text:
Will the election of a new Pope help or hurt Archbishop Romero's canonization? Arguably, the death of Blessed John Paul II in April 2005, when Archbishop Romero's cause seemed to be on the verge of a breakthrough, followed by what some perceived as Pope Benedict's decision to put the brakes on the Vatican's "sainthood factory," may have stopped the momentum of Romero's cause. Eight years later, a conclave that begins on the anniversary of the death of Fr. Rutilio Grande, to produce a new Pontiff whose first Mass may be on the 33rd anniversary of Archbishop Romero's martyrdom, could potentially set up another game-changer. The papal transition will impact the Romero canonization cause in three ways.First, in the immediate term, the resignation of Pope Benedict triggered an administrative suspension of all the work of the Vatican bureaucracies, including the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith—the two Roman institutions currently working on Archbishop Romero's cause. During the sede vacante—the period during which there is no pope—all major work by the Vatican's agencies that would require papal approval grind to a halt. In fact, the heads of the CCS and CDF are technically separated from their posts during the interregnum. In the case of the head of the CCS, Card. Angelo Amato will turn 75 in June. This is the mandatory retirement age for Catholic bishops, and it is unclear whether His Eminence would return to his job to finish out his term, or whether the new Pontiff will simply wait to appoint a new Prefect. Some perceive that officials will not simply be sent back to their posts, as a matter of course, because of the need to examine and, if need be, reform, the functioning of the Vatican Curiae.
Second, in the intermediate term and in general, the election of a new pope can operate to reboot Vatican operations, resulting in different energies flowing into particular projects, including a specific canonization cause. As noted above, we saw how the papal transition from John Paul to Benedict—and the associated shift in priorities from John Paul's emphasis on creating saints to Benedict's emphasis on revitalizing Europe's Christian traditions—seemed to sap the energy from Romero's cause. The coming transition, with its attendant shifts in policy focus, and even personnel, will invariably impact Romero's cause. For example, we wait to find out whether Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, the postulator of Romero's cause, will retain his time-consuming role as President of the Pontifical Council on the Family (the equivalent of a cabinet job in a secular government) and whether he will be made a cardinal, which he appeared on track to be under Pope Benedict. His fate will impact the cause.Third, and most importantly, the papal election process will make a difference in terms of who is elected pope. For example, Prof. Mike Allison of the Univ. of Scranton, points out that the selection of a Latin American might speed up the Romero canonization. Super Martyrio has analyzed the backgrounds and profiles of 32 cardinals widely considered to be papabili, at least by the press, and has concluded that, of these, twelve could be favorably inclined to accelerate Romero's beatification, while seven others might be inclined to keep the status quo (the remainder were toss-ups). The most favorably inclined for Romero in our analysis were Ghana's Peter Turkson—whom Irish bookmakers favor 11-4 to win (but is much less favorably regarded by Vatican insiders); Honduras' Oscar Rodriguez; and Italy's Gianfranco Ravasi. At least nine other prelates currently thought to be contenders ended up in our plus column, which means that there is a fair chance that the new pope will be even more favorably inclined towards Romero's canonization than Pope Benedict had been.
Therefore, there is reason to think Archbishop Romero's cause will fare better under the new pope. First, the disruption of the sede vacante, though routine and largely benign, could produce new leadership at the CCS (the other relevant agency, the CDF, already is headed by the Romero-friendly Prefect Gerard Muller). Second, the transition will refocus priorities and, given that Romero's cause had gone into sleep mode in the last few years, any shake-up can only be positive. Finally, the chances of getting a pope who will want to expedite Romero's beatification process also seem promising. To be clear, we do not expect the new Pope to walk into the CCS the day after he is elected and proclaim Óscar Romero a saint. Any positive impact would be very subtle. But, as Fr. Daniel Ols, the relator of Romero's cause told NCR's John Allen in 2003, "If the Holy Father wants things to accelerate, they speed up."


text:
Next Event:
Solo Committee Meeting 12/10/2019 7:00:00 PM Santa Fe Haciendas 2nd Tuesday of every month. Check help page for location.
Northwest Region
Sports Car Club of America
The beauty of
motorsports is that there is so much more to do than drive or
watch. Within our organization, there are dozens of ways you can
Explore the venues we offer with the buttons above or our general region information as a whole, via the buttons below.
In either case...
Copyright © 2008 NWR SCCA. |
Region Home |
Solo |
Race |
Rally |
RallyCross |
Time Trials |

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The Proposal
November 21, 2015
Long ago, Kyle decided on Mt. Diablo as the location to ask Amy to marry him. It has been a big part of their relationship- first "pre-date" (ya, it's a thing), trips up when it snowed, hiking, biking, etc. The only trick- how to get Amy there without raising her suspicions (A while back, Kyle hinted to Amy that she would be engaged before she turned 26. Her 26th birthday was in December…)
The week of November 21st, Kyle casually asks Amy if she wants to go out to dinner with his parents on Saturday after picking them up from a hike on Mt. Diablo and afterwards, they would all go out to dinner. She looks at him with that look only women can give their significant others (the "are you f-ing kidding me look"). One "minor" detail of this story- Amy and Kyle were hosting their first Thanksgiving for 32 people in about a week.
Kyle convinces her that it would be an early dinner and they would be back by 8 PM. He also adds that they can "take their Christmas card photo" while they are up there *wink wink*. She hesitantly agrees, thinking 2.5 hours away from home would be fine.
That Saturday, in the midst of the Thanksgiving prepping chaos, Kyle mentions to Amy that they have to leave at 3:30 PM to pick up his parents. Kyle wanted to make it up to the summit for sunset.
[insert Amy's mini freak-out moment]
Amy tells Kyle that he should just go pick up his parents and go to dinner. She has too much to get done but he should at least spend some time with them. Kyle spends 30 minutes convincing her to go.
At around 3:00 PM, Amy starts stressing out again and tells Kyle there is no way she can go.
[insert Kyle's mini freak-out moment]
For some reason, Kyle won't let it go and starts getting oddly stressed out ;). Kyle actually sneaks outside at some point to call his mom and Amy's mom to ask for advice. Eventually, Kyle convinces Amy to go but realizes that he would have to nix the "Christmas card photoshoot" (originally planned to capture the moment), along with making it all the way to the summit by sunset.
Fast forward to Kyle and Amy barreling up Mt. Diablo. About half-way to the summit, Kyle tells Amy that this is the meeting spot, and they should "take a quick picture" while waiting for his parents. Luckily, a car pulls off right behind Kyle and Amy because their car had overheated. Kyle asks the couple to take his and Amy's photo. After the photo, Amy runs to the car to grab her jacket. Meanwhile, Kyle quickly inconspicuously explains the situation and asks the couple to record the proposal. Upon Amy's return, Kyle tells her that the first photo didn't come out well so they are retaking the photo.
Kyle and Amy pose for the photo, but Kyle starts talking to Amy. Amy laughs and tells Kyle he is being rude because the lady is supposed to take the photo (and he's talking). Kyle continues to talk and asks Amy when was their first trip up to Mt. Diablo. She explains that it was about a month before they started dating, and Kyle interjects that that trip was when he knew he wanted to be with her. And then…
After a lot of crying (Amy) and the obvious acceptance of the proposal, Kyle and Amy head over to his parents' house because "they are all going out to celebrate." When they arrive, Amy opens their door only to have Kyle's family and her family jump out to surprise her, yet again!


text:
"The only talk must be of ceasefires and peace, and the safety and rights of ordinary people must be the urgent top priority."
By Jeremy Hobbs, Executive Director, Oxfam International
Two days ago an Oxfam employee living in Gaza risked a desperate drive from his house to find some fresh food for his four young children. There is no fruit or meat and little milk in Gaza now, but he found a few expensive vegetables. And then, because of ongoing bombing and bullet fire, he had to drive around and around the streets near his house, because a parked car is a sitting target until, in the briefest of lulls, he could dash into his home to his terrified family.
Oxfam has had to suspend much of its work within Gaza including one of its largest programs – assisting 65,000 people – for security reasons, though a number of Oxfam partners continue to carry out essential work against impossible odds. UN food aid, relied on by 80% of the Gazan population of 1.5 million, has been severely disrupted for the last week because of the bombing.
Gaza's civilian population has already borne the brunt of an increasingly severe blockade for the last 18 months, impeding access to a wide range of goods and supplies and making it hard for people to move freely in and out of Gaza. It has been a form of collective punishment illegal under international humanitarian law yet tolerated by the international community.
Now with the ground incursion on the back of a week-long bombing campaign a critical humanitarian situation has become a desperate one. One local Oxfam staff member in Gaza describes power blackouts, people trapped in their homes by the violence – cold, with windows open so they are not blown in by bombs, children screaming in the night.
Lack of fuel is one of the major problems, shutting the Gaza power plant and leaving many people without power for most of the day. Bombing has also damaged power lines and energy-generating infrastructure. Without fuel and power, pumps for wells and water sanitation will increasingly go out of action. Hospitals overwhelmed by casualties are desperately working with back-up generators – if they crash (through overuse or when fuel stocks finally end), desperation will become devastation.
It is way past time for both Israel and Hamas to renounce violence and to respect the rights of ordinary people. The vulnerable civilians of Gaza, including thousands of children, urgently need an immediate and permanent ceasefire strictly implemented by both sides.
EU and other politicians talk of possible 'humanitarian pauses'- to a clear negative response so far from the Israeli side. Any pause in hostilities must be welcome; its rejection is gravely disappointing. But a brief cessation of hostilities on its own cannot relieve the increasingly critical situation for ordinary people in Gaza.
They are mostly dependent on regular food aid and are reeling from a week of bombing. They cannot be supplied adequately with cooking fuel or food stocks in a 'pause' from attacks of a day or two. Nor can overwhelmed hospitals create more bed space, or give proper treatment to the injured, in the before more dead and injured arrive at their doors. Nor can children go back to school for two days only to then cower frightened at home, nor can the serious work begin of tackling the psychological damage that many civilians suffer in war.
A ceasefire must be combined with a lifting of the blockade so Gazan civilians have access to a wide range of supplies, not just the restricted food, medicines and basic goods that were being allowed through before the bombing started. Humanitarian workers need to be able to work freely in the Gaza Strip without risking their own lives.
Much greater pressure needs to be put on both Israel and Hamas. International players, especially the UN, but also the EU, League of Arab States and others should be engaged in rapid and urgent shuttle diplomacy in the region, engaging intensively to get both to a short run ceasefire and to serious longer term peace talks.
We need an immediate UN security council resolution condemning both the disproportionate use of force by the Israeli government and indiscriminate rocket attacks by Hamas. It should demand an immediate, comprehensive and permanent truce and an end to the blockade, allowing access for humanitarian and commercial goods, and for people too.
There must be no business as usual in international politics in the Middle East until Gazans have a chance to eat, drink and move around with some degree of normalcy, not cower in their homes wondering if and how they will survive. The only talk must be of ceasefires and peace, and the safety and rights of ordinary people must be the urgent top priority.


text:
Poor Shawn Ryan. He's clearly a talented show runner, and the mind behind many of the best shows of the last decade, but since The Shield, the man just can't catch a break. The Unit, Lie to Me, Chicago Code, Terriers and Last Resort were all cancelled, the last three never made it past 13 episodes. So what's a guy to do to insulate himself from early cancellation? He's taken two different approaches for the 2012-2013 season, and both seem fairly cancellation proof: First, he's developing a Beverly Hills Cop television show, centered on the son of Axel Foley (Brandon T. Jackson) for CBS. Damn near everything on CBS does well, and with built-in name recognition, how could that go wrong? It'll probably be a tepid procedural, but it'll run for 8 seasons.
The other thing? He's developing a show for HBO, which will air a show for years as long as its fetches awards and prestige for the network, ratings be damned.
Ryan, along with Ron Fitzgerald — his Last Resort co-creator and exec producer — are developing a show called Badlands. According to Deadline, the show will explore "the challenges and joys of love and family, as well as the struggles of living in the blue-collar mining town of Tar River, Wyo, that's fighting for its life during this economic hardship."
That sounds very … HBO-y, which is to say: No one will watch the first four seasons and HBO will pull the plug on it right about the time that everyone starts tuning it, leaving us with a stubbed boner that will smart for years to come. Right Deadwood? C**ksucker.
The good news is, with so many talented people on former Shawn Ryan shows, there's a huge pool of character actors with which to pool for casting Badlands. I hope he starts with Jason Clarke and Michael Raymond-James, and FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, find a place for Laura Allen.


text:
This review has been sitting a long long time in the drafts section since I got "busy with other things" (lame excuse for being lazy). Let me try to get this out before the technology itself becomes extinct. But before we get into the actual review, lets get some basics right.
What is a DashCam/Car Camera/Vehicle Video Black-box?
DashCam is an emerging technology specifically developed to record and store the events while driving. A Dash Cam is designed to sit inside your car and automatically start recording the view through the windscreen once you start the car and stop recording after a predetermined time once you stop the car/engine. The main intention behind having a Dash Cam is recording any traffic incidents and using it as a video evidence, but its use is practically unlimited. Storage of the video is usually done to an internal non-volatile memory like SD cards.
Even though these cameras are usually mounted to windscreens to capture driver's view of the road, nothing prevents you from using it for other views. At some point of time, I was running four video black boxes in my car for evaluation purposes. There are Black-boxes which can record from multiple sources/views as well.
Now that some basics has been laid, lets go through some desirable car camera features next.
Typical Car Camera Features:
- Automatic Start/Stop: Start recording when key is inserted, Stop recording after a certain duration once vehicle is OFF.
- Loop Recording: 1-X minute segments. Once the storage media is full, the oldest segment is deleted.
- Seamless Video: Good dashcams exhibit no loss of video between video segments but in cheaper dash cams, a few seconds of video is lost between the segments.
- G-Sensor: Some times called a Gravity sensor or just a shock sensor. It is used to detect and trigger recording or marking events like accidents. Good G-Sensors can detect various levels of acceleration and deceleration, Jerks or violent swerves and trigger accordingly. Good cameras even offer video lock on G-Sensor trigger for later review. In Indian road scenarios an adjustable G-Sensor Sensitivity is highly desired to cater for our moon-surface road conditions!.
- Motion Detection: Useful when the car is parked. Records videos whenever motion is detected in the vicinity of the car. This often requires Non-Switched Power to be supplied to the camera but even some works on backup battery for a finite amount of time. Good Dashcam models will employ power management to ensure that the vehicle battery is not drained beyond accepatabvle levels during long storage periods.
- Battery backup: Its highly desirable to have a camera with some sort of power backup. It could be an internal battery or a SuperCap providing a few tens of seconds of storage for gracious File-Write of the last video segment and then shut-down.
- GPS: Supports Accurate Position and Speed log, provides accurate clock timing and GPS Route storage for later review.
- WDR: Wide Dynamic Range (WDR) is an attribute of an imaging system that records greater scene details from shadows to highlights than normal systems without WDR. This is all the more important in DashCams since they are naturally subjected to a myriad of lighting conditions.
Apart from the above desirable features, there are a few basic things to lookout while selecting a Dash Camera.
- Image Sensors & Native Resolution: I'd suggest 720p minimum. Ensure that the sensors have 720p or better as their native resolution. Low quality DashCams tend to quote upscaled and interpolated resolutions - be ultra careful there. There are a variety of sensors as well: CCD/CMOS/ExMOR...Each has its own merits and demerits. More on this later...
- View Angle: Its desired to have a very wide angle lens, but the wider you go, the larger the fish-eye lens effect.
- Encoding: H.264 MPEG-4/AVC Recording is highly desired. Cheaper dash cams tend to use MJPEG which tends to produce very blocky videos.
- Night Vision IR LEDs - Useless under most conditions. The power from the LEDs are simply not enough for any sensible night illumination.
- Memory Card - Most good cams support SDHC cards which are getting cheaper by the day. Look for feature that can format the card inside the camera which is quite helpful and desired.
- Viewfinder: It is desirable to have an optical or LCD view finder for the camera. Helps while setting up and later for quick review during playback.
- Size/Weight Considerations - Smaller the size, the higher the covertness (if desired). Also lighter cameras tend to handle vibrations a lot better than heavier cameras.
- Thermal Considerations: Indian weather conditions are not very forgiving. Select cameras which offers the widest operational and storage temperature range.
'Nuff with the boring theory - Let's see some wares!
Livue LB100 HD Vehicle Drive Recorder
Quick Identifiers
What came in the box! - Package Contents
- Instruction Manual - It's in Korean and some parts in Korean-English!
- Ball-Type Windscreen Mount
- Livue LB100 Camera
- Micro SD Card and SD Card Adapter
- 12V Power Lead - 4m long and plugs into the cigarette lighter socket
Optional Accessories
* 6. Permanent Wiring Lead
* 7. Composite Video Out Cable
* 8. Windscreen Mount with GPS
Different Mounts (GPS mount is optional)


text:
I have prepared this Recipe Site Map for your convenience. If you would like to have an Old Fashioned Recipe that you don't see here, please contact me with your request via the "Contact Me" link bottom of Navbar.
How To Make Self-Rising
Applesauce Cake
Applesauce Muffins
Bacardi Rum
Boston Cream Pie
Carrot Cake
Cheese Cake
$100.00 Chocolate
Chocolate Dirt Cake
Chocolate Pound Cake
Cocoa Cake
Devils Food Cake
Fresh Apple
German Chocolate
Italian Cream
Lady Baltimore
Lemon Bundt
Old Fashioned Sour Cream
Pound Cake w/Glaze
Old Fashioned Chocolate
Pound Cake W/Fudge Frosting
One Two Three Four
Orange Coconut
Pineapple Layer Cake
Pineapple Coconut Sheet
Pineapple Upside Down Cake
Pumpkin Roll Cake
Punch Bowl Cake
Red Velvet W/Cream Cheese
Sour Cream Coffee Cake
Sponge Cake
Texas Sheet Cake
Vanilla Layer Cake
Candy Creams
Dipping Chocolate
Fish (Cod)
Green Bean
Italian Chicken
Scalloped Potatoes
Tuna Casserole
BBQ Chicken
Bisquick Chicken Pot Pie
Chicken a La King
Chicken Alfredo
Chicken And Dumplings
Chicken Divan
Chicken Livers
Chicken Risotto
Chicken Tenders
Roast Chicken
Smothered Chicken
Baby Ruth
Chocolate Brownies
Chocolate Chip Cookies
No Bake Cookies
No Bake Oatmeal
Old Fashioned Oatmeal
Spry Christmas Cookies
Vanilla Wafers
Chili Beans
Hot Dog Chili
Shepherd's Pie
Sloppy Joes
Stuffed Bell Peppers
Swedish Meatballs
... Holiday continued
Fantastic Jalapeno Dip
Banana Fruitcake
Holiday Punch Recipes
No Bake Fruitcake
Orange Slice Cake
Cranberry Jello Salad
Jello Dessert
Potato (Latkes)
Homemade Noodles
Italian Lasagna
Macaroni Tuna Salad
Old Fashioned Macaroni And Cheese
Cherry Cobbler
Chocolate Pudding Pie
Coconut Cream
Easy Apple Pie
Egg Custard
Flaky Pie Crust
Key Lime
Lemon Cream and Lemon
Lime Yogurt
Old Fashioned Blackberry Cobbler
Peach Cobbler
Pear Cobbler with Apples
Pineapple Ice Cream Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Strawberry Yogurt
Banana Split Pie (Chocolate Banana)
Butterscotch Made Easy
Chocolate Trifle
Old Fashioned Banana
Plum Pudding
Blue Cheese and Port Wine
Homemade French
Italian Dressing
Deviled Egg
Italian Pasta
Pea Salad
Potato Salad
Quick and Easy Fruit
Seven Layer
Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry
Brussel Sprouts
Candied Yams Recipe
Creamy Corn Chowder
Old Fashioned Cornbread Dressing
Oven Baked Pot Roast
Oven Baked Steak
Thank you for visiting
Old Fashioned Recipes Site Map.
Oct 20, 19 02:19 PM
Red Velvet Cake recipe with Cream Cheese Frosting makes three layers of a delicious old fashioned cake from scratch, using a minimum amount of food coloring.
Oct 20, 19 02:19 PM
Red Velvet Cake recipe with Cream Cheese Frosting makes three layers of a delicious old fashioned cake from scratch, using a minimum amount of food coloring.


text:
QVC is hosting Easy Does It Day! You'll be able to purchase any product for 5 or more Easy Payments. This offer is only available for June 11th and will end at 11:59 PM ET.
Budget Friendly Reminder: Don't forget to sign up to Ebates to earn 2.5% cashback or sign up to Mr. Rebates to earn 4% cashback on your entire QVC.com order.


text:
Downtime is expensive and easy to calculate. Resilient IT takes advantage of redundant architecture and other measures to minimize downtime and ensure business continuity. Priority response means we are there quickly when you need us.
Resilient businesses gain greater insight into the responsive and preventative work done on their behalf each time they receive a comprehensive monthly report.


text:
I know the end of a semester can be anything but pleasant. There are exams to study for and term papers to finish and that midnight rant on RateMyProfessors.com to worry about. But it doesn't have to be that way!
The Learning Centers and Reading and Writing Studios (located in the libraries on South and Center campuses) invite you to celebrate the end of the semester with some sweet treats and a side of stress relief this coming Wednesday and Thursday, May 4 and 5.
On Wednesday, you will find gummy bears, baked goods and help with those MLA and APA guidelines to counter any end-of-the-semester anxiety. On Thursday, coffee and a PB&J bar (build it yourself) are sure to lift your spirits, as well as your blood sugar levels, with a citation doctor on duty to help with last minute touches to that A+ paper. Both days, there will coloring books, origami and raffles to calm any pre-exam nerves.
And don't worry, there's no way your professor will know that rant was you.


text:
Youtuber SinJerome was just trying to play some Call of Duty - when someone on his team abused the team mic functionality to sing ALL of Coldplay's "Fix You" (see the above prologue he added to the video above). SinJerome was about to mute him when he decided to let the man keep singing - and added the backing music to the video after the match was over. The final effect is...strangely beautiful. All this death, all this suffering...with a lovely Coldplay song about love and hope and commitment.
Check it out:


text:
I've toyed with the idea of toy-making for a while, without actually taking the plunge and making anything. But what about my Owl pyjama-case? Well, I'm choosing not to count him as a toy, but as storage solution. Which means that when I see him about the bedroom, he represents tidiness rather than clutter.
Who knew that an orderly life could be achieved so easily?
(If only I could find a similar solutions for every other room in the house.)
Meanwhile, here's what I did to make him...
His size was dictated by the size of my fabric. I folded it in half, and cut a piece of paper to match.
Then I folded the paper lengthways, and drew in one half of the owl pattern. The top of his head was a horizontal line starting at right-angles to the folded edge, curving up slightly at the end for the tufts of his ears. Owl's body was formed with a long 'J' shape from the point of his ears down to meet the fold again at right angles - just visible on the next photo.
I opened out the pattern to give my owl template, and cut out one front piece from the main fabric, and one from the fleece lining fabric.
Then I cut two back pieces from the main fabric and two from the fleece, using the template folded in half lengthways (as it was originally drawn).
The pieces so far:
Next Owl needed some features. First of all, a tummy piece which doubled as a pouch (surely that should come in useful sometime***?). I folded the pattern piece top-to-bottom, leaving a crease across the middle....
... and used that crease a a template to cut the tummy piece, placing the folded line of the pattern on the folded edge of the fabric, so the only raw edges were on the outside curve.
Now Owl needed some wings. I drew a wing, as above, and cut it out with added seam allowances to the inner edges - the outer edge already had a seam allowance included. Then top of the wing needs to be above the line of the tummy / pocket, so that it can be sewn down later on.
I used my wing template to cut two wing pieces in three different fabrics: front, back and a fleece middle layer to give the wings some plumpness.
Next, Owl needed some big round eyes. I used a glass to draw my circle, and then backed it with Bondaweb ready to applique onto Owl's face later on.
On to Owl's feet. I drew a three-toed foot using the outer edge of the body template as a guide...
... and then cut the foot template out with a 1cm seam allowance added on all around, and used it to cut a front and back piece for each foot.
The pieces so far: pocket/pouch (seen unfolded here); body - front and back in outer fabric and fleece lining; feet - front and back; wings (each of those pieces is cut as a double layer); and two eyes, both backed with bondaweb.
Have you spotted that Owl has no beak? His original triangular beak (seen here when I was playing with the pattern pieces) didn't work out quite right.
Instead the beak pieces needed to be shaped like a diamond with one point missing - as seen here:
Time to put it all together at last!
First I folded my pocket piece in half with wrong sides together, and edge-stitched across the top.
Then I stitched it in place, and ironed the eyes in place as well.
For Owl's feet, I cut out the actual foot pattern piece (leaving only the seam allowance where it would attach to the body)...
... and used it as a template to sew together my foot pieces, right sides together, leaving the top edge open.
Then I trimmed the seam allowances, turned the feet right-side-out...
... and added a little bit of polyester stuffing to make them squidgy.
I pinned and stitched them in place on Owl's bottom edge.
I pinned the wing pieces together, with the right sides of the patterned fabrics facing each other, and stitched around the curved edges, leaving the straight top edges open.
Then I trimmed the seam allowances, and turned them right-side out.
I edge-stitched the wings in position, leaving room for seam allowances on the front body piece.
Then I stitched the two beak pieces together, leaving the top open...
... folded the open top seam inside, and added just a whisper of stuffing...
... before stitching Owl's beak onto his face across its top (open) edge.
I spent a long, long time choosing buttons for Owl's eyes, and then added a running stitch around the bondaweb/applique pieces.
Hooray: front piece done!
(I had an interlude for tea and biscuits to celebrate.)
Now for the back. I thought that Owl might see some rough handling in his life, so I reinforced the zip at the top and bottom with scraps of the floral fabric from his pouch. I simply folded these and placed them over the ends of the zip, with the folded edge inwards.
Then I sandwiched the zip between one of the back pieces and one of the back lining pieces, right sides together, stitched and pressed, and did the same for the other side.
Back piece done!
I put the decorated front piece on top of the back, with their right sides facing each other, and
then placed the front lining piece on top...
... pinned all the way around the edge, being very careful not to catch the wings...
...and stitched it all together.
Turned and pressed: ta-dah!
Here's Owl in action - filled with pyjamas and looking plump and cuddly. He's been used every day since he was made, has survived the washing machine, and has been out for a bath-time playdate with toothbrush and toothpaste in his pouch (see *** above).
Son #1 likes him, and has requested a bear. How shall I do that?


text: Prior to the 2018 season, Middletown coach Bill Foltmer said that he felt it could be the year in which an NCL team broke through to re-capture a section title. After a pair of losses during league play, it was indeed his Mustangs which defeated Salesian for the NCS Division V title. [read more]


text:
One thought on "Poetry"
Hi my name is dianne its so nice to read your blog here, im also a filipina who dream to travel around the world if ever have the chance. I been to many country as well and start in south east asia and some part of china and midle east and even in australia. The feelings when you finaly achieve one of your dream is really amazing and good acomplisment.
Hope we can be friends and share some tips on each other journey.


text:
Silverstone GP meeting 13th & 14th June 2015
For any amendments we might have missed on this website.. check out MSVR
SR's Issue ONE SL GP 13-14 06 15
Timetable 13 14 June 2015 Silverstone GP Issue ONE
Final Instructions SIL 13_14 June Issue ONE
Please note the races will be ROLLING STARTS.
Also, for qualifying we will attempt to line the cars up in assembly in class groups to maximise the qualifying 'spread' (at least for the first few laps).
Friday testing still available at Silverstone
Our Chief Clerk of Course has asked for our cooperation and support regarding track limits this coming weekend at Silverstone. The event will run to MSA regulations regarding track limits and these MUST be adhered to by competitors.
Silverstone are preparing for the British Grand Prix in just a few weeks and will not tolerate abuse of these regulations.
Individual competitors will be dealt with according to MSA regulations but in the event that non compliance becomes excessive there is the option to stop the session.
Each briefing will underline this point.
HERE! Entry list V3 HERE! ... ....
Anyone who is forced to withdraw, please advise MAC and Monoposto ASAP so that a reserve might be offered a place.
The codes are for admin and indicate how we have or will collect payment.
Reserves are indicated by the R... numbers
We could potentially qualify with all the reserves (limit is 20% extra reserves on track at one time)
On recent form, a reserve prepared to take the gamble of getting a race and attending the event would 'probably' get that race... that means potential bad news for one competitor could become good news for a reserve - that is motorsport. Reminder.. get your 3 laps in during qualifying!!
Reserve procedure.
We don't run pre-qualifying (not considered fair at our level of racing) so the procedure is:
- We only know for certain how many entries we have at close of business 3 days before the event (that is the result of our very member friendly entry/cancellation policy which in this case proves less friendly to reserves) but will be asking people to be nice and let us know really early if they are pulling out.
- Anyone attending as a confirmed entrant is 'IN' and anyone attending as a reserve is... a 'RESERVE'!
- We can run with 20% extra cars in qualifying than in the race (MSA rules)... one time at Silverstone there were more than 20% reserves and Simon obtained permission to run more reserves in total but not on track at the same time.
- Reserves who run in qualifying are still reserves after qualifying, irrespective of the time they set (even if they set pole time!), but must have set their 3 laps at least to be considered to enter the race.
- If any cars then withdraw (mechanical or accident) we let in the reserves who have 'qualified' in reserve order (order the entries were received).
- Even if they aren't officially in as the grid is formed, the remaining reserves can wait at the pitlane and if cars fail on the parade lap or right at the start, the Clerk of Course can opt to let them join the race.
- Reserves who only qualify but don't race get an 85% refund from the Club (Monoposto policy, not anything to do with MSA)
- Get 3 laps in..
- Get 3 laps in.....
- Get 3 laps in........


text:
always thought that was kinda funny but it was only when i remembered it this morning upon waking up in an empty hotel room — jw had an early flight, mine doesn't leave until 2 — and realizing that this would be my last chance to lounge lazily in bed with the internet in my lap for god knows how long that i fully understood just how gd funny it actually was. peace and quiet! rarer than diamonds, more precious than gold! I HAVE SOME. two more hours of it. tomorrow i will be awakened at six a.m. by a little girl holding a book in my face and insistently making a sound like scooby doo going "hmmm?" which of course is pretty much the greatest thing ever. but it makes you appreciate the peace and quiet.
tour ended up being great. tour of hotel lobby xmas trees. hibernation time for mountain goats now.


text:
ASUS B250 Mining Expert, Socket-1151
World's First 19-Slot Mining Motherboard
Max out your megahash rates!
ASUS B250 Mining Expert is the world's first mining motherboard to feature 19 PCI Express (PCIe) slots. With 18 PCIe x1 and one PCIe x16 slots on board, plus three zoned ATX12V power connectors, B250 Mining Expert lets you run up to 19 NVIDIA or AMD GPUs in parallel to max out your megahash rates!
Triple-ATX12V Power Delivery
Engineered to deliver the power your graphics cards need
B250 Mining Expert has been engineered to provide all the power your GPUs demand, cleanly and efficiently. The 19 PCIe slots are grouped into three distinct zones, each powered by its own, dedicated 24-pin ATX12V power connector — reducing wiring complexity and ensuring ample power delivery to all PCIe slots.
Voltage-Stabilization Capacitors
Stable, low-noise power for your GPUs
Stable, low-noise power is a serious benefit for 24/7 cryptocurrency mining. That's why we've engineered B250 Mining Expert with 19 decoupling capacitors. These quality components smooth voltages and reduce high-frequency noise, so your GPUs get the good-quality power delivery needed for reliable operation.
PCIe Slot State Detection
Easy management and debugging
B250 Mining Expert has built-in smarts to show the status of each and every graphics card from the moment you power up. The moment the Power-On, Self-Test (POST) screen appears, you'll see a graphical representation of the status of every slot — so you'll know instantly if there's a problem or whether your mining operation is good to go.
Mining Mode BIOS Optimization
Simple setup
Unlike some rival boards, B250 Mining Expert has a special Mining Mode that's enabled by default, removing the hassle of having to make BIOS-level changes that are necessary to maximize mining performance. Mining Mode sets the PCI Express speed to PCIe 1.0 and disables the Compatibility Support Module, so you get the best stability and compatibility right out of the gate.
Best Network Performance
Intel Gigabit LAN and ASUS LANGuard
B250 Mining Expert is equipped with Intel Gigabit Ethernet for the best throughput and lower CPU overhead, ensuring optimum performance from your mining rig.
ASUS-exclusive LANGuard employs advanced signal-coupling technology and premium surface-mounted capacitors to improve throughput — protecting the B250 Mining Expert from lightning strikes and static electricity.
More Profitable Mining
B250 Mining Expert boasts unrivaled cost-effectiveness. The ability to run up to 19 GPUs from one board eliminates the costly investment in additional CPUs, memory and drives that would be required to create equivalent mining resources using competitor motherboards — so you spend less to mine more.
Higher hash rates
With so many slots available, B250 Mining Expert gives you the means to push for higher hash rates. With 16 slots occupied our laboratory tests generated results of up to 342MH/s — and up to 407MH/s with 19 GPUs in operation!
Lower TCO
More hashes means more cryptocurrency creation — and that means more money from your mining operation. Compared to some 6-slot motherboards B250 Mining Expert delivers a TCO saving of up to US$1.83* per megahash-generation potential.
Intel CPU and Chipset features
Intel B250 Chipset
The Intel B250 is a single-chipset design that supports 7th and 6th Generation Intel LGA1151 Core i7 / Core i5 / Core i3 / Pentium / Celeron processors. It provides improved performance by utilizing serial point-to-point links, allowing increased bandwidth and stability. It natively supports up to six USB 3.0 ports, six SATA 6Gbps ports, and PCIe 3.0 lane speed support for faster data retrieval. The Intel B250 chipset also supports iGPU functionality, so you'll enjoy the very latest Intel integrated graphics performance.
Ready for 7th Generation and 6th Generation Intel LGA1151 Core i7/Core i5/Core i3/Pentium/Celeron processors
The ASUS B250 Mining Expert motherboard supports 7th Generation and 6th Generation Intel Core i7 / Core i5 / Core i3 / Pentium / Celeron processors in the LGA1151 package. Integrated graphics, memory and PCI Express controllers support onboard graphics output with dedicated chipsets, two-channel (2-DIMM) DDR4 memory and 16 PCI Express lanes for exceptional performance.
- Maximize your mining connectivity and speed with 19x PCIe Slots, up to 32GB DDR4 2400 RAM, USB 3.1 Gen1 and Intel® Gigabit LAN
- Triple-ATX12V Power Delivery separates 19x PCIe slots into 3 groups, each with a dedicated 24-pin for reliable power performance
- 5X Protection III Hardware-level safeguards with SafeSlot Core, LANGuard and Overvoltage Protection provide component longevity and reliability
- PCIe Slot State Detection provides a real time indication of the status of each GPU in your rig
- Voltage-stabilization Capacitors provides steady voltage from your power supply units to your GPUs
Processortillverkare Intel Kompatibla processorer Intel® Celeron®, Intel® Core™ i3, Intel Core i5, Intel Core i7, Intel® Pentium® Processorsockel LGA 1151 (uttag H4) Max antal processorer 1Minne Stöds minnestyper DDR4-SDRAM Minnesplatser typ DIMM Minnets hastigheter 2133,2400 MHz Antal minnesplatser 2 Minneskanaler stöd Dual Icke ECC Ja Maximalt internminne 32 GB obuffrat minne JaVikt & dimension Bredd 305 mm Djup 231 mmStrömtillförsel Strömkälla typ ATXNätverk Nätverksansluten (Ethernet) Ja Ethernet-gränssnitt typ Gigabit Ethernet LAN-styrenhet Intel® I219-V Wake-on-LAN förberedd JaInternal I/O USB 2.0 anslutning 1 USB 3.0 (3.1 Gen 1)-anslutningar 1 Antal SATA III kontakter 4 Ljudanslutning på framsidan Ja Kontakter på framsidan Ja ATX strömkontakt (24-pin) Ja Antalet EATX strömanslutningar 3 CPU fläkt anslutning Ja Antal anslutningar för fläktar 1 Antalet COM anslutningar 1 12V-kontakt JaAnslutningsmöjligheter Antalet USB 2.0 anslutningar 2 Antal USB 3.0 (3.1 Gen 1) typ A-portar 4 Antalet Ethernet (RJ-45) anslutningar 1 Antal PS/2 portar 2 Antal HDMI portar 1Förpackningens innehåll Kabel inkluderad SATA Bruksanvisning Ja Drivrutiner medföljer JaExpansionsplatser PCI Express x1 kortplatser 18 PCI Express x16 platser 1BIOS BIOS typ UEFI AMI BIOS minnesstorlek 64 MB ACPI-version 6.0 Clear CMOS-bygel Ja Systemhantering BIOS (SMBIOS)-version 3.0Grafiken Maximalt minne på grafikkort 1024 MB Video adapter HD Graphics Grafikkort familj Intel Maximal upplösning 4096 x 2160 pixlarProcessor specialfunktioner Intel Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) JaEgenskaper Komponent för PC Moderkort chipset familj Intel Moderkort kretstyp Intel® B250 Moderkort formfaktor ATX Ljudutgångskanaler 7.1 kanaler Ljudchipp Realtek ALC887 Windows-operativsystem som stöds Windows 10 Education x64,Windows 10 Enterprise x64,Windows 10 Home x64,Windows 10 Pro x64,Windows 7 Enterprise x64,Windows 7 Home Basic x64,Windows 7 Home Premium x64,Windows 7 Professional x64,Windows 7 Starter x64,Windows 7 Ultimate x64


text:
- Quienes somos
- Programas
- Testamentos
- Subvenciones
- Noticias
- Contacto
This was our first full year of the new board working together and it was very productive. We awarded grants to 12 centers in 9 countries, launched a new category called "Eco-Grants" to fund environmental improvements at Subud centers, and many more.
We had a very successful year in 2014, where our longterm investments remained stable in spite of a very difficult investment environment period with a volatile recovery. Continuing from last year, we develop several approaches to bring more energy and clarity to our tasks. This continues to be a very successful approach to our four key areas: communications, personnel, endowments and finance.
In 2013, the Muhammad Subuh Foundation continued its work to support the long term growth and development of Subud. There was, however, a new spirit within the organization. We are "returning to our roots" and are focusing now on priorities that will build on the strengths of the Foundation.
This year we continued our support to the national Subud organizations with the Subud Houses program; the Foundation awarded an additional grant to Subud DR Congo for the completion of the Kinshasa Subud house.
The year 2011 was one of change for the board, with three trustees appointed: Heloise Jackson from the UK, Hannah Baerveldt from Indonesia,for a second 4-year term, and myself. I had the privilege to take over the Foundation chairmanship from Samuel Simonsson, my neighbor in Spain, which facilitated a smooth hand over.
I am glad to report that despite many challenges the year 2010 was reasonably successful for the Muhammad Subuh Foundation.
In January four out of seven trustees had been newly elected to the Board, which immediately set out to learn about and continue the programs and projects initiated and developed by the previous Board of Trustees. At the same time ways and means to strengthen the Foundation were explored with the aim to improve its ability to serve the long term development of Subud.
Despite the global economic downturn, we are pleased to announce that 2009 was a year of steady and measured progress for the Muhammad Subuh Foundation and we can all look back with pride at what we have achieved in 2009 in terms of improved governance.


text:
If you've been following along you know that the new dining room is finally complete! My last post I showed you the after pictures, but I hadn't added any accessories to it and I wanted to put all the before and after pictures in one post.
If you remember way back when, this is what this room looked like…
I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned this before but this room was our master bedroom when we first bought this house back in 1987! Then it became our sons room, and then when he moved out an office! Whew! I'm tired just thinking about it! But the way I figure it it's been cheaper than moving. And we've always loved our house, so it's worked for us!
And now here it is…
It's crazy to see how far this room has come and to save you time from having to scroll through so many progress pictures I made a collage for your viewing pleasure!
Remember it had a door to the hallway that we closed up. And it already had the double french doors opening to the living room, so a dining room made sense.
We added the built ins and board and batten and painted the walls Benjamin Moore's Hale Navy. The blue and white combo is so classic, I love it!
I decided on painting the bead board in back of the built ins navy as well and I'm so happy I did! The room has a coastal feel so I added a couple pieces of coral and a basket of antique Japanese floats. I found the vintage glass bottles and dust pan that I filled with succulents from The Magnolia Market. You know that amazing show Fixer Upper! That's right! They have an online shop!
I plan on keeping the decor to a minimum so it doesn't start to look too crazy jumbled! I'm sure they will change as often as I change my clothes, but for now I love them just the way they are!
The chandelier is from Overstock and it's a real statement piece! Everyone that comes into the room loves it!
Little boxwood wreaths and candles are added to the iron scale.
The farm table is from World Market and is large enough for 6-8 people. I'm so excited to try it out hopefully soon!
My favorite spot by far is this space between the built ins. It gets great sunlight and I'm sure it will always have fresh flowers or plants on it! I'm searching for a beautiful terrarium to place in this spot.
Thanks for stopping by and taking a look around!
Don't forget to pin this to your projects board!
Sharing with these wonderful blogs:
French Country Cottage
TatorTots and Jello
Savvy Southern Style
Simple Details
Average But Inspired
Miss Mustard Seed
Thrifty Decor Chick
House Of Hipsters
Stone Gable


text:
Wondering what we do?
We put business needs and ideas into practice. Through design thinking, we create inspired products, services and experiences meant to serve and support people.
NON is focused on design and innovation. We like to question everything and solve challenges throughout design thinking. Identifying new ways to serve people by uncovering latent needs, behaviors and desires, crafting new brand experiences, products and businesses—this is NON.
We put business needs and ideas into practice. Through design thinking, we create inspired products, services and experiences meant to serve and support people.
Our agency consists of full time employees and associates. Experts who agreed on devoting a portion of their time and talents to us. We build on different opinions but refuse the one idea that makes everybody happy. That never works big.
We have offices in Iasi and Antwerp. That gives us a particular ease in working across all European markets. But we go beyond that. We work everywhere and our clients come from all over the world.
NON partnered with Waasland Shopping Center to create an interactive display solution that brings the customer's shopping experience to another level.
We start off on our journey in life with an immense desire to play.
Imosnap is a real estate platform that brings an easy and simple solution to both agents and clients.
I prefer to be focused on the quality of the work and how can I be better at what I do. That's the real challenge, believe me!
Believe in you, not in Santa. Although, he helps too.
Cai de Vis is more than a Moldavian estate, where people can spend quality time, enjoy nature and riding beautiful horses. It's a small family business, run with a lot of passion and love.
When I discovered photography it changed my life.
Varia is a mobile application that facilitates the publication and distribution of classified ads across various specialized websites.
Great for the body and powerful for the soul.


text:
Marvel Studios has had an impeccable run since they founded the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2008. They've launched countless franchises worthy of sequels, but the often forgotten addition to the lore was The Incredible Hulk. Much of this is thanks to actor Mark Ruffalo replacing Edward Norton as the hero, Bruce Banner, but the universe has slowly started to tie even this film into the larger world. The most recent example of this was the surprising return of William Hurt as General Thunderbolt Ross in Captain America: Civil War. Unfortunately, there hasn't been a peep about the return of Liv Tyler's Betty Ross (the General's daughter and Banner's love interest) since she first appeared.
If there had to be a film where Betty was most likely to make a comeback, it would most likely be Avengers: Infinity War. The Marvel films are only becoming more and more connected, and the Avengers threequel is expected to be the biggest of them all, joining characters from all of the disparate corners of the MCU. Now a new report is suggesting that Betty Ross may, in fact, be among them.
Daily Record UK (via MCUExchange) wrote an article about the impact that filming of Infinity War would have on the Scottish economy, and when they went to list some of the cast members, Liv Tyler was included. Considering she has not previously been linked as returning, this is surprising news should it be true. Daily Record does not definitely report that they know she is returning but include her addition as if it had been reported before.
Should this report turn out to be true, confirmation on this could appear in the coming months as filming begins. That said, this report is hardly confirmation and reads more like speculation than actual reporting. Then again, everyone from Kevin Feige to the Russo brothers have made the point that Infinity War will be a culmination of the MCU to this point, and the inclusion of Tyler would go a long way in bringing The Incredible Hulk back to relevance.
From a character perspective, it is difficult to figure out how Betty Ross would become involved with the plot of the film. Banner has moved on from Ross by all accounts and has since dabbled in a romantic relationship with Black Widow instead. There is the possibility that writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have found a different role for her to play, but it is so far impossible to theorize what that could be with so little details from the plot coming out.
Stay tuned to Screen Rant for updates about Avengers: Infinity War as they hit.
Source: Daily Record UK [via MCUExchange]


text:
Baby Hazel Newborn Baby
Description: Baby Hazel is very excited about the newly arrived member in her family, a new little brother. She is eagerly waiting for her mother who is bringing the newly born baby home. With a new sibling, Baby Hazel has new feelings and emotions along with responsibilities. As elder sister she tries to please the newborn baby by cuddling and offering him toys. Wow! What a great feeling it is! Having a little one in the house brings contentment. Play this game and get to know how excited Hazel is and what she does when her little brother arrives home.
Category: Baby Hazel
Note: This game requires Adobe Flash Player. If game does not load, try installing the newest Flash Player. This game takes a few seconds to load.
Game Spotlight
Play games, win ourWorld money, and get clothing and accessories to create your own style.


text:
Happy 6th Birthday K-TVB.net!!
Happy Birthday to you…
Happy Birthday to you..
Happy 6th Birthday to K-TVB.net!!!!
Happy Birthday to you…
WOOOOT!! It's Party time!!! 😀
Today marks K-TVB.net's 6th Birthday so I want to take this chance to officially wish K-TVB.net a very happy 6th birthday!!
Running online since 10 September 2006, K-TVB.net has managed to attract many blog readers and TVB fans from around the world. The blog went through some changes over the years, but we continue to offer TVB synopsis, theme song downloads, screen captures, sharing thoughts and snippets on various TVB series!
As the blog owner of K for TVB, I am VERY proud to see it still up and running after 6 years. That's a long time! I have also aged quite a bit since I started it- it's kind of scary when I think about it! XD It takes a lot of time, effort and dedication to run a blog this size and to keep it alive. I admit the number of blog entries have dropped this year, aligned to the decreasing number of interesting TVB productions…There's only so much I can do with that though! ..I wonder if TVB will ever pick back up? haha haha That, along with you guys, will be contributing factors on when we will retire from the online world…I am pleased to announce it's not our time yet! 😀
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my lovely readers/followers out there who have dropped by and/or stuck by with us over the years. As I always say, you guys keep the blog going! 😀 Special thanks as always to Chibi for her ongoing support for K-TVB.net and for the new 6th anniversary banner!!– featuring Tiger Cubs!! YAY!! I hope you guys all like it!
With TVB Anniversary month around the corner, lets keep the spirit up and let the celebrations begin!
Love Kerry
20 Responses to "Happy 6th Birthday K-TVB.net!!"
Glad I still watch tvb series until now. My first tvb series was A Good Match From Heaven 1995 and Romance Beyond 1993. Old series were the good times of TVB. Now I still support tvb but I'm not addicted to TVB anymore. I can easily skip a series nowadays.
Glad you're still around. I doubt when TVB is even going to pick up again. Kudos for you for still being able to keep up with this awesome blog.
The tvb community used to be fun but now it's pretty quiet with a lot of blogs shut down. Kudos to everyone who still supports tvb.
Forgot to say Happy 6th anniversary.
Happy birthday K-tvb.net! 😀 Still my favourite place to come and voice thoughts and have discussions about TVB dramas! While the standard of TVB dramas has dropped tremendously, it's still fun to hash it out here especially when a show is particularly good/bad! 🙂 And yea, TVB Anniversary month is coming up! That's always fun 😉
Happy 6th K-tvb.net and yay to both K and Chibi for keeping the TVB spirit alive here! 😉
Wow, time really does flies! Has it really been SIX years already!? 😉
Although I haven't been actively posting comments for a while until now, I (do believe there are many other fans/visitors out there like myself) would still come by here often to check out what's new and what's going on. Sad but true, the lack of comment is solely due to the decrease of interest in TVB's recent year(s) of productions.
We might have lost interest in TVB recent productions; however, we sure haven't lose interest in supporting KTVB. We thank you, Kerry, for dedicating so much time and effort into keeping K-TVB.net alive and growing. 🙂
I am proud to say I am fan of KTVB!
Wishing K-TVB.net a very Happy 6th Birthday! Cheers~ 😀
HAPPY BIRTHDAY K-TVB!!! More years to come I hope! Gotta admit, tvb series has gone quite down recently, look at all the sequel they have for next year, no new ideas. But there are some good one to look forward to. Reading your reviews and from everyone point of view on it it's interesting. Keep going, everyone is supporting you!!!
Yay, Happy 6th Anniversary and congrats K-TVB.net!!
Wow, it's been 6 years only? haha.. felt much longer than that ;D
Hoping TVB will pull themself together and make some good series so there's more to blog about 😀 There are a few interesting series coming up, and I'd be happy to help guest blog again if it's suitable 🙂
Keep up the great work!
Last Steep Ascent sounds promising and it's a Lee Tim Sing drama. Just got bored of GJ2, KM, and DD that I hopefully want to see a great production. 🙂
HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY K-TVB. Love this site so much; the screen captures, thoughts, reviews and the discussions.
Keep it up 🙂
Happy Brithday K-TVB!!
ive always been a lurker so…not much to say =P
Happy Birthday, K- TVB!!! I'm still feeling very glad the day I found this site and I'm glad it's still up and running.
Keep it up!!! (Y)
awwww HAPPY BIRTHDAY! 🙂 i'm so glad this blog is still around! when i first started discovering tvb blogs online, this was one of the first ones i visited and for it to still be up and running brings a smile on my face along with many memories. thanks for continuously updating and sharing your thoughts with us and not giving up on tvb!:) may you have many more years to come!
and i really love your new banner, tiger cubs is definitely one of my favorite series of the year!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY K-TVB!!! always been a lurker of this blog, didnt really comment but i did regularly come to read your posts when they were regular.
i still remember those times when tvb blog were popular, but most of them have died down, pretty sad actually cause i really miss reading on them. Still glad K-TVB is still up and running!
i hope to see another 6 years to this blog!!!


text:
Well guys, now that you all finally have a tutorial on Redfoo, I thought I would fill another request by showing you guys "how to draw chibi Redfoo", step by step. This chibi version is a bit different because you will draw the whole body of Redfoo, just in a small kiddie style manner. I think that most of you will have fun as you tackle this tutorial because look at who you will be turning into a chibi figure. I really enjoy watching Redfoo and Sky Blu as they do their thing in the videos and I really can't wait till their next album comes out. That's all I have to say, so go ahead and enjoy the sweetness and fun.
DragoArt members upload artwork and drawing tutorials! They are also allowed to leave comments on tutorials, profiles, etc. Many more features, as well; it's way better than just being a boring guest! Register Now!


text:
See Your Skin in a New Light
Chadds Ford Dermatology is proud to offer Scandinavia's best kept secret - the Nordlys Hybrid Experience in Chadds Ford.
The Nordlys Hybrid System is a beautiful engineered device that harnesses light and delivers energy to selectively treat a wide variety of skin conditions. This one of a kind, Nordlys Hybrid Experience offers non-invasive rejuvenation head to toe, improving signs of aging and uneven pigmentation without interfering with your normal daily routine.
Erase the signs of aging and revitalize your appearance with the Nordlys Hybrid Experience.
No medications. Non-invasive. No downtime.
Patient Share About Their Nordlys Hybrid Experience
"The Nordlys treatment has removed a lifetime of sun damage. I have a new sense of confidence." - Linda, 63
"Ellipse's Nordlys Treatment had me in tears… tears of joy!" - Jessica, 34
"My face, neck, and chest were treated, no numbing agents. The process was comfortable and the results are outstanding! With one treatment, not only has the discoloration almost completely disappeared, the texture is soft and smooth. I can't wait for my next appointment." - Anne, 49
"After 30 years of trying to find a solution, various prescription creams and lotions, long-term sun damage and brown spots on my face and arms remained unchanged. I finally I found a solution. After one Nordlys Treatment, the spots were vastly improved. After two treatments, completely gone. The change is remarkable and my before and afters tell the story. I'm finally inspired to use sunscreen and protect my spot free clear skin." - Nancy, 63
Frequently Asked Questions:
Nordlys in the News:
(See Bryan G. Forley, MD, FACS, Nordlys: A Versatile Device, Modern Aesthetics, Jan/ Feb2016. )


text:
A well designed retail and structured apps can be very effective to an impulse buyer like me. Zara iPad app is a good example, everything are spot on and it gives you plenty of option for delivery and payment (I use PayPal, it does wonders). You can also chose any of their shop as a pick up point.
So yeah, I shopped online (twice!) during sleepless nights. And yeah, I purchased all these tops in a span of five minutes.


text:
2015 was the year we walked our talk
This past year was an amazing, but grueling and "heads-down" time. 2015 offered the chance to dig deep into our creative process, and apply everything we do with and for our clients to our very own business.
I began freelancing as C.Miro Consulting almost 7 years ago, and when I began, I truly had no idea what I was getting myself into. I began like most freelancers do: with a little bith of technical skills, and very little else. It's been quite the journey ever since, and I have learned an immense amount of lessons and skills along the way. After taking a break to pursue non-profit work for a couple of years, I relocated from the San Francisco Bay Area to the Central Coast and essentially re-established my business from scratch. It was a big transition both personally and professionally, but also a great chance to start fresh with a new perspective, and community. After getting my feet wet on a few projects, I began to feel that I was naturally out-growing C.Miro Consulting. I was very clear that the model and format of my current business was not what I wanted it to look like long-term, and that what I felt emerging was bigger than just me.
Over the past year, my team and I have done the deep, and at times tedious work of turning our business upside down, and designing our very own, custom dream brand and website. We started from the inside out, putting a business plan together, defining our target audience and markets, refining our offers, and of course, designing how we wanted it all to look and feel…
The result is "The Inspired Brand"…a design agency, strategy consultancy, and training firm all in one. It is a labor of love that we are thrilled to be able to share with our clients and community, and to launch our little baby into the world! We know it is of course never ever "DONE", and that our brand, website and business will continue to grow and evolve as they all do…but we are thrilled to share with you a very important piece of our next chapter, and that we can now serve our clients with a greater focus, more refined service offerings, and an even deeper knowledge and empathy for the process we take our clients through.
Thank you for taking a moment to share in our exciting news, and we look forward to sharing even more fun stuff soon…
Big Hugs,


text:
We Southerners are fanatical about college football. Auburn is my team, so I've compiled my Top Ten List of favorite things about Auburn football Saturdays. This is my own top ten, but I know there's much more to love! Post yours in the comments!
10. Aubie - Our lovable, award-winning mascot.
9. BoddyGetta cheer – Weagle Weagle, y'all.
8. Rolling Toomer's Corner – Trees or no trees.
7. Momma Goldberg's – Steam my hoagie please.
6. The Eagle's flight into Jordan-Hare Stadium - Chill bumps.
5. Tiger Walk – More chill bumps.
4. Jordan-Hare Stadium – Pronounced "Jerden" in case you aren't from these parts.
3. "War Eagle!" – Auburn's beloved battle cry.
2. The Kick-Six – This is what we live for.
1. Charles Barkley – Okay, that's basketball, but we love our "Round Mound of Rebound"
With Joy,
The Creative Process
It is so interesting to observe the creative process unfold because everyone does things differently. The songwriters, painters, and other artists in my life each have their own personal methods and practices that work for them and their personal work styles.
My process starts with a concept sketch in my sketchbook. No details, just in general where the characters will be positioned. Next, I start the drawing. This is the most important step because the drawing has to be right. The client has to approve the drawing because once the pastel work starts, there's no turning back! The pastel work is the final step.
The drawing step for my current project is complete and I'm ready to start the pastel work. This is a progress photo with the star subject, my son Jake, who is here for a too-short visit! I am always sad when it is time to go and I look forward to the next visit. Maybe Chewie and the rest of his friends will make it out there in time for our next visit!
With Joy,
Based in Birmingham, AL, I love creating portraits in charcoal and pastels. Join me on my creative journey, inspired by the people, places, and pets I've met along the way!
March 2019


text:
Many schools across the country seek to bring diverse populations of students together, including native speaking students and ESL students. In some areas of the country, the number of ESL students might be quite high.
You want your ESL students to succeed, but you also want your native speaking students to have the opportunity to reach their full potential. What are some suggestions for incorporating ESL strategies that will benefit all of your students?
Many people assume that all ESL students are the same. You can't just say, "This lesson plan is fit for all ESL students." Just as your native speaking students have differences, so do your ESL students.
As you're crafting the lesson plans, you should:
- Some of your ESL students might be verbal/linguistic learners
- Other student may be bodily/kinesthetic learners
Accounting for differences that exist amongst ESL students is crucial so that you can meet their educational needs.
Before you teach any subject you need to know several things about your ESL students:
One of the top tips for teaching ESL students in the mainstream classroom is to use visual learning aids. Even if some of your ESL students are not purely visual learners, they will likely still benefit from your incorporation of these learning aids. When you are explaining a concept, some of the ESL students might get lost because they don't understand the vocabulary you are using.
By using a graph, chart, picture or video, ESL students can gain a better understanding of what you are talking about. These visual aids can also help many of the native speaking students to understand what you are talking about or teaching.
Some ESL students can become very frustrated and confused when they are not able to quickly understand what you want them to do. They may be spending all their concentration on trying to understand the words as they are spoken, without comprehending the lesson or assignment being communicated. By writing down any information given orally, you can give your ESL students a reference point for any future confusion. For example:
When ESL students are looking for the right word, you don't want them to feel as though they are lost in a black hole.
These tools help students find the words that they need to learn.
The more you use a simple sentence structure (a subject, a verb and an object), the greater your chance of comprehension by an ESL student. If you say or write sentences which include phrases with negative words (such as circle the answer that is not correct) the ESL student needs to comprehend two things to understand what you are saying:
Be sure to speak slowly and clearly. Look for cues, like facial expressions, to know when you need to repeat or reexplain what you just said or wrote.
If your ESL students never learn idiomatic expressions, they are going to struggle with the English language as a whole. Unfortunately, some teachers choose to avoid these cliches whenever possible to avoid confusing their ESL students.
Another technique is to use them into your speech and turn them into their own lessons. By creating these separate lesson plans and word lists, you can encourage students to learn idioms without allowing these phrases to disrupt the flow of your lessons.
In the classroom, you are likely to be using formal language. However, part of fully understanding a language is also knowing how to speak to others in a casual manner.
These small group discussions can give them the confidence they need to participate in larger group discussions and presentations.
You want to remind students that it is okay to ask questions. If you are giving a brief lecture, they might feel as though they are interrupting you. Understand that students from certain cultural backgrounds might feel this pressure even more.
Frequently ask students if they have any questions. An ESL student might hold a question until the end, even though it would be helpful to get the answer immediately. Encourage questions from all students on an on-going basis.
If your ESL students are more comfortable talking to other students than adults, encourage students to work together. Pairing students off or into small work groups can encourage questions from the ESL student.
Correcting errors can be difficult to implement, especially for ESL students who are really quite dedicated to properly learning the English language.
Work on addressing one or two areas at a time. For example, let's say that the student writes the following sentence, "She walk to the park and they waits for she." Here, we have three issues:
Instead of delving into all of these areas at once, you can point out the three errors. Break up how you review them. For example, you might write the rule for two on the student's paper, but review the third with the class as a whole. Of course, you should not point out who made which errors.
Ultimately, your goal with these tips is to provide all of your students with the tools they need to succeed in their academic experience overall, regardless of whether English is or is not their native language.
MLA Style
APA Style
By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.


text:
A disabled veteran stood at attention, holding the American flag, for nine-hours because a nursing home had no way to show the colors on Memorial Day.
Former Army Specialist Darren Swallow's girlfriend works at the facility and told him their flagpole had been destroyed in an accident.
WATCH: Disabled Veteran Converts Wheelchair into Snow Plow to Help Town
The veteran, who'd served multiple deployments to Iraq, put on his uniform and took up position in front of the home, holding an American flag from 3:30 in the morning until well into the holiday afternoon Monday—even standing in the rain to do it.
CHECK OUT: In Historic U.S. Ruling, Sikh Army Officer Can Keep Beard, Turban
"Absolutely inspired," Chris White told WWLP News. "We came here just to thank him for his service. It's phenomenal that he's standing out here for the residents and for our country,"
(WATCH the video below from WWLP News) — Photo: news video
Call Your Friends To Attention With This Story, Share It…


text:
Cross the threshold into your shared financial future.
Setting goals with your partner takes a healthy mix of commitment, communication, and collaboration.
Think about using one of your financial date nights as a starting point for goal setting. What's nice about that is the topics for conversation are outlined for you. And, listening to your partner talk about their dreams could open up an entirely new layer of intimacy for your relationship.
Try it out. Like we've stated before - managing money as a couple may be a fun thing if you give it a chance.
Consider the short, medium, and long term.
Being in a relationship implies some form of longevity between you and your partner. With that as a baseline, think about how you plan to reach your individual and collective goals together.
Will shared checking and savings accounts work best for you, or should you weigh the pros and cons of separate accounts?
After you watch the video, download the Money Management for Couples Worksheet to help you figure out what's best for you as a couple.
How much, and by when?
Specifics matter when you set goals. Make them clear and actionable so you know when and what it takes to accomplish them.
For financial goals, you'll need to include an exact dollar amount and deadline for achieving your goals. This is a great tactic to use as you plan to pay off debt or save for a down payment.
Your Chapter 2 Checklist:
- Watch the Defining Financial Goals video
- Download the Money Management for Couples Worksheet
- Write out your short-, medium-, and long-term goals


text:
Forget Time-Out, Time-In Is the New Discipline Strategy to Try
If you're a parent, chances are, you've sent at least one kid to a "time-out" at some point or another in their young lives as a way of disciplining them for an undesirable action or behavior. I know that I definitely have. In my 10+ years parenting four kids who at one point were all six and under, I have utilized the classic "time-out" principle many times.
Honestly, the time-out was sometimes more for me than for my kids, as once in a while I just reached the point where I didn't do what to do with them and knew I would just lose my patience on them if they remained in my sight. (A phenomenon that is just as applicable to toddlers as it is to almost-teens, ugh.)
But some experts are now advising that we rethink the traditional "time-out" and rebrand it as a "time-in." Why? Well, because they say so, that's why. Kidding, there's a perfectly good explanation.
As an article in Parents explained, the truth is, "time-outs" aren't really the classic go-to parenting mode of discipline that we think; they only came onto the scene just before the 1970s as more parents and doctors tried to get away from the mainstream method of discipline, which basically boiled down to physical punishment. (Raise your hand if the phrase "Dad's belt" means anything to you …)
The philosophy behind a time-out was simple: if you're behaving, you're allowed to participate in the family life. If you're not and you're doing something naughty, you will not have the privilege of being a part of the gang by stopping anything else fun you could be doing and instead, reflect on the bad behavior and how you can change it.
The only problem? Most kids don't do that.
I mean think about it–either the kid is glad to have a chance to go to their room and escape, or they're just sitting there thinking how unfair life is, or maybe they're too young to even really understand what's going on all together, so they're just on to the next activity. As a discipline strategy and more importantly, as a behavior modification strategy–i.e., a way to get your kid to change the behavior you're trying to change — time-outs just aren't super effective. Of course, they're better than spanking (which, just as a refresher, has been found, without a doubt, not to help discipline kids in any way, can actually cause long-term damage, and is adamantly advised against by the American Academy of Pediatrics), but still, it appears we could be using all that "time out" in a better way.
Here's how: swap a "time-out" with a "time-in." And what exactly is a "time-in?"
Well, according to Parents, it's basically being intentional about taking time away to check in with your child. Instead of scooting your misbehaving little one off to their room while you continue to chop vegetables angrily in the kitchen, a "time-in" would look like both of you excusing yourself to a more secluded or quieter part of your living quarters to have some "time-in" together. Instead of shutting your kid in a room alone to let them try to sort through some big feelings and emotions by themselves without the resources or tools to really do that yet, you – as the caregiver – would guide them through the emotions and feelings they are having and work through the behavior. For instance, you could say something like, "It looks like you are angry about this," encouraging the child to learn to name, and thus, manage their emotions.
{ MORE: Positive Parenting Strategies for the Toddler Years }
I'm almost embarrassed writing this because I can see how this makes much more sense, but let's face it: it's way easier to just send my kid to their room than have to deal with their emotions, ugh. #lazyparent.
But there's hope, even for the laziest among us: it's also advised that parents can announce that they are going to take a "time-off" in the midst of tense moments, teaching their kids that it's OK to know when you need to take a break–and then take the break. The important part is not forgetting to come back together at the end of a time-in or time-off and discuss any behavior that was not acceptable, and come to a solution about next time together.


text:
Charles Mitchell
Charles Mitchell first became associated with Commonwealth Foundation when he was a college newspaper editor under attack for defending the freedom of speech and Matt Brouillette, CF's leader at that time, came alongside him. This marked the beginning of a partnership that first resulted in Charles becoming a CF investor, then returning to his home state to serve as CF's COO, and ultimately assuming his current post as CEO.
In addition to his CF responsibilities, Charles has helped launch the Fairness Center, a public interest law firm that offers free legal services to those wronged by public employee union officials; advises a number of public policy organizations whose work complement CF's in Pennsylvania and nationally; and serves as an elder of his family's church, a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America. In 2014, he received State Policy Network's Overton Award, and in 2017, City & State PA named him one of its 40 Under 40 Rising Stars.
Before joining CF, Charles served the American Council of Trustees and Alumni and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education and interned at the Heritage Foundation. He grew up in the Philadelphia area, in a family of railroaders, teachers, and small businesspeople, and graduated from Pennsylvania's public schools, the Koch Associate Program, the Claremont Institute's Publius Fellowship, and Bucknell University.
Charles now lives in the Harrisburg area with his wife, their four daughters, and a very faithful Subaru, which carries him and CF's vision to every corner of our great state.


text:
Asian food is my go to after a long stint on site. This time around, I organised a meet up with my fellow Hatchies at Nasi Lemak Korner. Located on the ever evolving eating scene on Preston Street, this Malaysian joint has been around for awhile now. At least a year! Maybe even two. Having heard numerous reviews regarding its pricing has held me back a bit, but that's alright I am finally here.
Looking at the menu, you get all the local favourites like Beef Rendang, Chicken Curry, Ayam Masak Merah and other Malaysian goodies. Amongst the table of four, we ordered to share;
3 Nasi Lemak
The basics were really the basics. As you would expect, you get a perfectly steamed rice with no "over" or "under"-cooked bull crap here. Just good old, fluffy coconut rice served with its traditional accompaniments of hard-boiled eggs, peanuts, anchovies, cucumber and sambal (sauteed chilli paste). While it was a decent bite I would have loved some blanched "kangkung" or water morning glory. To go with the Nasi Lemak we had the Beef Rendang and Sambal Chicken.
A whole serve of Beef Rendang (~$16)
These tender beef pieces are a trademark accompaniment of Nasi Lemak. Slow cooked in coconut milk for hours, these tenders chunk of meat will fall apart effortlessly in your mouth. While the grated coconut help made the sauce the real deal, I could not help but wonder whether the chefs might want to turn their salt level down one notch. Also, while it was fragrant I like mine with more finely sliced up kaffir lime leaf which gives any Malaysian Beef Rendang that final kick of flavour.
A whole serve of Sambal Chicken (~$16).
Another classic Malaysian dish that truly makes any rice dish go up one notch in flavour. Tender chicken sauteed in caramelised onions in a rich tomato chilli blend. Absolutely delicious. It's balanced dish. Slightly sweet due to the tomatoes but not too sweet, the heat mild and the flavour of the dish really went well with the Nasi Lemak.
Last but not least, Mamak Mee Goreng. While the Nasi Lemak served was pretty good, it was the Mamak Mee Goreng that got my tongue wagging. This more-ish dish of noodles was cooked to perfection. Its recipe stayed true to the original recipe with little pieces of fried batter, beancurd and potato cooked together with the egg noodle!
It's savoury almost tangy flavours were reminiscent of the good old Malaysian noodles typically served by the road side stalls. It reminded me of my childhood days when dad used to go out and pack fried noodles for my sister and I from an Indian restaurant not too far from the beach resort we used to go to in Malaysia. Even more impressive was the wok fried flavours that is rarely present in the Australian Hawker food scene.
Over all, I was sufficiently impressed by the quality of food at Nasi Lemak Korner and that made me wonder; why is the rating for Nasi Lemak Korner so low on Zomato? Sure the price range was not the cheapest and neither was it easy to get a table, but the food was sufficiently satisfying! By comparison, the popular Pappa Rich charges some $15.90 for a miserable plate of Nasi Lemak and parking in Northbridge is now $4 an hour. That's a big step up from the $13 Pappa Rich's started on. Other popular options in town for me are Old Cathay and Sarapan. Both of which are nice with the latter having a consistency issue.


text:
Gorgeous Grunge is probably one of the most versatile sets in my collection. I love how you can use it on it's own, or to add a little something extra to an already fabulous stamp set. Check out this card I made for my nephew who turned 13 on the eleventh.
I love the colours I used. Midnight Muse, a now retired colour, could easily be substituted for Night of Navy. I then used Smokey Slate and the new Tangelo Twist. I think it turned out pretty well!
I'm always available to chat and provide tips and tricks to get the most from your Stampin' Up! products. Don't hesitate to ask!
Happy stampin'!


text:
Infiltrating Jorgenfist IV
Chapter 4 continued from: Infiltrating Jorgenfist III. Session date: Friday 11 July
Characters present: Ciaran, Cecil, Nova, Oparal, Nu, Igg
After their encounter with the golem and the strange fiery monster, the heroes paused to recover their wounds. It was during this time that another creature appeared in the dungeon, a blue-haired gnome who the other heroes recognised as Igg, the amnesiac druid they had previously encountered in Magnimar. He wasn't entirely sure what he was doing in Jorgenfist all of a sudden, but he decided to join the party.
Our heroes proceeded cautiously through the lower levels of Jorgenfist. Cecil went ahead, exploring each room before indicating it was safe for the rest of the party to proceed. He discovered a strangely cold room filled with eerie frozen giants wearing impressive armour. Despite his fears, the giants did not spring to life and attack him.
Next came a deserted lair of some unknown creature… perhaps the forgefiend that was still at large? Finally our heroes reached a long corridor covered in Thassilonian runes. There was a door bearing the Sihedron rune at one end, and another door at the opposite end. Ciaran determined that the door bearing the seven-pointed star was warded with some powerful magic, so the party decided to try the other door first.
After passing through a bizarre room that featured no sharp corners, the heroes entered a massive pillared chamber where Mokmurian was casually waiting for them. When his first attack was a boulder thrown at Cecil, some of the heroes became a bit suspicious, but the arrival of three otherworldly hounds of Tindalos and an invisible mage quickly distracted them.
Nu moved forward to take on Mokmurian up close, while the others tried to dispatch the creepy hounds, who proved to be incredibly hardy. They kept the heroes busy while Nu distracted Mokmurian. It was only when Mokmurian dealt Nu a fatal blow with his pick that the illusion was revealed: Galenmir, the stone giant who had killed Cecil, was simply disguised as Mokmurian. Cecil was filled with rage and terror as he recognised his enemy, but it still took all his power and numerous spells from Ciaran to finish the powerful giant off. The giant died laughing, even as Ciaran's fireball charred Nu's remains beyond hope of revival.
Meanwhile, the hidden mage continued to wreak havoc on the group until Ciaran used his powers to see invisible creatures. He was surprised to recognise her as none other than Lyrie Akenja, the wizard they had allowed to walk free back in Thistletop. She looked rather different now, with demonic eyes and horrible scars on her flesh. She had also become much more powerful, but she was no match for the combined power of the group. The final hound fled, leaving the heroes to recover Nu's charred remains and see if Mokmurian had left any clues behind. Ciaran turned up several spellbooks and what seemed to be Mokmurian's diary.
It was at this point that Igg remembered why he had come to the dungeon. He had found himself in the shadow realm after his time in Magnimar, and a powerful mage named Akorian had met him there. Akorian could not leave the shadow realm himself, but he knew that if Mokmurian was able to complete his invasion of Varisia, it would spell certain doom for Varisia and the rest of Golarion. He wanted the heroes to meet another of his agents Alamander at the Storval Stairs and find a way to stop Mokmurian.
Next chapter: The Invasion of Varisia I


text:
changes.mady.by.user Ania Zakrzewska
Saved on Mar 31, 2015
The Wiki Tool allows for authors to create content pages that can link to each other and, optionally, allow Learners to make collaborative edits to the content provided.
For a history of Wiki's and a discussion of how they work, we suggest Wikipedia's excellent page on Wiki's..
There are some important things you should know about Wiki's:
Learners using the Wiki tool in sequences should check out the Wiki Learner's Guide.
Powered by a free Atlassian Confluence Open Source Project License granted to Learning Activity Management System (LAMS). Evaluate Confluence today.


text:
Campaign committees are sometimes money makers, but when they are, they must pay taxes, as President Obama's campaign did with a $523,000 payment to the I.R.S.
Campaigns often carry large cash balances and can earn interest on their accounts - and some even invest campaign funds. A number of campaigns have developed large mailing lists of donors and rent out their lists to other like-minded candidates, PACs and political party committees. The income generated from interest, investing, and renting lists is taxable income. Obama for America, the campaign committee of President Barack Obama, reported it paid $523,000 on March 14, 2014, to the Internal Revenue Service for taxes.


text: Hoda Kotb Adopts Daughter 'Today' show host introduces her on morning show By Newser Editors and Wire Services Posted Feb 21, 2017 9:44 AM CST 16 comments Hoda Kotb Adopts Daughter Hoda Kotb shares her news. (Today) (Newser) – Today show host Hoda Kotb says she has adopted a baby girl, the AP reports. The co-anchor of the fourth hour of the NBC morning program said in an emotional phone interview on the show Tuesday that she had adopted a newborn and named her Haley Joy. The 52-year-old Kotb says the baby was born on Valentine's Day, and that she is "the love of my life." A picture of Kotb holding the baby was shown on-air. Today show anchor Matt Lauer says the girl is the "luckiest" on the planet and Kotb will be "one of the most fantastic moms" he can ever imagine. Kotb's on-air partner, Kathie Lee Gifford, told Kotb that she was "made to be a mom." (Read more Hoda Kotb stories.) View 1 image My Take on This Story Report a story error Show results | 0% Hilarious 12% Intriguing 4% Depressing 67% Brilliant 2% Scary 15% Ridiculous


text:
Black History Month ends Thursday. But there are plenty of significant African-American historic sites in the state that can be visited year-round.
In Fayetteville, places with African-American historical interest include Brookside Cemetery, where some of the area's notable black historical figures including Bishop J.W. Hood and E.E. Smith are buried. The cemetery, which has existed since the Civil War, is on the eastern edge of Cross Creek Cemetery No. 2 at Ann and Lamon streets.
Here are several other sites in North Carolina, courtesy of the N.C. Division of Tourism:
International Civil Rights Center and Museum, Greensboro
The museum is at one of the most important sites in the modern civil rights movement - the former downtown F.W. Woolworth store. There, four N.C. A&T State University students staged a 1960 lunch counter sit-in that ultimately resulted in the chain's nationwide desegregation.
At the museum, visitors can see the original seats and most of the lunch counter from the sit-in. It also contains exhibits detailing the Jim Crow segregation laws and information showing how the Greensboro sit-in became a model for acts of civil disobedience around the world.
The details: The museum is at 301 North Elm St. Hours are Tuesday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 6 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for students and seniors 65 and older and $6 for children ages 6 to 12. Children 5 and younger are free with paying adults. Call 336-274-9199 or go to sitinmovement.org.
Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum, Sedalia
The museum, located at the Historic Palmer Memorial Institute, honors the founder of the institute. Brown, the granddaughter of former slaves, founded the institute in 1902 and saw it grow from an agricultural training facility to a fully accredited preparatory school. It closed in 1971 and reopened in 1987 as a state historical site. The Guilford County museum chronicles Brown's life and achievements and the era in which she lived and worked.
The details: The museum is at 6136 Burlington Road. Admission is free. Hours are Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call 336-449-4846 or go to nchistoricsites.org.
African-American Heritage Walking Tour, New Bern
The tour includes a number of sites important to the state's black history. They include St. Peters AME Zion Church, the Rhone Hotel, the first African-American-owned hotel in New Bern; and King Solomon's Lodge No. 1, the first black Masonic Lodge established after emancipation.
The details: For more information, call the Craven County Convention and Visitor Center at 252- 637-9400, 800-437-5767 or go to visitnewbern.com.
Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts and Culture, Charlotte
The center is named for the former Charlotte mayor and U.S. Senate candidate. It features exhibitions that detail African-American contributions to music, dance, theater, film and other mediums. Collections include works by artists including Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett and Hale Woodruff.
The details: Regular hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m. Admission is $12 for adults, $10 for seniors 62 and older, teachers, the military and students with ID, $8 for children ages 3 to 13 and groups of 10 or more; and free for children 2 and younger. The center is at 551 S. Tryon St. Call 704-547-3700 or go to ganttcenter.org.
St. Philips Moravian Church, Winston-Salem
Located in the Old Salem section of Winston-Salem, St. Philips, right, is the oldest surviving African-American church in the state. The congregation was originally organized in 1822 and consisted mostly of slaves. It was given the name St. Philips in 1914. The current brick church stands next to a reconstructed replica of the original log cabin church, where exhibits chronicling the black experience are on display. Regular Sunday morning services are still held, beginning at 11 a.m.
The details: The church is at 3002 Bon Air Ave. Call 336-722-3933 or go to stphilipsmoravian.org.
Oliver Nestus Freeman Round House Museum, Wilson
The museum features artifacts depicting contributions made by African-Americans to Wilson's history and development. The museum is in a 1946 house built by Freeman, a noted black stonemason of the time, to alleviate a housing shortage for returning World War II GIs. The house is round, and was built of whatever materials Freeman could get at the time. That includes stone, bottles and tree saplings.
The details: The house is at 1202 Nash St. Call 252-296-3056 or go to visitnc.com.


text:
Started in just less than three months, neighbourhood pastry shop, Passionnée is fast gaining popularity among the residents in the Brawijaya area. It's not hard to figure out why. While pastry makes for a popular option on the breakfast table, good pastry is hard to find.
Still, knowing the existence of Passionnée and locating the establishment is two different matter. Passionnée is comfortably tucked in the corner of landed-property residences with only a barely visible sign by the road to scream for your attention. But that's what makes locating it a rewarding and gratifying challenge.
Passionnée is definitely an apt title for the establishment, for owner, Anandita Makes holds two day jobs – she works in an office during the day and as a baker even earlier in the morning. As such, the selections, during the weekdays, encompass the familiar favourites such as croissant, canele and fruit pie. But come weekend, Makes rolls up her sleeves and deliver pastries that require more laborious efforts such as quiche.
So for more selection, it's always a safe bet to drop by on the weekend. But as they say, early bird gets the worm. It'll be advisable to visit this establishment early in the morning. The residents around the neighbourhood will most likely snap up more than half of the pastry up by noon.


text:
So it happened. I turned 30. The big 3-0 and to be honest, not that much has changed.
Before the event a friend asked me whether I was planning to have a party but I told her that honestly I couldn't have asked for anything more from this year. However, regardless of that, it didn't stop my family and friends spoiling me and I had a lovely day, followed later in the month by a brilliant birthday weekend with my extended family. Thanks to donations made on behalf of my birthday, we also managed to raise more than £400 for Ya Ge School for the deaf in Kaifeng, which I know is going to make such a difference to them this winter.
|The staff at Ya Ge send their thanks.
|As do the pupils.
|And this little guy is really, really, happy!
And now it's back to the real world. My friends who have already turned 30 had assured me how much they loved entering a new decade and how much more confident they now feel. But I think I'm still waiting for the wisdom of my 30s to hit me. Aside from the new wrinkles I've acquired around the eyes (which I'm trying not to look at too closely) I still feel exactly the same. It appears I'm still incapable of making my mind up about buying a pair of boots until I've emailed a picture of them to my friends and dragged my entire family into the shoe shop to watch me try them on, and I still don't really know what the next step in life is going to be.
The time seems to have flown by since I got back and I'm still trying to get my head around where I want to go and what I want to do next. In one way it's nice to be starting again with a blank slate, knowing that I can move anywhere and apply for any job I feel like. But it can also be daunting. There are days when I wake up and wish that the most taxing thing I had to do was decide whether to stay an extra night at a hostel or move on to a new place. But the possibilities are also exciting. One thing I definitely realised is that I want to carry on writing a blog. Seeing as my adventure is now over I know that this blog is complete and this is, in fact, the last post that I'll be writing for it. Which in one way feels sad but in another feels nice to be tying things up. This particular adventure is now over; I did what I set out to achieve. I wrote down a list of 30 things, set off around the world and completed them before my 30th birthday.
Along the way I met some people who I think were a bit insulted by the whole concept of 30b430. "Life doesn't end at 30 you know," I heard said a few times, quite huffily, by people who had passed that digit and were still travelling. Which I was obviously hoping was the case, as I was quickly approaching it.
But for me the point in 30b430 was to stop putting things off and give myself a deadline. Maybe it's the journalist in me or maybe it's just human nature but I find that I always achieve more if I give myself a time frame in which to do it. That way I can't put it off and say "One day I'll go there or I'll do that". I just have to go and do it now. So that's what 30b430 was about for me. It wasn't really anything to do with age. It was about going on an adventure, doing things I'd always dreamed of doing and, perhaps most of all, enjoying the simple pleasure of ticking things off a list.
So thank you for sharing the adventure with me and here's to new beginnings over at thegrownupgapyear.wordpress.com.
Em x