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With the launch of Microsoft's Zune media player this week, it's a good time to ask the perennial question: What will it take for Microsoft to become "cool"?
Branding is one place to start. Product names like "Xbox" and "Zune" are arguably a lot cooler than "Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the 2007 Microsoft Office System."
Is it fair to compare entertainment product names to developer-tool ones? It may not be as far-fetched as you'd think. It seems Microsoft is looking to bring more consumer-like hipness to Expression design tools family.
Microsoft officials this week demonstrated a tool that seemed to be Expression Interactive Designer (formerly code-named "Sparkle") that now seems to be known as "Blend," according to istartedsomething blogger Long Zheng. Zheng captured screen shots of the new Blend interface that is part of the yet-to-be-unveiled "Blend Beta 1" from Microsoft's Ready Summit 06 in Melbourne, Australia.
For those who need a refresher on the somewhat confusing Expression product line, here's a quick update: Microsoft's Expression line is aimed at design professionals and meant to compete head-to-head with Adobe Systems' products like Dreamweaver, Photoshop and Illustrator.
"Quartz," a k a, Expression Web (the product until recently known as Expression Web Designer): Went to beta one in September.
"Acrylic," a k a, Expression Graphic Designer: Available in Community Technology Preview (CTP) form. No beta yet
"Sparkle," a k a Expression Interactive Designer – or, I'd wager, Expression Blend: Currently available as CTP. Set to go to beta real soon now.
"The (product) shown at Ready Summit is an upcoming version of Expression Interactive Designer that Microsoft will be making available shortly. Stay tuned for further details in the coming weeks," a Microsoft spokeswoman said, when I asked about Interactive Designer/Blend. As to the Blend name change, Microsoft's official response is no comment, she added.
Microsoft has said to expect the three Expression tools to ship within 90 days of Windows Vista's release. Depending on whether you consider the "release" to be Vista's release to manufacturing (November 8, 2006) or the retail launch (January 30, 2007), the Expression family could hit the market anytime between February and April 2007.
Back to the name game. While names don't make a company cool or not, they can make a difference – even with geekier products like development tools. Got any suggestions as to what Microsoft should rename "Expression Graphic Designer" (the only one of the Expression trio that looks to be stuck with a boring, old-Microsoft name)?


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New Zealand sailor Peter Burling was only 17 when he represented his country at the Beijing Olympics so it's not surprising the qualifying regatta for London starting this weekend holds few fears for him.
Now aged 20 and a fulltime professional, he will compete in the 49er class with Blair Tuke at the ISAF sailing world championships in Perth and many older competitors would do well to take advice from the level-headed Burling.
He became New Zealand's youngest yachting representative in Beijing three years ago when he competed in the 470 class and, although the results didn't go his way then, some valuable lessons did.
"It's almost just another event," he said. "Everyone almost builds it up too much and gets worried about the little things and don't race like they normally would. Make sure you've got everything sorted so you can race like you normally would and just give it your all."
Burling, named New Zealand's young sailor of the year for 2011, and 22-year-old Tuke will attempt to qualify their class in Perth and, although there is some pressure to do so, the pair take plenty of good form into the regatta.
In August they won bronze at the Olympic test event in Weymouth, the site of the 2012 Olympic regatta, and are comfortable with the expectations. "We've had a pretty good build-up," Burling said. "The main goal of the event is to qualify the nation [in the class] and to look at results after that. But we are going there relatively confident, hopefully we can get on the podium."
Burling is now based in Auckland but his roots are in Bay of Plenty - you can see the stricken Rena from his family's dining room window. He learned to sail at the Tauranga Yacht Club with older brother Scott and carried on the love of the sport when combining racing 49ers with Tuke and studying mechanical engineering fulltime at Auckland University. Tuke, from Kerikeri, was immersed in an electrical apprenticeship at the time.
Burling's love for the small two-handed boats is obvious. Several years ago he raced a 49er in the Coastal Classic from Devonport to Russell in the Bay of Islands and gave a nice line in understatement when describing the experience: "Nine hours in a trapeze harness isn't the best for your body."
Burling's aim next year is a lofty one. "Definitely the goal is to get on the top step of the podium [at the Olympics]. It's definitely nice to have been there before and to have seen the whole environment. Now you don't get quite as overwhelmed by the whole thing."
New Zealand is represented by 45 sailors in Perth, including two other teams in the 49er class.
The sailing world championships feature all 10 Olympic classes and sailors from more than 80 nations. Over 1200 sailors will take part, making it one of the largest sporting events held in Western Australia. It runs from Saturday, when the women's match racing crew of Jenna Hansen, Susannah Pyatt and Stephanie Hazard begin their competition, until December 18.
New Zealand competitors: Women's 470 (two teams): Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie, Vicki Francis and Erica Dawson; Mens 470 (five teams): Jason Saunders and Paul Snow-Hansen, James Turner and Mathew Jones, Mike Snow-Hansen and Derek Snow, Gareth Moore and Ben Goodwin, Luke Stevenson and Sam Bullock; Men's RS:X (four sailors): Tom Ashley, JP Tobin, Antonio Cozzolino, Carl Evans; Women's RS:X (three sailors): Natalia Kosinka, Steff Williams, Justina Sellers; Finn (five sailors): Dan Slater, Matt Coutts, Rob Coutts, Brad Douglas, Nick Burfoot; Laser Standard (six sailors): Andrew Murdoch, Sam Meech, Mike Bullot, Josh Junior, Andrew Maloney, Tom Saunders; Laser Radial (three sailors): Sara Winther, Rachel Basevi, Miranda Powrie; 49er (three teams): Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski, Chris Burgess and Rowan Swanson; Women's Match Racing (one team): Jenna Hansen, Susannah Pyatt, Stephanie Hazard.
APNZ lb


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There will be a rally on Friday, April 26th at the Wilson Building at noon to demand action from DC government.
When: Friday, 4/26 at noon.
Where: John A Wilson Building, DC
Speeding drivers have killed two people on our streets in the last 72 hours and put six more in the hospital.
Enough is enough.
Mayor Bowsers administration has spent the last five years asking for our trust and our patience as they work to make our streets safer.
We are out of both.
If your priorities are in the right place, safer streets are not hard to build, and they are not hard to build quickly. But the Bowser administration has shown that they are not up to task.
Rally with us on Friday to demand immediate action.
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I am of a generation that was brought up with (though most certainly not to laugh at) the joke 'That's no lady, that's my wife'. Classist overtones? Undoubtedly, as well as inherent sexism: the word 'lady' to me is not one with which I want to be associated. Let us leave aside the question of whether a knight's wife should be deemed a Lady, though that also contains inherent sexism: my husband has no title deriving merely from the fact that I am a dame, the female equivalent of a knight, as such a Lady does. However, use of the word 'lady' continues to be used in ways I regard as sexist and demeaning: as in 'here is top lady scientist Professor X'. And yes, I have been introduced essentially in that cringe-inducing way. As far as I'm concerned, either I should be introduced as a top scientist or just call me Professor without any adjectival qualifier (I will return to the idea of 'adjectival' below).
So when the Buzzfeed Life section ran a listing on what women at the top would offer by way of advice to young women setting out I felt a little put off by its headline referring to 'lady bosses', albeit I am well aware of the honour I should feel at the sight of my own words appearing in such a list (and if I hadn't known beforehand, my Twitter feed soon spelled this out ). My own tweet expressed slight unease about the title (poorly reproduced below) and the next time I looked the offending word had been removed (so thank you Rachel if you're reading this). Now the title simply reads ' 21 Tips For Slaying At Work From Top Bosses' which seems positive enough.
However let me return to the adjectival use of the word lady which I so dislike. It has always jarred on me although I'd never stopped to wonder why; the word 'woman' as a prefix would annoy me almost as much if used in this way. Then I read an article in the Guardian during the autumn and all was made plain. I was reacting against the bad English as much as against the highlighting of gender. I am not a woman scientist – any more than I am a lady scientist. If it is felt necessary to point out that I am a woman, the correct usage is that I am a female scientist. Woman and lady are nouns and should not be used to qualify another noun. This is not a new complaint. Dorothy Sayers in her 1935 novel Gaudy Night about a fictitious Oxford women's college and speaking through the voice of her quasi-heroine Harriet Vane, objected to the head of the college being referred to as a 'Lady Head'. I suppose in that language I would be a Lady Master. It's just wrong, as well as distasteful.
Now by and large I see no reason why my gender should be relevant when I am introduced as a speaker; after all it's pretty obvious once I'm standing there that I am indeed a woman. I am a scientist who happens to be a woman, however, not someone who is doing womanly science. Nevertheless, if my profession has to have a gendered tag attached to it to satisfy someone's sense of – well what? Old-fashioned chivalry? – let's say propriety, I wish they could get their grammar right.
But one should ask – although the moment of a public introduction hardly seems the right moment to do this – why is it necessary to identify my gender at all? I find it hard to imagine introducing a man as 'here is male Professor X', let alone as 'gentleman Professor X'. I'm afraid it comes down to the quote of Samuel Johnson
woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all
Since it still seems surprising to some to find, for example, a female physicist giving a seminar, such people appear to feel obliged to refer to it. I can't help feeling that those who choose to stress my gender in introductions probably think, misguidedly, they are somehow complimenting me because of my rarity value. From where I stand, it doesn't feel that way.


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This thread is in response to a review for Jungle Hunt on the Atari 2600. You are encouraged to view the review in a new window before reading this thread.
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Author: JoeTheDestroyer (Mod)
Posted: April 09, 2012 (12:53 AM)
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Ha! Good read, OD. I'm glad I'm not the only one covering Atari 2600 at the moment.
The only thing my milkshake brings to the yard is a subpoena.
Author: aschultz
Posted: April 09, 2012 (02:54 AM)
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I used that strategy with a lot of games, too. The big one for me was Galaga. And the double-shooter ships. But I never figured that out.
My principal said, 'Emo, Emo, Emo.'
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The Malta Jazz festival is an eclectic mix of the world's best jazz talent fused with the obscure. The festival lasts for three days and takes place in July. In 2019, the festival takes place between the 15th and 20th July. The event is always held in Malta's capital Valletta at the spectacular setting at Ta' Liesse, on the Grand Harbour side of the city.
The festival kicks off on the 15th July with a free event at Valletta's City Gate.
Why the Malta Jazz Festival is a Must
If you are a music lover or simply want a new fresh experience the Malta Jazz Festival offers this in abundance. The organisers go to great lengths to show the best-established jazz artists together with rising local talent.
Attending the festival will:
- Allow you to see the best jazz talent in the world together with local Maltese talent
- Hear different styles and flavours of jazz music from traditional, contemporary, to modern
- Discover jazz music for the first time if you're new to the scene
- Immerse yourself in the festival feel of brass, bass, and beats
- Get to know Valletta, Malta and her rich history and culture
The festival gets bigger every year and it is arguably one of the most important and authentic in the jazz circuit.
Malta Jazz Festival Line up 2019
So far two artists have been confirmed for the event. They are:
- Chucho Valdes – Six GRAMMY® and three Latin GRAMMY® Award winner, Valdes is arguably the most important figure in Afro-Caribbean jazz. His career has spanned 50 years and he is probably best known for being the founder member of the quartet Irakere. The band debuted in 1977 and put Afro-Caribbean jazz on the map. This is an artist not to be missed.
- Jazzmeia Horn – Jazzmeia Horn may not have the years and experience of other acts at the festival but she clearly has the voice. Her 2017 debut album, a Social Call earned a GRAMMY® Award nomination for best Jazz album in 2018. The Dallas born singer has already forged a solid reputation for having immaculate jazz vocals and this is one singer you must see perform live.
Keep up to date with Malta Jazz Festival Announcements
To stay up to date the easiest way is to follow the Malta Jazz Festival on Facebook. The event's main website can be found here: Malta Jazz Festival.
Getting your Tickets
Although the ticket prices are yet to be confirmed they normally go on sale from the end of March. Ticket tend to be priced as follows:
- €30 for a single day ticket – seated (VIP)
- €50 for a 2-day block ticket – seated (VIP)
- €20 for single day ticket – standing (free seating will be available)
- €35 for a 2-day block ticket – standing (free seating will be available)
- Early bird tickets available from 31 March
- €25 instead of €30 for a single day ticket – seated (VIP)
- €40 instead of €50 for a 2-day block ticket – seated (VIP)
- €30 instead of €35 for a 2-day block ticket – standing (free seating will be available)
You can get your tickets from the event's website and through sites such as Showshappening.com.
Ticket prices may vary from those shown. Again, keep an eye on the event's Facebook page for availability.
Transport – Getting there
Valletta is well served by public transport and it is a good idea to use it to get around.
The Valletta bus terminus is a pleasant ten-minute walk to Ta' Liesse. It is also close to the City Gate where the free event takes place.
Car parking in Valletta is free after 6pm but is advisable to arrive sooner. You can park in the centre of the city or park just outside the centre and walk down the perimeter road.
If you're catching the Sliema to Marsamxett ferry, walk around St Elmo and the Mediterranean Conference Centre and you'll soon be at the festival.
Local Talent & Fringe Jazz
The Malta Jazz Festival has not only delivered jazz to the Maltese and wider world, it has nurtured current stars who have progressed to the international jazz scene. The local and international fusions are a highlight of the festival and regular attendees look forward to them.
As well as the fusions there are plenty of jazz workshops and the 'Jazz on the Fringe' event. These take place across the city around a week before the big festival event. There are few cities in the world where jazz can be heard playing loud and proud. The events are well attended and bring the musical art form to the people. Jazz fans can watch the workshops free of charge.
For many years Jazz has been seen as quintessentially American music. Over the last 5 decades, however, jazz has taken on an international flavour fusing Latin, swing, be-bop, electro jazz, hard bop, vocal jazz, avant-grande/free jazz, afro-jazz, ethio-jazz and the list goes on.
European jazz stands proudly in this list and it is because of events like the Malta Jazz Festival that it does.
Stars of Past Events
The Blue Tangerine
The Blue Tangerine is a Franco-Maltese outfit and the product of the festival's Fringe Youth Jazz Orchestra. This shows what an investment in youth and the arts can do.
The band's enthusiastic improvisation could be argued to be the spirit of jazz. It is fair to say nobody was disappointed with what their take on this musical art form.
Christian McBride
The Philadelphia jazz legend was joined by his new outfit New Jawn featuring Marcus Strickland (tenor, soprano and bass clarinet), Josh Evans (trumpet) and Nasheet Waits (drums).
Chick Corea was joined by John Patitucci and Dave Weckl and started a set which Jazzbluesnews.space described as compelling. They kicked-off with Corea's own Morning Spray and threw in a couple of standards.


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Rapidly expanding human populations and associated economic growth and overconsumption is resulting in serious degradation of the natural environment human survival depends on (Vitousek et al., 1997; Sanderson et al., 2002; Orr, 2004; Alroy, 2010; Branch et al., 2013). Almost half of the global human population currently lives within 150km of the coast (UN Atlas of the Oceans, 2014). This results in severe pressures being placed on marine and coastal environments.
SPREP's direction in the Islands Ecosystems Programme reflects a
Invasive species fact sheet on 10 things to help prevent the spread of invasive species.
Every living thing in our Pacific islands environment is called biodiversity. Trees, fish, birds, mushrooms, forests and mangroves are all part of biodiversity.
Invasive species can be spread deliberately by people for food, as pets, for economic opportunity, or for planting in the garden. A few species such as the mongoose, were deliberately introduced to try and control other pests, but ended up becoming serious invasive species. Invasive species can be introduced accidently such as attaching themselves on cargo, clothing or equipment used in the field. In the marine environment, invasive species are commonly introduced through the ballast water of ships.
The Little Fire Ant may be small but it has a very long scientific name - Wasmannia auropunctata. It is about 1.5 mm with a light to golden brown colour. Its home is Central and South America but it has travelled far to the Pacific islands and now lives in eight of our island countries - French Polynesia, Guam, Hawaii, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Wallis and Futuna.
Invasive species are plants or animals living where they don't belong and causing harm.


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December 2016 – Well, the 2016 election is now in the history books, and it certainly delivered an ominous signal to Building Trades workers and their families across this country. The nation has spoken, and for the next four years, we will have a President whose history has not shown him to be always a friend to Building Trades workers and their families. With this said, we are open to work with him to give him an understanding of why the prevailing wage is good for America, the construction industry, taxpayers, and the infrastructure that services this nation.
With that said, as working families in California, we have much to be grateful for and much to be encouraged by. California's election results proved once again that our activism and unwavering unity makes a huge difference in political results, and consequently in our quality of life.
In California, we overcame a huge early disadvantage to defeat one terrible ballot measure, and we passed other very good ones. It appears we have elected a state Legislature that will work successfully with Governor Jerry Brown to protect and advance workers' interests.
Our greatest single victory must be the narrow defeat of Proposition 53, the initiative that would have blocked or delayed vital infrastructure projects in California by subjecting all revenue bond-funded projects greater than $2 billion to a statewide vote. This would have made the funding of many badly needed, job-creating public works projects far more difficult, thereby killing tens of thousands of Building Trades workers' jobs.
Proposition 53 was leading in the polls for most of the campaign. But the Building Trades, along with the California Chamber of Commerce and Governor Jerry Brown's campaign fund, combined to raise $21 million to lead an educational campaign to defeat it.
The ballot measure was worded in an appealing way that made it seem as if voters were being empowered. But our informational campaign pointed out that it would remove local control of local projects, and stop much-needed construction. It would have permitted voters in different parts of the state to block each other's projects by voting against the funding. We ran television, radio, and digital ads telling the truth to California voters, that if 53 passed, the aging infrastructure of the state of California would not be able to sustain the growing population, and the quality of life and education in this state would be greatly diminished.
We also distributed huge numbers of bumper stickers and hard hat stickers to work sites all across the state. Only by working tenaciously together were we able to overcome the huge early disadvantage and defeat Proposition 53, which would have caused immense harm to working families for decades to come.
Strong, unified support from the Building Trades also proved a key factor in winning voter approval for Proposition 51, a $9 billion school bond measure for construction and modernization of schools and community colleges across California.
In addition to providing greatly needed new school facilities for California's students, the measure will create good construction jobs throughout the state. An extensive network of project labor agreements with school districts in California assures that this work will go to the skilled and trained workforce of the Building Trades.
We helped pass Proposition 52, to continue state fees on hospitals and earn federal matching funds for indigent care, preventing these costs from being passed off to our union health care trust funds. And we supported and helped pass Proposition 55, to continue the stream of tax revenues first approved by voters in 2012, ensuring the state's fiscal solvency, and its ability to invest in job-creating infrastructure, for years to come.
Voters also restored two-thirds Democratic supermajorities to both the State Senate and Assembly, further strengthening our ability to enact legislation that advances workers' interests, and state budgets with the resources to get things done.
Local jurisdictions also approved billions of dollars worth of school bonds, and in Los Angeles, the passage of Measure M will generate billions of dollars for vital transportation infrastructure in the decades ahead. In the Bay Area, voters approved Measure RR, a $3.5 billion bond for repairs and improvements to BART.
I hope this recap makes it clear how important the political activism and tenacious unity of the Building Trades still is, and will continue to be in the years to come.
Sure, the national political news may sometimes be discouraging. But let's be clear: here in California, we are still doing what it takes to sustain and improve the quality of life for Building Trades workers and their families. We will not ever lighten up in that quest.


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Are you thinking about undertaking an architectural project? Contact us! Our professionals are ready to help you. Do it now by calling us at +57 1 2350253 or by filling out the form below.
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What is the contemporary method for bridling a reined cow horse? It develops a prospect so he's straight up in the bridle and ready to be shown by his Non-Pro owner as a five-year- old. The horse is started as a two-year-old, with a goal of showing him in the snaffle bit as a three-year-old.
During the late spring of his three-year-old year, he is taught to neck rein and introduced to a leverage bit, while being prepared to show in the snaffle.
In the fall of this same year, he will go in the hackamore for a short time as preparation for the two rein bosal, and from there, he graduates to the bridle. Les outlines the steps involved in this process and presents the pros and cons of contemporary vs. traditional Californio bridling, a longer process.
For the past 20 years we in the cow horse world have been evolving toward a more contemporary style in the way we bridle our horses. The reason for this is simple economics. It is just not financially practical for most professional trainers to take four or five years to produce a finished horse. Their clients bring them a two-year-old and say, "I would like to have a finished horse that I can show in the bridle as a Non-Pro.
How long will that take"? Today's training fees spread out over a four or five year period would make many customers think twice. They would probably think that they could buy a finished horse and start showing it today for that figure.
Using the contemporary method for bridling a reined cow horse the trainer can have the same two-year-old straight up in the bridle and ready to be shown by his Non-Pro client as a five-year-old.
Left: The Argentine snaffle bit
Right: A bit with swivel cheeks and a low port
The contemporary process is a mixture of the reiner style and the traditional style of bridling. There was a time when every reined cow horse was bridled in the traditional way. This began to change as we became more familiar with the reiners and their style of bridling a horse. We began to integrate their methods with our own and the contemporary method of bridling the cow horse was born. Can this combination of styles produce a horse that is as good as a horse bridled in the traditional way? Yes it can if it is done correctly.
So what is the contemporary method? We start our reined cow horse prospect as a two-year-old with the goal of showing him in the snaffle bit futurity as a three-year-old. It is during the late spring of his three-year-old year that this method diverges from the others. He will be taught to neck rein and be introduced to a leverage bit at the same time he is being prepared to show in the snaffle bit.
Then in the late fall of this same year he will go in the hackamore for a short time to educate his nose which will prepare him for the two rein bosal. From there he will graduate to the bridle. If you read the other articles, you can see how this method cuts quite a bit of time off the traditional California bridling method.
Our cow horse prospect will begin his education in the snaffle bit as a two-year-old so that by the spring of his three-year-old year he will be ready to learn two new things. It is at this time our horse will learn about neck reining and a leverage bit in the form of an Argentine snaffle bit. He should be introduced to the Argentine snaffle in a relaxed way after he has worked in his regular snaffle. Let him walk around in it so that he can get used to it in a light pressure situation.
The Argentine snaffle should not be used as a bit to reprimand the horse; it should be used as an educational tool. Keeping that in mind I usually choose to use a leather curb strap instead of a chain.
Once we have the horse in the Argentine it is time to teach him to neck rein. We have already discussed how to teach the horse to neck rein at length in another article.
The first step in teaching a horse to neck rein is to educate him. Start walking to the left and lay your right rein against his neck. At the same time give him an educational pull with your left rein. Match the pull on the left rein with leg pressure from the left boot top, this will encourage him to flex and bend to the left. Repeat this exercise to both sides. Always remember to release the pressure when the horse gives a sign that he is trying to do what you want him to do. The horse learns from the release of pressure when he does well, not from the pressure itself.
This exercise needs to be repeated over and over everyday so that the horse really understands what you want. He needs to have a thorough understanding of it because it is crucial to your end result. It is one of those exercises that you can do a lot of without hurting the horse physically or mentally.
As the horse understands what you want you will ask him to flex more and more until he really bends his neck around to about 90 degrees. We ask him to bend a little extra when we school because under pressure at a show we will probably get half of that which will be about right.
Remember that we are not teaching the horse to change directions, only to bend his neck equally well to either side. I know that my prospect really understands the neck rein when I can lay my rein softly across his neck at a standstill and he will bring his nose around to the toe of my boot on either side.
By educating the horse to the leverage bit and teaching him to neck rein through the summer of his three year old year we have trimmed off a lot of the bridling time of the traditional method. We have accelerated the bridling process without stressing the young horse. Today the bar is set so high that nearly every futurity horse that is showing in the snaffle has had some form of education in a leverage bit.
Left: The Argentine snaffle bit
Right: A bit with swivel cheeks and a low port
As long as the training has gone according to plan we usually try to upgrade the horse from the Argentine into a bridle bit around July. This is usually a light, reiner style, bridle bit not the more sophisticated bit associated with the traditional California style of bridling. This bit should have swivel cheeks, a low port and regular eight inch shanks.
Today's reined cow horse should continue to show in the snaffle bit while he learns about leverage bits and neck reining at home
In both the traditional Californio style and the reiner style of bridling we introduced the horse to the bridle by first working in the snaffle, then putting on the bridle and letting the horse get used to the feel and action of the leverage bit. We still start out that way when we upgrade our bit with this method. However, because we are moving through the steps more quickly with this method we will soon start the work in the snaffle then switch to the bridle to finish. Of course you would stay in the snaffle if things were not going well.
The hackamore phase of this accelerated method should be done only by an expert. Otherwise, skip it.
While our prospect is learning to neck rein and being educated to the leverage bit he should still be showing in the snaffle bit. It goes without saying that he should be able to perform all his required maneuvers and cow work at a fairly high level in the snaffle before he upgrades to a leverage bit. This is the most important step in bridling no matter what method you use. I feel that if you are trying to teach your horse these maneuvers and educating him to the bridle at the same time you are heading for trouble. You need to completely make the horse first in the snaffle and then refine the control system.
Bridling the reined cow horse has a phase that we do not have in reiner style bridling and that is the move into the hackamore. This is not going to be the long education (around six months) that you'd find in traditional Californio bridling; it will be a shorter, condensed version. In expert hands the horse can be put into the hackamore in as little as one month but I do want to emphasize the 'expert hands' part.
You can find more information on selecting and fitting a hackamore in the Tack Room section of the website, so I will just touch briefly on it here. I would start the hackamore training late in the fall after the horse had finished his three year old show season.
I always like to start my riding session in the snaffle and change to the hackamore at the end of a good ride. Once the horse shows he understands the hackamore, the rider can be more assertive, but this is only if you know what you are doing. If you don't have enough experience with the hackamore phase then just skip it. Always remember that you should fix any serious difficulties by going back to the snaffle bit. This is true in all the phases but especially true in the hackamore.
Once the horse goes into a cow horse class and takes a cow down the fence in the bridle he can no longer show in the hackamore. The main reason we put him in the hackamore at all in this method is to educate his nose before we put him into the two rein.
Now we have our four-year-old in the finishing stages of contemporary cow horse bridling. He's been educated to the hackamore and he has had some bridling as well. If you have done an expert job, never hit any bumps in the process so far and your horse is very understanding and uncomplicated you could go ahead and put a sophisticated bit on him. He might bridle right up but I find that some horses need the support system that comes with the two rein bosal.
I start my horse in the two rein bosal early in his four-year-old year so that he will be ready to show in it around April. The horse is allowed to show in either the two rein or straight up in the bridle for the season which allows me to go back and forth if I feel I need to. There are a couple of added benefits to showing in the two rein bosal. First is that the bosal acts as a cavesson to keep the mouth closed. Second is that you are allowed to put your fingers between the reins which can help give your horse extra support if he needs it. The two rein bosal can help a green bridle horse to feel more secure in a show situation.
Our reined cow horse will be ready to be shown straight up in the bridle the following season. This is not a cut rate way to bridle a reined cow horse, but a system that is commonly used today in the cow horse world and it produces high quality horses. As I said in the beginning, it is mostly due to economics, time is money. Back in the day when there wasn't as much money at stake as there is today there was a more relaxed approach toward bridling.
Dyed-in-the-wool traditionalists will argue that the contemporary horse could not possibly be as good as a horse trained in the traditional way. I disagree with that. I won't say every horse is as good but many of them are. The big difference in our horses today compared to the horses of 30 years ago is how finished they are as long three-year-olds. The three-year-old horse we produce today just has to go through the rest of the steps which allows us to shorten up the bridling process. We just have to change his controls from the snaffle bit to the bridle.
I still like to use the traditional method on my horses and there are many people today who want to learn the old way. The contemporary style does cut corners and any time you do that you take a chance with the foundation of your training. That is why I stress that this way of bridling the horse should be done by a professional who will recognize the red flags if they appear.
So there you have it, three ways to get your horse straight up in the bridle. The traditional California method handed down from the vaqueros, the reiner method which produces some of the top performers you see today, and the contemporary cow horse method which is a combination of the two. Get your horse solid in his fundamentals in the snaffle and then give one a try.
The goal of any bridling methods - getting the horse straight up in the bridle.


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Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel
I'll be lecturing on Fanny Hensel next week: she is a treasure awaiting discovery by the musical world. The older sister of Felix Mendelssohn, she was considered the "real" talent by their shared composition teacher, and acknowledged as Felix's equal by none other than Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Unfortunately, the mentality of the times decreed that an upper class woman needed to stay confined to the domestic sphere, so while Felix pursued his education and career in Paris, Rome and England, Fanny stayed at home learning the domestic arts. While acknowledging her musical gifts, her father was very clear about the expectations the family had for her in this letter she received at the formative age af 15:"Music will perhaps become your brother's profession, while for you it can and must be only an ornament. You must take yourself in hand and concentrate harder; you must school yourself more seriously and eagerly for your true profession, a young woman's only profession: being mistress of the house".
While she settled into a comfortable and by all accounts happy marriage to the artist Wilhelm Hensel, Fanny did what she could to devote herself to music within the margins of her life as wife and mother and music editor for her famous brother. She wrote over 400 compositions , only a handful of which received a public hearing during her lifetime. Her own musical performances - with the notable exception of a charity benefit in which she appeared as the soloist in her brother's piano concerto- were limited to the extraordinary salons she conducted at the family estate. Here, in the Garden Palace of Berlin, over a hundred invited guests would gather on Sundays to listen as works of Bach, Beethoven and of course her brother were introduced - often, for the first time. She rehearsed the orchestra and chorus, performed at the piano and welcomed guest artists such as Paganini and Liszt. And then she fed them tea, as a good wife and hostess was supposed to do.
It is a bit heart-rending to think what would have happened if she had received the same kind of encouragement her brother had. Here, after all, had been a fourteen year old girl whose birthday gift to her father had been to play by heart all 24 Preludes and Fugues of Bach's Well Tempered Clavier Book One. Her love of Bach lasted throughout her life: she was the first person to play these pieces in Italy, during a year's residence in Rome, and she named her only child Sebastian. Bach's influence is easily heard in the Cantata based on the Book of Job and written as an act of her own music therapy as a cholera epidemic swept through Europe. It was only in the last year of her life that her music began to be published in her own name: previously, a few pieces had found their way into her brother's Songs Without Words, though to his credit, he acknowledged Fanny as the true composer of "Italian" when Queen Victoria declared it her favorite.
Though she wrote over 450 works, almost all of Fanny's music is still unpublished and unrecorded. I am grateful that the Rochester Philharmonic has made the following video available, so we can hear a glimpse of what treasures might await us. What remains unanswerable is what might have happened if Fanny had been given access to an orchestra and a conductor's baton on a public stage- without the ex
September 2020


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The Assembly acted on a lot of important matters today. Heard from ecumenical and interfaith partners (Jewish), received reports and approved a guiding statement which will help brand the PCUSA---Prayerful, Courageous, United, Serving, Alive. Approved the Way Forward recommendations. Acted to fund new initiatives for addressing the genesis root causes of the exodus of refugees from Central America to the USA, saw a trailer for a film the Presbyterian Mission Agency produced https://genesisofexodusfilm.com/thefilm Please watch it, share it, and discuss it. New Mission CoWorkers will be funded to work in El Salvador and Central America where violence and economic collapse has caused families to flee. Another new initiative will be engaging and supporting a ministry with North Korean refugees in South Korea. Everything thing today seemed to pass with near unanimous support. Amendments only seem to strengthen overtures, and the only debate was over money, how the cost of new initiatives will effect existing initiatives and staff. Sounds like the challenge of a Session, right! Then we were taken to Sunday School by a YAAD who reminded us that we live in God's economy where there is enough, not scarcity. There is excitement in this Assembly that we are on the move, trying to catch up with God.
Hands and Feet is an initiative envisioned by our Stated Clerk, J. Herbert Nelson shared two years ago when he stood for election. He has called upon the Church to focus its resources on St. Louis to make a difference here. Encouraging Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, Self Development of People, U-Kirk Campus Ministries, Presbyteries to join the Presbytery of Giddings Lovejoy and their strategic partners to come and engage here to join God's hands and feet to do what needs to be done here in this city. A video was shown telling the story. Find the video at this link. http://oga.pcusa.org/section/ga/hands-and-feet/ The celebration concert was a stewardship gift of the musicians and a sponsor, so that all the ticket sales went to support Hands and Feet initiative. The focus of Hands and Feet for the next two years is Baltimore, the host city of the next General Assembly in 2020. Think about joining this initiative with your next mission trip!
Eileen and I spoke with Vernon Boyles, a long time PMA staff and then volunteer since his retirement, leading Presbyterian voice for the social justice witness of the PC(USA) for as long as I've been in ministry. He was beaming from ear to ear, and said, "This has been a wonderful week! J. Herbert is a wonderful leader." I couldn't agree more. This is NOT your normal Assembly. Get ready to receive your commissioners home. We are on fire for the Lord! It's about Kin-dom building. "Seek ye first the kin-dom of God, and all these things will be given to you?"
Thursday, June 21, 2018
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Monthly Archives: July 2012
Grievance and Resolution Policy
Grievance & Resolution Policy 2012
World Kindergarten Teachers Conference Part II
Four keynote speakers addressed the conference for morning lectures, all based on the theme; "The Journey of the "I" Into Life-A Final Destination or a Path Toward Freedom?". On Monday, Michaela Glockler, leader of the medical section of the Goetheanum and author of many books,… Continue reading
Carpark safety
We ask that all parents and visitors to Golden Hill please observe the following when driving into and parking in our grounds when delivering and collecting children to and from school ; 1) Drive slowly and carefully 2) Staff and Kindergarten Parents only may park in the… Continue reading
Parent & Friends news
Position Vacant- Parents and Friends Convener After all the fantastic work Rene and Carolyn have done over the past year, the position of P&F convener is now vacant and we desperately need someone to step in and take the reins! The voluntary role of P&F… Continue reading
Class 4/5 news
Hope you all had a lovely relaxing Winter holiday- I know I did 🙂 We will be kicking off term three with a Maths main lesson on fractions and decimals. This can be quite a challenging area of learning which requires a fair amount of… Continue reading


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9212 Delphi Rd SW
Olympia, WA 98512
Closed for the season.
Directions from Olympia: Black Lake Blvd. to Delphi Rd SW, turn
left and go 3.5 miles to Gibbons Nobles sign on left. OR Littlerock
Rd to 110th, 110th to Delphi, turn right and go 2 miles to sign on