some countries and continents that are developed and of others that are not call for a levelling out and for a search for ways to ensure just development for all." What's more, he writes:
Thus, not only the sphere of class is taken into consideration but also the world sphere of inequality and injustice, and as a consequence, not only the class dimension but also the world dimension of the tasks involved in the path towards the achievement of justice in the modern world. A complete analysis of the situation of the world today shows in an even deeper and fuller way the meaning of the previous analysis of social injustices; and it is the meaning that must be given today to efforts to build justice on earth, not concealing thereby unjust structures but demanding that they be examined and transformed on a more universal scale.
But now Pope Francis comes along and suddenly the Catholic and non-Catholic American right goes all Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer? Now they're frightened and confused by Francis's strange moral arguments? Give me a break. The Catholic Church has never baptized the boat-lifting abilities of American-style capitalism. That's never been a secret. Of course, if you get your Catholic Social Teaching mainly from U.S. conservatives, especially those who are fond of marking papal texts in red and gold, you might find Francis's tweet frightening and confusing. But it's really not.
Unless you've been living in a cave.
Commenting Guidelines
Jim P., it's me again.
Legislating a national minimum wage in the present U. S. is a practical impossibility, given the disparity of the cost of living that prevails in the country. Some system of finely calibrated federal income supplements is far more feasible, if there is the political will to pay for it with federal tax dollars.
One huge impediment to dealng with the national dimension of poverty is our federalism system. It so often leads to a race to the top to give tax breaks to corporations and a race to the bottom to minimizee the strength of the safety net.
The general justice principle is pretty clear. A living wage for everyone. Implementation is daunting. But just because it is daunting does not entail that it's morally optional.
A further note. If I really try to fulfil a moral requirement and fail, I have a genuine excuse. If I don't really try (and try again and again), then I have no genuine excuse. That, I think, is the situation we face concerning the living wage issue.
I'd like to note that criticism of capitalism and markets isn't the same as rejection of capitalism and markets. The ability of individuals to make their own arrangements does great things to promote and spread prosperity. However, they are not concerned about justice. Many are unable support themselves with the value of their labor. Futhermore, concentration of wealth and power allows those currently benefiting from the system to distort it to further enrich themselves and to protect themselves from the disruption that is such a large part of capitalilsm's vitality. Capitalism needs redistribution both in order to correct the injustices of chance and to allow the many to counterbalance the power of the wealthy few.
JP - the effort to pass legislation called $10.10 and a gradual process to get there is an honest effort to get to a living wage and is one way to bridge the federalism challenges. Will $10.10 help someone in San Francisco - no but if the nation as a whole moves toward $10.10 then the prevailing minimum wage in San Francisco will increase.
Always amused when documented research indicates that a $10.10 minimum wage would benefit 15.5 million workers and the counter argument is that some folks (business; usually small business) predicts that it will cost 500,000 jobs. Is this really a valid enough comparison to just ignore raising the minimu wage?
Your comment above reminds me of John Carr's quote and article - too many folks (Weigel, O'Reilly, Hannity, Acton Institute) argue that decisions such as minimum wage are purely *prudential* and in that game dismiss the common good and the drive to justice. They start with their ideology rather than with the actual poverty, need, impact on families, and what the gospel calls us to.
I wonder about what that $10.10 per hour is supposed to represent. It amounts to $21,000 per year at 40 hrs. per week for 52 wks. That's quite a handy sum for a kid just out of high school, assuming he/she is still living at home for a while. But how does that work across country? In a small town in Utah it might be more than a handy sum, while in NYC it woudn't go far at all. If both parents with two kids work, then I assume that would be a living wage - unless the kids are going to go to college, of course.
Of course, if we knew how to define a "fair wage" I bet a lot of these moral quandaries would disappear.
Ryan - do you know that Milton Friedman happened to agree with your policy suggestion? He called it the Negative Income Tax. He would reduce the government payout by some fraction for every dollar in wages the recipient earned, recognizing that it's in the country's interest for the government to incentivize working. Here is a description of Friedman's plan:
Wow! Is the Vatican finally facing what many think is the most important long-term problems facing the world -- limits to growth andover-population? The Moynihan REport Letter #14) says that the Vatican Academy of Sciences is beginning a 5-day meeting to consider the limits of growth, including questions such as:
"Can the global economic growth of the past century continue indefinietely?
"Can the world's populaiton, which has risen from 1 billioon to more than 7 billion since 1900 continue to grow without limit?"
Does this meeting imply that Francis, the scientist, is ready to reconsider the teaching on contraception?
(Sorry I can't give you an address for the letter. I got it by email, and Google doesn't yet list it.)
I was aware of that. There are a lot of good ideas in the intersection of liberal goals combined with conservative implementations. The problem is that people on either side tend to hate them.
According to this UCSD site the science conference at the Vatican is going to be a big deal -- partcipants include the Nobe-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and three Nobel science winners. (I'm starting to suspect that Francis the Scientist is pushing this. He doesn't do things by half. And St. John Paul II must be spinning in his grave.)
Scripps Scientist to Lead Vatican Discussion of Society's Interaction with Nature | Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego
I have a theoretical problem with minimum wage if the minimum wage is enough to support a family of two on. Kids who haven't worked before are really apprentices and don't deserve that same pay as an adult who doesn't require close supervision. That probably covers most recent high school graduates.
Also, I'm not sure that at this point the country can afford $21,000 per year for apprentice workers. And family situations are so complicated. Two working spouses with two kids in a decent neigborhood in a house with plenty of room and no college ambitions for the kids are in a very different financial situation from that of two working spouses in a cramped house in a terrible neighborhood with two kids both of whom deserve college but with the city college twenty miles away.
Ann - one of the reasons that the proposal to raise the minimum wage is now considered DOA in Congress, is that only a tiny percentage (less than 3%) of the overall workforce earns at or below the federal minimum wage. This Pew Research story gives some high-level statistics and profiles. It also contains a line chart that seems to contradict the common wisdom that today's minimum wage is significantly below the historical norm. The chart indicates that today's minimum wage is well within historical limits, and in fact, according to my eye-check, is probably a bit higher than the historical average (adjusted for inflation).
As you might expect, the majority of minimum-wage workers (a bare majority, to be sure, but still a majority) are age 24 or lower. A disproportionate number live in the South.
None of this addresses the justice, or lack thereof, of the minimum wage, and what is hidden by these statistics are those who earn just slightly more than the federal minimum wage, either because they live in a state like Illinois that has a state-imposed minimum wage that exceeds the federal minimum, or because their wages are less than a living wage but more than the minimum.
For example: when I was hired into a minimum-wage job as a teen, I was given a raise after 3 months. I think it was something like an additional 10 cents/hour. At that point, I would no longer be a minimum-wage worker as defined in the Pew story. But I was still making very little money. If the minimum wage was raised to $10.10/hour, workers in the situation I was in after my first three months on the job, who earn slightly more than the current minimum, would be "swept up" in the increase, and we'd instantly see a substantially higher percentage of the workforce earning the minimum wage.
My overall point of view is that getting to living wages requires more than legislation. Employers have an obligation to try to pay as close to a living wage as they can afford. Workers have an obligation to have skills and habits that justify them being paid a living wage. And the government has an obligation to pursue policies that allow the economy to generate jobs that pay a living wage. Arguably, all three parties are failing.
JP - other thoughts....recent study showed that some of the big corporations e.g. Wal-Mart because they pay minimum wage and use part time folks, Wal-Mart basically gets an estimated $1.3 billion in US subsidies.....thus, corporate welfare.
This same process can be used for many retail, fast food businesses, etc.
Not sure your 3% is accurate.......what we do know is that most minimum wage workers are not teenagers - they are single parents or couples who are in their 30s and 40s and support families. Your walk down memory lane has little to do with the actual situation today.
HI, Bill, re: subsidies to WalMart: my undestanding is that it would be an indirect subsidy. It would work like this:
- WalMart pays its workers at or near the minimum wage and doesn't offer health insurance and other so-called "fringe benefits" to its part-time employees
- Because of this low pay and few hours worked, some WalMart workers (not WalMart itself, but the employees) qualify for government assistance, such as ObamaCare subsidies, WIC, CHIP, et al. Not all WalMart workers would qualify: some are teens or young adults who live with their middle-class parents, are still claimed by those parents as dependents, and so on. But some do qualify.
- Because, morally, WalMart should be paying a living wage, it can be argued that these government subsidies to some Wal-Mart employees amount to a government subsidy of WalMart.
I do think there is something to be said for this argument. So, what is the remedy? The most straightforward would be to continue and even increase government assistance, so that WalMart employees receive the basic human rights to which they're entitled. Note, though, that WalMart has absolutely no incentive to change its labor practices so long as the government offers this assistance, which we may think of as supplemental wages or, as you, say, a subsidy.
Another remedy would be for WalMart employees to organize and work with / fight with WalMart's management to win more equitable wages. That circumvents government assistance with all its attendant problems and issues. However, we have seen - and the Pew Research article to which I linked alludes to it - that WalMart will exit a marketplace rather than pay its employees more.
Still another remedy would be to organize a boycott of WalMart stores unless/until they pay their employees more fairly. I'd be in favor of that.
Maybe there are other ideas.
As to the numbers I provided in my comment: if you don't agree with them, your dispute is with Pew Research, not me, as I lifted them from that Pew Research article to which I linked. I would note that the numbers found at this Bureau of Labor Statistics website (part of the US Dept. of Labor) seem to be in line with the numbers in the Pew Research story. As I pointed out in my previous comment, though, these statistics don't include people who are making slightly more than minimum wage. That may account for your impression that minimum-wage workers are older and more likely to be parents.
For all of you who have commented on this thrread, please let me call your attention to a Brookings Institution Study made by E. J. Dionne, et al entitled "Faith in Equality: Economic Justice and the Future of Religious Progressives." A link to it can be found in Fr. Thomas Reese's column in today's NCR. I've downloaded this document and skimmed it. It looks like an important discussion about, among other things, the topic of this thread. I look forward to reading it carefully and would be glad to know what any of you who also read it have to say about it.
Jim P., Your remedy that Wal-Mart workers organize is being tried at this moment, although their chances are zero to less, given the right-to-work states, the series of labor-kneecapping measures starting with the Reagan administration and continuing through Clinton and Bush, and given the likelihood that you will never hear about their efforts from mass media.
My wife and I have never set foot inside one of those boxes. So that's what boycots will get you.
But one thing would work: If the government subsidized Wal-Mart workers to a level at which they could quit. Unthinkable? No worse than making people continue to put up with current working conditions at the low end of the pay scale.
Tom - we never go to WalMart either. We do shop at Target, whose prices may be very slightly higher and, we're told, does offer health insurance plans to part-time employees. And is closer and nicer. I confess I did call WalMart's pharmacy recently to see if the price for a certain prescription we get each month would be any lower there than the king's ransom we pay to our prescription-benefit-approved pharmacy. But it wasn't. So overall I'd give me about a C+ on conscientious consumer behavior.
Of course, to introduce still another consideration/complication: I'm fortunate enough to live in an area with ample shopping options. In fact, one supermarket chain recently exited our local market, and at least three or four others are now horning in. (The one that is now gone, owned by Safeway, was unionized. I understand that at least some of the newcomers are not unionized). But there are neighborhoods in Chicago that are known as "food deserts" because there are no major chain grocers or retailers in those areas. Even a WalMarts with its barracuda-like labor practices is greeted as a savior when it builds a location in one of those areas, not only because of the jobs, but because it means lots of good stuff at low prices for the residents. Nothing seems straightforward in trying to analyze these situations.
Reiligious conservatives, not least in the Roman church, are always "frightened and confused" by any reference to reality and, indeed, by any reference to anyhing othe than the handful of favourite texts, however distorted, to which they cling. The problem is both in the unwelcome intervention of fact and common decency, but also that these threaten to undermine their movitations in becoming religious conservatives: vanity, malice, arrogance and wilful ignorance.
Bill deHaas,
Benefits for the poor are not corporate subsidies. It makes Medicaid into evil corporate welfare while the tax exemption of my health insurance benefits remain a wondeful program to help the middle class. The difference is that Medicaid is on the budget while the tax exemption encourages employers to pay for health insurance directly rather than through taxes and spending. Would my proposal to provide a basic income and health insurance for all be a massive act of corporate welfare?
The main problem is our weak economy. If we engaged in more fiscal and monetary stimulus, we could shift it to a situation where employers are competing for workers rather than workers for jobs.
Jim Pauwels,
I'm skeptical of food deserts. The statistics I've seen require a certain level of square footage which excludes grocers that provide the full range of foods but with less variety and less of the non food items. I've tried to figure out what the exact definition is, but its proving difficult.
JP, Ryan, and others - here is more evidence and documented research on inequality especially economic inequality (JP - Wal-Mart - yep, stronger unions and higher hourly wages rather than any type of government program increases....all that means is that the US taxpayer subsidized Wal-Mart)
Here is a link:
Key Points: (Ryan - most of this research debunks your statement)
In a follow-up to their earlier work, the three political scientists examine how inequality in voice undermines American democracy. (14) It has long been known that individual participation in the political process is stratified by class, but recently class-based interest group political activity is widening. For example, groups representing for-profit corporations outnumber groups representing labor unions by a factor of 50 to 1. Almost three-fourths of all lobbying expenditures stem from business-related organizations. One can safely presume that the Supreme Court's 2010 decision, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, will further distort the issue of political voice.
Nobel Prize economist Joseph Stiglitz notes four reasons why "inequality is squelching our recovery." First, the middle class can no longer support the consumer spending that historically has driven economic growth. Second, pressure on middleclass people renders them unable to invest in their family's future through education and small business expansion. Third, the middle class does not provide the tax revenues government needs to make national investments in infrastructure, education, health, and basic research leading to future economic strength. Finally, inequality is "associated with more frequent and more severe boom-and-bust cycles" that make economic life volatile and uncertain. (12)
If it were possible, without overstraining ecological resources, to raise the bottom living standard of everyone in the world to a basic level of capabilities and dignity, would it matter if the world's richest were stratospherically better off? We believe that it would, and that Catholic theologians would do well not to treat inequality and poverty as if they were one and the same, but to pay careful attention to the difference between the two. One major moral feature of inequality is the distance it creates between richest and poorest. Inequality is not simply a matter of the suffering of the poor, although we can never forget that, but a matter of the existence or failure of a community of mutual concern.
Over the course of the twentieth century, Catholic social teaching has evolved as awareness dawned that equality in dignity needed to be instantiated in the policies and structures of societies. Although contemporary Catholicism has not embraced a strict egalitarianism, it has shown a sensitivity to the relative nature of wealth and poverty with a concomitant interest in narrowing the gap between rich and poor. Standing behind this increased concern about inequality is the deep theory of modern Catholic social teaching: the "tacit intuition or vision that undergirds a conception of justice." (70) That vision is communitarian and gives high priority to solidarity as a necessary quality for a just society. (thus, saying it is just the economy misses the whole argument)
A commitment to the unity of the human family coupled with the stark reality of growing inequality gives urgency to a moral norm of relative equality. The point is not to eliminate all inequalities but to hold them within a range defined by moral limits. This norm invites further reflection from Catholic theologians in response to vast inequalities.
Sounds like a short papal message based on the first reading from last Sunday's Mass, Acts 2:42-47, especially "All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their property and possssions and divide them among all acording to each ones need." The further we stray from "the communal life," the further we stray into social evil. It couldn't be more biblical.
Radical? No more than it was back then.
Bill - that paper is must-read. The author, Kate Ward, appears to be a graduate student at Boston College. A tone of food for thought. Thanks for the link.
Late to the party (and will be leaving early). I thought Grant's post was clear and thought-provoking. This was the thought it provoked in me:
Whatever Pope Francis says is unlikely to get any kind of fair hearing because everybody's looking at what he says through their own colored lenses, and it seems to indicate that the Church is more deeply divided than even I thought.
Political conservatives don't want to hear criticisms of capitalism, so you find otherwise thoughtful conservatives like Jim Pauwel initially making either/or statements about how, short of capitalism, it's the only thing short of banditry that helps the poor. (Yes, Jim did try to explain that in more detail later.)
Or you have political liberals like Crystal Watson complaining that the Pope isn't apply notions of inequality to women.
I'm not trying to criticize either Jim or Crystal here; I'm just illustrating that the papacy is no longer the bully pulpit that transcends politics for American Catholics, and it probably hasn't been for a long time.


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text:
Challenge: Create artwork based on any or all of these photos and themes. Use any medium and any style. Stick to the photo(s) exactly or just use them as a starting point - feel free to change colors, composition, add or subtract elements or take a complete departure. In other words, HAVE FUN and keep painting!
Another posting note: When you post your painting, be sure to "sign" your post with the name that you wish for participants to use when replying to your post. We are gaining new participants all the time and it is sometimes difficult to remember who posted what. An alternative would be to create a "signature line" that will automatically appear on each one of your posts. (If anyone needs instructions on how to do that, let Sam know and she will send instructions to you.)
(To submit photos and suggestions for these challenges, please start a "conversation" with Holly [holland2] here on this forum and attach your photo or photos. OR – volunteer to host the thread for a specific month. Check out the Volunteer Hosting Schedule thread.)
These Christmas and Winter subjects are being posted this month to give artist's the time needed to paint Christmas cards. Enjoy!
Happy Painting!
Thanksgiving Still Life - photo from Public Domain
Sam/Sammy C & C Welcome
Thank you Sam well done.
C and C always welcomed
Jen C & C's always welcome
Thanks Sam... Great Christmas Card stuff what about fall, thanksgiving and the nativity. did you find any of these or should I post them in December? your choices are great.
It would be nice if we messed up we could simply press 'Ctrl Alt Delete' and start all over
C & C Always Welcome
Thank you Sam. I like all of the pictues you've picked for us. The basket of fruit has so many soft colors in it. I might try that one.
Catherine Brown
C&C's are welcome.
(No digital alterations please)
Marsha, I posted the pumpkins photo and the apples photo in September for fall. I only had the one Thanksgiving still life. You should post whatever you want for December. You'll find that you can't please all the people all the time. Sorry.
FYI: I am bit overwhelmed right now and have been for the past two weeks. My daughter has cracked two ribs and is in a lot of pain. I have been going to help her several times a week which are all days trips since it is an hour and half drive each way. I'm be there tomorrow and will be cooking some things for her today. I need your help to keep this thread going by posting and commenting on any work that is posted. I know it is my responsibility to host this thread but this can't be helped. Thanks.
Sam sometimes we have to do what we have to do. Take care of your daughter and we will be fine here. Hope every thing works out OK. Broke ribs can be pretty nasty.
Sammy- You offered a good variety of subjects. It will be difficult to pick. The fruit basket seems attractive to me but so is the rest of them. Don't worry about commenting, We got Jen back and I will also try to participate. I am sure other people will too. I can see Geri and Marsha- they are so good at comments and critiques, Joyce's comments are good and nice, and even James and Fred have done comments too. Other people whom I failed to name please come in and join in. Your help is very welcome.
Hope your daughter will be better soon. Broken bones usually take about six to eight weeks to completely healed without further complication. Best wished for both you and your daughter.
C&C are welcome and appreciated.
Sam, I'll echo the others. The November photo selection is excellent; the variety lends itself to a broad cross-section of tastes. And, more importantly, I'm glad you can be there for your daughter.
Comments and critiques are welcomed and appreciated.
Love the picture but wow they do look hard, where is
the easy picture for me to do? Snow! How do you do that!
Trees I hate them, I can not do them. Apples they must be like oranges and with Sammy help I did oranges. Santa has eyes never! mmmm I could have Santa sleeping. Christmas balls again like oranges!! So I guess that leaves me with the door or the bear picture or Santa sleeping. What to do, I do love them all.
All C & C's always welcome
Joyce, don't forget that you don't have to do the reference photos as they are. You can zero in on a small area or you can change what you see completely. That's the challenge - to do it the way you see and feel it. Have fun with it!
Do just the bunch of grapes on the table. Grapes are difficult but fun. Do just one copper pot of Christmas balls. Do the balls whatever colors you like or make the pot shorter. Do the bear on the rock - leave out the rest of that photo. You are good with rocks. Do just the wreath or the little tree in the pot by the door - only make it more vivid. Do just the lamp post for a card. I know that you will see something that appeals to you and do a good job with it. I'm so glad you are back with us and painting again.
Sammy you are the best, have no worries I will zero in on something and yes I am back!
hi..i am so new to the site and the challenge here..am gonna do a work for the challenge.hope you guys like my work.
saira tushbi C & C welcome
© 2015 F+W All rights reserved.Use of this site signifies your agreement to the Terms and Privacy Policy, updated March 2007


text:
I see a buddy cop movie in the future, The Adventures of the Ponytailed Donut and Starvin Marvin.
I see a buddy cop movie in the future, The Adventures of the Ponytailed Donut and Starvin Marvin.
All manner of men came to work for the News: everything from wild young Turks who wanted to rip the world in half and start all over again -- to tired, beer-bellied old hacks who wanted nothing more than to live out their days in peace before a bunch of lunatics ripped the world in half.
Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
The Rum Diary
Yeah, Bye.
It's a cop movie where two buddy cops decide that the bad guy isn't interesting enough and they never chase him down. Then Segal teaches Silva how to dance and Silva wins a big dance-off. After, he reveals that he was injured the whole time!
Oh, and that villain they let go in the beginning? Played by Chris Weidman.
I couldn't care any less, but that being said... Good on him for making money. He can't fight forever, might as well start a new career now. I don't understand how this makes him more dislikable? Or how this disrespects mma? Mma is a sport yes, but it's also entertainment, and it's not a career that lasts forever. I won't watch it, and it will probably be garbage... But most movies are now anyway so fuck it. I'd rather see him prosper for his family in another career then end up sad and broke so many other athletes...
Example: MadTV: Will Sasso as Steven Segal - YouTube
Good Douche...Bad Douche, playing off each other brilliantly.
How awesome would it be if Silva showed up at the premier and took credit for teaching Seagal how to act?
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text:
Jackie Christie Releases New Track, 'Woman Of The Year'
Y'all better watch out now! Jackie Christie has gotten hold of a mic!
The outspoken, wife-you-just-love-to-hate on 'Basketball Wives LA', has decided to dabble in music and has just released her first single on Itunes titled, 'Woman of The Year'. In the song, Jackie half raps and half sings about the finer things in life while sampling a line from 'Watch The Throne', 'I have worked at this for too long, Don't let me get in my zone'. She also dedicates the track to, 'all you strong women out there striving for greatness'.
A snippet of the lyrics:
"Black Gucci shades, six-inch heels,
If you don't come from nothing you don't know how it feels,
I used to dream dreams of the life that I live now
All the things they said I couldn't do, I done did now."
"Woman of the year, woman of the year,
Cash in the bra, haters in the rear,
I'm the woman of the year, I'm the woman of the year
Getting money like a man, I'm the woman of the year."
Mrs. Christie…girl.
Take a listen below:
Disclaimer: Don't listen to it more than twice or you may actually start bobbing your head.


text:
Achim Aretz holds the Guinness World Record for running the half marathon, backward. But now, the 27-year-old German athlete says he's tired of doing something almost no one else does and wants to head in a new direction. Reporter Caitlan Carroll caught up with him in Hannover, Germany.
View the discussion thread.


text:
With Van Ness Butler, Jr.'s passing on Feb. 14, the community lost the visionary behind what made South Walton what it is today. That feeling was not just the conclusion of one person, but of many, as The Sun spoke to several long-time residents.
"No one person in all of Walton County had as great an impact on the county as Van Ness Butler," said longtime friend Malcolm Patterson. "We lost a piece of history that there is no way to replace."
In 1919, W.H. Butler acquired property in Grayton Beach in exchange for Inlet Beach property now known as Camp Helen. The Grayton Beach property he acquired included almost all of what is now known as Grayton Beach.
W.H. Butler first built a house in Point Washington before beginning to build in Grayton. Butler's father and mother, Van R. and Helen Butler, lived in Grayton when they married in 1929. They were school teachers.
Van Ness was born in 1930. After the birth of their children, the family moved back to Point Washington.
In 1937 the
Van Ness married and raised his family here when few knew about the beauty of the area's beaches.
'Friend, an advisor, a counselor'
To say that
In 1988, Butler's boyhood friend, Patterson was living in Destin and had just sold his boat business when he saw in the paper a small ad for someone to head a new tourism division in Walton County. Butler was a driving force behind the creation of the TDC, said Patterson. As the TDC's first executive director, Patterson worked closely with
Patterson said he was mandated to use half of the available revenue for advertisement and promoting South Walton, and the other half was dedicated to beach improvements.
"Up until that time, no money was spent on beaches," said Patterson.
Another goal Patterson was entrusted with was acquisition of all property along the beach that did not already belong to the county for dune walkovers and beach accesses. One of the beach accesses, located between
"He was a friend first, but also a visionary," said Patterson. "Through direction from Van Ness we put garbage collection bags on the beach and we hired beach maintenance staff."
In addition, Patterson credits Butler with securing grants to build the bike paths along 30A.
"That was totally his vision and probably his most significant one," he said.
As Patterson looks back on the life of his friend, he said if only one word could be used to describe Van Ness Butler it would be "visionary."
"He could see things no one else could see," said Patterson. "He had intimate knowledge of the county that few people had. He was a friend, an advisor, a counselor to those of us who knew him. The county lost someone who knew more about the county and more people in the county than anyone. He remembered names. I relied on him."
'A friend'
Butler also played a key role in the founding of Seaside.
"Van Ness was a real friend to Daryl and me when we first landed on the shores of Grayton," said
"He was also an outstanding leader of our community and was able to act as a bridge between our progressive ideas and the natural conservatism of the people he had grown up with. His service on the South Walton Conservation and Development Trust was essential to the adoption of much of the plan that took two years of hard work...
"We will all miss him," said
'A quiet mediator'
Another man who knew
"He was a dear friend," said McGee, who knew Butler for 18 years. "I cherish the time I spent with him."
Butler and McGee collaborated on creating The Camel Club, a club for recovering alcoholics that they built on Hewett Road more than a decade ago.
If McGee had to choose one word to describe Butler, he said it would be "generous."
"He had a great empathy for others," said McGee.
He believes Butler's greatest lasting legacy will be the many things he did for the community.
"He was a very humble guy and did not make a big deal about all he did — the bike path, the bridges, the state park, and most people did not realize all that he did. He was a very quiet mediator and he had the respect of state officials."
A community mourns
Long-time resident Bobby Johnson said what he loved about
Didon Comer said she will always remember him as the unofficial "mayor of
Historian Hardy Jackson said "Grayton is what it is because of him,"
David Bludworth, a longtime
DeLene Sholes moved to South Walton in 1970. "He was a great friend and help," she said. "He would call me when he had mullet. I loved it but Tommy (her husband) hated it. So, Van Ness would clean them for me. He was really special."
"He was a wonderful man, and an old friend," said Ken Little. "His legacy will be the deep and abiding love he had for
"He was so kind to those he met," said Chick Huettel. "When I first arrived here 25 years ago, he made it a point to come by our store and welcome us."


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text:
Scoliosis is a common condition that affects many children and adolescents. Simply defined, scoliosis is a sideways curve of the spine. Instead of a straight line down the middle of the back, a spine with scoliosis curves, sometimes looking like a letter "C" or "S."
Children with scoliosis and their parents have a lot of questions about the condition. Here, orthopaedic surgeons from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and the Scoliosis Research Society answer some of the questions they most commonly hear from patients and their parents.
There are several different types of scoliosis that affect children. By far, the most common type of scoliosis is "idiopathic," which means the exact cause is not known.
This article provides answers to questions parents and their children often have when first diagnosed with scoliosis. Information about causes, screenings, and current research is also included in this section.
Introduction to ScoliosisIntroduction to Scoliosis (topic.cfm?topic=A00633)
In planning your child's treatment, your doctor will take into account how severe your child's curve is and where it occurs in the spine. Your child's age is also an important factor — if your child's spine is still growing, it will affect treatment choices. Your doctor will determine how likely it is that the curve will get worse, and then suggest treatment options to meet your child's specific needs.
This article answers common questions about treatment options, including bracing and alternative methods.
Treatment Options for ScoliosisTreatment Options for Scoliosis (topic.cfm?topic=A00636)
Most scoliosis surgeons agree that children who have very severe curves (50 degrees and higher) will need surgery to lessen the curve and prevent it from getting worse.
This article answers common questions about the surgical procedure, as well as questions about recovery.
Surgical Treatment for ScoliosisSurgical Treatment for Scoliosis (topic.cfm?topic=A00638)
Many details need to be considered when planning for scoliosis surgery. This article provides answers to common questions about cost, risks and complications, as well as concerns teenagers have about how they will look after surgery.
Scoliosis Surgery: Things to ConsiderScoliosis Surgery: Things to Consider (topic.cfm?topic=A00641)
This section addresses questions teenagers often have about what adulthood is like with scoliosis.
Frequently Asked Questions About Growing Up With ScoliosisFrequently Asked Questions About Growing Up With Scoliosis (topic.cfm?topic=A00643)
Reviewed by members of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America and the Scoliosis Research Society
The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
9400 West Higgins Road
Rosemont, IL 60018
Phone: 847.823.7186
Email: email@example.com


text:
Courses: Junior Seminar (ENGLH299A01)
Fall 2007
Enrollment limited to 17 students.
Two-semester, year-long seminar, required of all English majors. Through class readings and discussion, and writing tutorials, students are expected to engage (1) a series of texts representing the range and diversity of the historical tradition in British and American literature, and (2) critical theory and practice as it has been influenced by hermeneutics, feminism, psychology, semiology, sociology, and the study of cultural representation, and as it reflects the methods of literary criticism.
Syllabus: View course syllabus
Fulfills: HU III
Taught By
Haverford, Hall 107
Meeting Times
TTh 10:00-11:30