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holy toledo! two week's worth of links! happy friday! (^_^)
John Derbyshire On Nicholas Wade's A TROUBLESOME INHERITANCE – A Small, But Significant, Step For Race Realism – "Wade raises high the banner of race realism and charges head-on into the massed ranks of the SSSM. He states his major premise up front, on page two: 'New analyses of the human genome have established that human evolution has been recent, copious, and regional.' Those last four words are repeated at intervals throughout the narrative. They are, as it were, the keynote of the book; Wade returns to them many times to anchor his observations — and some speculations — on the history and development of human societies." (my emphasis there – h.chick)
henry harpending on science – "[T]his is perhaps at the heart of the slander of the so called hbd-crew that circulates. Most of us are really interested, in our hearts, in theory and models. This is the way that most of science works…. You state somewhere that the hbd crew is obsessed with IQ. Seems so, but wait! IQ is literally the only thing that can be reliably measured of a whole constellation of interesting traits. It really does work in the sense of telling one whom to hire or whom to admit to graduate school. You also speak of what we 'believe' but the whole fun of science is falsifying hypotheses, not believing them. I would give my eye teeth (if I had them) to come up with something besides IQ to look at." (my emphasis again – h.chick)
Digging For Gold: Study Says Your Race Determines Your Earwax Scent – h/t hbd bibliography!
Austronesians Out of the Cauldron – "…the emergence of Austronesians. Linguistics and archaeology already were rather clear on the pattern of expansion, and when. But now an ancient DNA remain from off the coast of Fujian dated to ~8,000 years ago solidifies in totality the where and when. This is not an argument anymore." – from razib.
New Diet, Sexual Attraction May Have Spurred Europeans' Lighter Skin – "[A] new study of ancient DNA concludes that European skin color has continued to change over the past 5000 years, suggesting that additional factors, including diet and sexual attraction, may also be at play." – see also: Natural selection has altered the appearance of Europeans over the past 5,000 years.
It made their brown eyes blue… – "A recent report in PNAS shows the inhabitants of the Ukraine and its environs had much darker hair, skin, and eyes back in the Bronze Age and earlier." – from greg cochran.
Did Europeans become white in historic times? – from peter frost.
Pause Is Seen in a Continent's Peopling – "Using a new method for exploring ancient relationships among languages, linguists have found evidence further illuminating the peopling of North America about 14,000 years ago. Their findings follow a recent proposal that the ancestors of Native Americans were marooned for some 15,000 years on a now sunken plain before they reached North America."
The place of the Armenian language in the Indo-European family – "A very interesting talk at the Library of Congress making a good case for a Greek-Phrygian-Armenian clade within the Indo-European family." – from dienekes.
One Million Brits 'Descended from Vikings" DNA Study Claims – "Around one million Britons, or one in 33 men across the UK, can claim direct descent from Vikings, according to a new DNA study. Men from the far north of Scotland were most likely to provide a direct match with almost a third (29.2%) of the men from the Shetland Islands testing positive for Viking blood." – h/t ed west!
Genetic Architectures – "The point is that the genetic architecture of a quantitative trait does not have to be the same in different populations of the same species. For example, I have the impression that height is not as highly polygenic in Pygmies as it is most other human populations. There's a particular region on chromosome 3 that seems to influence height- you don't see such a concentration in Europeans." – another from greg cochran.
Molecular genetic contributions to socioeconomic status and intelligence – h/t billaire! who tweeted: "21% of the var. in education level, 18% of SES, 29% of cognitive ability explained by COMMON SNPs in Scottish sample."
Study finds genetic link between height and IQ – "A team of researchers at Edinburgh University in Scotland has found a correlation between genes associated with height and those associated with intelligence. In their paper published in the journal Behavior Genetics, the group describes how they studied the DNA of 6,815 unrelated people and discovered what they describe as a direct correlation between height and intelligence—taller people are smarter, they say."
HVGIQ: Puerto Rico – from jason malloy.
Population differences in intellectual capacity: a new polygenic analysis – peter frost on davide piffer's work.
Evidence for the general factor of personality as social-effectiveness
Intelligent people are more likely to trust others – "Intelligent people are more likely to trust others, while those who score lower on measures of intelligence are less likely to do so, says a new study. Researchers based their finding on an analysis of the General Social Survey, a nationally representative public opinion survey carried out in the United States every one to two years." – h/t mr. mangan, esq!
Openness to experience and aesthetic chills: Links to heart rate sympathetic activity – "These results suggest links between openness to experience and sympathetic nervous system activity explaining, at least in part, relationships of openness to such traits as aesthetic chills." – h/t stuart ritchie!
Psychological refractory period in introverts and extraverts – "Evidence for faster stimulus analysis in extraverts compared to introverts."
'Free to Be' Boys and Girls: 40 Years After the Failed Gender Revolution – "1974's 'Free to Be…You and Me' feels like an eternity ago. And, amazingly, kids and adults have yet to morph into mutually respectful, non-gendered human persons." – from christina hoff sommers.
Personality Regions: The Friendly Midwest, the Left Coast and the Wicked (Possibly Irish) Witch of the Northeast – from staffan.
Want Success? Choose the Right Parents – "Gregory Clark's startling new book, 'The Son Also Rises,' asks you to rethink everything you thought you knew about social mobility. His research, if it's correct, isn't good news. It says that socio-economic status is mostly a matter of nature not nurture, and suggests that trying to help the disadvantaged move up won't make much difference." – h/t alice teller! – see also: Social mobility: Have and have not – "Mr Clark follows his logic to an unexpectedly egalitarian end. Redistribution is sensible, he argues, not in order to boost mobility but because mobility is intractably low. The cream will rise regardless, and so paying extraordinary salaries to capable workers is unnecessary. If high rates of mobility are used to excuse or justify inequality, he suggests, then the reality of low mobility implies something quite different: t hat great inequality serves little purpose and redistributing income from the rich to the poor might raise overall welfare at little economic cost. This makes for uncomfortable reading for those of all ideological persuasions."
Why HBD – "As I have tired to explain in my earlier post, Environmental Hereditarianism, the behavioral and physical traits of people are environmentally context-dependent. The broad environmental context regulates the expression of the genes. There is *not* a dichotomy between genes and 'environment'. Nor could there be one – we are always 'with' both. The broad environment includes geography, climate, technology, and prevailing social landscape (otherwise known as 'culture'). When the social-technological-geographic landscape changes, you can have broad behavioral change all without genetic change. This explains secular changes that occur too quickly to be a result of evolution, such as the sexual revolution, the modern rise in irreligiosity, the increase in the obesity rate, etc." – from jayman.
Key connection – "Biologists zero in on role of plasticity in evolution. For more than a century, scientists have suggested that the best way to settle the debate about how phenotypic plasticity — the way an organism changes in response to environment — may be connected to evolution would be to identify a single mechanism that controls both. Harvard researchers say they have discovered just such a mechanism in insulin signaling in fruit flies. Cassandra Extavour, an associate professor of organismic and evolutionary biology, and grad student Delbert André Green II were able to show that a single molecular pathway plays a role in both heritable changes in the flies' number of ovarioles — egg-producing compartments in the ovaries — and in how they react to their environments by shutting down some ovarioles. The study is described in a paper published this month in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 'This is the first example, to my knowledge, that shows this link — between heritability and plasticity — being controlled by the same mechanism,' Extavour said. 'What we've done with this paper is show that an important trait that controls how many offspring a fruit fly will have exhibits both heritable variation and phenotypic plasticity, and that both are controlled by insulin signaling.'" – h/t steven pinker!
Morality and the Lament of the Liberal Atheists – "Moral relativism is the ground state of living things. It doesn't work for a social species like ours. If every one of us tried to monopolize all the available resources within his grasp at the cost of everyone else, the chances that any given individual would survive and reproduce would be drastically reduced. Therefore, morality. It exists because, from an evolutionary perspective, it works. It will continue to function just as it always has, even if 100,000 philosophers shout at the top of their lungs that it's irrational. Of course it is, but it doesn't matter. We will continue to perceive the good and evil that seem so real to our imaginations as absolutes. It is our nature to do so…." – from helian
coolest. story. ever. (in the past two weeks.): The Woman Who Can Will Herself Out Of Her Body – h/t keith laws!
Hypothesis on Why Northwest Europe Began Outbreeding – "It could just be coincidence that the outbreeding areas that coincide with other positive hajnal line traits were also lands conquered by men from tribes with the traditions of Germanic kingship. These kings were illiterate barbarians seeking legitimacy and thinking long term at the security of their line ruling…. This is a hypothesis, but the position these rulers were in was one of new conquerors in foreign lands. They needed to create and encourage loyalty in the natives as well as find a way to secure their individual line as king in a manner that was different from what their people, the conquerors, were accustomed to. The Church, an institution eager for power in a new area as well, offered an opportunity to import a political infrastructure and change the social make up of their new lands. Even moreso in England than the rest of core Europe, the Church and the elite's motivations and goals overlapped perfectly. Christianity was new to them and new to the Britains, but as conversions mounted, it was a shared trait amongst them all. That shared identity was the warrior-chiefs' way to have rule and kingship legitimized. That shared identity made the natives and newcomers men of Kent or East Anglia, later England, and not of the clan." – good stuff from son of brock landers!
Rise of the West and the Hajnal line – from mr. mangan, esq.
The Low Fertility Of Urban Liberals Is A Feature Not A Bug – from heartiste.
The Achilles' Heel of Northern Europeans: Outbreeding? – from alfred clark.
The Medieval Mind – "The medieval character was not just about poisoning rivals and raping their daughters. That picture misses the raw and unquestioned nationalism, the impulsivity, the superstition, the childishness (in Barbara Tuchmann's words), the present time-orientation." – from elijah.
On Digit Ratio and its Implications – from sisyphean the mad contrarian.
psychO – from the awesome epigone. linking to this mostly for the pictures – awwww! (^_^)
The genes that mean you have a good ear for music – "Musical aptitude may be partly down to genes that determine the architecture of the inner ear." – h/t simon makin! – alternatively: you, too, can have perfect pitch! (~_^)
The Origin of Ideology – "Are left and right a feature (or bug) of evolution?" – review of a couple of books.
Do Women's Mate Preferences Change Across the Ovulatory Cycle? A Meta-Analytic Review – answer: yes. – see also: Intersexual conflict across women's ovulatory cycle – "Results indicate that (a) men are particularly self-assertive toward partners when their partners are fertile; (b) similarly, women are especially self-assertive toward partners when they are fertile; (c) women report engaging in more behaviors that resist male vigilance and mate-guarding when they are fertile, especially in ways that are unobservable to male partners; (d) these effects are especially strong when women themselves report greater attraction to men other than partners when they are fertile, compared to the luteal phase." – h/t robert burriss!
Study finds less cooperation among women than among men where hierarchy is involved – "'When I studied young children, I noticed that boys were typically interacting in groups, and girls tended to focus on one-on-one relationships,' said Benenson, the study's lead author, who explored similar questions in her book Warriors and Worriers. 'There is even evidence that these differences exist in six-month-olds – but you can see it with the naked eye by about five or six years old, where boys form these large, loose groups, and girls tend to pair off into more intense, close friendships.' What makes those differences particularly provocative, Benenson said, is that chimpanzees organize their relationships in nearly identical ways. 'Chimpanzee males usually have another individual they're very close with, and they may constantly battle for dominance, but they also have a larger, loose group of allies,' Benenson said. 'When it comes to defeating other groups, everybody bands together. I would argue that females don't have that biological inclination, and they don't have the practice.'"
The Reason Early Humans May Have Practiced Infant Cannibalism – mmmmmmm! – h/t diana fleischman!
Personality Traits and Body Mass Index in a Korean Population – "Compared with the normal weight groups, overweight and obese men scored higher on openness to experience and lower on conscientiousness. Overweight and obese women scored lower on neuroticism and openness to experience and higher on agreeableness. Extraversion was positively associated with BMI in men (β = 0.032, P<0.05). BMI and waist circumference were significantly increased in individuals who were less dutiful. In women, neuroticism was inversely associated with BMI (β = −0.026, P<0.05). Openness to experience was negatively, and agreeableness was positively, associated with BMI (openness to experience: β = −0.072, agreeableness β = 0.068) and waist circumference (openness to experience: β = −0.202, agreeableness: β = 0.227) (P<0.05)."
The Supergene That Paints a Liar
This Island Life – "The strange biology of island populations highlights the role of chance, not just selection, in evolutionary change." – h/t john belmont!
Competition May Not Be the Driving Force of Species Diversity After All – h/t robert ford!
Big Testicles Drive Genetic Evolution: Size Does Matter After All – "[A]nimals with larger testis having an increased speed of genome evolution, researchers have found."
The Phylogeny of Everything, the Origin of Eukaryotes, and the Rules of Taxonomy: Death to Archaea, Bacteria, and Eucarya! Long live Archaebacteria, Eubacteria, Eukaryota, and Prokaryota!
Genomics/Bone Marrow Donation: Next-gen DNA sequencing enables reliable donor matching service
Is Ed Houben Europe's most virile man? – "Ed Houben has an unusual pastime. He has slept with scores of women who seek him out for his legendary powers of insemination…. Ed Houben has come to see his daughter for the first time. He talks gently to the six-week-old baby, and little Madita looks up at him. She is, he says, his 98th child."
The Costume of Shangri-La: Thoughts on White Privilege, Cultural Appropriation, and Anti-Asian Racism – it's worth quoting the whole abstract: "This piece poses cultural appropriation as an undertheorized aspect of white privilege in White Privilege Studies. By way of narrative exploration, it asserts that a paucity of scholarship on Orientalism and anti-Asian racism has created a gap in White Privilege Studies that curbs its radical transformative potential. It argues for the value of a structural and historically focused lens for understanding the issue of cultural appropriation, and extends questions of culture and race relations beyond the borders of the United States. It also explores the complex ways that interracial and transnational relationships can influence white racial identity, and illustrates the disruptive potential that queer interracial relationships can offer to dominant historical patterns of white behavior." – (~_^) h/t ben southwood!
bonus: mr. mangan's book! (^_^): Smash Chronic Fatigue: A Concise, Science-Based Guide to Help Your Body Heal, and Banish Fatigue Forever
bonus bonus: Backing the Big Bang – "In breakthrough, astronomers find evidence of speedy 'cosmic inflation' of universe"
bonus bonus bonus: Does Time Flow? (video) – d*mn physicists! (~_^)
bonus bonus bonus bonus: Elephants Hear Age, Gender, Ethnicity in Human Voices – elephants are awesome!
bonus bonus bonus bonus bonus: Dinosaurs are not Extinct – YAAAAAAAAYYYYY!!!! – h/t steve stewart williams!
bonus bonus bonus bonus bonus bonus: The stripy stick insect that walked with dinosaurs – "This is the earliest known plant-mimicking stick insect, its fragile body preserved for 126 million years in the dusty rocks of north-east China." – h/t jason moore!
bonus bonus bonus bonus bonus bonus bonus: Flies That Do Calculus With Their Wings – "The wings of fruit flies beat about 250 times a second." – h/t kyle hill!
bonus bonus bonus bonus bonus bonus bonus bonus: Portolan Charts 'Too Accurate' to be Medieval – h/t heresiarch!
(note: comments do not require an email. polite elephant steps over fence.)


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Both candidates say they want to pull us out of the recession and put people back to work – to create jobs. Jobs, jobs, jobs, the election seems to be about jobs.
President Obama is straightforward – to create jobs, we need to hire people, create needed programs and businesses that will hire people, for infrastructure repair, schools and environmental projects, like wind turbines and solar-electric panels and arrays. Environmental projects would take back fields we had pioneered before our government dumped environmental investments and let all the accumulated expertise go overseas in the 80s. And it would help the environment, our biggest and most serious concern.
The result is what economists call a multiplier, because the spending and wages will require other business to get moving. Since there is more money hanging around in American banks and businesses than they know how to spend in the U.S., real projects and real jobs will get the economy moving again, encourage businesses that have been waiting on the sidelines looking for demand for their products, to get back to work here in the U.S., producing more jobs. That is straightforward, makes sense, is tried, true and works. It is the standard economic prescription for a depression. And it actually reduces the deficit by stimulating the economy, unlike the Greek & EU style contraction which multiplies the problem, not the solution.
How about Governor Romney? He is taking aim at regulation. The idea is that if you make it cheaper to produce, business will make more stuff, even without any more demand. He doesn't say what regulations. Does he mean OSHA regulations that protect the safety and health of American workers? My ignorance of OSHA regulations nearly resulted in very serious injury to someone helping me dig out the footers of my old house years ago. That wouldn't have been cheaper. It would have meant that Ted and I would have paid very dearly for that mistake – he would have been in the hospital and I'd have had a very large bill to pay. Ignoring OSHA rules passes the buck to people who either don't know the risks or have to accept them as the cost of holding a job.
Other regulations guarantee that we all get paid, in full, fund social security and Medicare, and prevent people from putting poison into the things we put on or in our bodies. Remember the huge fracas over mercury and arsenic just a few years ago. There is no excuse to fight for the privilege of poisoning us, but with support from Republicans in Washington, well-connected businesses thought they had a right to do just that. Sorry Mr. Romney, your anti-regulatory posture is both careless and dangerous, putting our wallets, our health and our future at risk.
And there's another more serious problem. Romney and Ryan propose to make America more competitive by making American workers cheap, like foreign labor. Think of it. We could have Romney-Ryan maquiladoras, Romney-Ryan rickshaws, Romney-Ryan craftsmen sitting on the dirt floors of their shops producing trinkets for tourists, like the men, women and children my Peace Corps colleagues and I visited all over the world.
Romney-Ryan have not produced any acceptable vision for America except that most of us will do with less. Never mind the pennies in promised reductions in the taxes we'll pay on the lower incomes he has in store for us. Meanwhile his friends will get more, more, more. Those of us who study what happens in many foreign countries have a technical word for it – kleptocracy – rule by people who use their power to steal from everybody else. Then what will America stand for?
— This commentary was broadcast on WAMC Northeast Report, October 23, 2012.

subset: commoncrawl


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Programming Cocoa with Ruby brings together two enthusiastic development
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Now, through Programming Cocoa with Ruby, the joy of Cocoa meets the joy of Ruby.


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I won't be able to go to the confernce this year, but if you are going to RootsTech , it promises to be a great conference.
Registration is now live for the 3rd annual RootsTech conference on March 21-23, 2013 in Salt Lake City, UT. With several thousand attendees each of the first two years, the 2013 conference is shaping up to be the biggest and best yet!
RootsTech, hosted by FamilySearch, offers an opportunity unlike any other to discover the lastest family history tools and techniques, connect with experts to help you in your research, and be inspired in the pursuit of your ancestors. You will learn to use the latest technology to get started or accelerate your efforts to find, organize, preserve, and share your family's connections and history.
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A full-day technology program just for developers. $89
They has something for everyone, whether you are an avid genealogist, just getting started, or simply want to discover the latest technologies and solutions to better connect with your family.
To get further information, youcan go to www.rootstech.org
The British Isles Family History of Greater Ottawa (BIFHSGO) had its own technology expert at the conference earlier this month, and it was Tony Bandy who gave a workshop on "Tables, Netbooks, e-Readers and Apps for Genealogies", and talks on "Dropbox, Evernote and Online Digital Notes", and "Online Books: Are These Really Good Resources? " which were well attended.
You may listen to an interview with John D. Reid of BIFHSGO and Tony at http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.com/2012/06/bifhsgo-conference-interview-with-tony.html


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These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. We recommend you work with your health coach on deciding which supplements are best for you.
Home > Healthy Products > Specialty Products > Ultra Prostate Health


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Usually, CinemaSins makes a hilarious video pointing out all the goofy errors and everything wrong with a popular movie and we all get a good laugh out of it. But when it comes to a classic like Back to the Future, well, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that masterpiece of cinema!
Not Doc Brown's science, not the continuity errors, not Marty's logic and most certainly not anything dealing with the DeLorean. So think of this video as things you maybe didn't notice—instead of things wrong—about Back to the Future.


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This is him a bit over a month ago when he arrived in our family. He is quite a bit bigger now, but is still a baby and still loves his cuddles with mama.
Anyway, moving onto beauty now, I couldn't not post images of the Dior holiday collection, the products are just so gorgeous. I have't bought anything from Dior for a while, but I am very tempted by the eyeshadow quints and those lipsticks! Oh my! Loving the powders too, but I'm not going to get them, I'm actually in the process of selling off all my pretty powders that I know I'll never use.
Here's the list of products in the collection:
5 Couleurs Eyeshadow (Limited Edition)
- Golden Reflections (046)
- Golden Shock (756)
Diorshow Fusion Mono Eyeshadow
- Mirror (621) (New, Permanent)
Dior Addict Gloss (Limited Edition)
- Gold Rain (164)
- Pink Excess (663)
Diorific Illuminating Press Powder (Limited Edition)
- Gold Shock (001)
- Pink Shock (002)
Diorific Golden Shock Colour Lip Duo (Limited Edition)
- Delicate Shock (001)
- Enchanting Shock (002)
- Daring Shock (005)
- Ardent Shock (006)
- Passion Shock (007)
- Mysterious Shock (008)
Diorific Vernis (Limited Edition)
- Shock (762)
- Mirorr (022)
- Smoky (990)
- Gold Equinoxe (241)
Diorific Vernis Effect Top Coat (Limited Edition)
- Gold Leaf Effect (001)
Finally, here are some pictures!
See more pictures after the jump!


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Industrial Printing
ColorGATE presents Colorrizer: a new process-optimized coloration software program for industrial digital printing especially for Ceramic, Décor, Interior Design and Textile. With Colorrizer, the design and collection development is already done in the working color space of the digital production system so that the process-dependent printer gamuts are taken into account and fully exploited directly in the design process.
Colorrizer optimizes the process from the design to the digital industrial printing production and leads to significant production time and cost savings.
Our Colorrizer video covers in approx. 4 min. all benefits and features of
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More information about Décor Productionserver can be found here.
More information about Textile Productionserver.
More information about Ceramic Productionserver can be found here.
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The Industrial Productionserver range for the various industrial inkjet applications is based on the same software architecture, scalable in its performance and can be configured modularly to meet individual requirements. In Industrial Printing, ColorGATE supports a variety of controller and printhead manufacturers for Industrial Inkjet.
Digital printing processes are now being used more and more frequently in textile printing as well as in the print production of products for interior design.
Industrial inkjet technology, for example, is used to decorate surfaces of flooring, such as parquet and laminate, furniture and other wood-like materials.
90% of the wall and floor tiles made in Europe are already being produced with ceramic digital printing systems. The advantages of digital production printing systems for smaller print runs and shorter run lengths with changing designs also come into play for the creation of such textiles for interior design as curtains, furniture fabrics, rugs and bedding.
ColorGATE now presents Colorrizer, new colorization software designed to generate colorways with a color-accurate preview on the monitor (soft proof) and to create step-and-repeat patterns for all these applications.
In our downloadable Colorrizer Flyer (PDF) you will find all information from this website and the video gathered in one document (size 1MB).


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Splash! City pools will be open for weekend
The City announced today that it will be opening its pools this weekend ahead of the official June 11 season start. Onesty Family Aquatic Center, Washington Park Pool, and the McIntire Wading pool will be open May 29-31 and June 5 & 6. Note: the slide at Washington Park will be closed Memorial Day weekend for structural repairs, which will be completed as soon as possible. Residents can also take advantage of discounted seasonal pool passes through May 31. For more information call 970-3260.
4 comments
well, i know i wont be at any city pool this weekend or any other weekend, seeing that last time i went to meade pool, i (a 18 year old) would have to take a swimming test to prove i could swim after jumping off the diving board. therefor, i wont be giving the city my money. amen.
Hmmm...maybe these moms/nannies you speak of are perfectly happy, as are the kids, the way they are. Maybe stuck-up and uptight is in the eye of the beholder (i.e., you). Maybe you should find some other problem -- a real problem -- to try to fix.
I love Washington Park pool.
It makes me sad though,to see the white, stay-at-home moms or nannies with their kids. Everybody's so segregated.
If only the lifeguards and other pool staff could get lively, you know, lead some games, or some casual swimming lessons,...anything would help break up the stuck-up, up-tight, attitudes and the with-holding of playfulness of the kids.
i have beeen waitinng all yyyyyeearrr for this to happpenn


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The story of how our club came to be situated on its superb site with expansive views of Barnegat Bay can now be told from the handwritten pages of our original minute book.
Since our earliest days, Bay Head Yacht Club has always enjoyed strong sailing programs aimed at ably serving our family-oriented membership, as well as furthering the sport of sailing. That strength continues today with a nationally renowned Junior Sailing program, healthy, competitive intra-club and inter-club racing fleets, and a commitment to our sport.
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Nestled between the ocean and the bay, Bay Head Yacht Club offers unparalled views. We are located on Barnegat Bay in Bay Head, NJ. To contact the Club, please call 732-899-2000.
Bay Head Yacht Club is one of the oldest yacht clubs in the United States and has hosted wonderful parties in spectacular surroundings for over 120 years.
Upcoming EventsEvent Inquiry


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Friday, May 04, 2012
Pencils, Pixels and Puppets
1 comment:
- Pete Emslie said...
It was great to see such a big turnout for this screening last night. Many of Sheridan's Animation faculty showed up, and it was wonderful to see so many of our students from the last few graduating years, some of whom had created the films that were on the schedule.
There was a diversity in types of film that offered something for all tastes. My own personal favourites would include the two celebrating dance, "Paso Doble" by Jamie Metzger, and "Sax" by Dean Heezen. I also really love "A Romance in Graphite" by Melissa Maduro, "Fitting In" by Taylor Annisette, and the very poignant "The Scarf" by Carla Veldman. My congratulations to all of our talented students whose films were represented. I hope that Sheridan will consider further public screenings in the coming years.
- May 09, 2012 12:45 PM


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The latest trailer for "Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens," brimming with action and tantalizing teases (if not much context), ends with a woman's voice that beckons: "The Force, it's calling to you. Just let it in."
The Force isn't calling as much as it's screaming: The hype over the series' seventh installment exploded into hyperspace Monday, between what quickly became the most-scrutinized movie trailer in cinematic history, the release of a cool retro-style poster (sans Luke Skywalker) and the start of online ticket sales – all for a film that's less than two months away after, by some measures, a 32-year wait.
But as "Star Wars" fans well know, hyperspace and The Force are fickle powers, fraught with danger. There's a delicate balance between stoking excitement and building impossible-to-meet expectations that lead to crushing disappointment. In other words, the challenge of navigating the biggest mania in "Star Wars" history is avoiding a lightspeed trip to the Dark Side.
U.S. & World
The stakes are high, both in Hollywood and in a galaxy far, far away. In the short term, Disney wants to beat "Jurassic World" in the year's box office race. In the longer term, the new "Star Wars" film represents the crucial opening gambit in a $4 billion bet on Lucasfilm and moviedom's most examined fantasy franchise.
For fans, "Episode VII" represents the biggest round yet in the fight for the soul of a series that many diehards believe creator George Lucas sullied with a trio of prequels released between 1999 and 2005. Many are hoping for a Luke Skywalker-like savior in director J.J. Abrams, who, at 49, grew up on the original three installments – and proved with the last two "Star Trek" films he's adept at melding the spirit of the old with the possibilities of the new.
That ethos was on display in the third and latest trailer, which offered the longest glimpses yet of newcomers Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega) and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), while showing us Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) and Han Solo (Harrison Ford), who, when asked about the "stories" of the past, declares: "It's true – all of it."
Nostalgia alone won't win the day with fans, who are the most powerful Force of all in the "Star Wars" universe. But it's a good start.
As you wonder, "Where's Luke?" and mark the days until Dec. 18, check out – again and again – the trailer (above) for "Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens."


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bRAA versus xRR Equals What the……?
I was sitting there in my favorite sports bar the other day when it came to my mind that in the last few years there have been a multitude of adaptations and abbreviations transformed and formulated to even decipher the amount of chew spits a player makes during a plate appearance. It was at this time that I had a brainstorm thought about the Tampa Bay Rays and decided to pull out the old laptop and try and do some fast research while he went to did some business.
I jotted down a few fast pages of statistics from the bevy of sites like www.Fangraphs.com, who have developed a whole new language within baseball and speak about phrases and even notations that most sports fans have not even heard of before. I mean, until I ventured online looking for their explanation I could not tell you what bRAA, or even Tra stood for in baseball statistics talk. So let me try and decipher the first two here for you then get back to my conversation. BRAA is actually an abbreviation for batting runs above average. It is computed by taking a hitters RV/PA ( Runs valued per Pitches attempted above average) and multiplying the number of plate appearances he has had that season.
Okay now that I have you maybe totally confused, or I am talking Esperanto to you, let me use the first research abbreviation noted above with the American League MVP, Dustin Pedroia, and the 2008 American League Rookie of the Year, Evan Longoria. So using the formula of bRAA, I have calculated that Pedroia's was 24.1 in 2008.
If you consider that his bRAA has risen from -7.8 in 2006, to a respectable 10.1 last season during his own ROY season, you can see the progression of this young hitting star. If you take the current ROY, Longoria, this is his first true season in the big leagues, so he doesn't have even 1 at bat to put into account to show the fast progression of his hitting in the AL. But then again, when you come into the league for the first time, and have a projection of 16.4, the sky is the limit.
So unlike Pedroia, Longoria is showing immediate plus plate appearances and making his presence know in the M L B. That bodes well for the league and for his team in the coming seasons as his bRAA will increase a bit, and might spark another strong run at the playoffs for the young Rays. So as you can see, the S A B R guys have taken a huge hold of baseball, and that is not a bad thing. As Kevin Costner said in the movie, "For the Love of the Game" when asked if baseball counts everything, he said " We count everything, it is what we do."
Odd stats and projections have become the backbone of fantasy leagues and professional betters and has been absorbed into everyday life now. 5 years ago, who would have known what OPS stood for, and what offensive production number were accumulated in that statistic. Now it is a commonly used graphic on most every ballpark in America when a hitter comes to bat.
I know there have been a few time this past season that I took out my laptop at games and tried to update a certain stat, or even produce a stat to supplement a comment I was making to a seat mate or even another fan in the section. It is almost as if very soon there will be a second language spoken only by statistics mongrels and the cyber republic to express our actions and reactions in abbreviations and commas. But that is not always a bad thing.
Since baseball is a game where statistics are law, and the amount of statistical firepower can make a drunk fan sit down and ponder even a simple fact, it is the reality of baseball in the modern days. I know my Dad used to say the only stats that matter are the ones under the "H", "R" and "E" spots on the scoreboard. Now that is not to mean he did not know the batting averages or a the pitching selections of his favorite players', but the love of the game was more physical to them.
Today, the game is taking on more power beyond just the batted ball or the nice 12-6 break on a curve ball. It is becoming a game where science and logic and even that math class we all hated in college statistics is coming to the forefront of information. I mean who was the top pitcher in 2008?
Was it C C Sabathia, or even Derek Lowe? Or could someone like Randy Johnson or Ervin Santana sneak into the Top 10 without us even noticing it. To be totally truthful here, Sabathia was listed twice in the Top 10 performances of 2008. He was the top selection and also the 10th for his time with the Milwaukee Brewers, and Cleveland Indians. And how did Lee sneak all the way up to number 3 without anyone noticing him until late in the season, and during the playoffs. Sometimes the statistics as a whole show better productivity and more stable references to a players' true nature at the plate or on the mound in baseball.
Okay, let's head the other direction, who was the best in the batter's box in 2008, was it the MVP's of both leagues, Dustin Pedroia, or Albert Pujols? Or did someone else have a banner year and got lost in the shuffle? If you guessed Pujols, you win a huge prize. He had the best season of anyone is baseball at the plate in 2008. But if you picked Pedroia, you might be disappointed to know he did not even rank in the top 20 in offense in 2008.
He did have an amazing post season, but the season only produced him a slot at number 23, and that was not even the best showing on the Boston Red Sox. That slot went to Kevin Youkilis, who came in at number 9. And Pedroia did not come even second on his own team. So you to wonder, just how great a season did he have if he was ranked 4th on his own squad in total offensive numbers in 2008.
Well, if you consider the fact that Youkilis probably had his best season as a professional this season, his selection at number 9 might be realistic for him. But the two guys in front of Pedroia also had injury concerns in 2008, but when they were able to hit the plate, they were effective for their team. Both J D Drew ( 13) and Pre-Trade Deadline Manny Ramirez (12) had better statistics than the American League Most Valuable Player.
So since I am a Rays fan, I also took the liberty of seeing how my guys did on both lists. Well, even though we did have an amazing run towards that beautiful trophy in October, we missed out and will have to repeat to have another shot to hoist that beauty in the air. I scanned over the sheets and saw that pitching wise, we did not fare really bad on the list.
James Shields actually coming out 18th in the top 20 of the 2008 listing. Matt Garza and Scott Kazmir came in at 54th and 61st respectfully, and that is a great showing that the Rays had 3 guys in the top 60-ish of baseball. The one guy who really got me excited was the fact that number 4 starter, Andy Sonnanstine blew past Garza and Kazmir and came out a impressive 31st on the final list. He had some great statistics behind the front numbers and has shown some remarkable consistent numbers in 2008.
So the next time you want to wonder why Sonnanstine is still here and Jackson is gone, you can look at the 2008 numbers and they tell a very clear story. Jackson was listed at 114th best in baseball, while Sonnanstine was in the 31st slot. Consistency wins ball games, and with the Rays being a truly statistic friendly team, you know that Rays Manager Joe Maddon sees the potential of Sonnanstine even growing in 2009 for the team.
On the offensive side of the ball, the Rays did have a few guys who did better at the plate then imagined early on in the season. The team actually placed 3 guys in the top 100 hitters in 2008. As you might expect, Carlos Pena was the highest Rays with a ranking of 29th for the year. That was followed by a 55th spot by Longoria, and a 92nd slot for center fielder B J Upton.
On the surface, people thought the Upton was having a down season, which he actually was due to a shoulder injury, but with him adjusting his swing and even placing into the top 100, the sky is the limit when he is fit and healthy in 2009. And with Longoria placing so high as a rookie, it also sets a high expectation level for him in 2009. Hopefully the sophomore jinx will not hit him and he can remain in pace to become a new star at third base for the M L B.
But the category that really had my eyes popping was in the relief pitching listings. The Rays were consistently being praised for their upgrades in their Bullpen, and with the huge developments in their relievers, but just how great was this change for the team? The squad actually placed two guys high on the list.
Considering the guy who came in at number 10 on the list was not even on the Rays Opening Day roster is a amazement in itself, but he did not get any reputation, or even recognition until he came back with a fire in his belly to prove the world wrong about him. Grant Balfour came back to St. Petersburg, Florida to fulfill a potential of being a top 10 reliever in the M L B, not just the AL. If I took the top 10 and split them by leagues, Balfour would rank 7th in the American League.
But as great as the story is on the emergence of Balfour, the productivity of J P Howell can not be measured by just the statistics. During the season I saw the guy who used to slunk by the Bullpen area come alive this season and become a fan favorite for his personality and his spunk. As Howell gained strength and great numbers, he also opened up to the fans and showed that great inner champion to him. Howell just missed the top 50 in baseball by 2 slots, but he is a top guy based on his upswing in 2008.
So as we can see, the basic statistics in baseball sites and on leader boards can not always show you the total package of a player. Be it a MVP winner who is not even the 4th best player on his team, or a 5th starter who is actually statistically better than 3 other starting pitchers on his squad, the number can be deceiving at time. But we already knew that didn't we?


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Frequently Asked Questions for Officials
The basic categories for officials in road and track are level C, level B, level A, national commissaire, and international commissaire. The categories for mountain bike and BMX are similar, but without the level B. There are requirements for advancement to each rank, and these are explained in the manuals and through links on the officials page. Upgrading requires a combination of time since last upgrade, number of races and positions officiating, attendance at an upgrading seminar, and performance on an upgrading exam. For road upgrades to B, there are a series of modules to take.
In addition to the basic categories, there are also some specialties, such as motorcycle refereeing (motoref), track starter, and race secretary. These specialties are taught in periodic seminars.
Commercial General Liability Policy (CGL)
- $1 million each occurrence
- $3 million per event aggregate
- $10 million policy aggregate
- While working the event in the capacity of an official, you are a named insured on this policy.
- This provides excess liability coverage on top of the Commercial General Liability Policy.
- $4 million each occurrence
- $4 million policy aggregate
- While working the event in the capacity of an official, you are a named insured on this policy.
- $1 million each claim
- $1 million policy aggregate
- This policy excludes professional liability bodily injury/property damage claims covered by the Commercial General Liability Policy (the CGL is the main policy while this policy is supplemental).
- While working the event in the capacity of an official, you are an inusred on this policy.
- $25,000 maximum medical expense
- $1,000 accidental death and dismemberment
- $500 maximum benefit for dental expenses, orthopedic appliances expenses, Outpatient physical therapy expenses, and transportation.
- This policy is excess coverage, meaning that if you have primary health insurance, that would pay first before this policy goes into effect.
- If you have primary health insurance, there is a matching deductible per accident ($1,000 minimum, $5,000 maximum).
- If you do not have primary health insurance, there is a deductible of $5,000 per accident.
- This policy does have exclusions, and does not cover loss cause by or resulting from:
- An official who is in, entering, or exiting any aircraft owned, operated, or leased by USA Cycling.
- An official who is acting or training as an aircraft pilot or crew member.
- Emotional trauma, mental or physical illness, disease, pregnancy, childbirth or miscarriage, bacterial or viral infection, or bodily malfunctions.
- Suicide, attempted suicide, or self-inflicted injuries.
- Declared or undeclared war.
- This policy is OPTIONAL, and it is the event Race Director's responsibility to purchase this policy.
- If this insurance is not purchased, or the purchase is declined, then the automobile(s) and motorcycle(s) used in the event (if any) will not receive insurance coverage through USA Cycling.
- If this insurance is purchased by the Race Director, then only the automobile(s) and motorcycle(s) listed on the application will receive insurance coverage. If you will be using your automobile(s) and/or motorcycle(s), and want this insurance to cover them, work with the Race Director to ensure that they are listed on the application.
- All drivers must apply for, and pass, a motor vehicle record (MVR) background check to be eligible for coverage. If you are licensed as a USA Cycling Motoref, you will have already completed this step as part of your Motoref license approval process.
- $1 million of liability coverage
- This policy is excess coverage, meaning that the automobiles(s) and motorcycle(s) must have primary insurance, that would pay first before this policy goes into effect (it is recommended that the primary insurance coverage has liability limits of $300,000 or greater).
- This policy only covers automobile(s) and motorcycle(s) driven during the race on the race course.
- An automobile may carry a maximum of 8 persons or the number of seat belts in the vehicle, whichever is less.
Policy Summary Disclosures
The above information only summarizes the policies and is just an overview. Coverage is subject to the terms, conditions and exclusions of the policy(ies). Should a discrepency occur between this synopsis of coverage and the actual terms, conditions and exclusions of the policy(ies), the policy(ies) terms, conditions and exclusion will prevail.
Rev: 140204
Rev: 140204
In addition to the general insurance questions listed above, a comprehensive and easy-to-read FAQ has been created through the joint efforts of USA Cycling staff, members of the National Technical Commission, and officials serving on USA Cycling Sports Committees. This FAQ has been submitted to our insurance provider, with the responses available through the following PDF document:
Officials Insurance FAQ
Do you have questions regarding the Officials Program? Or have a question you'd like to see included in this FAQ? Submit it today to Randy Shafer - Technical Director
This article updated February 5, 2015.


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Time for France again and have a look at the good the bad and the ugly. Let's start with the latter: First car we encountered was the latest Citroen DS (or should we just say DS) concept: Must have been a contest of putting as much design per square inch as possible, oh horror! Unfortunately 4-door Smart suffered from the same proportional disease as Twingo, 2-door is a strange dog nosed contraption. Mercedes AMG GT looks great at first sight but after a while it just doesn't look special enough: Still a lot better than their bread and butter cars though. Last but not least Volvo's XC 90. They promised us dynamic looks, gave us a brick (although nice brick), quite sure it'll sell.
Onto the good: Audi gave us the TT Sportback, what a taut looking car! Better than its 2-door sister. With that incredible interior I would have one!
We were a little bit less impressed with the new Lamborghini Asterion Concept. Hard to fit it in their state of the art, modernistic, technocratic product range. Does it try to be a Muira? Why go retro?
Interesting design battle between Renault and Peugeot. One could say their going out of their way to be as different from each other as they can. Both have gone ever so slightly overboard though. Renault loosing itself in soapy, organic weakness. Peugeot got the ruler out and forgot to put radii on the edges! Both offer lots of interesting detail though, trying to be different might not be so bad.
And then to my favorite! I thought he 'normal' XL 1 was already a terrific showpiece from a design, as well as technical point of view. The XL 1 Sport is bonkers: Such madness! That it has an Italian heart also helps as far as I'm concerned. Sportscar of the future!


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Registering to vote online in California would've happened eventually. State officials had been expecting to go that route after 2015, when a new statewide voter database is due to be finished.
But Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) calls the change "long overdue." His measure, SB397, which landed on the governor's desk Friday, requires California to join states like Arizona and Oregon in moving toward an on-line registration system by next year's elections.
Right now, county election officials compare a voter's signature to their signature on a paper registration form. The new law, if signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, tells the DMV to develop a system of digitized signatures that could be used by election officials for voter verification.
U.S. & World
The DMV is not happy about the rush and the extra workload, saying, "it is unlikely that the programming required by this bill could be accomplished in time for the 2012 election without jeopardizing other projects."
But backers, including the Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder, say the change is needed now in order to save money and boost turnout. LA County officials estimate that more than a million eligible county voters have not even registered.
Supporters say the measure will also solve security issues and inaccuracies in record-keeping.
Gov. Brown has 30 days to decide whether to sign or veto the measure.


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Space odyssey
The countdown is on. Any second now, the NASA space probe will be lifting off to make the long journey to Mars, and the Cité de l'espace space museum in Toulouse is showing the event live. A few seats along from me, a little girl clenches her fists as she stares at the giant screen, utterly enthralled. I almost expect the thrust of the rocket to pull her up off her chair and with it into space.
I was roughly her age when I first became aware that space was an infinite void. Is earth really the only inhabited planet? I was suddenly overcome by the notion that the human species was very, very lonely. I just couldn't take it in and asked my father, "Are we really all alone in the solar system?"
Most of the visitors at Cité de l'espace today appear to feel comfortable about the universe. I join them on a tour of this space city, drifting and learning fascinating facts along the way. For instance, that there is a difference between interstellar time and earth time. The further we leave our home planet behind, the faster the clock ticks; large masses slow the flow of time. I must be really far away then because the hours rush by like minutes here.
I climb into a space capsule, run my fingers over extraterrestrial rocks, and walk on the surface of the moon suspended from bungee cords. Strapped into a revolving chair, I experience exactly how space sickness feels. As the chair comes to a standstill, I open my eyes again and see the little girl. Her smile reminds me that we are not alone.
Lufthansa flies up to four times daily from Frankfurt (FRA) and Munich (MUC) to Toulouse (TLS). Use the app to calculate your miles. Download here: miles-and-more.com


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Sunday, December 4, 2011
Pillboxes with a Dose of Cute
"Cool pill cases/organizers. ... I want some CUTE options!" That's the request I got from my friend and fellow organizer Julie Bestry, and I'm delighted to oblige. Let's start with this pillbox from SweetHeartSinner Creations — one of the many it sells.
The Unemployed Philosophers Guild sells six different pillboxes, including this one. If you don't want a Jesus theme, you could choose Freud or Shakespeare, among others.
This pillbox from Glam may not be cute as much as charming. I don't see this specific one on the Glam web site, but it's available through SilverHooks and Amazon.com.
Kyle Design is another place to go for a large number of pillbox designs — and a number of different sizes, too. The largest one "holds a seven day (1 week) supply of pills in a plastic flip top pill case hidden inside."
Of course, no one does cute quite like some Japanese designers do. Japanistic sells four pill cases, and this is my favorite.
And if you just have a few pills you need to carry, this pill keychain from Jonathan Adler might do. [via Switched On Set]
For something larger, your choices are much more limited; beyond the Kyle Design boxes mentioned above, you're mostly stuck with boring plastic boxes. I did find this one from the Korean company Donbook — but at a place where you can only buy in lots of ten, and have to pay some rather high shipping costs. (Here's another place that has "free shipping" but has a much higher lot price.)
Related Post
Organizing the Medications
Posted by Jeri Dansky at 9:36 PM
Labels: organizing products
4 comments:
- Julie Bestry said...
These are fabulous, Jeri! I love them all (though I think I'd opt for Shakespeare over Jesus), and now I can't stop surfing the Japanistic site. But I think the winner has to be the SweetHeartSinner Etsy shop (maker of the pirate owl) because of the 20s-era flapper pill box.
- December 5, 2011 at 8:24:00 AM PST
- Jeri Dansky said...
Glad you like them, Julie; thanks for sending me down some interesting pathways in my search!
- December 5, 2011 at 8:30:00 AM PST
- Janet said...
These are so fun! I'm glad I don't need one, because I'd have a hard time picking one!
- January 3, 2012 at 1:35:00 PM PST
- Natalie - Organized Habits said...
Wow! I never knew there was such a huge variety of pill organizers. And they are so fun and colorful! I am going to get a few for gifts this year. Thanks for posting!
- January 17, 2012 at 8:39:00 AM PST
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15 Most Expensive Artworks Sold at Major Auction Houses in 2015
As 2015 is about the end, and we are all excitingly expecting 2016, here in Widewalls, we are recapitulating the year behind us, and we are presenting the most interesting news of 2015, the most interesting Widewalls articles, and so on; now, the time has come to take a look what were the most expensive art pieces sold at major auction houses in 2015. Yes, it seems that we might see total art sales at auctions to fell comparing with 2014, but we will have to wait to see the final reports. However, there is no way to say 2015 was not exciting and interesting when it comes to big auction sales – we saw a record-breaking sales!
There were two big series of auctions sales – the first one in spring, the second one in fall. In May, we saw some remarkable sales, particularly at Christie's and Sotheby's New York. Two exciting weeks of auctions of Impressionism and Modern art, and Post-War and Contemporary art was worth more than $2.6 billion and brought many world records – the most famous one being a $179 million sale of Picasso's Women of Algiers (Version O) at Christie's, which is the new world record for an artwork sold at an auction (for more details about big auction sales in spring 2015, please read our article Sales Trends from Spring Auctions 2015). On the other hand, fall auctions also saw a number of breathtaking sales, with couple of record-breaking ones (for more detailed analysis of the fall auctions, please read our article New York November Auctions 2015 Analysis – The Decline of Guarantees). Still, we don't want to focus only on Sotheby's and Christie's. So, let us not analyze any further in this article, but let's see – what were the most expensive art pieces sold at major auction houses in 2015. Scroll down, and find out!
Domenico Gnoli - Shirt Collar Size 14 1/2
In Shirt Collar Size 14 ½, Domenico Gnoli manages to uncover a fresh and original component of the painted medium with a sculptural dimension similar to Baroque artist Lorenzo Bernini's perfection of the details in his marble masterpieces. In this one painting, Gnoli combines the multiple conceptual informants of painting and sculpture, these "radically different" media, while never diluting one or the other, nor conflating the two.
This unique piece was sold for $6,885,000 at Phillips New York in May 2015
For more information about the sale and the artwork, please click here!
Brice Marden - Elements (Hydra)
Brice Marden's Elements (Hydra), 1999-2001, is the culmination of his decades-long evolution as a pioneering artist whose influences range from the lyricism and structure of Chinese calligraphy and poetry to the undiluted and un-tempered expression of Jackson Pollock. The sinuous whorls of red, yellow and blue course across the green-grey picture plane, framing organic forms and creating an overall impression of fluidity and natural, gestural abstraction.
Elements (Hydra) was sold for $9,237,000 at Philipps New York in May 2015
Click here to find more information about the artwork and the sale!
Willem de Kooning - Untitled XXVIII
Willem de Kooning's Untitled XXVIII, 1977, rendered in creamy yellows, crisp whites and sky blues, seizes a glimpse of the landscape in an inspired attempt to hold onto the temporal chaos of the sand, wind, and sky. Untitled XXVIII fuses the anthropomorphic and the natural, the abstracted landscape containing incipient human shapes. The underpinning of every canvas, every visceral brush stroke, whether figural or natural, reveals de Kooning's impulsive painterly actions.
Untitled XXVIII was sold for $11,365,000 at Phillips New York in November 2015
More about Untitled XXVIII here!
Cy Twombly - Untitled
Cy Twomly's Untitled from 2006 is from a series of paintings which were all completed in the autumn of 2006 in Cy Twombly's hometown of Lexington, Virginia. These works mark the final stage of the artist's prolific painterly career, and as such act as emphatic illustrations of the artist's mature style. Moreover, the eloquent marriage of several key styles that defined parts of his artistic development imbues the work with further importance. The monochrome background, the single line, the overlapping loops and the raw red pigment all represent an element from his many series' of works but here they are presented in symbiotic harmony.
Untitled from 2006 was sold for $12,261,653 at Phillips London in October 2015
For more info on Twombly's Untitled 2006, please click here!
Francis Bacon - Seated Woman
In this masterpiece from 1961, a deeply personal and vigorous portrait of Madame Muriel Belcher is presented. Muriel, whose fiery and vivacious personality was known by all, is captured here by Francis Bacon in what can only be defined as pure and unapologetic splendor. Before us is a seated woman; her shoulders melt together, as her body – soft and supple – pours itself forward toward her viewer. Her flesh, a rich combination of pinks, greys, and tinges of purple, embodies the master's famed technique and unrivaled mastery of pigment and brushwork. She is suspended between three swaths of color: lavender, charcoal and emerald green. Through her poignant gaze, she looks to us, almost begging for her mysteries of past, present, and future to be revealed.
Seated Woman was sold for $28,165,000 at Phillips New York in May 2015
Vincent van Gogh - Paysage sous un ciel mouvemente
Vincent van Gogh's dramatically atmospheric Paysage sous un ciel mouvementé is one of the finest of the artist's Arles landscapes. Painted amidst the most fruitful period of the artist's career, when his canvases were flooded with rich passages of densely-painted color, the composition depicts a verdant field under threat of an explosive rainstorm. Van Gogh creates a scene of intense anticipation here, replete with psychological drama as the laborers hurry to finish their work before the heavens rain down upon them.
Paysage sous un ciel mouvemente was sold for $54,010,000 at Sotheby's New York in November 2015
More about Paysage sous un ciel mouvemente here!
Claude Monet - Nympheas
Claude Monet's Nympheas are amongst the most iconic and celebrated Impressionist paintings. The profound impact the series has made on the evolution of Modern Art marks them out as Monet's greatest achievement. The famous lily pond in his garden at Giverny provided the subject matter for most of his major late works, recording the changes in his style and his constant pictorial innovations.
Nympheas was sold for amazing $54,010,000 at Sotheby's New York in May 2015
Vincent van Gogh - L'Allee des Alyscamps
A majestic allée at the peak of its autumnal splendor is the subject of Van Gogh's magnificent L'Allée des Alyscamps, his Arles-period painting from November 1, 1888. This was the very moment in Van Gogh's career when his most legendary expressions of great beauty and exuberance were captured on canvas.
L'Allee des Alyscamps was sold for $66,330,000 at Sotheby's New York in May 2015
For more information about the sale and the piece, click here!
Pablo Picasso - La Gommeuse
Pablo Picasso's extraordinary La Gommeuse is among the rare and coveted pictures created during the artist's Blue Period (1901-1904). The painting dates from the second half of 1901, following Picasso's widely-praised exhibition at Vollard's gallery that June and amidst the sobering aftermath of his friend Casagemas' suicide earlier in the year. La Gommeuse depicts a gorgeous cabaret performer whose very body defines the perverse beauty of the age — she is both temptation and downfall incarnate, a high priestess of melancholy and a siren of joie de vivre.
La Gommeuse was sold for $67,450,000 at Sotheby's New York in November 2015
Read more about La Gommeuse here!
Cy Twombly - Untitled (New York City)
Cy Twombly's iconic blackboard paintings are purely about technique, line and the act of painting. Untitled (New York City) from 1968 is the most mature from this ground-breaking series for its complexity and its monumental scale.
Untitled (New York City) was sold for $70,530,000 at Sotheby's New York in November 2015
More information about the piece and sale you can find here!
Mark Rothko - No.10
Painted in 1958, when the artist was at the height of his artistic and critical achievements, Mark Rothko's No. 10 represents the pinnacle of his alchemical prowess. Using the most basic of artistic materials—canvas, oil and pigment—Rothko is able to create a painting that appears to glow with a supranatural luminescence, the result of a surface that fizzles with painterly energy. Rothko's paintings are extraordinarily contemplative and he wanted the people who stood before them to undergo an almost religious experience. For him, a painting was not the record of an experience—it was the experience, and within the echelons of this monumental painting, Rothko is not only able to summon up an object of extraordinary beauty, he is also able to connect us with the basic emotions that make us human.
No. 10 was sold for $81,925,000 at Christie's New York in May 2015
Roy Lichtenstein - Nurse
Painted at the height of his career, Roy Lichtenstein's Nurse is a dazzling masterpiece—a celebration of the bold new imagery that changed the direction of art. The subject of this painting stands alongside Warhol's Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and Jacqueline Kennedy as one of a distinguished group of icons who take their place in the history of figurative painting. Initially titled Frightenedness, the protagonist symbolizes her profession, however when seen through Lichtenstein's prism, her anxious gaze and hand raised nervously upwards towards her face displays a palpable sense of drama that infuses the narrative with a sense of fear and foreboding.
Lichtenstein's Nurse was sold for $95,365,000 at Christie's New York in November 2015
Alberto Giacometti - L'homme au doigt (Pointing Man)
L'Homme au doigt (Pointing Man) or (Man Pointing) is a 1947 bronze sculpture by Alberto Giacometti, and today it is the most expensive sculpture ever sold! Christie's called it a "rare masterpiece", and "Giacometti's most iconic and evocative sculpture", and estimated that it would sell "in the region of $130 million". Christie's also noted that the cast in their auction is believed to be the only one that Giacometti "painted by hand in order to heighten its expressive impact".
L'Homme au doigt (Pointing Man) was sold for breathtaking $141,285,000 at Christie's New York in May 2015.
For more info about the artwork and the sale, click here!
Amedeo Modigliani - Nu Couche
The painting is one of a famous series of nudes that Amedeo Modigliani painted in 1917 under the patronage of his Polish dealer Léopold Zborowski. It is believed to have been included in Modigliani's first and only art show in 1917, at the Galerie Berthe Weill, which was shut down by the police. Christie's lot notes for their November 2015 sale of the painting observed that this group of nudes by Modigliani served to reaffirm and reinvigorate the nude as a subject of modernist art. This is among the most expensive paintings ever sold.
Nu Couche was sold for amazing $170,405,000 at Christie's New York in November 2015
Pablo Picasso - Les Femmes d'Alger (Version 'O')
And the winner is Pablo Picasso – Les Femmes d'Alger (Version 'O'). The painting achieved a record price for a painting at auction. Even before the auction, it was expected to set a world record price for a work of art at auction. The painting is the final one of the Les Femmes d'Alger series, and it was painted in 1955. The series was inspired by Eugène Delacroix's 1834 painting The Women of Algiers in their Apartment (French: Femmes d'Alger dans leur appartement). The series is one of several painted by Picasso in tribute to artists that he admired.
Les Femmes d'Alger (Version 'O') was sold for $179,365,000 at Christie's New York in May 2015
More info about the sale here!
Featured Images: Domenico Gnoli – Shirt Collar Size 14 ½ (courtesy of kafkasapartment.tumblr.com); Brice Marden – Elements (Hydra) [courtesy of www.telegraph.co.uk]; Willem de Kooning – Untiled XXVIII, detail; Cy Twombly – Untitled, 2006 (courtesy of www.blouinartinfo.com); Featured Image: Francis Bacon – Seated Woman, detail; Vincent van Gogh – Paysage sous un ciel mouvemente, detail (courtesy of Sotheby's); Claude Monet – Nympheas, detail (courtesy of Sotheby's); Vincent van Gogh – L'Allee des Alyscamps, detail (courtesy of Sotheby's); Pablo Picasso – La Gommeuse, detail (courtesy of Sotheby's); Cy Twombly – Untitled (New York City), detail (courtesy of Sotheby's); Mark Rothko – No.10 (courtesy of pratak-monodosico.tumblr).com; Roy Lichtenstein – Nurse (courtesy of www.artlinked.com); Alberto Giacometti – L'homme au doigt (Pointing Man); Amadeo Modigliani – Nu Couche; Pablo Picasso – Les Femmes d'Alger (Version 'O') (courtesy of www.visualnews.com). All Images used for illustrative purposes only.


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Toadyjr necesitaba un nuevo diseño de página web y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 14 diseños de 7 diseñadores freelance.
A website about fitness on and near a Military base in Sunny Southern California
Unconventional Athlete
I want a website designed for my site, http://www.unconventionalathlete.com.It is a site where I want to share information about workouts/fitness,nutrition, and wellness. I live near and work on a U.S. Marine Corpsbase on the beach in sunny southern California. The base is CampPendleton and it has plenty of land filled withridges/trails/hills/beaches/
ocean/roads which I plan onincorporating into the daily workouts. I want to appeal to peoplelooking to get into the best shape of theirs lives by getting outsideand using as less equipment as possible during their workouts. I wantpeople to go back to the basics of fitness instead of following themost popular and mainstream programs that are out their today.Unconventional - not part of the established or conventional mainstream.
- tagline: Unconventional - not part of the established or conventional mainstream
- Running, Swimming, Calisthenics, Kettlebells are all things I plan ondoing for the workouts, so you could use these in the theme
- The main page should have three catchy images to related articles on performance, nutrition, and wellness. Underneath it, I want to add add smaller icons to other articles on other pages
- I want links on the home page to: Home, About Us, Exercises, Workouts, Performance, Nutrition, Wellness, Ask a Coach, Store, Affiliates, and Contact.
- I'd like people to sign up for a newsletter.
- Sites that I like the look of:
- Lots of Themed pictures/icons that link to other pages, info
- Don't want a boring wordpress mainpage. The articles on different pages can be wordpress, but you don't have to worry about that. Just the mainpage.


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This layout is for todays Template Challenge. LeAnne (digishoes) chose Lynns Scrap Express No. 35 and I love it! I had not used this template before and changed it just a little by making the layered masks a bit smaller and lengthening it slightly . . . and made a faint white line between the photo sections. I enjoyed using several of the new products in the store and a few that will be in the store in a few days.
Journaling: You were our first granddaughter . . . the first little girl that we could spoil and fuss over since your mama was a baby . . . and you have blessed our lives from the day you were born. Each year as brought about new blessings. Now that you are eight years old, you are not that darling little baby and toddler any more. You are a lovely young lady who is smart, funny and, interested in most everything. I love playing Scrabble with you on the iPad and love havening you stay at our house . . . you are a perfect delight and we love you so.
Banner Numbers Value Pack Katie Pertiet
Button Box Ribbons Pattie Knox
Duncan Solids Paper Pack Katie Pertiet
Duncan Word Strips Katie Pertiet
Grateful Hearts Cathy Zielske
Mixed Media Branches No. 01 Katie Pertiet
Scrap Express No. 035 Lynn Grieveson
Scribbling Brushes and Stamps No. 02 Katie Pertiet
Vintage Charm Kit Katie Pertiet


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Margie Stewart, the mahogany-haired ingenue who graced millions of morale-boosting posters during World War II as the U.S. military's official pinup, died of pneumonia April 26 at a hospital in Burbank, Calif. She was 92.
The death was confirmed by her son, Stephen Johnson.
Miss Stewart was a department store model and movie starlet before she was named "Uncle Sam's Poster Girl" by the War Department in the early 1940s. She appeared in more than a dozen patriotic posters distributed by the tens of millions to troops during World War II.
Unlike the barracks wall artwork featuring the leggy Betty Grable, the buxom Jane Russell or the sultry Ann Sheridan, Miss Stewart's government-issue posters promoted more wholesome values. The most skin Miss Stewart's modest poses revealed were her bare ankles in low heels. In many of her posters, she wore long pants.
But her pretty "girl-next-door" appeal proved immensely popular with the soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen abroad.
"The other pinup girls are dream girls in the most unsubstantial sense of the expression," Cpl. John Haverstick wrote in a 1945 issue of Yank, a weekly military magazine. "A dream is about the only place most of us are likely to run up against the typical glamour photographer's ideal of a lassie with legs eight feet long, bust 58 inches, waist 20, hips 20, and long, red-gold hair. Margie is a little closer to home. "
He continued: "She looks like a good girl friend or a good young wife . . . like the dream you not only want to go on dreaming but the one which might continue after you wake up."
Miss Stewart's pinups often featured her writing letters to a beau deployed overseas, always signing the notes "Love, Margie."
In one poster, she looks longingly into the camera — with her cherry lips ever so slightly parted — while a letter below her says, "Of course waiting is hard — don't I know!" and encourages troops to save money for a future home.
For another, her wistful face is framed by the words: "Please . . . get there and BACK! Be careful what you say or write."
Miss Stewart became so adored among troops that she was sent to Europe on a goodwill tour to promote war bonds. While visiting troops in Germany, France, Britain and Belgium, she was accompanied by a handsome Army captain. They fell in love and were married by the mayor of Paris in 1945.
Announcing the news of her nuptials, the Stars and Stripes newspaper blared the headline: "Margie, It Hurts to Print This."
Margie Stewart was born Dec. 14, 1919, in Wabash, Ind. She attended Indiana University and was elected Freshman Princess before she pursued a career in modeling and film. She earned $75 a week as an actress for RKO studios, and appeared in films such as "The Falcon Strikes Back" (1943) starring Tom Conway and "Bombardier" (1943) with Randolph Scott.
During a stint in Chicago she was spotted by advertising executive Russell Stone, a retired Army major. Through Stone's Pentagon contacts, Miss Stewart was tapped to pose for the military pinups.
She retired from modeling after the war and lived with her husband, Jerry Johnson, in Studio City, Calif. Together, they helped produce concerts at the Hollywood Bowl for acts such as the Beatles and the Beach Boys. In her spare time, she volunteered at the UCLA Medical Center.
Her husband of 57 years died in 2003. Survivors include a son, Stephen Johnson of Woodland Hills, Calif.; and three grandchildren.
Miss Stewart said more than 94 million of her posters were sent around the world during the war but that Eleanor Roosevelt was not a fan. She said the first lady tried to ban the artwork because she feared Miss Stewart was making the troops a little too homesick.