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One of the playgrounds in City Park at night. August 2011. Normally lots of family activity going on, but at night only shadows come out to play. The odd colors are caused by the different types of lighting installed at the park.
The United States is one of the most diverse countries on earth, jam packed full of amazing sights from St. Patrick's cathedral in New York to Mount Hollywood California.The Northeast region is where it all started. Thirteen British colonies fought the American Revolution from here and won their independence in the first successful colonial rebellion in history. Take a look at these rolling hills carpeted with foliage along the Hudson river here, north of New York City.The American south is known for its polite people and slow pace of life. Probably they move slowly because it's so hot. Southerners tend not to trust people from "up north" because they talk too fast. Here's a cemetery in Georgia where you can find graves of soldiers from the Civil War.The West Coast is sort of like another country that exists to make the east coast jealous. California is full of nothing but grizzly old miners digging for gold, a few gangster rappers, and then actors. That is to say, the West Coast functions as the imagination of the US, like a weird little brother who teases everybody then gets famous for making freaky art.The central part of the country is flat farmland all the way over to the Rocky Mountains. Up in the northwest corner you can find creative people in places like Portland and Seattle, along with awesome snowboarding and good beer. Text by Steve Smith.


text: "It's on me." There I owned it, now F off. It's on me, there I said it again, now STFU with all these negative posts. I mean doesn't that suffice you!......I freaking said IT'S ON ME.......what else do you need! Was 5 years of losing not enough.....I SAID IT WAS ALL ON ME!.... Now give me another chance Bob, because I'm obviously not as bad as Capers and my prolific offense puts up great "stats". You do care about "stats" don't you Bob? I mean don't "stats" sell tickets and win ball games? It's obvious that stats win ball games....don't you see my record against winning teams? umm, nevermind that, well atleast it sells tickets. yack.

subset: commoncrawl


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The Central Texas Republican Women's luncheon is at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Wildflower Country Club in Temple.
Rachel Woods, vice president of Programs of the Texas Federation of Republican Women, will speak about developing core leadership skills and highlight the book she and Toni Anne Dashiell wrote.
Lunch, $15 per person, is served at 11:30 a.m.
The public is invited.
RSVP to Zenia Warren at (254) 526-9305.


text:
tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28654195.post4718820187147389902..comments2016-01-13T00:31:19.971-08:00Comments on VI Improved Tips :: vimrc dissected: Clever tricks from VIM's Bram MoolenaarIhar Filipauhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-28654195.post-90476991157049400622007-05-02T07:34:00.000-07:002007-05-02T07:34:00.000-07:00> [...] %99.9 [...]Didn't you meant $ instead of %...> [...] %99.9 [...]

Didn't you meant $ instead of %? Most likely you did.

Anyhow, that is one hell of constructive comment. ;)

> You are a dumb ass.

Uh-ho. You caught me there. ;)))Ihar Filipauhttps://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-28654195.post-64603416020088507292007-05-02T05:02:00.000-07:002007-05-02T05:02:00.000-07:00From Slashdot, under the OpenBSD 4.1 release, your...From Slashdot, under the OpenBSD 4.1 release, your comments:

"GNU tools by themselves are already pretty old - and kind of outdated. BSD tools are just rotten dead. And with them to me whole BSD: kernel is good, shell around it - is dead."

You call yourself a software developer! hahah. You are a liar. %99.9 of the commands that run on all Linux distros and BSD distros are GNU. Are you an idiot?

There isn't a 'ls' command for Linux and one for BSDs.

You are a dumb email@example.com


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The Online Ad Surge
In the golden age of TV, they called them roadblocks. Advertisers mounted such visual barricades by placing the same spot at the same minute on the three big networks. That way, the ad would blanket the entire medium, collaring viewers whether they were tuned to Lawrence Welk, Dragnet, or Uncle Miltie. The roadblock was a simple but powerful approach -- and near impossible to pull off in today's fractured TV market.
But who said a roadblock had to be on TV? A year ago, Ford Motor Co. (F ) executives unveiled a roadblock on the Internet to promote their F-150 truck. On the day of the launch, Ford placed bold banner ads for 24 hours on the three leading portals -- AOL (TWX ), MSN (MSFT ), and Yahoo! (YHOO ). Some 50 million Web surfers saw Ford's banner. And millions of them clicked on it, pouring onto Ford's Web site at a rate that reached 3,000 per second. The company says the traffic led to a 6% jump in sales over the first three months of the campaign. Naturally, more Internet roadblocks have followed, most recently with the Oct. 25 launch of the F-500 sedan. Says Rich Stoddart, Ford's marketing communications manager: "We've proved we can leverage the Web for the mass market."
Ford and everyone else. Advertisers are seeing that the top few Web properties now reach true mass audiences. Each of the three biggest portals attracts 70% of the Americans online to its properties monthly, according to comScore Networks, a traffic-tracking organization. Demand for this prime real estate is so strong that there isn't enough to go around, and prices to advertise are soaring. A year ago, media buyers could land discounted space on the home pages of major portals for between $100,000 and $180,000 per 24 hours, say buyers. Now, the cost is reaching $300,000. Forget about discounts. If advertisers are lucky enough to land the space, they often must agree to spend an equal amount elsewhere on the portal. Facing this traffic jam at the top sites, advertisers are jostling for spots throughout the Net. "A few years ago, it was kids with green hair selling ads," says Gary Stein, an analyst at Jupiter Research. "Now Internet ads are mainstream, and part of every company's media buy."
Why the change? The Internet is growing up. Broadband connections now reach more than half of American households, including the lion's share of the prosperous ones. Although the Internet still takes in only 4.3% of U.S. advertising revenue, surveys indicate that it accounts for 14% of America's media time. And that's not including those who are Web-surfing at work -- a major audience for advertisers. Smitten by the growing reach and power of the Net, blue-chip advertisers are stretching far beyond the cramped text ads on search engines that have turned Google Inc. (GOOG ) into a global sensation. Now advertisers are packing online ads with music and color video, just like those on TV. They're looking to the Web to build brands.
The result is a surge in growth that's extending from Madison Ave. to the West Coast campuses of Yahoo! and MSN. While the overall ad industry grows at a respectable 7.7% a year, Internet ads are galloping ahead at a 28.8% clip. New York consulting firm eMarketer predicts online advertising will reach $9.3 billion this year -- $5.4 billion of it in brand ads. "It's a great time to be alive in this industry," enthuses David J. Moore, chief executive of 24/7 Real Media Inc., an ad agency.
For anyone who recalls the soaring expectations that preceded the Net advertising crash earlier in the decade, even a touch of euphoria is grounds for serious heebie-jeebies. Last time around, many of the most enthusiastic advertisers -- the cash-happy dot-coms themselves -- dropped dead. From 2000 to 2002, Internet advertising plummeted 25%. But something is decidedly different this time. Since the bust, the industry has pieced together the technology -- from video delivery to customer tracking -- to make good on the shining predictions of the boom. The Net is winning over mainstream advertisers with its computational precision. It delivers hard, quantifiable results measured in clicks and sales -- down to the penny. In the process, it's turning advertising from an art into a science.
Does this mean the Internet is going to vacuum up the world's advertising dollars? No, but it'll angle for its fair share. Some of the Net's market grab will come from easy pickings, such as Yellow Pages and direct-response mail -- fields where Internet search delivers unmatched efficiency. Brand advertising, meanwhile, will probably come straight from the hide of TV, billboards, and print media. Ford, in line with other auto makers, has moved 10% of its ad budget online, and the number is on the rise. Joanne Bradford, MSN's chief media revenue officer, expects other industries to follow suit, with online accounting for 8% to 12% of the advertising outlay by decade's end. Within two years, online advertising is projected to reach $13.8 billion, motoring past the slower-growing magazine industry, according to Kagan Research LLC in Monterey, Calif.
Tangle of Complexity
The importance of Internet advertising extends far beyond the numbers. Now that advertisers have their hands on a tool that measures an ad's effectiveness, they're starting to press other media for similar accountability. It's a process sure to cause disruptions. Take TV. For decades, Nielsen Media Research has been providing reports on how many customers watch a specific program. But in a nation full of TiVo Inc. (TIVO ) zappers and channel surfers, how many are actually seeing the ads? Nielsen is now rolling out technology that measures precise minute-by-minute data in local markets. And it's also working with TiVo to survey ad viewership among TiVo users. These steps bring TV a step closer to Internet-style accountability. But if the results show that viewers are skipping ads, TV's economics could take a beating. "It starts to shift the playing field," says Douglas McCormick, CEO of iVillage Inc. (IVIL ) and a former cable-TV exec. "Internet [costs per thousand viewers] are going to start looking a lot more attractive."
In fact, the Net is helping break down walls that traditionally divide different media. More and more, publishers are delivering selected customers to advertisers, and reaching customers across a host of media, including the Net. Instead of appearing in a certain show or time slot, their ads are coupled with subject areas, such as health or sports. ABC News, for example, delivers subject-specific ads to TV, the Net, and cell phones. Advertisers want "to reach consumers, wherever they are," says Alan Ives, vice-president for sales at ABC Interactive.
This new world of advertising is bubbling with innovations, many of them blending advertising with content or other goodies. Weather.com, for one, urges the public to download a free weather bar that links up to a host of advertisers, from Scotts, the lawn-care company, to American Express. And on Nov. 9, Amazon.com and J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM ) announced a venture to produce short films on the Amazon site. Customers who use an Amazon Visa card to buy items advertised in the movies will get a 5% discount.
All of this innovation creates a tangle of complexity -- and simplifying it represents a growing challenge for the industry. While ad agencies can snap up 30-second spots on Monday Night Football, the Internet offers almost infinite options. First, advertisers have to pick from a fast-growing number of formats, from skyscrapers that crawl up a page to rollovers -- ads that expand as the mouse runs across them. Then they have to figure out on which of the thousands of commercial sites to run the ad. And they must decide whether to orchestrate the campaign to hit people with different ads at work and at home -- or maybe arrange a succession of ads, so that a customer's first viewing introduces a product, and the second provides details. "The complexity can be a barrier," says Yahoo's chief sales officer, Wenda Harris Millard. She says Yahoo offered 700 different ad forms when she arrived three years ago. It's down to a fraction of that now, but it remains a lot more complicated than old-fashioned TV or magazine buys.
Here the big players have an outsize advantage. They can sell Internet ads as part of a bigger package. CNN, for example, sold pricey sponsorships for Election Day coverage to companies, such as Samsung and DHL. The condition? Sponsors had to advertise on TV and the Web. While CNN's TV coverage was swamped by rival Fox News, the exposure on the Web page more than made up for it. Over that 24-hour period, CNN.com bested the competition with a dizzying 650 million visits.
Already, advertisers are busy linking their Net promotions to offline campaigns, from newspapers to TV. In the most recent Super Bowl, for example, Mitsubishi Motors bought a 30-second ad. It enticed viewers to visit its Web site to see what happened when a Mitsubishi Galant faced off against a Toyota (TM ) Camry in a crash test. In the following six hours, some 11 million people visited the site. Many of them provided their e-mail addresses, watched the 50-second video, and clicked the tires in the car company's virtual lot. Such visits are critical, especially for the auto industry. Why? Studies show that shoppers, punching away at search engines, spend an average of five hours researching cars online before setting foot in a showroom.
"Toe in the Water"
It was the success of search-based advertising that breathed life back into the industry following the dot-com collapse. Led by Overture Services -- now a unit of Yahoo -- and later by Google, the search engines delivered a breakthrough innovation. They interpreted the key words typed in by customers as requests for products and services. And they auctioned the rights to place text ads alongside search results to any company or individual that was interested. The offer has been irresistible: Advertisers paid their bid, be it a penny or a dollar, only when a customer clicked on their ad. Paid search grew from a mere cipher in 1999 into a $3.9 billion business, according to eMarketer. "Search became a way for marketers of all stripes to dip their toe in the water," says Ted Meisel, president of Yahoo's Overture Division.
The question is whether the search industry will continue to pace the growth of Internet advertising. eMarketer predicts that growth of such search ads in the U.S. could slow from 55% this year to 19% in 2005. This poses little problem for Yahoo, a powerhouse in both arenas. But Google risks missing out on growth in brand ads. The reason? Advertisers and agencies traditionally separate the direct-marketing teams, which feed into search, from the creative and brand teams that oversee display ads. For now, Google is attempting to bridge the gap by developing ads with images and pictures to accompany search results.
The rush toward display advertising online is similar to the rise of cable TV a generation ago. Until the early 1980s, advertisers saw cable mostly as a direct-marketing tool for niche products, from miraculous vegetable choppers to belly-busting exercise machines, all of them accompanied by a prominent 1-800 number. But in 1982 an advertising executive named Ted Bates proposed a so-called 5% solution. He noted that with half of America's homes cabled, the industry was reaching the scale of a mass market. Advertisers would see substantial gains, he predicted, if they shifted just a nickel from every budgeted dollar to cable from the networks. It paid off. Cable stormed into brand advertising -- and is positioned to overtake the broadcast networks within two years, according to eMarketer.
Now Net publishers and ad agencies are pushing their own 10% solution. And they have the ammo to make their appeal. Recent case studies by the industry's trade group, the Interactive Advertising Bureau, showed that while TV spreads the word, the Net can drive home the particulars. One case covered Universal Studios' 2002 DVD release of ET, the Extraterrestrial. The studio spent 94% of the budget on TV, nearly 6% on banner ads, and less than 1% on animated ads that floated at the top of Web pages. The result? While most viewers learned of the offering on TV, the animated ads reinforced a key message. Among pure TV viewers, 39.4% learned that the DVD contained never-before-seen footage. But of those who saw TV and the animated ad, the number rose to 48.1%. The study's conclusion: Universal would have fared better by reducing TV by about a quarter and lifting the animated component to 25%. Universal declines to comment on the study.
Video is the latest rage in Net advertising. It represents 11% of online spending, says Jupiter Research. And advertisers are budgeting for more. Take brokerage TD Waterhouse Group. In addition to search and banner ads, the company is running 30-second online videos with Law & Order's Sam Waterston. This will contribute to a 42% hike in the company's Internet spending in the next year, says Senior Vice-President Stuart Rubinstein. "Full-motion video is the perfect vehicle,"he says.
Tight Squeeze
The biggest trouble with online video is a shortage of slots for it. While demand grows, much of it is focused on the Net's biggest sites, the home pages of the major portals, along with their finance, sports, e-mail, and auto sites. It adds up to perhaps two dozen pages, all of them run by the giants of the Web. While smaller targeted sites reach niche audiences, most of the crush for branding campaigns is for megasites -- and many advertisers get crowded out. "We called MSN to run some video for Adidas," says Sarah Fay, president of Carat Interactive Inc., a Boston media buyer. "They gave us one day in November, and it was on a weekend." The squeeze is so severe that advertisers in the hottest segments of the market -- autos, finance, and entertainment -- are gobbling up prime video slots months in advance. Within a year or two, industry insiders expect this buying to evolve into an Internet version of the TV industry's annual up-front sales.
The portals are taking advantage of the hot video market to funnel advertisers toward thousands of their less-trafficked pages. Increasingly, they're bundling prime spots into package deals, which include more obscure placements -- on pages for foreign-language studies or artisanal cheesemaking. MSN is even offering advertisers who venture into these digital hinterlands a hand in developing new and innovative advertisements. MSN's Bradford says varied locations have different uses. The home page serves a message to 20 million users a day, while placements in back pages reach niche audiences, sometimes numbering only in the tens of thousands.
Advertisers have plenty of room for video on their own home pages. And much of their ad effort, on and offline, is focused on getting Web surfers to drop by. Many TV watchers these days sit close enough to a computer to type in a Web address or "Google" a site without moving from the couch. During golf's U.S. Open in June, TaylorMade-Adidas Golf ran TV ads promoting its new R7 driver. Traffic on the site jumped 22% in the hour after each ad, says Jason Woodmansee, the company's director of global eMarketing. Once visitors came to the site, they not only clicked through videos showing the club in action but also located nearby stores and signed up for e-mails. That way, the company used the Net to turn a broad TV audience into a vast collection of individual relationships.
But how to reach customers with just the right message? Increasingly, advertisers are tracking them down. With a technology called behavioral targeting, a Who's Who of publishers, from NYTimes.com to BusinessWeek.com, use systems that quietly map the click path of registered visitors to their site or network. These programs do not accumulate personal data on the user. But using digital cookies dropped into each visitor's browser, they focus on behavior. For example, the system knows which site an anonymous Web surfer comes from. It also keeps tabs on how much time that reader spends looking at a particular article, and which ads he or she clicks on. Instead of asking consumers loads of questions about themselves, says Eric Christensen, general manager of Belo Interactive in Dallas, "we can now infer from their behavior on the site. That has been a big change in the last year."
Publishers follow their customers gingerly, knowing they run the risk of inciting a privacy backlash. Web surfers, under siege from spam and torrents of pop-up ads, are primed to fend off bothersome ads. And previous attempts to track customers have run into legal tangles. Aggressive consumer profiling by DoubleClick, a once high-flying Net ad company, sparked a lawsuit four years ago by 10 state attorneys including New York's Eliot Spitzer. DoubleClick, which set out to build databases combining personal info with Web-surfing habits, retreated on its plans and settled the lawsuit. It failed to recover its market leadership, though, and now is up for sale.
But while DoubleClick fades, scores of companies are storming into the growing world of online advertising. They range from tech outfits that create new forms of banners and skyscrapers to advertising startups that tie together vast networks of publishers, from fishing sites to political blogs. "Net advertising is only nine years old, and everybody's just now getting started," says Gurbaksh Chahal, CEO of BlueLithium, a San Jose (Calif.) advertising company. Those who manage to climb atop the Internet's advertising wave are in for a wild ride.
|Corrections and Clarifications "The online ad surge" (Web Smart Special Report, Nov. 22), should have credited ad agency Ted Bates & Co., and not its eponymous founder, for the 1980s push toward cable-TV advertising.
By Stephen Baker


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Hoboken Police & Fire Blotter: 6/3/2011
Hoboken crime and fire action: June 3rd, 2011
An ongoing list of various noteworthy incidents, crimes and fire-calls throughout the day for Friday, June 3, 2011This post may be updated and "bumped" periodically.
Crimes, Incidents, Fire Calls & Vehicular mishaps
- 9:35am: Brush/Mulch fire
Several residents are reporting a brush or mulch fire in the area of 3rd to 4th – near Adams Street or Jefferson Street – HFD investigating.
- 9:20am: Smashing & Crashing
Car crash near 13th & Garden. No injuries.
- 6:00am: Vehicular vandalism
Many cars along Bloomfield Street between 2nd & 4th had their windows smashed out. You might want to check yours if you parked in the area.
More updates to come!


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Yesterday, the Vancouver Sun ran an interesting article in it's weekly Health feature; Deadlines make for bad diets.
They reported the results of a paper published in the journal Physiology and Behavior (I have a soft spot for this journal; it's where I published my very first scientific paper about yo-yo dieting and weight gain in mice, way back in 1990).
Researchers asked the question "does performing knowledge-based work (e.g. sitting at a desk analyzing data, writing computer code, drafting papers, reports or blog posts) lead to weight gain?".
Of course we all know that prolonged sitting and lack of physical activity contribute to weight gain. Move less, burn fewer calories, gain weight. But what's new about this study is the observation that knowledge-based work is often time sensitive and that the stress caused by meeting a deadline may result in overeating upon completion of the task.
The researchers took two groups of women (group sizes were small, only 15 women per group, so results need to interpreted cautiously). One group was asked to read an excerpt of text and was then given 45 minutes to write a response. The second (control) group was asked to sit quietly for the same period of time. At the end of the test period, both groups were offered access to an all-you-can-eat buffet.
Guess what they found.
The group of women who performed the writing task ate an average of 230 calories more than the group who sat thinking quietly! In addition, food logs kept by the participants indicated that the 'work' group did not compensate for these excess calories by eating less through the rest of the day.
The authors also measured circulating cortisol levels (cortisol is known as the 'stress hormone' and has been implicated as a food craving trigger). No surprise, the 'work' group had higher cortisol levels than the control group. But interestingly enough, they didn't report feeling any more stressed than their 'resting' counterparts and were unaware of their overeating.
In a followup study (using similar protocols), the 'work' group not only ate more at lunch when compared with controls, but also experienced greater fluctuations in blood sugar levels while performing the task. The authors argue that our brains may seek extra food to help stabilize blood sugars after doing 'work' just like our muscles need to refuel after a weight training session.
What does it all mean?
Sitting at a desk and performing mental work under a deadline may contribute to weight gain by elevating stress levels and making you more prone to mindless eating.
So what's a desk worker (or blogger) to do? Well, I believe that knowledge is power. Just knowing that you're more likely to overeat upon the completion of a stressful task allows you to plan.
- Plan healthy snacks and meals when you're working on a deadline
- Eat in the kitchen (mindfully), not at your desk (mindlessly)
- Cut back on the caffeine. It may fuel creativity, but at the expense of elevated cortisol
- Keep a water bottle handy; staying hydrated will suppress your appetite and keep your mouth busy
- Take mini-exercise breaks during your work day; physical activity reduces stress (as do yoga and knitting)
What are you waiting for? Drop and give me 10! (Pushups, crunches, squats or rows; take your pick!)
Do you find yourself eating more when you're under stress?
Are particular foods more appealing to you during stressful times?
Please hit me up in the comments section below!


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We saw some pretty cool, and unexpected collaborations in 2013, from Lady Gaga collaborating with not only R. Kelly but Twista and T.I., to Katy Perry and Juicy J, to Jay Z and Justin Timberlake finally hooking up for three songs it was an interesting, but very good year for collaborations. As always remember these are MY top 10 collabs, not yours or 102 JAMZ, but I do want to know what your favorite collab of 2013 is so feel free to tweet me @itsMeanJean and let me know!
10. "The Way" — Ariana Grande (ft. Mac Miller)
My oh my, what a voice! I wasn't familiar with Ariana Grande since I haven't watched Nick since I was in the eighth grade, but this little girl (she's actually 20) can sing her ass off. If your song is ever thought to be a Mariah Carey song you're doing something right. You add a couple Mac Miller verses and you've not only got a hit, but a pretty damn cool collaboration.
9. "Stay" — Rihanna (ft. Mikky Ekko)
Rihanna will never be confused with the best vocalist out, but she sure does know how to make a hit. This was no different, and it also introduced us to a new Louisana singer/songwriter Mikky Ekko.
8. #Beautiful — Mariah Carey (ft. Miguel)
I believe that this was one of the forgotten songs of 2013, but yes it was released this year. Miguel brought out a different side of Mariah, and different is good.
7. "Suit & Tie" — Justin Timberlake (ft. Jay Z)
2013 was the year that we finally got not just one but three Jay Z and JT collaborations. A lot of people weren't feeling this song when it was released, but I think it was more because of the intro than anything else. The song was a hit (as expected considering the players involved), and was one of the biggest songs of 2013. Also, this is not the last time you'll see these two on this list.
6. "Do What U Want" — Lady Gaga (ft. R. Kelly)
Had this song been released earlier in the year it might have been higher on the list, but this is a great song. For anyone who thought that Lady Gaga couldn't sing and was all gimmick, point them to this song and have them re-evaluate that position.
5. "The Monster" — Eminem (ft. Rihanna)
Is there any other singer/rapper combination that's more money than Eminem and Rihanna? I think there might be one, but more on that later. They came together again for another SMASH single, one of the bright spots from the Marshall Mathers LP 2.
4. "Holy Grail" — Jay Z (ft. Justin Timberlake)
In my opinion both Justin Timberlake and Jay Z's new albums were a bit disappointing, but the songs that they did together were money. It took me weeks to realize that the two were in fact on the same topic, fame. As opposed to JT singing about love and Jay rapping about fame. I'm sorry, I'm slow sometimes.
3. "Power Trip" — J. Cole (ft. Miguel)
Remember me talking about a more money singer/rapper combination I think this one might be it. I became aware of both artists at the same time on Miguel's debut single "All I Want," which was a great song. The two came together for another smash, the first single from J. Cole's Born Sinner album.
2. "Just Give Me a Reason" — P!nk (ft. Nate Ruess)
Man oh man, this song will go down as a classic break up song, and feels like something straight out of the 80s as far as it's lyrical content. Nate Ruess' voice is so unique and gelled so well with P!nk on this one. I have already stated, before Grammy nominations were handed out that this would win Song of the Year, and I stand by that position. SPOILER ALERT: highlight —-> This is my favorite single of 2013:
1. "Blurred Lines" — Robin Thicke (ft. T.I & Pharrell)
Is there any doubt that this is the biggest song of 2013? I saw Robin Thicke perform this on The Voice, and was a bit iffy on it, the next day I heard it on air for the first time and I was hooked. This was one of my favorite songs of 2013, and even though it was EVERYWHERE I never got sick of hearing it. You know that was a jam, and I don't think any other combination of artists would have been able to pull it off like they did. Also hearing Pharrell on the radio is always a good thing!
What did I miss? Or what would you move around? Hit the comments and let me know!
Follow Mean Jean on Twitter: @itsMeanJean
What's new on 1019?
- Iconic Greeter From Disney's Grand Floridian Evacuated
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- Ciara Shares Adorable Video of Son Future with Husband Russell Wilson
- Watch Ed Sheeran and Skrillex Take Over Chicago Club DJ Booth
- Drake Reveals New Denzel Washington Tattoo
- Kevin Gates Reveals 'By Any Means 2' Mixtape Tracklist
- Dear Power Companies…
- Nick Jonas Debuts 'Find You' Video
- Watch Lil Wayne Sing A Football Version of the 'Friends' Theme Song
- Kanye West, Kim Kardashian Expand Kids Clothing Line


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Public money to sex-up GM
1st January, 2001
Public money to the tune of £131,000 has been spent on a report that claims to have found farmers 'upbeat' about genetic modification – despite its authors having interviewed only 30 farmers, half of whom had already grown GM crops.The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) awarded the money to Open University researchers using a 'relationship-building approach' in order to investigate farmers' views on the importance of new technology in farming, and GM in particular.
The research included the views of just two organic farmers 'for contextual purposes', whose contributions were relegated to footnotes in the reports, allowing the researchers to define the phrase 'all the farmers' as 'referring to all those interviewed that were nonorganic'.
The culmination of the research – an all-day workshop in London – was attended by only 10 farmers, in addition to 15 members of the farmers' 'communities of influence', which included representatives from the biotechnology giants DuPont and Syngenta, as well as representatives of the pro-GM National Farmers' Union.
When the Ecologist asked how the ESRC could justify promoting such research as the views of 'farmers' in general, a spokesperson said: 'We accept that the phrasing of the opening line of the press release could have been more precise, however the facts as stated in the press release are accurate and stand as written.' The funding body insisted that 'balance had been maintained' and that the research had been peer-reviewed, but admitted that it promotes all funded research 'independent of specific findings'. Sustainable agriculture group FARM described the study as 'blatantly pro-GM propaganda' and 'poor-quality research'.
The report was released within a fortnight of research by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA), which claimed that the planted area of GM crops had increased by 12 per cent in 2007. An examination of the figures by lobby group GM Freeze, however, revealed that ISAAA had falsely inflated its data by including for the first time a number of Chinese GM poplar trees which had been planted years earlier.
This article first appeared in the Ecologist April 2008
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By now, you surely must have heard the wry admonition that,
Just because you're paranoid doesn't they aren't after you.
Researching, I found out that it's a quote from Joseph Heller's Catch-22 which I haven't read, shame on me. It resounds because it rings of a certain ironic truth, does it not?
Every so often, I am rocked by the realization of just how dangerous general aviation can be and none more so than when I read NTSB reports of how some or other highly-experienced pilot augered in their perfectly good light aircraft. For God's sake! I'm still a student pilot, what chance do I have?!
Enter paranoia. It seems to be the one thing that separates those who still live from those who still do not. The dead, it seems, may not have been suspicious enough, of their own skills, of their plane, of ATC, of the weather.
Ron Rapp writes about a terrible accident in Florida where the pilot's inability to say "unable" and lack of what Rapp calls a skosh of paranoia cost him—and his passengers—their very lives. Costly.


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The Rays appear confident Evan Longoria (plantar fasciitis) won't be going on the disabled list, with the All-Star third baseman hoping he can return tonight.
Longoria tested his troublesome right foot with early infield work before Monday's game against the Astros, and he took regular batting practice with the team, saying it felt a lot better.
Manager Joe Maddon said it's an awkward injury that is "pretty much pain tolerance," which is why it's a day-by-day situation. He said Longoria might have been able to pinch-hit Monday night if needed.


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Schall on Chesterton: Timely Essays on Timeless Paradoxes
by James Schall, S.J.
Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2000
(267 pages; $24.95, cloth)
by Kevin J. Doyle
G. K. Chesterton was a master of the short essay. He utilized this form to engage the reader on a deeper level about ordinary things. This style called for a brevity that was not only inviting to the reader but also convincing in its argument. Chesterton was able to do both because he dwelled on everyday topics and wrote eminently sensible opinions.
Unlike many of his contemporaries in the early years of the twentieth century, he believed the order of the world was intelligible to the mind and that this order was reasonable. Order implies a connectedness between things human and divine. Man discerns this order and directs his life accordingly. Chesterton had a wonderful capacity to recognize how the most mundane of human foibles pointed to realities greater than themselves. He, like his intellectual mentor Aquinas, spent his writing life articulating the necessary relationship between the human and the eternal.
Schall on Chesterton is a collection of original reflections inspired by the essays of the Englishman himself. Each of these selections, however, is also a reflection on what Father James Schall terms what is—reality as it has been given to us by God. Fr. Schall has written well in the past on man's abiding questions. In this volume he conveys his affection for Chesterton not simply as a man of prodigious literary talent, but as a consistent teacher of truth. Indeed, as Schall remarks in the Preface, "All good teachers, even ones that we have never met, lead us not to themselves but to the truth." Through Chesterton, Schall visits such perennial concerns as the possibility of real knowledge, the limits of toleration, the value of dogma, free will, evil, and joy. In other words, he writes about the highest things, those realities that are sensed deeply within ourselves, though we are often unable to account for them fully.
It is important to note that this book does not provide a biographical account. Schall seeks, rather, to present his subject as a man of ideas. Whether he was discussing such varied topics as children, war, or Christmas, Chesterton was by nature drawn to what each topic was essentially about. He therefore insisted on listening to popular opinion while moving beyond it. It is for this reason that Chesterton always identified himself as a journalist.
At the turn of the century the newspaper was the marketplace of ideas. The most important battles for truth, namely, those raging in the hearts of ordinary men, were being waged in the daily papers. As Schall notes, "Chesterton realized that the university or parliament or the church was most often too limited as an arena in which to confront the myriads of controversial ideas that actually surged forth from a people." It seems Chesterton was not only saying something about his chosen profession, but also about the environments in which we have authentic encounters with truth.
Schall senses how deeply Christian was Chesterton's instinct to take important questions out of the academy and into the city. Treating Chesterton's journalism in the introductory chapter does not merely put the man in context; it speaks to his genuine motivations and intellectual disposition. The author captures it well when he describes Chesterton as a man "who took the 'daily bread' of ordinary life and saw how it necessarily rose to the everlasting nourishment of the mind. This is the highest dignity toward which journalism, let alone education, can strive."
In an essay on detective stories, Chesterton describes our attraction to such tales as suggestive of our real need to differentiate between good and evil. The "cops and robbers" adventure reminds us that our world contains evil elements and that our civilization's health depends on the triumph of virtue and goodness. "The romance of the police force is thus the whole romance of man. It is based on the fact that morality is the most dark and daring of conspiracies." Schall notes that what draws us to the detective story is really the essence of Christian faith, namely, that good and evil are distinct realities about which we must formulate an opinion and according to which we must live our lives.
And in another essay on Christmas toys, Chesterton responds to the proposal that little boys not be given toy guns in an effort to "assist the disarmament of the world." Like the similar contemporary argument, it was suggested that to give a boy a plastic gun was to encourage dangerous behavior. Chesterton attacked this argument on the grounds that evil is not found in the material world, but in the individual's choice to use matter for evil ends. Schall observes in this objection Chesterton's concern that modernity is plagued by "old mistakes" reincarnating themselves for a new audience. In this case the old mistake is Manicheism, the belief that matter is inherently evil and so individuals are not culpable for their evil actions. Schall understands that our freedom is an integral part of God's creation. Denying man's agency in the moral life is a dangerous proposition with frightening consequences.
In a brilliant essay that rings loudly in our culture of moral relativism, Schall takes issue with modern society's elevation of tolerance to the supreme virtue. In a world of patient listening and innocuous, non-judgmental conversation, one must wonder if the active pursuit of philosophical truth has been all but banished from our discourse. Chesterton knew from experience that polite society was not comfortable with statements of truth, particularly in the sphere of religion. This is precisely why Catholicism was disconcerting to English society and its press. Fr. Schall recognizes in this the ancient dilemma of political philosophy; that is, can truth be pursued in the society of man or will the "virtue of tolerance" require that man keep his most important questions within himself or the company of a few friends? Tolerance may effect a degree of harmony among men, but ultimately it is a doctrine of enslavement because it prohibits us from using a universal standard to judge right from wrong.
As the subtitle of the book indicates, each of the 41 essays speaks both to our present circumstances and down the ages. This comes as no surprise since Chesterton was a newspaperman concerned with metaphysics, a writer listening to men expound on their principles in the hope that they might be revealing something about first principles. A man concerned with eternal verities has something to offer every age. This is why Schall reads him and why he suggests we do the same. Chesterton was rare because "he understood what ideas meant and where they would in all probability take us when followed, both for good and for ill."
Fr. Schall offers his reflections as "teaching tools" in the most basic sense. They build on the conception of education as an awe-filled reception of all that is. "That is to say, reading Chesterton, reflecting on his thought, is itself a most profound experience whereby we can reach the truth, the being, the order of things." The author reminds us that at the root of learning is wonder at the natural order and the desire to understand it for its own sake. He places Chesterton in the distinguished company of Aristotle, Aquinas, and Johnson. He was an astute observer of nature who was endlessly fascinated by the world around him. Like Chesterton, Schall seems to fear that many of the modern world's mistakes have resulted from man's insistence on creating his own order. Schall's essays do much to restore a sense of wonder at creation, and thus are an excellent reintroduction to the highest things.
Kevin J. Doyle is a law student currently residing in New York City.
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What about tenkara flies???
Can we use the standard dries and nymphs, or are there better options available??:)
Re: What about tenkara flies???
You can use your regular flies or get / tie the reverse hackles you see connected to Tenkara.
Re: What about tenkara flies???
Reverse hackles.........I have seen the pictures, and I definitely need to do more research......thanks for the reply William....:)
Re: What about tenkara flies???
There are great videos on youtube showing folks tying reverse hackle Tenkara flies. Not too tough and nothing wrong with fishing them with your regular fly fishing gear. Can impart some nice action in the water.
Re: What about tenkara flies???
Yes.........I learn alot from the flytiers on you tube.......it is a great educational media to explore........:)
Re: What about tenkara flies???
Personally speaking, the major advantage I've found in fishing long, light rods are the precise presentation I can accomplish. To be honest, I spend very little time worrying about what fly I have tied on. I only fish a couple of patterns, both are very generic looking. If you look at alot of the flies that are commonly refered to as "tenkara" flies, they tend to be somewhat generic in color and detail.
I should say if you fish somewhere where you fairly regularly have blanket hatches of flies which cause the fish to become selective, it probably does make sense to "match the hatch".
Where I fish, blanket hatches are the exception, there tend to be lesser numbers of a variety of different food items in the water at any given time. I feel if I can make a generic looking fly look good enough to eat, chances are the fish will.
On the waters I fish, I find trying a bunch of different presentations is more productive than trying a bunch of different fly patterns. The nice thing about the rods used is they really help in being able to get the fly to do exactly what you want it to do.
One thing to think about if you are going to tie up some reverse hackles, think a bit about where you intend to fish. You may want to vary the hackle stiffness. Again for my waters, I tie all my flies using a number 2 or 3 grade hackle. I don't want a real stiff hackle, I think a slightly softer (and sometimes wider) hackle is more effective. Although I just about always fish dries, I do like to jerk them under and fish them damp, so the softer hackles
give a better look (at least to me).
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Archive for category: Chapter 13
Do I Need to Attend My Foreclosure Hearing?/in Automatic Stay, Bankruptcy, Chapter 13, Chapter 7, Duncan Law Blog, Foreclosure /by Damon Duncan
Does Filing Bankruptcy Change How I Should File My Taxes?/in After You File, Bankruptcy, Chapter 13, Chapter 7, Duncan Law Blog, Taxes /by Damon Duncan
What Should I Expect At The End Of My Chapter 13 Case?/2 Comments/in After You File, Bankruptcy, Chapter 13, Discharge, Financial Management /by Damon Duncan
Steps to File a Motion to Incur Debt in a Bankruptcy Case/in After You File, Bankruptcy, Chapter 13, Duncan Law Blog, Motions /by Damon Duncan
Why Is It Important Proof of Claims Are Filed In A Chapter 13 Bankruptcy?/in After You File, Bankruptcy, Chapter 13, Creditors, Duncan Law Blog /by Damon Duncan
How Much Does It Cost to File Bankruptcy?/in Bankruptcy, Chapter 13, Chapter 7, Duncan Law Blog, Easy Payment Plan, Free Consultation /by Damon Duncan
Steps for Requesting a Reduction in Your Chapter 13 Plan Payments/in After You File, Bankruptcy, Chapter 13, Creditors /by Damon Duncan
So you've been making your monthly Chapter 13 payment and it hasn't been easy. There isn't a lot of wiggle room to begin with but some months have been better than others. Plus, you know you're on track to save a lot of money by completing the Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Then life happens. It's the loss of a job, unexpected medical situation or a variety of other reasons why you may not be able to afford your monthly Chapter 13 payment anymore. So what do you do?
What Is An Upset Bid Period?/1 Comment/in Bankruptcy, Chapter 13, Foreclosure /by Damon Duncan
An upset bid period is a time period that exists after a foreclosure sale. In North Carolina, after the sale of a property in a foreclosure there are ten (10) days for another party to offer a higher bid on the property or for the owner of the property to file a bankruptcy to stop the foreclosure.
Can I File Bankruptcy If I have a Trust Fund?/in Bankruptcy, Chapter 13, Chapter 7, Creditors, Duncan Law Blog /by Damon Duncan
When it comes to bankruptcy, it's important to know the limitations of a bankruptcy. One area we occasionally have people ask about is whether they can file bankruptcy or not if they have a trust. To answer this question, yes; generally speaking, someone with a trust fund is more than likely able to file a bankruptcy.
There are two different types of trusts. There is a revocable trust and an irrevocable trust. A revocable trust is when the grantor (the person who created the trust and put property into it) of the trust has full access and control over the trust and at any given time can access the property in the trust. This is true only until the passing of the grantor. The beneficiary of the trust (the person that will receive the trust) is not able to control the assets of the trust until the grantor of the trust is deceased. Even then, the beneficiary may not have full control over what happens to the trust. This is due to there being provisions and rules associated with the trust that may limit what the beneficiary can do with the trust and the assets in the trust.
An irrevocable trust means the trust cannot be changed, and the assets in the trust cannot be accessed, without permission from the beneficiaries. This is because the grantor of the trust has given up their rights of ownership of the assets in the trust. The beneficiaries may not be able to access a trust instantly, but because the grantor has removed their ownership rights, the beneficiaries of the trust have some legal rights to those assets.
The main concern with trust funds is whether or not the trust can be protected from creditors. There are many allowances that will let you protect a trust. One of the most common allowances in the legal field is a "spendthrift" clause. A spendthrift clause can limit creditor's claims to trust assets, regardless of whether the trust is revocable or irrevocable.
If you are a beneficiary or a grantor of a trust fund, and you are considering filing for bankruptcy, it is very important that you make your attorney aware of the trust. You should also have your bankruptcy attorney or trust attorney look over the trust and contract to be sure that it can be protected from creditors.
Contact us for a free consultation today
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Just a brief review of my itinerary and to share some of my better photos from my recent trip to Slovenia. As I drove throughout the Slovenian countryside I continually asked myself how it was possible for a country to be so beautiful! I was in Slovenia from 9/11 to 9/19, 2012.
The best way to view the photos is after the slideshow page opens, in the lower right hand area of the screen is an icon to expand to Full Screen.
Day 1 – Venice to Bovec and a night in Bovec
Day 2 – Through Vrsic Pass to Lake Bled. Unfortunately it rained the entire day so the trip through Vrsic Pass didn't allow for any photography. While I tried a few photos at Lake Bled, it was raining and the light conditions were terrible
Day 3 – Another day in Lake Bled and another day of steady rain.
Day 4 – Finally the rain had ended. Lake Bled to Ljubljana with stops at Lake Bohinj and Skofja Loka. Unfortunately I didn't get to Skofja Loka until later in the day so I didn't get the opportunity to explore it to the extent I had hoped
Day 5 – Explore Ljubljana
Day 6 – Day trip to Logar Valley doing a loop that took me through Jezersko, briefly into Austria, the Logar Valley, Kamnik and back to Ljubljana
This is the route in case anybody wants to replicate it. Beautiful drive!
Day 7 – Day trip to the Postojna caves, Predjama Castle and Sneznik Castle
Day 8 – I had a free day set aside for today in case I wanted to return to any previous viewed locations due to weather and if not, a free day to explore somewhere else. Since I had miserable weather my 2 days at Lake Bled I decided to return today for the photo opps and for Vintgar Gorge
Thanks to everyone who helped me organize this fantastic trip!
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Sharing photos from a wonderful trip to Slovenia
Just a brief review of my itinerary and to share some of my better photos from my recent trip to Slovenia. As I drove throughout the Slovenian countryside I continually asked myself how it was possible for a country to be so beautiful! I was in Slovenia from 9/11 to 9/19, 2012.
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Nice pictures. Isn't this Bled?
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Tell me what software you use to edit.
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Great photos! Thanks for sharing. In terms of time was a week enough or would you have allocated more time if you could have?
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I'm with Bob - if Slovenia looked like your photos when I was there I would have liked it better. What camera do you use and were these photo shopped? They're gorgeous!
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the camera is a Nikon D90. I suspect that there was relatively little editing.
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Gorgeous! Your colors pop!
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Thanks everyone. Michael is correct, it was a Nikon D90 (and yes, it is Lake Bled). On some of the photos I did use a technique called HDR which is too complex to go into an explanation here but you can Google it. I prefer to not use that technique for landscape shots unless the light conditions dictate it to get more detail but I love a light application of it for buildings.
The others I did the normal editing I find necessary with digital photos, a little increase in saturation and sharpness (in my opinion 35mm film had much better color saturation as shot than digital).
And beyond all of that, the subject matter helps tremendously!
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yestravel, I could easily have spent more time there. I didn't visit the coast area or Eastern Slovenia at all. Spending some time in wine country would have been nice. Spending a night or two at a tourist farm would have been fun. There are other caves I would have liked to visited and I'm sure there are many more castles to see.
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Hi Jump,
Fantastic photo's! Thank you for posting and making us add another country to our very short list of places we'd like to visit. If you don't mind, could you post the websites or hotel info of the places you stayed?
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Jump, fabulous photos, really exceptional.
What is the predominant language spoken in Slovenia and did you have any difficulty in communicating?
Again, thanks so much...
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Thanks pja1 and latedaytraveler!
pja1, the hotels:
Bovec: www.hotel-mangart.com
Very clean with a decent breakfast offering. Easy walking distance to the town. Decent restaurant with good prices. Nice outdoor patio to enjoy a beer and the views of the Alps all around you.
Lake Bled: http://www.mayer-sp.si/gb/index.html
My favorite. An older property than Bovec but very clean. The owners were great and would bend over backward to help you. Great restaurant for dinner and a very good breakfast offering.
Ljubljana: http://www.slamic.si/en/index.html
My least favorite of the three but still very adequate. An easy 5-10 minute walk to Old Town. Free private parking but it was a little tight.
latedaytraveler. Slovene is the primary language but in all tourist areas English is very prevalent. In the small, off the beaten path towns the older generations won't speak English but there is usually a younger person around who does. The only time I ran into this was when I stopped for gasoline in a small town.
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Very nice pictures! Thanks for sharing.
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Thanks for the excellent info! I was also wondering if it was easy to navigate roads and highways. I'm certainly going to do more research into a trip like yours. The routes and maps you posted will be a great help to get us started. Thanks again for taking the time to post the photo's and info about your trip.
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I brought along a GPS which I find invaluable. Others have said that they've done fine without one but I travel alone so I don't have the benefit of a navigator in the seat next to me. For my trip to Logar Valley I had to trick the GPS into taking me the way I wanted to go otherwise it would try to take me the most direct way. That is why there are 4 maps for that trip. Each map was an individual segment I put into the GPS separately. Even then, after the first leg was completed and I entered the information for the second leg, it tried to take me back a different way. I had printed the Google Maps so that allowed me to go the way I knew I needed to until the GPS caught on. I was to find out that the reason the GPS didn't want to go that way is it was a fairly minor road through Austria but an absolutely beautiful drive.
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Very nice photos!
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These are the most gorgeous photos. What a contrast in colors. Thanks for sharing.
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Stunningly beautiful! Thanks for sharing.
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Stunning photos... makes me wish I was there!
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Gorgeous photos!
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WOW. These are gorgeous - well done!
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IE 8 Beta 1 Supporting "Super Standards" Mode!!!
I don't even know where to begin besides quickly hoping that my job as a web developer will be considerably easier in another 2 to 5 years (once everyone finally gets around to upgrading). Of course this depends upon what Microsoft considers "Super Standards." For all we know they could still be in "standards mode" but still mess up spacing in padding and margins enough that we'll still be coding hacks for IE8 just as much as we did for IE7 (which is exponentially less than IE6 was coded/hacked for).
Anyway, I'll encourage ANYONE who still uses IE to go ahead and try out IE 8 beta 1. Although, if you're trying a new browser, I'd still recommend Firefox 3 beta 3 before IE 8 any day ;)
Here's to hoping for an all-major-browsers compliant with standards society!
As an update, I just installed IE 8 beta 1 last night and my blog works in it. They still don't get opacity right yet since when you hover over my images it inverses the colors in my photos widget. However, at least the page loads without the "Internet Explorer encountered an error loading this page – Aborting" and then dies. Not sure if I'm happy or sad about that…


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Granada Hills, Calif. -- Jacksonville, Fla.-based Regency Centers announced that it has leased nearly 39,000 sq. ft. of retail space in Granada Hills, Calif., at Granada Village to two additional anchors, HomeGoods and Petco.
HomeGoods has leased 27,500 sq. ft. and is slated to open in spring 2012. This is the first store in the market for this home furnishings retailer with the next closest location eight miles away.
Petco is scheduled to open in 11,350 sq. ft. this fall.


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Light is actually a spectrum of colors, each with its own healing properties—red tackles wrinkles, blue zaps blemishes, and indigo tries to convince everyone it's a real color. Get illuminated with this laser-light Groupon.
Choose Between Two Options
- $199 for one laser toenail-fungus treatment (a $750 value)
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During approximately 10-minute procedures, low-level lasers target toenail fungus with two different wavelengths to kill the fungus at the cellular level. The lasers target all five nails on the toe at one time while keeping the surrounding skin safe. Clients also receive a nailcare kit and Formula 3 antifungal topical treatments for post-treatment care.
Specialty Orthopaedic Surgery
Not one, not two, but four board-certified orthopedic surgeons improve patients' joint and limb health at Specialty Orthopaedic Surgery. Their combined experience in orthopedic oncology, coupled with their individual specializations, helps the four perform everything from noninvasive laser toenail-fungus removal to full joint replacements and orthopedic-tumor surgery.


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It's been six and a half weeks and the results are still great on my face and neck. However, I have to wear heavy makeup on the incision lines and I've had to restyle my hair. I have to keep some hair over the incision areas to hide them. The scars are much worse behind my ears than in front and all of them are still quite red.
Many things were misrepresented. I had stitches for a week. The scars are still quite visible. I was given the impression I would be back to normal-looking in a much much shorter period of time. This procedure requires a MINIMUM of TWO WEEKS of healing to even attempt to keep the whole world from knowing you did it. And then you will need heavy makeup and strategic hair placement. It will probably at least 3 months before I can wear my hair up and that may be wishful thinking.
I was also not informed until afterward that I could not exert myself for 4 weeks. This was a surprise. Also, if you color your hair do it IMMEDIATELY before the procedure. They don't tell you until afterward that you can't color your hair for 4 weeks!
Properatively, they gave me Xanax and put me in a chair with my feet propped on another chair to wait my turn. I've had surgery before and never experienced such a cheap, makeshift arrangement.
In the procedure room no effort was made to make it soothing or comfortable. Every other place I've been played soothing music and had upscale, comforting decor. I waited for the surgeon while listening to blaring commercials on a cheap radio. When the doctor came in (at least he was a board certified plastic surgeon) I asked if they could play some soothing music. He actually said if I wanted nice stuff I should come to his regular practice and pay for it. wow.
They injected my face to numb it. The shots were quite painful and there were many of them. The xanax helped me tolerate it but I think many people would not be able to take it.
I was indeed awake and felt and heard every incision, cut and stitch. As well as smelled and heard the cautery. While none of that hurt I think most people would be appalled and completely grossed out.
When they were done I had to wait for my ride home. There was no cushy waiting area. They sat me in an exam chair in a bare bones room to wait.
I came back in a week to have stitches removed. I waited in a small hall with chairs and empty delivery boxes waiting for the trash. There is NOTHING luxury about this place.
A tech removed the stitches. I expressed a concern about my incision and asked if there was any medical person, even a nurse, to speak to. They basically laughed and said they could address my concerns. I have never seen or spoken to the doctor since surgery when he suggested I pay more if I wanted a nicer environment.
They NEVER ask you to come back to see how you are healing.
I hope my healing is normal and will continue to improve. I hope eventually to wear my hair up again.
Currently, my results are good, assuming the scars will indeed become less visible (the ones behind my ears are not hidden in the hairline as advertised). The whole experience leaves me feeling that I may have been lucky to come out okay. It was all so "back alley-ish". And of course the doctor's comments in the "OR" (it's just a regular room) were pretty questionable. I just wouldn't feel comfortable recommending it to a friend.
I Wouldn't Recommend It
It's been six and a half weeks and the results are...
It's been six and a half weeks and the results are still great on my face and neck. However, I have to wear heavy makeup on the incision lines and I've had to restyle my hair. I have to keep some hair over the incision areas to hide them. The scars are much worse behind my ears than in front and all of them are still quite red.


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A Rugby World Cup Final is the pinnacle of our sport, it is what our elite players strive to be a part of during every moment of their careers and it is what they dream about when they are children.
Read Whole Story
The Italian captain is quite simply one of the greatest players of his generation and deserves to be mentioned alongside the likes of Mervyn Davies, Brian Lochore and Hennie Muller as one of the truly great number eights in rugby history.
Camilla Kerslake, girlfriend of England Rugby captain, Chris Robshaw, would be forgiven for thinking that the highlight of her weekend was watching hi...
Get top stories and blog posts emailed to me each day..


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Mayor Rob Ford admits 'mistakes,' calls on Chief Blair to release video
TORONTO – Mayor Rob Ford says he's made mistakes and he's sorry – but he has no plans to resign or take a leave of absence.
"I have made mistakes. And all I can do right now is apologize," he said, reading a statement on his radio show Sunday afternoon.
But "I love my work. And I'm going to keep doing it."
Ford apologized for "a lot of stupid things" on the show but he only acknowledged a video showing him smoking what appears to be crack cocaine to demand police release it (police said, again, they won't).
READ MORE: Mayor Rob Ford admits to smoking crack cocaine
There have been calls for the mayor to step down, or at least take a break, from people across the political spectrum – friend and foe. Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly met with Ford on Saturday to relay "concerns" from Ford's executive committee. Kelly had said the fruits of that meeting would be announced on the radio Sunday; it appears the deputy mayor did not sway Ford on the issue of taking leave.
As for the video that purportedly shows Ford smoking what looks like crack cocaine, the mayor – who said on the same radio show six months ago "there is no video" – echoed his lawyer's call for it to be released to the public.
"I want the Police Chief Bill Blair to release this video for every single person in the city to see. That is the right thing to do and Chief, I'm asking you to release this video now," he said. "Whatever this video shows folks, Toronto residents deserve to see it and people need to judge for themselves what they see on this video."
WATCH: Mayor Rob Ford says he can't answer caller's question about how much police spent on surveillance but expects Chief Bill Blair to provide those details.
On Thursday, Chief Bill Blair confirmed he had seen a video "consistent" with media reports of a video depicting the mayor smoking what looks like crack cocaine.
On Friday, Ford's lawyer and brother both slammed Blair for mentioning the video and demanded he publish it.
But Toronto Police told Global News Sunday they will not release the tape.
"Last week we said that the law requires us to turn evidence over to the courts. They, alone, have the authority to decide how that evidence is treated. Our position hasn't changed," police spokesman Mark Pugash said in an email.
LISTEN: Mayor Rob Ford called in to AM640 Sunday afternoon and apologized for "mistakes"
Related: Ongoing Rob Ford coverage
The Fords also avoided addressing the hundreds of pages of documents released Thursday detailing a months-long investigation into the mayor and his friend Alexander "Sandro" Lisi.
The mayor's brother Councillor Doug Ford supported his brother and insisted he was right in not stepping aside.
"You're honest as the day is long," he said to his brother on the radio Sunday. "You're going to do the right thing moving forward."
WATCH: Mayor Rob Ford pushes through media while leaving Newstalk 1010.
The Fords began taking callers about an hour into their show. Most were supportive of the mayor but a few suggested he resign or take a leave of absence.
"I am not a hater and we all make mistakes and none of us are perfect. I just personally believe that maybe you need some time away and then come back fresh," said a caller named Marilyn.
"I have five children who see and know exactly what's going on in this city with you, and I have to tell them this is not ok, this is not good behaviour, this is not the way anyone should act."
Another caller, 81-year-old Catherine, pleaded with the mayor to take a "medical leave" and demanded Doug "quit being your enabler."
"You do not enable me and it bothers me a lot when people say that," the mayor said.
"I'm not an enabler," Doug said. "No one, no one out there beats Rob down more than I do."
Another caller, Alex, asked Rob Ford to detail what drugs, if any, he had ingested through a pipe rather than comment on the existence of the video.
"I can't comment on a video I have not seen," the mayor said. "I have asked Chief Blair to release this video immediately. I want to see it now."
WATCH: Mayor Rob Ford says he can't comment on the video after caller asks pointed question.
The mayor and his brother discussed a litany of topics including city events, affordable housing, cost-of-living raises and David Suzuki ("a good guy," Doug said) but the conversation kept coming back to the mayor's ongoing personal scandals.
While the mayor referred multiple times to "mistakes," he did not address the video or any of the details contained in the hundreds of pages of court documents related to the Lisi investigation.
He did, however, admit to being "hammered" at the Taste of the Danforth earlier this year.
"The Danforth, that was pure stupidity," he said. "I shouldn't have got hammered down at the Danforth."
The mayor also addressed a recent report about his behaviour on St. Patrick's Day 2012, describing behaviour as "a little out of control."
The mayor admitted he "can't change the past" but said he will do his best to make sure these "mistakes" don't recur.
"I'll make sure it doesn't happen again, but to sit here and say I'm going to lose 100 pounds or I'll be a new person in 6 months or a year, I'm not going to mislead people. I'll do my best to make sure these mistakes don't happen again."
Rob Ford also addressed Toronto's media: He urged them to stay away from his Etobicoke home.
"I beg you. I plead with you, please, please, please do not come to my front door and stand on my driveway. I have a wife, I have an 8-year-old daughter and a 6-year-old son, they're scared," he said. "Please just do not come to my house. I will meet you anywhere but please do not come to my house."
Ford has used his radio show as a platform to lambast the media before: In a show after reporters of the alleged crack video first surfaced, he and his brother lashed out at the city's journalists – the mayor called them "maggots."
His political opponents, notably Councillor Paul Ainslie, have argued the two-hour show gives him an unfair advantage. Ainslie recently filed a complaint with the CBSC detailing his complaints.
Global News reporter Jackson Proskow will be live blogging throughout Mayor Rob Ford's The City on Newstalk 1010.


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Legia Warszawa left it late to claim their first UEFA Europa League Group C victory against Hapoel Tel-Aviv FC.
Toto Tamuz gave the visitors the lead in a first half they dominated, yet it was a different story after the break as Legia equalised through Danijel Ljuboja and gained the upper hand via Marcin Komorowski's penalty. Hapoel got themselves back on terms thanks to substitute Mahran Lala, but Miroslav Radović's cool finish earned the hosts victory a minute from time.
With both sides keen to bounce back from opening-night defeats, it was Hapoel who dictated possession for long spells in the first half. Substitute Salim Toama's free-kick brought a fine save out of Dušan Kuciak, who was also on hand to deny Nosa Igiebor moments later.
The visitors then forged ahead through Tamuz, who rose highest to head Gal Shish's cross into the top left-hand corner. The lively Tamuz came close to doubling the advantage just before half-time, but his acrobatic overhead kick flew narrowly over the crossbar.
Legia coach Maciej Skorża rang the changes at the interval and there was an immediate improvement from his side. Ljuboja got on the end of Artur Jędrzejczyk's deep cross, yet his header failed to trouble Édel Apoula. The 33-year-old forward then went close again just past the hour with a volley on the turn which was well saved down to his left by Apoula.
Legia's second-half dominance began to take its toll and they were level on 67 minutes when the impressive Ljuboja headed in a Maciej Rybus corner from close range. The Polish side went in front five minutes later after Radović was brought down by Igiebor inside the area, leaving Komorowski to do the rest from the spot.
Undeterred by the hosts' resurgence, Hapoel fought their way back to parity with 11 minutes remaining. Igiebor's fiercely struck shot was parried by Kuciak and substitute Lala reacted first to head in the rebound. That was not the end of the drama, though, as, with a minute remaining, Radović raced onto Ljuboja's intelligent flick-on and finished with ease to earn his side their first points in Group C.
©UEFA.com 1998-2017. All rights reserved.


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Beetlejuice… Beetlejuice… Beetlejuice!
Beetlejuice: The Complete Series
All 94 Episodes of the Award-Winning Cult Series Arrive on DVD May 28th, 2013 from Shout! Factory
It's Showtime! On May 28th, 2013, this Saturday morning cult favorite will make its long-awaited debut on DVD with the release of Beetlejuice: The Complete Series from Shout! Factory. Featuring all 94 episodes in a 12 DVD box set, this collection is available only from Amazon.com.
Know for its witty dialogue, tongue-in cheek humor and satire-filled plots, this quirky series was based on the highly popular 1988 Tim Burton film of the same name. Beetlejuice: The Complete Series features the escapades of Lydia Deetz, a teenage goth girl with a love of all things macabre, and her best friend Beetlejuice, an undead, bug-eating prankster from the Netherworld. The only way Beetlejuice can visit the Outerworld (also know as the town of Peaceful Pines) is when his name is repeated three times, but unfortunately for him that is the same way to send him back!
Winner of 1990 Daytime Emmy© for Outstanding Animated Program, Beetlejuice: The Series was created by Executive producers Tim Burton and David Geffen. Featuring theme music by Danny Elfman and the vocal talent of Tabitha St. Germain (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic) Stephen Ouimette (X-Men: The Animated Series) and Alyson Court (Resident Evil), Beetlejuice aired from 1989 to 1991 on ABC and 1991 to 1992 on Fox.


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Nicholas Folger
Nick Folger founded Bio Careers® in 2006. The idea for the company was sparked by a conversation with Michael Alvarez, Director of Stanford Medical School's Career Center, about the need for a multi-university jobs board and career services for the life science community. From that initial discussion, www.biocareers.com was developed to expand career options for life scientists with advanced degrees and MDs and to connect this growing number of professionals with hiring employers.
Folger also founded Edge Sports Corporation in 2002. Edge Sports was a mass customization and innovation company in the team sports uniform market. Folger pursued acquisitions of more than 15 companies in this market with a leading private equity firm, and brought product to market as a startup.
Prior to Edge Sports, Folger led the Dockers® Khakis U.S. marketing team through a complete strategic restructuring including new sub-brands, modifiers, packaging, and brand identity, before leaving Levi Strauss and Company to pursue his entrepreneurial ventures.
Before Dockers U.S., Folger led sales and marketing for the highly successful launch of the Dockers® brand into Europe. The business grew from $5MM to $180MM in wholesale sales, and from 30 to over 3,200 points of sale during his tenure. Dockers achieved market leadership in casual pants in Europe during Folger's five-year
|effort. By the end of his European effort, Folger had
responsibility for a team of 120 internal employees and 20 outside
agents across the functions of sales, customer service, marketing,
retail, and catalog.
Before joining Levi Strauss & Co., Folger attended Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he focused on marketing and entrepreneurship. During his first year, Folger co-founded the Stanford GSB "I Have a Dream" program, the largest extracurricular organization at the business school to this day, to benefit at risk youth in nearby East Palo Alto while educating business leaders in one of society's most difficult challenges. He was awarded Stanford University's James W. Lyons Award for Service for his efforts.
Previously, Folger was a management consultant with Strategic Planning Associates (now Mercer Management Consulting), where he spent three years consulting to a variety of Fortune 500 clients in apparel, banking, and construction products.
Folger also holds a B.A. degree, with honors, from Harvard University.
Andrew Bennie
VP, Business Development


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Though small, these promotional mints and packs of gum can provide quite the marketing punch! These everyday items are perfect for sharing among friends, colleagues, and contemporaries, ensuring your business an advertising reach that extends further than one can imagine. Packaged in a variety of sizes and designs, our tins and dispensers are durable and built to last long after the mint or gum is gone for a handy knick-knack or desk organizer. Keep your brand fresh in customers' minds, and let ePromos get your brand to pop out from the sea of competition!
Poly briefcase filled with delicious promotional mints and shows off your business card.
Promotional pillow pouch filled with delicious promotional mints and shows off your business card.


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The Huskies are now 12-1 on the season and have leveled their BIG EAST mark at 1-1. The Scarlet Knights drop to 9-6, 0-2 in the conference.
UConn played the second half without head coach Jim Calhoun, who took ill at intermission. Calhoun was credited with his 786th career victory, tying him with Lefty Driesell for seventh on the all-time Division I coaching win list.
The Huskies struggled with the Scarlet Knights at the outset, leading just 23-16 with 3:21 to play before halftime. However, junior Stanley Robinson (Birmingham, Ala.), making his first start of the season, dunked a missed shot by senior A.J. Price (Amityville, N.Y.), starting a run that would last through the end of the game that saw the Huskies make 21 of their last 30 shots (70 percent) from the field.
Thabeet led the Huskies with his 15 points and a game-high eight rebounds in the contest. Fellow front courters senior Jeff Adrien (Brookline, Mass.) and Robinson also had big games for Connecticut. Adrien had 13 points and seven rebounds, while Robinson had a tremendous all-around game with 11 points, seven rebounds, four assists and a game-best three blocks. Adrien now has 1,299 points and 885 rebounds in his career at Connecticut, good for 23rd-best on the scoring list and eighth-best on the rebounding list. Reserve junior Gavin Edwards (Gilbert, Ariz.) came off of the bench to score 10 points.
Junior Jerome Dyson (Rockville, Md.) had an off-shooting night (making just three of 11 attempts), but scored 14 points and had four assists. Price had a game-high seven assists against just one turnover. The Huskies had 21 assists on 28 made field goals, and committed just six turnovers. Connecticut played a turnover-free opening twenty minutes.
The Huskies shot 52 percent from the field, the seventh time this season they had made at least half of their field goal attempts. Connecticut enjoyed a 42-20 advantage in points in the paint, 20-6 in points off turnovers and 21-6 in fast break points.
Rutgers freshman Gregory Echenique had a game-high 17 points, while Scarlet Knight leading scorer Mike Rosario had 13 points despite shooting just 2-of-13 from the field.
The Huskies will now take to the road for a three-game road trip that will commence on Tuesday, January 6 when they venture to Morgantown, W.V. to play the Mountaineers. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. and the contest will be televised-nationally by ESPNU.
Post Game Quotes
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I thought we played incredible defense in the first half….The bigs were good inside. We just didn't run any offense in the first half. We were sluggish again, we couldn't get into plays.
At halftime (Coach Calhoun) talked a lot about pushing the ball on the break, and I thought A.J. did a tremendous job of that in the second half. He really got the ball up the court very quickly, and if we had something we went to it. If we didn't, we ran a play. We tried to go inside a lot – both Hasheem and Jeff were very, very good. Gavin ran the court and got some dunks.
Defensively, it was where it is. Twenty-eight percent is phenomenal.
As the lead kept growing, we just kept saying "let's keep the pressure on, keep running, keep playing a good solid defense."
On Stanley Robinson
He just changes us. Stanley Robinson changes us from a small team to a big team. Some of the athletic plays that he makes are spectacular.
Like all teams, they have to be reminded of everything all the time….Every team is different. This team gets settled when things are going good, generally. That's why you have to make them play harder and pay more attention. And they really did a good job of that tonight. We were so alert on the hedges and we were so alert on seeing the ball in the man. We got backcut seven times against Georgetown and did not get backcut today, did not get beat on the baseline on their clear-out plays the whole night. We paid attention the whole game. Everybody thinks that's easy. It's not easy to do that….None of us want to work that hard, and it's hard work to defend the way we defend.
I think I played a great game. I just stuck with the team and kept it tight.
As long as my teammates look for me, I'm going to keep making plays. Jeff was also looking for me a lot on the baseline.
On being back in the starting lineup
It's a great feeling for me. I can't even put it into words. I'm pretty happy right now.
Defense is definitely what drives us. We were able to get stops and stop them from scoring. That's when we're at our best running the floor and getting fast-breaks.
On stopping Rosario
We knew he was going to come out and put up a lot of shots. Our main focus was to make sure he didn't score. That was my and Craig's job.
We turned the defensive pressure up in the second half. We were able to get a lot of rebounds and start our fast-break.
It was just one of those games where we had to grind it out and find a way to get out of the funk. We finally got out of it, and started to run the fast-break.
On Echenique
He played well. We fouled him a little bit too much. He's a good player and will be a really good player for them down the road.
On Stanley Robinson
We were down and Stanley was our energy
Today we played better on defensive. We were able to run our plays and limited their chances.
We came out as a team and said that we were going to play defense. We didn't have as many blocked shots as usual, but we got a lot of defensive rebounds.
In the first half, when we didn't shoot the ball real well, we were able to keep it, and played really good defense and kept them in the halfcourt….We out-rebounded them. If you just look at the rebounding stats from the first half to the second half, that will tell you the story of the game.
When they rebound the basketball, they can kick it out and get running and get easy baskets.
Early on, they were very physical, and they did a great job early on on the defensive end. But then I thought we got some great looks. Our guards have been knocking them down – our guards have been playing outstanding basketball – and tonight they just didn't go down. If you look at Corey and Anthony and Mike, we just couldn't make a shot.
Give UConn credit. I thought they were long, physical – the most physical team that we've played, and the longest team that we've played.
On recent stretch of games
No excuses, and UConn played their rear ends off. They really, really impressed me. North Carolina can score with anybody in the country. This was the best defensive team, tonight, of the three that we faced….I think you can get mentally worn down. In the second half, the end of the week probably got to us mentally a little bit, moreso than I might have liked.


text: I am on Bobz newest cyanogenmod and everytime I try to download an app that's probably around 1MB it says insufficient storage space and it wont download. I have 104 MB free on internal storage and 4.5GB free on my SD card. Why does it do this? Any idea how to fix it??


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Everyone has a favourite food. Sure, mine comes with a bit of controversy, but I'm standing by it: I absolutely love foie gras. The French delicacy, which translates literally as "liver fat," is made from the whole liver of a goose. In Canada, most foie gras is duck liver instead of goose, but I grew up with the traditional foie gras that my mère Bretonne would serve every Christmas as an appetizer.
Foie gras can be served two ways; either pan-seared (foie gras poêlé) or as a pâté ( torchon de foie gras). Personally, I prefer the torchon, but most chefs and connoisseurs will argue that pan-seared is really the only way that good foie gras should be enjoyed.
Typically, I have foie gras in restaurants, where others go through the prep work. But with the holidays approaching, I decided that it was about time I learned how to prepare and serve foie gras at home. To that end, I enlisted the help of my firm's executive catering chef and found out how simple it actually is.
First, you have to decide if you want to serve it poêlé or as a pâté. To make a pâté, you are looking at three steps over the same number of days, so the process requires some commitment. (A recipe for torchon de foie gras can be found at http://www.eatertainment.com.) But for the poêlé version, the process is quick and the result is just as likely to dazzle guests.
For a small group of up to 10 guests, order a half duck liver lobe from a high-end butcher and make sure that the major veins are removed. (For fewer people, the butcher can provide ready-to-sear slices of duck liver and remove even more of the veins.)
When you get the half liver home, cut 8 to 10 slices (each about 1 to 1.5 inches thick) on a 60-degree angle (this allows for the largest amount of surface area to sit against the bottom of the pan). Check each slice for veins and carefully remove any with a bamboo skewer. Score the top of each slice by lightly running a knife twice horizontally and twice vertically across the surface, then sprinkle with salt and pepper.
When you're ready to start searing - this should be done almost immediately before serving - set a small, shallow pan on high heat for about 2 minutes, then reduce the heat to medium/high and place one of the slices in the centre of the pan (scored side down) and cook for about 90 seconds. Do not add anything else to the pan. If the pan smokes, reduce the heat some more. Within 60 to 90 seconds, the first side of the foie gras will be cooked. You can tell by gently pushing against the slice with a silicon spatula; if the foie gras no longer sticks to the bottom of the pan and can be pushed away from the middle, it is ready to be flipped.
Once you flip the foie gras, turn off the heat and remove the pan from the element. Tilt the pan on a 15-degree angle so the fat from the liver collects in the edge of the pan and, with a soup spoon, baste the cooked side of the foie gras with the fat continuously. The residual heat of the pan and the hot duck-liver fat will be enough to cook the second side of the liver within about 90 seconds. You will know when its done by gently pushing your thumb against the top of the cooked side. It should give a little and then bounce back toward you.
Serve the seared foie gras with lightly toasted baguette slices and a hearty red wine. Your guests will feel like they are in a Breton cottage at Christmas.
Sebastien Centner is the director of Eatertainment Special Events in Toronto ( http://www.eatertainment.com).