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By Nishiraj A. Baruah
The story so far
THE TARGET: 45 countries; 7 continents; 100,000 km
TOTAL TIME: 18 months
Yes, that's right!
Mind-boggling statistics these are, even as she traverses across cactus country Mexico as we write. She has a mission to accomplish, a campaign to promote, and she has her superbike to drive home the message.
Ride To Be One, her campaign is called, as she kicked off her epic journey from Pune on March 15 this year. Riding alongside is Pankaj Trivedi from Mumbai – in 2007 this biker broke a Limca Book of Record by riding from Kanyakumari to Leh in 5 days, 5 hours and 45 minutes.
Iranian by birth, Indian by heart
But we would rather talk here about Dr Maral Yazarloo, for she is from a country where women are not allowed to ride bikes. Iran, yes. "I would ride through Iran and request Iranian leaders to permit ladies to ride motorcycles. I want to change the world's perception about Middle Eastern woman and Iranian woman in particular," she says. A woman can be Iranian, follow all the social rules, follow Islamic regulations and still ride a bike – that's what she wants to prove to the Government of Iran.
Interestingly, Yazarloo is also an Indian. It has been 15 years she has been living in India, 11 of which was spent working for a leading construction company as the retail head. "I think of myself as equally Indian and Iranian. As much as India is intrinsic to my life and future, I still remain proud and conscious of my roots in Iran," says the biker who is also armed with an MBA and a Phd.
Late night tire puncture!
Having completed the First Leg of their ride across Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia, she is now on the Second Leg of her trip from the US to South America.
Supported by a real estate company, Panchshil Realty, it has been exciting so far riding through small villages, interacting with the locals, sampling different cuisines and imbibing varied cultures. But there have been several challenges too: Sub-zero temperatures, language barriers, sometimes dismal living conditions, late night tire punctures, non-availability of vegetarian food…. The list is endless. Despite this, she has faced every challenge head on, making sure to welcome each new day with a smile!
Also read: Am I on a suicide mission? Looks like, only that I have no mission!
The fear of the unknown thrills her
"Each day is a new challenge, with radically different climates across countries – from crazy monsoon rains to damn hot summers and cruel winters, or from perfect highways to bad roads and sometimes even non-existent roads," she says. On the road, things are almost never in a biker's control and "my adventure has taught me to be a survivor".
And oh, she is a fashion designer too, and along the way she has been learning about fashion styles, tradition, colours and textures. Upon her return, she plans to stage fashion shows in five fashion capitals of the world.
Bikes on board tiny sailboat
The highlight of Ride To Be One will be her journey into Antarctica from South America. It's a huge challenge for heavy superbikes and not many have made it there till date, but her preparations are in place. Using tiny sailing boat with her bikeson board for a month, she hopes to sail over!
Words of the wise
Sure she will. Just read what she has to say: "We never know how powerful we are, until we push our limits. My experiences each day push me towards a better understanding of the meaning of true happiness. After years of being in the middle of a hectic lifestyle, I finally have time to be alone with my thoughts and contemplate my life. I believe that when you start loving yourself, you stop expecting to receive love from others. That is how I found true love and my love for myself keeps me motivated."
Inspirational words, these are, even as moves on to the third leg of the tour that will take her across Africa and Europe, and then finally to her home turf in the Middle East to offload her message.


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The Zamir Choral Foundation
Zamir Noded fills the last remaining void in the demographic of the Jewish Choral population. Now young people in their late teens and 20's finally have a place to sing quality Jewish music with a community of like-minded peers. Thank you for providing this venue for them-- and this listening opportunity for us!
-Zamir Noded audience member
My first Festival....I am overwhelmed by feelings of gratitude. You gave me an experience so deeply profound that I can hardly express it. You showed me a world of Jewish choral music I could not have imagined existed.
-NAJCF attendee
My first trip to Israel was on a ZCF mission. I cannot imagine a better way to start my lifelong love of OUR country! Between the music, touring and amazing people on the trip, it was an all-together wonderful experience. Thank you, Zamir!
-ZCF Israel Mission participant
The Zamir Choral Foundation, created by Matthew Lazar, promotes choral music as
a vehicle to inspire Jewish life, culture, and continuity.
Zamir Choral Foundation
475 Riverside Drive, Suite 1948
New York, NY 10115
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Phone: (212) 870-3335
Fax: (212) 870-3336
Zamir Choral Foundation. All Rights Reserved. | Website Developed by Hudson Horizons

subset: commoncrawl


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Use case: Selling to a targeted list
via email, events, commerce, coupons and reports.
A typical marketing workflow would be to combine profile data such as "areas of interest" with activity history to identify high-value prospects.
Once you have your list, you can email them, give them access to special content, create coupons, etc. all within Presspoint.
Then run a report, analyze the results, refine your message and repeat.
In this example, let's make some money selling tickets to a special event.
Let's say I'm a craft beer brewer here in Portland.
I'm hosting a launch party for my new Pilsner next week.
I've already created an event through Presspoint, so let's take a look at how many ticket sales I have so far.
Run a report to define a performance baseline for campaign evaluation
Show all the people on the system who have bought a ticket to my event in past 30 days. Not many.
Identify a target group based on their profiles
I need to drive sales. So I'm going to use Presspoint to find all the people who
(a) indicated an interest in Pilsner beers and (b) live in Portland
I'll save this search as "Pilsner Targets"
Create a call to action with a coupon
Next I'll create a 10% off coupon using Presspoint's coupon manager. This will allow the customer to add this code during checkout


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Giggling Grizzly
Sponsored By
Top Bars To Watch College Football In DenverThere are many options for watching sports in Denver but when college football is your thing, the bar matters.
Top College Bars In DenverNo matter what you are looking for - cheap drinks, affordable food, relaxing with friends, live music, dancing, sports - there are some great places in Denver to make special memories of those college years.
Top Summertime Bars In DenverDenver is not just a winter town. One of our most exciting times is during the summer. Why not enjoy those warm days in a cool bar? A good measure of a proper summertime bar is its ability to cool you as you relax and have fun. Here are some top summertime bars in Denver!


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Super Alexa is inspired by one of our team member's personal experience. Her mother has to take medication daily for a chronic illness. Busy with at-home work, her mom often forgets daily tasks, like taking her medicine. Super Alexa helps her and other people in the same situation with their daily medicine routine. It provides a platform to help the elderly, the busy, and the visually-impaired function with efficiency in their daily lives.
What it does
Super Alexa aims to seamlessly integrate daily reminders into one's life. Super Alexa is a tool that comfortably remind a user with the familiarization of one's own voice or a loved one of specified tasks throughout the day.
How we built it
We linked Alexa to Google Calendar, and used an IFTTT recipe to automatically add the event spoken to Alexa to Google Calendar. Checker Plus for Gmail and Mixmax were add-ons that we used for the text to speech functionality and to automate email sending. Then we used Google Scripts for extracting the calendar event information and sending an email with just the text that was needed.
Challenges we ran into
- Calendar event emails stack on top of each other each time
- Setting up the time with the calendar event email
- Previous prototypes - we encountered problems with Raspberry Pi, Arduino 101, and Edison Intel.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
A lot of pivoting was done throughout the whole process. We're pretty new to hackathoning, so we're glad we persevered to the end. We did a lot (A LOT) of troubleshooting.
What we learned
We learned about Amazon Echo and Alexa, IFTTT, Google mail-checker-plus, Mixmax and Google Script. We also learned to work in team of people who we met first time at The Lady Hacks hackathon.
What's next for Super Alexa
The step is to having Super Alexa work on different languages and record the user's own voice.
Built With
- alexa
- google-mail-checker
- google-script
- ifttt
- mixmax


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Ski, Stay & Spa at Stowe, VT
Combining a classic 200-year-old village with Mt. Mansfield, Vermont's highest peak, Stowe Mountain Resort marries nature & tradition with modern amenities. Since its opening in June 2008, Stowe Mountain Lodge has set a new standard of casual luxury. The six-story lodge was built at the base of Stowe Mountain Resort in the new "Vermont-Alpine" style and offers a truly luxurious setting, while paying respect to the Vermont tradition of embracing nature.
Sitting on a peak of 4395 feet, Stowe Mountain Resort offers a wide range of terrain that caters to all skill levels. While the resort is well-known for the double-black diamond "Front Four" trails, it also offers some of the longest intermediate cruisers in the East and plenty of beginner trails in the Toll House and Spruce Peak areas.
This package is all about relaxation, starting with your Timberline studio (approximately 515 square feet). Enjoy breathtaking mountain or pool views from your private outdoor terrace or soothe the day's activities in Stowe Mountain Lodge's 21,000 square-foot spa facility, complete with a full-service fitness center, outdoor swimming pool with indoor access, Jacuzzis, relaxation lounge and 18 private treatment rooms. Choose from an entire menu of relaxing treatments, including both traditional and Holistic massage, facials, body wraps, pedicures and more. A $25 credit good toward any 50 or 80-minute treatment is included in this package.
After you've worked up an appetite, enjoy rustic, American fare and stunning mountain views of Stowe Mountain Lodge's restaurant, Solstice. Known for its farm fresh ingredients and focus on local artisan products, Solstice is open for both breakfast and dinner. For a sneak peak at the menu > , take a look here. Reservations can be made by calling 802.760.4735.
What's Included:
- 1 night in Timberline Studio (3 adult occupancy or 2 adults & 2 children)
Optional Upgrade to Timberline 1BR Suite
Optional Lift Ticket Add-On
- $25 Spa Credit good toward any 50 or 80-minute treatment
Accommodation includes King-sized bed with luxurious bamboo linens and additional queen-sized sleeper sofa; custom marble-finished bathroom with separate relaxation tub; kitchenette with stovetop, microwave, dishwasher, Cuisinart cookware and Simon Pearce dishware; stone-framed fireplace; LCD flat screen television with iPod docking station and MP3 hookup; Complimentary wireless internet access.
All offers subject to availability. No availability during February 18-24 (President's Week), March 3-5 and March 15-17.


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If you have a sta wet palette I bet you have one of those EXPENSIVE yellow sponges in them.
Occasionally my palette gets infested with mold. Yuck. And I need a change. I clean it out with bleach to kill the molds but then I reuse that same old sponge.
UPDATE: After I posted this I reposed you could sanitize sponges in the microwave just like you do for your kitchen sponge. Hopefully it would kill mold. Or maybe freezing it would. Of course at the cost of these sponges vs the coast of paint might as well toss it if mold grows and start fresh.
Today I realized that my Trader Joe's sponges would work just as well and be cheaper at 2 for $2.59. They are 10×14 instead of $6.80 for one 12x 18″ Sta Wet sponge. Math is in favor of Trader Joe's sponges.
Sta wet on left Trader Joe's on right
I love these for wiping up counters, dripped watercolor. I usually have one on the floor and one on the sink. AND you can throw them in the washing machine or the dishwasher to clean them.
Bytw the Trader Joe's sponge is slightly thicker too so would hold more moisture.
Going to be buying a couple more packs when I go to Atlanta this weekend. LOVE Trader Joe's.
Margaret xoxox who loves saving $ on art supplies. Leaves more $$ for when I can't save it on art supplies.


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Azeemah attended every one of my classes when I went down to Cape Town courtesy of her sister, as Azeemah was there at the same time. She told me about doing her Masters degree studies and about making the most amazing lemon chicken ever! That CT trip will forever be etched in my memory.
More than a year (or was it two?) later….she has wrapped up and graduated. I had the honour of doing her mocktails for her graduation bash and a batch of piping hot Millionaire's Chai.
alt="IMG_5174.JPG" width="400″ height="389″ />
My favourite thing…making mocktails for clients who are simply amazing, easy to work with and so creative!
Mocktails : Fehmz
Props : Hired by Azeemah Mayet-Moola
Cola : Purchased by Azeemah Mayet-Moola


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Access to Services
The Teaching and Learning Center offers its services to all UW students, with priority given to currently enrolled UW Tacoma students. Students who use the TLC facilities and services are expected to follow the UW's Student Conduct Code. TLC staff may ask users to leave if they create conditions that impede the work of students or staff.
- The Quantitative Center primarily supports the instruction of UW Tacoma curricula; limited resources prevent us from routinely providing support to courses outside UWT. Students of UW Tacoma who are also enrolled at other campuses or colleges should first check with us to see if we can support instruction in their non-UWT courses.
- In the Writing Center, applicants to the University of Washington may access TLC services and resources to work on their application materials. Recent graduates may access services for applications related to graduate programs, fellowships, and job-seeking (e.g. resumes, cover letters, etc.).
Quantitative Center Use
QSS offers drop-in tutoring only. One exception is for SPSS projects, when you can schedule an appointment with Instructional Consultant Su-Miao Lai.
- You must check in at the front desk by swiping your student ID each time you visit the TLC.
- Drop-in sessions are on a first-come, first-served basis. During peak times, you may have to wait for a tutor to become available.
Writing Center Use
Make an appointment or drop in
- Make your appointment or visit the TLC during the day without an appointment for a drop-in consultation.
- Fill out all of the required information--instructor, course number, and what you would like to work on.
- You are allowed to schedule or drop-in for up to 3 hours of consultations per week, with a daily limit of 50 minutes, including eTutoring and drop-in consultations.
- Drop-in sessions are on a first-come, first-served basis. During peak times, you may have to wait for a consultant to become available.
Canceling an appointment
- Advanced notice of cancelations are appreciated, not only by staff but other students who would like to use this limited resource.
- Please call 253-692-4417 or use the online system if you need to cancel an appointment.


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Heart of Haiti collection at Macys.com is a wonderful place to shop for holiday gifts. Not only will you find beautiful items, but you'll also be supporting a very worthy cause.
Through the sale of Heart of Haiti products, artisans are able to earn life-changing income for themselves, their families, and their communities. The initiative is enabling artisans to repair homes, pay school fees, and feed and clothe their families. The income also allows them to have access to better nutrition, improved education and healthcare.
Products include vases, candleholders, serving trays, picture frames, mirrors, coasters, necklaces, clutch purses and more!
Please click over now to the Heart of Haiti collection at http://bit.ly/heartofhaiti and get some holiday shopping done!
DISCLOSURE: I am writing this post to spread the word about Heart of Haiti through a Mom Bloggers Club member program and will receive a Heart of Haiti pendant as a thank you.
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
Help Haiti by Shopping the Heart of Haiti Collection at Macy's
Posted by Susan Heim at 6:15 PM
Labels: gifts, Heart of Haiti, Macy's, shopping
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Beyond Familiar Shores – Page 54on April 4, 2017 at 12:01 am
What is Happening?
What indeed, Princess…what INDEED. I'll tell you what…the shell that ANNIHILATED FrankenHitler just turned into a FREAKING .50 Caliber Machine Gun Turret! Oh, and did you notice that the turret is sitting right on top of FrankenHitler's corpse? Well, it is…
Be here NEXT WEEK for the PENULTIMATE page of Beyond Familiar Shores Phase One. Avoid unending regret and DO NOT miss the first part of the THRILLING two-part FINALE. 'Nuff Said!
Till next time!


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$1.7 million added to S.F. campaign to eradicate AIDS, HIV
San Francisco will dedicate $1.7 million in new funding to support the city's Getting to Zero program, an ongoing initiative aimed at making the city the first in the country to be free of AIDS and HIV infections.
Mayor Ed Lee said Thursday that the city will contribute $1.2 million to the effort, with money going specifically to target people who are hardest to reach. An additional $500,000 will be donated by the MAC AIDS Fund, the cosmetics company's longtime HIV/AIDS charity.
"We want to have no new infections, we want to have no preventable deaths and we certainly want to have no stigma," said Lee, citing the central goals of the Getting to Zero campaign, created to cut HIV transmissions and HIV-related deaths by 90 percent by 2020.
"We can, in our lifetime, end this epidemic for everyone," he said.
To reach that goal, the city has already committed $54 million to HIV/AIDS prevention and care for San Francisco residents in this fiscal year. The funds announced Thursday will support staff members hired to reach out to people who have contracted the virus or who are at high risk and may be reluctant to seek medical and mental health services.
San Francisco's Getting to Zero initiative, which started last year, focuses on expanding access to the HIV-prevention drug regimen known as PrEP, which stands for pre-exposure prophylaxis; getting more people into the city's treatment program, which connects people to services on the same day they're diagnosed; and making sure they stay in care.
"We've made a lot of progress in San Francisco, but it's not over," Dr. Diane Havlir, chief of the UCSF Division of HIV/AIDS at San Francisco General Hospital, said at City Hall on Thursday during an event announcing the new funds.
The rate of new infections in San Francisco has dropped dramatically over the past two decades. Last year, the city marked a record low number of HIV diagnoses. The 302 new cases contrasted starkly with the 2,332 recorded at the peak of the epidemic in 1992.
But more work needs to be done to engage people who are hard to reach, particularly African American gay men, who have the highest rates of new diagnoses, as well as young people, intravenous drug users and women, including transgender women.
Johanna Brown, a transgender woman who was diagnosed with HIV in 1988 and AIDS in 1995, spoke of the importance of connecting with the right health providers, counselors and peers.
Brown was living in Concord when she underwent her gender transition in 2009, and said she had difficulty finding health providers who understood her hormone medications and other needs until she moved to San Francisco after losing her job and home. In San Francisco, she found doctors who understood her care needs and connected with people in the transgender community.
She has since found a job as a vocational nurse, and her viral loads are undetectable, Brown said. "You start wanting to take care of yourself. You start wanting to live a better life," she said.
Officials said the MAC AIDS Fund will also donate $100,000 to the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, one of the largest and oldest AIDS nonprofits in the country. All proceeds from the sale of MAC's Viva Glam line of lip products go to support the MAC AIDS Fund, started in 1994.
"What we say at MAC is, if you can sell a lipstick, you can save a life," said Karen Buglisi, global brand president for MAC. "We want to save a lot of lives."
Victoria Colliver is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: email@example.com Twitter: @vcolliver


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Virginia Pechawis doesn't talk much about her time in the army, but it makes her an important part of Saskatchewan's First Nations history.
As the province's oldest living female First Nations veteran who served during the Second World War, Pechawis is a living testament to the contributions made by aboriginal people during wartime. Despite this, she downplays her own role.
"I don't think I'm special. I just want to be me," the 89-year-old said in her home on the Mistawasis First Nation, just north of Leask.
When Pechawis left Mistawasis in 1944, she was 18 years old. She wasn't getting along with her father and wanted an opportunity to get out into the world.
"I said, 'Maybe I'll join the army,' " she recalls.
She enlisted at an army office in Prince Albert.
"They asked me, 'Are you sure?' I said yeah. I just wanted to leave," she said.
Pechawis was sent first to Regina, then to Kitchener, Ont. She said basic training was difficult but rewarding.
"I didn't mind it too much after I got used to it. I kind of liked it," she said.
Pechawis spent most of her 13 months with the army working in the kitchen at the Valcartier military base in Quebec. Although she was often the only aboriginal person around, she said she experienced very little face-to-face racism.
"They treated me like everybody else," she said.
In fact, she only remembers one woman who gave her a hard time. Pechawis chose to ignore her.
"I said, 'I'm not going to cry for that,' " Pechawis said.
Cathy Littlejohn, who wrote the 2013 book Metis Soldiers of Saskatchewan: 1914-1953, said it was common for aboriginal soldiers to be treated as equals during wartime.
"Within the army, everybody has a job, and that job is critical to the jobs other people do. I've heard some of them say you get to the point where you're not fighting for your country, or your boss, you're fighting for the guy beside you," Littlejohn said.
It was after the end of the war that differing treatment for aboriginal veterans became apparent. Even among indigenous peoples, veterans were often treated differently based on whether they were First Nations, Metis or Inuit, according to Littlejohn.
In Saskatchewan, many Metis people were relocated during the 1930s and '40s, Littlejohn said.
"When Metis soldiers came back, a lot of them couldn't find their families because they weren't where they left them."
One of the benefits veterans received from the federal government was land. Littlejohn noted an area of disparity in that policy: non-aboriginal vets were handled by Veterans Affairs, while First Nations veterans were handled by Indian Affairs.
Pechawis, who went back to Mistawasis, got little consideration for her service.
"They didn't ask me what I wanted. They just gave me land on the reserve, which was ours already anyway," she said.
Decades later, Pechawis says she isn't bothered by the move, but acknowledges that many others don't feel the same.
"Some people still talk about it. It's not fair, they give you land that was already yours anyway," she said.
The difference in treatment between wartime and afterward was so great that many aboriginal men re-enlisted for the Korean War, according to Littlejohn.
"Being able to do a job they were proud of, and respected for, even if it put their life on the line, was better than staying where there were no jobs or the attitude toward them was still distrustful," she said.
Pechawis still lives on Mistawasis on the land allotted to her.
"I'll never leave this place," she said.
There has been some recognition in recent years of the military contributions of Pechawis and other aboriginal veterans. In 2012 she was awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, an honour given on the 60th anniversary of Elizabeth's reign to Canadians who had made significant contributions to the country.
In 2014 she was one of a handful of aboriginal veterans in the province to receive a Lieutenant-governor's Military Service Pin during a ceremony in Saskatoon. When asked about the honour, Pechawis downplayed her personal contributions.
"I didn't really feel I had earned something, but I accepted it," she said.
At the same time, she recognizes the importance of commemorating the First Nations people who fought for Canada.
"I think it's important. There's people from the war, men especially, that died."
© Copyright (c) The StarPhoenix


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The Fall of Washington Postcard (x8)
Hand-coloured engraving published by S.W. Fores on 4th October 1814. This is an English satire celebrating the burning of Washington D.C. in 1814. The cartoon shows President James Madison (1751-1836) and probably John Armstrong (1758-1843), his secretary of war, both with bundles of paper, fleeing from Washington, with burning buildings behind them.
This The Fall of Washington Postcard (x8) is created using state of the art, industry leading Digital printers. The result - a stunning reproduction at an affordable price.
More Product Info »
More Details
• Shipping: Usually ships within 2-3 day(s)
• Media: Postcard (Pack of 8)
This is an automated preview only. Actual design may vary. All products are hand finished by our expert manufacturers and the best crop available will always be selected


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The Day After Everything Changed
Available online and in stores now!
released 2010
Ellis Paul Publishing
- 1. Annalee
- 2. Rose Tattoo
- 3. River Road
- 4. The Day After Everything Changed
- 5. The Lights of Vegas
- 6. Hurricane Angel
- 7. Heaven's Wherever You Are
- 8. Dragonfly
- 9. Sometime, Someplace
- 10. Once Upon A Summertime
- 11. Waking Up To Me
- 12. Walking After Midnight/Change
- 13. The Cotton's Burning
- 14. Paper Dolls
- 15. Nothing Left To Take
The Day After Everything Changed is Ellis' 15th Studio album and comprises the best songs of his career to date. Review from Direct Current: After 15 years of recording one exceptional album after another, it would be appropriate to toast legendary New England singer/songwriter Ellis Paul's sheer longevity in a business that often overlooks the original voice and rewards mediocrity instead. But with the January 12 release of The Day After Everything Changed we're struck more by the fact that Paul is still playing at the top of his game to such an extraordinary degree. It is, as always, the quality not the quantity but in this case we're rewarded with both. For anyone unfamiliar with the output of one of the defining voices of American songwriting, this steller new album is a great place to start. Sumptuously produced, The Day After boast a full array of songs both personal and socially aware, from the gloriously soaring title track to the heartbreaking, Randy Newman-styled portrait of a post-Katrina New Orleans in "Hurricane Angel". If there's a more devastating indictment of the events surrounding that defining moment in history we've yet to hear it.
Produced by Thad Beaty and Jason Collum at Sorted Noise www.sortednoise.com
Photography: Jack Looney
Design: Robert Hakalski
Photography: Jack Looney
Design: Robert Hakalski


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Grocery Shopping for One
I am a single woman and I attempt to eat as healthy and frugally as I can. With weekly trips to the grocery store costing more than ever – not to mention gas prices are skyrocketing - I am always attempting to plan ahead and save money where I can.
Gone are the days when my shopping cart would be full of peanut butter, oatmeal, Cheetos and Dr. Pepper. The days of carrots, ground turkey, milk and yogurt are here. And truth be told, those healthier items are way more expensive than my previous purchases. But if planned out well, it won't put a huge dent in my wallet.
Make a List and Stick to it
Personally, each weekend I like to meal plan for the work week ahead. Planning ahead not only helps my waistline stay in check, but also my pocketbook. With very specific meal planning, I also tend to make detailed grocery lists.
Precise grocery lists mean less opportunity to splurge on unnecessary (and oftentimes unhealthy) items. This also ensures that don't purchase excess items that could go ad before I have the opportunity to use them and that I don't buy things that I don't need.
I have made my lists specific enough to know that I am going to eat eggs six times in one week, so I need one carton of eggs. I know that I will have four spinach salads throughout the week, so I buy two bags of spinach versus one.
When planning ahead for meals, it's important to look at the servings of the food in a package. Figure out the price per serving. It doesn't always make sense to buy the bigger box of cereal if it's going to cost you more in the long run.
Watch for Coupons and Sales
You don't need to be an extreme-couponer to save money, but check out the Internet, newspaper ads, and in-store ads to save money on some of your favorite products. If it's something you're going to buy anyway, why not save $1 when you buy 10 yogurts? Especially if saving the money is by doing something as simple as cutting out a coupon.
The healthier you the shop, the more you will notice that there are rarely coupons on fresh veggies. This can make it tough. So try and save on the other items so you can afford to buy the fresh foods.
Also, it is tough to buy fresh, good tasting fruit and veggies in the winter. So my advice is to buy frozen. They can be just as healthy and you can get more variety.
Don't Stock Up If You Don't Need It
In the past, I have often fallen for 2 for $5. What if I don't need two bags of grapes? I find as a single woman, I can't really eat that many grapes before they go bad, so instead I just spent $2.50 on an item that I can't or didn't use. Usually you're still able to buy the one bag of grapes for the discounted price.
Dont' go to the Grocery Store Hungry. No, Seriously!
We've all done it, more than once most likely, but it's so much harder to venture into the grocery store when you're starving. Your mind is on all the food you're walking by, not what is going to be a healthy option and a financially good decision. Even if you're using a list, it's still easier to stray when you're hungry.
Grocery shopping can be tricky and expensive, but with the right planning, it can be favorable for your checking account…and your waistline.
Call LSS Financial Counseling at 888.577.2227 to schedule a budgeting appointment and get even MORE ideas to save money, build up savings, and conquer your debt. Take action today to improve your finances!
Author Sarah Packingham is a DMP Specialist with LSS Financial Counseling.


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Alphabet has announced that Eric Schmidt is changing roles to "technical advisor," as the 62-year-old steps down from his position as executive chairman. Schmidt has been with Google for 17 years, serving as CEO from August 2001 to April 2011, and subsequently as executive chairman of Google, a role he continued when the company reorganized into Alphabet in October 2015.
Alphabet has not provided a specific reason for the timing or underlying reason for the move. A report in The Wall Street Journal (paywalled) indicates the transition has been discussed internally for "about a year." Schmidt is quoted in the press release saying "In recent years, I've been spending a lot of my time on science and technology issues, and philanthropy, and I plan to expand that work."
Press Release
Eric Schmidt to become technical advisor to Alphabet
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (December 21, 2017) – Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG, GOOGL) today announced that, as of its next regular board meeting in January 2018, Eric Schmidt will be transitioning from his position as Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors, becoming a technical advisor to the company while continuing to serve on its board.
"Since 2001, Eric has provided us with business and engineering expertise and a clear vision about the future of technology," said Larry Page, CEO of Alphabet. "Continuing his 17 years of service to the company, he'll now be helping us as a technical advisor on science and technology issues. I'm incredibly excited about the progress our companies are making, and about the strong leaders who are driving that innovation."
"Larry, Sergey, Sundar and I all believe that the time is right in Alphabet's evolution for this transition. The Alphabet structure is working well, and Google and the Other Bets are thriving," said Eric Schmidt. "In recent years, I've been spending a lot of my time on science and technology issues, and philanthropy, and I plan to expand that work."
"Over 17 years, Eric has been tremendously effective and tireless in guiding our Board, particularly as we restructured from Google to Alphabet. He'll now be able to bring that same focus and energy to his other passions, while continuing to advise Alphabet," said John Hennessy, a member of Alphabet's Board since 2004 and the lead independent director since 2007.
The company anticipates that the Board will appoint a non-executive chairman.


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1015 Henry Eng Place
Victoria (Langford), BC.
Local Phone: (250) 381-3399
Toll Free: 1-800-201-1277
Fax: (250) 381-3183
This ColdStar location consists of the following, all operating out of our 36,000 sq. ft. warehouse
- Victoria temperature controlled cross dock
- Cold Storage
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- Vancouver Island Dispatch operations
- Vancouver / Lower Mainland Dispatch operations
- Our staff custom-build each order, moving over 500,000 lbs of product per night.
Cold Storage Facility
This 1 million cu. ft. facility, maintained at a constant 28 degrees below zero, is connected to our warehouse. It operates under HACCP guidelines and is set up to provide all third party logistic requirements.
Operating Hours
The Victoria warehouse is open 21 hours of nearly every day, only closing between 6 pm and 9 pm Sunday through Friday. On Saturdays, we close at 4 pm.


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I'm a man. Not much of a man, but a man.
As a man, I am expected to be able to do 5 things in life. 1) Have the ability to chew and digest bark from a redwood tree. 2) Have the ability to throw a cinder block the full length of a football field. 3) Have the ability to hunt wild boar by moonlight with nothing but a shoelace. 4) Have the ability to pilot a rocket ship/submarine hybrid blindfolded. 5) Have the ability to drink any, and every, beer put out in front of me without hesitation. I can happily say that I can currently do one of those things extremely well.
Beer comes in many different flavors, colors and variations. They are brewed in warehouses, basements, restaurants and mall kiosk kits. Many are fantastic, some are mediocre, and a few are the equivalent to decomposed elf urine. However, amidst the sea of mediocrity, one company continues to make a fantastic product consistently across the board. That company is DuClaw Brewing Co.
I love seasonal brews, and DuClaw is no slouch in that department. As a faithful Beer & Pig reader, you know that during the sweltering summer, I had the pleasure of tasting and reviewing one of their summer offerings, Funk. Just last month, I sat alone in my basement, completely devoid of any clothing and polished off a case of their early autumn 31. Right on the heels of that gem comes one of DuClaw's most anticipated releases of the calendar year, the release of Retribution and all of its coinciding flavor iterations.
The "OG" Retribution is damn tasty on its own. An imperial stout aged in God damned oak barrels for 6 incredible months! What's not to love? But I would be remiss if I didn't admit to you all that my wife has caught me in full-blown coitus with bottles of their Cocoa Vanilla Retribution on more than one occasion. Don't judge me. It's the thing that dreams are made of. After all, Pastry Dan knows what I'm talkin' about! So, imagine my fervor when I was able to get my hands on a bottle of one their more rare offerings, the "white whale" of the Retribution series, Pumpkin Retribution.
Much like the standard Retribution, the pumpkin pours dark. Very dark. As dark as a thousand midnights even. The carbonation is light and the head is minimal to non-existent. I took a deep sniff and was surprised when I got unexpected aromas of apple cider. I was so excited to take my first gulp that I nearly spilled the onyx elixir all over myself.
HOLY CHRIST! This brew is no joke and rightfully so. After napping in barrels for 6 months and garnering an 11.5% ABV, the bourbon flavors hit the pallet hard and fast. I was literally knocked back in my seat. For a second, I could have sworn that I was sipping on a spirit rather than a beer. The "woody/oak-esque" flavors that usually manifest as undertones in other "bourbon barrel aged" offerings are extremely pronounced here. I was trapped in a cornucopia of emotion. Overcome with both intrigue and intimidation. I pushed on without hesitation because, as you now know, I'm a man.
A few more sips and my belly had grown warm. Sweat began to form on my brow and I couldn't help but let out a bellowing "WOO" with every quaff. Maybe it was the alcohol, but all I could think about was how if I was caught in an avalanche in the Himalayas, I hope those rescue St. Bernards have Pumpkin Retribution in their adorable barrel collars because I would most certainly thaw and pelvic thrust my way right out of the snow and into the world of livin'!
As I got to the bottom of my glass, and the beer lost its chill, it seemed to mellow out a tad. A burnt chocolate and roasted coffee flavor began to make its presence known. This was a pleasant change to the intense boozy piquancy that I had grown accustomed to during my session. It was like my mouth was aboard the Hershey Chocolate ride…but the knock-off version at Hershey's estranged grandfather's house that is living a life consumed by alcohol. Fun for the whole family, and by family I mean me.
Unfortunately, there was one glowing issue that I was having with this particular beer. I didn't taste as much pumpkin as I would have hoped for, barely any to be honest. The bourbon flavor literally dominated any chance my taste buds might have had at seeking out that familiar autumn zest. I may have caught a small hint in the lingering aftertaste, but it might have been my mind playing tricks on me since I was so desperately seeking out the pumpkin. I will say that I know the classic spices are in there somewhere because there is definitely more of a bite on the back end than in the standard Retribution.
This beer is really tough for me to rate because it is indeed a special treat, but just not my "cup o' tea" in the world of beers. While I do enjoy bourbon barrel aged brews, this one just came off a bit too dominating for me. Now, some of you out there might be looking for just that, and if so I encourage you to definitely pick up the Pumpkin Retribution if you can find it. For me, personally, it probably would benefit from hibernating in my dark beer closet for a bit. In fact, I'm planning on grabbing a few more bottles to stash away and crack open next Thanksgiving. It will be interesting to revisit this review when the time comes to see the evolution in its flavor profile.
I give Pumpkin Retribution by DuClaw Brewing Co. 3 B&P Camo Products out of 5.


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3 things to make for Me Made MayWednesday, April 01, 2015
No panic sewing here! This post should actually be titled '3 things that I definitely don't need to make in time for Me Made May but want to anyway', but that isn't particularly catchy. I actually have a bit of time off work and I'm going to hopefully use it to get a few things made from my sewing list.
I promised myself that I would take part in this year's Me Made May, having not made an official pledge last year but giving it a bit of a go anyway with my then-limited hand made wardrobe.Things are looking a bit different this year...
Me Made May is obviously intended to be fun, but I particularly like the way that it makes people re-evaluate the things they've made and the way that they wear them. Just the thought of it made me grab this selection/jumble of handmade from my wardrobe, after which, I felt a) proud that I'd made so much in the past year, and b) happy to rescue the ones that had got lost in the depths of the wardrobe!
But here are the 3 things still on my list to make:
1. A self drafted bodice/Lilou skirt hack
I've made a few dresses from a self drafted pattern that I made at evening school, and achieving the perfect fitting bodice is pretty much my biggest sewing achievement.
I want to use the bodice pattern again and again, but make each garment different through simple changes to things like the neckline and sleeves, or a quite obvious one: attaching a different skirt. The original version was tulip shaped with a big forties-style flounce. The one above is my latest, made from Liberty floral with a long gathered skirt. And the proposed skirt for my next version...
2. A basic plain blouse
Readers might know that I love a good Lottie blouse (see here, here and here), but I also love a jazzy patterned fabric too...
I like to sew using exciting fabrics because it lets me make something totally different to the garments you see in the shops. Although I have been known to wear double pattern, I think it's time I made a couple of plain tops (most likely Lottie's), mainly for the sake of other people's vision. But seriously, having a plain blouse to wear with a jazzy handmade skirt will make head-to-toe me-made a much more wearable option.
3. The holiday-sun cover up
Not really my usual style, but I think the most challenging part of Me Made May could be the (hopefully sunny) holiday I'm taking at the end of the month, so some sort of cover up would be great. The pattern and instructions to make this lace jacket/cover up were in Love Sewing issue 8 (the Christmas issue with the free Skater Dress pattern). I'm putting a slight twist on it by using a sheer black fabric with a raised geometric pattern.
So to conclude... hopefully I'll be wearing all of my me-made clothes, plus a few newly made garments next month! Here's my pledge:
'I, Shauni from The Magnificent Thread, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '15. I endeavour to wear one hand made garment each day for the duration of May 2015'
5 comments
I'm nervous about participating in MMM in case I don't have enough wearable handmades, but you've totally inspired me to sort out my wardrobe and see what I can do with what I've got and what I need to make!ReplyDeleteReplies
I'm also nervous Rachael but I'm going to try my best! Last year I tried it with only a couple of skirts and tops (I didn't do so well, but should be better this year!) I'm sure you've made more than you think - hope you decide to sign up too :)Delete
I love your self drafted bodice - it's so gorgeous! You have lots of lovely handmade pieces to wear through MMM this year. I really wanted to take part this year but I really don't have enough pieces yet. Maybe next year!ReplyDeleteReplies
Thanks Jo :) I'm not sure I have quite enough pieces either but going to give it my best shot! XDelete
I definitely need a plain Lottie or two, too! I've just signed up, hopefully going to get another skirt made before the challenge begins... Excited! xoxReplyDelete


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We have for you oil bottle labels for Young Living's essential oil blends. Each label is hand designed and put together on one sheet. We included a few extras for some of the more popular oil blends (citrus fresh, peace & calming, purification, r.c., stress away, and thieves).
We test printed the labels on three separate printers (two ink jets and one laser). On each printer we had to change the scale to 100% so please be sure your scale is set to 100% or they will not align properly. The link to download the full sheet of labels is below, beneath the preview graphic.
These labels make perfect (and inexpensive) gifts for new members or for special events (YL join date anniversary, team prize, etc.).
Looking for the sheet with the single essential oils? Click/touch HERE to go to that page.
Guidelines for Use:
- No one has our permission to sell and/or profit from our label designs or this sheet of labels.
- Please do not alter the labels in any way.
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(do not save the graphic above, the size and color
resolution was reduced for preview purposes only)
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Star rating ****
It's a collaboration that you desperately want to see work; the coming together of two distinctly individual performers. Despite being well established solo performers, both have enjoyed a string of collaborations in their respective careers, Steve Tilston with John Renbourn's Ship of Fools, WAZ and most memorably in partnership with the late Maggie Boyle, whilst Jez Lowe has enjoyed some success with hurdy-gurdy player Jake Walton as well as being the leader of his own band the Bad Pennies.
Both are possessed of instantly identifiable personal styles in terms of their song writing credentials, their immediately recognisable voices and their equally distinctive instrumental chops. These days of multi-collaborative work, forged by a plethora of young musicians who by learning their craft through such as the folk music degree courses, are organically entrenched in it, but this doesn't always apply to highly individual performers who have been at it for years; there's a sense that they have to work at it a lot harder.
All the material on THE JANUS GAME is written jointly by the two songwriters, with each sharing the vocal duties democratically. The songs range from the
powerful to the whimsical, exemplified by Lucky Sami, a song addressing the current refugee crisis and The Wagga Moon, a thoughtful reflection on the faded steel industry, whilst The Strings That Wizz Once Strummed and Mrs Einstein are jolly nods towards the influence of guitar mentor Wizz Jones and the long suffering spouse of our favourite physicist. The album title derives from the opening song, which looks at the dualism of truth and deception, the past and the future, utilising the image of the two-faced god from Roman mythology, hinted at in the double portrait on the cover.
As a collaborative experiment the album works surprisingly well, but at the risk of essentially sounding like two individual mini albums wrapped into one, but maybe that's just because I can't shake off the notion that these are two highly individual solo talents.
Allan Wilkinson


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Language and Travel Guide to Indonesia
This versatile language and travel guide has valuable information about Indonesia's many fascinating destinations. Learn where to go, what to do, what to say and how to get the most from your trip. Just a few simple words go a very long way in Indonesia, but pronunciation is the key. All profits from these books benefit wildlife conservation causes in Indonesia.
Experience more of Indonesia than the average traveler by speaking the local language. Simple courtesies and greetings will make your trip more productive and rewarding. Our phonetic style makes it impossible to mispronounce important Indonesian words. Order your hard copy.
The locals will sparkle with delight when you speak just a few words in bahasa Indonesia.
Order the condensed Indonesian e-Phrasebook.


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Sign In
Blackjack Strategy
Playing multiple hands??????
December 2003
Anyone have suggestions on whether to play up to 7 hands when playing against the dealer alone. At home, using the same rules as the casinos in indiana, and the same shuffling and stripping techniques used to shuffle, ive found that if i play seven hands vs one, two, or three, ive come out an average of 20 betting units ahead over the play of several hundred hands...ive kept track of the cards played, the dealers bust rates, and individual cards. Obviously, this doesnt come near to millions of hands played, in computer simulations, but in "cutting edge blackjack", and a few other books that ive read, they all suggest you play at a table with a minimum of 4 players, with 7 being the best because with an average of over 20 cards played per round, no matter what the point the players put the cut card, deeper penetration is allowed with more players.
Should I play more hands on average at the same time, or just stick to one or two????
December 2003
I haven't heard of
casinos allowing you to play all 7 hands, and only in Vegas you can play even
?! Where I play, Isle you can only play up to 2 so....
December 2003
Play two if you can, no more than that for reasons discussed above.
BUT, bring double stakes to the table. Maybe you can get away with 1 3/4 times table stakes... no less than that.
December 2003
But what's he talking about playing all 7 hands for? I know of no casino that allows you to even play more than
December 2003
Bug- At the casino I play at most, you can play two hands for the table minimum and you can play THREE hands for double the table minimum. So, on a $5 table you could play, two hands for $5.00 each and play Three hands for $10.00 each. Different casinos, different rules......
December 2003
Right, of course different casinos have different rules; that's what I said that some casinos allow 2, or
3 at the max, but again, he was talking about playing all 7 hands....
is not possible at ANY casino, now is it?
December 2003
the reason I was asking about 7 hands is because I was watching one individual playing 7 green chip hands against the dealer one on one. There were even a few other players that wanted in...but the dealer asked them how much they would be betting, and if they couldnt match his standard $25 bet, they would have to go to a table with a lower minimum...by the way...he was winning on average 4 out of seven hands. Looked to me like he was cleaning the house...
December 2003
Dude, WHERE AT.... because again, for the 3rd time I have never heard of
casino even in VEGAS where one could do that... how about some details on where you "saw" this happening because I'd be right there in a heartbeat betting 7 hands $25 each.
December 2003
I've seen 3 hands and more played several times. Each place will have their own rules for what the minimum per hand is going to be. I once watched a well known, heavily tatooed, now retired basketball player play every spot at two adjoining tables at Mirage. They had both tables roped off so no one could get in. Best recollection was he was playing about $5,000 at each of either 12 or 14 spots.
December 2003
Wow... very interesting... so what other places offer the ability to play the ENTIRE TABLE like that cuz I'd want to get in some of that action!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Only in Vegas or what?
Hah... so what was he doing, just walking to each and every hand the entire time? Hah...
December 2003
Keep in mind, you're going to be playing alot more than the table minimum. I think the rule of thumb is 2x minimum for 2 hands; 5x table minimum for 3 hands, and more as you go up.
Yep, he just walked from spot to spot and then to the next table. All the chairs were removed except one at each table so he could sit down during shuffles. Pretty entertaining.
Mr. Ed
December 2003
For a card counter, the more hands you can get away with, the better. If you do it right, it will reduce your variance, and leave your EV the same. On a practical basis, two hands is the limit. More hands will draw attention and have a decreasing impact on variance. Of course, if you can afford 14 hands of $5000 each, and you're not card counting, do whatever the hell you want!
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Duffy Books in Homes USA, Inc. has launched
NeverMore Design launched the new revamped Duffy Books in Homes USA, Inc. website. This project has been in the works for a few weeks.
What it includes:
- Site is fluid and runs on the most powerful CMS in the business.
- Simple stylish navigation
- Multiple contact forms for easy interaction with customers
- Comprehensive listing of schools and sponsors
- Logo creation, domain name maintenance and graphic work
Thank you to Richard Quick and the Duffy Books in Homes, USA Inc. team for allowing us to redesign your website. We look to a long relationship.
To visit the site: Duffy Books in Homes USA, Inc.


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Active Member
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2003
- Messages
- 8,568
- Location
- West Valley City, Utah, USA
- Aircraft
- Sport Copter Vortex 582
- Total Flight Time
- FW: 200 Gyro: 51
Thanks to Chuck Roberg for posting this! I copied it here to give it a new thread all its own:
Still not what Gyro CFI's need...
Barriers increase for E-LSA instruction
David Oord
EAA Government Specialist David Oord
September 16, 2010 — The long-awaited guidance for LODA or Letter of Deviation Authority has finally been published by the FAA, but the guidance does very little to improve training availability for E-LSA aircraft. The various FAA branches have been debating for quite some time the final guidelines that Flight Standards offices would use to issue these authorizations. As part of a new push by the FAA to encourage transition training for experimental aircraft, the new guidance facilitates this aim by permitting flight training for compensation through the LODA process. The new LODA procedures, however, appear to increase the barriers to training for E-LSA aircraft by limiting LODAs to areas where certified LSA are not available and by not allowing the use of E-LSA trainers for the purpose of attaining ratings, certificates, or other flying privileges.
"We are fearful that existing CFIs that have been banking on the ability to continue to offer primary training will cease offering instruction since only transition training is allowed under a LODA," said EAA Government Specialist David Oord. "This will deepen the training vacuum in the E-LSA segment and will have an impact on safety."
FAR 91.319(h) permits the FAA to issue a LODA to an applicant for the purpose of conducting flight training in experimental aircraft. Most experimental aircraft have different handling characteristics when compared to type certificated aircraft, thus necessitating the need for transition training. A LODA would allow that transition training to be for compensation.
Flight training considered acceptable for the issuance of a LODA consists of:
1. Initial flight training for the operation of specific make and model of experimental aircraft.
2. Recurrent flight training for the operation of a specific make and model of experimental aircraft.
3. Primary flight training for the operation of ultralight vehicles only when conducted in low mass, high drag vehicles with an empty weight less than 500 pounds and a maximum speed in level flight with maximum continuous power (VH) less than 87 knots calibrated airspeed (CAS).
4. Jet unusual attitude and upset training.
5. Instrument competency training for specific make and model of experimental aircraft.
6. Training for a flight review in a specific make and model of experimental aircraft.
7. Formation training for specific make and model of experimental aircraft.
8. Other specific training approved by the General Aviation and Commercial Division, AFS-800.
A LODA for primary flight training for the operation of an ultralight vehicle will only be granted if an S-LSA is not available for flight training in the Flight Standards District Office's (FSDO) geographic area. Additionally, the aircraft must have been owned by an appropriately rated CFI before January 31, 2010. If granted, the LODA will have a maximum duration of 24 months and be limited to the geographic area of the FSDO.
The guidance states that a LODA cannot be used for flight training leading toward the issuance of a pilot certificate, rating, or operating privilege. It has been EAA's position that, until a sizable and available fleet of S-LSA is realized, in order to grow the sport, E-LSA that were previously allowed to give primary instruction under FAR 91.319(e)(2) should be allowed to continue to do so under a LODA. Unfortunately, the guidance does not allow for such instruction, shrinking the size of available training aircraft even further.
Although the policy guidance is finally out, questions still remain, particularly in the gyro community. EAA is compiling a list of questions for submittal to the agency and will share those answers once received. If you have questions, please forward them to [email protected].
Ultimately it has been previously stated that "it is the policy of the FAA to foster and promote general aviation while continuing to improve its safety record. These goals are neither contradictory nor separable. They are best achieved by cooperating with the aviation community to define mutual concerns and joint efforts to accomplish objectives." EAA feels the LODA guidance for E-LSA neither fosters or promotes that segment of general aviation and will further reduce the number of aircraft available for primary training.


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By Manuel Roig-Franzia, Washington Post Staff Writer
PORT-AU-PRINCE — They pound concrete. Smash it over and over. Smash it until it powders.
The pounding starts at dawn, when the men with the calloused hands crawl by the hundreds, antlike, over and into the ruins of this broken city, from the toppled old market-houses on the Grand Rue to the humbled schoolhouses of the central city, from the shattered shacks along the waterfront to the crumpled mansions up the hill. You hear them before you see them. Heavy hammers tapping out a beat.
Concrete played the villain's role in the Jan. 12 earthquake drama that savaged Haiti's capital. The city's dominant building material was weak when it should have been strong. The men with the hammers hit the stuff hard, as if exacting a kind of communal revenge, pulverizing a symbol of failure in a search for something more trustworthy.
Embedded in all that concrete are countless tons of steel and iron, there for the taking. Long rods of it, short planks of it. Sprawling, arching loops of it. Metal twisted, but still of value, still suitable to be melted down in China or some other faraway land with the money and means to turn pieces of Haiti into something new. The metal is everywhere. So much of it that Port-au-Prince should be a wonderland for the metal scavengers, the Caribbean conduits for an international scrap-metal market.
Should be.
Hunting metal porcupines
The metal doesn't come easily, even with hands as strong as Fritz Mesca's. Mesca, a 28-year-old with a wide, flat nose and a worry-lined face that makes him look much older, leads a small band of scavengers. Each morning, they survey the cityscape for opportunity. Sometimes the prospecting takes hours, interrupted by false starts and demoralizing setbacks. Some days, his stumbles come in the form of police shooing him away, accusing him of looting. Sometimes it's rival scavengers, laying claim to entire buildings, even though there's plenty for all.
One time, the youngest of Mesca's three-man crew — a puckish 14-year-old named Pyrus Jean Rousier — tried to stand up to a territorial metal man. The sore spot on Rousier's upper right arm is a reminder of that encounter — the claim was staked with a fist. "He was a big, big guy," Rousier says one afternoon. "It really hurts."
On this day, though, Mesca, Rousier and their friend Wilio Petit-Home find an uncontested hunting ground. And what a spot! A collapsed hardware store holding a trove of metal, not only embedded in the concrete, but wedged beneath it. The rumbling Earth left the structure a mere skeleton — brick walls and arches intact — but the meat of the place collapsed into a lumpy heap of cracked concrete and contorted rebar.
Mesca crushes concrete slabs with heavy hammers, and wrests the metal out, straining to rip it away. The concrete, though too flimsy to stand during the quake, clings stubbornly to the metal treasures, unwilling to give them up without a fight. Mesca works so furiously that a concrete dust cloud forms, turning his face ashy white, like the ash-covered office workers fleeing the fallen towers on Sept. 11, 2001.
A fire charred the fallen building where they work. So when Petit-Home, a 26-year-old with a wispy mustache and sleepy, heavy-lidded eyes, clears a patch of concrete from the upper reaches of the fallen building, he pulls out a curious sight. There in his hands rests a weighty, basketball-size lump of nails fused together in their bins by the heat into a grotesque form resembling a metallic porcupine. A big score.
Mesca works in bare feet — his soles sturdier than any tattered flip-flops. He rakes debris with his fingers, sifting handfuls of the concrete he batters for nails and screws. Before the earthquake, Mesca roamed the fetid shoreline of Port-au-Prince's bay and combed its side streets for discarded metal. There were days when he found nothing worth selling. On this day, he finds so much, he's run out of room in the heavy bags he's brought along to carry his haul.
Petit-Home shreds an umbrella he's found into fabric strips that he twists into ties to close his bags of metal. Mesca starts collecting tools, but stops abruptly. He stands and calls out in a loud voice: "Where's the saw?"
He and Mesca all turn to Rousier, who shrinks under their glare, confessing he let another scavenger — someone he'd never met — borrow it. While they were distracted by tying the bags, the man — a graying fellow with a kindly smile — slipped over the back wall of the shop, and disappeared.
Rousier, nervously, begins to laugh. The saw was his responsibility. Mesca rages at him, but it's hard to stay mad at Rousier long.
"Just because you have pretty teeth, doesn't mean you have to laugh!" Mesca says, pointing at Rousier's surprisingly glistening smile. Mesca's own teeth are stained and chipped, but Rousier was blessed with straight, bright choppers and parents who were not so poor that they couldn't afford toothbrushes.
Rousier tries changing the subject. Faintly, he says, "My heart is hurting. I'm tired. I'm hungry. I haven't had anything to eat since this morning." His pals don't even look up.
Out on the street, they assemble their loot: three heavy, waist-high bags of metal and a gangly pile of rusted rebar and scraps. It's too unwieldy to carry, so they wait in the shade of a building with Doric columns, now only a shell, a relic of pre-earthquake Port-au-Prince, but one with an air of shabby dignity. Twenty minutes pass before a spindly man comes along pushing a wheelbarrow. He agrees to be their hauler.
Rousier trudges alongside the overstuffed wheelbarrow. He struggles with a half-dozen six-foot-long bands of rebar slung over his right shoulder, flopping dangerously on the crowded street. He can't help but look around, distracted by the vendors selling cooking oil and the mashed vegetable stew called "legume," the rum stands and the ubiquitous lottery shops where impoverished Haitians place tiny quixotic bets. A woman bends at the waist, just avoiding being slashed by Rousier's bars. She yells at him and he drops his load.
The street clogs with tap-taps, the top-heavy, wildly painted pickup trucks with covered benches welded on the back. These serve as this city's main form of public transportation. Each is painted with a message, often in foot-tall letters: "Thank you Jesus," "Man proposes, God disposes," "God of Love," "Mercy."
Ten feet more and Rousier drops his load again.
They pass smoldering garbage piles, where rotting fruit mixes with burning plastic, kicking off a toxic haze.
Rousier drops his load for the third time. Finally the wheelbarrow guy comes to his rescue, heaping Rousier's tangle of rebar on top of an already wobbly pile.
An hour of stops and starts later, they wearily pull off along the roadside, where 20-foot-high piles of metal stretch the length of a typical city block. There's hollow tubing, metal boxes, girders, door frames, posts, window grates, scaffolding, a lacy screen door, a fan, a purple bicycle frame. Smaller piles conjure Gothic public art, abstract forms that take on emotional power.
To weigh the metal, the owner of this enterprise, a sour 24-year-old woman with a do-rag on her head and named Christa Rene, has dangled the screen of an electric frame, now serving as a weighing tray, from a swing set. The swing set balances on cinder blocks to get extra height. She will send the metal to a plant several miles away, where it will be compacted, stuffed into cargo containers and loaded onto ships.
The weighing and negotiating do not go well for Mesca's crew, who worked six hours in wilting heat to get to this point. Mesca is illiterate, and Rene's calculations confuse him. She imposes rules he's never heard of: less money for the first 60 kilos than the second, less money for the nails. Always less money. Bewildered, Mesca accepts her offer: 420 Haitian gourdes, the equivalent of $12. It's only two-thirds what he would have made before the quake, when there was less supply but the same demand.
And he won't keep much of it. The missing saw, borrowed from a friend, is going to cost them $2. The wheelbarrow guy gets $2. That leaves about $4 for Mesca, and $2 each for Rousier, Petit-Home and a fourth member of their crew who had to leave before they packed up. As soon as the money is in his hands, Mesca spends the equivalent of 50 cents — one eighth of his payday — on an armful of plastic pouches of water, his first refreshment of the day. The temperature tops 90 degrees, but the water evokes cooler climes — it's called Eau de Alaska.
Mesca feels good. He walks another hour to the huge encampment he's called home since the quake destroyed his house, killing his mother, a sister and an aunt. Along the way, he dreams modest dreams. If he could just get a little more money together he would buy a motorcycle and start a sidewalk business selling clothes. But he knows the money he made today will be gone within minutes of his arrival. There's a girlfriend and son to support, and relatives to feed. Even though he's making a little, they'll still need handouts from relief groups to survive.
Navigating the labyrinth of tents, he steps past an elderly woman, naked to the waist, soaping herself without a hint of self-consciousness. A vendor sells edible brown patties called "Dirt," a favorite in Haitian slums, made of mud flavored heavily with salt. Finally, he gets to the 10-by-15-foot handmade shack he shares with six relatives, including an infant born to his cousin several hours before the quake. The walls are bedsheets fastened to wooden posts with nails punched through bottle caps. It's a grim existence, but better than their neighbors'. Mesca's door is made of corrugated metal.
God's house, man's sin
It's dusk on Rue St. Martin in Bel Air, a cramped, rough section of downtown Port-au-Prince where the gutters are filled with a gray oozy slime. Since 7 a.m., Mathurin Lafontant has been picking at the remnants of his church.
Down below, beneath the concrete, lie the bodies of his friends, Rose Amicie Milorne and Issionesse Fontus. Long ago, the faithful gave up trying to find the women. They had been the guiding lights of the small Methodist church's women's association, but their spiritual home is now their grave site.
Lafontant is a tall, thin 47-year-old man with intense black eyes, long arms and long fingers. He and his friend, another churchgoer named Wilbien Valcin, race against the fading light. They've pounded enough concrete to expose 30 feet of intricately laced rebar and metal-support beams, which they hope to stash away before dark.
Using a set of rented pliers, Valcin, a 36-year-old whose toes stick through gaping holes in his high-tops, has spent hours untwisting the metal straps that hold the long strands of rebar to the heavier metal-support beams. It's as if he were deboning an enormous fish.
While they work, Lafontant frets to Valcin that the earthquake was a sign that "Jesus Christ is coming." The men are enraptured by their talk of Judgment Day. They are slow to notice the thickly built man with dreadlocks and a yellow, basketball jersey who steps over the broken roof and jumps into the church's courtyard. The new arrival considers the scene before him, pacing with a confident swagger.
"You need to stop!" he says, startling Lafontant and Valcin.
"No, we're not," Lafontant calls down, and keeps tugging.
Within minutes, four other men strut into the churchyard, lining up alongside the man in the basketball jersey. One of them, a stocky shirtless man waving a sloshing plastic cup of clairin — a clear, highly potent type of rum popular in the city's slums — clambers onto the roof. He teeters uncertainly, woozy from the drink. Now he's in Lafontant's face.
"You're nothing to the church," the drunk man says. "Nothing! We took care of the church after the earthquake. We're the ones."
A crowd is forming outside the gate. Even the roosters, tied to a post nearby, are riled up. Their crowing competes with the escalating argument.
Another of the interlopers, cutting a lean sinewy figure, points his finger menacingly at Lafontant. His hands are clean and he wears a chunky gold ring, in the style of high school class rings, that says "LOVE." He says his name is Evens. He has a kind of stage presence, and he waits until everyone has stopped to look at him.
"We live in this area," Evens says to Lafontant. "We're going to fight for this metal."
Valcin, sensing trouble, untwists the final metal strap, and drags one of eight long strands of steel up the side of the collapsed church, farther from the argument. The drunk man scrambles up after him, brusquely taking hold of the other end and yanking it out of Valcin's hands.
An official from the church appears from a doorway of the lone building still standing in the small complex. He pleads with the thugs, saying Lafontant and Valcin have been here since early in the morning, and deserve the metal they've extracted.
"We can ne-gooo-tiate," Evens says coolly. "We want two pieces."
Lafontant is appalled. Two of the long strands of metal would amount to one-fourth of their treasure, he pleads. His voice shifts from confrontational to conciliatory as it becomes clear to him that he is dealing with neighborhood thugs who might be lethal.
Evens turns to the half-dozen people now watching through the bars on the churchyard's remaining wall.
Calmly, he makes eye contact with each spectator.
"No one around here," he says softly, but firmly, "can do anything without my permission."
Flummoxed, Lafontant and Valcin freeze. The man in the basketball jersey mounts the rubble pile with two other men in tow. They reach down, clasping two long metal pieces — the thugs' cut of the action. They drag the metal away. The drunken man laughs.
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An anorectal abscess is a localized collection of pus in the perirectal spaces. Abscesses usually originate in an anal crypt. Symptoms are pain and swelling. Diagnosis is primarily by examination and CT or pelvic MRI for deeper abscesses. Treatment is surgical drainage.
A perianal abscess is an infection in a mucus-secreting gland in the anal canal around your anus.
An anorectal fistula is a tubelike tract with one opening in the anal canal and the other usually in the perianal skin. Symptoms are discharge and sometimes pain. Diagnosis is by examination and sigmoidoscopy. Treatment often requires surgery.
A perianal fistula, almost always the result of a previous abscess, is a small passage connecting the anal gland from which the abscess arose to the skin where the abscess was drained.
An abscess is formed when a small gland just inside the anus becomes infected from bacteria or stool trapped in the gland. You did nothing to cause this infection. Certain conditions — constipation, diarrhea, colitis, or other inflammation of the intestine, for example — may make these infections more likely.
After an abscess has been drained, a passage may remain between the anal gland and the skin, resulting in a fistula. If the gland does not heal, there will be persistent drainage through this passage. If the outside opening of the fistula heals first, a recurrent abscess may develop.
Perianal abscesses are generally manifested by intense anal pain and swelling. Fever is possible. Drainage of the abscess, either on its own or with an incision, relieves the pain and pressure. Fistulas are associated with drainage of blood, pus, or mucus, but they are generally not painful.
No. A fistula develops in up to 50 percent of all abscesses cases. There is no way to predict if this will occur. If drainage persists for two to three months, the diagnosis of perianal fistula is made.
An abscess is treated by draining the pus through an opening made in the skin near the anus. Often this can be done in the doctor's office using a local anesthetic. A large or deep abscess may require drainage in the operating room. Hospitalization may be necessary for patients susceptible to more serious infections, such as diabetics or people with decreased immunity.
Surgery is generally necessary to treat a perianal fistula. This usually involves cutting a small portion of the anal sphincter muscle to open the passage, joining the external and internal opening, and converting the passage into a groove that will then heal from the inside out. Most fistula surgery can be performed on an outpatient basis. If the fistula involves too much sphincter muscle, a two-stage procedure or more complicated repair may be necessary.
Discomfort after fistula surgery can be mild to moderate for the first week and can be controlled with pain medication. The amount of time lost from work or school is usually minimal. There will be no limitation on activity. Soak the affected area in warm water three or four times a day. Stool softeners may also be recommended. You may need to wear a gauze pad or mini pad to prevent the drainage from soiling your clothes. Bowel movements will not affect healing.
If proper healing occurs, the problem usually will not return. If your bowels are otherwise normal, you are probably not at higher risk for developing another abscess.


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A Series of Forbes Insights Profiles of Thought Leaders Changing the Business Landscape: Andres Rodriguez, Founder and CEO, Nasuni...
Gartner predicts that Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) will achieve a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 41.3% through 2016, the fastest growing area of public cloud computing the research firm tracks. Global spending on public cloud services is expected to grow 18.6% in 2012 to $110.3B, achieving a CAGR of 17.7% from 2011 through 2016. The total market is expected to grow from $76.9B in 2010 to $210B in 2016. These two trends converge with the concept of Storage infrastructure as a service (SIaaS), a place where innovative company Nasuni plays.
Nasuni provides a consolidated storage solution for the distributed enterprise that offers build-in backup, replication and offsite protection using an on-site appliance connected to the Cloud to help company's reduce their storage costs. The company offers large companies a service that gives everyone fast access to secure and centrally managed storage, no matter where they are located. The Boston-Based Nasuni has about 65 employees and has raised $42 million in venture capital since its founding in 2009 from Flybridge Capital Partners of Boston, North Bridge Venture Partners of Waltham and Sigma Partners of Boston. Nasuni posted strong financial results in 2013, and engineered several key innovations to its product. In November, the company's founder and CEO, Andres Rodriguez, received a patent for Nasuni's core technology, UniFS - the ability to create a versioned file system from the object-based storage infrastructure of public cloud storage providers.
"The idea behind Nasuni is that we are taking these traditional storage systems that are making changes, lots of reads and writes and lots of things happening, and we're going to freeze time. We're going to take a picture in time, and we're going to save that picture perfectly, immutable, stabilize it forever in the back end system. And so our systems technically look like this infinite stream in time where it's an infinite set of frames, and you can always roll back to any point in time. We're doing this at the level of the storage controller, but we're not storing it in any box. We're storing it in this infinite cloud or clouds that are in the back end," says Rodriguez. The company focuses on verticals like architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, and legal.
"We're going to do storage, data protection, and all the synchronization of data worldwide. That is a better storage system than anything that exists today. Today to be able to accomplish that, I need to have storage, a backup application, a replication application, which is all hugely costly and very complex because the center of the universe for storage has been the box and how to protect the box; and how to get data from this box to that box. For us, the storage is all in the cloud," continues Rodriguez.
Rodriguez says his customers tell him they don't want to own any of their infrastructure any more. "Ownership is overrated. Ownership means that I buy something from you, and when we have to downsize, I can't get rid of it. And when we expand all of the sudden, I have your old box that I can't operate. What customers really want is something that breathes in and out with their business cycles. So can you take that asset, which is the single most mission critical layer of infrastructure and transform it to this model where there's no ownership of anything. And that's Nasuni's mission. The company name comes from the combination of NAS, which stands for Network Attached Storage, which is the workhorse of storage technology and unifying the storage model. So you put NAS and UNI together and you get Nasuni," says Rodriguez.
Storage and scaling large data systems is something Andres knows well and has been working on for the past twenty years in one form or another. "I was actually lucky to be a physicist in the era when the internet was just being born. Although I wasn't a great physicist, I was a very good computer programmer. And at that time science needed great people in computers because the experiments were getting bigger. Data was getting bigger and you needed people that knew how to crunch it, and so my expertise in grad school at Boston University was building very large distributed systems," says Rodriguez of his early days in academia. He and his colleagues lashed workstations together and put them on a network, which was a cost effective way to run these huge simulations on condensed matter and particle physics. These problems were similar to the challenges the internet was facing at the very beginning. Scientists could transition well into business because everyone was hungry for good programmers at the time. He worked with a series of media companies in New York that wanted to have an internet presence and found it very challenging to build their own.
"I partnered with Andy Sack and Shaun Cutts from Brown University who had a vision for a search engine that connects people with people. And you can see it was just the beginning of the social network idea. So we started a company called Abuzz that did essentially that and two years later in 1999 The New York Times comes knocking on our doorstep and bought the company for $30 million because we had a very good reputation for building this massive systems. "The acquisition of Abuzz is a timely and strategic fit as we build our Internet business to scale and is a major building block in our digital future," Martin Nisenholtz, CEO of Times Company Digital, said in a statement at the time. Andres was then named CTO of the company. "It was all about building this highly global distributed, robust, scale-able infrastructure well beyond anything we could build ourselves. "And I thought, 'wow, this is truly the future'," says Rodriguez.
"I looked at the NetApp systems and the EMC systems and the traditional storage systems, and I thought the design is wrong. The design of these storage systems is really about building very high performance storage for things like databases and things that are relatively small. But there is this huge thing that you could see coming. You could feel the pressure in front just building up of media companies that would need video and photography and writing and audio recordings. And all that content had to be connected to the network, and it had to be available so that when you search it, you got it in sub-second speed. That moment of insight was probably one of the best points in my career. I left the Times, went down to the New York Public Library and just sat there for a few weeks and all I did all day long is design a very scalable storage system—a very durable, very scalable storage systems where you could put the archives of The New York Times and 100 years later you would find them, no matter what--an infinite information repository architecture," Rodriguez continues.
Andres then started his second company called Archivas, which is essentially a giant storage system for very big media archives or any type of file data that companies need to keep forever. Archivas then partnered with Hitachi Data Systems, which is a big storage system provider. "During this time I met two people that would be at the center of my career. One was a storage engineer from EMC, and the other one was a storage engineer from Akamai. These were the two top guys from the two top companies and I moved earth heaven and earth to get them to join this tiny little company in Boston, Archivas, with this crazy guy that didn't really know the storage business and just thought that we could really disrupt it with this new system. And so the three of us built the company, that's Rob Mason, a legend from his days at EMC, on one side who is my co-founder for Nasuni today and David Shaw on the other side who is our Chief Architect for the company," says Rodriguez.
Hitachi bought the company for$130 million in 2007 as a product portfolio for their storage business. However, Rodriguez saw the model changing again. "I tried to convince Hitachi that what you need to do is to build gigantic data centers, host Archivas clusters in it, and then connect those data centers to every single storage device that we ever sell the customer. That way, every device will just be an access point to these giant repositories of storage," says Rodriguez. At that time, the big Cloud services from Amazon and others were starting to take shape. Hitachi wasn't ready to move that fast and was more concerned about cannibalizing its existing storage hardware business. So Rodriguez, Mason and Shaw set off on their own again and founded what eventually become Nasuni.
Rodriguez attributes his success to his background growing up in Venezuela, where the family business Cementos de Venezuela made cement (sold to CEMEX a decade ago) and Polar, which was at one time the largest beer company, Polar, in South America. "When I left the country in '83 – my father is an engineer and he wanted me and my brother and sister to be educated in the U.S-- my uncles who ran all these companies said to me, 'Andres, find something that everyone needs and that they're willing to pay you for it.' So I sell infrastructure and storage. I had that emotional connection to it where I could see business being built on 'cement', if you will. The great thing about America is that no matter how unique you are, you'll find a place if you're ambitious and you'll thrive within that place and it doesn't mean that it will all happen in a direct straight line, says Rodriguez.
What does the future hold for Nasuni? "We're on track to do about $10 million in recurrent revenue and have customers now that pay the company half a million dollars a year to run their storage systems. We grew revenue two and a half times from last year. And I anticipate that we'll do probably about a little less than that this year. We are probably in the last round of funding before we're headed to the public markets three years from now," concludes Rodriguez.
Bruce H. Rogers is the co-author of the recently published book Profitable Brilliance: How Professional Service Firms Become Thought Leaders now available on Amazon http://amzn.to/OETmMz
I am the SVP of Marketing at G/O Media. Formerly I founded the SITO Institute for Consumer Behavior and Location Sciences. Prior to that I was Forbes staff writer, Chief…
I am the SVP of Marketing at G/O Media. Formerly I founded the SITO Institute for Consumer Behavior and Location Sciences. Prior to that I was Forbes staff writer, Chief Insights Officer and founder of Forbes Insights and the CMO Practice. I am the co-author of "Profitable Brilliance: How Professional Services Firms Become Thought Leaders" now available on Amazon. http://amzn.to/OETmMz.


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The 2015 North American Asexuality Conference (NAAC) took place June 20 and 21 at U of T. It was put on by Asexual Outreach, a non-profit organization that supports and empowers people identifying as asexual.
Asexuals, who sometimes refer to themselves as "aces," comprise an estimated one per cent of the population. The conference brought together around 300 aces, LGBTQ+ service providers, and activists for two days of keynotes, workshops, panels, and community building. The open-forum "unconference" portion of the weekend featured topics such as Feminism and Asexuality, Queer-Platonic Partnerships, and Asexuality and Religion.
Brian Langevin is a U of T equity and sexual diversity studies student. He is also the co-founder of Asexual Outreach, and organized the NAAC. The Varsity interviewed him the week leading up to NAAC 2015.
When asked what "asexual" means, Langevin replied, "The easiest way to define it would be an asexual person is someone who does not experience sexual attraction to other people," adding that "Before 2001 when David Jay founded asexuality.org, and even still today, aces lived their entire lives feeling like they were broken. Or like there was no one like them, and probably almost all of them never met anyone else who had the same experience."
According to Langevin, one of the issues faced by aces is the idea that their lack of sexual attraction should be "cured" medically. "Obviously if you were to try to do that to a gay person there would be public outcry, but people don't really see the connect there." This sentiment is borne out fictionally in an example of another issue, namely representation of aces in the media. Langevin cites a problematic episode of House in which a patient identifying as asexual is "cured" of asexuality by removal of a tumor near his pituitary gland. This resolution affirms the doctor's mistaken opinion that "everyone loves sex unless they're sick, dead, or lying."
Langevin is a social justice leader working for societal acceptance and inclusion across the entire ace community. This involves a stated intention to centre people who have been marginalized. An excerpt from the NAAC mission statement on asexualoutreach.org reads, "We strive to center and empower members of the community who have been silenced, erased, and left out. This especially includes people of color, people with disabilities/disabled people, and survivors of trauma and abuse."
He notes that asexuality is harder for society to understand than homosexuality. "With asexuality [people] are like, but how do you not experience something that everyone else seems to?" And of course, it's a two way street: he says "It's as difficult I figure for non-asexual people to understand not experiencing sexual attraction as it is for asexuals to understand sexual attraction… because I've never experienced it there's no way to contrast it with what I experience."
Langevin first noticed he was different from non-asexual people in middle school when his classmates were developing crushes on each other. They would ask "Who do you think is hot?" and 'If there was one celebrity you could bang, who would it be?'" When Langevin was faced with the question "Who do you like?" He would respond "'I don't like anyone, and that wasn't an acceptable answer, for whatever reason, so I ended up making up people, often, to appease their curiosity… people saying oh he's so hot, she's so hot and I just don't get that, I don't know what you mean.'"
Langevin's message to his fellow U of T students is this: "Regardless of your understanding of the ace community or how much time you want to invest into exploring the ace identity, it's super important that you accept people and accept their identities regardless of if you've heard of them before." To the ace students he says, "Know that there are other people out there like yourself" and that there are "Resources, and places you can go [at U of T] where you will feel welcome in your identity and people will respect you."