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I like to think I have always been a reasonable cook. Sure, I've had the odd disaster.
My family take great delight in recounting the tale when I had part cooked a basic sponge cake, minus the eggs – so added the missing eggs and finished cooking. I then left the house to hang-out with mates leaving my family to sample the 'delights'! yes, it was rank. I messed up. But my older sister refuses to let the story die, like a ball and chain around my culinary neck.
I also need to take joint responsibility and apologise to my mum for making her suffer through the trauma of eating rock solid, microwaved sausages on Mother's Day. My sister and I were young and had a fear of the hob and frying anything, so decided to nuke everything that went on the plate. Sorry Mum!
But I have grown up and learnt a lot along the way.
However, being a grown-up and cooking brings with it a whole new set of challenges. If I go back three and a half years ago, where I was single, living with a mate but shopping independently I became disillusioned with the concept of cooking.
Cooking for one is incredibly tedious. I still believe that. I became a fan of single cuisine weeks – I would batch cook my own curry from scratch, but that would last me all week. Then the following week I would batch cook a con cane and so the cycles continued.
Hell, as part of a costing cutting, carb reducing lifestyle change I ate A LOT of stir fry's. no rice, no noodles, just a £1 pack of stir fry veg, a chicken breast (or pack of prawns if I was hankering for a change), a splash of soy sauce, some lazy ginger and lazy garlic and that was it.
Until about a year ago, the food I cooked lacked imagination, lacked love and lacked any form of joy. Meals I made just for me never put a smile on my face, were never memorable and probably used far too much gravy granules (to thicken sauces) to be considered 'genius'.
Nearly two years ago to this day (I'm only a few days off now) I met my girlfriend. Now I was no longer cooking just for one. My cooking had to mean something, had to say who I was as a person, had to impress her and most importantly not give her food poisoning!
Needless to say, my repertoire was both rusty and limited, but I didn't kill her and we're still together, so it couldn't have been that bad!
As a couple, we brought 3 or 4 solid dishes to the relationship. For me, I knew she was the one when she made me her lasagne – I am not sure my cooking had as much of a profound effect on her. But we both wanted to be able to try new dishes without wasting a ton of money on ingredients.
Grocery shopping in supermarkets doesn't really allow for this. All the wares on offer do not lend themselves to single dish experiments. Undoubtable you will have leftover stuff that will either grow mouldy in the fridge or out of date hidden in the back of the cupboard.
However, there was a new trend forming. Online retailers selling boxes of meals to consumers to cook at home. Taking all the hassle out of having to do all of it yourself. Some say it's lazy. I say it's incredibly easy to get into a rut with cooking that's difficult to escape without something like this on hand.
In the year or so we've used them, as a couple we have made use of three such cuisine providers: Gousto, Hello Fresh and Simply Cook. Let me give you the lowdown on my experiences using these services:
The idea behind Gousto is relatively simple. Pick X number of dishes you fancy having a go at cooking (or if you're me – which ones you would like to eat the most), decide if you're cooking 2 or 4 servings and click order. A box then arrives in the post full of all the ingredients you will need to create the dish as well as a recipe card to guide you through the cooking process.
Best Dish
There have been a few winning dishes amongst the collection of Gousto recipe cards, there is no doubt. But there have been two absolute stand out dishes.
Firstly, the Goan King Prawn Curry. This was one of the very first recipes delivered, at the time to my girlfriend's parents place – we had started this culinary journey before moving in together.
As a curry it has everything you could ever want, packed full of flavour and with a decent heat level it was spicy enough for me and probably about top end on the heat spectrum for my girlfriend. But what really sets this alight is the contrast between sweet and savoury. The rice is cinnamon flavoured and the initial frying of the red onion is with a strong pinch of sugar but it works.
Now in the box was Goan curry powder. Our local Tesco doesn't do Goan curry powder, but it does sell a paste, so we've been easily able to recreate this dish without the need for another box by using the paste and limiting the amount of water required to dilute the coconut and it is just as good.
I genuinely think we will never bore of this dish, and we both agree, if we were to appear on Masterchef this would be one of our dishes we would cook for the judges.
The other standout recipe we had from Gousto was Moroccan Lamb Lasagne. Now, I know what you're thinking, Moroccan Lasagne. I had a similar feeling when I was introduced to the meal but it works.
The ragu is bulked out using Kale and with the good helping of Ras el Hanout, packs a great bunch of flavour. The concept of working this into an Italian style meal by forming a lasagne really works and I think it could have been easy/lazy of Gousto to just through it with couscous.
There are two warnings with this dish. Firstly the ragu includes a "fruit" element. Chopped dates and sultanas are thrown into the ragu to provide a bit of Moroccan authenticity and balance of flavour. Now I am pretty steadfast in my dislike for fruit in savoury food, but I will hold my hands up and admit it worked in this dish. Secondly, the portion size is very generous considering the calorie count. It's not a major issue, my girlfriend and I switch between just having our portion of lasagne on its own or halving the portion and throwing some veg on the plate to make it into two meals.
Again, like the curry you are able to easily source the ingredients to recreate this dish at home independently of Gousto, which is really useful.
Worst Dish
Hands up time. I really had to go routing through all the Gousto recipe cards to see if any jumped out at me as bad as I couldn't really think of any off the top of my head. But looking back through the recipe cards and digging out the ones that I didn't really enjoy as much as the others I would say that the 'Crusty Chicken Ciabatta Burger' was probably my least favourite.
I just remember it being a lot of work for what is essentially a cooked, seasoned chicken breast. It wasn't overly flavoursome and I felt as though I could have achieved this without the need for Gousto.
I'm a big fan of Gousto. I think we've only had a couple of instances of eggs arrived broken, but generally speaking the ingredients that arrive are normally in good order and of a good standard.
The one thing I have liked about Gousto is that once you've tried a recipe you don't really need to order it again as all the ingredients are available to buy in the shops and you can carry on recreating, tinkering your own gastronomic delights using the one recipe card.
It isn't the cheapest amongst the three, in fact it potentially may be the more expensive one and isn't viable for my girlfriend and I to do regularly – a box of 4 meals costs about the same as our normal weekly food shop. But when you do order a box you get real value for it.
Gousto also occasionally throw in a little gift into their boxes which can be quite fun!
Hello Fresh
Very similar to Gousto, you pick the number of meals you want to cook and the amount of people you will be cooking for and Hello Fresh will send you a box of meals that contains all the ingredients you require.
Best Dish
From the 4 dishes we had delivered, the best of the lot, for me personally was the 'Creamy Leek and Mustard Chicken with Stir Fry Green Beans'. All I can say about it is that from the 4 dishes we had delivered it packed the most flavour and was the most appetising.
Worst Dish
I think of the remaining 3 dishes they were all much of a muchness. Lacking in flavour, too much effort for the end result and uninspiring. I won't name names on this one, but there were no saving graces amongst these remaining dishes that inspired further purchases.
The concept was very similar to Gousto; however the lack of ability to pick your own recipes to make your own box up would be better. A bigger problem though, was that nothing about what we created was anywhere near as good. Whether this was simply down to the dishes we chose, bad luck with the ingredients that were sent or whether the suppliers they use are just not as good I couldn't honestly tell you. But it did feel like the ingredients we were provided with were not on a par with those from Gousto and I don't think we ordered more than one box.
The service is a similar cost to Gousto, but because of the experience we had with the one box ordered I would say Hello Fresh didn't offer the same value for money as Gousto.
Simply Cook
The idea with Simply Cook is a little different from both Hello Fresh and Gousto. You do not receive a whole box full of ingredients, you get a little box for each meal that contains 3 'flavour pots'. In the main, these flavour pots make up the punch of flavour required to make the dish what it is. It is then up to you to go out (or order online) and get the rest of the ingredients for each dish.
You then use the instructions provided to cook each meal. Jobs a good'un!
Best Dish
This was a tough one! There were many delicious meals to choose from, but really it came down to 'Chicken Katsu Curry' or 'Moqueca de Peixe'. Both dishes were absolutely delicious, packed full of flavour and great to eat.
Of the 2 though, the Katsu probably had the edge for me. If I'm being honest I do prefer chicken over fish, so if I were to pick one of the 2 dishes to make in the future it would probably be the chicken. I loved how close to Wagamama's Katsu curry it tasted like, which is the only benchmark I have for flavour. Sticky rice, chicken and punchy Katsu sauce, it was a warming plate of joy! My single gripe is that I am unable to recreate the dish without buying this Simply Cook dish again, or finding a Katsu sauce or paste to make my own from – I would like to know how to make my own Katsu from scratch.
Worst Dish
Having a read through the Simply Cook recipe cards I think the one that I enjoyed the least was the 'Thai Red Prawn Curry'. I just found that for a curry it lacked any sort of punch or heat. The sauce, following the recipe was really watery and didn't enhance the dish at all. To me, a sauce should be packed full of flavour and stick to anything cooking in that sauce – this didn't do that.
We have had some very tasty dishes with Simply Cook. We've also had a fair few "meh" meals with them as well. My overall bugbear with Simply Cook is that they make it very difficult for consumers to recreate the dishes away from the flavour pots forcing you to have to re-order that box again, or go hunting for alternative recipes for making up what's in the flavour pots.
This service is considerably cheaper than both Gousto and Hello Fresh, but for what you get – essentially just the spice/flavour element of a dish, I think it's relatively expensive. Sure if I went to the shop and bought all the ingredients required to make the flavour for each dish it would be expensive, but I would probably have enough to make those meals a few times over making a LOT more cost friendly.
We also found they did a fair bit of double carbing on recipes. We must have had at least 3 curry based dishes that had both rice and potato – which are terrible plate companions.
I think overall, if you struggle to be adventurous and can afford to spend a little more on your weekly shop then these are a great solution. Whilst they do not necessarily focus on "healthy eating" they do provide consumers with the tools to pick recipes that can assist in creating a healthy lifestyle. All providers offer balanced, nutritious meals, yes some are more "treats" than others (a paneer curry we had was about 1100 calories per serving!), but they can offer surprising volume per serving, making them filling.
Only through trying will you find what works for you and what doesn't. There have been recipes that really require the use of two people simply because there are numerous aspects to juggle. It seems as though some recipes were written for television, where they have all the ingredients pre-chopped in their required quantities in separate dishes just ready to be tipped in when needed.
Also, you do not need to blindly commit to a recipe, if there is an ingredient included that you're not fond of, substitute it for one that you will like. Make it work for you, anything to get you interested and excited by it.
Admittedly, if you're single and looking to experiment no recipes are for one. But do what me and my girlfriend do, we often buy a recipe to serve 4 and use it to take in as lunch to work the following day! You could either make enough to serve 2, take it for lunch, or have it for dinner the following evening.
Basically, if you're up for it, give it a go! You're not committed to having to re-order a certain number of deliveries once you've signed up. Plus, with sign-up offers for all three, your first deliveries from each provider are usually dirt cheap, so very much worth taking advantage of. Also, if you know of any friends or family that have used them, get them to refer you as a new customer, it could give them a little billy bonus as well – so everyone wins!
Now I'm happy to report things are a lot better with cooking. My girlfriend and I have a much wider range of dishes we can and want to cook and our weeks are varied and interesting in terms of our food choices. Meat, fish and vegetarian, we try to have weeks that combine these types of dishes and we often now find ourselves hunting for recipes online in search of another crowd pleaser.
There is just one problem, my wait for another one of my girlfriend's lasagnes just keeps growing and growing the larger our range of dishes grows! (Emoticon sad face)
Happy cooking, and happy discovery! For anyone wanting to try any of the above services, please find discount vouchers below for your first purchases.
Gousto – CHARL125640
Hello Fresh – www.hellofresh.co.uk/?c=9REBWM
Simply Cook – https://simplycook.mention-me.com/m/ol/ai7cn-charlotte-jones


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Burmese Jade Bracelet
Natural Stones cut into 8mm rondelles on a hand-knotted adjustable cord bracelet.
Burmese Jade -
A stone that can help you attain your goals and dreams, allowing you to see past self-imposed limitations and manifest your dreams into the physical world. Jade promotes courage, compassion, generosity and longevity, helping you lead a richer more fulfilling life.
Found in Myanmar.

subset: commoncrawl


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Jul 21, 2020 - 12:47 pm .- A priest has resigned as a parish pastor after he performed a same-sex civil union ceremony in the town hall of the Italian town of Sant'Oreste. The priest is not expected to return to ministry for at least a year.
Sep 30, 2019 - 12:30 pm .- The Justice Department said on Friday that the Archdiocese of Indianapolis is protected by the First Amendment in its request that a Catholic school dismiss a teacher for publicly violating Church teaching after he entered a same-sex marriage.
Jul 10, 2019 - 03:18 pm .- The British parliament voted Tuesday to legalize same-sex marriage and abortion in Northern Ireland – a vote that will take effect only if the region's own legislature is not functional by Oct. 21.
Oct 10, 2018 - 11:45 am .- The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom has reached a unanimous verdict in favor of the right of a Christian-owned bakery not to create a cake in support of gay marriage. The decision, given Oct. 10, brings an end to a case which began in 2014.
Aug 13, 2018 - 05:34 pm .- The Costa Rican Bishops' Conference lamented a ruling by the Constitutional Chamber of the nation's Supreme Court which mandated legal same-sex marriage in the country.
Aug 7, 2018 - 10:15 am .- A group of trade unions in Australia last month passed a motion saying that they will lobby to restrict the right of religious organizations to make hiring decisions based on adherence to Church teaching on sexuality.
Jul 27, 2018 - 06:01 pm .- To maintain state funding, a Catholic marriage counseling group in the Republic of Ireland, Accord, will reportedly begin to counsel same-sex couples.
Jun 25, 2018 - 08:01 am .- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday vacated a Washington state ruling against local florist Barronelle Stutzman, who in 2013 declined to make flower arrangements for a same-sex wedding.
Nov 3, 2017 - 04:09 pm .- If the people of Australia vote to redefine marriage in the country, the consequences will be dire, warned former Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
Nov 3, 2017 - 10:37 am .- Georgetown University's Student Activities Commission voted Friday to maintain university funding for Love Saxa, a pro-marriage student group that had been accused by fellow students of promoting intolerance and hate.
Aug 24, 2017 - 05:18 pm .- A Christian photographer who declines clients because she does not believe in same-sex marriage cannot be sued under certain anti-discrimination laws on the ground she does not run a storefront, a Wisconsin court has said.
Aug 8, 2017 - 11:59 am .- A congratulatory letter sent from Pope Francis to a same-sex couple regarding the baptism of their children was a standard form letter sent to all who write to the Pope, a Vatican source has confirmed.
Jul 26, 2017 - 06:01 am .- A prominent media priest who criticized Bishop Thomas Paprocki's restatement of norms regarding church funerals "gets a lot wrong," the bishop said in a response noting the importance of repentance for everyone.
Jan 17, 2017 - 05:02 pm .- A lawsuit against a Catholic high school claims that it was illegal discrimination to fire a teacher for contracting a same-sex civil marriage, but a law professor suggests the case will not make any progress.
Jan 13, 2017 - 03:14 am .- In a country where gay marriage has gained widespread acceptance – both culturally and legally – in the past several years, it can be difficult for pastors or others in ministry to stick to the Church's teachings on the subject without feeling like a bigot or a hater.
Jun 7, 2016 - 04:19 pm .- Just a few weeks after Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto announced measures to legalize gay marriage and homosexual adoption throughout the country, his party suffered a severe setback in the June 5 elections.
Jan 14, 2016 - 05:04 pm .- A meeting of national leaders of the Anglican Communion on Thursday issued a statement reprimanding the Episcopal Church, its American branch, for having allowed its clergy to perform same-sex marriages.
Jan 14, 2016 - 06:08 am .- Church workers have to lead people toward Catholic teaching in their public lives, not away from it, the Archbishop of Washington has said. His comments follow the firing of a part-time church cantor after his D.C.-area parish learned he was in a same-sex marriage.
Dec 15, 2015 - 03:01 am .- The future of a diverse and pluralistic public square is at stake in the debate over marriage and sexuality, said one legal scholar at an event in D.C. sponsored by the Atlantic.
Sep 30, 2015 - 08:47 am .- Embattled county clerk Kim Davis met with Pope Francis in Washington, D.C. last Thursday, her lawyer has told multiple media outlets.


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If there are two producers that we'd consider cut from the same cloth, Hasse de Moor and Herve Pagez two names that would be definitely mentioned in the discussion. These two know how to get the party started.
Well after patiently waiting, these two have unleashed a collaboration that we've all been looking for. While this may be a tune they've been sitting on for a bit, "Turnup Tool" could still do some serious damage. A bubbly, twerktastic freebie? Don't mind if we do.
Hasse de Moor x Herve Pagez – Turnup Tool |
"Follow" Hasse de Moor : | Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud |
"Follow" Herve Pagez : | Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud |


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You can buy it here: http://www.koobi.com/koobicyclingjersey-2.aspx
Maybe the relevant law in the Maryland Code should be printed on the back in fine print:
Transportation § 21-1209 (a):
(2) When overtaking a bicycle, an EPAMD, or a motor scooter, pass safely at a distance of not less than 3 feet, unless, at the time:
(i) The bicycle, EPAMD, or motor scooter rider fails to operate the vehicle in conformance with § 21-1205(a) of this subtitle ("Riding to right side of roadway") or § 21-1205.1(b) of this subtitle ("Roadway with bike lane or shoulder paved to smooth surface");
(ii) A passing clearance of less than 3 feet is caused solely by the bicycle, EPAMD, or motor scooter rider failing to maintain a steady course; or
(iii) The highway on which the vehicle is being driven is not wide enough to lawfully pass the bicycle, EPAMD, or motor scooter at a distance of at least 3 feet.
In other words, drivers have to give you 3 feet of clearance unless 1) you're riding further left than you're allowed to, 2) you're not holding your line, or 3) the road isn't wide enough to allow 3 feet of clearance. The last one weakens the law considerably, meaning that on two-lane roads with narrow lanes (like MacArthur Blvd.) drivers are allowed to get much closer to you.
2 Responses to "Three foot law jersey"
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With 45 different words, each chosen for their ability to make people react, the Hater Box is a humorous way of showing your displeasure at societal norms in a world where everyone can be offended.
Use it as a way to express opinion, offend, or just to start conversation, the Hater Box is definitely a welcome addition to the home. Find out more here.
Want some exclusive content? Join the UltraLinx mailing list here.


text: ATLANTA, Oct. 30 -- One of the nation's most advanced facilities for nanotechnology research is slated for construction at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue announced at a recent meeting of the Technology Association of Georgia. Initial funding for the Nanotechnology Research Center will be provided by a $36 million contribution from an anonymous donor, Gov. Perdue said, and that amount will be followed by up to $45 million in state support over the next several years. The governor said he plans to include state matching funds for the project as part of his economic development budget recommendations to the 2004 Georgia General Assembly. Georgia Tech said the center will be the most advanced nanotechnology research facility in the southeast, the first of its kind in the region and among the most sophisticated in the country. The 160,000-square-foot facility will be built at the corner of Atlantic Ave. and Ferst Drive, with 30,000 square feet of its space dedicated to cleanrooms -- rooms designed to reduce the number of dust particles in the air. Georgia Tech researchers have demonstrated a new type of nanometer-scale optoelectronic device that performs addition and other complex logic operations. Left to right: researchers Robert Dickson and Tae-Hee Lee. (Georgia Tech Photo: Gary Meek) Cleanrooms are critical to nanotech research, and the new center will almost quadruple the square footage of cleanroom space available to researchers at Georgia Tech. This will allow researchers at the institute and throughout Georgia's higher education community to compete with other areas of the country where similar facilities are planned or under construction -- places such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Cornell University in the northeast; Purdue University and the University of Illinois in the midwest; and Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley, in the west. Nanotechnology, sometimes referred to as the "science of the small," allows scientists to manipulate individual atoms and molecules, making it possible to build machines on the scale of human cells or build structures or materials that assume dramatically different properties by virtue of their size. The prefix "nano" comes from the Greek word nanos, and it represents one-billionth of a unit. Scientists working in the field of nanotechnology work at the nanoscale, dealing with materials measured in a billionth of a meter, or about 100,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. Currently, Georgia Tech researchers are working to develop structures at the micrometer level. With this new facility and the purchase of an electron beam nanolithography system, researchers will be able to fabricate structures with features as small as 10 to 50 nanometers. Georgia Tech is home to some of the nation's leading nanotechnology research. Dr. Uzi Landman is the 2003 recipient of the Feynman Prize, named in honor of the father of nanotechnology, Robert Feynman. (Georgia Tech Photo: Gary Meek) Many experts hail nanotechnology as the next great scientific and technological breakthrough. To date, nanotechnology research has led to such advances as the development of the flat screen television, but it potentially could be used for much more advanced purposes. For example, nanoscience might one day lead to microscopic machines that could investigate and repair damage to the human body at the cellular level. The primary purpose of the new center is to dramatically expand clean-room capacity at the institute. The facilities are expensive to build due to the extensive air-filtering requirements necessary for nanotechnology research. This new building will be designed with Class X cleanrooms, meaning there will be a maximum of ten 0.5-micrometer particles per cubic foot of air. A typical office environment contains more than a million particles per cubic foot. Innovative nanotechnology research is already underway at Georgia Tech, and many of the field's leading investigators are based at the Institute. Georgia Tech is home to some of the nation's leading nanotechnology research. Dr. Uzi Landman is the 2003 recipient of the Feynman Prize, named in honor of the father of nanotechnology, Robert Feynman. Professor Z.L. Wang was ranked fifth in the world by the Institute of Scientific Information in the number of nanotechnology research papers published. And according to Science Watch, a bulletin that reports on trends in basic research, Wang also is among the world's most cited authors in nanotechnology research. Professor Jim Meindl, director of the National Science Foundation-funded Microelectronics Research Center at Georgia Tech, is a world-renowned expert in semiconductor and integrated circuit technology, fields that stand to gain from nanotechnology advances. Professor Ralph Merkle, director of Georgia Tech's Information Security Center, is a national expert in nanotechnology research and policy. He was co-recipient of the 1998 Feynman Prize for Nanotechnology for Theory and he was executive editor of the journal Nanotechnology for several years. For more information, visit: www.gatech.edu


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Flavours are zesty, bright and fresh with a pleasant citrus sparkle. This turret-shaped goat's cheese has a light and fluffy texture. Diameter: 7cm
A Camembert-style cheese with a classically creamy and unctuous paste, flavours are vegetal, truffley and garlicky. Diameter: 10cm.
This goat's cheese with a bloomy, natural rind has a white, chalky paste with fresh lemony flavours; more mature cheeses will have some delicate breakdown bringing a vegetal earthiness. Diameter: 19cm
Colston Bassett Stilton
Stilton is one of Britain's best known cheeses, and the Colston Bassett that we buy has an ideal balance of fruity and floral blue veining and creamy, buttery paste. Diameter: 20cm
Kirkham's Lancashire
Kirkham's Lancashire is known for its succulent-yet-crumbly texture (referred to by the Kirkham family as a 'buttery crumble') and its tangy, bright, full flavour. Diameter: 25cm


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Why design isn't just the responsibility of designers [Video]
At the recent The Next Web Conference in Amsterdam, Dave Wiskus, designer and Creative Officer at application developer and design house Black Pixel, took to the stage to discuss the crucial importance of understanding your user when it comes to technology design.
Design is often the first thing to get cut from a budget, but Wiskus argues that in an increasingly competitive market, you need to care about it to stand out and make something truly great. He believes that design shouldn't just be the domain of designers and developers – it should be an ethic that permeates entire companies.
You can watch his talk in full below and catch our interview with him here. Don't forget to catch up with all the Conference videos and all of our coverage.
Read next: Spring fashion trends: Crazy for Paisley!


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Four Oakland Tech Boy Scouts Achieve Eagle Scout Rank
Oakland Tech 2015 graduates Cheyenne Jacobsen, Kyle Merritt, John Oberholzer, and current Tech senior Connor Prime recently received their Eagle Scout Award, the highest honor in Boy Scouting. In addition, the family of Jack Lewis, the Rockridge teen killed when a tree limb broke near Children's Fairyland in December, received special honors. All five boys had been part of Cub Scout Pack 274, made up primarily of boys from Chabot and Peralta elementary schools prior to joining Boy Scout Troop 202. The awards were presented at a special ceremony in early January.
Nationally, only around 4 percent of all Boy Scouts have achieved the rank of Eagle since it was first awarded in 1912. To become an Eagle Scout, Boy Scouts must advance through seven required ranks, demonstrate their understanding of leadership, service, character, personal fitness and outdoor skills at multiple levels. Scouts must earn merit badges in 21 life skills and other areas of achievement such as physical fitness, first aid, personal management, and citizenship. In addition, each scout must complete an extensive self-directed service project including planning, organizing, leading and completing the project prior to his 18th birthday. On average, scouts spend around 130 hours on their project.
"It takes a great amount of service, discipline, perseverance, and commitment to become an Eagle Scout," says Troop 202 Scoutmaster Rick Prime. "These young men worked hard to achieve the honor."
Cheyenne Jacobson attended Chabot, Montera and Oakland Tech, and will be attending Merritt College this spring, pursuing studies relating to business and finance. His Eagle project at Redwood Regional Park involved planting native redwood trees, running drip irrigation to them, removing invasive species and building a fence to protect newly planted trees.
Kyle Merritt grew up in Rockridge. He was home-schooled prior to attending Oakland Tech, where he landscaped, built a path, and planted drought-resistant species in a heavily trafficked area of school for his Eagle project. Kyle is taking a gap year and serving as a volunteer reading partner at Sankofa Elementary as he prepares to start college next year.
John Oberholzer is a freshman at Stanford, where he is studying chemistry. An accomplished musician, he was home schooled and attended the Conservatory of Vocal and Instrumental Arts (COVA) for middle school prior to Oakland Tech. For his Eagle project, he rebuilt two exterior staircases and painted the interior of a shelter for women and children in North Oakland.
Connor Prime attended Chabot and Claremont and is currently a senior at Oakland Tech. He created paved patios, refurbished a bench, and landscaped an outdoor recreation area at a transitional housing complex for formerly homeless and abused women in Alameda for his Eagle project. He plans to study marketing and creative writing when he starts college in the fall.
Jack Lewis Honored
As part of the recognition ceremony, an honorary Spirit of the Eagle award was presented to the Lewis family. The special posthumous national award memorializes scouts for their contributions to scouting and to the troop. Jack Lewis was a member of Cub Scout Pack 274 while a student at Chabot, and joined Boy Scout Troop 202 while at Claremont Middle School.
"Troop 202 is a very active, close-knit and inclusive group. Jack was a member of our family, and his enthusiasm and sense of adventure were immeasurable. These young men had many adventures together, backpacking in the mountains of New Mexico and the Trinity Alps in Northern California, sailing in the Florida Keys and summiting Mount Shasta, among others," said Prime. "Jack was on the path to becoming an Eagle, and it was an honor to recognize him with our Eagle Scouts."
Troop 202 has been active since it was chartered in 1927 and is the second-oldest Boy Scout troop in Oakland. The troop draws scouts from the Rockridge and Montclair districts and all across Oakland.
Information about Troop 202 and its activities is available at the Troop website: www.troop-202.net
Written by Cindy Wilson


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REVEALED: Pat Rafter's $18m Coast house on the market
FOR a cool $18 million, you could be the proud owner of sporting legend Pat Rafter's Sunshine Coast mansion.
The property is the most valuable residential property ever offered on the Sunshine Coast and it's now on the market.
Tom Offermann Real Estate has listed the Sunshine Beach home seeking offers above $18million.
The seven-bedroom, five-bathroom home designed by architect John Burgess was built on two blocks purchased for $9.5 million in 2006.
It is positioned at the exclusive northern end of Sunshine Beach on 1286sq m with its own landscaped path to the surf and sand.
As such captures the mesmerising ocean panorama while still providing privacy and protection from the elements.
"There are other properties in Noosa in this league which have never been offered for sale," Mr Offermann said.
"Sunshine Beach is in vogue with some very significant projects happening.
"The next owners of this house will be in good company because Seaview Terrace is one of the places to be in Noosa, evidenced by the highly successful people and extraordinary homes it attracts.
"A $15million house designed by Brisbane architect Noel Robinson has just started at the end of the street on a block we sold for $5.4million two years ago."
Mr Offermann said the agency was dealing with some well known international buyers, and the lift in interest from Americans has been noticeable.
"Most of our overseas buyers are coming from Europe and New Zealand, not China.
"We are getting a lot of expat buyers who are seeing this as a good time to repatriate their money back into lifestyle investments."
Tom Offermann Real Estate sold both adjoining properties to 46 Seaview Tce. Now there is a new house nearing completion on one and a full rebuild under way on the other.
A brick beachfront original cottage 50m up the road that sold three years ago is also being flattened for a rebuild later this year.
"In Arakoon Crescent, the next street south, the architects are busy designing another palatial beach pad for a block we sold this year for $5.2 million," Mr Offermann said.
"The influx of high-end buyers is keeping the local building trade very busy.
"We will soon be releasing details of a sale over $9 million nearby that also faces a demolition and rebuild.
"It will just get harder and more expensive to get into these front row locations.
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A private garden level wing of the house can be used as an additional office, music room or another bedroom guest suite.


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I post articles because I think they are of interest. Doing so doesn't mean that I necessarily agree (or disagree) with every—or any—opinion in the posted article. Help your friends and relatives stay informed by passing the digest on.
For those who want further information about the topics covered in this blog, I recommend the following sites. I will add to this as I find additional good sources.
Guest Post: Defense Cuts
Guest Post:
Did Obama avert a bloodbath in
? Libya
Obama lied and people died. Has a nice ring, don't you think? ~Bob. Excerpt: In his March 26 radio address, Obama said the
acted because Gadhafi threatened "a bloodbath." Two days later, he asserted, "We knew that if we waited one more day, Benghazi — a city nearly the size of Charlotte (N.C.) — could suffer a massacre that would have reverberated across the region and stained the conscience of the world." Really? Obama implied that, absent our intervention, Gadhafi might have killed nearly 700,000 people, putting it in a class with the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. White House adviser Dennis Ross was only slightly less alarmist when he reportedly cited "the real or imminent possibility that up to a 100,000 people could be massacred." But these are outlandish scenarios that go beyond any reasonable interpretation of Gadhafi's words. He said, "We will have no mercy on them" — but by "them," he plainly was referring to armed rebels ("traitors") who stand and fight, not all the city's inhabitants. "We have left the way open to them," he said. "Escape. Let those who escape go forever." He pledged that "whoever hands over his weapons, stays at home without any weapons, whatever he did previously, he will be pardoned, protected." United States
NATO airstrike reportedly kills 13
rebels Libya
Excerpt: The loss of fighters drew unwanted attention to the rawness of the opposition's recruits. Some fighters and medical aides near the front lines outside Port Brega said Saturday that the rebels had probably let loose with celebratory gunfire after witnessing a NATO strike or capturing some Kadafi fighters. (When you are on the side of guys who randomly shoot precious ammo in the air to celebrate, say, the birth of a new goat, and trust that, Insha'Allah it wouldn't come down and kill anyone, you know you are in deep Kimchi. ~Bob.)
The Caterpillar that roared
Excerpt: Oberhelman, 58, made national headlines after a letter he wrote to Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, bemoaning the state's business climate and hinting at the possibility of moving company operations, was leaked to the media. The letter ignited speculation that the state's third-largest employer, with 23,000 workers in
, was seriously thinking of exiting. (Might as well save his breath. In the view of Illinois politicians, business is there to be milked. They won't believe a word he says unless Caterpillar actually leaves the state. Then they will blame George Bush, Sarah Palin or Global Warming. ~Bob) Illinois
How a big US bank laundered billions from
's murderous drug gangs Mexico
Just like drug abusers, they abetted murder. Why are they not in prison? ~Bob. Excerpt: On 10 April 2006, a DC-9 jet landed in the port city of
Ciudad del Carmen, on the Gulf of Mexico, as the sun was setting. Mexican soldiers, waiting to intercept it, found 128 cases packed with 5.7 tons of cocaine, valued at $100m. But something else – more important and far-reaching – was discovered in the paper trail behind the purchase of the plane by the Sinaloa narco-trafficking cartel. During a 22-month investigation by agents from the US Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service and others, it emerged that the cocaine smugglers had bought the plane with money they had laundered through one of the biggest banks in the United States: Wachovia, now part of the giant Wells Fargo. The authorities uncovered billions of dollars in wire transfers, traveller's cheques and cash shipments through Mexican exchanges into Wachovia accounts. Wachovia was put under immediate investigation for failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering programme. Of special significance was that the period concerned began in 2004, which coincided with the first escalation of violence along the US-Mexico border that ignited the current drugs war.
Vietnamese Communists' Fear Factor is Rising
Excerpt: As a Libyan protester said, "After we saw
Tunisia and Egypt, we thought that we can do it too;" their "fear wall broke" and the people of no longer feared their corrupt and brutal dictatorship. In contrast, the prospect that the Middle-East pot might boil over into their region has dramatically increased the fear factor of Libya Vietnam's and 's communist rulers. Since the Middle-East uprisings began, in fear of popular uprisings, they have reacted with increasingly brutal crackdowns and arrests of possible dissidents, with China Vietnam following 's lead. China Vietnam's pucker factor must have ratcheted up several notches when the UN approved a No-Fly Zone over , a strong show of international support of the democracy advocates there. Libya Libya's brutal dictatorship and the communist regime in have a lot in common. Could it be that the Vietnamese peoples' "wall of fear" might also crumble? In Vietnam democracy advocates called for people to start a peaceful "Jasmine Revolution." In China Vietnam longtime human rights and democracy advocate Dr. Nguyen Dan Que wrote an online challenge to the People of Vietnam: (Mike Benge knows his stuff, and this sharp dissection of the awful humanitarian abuses in needs to be seen far and wide. It's a travesty that the Viet Nam US insists on being nicey-nice to Hanoi, and refuses to see what is so plain to see, that the CPC rating must be reapplied to , and pressure brought to bear on their horrific human rights record. -- Viet Nam The communists are not afraid to murder protesters by the thousands, and the media won't be there to cover it. That makes it very different. Maybe John Kerry and Jane Fonda could talk to their pals. ~Bob.) Del.
Obama Continues His Lies About Oil Production
Excerpt: Obama sticks to his lies! He claims that
has only 6% of the world's oil reserves. The truth is the fact that America is sitting atop the most oil of anywhere in the entire world! America
Former EPA researcher Alan Carlin publishes his paper
Excerpt: On Friday my new paper on climate change science and economics was published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, a peer-reviewed journal. The paper is unusual from a number of different perspectives. From a policy perspective, the paper's conclusions include the following: "The economic benefits of reducing CO2 emissions may be about two orders of magnitude less than those estimated by most economists because the climate sensitivity factor is much lower than assumed by the United Nations because feedback is negative rather than positive and the effects of CO2 emissions reductions on atmospheric CO2 appear to be short rather than long lasting. The costs of CO2 emissions reductions are perhaps an order of magnitude higher than usually estimated because of technological and implementation problems recently identified. CO2 emissions reductions are economically unattractive since the few benefits remaining after the corrections for the above effects are quite unlikely to economically justify the much higher costs unless much lower cost geoengineering is used. The risk of catastrophic anthropogenic global warming appears to be so low that it is not currently worth doing anything to try to control it, including geoengineering."
Too funny: The Cause of All Discrimination? Me.
Excerpt: The Census has released its figures. The latest count is 308,745,538 citizens living within these Disunited States. I say "Disunited" not to pun but because it is well-known that discrimination is rampant within our tumultuous borders. The problem is so awful and so sickeningly pervasive that we are anything but united. Logically, if there is discrimination, there must be discriminators and discriminatees. Who, then, are the vile discriminators?
Team Obama's
Howler Wyoming
Excerpt: But by Friday, the Caspar Star-Tribune had a very different headline: "Salazar appears to have vastly overstated coal money in
." After the announcement, folks like Mr. Loomis started to dig into the numbers and discovered that Mr. Salazar had overstated the amounts by a factor of 10. The proceeds from 758 million tons of coal would be closer to about $2 billion -- a little less than half of which would go to the state. By Saturday, the Interior Department was "clarifying" that the $21 billion estimate included some 1.6 billion tons of coal that Interior plans (maybe) to be sold at a future date. The leases for that coal are still under consideration and are no sure thing. Wyoming
Al Qaeda members hide in Brazil, raise money: report
Excerpt: Al Qaeda operatives are in
planning attacks, raising money and recruiting followers, a leading news magazine reported Saturday, renewing concerns about the nation serving as a hide-out for Islamic militants. Veja magazine, in its online edition, reported that at least 20 people affiliated with al Qaeda as well as the Lebanese Shi'ite Muslim group Hezbollah, the Palestinian group Hamas and two other organizations have been hiding out in the South American country. Brazil
Bomb plotter Nezar Hindawi wins legal bid over release
Well, I think he should be released. At about 1,000 feet up over the ocean, no chute. ~Bob. Excerpt: A man jailed for 45 years for plotting to blow up an Israeli airliner has won a legal challenge against
government refusals to allow his early release. Jordanian Nezar Hindawi was jailed in 1986 after planting a bomb in his fiancee's hand luggage for a flight from London Heathrow to Tel Aviv. The Parole Board has recommended release but successive governments have rejected its advice. UK
Excerpt: The newfound fervor for human rights among liberal supporters of President Obama's "kinetic" enterprise in
Libya might be better turned to . Instead, ignoring the persecution of minorities there and ongoing – indeed, increasing – repression of dissent, they fall into line with US businesses profiting from cheap Vietnamese labor to look away. We ally with Middle East foes of freedom and abandon real seekers of freedom in Vietnam . During the Vietnam War, the Montagnards -- Vietnam 's Central Highlands hill people, a distinct ethnic and cultural group different than the majority lowland Vietnamese – became strong allies in fighting against the communists. They had long wanted autonomy within Vietnam Vietnam, and seeking their support Saigon granted them many of their requests. Since 1975, the communist government of has ruthlessly persecuted the Montagnards, imprisoning, torturing, murdering many and taking their lands for roads, plantations and mines, denuding the forests for valuable woods, moving the Montagnards from poverty to rootless impoverishment and loss of culture. Together with many within the government, those with connections and Chinese state businesses profit. Many Montagnards are devout Protestants, Degar, whose churches are not recognized by the state and whose members come in for particularly harsh punishments. The Montagnard Foundation is their voice in the West, documenting and exposing their persecution. Few listen and fewer care, least of all the Vietnam government. Under both presidents Bush and Obama, the US US government has looked away, with the myth that somehow Vietnam would be a counterweight to China but actually favoring US businesses that also profit from trade with . Vietnam
Biting back against a little-known, fatal disease
Excerpt: came to understand that in addition to being one of the least known and least researched diseases, it's also uniquely cruel. It scars the lungs. They shrivel and harden, making it difficult for air to pass. In PF's advanced stages, it makes simple movements like sitting down or standing up feel like sprinting or drowning. The Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation will get $1 for every charitable dawg sold, but the money isn't Bulandr's main goal. Mostly, she wants to educate. She is recruiting support for the dog from state Sen. John Cullerton and U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, both of whom lost their fathers to the disease.


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Bob Pondillo is a generous, warm-hearted man, nestling into the laid-back cool of his retirement in a hoodie and jeans, a salt-and-pepper beard framing an eternally youthful face and a worn ball cap with the Human Rights Campaign logo stitched in, looking very happy, after all – everyone wants a happy retirement.
So, when he talks about directing short films, it isn't all that surprising that he doesn't care for yelling.
"I know some directors who will just go crazy and yell at you and point at you and stuff, because the stress is very high," said Robert Pondillo, Professor Emeritus in Mass Communication and Culture at MTSU, who retired last year after 15 years of teaching that capped off a wide-ranging career in broadcasting. "You're trying to get things done in a very limited amount of time, and you're trying to catch lightning in a bottle … magical performances."
Pondillo is looking forward to the Murfreesboro premiere of his latest film, the 30-minute "Happy New Year, Mr. Kates!" this Saturday at the Murfreesboro Center for the Arts. It's the sixth film he's written and directed with the help of what he calls an "MTSU Mafia" of students and faculty.
"I think I'm slowly getting the hang of it now," he said. "I don't think you ever really learn how to do it. There are too many variables … You just do what you can with that particular moment and hope for the best."
So it's not surprising to hear that a call for a cathartic, zen expiration of breath begins the motivational "spiel" Pondillo gave his crew during the "battlefield conditions" under which "Kates" was filmed.
"Center, be calm, and let's get this done. When we need a little energy shot, we'll do it, and we'll make something we're proud of," he says. "There's so much crap in the world, why do we want to make some more? Let's make something good."
Pondillo, now 63, has been in the mass media business since he was 13.
"I got this radio job in a little station in Ohio—Niles, Ohio. I couldn't even drive yet, so my grandma would pick me up after school and take me to this job where I would play records."
It was what those in the business called "Middle of the Road" music. Easy Listening. But he kept getting radio work as "a disc jockey or news guy or something—whatever they needed" and mastered the "nuts and bolts" of broadcasting before he entered college at Ohio University in Athens.
"You need to have a bag full of tricks, or you won't stay in the business long," Pondillo said.
Naturally, Pondillo majored in Mass Communication, simultanously with Political Science, which was then called "Government." He graduated in 1973 with a Bachelor of Arts, a Bachelor of Science and a cum laude distinction.
"Overachiever," he said with a dry chuckle.
He went on to get his Masters in 1998 from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in Madison in 2003, all in Mass Comm.
All of this happened around a career as a producer and on-air talent at over 20 outlets around the country, including NBC's flagship station in New York and Entertainment Tonight in Los Angeles.
In 2002 he was inducted into the Radio and Television Broadcasters Hall of Fame in Akron, Ohio, about 50 miles west of Niles.
"I did that for a little while," Pondillo says with a classically Midwestern sense of reserved understatement. "Then [I] got out and decided I was going into the professoring business."
Broadcasting was what Pondillo called "a young man's game," and in his studies he had greatly enjoyed learning the theory that underpinned what he had been learning practically since the mid-60s.
"Here at MTSU, if you're a professor, they want you to teach a class, or classes, and they also expect you to do a 'creative activity.' Write a book, write an article, write a song … make something" he said.
So he did a book on censorship in American TV and contributed to an Encyclopedia of American Journalism.
"But what I really liked to do was work with students—production students in the [Electronic Media Communication] area—and make little movies," Pondillo says. "So in 2005 I started making short films."
It started with an adaptation of a play he had written for a "Festival of Ten-Minute Plays" in Milwaukee. Written during what Pondillo described as a "dark period," it was called "Would You Cry if I Died?"
Next he got in contact with David Lawrence in Los Angeles, the kind of nose-to-the-grindstone, pavement-pounding character actor who never gets any name recognition, but who, if you were to Google them, you'd get that hard-to-place feeling of recognizing them from something somewhere. Probably the NBC superhero drama "Heroes," where he played a mind-controlling "puppetmaster."
Lawrence and Pondillo made two films together, the first being "My Name is Wallace" about a solitary, socially impaired man who calls a phone-sex operator after taking an ad asking if he's "lonely" and "needs love" too literally. "Wallace" was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in France.
The second, "Wait," Pondillo's shortest film, takes place in the moments after a man learns his son has died in a overseas war, and asks the question "What do you do when all hope is gone?"
After that was a musical, "The New, True, Charlie Wu." Pondillo says he wrote all the lyrics with "When the Saints Go Marching In" looping through his mind, then handed them off to a "real songwriter."
Pondillo ruffled feathers with his fifth film, 2012's "The Miracles on Honeybee Hill," after a student complained about the film's subject matter: gay marriage. The Tennessee Board of Regents and the Tennessee State Legislature weren't worried about that in itself, but rather that "Honeybee Hill" was a film about gay marriage that starred two ten-year-old girls.
"I felt like I was being called into the principal's office everywhere I turned," Pondillo said about ensuing the TBR investigation. But Pondillo can't really blame anyone for raising their hackles over potential child exploitation.
The film, he explained, uses children to bring a sense of "innocence" to the conversation. It's a love story, he said, not a sex story.
"The legislators thought, we cannot not do anything about this," Pondillo said.
Now, Pondillo is premiering "Happy New Year, Mr. Kates!" to the city where it, like all of his movies, was filmed, to raise money to shop it around to film festivals. Its world premiere was in November at Nashville's ARTLightenment Film Festival, where it won the Audience Choice Award. Pat Reilly, who plays the titular Mr. Kates, won an acting award, and Bob Wood, the director of the Recording Arts and Techniques MFA at MTSU, won an award for his musical score.
15 percent of ticket sales from Saturday's screening will go to the Center for the Arts, and the rest will go to Pondillo and crew to pay festival entry fees, which, he pointed out, you don't get back if you don't make it in.
Imagine "It's a Wonderful Life" meets "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest": "Kates" follows character Albert Kates, a "nasty old fart" who wiles away his final days making endless escape attempts from his nursing home, until he succeeds one night, New Year's Eve, and meets a mysterious tuxedo'ed stranger, David Cummings, who presents Kates with a cosmic proposition.
"Well, I wouldn't even say 'nasty'," Pondillo corrects himself sympathetically. "It's the story of a frustrated old man."
However, Pondillo says there's much more depth to the story.
"The idea is to really think about … how we spend our lives, the regrets we may have in our lives," Pondillo said. "If you look at the film objectively, there's a lot of death-talk in it."
The idea for "Kates" had been "rattling around" in Pondillo's head for some time before his father grew ill. Visiting him at his assisted living home regularly, Pondillo observed the other old people who lived there, and saw "how these older folks are almost like children now. Nasty little angry children."
"And they are angry, and they're frustrated, and they have to stay in one place," Pondillo said. "You know, I tell ya, it's tough being old … I understand grumpy old people!"
Pondillo said that he hopes the audience sees themselves, or someone they know, in the film.
"I see my dad in it, even though the guy that plays Mr. Kates is nothing like my dad."
"Other people have got to see their mothers or their fathers or their uncles or their aunts or grandmas and grandpas in it to really understand it," he says. "And to know that we're all heading down that same road, you know…What am I leaving behind? How am I making this world a better place?"
"Kates" was shot with a crew of, Pondillo estimates, 30 undergraduates, four graduate students and four or more professors. Mary Nichols, an MTSU Professor who also recently retired, helped secure a "Synergy Grant" of $22,000. Bob Wood provided music, and the students in the theater program did makeup.
"We had an interdisciplinary project we were working on," Pondillo said.
The "battlefield conditions" mentioned earlier—the ones combatted with breathing exercises—involved a six-day shoot over Spring Break three years ago, from 4 in the afternoon to 6 in the morning, at Murfreesboro Senior Center, Addams Place and the Pittard School.
"Boy was it cold," Pondillo said. "They really gave it everything they got."
Pondillo said he is "uncomfortable" with the Hollywood standard of stamping the director's name at the top of a film, when he doesn't look at his films as "my movies." Instead, he sees directing as management.
"I always consider myself part of the crew anyway, just trying to get it done," Pondillo said. "And it gets done."
That invaluable contribution from his students has been a constant in all six films, he said.
"I couldn't have done it without everyone helping me," he said. "Usually it takes a couple people to make something great."
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