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The Ministry of Defence is to now write to arms companies warning them against trying to use former senior military staff to lobby for contracts.
Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, yesterday warned former chiefs that access to the department could be "shut down" if any abuses are proven.
It came after a number of retired military leaders, including Lord Dannatt, the ex-head of the Army, and Lieutenant-General Sir John Kiszely, former head of the Defence Academy, were caught up in a "generals for hire" newspaper sting.
At least one of the figures, Admiral Sir Trevor Soar, commander-in-chief fleet of the Royal Navy until earlier this year, is still subject to a two-year ban on not lobbying ministers or officials after leaving office.
Two others are alleged to have admitted they breached similar rules previously.
Mr Hammond ordered an urgent inquiry in to the claims yesterday while Sir John Kiszely's position as honorary president of the Royal British Legion was put in question.
All the individuals denied any wrongdoing and insisted they had the best interests of the military at heart.
Military chiefs, along with civil and other Crown servants, are subject to a two year ban on lobbying ministers or officials after leaving office, which is governed by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments.
The body recommends whether they can take up appointments in the private sector and approval is then signed off by the Prime Minister.
The men were secretly filmed by Sunday Times reporters posing as representatives of a South Korean weapons manufacturer seeking to recruit them to help sell "drone" aircraft to the UK Government.
Sir Trevor is reported to have said he could simply "ignore" the two-year ban.
Another, Sir John, allegedly boasted he could speak with David Cameron at next month's Remembrance service when he was a guest of the Royal British Legion.
Sir John and former MoD procurement chief Lieutenant General Richard Applegate also allegedly claimed they previously lobbied on deals while they were in their own two – year "purdah" period
Mr Hammond said he was satisfied no retired officers had influenced military procurement and that some of the individuals may have been "bigging up" their potential influence.
But he added: "I think the revelations are deeply damaging to the individuals concerned and their reputations.
"There are many many reasons why its sensible for the MoD to maintain contact with retired officers, they're often asked by people like yourselves to comment on things that are going on in the defence area, but if they are abusing that access for commercial purposes, then we will have to tighten it up of maybe even shut it down, so that's something we will now look at."
Mr Hammond will hold an emergency meeting with General Sir David Richards, the Chief of the Defence Staff, today (Mon) to consider how to respond to the scandal.
A senior Government source said ministers and MoD officials will write to arms firms warning them that "they are not doing their companies any favours" by attempting to hire ex-generals to lobby for contracts.
The source said: "We will be looking at all the individuals to see if they are abusing any privileged access for commercial reasons."
It is clear that ministers believe Sir Trevor Soar may have broken the rules.
Mr Hammond told the Marr show there was "clearly at least one" individual who was still under the terms of the two-year restriction at the time.
Lord Dannatt, who was an adviser to David Cameron before the 2010 election, said he offered to "facilitate conversations" but nothing that would be in breach of lobbying rules and rejected an £8,000 monthly fee offer.
The Sunday Times said he "candidly talked about sidestepping a ban on discussion of a £400 million contract by 'targeting' the MoD's top civil servant, with whom he went to school".
Lord Stirrup, the former chief of the defence staff, who was also said to be able to call on "old friend and powerful contacts" to help in a lobbying campaign, told the Sunday Telegraph that was a "totally false picture".
Lt Gen Applegate told the Daily Telegraph he never had and never would lobby.
Shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy said the allegations were "grubby" and "seedy".
He added: "These are grave allegations that have to be fully investigated. We need to know every detail, every meeting and every contact between those recorded in this video and those still serving in the MoD."
The Royal British Legion has launched it's own investigation in to the claims by Sir John, a Falklands war hero, as to whether he abused his position.
Legion Director General Chris Simpkins said the honorary president position "should not be used for commercial gain or in order to gain access to politicians and senior military figures for purposes unrelated to his position as National President".
Kevan Jones, shadow defence minister said Sir John's position would be "untenable" if the allegations are proven.
Sir John insisted he had always kept his commercial interests "entirely separate" from his role with the Legion and had never used access gained through it to discuss any business interests.


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Life and Fairy Lights
Here are a few photos from this last week which I spent at my brother's flat (plus two days at a conference). I didn't take as many photos as I thought I might, but I did three location shoots with a photographer friend of mine so I'll have those photos to show to you soon. Hope you're all well!
5 comments
Splendidly lovely photos! I especially like the first and fourth.ReplyDelete
♥ JessicaReplies
Those are probably my favourites too :)Delete
WOW, this scenery is gorgeous! How beautiful!ReplyDeleteReplies
Isn't it great? Leeds is definitely one of my favourite cities.Delete
wow! these pictures are beautiful :)I especially love the first one!ReplyDelete

subset: commoncrawl


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The Ground Rules Explained
Total Members Voted: 3
Voting closed: November 22, 2017, 07:45:54 pm
The cover for New Avengers #13.INHThe Inhumans get center stage in New Avengers and a new series. New Avengers #13.INH will also debut the roster of the New Illuminati. Will the Black Panther still be a primary player? It also seems that his promised fatal conclusion with Namor may be postponed. This is an ideal time to launch an all new ongoing Black Panther series to coincide with the new Inhumans series. Think 1998's Marvel Knights. Now is a good time to revisit the Priest era.
supreme illuminati I can co-sign with you on DOOM, or THE HIGH EVOLUTIONARY but I don't see the LEADER fitting in. He like the WIZARD seems like a second tier intellectual. I can see BLACK SWAN joining for her on reasons.Kip Lewis any links to the one word advertisements Marvel has been releasing?
New Avengers #11 was good, very good in fact. As usual it was multifaceted but delivered on the primary purpose behind my reading the book, the Black Panther. This issue was a page turner for me. Hickman and Deodato are producing a well written and illustrated comic, no doubt. Hickman has been successful in giving characters like the Black Panther and Black Bolt along with their supporting cast an impacting and long ranging presence in the pages of New Avengers and Infinity.SPOILERS...Thanos's armies attack Wakanda's the Golden City. I love the reference Golden City to what I assume is Central Wakanda. Shuri and the Hatut Zaraze go full on against Proxima Midnight and her battalion at the wall protecting the city. They loose. PET PEEVE: Shuri only having a spear is ridiculous as Proxima Midnight points out. I will stand firm on the fact that Shuri should be the "armored" Panther. Technically speaking she and Tchalla both should wear armor during major fights and especially during war. Despite this Shuri is well represented. I really appreciate the Hatut Zaraze's new look. I like how the Hatut Zaraze are getting a voice and are distinguished from other Wakandan soldiers. PET PEEVE: I didn't find it necessary for them to have to motivate a fallen Wakandan trooper. Wakanda is a warrior society no less. PET PEEVE: On the same note they don't have to be seen yelling "protect the queen!" With the exception of Tchalla, Shuri should be the most capable warrior in Wakanda. PET PEEVE: Finally I don't think a captured Hatut Zaraze would divulge information to the enemy so easily (unless he was setting them up for trap). These scenes could have bee written differently. PET PEEVE: No defenses for the Necrpolis? Thanos and his people just casually stroll in. Walk into the unprotected facility that houses all the antimatter bombs constructed by Tchalla and Reed. PET PEEVE: To add insult to injury while war wages in the Golden City and the Necropolis is invaded, Tchalla the Black Panther seems totally unaware of these occurrences. There should have been some communication between Tchalla and Shuri to say the least. Again maybe it's all part of some master strategy that will unfold in upcoming issues.The space adventure with the Aleph was well done. Hickman has a good grasp of the pertinent aspects of sci-fi needed to infuse into a superhero comic. Coupled with Deodato's art I find myself wanting for more. More Wakanda city scapes, more Wakandan battleships, more Wakandan tech and more Black Panther story. Correcting the Sin and the Fear, a few technical missteps and some pet peeves; I can see Hickman writing a solo Black Panther with ease. New Avengers #11 was essentially a Black Panther comic as was the premiere issue. I believe Hickman has a successful format for writing a BP ongoing. The Black Panther displaying his genius and martial expertise, lots of sci-fi, a touch of mysticism, Wakanda front and center, BP supporting cast playing a pivotal role in events unfolding and plenty of guest stars. Hickman demonstrates Tchalla's prowess during a cosmic level event thus eliminating the false premise that the Black Panther is only a "street level" superhero. I am looking forward to: Tchalla the Black Panther confronting Thanos with something off the chain and actually killing Namor; Wakanda's war machine in full effect (including warships , tanks, planes, etc...) successfully rallying and defeating of Thanos' invading armies and last but not least Shuri fighting and killing Proxima Midnight.
By now Wakanda should have high-tech spears. Proxima wasn't mocking the spear, because her weapon was a spear. No she mocked that it was only metal.


text: Magellanic penguins strut their stuff on the rocky shoreline of Argentina's Punta Tombo, home to the largest colony of the birds in the world. Craig Lovell/Corbis hide caption toggle caption Craig Lovell/Corbis Environment Changing Climate In Argentina Is Killing Penguin Chicks January 30, 2014 The world's largest breeding colony of Magellanic penguins is seeing unprecedented deaths among young birds. A scientist who has spent 30 years studying the penguins says that climate change is to blame — triggering, among other things, more heat waves and wetter storms that kill fledglings. Changing Climate In Argentina Is Killing Penguin Chicks Listen · 4:01 4:01 Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/268908419/268964685" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript


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Mr. Beacon Brings Big Success
By: Taylor Richardson
I walked into my first ever Mr. Beacon last Friday not really knowing what to expect. The following names were the nine contestants participating:
Michael Gonzales
Jordan Miller
Cody Gardner
Eric Fromm
Will Jones
Alek Angeli
Hunter Tyler
Remi White
Edward Fryrear
I was completely blown away by the thought and time (not to mention the courage) that was put in by the guys competing and everyone else who put it together. The show opened with a choreographed dance and surprisingly most of the guys had rhythm and even a couple were seen throwin' in their own hip swings and style into the dance *cough cough* Remi White and Jordan Miller. After the opening, each individual got to display a video introduction while wearing the Mr. Beacon mustache and a live talent of their choice. Cody, Edward, Eric, Hunter all put together something that would make the crowd laugh. Cody and Edward stuck to a clever stand-up routine, Hunter played a very obscure but hilarious version of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", and Eric asked for volunteers to eat some not so normal homemade peanut butter balls. Michael decided to play a game of minesweeper in front of the crowd and he worked that game so fast and didn't hit a bomb for quite a while. Will, Alek, Remi, and Jordan decided to take a more musical route with their talents. Will jammed out on his guitar, with the help of the crowd, to "Blitzkrieg Bop" by the Ramones. Jordan did his best to turn the Chapel into a dance party and got everyone up out of their seats dancing. Alek decided to play a song on the piano that made every girl in that chapel swoon. Lastly, Remi decided sing the cup song from the chick flick "Pitch Perfect", error free I might add.
Students were encouraged to buy $1 tickets throughout the night that could be used to vote for whichever candidate they felt deserving. Mr. Beacon ended up earning a huge $273 dollars towards missions. Ultimately it was Alek Angeli's skillful fingers that won the crowd over and he was voted NCU's Mr. Beacon.


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Thursday, November 18, 2010
Chora, Kythira
Flickr Link: Chora, Kythira
This photo was taken at the church where our koumbari got married. In the distance one can see the town of Chora, the island's capital.
If you liked this post, maybe your friends will like it too! Share this with them!


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Tue, 20 Oct 2020
Kulcha Recipe
Kulcha Recipe
• 4 Cups Maida
• 2 Tsp Dry Yeast
• Oil to Fry
• Salt to Taste
• Dissolve yeast in little warm water.
• Mix salt and oil with flour.
• Pour dissolved yeast mixture and blend into dough by adding water.
• Close with a wet muslin cloth and keep aside for 3-4 hours.
• Make even sized balls and roll into a thick round chapathi.
• Apply water on top of kulcha and turn over to the hot pan so that the water applied part sticks to the pan.
• Close with a lid and cook.
Back to Recipes Home
© Copyright 2020. All rights reserved. newkerala.com


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One of my favorite pre-paleo indulgences was a good ol' bucket of fried chicken. Who doesn't adore taking a bite out of a chicken leg that is flavorful and juicy on the inside — while being crunchy and flaky on the outside? Ugh..heaven! Now that I avoid gluten, and most grains — I don't frequent many KFC or Popeye drive-thrus. BUT…I have a terrific oven-baked fried chicken recipe that you can make at home. It will certainly satisfy you and your family!
Ahh…Fried Chicken Memories
Before we get into the recipe I would like to share two specific fried-chicken memories with you. You guys know how I love getting all nostalgic 🙂
Memory #1 – Sheer Grossness
When I was a girl our family always entrusted our fried-poultry needs to the local Church's Chicken. For those of you that are familiar with Church's Chicken — you know that people visit for 2 reasons — 1) their chicken and 2) their sweet honey butter biscuits. So, our family came home with the usual…chicken, multiple sides, & biscuits. As my brother carefully peeled open one of their flakey sweet biscuits — there it was…a cockroach leg. Baked in. I kid you not. Making fried chicken at home sounds pretty awesome right now huh?
Memory #2 – Sheer Disappointment
Let's just say I stayed clear of Church's Chicken for a while. Years went by…and there I was in college. Jason and I (pre-paleo days of course) decided to pull up to a KFC. We ordered some chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, haha and yes biscuits again. This time; however, the problem wasn't with the biscuits. We got home only to discover that we had 2 giant Styrofoam containers of brown gravy. Usually this would not be a problem — but one of those containers was supposed to be the mashed potatoes. What. The. Hell. When you're a college kid who just spent money on what you expected to be some comfort-food gorge feast — and you get home and all you have is gravy?…uhh yeah you're pretty pissed.
As I said before — stay away from your local fried chicken joints. They're just not worth it. And the two memories I just shared with you don't even have anything to do with how unhealthy they are! Yuck. Make these instead!
- 5 chicken drumsticks
- 1/2 cup coconut milk
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp. hot sauce (I like to use Chalua's)
- 1/2 cup arrowroot flour
- 1/2 cup almond meal
- 2 tsp. salt, divided
- 1 tsp. garlic powder, divided
- 3/4 tsp. black pepper, divided
- 1 tsp. dried sage
- 1/2 tsp. onion powder
- 1/4 tsp. paprika
- 1 tbsp. coconut oil, melted
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Pat the drumsticks with a paper towel so that they are dry. Season with 1 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. garlic powder, and 1/4 tsp. black pepper. Set aside.
3. In a medium-sized bowl whisk the coconut milk, egg, and hot sauce together until it is well combined.
4. In a shallow dish combine the arrowroot flour, almond meal, and the remainder of spices. Be careful with you mix it up as the arrowroot flour is very light and often gets messy.
5. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
6. Now it's time to dredge your chicken. Dip the first drumstick in the egg mixture, allow any excess to drip off. Place it in the mixture of flours and make sure it is well coated. Place it on the baking sheet and continue with the remaining drumsticks.
7. I like to give the drumsticks a second coat of flour & spices. You don't need to dip them in the egg mixture again, but re-coat all the drumsticks in the seasoned flour and return them to the baking sheet.
8. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
9. Remove them from the oven, and using a pastry brush — dab each drumstick with the melted coconut oil. This will help them develop and extra browned/crunchy top!
10. Return them to the oven and continue baking for another 20 minutes.


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Tis The Season of Influenza
Flu symptoms may begin suddenly, the virus doesn't tend to be speedy and you can be contagious before you even realize it. The influenza virus which causes the flu may last one to four days before you begin to experience symptoms. Then it can hit you hard. You will be feeling relatively fine, and then […]Continue Reading →
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Sleet, Anne(born: 1932)
In 2007, Anne Sleet became the first African American woman mayor of Perryville, KY. A former nurse and caterer, Sleet had also been a member of the city council prior to becoming mayor, succeeding her late husband, Raymond Sleet, who had been elected to the council four times. Anne Sleet was re-elected to the council for three consecutive terms and was unopposed when she ran for mayor. For more see G. Kocher, "Perryville's next mayor - Anne Sleet adds new chapter to family's proud history in Boyle County," Lexington Herald-Leader, 11/27/2006, Main News section, p. A1. See also the Sleettown entry. Request from KET the Anne Sleet interview [#210] "Connections with Renee Shaw," 02/10/2007 at KET (Kentucky Educational Television).


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The dramatic and picturesque Greensand Ridge runs through the centre of Bedfordshire - in its hills are some of the last remnants of ancient heathland in the region, while the nearby Flit Valley has wetland habitats rich in wildlife.
The Greensand Country Partnership has been successful in its bid for £1.66 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund. This has been awarded to help preserve the character of the Greensand Country landscape in and around Bedfordshire. In addition to this there has been an incredible commitment from partners, local authorities and other donors in the area, which has meant that the partnership has been able to gather a further £1.4 million as match funding. In total that's an investment of £3.1 million in the area.
This will support an array of exciting projects which will help raise awareness of the hidden heritage of the Greensand Country and to reverse the gradual decline in the distinct character of this beautiful and loved landscape.
The Greensand Country Partnership will work with partner organisations to improve existing sites, and to improve public access to the Greensand Country by a network of new trails and self-guided walks.
"This was a great opportunity for the Wildlife Trust to be involved in because of all the potential work that we could accomplish. Much of the work we wanted to do here was aspirational - restoration projects, big capital improvement projects, which were not possible without the funding and support from the Greensand Country Landscape Partnership project," said Laura Downton, Living Landscape Manager, Wildlife Trust BCN.
42 projects will benefit from funding from the project, including work at Flitwick Moor Nature Reserve, a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a key wetland habitat in the Flit Valley.
Learn about our Living Landscape vision for the Greensand Country and the nature reserves within it.
Find out more about the Greensand Country Partnership on their website.


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Fully functional trial software for 40 PCs
NetSupport School is the class-leading training software solution, providing teachers with the ability to instruct and visually/audibly monitor, as well as interact with their students, individually, as a pre-defined group or to the whole class.
Rising to the challenge and requirements of today's modern classroom, NetSupport School provides the ability to deliver lesson content, simultaneously monitor all student PCs and work collaboratively, ensuring that complete student attention and focus is maintained at all times. There are no hidden extras, all features are included as standard including a customised testing suite, dedicated technician console, digital student revision aids, lesson planning tools and the option for teachers to reward students for good effort.Click for more information


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With the first quarter of 2018 now behind us, we wanted to take the time to provide an update on the progress the Aurelia team and community have made towards our 2018 roadmap goals.
Platform Features and Capabilities
We've made some significant advancements in our core platform capabilities during Q1, including releases that have been in high demand for quite some time. Let's dig into the details...
Server-Side Rendering (SSR)
In late February, we announced the availability of server-side-rendering for Aurelia, built on Node.js and Koa. We put everything together in a nice new skeleton , designed to get you up and running quickly .
Since the release of this skeleton, we've been getting great feedback from vested community members who have been helping us to make improvements based on real-world usage. Additionally, one of our core team members, Dwayne Charrington , has put together an awesome advanced skeleton that includes SSR integration with Firebase .
We're continuing to invest in SSR going forward and we're now at a stage where we're looking for community members who want to contribute by helping us to extend support to other Node frameworks, .NET, Ruby, Java, Go, and more. If you are passionate about a particular backend technology and want to help out, drop us a note on the SSR Engine repository and let's work together to build more integrations.
Aurelia UX
Our UX and component library, Aurelia UX , continues to march ahead with a number of great new features.
- Grid Layout - We've introduced a layout system into the UX library, built on CSS Grid. The system provides a simple collection of elements and attributes that you can use to structure your application layouts.
- CSS Reset - We've added an optional CSS reset into the library so that you can ensure styles are applied consistently across browsers. You are still free to bring your own reset or skip it altogether if you desire as well.
- Select Component - One of the most often requested components is a customizable select box. We've now added one to the UX library .
We've got lots more planned for the future. If you're interested in helping to build out components for Aurelia and its community, please join us over on the UX GitHub repo .
Web Component Export
Now that the W3C specifications for Web Components are finally coming online in modern browsers, we want to ensure that Aurelia's components can function as standard Web Components outside of an Aurelia app and properly interoperate with any framework or library that works with Web Components. To that end, in Q1 we launched a very early version of the aurelia-web-components library, which can transform any globally registered aurelia components into Web Components. We're now looking for Web Component enthusiasts within the community who want to help test this library and ensure that it's working properly in different contexts. If that's you, drop us a note on the the aurelia-web-components github repo .
State Management
While existing state management libraries like Redux work great with Aurelia, we've had a high demand and community interest in Aurelia having its own, native state management solution. In our 2018 roadmap, we announced that we were working on just such a library. We're happy to share that during the first quarter of the year, core team member Vildan Softic has made extraordinary progress on the new library . The bulk of the features are now complete (only one left to go) and about half of the documentation is written. We're hoping to have a release in late April or early May. If you're looking for a great state management solution with low ceremony, powerful async support, undo/redo and more, we'd love for you to check it out, get involved and help us deliver the first major release together.
In addition to the core platform, we've continued to advance our tooling during Q1. Below is a summary of the great new releases we've had.
Webpack 4.x Support
Recently the Webpack team announced that they had shipped a new 4.x version of their tool. In response to this, Aurelia core team member Jods4 moved quickly to update our own plugins to support the new version. We were able to ship our Webpack 4.x plugin update in a matter of a few days, early in March of this year.
While we are continuing to invest in our Webpack plugin, we're also working on core improvements to Aurelia itself, which are designed to enable better support for bundlers, static analysis and tree shaking. We've got 3+ PRs from core team member Binh Vo that are in final review and which we plan to ship in the next month, enabling fully static-analyzable builds.
CLI Improvements
In Q1 the Aurelia CLI also got a major update to support Webpack 4. Additionally, in response to the popularity of Webpack, we've switched the CLI to use the Webpack build configuration by default for newly scaffolded projects and updated our documentation to match. We still have full support for SystemJS and RequireJS builds, which we've continued to improve and enhance with new capabilities as well. Beyond the general build improvements, we're also making solid progress on our multi-targeting support, which will enable you to have a single project target web, Electron and Cordova simultaneously. Keep a lookout for that in the coming months.
VS Code Plugin
We're continuing to invest in our VS Code plugin and are happy to share that during Q1 we released preliminary support for intellisense in views. You can enable this feature by adding the following to your VSCode settings:
"aurelia.featureToggles": {
"smartAutocomplete": true
We're excited about the future of this plugin and will have more information to share in the coming weeks.
As you can see above, the first quarter of 2018 has been an exciting time for today's Aurelia. We're also excited to share that we've been making solid progress towards a vNext implementation of Aurelia. We're exploring how we can take today's Aurelia developer experience and fashion a more-modernized implementation under the hood. As part of this work, we're exploring AOT, static analysis, build-time code generation and more. Our initial investigations look promising and we're hopeful that down the road we'll be able to deliver an even faster, smaller and more simple Aurelia. If you are interested in following the early efforts, you can check out the experiment repo on GitHub .
We're excited to invite Alexander Taran to the Aurelia Core Team to help us in driving improvements through our community channels. During Q1 Alexander spear-headed an aggressive effort to triage and help resolve GitHub issues. We believe this is an important part of maintaining a good standing with our community and we're happy to have Alexander focusing in on this area.
Additionally, Alexander has been leading a community effort to accumulate knowledge and solutions in one place, which has come to be known as "Aurelia Contrib". Here's a word from Alexander about the effort...
Getting to know a framework is hard these days. There is a lot of useful information scattered all over the internet: blogs, GitHub, Discourse, etc. I'm strongly convinced that it would greatly benefit the community if most of this goodness were gathered in one place. This is what brought forth the idea of aurelia-contrib.
We'd like to invite you to consider moving your plugin to the aurelia-contrib organization. This will increase visibility over time and Github will redirect all your customers to this new place where they will be able to discover many other plugins. You'll maintain ownership, but you won't be alone in your efforts. If this interests you, contact alexander-taran for membership in the organization. We've recently onboarded the open-id-connect plugin and an awesome typed-observale plugin by core team member Binh Vo .
We're also working to build a cookbook/recipes section of documentation here https://github.com/aurelia-contrib/aurelia-getting-started including guides, tips & tricks, commented configuration files - you name it. We want it all. Have a look and consider how you might share your own Aurelia learnings by giving back to the community through this project.
In case you haven't seen it, we launched the Aurelia Open Collective in Q1. In the short couple of months since we launched, we've reached an estimated annual budget of $30,730. Wow! We're so humbled and thankful for the way the community has stepped up to help support and sustain Aurelia . Core team member Matthew Davis is helping to lead Aurelia's new financing plans, which include this great Open Collective work, along with team-member Patreons, and more. We'll have a detailed blog post in the next couple weeks discussing our plans for the incoming funds as well as further details regarding Aurelia's financial sustainability planning.
Wrapping Up
We hope you are as excited as we are about the progress our community has made together during the first three months of 2018. It's an exciting time for Aurelia and we're looking forward to delivering even more awesome as the rest of the year unfolds.
Forward Aurelia!!!


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Abortion: Government Penalizing Organizations That Provide Care and Referrals
Abortion is a legal medical procedure and the government has no business intruding on a woman's private and personal health care decisions. Yet, in the last year we have seen unprecedented attacks on organizations that provide, among many other health care services, abortion care or even mention abortion as part of their counseling services.
States around the country have passed laws defunding Planned Parenthood and preventing them from participating in public health care programs. We've also seen politicians manipulate laws- from tax credit programs to federal family planning funding policies- to undermine any organization that even mentions abortion. Politicians across the country are willing to sacrifice community family planning centers and even domestic violence shelters as collateral damage in their efforts to limit access to abortion care.
These cynical attempts to insert ideology into personal decisions between women and their health care providers put hundreds of thousands of families, including the uninsured, unemployed and underserved, at risk of losing essential health care services.
Key Resources
> Planned Parenthood of Indiana Inc., et al. v. Commissioner of the Indiana State Department of Health
> Judge Temporarily Blocks Kansas Law Restricting Federal Title X Funds
> Arizona Law Says Choose Between Donations and Providing Care to Women
> NYCLU and ACLU Stand With Planned Parenthood
> Sign the Pledge: I Stand In Support of Reproductive Rights!
> Attacks on Funding for Women's Health & Reproductive Healthcare
Click here for more cases, blogs, news, multimedia, factsheets, and actions, in this area »


text: LadyD 3315 Report post Posted August 20, 2016 (edited) Utterly unnecessary thread. I am feeling low, I am feeling tired and worn out. I have been chasing naughty forum users all over. So my lovelies! Remind me how nice the forums can be? I call on a few of my favourites@Asparagus Who is my ship and we ship and we have been shipped@GiddyGuy the only forum guy who makes me giddy? @ImDaMisterL who slaves away with me@MenaAthena She mean she Athen- she is nice@Battal He is not a lord but lord he is fun@Ysulyan I love your new avatar@Artem nice hat@LiptonPee still havent forgiven you for that voice thing XD@Mobbstar are you in the firstname.lastname@example.com Minding P and Q? There are others but they are the ones I thought to call. Will they answer the bat signal and bring cheer and good will? Edited August 23, 2016 by LadyD 16 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


text: Technical efficiency, cost effectiveness and speed to market drive SNHA's designs for mission critical facilities. Our clients benefit significantly from incremental improvements in performance and constructability. This potential inspires ongoing design innovation and close collaboration with our engineering and construction partners. CA21 Santa Clara, California LLA2 Luleå, Sweden Franklin Park Data Center Franklin Park, Illinois DC11 Ashburn, Virginia NY5 Secaucus, New Jersey Prineville Prineville, Oregon CH3 Elk Grove, Illinois SV10 San Jose, California DC12 Ashburn, Virginia FTW12 Fort Worth, Texas


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On a fall night in 2003, Harvard undergrad and computer programming genius Mark Zuckerberg sits down at his computer and heatedly begins working on a new idea. In a fury of blogging and programming, what begins in his dorm room as a small site among friends soon becomes a global social network and a revolution in communication. A mere six years and 500 million friends later, Mark Zuckerberg is the youngest billionaire in history… but for this entrepreneur, success leads to both personal and legal complications.
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But today was one of those gorgeous early Fall Kansas days, Clouds, sunshine and wind, no warmer than about 62 degrees. Cold or warm wherever you were. Kids band (Well, 3 out of 4 are verifiable family members and we might have adopted the 4th sometime in the past 25 years..) The Wheatbenders were playing at Fieldstone Orchard near Overbrook Kansas. It was Farm Tour weekend.
Grandkids were there and with daughter Liz leading the pack, we went apple and pear picking.
Liz and Anna
Here is Maya helping Kellar with her picker.
Owen tasting a pear.
It was a wonderful day. I needed a wonderful day to remind me of what is important.


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Living in the northern foothold of the Appalachians in the Canadian province of Quebec is the Northern Spring Salamander (Gyrinophilus porphyriticus porphyriticus). These salamanders are listed as Threatened by COSEWIC (Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada) due
Spring Salamander in Quebec
Today I traveled to Quebec to observe one Canada's rarest salamander species, the Spring Salamander.
Canada's rare stream dweller: The Spring Salamander
The Spring Salamander (Gyrinophilus porphyriticus) is a large species of stream dwelling Plethodontid (lungless salamander). In Ontario, the species is designated as extirpated (extinct from the province). The species was known to have occurred in the Niagara Peninsula in Ontario,


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There's a saying in Italy that one should never tell a farmer just how good his cheese and pears taste together (presumably because if he knew, he would hoard them all). In this salad, Opera 02 chef Silvana Baranzoni adds eggplant and walnuts to that beloved duo.
How to Make It
Preheat the oven to 350°. In a pie plate, toast the walnuts for about 5 minutes, until lightly browned. Let cool, then coarsely chop.
Light a grill or preheat a grill pan. Brush the eggplant slices with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill the eggplant over moderately high heat until lightly browned and tender, about 2 minutes per side.
In a large skillet, melt the butter. Add the pear slices and cook over moderate heat, tossing, until just starting to soften, 3 minutes. Add the Cognac and toss the pears to coat thoroughly; remove from the heat.
In a small bowl, whisk 3 tablespoons of oil with the garlic, vinegar, 1 tablespoon of the parsley and 1/2 tablespoon of the chives. Season the vinaigrette with salt and pepper.
Arrange the eggplant slices on a platter and drizzle with the vinaigrette. Arrange the pear slices over the eggplant and drizzle with the honey. Scatter the walnuts, cheese and the remaining 1 tablespoon of parsley and 1/2 tablespoon of chives over the top. Serve.


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The love and light movement is about racism. It's about elitism. Because the only people who can truly afford to live that way are people who aren't affected by the injustice in the world.
For whom the bell tolls? It tolls for theeee motherfuxker. It tolls for YOU you stupid bitch.
– Amber Khan, Revolution Ramblings Podcast#5 : Love, Light, and Entitlement


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Home >> Publishing >> Author
David Silver
David Silver has had a lifelong interest in meditation, and began training Gojū Ryū Karate at age 11. He studied Taijiquan, Qigong, and Yoga in his 20's, and became certified by world-renown Chinese martial arts master, Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming, as a YMAA Qigong Instructor.
He volunteers for the nonprofit YMAA Retreat Center.
David works as a writer, producer, and director of instructional martial arts and health books and DVDs. He is the co-writer of the best-selling "Sunrise Tai Chi" book and DVD, "Tai Chi Energy Patterns" DVD, and "Sunset Tai Chi" book and DVD. He has produced many titles, including those by Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming, a "Chen Taijiquan" DVD by Ren, GuangYi and rock music legend Lou Reed, and a series of Wudang mountain martial arts videos with Zhou, Xuan-Yun. David lives and teaches on Cape Cod, MA.


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Some people are surprised to learn that after college they do not find their intended job. Find out how to cope with life after college and get on track to climbing your way up the job ladder without going broke on the way!
Difficulty: Challenging
Things You'll Need:
• a college degree
• patience
• persistence
• a good resume
• job hunting skills
Step 1
Get a job. (Or keep the one you have).
Any job. Think of this job as just a means by which to pay your bills. This is not your career, and it is not what you went to college for, but that's O.K. It might be retail, waiting tables, food service, or whatever other place will hire you for a job.
Step 2
Polish your resume' and apply to any job in your field that you went to college for that you would be willing to do to start.
Details on how to write a resume, cover letter, and be successful in an interview are beyond the scope of this article, but most colleges have a career center that will give you general advice about these skills so you get a job, and even look over your paperwork to give you specific tips on how to improve your resume. So start applying for jobs as soon as you can after you get that college degree.
Step 3
Accept initial job rejection without letting it break your spirit.
Tell yourself "I wasn't meant to work at that job. Maybe I wouldn't get along with those people, or maybe I'd be in over my head and overwhelmed at that job. But another job will come along that I was meant to do."
When you start getting interviews and then (a few inevitable) job rejections, tell yourself that it was a learning experience that even college couldn't provide. It was a practice to help you get some of your nerves out, so that when the right job comes along you'll be familiar enough with the interview process that you'll have the confidence to wow them.
Credit: SOCIALisBETTER @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/27620885@N02/2655221272/Step 4
Accept a part-time job in your field, even if it's not quite what you had in mind.
Keep your main job if you are not getting the pay or hours that you need from this job in your field. Don't think of this job as a way to earn money (in fact, you might try to volunteer if you can't find paid work in your field). Think of this job as earning experience.
Step 5
Imagine coming CLOSER to your career goal as the weeks or months pass.
Every cover letter you send should be a little better than the ones you sent the week before. Every job interview should go a little smoother than the one before. You've learned more about your field in your part-time related to the field job than you knew when you first graduated from college. All these things are bringing you closer to your dream job. Don't think of yourself as someone who can't find a job. Think of yourself as someone who has gone through a learning process and has learned enough to get the job YOU WANT.
Step 6
Keep up working on step 5 until you find your job. You can do it! All good things take time. But if you graduated with that college degree it means you ARE suited for the job you want in that field.


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Many of our customers with large decision tree systems in place ask for guidance on how to make a "master tree" which links to individual trees for troubleshooting or other processes. This is especially helpful for organizations that use Zingtree to build and publish completely interactive FAQs. In this article, we'll discuss how it's done.
Building a Master Tree
Creating a Master Tree is a simple, yet powerful process that consists of two over-arching steps:
- Build the individual decision trees.
- Build a Master Tree with one node, using a "blank starter tree."
After building your individual trees and troubleshooters, there are a couple of distinct ways to build a Master Tree. We've created an example Master Tree for a few of our Gallery product finders.
Method #1 – Using Tree Tag Lists
1. Use the Settings tool to add tags to the trees you want to include in the Master Tree. For this example, we added the tag "master_finder" to our product finder decision trees.
2. Create a new decision tree to act as your Master Tree.
3. In the Master Tree root node's content area, include a tree tag list. For our example, we tagged our trees with "master_finder," so the tree tag list looks like this:
##treetaglist-any: master_finder##
Method #2 – Using Tree Nodes
1. In the Master Tree, add tree nodes for each tree to link to.
2. In the root node of the Master Tree, create a button for each tree node. This will allow an end-user or customer to quickly jump to any other relevant decision tree from the Master Tree.
Example Master Tree
Here's a look at our Master Tree in action:
Want more tips? Our blog is chock-full of them. Any questions? We're always here to help.
This article was originally published on Nov 7, 2017, but is just as accurate as ever!


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Where will your retirement money come from?
If you're like most people, qualified-retirement plans, Social Security, and personal savings and investments are expected to play a role. Once you have estimated the amount of money you may need for retirement, a sound approach involves taking a close look at your potential retirement-income sources.
As a member of LA Financial, you can take advantage of our retirement planning and investment services through LPL Financial Advisors*.
Investment Strategies for Retirement
Investment tools and strategies that can enable you to pursue your retirement goals.
Already Retired? Raise Your Retirement Income
Retirees look for ways to convert savings and investments into regular income. One option to consider is an annuity.
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Securities and advisory services offered through LPL Financial, a registered investment advisor, member FINRA/SIPC. Insurance products offered through LPL Financial or its licensed affiliates.
The investment products sold through LPL Financial are not insured LA Financial Federal Credit Union deposits and are not NCUA insured. These products are not obligations of LA Financial Federal Credit Union and are not endorsed, recommended or guaranteed by LA Financial Federal Credit Union or any government agency. The value of the investment may fluctuate, the return on the investment is not guaranteed, and loss of principal is possible.
Check the background of investment professionals associated with this site on Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's (FINRA) BrokerCheck.


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Waking up at 7 a.m. is my jam
As a freelance journalist who doesn't need to take root at any office, except my work-sharing space whenever I'm in the mood, I don't need to get at any particular time. I always try to be awake by 8:30 a.m. so I can take advantage of my morning. But last week, and from now, getting up at 7 a.m. has been my go-to wakeup time.
It started randomly on Tuesday when I couldn't fall back asleep, and a part of me thought: Damn, now I'm going to hit that fatigue wall at 1 p.m. But isn't anxiety all just fear about being afraid of something that hasn't happened? Thankfully, no wall was hit, let alone lightly flicked, and my energy levels kept surging way past 5 p.m. and even at sundown I wasn't feeling the expected grogginess I'd always associated with an unusually early wakeup.
Maybe this is me getting all adulty, or my body's sleep rhythm requiring fewer hours with shuteye. So I decided to repeat the 7 a.m. wakeup on Wednesday ,then Thursday, and each day I got more done with my journalistic assignments and poetry work. That dip rarely happened, and when it did the eyelids might have drooped but never to the point where I needed to nap. P.S. Not a napper, never have been. It feels like such a sleep-tease.
I remember listening to Tim Ferriss podcasts in which he interviews successful entrepreneurs about their morning habits, and so many of them got up before 8 a.m. I practically felt embarrassed recounting my startup days and stretching awake at the luxurious hour of 8:45 a.m. (my work day started at 10 a.m.). In lieu of that shame, I'm now feeling empowered to wake up at 7 a.m. on weekdays from now on, in order to chomp on more hours during my day and go to bed at a reasonable hour.
If you told Teenage Dave he'd willingly wake up at 7 a.m. without requiring such an ungodly disturbance to my inevitably thrilling dreams, he would've flipped ya the bird or something equally '90s. And I wonder if that dude could've swallowed his instinct to sleep in til 10 a.m. and try an early-morning regimen, even if it was simply an experiment for the sake of science.
Yeah, I agree. No way he would've done that back then.
Leave a Reply.


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Around the Tubes
Thankfully I didn't go see the midnight showing of Transformers 3, instead choosing the 9pm. I'm thankful because that means I didn't lose sleep along with my $15. This has to be one of the worst films of the summer so far, and that says a lot in the summer of disappointments. Our full review later.
Around the Blogs:
ICv2 – Spidey Musical Playing to Packed Houses – I see this one sticking around for a bit, but not ever being profitable.
ICv2 – The Top Ten Box Office Duds of 2011 So Far – You can add Transformers 3 to this (I hope).
Around the Tubes Reviews:
Good Comic Books – G.I. Joe: Cobra Civil War #1
Geekweek – The Homeland Directive
Graphic Novel Reviews – Pride and Prejudice


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Dear all partners, travelers!
Warm Greeting from Nepal!
If you are preparing to trek to Dolpo/Upper Dolpo area, we have some good news to share with you:
Juphal (Dolpo) Airport Finally Reopened
According to Tara Air, Juphal (Dolpo) airport is finally reopened and first test flight is successfully conducted on September 8, 2017. As this test flight is successfully conducted, from September 9, 2017 there will be daily schedule flight to Juphal/Dolpo from Nepalgunj.
So from now on, all our partners can take booking for Dolpo/Upper Dolpo trek using Juphal airport.
Thank you,
Trekking Experts Team


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At Accountable Solutions, Inc. we love to see our clients succeed! That's why we proactively provide the professional services and guidance our clients need to understand and strengthen their financial situation in order to achieve their goals. Known for being forward-thinking and responsive, we have earned the trust of individuals and businesses.
When you work with our firm, you'll get the personalized attention of our professional team, and we are passionate about your success. We'll put our extensive experience and expert knowledge to work for you to ensure that your accounting, tax, payroll and advisory needs are completely satisfied. Plus, you'll have access to your key financial information 24/7 using our state-of-the art Client Success Center so you'll always know exactly where you stand.
We look forward to meeting you and learning how we can help you succeed.
It's a New Brand Day at Accountable Solutions Inc. We are excited to announce the recent launch of our firm's new brand. We've been working very hard to enhance our website, develop helpful new client communications, and give our firm a facelift. We've also continued to research and identify the latest and greatest technologies to improve the services we provide and...


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This is an issue which has affected me personally — type my name into a word doc and see what it recommends as an alternative (see below if you're too lazy to try this yourself). Such a mechanical slip might easily have altered the vectors of my life, compromised my career, and impinged on my freedom, all thanks to the zeal of Microsoft et al. to ease my responsibility to spell my own name correctly. Vorsprung durch technik indeed.
Now that I am in recovery I am amused by it all, and pleased that others are finding similar enjoyment. For instance, I stole that last phrase from Audi and from the following poem:
A life now spent correcting auto correct — Vorsprung durch technik [Noble Francis]
Yes, such is our time that a name or a process outside of the commonplace now must be managed: with a life given over to correcting the corrections. Such time lost, such energy wasted. The only sane response is . . . humor. And there are two chief strategies to arriving at this humor — we can revel in the absurdities foisted upon us, as in my third choice:
I love the verb "to snopake," — so much unexplored potential — and plan to make it part of my general vocabulary. The other chief strategy is to create the absurdity for ourselves, as in my second choice for this week:winter departs — last year's errors snopaked out [David Dayson]
TV subtitles — political con men taters tell it how it is [David Dayson]
There is certain satisfaction to making up one's own algorithm, to overlaying a skewed sense of logic onto something that clamors to express its own. While this particular deconstruction seems unlikely to me, even by Microsoft's standards, there was good sport at its making, and the whoreson must be acknowledged.
But lucky are they who can rise above others' foibles, who can extract meaning from the seeming randomness and noise. My top choice this week converts the quirks of serendipity to a stentorian imperative:
to triumph autocorrect tells me — try oomph [David Dayson]
Norman Vincent Peale would be proud.
Now I must get utterly snopaked — "Kacian" suggests, to our algorithm overlords, "cocaine." Until next week . . .
New Poems
amartophobia — how obsessively I check each word — Maria Laura Valente * mangled; my English . . . the Cupertino effect the Cupertino effect — Ernesto P. Santiago * making out I'm someone I'm not spell check — Rachel Sutcliffe * Dear John the typos no one accounted for — Michael Henry Lee * dust bowl in vain i seek the vineyard where the gripes of wrath are stored — Jennifer Hambrick * I meant superb not subpar dame autocorrect — Christina Sng * autocorrect she reminds him of her name again — Andy McLellan * grammar nazi I become my own nemesis — Shloka Shankar * boss's minutes my surname spelt as "Ceremony" — Samantha Sirimanne Hyde * rough draft . . . one misspelled word too many — Willie Bongcaron * message online — my reply is impostible — Angela Giordano * breaking the spell . . . he calls his new girlfriend by his ex's name — Olivier Schopfer * luckily the punchline didn't make sense after auto-correct — Mark Gilbert * unforgivable mistake dismissal of the Director on national television — Eufemia Griffo * autocorrect — too many the errors I can't erase — Anna Maria Domburg-Sancristoforo Domburg * work email my gender autocorrects — Roberta Beary * submission . . . my tale rejected too many typos — Elisa Allo * proofreader Spelchek checks Czech check — Paul Geiger * auto correct not what I had in mind still it persists . . . — Madhuri Pillai * "Thanks" to T9 Mary's "FIGLIO" becomes her "FOGLIO" grazie al T9 i miei auguri al "figlio" di Mary diventano al "foglio" — Lucia Cardillo * Important document — The last name of the Boss has blossomed . . . — Nazarena Rampini * divorce papers installing a free Auto-Correct — Cezar Ciobika * bip...bip...bip... my software is mad — Antonio Mangiameli * from past and future to present tense auto-correct — Michael Stinson * I'll have you know I mean every auto-corrected word I say — Lee Nash * I'll find my own spelling errors thanks . . . spellchick — Karen Harvey * Echo in November I have the same paperwork in March — Benedetta Cardone * spellcheck honing my writing skills my first-grade teacher — Devin Harrison *
Next Week's Theme: The Team Meeting
Send your poem using "workplace haiku" as the subject by Sunday midnight to our Contact Form. Good luck!
From October 2014 through April 2016 Haiku Foundation president Jim Kacian offered a column on haiku for the London Financial Times centered on the theme of work. Each week we share these columns with the haiku community at large, along with an invitation to join in the fun. Submit a poem by Sunday midnight on the theme of the week, from the classical Japanese tradition, or contemporary practice, or perhaps one of your own, which you might even write for the occasion. The best of these will be appended to the column. First published 13 February 2015.


text:
Take Your Family Outdoors
It's my family's first night in the Alaskan backcountry. Things are not going well. Actually, calling it backcountry is pushing the definition. We're about 100 yards off the pavement in a roadside state park.
Hardly a minute after our three kids pile out of the car, they're slapping at mosquitoes and acquiring that whining tone parents recognize as the precursor to imminent meltdown. Within 15 minutes, Ruby, our 5-year-old, has welts the size of nickels, and her whine-o-meter is hovering in the panic zone. Eli, 8, and Sawyer, 7, aren't faring much better.
Marypat and I exchange alarmed looks. The mosquitoes aren't nearly as bad as what we're about to experience on a 2-week float down 300 miles of the Yukon River. To their credit, the kids are seasoned campers who thrive in the outdoors. But this is the first time we've exposed them to the rigors of the northern bush.
Back in our prekid days, Marypat and I traveled often to the Arctic wilderness. It's where we fell in love, and then stayed in love. We long ago determined to share that passion with our offspring. As well, we knew there could be no better proving or learning ground. Neither of us minds if Mother Nature steps in and teaches our kids a thing or two. In fact, that's exactly what we want.
Two days later, we launch our canoes into the swift current of the Yukon. High and silty, the river is full of sticks and branches destined for logjams downstream.
In the bow of my canoe, Eli grabs a stick out of the current, inspects it, then lays it back in the water. Ruby, amidships, snatches it up as it goes past and stacks it in the canoe. Sawyer, in the bow of Marypat's boat, sees what his siblings are up to and starts his own stash. Our friends Kim and Charlie, a childless couple who have gamely signed on for a crash course in family camping, paddle ahead.
The river coils in immense bends, and forested hillsides hump away into the green distance. While the kids amass mounds of sticks the size of small beaver lodges, I allow myself a moment to be pulled into the spell of the wilderness, to sense the muscular, gritty river under the hull. I relax a notch. Maybe we can pull this off.
When we stop at the first in a series of gravel-bar island camps, the youngsters explode into action. Time spent paddling or hiking is always entertaining, but camp is where the fun stuff really happens. Log piles, pretty rocks, and sandy expanses are playgrounds that dispense with the need for toys. Kim joins in their play as they follow a set of lynx tracks down the shoreline.
On this first night of river travel, after a chapter of Harry Potter, I smile at the sound of steady sleep-breathing beside me. My pretrip concerns have faded; the wilderness already seems more welcoming than forbidding.
Each day, memories pile up like the sticks in our canoes: a cow moose browsing in a clump of willows; prospectors' cabins hunkered in the woods. What's more, Eli, Sawyer, and Ruby are coming up to speed in the ways of the bush. When the bugs are bad, they simply put on repellent and windshirts with hoods. The whine-o-meter doesn't register a blip.
This isn't to say there aren't bad moments. Ten days into the journey, a daylong rainstorm pounces. Slabs of riverbank and entire trees topple into the torrent. We slide around corners, desperate for a camp, any camp, not drowned beneath the rising river. We finally ram into a bedraggled mudbar. Within half an hour of getting a tarp up and serving the first round of hot chocolate, the grim situation has improved. Ruby is sitting next to Kim, drawing rainbows in her journal; the boys are furiously battling Charlie for the hand-slapping championship.
My children are proving themselves.
Some 250 miles downstream from Dawson, Kim and Charlie paddle
ahead to retrieve our vehicles. We have 2 final days to be a family in the Alaskan wilderness.
We float along, our canoes often rafted up together. The boys offer Ruby advice about what to expect in kindergarten. Harry Potter comes to a close. There is no shortage of sticks to collect.
On the last night, we camp at the gravel nose of another island. The kids tear around in the sand, build a fort out of logs and rocks, take dips in a sun-warmed pool, wing stones at passing driftwood logs.
Later, after dinner, Marypat herds us all together for a family photo. One of Ruby's eyes is swollen shut by a blackfly bite. All three of the children are gritty and bug-bitten and in desperate need of hot baths.
"C'mon, you guys," Marypat calls. "This is our last chance for a family shot. We get out tomorrow."
It's then that they all say, in one voice, what I most hoped to hear, words that, 2 weeks earlier in our roadside camp, I'd never have predicted I'd hear:
"Aw, Mom! Can't we stay longer? Can't we just keep on going?"
Child's Play
Trail-tested tips and gear to keep young hikers in high spirits.
With a bit of know-how, some toys and games to entertain, and decent gear to keep your offspring warm and dry, exploring the backcountry becomes a fantastic family experience. Just ask any of the Backpacker editors and contributors
who regularly hike with their children.
Here are their hard-won tips on keeping young campers happy, plus a look at some of the gear that has earned the approval of trail-seasoned testers Austin, 4, son of Southwest Editor Annette McGivney; Siena, 5, daughter of Northwest Editor John Harlin; and Hadley, 5, and Abby, 3, daughters of Managing Editor Jonathan Dorn. Their field trials took place in such varied locales as Oregon's Mt. Hood, the deserts of Arizona and Utah, and along Pennsylvania's portion of the Appalachian Trail.
Infant to 2 years
Trail-tested tips
- Watch her head. As soon as Baby can hold her head up, you have the green light to hit the trail. Load her in a chest carrier, which allows you to shoulder a light backpack, as well.
- Pack yummy morsels. Nursing infants need only Mama for food. Bring dried banana strips (not slices) for teething toddlers; they keep infants busy for long stretches of time, if you don't mind the drool. Bring a hand-crank food mill for grinding up the leftovers from adult meals to feed those eating some solid foods.
- Bow to your baby. When paddling with an infant, make sure your boat has ample bow room. The youngster will sit on your lap most of the time, or nap between your feet.
- Boatsit the baby. On canoe trips, use the beached boat as a playpen for pretoddlers. Pull the boat into camp, throw in a few toys and let Baby ramble, free from the dangers of thistles, sand, and goose poop.
- Camp in chokeproof sites. When Baby's in the put-everything-in-his-or-her-mouth stage, seek out hiking destinations with chokeproof terrain, such as a sandy beach or grassy meadow, for campsites.
- Ride in style. Decorate your child carrier with dangling playpen doodads to make it more like home. Baby will sleep better if you drape the official "blankie" over the carrier frame.
- Cover those tootsies. Bundle little feet in insulated booties during cool hikes. Lack of movement, combined with restricted circulation in legs dangling from the carrier cockpit, can lead to cold piggies and irritability.
- Bed down with care. On cold-weather trips, your down jacket atop a flattened camp chair is a fine bed for Baby. Some parents zip their bags together and sleep with baby in the middle; use the same caution you do at home to prevent smothering.
- Batten down the hatches. Securely stake and weight your tent so it doesn't blow away while Baby is taking her nap.
The best child carriers for overnight hikes allow ample comfort for parent and child. We tested a bunch and liked these models most:
Jack Wolfskin Watchtower Premium. "Siena loves the colorful wolf-track motif and the detachable kid-size pack," says her dad. This 1,770-cubic-inch-capacity carrier offers enough storage space for a multiday trip and plenty of load-carrying comfort, thanks to a suspension system with a well-proportioned lumbar pad, a cushioned hipbelt, and adjustable load lifters. "And it's so comfortable for her," says John, "that there's little incentive for Siena to do what she's supposed to do?hike on her own two legs!" Rated for a 45-pound child. Weight: 6 lbs. 10 oz. Price: $179.
Kelty Explorer and Expedition. Backpacker parents have logged many miles in the Expedition (3,840-cubic-inch capacity) and the slightly smaller Explorer (3,140-cubic-inch capacity). The Expedition won a 1999 Editors' Choice Award (April) for its ability to carry loads of gear and a child comfortably. Roomy cockpits make these carriers best suited to older, awake toddlers, not sleeping babies. Rated for a 45-pound child. Weight: Expedition, 7 lbs. 5 oz.; Explorer, 6 lbs. 6 oz. Price: Expedition, $260; Explorer, $230.
Madden Caravan. "It's comfortable and indestructible no matter how much you carry or how far," says Jon of this rugged carrier. The suspension system is streamlined, but offers just the right amount of padding on the back and hipbelt. Two compartments (2,500 cubic inches total) carry gear, and the simple design keeps the Caravan's weight down. For kids, there are toy loops, a comfortable harness, and amply sized foot stirrups. The original Caravan won an Editors' Choice Award in 1995 (April). The Caravan provided excellent comfort when carrying up to 45 pounds of child and gear. Weight: 5 lbs. 9 oz. Price: $249.
2 to 6 years
Trail-tested tips
- Bribe with trail treats. Diversions of the edible variety are an essential hiking tool. Bring trail mix, gummy worms, lollipops, or licorice. Set goals for the next treat stop: a mile, half an hour, the next lake, a huge tree in the distance.
- Plan playtime. Schedule numerous rest/play stops. Kids tire faster than adults do, plus they can teach you a thing or two about stopping to smell the flowers.
- Walk with wheels. On well-groomed trails, a jogging stroller allows you to carry a full backpack and still ferry your child when she becomes too tired to walk. Note: You can't take jogging strollers (wheels!) into designated wilderness areas.
- Think quality, not quantity. A successful family backpacking trip doesn't have to cover much ground if there are rocks to scramble on, trees to climb, and water to play in. Adults tend to have a "proceed from Point A to Point B" mentality, but kids are much more likely to be satisfied with immediate experiences. Keep your total trip mileage well below what you would cover without children.
- Transplant toys. Pack a sandbox shovel and little plastic toys to amuse the kids in camp. Bring books, paper, crayons, or an Etch A Sketch for tent-bound entertainment.
- Let them get dirty. Parents who are fanatics about regularly bathing their children must check that notion at the trailhead. Consider basecamping. This allows for casual dayhikes and lightens the load for overburdened parents.
- Make merry with mud pies. Plan to camp along a stream or near a lake. There's nothing like sand, mud, and water to occupy children for hours. Avoid critter visits. Reduce your child's attractiveness to animals and insects by avoiding sweet-smelling lotions and wipes. At bedtime, check pockets for half-eaten snacks. Do a quick safety check around camp for snakes, cacti, cliffs, and other hazards before letting Junior roam.
- Talk the walk. Encourage kids to chat about things to keep their minds off hiking. Start a story line and pass it from person to person, or try participatory camp songs (think "Itsy Bitsy Spider").
Tough Traveler Growing Bear Sleeping Bag. The Growing Bear's zip-on extension allows your child to get 5 to 7 years' use out of this sleeping bag. At its smallest, 39-inch size, the Growing Bear is hoodless with a U-shaped opening for the child's head. But zip in the extension and hood, and the bag becomes a 55-inch mummy. Hadley and Abby slept soundly in temperatures down to 20 degrees F, even when the insulation got wet. Jon adds that the Growing Bear is "somewhat bulky, but has taken a beating without showing serious signs of wear." Weight: 2 lbs. (with extension). Price: $148.
Timberland Eurohiker Day Hiker Boots. This all-leather boot was Austin's favorite because its light weight, generous Achilles notch, and flexible sole allow for uninhibited running and climbing, whether hiking in the desert, slogging through snow, or playing at the playground. Sizes: 5-12. Price: $50.
Painter Outdoor Step by Step Backpack. "I'm backpacking just like you!" Austin proclaimed at age 3 1/2, as he carried his own sleeping bag, minipad, and jacket. With adjustable shoulder straps, a hipbelt, and a sternum strap, this pack lets kids feel like they're shouldering their fair share. The modular system accommodates your growing child by letting you attach cargo bags of different sizes to two sizes of shoulder straps (for torso lengths of 9 to 20 inches) and a hipbelt. Austin especially liked the juice-bottle holster and snack pouch on the hipbelt, and the red safety whistle on the shoulder strap. Of course, Mom ended up lashing Austin's little pack onto hers after 3 miles, but seeing him enjoy his first foray into backcountry self-sufficiency was worth it for her. Weight (junior shoulder straps, hipbelt, two-compartment packbag, snack pack, and water pouch): 2 lbs. 5 oz. Price: $130 (components also sold separately).
6 to 12 years
- Think "the more, the merrier." Bring friends or partner with other families. The kids entertain each other, plus parents can take turns watching the crew and getting some much-needed adult time.
- Catch shutterbugs. Give kids a disposable or inexpensive camera so they can chronicle their expedition.
- Fish for excitement. A simple spin-casting rig and a few lures can entertain for many an afternoon. Be prepared to do some wading for the inevitable snagged hooks.
- Put 'em to work! Involve children in camp chores to give them a sense of ownership in the excursion. Even very young children can help gather tinder for the fire or bring sleeping bags to the tent.
- Follow the leader. Let kids lead, especially when they begin to lag behind. Sometimes putting them up front and giving them the power to dictate the pace translates into a burst of energy.
- Gear up for less. When money's an object, spend your pennies on top-of-the-line long undies, shell wear, and footwear. Scrimp on no-name fleece.
- Capture the wild in words. Bring journals for the youngsters to write and color in. Have them trace leaves and sketch salamanders to create long-lasting memories.
- Be prepared. Bring one more set of clothes than you think you need for your child. Kids always get wetter and muddier than you expect.
- Weigh in. Don't overload kids with backpack weight; a minimal load (a small backpack with sleeping bag, pad, and raingear for a total weight of 7 or so pounds) for a full day will be plenty.
Kelty Voyager Sleeping Bag. The Voyager kept Austin cozy on a 2-week spring kayaking trip down Utah's San Juan River. He liked to snuggle up in the bag's soft fleece lining and appreciated the pillow pocket in the hood. Austin's mom appreciated that the Voyager's synthetic insulation dried quickly. Though this rectangular, 63-inch-long bag is rated to 40 degrees F, it kept Siena warm at 32 degrees F. Weight: 2 lbs. 10 oz. Price: $49.
Patagonia Capilene Midweight Crew and Bottoms. The soft feel, super warmth, and flat seams made this the base layer of choice for Hadley. Unfortunately, the pieces don't hold up well to early morning rock climbing: Austin's Capilenes are sporting a fair number of snags. Sizes: 3-14. Price: $20 per piece.
Patagonia El Cap Snapover and Pants. This midweight fleece sweater and pants make great insulating layers in cold weather. Austin liked the pants pockets for stashing hands and rocks. He also appreciated the way the snap collar on the sweater slid easily over his cranium. Hadley found the fleece plenty warm, but her daddy reported that two seams have begun to unravel. Sizes: XXS-XL. Price: Snapover, $42; Pants, $38.
Molehill Mountain Equipment Full-Zip Wind Pro Jacket. "The Molehill Wind Pro is Siena's ideal all-around mild-winter-weather jacket," says her dad. "Not only is the fleece cozy and warm, but the Wind Pro cuts most of the wind, letting her hike without a shell." Sizes: 4-14. Price: $80-$90.
Kamik Courage Boots. All-leather waterproof construction, a grippy rubber lugged sole, and a high cut for secure ankle support proved the Courage is an adult-caliber backpacking boot made to fit children. Austin wore these supersturdy boots on a rim-to-river hike in the Grand Canyon. He walked all the way, which is a tribute, in part, to the support and comfort of his footwear. Sizes: 10-6. Price: $49.
Leki Pathfinder Junior Trekking Poles. Two-section aluminum poles that extend from 29 to 44 inches, the Pathfinders are light enough for young children, and our testers seemed to have fewer stumbles. The rubber handle accommodates smaller digits, and the carbide tips are blunter than adult poles to avoid injury during the inevitable swordplay. Weight: 7 oz. (each pole). Price: $50.
12 to 18 Years
Trail-tested tips
- Let the big kids hike ahead. Teenagers have more energy than you do, and need personal space. If it's safe, allow them to hike at their own pace. Use trail junctions, water crossings, and other landmarks for meeting points. Bring a buddy. A teen who takes a friend along has a good shot at having fun in the wilderness.
- Keep birds of a feather together. For groups with more than one teen, have the teens pack their own tent and set it up far enough away that they don't keep you up all night.
- Fuel the flock. Growing teenagers-especially boys-need to eat a lot and often. Stuff their pockets with trail mix and energy bars so you don't have a feeding frenzy at every meal.
- Teach, don't do. Kids age 12 and older are ready to learn backpacking skills and chores. Teach them how to use a compass, pick a campsite, work the stove, hang the bear bag, clean the water filter, and so on.
- Plan lots of free time. Physically, teens may be capable of hiking all day, but that doesn't mean it's good for them. Throw in a deck of cards, Hacky Sack, or Frisbee. Bring a field book and make a contest out of identifying plants. Allow time for swimming, snowball fights, writing in journals, and sketching.
- Don't skimp on gear. Many teens are able to carry an adult-size load, and it's unfair to ask them to do it with a child-size pack.
- Lead by example. It won't be long before these kids will be backpacking on their own. It's up to you to teach them low-impact camping techniques and respect for the wilderness.
Like everything in a teenager's life, finding the right backpacking gear is more complicated than you might expect. In some ways, they're young adults who can use grown-up gear, but in other respects, they're still youngsters. In general, buy them adult products that are durable and adjustable in fit. You'll save money in the long run if big-ticket items like packs and sleeping bags don't have to be replaced again.
Boots. Teenagers' feet grow fast, so don't invest a lot of money in top-of-the-line boots that will be two sizes too small by the time they're broken in. For three-season hiking, choose lightweight footwear with adequate ankle support. If you plan on-trail hikes only, durable sneakers may be adequate.
Raingear. Buy good rain protection, or else you may have a wet, unhappy, and possibly hypothermic teen on your hands. That said, a good old-fashioned rain slicker can keep a growing kid dry without breaking the bank.
Packs. Don't borrow Uncle Earl's old pack, and don't stretch out another season with that pack you bought your daughter when she was 9. Several manufacturers, including Kelty, REI, and L.L. Bean, make youth internal and external frame packs, or you might be able to fit your teen into a women's size small pack.
Base layers. Teens can wear the same clothing you do. Perfect fit and costly technical features aren't necessary, but it's important that layers keep your teen warm and dry.
Jack Wolfskin, (888) 378-9653; www.wolfskin.com
Kamik, (800) 341-3950; www.kamik.com
Kelty, (800) 423-2320; www.kelty.com
Leki USA, (800) 255-9982; www.leki.com
L.L. Bean, (800) 809-7057; www.llbean.com
Madden Mountaineering, (303) 442-5828; www.maddenusa.com
Molehill Mountain Equipment, (800) 804-0820; www.molehillmtn.com
Patagonia, (800) 638-6464;
Painter Outdoor Gear, (888) 714-4888; www.trailinks.com
REI, (800) 426-4840; www.rei.com
Timberland, (800) 445-5545; www.timberland.com
Tough Traveler, (800) 468-6844; www.toughtraveler.com


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Find out more about the educational path this alum pursued.
Meet Kindra Fox,
MAED/Cl '09
As a teacher, Kindra Fox liked seeing the light bulbs go off over children's heads as they learned.
Now she sees the light bulbs go off over the heads of teachers and principals. As the director of the curriculum and instruction department at Washoe County School District, she still knows she is positively affecting students. That's the most rewarding part of Fox's job. "Just making a difference in kids' lives," she says.
Fox knew in the fifth grade that she wanted to be an educator. That's when a teacher inadvertently inspired her when she punished her for talking too much in class. "In order to get me to be quiet, she gave me more math to do. And I loved it," she laughs.
She fulfilled her childhood dream of teaching math, but then rose to the challenge of teaching other educators as a regional trainer. Fox's career goal was to transition to working in administration but she knew this required specific qualifications on her license. "I didn't want to have any doors closed to me because I didn't have the right credentials," she explains.
Fox's transition to administration went hand-in-hand with a return to college. She already held a Bachelor of Science in Education and a Master of Education, but she didn't have administrative credentials on her license, so she couldn't apply for administrative positions. She decided to enroll in the Master of Arts in Education/Administration and Supervision program at University of Phoenix.
Now she is responsible for many facets of learning in her school district: she oversees core curriculum, high school accreditation, textbook adoption and professional development for teachers and administrators. "We really feel our job in curriculum instruction is to provide teachers with resources and learning to help them do their jobs well," she explains.
Fox says the program taught her skills that are directly applicable to the workplace.
"There was a lot of hands-on learning through the internship classes where I used to go and work directly with a principal to learn and so I learned everything from student discipline to FERPA law, to testing, to making a schedule for teachers," she explains.
Another class involved a lot of role-playing around conflict resolution. "I am, by nature, one of those people that likes to be happy and likes to make everyone else happy. Conflict is not something I seek out," Fox explains. "In my job, I encounter conflict every day. I learned strategies in that class to diffuse it but also to try to calm the situation and make it better."
"I don't think if I tried to read about it or listen to someone talk about it that it would have been as empowering as sitting in front of my class and role-playing that experience," she continues.
But the most beneficial part of her program? Human resources skills, she says. That was especially important after she was promoted and was suddenly supervising colleagues and friends.
Fox is still benefiting from her degree in an indirect way: through the relationships she built with her co-graduates. Many now work as administrators in Fox's school district or the neighboring one. It's an informal support group that she can run ideas by, she says.
Education gave Fox an ever-at-the-ready toolbox. "There are just pieces and parts I learned in my program I pull out every day," she says.
While widely available, not all programs are available in all locations or in both online and on-campus formats. Please check with a University Enrollment Representative by calling 866.766.0766.


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The City of Lights CW net is at 28.150 MHz. The net is informal and intended to let anyone with even minimal skills enjoy a little CW. Depending on the checkins, speeds might run from 8 to 20 WPM. If you have trouble copying the Net Control's (NC) speed, just send QRS and he or she will slow down. Although this is a 10-10 net, you don't have to be a member of 10-10 or the City of Lights to check in. If you don't have a 10-10 number, just send "NR 0."
The NC (Joe, NA9A) will typically start the net with
CQ CQ CQ COL DE NA9A COL = City of Lights
GE THIS IS THE CITY OF LIGHTS NET OF TEN-TEN GE = Good Evening
INTERNATIONAL – WE WELCOME ALL RADIO -- = Double dash ( - … -)
DE NA9A QND QNN QND=Net is directed QNN=Net Control
NAME IS Joe QTH IL NR 31121 QTH=My Location
CQ COL DE NA9A QNI K QNI = Please Check in now
K = Anyone call
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>QNS QNS <lists calls separated by a comma> QNS=Here's who is checked in
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>(See typical net check in and conversation routines below)
At the end of the CW net:
NIL NIL=Nothing heard
COL DE NA9A QRU QNX QNF 73 SK QRU=I'm doneQNX=You're done
QNF=Closing the net
SK=End of communication
The "Q" prosigns above are special for CW NETS. They are not required, but speed up the net's communications and are another fun thing to learn, along with your Morse Code, that makes CW operators special.
When Net Control sends QNI K, those wishing to check in should send only one letter of their call. Usually use the first letter of your call's suffix, but if there are often several checkins with the same first letter of their suffix, use any other letter as long as you are prepared to respond when you are acknowledged. For example, WA9OFH might send "O" so AB9OS could instead send an "S." Upon hearing a letter, The NC will send one he heard . . . such as "O." When Gary, WA9OFH heard an acknowledgement of the "O" he sent, He checks in with his call, name, QTH and 10-10 number if he has one (Gary does). After you have sent this information, send BTU or BK which turns it back to NC.
BTU = Back To You
BK (sent together) = Break
After all checkins are logged, NC will call on each of the checkins to hear what they have to say – if anything. This net is relatively short in length to allow checkins to QSY to the SSB net that starts a half-hour later at 28.720 MHz.