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How about pairing aloo gobi with a sweet and aromatic glass of Chenin Blanc or a full-bodied Chardonnay with Indian snacks like samosas, channa bhatura and pao bhaji? A new book called 'Indian Food and Wine (Easy Guide to Pairing)' by Michael Swamy makes it all possible. Launched in India by Seagram's Nine Hills' and Om Books International, it is the first book in India that takes a holistic look at pairing the flavours, textures and heat levels of Indian food with wine.
At the launch, Chef Michael Swamy conducted a demo of some of his famous recipes from the book along with VJ Maria Goretti at Café Delhi Heights at Cyber Hub, Gurgaon.
"I have tried pairing Indian food with wine for several years. And finally I seem to have cracked the code. This book allows me to share this knowledge and know-how with other wine enthusiasts and food lovers, by taking it a step further and using wine in cooking Indian food. I hope and feel that pairing Indian food with wine and including wine in recipes will definitely radically alter the dimensions of what we know as Modern Indian Cuisine and put Indian cuisine on the global culinary map." says Chef Michael Swamy, Author of the book 'Guide to Pairing Indian Food and Wine'.
'This book is representative of our plans to engage, educate and enthral the Indian wine drinker in new ways. Seagram's Nine Hills has always been known for its variety of quality and award-winning wines, and now it's time to bring the experience to the consumer in their homes.' says Mr. Adrian Pinto, Senior Manager, Wines, Pernod Ricard India.
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British retailer Marks & Spencer has collaborated with India's wine producer Sula Vineyards for a new offering, Jewel of Nasik.
Jewel of Nasik has three varieties - Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel Rose and Tempranillo Shiraz - available in 250 stores across Britain.
"We are thrilled to be the first Indian wine to feature in the selection of the world renowned retailer Marks and Spencer," Rajeev Samant, founder and CEO, Sula Vineyards, said in a statement.
Emma Dawson, Marks & Spencer's wine buyer, is also excited about offering customers the brand's first Indian wines. "They are all from the Nasik region north east of Mumbai, a region with 600 meters altitude, historically known for table grapes but which provides good climatic conditions for viticulture to make wine too," she said.
She also said that the wines are suitable to drink as an aperitif or in styles that match well with Indian food.
Source: IANS, New Delhi
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10th Annual Metro Chef Awards 2013 were hosted by Indian Culinary Forum recently in the Capital. The chefs who showcased their culinary art skills at the challenge were bestowed with awards on the occasion of International Chefs Day. The chief guest at the award ceremony was Mr. Shashi Tharoor, Hon'ble Minister for HRD.
Awards Categories:
• Silver Hat Chef Award: Chef Sabyasachi Gorai
• Best Food writer Award (Jury Award): Ms. Hoihnu Hauzel
• Lifetime Achievement Award (Jury Award): Chef Satish Arora
• Master Chef International Cuisine Award: Chef Kishan Singh Rawat
• Master Chef Oriental Cuisine Award: Chef Anand Rawat
• Kitchen Artist Award: Chef Chittaranjan Jena
• Master Chef North India Cuisine Award: Chef Saurabh Sachdeva
• Master Chef Indian Sweets Award: Chef Dharmender
• Master Chef International Confectionary Award: Chef Pawan Saxena
• Master Chef Kebab Award: Chef Govind Ram Arya
• Chef of the Year Award: Chef Pankaj Kumar
• Master Chef Baker Award: Chef Javed Alam
• Master Chef South India Cuisine Award: Chef F.P. Girish Kumar
• Student Chef of the Year Award: Ms. Megha Agarwal
In Picture (Left to Right) - Chef Davinder Kumar, Mr. Anil Bhandari & Mr. Shashi Tharoor, Chef Vikas Khanna & Chef Manjit Gill, Chef Pawan Saxena, Chef Kunal Kapoor & Chef Sabyasachi Gorai. (Below) - All the winners.
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From January 2014, The Taj Group will re-launch St. James' Court, A Taj Hotel, London, while Taj's existing London hotel, 51 Buckingham Gate Taj Suites and Residences will be renamed Taj 51 Buckingham Gate, Suites and Residences, following a phased renovation plan and introduction of enhanced luxury standards.
At both hotels, guests can benefit from specially tailored treatments at the Wellness Centre and a host of on-site dining options, including Michelin-star cuisine at Quilon - where the chef has bought south-west coastal Indian cuisine from the villages of Kerala to the heart of Westminster.
In order to present these changes to the Indian hospitality market, the Taj Group, in partnership with British Airways, hosted a road show at The Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi and Mumbai.
Mr. Digvijay Singh, General Manager, Taj 51 Buckingham Gate Suites and Residences and St. James' Court, A Taj Hotel, London, mentioned that "India has always been a significant market for the UK. We are delighted to be here in India to showcase a flavour of what the magnificent city of London and our hotels can offer. I am here to invite each one of you to be our esteemed guests and enjoy the enhanced experiences our team has put together for you."
In Picture: Mr Satyajeet Krishnan, GM, The TaJ Mahal Hotel, New Delhi with Mr. Christopher Fodyce, Mr. Digvijay Singh with the Incognito artists, Ustaad Amjad Ali Khan with his wife and Mr. Digvijay Singh with Shivani Wazir Pasrich and others.
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Twenty nine years after establishing the iconic Dhaba by Claridges, the Hotel is set to recreate the same magic again. The Claridges has now brought this very unique dining experience outside the fold of the Hotel by unveiling its outlet in DLF Place, Saket.
The idea behind the restaurant was to recreate the quintessential dhaba experience in a five-star setting. Complete with a truck mural, rustic interiors and servers dressed in traditional Punjabi costumes, the restaurant oozes with a rustic feel.
It has a modern twist in its menu with options like Snacky Bun Omelettes, Rolls and street food, alcohol-infused Chuskis and signature cocktails at the bar christened 'Theka'.
The menu includes typical rustic dishes like Kanastari Baingan (Baingan ka Bharta served in a copper canister), Dhaba Chilli Chicken, Golgappe ki Chaat,Vada Pav, Keema Pav, Pav Bhaji etc. Desserts like Bailey's Kulfi, Pista Kulfi and sugar-free ice-creams are available. The meal is rounded off with Desi Paan made by the famous Panditji, whose shop outside The Claridges Hotel is as iconic as the hotel itself.
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Café Gartino is now open at Sector - 29, Gurgaon. Sprawling across two floors, the restaurant is divided into a bar and a lounge, with an outdoor seating area. The interiors of the restaurant are cozy and quirky with the colour palette ranging from the neon shades of yellow to green and wooden brown.
On the occasion of the launch, Kulbeer Singh, Owner, Café Gartino, said "It is a passion cum dream venture that has come true. We want to excel and revamp the F & B and hospitality realm with difference in terms of food, drink and the way people party. I have personally spent a lot of time as a customer in restaurants, lounges, discos all over the world. Therefore, Café Gartino is a result of the vision to open fine dines and nightclubs in India."
The open area outside includes the biggest LED screen in Delhi-NCR. The restaurant serves world cuisine. The launch was attended by Mr. Oscar Fernandes, Honorable Cabinet Minister, Goverment of India, Mr. Kuldeep Sharma, Honorable Speaker, Haryana and Mr. Sumit Gaur, Youth Icon, Haryana, among other guests from the fashion and film industry.
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The California Boulevard, a new restaurant in Delhi opens at Rajouri Garden. Right from Asparagus Aragula Salad to Penang Curry Laksa, delicacies from within eleven cuisines are in the offing.
And then, you have a carefully curated wine menu that ranges between all your choices from whites around the world to single malts and signature TCB cocktails like Moonwalk and Sinful Apple.
While somewhere you are still craving for that one dish you had at a Baron's summer retreat in the Black Forests of Germany, think no more; your wish is the chef's command! At the Chef's Table you can relive the most exotic of your vacations once again.
Where: J 2/5, B.K. Dutt Market, Rajouri Garden, New Delhi
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Spaghetti Kitchen launches an all new buffet- Gusto D' Italia, offering its patrons a chance to savor an assortment of Italian delicacies at their table with unlimited servings and a new menu every week.
Speaking on the occasion, Chef Bill Marchetti, Master Chef Spaghetti Kitchen said "We are very pleased and delighted to introduce the Gusto D' Italia. It is a perfect opportunity for food lovers to experience the diverse and authentic flavors of Italy at the comfort of their table. With Gusto D' Italia we wish to let our patrons explore Italian cuisine lovingly prepared by our Chefs amidst the warm and inviting ambience of Spaghetti Kitchen".
The unlimited buffet starts at Rs 399/- *, at Spaghetti Kitchen , Koramangla from 25th September onwards.
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New Delhi, October 12th , 2013: Hundreds of citizens from Delhi and the National Capital Region gathered at Nehru Place, New Delhi and marched to Monsanto' office at the International Trade Tower to issue an Eviction Notice to the company and demand that safe food and safe water be made a fundamental right for all Indians.
The March was a part of a global initiative where in people around the world came together as a global family to claim the right to safe, pesticide-fee & GMO(Genetically Modified Organisms)-free food and to say no to profiteering organizations like Monsanto that develop, unethically promote and force dangerous foods on the world.
The march in New Delhi was organized by the web group, "Public Awareness on Genetically Modified Foods" and supported by the India for Safe Food movement.
The group convener, Rachna Arora said that the efforts of this group are directed towards bringing about awareness amongst urban consumers regarding the hazards & risks of chemical agriculture & cultivation of genetically modified hybrid crops via sharing of information, literature, scientific reports, national and international developments etc. over social media and otherwise.
Some of the demands of the assembly were:
1. Safe food and safe water to be made a fundamental right for all Indians.
2. The Government of India should terminate all anti-ecological and anti-people agricultural agreements with the US.
3. Develop and implement policies to promote ecological, sustainable and safe agriculture keeping in mind the interest of the Indian citizens and farmers.
4. Cease spending public funds on promoting the agro-chemicals and seeds of companies like Monsanto, Syngenta and Du-pont in the country.
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QualityNZ celebrated its launch in the Indian market alongside NZ cricketers like Brendon McCullum, Stephen Fleming and Daniel Vettori.
The event hosted at the New Zealand High Commission introduced lamb, salmon and wine products in the Indian market. A live kitchen was set up where Chef Ritu Dalmia led interactive cooking demonstrations.
Commenting on the launch, Brendon McCullum, said: "We are proud of the fact that QualityNZ is New Zealand's first food and beverage company to be based in India, soon to be supplying the country's magnificent five-star hotel sector and the fast growing organised retail market with our premium products from New Zealand."
In Picture: (L-R) Brendon McCullum, QualityNZ Shareholder and Ambassador, Chef Ritu Dalmia, Brand Ambassador – Fisher & Paykel Appliances, Jan Henderson, New Zealand High Commissioner and Sanjeev Wadhwa, Country Head, Fisher & Paykel Appliances at an interactive cooking session at the launch.
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Fish & More, an entrepreneurial idea that brings you fresh fish and seafood, has launched its first boutique here.
The store was launched here earlier this month.
Experts are also present to help buyers get the right kind of fish. Pure RO water and ice made with RO water are used to preserve the seafood, and each day there is a fresh catch, said a statement.
Fish & More is a startup promoted and backed by angel investment from Ncubate India Services Pvt. Ltd., a part of the SAR Group and operating partners who have established experience of handling food brands and retail operations in India and abroad.
Source: IANS, Gurgaon
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Starbucks brings the classic Pumpkin Spice Latte and the Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino this season to India. Enjoy the sweet goodness of a Pumpkin Spice Latte served hot or cold (a Starbucks favorite worldwide), Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino, Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin or Pumpkin Spice Pie.
The Pumpkin Spice Latte is a signature espresso blended with the unmistakable spices of the season - cinnamon, nutmeg and clove; with steamed milk, sweetened whipped cream and pumpkin pie spices. Served hot or cold, the Pumpkin Spice beverages can be best paired with the mouth-watering Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin or Pumpkin Spice Pie.
These scrumptious offerings are available across all stores in India only in September and October.
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Bubble Teas is a cafe with an elaborated mix of Global beverages and food. Bubble Teas is a first of its kind concept in Delhi.
Bubble tea is a universal drink. It is a blend of tea and fresh fruits poured over tapioca pearls.
Bubble Teas gives you the option of choosing your own flavours, size etc. It is made with the mix of fruits and different flavours blended with tea. It is completely non aerated and is not the regular tea or ice tea. One can choose from different variety of flavours that include favorites like Mango, Taro, Cappuccino, Strawberry, Papaya, Chocolate, Blueberry, Coconut, Peach, Mixed berry, Honey Dew, Matcha Green tea, Caribbean chocolate floater etc. Also available is the option of getting your customized beverages. You can also pick from Bubbleteas specials like Walnut Brownie Shakes, Hazelnut & Caramel Mix, Chilled Green Tea with Lemon and Honey, Cucumber Iced tea etc.
The food menu at the cafe embodies the golbal spirit. Continental classics share space with Mexican and Italian preparations. Baked pastas, croissants special- mushroom filled or chicken filled, satay international- from Japanese yakotori to Malaysian, pizzas and more. For health freaks, they offer grilled subs where in veggies and chicken are grilled in front of you.
On the mexican platter you have dishes like chimichanga in enchalida sauce, quesadillas, fajita sizzler etc. From the breads & rolls category you can chose from mutton whopper burger, cajun chicken avocado burger, chicken ham & pepperoni sub, chicken pecan salad sandwich etc.
After being a hit in Gurgaon, Bubble Teas opens its new outlet in Meherchand Market.
Address: SF-91 Galleria Market, First Floor, Gurgaon 0124-4105909
147, Meharchand Market, Lodhi Road, Behind Indian Habitat Centre.
Contact: 0124 4105909
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Ritu Dalmia introduces a modern Asian cuisine restaurant in the up-market area of Defence Colony that shares space with the retail luxury fashion boutique Kitsch launched by Priya & Charu Sachdev of TSG International. Housed in an old bungalow with the ground floor serving as the Kitsch's first standalone boutique and the first floor and terrace devoted to Diva Kitsch (the restaurant), this endeavor offers a unique lifestyle experience that bridges the love for fashion, art and food.
For the cuisine at Diva Kitsch, Ritu Dalmia draws her inspiration from her travels across Asia; aromas, sights and sounds of street hawkers in Vietnam and food markets in Thailand. Some recommendations from Ritu include the malay roti, panko crusted taro, DIVA's unique take on the chicken satay, yellow fin tuna burger, lobster laksa, blackened chicken and jackfruit curry.
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As part of 'A New Perspective' event series which highlights local artists and guests to gather new insights and stimulate dialogue, Le Meridien New Delhi partnered with Gallery Espace to delve into the master pieces of Suddhasattwa Basu and Mala Marwah. In order to offer a new perspective to guests, Nicola Scognamiglio, the barista trainer from illy, was also invited to offer insights into the hotel's unique coffee culture.
The event aimed at blending art with the demonstration of four different styles of coffee - Cappuccino Vienesse, Espresso Greco, Marocchino Caldo and Cappuccino Freddo.
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Start your day with a healthy breakfast that consists of fruits in crunchy form.
Gaia, which produces a range of nutritional supplements and natural substitutes to aid the body's natural regeneration, has launched Crunchy Muesli Real Fruit.
It is a combination of healthy multi-grains and pieces of fruits like papaya, apple, pineapple and raisins, said a statement.
The oats, wheat and corn flakes are rich in fiber and the fruits will help to nourish the body, apart from adding flavour to breakfast.
Available in two pack sizes, Gaia Crunchy Muesli Real Fruit is priced at Rs.380 and Rs.185.
Source: IANS, New Delhi
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We often feel guilty after consuming a few cubes of chocolates. Now, you can indulge in dark chocolates, which are health and pocket-friendly.
Frozen yogurt retail chain Cocoberry's new zero sugar dark chocolate will win the hearts of health conscious people with a sweet tooth.
"Our chocolate has beaten Swiss and other International brands in blind taste tests and unlike imported brands, does not melt in warmer temperature," Cocoberry CEO Rahul Deans said in a statement.
The sugar-free chocolates are available in regular and roasted almond variants. The prices start from Rs.119.
Source: IANS, New Delhi
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Now try natural ice creams in flavours like South Indian coffee and watermelon.
Natural ice cream brand Pabrai's Fresh and Naturelle is offering South Indian coffee flavour. Coffee beans have been roasted to perfection to give a genuine coffee flavour and aroma, said a statement.
Watermelon ice cream is another flavour that the brand has launched. With small pieces and pulp of the fruit, this flavour is surely going to remind you of the thirst- quenching fruit.
The ice cream chain presently has 18 outlets in eight cities namely Kolkata, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Surat, Jaipur and Siliguri.
Source: IANS, New Delhi
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Vivanta by Taj – Gurgaon, NCR launches the third Thai Pavilion in India. Thai Pavilion at Vivanta by Taj – President, Mumbai was the country's first and one of the best Thai restaurant serving authentic Thai cuisine.
In the early 1990s celebrity Chef Ananda Solomon introduced the Thai Pavilion to the country and established it as a 'culinary destination' for food connoisseurs.
The new Thai Pavilion is an essence of 15 years of extensive research by Chef Ananda and his team. The use of authentic hand-pounded spices such as Thai holy basil, mint, cilantro, lemongrass, and galangal (Thai ginger), and premium ingredients such as Australian lamb chops, Pan Grilled Scallops with Orange, Crispy Soft Shells Crabs (Poo Nim Krob) and Bamboo Fungus ensure that guests are served the most exotic fare that is traditional yet enhanced with a touch of modernity.
The show stealers in the menu are innovative recipes like Duck Liver, Foie Gras with Sea Asparagus in Mango Sauce and Pia Nueng Manao (steamed John Dory with coriander, Chilly, peanut in a tangy sauce). A must-try is the Green Thai Curry, tempered with coconut milk and flavoured with lime leaves and unripe green peppercorns, or the classic Thai-style Roasted Duck on a bed of Spinach.
A medley of desserts dot the menu such as Spiced Creme Brulee, Makroot flavoured soft centered chocolate dollops, or the hot Thai Chocolate Soufflé. Tub Tim Grob (diced water chestnut with coconut milk) is a signature dessert that was introduced and made popular in the kitchens of Thai Pavilion.
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The fifth Smoke House Deli in India has been launched at Hauz Khas village.
In continuation of the Smoke House Deli's sketchbook language, the walls are covered in hand-drawn illustrations, inspired by the history of Hauz Khas Village and its surroundings. Designer and typographer Kriti Monga is the one behind the beautiful handiwork you see on the walls.
The entire restaurant space is wrapped with teak wooden panelling. It has Jaisalmer stone flooring to give the guests a heritage feel to the space.
Hours: 10:30 am to 1:00 am
Location: 12, Hauz Khas Village, New Delhi-16
In picture: Amaan Ali Khan, musician
The launch was attended by Delhi's most favorite faces. See who all attended the launch in the next few slides.
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Anand Bhushan, fashion designer
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Arjun Saluja, fashion designer
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Harmeet Bajaj, co-owner with Bina Ramani, designer-socialite
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Azaan Khan, singer
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Bina Ramani, designer-socialite
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Dilip Cherian, image consultant
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Gauri Karan, fashion designer
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Harmeet Bajaj, co-owner with Dino Morea, actor
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Kanika Saluja Choudhary, fashion designer
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Nandini Bhalla, Editor, Cosmopolitian
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Naresh Kukerja, fashion designer
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Nikhil Mehra, Fashion Designer with Vidushi Mehra, actress and Sujata, Brand Consultant
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Pallavi Mohan, fashion designer with Siddharth Mohan, industrialist
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Reema Mehra with Najum Sahi Thorpe
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Riyaaz Amlani, owner with Kiran Amlani
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Riyaaz & Kiran Amlani with Sid & Batasha Mathur
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Riyaaz Amlani with Shiv Karan Singh, co-owner
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Sanjay Kapoor and Sujata Assomull Sippy
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Shantanu and Reema Mehra
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Shiv Karan and Reema Singh with Aditi Gowitrikar, actress
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Shivan Bhatia, fashion designer
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Shriya Saran, actress
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Sujata Assomull Sippy and Shilpa Dhingra
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Sunil Sethi, President, FDCI
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Thenny Mejia, socialite with Rod Anker, hairstylist and Gauri Vohra
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The Asia Seven menu will now see an addition of a wide array of dishes with an emphasis on authentic Chinese dishes.
Additionally, Asia Seven has appointed the acclaimed chef - Chow Man as the new head chef. Chef Chow Man is an internationally respected chef who has spent 30 years in his culinary journey specializing in Hunan, Sichuan & Cantonese cuisines.
Thrilled with the outcome of the new menu, Chef Chow Man said "We have tried to bring new and more authentic flavors to the Asia Seven menu. I have personally handpicked key ingredients from Ghuangzou, Sichuan & Hunan region of China. Our seafood flavors are from Hong Kong origin."
Some of the items on the new menu are - Buddha Style Vegetables, Sweet and Sour Pork, Imitated Shark Fin, Poached Chicken Soup With Sesame Oil, Five Spice Roasted Chicken, Singapore Style Chili Crab, Ebi Tempura, among others.
In picture: Chicken with dry chili szechwan pepper and soy, braised pork with chu hou sauce and fish three flavors.
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A group of 13 New Zealand food & wine producers are in India, sponsored by Australia and New Zealand Banking Corporation Limited.
The business mission was launched this week with a cooking demonstration featuring New Zealand products and was hosted by Indian celebrity chef, Kunal Kapur, in New Delhi.
"We are excited to bring a variety of New Zealand food and beverage companies to India in partnership with ANZ. Indians are already enjoying high quality, safe and delicious products from our country and we are looking forward to sharing more in the future," says Richard White, New Zealand's Trade Commissioner to New Delhi.
The ANZ sponsored delegation led by Sunil Kaushal, Head of India Relations, ANZ New Zealand will be in India from 19 April to 27 April and will be visiting Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.
In photo: The ANZ team with Chef Kunal Kapur, Jan Henderson, New Zealand High Commissioner to India and Richard White, New Zealand's Trade Commissioner to New Delhi at the New Zealand High Commission during a dinner hosted for the visiting New Zealand F&B companies.
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Get ready for an oriental journey of food at the very new Fat Ninja, a Pan-Asian restuarant in New Delhi. The Restaurant brings a treat of culinary delights and serves Chinese, Thai, Indonesian, Japanese, Malaysian, Burmese & Vietnamese Cuisines.
Amongst the offerings on the menu are Fresh Spring Rolls, Tofu Katsu, Crispy Spinach and Bird's Prawns (in picture) to start the proceedings. A hearty soup such as Tom Kha, Khao Suey or Chicken Dumpling Clear Soup can do wonders for the appetite. The main course includes Shredded Chicken Cantonese, Crispy pork, Slice Chicken with Water Chestnut, Green and Red curry to name a few.
Address - 26, Hauz Khas Village, New Delhi, India
Contact - 097 11 993266
Meal for two : Rs.1200
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Look what we spotted at the dinner table of AXN's Hannibal premiere at New Delhi! A blood red mousse with spikes – aligning effortlessly with the theme of the premiere – horror.
The original series 'Hannibal' airs on AXN every Friday at 10 PM, close to the US premiere and stars Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royale, A Royal Affair), Hugh Dancy (King Arthur, Black Hawk Down) and Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix, CSI)
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Indulge in your favorites, as well as sample some inspiring cocktail options. The Smoke House Cocktail Club offers 1 + 1 on all smoked classics, molecular creations as well as the seasons' juicy best available on this new menu.
The launch event brought together achievers from all walks of life over an evening of savoring award winning cocktails like Watermelon Caipiroska, Smoked Melon Martini, Comfortably Plum, Watermelon Martini, Smoked Pineapple Mojito etc.
(In picture: Top to bottom)Gaurav Gupta & Divya Sen; Harmeet Bajaj & Suneet Varma; Priyanka Modi; Sujata Assomull Sippy & Sumaya Dalmia; Murli Kartik, Shiv Karan Singh & Shantanu Mehra; Rhea Singh; Merrymin Boro, Rod Anker & Atsu Sekhose; Masaba Gupta; Harmeet Bajaj & Tina Talwar; Karishma M Bedi.
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After Mumbai and Bengaluru, Foodhall opens at DLF Promenade mall, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi.
Spread over 5000 square feet, this store provides daily essentials, gifting solutions, kitchen accessories, health conscious food and desserts, among other things.
Foodhall houses an open kitchen which serves fresh cooked food, it also has live cooking sessions at the 'demo station' everyday, a spice bar, tea bar and an olive oil bar.
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A few guests who attended the launch.
(In picture: Top to bottom) Dinaz Madhukar and Manav Gangwani; Saba Ali Khan, Muzaffar and Meera Ali; Ramola Bhachan; Hosts Savitri Singh of DLF and Avni Biyani of Future Group; Surita Tandon and Suneet Verma.
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Celeste chocolates launched its fourth signature chocolate boutique with Chef Vikas Khanna was the guest of honor.
Location: Sardar Patel Marg, New Delhi.
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Vikas Khanna who also unvelied his book cover at the event, said "We hear people say 'cook from your heart', but Khanna Sutra is all about letting your heart cook for you. And that is exactly what Celeste offers to people from all walks of life who want to experience bliss in chocolates. Love and chocolates has always been a beautiful concoction."
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Pind Balluchi opens new restaurant: Pind Balluchi -Grills & Platters in New Delhi.
Where: Hotel Te Delhi, A3, Pamposh Enclave, New Delhi
Timings: 11 am to 12 midnight
Highlights: Free Beer/Mocktail with every lunch buffet all seven days
Lunch buffet: Rs 350 onwards
Dinner buffet: Rs 600 onwards
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Located at The Village Restaurant Complex next to Siri Fort Auditorium (New Delhi), this 150 seater fine dining restaurant came into existence in 1983 and initially specialized in authentic Chinese food. But with changing times and changing palates, it explored into the vast South East Asian cuisines.
Glance at the full menu
The delicious food from their kitchen
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The restaurant recently underwent a radical change with the joining of Chef Amit Gurung (Head Chef-Oriental, Kwality Group).
This three times winner of the renowned Hotel & Food Service Award for its fine oriental cuisine will take you to an extraordinary journey of flavors of an Oriental kitchen. It has managed to keep up its legacy for the past three decades and successfully holds on to its loyal patrons while catering to the tastes of the new age food lovers.
Glance at the full menu
The delicious food from their kitchen
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Raveena Tandon at Tikka Town with Managing Director Mohnish Thadani at the launch of Tikka Town, Pune.
Old World Hospitality franchised its QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) brand Tikka Town recently to Mohinish Thadani, the well-known entrepreneur and food enthusiast of Pune, and opened its outlet in Inorbit Mall.
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Raveena Tandon with Executive Chef Rajiv Malhotra and Managing director Mohnish Thadani.
Mohinish Thadani, Managing Director, Tikka Town, Pune says, "I wanted to bring the very best in hospitality to Pune and Old World Hospitality was the obvious choice. I am very excited with the initial response and am hopeful for its success. We shall be opening more units shortly"
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Raveena Tandon serves chaat to the diners at Tikka Town.
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An acknowledged foodie, Raveena tasted an assortment of kebabs, kathi rolls, paranthas and chaat. She said, "These are among the best kebabs I've had in a long time – juicy and tender. The chaat is exceptional too! I will probably land up eating here whenever I am in Pune. I wish Tikka Town huge success and Puneris are lucky to be able to enjoy such good food at very affordable prices."
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Raveena Tandon with the Tikka Town team.
Mohinish Thadani, Managing Director, Tikka Town, Pune says "Our staff, including the chefs and servers have been trained to ensure quality food and friendly service. We look forward to welcoming Puneris".
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Discover spanking new restaurants in your town, celebrity inaugurations and new watering holes.


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subset: commoncrawl


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A Study to Test If Giving Remune (an HIV Vaccine) Can Improve the Immune Systems of HIV-Positive Patients Who Are Also Participating in ACTG 328
|The safety and scientific validity of this study is the responsibility of the study sponsor and investigators. Listing a study does not mean it has been evaluated by the U.S. Federal Government. Read our disclaimer for details.
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00000943
Recruitment Status : Completed
First Posted : August 31, 2001
Last Update Posted : May 18, 2012
- Study Details
- Tabular View
- No Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of an HIV vaccine (Remune) on the immune system. This study involves patients who have received at least 60 weeks of anti-HIV therapy, either alone or in combination with IL-2, while enrolled in ACTG 328.
Remune is an experimental HIV vaccine. To see how the body's immune system reacts, this vaccine will be given with 1 to 3 other vaccines, and skin tests will monitor the body's reaction.
|Condition or disease
|HIV Infections
|Biological: Tetanus Toxoid Vaccine Biological: Hepatitis A Vaccine (Inactivated) Biological: HIV-1 Immunogen Biological: Hepatitis B Vaccine (Recombinant)
|Not Applicable
Proliferative responses to HIV antigens are either absent or of small magnitude in HIV-infected patients, even in the early stages of infection when vigorous proliferative responses to recall antigens are still seen. Remune consists of an inactivated, gp120-depleted virus intended to stimulate HIV-specific immune responses. Remune has been reported to increase lymphocyte proliferative responses to HIV antigens in patients with high CD4 cell counts. Many other T-cell-dependent responses are also impaired in HIV-infected patients, such as after vaccination with hepatitis A or B vaccine. In this study, patients with moderately advanced HIV disease who have already received 52 weeks of either HAART or HAART plus IL-2 are vaccinated with Remune and a control recall immunogen, tetanus toxoid (TT), to evaluate whether these patients can develop new CD4 T-cell and CD8 T-cell responses to HIV-related antigens. The antibody response to hepatitis A and hepatitis B vaccinations also will be explored.
Fifty patients are enrolled in this substudy; 17 from the HAART only arm (Arm I of ACTG 328) and 33 from the HAART plus either CIV or subcutaneous IL-2 arms (Arms II and III of ACTG 328). All patients are vaccinated 3 times with Remune and twice with TT. If patients are hepatitis A total antibody negative, they receive hepatitis A vaccine twice. Additionally, if patients are hepatitis B surface antigen negative, hepatitis B core antibody and surface antibody negative, they receive hepatitis B vaccine 3 times. Patients who are negative for all hepatitis markers receive hepatitis A and B vaccines.
Week 0 of A5046s begins at or after Week 64 of ACTG 328 (for patients in the HAART-only arm) or 4 weeks after the initiation of the seventh or any subsequent IL-2 cycle of ACTG 328 (for patients in any of the IL-2-containing arms). [AS PER AMENDMENT 9/16/99: Patients can be screened through Week 124 of ACTG 328.] Patients receive Remune at Weeks 0, 8, and 16 and TT at Weeks 0 and 8. Hepatitis A and/or B vaccines are also given at these times, if indicated. Blood and skin tests are performed at Weeks 0, 8, 16, and 24 to measure immune response and lymphocyte proliferative responses.
|Study Type :
|Interventional (Clinical Trial)
|Enrollment :
|50 participants
|Primary Purpose:
|Official Title:
|A Controlled, Pilot Study of the Immunogenicity of Remune in HIV-Infected Subjects Receiving Either Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) Alone or HAART and Interleukin-2 (IL-2): A Nested Substudy of ACTG 328
|Actual Study Completion Date :
|November 2005
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contacts provided below. For general information, Learn About Clinical Studies.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|18 Years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Inclusion Criteria
Patients may be eligible for this study if they:
- Have completed at least 60 weeks of treatment on ACTG 328.
- Are willing to continue on their assigned ACTG 328 treatment until after they have completed 24 weeks on this substudy.
- Have a viral load less than or equal to 2,000 copies/ml.
Exclusion Criteria
Patients will not be eligible for this study if they:
- Have an active opportunistic (HIV-related) infection.
- Are pregnant or breast-feeding.
- Have taken or are taking certain medications that are prohibited.
To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT00000943
|United States, Iowa
|Univ. of Iowa Healthcare, Div. of Infectious Diseases
|Iowa City, Iowa, United States, 52242
|United States, New York
|NY Univ. HIV/AIDS CRS
|New York, New York, United States
|Study Chair:
|Hernan Valdez
|Study Chair:
|Michael Lederman
|Responsible Party:
|National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT00000943 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
ACTG 328 (Main Study)
AACTG A5046s
10794 ( Registry Identifier: DAIDS ES Registry Number )
ACTG A5046s
|First Posted:
|August 31, 2001 Key Record Dates
|Last Update Posted:
|May 18, 2012
|Last Verified:
|May 2012
Keywords provided by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID):
Drug Therapy, Combination
AIDS Vaccines
CD4 Lymphocyte Count
Cell Division
HIV Core Protein p24
Anti-HIV Agents
HIV Therapeutic Vaccine
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
HIV Infections
Lentivirus Infections
Retroviridae Infections
RNA Virus Infections
Virus Diseases
Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Viral
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes
Immune System Diseases
Immunologic Factors
Physiological Effects of Drugs
Antineoplastic Agents
Analgesics, Non-Narcotic
Sensory System Agents
Peripheral Nervous System Agents


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With so many choices to choose from, picking the right set of headphones can be difficult, but the first thing you should decide on is the style. When we say "style" we don't mean how cool they look, but rather, the form factor. Modern headphones typically fall into one of four categories: circum-aural, supra-aural, earbud, and in-ear. What does it all mean? Glad you asked. Read the rest of this entry »
Buying guides, Headphones Comments Off


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Member? Sign in. Not a member? Register for free.
This app was removed from the App Store.
Peng-Wing HD
iOS iPad Games
Peng Wing comes with 30 levels of tactical game play. The game is very tricky, looks simple, and it is a great challenge.
The 30 levels are well designed to keep the interest levels very high.
You need to direct the penguin to its destination by threading on the melting ice. One jump off the ice block, it melts and you need to land on the next block. Make your moves wisely.
It looks easy, but is quiet a challenger when it goes to higher levels.


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(2009; 23 pages)
In addition to the usual sections (Regulatory Matters and Safety of Medicines) this issue includes the summary of recommendations from the sixth meeting of the WHO Advisory Committee on Safety of Medicinal Products (ACSoMP) that was held earlier this year in Geneva.
The thirty-second Annual meeting of National Pharmacovigilance Centres will take place at Rabat, Morocco, 2-5 November 2009. Pre-meeting events will include a training workshop in the use of MedRA (Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities), a workshop on strategies for identifying and preventing medication errors, and a technical briefing on pharmacovigilance to all new members joining the WHO Programme for International Drug Monitoring. We hope to see many of you at this meeting.


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It's been a while since I've done any serious winemaker travel. This week I'm back in Georgia. I love the Southeast. I was born here and lived here until I was 19 when I moved up to New York. The people are friendly, the air is soft and amazingly spectacular thunderstorms happen everyday at 4 pm. I spent 9 days working the Atlanta market a few years ago when I was making Emma Pearl, which was very well received here, so I felt at home now that I am back. We first hosted a consumer event at The Cloister at Sea Island, GA. It was an amazing place.
The food was amazing including Tarot, Duck, and a novel take on Shepherd's pie followed by an amazingly stunning dessert. Of course I forgot all about taking foodie pictures because I was enjoying the experience too much. I did save the menu though.
The next day before we drove to Atlanta we stopped for Southern BBQ at Southern Soul. It was amazing and highly recommended.
I LOVE Carolina BBQ sauce (not surprising given that I grew up with it!) but the traditional sweet BBQ sauce was excellent as well. You can't go wrong with the classic pulled pork.
Yesterday and today I've been in Atlanta. I stayed at the St. Regis last night which has never failed to impress me with their attention to detail. Their lobby is amazing.
Also, if I could move the bathroom to my house, I totally would!
Dinner was at Hal's on Old Ivy last night and was quite possibly the best steak I have had in a VERY long time. For sure a top five of my life! Today we are visiting some accounts introducing our new Robert Mondavi Winery Oakville BDX, a Bordeaux blend that Genevieve and I came up with that is unlike anything the winery has done previously. It's SO exciting to be introducing it to the buyers here. I'm off to South Carolina after this to spend time with friends and family and get some much needed R&R. >


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Alexander: Director's Cut (HK - DVD)
A movie about the life of Alexander the Great should be exactly that - great. So how does Oliver Stone's take on such a legen...
This review is sponsored by
Alexander is one of the greatest legends. In his all too brief time on the planet he achieved more than almost anybody else in history, embodying the concept of the candle that burns twice as bright burning half as long. Alexander burned oh so bright. Fighting his way across vast, unexplored continents, he conquered most of the known world by his mid-twenties. Although often regarded as a tyrant – despite his desire to unify more than destroy – he was first and foremost a warrior and master tactician, taking on seemingly insurmountable foes using superior skills, strategy and determination. He also had the kind of vision that makes a great leader, a king of kings.
Oliver Stone's eagerly anticipated labour of love paints a very different picture indeed. His Alexander does nothing to warrant such laud, coming across as a spoiled child whose enemies scuttle away like cowards and who – after just one tiny battle – appears to conquer the vast Persian Empire. Through the worst use of flashback ever, it takes two whole hours for us even to learn how he became King – something which audiences should have felt he was destined to be rather than think that he merely stumbled into it. Stone's take on this particular hero is a jumbled affair at best and I have not even started on his liberal misrepresentation of Alexander's controversial sexuality.
I think that Stone's first major problem was the vastness of source material. I have real the three great Massimo Manfredi novels on Alexander which Stone used as the basic framework for his epic. Unfortunately he did his own script and understandably was forced to condense the many milestones of Alexander's eventful life into only about half a dozen turning points. However this simply isn't enough. Even at three hours in length, Stone does not use his time judiciously enough to capture the moments that made this man great. Perhaps if made as a lavish ten-part mini-series, they would have had the time to paint a much broader, more convincing epic story. We could have seen more of his earlier conflicts, before becoming King, more of his battles with ongoing arch-rival Darius - the King of Persia and one of the biggest threats to both Phillip and Alexander himself. Instead, Stone's interpretation skips all of the important conflicts, practically jumping straight from his childhood to his state as King and our first glance of Darius – painted as nothing more than a figurehead – is when he runs from a battle! I could almost forgive Stone's poor selection of landmark events in Alexander's great life if he had at least painted the battles well, but even the few – basically two – sequences we get here are disappointing and confused, often looking more like muddled brawls than examples of masterful tactics and strategy.
Similarly (and now we get onto the Big One), Stone's abridged version of this character completely misrepresents his sexuality. In as much as you can know about a semi-fictional character of myths and legends, Alexander was – by all accounts – bisexual. But the source material paints it in a way that suggest he was a man who was more interested in the concept of love, irrespective of who he sought it from. During long battles he found refuge in the companionship of one of his closest friends, Hephaistion, but much of his life he spent in the company of a servant girl, Leptune, and later with his several loves and eventually his wife. Stone's Alexander appears, first and foremost, homosexual – obsessed not only with Hephaistion but also with any androgynous boy he comes across. Even his servant is now male. In fact, he goes on to openly admit that he only wants a wife so that he can beget a son. Although I, unlike many I suspect, can genuinely believe Alexander's desperation to find true love and his love-with-no-boundaries regard to both sexes; I also think Stone slants the story on purpose in order to provoke an unnecessary reaction. You see Stone loves controversy and often it is this that gets the better of his scripts and stories – mainly because he simply takes it too far.
As if this was not all enough to ruin a production, Stone's next big problem – or flat-out mistake – was in his choice of lead. Now I think that Colin Farrell is quite a good actor but I don't think that he is convincing as a visionary warrior and conqueror – a contender for one of the greatest men in history. Small movies like Tigerland and Phone Booth have given him just enough room to show off his skills without raising expectations too high. Here he just seems to be out of his depth. It is not the first time that a mistake in casting has seriously affected the quality of a historical epic - both Troy and Kingdom of Heaven foolishly relied on Orlando Bloom's consistently wooden acting skills and Clive Owen's King Arthur was disappointing to say the least. Here we needed Russell Crowe's Gladiator or Mel Gibson's Braveheart. Perhaps they were too old, and perhaps they both set the bar too high in rousing speeches, heroes you can root for and epic battles, but choosing Farrell was a big mistake.
Unfortunately the problem with choosing Farrell also had the secondary effect of changing the natural accents of several other cast members. You see, rather than make him adopt another accent – something which I would have assumed an actor worthy of this role would have been more than capable of – instead Stone gave most of the central cast Irish lilts which seem much less convincing. After all this, Stone's choice of other cast members – whilst on the face of it seeming initially promising – is also quite disappointing mainly due to the aforementioned butchering of the original story. The stunning Angelina Jolie is woefully underused but nonetheless solid as Alexander's venomous and dominant mother Olympias. Christopher Plummer seems slightly miscast as Alexander's tutor and mentor, the great philosopher Aristotle – a part which clearly should have gone to Anthony Hopkins, who instead bookends the film rather awkwardly as an older version of Ptolemy, one of Alexander's Generals and close friends. Rosario Dawson scowls her way through her part as Alexander's token barbarian wife but comes across as all bark and no bite. Possibly the only other sensible choice after Angelina Jolie was Val Kilmer as the father and King, Phillip of Macedon. Kilmer, who previously worked with Stone on The Doors, was the original first choice for the lead here but time ran out on him and he became too old for the role; as it did for other leading actors who were up for the part including Tom Cruise. Kilmer recently pulled off a solid performance in the vastly underrated thriller, Spartan, but has since taken relatively minor roles in pointless movies like Mindhunters. Unfortunately he simply does not get enough screen time as Phillip and through the misuse of flashback that I previously highlighted, even his character is painted as minor, simply disappearing for the best part of the movie with just a monologue by Anthony Hopkins to initially explain what had happened.
It is all such a great shame. This is one of the biggest missed cinematic opportunities in recent time. Although you can probably take a dozen screenshots that would showcase Stone's amazing visionary eye, this movie as a whole fails to capture the spirit, vision and simple destiny of Alexander. Ironically, as I personally never rated Leonardo DiCaprio, Scorsese's The Aviator paints a picture of a flawed visionary in a much more convincing way than this movie could ever hope to achieve. If you want to really get to know the real Alexander, you are probably better off reading the books or even watching the Japanese animated series Reign: The Conqueror. Either way, you are probably better off avoiding this interpretation. Sure it has its enjoyable moments, and the scenery is often breathtaking, but it just does not do Alexander the Great any justice at all.
This version of the movie is the director's cut but, to be honest, very little is noticeably different from the theatrical cut. Both are nearly three hours in length and all of the sequences that were reported to have been cut (it was rumoured that the 'kiss' between Alexander and Hephaistion was removed but that was nonsense) still appear intact. The film still starts with an overlong speech by Anthony Hopkins, the battles are still confusing and the movie is still disappointing. It is possible that Stone trimmed a few seconds here and there but his changes are largely ineffectual. That said, although I did not enjoy the Director's Cut any more that the theatrical one, it certainly did not feel like a worse film for whatever alterations were made. But if I had to choose between a longer or shorter cut of an epic movie about a person with so much history I would always choose the longer cut, irrespective of whether or not that was the Director's vision.
This version of Alexander is presented in a rather odd 1.85:1 aspect ratio anamorphically enhanced widescreen transfer. It is odd because the movie was filmed in 2.40:1 and many of the other releases respect that aspect whereas this one effectively trims and pans the wider frame. Nevertheless the detail remains remarkably good, with little edge enhancement or other digital artefacting and no noticeable softness either. There are some scenes with a light sheen of grain but largely the print remains spotless, with no other defects like dust or scratches. The colour scheme – as you would expect from Stone's wild eye – is very broad and vividly represented at all times, with the varying locations and climates giving way to different tints for different scenes: glowing warm gold and browns, icy cold whites and greys, and luscious greens and reds. It is a reasonable transfer marred mainly by the use of the wrong aspect ratio.
There is one main track, a solid Dolby Digital 5.1 mix that provides the dialogue at the forefront but is not lacking in any other respect. Unfortunately, as has been reported in other reviews, there are noticeable lip-synch issues with this track which can often be ignored or forgotten but sometimes become glaringly apparent. There is keen observation of environmental sounds like bands playing and crickets chirping, along with the great battle effects of swords swiping and clashing. The score, by Vangelis, is a bit of a jumbled mess – sometimes it is simply perfect for the scene and occasionally it seems like the most out of place thing, made worse by its swamping of the dialogue. That said, it always comes through powerfully from all around and is the biggest example of surround-sound use on offer here. So similar to the video transfer, an otherwise good track's one caveat is the lip-synch issue which is potentially quite damaging to your enjoyment of the movie.
There are only a few extras on the second disc. First up we get a fifty-minute behind the scenes documentary. This is a rather strange affair because it starts off by showing us a collection of important scenes ripped straight from the movie. There does not seem to be any kind of rational thinking behind doing this, other than to taunt us with the original theatrical 2.35:1 aspect ratio formatting that the main transfer was missing all along. After fifteen wasted minutes of this, we get a selection of interview clips with the main cast including Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie, Anthony Hopkins, Val Kilmer, Jared Leto, Christopher Plummer and Rosario Dawson – all talking about the characters, the story and working with one another and of course Oliver Stone. Oddly, each interview is snipped into very brief soundbites which make for slightly awkward listening, but it is still nice to have so many contributions of which Kilmer's is probably the most interesting and thoughtful and Leto's is the least well-expressed. Funnily enough, all of them also showcase the lip-synch problems that are prevalent in the main feature. Stone himself talks a little bit the history of Alexander and the type of movie he wanted to create, noting how great his cast choices were in their parts. Two of the producers also have their brief say, along with the composer Vangelis, who did the phenomenal score for Blade Runner. Finally we get fifteen minutes of B-roll footage depicting some of the key scenes being filmed. Watching Stone interact with the cast is often quite revealing, but it is too little too late in what is a very muddled documentary. There is quite a bit of good stuff in here, but the way it has been presented makes it almost not worth watching.
Next up there is a two minute interview with Oliver Stone, apologising for not being at the premiere and personally thanking some of the Thai people involved in making the production for their help. I'm sure it will be a nice memento for the few dozen people he is actually talking to but to the rest of the world it seems thoroughly pointless. We also get three brief thirty-second TV spots with voiceover man working overtime in both English and Thai! The two ninety-second theatrical trailers seem to be identical but the second one has forced Thai subtitles. Both show all of the best clips from the movie but still manage to avoid giving away quite what is going on in them – also painting the movie as much better than it really is.
Alexander is a muddled movie. It had so much potential, largely squandered by a bad choice of lead – a problem only compounded by the decision to change everybody else's accent in the movie rather than his. The battles sequences are disappointing and brief considering the length of this account and the injudicious decisions over content remain irrespective of the new cut we receive. The framing makes the video transfer disappointing and the lip-synch makes an otherwise powerful soundtrack irritating. The second disc of extras is so jumbled that it is almost worth avoiding. It is all such a shame; with the promise of being Oliver Stone's dream production, it cannot help but disappoint. Still, if you go into it expecting problems then you can still learn a great deal about a figure in history worth knowing more about and enjoy some moments of glory.
You can purchase this title for $13.99 from top retailer Yes Asia.
Review by Casimir Harlow
Not Applicable
Disc Details
Release Date: 3rd June 2005
Discs: 2
Disc Type: Single side, dual layer
RCE: No
Video: PAL
Aspect: 1.85:1
Anamorphic: Yes
Colour: Yes
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 English, Dolby Digital 5.1 Thai
Subtitles: English and Thai
Extras: Behind the Scenes Documentary, Interviews, TV Spots and Trailers
Easter Egg: No
Feature Details
Director: Oliver Stone
Cast: Colin Farrell, Anthony Hopkins, Val Kilmer, Angelina Jolie, Rosario Dawson, Jared Leto, Christopher Plummer, Brian Blessed
Length: 168 minutes
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Before & After: Jennifer's Tiny But Loft-Like Kitchen
Like this entry? Favorite it below!
- Name:
- Jennifer
- Location:
- New York, NY
- Division:
- United States
- About my kitchen reveal:
- The kitchen in my pre-war NYC apartment building was last renovated sometime in the 1960s. The shifting and settling of the 103 year-old building over the years has caused deterioration of my kitchen ceiling and walls, which recently threatened to collapse under their own weight. So last fall I undertook a complete gut renovation of the tiny 8x6 room. I hired a terrific architect and contractor and over the span of two months they helped me turn the tiny, cramped kitchen into a beautiful, airy loft-like space.
- My best tip for a successful kitchen makeover::
- 1. Keep a folder that contains every piece of paper related to the project: receipts, bids, schedule, etc. I referred to these a million times, whether it was to find a phone number for the appliance store or to review the architectural plans.
2. Everyone says this because it's true: add 25% to the budget to cover unexpected costs!
3. Thank everyone who has helped you with the project, often and well. Get enough sleep, learn to meditate for the stressful stuff and remember how much you'll love your new kitchen when it's finished!
- My favorite meal to cook in my kitchen::
- I absolutely love my new 2-burner Miele cooktop and the GE Advantium speed oven. For the first two months in my new kitchen, I roasted a chicken in the speed oven about 4 nights a week, just to see how incredibly fast and efficient it was. I cook everything in there now, from oatmeal to mushroom bourgignon!


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Digimerge Technologies offers DCD dome camera series
The DCD series color and dome camera from Digimerge Technologies comes with 330 TV lines of resolution.
The series offers an automatic gain control. Its lighting controls include black-light compensation, automatic white balance and provides manual adjustment of camera position and focus.
Each camera has a fixed lens, is vandal resistant with a varifocal lens, and offers impact resistant polycarbonate domes.
For more information on this product, call 866-344-4674 or visit the company's web site at www.digimerge.com.
Product Category:


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Victor Hugo, the 19th-century French writer, famously remarked that nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come. The common good—a classic theme of moral and political philosophy with deep roots in Catholic social teaching—is an old idea that has found new life in contemporary political discourse.
Rick Santorum, for example, a former Republican senator from Pennsylvania and a Catholic, has written a book titled It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good. His one-time opponent, Robert Casey Jr., a Catholic and currently a Democratic senator from Pennsylvania, made the common good a defining theme in his campaign. Several 2008 presidential candidates, including Senators Hillary Clinton and Sam Brownback, have peppered their stump speeches, talking points and position papers with language about the common good.
Appeals to the common good resonate particularly at a time when war, corporate scandals, the government's bungled response to Hurricane Katrina and anxiety about globalization have left many feeling adrift in a rapidly changing world. "Things fall apart; the center cannot hold," W. B. Yeats wrote in his 1920 poem "The Second Coming." This could describe our own fractured and alienated era.
Despite the flurry of references to the common good in public discourse, however, the term often twists in the rhetorical wind and comes across as a vague idea, so unthreatening that it is about as controversial as clean drinking water. The common good has been invoked in sound bites and catchphrases to support both liberal and conservative arguments. But an authentic understanding of the common good—one enriched by its particular connection to Catholic social thought—has practical implications for public policy and defies conventional ideological and political categories. Indeed, Catholicism's long history of defining the common good as rooted in the dignity of the human person and the specific demands of justice, makes Catholics especially well-suited to challenge societal leaders to embrace a more energetic public agenda rooted in the common good.
Theory and Practice
For centuries, the Catholic tradition has emphasized a call to the common good as the centerpiece of Catholic social teaching. Building on concepts articulated first by Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas spoke about the good sought by all as intertwined with the reality of God. In the 16th century, the earliest followers of St. Ignatius Loyola were among the first Westerners to travel beyond Europe, inspired in part by a global vision of the common good. Pope Leo XIII, in his encyclical Rerum Novarum(1891), was the first to make formal use of the concept of the common good as the starting point for the church's social analysis.
According to the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, "The principle of the common good, to which every aspect of social life must be related if it is to attain its fullest meaning, stems from the dignity, unity and equality of all people." Yet there is a stunning failure to connect the clarity of these ideals and the realities of a world in which poverty, war and racism tear apart the human family. As globalization dissolves borders and shrinks our world, for example, the burdens and benefits of global capitalism undermine the common good by widening the chasm between rich and poor, hope and despair.
The chasm was evident in a recent New York Times story, "The Richest of the Rich, Proud of a New Gilded Age" (7/15), in which billionaire tycoons boasted about their personal accomplishments, bemoaned taxes on their fortunes and had little to say about why more than 37 million Americans live in poverty in the world's richest country. A few months earlier, the Nasdaq launched a private stock market for elite investors with assets of more than $100 million. Meanwhile, in many towns and cities, the blue-collar jobs that once supported the middle class have disappeared as corporations pursue cheap labor, minimal regulation and higher profits outside the United States. Traditional community bonds are fraying. A commitment to the "commons," public spaces that benefit all, has given way to private, gated communities where strangers of different classes or complexions can live apart, at a comfortable distance.
Our political culture both mirrors and shapes these trends. While government has often been an instrument of social good during epochal changes in American history, several decades of ideological assaults have branded "big government" as antithetical to freedom and individual responsibility. The marketplace, privatization and the primacy of choice have become a secular trinity. While Catholic social teaching values the importance of personal achievement, it also insists that government take on responsibilities that the market or individuals alone cannot or will not meet. The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes the common good as "the reason the political authority exists." Furthermore, the church's social doctrine insists that "ownership of goods be equally accessible to all" and that the "universal destination of goods" requires a moral economic system in which workers earn living wages and resources are distributed equitably. Pope Benedict XVI, in his encyclical Deus Caritas Est, writes that love of God and love of neighbor are inseparable and that "justice is both the aim and intrinsic criterion of all politics."
These are powerful words with practical implications for our most divisive contemporary debates about abortion, war, immigration, health care and climate change. These words challenge us to think deeply about what it means to be faithful citizens and to reflect on how our conscience and faith inform how we vote and live as both citizens and disciples.
The 2008 Election
As a presidential election year approaches, campaigners will again rank Catholics among the most coveted voters. Since Catholic social teaching is broad and deep, Catholics should insist that our national debate on values reflect the fullness of this rich tradition. Building a culture of life requires economic and social policies that help women choose life. It requires ending an unjust war, ensuring that poor children have health care and taking seriously the threats of global climate change. A renewed common good narrative in our public square has the potential to inspire a civic and moral awakening, one that Martin Luther King Jr. envisioned when he spoke of the "beloved community," a society where all of us, not just a few, have the opportunity to share in the abundance of creation.
No political party has a monopoly on moral values. Both Republicans and Democrats have an equal opportunity to succeed or fail in living up to the obligations of the common good. As Catholics, our faith inspires us to help reshape our culture and politics not simply as another interest group, but as members of a global church that seeks justice for the most vulnerable because it recognizes our common humanity as children of God. We should take up this struggle with hope, insisting that our public officials treat the common good not as another catch phrase in a campaign playbook, but as the foundation of moral leadership. In this way, we speak from the heart of our tradition with a message as old as the Beatitudes and as powerfully relevant for this election as it will still be a century from now.


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Every woman will claim that she is happy with any diamond engagement ring that her man puts on her finger. But deep down, every woman wants to receive her dream ring—a ring that her man may not even know exists.
So how do you let him know what you want?
Today, many women are highly involved in the engagement ring buying process, with some even going into the store and selecting the ring alongside their husband-to-be. But not all women want this, as many still desire the traditional element of surprise.
That is why dropping a hint is incredibly important. It is your chance to leave a lasting memory in his head and to give him a subtle nudge in the right direction to assure that you get the diamond ring that you'll really love. You will be surprised how many men do listen to these hints, as they honestly want the help.
Depending on how much you trust his decision-making skills, or how much you want to ensure that your ring is absolutely perfect, there are different "hint-dropping" levels available:
To point your man in the right direction about your dream Hearts On Fire ring, use our Drop A Hint feature, located on every product detail page. All you have to do is click "Email a Hint" on any product page to send your hint and you will be one step closer to receiving the ring you've always wanted!


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- Home
- About Us
- About Trout
- Advice & Help
- Trout in the Town
- Projects
- Projects
- Etwall Brook Project
- River Glaven
- Anglian Rivers Sea Trout Project
- South Coast Sea Trout Project
- Bayfield Project, River Glaven
- Case Study Videos
- Pickering Beck
- Pont and Blyth Project
- River Bain Project
- Rivers & Wetlands Community days
- Upper Itchen
- Mayfly in the Classroom
- River Gwash, Rutland
- Great Stour, Kent
- Library
The Wild Trout Trust is a conservation charity that stimulates hands-on, in-the-water projects, helping others to help themselves with habitat improvement in and around rivers and lakes.
Any individual or organisation caring for a wild trout population, anywhere in the UK or Ireland, can call on the Trust for practical help, advice and support.
By ensuring a river is good for wild trout, it will be good for other wildlife too.


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Thursday, December 16, 2010
Participating: John Butler, Bernie Hurley, Bruce Miller, Sarah Pritchard, Ed Van Gemert (recorder), John Wilkin, Bob Wolven.
Absent: Tricia Cruse, Paul Soderdahl.
Update and discussion of HathiTrust developments and operations, John Wilkin
- Very successful year for the partnership
- Closing the calendar year with:
- 52 partners, 13 sustaining
- Close to 8M digital files, about 2M PD in the repository
- Additional work being done on:
- HT cost model—with a call for catalog data from the partners.
- Reindexing and optimizing the data base
- Beefing up full-text search
- Ingest is going well, Yale, Madrid, PD materials
- Copyright review management system, follow-on grant, focus on non US copyrighted material; seeking additional support from partners.
- Research of and about the corpus indicates:
- Approximately 50% orphan works, 30% PD, 20% in copyright material
- John Butler raised the question about the connection between Bamboo and HT.
- It would be disappointing if Bamboo and HT didn't make connections.
- There is overlap (people and institutions) and there are folks working to bridge Bamboo to HT—especially in the area of collections interoperability issues.
- Hoping that tools that get developed in Bamboo could interact with HT and other major digital library services.
Update and discussion from SAB working groups and committees.
Discovery Interface working group—John Butler.
- Full-text working group targeting filtering and faceting—seen as quick wins.
- The following recommendation to the HathiTrust SAB: HathiTrust WorldCat Local Catalog Release was endorsed and approved by the SAB.
- The Discovery Interface Working Group recommends, with reservations stated below, that the HathiTrust proceed with releasing and evaluating the HathiTrust WorldCat local interface as a prototype catalog. The current HathiTrust catalog interface (using VuFind) would continue to be the default catalog interface until the prototype can be broadly and openly evaluated and demonstrated to provide superior overall service and value over the current catalog interface.
- Discussion summary:
- Let public give the WC interface a try.
- It is a prototype.
- Evolutionary nature of search interfaces.
- Public will see bibliographic records and not full text for non HathiTrust files, e.g. Internet Archive
- Copyright rules apply.
- Concerns raised:
- How configurable is the WC interface?
- Tell the public that they are in WC and not HT digital library?
- OCLC sees value in the project.
- WC is tied into the management of collections. Getting records into WC is a big win. We are less satisfied how it might work as an interface to the HT catalog.
Collections Committee—Bob Wolven
- Committee is organizing and prioritizing its work, sorting through charge, dividing up work.
- The OCLC/DLF discussions about the need for digital masters—how does this fit with HT? Relevant to HT?
- Multiple formats—holdings information. Beyond print monographs?
Communications Working Group—Sarah Pritchard
- Concerns about cross communications needs of the partnership; education; instructional materials.
- Actively working on a formal communications and marketing plan
- Attuned to the relationships between various communication mechanisms and the governance structure—some recommendations or programs may wait until after the October 2011 Constitutional Convention.
Next SAB call: January 20, 2011 2pm Central


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Downtown Durango took on an apocalyptic appearance Christmas Day, with Main Avenue shops almost uniformly closed.
Men of unsure footing, dilated pupils and reddened cheeks were seen struggling both physically and conceptually with El Ranchos locked door as early as 11:30 a.m.
The few stores to sally on with commerce benefitted from Durangoans usual consumer habits being discombobulated by scarcity.
While Steaming Bean Coffee Co., Durango Coffee Co. and Durango Joes were shuttered for Christmas Day, Starbucks was like Grand Central Station. At times, as many as 30 people were lined up, with regulars eagerly demanding their precise concoction while orphans of locally owned cafés hesitantly stammered unfamiliar words for sizes.
At Gaslight Twin Cinemas, regional manager Tyler Matthew Ozva, a 19-year-old chemical engineering major at Fort Lewis College, said the matinee performance for Les Misérables had sold out.
Ozva said he didnt mind working the holiday with two colleagues, as it allowed the other manager to spend Christmas with his relatives. Ozva said his family exchanged gifts Christmas morning, and one gift had particularly delighted him a magazine about how to cook 120 recipes for breakfast and brunch.
Like Ozva, Elena Breed, who was working the front desk at the Strater Hotel Tuesday, said shed decided to work on the holiday mainly because most of my co-workers have family and children, whereas Im still a child myself. She said the hardship had its upside: Guests tended to be friendlier than usual when talking on the phone.
Meanwhile, at the Straters restaurant, the Mahagony Grille, preparations were under way for a bustling night. Manager Aaron Brandes said his staff of 10 servers, 20 cooks and three bartenders would serve between 275 and 350 people Tuesday evening.
In the restaurant business, you cant get this night off. Along with New Years and Thanksgiving, these are the biggest nights, Brandes said.
Brandes said that of the three blockbuster holidays, Christmas tended to be the least sodden.
Its mellower because of kids and young adults, he said.
At Orios Roadhouse, a Main Avenue bar, Christmas Day brought both tradition and newness. Longtime manager John Danch said the bar opened at 3 p.m., and he expected about 50 people to come in that evening.
Mostly, theyre regulars who come here to see their friends, like extended family, said Danch, who cheerfully was covering for out-of-town employees.
At 3 p.m., about nine people had settled in to barstools at the Roadhouse. One woman interrupted her reading to sip red wine, while two men amiably chatted about their jobs over whiskey. The place seemed to vibrate with ersatz family and Christmas cheer as Danch traded warm familiarities with an elderly regular.


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I am a professional photographer living in europe for the last 20 years shooting many different things and have decided to share my personal photos of Venice Italy and my new book "Venice in Black & White" at the urging of my friends.
Venice a place that I have always loved to visit and a place that has never lost its charm no matter how many times I have visited her!
I hope you enjoy these photographs that I have chosen for your pleasure.
Also I have just finished my fourth book called "A piece of Me" its a poetry book with poems by me and my lovely photographs of flowers that inspired the poetry by me also.
My other books:
Poems for her
Poems for my friends
Venice in Black and White
If you would like to purchase any of the photos in my books please contact me at firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Jaxx Rest Memory Foam Body Pillow 50 inch Dark Chocolate
- Jaxx Rest Memory Foam Body Pillow 50 inch Dark Chocolate
is currently not available. Scroll down to see available bed rests & pillows with free shipping.
- Product ID: 001947
Product Description
Jaxx Rest memory foam body pillow in dark chocolate color. Pillow measures 50 inches long by 14 inches wide. Body pillow allows your body to relax in natural, comfortable positions while relieving pressure and reducing tension in your shoulders, hips and back. The heat sensitive, viscoelastic foam molds to your body as you slumber, lounge or laze about, offering just the right amount of support. Extraordinarily comfortable to spoon or cradle between the knees. Made of premium 5-pound density shredded memory foam - the highest grade available. Machine washable microfiber cover. Made in USA.
- Product ID: 001947
- Dimensions: 50 inches x 14 inches
- Covers can be machine washed.
- Made in USA.
Sponsored Links


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No. 4724 - K of C Umbrella
Golf Umbrella w/Pistol Grip Handle
Your shopping cart is currently empty. If you would like to make a purchase today, add items to your shopping cart.
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No. 2B - Stand Up Style Banner
STAND UP STYLE BANNERS - Beautiful Long Wearing. Gold Letters. Single sided with plain backing. Fringe on the bottom and pole sleeve at the top. Available with one of the following - KofC emblem or 4th Degree emblem.
No. 3B - Complete Equipment for displaying Banners
BANNER EQUIPMENT (DOES NOT INCLUDE BANNER) Set includes: gold cross or eagle top, solid oak pole, oak cross bar with gold ball ends(2 sizes available),hook and eye for hanging, gold tassel and cord, golden finish heavy stand.
P.O. Box 811Jefferson Valley, New York 10535United States
1-800-444-KofC (5632)
© 2018 The English Company, Inc.All rights reserved worldwide


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BOSTON – The plan when the season started was to give veteran winger Mark Recchi some games off over the course of the year to keep him fresh for the stretch run.
Well, the Bruins are right in the thick of the stretch run and Recchi still hasn't missed a game. Not only that, but unlike many of his teammates, he hasn't taken any "nights off" while dressed for the game eight during Boston's up-and-down campaign.
"We need to play, I need to play and I still feel great," Recchi said after he set the tone by drawing an early penalty and finished with a goal and an assist in Boston's 5-0 win over Calgary Saturday at TD Garden. "So, I've got tons of energy and coach has been good with me and giving me days off. As long as I keep staying fresh, I don't need to take any games off."
Recchi showed that energy right off the bat against the Flames with a hit on Robyn Regehr on the forecheck that created a turnover. Seconds later, Recchi drove the net and drew a hooking penalty on Craig Conroy. Boston promptly grabbed the lead with a power-play goal from Dennis Seidenberg while Recchi and his usual even-strength linemates Patrice Bergeron and Marco Sturm wreaked havoc in front of Calgary goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff.
For a team as inconsistent as the Bruins facing a Flames team that's in an even more desperate situation in the standings, it was imperative to get off to a fast start.
"We wanted to get off to a good start," said Recchi. "We knew their situation too. We knew they were going to be desperate and we thought if we could get a lead on this team we could take a little bit of the will out of them."
Recchi drew another penalty later in the game and was a menace on the forecheck all day, as he has been most of the time through 74 games. Even though Boston was up 4-0 in the third, Recchi didn't step off the gas. With 5:51 remaining he capped the scoring by diving for a loose puck in the slot and backhanding into the mesh.
"I just went to the net and Bergy made a good play and Sturmie made a nice play by following up going to the net and the puck was just laying there and I do whatever I can to just get it in," Recchi said.
The 42-year-old has done everything in his power all season not just to attempt to score but to keep the Bruins afloat. In an injury-riddle season for the Bruins as a team, Recchi is one of three Bruins – along with Blake Wheeler and Michael Ryder – to play in every game, and that doesn't figure to change any time soon – at least in his case. Recchi has been a true tone-setter every night and an inspiration to all. That's left head coach Claude Julien with one less decision to make this season when making out his lineup card.
"We haven't been able to (rest Recchi), but at the same time he has shown no signs of a guy slowing down," said the coach. "So maybe we underestimated his conditioning and toughness throughout the schedule. I see him playing hard and playing well night after night. So unless we see signs of fatigue during games that we have to pull him out. But right now we can't afford to pull anybody out."
Especially, Recchi, a future Hall-of-Famer who seems like he might be able to play forever – games off be damned.


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Black Ops 2 PC patch notes released, FOV upped to 90
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 received a patch on consoles this week, and the PC crowd have been given similar treatment, along with the much-requested increased field of view setting. Treyarch has given in to demands and has even tweaked a few other things too. Get the patch notes below.
- Max FOV increased to 90
- Fix: Horse falling through the world in Afghanistan when playing on some CPUs with 4 or more cores
- Fix: RC-XD and the AGR sinking into the map in MP when playing on some CPUs with 4 or more cores
- General performance improvements in SP, MP, and ZM for CPUs with 4 or more cores
- Fix: crash when a 7th player tries to join a 6 player league lobby
- Improved dedicated server matchmaking
- Fix: some cases of "Connection Interrupted" in MP while loading into a match
Thanks MP1st.


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9 Things Kanye West's 'Yeezus' Album Artwork Looks Like
Before Kanye West performed his new songs "Black Skinhead" and "New Slaves" on Saturday Night Live, his boo/mother-to-be Kim Kardashian leaked the cover art for his upcoming album, Yeezus. Like any work of art, the all-gold-everything cover is something to behold… and something you may have to stare at for a few minutes to decipher it. A molten Jesus piece? We'll wait for the full explanation from the God himself. But until then, click through to see what confused Twitter fans think Yeezy's album cover looks like.


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LEGO Lord of the Rings PC demo available now
LEGO Lord of the Rings has received a PC demo that you can access now. Assemble your plastic fellowship now and get walking to Mordor.
The demo is available from the official LEGO homepage. The demo is compatible with Windows 7, XP and Vista but unfortunately not for Mac users.
Developed by Traveller's Tales, the game is out across Europe from November 23rd on pretty much every format under the sun.
Here's an official trailer:


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July 25, 2012 -
Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus submitted the following statement for the record at a hearing on the Financial Stability Oversight Council's annual report. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner appeared before the Committee to deliver FSOC's report.
"When financial reform was debated by Congress two years ago, Republicans suggested an alternative that would have consolidated the number of regulators. Instead, the Dodd-Frank Act passed by Congress eliminated one regulator, kept the others, added three more, and put them on the Financial Stability Oversight Council.
"We were told this 'super committee' of regulators was needed to act as an early warning system that would perceive threats far off in the distance and take action before these threats could metastasize into crises that bring down our economy.
"But two years after Dodd-Frank became law, there is little to no evidence the Council has followed through in any meaningful way to live up to these promises.
"Indeed, some of the most ardent supporters of Dodd-Frank are among the Council's harshest critics. Sheila Bair, the former FDIC chairman who served as a member of the Council, told the New York Times recently the 'F.S.O.C. is M.I.A.'
"Others have chided the Council for failing to live up to its most basic promises of accountability and transparency.
"Let me read from an article in the National Journal published on April 3rd of this year:
"The Financial Stability Oversight Council likes to boast about its transparency but it 'makes the Kremlin's Politburo at the height of the Soviet Union look open and democratic,' says Dennis Kelleher, president and CEO of Better Markets…Case in point: this week's meeting – the council's first in six months – to approve guidelines for identifying firms that could pose a risk to the financial system. The council approved the guidelines unanimously without debate and didn't disclose what had changed from the draft stage [of the guidelines].
"In the regulators' defense, perhaps these meetings are perfunctory because members of the Council simply don't have the time for them. After all, they must rush back to their offices to write the hundreds of new rules required by Dodd-Frank.
"Regulators appear to be so preoccupied writing these new rules that they're missing the basics – like safeguarding segregated customer funds and protecting investors from Ponzi schemes and other financial frauds. In just the past few months, we've seen regulators fail to protect the customers of MF Global and Peregrine Financial Group. Now there are questions about why regulators didn't take concrete action to stop LIBOR manipulation.
"It seems regulators are so busy trying to write rules against things like proprietary trading – which even Chairman Volcker agrees was not a cause of the financial crisis – that they are failing to fulfill their primary mission. Are they so busy writing tickets for jay walking that they're letting the robbers and thieves run loose?
"Rather than pass massive new laws that require hundreds of new regulations, it's a better use of limited resources to make sure regulators are enforcing the rules we already have. Clear rules and better enforcement of them will do more to protect consumers, investors and the financial system than a 'super committee' of regulators."
Print version of this document


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Monday, 12 November 2012 05:49 PM
Britain's Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which is charged with monitoring government financial affairs, invited the companies to give evidence amid mounting public and political concern about tax avoidance by big international companies.
Britain and Germany last week announced plans to push the Group of 20 economic powers to make multinational companies pay their "fair share" of taxes following reports of large firms exploiting loopholes to avoid taxes.
Amazon received a $252 million back tax claim from the French tax authority in September, related to its practice of channelling European sales through Luxembourg. The company said it was fighting the claim, referred to by an Amazon official at the hearing.
Members of Parliament (MPs) on the committee quizzed Starbucks Chief Financial Officer Troy Alstead about how the group's UK unit managed to report 13 years of losses.
"You're either running the business badly, or there's some fiddle going on," Austin Mitchell MP said.
A Reuters report last month showed that Starbucks had paid no corporation, or income, tax in Britain in the past three years and had paid only 8.6 million pounds since 1998.
Over this period it sold 3.1 billion pounds worth of coffee, prompting criticism from politicians and media commentators.
Alstead denied Starbucks was shifting profits out of Britain and blamed high rents for contributing to the company's troubled record in the UK.
He said the UK business only made a profit in Britain once, in 2006, despite his having told analysts on a conference call in 2009 that the UK unit was profitable and his predecessor listing the British operation in 2008, when asked about the foreign markets with the best margins.
Alstead also told the committee the company had an agreement with the Dutch authorities that allowed it pay a "very low tax rate" on its operation there.
Starbucks UK has an agreement to remit 6 percent of its turnover to the Dutch unit - its regional headquarters - in respect to the use of the Starbucks brand.
Alstead also told the committee that Starbucks's Swiss coffee trading unit charged group companies a 20 percent mark-up on coffee beans.
A company spokeswoman said the Lausanne-based unit bought 4 28 million pounds of coffee beans for an average $2.38 per pound in 2011, suggesting a total coffee bill of over $1 billion and income of more than $200 million for the Swiss unit, which employs 30 people.
Switzerland charges effective tax rates as low as 5 percent for trading in commodities such as coffee, tax lawyers say.
The spokeswoman said the Swiss unit used some of its income to fund farmer support centers and cooperatives in coffee-growing countries to ensure coffee is sourced ethically, although she would not say how much was spent on this.
Alstead denied the world's largest coffee chain channeled profits through tax havens and said it followed the law in every country where it operated.
Members of the committee repeatedly criticised Andrew Cecil, Brussels-based Director of Public Policy for internet retailer Amazon, for failing to answer questions about the group's operations.
Cecil declined several times to tell the committee the level of Amazon's sales in the UK.
"We have not disclosed those figures ever publicly," he said.
However, Amazon's annual reports do disclose this figure. The most recent regulatory filing gave UK revenues as 11-15 percent of total sales in 2011, an amount equal to $5.3 to $7.2 billion.
Amazon did not respond to emails or calls asking for explanations about the discrepancy.
"It's just not acceptable .. It's outrageous," the committee's chairman, Margaret Hodge MP, said of Cecil's inability to answer questions about Amazon's UK sales and corporate structure.
Amazon's main UK unit paid less than 1 million pounds in income tax last year.
Amazon avoids UK taxes by reporting European sales through a Luxembourg-based unit. This structure allowed it to pay a tax rate of 11 percent on foreign profits last year - less than half the average corporate income tax rate in its major markets.
Matt Brittin, Google Vice President for Sales and Operations, Northern and Central Europe, acknowledged the company did cut its tax bill by channelling profits from European sales through Bermuda but said this was perfectly legal.
Google's filings show it had $4 billion of sales in the UK last year, but despite having a group-wide profit margin of 33 percent, its main UK unit reported a loss in 2011 and 2010.
It had a tax charge of just 3.4 million pounds in 2011.
The search engine provider books European sales via an Irish unit, an arrangement that allowed it to pay taxes at a rate of 3.2 percent on non-U.S. profits last year.
Google is under audit by the French tax authority regarding its structure. The company denied a newspaper report last month that it had received a back tax claim for 1 billion euros.
© 2018 Thomson/Reuters. All rights reserved.
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text: All Tachikara utility balls are soft, resilient, highly visible, and triple protected against ozone and weathering. An anti-oxidant agent is added to our rubber compound to increase durability and prevent aging. Our 2-PLY construction method molds two separate membranes together to insure shape while creating a solid, more responsive feel with superior air retention and performance.


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March 2007: Aromatherapy for Alzheimer's Disease
People with ]]>Alzheimer's disease]]> and other forms of dementia often experience states of agitation that are clearly unpleasant for them, distressing to relatives, and challenging for professional caregivers. Strong tranquilizing medications can suppress such moments of agitation, but in consequence often reduce the dementia sufferer to near or full unconsciousness.
Preliminary controlled trials suggest, surprisingly, that a far milder treatment might help some cases. The use of scented oils, a method known as ]]>aromatherapy]]> , has shown promise for calming people with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.
In one interestingly designed, but very small, study published in 2002, a hospital ward was suffused with either lavender oil or water for two hours. An investigator who was unaware of the study's design and who wore a device to block inhalation of odors entered the ward and evaluated the behavior of the 15 residents, all of whom had dementia. The results indicated that use of lavender oil aromatherapy modestly decreased agitated behavior.
A Chinese study published in 2007 supports these findings. In this trial, 70 people with severe dementia and a tendency toward agitation were given either lavender or a sunflower oil placebo to inhale for three weeks. At that point, the two groups were crossed over to the opposite treatment for an additional three weeks. The results indicated that use of lavender oil significantly decreased agitated behavior as compared to placebo.
Holmes C, Hopkins V, Hensford C, et al. Lavender oil as a treatment for agitated behaviour in severe dementia: a placebo controlled study. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry . 2002;17:305-308.
Lin PW, Chan WC, Ng BF, et al. Efficacy of aromatherapy ( Lavandula angustifolia ) as an intervention for agitated behaviours in Chinese older persons with dementia: a cross-over randomized trial. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry . 2007 Mar 7 [Epub ahead of print].
Last reviewed by ]]>Steven Bratman, MD]]>
Please be aware that this information is provided to supplement the care provided by your physician. It is neither intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. CALL YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER IMMEDIATELY IF YOU THINK YOU MAY HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider prior to starting any new treatment or with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
Copyright © 2007 EBSCO Publishing All rights reserved.


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Palm Beach Termite Pest Control – Drywood Termites
O'Hara pest control in Palm Beach is no stranger to drywood termites. Though less common than the subterranean dampwood variety, the whole of the Southern U.S. plays host to drywood termites- warm temperatures complimented by rains or humidity is the termites ideal climate. Of course, that makes Palm Beach Florida prime drywood termite territory - Palm Beach's O'Hara pest control deals with new swarms every spring.
Drywood termites are aggressive expansionists that can quickly spread throughout the home. Female nymphs will fly to other locations, but if in a structure they very well can migrate to another story or corner. O'Hara pest control in Palm Beach will usually warn that drywood termites are very cooperative - and have multiple hives that combine.
Perhaps the only plus side of termites is their slow reproduction. In Palm Beach Florida O'Hara pest control will normally appraise the size of a swarm and then estimate the duration of settlement. Houses that have been infected for a decade will usually have major structural damage, a chief liability in storm season. Ten years is a long time, but legitimate Palm Beach pest control companies like O'Hara Pest Control will caution that termites are silent pests. The only way to tell a settlement's age is a thorough a termite inspection.
While drywood termites can be very furtive, there is one major tell sign. O'Hara pest control will usually look for termite pellets, or droppings, when initially scanning a property. These are usually found in poorly lit environments, but the feces can very well be dropping from the roof into the kitchen.
Given the relative inability to gauge the size of a termite infestation, contact O'Hara pest control as soon as the droppings or actual insects are discovered at 561-655-9011.
Dampwood Termites Pest Control - Palm Beach
Dampwood Termites are some the most despised pests along with, well, drywood termites in Palm Beach Florida. Nearly everybody is familiar with the freakish Neotermes (termites), the zoological terms for these pests that have damp wood for dinner lots and lots of damp wood. However, for all the notoriety of termites, very few people can easily detect them. This makes sense, as these moisture loving pests are prone to burrow themselves into the wood they then consume. While dampwood termites would soon as infest a log than the foundations of a house, when discovered these pests should be eliminated without impunity.
Rapid breeders, the older mounds of dampwood termites can reach a size of several thousand. While this unto itself can be aggravating, dampwood termites are known to create a slew of termite nymphs that then go on to found colonies elsewhere. In other words, the dampwood termites at outskirts of your property can easily spread to your home. On occasion makes sure to check all areas with moist wood in your home, such as a deck or the home's foundations. If you have concerns, or found dampwood termites, then call 561-655-9011. O'Hara Pest Control services Palm Beach for termites in Palm Beach County.