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By Caryn Sullivan
St. Paul Pioneer Press
February 9, 2012
In November 2010, Flynn returned to Minnesota after a grueling promotional tour of his 12th novel, "American Assassin". He had been plagued by pain in his hip but attributed it to old sports injuries. In fact, the 44-year-old had Stage 3 metastatic prostate cancer, a disease that commonly afflicts men older than 65.
While the initial diagnosis was grim, he was soon told it was not a death sentence. Today, after undergoing dozens of radiation treatments and hormone therapy, he has a positive attitude, an optimistic prognosis and a lot of resolve.
Flynn publishes a novel each fall, and he was determined to do so in 2011. But pain and fatigue became so debilitating he couldn't write enough to meet his deadline. He postponed his publication date to this week and decided against his customary book tour.
His trademark has been his prescient ability to write fictional accounts that mirror contemporary events. But like "American Assassin", his new book, "Kill Shot", focuses on the early days of Rapp's career with the CIA. Written as a tribute to author Robert Ludlum, it's more character-driven and less action-packed than some of his earlier work. However, it provides a context for readers to understand
who would become an American assassin - and why, Flynn said. He plans to write a third prequel eventually, but his next novel will be set in the present day.
Though we met to talk about the book, our conversation lingered on cancer and life's challenges. "As you know, the word 'cancer' will strike the fear of God into anyone, and if it doesn't it's because they've never had to sit in a doctor's room and be told they have it," he said. "Once it happens, you cannot help but think of your own mortality. I've never been a person who has spent a great deal of time thinking about my own death, but it's unavoidable."
While he loves to write, his family is foremost on his mind. "Where it gets difficult is when you start to think about your children and your wife and the people you could potentially leave behind, especially if you are the kind of person who hates to disappoint," he said. "So the trick is rather than become clinically depressed over that idea, you have to turn around and use it as a source of motivation. You're going to give it your all, beat it and stay alive, because you want to see your kids graduate, you want to see your kids get married and you want to meet your grandkids some day, and it doesn't do you any good to sit around imagining your own funeral and feeling sorry for yourself."
And everything is relative. Speaking of the military he champions, he said, "Eighteen-year-old soldiers go overseas and never come back, get married or have a child....One of the keys for me dealing with this has always been an attitude I've carried through my whole life, which is I don't care how bad you think you have it, somebody else has it worse than you do."
That's not to say it has been easy. The hormone treatment carries significant side effects. "I've always had good control over my emotions and faculties. The first couple of months it was like having an out-of-body experience," he said. "You spend your whole life being a man and all of a sudden noises are bothering you and your short-term memory has gone to hell. That was hard."
He credits phenomenal medical care, faith, family and friends for helping him to feel better than he has in years, now that the treatment has eliminated his chronic pain. Yet, his professional training played a role, too.
"My career as a writer has really prepared me for this battle with cancer. Writing a book is the longest sales cycle on the planet. You have to get up every day and you have to write; you have to continue to write; you have to throw another pebble on top of the pile and at the end of the year you have your 400 pages and you have a completed novel. Nothing happens fast. Just to get published, you have to overcome odds that are worse than beating cancer, and you can't take your eye off the end game, which is to get published and then to work really hard to make sure that your book sells and you tour and you market and you bust your ass and then finally 10 years later you've established yourself."
"I think cancer is the same way," he continued. "You can't wake up and decide 'a month from now, I'm going to be cancer free.' It's a long sales cycle. It's, 'I'm going to get up today and I'm going to take one step forward and put myself in the best possible position to be cancer free.' You can't quit."
- Caryn Sullivan of Mendota Heights is a contributing columnist for the Pioneer Press. Her website is carynsullivanscribe.com. Her email address is carynsullivan firstname.lastname@example.com.


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WASHINGTON — Barack Obama swept into office with a lofty promise to bridge the capital's fierce partisan divide.
Easier said than done.
"Old habits are hard to break," the new president acknowledged in February as reality set in just weeks after he took office.
And that reproach includes him, too, as he nears the 100-day mark of his presidency. While preaching bipartisanship and civility in his first months, Obama also has shown a willingness to push his priorities through Congress over Republican opposition, as with the $787 billion economic stimulus plan.
Polarized times
The White House also has engaged at times in the divisive politics Obama himself has condemned, for instance mocking commentator Rush Limbaugh as the GOP's titular head.
The president continues to emphasize overcoming poisonous partisanship. At one point, he said, "Whether we're Democrats or Republicans, surely there's got to be some capacity for us to work together, not agree on everything but at least set aside small differences to get things done. People have to break out of some of the ideological rigidity and gridlock that we've been carrying around for too long."
That's asking a lot in extraordinarily polarized times, even for a politician who won election by casting himself as a leader able to foster inclusiveness. His advisers say they hope he will get credit at least for trying to change the way Washington works. Republicans in Congress suggest it's little more than lip service.
Video: Obama and the reluctant GOP "Sometimes the president mistakes courtesy for bipartisanship," said John J. Pitney Jr., a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College in California. "He's basically a very nice fellow and that comes across. But on a more substantive level, there hasn't been a great deal of progress."
Indeed, a new Associated Press-Gfk poll found that the partisan divide on Obama's job approval rating has grown substantially during his first months in office as Republicans become ever more disgruntled with him. Still, Democrats give Obama a stunningly high favorable rating; independents also strongly back him.
Separately, the Pew Research Center says Obama has the most polarized early first-term job approval ratings of any president in the past four decades, part of a long-term trend of partisanship becoming more apparent in the measurement.
There's a 61 percentage point gap between Democratic and Republican opinions of Obama's job performance. Democrats are extraordinarily sweet on Obama, while Republicans are especially sour. The gaps were smaller at comparable periods for both Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Bill Clinton.
Other political news of note
Animated Boehner: 'There's nothing complex about the Keystone Pipeline!'
House Speaker John Boehner became animated Tuesday over the proposed Keystone Pipeline, castigating the Obama administration for not having approved the project yet.
- Budget deficits shrinking but set to grow after 2015
- Senate readies another volley on unemployment aid
- Obama faces Syria standstill
- Fluke files to run in California
- Animated Boehner: 'There's nothing complex about the Keystone Pipeline!'
Exacerbated divisions
Obama won 53 percent of the popular vote with a coalition that spanned the ideological spectrum. But nearly half the country didn't vote for him and many still don't support him. Obama's job approval rating is in the low 60s. But Bush was at 62 percent at this point in 2001 and left office in the high 20s.
Video: Chuck Todd crunches the numbers The new Democratic president is presiding over a country that has become more divided through the years — the Republican Party more conservative, the Democratic Party more liberal. Interest groups as well as a proliferation of new media outlets aligned with the right and left have exacerbated the divisions. So has Congress, where redistricting has created strongly Republican and solidly Democratic districts and where leadership promotes party discipline.
In such a polarized environment, Obama has had mixed success following through on his bipartisanship promise.
Given that bipartisanship is a two-way street, it's possible that Republicans are too resistant to working with the president, while Obama himself isn't willing to compromise enough. At the very least, there are deep and sincere differences between Republicans and Democrats, and they may be too difficult to overcome.
Republicans contend Obama hasn't delivered at all.
"I really had high hopes that he would really reach out and work with us," said Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor, the second-ranking House Republican. But, he said, "There has been very little follow through on that commitment."
The White House argues that Republicans are to blame.
"You can open up your door, extend your hand and invite people in, but if they don't want to come, you can't drag them," said David Axelrod, a senior Obama adviser. "That doesn't mean we're not going to keep trying."
Just after taking office, Obama visited Capitol Hill to meet with House and Senate GOP leaders in hopes they would back his first order of business — the economic stimulus measure combining tax cuts and new spending. He promised to listen to their ideas, and he later hosted a White House cocktail party and a Super Bowl party that included Republicans. Obama also reached out to GOP governors supportive of the measure, including Vermont's Jim Douglas, Florida's Charlie Crist and California's Arnold Schwarzenegger .
For all the courting, GOP critics on Capitol Hill said Obama wasn't listening and simply delegated the heavy lifting to congressional partisans, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
As Republican opposition on Capitol Hill hardened, Obama shifted gears. He derided GOP ideas and embarked on a full-scale campaign to get the measure passed with or without bipartisan support, while his aides painted Republicans as obstructionists.
Diminishing returns
In the end, Obama failed to get the significant bipartisan backing he had sought. Still, he won over three Senate GOP moderates — critical votes that resulted in the measure's passage.
Since then, Obama hasn't made such a showy effort to win overwhelming Republican votes on other legislation — and he certainly hasn't gotten it.
No Republicans backed Obama's budget blueprint. Nor did many support equal pay legislation Obama sought. A minority of Republicans did, however, support a bill to expand government-sponsored health care coverage to 4 million more poor children.
In other cases, Obama has beaten the drum of bipartisanship with varying results.
He put two Republicans in his Cabinet and sought a third when he chose New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg as his commerce secretary. That lasted days, before Gregg changed his mind and dropped out. Obama then opted to play it safe, choosing former Washington Gov. Gary Locke, a Democrat.
At two other points, Obama convened diverse bipartisan groups to debate ways to restore "fiscal responsibility" in federal budgeting and to fix the costly health care system. It remains to be seen whether Democrats and Republicans will work together on those issues.
Obama's bipartisan talk notwithstanding, his White House has shown a willingness to emphasize party divisions. The Democratic Party frequently assails the GOP as "The party of no."
And, in March, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, known as a brass-knuckles partisan, called Limbaugh the "intellectual force" of the GOP after the talk show host voiced his desire that Obama's economic policies would fail.
That week, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs referred to Limbaugh as "a national spokesperson for conservative views" and "the head of the Republican Party."
When a reporter noted that conflicted with Obama's disdain for "small ball" politics, Gibbs said, "It may be counterproductive. ... I'll plead guilty to counterproductivity."
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

subset: commoncrawl


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Keep making the $$$ Troy!
"When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself."
-Wayne Dyer
If you didn't know any better you'd actually think he's really playing. LOl...I believe he does play the piano for real but this wasn't him from what I've heard.
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text:
Cast aside those big headphones - the future of professional earphones stands before you.
Sleek with full sound and emphasizing innovation over redundancy, the new and updated NS600 Crush is in a class by itself. Possessed of a cutting-edge Dual Dynamic drivers set-up, the sound quality must be heard to be believed.
A must-have for any traveling DJ!
The NS600 Crush was designed with one objective in mind: to rise head and shoulders above the competition.
The Crush's unique Dual Dynamic technology features two drivers per earphone, creating a tweeter + woofer set-up that delivers a superior full-range sound complete with impressive highs, compelling mids and an exceptionally full and rich bass. If you're serious about your music, then this is the earphone for you.
Sleek, resilient and exclusive are the words that best describe the NS600 Crush, which is constructed with the same attention to detail and quality craftsmanship you've come to expect from the inventive minds at Nocs.
Meticulously-designed Sandblasted Aluminum housings combine with a tangle-free, braided Kevlar cable and noise-isolating silicone sleeves to create a state-of-the-art earphone with virtually limitless sound range and great durability.
As with all of our products, emphasis has been placed on an ergonomically-advanced design -- one that will offer a high level of enjoyment night after night, and feel so good you won't even know it's there. When you're ready for superior sound, choose the NS600 Crush.
The NS600 comes with a variety of accessories and quality parts. The box includes the headphones, 2 pairs of each size of sleeves, a clip, an airplane adapter and they all fit in the carrying case.
"The Swedes can make anything beautiful. And apparently they've solved the puzzle of sweet-sounding audio too. These austere aluminum earbuds from Nocs not only exude an understated grace but also sound fantastic."
Read more!
"It all sounded so clean and punchy, I kept nudging the volume up and up. The Nocs were eager to play along, and they refused to distort."
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"There's consequently no question whatsoever that there is a real benefit from the addition of the second driver in this model: you not only get that added bass, but the treble and midrange don't really suffer as a consequence... NS600 Crush merits our B+ rating and strong general recommendation"
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The remote and mic are supported only by:


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Date : 12 Aug – 13 Sep 2013
Duration: 5 weeks
Programme area: Public Finance and Trade
Fee: USD 600
Deadline for registration: 18 August 2013
The divergence of views on privacy regulation leads to a lot of complications in the international marketplace, especially when one considers that the volume of personally identifiable information that is exchanged online, a medium that knows no borders. Companies that require personally identifiable information are often left confused about what privacy laws are applicable to them. Meanwhile, regulators and lawmakers continue to seek out ways to ensure that the protections that they have elected to pass to protect the privacy and data protection will apply even when information is being collected and/or used by entities located outside the national territory. Ultimately, many individuals remain uncertain about the scope of their privacy rights and how to protect them. This foundation course aims to shed light on the current regulation of privacy and data protection across the globe. The instructor will incorporate timely issues into class discussions and motivatestudents to contemplate possible solutions to pressing privacy problems.
Learning Objectives
At the end of the course, the participants should be able to:
• Define the concepts of "privacy" and "data protection" and explain the role of these concepts in the
modern interconnected global economy;
• Compare the American and Canadian approaches to privacy protection and explain the advantages and disadvantages of the different approaches;
- Explain how privacy and data protection are regulated in the European Union;
• Discuss trends in privacy and data protection throughout key world regions, including South America, Africa and Asia; and
• Examine the particular challenges faced by countries in the developing world, as they work to protect individual privacy rights, while also facilitating the growth of electronic commerce.
Content and Structure
The course consists of the following modules:
• Module 1: Introduction to Privacy and Data Protection Law; United States (Part 1)
• Module 2: The United States (Part II); Canada
• Module 3: Europe
• Module 4: Other World Regions
In order to ensure the best possible outreach, the course will be delivered through e-learning. Through a multiple-instructional setting, the goal is to achieve the learning objectives by means of learning technologies that match personal learning styles and by the inclusion of non-linear learning that aims at the development of just-in-time skills of adult learners. At the same time, in order to allow participants maximum flexibility of scheduling , the learning will be conducted in an asynchronous manner. Using a state-of-the-art training architecture, UNITAR will combine self-learning with assessments and online discussions. The pedagogy – adapted specifically to professionals in full-time work – will help train participants through various experiences: absorb (read); do (activity); interact (socialize); reflect (relate to one's own reality).
Targeted Audience
The course is designed for professionals from all sectors and professions, including: government, public finance, investment, trade, corporate finance, project management, treasury, as well as academic circles and civil society.
Additional Information
A certificate of completion will be issued by UNITAR to all participants who complete the course-related assignments and assessments successfully. Course schedule is subject to change. Course fee is non-refundable but transferable to another course or participant and subject to change as per UNITAR's policy on pricing.
Visit here, for further information.


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Donald Palma, a founding member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, founded and coaches the NEC Chamber Orchestra, a conductorless orchestra modeled on Orpheus, and one of the first such orchestras at a music school.
Palma received his formal education at the Juilliard School and joined Leopold Stokowski's American Symphony Orchestra at the age of 20. At age 24, he joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and later joined Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra as principal bass.
As music director of the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. Palma won two ASCAP-Chamber Music America Awards for adventurous programming. With the contemporary music group Speculum Musicae, he serves a double function as bassist and conductor, having appeared in both capacities at the Warsaw Autumn Festival, the Geneva Festival, the Miami Festival, the New York Philharmonic Horizons Festival, and the Library of Congress. He has conducted critically acclaimed recordings of works by Poul Ruders, Lee Hyla, Elliott Carter, Peter Lieberson, Stephen Jaffe, and has recorded over thirty CDs of contemporary works.
Palma recorded the complete Wagner Ring Cycle with James Levine and the Metropolitan Opera, and has made over fifty recordings with Orpheus for Deutsche Grammophon including a Grammy award–winning Stravinsky CD. Palma was principal bassist for Leonard Bernstein in his recoding of West Side Story, and was a featured artist on Kathleen Battle's CD Grace.
As a chamber musician, Palma has appeared in recital with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Jan DeGaetani and Jorge Bolet, and has performed with the Nash Ensemble, the Juilliard Quartet, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the Da Camera Society of Houston.
Palma has given masterclasses at Rice University, the Hartt School, the Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, Mannes College, and the Toho School.
B.M., The Juilliard School. Double bass studies with Frederick Zimmermann, Robert Brennand, Orin O'Brien, Homer Mensch. Recordings on New World, Nonesuch, CRI, Deutsche Grammophon, Bridge, Columbia, Sony Classical, MusicMasters. Former faculty of Princeton and Columbia universities, Manhattan School of Music. Also faculty of Yale University.


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Katie Color necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 185 diseños de 40 diseñadores freelance.
Need a logo for http://www.ColorWorksAZ.com that instills trust, creativity, professionalism and credibility. Our tagline is "Transforming houses into homes, one at a time." However, we are not an interior decorating company. See below.
Hello! I am looking for an individual to design a new logo for my company. We have been in business about 6 months and are already starting to grow beyond our current logo. I want the new logo to somehow incorporate our tagline, "Transforming houses into homes." In addition, "LLC" needs to be included in the title, as we are registered. However, I will accomodate creative license if you feel the tagline portion of this request is not going to work in what you have envisioned.
What do we do? Here's our pitch:
"If your home feels tired, it is time to give your most valuable asset a facelift. Create a model-home look right in your own home with a color analysis with a Certified Color Consultant. We do more than interior design.
Have you noticed when you pick out a paint color it never comes out the way you thought it would? Do you buy furniture, carpet, tile, or even door hardware and it looks right at the store, but not when you get it home? Allow one of our Certified Color Consultants to explain why this happens from time to time and help create the RIGHT look for your home.
A color consultation creates a palette for every part of your home that ties it all together. You may have heard of "warm" or "cool" colors but a Certified Color Consultant pulls together a variety of colors to create the home of your dreams."
Our current logo is our name in a Harrington font. You can see it at http://www.colorworksaz.com. The logo is just the first part of the re-design and then we will be overhauling our website and using the logo as the basis.
Thank you for sharing your artistry and I look forward to awarding a winner for this job! The best logo entry will be rewarded $250.00!
- doesn't have to include the tagline (but may like to see it with and without)
- doesn't have to include ".com" (but may like to see it with and without)
- color scheme doesn't have to match existing site design or color (we will be re-designing the site as well)
- desired syle is upscale, classy, boutique
- LEGAL: If your Logo or design is selected, you agree to forward ALL source files and material for the deliverables upon payment. Your logo and/or design is not a copy or alteration of someone elses logo and/or design. If nothing is found to meet our identity strategy, we reserve the right to cancel this contest. You are the legal owner of said deliverables, and hold all rights to said deliverables. You agree to transfer ownership and all rights of said deliverables to me upon payment. Full payment of $250 is only paid if all requirments are met to their fullest.
- No trademark or copyrighted logos, images, slogans, etc!
- No templates
- No "cookie-cutter"
- No boxes
- No paintbrushes or paint palettes or paint cans
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


text: This juvenile male harbor seal was stranded along the Atlantic coast of Maryland, in the town of Ocean City, on January 15, 2010. The Aquarium's Animal Rescue responded, and the seal was admitted to the National Aquarium for rehabilitation. Upon admission, the seal was underweight, severely dehydrated, mildly emaciated, and medically compromised due to a wound behind the left front flipper. In addition to the wound, he was found to have an upper respiratory infection and a mild case of pneumonia at the time of being admitted for rehab. The seal, called Hastings, was treated with antibiotics for several weeks, and his wound was treated every three days for two weeks. Hastings responded well to treatment and was soon interacting with enrichment devices, the animal equivalent of toys, and eagerly eating. While in rehab, Hastings gained nearly 20 pounds on a daily diet of herring and capelin. He is offered enrichment items to interact with, like frozen fishcicles and a holey bucket with fish inside, to encourage natural feeding behaviors. Tomorrow morning, a healthy Hastings will be returned to Ocean City for release back to his natural environment. The release is scheduled for 9:30 a.m., and will be broadcast live locally on WMAR-TV (Ch. 2). Follow the Aquarium on Twitter (@NatlAquarium) for live tweets from the release, starting at 5 a.m. tomorrow. Prior to release, National Aquarium Animal Rescue staff will affix a satellite transmitter to his fur, which will fall off when the seal molts (similar to when a dog sheds its fur). The transmitter will allow us to track and monitor the animal post-release, and will help scientists to understand the migration and feeding patterns of these animals. Tags: animal-rescue, harbor-seal, marine-animal-rescue-program, marine-animals, ocean-city, seal-release Categories: Animal Rescue Previous Post Next Post


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Thursday's Child: Christmas Tree Ornaments
It's added new joy to the Christmas tradition of decorating our tree. As I unwrap each ornament and hand it over to be hung, we talk about where we bought it and our memories of that trip. Remember when we visited The Mouth of Truth in Rome? We'll never forget it, but it's fun to have the ornament to remember it by, too:
Sometimes we search and search, and end up with something different than we expected. When we couldn't find an ornament commemorating the entire Von Trapp clan in Salzburg, Austria, we had to settle for a rocking horse:
Like many of the best traditions, this one was handed down from my parents. When we visited Santa's Village in Jefferson, New Hampshire in the 1970s, my parents were clever enough to pick up two elf ornaments. Now Gwen and I each have one on our tree!
30 comments:
- Janet Johnson said...
We do the same thing! The kids love hearing about all of them . . . even the ones we got before they were born. And they still talk about the ones that have since gotten broken and are no longer with us. Best tradition ever!
- September 15, 2011 at 2:26 PM
- Mary Anne MacCrone said...
Sounds like a common tradition. I love to see the variety of ornaments when we travel. They are small enough to bring back and something that hopefully we can keep for many years to come. Strange that this year we missed out in buying one while away...Perhaps another vacation is required before we put up the tree!
- September 15, 2011 at 2:37 PM
- Belinda said...
What a great tradition! Love how it all comes together to make this YOUR tree (love the fountain mouth!...too small to stick your hand in that one, eh?)
- September 15, 2011 at 3:14 PM
- Golden Eagle said...
It sounds like a wonderful tradition! Almost all of our ornaments are many years old, and have been used over and over again--which brings its own memories. :)
- September 15, 2011 at 3:16 PM
- Gloria Baker said...
A lovely and nice tradition, I love all with Christmas, are beauty! gloria
- September 15, 2011 at 3:34 PM
- Valerie Gamine said...
What a beautiful tradition, Beth! Each ornament has it's own special suitcase of memories. :)
- September 15, 2011 at 4:28 PM
- Ruth said...
I love your photos, and I do the same thing. I have to ask tho - what are you doing thinking of Chrismtas ornaments in September???
- September 15, 2011 at 5:11 PM
- Kayte said...
We always do that as well...such fun to remember all the places and times each year when we unpack them all. You are Canadian, you will love this: once we went to a Chinese exhibit at art museum in Montreal and there was a lady there painting eggs (looked like real eggs but they were not, unbreakable, etc.) and we bought one as it had a string to hang from a tree, so we figured Christmas tree ornament. The border police would not let us through customs with it as they thought it was a real egg and so we had to have them call the museum, the official museum director of the exhibit had to explain to the police what it was, etc., and we then got to bring it home. Took four and a half hours. I kid you not. We laugh at that one every time we put it on the tree. Mark always says, "This one, boys, is how we almost became Canadian as they almost wouldn't let us back into the States!" lol
- September 15, 2011 at 5:14 PM
- Jess said...
Awwww, you're bringing back memories, Beth! The majority of our Christmas ornaments have stories too (we've got a lot of handmade ones sprinkled in that don't look so good, but have fond memories attached), and I love putting up the tree every year. Thanks for a hint of upcoming nostalgia (just 3 more months)!
- September 15, 2011 at 5:32 PM
- Joanne said...
What a sweet thing to do, bringing the Christmas spirit with you all over the world as you search out the ornaments. Love the elf, it's so charming.
- September 15, 2011 at 6:43 PM
- Beth said...
Great story, Kayte! I'm not sure I'd have stuck with it as long as you did, as much as I love my ornaments! I can see why it means a lot to you.
I'm not sure why Christmas ornaments in December, Ruth. I planned to write about a few travel traditions throughout September, and that was one I couldn't miss!
- September 15, 2011 at 7:00 PM
- Unknown said...
What a lovely tradition! I love looking at my ornaments and remembering the beautiful people in my life who gifted them to me. I've lost all desire for a designer tree at this point. I'll happily keep my more unique one.
- September 15, 2011 at 8:59 PM
Mom always taught us to bring back small, valuable/treasured objects, but I never thought about ornaments as a theme - I love that! Right now we have an assortment of figurines, but how quickly those could become flotsam.
- September 15, 2011 at 10:46 PM
Great tradition. I love how each one is unique and carries memories.
Have a great weekend.
- September 16, 2011 at 1:32 AM
- Allison said...
I love this tradition. I have a special place for each of my ornaments and I can't wait until my kids are old enough to care about the stories. Until then I will continue to talk the husbands ear off as we decorate.
- September 16, 2011 at 5:36 AM
- Creepy Query Girl said...
- September 16, 2011 at 8:22 AM
- Lorraine said...
My family and I have this same tradition. It has made our Christmas tree extta special each year as we unwrap them and remember our time together at the place we visited. Your ornaments are from much more exciting places than mine, though:)
- September 16, 2011 at 8:44 AM
My family always buys ornament's as well!! I love the memories they carry :)
- September 16, 2011 at 10:19 AM
- julie said...
We buy an ornament every year that symbolizes one big event we had during that time. It's such a neat memory building tradition to have!
- September 16, 2011 at 10:38 AM
- Jill | Dulce Dough said...
What special ornaments and such a great tradition! We have also have special ornaments that we look forward to getting out every Christmas. I think it is great that you get yours on trips!
- September 16, 2011 at 11:32 AM
- Miriam said...
Getting ready for Christams eh? Now that's the spirit!! Have a great weekend :), Miriam@Meatless Meals For Meat Eaters
- September 16, 2011 at 12:40 PM
- Angie's Recipes said...
Already in the mood for X'mas? ;-)) Love the ornaments.
- September 16, 2011 at 2:37 PM
- Carol said...
Each one is so special and has such nice memories attached, a very lovely tradition!
- September 16, 2011 at 4:07 PM
- Unknown said...
We've do the same thing when we travel. It's a great way to remember your vacation.
I love the rocking horse. :D
- September 16, 2011 at 6:51 PM
- Liz That Skinny Chick Can Bake said...
Gosh, what a wonderful tradition! So many nice memories come Christmastime~
- September 16, 2011 at 8:31 PM
- Elaine said...
Oh, I love this post, Beth! I have ALWAYS done this since I was a child. If I can't find a Christmas ornament when I travel then I turn something that I have bought there into one. It is truly so much fun unwrapping every ornament, like you said, and takes you back to the very moment that you got it.
- September 16, 2011 at 10:59 PM
- Unknown said...
This is a lovely tradition Beth and such an easy object to slip into your suitcase, I'm loving the change of the season to Fall and now a glimpse of Christmas from you, thanks for sharing the travel memories;-)
- September 17, 2011 at 12:36 PM
Is it Christmas already?!? ;)
That elf is pretty darn cute!
- September 17, 2011 at 2:29 PM
I do this too, and I love it. It's fun to pull everything out once a year and then put it away so it's not sitting around gathering dust.
- September 21, 2011 at 5:09 PM
- Amie Kaufman said...
You're kidding! We do the same thing! My favourite is either our ridiculous bear from Yosemite or the beautiful white and blue china from Amsterdam.
- October 13, 2011 at 2:56 AM


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Here is a recap of the Cubs minor league system from 5/29/12, enjoy.
It almost took all night, well it actually did, but the Chiefs walked off in the 14th inning to beat Wisconsin 4-3. Kyler Burke started for the Chiefs and was good, but struggled with his command. He went five innings and only allowed two runs, one earned, on one hit. Burke walked five guys which is why he did not go deeper into the game. Ryan Cuneo was 2-for-5 with his fourth home run of the season. Javy Baez was 0-for-5 on the night but did have a walk, a stolen base and a run scored.
FULL BOX SCORE Game 1 / FULL BOX SCORE Game 2
Game 1: Robert Whitenack made his 2012 debut with the D-Cubs after coming back from Tommy John Surgery, and it didn't go so well. Whitenack gave up ten hits over four and a-third while giving up three runs to take the loss. The D-Cubs couldn't get anything going offensively as they only scored one run on six hits. Richard Jones was 2-for-3 with a double at the plate in a losing effort.
Game 2: PJ Francescon went the distance (only 7 innings in double-headers) but ended up on the wrong end of the decision as Brevard County completed the double-header sweep with a 5-2 win over Daytona. Francescon went six innings and gave up five runs all earned, on eight hits, he walked three and struck out five. Arismendy Alcantara was 2-for-2 with a walk and a run. Greg Rohan was 1-for-3 at the plate with his 9th home run on the season and two RBI's.
Nicholas Struck was outstanding as he shut down the Huntsville Stars over six innings to lead the Smokies to a 3-2 victory. Struck didn't give up any runs over six innings, he allowed only three hits, walked one, and struck out nine. Junior Lake was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored in the lead-off spot. Jae-Hoon Ha also had two hits in the victory, a victory that was closed out by Kevin Rhoderick. Rhoderick has been lights out, he earned his 6th save of the season and lowered his ERA to 0.83.
The I-Cubs have something going right now, they staged a furious rally to beat Omaha 5-4 for their 5th straight victory. Trailing 4-1 in the 8th inning against the first place team was nothing for this group. The I-Cubs scored two runs in the 7th and added two more in the 8th to cap the thrilling victory. Josh Vitters is on a roll once again as he was 2-for-4 at the plate with his 7th home run of the season, he also had a walk and two runs scored. Dave Sappelt continues to be a two-hit machine as he was 2-for-4 in the victory. Chris Rusin started for the Cubs, and ended with a no decision as he gave up four runs in six innings of work.
Thanks for reading,
– George


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Our recent Windows Phone 7 update includes three new features to help round out your LastPass mobile experience. We've added support for pin-code prompt on reactivation, grouping of sites in the vault, and fast-app switching. Here are the specifics:
Pin Code Prompt
You can enable the pin code prompt in your app settings so that when multitasking back to the LastPass app, you're prompted to enter your 4-digit code. This provides an extra layer of security that's more manageable on your Windows Phone 7, since you won't have to re-enter your master password each time you reopen the app.
To enable the pin code prompt, login to the LastPass app to view your LastPass vault. Tap the ellipses (three dots) at the bottom of the screen to expand the menu options. Tap the "set pin code" option, and enter a 4-digit pin code. The next time you multitask away from and back to the LastPass app, you'll enter this pin code to regain access.
Grouping of Sites in the Vault
Previously, the Windows Phone 7 app displayed all of your stored data as a list in alphabetical order. With the latest update, your sites will now be organized by groups, the same way they are organized in the vault via your desktop browser addon.
Grouping allows you to better organize your data and more quickly sort through your sites for the logins you need.
Fast App Switching
Support for Fast App Switching allows you to easily switch between LastPass and other apps, helping to improve your workflow. To use Fast App Switching, hold down the back button and you will see all apps that are currently running. You can tap another app's icon to quickly switch to that app.
Plus more!
We made several improvements and bug fixes. For example, if you've enabled Google Authentication and are using it to login to the LastPass mobile app, we've improved support for switching apps when entering the Google Auth login code. We're working hard to bring more updates and improvements to our mobile apps and browser addons – stay tuned!
The LastPass Team


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Covid-19 Office Operations
Our offices are available for phone or video appointments. Email or call for more information. For information, please visit the UA coronavirus information website.
Download the Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy Review this policy carefully to determine your eligibility for continued financial aid! Satisfactory Academic Progress is determined before the beginning of every semester for all enrolled students. Students who do not need Financial Aid assistance can disregard the SAP Status.
GPA (Quality): Undergraduate students must have a minimum of 2.0 University of Alaska Cumulative GPA and graduate students must have a minimum of 3.0 University of Alaska Cumulative GPA. Note: repeating coursework may increase your University of Alaska Cumulative GPA.
Course Completion Ratio (Quantity): The minimum course completion ratio is 67%. This is determined by taking the number of credits a student has earned from within the UA system and dividing it by the number of credits they attempted. Repeated coursework will increase the credits attempted but not the credits earned resulting in a lower course completion ratio. Use caution when retaking courses as it will lower your course completion ratio.
|Total Credits Earned* at UAS, UAA, UAF with passing grades**
Total Credits Attempted at UAS, UAA, UAF
|= X%(Course Completion Ratio)
*If a student is in an undergraduate program, only undergraduate credits are calculated. If a student is in a graduate program, only graduate credits are calculated.
**Passing Grades are defined as: A, B, C, D, D- and P. Grades AU, DF, F, I, W, NB, NC and NP are not considered passing grades.
150% (Maximum Timeframe): The maximum timeframe standard, also known as the 150% rule, stipulates that students will be eligible to receive financial aid only if their attempted credits is equal or less than 150% of the length of their primary degree program. This is measured based on the number of attempted credits the student has taken compared to the number of credits required for their degree. If students changes their degree program, their 150% maximum timeframe determination may also change. All credits taken at other UA campuses (UAA, UAF, UAS, & PWSCC) are included in this calculation, even if they do not apply toward the student's current degree program.
SAP Status Codes:
|A student may receive all Financial Aid types
|The last semester a student attended they met SAP requirements, now they don't, they may still receive all of their Financial Aid, but after the current semester they must meet SAP requirements.
|Ineligible (Need Academic Plan)
|A student is not meeting SAP and they are not eligible for Financial Aid. If the student has any unusual circumstances which contributed to their performance, they may appeal to get back their eligibility for Financial Aid.
|Probation (Academic Plan)
|A student successfully appealed and their Financial Aid eligibility has been reinstated. The student must now only take the classes listed on their Academic Plan, complete their courses with the stated required GPA, and complete 100% of their attempted classes every semester they are on probation, NO EXCEPTIONS.
|Probation (Academic Plan)
|The specific conditions of this Probation will be listed and provided with the approval letter.
|A student's appeal for Financial Aid reinstatement has been denied by the Appeal Committee. The student may appeal the decision to the Dean of Enrollment Management.
If at any point a student is considered Ineligible for Financial Aid, they can always submit an appeal.
Here are the required steps:
- Print and read the Appeal Form and Instructions
- Write your personal statement
- Gather supporting documentation
- Make an appointment to meet with your Academic Advisor to complete an Academic Plan on DegreeWorks
- Complete Financial Awareness Counseling at studentloans.gov and print confirmation page
- Complete the Appeal Form and attach all of the above documents
- Submit appeal packet to the Financial Aid office
Any notification regarding this appeal will be sent via email. Please allow 10 business days for an appeal decision.
|Current Completion rate
|If the completion rate is below 67% (YOU MAY ROUND UP FROM 66.6%) you are not making satisfactory point progress towards your degree.


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Kelly Rowland Is Pregnant! [PHOTO]by Michelle McGahan | PopCrush
Kelly Rowland is pregnant, she announced last night (June 10) in a not-so-subtle subtle Instagram picture.
Posting a snap of baby Jordan sneakers next to a pair of the same (but adult-sized) sneaks, Rowland captioned the shot: "I'll be stuntin like my daddy….." The baby is not even out of the oven yet, but we already know that he or she will be stylin' it up!
The Destiny's Child singer's exciting announcement comes just a month after she tied the knot with manager Tim Witherspoon in an intimate ceremony in Costa Rica on May 9. Beyonce and Solange Knowles were rumored to be in attendance, as that same morning Beyonce posted a selfie in what appeared to be a bridesmaids dress.
Last December, Rowland, 33, confirmed her engagement to Witherspoon and revealed that he actually popped the question over Skype.
"I remember we were both just kinda like, honestly, just staring at each other," she recalled. "And he asked me, and it was just that simple to say yes."
We couldn't be more excited for Kelly Rowland and her soon-to-be bundle of joy, but it looks like her former Destiny's Child bandmates may be the most thrilled of all.
"We're honored to be there for each other in our happy moments," Michelle Williams recently revealed about her relationship with Rowland and Beyonce. "… We have that spiritual bond with each other where we know when you're really tired, you need your sister with you today or you just need a phone call to let them know you're thinking about them. I call them my soulmates."
Congratulations to Kelly Rowland and Tim Witherspoon! Check out the singer's telling Instagram pic below.


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A seven-year-old Boston area Little Leaguer was benched for two games recently when his mother didn't show up for her scheduled shift at the league snack bar. The Freetown Youth Athletic Association levied the penalty on the child due to his scofflaw mother, who claims that — get this — she had to work that day to feed her family.
Dave Brouillette, president of the Freetown Youth Athletic Association, said he doesn't like benching the kids, but it has to be done because he can't punish the parents. "Unfortunately, yeah, we are taking it out on the kid in the big scheme of things, but it is very difficult to punish a parent."
And as we all know, someone MUST be punished. And since you are frail and somewhat defenseless my child, I'm afraid that it will have to be you. Carry on, Freetown Youth Athletic Association; you are helping to keep America on the right path. Because as we all know, a nation is only as strong as its ability to dispense Slim Jims.
Boy Benched After Mom Skips Concession Stand Shift [WBZTV.com]
Kid Benched When Mom Skips Concession Shift [SportsbyBrooks]


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By Teachers, For Teachers
As December approaches, the holiday hype has most likely invaded your classroom. The energy of your students is on the rise as they shift focus from their science homework to their holiday break plans.
Why not capitalize on your students' holiday spirit with these Christmas and winter holiday activities!
**Of course, you'll need to be sensitive to your school's holiday policy. You can adapt these activities to be multicultural or more winter-themed.**
Dream About a White Christmas Scientifically
Take advantage of the winter weather to teach a science lesson. Younger students can study the forms of precipitation, while older students may enjoy snow-themed science experiments like this.
The holidays can also be a terrific time to explore the science of cooking – what temperature do you need to melt enough sugar to make candy? Why doesn't a lower temperature work? What chemistry is involved in baking bread? What happens if you leave out the yeast?
Analyze Poetry with Holiday Classics
Whether you opt for The Night Before Christmas, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, or another holiday favorite, these poems can be a great way for students to learn about (or review) concepts like rhythm, rhyme scheme, figurative language, and more.
For a secular approach, try winter songs like Jingle Bells, Frosty the Snowman or Winter Wonderland.
Explore the Many December Holidays
While many of your students are celebrating Christmas, some may instead observe Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or the Winter Solstice.
Have students complete a Venn diagram or other compare/contrast worksheet that helps them to recognize the similarities and differences between these special occasions. You may be able to include details about traditional celebrations, the history behind each holiday, foods commonly eaten, what cultures celebrate the holiday, and more.
Research Holiday Traditions
Pose a question about the holidays, such as:
Guide students through a research project to find the answer. To be more inclusive, include questions regarding several December holidays in addition to Christmas traditions.
Practice Math with Holiday Word Problems
Collect newspaper ads from toy stores, video game stores, clothing stores – wherever your students like to shop. Use these to create holiday "word problems." For example, "Mrs. Jones has seven children and a budget of $200 for holiday gifts. She wants to give each of them a video game. Each game needs to be different, and each game needs to be the same price. What games should she get, and how much will each game cost?" For older students, add in paying for sales tax or shipping costs to increase the difficulty. This allows you to shift students' eagerness for presents into a teachable moment.
Review Your Semester with Holiday Decor
Many schools have a semester ending in December or January. Why not create a "Review Tree"? Create a poster or bulletin board display of a Christmas tree. Ask students to create "ornaments" that reflect what they have learned so far this year – for example, an ornament for every book they read or an ornament for every unit they completed. Students can draw a picture of their ornament and then write a short description of what it is and what it represents. This "tree" can stay up as you review for semester exams. For an extra special twist, consider having students create actual ornaments that you hang on a fake Christmas tree!
Snow Ball Fight Review Game
Themed reviews can translate to snow balls with review items on your bulletin board or other holiday-neutral themes. To be interactive, you could create a Snow Ball Fight review game. Students can write review questions on fake snowballs or paper rolled up in a ball. Divide into two teams and "throw" one review question at a time. The teams get a point for each question answered correctly.
Write Your Own Holiday Story
Many popular Christmas stories are old and may not be relatable for students. Why not have students write their own holiday tales? They could update a classic or create a totally original story that celebrates something they love about the holiday season.
Create children's books of these new stories, complete with illustrations, and "publish" them. Consider having students read their published books to a class of younger students as part of a holiday party or celebration.
Discuss The Gift That Isn't There
Ask students to write about a gift they want, but won't be receiving this Christmas. This can challenge students to move beyond their traditional ideas of "presents" to consider intangible things that are also important. For example, if a student is dying to make the baseball team, he won't find that under the tree. How will that affect his holiday celebration? If this is too difficult for your students, consider having them do the activity for a book they are reading, again focusing on intangible "presents."
Many great works of literature are based on someone longing for something they cannot have, from Great Expectations to The Great Gatsby. By connecting this to something familiar (what students want for Christmas), you may be able to spark a deeper conversation about literature.
Foster Generosity by Being Santa for Someone
Explore ways you and your students can "be Santa" for your local community. Is there a retirement home nearby? Have your students create ornaments and then decorate a tree for the residents, or have them interview the residents about their Christmas memories and create a "Christmas through the Years" book for residents to enjoy. Also check with your local humane society or animal rescue group – can you gather food, blankets, or toys for the homeless animals? Taking time to encourage students' generosity can be a great way to emphasize the real meaning of the season.
Whatever you choose, have a happy holiday classroom and a happy holiday season!
What are your favorite holiday and winter activities you use in your classroom? Share in the comments section below!


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Connect Phone, TV, Internet, Home Security and More! Compare prices on electric companies, gas companies, local phone service, cable, satellite or fiber optic TV, high speed internet bundles and more. We can help you get connected whether you're moving or simply trying to lower your bills. Save time, money, and frustration by ordering all of your home services at one time. It's fast and FREE.
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- Phone, TV, & Internet Bundles - Satellite Internet
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Let me use Charles Lutter as an example. Charles, also known as Carl or Karl, was born in the 1860s in a German area of Europe and settled in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey as a child. To add confusion, there appears to be two contemporaneous men of this name and age in Newark, plus other men in later generations with this same name. I am still sorting these lines.
Charles had a son named Elwood Lutter (1905-1989). This is a rather unique name among the Lutters and easier to trace. I especially remembered this name because many years ago, someone from Salt Lake City called my home, seeking information on Elwood and the Lau family. (I think my father is one of the few remaining people in Essex County using the surname Lutter.)
In the past, applications for Social Security numbers were cheap and easy to obtain. Elwood's application cost $7 and provided me with the names of his parents, Charles K Lutter and Anna Lau.
This family is seemingly easy to identify in the federal census from 1900 through 1930 by searching for Elwood or his siblings, Elizabeth, Florence, Charles, and Robert.
|1900 United States Federal Census
Parents Charles and Anna of Germany; children Lizzie, Florence, and Charles.
|1910 United States Federal Census
Parents Charles and Anna of Germany; children Elizabeth, Florence, Charles, Elwood, and Robert.
The 1920 census is quirky. First, the family is in no longer in Newark, but rather in Keansburg, which is in Monmouth County, New Jersey. Also, Anna's birthplace has changed from Germany to New Jersey. This is accurately carried over to the children's rows- mother born in New Jersey. In addition, Anna's mother, Minnie or Wilhelmina, is living with them, with a last name of FREY. Not quite LAU, but this is okay. I've seen wackier entries in the census.
|1920 United States Federal Census
Lutter Charles with wife Anna; children Elwood and Robert; mother-in-law Minnie Frey.
In the 1930 census, the family is back in Newark, minus the mother-in-law. Anna's birthplace is still New Jersey. There is a discrepancy with the marriage information. Charles is 7 years older than Anna; but he was first married (does not mean to the listed spouse!) at age 20, while Anna was 30 years old at her first marriage. With these numbers, their first marriages were not to each other. But I've seen far greater discrepancies that were simple attributable to errors in the census.
|1930 United States Federal Census
Lutter Charles, wife Anna, son Robert.
So I was proceeding with this branch when I was contacted by the Frey family, inquiring of Charles Lutter and his family history. There are online family trees naming the wife of Charles Lutter and the mother of the five children as Anna FREY.
Great to hear from the Frey family. My question: Why did Elwood Lutter list his mother as Anna Lau and not Anna Frey? Answer: Don't know.
More research required. I looked for the birth certificates of the five children born to Charles Lutter and wife Anna. I found four of them. All listed the mother as Anna Lau, not Frey.
My first thought was that I had mixed up the two men named Charles Lutter. I thought that the other Charles Lutter had died in 1912 and was buried at Fairmount Cemetery in Newark.
The other possibility was that the first wife died and Charles remarried to another woman also named Anna. This would have occurred between the 1910 and 1920 census recordings, when Anna's birthplace "changed" from Germany to New Jersey.
These Lutter branches are not lacking in women named Anna. I had plenty of women to reconsider if Anna Lau/Frey had not lived to see the 1920 census. In a grave at Woodland Cemetery in Newark, marked only with a blank white stone and one marked stone, I had a good candidate: Anna Lutter, died 1914. Only her stone, fallen flat on the ground, remained in this Lutter plot at Woodland Cemetery.
|Woodland Cemetery, Newark, New Jersey
photo taken June 2, 2007 by J Lutter
|Anna Lutter
Mar. 14, 1869 - Oct. 21, 1914
Woodland Cemetery, Newark, New Jersey
photo taken June 2, 2007 by J Lutter
Next I located the 1914 death certificate for this Anna Lutter. She was indeed Anna Lau.
|1914 death certificate for Anna Lutter, nee Lau
Very poor copy.
I have not found a marriage record for Charles Lutter to either wife. Charles would have married Anna Frey after the death of Anna Lau in 1914 and before the 1920 census.
|Anna Frey with her family of origin in the 1880 federal census.
24 Action Street, Newark, Essex County, New Jersey
When someone's wife changes her information, but not her name, from census to census, you may want to consider a remarriage to another woman with the same given name.


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Stories by The Bear [14] Series by The Bear [0] Reviews by The Bear [4] Challenges by The Bear [0] Favorite Series [0] The Bear's Favorites [1]Series
Stories by The Bear
|The authors own nothing. Joss, UPN, WB, etc. own Buffy, the show, the characters, the places, and the backstory. The authors own any original plots.


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Anyone who is currently addicted to cocaine or prescription drugs or knows someone who has become addicted to these drugs may be considering addiction treatment at Barre (town) drug detox programs.
These programs are accessible to people in Montpelier and Morristown, and they offer a comprehensive level of support that can be important to help people move beyond drug dependency and avoid a future relapse. Our addiction specialists can assist an individual in finding the type of treatment that's right for them whether they're struggling with addiction to heroin, marijuana or another substance.
Barre (town) Addiction Treatment Programs
When considering an addiction treatment program to treat a substance use disorder to marijuana or heroin, there are a number of options to keep in mind. The start of any addiction program is detoxification, a process that's basically designed to manage the physical symptoms that occur with withdrawal as the substance itself is removed from the body. These symptoms can often be severe in nature, increasing the chances of relapse. People from Stowe or Morristown may attend Barre (town) drug detox programs that integrate medication into the process so as to reduce the amount or severity of withdrawal symptoms. Once the drug has been eliminated from the body, further treatment can begin.
Following detox at one of the Barre (town) inpatient drug detox centers, each individual may enter an inpatient or outpatient rehab program for further treatment and support. Rehab provides the individual with the means of addressing the issues that led to addiction in the first place, allowing them to better understand their addiction to cocaine or marijuana. Some of the primary types of treatment available in rehab include group therapy, individual counseling and family counseling. We can help each individual compare and better understand treatment programs convenient for people from Montpelier and Stowe alike.
Barre (town) Intensive Outpatient Addiction Treatment
The two basic forms of addiction treatment for cocaine and prescription drugs are inpatient and outpatient programs. Intensive outpatient addiction treatment requires the individual to attend treatment sessions a few times every week for several hours each day. Treatment can involve a wide range of programs from group counseling to detoxification.
Once intensive treatment has been completed, most individuals will decide to transition to standard outpatient treatment that meets for fewer hours and only around once a week, a sustained process of support that helps keep relapse at bay. The key difference between inpatient and outpatient treatment is that the latter allows the individual to keep their own schedule while traveling to and from work and school in Barre (town) or Morristown whenever necessary. For people with mandatory obligations, outpatient treatment may be a necessary choice to confront addiction while maintaining a job, program of study or family responsibilities.
Barre (town) Inpatient Drug Rehab
Inpatient drug rehab is the more extensive of the two treatment options. Every treatment program administered within Barre (town) inpatient drug detox centers provides a significant amount of support for clients. The programs are a 24/7 commitment until the conclusion of treatment. The length of these programs can last from one month to greater than a year. The duration that a person stays within inpatient rehab depends mostly on the severity of their addiction and related issues as well as the threat of relapse.
For people from Montpelier and Stowe participating in Barre (town) inpatient drug rehab, professional medical care is available around-the-clock. Individuals also benefit from being in a drug-free environment that removes temptation entirely. When dealing with substance dependency, inpatient rehab has been shown to be among the most effective solutions available. Our addiction specialists can provide advice and information to potential program participants to help them make a good choice in a treatment program.


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Hot on the heels of the weekend's tantalizing images of what the iPhone 5 may look like, based on an assembly of leaked components, comes a video which shows the same alleged device.
The video shows off the same assembly we reported images of yesterday, which took a mess of purported new iPhone parts and assembled them into a possible new device. It seems to display many of the rumored changes that we may expect to see in the next iPhone: the stretched out display, the unibody design, the two-tone color scheme, the 19-pin connector.
Just as our reports yesterday explained, some sizable grains of salt should be on hand when watching this video. But, given that an example of the new iPhone is rumored to be out in the wild already, it is at least possible that the parts are authentic. [Macotakara via PhoneArena via Verge]


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The cameras ship in robust industrial casing with a C/CS lens mount and optionally with a trigger and digital I/Os. Getting started with the cameras is a matter of minutes and integrating them into existing applications takes only a few lines of code. Drivers for "LabView", "Halcon", "DirectX", "Twain" and "WDM" are included. All camera parameters and settings can be set via the shipped software. Furthermore, a number of automatic modes are available, which guarantee optimal image quality in varying light conditions. The cameras ship with drivers for Windows XP/Vista, the SDK "IC Imaging Control" and "IC Capture". The latter is a powerful end-user application, which allows all cameras parameters to be set, live video to be displayed, singular images and image sequences to be captured.
IVS Imaging is a distributor & manufacturer of machine vision cameras, lenses, cabling, monitors, filters, interface boards & more. IVS is your one stop shop for all your vision needs. IVS Imaging is known across the USA for carrying imaging products from leading manufactures, including Sony Cameras and Accessories, Basler Industrial Cameras, Hitachi Surveillance Cameras, Toshiba Network-based IP Cameras, and Sentech Advanced Digital and OEM cameras. Contact IVS Imaging for all your imaging products, parts, and accessories needs.


text: Thursday, April 12, 2012 Call for Submissions: Competency-based Learning and Assessment Resources The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), as a partner in the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC), is seeking submissions for competency-based learning and assessment resources in support of IPEC's Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice report. Physical therapists involved in interprofessional education and practice are encouraged to submit a resource development award application. Funded in part by the Josiah Macy Jr Foundation, this initiative is designed to create a national clearinghouse of competency-linked learning resources for interprofessional education and models of team-based or collaborative care. AAMC, with guidance from the IPEC-MedEdPORTAL Advisory Committee, will select up to 15 applicants for resource development awards of $2,000 to accelerate content refinement in preparation for formal submission and peer-review to MedEdPORTAL. Award application deadline is May 25, 5:00 pm ET, with applicants notified of funding decisions by June 18. To review the full call for submission proposals and apply online, visit the MedEdPORTAL website.


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Session:The Internet of Things
Name the page 'Session:<title>', fill in the details below, and remove this line
Session Details
- Event
- Date
- February 16, 2012
- Presenter
- Mike Anderson
- Organization
- The PTR Group
- Slides
- The Internet of Things
- Video
- here (linux foundation) and here (free-electrons)
Consumers increasingly want inter-operability of their devices. They want to program their DVR via their mobile phone. They want their music available everywhere. They want their television to update social networking sites. But, as developers, how do we make this possible? This presentation will discuss the imminent "Internet of things" and how we can extend connectivity to previously "dumb" devices like TVs, refrigerators, and other appliances and how this connectivity is directly related to IPv6 support. The target audience for this presentation are platform developers looking to enable connectivity in a new class of intelligent appliances. This presentation is targeted at introductory-level developers with some understanding of the IP protocol stack.
Mike Anderson is currently CTO and Chief Scientist for The PTR Group, Inc. With over 33 years in the embedded and real-time computing industry, Mike works with a number of RTOS offerings. However, his focus over the past decade is primarily embedded Linux and Android on a number of CPU architectures. As an instructor and consultant, Mike is a regular speaker at the Embedded Systems Conference and the Embedded Linux Conference as well as other Linux-oriented conferences such as LinuxWorld, Ubuntu Live and the Real-Time Embedded Computing Conference series. Ongoing projects include several efforts focused on porting applications from RTOS offerings such as VxWorks and pSOS to real-time enhanced Linux platforms. Additional projects include Android bring up and its use in non-phone applications and Linux in high-performance computing platforms.
- Transcribed by
- Tim Bird,
- Verified by
- 1 - Test User,
(From the Linux Foundation version of the video)
0:00 - 1:00: v1 >> TIM BIRD: Good morning everyone. Hopefully you had a good night's rest and hopefully you had fun at the reception last night. I'd like to thank Intel and Yocto for providing that reception. It was a pretty neat venue. Hopefully if you were in the little lobby at the beginning you noticed that there was a whole other section of the museum to go walk in. I was worried about that. I didn't notice it myself for a while. But then you got in there and there was a lot of interesting stuff and hors d'oeuvres and..
But I just want to remind people about the demo session - the technical showcase that we're having tonight. You might want to get ready for that. We're having a key-signing party. I have gotten ready. I'm doing lazy-man's keysigning prep. You're supposed... It's nice if you have little slips of paper, but if you don't you can just write your key on the back of your badge and then have people take your picture or whatever.
Um. But let's get started with our sessions for today.
1:00 - 2:00: We're going to start of with what I think will be a very interesting session, a keynote address, by Mike Anderson. And Mike Anderson has been coming to embedded Linux conference for years and years, and is, quite frankly, one of my favorite speakers. He's always got really interesting stuff to say. He's the Chief Scientist for The PTR Group, out of Washington D.C., and always working on interesting things, and always has real practical, hands-on information in his tutorials. And I look forward to hearing his comments on the Internet of Things.
Please join me in welcoming Mike.
>> MIKE ANDERSON: Thanks Tim. [slide 1 - Title]
OK. It even worked. Great job. [laughs]
I want to first of all thank ELC, Tim and the organizers for giving me the opportunity to get up in front of you and speak about the Internet of Things.
2:00 - 3:00: As we move along with the way technology is developing at this point, we have a very broad selection of opportunities for those of us in the embedded Linux community, and those of us who are interfacing to devices and understand what a device actually is. [slide 2 - What we will talk about]
This is what we'll be talking about, and this is all of the words in this presentation. I just want to get them all out of the way up front. So that now you've had an opportunity to see them, let's actually get into the material [slide 3 - Evolution of the Internet]
So, when we start with the Internet back in the 60's, it was originally conceived as a mechanism for doing away with the old Telex systems that were employed by the military. So in it's original form, the ARPANet was designed as a mechanism for being able to send message traffic around between military bases.
3:00 - 4:00: That, of course, because a lot of the research for the ARPANet was being done by universities, the concept of being able to send out an e-mail, and say "Hey, everybody. I've got a party at my house this Saturday night. Why don't you all come over.", really carried forward as these univerisity researchers and grad students, etc., then left their respective institutions and got out into industry.
Now, we went beyond that, to the introduction of Netscape and Mosaic, where we suddenly had Web 1.0. And the concept behind Web 1.0 was simply that of a library. There's lots of information out here. We will go out into the library. We'll look around. We'll ask a few questions. We'll get some information. We'll bring that back and think about it.
Web 2.0 introduced the concept of, instead of simple being consumers of information, we became producers of information.
4:00 - 5:00: Today, for every minute that goes by, there are 8 hours of YouTube video being uploaded to Google.
That's a lot.
Now, as we become producers, whether it's blogs, whether it's video, whether it's whatever we're producing, putting it out there, we of course are asserting our individuality, our concept, our "person-ness" out into the network. And, of course, there are the downsides, where people will then grab a hold of that information and use it against us. We'll talk a little bit more about that later.
But what we're at, right now, is the cusp of a new transition in the Web - Web 3.0. With Web 3.0 we're talking about something called the "semantic Web". With the semantic Web there's actually way more machines on the Internet than there are people.
5:00 - 6:00: And in the semantic Web these machines start chatting with each other sharing data. As they share data, we will hopefully be able to derive some wisdom from that. We'll see how that play our here in the next few charts. [slide 3]
So what is the Internet of Things? Well, it can be defined as the point in time at which the number of objects on the Internet outnumber the number of people on the Internet. That actually happened about 2008/2009 timeframe. And, when that happened we suddenly started to realize that, hey, the approach that we're using right now for the Internet (IPv4), is probably not going to scale. So we have to do something about that. We'll get to that in a bit.
At the same time, when they start looking at the proliferation of devices on the Internet, in 2008/2009 we had about 2 billion devices on the Internet.
6:00 - 7:00: Today that's calculated to be about 5 billion devices on the Internet. By 2015 - 15 billion devices. By 2020 - 50 billion devices on the Internet. That means that each one of us will on average, by the year 2020, have 6 different Internet-connected devices on our person at all times. Now, some of you, certainly those of you from Asia, already have 2 or 3 cell phones with you. Now that tends to be more common in places like Japan, where they have a cell phone for the family, a cell phone for the business, a cell phone for whatever other things they may be up to. And, as we've seen the deployment of these technologies, we tend to see a lot of this happening over in Asia first.
7:00 - 8:00: And then it rolls into the west. We'll see a little bit more about that in a bit. [slide 4] Here, is kind of a selection of connected things courtesy of the latest CES (the Consumer Electronics Show). Here we see an internet-connected television. This is from LG. This happens to be running ARM rather than a more traditional sort of MIPS sort of thing, where we see MIPS used to have a very strong hold in the settop box business. But, the interesting thing about this television is that it is running Android, and not Google TV. They perceive that the market is actually people getting access to YouTube, Hulu, Vuduu and Netflix, rather than using the Google Portal.
8:00 - 9:00: And of course, because it is Android they have the option of setting up their own private marketplace, so that you can download Angry Birds. [ahem]
Now here is a Samsung refrigerator with a 7-inch panel in it. The idea is, of course, that you will hook your refrigerator into the Internet, it will be able to download the latest weather, and you'll be able to use it as the replacement for the corkboard, on the old refrigerator.
Now, it also has the concept that you can potentially scan pictures, so instead of having all those kids pictures magnetically plastered to the refrigerator, we'll simply scan them and have a running slide show on the refrigerator - in case we really wanted to see those.
Now here's another situation. Now, here we have Kia has introduced the concept of an Android panel on the front dashboard.
9:00 - 10:00: Talk about distracted driving. It's like... I'm not sure exactly how well this is going to go over. But it certainly is.. They're argument is that it's heads up display.
We have, down here in the corner, we have a wirelessly connected baby scale. Again, some of these things you wonder "Why"? But I guess if you were a health care provider and you noticed that the babies from a particular region were all underweight, maybe that would be indicative of some problem in the water. Hmm. I'm not sure.
They did not invent Internet cows. However, they did introduce this concept of being able to instrument the cattle to track their health and status. It turns out that cattle produce about 200 megabytes worth of data every year, for each cow.
10:00 - 11:00: Of course I don't necessarily want to be the person who instruments the back end of the cow to see how things are coming out. But in any case the concept is certainly there.
And this one is kind of a scary one. You may not be able to tell from the back, but it says "Brainwave TV". In this particular example, I mean it's connected -- you actually wear this thing and think the television channel - and it changes TV. You have to be very careful about what you're thinking. [laughter] Because it could change TV to a channel that could be embarrassing. But, certainly, this is the kind of thing that we're starting to see. And this of course - all of these with the exception of the cow - was introduced at CES this year.
[slide 5 - Connected Earth] But what we're really looking at here is the Earth, as a system, has been able to produce gigabytes worth of data every single day.
11:00 - 12:00: We just haven't been able to listen to it. Well now, with the Internet of Things and the proliferation of sensors and technologies, we can start listening to the Earth.
We're used to thinking about seismic - certainly out here in California - seismic sensors. But what if we started thinking about the minerals, or the water in the ground. Could we have produced.. Could we have prevented a dustbowl situation. Had we instrumented the ground properly, could we have prevented that whole episode in American history from happening. If we had just simply been able to listen to the Earth effectively.
[slide 6 - Enablers] So what are the enablers for the Internet of Things. We have tagging things. Now here we see an RFID tag. And there's been a huge push for RFID in a lot of different technologies - a lot of different components.
12:00 - 13:00: We'll talk more about that in a bit.
We have sensing things. And we have now a situation where people are actually instrumenting themselves, for their own reasons. For instance in this particular case, this thing on the guy's arm is an air quality sensor. So this individual.. this particular product is targeted at someone who's asthmatic, and they want to know what the quality of the air is, and have it alert them on their phone, before they have an asthma attack. OK.
We have shrinking things. This is an RFID tag. It used to be this. Now it's that.
And we have thinking things. Now this is of course the proliferation of devices like AVRs, PIC24s and 32s, ARM Coretex M0s, M3s and of course now moving up the scale into all the Linux devices that we're actually out here deploying.
13:00 - 14:00: [slide 7 - RFID Everywhere]
So if we think about the tagging things first, we see that the RFID piece of it - this is an RFID tag about the size of a grain of rice. This is the kind of thing that people typically implant in their animals. Their cats, dogs, etc. So if they become lost they can simple be scanned by the professional - by the veterinarian - and figure out where that cat belongs and contacted. We see it here against a human hand and then we see of course it's new smaller cousin, being produced. But what's an application for this kind of stuff. Well here we see an RFID-enabled cat door. So that if the cat with the appropriate RFID comes up to the door it will open, and the cat can come through. But the run-of-the-mill stray cat will not be able to get through that door.
14:00 - 15:00: Where is the big push for RFID coming? Well, it's actually coming from retailers. If you take a look at what's happening with retailers like Walmart. They're getting ready to switch from an inventory model to a consignment model. That is, they won't actually pay the producers of the goods for the goods until the goods are sold. This is going to be a huge change in the way business is conducted throughout the world.
So as we see RFID proliferation, we'll see it in milk cartons, we'll see it in our clothes, we'll see it just about everywhere. Now this all has a good side and a not-so-good side. We'll talk about the security bits in a minute.
[slide 8 - Instrumenting Things/People]
And of course "sensing things". 15:00 - 16:00: As we start instrumenting both things and people, we see that there's already a market for books on Getting Started with the Internet of Things.
Here we see an example of a human who has augmented their sensing with ultrasonic sensors and haptic feedback devices. So the closer they get to a wall, the more the haptic feedback vibrates. They can then sense their environment. This of course is a potential boon for the blind and other situations. However think about what that could be used for in terms of augmented reality, in terms of augmenting our sensors, in terms of enabling humans to be able to reach out beyond our simple surroundings to detect things out in the world.
And we see a couple of examples of this using a mesh technology. This happens to be built on top of Arduinos.
[slide 9 - Smart Dust, Nanoboats and MEMS]
16:00 - 17:00: Well as we start shrinking things, now we start getting into some really kind of bizarre applications of the Internet of Things.
We see here in this example this is called a dust mote. And this is about 1 to 2 millimeters. It has a laser interferometer on it. It has a solar cell on it. It has mesh technology on it - mesh networking. And it has a coretex M0. In about 2 millimeters worth of material.
Now the research that's been done on things like smart dust is that if you wanted to instrument the crowd, you simply spread these things out on the floor and as people walk their shoes pick them up. And then they are now instrumented and you watch them move, through large venues. Of course, one could conceive of other applications for these, but we won't get into that.
Here we have a nanobot.
17:00 - 18:00: The nanobots have largely been focused in the medical world, where people are interested in using them to go in and cut out cancer cells and other such afflictions.
Personally I don't like the little bug-looking nanobot. I want mine to be sharks with laser beams on their heads.
But if we then take that to the next step here, a Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (or a MEMS). Now they have nano electro mechanical systems. This particular one is rather curious. What they did was they implanted a MEM into this moth in the pupal stage. When the moth came out of its pupa, it had a sensor in it. This sensor now enables them to cause the moth to flap its wings. They can actually steer the moth.
18:00 - 19:00: Put a camera on that, and send it out as a small UAV. Of course I wouldn't want to watch the camera output while I was flying. It would go a little like that [rocking]. But none-the-less kind of an interesting concept for being able to instrument things in the real world and have them collect data.
[slide 10 - the DIKW Relationship]
So what are we really getting at here. Well we're really talking about something called the DIKW relationship. In the DIKW relationship we have a sea of data. This sea of data is meaningless unless we can start putting some organization to it. Once we understand the relations inside the data, we can then start to derive information from that data. But information in and of itself is of little use to us unless we can see patterns. Once we understand the patterns we can now derive knowledge from that ultimate data source.
19:00 - 20:00: Patterns are good. Knowledge is good. But what's really important to us is to understand the principles behind how those patterns work in the world. And those principles, then and that understanding we derive wisdom from that.
So the whole concept behind a lot of the things that we talk about in the Internet of Things is really the concept of being able to take data, of which we have lots of it, and derive some wisdom, for the understanding of how the world works, as a result of that.
[slide 11 - Improving the Human Condition] So how can we go about improving the human condition with the Internet of Things?
Well, here we have a circumstance where if we think about the number of millions of gallons of fresh water that are lost every single day by municipalities through leaking pipes.
20:00 - 21:00: It's just, the infrastructure is old. We don't know where the leaks are. In D.C., we find them because a pipe bursts and now it's ice everywhere. But what if we had the ability to instrument the pipe? What if we had the ability to to be able to then recognize a potential failure in the water system, before it happens?
We could alert the department of public works. We could tell the police, "Hey. Redirect traffic around this intersection." We could get somebody out there to fix the leak, stop the pipe burst before it happens, and save millions of gallons of water. Especially if then we could have sensors that travel through the water system, collecting data about where the water system was bad, and then plan our work as proactive work rather than reactive when something actually fails.
21:00 - 22:00: Other applications: If we had a sensor on someone that could detect a potential heart attack. And that sensor could then, through their smart phone alert the emergency personnel, dispatch emergency personnel, alert the doctor, alert the hospital - "Hey. This individual's having a heart attack." It gets them into the golden hour. The time at which, if you can get medical aid to someone in that first hour, chances are extremely high that you'll be able to save their lives.
Of course we have some more mundane applications of this technology as well. Let's say that I have an intelligent agent, that looks at my calendar, ans says "Well, he doesn't have any appointments until 10 o'clock. So I'll change the alarm clock to go off an hour later.
22:00 - 23:00: And, not only that, but I'll also start the coffee. And by looking outside I see that the temperature is below freezing." So, 5 minutes before I'm supposed to leave, it will automatically start the mini, and start warming up the car so I don't have to go scrape the ice off the outside of it. That would be a handy thing. Myself, I know when I'm out there scraping ice, I really wish that my car would automatically do that for me.
But let's say we have our smart refrigerator - with the RFID tags on everything that we put inside the refrigerator. You have to be careful not to eat an RFID tag, I would guess. Of course then that raises the concept of smart toilet paper... Hmmm. Not sure about that. But in any case, what if I didn't know what I was going to have for dinner? I could ask my refrigerator, "What do I have in the refrigerator that is good for dinner?" It could then actually go out on the Internet, look for recipes that matched the things that I have in the refrigerator, and come back to me with some ideas for what I'll make when I get home.
23:00 - 24:00: And then here we see. This one is actually deployed at this point. This is a smart pill bottle, that has an LED on it, and it is actually 3G connected, and the light comes on to tell people when to take their medicine. And which medicine to take.
Of course, as we get older, we start having quite a collection of pills that we have to take, and based on their individual preferences, sometimes we take them in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon, sometimes several times during the day.
So it would be nice to have an LED that would just start blinking when it is time to take the pill. Of course, the potential for someone hacking into that, and then causing mischief also exists.
But, when we look across kind of a broader spectrum. If we take a look at what happens with the energy production grid today.
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There are few movies that get me in the holiday spirt as much as Home Alone does. I'm not kidding! As a kid, I always imagined myself being as clever as Macaulay Culkin, rigging my house with booby traps, holding down the fort at home. But do those booby traps actually do anything? The Week took a look at the injuries the robbers sustained throughout the movie and asked a medical expert to see what kind of damage the traps would've had.
You remember a few of those hilarious booby traps and comical injuries to the burglars Marv (Daniel Stern) and Harry (Joe Pesci) even if you haven't seen the movie in years. The iron to the face. The blowtorch to the scalp. Walking barefoot on Christmas ornaments. So how much damage would these traps cause? Here's the doctors description of the iron to the face damage:
"Let's estimate the distance from the first floor to the basement at 4.5m, and assume the steam iron weighs 2kg. And note that the iron strikes Marv squarely in the mid-face. This is a serious impact, with enough force to fracture the bones surrounding the eyes. This is also known as a 'blowout fracture,' and can lead to serious disfigurement and debilitating double vision if not repaired properly."
Oof! That's brutal. Check out The Week to see more detailed analysis of an all time favourite movie. I'm totally going to watch Home Alone again. [The Week]


text:
Chart: Tea Party money
After watching Tea Party candidate Christine O'Donnell raise a little over five percent of her itemized donations from people who could actually vote for her – that is, from people in Delaware – we wanted to see how the rest of the Tea Party Senate slate fared. It turns out that there's not much correlation between where a Tea Party pol got the money and what happened on Election Day. The final, final reports aren't in yet, but the FEC documents so far show that most of them raised a ton of money out of state. Check out the expanded view of all nine. (Special thanks to our in-house astrophysicist, Summer Ash, for the data-wrangling.)


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The team of J. MAYER H. Architects, Lens °Ass and a20-architecten have realized "the new court of justice", a structure that stands as a contemporary urban landmark in a newly revitalized district in Hasselt, Belgium.
After completing the exterior skin in 2011, the interior was completed in the spring of 2013 and the building officially opened on September 13th, 2013. "The new court of justice is an open, transparent building with direct public access, combining the Court of Justice with a university library and auditoriums for the faculty of law." says Lens °Ass architecten.
"In keeping with the building's logistical requirements and safety provisions, the structure is divided into three separate units: courtrooms, the library for students and an office tower with a 64-meters-high panorama restaurant on top from which offers a panoramic view of the city of Hasselt and its surroundings."
"Based on a master plan by West 8, the former railway station site has been restructured with a park, public buildings, offices and hotels, as well as urban residential blocks. References in the design process point to both the image of the 'tree', the hazelnut trees in the City of Hasselt's coat of arms, and steel structures in the once industrial- and Art Nouveau-influenced area."
Building Data
Construction Start: December 2008
Client n.v.SOHA (Stedelijke ontwikkelingsmaatschappij Hassett) — Autonoom Gemeentebedrijf Hasselt(+ Euro lmmo Star)
Architects: J. MAYER H. Architects, a2o-architecten, Lens°ass architecten
Construction Company: T.H.V. I-lasaletum nv (Democo nv – Cordeel nv — lnterbuild nv)
Tenant: Regie der Gebouwen
User: Federale Overheidsdienst Justitie
Square Footage: 20.763 m2 above-ground spaces (Offices, Meeting-Rooms, Library, Reception, Cafeteria, Court rooms)
4.694 m2 Underground spaces (Archive)
3.384 m2 Underground spaces Parking Lot
Construction Time: October 2008 – December 2011, 37 Monate
Address: Parklaan, 3500 Hasselt, Belgium
Project-manager: Eurostation NV
Structural Engineering: M. &- A. Van Wetter BVBA & Eurostation
Technical Engineering: Eurostation NV
Controlling and Fire Protection: Seco CV
Construction oosts: 60.000.000€
Max. Height: 60m
Construction Surveying: Eurostation + Regie der Gebouwen + Lens°ass
Preliminary Building Works: lnterbuild
Metal Construction: Cordeel
Facade: Democo NV
Photos: Philippe van Gelooven | Filip Dujardin | Bieke Claessens
to the J. MAYER H. Architects website
to the a2o-architecten website
to the Lens °Ass architecten website


text:
I want to kick off this recap with an ardent plea aimed at the voracious shippers among us, just some simple on-my-knees begging for the Emayans and Paileyans to please not rip each other (or me) apart. Because, see, I know shipping is as fun as any sport, but it's kind of the opposite of story. Narrative wants conflict, conflict, conflict. And shippers want unimpeded bliss. But let's be honest: Does Emily Fields not deserve to have more than one girl fighting for her affections at all times? Answer: Yes. I mean, you've met Emily Fields, right? I just want everyone to be cool. We're more than 40 episodes into this show and it's been such a joy so far. Let's not sully it with asshole-y shenanigans. Like who you like, ship who you ship, write enough fan fiction to fill an Ezbian-sized feelings journal. But please, please, please play nice. OK? 'Cause I've still got GLASS IN MY HAIR from the last shipping war I had to live through.
Apparently Jason likes new sister Spencer better than he ever liked old sister Alison, because not only has he avoided clubbing her over the head with a hockey stick; he has also happily handed over two grand of Alison's blood money without any real explanation from Spencer about why she needs it. Aria and Spencer explain to Hanna and Emily that they'll be doing the Vivian Darkbloom dollar exchange alone because they don't want to scare off their informant. Emily is offended at first, but soon realizes they're right: Spencer and Aria and whatever evil combination of clothes Aria will be wearing will most certainly look like a terror cocktail to the untrained eye. Even weathered soldiers have been known to run screaming at the sight of some of Aria's pants.
Mona wanders by, all, "Heyyy, Liars!" And they respond with unacceptable apathy. Mona pulls Hanna aside to make plans for an afternoon of shoplifting, but Hanna's like, "Aw, man. Between the trips to the police station to account for the gardening utensils in my possession and learning the ways of the cyberhacker and celebrating 1105! every time my mom leaves the house, I totally forgot about our plans of petty thievery." Mona's feelings are hurt, but she plays it off like a champ. And then she gets a text from "A"(!) talking about, "Hope your mom likes police boners too!"
Such a boner wanders in off the street and into the Marin's kitchen. Ashley hears someone at the back door and is all, "Look, this isn't a soup kitchen. We housed one hobo for a — oh, it's you." Detective Snape is like, "Of course it's me. Afternoon delight, or …?" Ashley kicks him out and then calmly asks Hanna for the one billionth time if she's come clean about all the things that could send her to prison for the rest of her life. Hanna's like, "Except for the part where I ran over a ninja with my car, drowned Caleb's boyfriend in the River Hastings, slapped a blind girl in the face, ruined Dad's wedding to keep my therapist from being buried alive, and made it to the eleventh grade without knowing the word 'spigot' — yeah, I've told you everything."
It is a day of coming clean! Melissa is back from the pits of hell, sipping blood from a thermos and knitting a horn-shaped bonnet for that satan in her belly. She's also acting oh so very shocked to learn that that former makeout buddy Jason DiLaurentis is also her half-brother. Actually, she mostly seems shocked that Spencer knows. She's like, "No one else knows, right? If anyone else knows, please just write their names and addresses on this piece of paper while I go downstairs and retrieve my nunchucks from the coat closet." Spencer thinks how it seems like just yesterday when Melissa's husband was trying to push her off the bell tower and Jason was trying to bash Ali's brains in, and now look at them, the most loving older siblings since Jane Bennet and Jo March. Spencer gives herself a hug and imagines the three of them in matching feety pajamas come Christmas morning.
Maya is not returning Emily's calls, which Emily takes as a clear indication that she should keep calling. She's leaving a message: "I had Caleb remotely reverse engineer your phone last time you were at Jesus Camp, don't think I won't have him —" But: BEEEEEP! Standing watch over lonesome Emily's lonesomeness is Paige McCullers, one zillion smiles and zero bangs. A winning formula. OK, and Paige's mouth goes, "I'm interested in you joining me this afternoon in the capacity of two teammates doing official swim team business." But her voice goes all gentle and flirty about, "Please don't say no to me because what girl in the world could say no to you." Emily's eyebrow is intrigued.
Mona preens around Hanna's bedroom, a flock of bluebirds dressing and undressing her in an array of stolen party frocks. Because she is a princess; yes, that is what I am saying. (I am correct. Don't argue.) "A" busts up the party with a text and Mona just rolls her eyes about how lame it is to get get extorted. The Liars have been dealing with this for how long now? Months? Years? Mona's done with it in an afternoon. Instead of hiding in the bathroom and crying, she's like, "At least Gossip Girl keeps it real with thematic bon mots. This omniscient stalker is so borrrrring." Hanna gets super nervous super fast, and rightly so: "A" sent Mona a photo of her mom letting Detective Snape slither in. Hanna's like, "Are you really OK, Mona?" And Mona is all, "You remember the apocalyptic wasteland we lived in when Alison was alive, right? Relative to that, I'd be OK getting eaten alive by literal wolves."