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TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - Street surveillance cameras in one of the world's most dangerous cities were turned off last week because Honduras' government hasn't paid millions of dollars it owes. The operator that runs them is now threatening to suspend police radio service as well.
Teachers have been demonstrating almost every day because they haven't been paid in six months, while doctors complain about the shortage of essential medicines, gauze, needles and latex gloves.
This Central American country has been on the brink of bankruptcy for months, as lawmakers put off passing a budget necessary to pay for basic government services. Honduras is also grappling with $5 billion in foreign debt, a figure equivalent to last year's entire government budget.
"There are definitely patients who haven't been able to get better because of this problem," said Dr. Lilian Discua, a pediatrician. "An epileptic who doesn't take his medicine will have a crisis. This is happening."
The financial problems add to a general sense that Honduras is a country in meltdown, as homicides soar, drug trafficking overruns cities and coasts and the nation's highest court has been embattled in a constitutional fight with the Congress.
Many streets are riddled with potholes, and cities aren't replacing stolen manhole covers. Soldiers aren't receiving their regular salaries, while the education secretary says 96 percent of schools close several days every week or month because of teacher strikes.
Some government offices must close because they don't have ink to take fingerprints. The country's national registration agency has been shuttered for 10 days because of unpaid salaries.
"In many ways, the state is no longer functioning," said Robert Naiman, policy director of Just Foreign Policy, a Washington D.C.-based organization aimed at reforming U.S. foreign policy. "If they keep not paying their soldiers, those soldiers are probably going to stop being soldiers and maybe take some other action."
Experts say a mix of government corruption, election-year politics and a struggling economy has fueled the crisis.
The local chapter of the international watchdog group Transparency International issued a study in December that alleged some lawmakers had spent money on plane tickets to a tennis tournament in Spain, Mother's Day gifts and other personal expenses, the report found.
The study's author, Ludin Ayala, said the country's Congress is the most expensive in Central America, although Honduras is the poorest country the region.
"The Congress doesn't have rules for making these expenses, which are at the discretion of the (legislative) president," Ayala said. "I don't know if it's shameful, sad or disgusting that in the National Congress, there isn't any transparency."
Former presidential candidate and legislator Olban Valladares charged that much of the public money has indeed gone into campaigns ahead of November's elections, in which the president, mayors and 128 congressional representatives will be elected.
"Sadly, we have a great number of candidates who are state officials and their tendency is to abuse state resources that they control to fund their campaigns," Valladares said.
Congress President Juan Orlando Hernandez said that ousted former President Manuel Zelaya and his allies created much of the current mess.
"They are the ones who have left us today with an enormous debt ... leaving us a country that's unsafe, indebted and isolated in the world," Hernandez said in a news release.
Although Congress goes on recess Friday, lawmakers have only partially passed a budget to pay some of state employees and contractors. That leaves undecided the budgets of autonomous institutions such as utilities and the port authority.
Instead, lawmakers are discussing proposals already declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court and don't deal with the immediate financial problems. On Tuesday, for example, Congress approved a law that would allow any elected official to be impeached.
Hugo Noe Pino, an economist at Honduras' Central American Institute for Fiscal Studies, noted that Congress approved the sale of an additional $750 million in bonds last November without resolving any of the core budget issues.
"In this political year, the state resources can be used for political campaigns," Pino said. "If they haven't discussed the budget, why are they approving the financing (through bonds) of a budget that doesn't exist?"
Financial fraud isn't limited to the government. Tax evasion, for example, is widespread, with the government missing out on an estimated 43 percent of revenue due, said Mario Lopez Steiner, Honduras's tax director.
"The culture of tax evasion is incredible in Honduras," he said.
The institutional paralysis has also spread to the justice system. The Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court has not met for a month and a half because President Porfirio Lobo accused the magistrates of being part of a conspiracy to overthrow him.
Congress, whose majority belongs to Lobo's party, dismissed several judges without an impeachment trial. Meanwhile, the fired judges continue to enjoy the use of their offices and cars with drivers, even as other government employees go unpaid.
Because Congress hasn't replaced the dismissed judges, no one can rule on their appeal to be reinstated because the court's other justices have recused themselves from the case.
"Public power has been turned upside down in a brazen way," said Oscar Cruz, a former prosecutor in charge of defending the constitution.
The government and the ruling bloc have at least one idea to solve the fiscal crunch: They've introduced a bill that would create the country's first sales tax while eliminating tax breaks for companies that import goods.
The bill's supporters predict it will generate an additional $1.2 billion in revenue, which would double the government's yearly tax intake.
Businesses such as fast food franchises have long been exempt from taxes because they supposedly promote tourism even though many of them "are neither in tourist zones nor do they attract tourism," said Lopez Steiner.
Such tax breaks have been "approved as payments for political favors and as a result of the financing of election campaigns, which are always linked to tax favors," he said.
Legislators have so far suspended all tax exemptions for 60 days while a commission reviews whether to reinstate them.
Some families have survived the government vacuum with remittances sent by some of the 1 million Hondurans living in the United States. Their money equals 19 percent of the country's gross domestic product, according to the World Bank.
Yet it isn't enough for government workers such as teacher Daniel Espunda, who have lost paychecks to the political crisis.
"Now they owe me five months of salary. January will be the sixth I haven't been paid," Espunda said. "No one says anything about when the payday will come."
Associated Press Correspondent Martha Mendoza contributed from Santa Cruz, Calif.


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Nandrew wrote:Thanks for the feedback, though I'm surprised the veterans are confused about this puzzle. It's the same standard solution as always, albeit a (little) simpler.
That said, not simple enough. Still trying to find a way to make this moderately easier without breaking it entirely.
Nandrew wrote:Definitely a helpful suggestion! But I'm extra concerned if it's flummoxing experienced players, particularly those who have presumably run through the puzzle packs before (often more than once).
Was there some Gnome 3 puzzle exploit still in existence until recently that I somehow missed out on? I distinctly remember plugging a few reported gaps before, thought I'd had them all.
Nandrew wrote:Perhaps a hint sign about lvl3 would be helpful without going too overboard. I think the puzzle gods would forgive us.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Sometimes the leaders of the National Rifle Association don't seem to know how to take "yes" for an answer.
Their ridicule of President Barack Obama's comprehensive response to the complex problem of gun violence includes a rejection of ideas they suggested.
Remember how NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, after the Newtown massacre, eagerly blamed just about everything but federal gun policy?
Remember how he attacked gun-free school zones, lax mental health facilities and even violent video games -- but not military-style assault weapons, high-capacity magazines or his own organization's resistance to such sensible ideas as background checks for gun purchasers at gun shows?
Remember how he also doubled down after astonished critics ridiculed his call for even more guns in schools, handled by "armed officers?" "If it's crazy to call for armed officers in our schools to protect our children," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press" two days before Christmas, "then call me crazy."
Well, guess what? Among his legislative gun control proposals and 23 executive actions, President Obama agreed in some form with all of those ideas from LaPierre. But don't hold your breath waiting for any semblance of looming cooperation from the NRA.
Obama called for federal aid to states for the hiring of up to 1,000 new "school resource officers," which would be specially trained police officers that work in schools where school districts want them.
He called for mental health professionals to "help prevent school crime and student-on-student violence." That proposal would include initiatives to help school staff catch symptoms of mental illness early and refer students for treatment.
President Obama even agreed that the influence of video games was worth investigating. He called for $10 million from Congress for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to conduct a study on whether there is a correlation between gun violence and "violent video games" and other media.
To its credit, the Entertainment Software Association sounded eager to cooperate. Although it pointed out that researchers so far have failed to find a definitive link between violent video games and violent behavior, the organization that represents the interactive entertainment industry said in a statement that it would cooperate and "collaborate" with the government to "examine the facts that inform meaningful solutions."
Good for them. It is an underreported scandal that, since 1996, Congress actually has handcuffed the federal government's ability to conduct any research into firearm safety. Under NRA pressure, lawmakers removed research funds from the CDC that was being used for any research that "may be used to advocate or promote gun control." The NRA was particularly alarmed by a study that showed a gun kept in the home to be 43 times more likely to be involved in the death of a member of the household than to be used in self-defense. The NRA solution: ban the research.
That helps to explain NRA President David Keene's hardline position even on issues that LaPierre proposed. Such ideas as mental health services and school resource officers are "a drop in the ocean in terms of the problem," Keene told ABC News. "It's simply a fig leaf so he can pursue an anti-gun agenda. It has less to do with security and more to do with guns."
To help insure that Congress will block the president's proposals, the NRA didn't even wait to hear him say what they actually were before launching an outrageous attack video on their website.
"Are the president's kids more important than yours?" the 35-second video's doomsday-voiced narrator asks. "Then why is he skeptical about putting armed security in our schools when his kids are protected by armed guards at their school? Mr. Obama demands the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes, but he's just another elitist hypocrite when it comes to a fair share of security."
President Obama's announcement nullified the video's argument, which was ridiculous anyway. The children of presidents are protected by Secret Service not because they are "more important" than other kids but because they are more at risk.
Besides, if anybody sounds "elitist," which my dictionary defines as one who believes in "a sense of entitlement enjoyed by a group or class," it's the NRA.


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Washington, DC, April 8, 2010 – Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. announced today that a collection of newly formatted 'Anonymous Case Histories' is now available to the public online at www.CFP.net.
The Anonymous Case Histories are detailed summaries of actual cases heard by CFP Board's Disciplinary and Ethics Commission, the body charged with hearing allegations of misconduct by CFP® certificants. The newly formatted Anonymous Case Histories represent cases heard by the Commission during the period November 2007 to July 2009.
CFP Board's Disciplinary and Ethics Commission ("Commission") determines whether a CFP® certificant has violated one or more of the ethical and practice standards contained in CFP Board's Standards of Professional Conduct ("Standards"). When appropriate, the Commission may impose disciplinary action against a certificant, including revocation, suspension (up to five years), public letter of admonition, or private censure. The Commission may also dismiss a case. The case histories are considered important resources for certificants and compliance officers seeking clarification of the Standards.
Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. Chief Executive Officer Kevin R. Keller said: "CFP Board is opening its file cabinets today. The ultimate goal of putting this sensitive information online is both to improve our transparency as a standards setting body for the financial planning profession, and to provide a new user-friendly resource to our CFP® certificants. The improved format of our Anonymous Case Histories and the online accessibility creates an important tool for anyone who is interested in learning how CFP Board proceeds in matters that require disciplinary action."
The Anonymous Case Histories will enable certificants and members of the public to identify specific types of activities that CFP Board deems to be contrary to the Standards. The Anonymous Case Histories may also be useful to a CFP® certificant preparing to appear before the Commission, and in the Commission's determination whether a contemplated offer of settlement is appropriate, given the precedent of decisions rendered by the Commission.
The new histories provide clear identification of the issue or issues in the case, a detailed description of the Commission's factual findings, and the Commission's rationale in determining whether a rule was violated and its reasoning for imposing a particular sanction. Another difference from past case summaries is the inclusion of interim suspension orders (imposed in cases involving criminal convictions, license suspensions and/or an alleged pattern of misconduct) and the outcome of hearings before CFP Board's Appeals Committee.
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Blue Castle
Two secret projects at Capcom Vancouver
Capcom Vancouver's Dee Jay Randall has revealed the studio has two unannounced projects in the works.
Blue Castle headlines
Dead Rising 2: Inafune confirms "thousands" of on-screen zombies
Sounds as though those sketchy reports of Blue Castle going up to 6,000 on-screen zombies in Dead Rising 2 might not have been so batty after all.
GDC Canada to include Obsidian, Blizzard, Dead Rising 2 talks
Organizers for GDC Canada updated the speakers list for the conference today, which takes place May 6-7 in Vancouver.
GDC: Dead Rising 2 dev wants 6,000 zombies at once (apparently)
Speaking at GDC in San Fran this week, Blue Castle's Izmeth Siddeek apparently said that that he wants a mere 6,000 zombies on screen at once in Dead Rising 2. The information comes by way of Laura Scholl, product manager for Mental Mill, who released of postscript of the game's presentation at the event. No […]
Dead Rising 2: No date, no detail, no nothing
Dead Rising 2, eh? We're pumped. You're pumped. Everyone's pumped. How long are we going to have to stay pumped for before we play it? We just asked Capcom PR and were told that nothing's known about the game other than the information in the press release. There's no release date, no detail. No nothing. […]
Capcom announces Dead Rising 2 - screenshots
Capcom has just officially announced Dead Rising 2 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. Dead Rising 2 is set several years after the infamous zombie invasion of Willamette. Unfortunately, the zombie virus was not contained at the conclusion of Dead Rising, spreading unchecked throughout the United States and Dead Rising 2 depicts a country […]
Blue Castle to make Dead Rising 2
Eurogamer has been told by a source close to Canadian development team, Blue Castle, that the studio is working on Dead Rising 2. "Everyone's really excited; the team has obviously seen the rumours and it's been hard to keep quiet, but they can't wait to show off the game," said the source. "It's getting around […]
Blue Castle latest
Dead Rising 2: Inafune confirms "thousands" of on-screen zombies
GDC Canada to include Obsidian, Blizzard, Dead Rising 2 talks
GDC: Dead Rising 2 dev wants 6,000 zombies at once (apparently)


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For the past few months I have been working towards my two woman show at Baxters in Dartmouth. So I have been painting Devon and the more I paint it the more I love the place. I have two weeks left so I may be a little quiet as long hours are now required. The show starts on Friday 24th May and myself and Sasha Harding will both be there on the evening. I will hopefully post more details soon but if anyone has any enquiries please email me or contact the gallery directly. The gallery website will have images up there before the show. I am honoured to be showing alongside Sasha, she has been a favourite artist of mine for quite some time now. More soon.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
something to smile at this weekend
I have to respond to Camillas links with this one which made me laugh sooooo much last night. Yes, I watch Britains got talent, yes.......I need a life! Hope you are having a dryer weekend than us here in blighty!
Posted by Janet at 1:36 PM 2 comments:
Saturday, April 26, 2008
evening light
Rockpool 1
High tide 1
High tide 2
Golden sky 2
I've been doing these small paintings over the last few weeks in the evenings. They are all from my recent trip to Devon of some of the beaches we visited. Some new colours have emerged when the light is different in the studio and I am really pleased with the results. They are for sale in my gallery at the moment at £90 the pair. I had a bit of trouble displaying them on this page as a pair. They are 8x8 inches each. If anyone is interested please send me an email. Thanks for looking.
Posted by Janet at 10:41 AM 2 comments:
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Last Wednesday was my birthday so I was surprised with a day and night over to Dublin. We live just half an hour from Holyhead port now so got the Seacat over in just two hours. We arrived, we froze on an open top bus trip, we warmed up with a guinness then had a wonderful birthday meal. We saw the book of Kells in trinity college and we wowed at the Long room there. We woke up in a lovely room, I opened some surprise presents ,we shopped, we walked in the sun, we held hands, we ate fantastic vegetarian food, we smelled all the Jo Malone perfumes intensively, we drank more guinness, we got on the ferry home.....and the best bit on my birthday night......we watched Juno on the ferry and were the only two people in the whole cinema, our own private showing. We came home to pretty flowers and our lovely new house. I love birthdays!!!!
p.s Thank you so much to all the commenters and well wishes in our new house and blue kitchen. Jamjar, the clock comes from Laura Ashley a few years ago but is made by Newgate.
Posted by Janet at 8:03 PM 4 comments:
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
feeling blue?
I'm back...for today, Easter came and went and a house move came and went since last time I was here. We moved to our very own house and we are incredibly happy. It is a wonderful feeling to settle knowing that in six months time we will not be packing up again. So this is move number 24 in my 31(nearly 32) years and the last for a very very long time. We got the keys two weeks ago. I spent a week of evenings last week painting the kitchen, it was lovely teal colour and one reason i fell in love with our new house but ever since seeing this 2 years ago , I have dreamt of a blue kitchen. The next few months I think will be house related as this blog is a great personal diary and way of documenting our progress.
My favourite things in the kitchen are the orange and yellow plastic containers on the top shelf in the last photo. They belonged to my Grandma (Dads Mum not mormor) and last weekend she gave them to me after one too many hints. They are Danish and she bought them in 1975 when my Mum and Dad lived in Denmark and they went to visit. She has used them every day since 1975. Thats 33 years!! It makes me wonder how many things we have now that we will still be using daily in 33 years time and how much of a throw away society we are. Time to think about that.
Goodnight x
p.s thank you for the lovely comments recently, I am sorry for not taking the time to reply individually, i appreciate you stopping by and hope to catch up soon.
p.s thank you for the lovely comments recently, I am sorry for not taking the time to reply individually, i appreciate you stopping by and hope to catch up soon.
Posted by Janet at 9:25 PM 12 comments:
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The rumor mill has furiously churned out a pretty damning story about convicted abuser and man-boy at large Chris Brown. According to sources, his new courting technique involves an introduction and the line "I promise I won't beat you." With most other celebrities, this would just be another Bill Murray Punched Me in an Alley story. But with Brown, even if it's bullshit (and probably is), it's still kind of horribly believable.
According to Us Weekly, the Pop Prince of the Shit-Eating Grin approached an "attractive brunette" (I love it when hair color can substitute for the word "woman") at the Lasio Professional Hair Care Grammy suite gift lounge and told her "Can I get your number? I promise I won't beat you!"
That proclamation was followed by a hearty laugh of appreciation from his bros/hangers-on. One of them followed it up by saying, "That's his new line!" What fun!
The object of Brown's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad pickup line wasn't amused, though, and went straight to a tabloid with her story. "Ugh! I wanted to throw up," she said.
Ugh, indeed.
If this is true, Chris Brown has so dramatically missed the point that if he were a fencer, he'd be kicked off the team. And, if it's not true, he's uh, still an unrepentant spoiled child whose established a pattern of behavior that makes a story like this believable. Chair throwing. Temper tantrums. Crocodile tears. Someone needs a time out while he thinks up an album title for his most popular singles that does not involve the word "Hits" or "Smash."
Chris Brown's New Pickup Line: "I promise I won't beat you" [Us]


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COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) Logan Aronhalt scored 13 points, Alex Len had 12 points and nine rebounds and Maryland routed Wake Forest 86-60 on Saturday for its most lopsided Atlantic Coast Conference victory of the season.
Jake Layman, Seth Allen and James Padgett added 12 points apiece and Dez Wells scored 11 for the Terrapins (16-6, 4-5), who have won five straight against the Demon Deacons (10-11, 3-6) and improved to 14-1 at home this season.
Travis McKie's 15 points matched a season high but couldn't prevent Wake Forest from dropping its third consecutive game and falling to 0-5 in ACC road games. Codi Miller-McIntyre scored 14 for the Deacons.
Maryland connected on 35 of 52 shots from the floor and outrebounded Wake Forest 42-21 to snap a two-game skid.
The Terrapins' previous biggest margin of victory in a conference game this season came in a 94-71 win over Virginia Tech on Jan. 5.


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Recklinghausen with Wilfried Boettcher
Wilfried Boettcher led the orchestra on our European tour in 1987, with concerts in Germany and Belgium. Joined by trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger and pianist Ronald Brautigam, the orchestra took with them a repertoire of Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Shostakovich and Teleman.
Tour Repertoire:
HAYDN Symphony No 7 'Le Midi'
HAYDN Symphony No 87 in A
HAYDN Trumpet Concerto in E flat
TELEMANN Trumpet Concerto in D
BEETHOVEN Prometheus Overture
BEETHOVEN Symphony No 4 in B flat
MOZART Overture 'The Marriage of Figaro'
MOZART Piano Concerto No 24 in C minor
MOZART Piano Concerto No 22 in E flat
MOZART Symphony No 36 'Linz'
BACH Brandenburg Concerto No 2 in F
BACH Piano Concerto in D Minor
SHOSTAKOVICH Piano Concerto No 1


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1. Ricky Ervins, USC: The Muir High of Pasadena tailback, who grew up less than a mile from the stadium and used to park cars there on New Year's Day, was the 1990 player of the game after gaining 126 yards on 30 carries, including the go-ahead touchdown against Michigan in a 17-10 win.
2. Keyshawn Johnson, USC: The Dorsey High product was named player of the game in 1996, pulling in 12 receptions for 216 yards — a game record that still stands. Included was a 56-yard TD in a 41-32 win over No. 3 Northwestern.
3. Warren Moon, Washington: The L.A. Hamilton High standout was the 1978 player of the game in the Huskies' 27-20 upset over Michigan. Moon ran for two touchdowns and passed for a third score. Moon's 28-yard TD pass to Spider Gaines capped a 97-yard drive after the Huskies had stopped Michigan on a fourth down play at the Washington 3.
4. Pat Haden and J.K. McKay, USC: The teammates out of La Puente Bishop Amat shared co-players of the game in 1975 after the Trojans outlasted Ohio State, 18-17. The two hooked up on a 38-yard TD with 2:03 to play, brining the Trojans to within 17-16. On the two-point conversion, Haden hit Sheldon Diggs for the win. "I didn't think I was going to be playing professionally, so I thought it was the last football game I was going to play," said Haden years later. "And to be able to throw the winning touchdown to your lifelong friend — that was thrilling." Haden completed 12 of 22 passes for 181 yards and two TDs.
5. John Sciarra, UCLA: The Bruins QB, a year younger than Haden at Bishop Amat, was player of the 1976 game. UCLA, a 15 ½-point underdog, took a 23-10 win over previously unbeaten Ohio State, highlighted by two third-quarter touchdown passes by Sciarra to Wally Henry of 16 and 67 yards. Sciarra was 13 of 19 passing for 212 yards.
6. Matt Leinart, USC: The Santa Ana Mater Dei star became the 2004 player of the game after going 23-of-34 passing for 327 yards, throwing three touchdowns and catching one as well in a win over Michigan that gave the Trojans the AP national championship.
7. Mark Sanchez, USC: The Mission Viejo High standout was the 2009 player of the game in his last performance at USC. He led the fifth-ranked Trojans' 38-24 win over Penn State by throwing for 413 yards, the second-most in Rose Bowl history, to go with a game-record-tying four TDs. He completed 28 of 35 passes without an interception, and scored on a 6-yard TD run.
8. Tom Ramsey, UCLA: The Granada Hills Kennedy High grad won co-player of the game honors after the Bruins outlasted Michigan 24-14 in the 1983 game. A 1-yard plunge by Ramsey on UCLA's second drive put the Bruins up 7-0 in the first quarter, a lead they never relinquished. He was 18-for-25 passing for 162 yards.
9. Bobby Chandler, USC: The Whittier High standout, considered to be one of the best all-around high school athletes in Southern California history, became the 1970 Player of the Game when he scored on a 33-yard TD pass from Jimmy Jones, the only TD in a 10-3 win over Michigan. On a third-and-6 play, Chandler caught the ball 13 yards downfield. broke several Wolverine tackles, and scampered another 20 yards for the score to give USC its margin of victory.
10. Tim Green, USC: In the 1985 game, where the Trojans outlasted Ohio State 20-17, the Manhattan Beach Aviation High grad who began the season as the third stringer was the offensive player of the game. He completed 13 of 24 passes for 128 yards and two touchdowns.


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DURHAM — In honor of Earth Month, Earth Day, and local sustainable food, Young's Restaurant of Durham will be hosting its "Good Earth, Good Food, Good Future" event, an open house for the local community, at 48 Main St. on Thursday, April 18, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm.
Members of the local community will have the chance to meet, network, and sample items that are on Young's daily menu or specials menu and that are made with ingredients from many of the local food providers Young's partners with. A full range of options will be provided, including samples of appetizers, soups, sandwiches, burgers, desserts, and even some of the restaurant's famous breakfast items, all featuring many regularly-used local ingredients.
Members of the community will also have the chance to network with each other, as well as to hear from and meet with representatives of several of the local food organizations, farms, food providers, and other partners that Young's works with regularly.
Another highlight of the event will be to see and hear about owner Ken Young's latest adventure – his recent successful summit of Aconcagua, the tallest mountain on Earth outside of the Himalayas, and his related experiences with the people and food of Mendoza, Argentina.
Members of the local residential and business community, civic and government leaders, and UNH students and faculty have been invited to attend.
There is no charge for the public to attend, but a suggested donation of $5 or more to Seacoast Local's SNAP program will be accepted at the event from anyone who chooses to donate. The SNAP program enables SNAP or food stamp recipients to use their EBT cards to purchase healthy, fresh, and locally produced food at farmers' markets, making it more affordable for lower income families to access healthy local food.
Young's Restaurant owner Ken Young said, "As we move into Earth Month and towards Earth Day, we thought it would be a perfect time to celebrate the value of the resources of our earth, in the form of the great places we can experience and the great food it provides.
"We at Young's also want to continue our commitment to increasing and maintaining access to both of those things – the wonderful outdoor spaces we can enjoy, and increasing access for more people to the benefits of healthier, more sustainable, local food.
"We're very excited to invite many of our friends, fans, customers, and partners to this fun event," he said.
Young's Restaurant to host food event in Durham
DURHAM — In honor of Earth Month, Earth Day, and local sustainable food, Young's Restaurant of Durham will be hosting its "Good Earth, Good Food, Good Future" event, an open house for the local community, at 48 Main St. on Thursday, April 18, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm.


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His Brother's Keeper
Editorial Reviews
Jamie, Stephen, and Ben are the Heywood brothers, adoring daredevil sons of a retired therapist and MIT professor. At 29, Stephen, a carpenter, is diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's Disease, a progressive fatal condition that bombs nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, collapsing voluntary muscle control, and making it hard to chew, swallow, speak, even breathe. Paralysis is nearly certain. His Brother's Keeper: A Story From the Edge of Medicine, by Pulitzer Prize-winner Jonathan Weiner chronicles the Heywood family's deeply human, defiant response to Stephen's grim prognosis. Victor Bevine narrates with perceptive, poignant stillness. His meditative pacing steadies the frantic deadline of the premise: find a solution or lose Stephen. Bevine applies the same pebble-smooth reverence to Weiner's own sorrow when he learns his mother, Ponnie, is dying from a similar, rare neurogenerative disease.
As brother-built dynasties go, the Heywoods are enthralling. Jamie, the eldest, is a charismatic compulsive talker who quits his job to cure ALS. A trained mechanical engineer, Jamie studies gene therapies and hires "guerilla scientists" to develop experimental treatments and pioneer stem-cell research. In the process, he ruins his marriage to Melinda — an exuberant belly dancer with a PhD in medieval French literature.
Stephen is six-foot-three and blindingly handsome. He's wry and observant, a self-taught architect who finds his calling rebuilding old, rotting historical homes. The worthy anchor of His Brother's Keeper, Stephen despises pity and fuss. He marries, fathers a son, and works with his hands as long as he can. "The more he lost, the stronger he seemed," Weiner notes of Stephen, by then, skeletal and wheelchair-bound, nourished by liquid Ensure his mother, Peggy, pours into his stomach tube. Ben is the youngest Heywood, an engineer like Jamie and their father. He's creative and logical, a practical risk-taker as droll and dynamic as the rest of his tribe. Still, and always, though, the love story belongs to Jamie and Stephen. —Nita Rao
Publisher's Summary
Stephen Heywood was 29 years old when he learned that he was dying of ALS - Lou Gehrig's disease. Almost overnight, his older brother, Jamie, turned himself into a genetic engineer in a quixotic race to cure the incurable. His Brother's Keeper is a powerful account of their story, as they travel together to the edge of medicine. The book brings home for all of us the hopes and fears of the new biology.
In this dramatic and suspenseful narrative, Jonathan Weiner gives us a remarkable portrait of science and medicine today. We learn about gene therapy, stem cells, brain vaccines, and other novel treatments for such nerve-death diseases as ALS, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's - diseases that afflict millions, and touch the lives of many more. "The Heywoods' story taught me many things about the nature of healing in the new millennium," Weiner writes. "They also taught me about what has not changed since the time of the ancients and may never change as long as there are human beings - about what Lucretius calls 'the ever-living wound of love".
Critic Reviews
- 100 Notable Books, The New York Times
- 10 Best Nonfiction of the Year, Entertainment Weekly
- Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist
"Weiner has a master's eye for the telling detail and a spare, often poetic style. His terse recounting of the seminal advances and setbacks in genetic engineering in the late 1990s provides the scientific counterpoint to the Heywood family drama." (The Washington Post)
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- Barbara
- Buzzards Bay, MA, United States
- 02-02-10
Well done portrayal of a family in crisis
A well written book about a family racing for a treatment for a family member diagnosed with ALS.
It is a sad and at time disturbing portrayal of a brother trying to find a way to use "gene" therapy and/or stem cell therapy to cure his dying brother, while struggling with the temptation to develope a business with these therapies. The book examines the patient,family, friends; their interactions, support and always,their hope. Mr. Bevine is an excellent narrator making the book all the better.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful
- Doggy Bird
- Glen Ridge, NJ USA
- 03-17-13
Fascinating story, very good narration
I so much enjoyed THE BEAK OF THE FINCH, Jonathan Weiner's book on the studies done on the Galapagos Islands of Darwin's finches that I did not hesitate to try this examination of a brother's struggle to find a cure for Amytrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS also commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease. It is a subject of particular interest to me as my own mother died of ALS when she was only 52. The story examines not only the tragedy of neuro degenerative diseases, but the ethical struggles that accompany this brother's search for funding and a cure for his sibling's illness. There is also running through the book Weiner's own mother's discovery of and death from a neuro-degenerative disease.
The book was well narrated and held my interest, but didn't have the same impact of Weiner's first book, perhaps because the work in the book is not as successful or heroic as the Beak of the Finch. That said I did find the story worthwhile. particularly from the perspective of the ethical dilemmas presented and I do think it would be of interest even to those without a personal connection to these diseases. I would recommend the book to non-fiction readers who find the progress (and sometimes the setbacks) of medical science of interest as it is very well written and the reader does an excellent job.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
- Tammy Clardy
- 05-20-10
very good for understanding ALS
Having a close friend with ALS and having had 3 other friends die from it in the past, I enjoyed the medical explanations and factual content of this book along with the story. It was very believable and well written. I hope some day a cure is found
2 of 2 people found this review helpful


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I signed up to try TasteGuru, a gluten-free monthly food subscription service. It's kinda pricey, I signed up for the $24 a month plan, so I could cancel anytime. You generally get a box of 5-7 different gluten-free items. Many of them are items that are new to the gluten-free food market.
Here are the goodies that were included in the May 2013 box:
- Rocky Mountain White Cheddar Popcorn
- Canyon Oats Brown Sugar Instant Oats
- Glutino Strawberry Toaster Pastries
- Falafel Chips
- KIND Honey Oat Granola
- NOT PICTURED: Gratify Gluten-Free Pretzel Thins with Sesame Seeds
- NOT PICTURED: Le Veneziane Penne Rigate Corn Gluten-Free Pasta
- NOT PICTURED: Coco Cafe - Cafe Latte
So far I've tired the white cheddar popcorn (YUM!), one of the toaster pastries (good! better than the Eco Planet brand) and the Falafel Chips (different, but good!). Michael also tried the Gratify pretzel thins and loved them (they had soy flour, so I couldn't eat them). He enjoyed the pretzels so much he took them to work for a snack.


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Your education classes will range in size from about 15-25 students.
Yes and yes! Our professors are very student oriented. They know each and every student in their classes and are there to help you. We encourage students to stop by our offices whenever they need to.
Each student will be assigned a School of Education faculty member as their Academic Advisor. The advisor will meet with the student to plan the student's class schedule.
The numbers obviously vary, but there are usually about 100 elementary and middle/secondary students at CSS.
The best way to answer this is to say that over the last few years about 80% of elementary students graduated in four years and about 50% of middle/secondary students did. Some of the middle/secondary majors have many credits and require 4+ years to complete.
Yes, you will. One of our strengths is the amount of time our students spend in the local schools working with students. In the first Education Class you will take and in most classes, you will have the opportunity for hands-on work with students.


text: Camping & Hiking price list in India shown above is curated from top online shopping websites in India like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal. To compare Camping & Hiking prices online, please select (click) a given Camping & Hiking. During Camping & Hiking price comparison, Camping & Hiking price in India may vary. Camping & Hiking Price List is valid in Chandigarh, Mohali, New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot, Kochi, Aurangabad, Amritsar, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Gurgaon, Noida, Trivandrum, Nagpur, Lucknow, Mysore, Bengaluru, Kochi, Indore, Agra, Gurugram, Mangalore, Calcutta, Vizag, Nashik, Ludhiana, Jammu, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Patna, Guwahati, Raipur, Ranchi, Shimla, Mysuru & all other cities in India.


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- Nebraska Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll (Spring 2013)
Redshirt freshman King Frazier added quality depth in the Nebraska backfield, helping the Huskers feature one of the Big Ten's best running games. Frazier earned carries at I-back in three games, serving as a backup to Ameer Abdullah, Imani Cross and Terrell Newby. The 6-0, 220-pound Frazier played in 11 games overall as he was a key member of the Huskers' special teams.
2013 (Redshirt Freshman)
Frazier ran for 44 yards and a touchdown as a reserve I-back. He rushed four times for 21 yards against Southern Miss, and added five carries for 14 yards against South Dakota State. Frazier had three carries for nine yards, including a three-yard TD run at Purdue. Frazier also saw action on special teams.
2012 (Freshman)
King Frazier redshirted his first season at Nebraska.
Frazier chose to walk-on at Nebraska after an illustrious career at Lee's Summit High School in Missouri. Frazier was one on the top running backs in the state, rushing for 605 yards and five touchdowns as a senior, despite missing two games because of a shoulder injury he suffered in his first game of the season. As a junior, Frazier rushed for 1,453 yards and totaled 16 touchdowns, while averaging better than 7.0 yards per carry. He was also a threat in the passing game as he had more than 600 receiving yards over his last two seasons and eight touchdowns. On special teams, Frazier averaged 33.0 yards on six kick returns which helped him lead his team in all-purpose yards during the year with 109.8 yards per game. A member of the Missouri High School Coaches Association Class 5 second-team all-state football team, Frazier walked on at Nebraska over scholarship offers from Indiana, North Dakota and North Dakota State.
Frazier was born on Nov. 25, 1993. His guardians are Monica and Jeffrey Baker. King earned a spot on the Nebraska Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll in the spring of 2013.
» Games Played -- 12 games in 2013
» Rushing -- 12 carries for 44 yards and 1 TD (all in 2013)


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This story is about Don Blair, his speed shop, and the guys who worked there back in the day. But it was a young Don Blair's interest in racing at the dry lakes that propelled him into opening a small business selling speed parts. If any business contributed to hot rodding in Southern California, it was Blair's Speed Shop in Pasadena when 25-year-old Don opened for business in 1946. (However, Don's older brother, Bruce, was an equal racing competitor and contributor in the speed shop business before he was killed while riding in a '34 Ford that hit a tree on Foothill Boulevard in Arcadia. Bruce had an ad in Hot Rod in 1948 for his own product line out of Blair's Speed Shop that offered dealerships "Lower the front of your car with a (his) dropped axle".)
All who worked there attributed their stint at Blair's as their kick-start, by not only learning and mastering a trade, but acquiring a work ethic that carried throughout their lives. Blair's would be the only place many would work before starting their own successful automotive-related businesses.
Blair's Speed Shop could have been a trade school, because if you couldn't weld before you enrolled (hired-on) you were a journeyman welder when you left. If you had a hard time rolling out of bed when you started, you were either drummed out by your peers or got your act together. If you had thin skin, you didn't need to work there anyway.
You needed to be a quick study to work at Blair's because it was kick-butt city with Don sipping on warm milk all day at the counter while holding a phone in each ear or on the squawk box to the back, the deafening sound of an uncorked race car screaming on the dyno (dyno time and analysis, less parts, went for $10, valve adjustment for $7), steel being ground and crashing to the floor in the chassis shop, and customers waiting at the counter for Don to say "you're next".
Don didn't use a cash register; all the money was kept in his wallet. And when he went to the bank, it was kept in his shirt pocket, because the robber would always go for the cash in a person's wallet. Just a normal day at Foothill and Daisy!
Those of us who went to Blair's were like kids in a candy store. In fact, the building was a candy factory before Don purchased the property! Thornton and Carlson Makers of Good Candy can be faintly seen on the front of the building above the Blair's Speed Shop sign. Certainly candy factory applies to Blair's Speed Shop, because Blair's wasn't just a place that sold the candy (speed equipment), they made the candy.
There will never be another place like Blair's for the guys who worked there, or for us who went there. It is impossible to get every past employee's take on the place because of the limited space, but here are some behind-the-scenes insights from some of the rodders, including Don, during its heyday. To a man, they all look back with fondness of their association with one another and with Don Blair who has lasted to this day, as you will soon learn.
Don Blair
This is Don's word-for-word recollection of how it all started: "I was born in Highland Park near Los Angeles in 1921. The first five years of my life I don't remember, but we moved to South Pasadena where I went to grammar school. I took a college preparedness course at Lincoln High School. I had a couple of semesters of shop classes, like auto shop. I didn't distinguish myself in them but I enjoyed taking them. I went to Frank Wiggin's Trade School from which I graduated with a B average and thought I'd go onto college. I went to Pasadena City College for about three months and that was the end of it … I couldn't take it.
"I loafed for about a year, around my parents' house doing little jobs on my car and the neighbor's stuff. Then I went to work for a small parts store in Los Angeles. At that point I met Jack McGrath who also worked for the parts store and later became famous for racing in the Indianapolis 500. We both quit when we learned there was an auto parts store near there with a machine shop. They hired us and that's where I learned to do machine work, such as operating a Boring Bar and a valve-grinding machine.
"They'd send me out to buy mostly Model A and B crankshafts from the wrecking yards. I'd check them out and buy them for $5 or $10 and take them back to the shop. They'd grind them and used them in rebuilt engines.
"I decided I wanted to go out on my own. My grandfather had left me a small amount of money and with that I was able to buy a lot in Pasadena and put up a building on Arroyo Parkway right after the war. I think it's still there today. I started out with one employee and somehow started selling used speed equipment and racing fuel. Tim Timmerman started working for me and he began building engines.
"Then I first moved to the northeast part of Pasadena in the middle of the block on Foothill Boulevard in the late '40s to a 2,000-square-foot building. I stayed there awhile and I got a chance to sell it to put a good down payment on the corner of Foothill and Daisy. My brother, Bruce, and I were going to go together on the property, but he was killed while he was a passenger during a drag race in Arcadia. I paid $30,000 for the building and property.
"When I moved, we dismantled the building down at the middle of the block and moved it down to the corner and that became the muffler shop. It is still there today. I had three muffler hoists, two underneath the roof and one outside.
"I was still dealing in a lot of used speed equipment, doing machine work, muffler work, and then we went into the chassis business. We built several match race drag cars.
"I got interested in circle track racing. That killed the drag racing also, as far as I was concerned, which only lasted a few seconds where circle track racing lasted a half-hour or so. At that point I had about 13 people working for me.
"I got a little bit antsy and decided I wanted to retire. I sold the business in 1975 to Phil Lukens who worked for me, and I retired. I tried to do my Sprint Car racing and finally realized I didn't have enough money and went back to work.
"In about 1985 I opened a shop in Glendora, California, that specialized in engine rebuilding. We didn't have any parts department there. I did pretty well in that and I was able to buy another piece of property in Covina, California, and put up a good-sized industrial building in downtown Covina.
"It's amazing to me how many fellows who worked for me did so well on their own. Nice kids from nice homes, no riffraff … oh, there were a lot of cutups! I didn't actually interview anybody for a job; I asked what they could do then I'd say, 'go to work'. It was on-the-job training just like Pete Eastwood. Eastwood never worked for anybody before, he just picked up what he knew from his dad who restored Model Ts, but he also picked up what he knew working for me."
Mike Hoag
Mike Hoag of Brea, California, hired on in 1965-66, and was in charge of the chassis shop where, among other products, they turned out tube axle assemblies for the '55-57 Chevys by the score (the kits, including leaf springs, sold for $132.50): "Don Blair was probably the best guy I have ever worked for in my life," Hoag, who stayed at Blair's four years before forming M&S Welding with Sherm Gunn, says.
"Blair had four muffler racks; his muffler business was winding down. Out of four racks only one was kept busy all day because there were muffler shops springing up everywhere.
"By then we were doing a lot of engines and transmissions," Hoag says, "mainly '55-57 Chevys. We were taking out the Powerglide transmissions and replacing them with four-speeds. We did a lot of that. It just multiplied.
"Don had a friend who was an Oldsmobile dealer in Pasadena and knew that he could buy Chevy parts from any GM dealer, including his friend. He knew the part numbers, so he would buy all of the clutch linkage parts, cross shafts, and pedals for the manual transmissions. Don would buy 10 of everything.
"When I started to work at Blair's I went upstairs for something and there were boxes of Ford Flathead Forgetrue pistons from the floor to ceiling against the north wall. Every year of the Winternationals a bunch of Ford Flathead guys would leave with boxes of those pistons. Don got good deals.
"We started by repairing a tube axle job that some shop botched up and we started doing more of that, one thing led to the next. We ended up not doing any muffler work at all.
"Don (Bushy) Wilson was constantly parking his car in front of the muffler racks. We'd have to find him and get him to move his car. We would ask him nicely not to park there. He did it once too often, so I decided I was going to weld his car to the rack so it would be there forever. I took a piece of angle iron and tack welded it to his frame and the other end to the muffler rack," Hoag laughs.
"We were working late one night when Robby Robison took his Cad to the doughnut shop. He didn't have any taillights on it because when he cut the top off, the wires that went up through the doorposts to the taillights were cut as well. It didn't have a windshield either.
"He comes flying in though the back driveway, the car was probably 1 1/2 feet off the ground, sliding up to the muffler rack and the cops were right behind him. Robison gets out and says to the cop, 'What's happenin' man?' and the cop was fit to be tied. The cop said, 'The taillights don't work and it doesn't have a windshield.' Robison said, 'But the wipers work.' And he puts the wipers on and they're flopping in the breeze. So the cop said, 'That ought to be real good for your glasses in the fog.' Before it was over, Robby had them in stitches saying, 'We better not see that thing again,' and left laughing themselves silly.
"Depending on who you were, you had a private charge account. You'd come in and get this camshaft or blower manifold and Don would write it up and put it in his file. That file was full of a lot of deadbeats. Guys owed Don a lot of money and took advantage of him. Some owed $2,000 or more.
"The State came in one time and went over Don's books. They found this file of all of those invoices. Don wasn't paying the sales tax because he hadn't been paid himself. You can't do that. They told Don he was in violation, and whether he collected the money or not, he had to pay the sales tax.
"They were there for three days. I said to Don, 'Why don't you turn this over to collections and pay them 15 percent?' He just wouldn't do it. Don was that kind of guy. He ended up paying all the back taxes.
"There was an area that we called the Bull Pen with grease and oil 6 inches thick. Rearend housings, broken blocks, and cylinder heads—it was nasty. Don used to talk about his rose garden and we'd go … yeah, it probably has the roses stacked up with old rearend housings.
"Don had a home up in the hills of Glendale. I had to go over there one time on a Sunday morning early for some reason. Don answered the door. He wanted to show me his rose garden. The inside of the house was very neat because of his wife—who, by the way, was quite a looker. I go out behind his house and it's terraced about three levels and at the very back you could look over north Glendale. His rose garden didn't have one leaf out of place. It was immaculate!
"When Sherm Gunn and I opened up M&S Welding, I'd work at Blair's then go to our shop and work there at night. Gunn was a mechanic at a car dealership in Pasadena. We were doing a lot of production work for Ford Obsolete in Rosemead, axles, radius rods, and it just got more and more and more. Plus I got to do more sophisticated stuff on race cars and we started building the Funny Car chassis. I left in 1970."
Phil Lukens
Phil Lukens, owner of Blair's, had a friend who he was to meet at Blair's and found out they needed help in the chassis shop; Lukens started the next day.
"I was doing straight axles; we were doing nothing but straight axles for years. When I became foreman in the chassis shop, which included muffler work, I had five guys working for me. Total, we probably had 12-14 people working at Blair's. There were two people in the office, two counter guys, and Don. There was a driveshaft department, machine shop, dyno shop, and the chassis shop. We put a lot of work out of the shops." Lukens has been at Blair's ever since, having purchased the business from Don in 1975.
Robby Robison
"There was an opening at Blair's and I went to work in January 1962 out back in the fabrication shop," Robby Robison of Arcadia begins. "I had learned how to weld in high school. Everybody started at the bottom.
"Customers would come in having an idea of what they wanted and we would fulfill their needs either with our engineering or theirs. We would take a stocker and change the engine or the drivetrain with different axles, front or rear.
"Blair didn't get upset very often. Oh, he'd fire us about three or four times a year because of a lot of shenanigans that went on in the place. But when you came back from lunch it was business as usual. We'd set each other on fire. You didn't carry a rag in your back pocket or it would be on fire before the day was out. Of course new guys didn't know that. There was always somebody lighting somebody on fire in the back where I worked. Don would get on the intercom and say, 'Outside … outside, do I smell fire out there?' We'd say, 'We're good,' and Don would say, 'I smell smoke!'
"On Saturdays, the minute that Don would leave for home and his Chevy was out of sight, we'd start working on our own stuff. Or we'd have a Destruction Derby.
"Don would buy cars from a couple of wrecking yards just to get the components out of them. So we would use the cars on Saturday afternoons and go down the alley around the shop and T-bone the cars on our figure-eight track. Or we'd go across the street to a defunct restaurant that had a tenth of a mile paved oval around the building, which was the original parking lot, and we'd race go-karts over there. At night we'd go to Fontana or Irwindale to race or Lyons on Sundays. You could drag race three or four days a week.
"Don would come to work on Monday and the cars would all be beat up. We'd blame it on the local vandals. He knew what happened to them, but if they got banged up too bad he wasn't too excited about that. We'd cut the cars up, call the wrecking yard, and have them come get them and they would buy them for scrap.
"We had a guy come in one time with a '55 Chevy with a real nice paintjob on it and he wanted the fenderwells radiused. Mike Hoag told him he had a special tool that could cut the fenderwells out and it wouldn't burn the paint. When the guy came back to pick up his car, of course the paint was all burnt. Hoag never thought the guy believed him and that he was kidding!
"I lived next door to Blair's. I got an old television, took the guts out, and my snake Julius Squeezer lived in the TV. I'd put the snake on the dash of my Killer Whale, which was a '51 Cadillac. We'd go every day to In-N-Out for lunch in that car. I took the top off, no windshield, and no top. I'd have to go real slow over driveways and railroad tracks without a top because the body would flex so bad that the doors would fly open. Anyway, I'd put the snake on the dash and the gas station attendant (remember those days?) thought it was a fake and about fainted when it moved.
"I fed the snake rats, and this particular rat, the snake wouldn't eat. I took it to Blair's and as a joke I let it go on his counter. Don fell in love with it. It was a white and black rat and he named it Thirilla. It lived among the catalogs and would come out on the counter and the customers would scream and Don would know exactly what happened, he knew somebody had found the rat. Thirilla would eat Don's pumpernickel bread. Don would drink raw Alta Dena dairy milk and eat butter sandwiches that his dad would bring when Mr. Blair would do the books.
"The snake died and we didn't know what to do with it. So I put it in the car and drove to Bob's Big Boy. There were three girls sitting on a bus stop bench and we threw the snake on the girls' laps. Two of the girls jumped up and started screaming real loud. The other girl stayed on the bench with the snake on her lap. She lost her voice she was screaming so loud. We drove around the block and around the front of Bob's and all three were holding each other and screaming and the snake was in the gutter."
Robison of Vintage Race Car Restoration created the Legends of Speed Motor Sports. Robison, along with another former employee, Eric Vaughn, organized the Blair's Speed Shop 60th anniversary gathering at the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum in Pomona in 2009.
Doug Robinson
Doug Robinson opened Horsepower Engineering in Pasadena by working out of his garage in 1961 and moving to Fulton Avenue in January 1962. Robinson has been in business at that location ever since as a full service performance shop.
"I lived across the street from Don on Sierra Vista Avenue near South Pasadena when I was a kid. Don called me and offered me a job just after I graduated from Wilson High in 1956. I started going to Pasadena City College and worked for Don over the summer and after school. I was a flunky, starting out sweeping the floor, chasing and delivering parts. I worked at Blair's part time at first, and then I had to drop out of school because my dad had died and I had to support myself and my mom.
"Don sent me down to Pasadena City Hall to look up the records to see who owned the property where the shop is now on Daisy and Foothill. Don didn't want to pay the commission to a realtor if he didn't have to. He ended up paying the commission anyway.
"I learned how to weld and began helping in the muffler shop. After a while I was pretty much the lead guy back there. I was at Blair's from 1956-60. I went into the Army in 1960.
"I've tried to run my business like Don ran his. He taught me a lot about business, scruples, common sense, and all. He'd let you have the run of the place after work, you could use the equipment. I built a blower drive there on an old lathe that was used to straighten driveshafts. He'd help you buy parts and give you his opinion. He liked hiring people and teaching them.
"They called him Double Dollar Don—as in taking advantage of people. Anyone who worked for Don will dispute that. A guy would bring in a manifold and sell it to Blair and Don would give him $50 for it. Don would mark it up to a $100 and set it out on the counter. The guy couldn't understand why he couldn't buy it back for $50. That's where the double-dollar came from."
Don "Bushy" Wilson
Don Wilson (who was quite ill and died shortly after my interview), along with his other ventures, was part owner of the Long Beach Swap Meet, as well as a partner in Special Projects Motorsports in Orange, California, after leaving Blair's.
"Blair's was an institution," Wilson stated. "I lived in Pasadena and was a parts driver/counter-person at Blair's. I knew the prices and how to sell parts and did a little work in the back. I'd go to the Sprint Car races with Blair at Ascot Park in Gardena to sell fuel and I got to be in the infield. Blair had the only Offy-powered Sprint Car there. When Danny Roberts took over the motor building, the car ran better and more reliably.
"If you made a mistake Don would take you to the back of the shop and quietly explain to you what you did wrong but stressed to not do it again. He was a gentleman.
"When Don was out buying parts, every pocket of Don's had money in it of different denominations. Depending on what the price of the item, Don would reach into a certain pocket and say, "I only have so much on me". Don was called the hook. He'd get your money by hook or by crook," Wilson chuckled. "But Don gave good value for the money. He was as straight arrow as they come.
"When Super Shops went into business people wouldn't even touch Blair's, but he had the last laugh. When they went out of business, he bought a lot of their inventory. He was real good at buying cheap and selling later."
Those were just a few of the fond remembrances from the guys who worked at Blair's. Don Blair lives in Covina and still supports his much-loved Sprint Car racing.
Blair's is alive and well thanks to owner Phil Lukens during these difficult times. While others claim to be the oldest speed shop—nope, do the math.
And before you think Blair's Speed Shop is some sort of museum stuck in time—it's not. Yes it is scaled down from the past, but you can still get a driveshaft-twistin' motor built plus there's lots of speed equipment on the shelves for sale. Stop in and shop. Experience the place for yourself. You might regain a tiny part of your youth.
The Chevy II
Pete Eastwood: "General Motors sent Don a brand-new 396ci Chevy for the AFX Chevy II in the crate; no one else except the factory had ever seen one, not even the dealers. Mike Hoag fabricated a blower manifold out of aluminum plate, milled it all out, and welded it together because you couldn't buy one. Steve Bovan matched-raced that car all over the United States, including Hawaii."
The Camaro
Pete Eastwood worked at Don Blair's in the early '70s but he knew first-hand about Don's Camaro because he was allowed to accompany Bovan to the drags as a youngster: "It was one of the very first fiberglass flip-top Funny Cars on the West Coast. The whole car was built right there at Blair's Speed Shop. Mike Hoag built the chassis. They bought a brand-new Chevy truck and lengthened the chassis, made a ramp truck out of it, and put a sleeper on it. I remember them bringing the new truck into the speed shop with the cab and chassis and they lengthened the driveshaft, built the ramp bed right at Blair's. Don had a touring Funny Car operation right there out of the speed shop."


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Child 31 is an inspirational short film about the work of Mary's Meals.
It follows our founder and CEO Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow as he travels to our school feeding projects in Malawi, India and Kenya.
Watch, love, share … and help us reach the next child waiting for Mary's Meals.
Arranging a showing is straightforward and it's a great way to generate interest in fundraising work. Get in touch to find out more.


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Rod Rohrich, M.D.
Dallas Plastic Surgeon
Rod J. Rohrich, M.D., F.A.C.S. is an internationally known surgeon, innovative leader and educator in Plastic Surgery. He is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Plastic Surgery at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Holder of the Crystal Charity Ball Distinguished Chair in Plastic Surgery, Holder of the Betty and Warren Woodward Chair in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and recipient of the Rod J. Rohrich, M.D. Distinguished Professorship in Wound Healing and Plastic Surgery. Dr. Rohrich is Board Certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and has a clinical practice at Zale Lipshy University Hospital/UT Southwestern Medical Center and the Tom Landry Sports Center/Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas.
Dr. Rohrich grew up on a ranch in North Dakota and completed his undergraduate and postgraduate education with highest honors at North Dakota State University and the University of North Dakota. He received his medical degree from Baylor University College of Medicine, graduating with high honors. After general surgery and plastic surgery residencies at The University of Michigan Medical Center, he did further training in pediatric plastic surgery at Oxford University in England. Dr. Rohrich completed a hand and microvascular fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. He joined the Division of Plastic Surgery at UT Southwestern in Dallas in 1986.
Dr. Rohrich is a member of the American Association of Plastic Surgeons, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), the Plastic Surgery Research Council, the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS), and the American Society of Maxillofacial Surgeons. He has served as a Director of the American Board of Plastic Surgery (ABPS) and as President of the Dallas Society of Plastic Surgeons and the Texas Society of Plastic Surgeons. Dr. Rohrich is a Founding Member of the Board of Governors of the National Endowment for Plastic Surgery. Dr. Rohrich currently serves as President of the Association of Academic Chairmen of Plastic Surgery.
Dr. Rohrich has also served as President of the ASPS, the largest organization of Board Certified plastic surgeons in the world and is past-member of the Board of Directors of the ASPS, the Plastic Surgery Educational Foundation (PSEF), the ASAPS and the Aesthetic Society Education and Research Foundation (ASERF). He has been active in organized medicine for more than two decades and served as a section chairman within the American Medical Association, an organization with more than 30,000 members. He has chaired over 100 national and international plastic surgery educational symposia. He has served as a Visiting Professor for the two national plastic surgery educational organizations (PSEF and ASAPS) in both aesthetic and reconstructive plastic surgery. He has also been a Visiting Professor to over 150 national and international societies and has delivered more than 1500 scientific presentations on all aspects of plastic surgery.
Dr. Rohrich is a civic leader, having served on the Board of Directors of the March of Dimes, Save the Children – Dallas, Dallas Chapter of the American Cancer Society, the Evergreen Gala Advisory Board which directly benefits the Dallas community breast cancer efforts of the ACS and he is a Founding Member of the Dallas for Children Foundation. Dr. Rohrich and his wife, Dr. Diane L. Gibby, have been Honorary Co-chairs of the Dallas for Children Foundation which assists in early childhood development programs for underprivileged children. He was also responsible for organizing an East Dallas Mobile Health Unit to assist in the immunization of homeless and underprivileged children. Through the Rod J. Rohrich, M.D. Foundation, Dr. Rohrich annually supports a medical student who will practice primary care in his native state of North Dakota. He has performed and taught plastic surgery in Third World countries, specifically reconstructing severely burned and congenitally deformed children.
Dr. Rohrich has been the recipient of numerous prestigious national research, teaching, and distinguished service awards during his academic career in plastic surgery. As an innovative educator and scientist, he holds a patent on a new breast implant and has developed educational models for bringing emerging technology to plastic surgeons. He is Editor-in-Chief of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the leading and most prestigious journal in the world for plastic surgeons, and an editor for Selected Readings in Plastic Surgery, a supplement to the teaching curriculum of plastic surgery training programs in the United States and thirty-eight foreign countries. Dr. Rohrich's interests span the entire spectrum of plastic surgery from craniomaxillofacial surgery to aesthetic surgery (rhinoplasty, breast surgery, and body contouring). He has published more than 600 peer review articles and 50 chapters in plastic surgery, ranging from cosmetic surgery to craniofacial surgery. He has published five textbooks in plastic surgery ranging from rhinoplasty, craniomaxillofacial trauma, secondary rhinoplasty and ultrasound-assisted liposuction. He has been included as one of the Best Doctors in Dallas since 2000, Super Doctors in Texas since 2005, Best Doctors in America since 1996, Who's Who in America since 1993, Best Doctors in America by Good Housekeeping Magazine, and named a Notable North Dakotan in 1998. He and his wife have two children.
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I bet many of our ParentLife readers have led their children through Truth in the Tinsel at Christmastime, haven't you? It's an ebook from our friend, blogger Amanda White, that helps you create an ornament with your child for 25 days in December – while talking about the Advent Scriptures.
This year, Amanda released an ebook called A Sense of the Resurrection. In it, she leads parents and teachers to guide their children through 12 experiences helping the little ones grasp the meaning of Easter. As Amanda says, it's not as easy as Christmas. Parents are scared of telling their kids about blood, sin, crucifixion, murder. But as Christ's resurrection is the absolute central truth of our faith, it's important to start teaching it to children as early as possible.
A former children's minister for a large church, Amanda is well-equipped to help parents through these sensitive topics. The projects she describes are to do as a family and most will decorate your home for the Easter season (a canvas, an incense jar, etc.). Children will use their five senses to experience the Holy Week and Christ's crucifixion, burial, and resurrection.
We've long been a fan of Amanda's work and featured her in ParentLife and HomeLife magazines. I do not believe you will regret for a second spending the few dollars to purchase this book and work through it with your children!
This post was not sponsored, nor will we make any money if you buy it through these links. Just wanted to bring the resource to your attention!


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how come there is not any website for the traxxas 6amp charger and dose it come with a true lipo balencer
try amainhobbies they have it (not in stock) not sure about specs though and it should be a complete charger with lipo balancer built in. its blue from what the pic looks like.
Living life.
I beleive its available in dec.
Looks like Towers has it in stock.
its in the traxxas product page now under chargers to see the specs on it. tower has this at 103 with a bit much for it only having 6amps max but what can you say it has a excellent warranty through traxxas. looking at getting something a little cheaper in the future for lipo's not too sure though. nice charger though.
Living life.
Just got mine last Friday. I'm pretty new to this stuff, just basic 9.6V NiCd's in the past. Seems to be working fine. Charged my son's 7.2v NiMH for his Grave Digger and I'm charging my two 8.4's today for my Emaxx. Lipo's coming after X-mas for it. Makes a weird noise when the fan first starts up for about 15-20 sec., like it's warming up/checking things?!? Charging at a low rate just to get them fully charged. Chris
FLM EMBE P4de "Digger" Slash MT Backsl4sh Summit
Post a video (audio) of the "weird noise."
Alt-248 on the number pad = °
I will try at lunch with my Iphone. It's like a GRR, pause, GRR pause, over and over, about 10 times, each time the fan seems to start to work then pause. At 20 sec, it's all fan, no issues after, sounds fine. Only does it at the first start up/plug in of the day. When I did the second battery, it didn't do it. So after it's done charging one of the batteries this morning, it might not do it this afternoon. Chris
FLM EMBE P4de "Digger" Slash MT Backsl4sh Summit
Does it sound anything like this?
Note: this is NOT a Traxxas charger.
Alt-248 on the number pad = °
Yes, exactly like that, especially the GRR sound and pause. Only does it when it sits for a while. If I use it to multiple batteries in a row, won't do it again. Reason I have posted a sound bite of it yet. Is that sound bad? Chris
FLM EMBE P4de "Digger" Slash MT Backsl4sh Summit
This charger usually does it about 6 to 10 times in a row. Then it's fine until it sits. It did not do this when new. I attribute the sound to the fan going bad, but you should contact Traxxas Support and ask them what they think.
Alt-248 on the number pad = °
Thanks, it did it from the first time I plugged it in. I'll call and see what they say. Thanks!
FLM EMBE P4de "Digger" Slash MT Backsl4sh Summit
The fan for my Mamba monster does the same thing. The bushings in the fan are dry or dirty. Since it is new, best thing is to contact Traxxas about it.
4wd Sportmaxx 3.3
E-Revo - Mamba Monster - Neu 4s
It's an 80watt 3s max special, but it plugs into the wall!
I have just the same charger (but sold under an other name: SkyRC e6680) And i have just the same issue as you have, (only the first time i Charge a battery after plugging the charger in, 10sec, then fan stabilize an works just fine, no problem when the charge is done and then charge an other battery...
Can jou please tell me if your problem is solved or if this is normal...


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Good morning. Here's what you need to know.
- Asian markets were higher in overnight trading with the Nikkei up 2.86 percent on reports that the central bank and ministry of Finance are talking about cooperating more on policy. The Shanghai Composite was up 1.41 percent. Europe is mixed. And the U.S. is lower early in the trading session.
- Chinese Q4 GDP beat expectations rising 7.9 percent year-over-year (YoY). Bank of America's Ting Lu wrote that policymakers are unlikely to change stimulus. Industrial production in December was up 10.3 percent YoY. This added to signs that the economy is recovering. The 5 Chinese economic indicators that experts trust >
- China also released its 2012 fixed asset investment (FAI) readingwhich came in at 20.6 percent. This is being boosted by Beijing's plans to speed up urbanization. Meanwhile, retail sales were up 15.2 percent. Electricity consumption was up 5.5 percent on the year.
- General Electric fourth quarter profits were up 7.5 percent beating expectations. The company reported earnings of $0.38 per share, on revenue of $39.33 billion. This reflects CEO Jeff Immelt's focus on the energy equipment business. The 22 most controversial stocks in America >
- 53 percent of Americans think the failure to extend the debt limit, and a resulting default, will leave the country facing a major economic crisis, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll. Meanwhile, Republican leaders have said the may temporarily extend the debt limit to avoid default. Dylan Grice: Here are 22 books everyone must read >
- In more earnings news, Schlumberger beat expectations when it reported Q4 earnings of $1.08 per share, on revenue of $11.17 billion. Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley beat expectations reporting Q4 profit of $0.45 per share ex-accounting charges.
- UK retail sales declined 0.1 percent month-over-month, but were up 0.3 percent on the year. This missed expectations of a 0.2 percent monthly rise, and year-over-year rise of one percent.
- 22 foreign hostages in Sahara were unaccounted for on Friday, according to Reuters. Meanwhile, their captors have threatened to attack energy installations after Algerian forces entered a desert gas station to free hundreds of captives.
- In a 90-minute interview with Oprah last night, Lance Armstrong's confessed that he started cheating in the mid-1990s, and took EPO - a performance enhancing drug, blood transfusions, and testosterone. He also denied former teammate Tyler Hamilton's story that he tested positive at the 2001 Tour de Suisse and covered it up.
- Bonus - Emma Stone told W magazine that the undergarments she had to wear in The Gangster Squad were "demanding" but made her "more poised".
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Irasburg, VT
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