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The Kenny Chesney song "Don't Blink" came on the radio the other day and it has been stuck in my head ever since.
Life lately seems to run like the lyrics of the song...
~Don't Blink...Just like that you're six years old and you take a nap and you wake up and you're 25 and your high school sweetheart becomes your wife
~Dont Blink... You just might miss your babies growing like mine did, turning into moms and dads... Next thing you know your better half of 50 years is there in bed and you're praying God takes you instead...
Trust me friend a hundred years goes faster than you think.... Don't Blink.
Yeah... Seams every time I blink these days I fast forward so quickly it feels like a blur. My oldest 3 boys don't live at home any more, David is 18 and is moving quickly into the next phase of his life... he is a senior in High School, he works, he has staff to take him places and do things with him.. we are starting to think aboutr what his adult life is going to look like etc... Jake is a High school Junior... he is always on the go and Ben and Caroline are both in Midddle school... Don't Blink.
It seems like yesterday that my house was full, the dinner table was crowded, the laundy pile was huge... now most Saturday nights its me and Dave maybe David, and Ben and Caroline. The dinner table is all but empty and I don't know how much food to cook... I am used to cooking for a small army of boys... now there are 5 of us most nights and 3 with PWS... I throw so much food away!! Part of me is enjoying the change of pace, looking forward to the next phase when maybe just maybe it is just me and Dave again... and another part of me really really misses the days when my house was full of activity and the crazyness that comes with having 7 kids in the house... Don't Blink.
It is a parents job to raise their children to be self sufficient and independent. I have done my job if they spread their wings and fly... but it also leaves a hole in me where they used to be. I used to go to the grocery store often with all 7 of them in tow. I never thought a thing of it. We had a routine, everyone had a job and there was usually someone who had a problem or a meltdown or an issue... its just how we rolled. Now, when I am wondering the isles of the gorcery store all by myself and I come across a mom navigatging the store with several young children I look at her with envy missing those days. Missing the chaos. Missing everything that goes with it.... Don't Blink.
All I can offer to those of you who still have young ones at home is enjoy it. It goes by in the blink of an eye.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Don't Blink...
The Kenny Chesney song "Don't Blink" came on the radio the other day and it has been stuck in my head ever since.
Life lately seems to run like the lyrics of the song...
~Don't Blink...Just like that you're six years old and you take a nap and you wake up and you're 25 and your high school sweetheart becomes your wife
~Dont Blink... You just might miss your babies growing like mine did, turning into moms and dads... Next thing you know your better half of 50 years is there in bed and you're praying God takes you instead...
Trust me friend a hundred years goes faster than you think.... Don't Blink.
Posted by Vicki at 4:39 PM 0 comments
Monday, February 11, 2013
A Better World: Rare Disorder Changes the Lives of this Family - WFSB 3 Connecticut
Posted by Vicki at 8:56 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
The Knopfs visit Channel 3... Better Ct!
Hi Everyone! I know.. It's been forever since I have written here... I promise to stRt trying to update things more often! Tomorrow Ben, Caroline, and I will travel to Rock Hill Ct to be on the Better Ct show on channel 3! We had a film crew out to our house last week to tell our story! I am hopingi will be able to post a link to then story here, but if you are local it will air on WFSB Channel 3 here in Ct tomorrow at 3pm! Tune in! I promise updates on things soon.... Vicki
Posted by Vicki at 4:36 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Things Don't Always Go As Planned...
You would think that would be my mantra... In my life, it seems that this happens more than not.
I had routine (or so I thought) knee surgery in May to help to correct and old injury that had left my knee full of arthritis... according to my Orthopedist, I have the knee of a 60 year old.... perfect.
So, I have the surgery and am home the same afternoon. All is well... my Doc is happy with his work. I am in moderate pain, but nothing I didn't expect... I was sent home with some good drugs.
Day 3 after my surgery I didn't feel well all day. Nothing I could really put my finger on... I just felt off. More tired, and kid of disoriented. David got invited to a friends house to spend the night, and I decided to go along for the ride to take him to his friends thinking I might feel better if I got out of the house for a bit. It was kind of humid out, and I felt like I couldn't get enough air, which didn't help how I had been feeling all day. I remember sitting in the back eat with my leg propped up on a pillow... I went to say something to Dave and it didn't come out right... I remember thinking it was the narcotics and just decided to stay quiet.
I went to be early thinking a good nights sleep would help. I was sleeping in Caroline's bed and Dave was in our room. I woke up a couple of hours later feeling like my chest was being crushed. I called for Dave who helped me get up.... once I was sitting I felt a little better, but decided I must be getting pneumonia and after going back and forth on what to do, we decided to head to the ER at 11:30pm.
Once we got the ER, things went crazy. I knew I was in trouble when we got there... I was sweating profusely, and couldn't get my breath.. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. They took me in right away and were very concerned... my O2 levels were only in the low 80s and my heart rate was 175... I was sent to x-ray to get a picture of my lungs and was told that I did NOT have pneumonia and that they wanted a CT scan of my lungs... when the results of that came back, I was diagnosed as having pulmonary embolism and an ambulance was called to take me to the hospital! This was just nuts! The Dr. was telling me that I was lucky to even be alive... that a lot of times, people die immediately and don't even know what hit them!
I spent a few days in the hospital while they dissolved the remaining clot in my leg which is where the blood clot originated from and the clots in my lungs slowly dissolved and I didn't need oxygen any more. I was sent home on blood thinners that I now have to take for 6 months... not fun... blood draws at least once a week, lots of dietary restrictions etc... but I guess it could be worse!!
Pretty scary to think I could have died from this.... I'm young and healthy..... things like this only happen to other people... It's been a real wake up call for me to live each day to its fullest and to not take things for granted.
The knee is healed nicely... I'm still going to physical therapy, but it getting stronger and i pain free.
I think this post catches everyone up on the last few months and explains why I haven't posted in so long!!!
Have a good day everyone!!!
Posted by Vicki at 10:49 AM 1 comments

subset: commoncrawl


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For once have some things on my bench...but they're all only half made.
Still struggling with a name change (again) lol...I am very attached to the name I have now. Have used it for many years, for sewing and my card making. I've even got labels for my sewing and a heap of different stamps made with my LCH name.
Like I've posted before, I'm not a very decisive person. I end up just confusing myself further :(
Summer had her 3rd and 4th visit to Kindy last week and everything went really well.
I got quite a lot done on the Thursday morning, but on Friday my hubby was home off work, so I didn't get anything finished. Then the weekend came and I didn't get anything done again :( Plus it poured with rain all day and night on Saturday. Summer has a cough....this morning it seems to be more raspy, so I'm hoping that it means it's clearing up and off her chest, or she might not be able to go this week to kindy.
Hopefully Summer gets to go and I get to finish my work. My shop is being neglected a little.
We had an inspection on Tuesday (the one where the actual owners come once a year) and 2 real estate agents turned up with the 2 owners (older married couple). Talk about intimidation! My hubby and I worked so hard over the weekend, that the house ended up looking in better condition than when we first moved in!!! Of course, no one said anything. But hey, I get to enjoy it looking so good :)
Now we are focused on whether to sign another lease here or not.
I'm deciding whether to cut a fringe or not - for myself.
And its time to decide on our furniture we have stashed around.
This was a piece we bought for our dining room a while ago:
Apparently from around late 1800's. I absolutely love it. But it needs sooo much work done to it (if you can see the top is splitting/buckling) to restore it and we aren't sure that we will ever get around to it.
Also several weeks ago, I won a little antique cabinet off ebay and when we got home we noticed the top was all bubbling and puffy and flakes of veneer were coming off (none of this was put in photos or in description).
I paid a small fortune for this piece too and now we need to pay another small fortune fixing it up. I didn't see the top needed fixing till I got home as the lady's house that we bought it from was soooo dark and my mum carried it out for me and lay it down in the boot, so it was out of view then too. And it took over an hour and a bit to get there! Sigh....wasn't happy at all .... neither was hubs.
So now we've decided to replace a couple of pieces of furniture with new pieces, that don't need to be restored in any way shape or form. Which is hard for me, as I don't really like modern furniture. Plus buying new means paying more - generally anyway. But it beats having half finished pieces around.
That's it for now. I guess I should probably get on with my mopping etc. Oh and there goes the washing machine....need to hang that out too. Not feeling so great yesterday and today....so it makes it really hard to be motivated, but it's got to be done ..... I need a maid ..... or a nanny would be nice ....
Em ♥


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AN OXFORDSHIRE man has denied murdering his estranged Welsh wife.
The body of Tracey Gossip, 39, from Cullan, Lampeter, was found in a burned-out car in a field in Oxfordshire on November 18 last year.
Andrew Smith, 42, had been accused of her murder the previous day. Detectives had launched an extensive search of the alleged murder scene in Lampeter.
Smith appeared before a judge at Oxford Crown Court yesterday. He only spoke to confirm his name and deny one charge of murder.
He was remanded in custody and ordered to appear in court on June 25 to set a date for the trial.
ONE of the doctors who supervised an operation in which the wrong kidney was removed from a patient has decided to appeal against being suspension for professional misconduct.
Surgeon John Roberts, 61, was responsible for supervising the operation on 69-year-old Graham Reeves, a Korean War veteran, four years ago at the Prince Philip Hospital in Llanelli.
In January, the General Medical Council banned him for 12 months, five weeks after Mr Reeves died.
His appeal to the High Court will be heard in the coming months.
LESS than a year after it opened, the high dependency unit at Llandough Hospital, near Cardiff, has been hailed a success.
Part of the hospital's critical care area, the unit has won praise from the consultants using the facility.
They have reported "very high levels of satisfaction" with the unit and with the ease of arranging beds for their patients.
Figures show that since the establishment of the unit means that patients spend less time in the adjacent intensive therapy unit, freeing up those facilities for other patients.
A study has also shown the unit has had a beneficial effect on clinical staff skill levels.


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I know it's a little late, but here's one more Teen Vogue Fashion U! This one's really special to me. Because I was the Sperry scholarship winner of the weekend, I got to head over to the Sperry showroom during my lunch break on Saturday! Being in a showroom (my first time!) was an amazing experience in itself. The three women hosting the tour - Bradley, Marnie, and Elaine - were all super inspiring. After the tour, I got to stick around for a bit to take pictures with the Sperry team and talk to them. After pictures, the rest of the girls and I scurried back onto the bus and finished our cafeteria lunch, Condé Nast style (yes, they even make lunch food chic / delicious). I really couldn't have asked for a more perfect lunch and day! A huge thanks to Sheena, the fashion merchandising manager of TeenVogue for making this the best weekend.
Still Being Molly, DC in Style


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Unusual 11 Mid-Day Movers 07/10: (BMJ) (INO) (NUS) Higher; (NEO) (ALJ) (BRLI) Lower
Birks & Mayors Inc. (NYSE: BMJ) 25.7% HIGHER; announced that net sales during the 13 weeks ended June 29, 2013 were $70.1 million, representing an increase of $1.3 million, or 2%, compared to net sales of $68.8 million during the first quarter of fiscal 2013. Comparable store sales increased 9% during the first quarter (comparable store sales include stores open in both the current and prior period and are expressed at a constant exchange rate).
Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE: INO) 17.8% HIGHER; announced peer-reviewed publication of results from two phase I trials (HVTN 070 and HVTN 080) of its PENNVAX-B preventive HIV DNA vaccine delivered with a DNA adjuvant and with or without Inovio's proprietary CELLECTRA electroporation delivery device. The studies were conducted by the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN).
Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: NUS) 16.8% HIGHER; said it now sees Q2 EPS of about $1.20, while boosting FY13 EPS expectations to $4.85 to $5.00 and revs to $2.83 billion to $2.86 billion. The Street sees Q2 EPS of $0.96 and revs of $579.1 million. FY13 EPS is expected to be $4.29 with revs of $2.54 billion.
Neogenomics Inc. (Nasdaq: NEO) 16.2% LOWER; lower again for the second session and seeing a sharper drop below the $3.50 - $3.60 support level. Volume is extremely heavy today.
Neonode, Inc. (Nasdaq: NEON) 14.3% HIGHER; up on positive chatter today. About 18.2 percent of public float is being held short.
NII Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: NIHD) 12.6% HIGHER; NII announced bringing PRIP to the U.S. on Monday, though there was little reaction to the move until today. Shares are getting hung up on the $7 price level.
Stemline Therapeutics (Nasdaq: STML) 12.2% HIGHER; FMR LLC reported holding a 1,482,956 share, or 11.93 percent, stake in the company.
Alon USA Energy (NYSE: ALJ) 9.3% LOWER; Macquarie trims Alon from Neutral to Underperform today.
Bio-Reference Laboratories (Nasdaq: BRLI) 9.2% LOWER; William Blair cut its rating on Bio-Reference from Outperform to Market Perform.
Rackspace Hosting (NYSE: RAX) 9.3% LOWER; is seeing pressure on more pricing pressure from Amazon.com, which announced a price reduction of up to 80 percent on Amazon EC2 Dedicated Instances.
China Recycling Energy Corporation (Nasdaq: CREG) 8.4% LOWER; investors taking a little profit today following a 58 percent run the last three sessions.
To get this report daily visit http://www.streetinsider.com/entities/Unusual+11+Mid-Day+Movers.
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Tuesday, August 25, 2009
For all of you artist from the BAY, Purcasso is coming back!
read this
Greetings Artists!
The Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society (BEBHS) is personally inviting you to take part in this year's Fourth Annual Purrcasso Art and Craft Gala. Purrcasso is an auction event that showcases cat and dog-themed art. You have received this email because we love your artwork and think it would be a great addition to this year's show. In the past we have included illustration work from Bay Area talents like Pascal Campion, Bill Presing, Mike Daley, Steph Laberis, Brittney Lee, and many other gifted artists. (We are based in the Bay, but are happy to accept art from anywhere willing to send it!) We accept many different types of art - illustrations, paintings, ceramics, prints, clothing...whatever you like to create! To get started with a donation, mosey on over to http://purrcasso.org and check out our Online Submission Form. We are hoping to have pieces shipped to us for the show by October 17, 2009.
Not only is Purrcasso a wonderful opportunity to use your artistic talent for the good of needy animals, it is a great way to meet new artists and get a little exposure for your work. If you have a blog, please consider posting a description/link to our site, http://purrcasso.org. Purrcasso 2009 will be held on Nov. 7 and 8, 2009. The location will be announced shortly. Please direct any questions to Purrcasso Co-Chairs, Bill Robinson (firstname.lastname@example.com) or Julia Clayton (firstname.lastname@example.com).
To give you an idea of how important Purrcasso is to the BEBHS, past events have raised over $12,000 and enabled us to provide shelter, food, and medical care to more than 10,000 animals through our programs and services. Our goal this year is to net $15,000.
Your donation will be formally acknowledged by the BEBHS. In addition, you will be recognized through our website and bi-annual magazine distributed to over 12,000 Bay Area households. For more details about donations, timeline, and the event itself, please visit our website.
We look forward to featuring your work!
Bill Robinson and Julia Clayton
Purrcasso Committee Co-Chairs
2 comments:
- Bill Robinson said...
Thanks for posting, Pascal! Looking forward to seeing everyone's pieces this year.
- pascal said...
No problem!
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


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Hei, how are you guys doing?
Today I'm going to pull an all-nighter, something that I haven't done for several years now(I'm pretty sure last time I did it was during my final years in uni). I hope I can finish it quicker, I don't think I can last without sleep :s
Well, because I cannot share more of my thoughts for today, allow me to share this link instead. The website's called Duolingo, and it's a perfect way for you to learn a new language without paying any money. Yep, it's totally free. Go check it out, and let me know how it goes.
Until then, see you later!


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Bridges To Life Bridges To Life
Here's a sample of our volunteer opportunities:VIEW AS
Mission Statement
The mission of Bridges To Life (BTL) is to connect communities to the prisons in an effort to reduce the recidivism rate, particularly that resulting from violent crimes, and thereby effect a consequent reduction in the number of crime victims and enhanced public safety.
The spiritual mission of Bridges To Life is to minister to victims and offenders in an effort to show them the transforming power of God's love and forgiveness.
Based on the principals of Restorative Justice, the BTL program takes crime victims into the prison system with the intent of reducing crime in the community and reducing the recidivism of the offenders who complete the program. BTL accomplishes its goal of empowering victims and rehabilitating inmates by educating offenders about the impact that their actions have had, not only on their families, but also on the families of the victims, their friends, and the community at large.
The Bridges To Life program utilizes an intensive, 14-week process during which victim volunteers and offenders are brought together along with a facilitator. To meet the program's objective of providing a safe environment for offender and victim, a small group format is utilized that emphasizes confidentiality and compassion.
The weekly sessions focus on topics that include: 1) understanding the effects of crime and the relationship between offenders an victims; 2) understanding the importance of faith and stories in the healing process; 3) understanding responsibility and accountability after an offense; 4) understanding the importance of confession, repentance and forgiveness after an offense; and 5) understanding the importance of reconciliation and restitution after an offense and actually participate in symbolic restitution. The groups are facilitated with the aid of a training manual and study guide, which offer opportunity for learning, growth and reflection.
This information
Might be out of date
Do you work for this organization?
Request administrator status and update its information!


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The Scoop of the Southern Outdoors
Bringing you the latest hunting & fishing news, reviews and tips of the south.
Contact Me
How to Keep Bass Alive Tournament Fishing
Here are some things to keep in mind when tournament fishing and need to keep those fish alive. FILL YOUR LIVE WELL Fill your live well when you get to your first fishing spot. Make sure you are in deeper open water areas with good water quality. TURN ON THE RECIRC Set pump switch on manual (continuous operation) Run continuously all day. If you run aerator on a timer, run as often as possible. If boat does not have a recirculating aeration system, you need to get one. This is a must to


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Those who think ancient Hawaiian culture
is dead and buried are only partly right: While most Hawaiians no longer bury their dead in the sand, the fight to protect ancestral graves from redevelopment has kept alive a sense of connection to the past, and inspires activism in the present.
What today's visitors and builders see as prime real estate was traditionally a perfect spot to inter nā iwi ("the bones"), with shifting sands protecting them from discovery and decay (the flesh was usually removed before burial). Although some sites were marked with stones, others were known only to their families, who in turn felt protected by the presence of the mana ("power") in the bones of their kūpuna ("elders" or "ancestors.")
The remains were also traditionally hidden in caves and cliffside puka ("holes"), but it was the modern push for beachfront development that wakened the living as well as disturbed the dead. In 1987, developers at Maui's Kapalua Resort began excavating a dune at Honokahua to make way for construction of the Ritz-Carlton, a process that eventually exposed more than 1,100 sets of remains — including some believed to have been those of royalty.
The sheer scope of the burial site, combined with growing Native Hawaiian consciousness, mobilized protesters, who had little law but much passion on their side. One of the leaders was cultural practitioner Charles Kauluwehi Maxwell, who had previously written a song called "Honokahua Nani E" ("Beautiful Is Honokahua"), which tells of "the place where our ancestors sleep." (Scroll to the bottom for a video by Kenneth Makuakane, who composed the melody.) As the Honolulu Advertiser tells it:
Native Hawaiians and supporters rallied at Honokahua, and in late 1988 at the state Capitol, finally halting the burial disturbance. The hotel was built farther inland and the remains reburied with Native Hawaiian protocols. The 14-acre site is now a historical and cultural landmark. Hawai'i's burial treatment law passed in 1990 gives unmarked burials, most of which are Native Hawaiian, the same protection as modern cemeteries.
Today the Honokahua Preservation Site (see below), planted with grass to prevent erosion, lies undisturbed for most of the year. Guarded by a large hedge and a marker banning entry, it's now a wahi pana ("celebrated place"), occasionally used for ceremonies of particular significance to Native Hawaiians. The serene expanse overlooking the crashing waves has also become a source of pride, rather than a drawback, for the uphill Ritz-Carlton, whose cultural advisor Clifford Nae'ole was one of the protesters. (For an intriguing oral history and a deeper look at the resulting legislation, see the state's Nā Iwi Kūpuna Web site.)
Jeanne Cooper
Jim Kelly of Castro Valley was among the first to identify the photo above in my Sunday Quiz, as were Randy Delucchi of Soquel and Elena Martinez of Alameda. Elena noted that the site is "on Makaluapuna Point, near the Dragon's Teeth. We happened upon it while staying at the Bay Villas and doing some exploring." (They'll all receive small prizes courtesy of Hawaii Insider.)
Despite the 1990 law protecting known burial sites and controlling development at inadvertently discovered sites, the continuing pressure to build in Hawaii means the issue is also far from dead and buried. Honolulu's oldest and most famous church, Kawaiaha'o, is currently at the center of a reinterment controversy. A burial site under a home near Hanalei on Kauai is also in the news.
What does this mean to visitors? Well, when we're strolling the beautiful beaches of Hawaii, we can remember that beneath us may be not only what Hawaiians call ku'u one hanau, the "beloved sand of (their) birth," but also the resting place of their ancestors. As always, tread with aloha.


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When you live in a big city you usually don't get to know your neighbors. I've lived in three other flats before this one and I certainally never got to know anyone until I moved to Brixton. I've been thinking lately that maybe that's not a bad thing
About a month back Matthew and I were in the flat unpacking. Out of the blue we had a knock on the door. We both just sort of stopped dead in our tracks and looked at each other. We had no idea who would be knocking on our door. My first thought was that maybe we had the music up too loud and it was a neighbor coming to ask us to turn it down.
Turned out that it was the lady across the hall coming round to pay us a visit. She introduced herself briefly before pushing past Matthew to enter the flat to have a look around. I will say that she isn't in her right mind, but is very friendly. She was wearing a bathrobe with no sash and nothing underneath! She was kind enough to adjust it from time to time when she noticed that it had come too far open.
Once inside the flat, Marcia, asked if she could have a cold drink. This request really caught me off guard. It's just a bit strange to have some invite themselves in and then demand a cold drink. I poured a glass of water as she walked across the room to sit herself down at the kitchen table.
Turns out she was in a mental hospital for a while when she was living over in America and that she also suffers from vicious pain after falling off a bus. We sat and chatted for a spell before I told her that we needed to finish unpacking and would it be all right if I walked her back to her flat?
I didn't bother me that she came over. I think she must be pretty lonely living on her own. It was just so unusual. She's been back a few times since then, for much shorter visits. She usually isn't interested in talking to me if Matthew isn't around. That could be because Matthew usually will giver her a few pounds.
Sometimes she'll knock on the door once we've come home and we just ignore it. Although she'll knock for ages since she knows we're in. After several minutes of repetitive knocking she takes a hint.
We also have neighbors who live downstairs......these people like to shout and row a great deal. They aren't the kind of neighbors people are excited about having. They have two small children who when they're not being yelled at by their parents are out playing naked in their filthy garden.
I can see their garden from my bedroom window and it's just a complete pit. Littered with junk and bicycle wheels. Not a nice place for kids to play at all. Plus they've got a dog who digs up everything in the yard, which is why I am guessing it's just all dirt back there now.
I had a bad feeling about these people when we first came to look at the place. Their window blinds were all bent and crazy looking...which I took to be a bad sign. In some ways I feel really back writing about these people,like I am betraying their privacy or maybe I am just scared they'll find this post and start knocking on my door. Although I seriously doubt that, I get the feeling that they wouldn't even know what a blog is. They are pretty horrible and I feel bad for the kids.
The man and woman had a big fight today. Crazy swearing and some pretty filthy things were said, with lots of door slamming in between. Sigh......
I just try to ignore them and get on with it. I love my flat and hope things don't get worse. We'll see how it goes. Marcia has asked if we'll get her some tshirts in America. She calls me beautiful Yankee girl :) We'll bring some back for her, to make up for the times when we don't answer the door :)


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If the LG Flutter by Dua Xiong is the future of mobile phones, then I need a remote control to fast forward time, because I want one now. The LG Flutter is the result of the Propmaster's Choice Awards, a category of the LG 'Design the Future' competition.
The LG Flutter by Dua Xiong slides apart, then splits open to reveal a flexible, fan-like OLED screen. The winning design will be manufactured, but Dua Xiong's LG Flutter will appear in an upcoming blockbuster action flick.
Luxury Car Mobile Phones
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Emotion-Sensitive Cell Phones
Bamboo and Acrylic Mobiles
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Our Research Methodology
This article is one of 350,000 experiments. We use crowd filtering, big data and AI to identify insights.


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Bergen Beach Playground
Bergen Beach Playground
Though originally intended to serve as a resort area, Bergen Beach maintains much of the serenity and natural beauty experienced by Native Americans and early European settlers.
Initially inhabited by the Canarsie Indians, in the early 1600s the Dutch West India Company set up a trading post on nearby land, then called Mentelaer's Island. The trading post brought money into the area, enlarging the settlement by mid-century. During the American Revolution, British officers used the island and the Bergen House as an outpost. In the 1850s, the land officially received the name Bergen Island. In the 1890s, developers Percy Williams and Thomas Adams Jr. transformed the Bergen House into a resort. In 1905, Williams added an amusement park to the island. The resort and amusement park, accessible by the Flatbush Avenue streetcar, featured a casino, roller-skating rink, boardwalk, and Vaudeville Theater. In 1918, a landfill project connected the island to the mainland. However, the first half of the 20th century brought unsuccessful attempts at developing the area, initially as a resort alternative to Coney Island, and, later, as a residential community.
The popularity of Coney Island far eclipsed that of Bergen Beach, and the resort area closed in 1920. The Manhattan real estate developers Max Natanson and Mandlebaum & Levine purchased the resort area for two million dollars in 1925, planning to build a residential community featuring a bathing beach, pavilion and new amusement park. The plan never reached fruition, and the land was sold off piecemeal, remaining the largest undeveloped area in Brooklyn through the mid-1900s. The Bergen House itself was razed around 1930 to make way for the Belt Parkway. The remnants of the boardwalk and amusement park were torn down in 1939. The construction of the Belt Parkway, built through the area in 1939, also failed to attract potential developers. The area became more fully developed by the 1960s, but gained residential popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Bergen Beach Playground, located between Avenues T and N and East 71st and East 72nd Streets in the Bergen Beach area contains a passive area with benches and Littleleaf linden (Tilia cordata) and Thornless honeylocust (Gleditsia triacanthos) trees. The playground also features multi-colored play equipment, safety surfacing, and tot swings, in addition to basketball and handball courts. Mayor Giuliani provided $120,745 in 2001 for new safety surfacing, and work on fences, guardrails and general site work.


text: I really wanted to ask if anyone knew when the nexus one will be available in europe other than UK. I live in italy and i know that it will come with vodafone but i just don't know when. oh and side question (kind of noobish) does the monthly rate that you pay include phone calls and text messages or only 3G? please forgive me if these questions have been answered, i couldn't find them. edit* i'm also interested in a thing Neemo pointed out: i will buy my phone in italy and change its language to english from the settings, i would really like for the speech to text to be in english too. is that possible without rooting the phone or crap? or iwll it just recognize both italian and english directly ?


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Detox, short for detoxification, is a process in which an individual lessens or halts the use of a drug which results in the body ridding itself of any chemicals that were introduced by the abused substance. For those struggling with addiction, detoxification is often the first step toward treating drug and/or alcohol abuse. When a person goes through the detoxification process, he or she goes through withdrawal while their body readjusts to being without drugs or alcohol. The symptoms of withdrawal can be quite severe and, depending on the substance that an individual is detoxing from, may require medical supervision to prevent any life-threatening issues from arising.
There are two types of detoxification treatments: medical detox and nutritionally assisted detox.
- For a medically supervised detox treatment, a health care provider treats an individual's withdrawal symptoms, which can range in severity, through the use of pharmaceutical medication. An individual may choose to seek outpatient treatment, where he or she goes to a hospital or treatment center for daily treatment; or inpatient treatment, which requires a stay at a residential facility.
- For nutritionally assisted detox, an individual attends a residential facility, where he or she receives a combination of Neurotransmitter Restoration (NTR) and Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide (NAD) therapy. This treatment uses a mixture of vitamins, minerals and nutrients to ease a patient through the withdrawal process, often far faster than medically supervised detox treatments.
Deciding on what detox treatment to seek should start with the Sovereign Health physicians, where they can go over the best care options depending on your needs.
Evidence-based treatments mark our mental health, addiction and other programs.
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All our locations treat addiction and dual diagnosis, while some offer additional specialized programs.
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We offer adults and adolescents residential, outpatient and other levels of care.
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A multidisciplinary team works together to provide the best care for every diagnosis.
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Take a virtual tour of one of our facilities or witness changed lives by watching a patient testimonial.
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Detox Treatment
Medically Supervised Detox: Lessening or stopping drug or alcohol use is a process that should not be undertaken without assistance from a medical professional. Withdrawal symptoms can vary depending on the substance abused. Stopping use of some substances, such as benzodiazepines or alcohol, can be incredibly dangerous. An individual may experience seizures or other life-threatening symptoms. Going "cold turkey" is not recommended.
Individuals seeking medically supervised detox treatment for substance abuse have two main options: Outpatient detox treatment or inpatient detox treatment.
For outpatient care, an individual travels daily to a treatment facility for detox treatment. This can be beneficial for people who have work or school; they can seek treatment when it fits their schedule.
Residential detox treatment, or inpatient detox rehabilitation, involves an individual residing in a facility dedicated to detox. This has a number of benefits, including:
- An individual has 24-hour medically supervised care.
- Staff can provide treatment for withdrawal symptoms and help prevent any serious life-threatening symptoms.
- An individual does not have access to drugs or alcohol, and avoids the influences or triggers that can lead to a relapse.
- An individual is in a communal setting with others going through the same issues as they are, creating a sense of community.
- Individuals receive other treatment options, such as crisis management, suicide prevention, counseling, education, nutrition and adjunctive therapies.
- Schedules are focused on recovery, and aren't interrupted by day-to-day distractions that might occur in outpatient care.
Medical detox is only available at the Sovereign Health of Fort Myers location.
Another Form of Detox: Nutritionally Assisted Detox
For individuals seeking an all-natural detox treatment, nutritionally assisted detox may be for them. A unique program available at Sovereign Health nutritionally assisted detox or NAD is shorter than most standard detox treatments. Patients often recover from withdrawal symptoms 50 to 80 percent faster.
Nutritionally assisted detox is currently only available at Sovereign Health in San Clemente, CA, facility.


text: Due to a current shortage of stage and travelling uniform the Yorkshire Imperial Urquhart Travel Band are holding a jacket amnesty. Sadly, a significant number of jackets have not been returned and at times we struggle to provide kit because individuals have not returned items . If you have a Yorkshire Imperial uniform hiding deep in the recesses of your wardrobe, hanging in your spare room gathering dust or know of someone who might have please get in touch with firstname.lastname@example.com or firstname.lastname@example.com to make arrangements for items to be returned. We are not interested in recriminations, there will be no naming/shaming , we would simply like to get our jackets back so that we are able to kit out the whole band comfortably without resorting to borrowing or purchasing new jackets at significant cost . Please help if you can. Richard Barker Publicity Manager Yorkshire Imperial Urquhart Travel Band


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Real Talk 1: Gratitude
Real Talk 2: Mindfulness
Guys, it's mid-January. That greyish time when already, we start feeling the wearing of the newness. We use all the tools we have: denial, active resistance, sheer force of will, to try to get it back. Now, I come into 2015 with optimism. I have some lofty goals for the year (more on that later. maybe.), and one actually reasonable one, involving friluftsliv (who's in?), but as much as I love that fresh, invincible resolve of the first days of January, resolutions themselves have always felt a little flimsy to me.
Fortunately, I have a secret weapon. At the start of 2012, feeling a little boxed in by the strict declarativeness of resolutions, I figured out an alternative that works for me. I'd like to talk to you today about a little something I call the Hour of Power.
My issues with the old way of dealing with resolutions stem not just from their lack of fluidity, but from the lack of accountability. I am notorious for not finishing what I start, and it frustrates me endlessly. I'm more interested in a way to keep tabs on things I want to achieve as they arise throughout the year, rather than coming up with a few simple resolutions in one day.
So, I've come up with a system with two simple components. First, I decided to schedule a weekly meeting with myself. I schedule in an distraction-free hour, every Wednesday from 8:30-9:30, which is devoted completely to the second item, The List.
The List. Ah, the list. The list is everything. The list, as they say, is life.* The core of this practice is a list, contained in the cloud, accessible at all times, with everything in it. This includes grand plans and visions, as well as mundane to-dos. The key to the List is to update it the moment you remember something. No need, at that time, to go into detail, but jot down the item. I started my list in Google Docs, but last year moved it to a site called Workflowy,
The Hour of Power. My meeting with myself. These are the grounds. Each is crucial:
- Use a different chair. I do most of my computering on the couch. A messy morass of Facebook, Sporcle, IM, all the distractions, every night. The Hour is special, and requires a shift in environment. I spend it on an armchair that's slightly less comfortable. Play music if you want; pour yourself a cup of hot tea. Remove yourself from children and other distracting people, and shut the door**.
- Open a new browser window. It's impossible to plan life, for me anyway, without the internet. But for the Hour, I minimize all the nagging tabs, log out of IM, and start clean. This window will have just a few tabs: The List, my calendar, email, and maybe a couple others as necessary. I'm mindful to not get sucked into a wormhole though. Discipline.
- Go through the list. Address each item. If something needs fleshing out, add subtasks. Go into as crazily minute detail as you need. If you're not sure where to start, come up with a baby step. Consider talking to someone. (And then of course, add talking to that someone to the list, and schedule it in.)
- Get shit done. If a task is to send an email, look up the hours for a business, find someone's mailing address, this is your time to do it. Sometimes, in the time it would take to add an item to the list, you can just knock it out.
- Schedule in first steps. If a task can't be done immediately, schedule it. Need to make a phone call during business hours? Put it in your calendar for 10am the next day. Set an alarm.
- Reward small victories. Strike through things as you complete them. Bask for a moment. Doesn't that feel great?
- Reward large victories. Maintain the list of complete tasks. With Workflowy, you can toggle hiding completed tasks. With a regular doc, shift them to the bottom. But don't delete them. Look at them every once in a while. You've accomplished so much.
- Keep at it. Keep. At. It. And don't get discouraged. Even the Great Wall of China is nothing but bricks.
I don't consider myself an organized person -- I was tagged a slacker early in life -- and it takes major effort for me to keep things from falling through the cracks on a regular basis. But my little Hour of Power has been such an effective thing for me. I can't say that I accomplished every single thing I set out to do when I started this practice, because honestly that'd be impossible. But I have accomplished a lot (so many strikethroughs!), I'm pinned to a path, and with every hour, every item, I'm making progress.
* I recognize the white-girl-problems nature of using a line from a Holocaust movie to describe my self-organization method. But after years of saying it to, and hearing it from, a friend for whom The List is the closest thing to religion, the phrase has had its original meaning hollowed out, and it's an important piece of our shorthand.
** Yeah, right, parents of small children are gonna be able to get an hour of uninterrupted time to themselves. I know, super challenging. But I feel like parents are superheroes of efficiency and could actually knock this out in 30 minutes.


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Interview with Sean Jones, Vincent Stapleton, Leo Creelman on RTE's Sean O'Rourke radio programme this morning about life as a seminarian and studying for priesthood.
You can access the interview on the RTE podcast page HERE.
Sacred Space 102fm is a weekly programme produced by "Come & See Inspirations" in West Limerick. The programme includes inspirational music, chat, interviews, what's on locally and not so locally and a reflection on the Sunday gospel reading of the day. It is presented by John Keily, regular panelists, contributors and invited guests. Programmes are available to be listened to online on our podcast pages,email us on firstname.lastname@example.com and send SMS to +353 (0)87 6088667


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Julian's blog
How do you get a semi-retired wine blogger to grab his tasting glass and head out into the fray again? Make him an offer he can't resist. Include in it: World class red wines, back vintages no longer available anywhere else, an Italian region that he loves, but still knows too little about. To clinch the deal, promise him that he will get to meet a real live Italian nobleman.
Marchese Lamberto de' Frescobaldi is just that, and he is also the director of his family's vast agricultural and wine growing operation. To promote his high-end Tuscan sangiovese, Frescobaldi and their German importer had set up a spectacular vertical tasting in Munich. Read on for my impressions of 30 years of Sangiovese, and a bit with a wild boar.
We had heard a shy young Franconian winemaker talking about finding his own way, a sage dispensing Riesling wisdom, and the hulking star of the river Saar warn us of his own wines. But in spite of our heads beginning to spin, our palates starting to give out, and the lure of Dallmayr's fine sausages, cheeses and chocolates pulling us away, we had not yet heard enough...
In case you missed the first part of this report about Winzerelite ("wine growing elite"), the annual spring tasting hosted by posh Munich wine and fine food store Dallmayr, in which we were talking.... No we weren't, really. We resolved to, this once, fulfil our journalistic calling and let winegrowers do the talking. One wine each, and whatever they wanted to tell us about it and what choices they made in making it - those were the rules.
Two years ago, I reminisced about student days and staircases. Last year, I got all corduroy trousers and turtleneck sweater about the term "elite". Somewhat disappointingly, this has not stopped Dallmayr, the renowned Munich delicatessen store, from again using the name Winzerelite (wine making elite) for their annual spring tasting of German and Austrian estates. Clearly, we needed to try another tack with Dallmayr, who this year actually invited us to attend as - imaging our proudly beaming faces - press. From a friendly chat with Dallmayr's public relations guy, we gathered that they were happy to have bloggers spread the word, but not yet sure how to understand their reach compared to print journalism. Not a scepticism that you often hear in the English-speaking wine world these days, but we were happy to rise to the occasion: a new journalistic approach was clearly called for here.
We decided not to come along with a preconceived set of questions but to actually let the winemakers steer the conversation. We asked the men and women manning the stalls to pour us just one wine, their most important one. That should not have to be the most expensive one, nor necessarily the best, we insisted, but simply the one most worth talking about. And then we tasted, and we listened.
We could not leave the waning year behind without giving you the official shortlist you've all been nervously waiting for. Just to make sure you don't get the wrong impression: This is a highly subjective parade. It's ours alone, and it's in no way a comprehensive ranking. The following are simply those that impressed and delighted us most out of the minuscule drop of German Wine ocean that we happen to have sampled over the past year. It so happens that all of them were from past vintages, rather than fresh out of the 2011 barrels, but again, that is in no way a judgement on the qualities (or lack thereof) of the current vintage.
When we first launched the Wine Rambler, we anticipated, rather optimistically, that wineries might at some point in the future might send us samples to review. But we also always insisted, a touch self-defeatingly perhaps, that we would be very strict about ethics and transparency in doing this. And we are. But the good people of the Terras Gauda winery of Spain, which makes and markets a range of wines from different regions of northwestern Spain did not let themselves be deterred by this, much to their credit, and were kind enough to send us a six bottle sample to review. And it fell to the Munich branch of the blog to do it.
How to go about such a task? I decided on the following course of action: I would not research anyone else's reviews, ratings or scores beforehand. I would not research prices either, which means I could not comment on value, but I wouldn't be influenced by it either. I would also not set up a single tasting where I would compare them in a professional setting. Instead, we would drink the wines at Munich HQ, one at the time, over a couple of weeks, like almost anyone who buys them would: On the kitchen table, after a day's work, with food.
When, every spring, Munich's premier delicatessen store announces an evening of elite wines (and snacks), who am I not to get in line, this time very pleased to be accompanied by Wine Rambler tasting associates Benita and Conny (the latter also photographer for this piece). In last year's report, we walked you through the different wineries' collections in some detail, but I also threatened that I would have a few more general thoughts on the concept of Winzerelite (elite of the winemakers) that Dallmayr has adopted. Why does this make me so deeply uneasy, when it seems so straightforward: The elite is formed by the very best, and who the best are can be established in regular tastings, by journalists, fine wine merchants, and wine guides. Together, they form an elite of sorts, as would athletes, or writers, or scientist or musicians.
The great German social theorist Niklas Luhmann famously proposed that we organize our world in systems, such as love, business, political power and jurisdiction. When they get mixed up, when we try to buy love, or put pressure on a judge, or bribe a politician, our social world is bent out of shape and balance. And here's the problem: Invariably, they get mixed up. So it goes with the idea of an elite.
Tasting wines blind can be cruel. I wonder if Rober Parker Jr. or Jancis Robinson have been there before - that red-faced moment when you realise that what you thought was, say, the 1990 Médoc was in fact the 2001 Lemberger from Württemberg, that where you thought you were on the safe side, you've been as wrong about the identity of two wines as you can possibly be. That sinking feeling. That barely disguised glee in the eyes of the other participants, who knew all along. If so, cheer up, Robert and Jancis, we've been there as well. If you have followed our blind tasting adventures so far, you may get the impression that we have an uncanny tendency to end up there as soon as the paper bags come off, but if so, we do all this in the spirit of selfless sacrifice and journalistic objectivity.
But let's take a step back from the brink of embarassment, and meet the two colour-coded contestants henceforth to be known as Green and Blue. Here is what we knew: One was a classic, somewhat pricey bottle of the very finest English sparkling, provided by London Wine Rambler Torsten, who may be the German-speaking world's most tireless advocate for English Sparklers. The other was a bottle of Vouvray Brut for a mere third of that price, and with absolutely nothing to lose. Not much hope for the underdog, was there?
This new year, as every January, a good many people decided to lay of alcohol for a few weeks and cleanse their bodies of its joyful, but unhealthy effects. But this time, the numerous "detox"-tweets were countered by, a spirited innovation, those advocating a rigorous programme of "retox". As it happens, the authors of this blog are also divided on this topic: One Wine Rambler will have nothing of it, while the second is writing these very words with a cup of peppermint tea before him.
That alone is nothing to write home about, after all, we differ on all kinds of things, wine or non-wine. But it did give me the idea for what follows, namely the attempt to probe the subject a little more deeply than the tweet and counter-tweet format allows for. Read on for some thoughts on lent, puritanism and the boredom of plenty.
While sifting through the candidates for this year's Wine Rambler shortlist, we noticed hat we were less generous with top ratings in 2011 than previously, withholding our highest praise, "monumental", completely. Whether that means we are becoming more exacting in our critical standards or whether the truly stellar wines somehow passed us by and we had to make do with the enormously good we can't quite say. A bit of both, most probably.
As you may not want to take our word for it in every case (and indeed you shouldn't!), we have provided direct links to the wineries' websites for the adventurous among you to follow up, get into contact and inquire about distribution and availability. Almost all German wineries do their own shipping and are quite good at it. In case of deliveries to the UK, however, newly estranged from the European mainland, this will probably have to be arranged via the United Nations. Just joking. Needless to say, The Wine Rambler is entirely his own man, as it were, and not commercially associated with any wineries or merchants, although wines like the following sometimes can make us wish we were.
If you follow this blog regularly (and if not: why not?), you will know that the VDP, Germany's trade association of elite wine estates, hosts an annual tasting in Munich every November that has special significance for the Wine Rambler. We have reported on it last year and the year before that. And we will do so again in a minute. Just a few words to introduce the photographic theme of this posting: Since that chandeliered, psychedelically carpeted lounge has become an extension of our living rooms, as it were, we also take a keen interest in the other tasters gathered there. There are always some sociological observations to make, of course, and to discuss afterwards, about age structure and gender of the sample group, and in fact I think we can report some tentative progress in those two categories, wink wink. But this time, it was something rather different that caught our attention: Shoes.
Hip shoes, boring shoes, sexy shoes, sensible shoes. Endless variety with a few common themes, which makes shoes a bit like wine. That's the kind of thought that looking at mind-altering carpeting in state of growing tipsiness will bring up in the course of an afternoon. In pursuing it, however, we could profit from Wine Rambler Torsten's keen photographic eye, as well as some underhanded camera moves he learned by prowling London as a street photographer.
After Patrick Leigh Fermor died in June of this year, he was remembered with gratitude for something he did when he was 18 years old: In December of 1933, he set off from London to walk the length of Europe from the Hook of Holland to what he - a british schoolboy fond of ancient literature - called Constantinople. When Leigh Fermor organised his youthful notebooks into a more coherent narrative many years later, he decided to call it "A Time of Gifts" because of the generosity with which he was received as a traveller along the way: By bargemen on the Rhine, by Austrian noblemen in wayside castles or by monasteries all over these lands.
His departure on the wintry Thames as the sole passenger of a Dutch channel boat, the enchanted hike across the frozen canals of the wintry Netherlands, or even an evening in a notorious Munich beer hall are marvels of evocative travel writing: He turns the memory of youthful adventure into geographically and historically enriched, yet curiously dreamlike and daring prose.
Yes, it's true, I should be working on my foolhardy Burgundy project instead of letting myself get sidetracked by stuff that isn't even wine. And I wasn't going to. But I do like Cider. Germany doesn't have a proper Cider tradition like France, northern Spain or Britain. There is a great love for Apfelwein, the fairly sour regional variant, in parts of Hesse, but that has never gained much commercial traction anywhere further than 100 miles from Frankfurt.
So when I found out that Ziereisen, one of my very favourite wineries, had come out with their own cider, and some time after, that a well-known internet wine merchant had begun sourcing a different one from another reputable producer, who was I not to get in line?
This rather pointless little posting is for fans of aged wines. I don't mean wines cellar-matured to an ideal drinking point, but those left to grow old beyond any responsible borderline moment. It is for those of you who might hunt for old wines on eBay or via specialised merchants, but would never stoop so low as to actually drink what other people throw out in disgust. You don't have to, because this is where your self-sacrificing correspondent comes in. Let me stress, though, that I was not, I was emphatically not rummaging through my next door neighbours' garbage in the hope of finding discarded, but still filled wine bottles. It was rather that someone had left the four of them standing outside of the bin, maybe having been tipped off that there is a pervert living nearby who might have a use for that kind of stuff. He could indeed.
Here, then, is a little report about four random wines whose history is open to anyone's imagination and who have absolutely nothing to lose in terms of taste.
If Swabia were a nation, it would as of now be the world's only nation ruled by an environmentalist green prime minister. And it would have a national grape. And that grape's name would be Trollinger. Trollinger, known also as Vernatsch in the Alto Adige region of northern Italy, a grape that Jancis Robinson's authoritative Oxford Companion to Wine classifies as "distinctly ordinary". Not many outside of Württemberg deny that this is so. What it makes for, so received wisdom has it, are pale reds with harmless light strawberry aromatics and hints of almonds at best, and a thin, metallic, boiled mash of berries if you're not so lucky.
The Swabians, however, will have none of it, and stubbornly and inexplicably stand by their grape, downing Trollinger as if it had the proverbial cure inside. It weren't so bad if this was a bread-and-butter grape like Müller-Thurgau, unexciting, but at least easy to grow and reliable even on vineyards with less than ideal soil, climate and slope. But it is very much a diva among varieties and needs ideal conditions to fully ripen, effectively making every acre of it an acre lost for Riesling or Pinot Noir. So to see for myself if this is just a lesson in sociology or collective psychology (for which read provincialism, parochialism and auto-suggestion), I decided to taste three Trollingers that had received good press.
When we first got into wine blogging - and you can add a "...son" to that and imagine us silver-haired connoisseurs absent-mindedly swirling a '78 Bordeaux above our huge mahagoni table to set the scene -, when we first got into wine blogging, we quickly learned there is one bow in the blogger's quiver that seldom misses: hyperbole. We learned that a nice bottle of wine is a revelation, an ordinary bottle of wine is boring you to tears, a good winemaker is a winemaking genius, and so on.
The lesson we have learned very well is that there doesn't have to be a whole lot behind a story to make it a good story. In that spirit, we offer you the great Wine Rambler vertical of Lukas Krauß Silvaner.
One Saturday in early may, the regular 08.50 to Ochsenbach left Sachsenheim Station after having waited for the regional train from Stuttgart. The contents of that bus as it wound its way through what in a larger town one would call the outskirts, on to Hohenhaslach, past Spielberg and through increasingly picturesque beech forests, half-timbered villages and sun-streaked fields of flowers: 17 chatty, hiking-gear-attired senior citizens off to a walking tour, one insufferably precocious 13 year old boy giving a lecture on the importance of sunscreen to nobody in particular, and one Wine Rambler from Munich.
I had begun the ride somewhat under the weather due to an impossibly early start, but as we got under way, a feeling of deep provincial calm was beginning to settle over me. I was going for a strolling visit of a recultivated historical vineyard all by myself, and then the tasting room of the winery that made this happen. Shuffling into a more comfortable position in my Swabian-made bus seat, I was loving this already. Little did I expect to also learn the lesson that not all in wine making is sunlight and prosperity.
Oh the songs
Pour down like silver
They can only
Only break my heart
Drink the wine
The wine of lovers
Lovers tired of being apart [read the full post...]
Dallmayr, Munich's traditional upscale delicatessen store, traditionally advertises the glories of its fine wine department by hosting a springtime tasting where a few select german and austrian wine growers and makers present the upcoming vintage in person. For some years now, they have given this event the ringingly neo-liberal and upper-middle classy title Winzerelite (elite of the wine growers). I'm itching to, and maybe some day will, write a whole separate posting on the sociology of what is right and what is deeply wrong with this name. But leaving that aside for the moment, I can't deny they always choose characterful venues to hold it in.
Before reviewing what the elite had brought to Munich, the few of them that we focussed on, I cannot spare you a few extra words on this year's location, the Bavarian State Library, as it is very special indeed, not least to myself.
Admirers of the New York-based writer Jonathan Safran Foer, and their number is large, know what to expect from the author of the acclaimed novels "Everything is illuminated" and "Extremely loud & Incredibly close": Foer-fiction. Tales of human suffering and grief told in a manner that is feathery light, endlessly inventive, hilarious and poignant at the same time. Now consider these sentences from his latest book:
After the bird's heads are pulled off and their feet removed, machines open them with a vertical incision and remove their guts. Contamination often occurs here, as the high-speed machines commonly rip off intestines, releasing feces into the birds' body cavities.
Safran Foer's readers have always been willing to be surprised, but few will have been ready for an all-out manifesto about the systematic cruelty of industrial meat production and the moral quality of vegetarianism. But he has written one.
The book is neither brand new (published 2009) nor about wine, so this is not a straightforward Wine Rambler book review. But if, after all the fun and games of writing guilelessly about wine and food, there is also a place for more serious reflection in wine blogging, this, I think, is a good place to start.
In what has become a Wine Rambler tradition, whenever we get a full committee meeting (Wine Ramblers proper and significant others) together, we do a little blind tasting comparing two wines that ought in theory be very similar on the basis of grape variety, style or pricing. This time, two aged Cabernet-based Bordeaux blends, one an actual mid-range Bordeaux, Chateau Poujeaux 1994, the other a Napa Valley classic, Mayacamas 1992. Braised vension, red cabbage, Spätzle and chestnuts were on hand to keep the contestants company.
We had been wrong before - and so uncorked bottle No. 1 with due concentration and a sense of humility.


text: MISSION VIEJO, Calif., March 20 -- Premier Laser Systems is auctioning off its assets as part of a bankruptcy process. This auction includes an expansive inventory of: lasers, parts, delivery devices, intellectual property and FDA clearances. Applications for these devices and patents include: dental, surgical, veterinary and aesthetics. Premier also has more than fifty 510(k) clearances, and more than 100 issued and pending patents. A sealed bid sale is currently underway, and the deadline for sealed bids is April 26, 2002.


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Professor to discuss anti-slavery book
Westport Public Library and TEAM Westport, Westport's official committee on multiculturalism and diversity, will present a talk by history professor James Basker on Thursday, May 9, at 7:30 p.m. in the library's McManus Room, 20 Jesup Road.
Basker will discuss "American Antislavery Writings: Colonial Beginnings to Emancipation," a new book he edited that includes the anti-slavery views of writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Louisa May Alcott and Emily Dickinson.
The book was published for the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, according to a news release.
Basker has published several books, including "Amazing Grace: An Anthology of Poems about Slavery 1660-1810" and "Early American Abolitionists: A Collection of Anti-Slavery Writings 1760-1820."
Books will be available for signing and purchase at the program, which is free.
For information, call 203-291-4800 or visit westportlibrary.org.


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LeAnn Rimes: Back in Los Angeles!
LeAnn Rimes makes her way through LAX International Airport after landing on a flight from Nashville on Wednesday (June 8) in Los Angeles.
The 28-year-old singer tweeted that she wasn't feeling well during the day and only had half a voice.
"Long flight! Happy to be home. My hubby is picking up chicken soup from Jerry's Deli for me. Sweetness! Throat soothing!" LeAnn wrote.
Earlier in the day, LeAnn made an appearance at SiriusXM's "The Highway Super Fan Concert Series," where she persevered despite her sore throat!


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Mitsubishi Electric Corp claims it has improved its conversion efficiency rate for a 150 x 150mm practical-size multi-crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) cell by 0.3 points, from 18.6% to 18.9%. Combined with the technology previously announced to improve the photoelectric conversion efficiency rate in multi-crystalline silicon PV cells, and a new method that efficiently absorbs infrared rays in sunlight, the company claims it is able to achieve a new world record of 18.9%.
The company said it has improved efficiency in utilizing infrared rays by 26% compared to its previous PV cells. The new PV cell has a rear-surface reflection structure, which reflects infrared rays that reach its rear surface to allow the cell to absorb more light.
More at Nikkei Electronics Asia