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Abby Elliott Abby Elliott didn't last long on Saturday Night Live, but certainly long enough to make an impression. She has since went on to appear on How I Met Your Mother, 2 Broke Girls and much more.Read More »
Say Hello To The Super Sexy 2015 NFL Cheer Squads
San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers Gold Rush Cheerleaders have been around since 1983. They will be at every single home game for the 49ers this year and the team consists of 32 girls who are ready to cheer ...Read More »
Celebrities Who Are Aging Terribly Number 15 Will Shock You
Celebrities Who Are Aging Terribly Break out the moisturizer and prune juice because it's time to explore our Celebrities Who Are Aging Terribly List. First up is our beautiful Emmy award winner Goldie Hawn – Jeez what happened she looks like a ...Read More »
Amazing Celebrity Doppelgangers You Wont Believe Are Real
Amazing Celebrity Doppelgangers You Wont Believe Are Real Turn out the lights and put on your spooky pants and plug in your nightlight because it's time for our Amazing Celebrity Doppelgangers You Won't Believe Are Real List. First up is ...Read More »
15 Times TV Predicted The Future In Really Creepy Ways
Star Treck Predicts Apollo 11 Star Trek has been credited with predicting a lot of different technologies over the years, but the episode "Yesterday is Tomorrow" is credited with predicting one of the most significant events in American history. In ...Read More »
20 Insanely Creepy Places From Around The World
Hashima Island Hashima or "Battleship" Island, located off the coast of Japan, is an abandoned mining town that is now a tourist attraction, but a super creepy tourist attraction. Basically, the mine closed in 1974 and everyone just up and ...Read More »
10 Actors Who Aren't Afraid Of Doing Their Own Stunts
Daniel Craig As the current face of the James Bond franchise, Daniel Craig has had to do some pretty insane things on screen. What is impressive is that, more often than not, it is actually him doing those things, like ...Read More »
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Ninja Turtles On Power Rangers Adults would watch this particular crossover now and think "this is ridiculous." However, if you were a kid when this came out, you were probably having a hard time containing your mind blowing excitement. In ...Read More »
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Backyard Gun Range This isn't legal any old where, but if you live in Florida it is absolutely legal to fire a gun in your backyard. So, you could very easily set a up a backyard firing range without any ...Read More »


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I was inspired by this Valentine and made some for Bennet and Scout to hand out to classmates. As Bennet wrote out all her classmates names on her cards I was instantly transported back to my childhood. Wasn't that the best part of Valentine's day? Well that and the candy!
And look at Scout's face. The kid cracks me up. Today on the way to school she said, "Mom- I have lots of funny phrases and funny faces!" Sure do!
I made the shirts and skirts. I wonder if I can hammer out a skirt for Ellie for tomorrow.

subset: commoncrawl


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Hollow Metallic Heart Design Cute BraceletSKU: 033134
DescriptionThis fashionable cute and simple bracelet features metallic heart design with hollows, leather material, simple,cute and stylish style. Perfect for casual.
Material: Leather
Shown Color: Light-pink, Black, White, Coffee.
30 Days Return + Shipping PolicyShipping & Delivery
Receiving time = Processing time + Shipping time
Note: In orders with more than one item, the processing time will be based on the item with the longest processing time.
We will prepare your order after it have verified. Such as: strict quality control, arrange the suitable carriers.Return Policy
Return within 30 days from the delivered date.
1. Items received within 30 days from the delivered date.
2. Items received unused, undamaged and in original package.


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The Dior Cruise Collection 2018 by Maria Grazia Chiuri is inspired by heritage. The collection was presented on May 12 in a native-Indian reserve in the hills near Santa Monica. Dior Cruise 2018 is a beautiful collection made of delicately embroidered dresses in white, beige and earthy tones, with cave art drawings, flowers and written words. Chiuri's first resort collection for the Dior Sauvage woman mixed tradition and world heritage with alta moda, femininity, city chique and even sport.
The Fashion Guitar shows how to wear a beautiful Dior dress from the Cruise collection with a cool Dior bag and slingbacks for a day on the beach 💙. My daily luxury for the summer is inspired by Dior's Cruise Collection: a long dress in tule or lace by Dior or Liu Jo, small Lockette bag in sand by Choo, turquoise jewelry by Tiffany and co, and Dior's essential s/s make-up collection in white, sand and coral. For moda, daily luxury and beautiful places, you can follow me on www.nickybianca.com.
Photos and images by Dior, Vogue Italia, The Fashion Guitar and Nicky Bianca.


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Featherstone Rovers have increased the size of their first team squad from 22 to 24, but there is no room in it for 2016 skipper Tim Spears and experienced hooker Andy Ellis.
The long serving Spears along with Ellis have been released to help make room for new signings, which number six so far with the possibility of another couple of additions.
Rovers chose a fans forum to announce their plans for the 2017 season and they confirmed that back rower Michael Knowles and hooker Keal Carlile had joined from Sheffield Eagles, centre Chris Ulugia is arriving from Batley Bulldogs and vastly experienced prop Richard Moore was on board after leaving Halifax.
Young outside backs James Duckworth and Luke Briscoe, who spent time on loan at Featherstone in 2016, have also been signed on a permanent basis, the former agreeing a two-year deal and the latter a three-year.
More good news was announced at the forum with player of the year Misi Taulapapa agreeing a new deal.
Head coach Jon Sharp also said that Jamie Cording could still play again for Rovers if he can recover from a serious knee operation.
Exciting prospects Jordan Baldwinson and Jack Ormondroyd, meanwhile, are both likely to feature for Featherstone on dual registration terms from Leeds Rhinos.
Sharp has not completed the recruiting yet as he still has irons in the fire on two more signings.
He explained: "We're looking to bring another back rower in and there's an offer on the table.
"We'd also like an extra half-back to put some pressure on Anthony Thackeray and Kyle Briggs."
Sharp is pleased with the recruitment so far.
He said: "The priority was to recruit some tough players that have got strike.
"We did well this year, but I felt that we needed an extra steely edge to us and we will have that. We needed some punch in the centres and now we should be dangerous on both sides of the field."


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Commander Miller was raised in New Bern, NC and Enumclaw, WA and calls Mobile, AL home. He attended the California Maritime Academy where he received his BS in Business Administration and his USCG Third Mate's license for steam or motor vessels of any gross tonnage upon oceans. He was commissioned through the Merchant Marine Reserve program in 2000.
His previous afloat tours include duty as Communications Officer, CIC Officer and Training Officer in USS COMSTOCK (LSD 45), Plankowner Combat Systems Officer in USS NEW ORLEANS (LPD 18), Operations Officer in USS CLEVELAND (LPD 7), Flag Secretary to Commander, Expeditionary Strike Group THREE and Executive Officer in USS PEARL HARBOR (LSD 52).
Ashore, Commander Miller received his MA in National Security and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College. He also served as a Staff Operations and Plans Officer and exercise mentor at Tactical Training Group Atlantic and on the staff of the International Programs department at the Naval War College.
Commander Miller's awards include the Meritorious Service Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, and various other unit and personal decorations.
The appearance of external hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the United States Department of Defense, or the United States Department of the Navy of the linked web sites, or the information, products or services contained therein. For other than authorized activities such as military exchanges and Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) sites, the United States Department of Defense, the Department of the Navy does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at these locations. Such links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this DoD web site.


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"The Road to Urfa" By Laurence Mitchell
The Road to Urfa
A meeting with Pilgrims at Abraham's pool creates a feeling of common humanity.
WE ARRIVED IN URFA IN THE EARLY HOURS OF THE MORNING, greatly relieved to get there in one piece after an extended demon- stration of Turkish driving skills. I had had enough: we had been on the road for ten hours since Adana. I was tired and my nerves were on edge. Only a handful of us got off the bus; most of the others were traveling on to Cizre, at least another six hours away. I wished them all luck.
Urfa was enjoying a warm balmy night with a slight breeze, blowing north from the Syrian Desert, to relieve the humidity. The stars were shining like beacons in the moonless sky.
The city was asleep and most of the hotels seemed to be locked up for the night, but we found one that still had a light on. We were hailed by a man who was sitting outside the hotel entrance making the most of the night air. The man was called Ali Baba, and he was quite used to jokes about his forty thieves.
Ali Baba was an English teacher and self-styled guide to the re- gion. He was also an enthusiastic Muslim, not uncommon in this holy city even for young men. More surprisingly perhaps, he was a nonsmoker, which really was quite unorthodox for a Turkish man of his age.
Over the next couple of days, wbenever we met up, Ali would pleasantly harangue us with a lot of well-rehearsed arguments en- dorsing his Islamic beliefs. It was that typical East-meets-West scenario where, in having a foot in both camps-a traditionalist with a modern education-he was keen to rationalize his religious convictions. We were told of the scientific validity of the Koran, and how there was no need for a belief in the infallibility of Mohammed's word when all the claims of the Koran could be proved by modern scientific method anyway.
It was a well-rehearsed lecture, but he lost me after a while. He did get a bit fanciful, too, I thought, in his claim that in a nearby village there was the perfectly preserved body of a three and a half- meter giant, frozen in the prayer position. This, he claimed, was a miracle bearing witness to the power of Islam: a living statue made by Allah demonstrating the way men should prostrate themselves to Him. Every religion needs its miracles, I suppose, but the idea of a supplicating giant with permanent rigor mortis was a bit hard to swallow.
It seemed to be the sort of place where miracles might be pos- sible. Urfa-or Sanhurfa, "glorious" Urfa as it had just been renamed-seemed to be much more like the Middle East than any other Turkish city I had visited. There was something of the Arabian Nights about it, even without Ali Baba's presence.
There were few cars, but a multitude of donkey carts thronged the dirt streets. Porters carried huge items of furniture on their shoulders, and the covered bazaar echoed with metallic chimes, as craftsmen fashioned household utensils out of raw metal. In the vegetable markets, gold-toothed women chattered behind enor- mous mounds of watermelons, and the glottal stops of Arabic and silken vowels of Kurdish greeted the ears as much as did Turkish.
Urfa is a city that generally sees few tourists and, consequently, everyone was welcoming to a fault. The hospitality was boundless, even by Turkey's high standards. It was ftiendly curiosity for the most part. People would stop and talk and show you pictures of their families, and tulip-shaped glasses of fay (strong black tea) would be procured out of nowhere, delivered by little boys with tin trays.
Wandering the city streets, I was frequently invited to take pho- tographs of people; by cobblers and tinsmiths in the market, by workmen loading salt onto a truck, by a group of shoeshine boys. In the male-only tea shops, waiters would greet you like long-lost friends and refuse to charge. Even gruff old men with baggy-arsed trousers and gray stubble would stop and have a word. Inevitably it was, "Merhaba! Alman?" "Welcome! Are you German?"
"Hayir Ingiliz. " "No, I'm English." "Ah! Ingiliz, fok iyi. " "English, very good."
As everywhere else in Turkey, the most well-known foreign country was Germany, simply because so many Turks worked as migrant laborers there. But they had mostly heard of Ingiltera too, especially the infamous "Missus Tacha, The Iron Lady." They loved strong, hard leaders in Turkey-even if they were women-and the right-wing, quasi-militaristic leadership of our erstwhile prime minister was the sort of thing that the obedient Turks tended to admire. I did not hold it against them but joined in the mutual congratulations.
"Kemal Atatiirk, fok iyi. " "Atatiirk's very good too."
In our few days in the city we made numerous friends, and our visit became a round of meeting up with people to drink tea at various hours of the day and night. Not wishing to cause offense, it was a struggle to keep up with the many instant friendships that we had made, but I did not mind too much. In fact, I loved it. I loved Turkey. I loved its people. But I was still a bit confused about the country's true nature.
In Istanbul and Ankara, I had found myself asking the same questions. Where did Turkey really belong? Was it European or Asian, secular or Islamic? I could only say that it was all of these things: a frontier region where east meets west, where religious fa- talism meets scientific empiricism. It was the best (or worst?) of both worlds, and that, I suppose, was really its appeal. But here in Urfa, there was no such quandary; this was undoubtedly the east, as Asian as Damascus or Karachi.
A lot of the pilgrim buses that we had seen on the road here had stopped for the night. Urfa bears a particular significance for pilgrims to Mecca, and not just as a staging post on the way south to Moharnmed's holy city. Urfa is the city where Abraham is said to have been born, and Old Testament prophets like Abraham are as important to Islam as they are to Christianity. People come from all over Turkey to view his birthplace and many of the hajis were taking in a visit to Abraham's cave on their way south.
These were the same pilgrims that we had seen cheerfully drinking fay at service stations on the way here. They had seemed light-hearted and gregarious as they wandered around in groups, stretching their legs before being shepherded back onto the buses by their adrenaline-crazed drivers. Now they were seeing the sights of Urfa before continuing to Mecca. It must have taken years to save the necessary funds to finance a haj, but they seemed to be making the most of the trip and were investing their once-in-a- lifetime journey with an infectious, joyful enthusiasm.
There were large groups of pilgrims all over the city, billowing like dust clouds through the streets, a seething mass of loose white cotton. Everyone was dressed for the pilgrimage: the women em- balmed head-to-toe in cream and white, the men in skullcaps with little Turkish flags sewn onto theirjackets.
We came across a pilgrim group gathered on the citadel above the old town. The leader was carrying a large Turkish flag to iden- tify himself. The view from the top suggested that Syria and the desert were not so far away, with the dun-colored mud dwellings of the city's outskirts fading into parched low hills that defied shade. With the hajjis all grouped together in their pilgrims' attire and the brown biblical hills beyond, there was nothing to belie the effect that we were looking at a spectacle that had not changed much for centuries. It could well have been a scene from the golden years of the Ottoman Empire. That is, if you managed to ignore the Mercedes buses waiting for the pilgrims below.
I We climbed down from the citadel's fine vantage point and went to visit the nineteenth-century mosque dedicated to Abraham. Nearby, more pilgrims were quietly queuing to visit the cave that was the prophet's supposed birthplace, the same cave where he was said to have spent the first ten years of his life, hiding from the para- noid Assyrian tyrant, Nemrut, who in a fit of pique had decreed that all newborn children be killed without mercy.
The crowd was respectful of the holiness of the place but the stereotype of dour, unsmiling Muslims disdainfully looking down on foreign infidels was not at all apparent. In fact they went out of their way to be amiable.
A middle-aged woman from Malatya tried out a little German on us. She and her husband were going to Mecca, but, despite the more mundane reasons for our journey, she did not seem to make any judgment about the relative merits of our respective trips. There was no overt piety. We were accepted with good grace, as fellow holiday-makers sharing a good time.
The whole crowd was like her and the common courtesy that was shown to each other, the consideration, the politeness, the ca- maraderie the love even-was a joy to behold. This was not a throng of intolerant fundamentalists, but a group of quite ordinary middle-aged, working-class people who were having the time of their lives. They were so open and congenial that I believe they would have smuggled us onto the bus and onwards to Mecca if they could have. Part of me would have wanted to go with them.
Near the mosque stood a pool containing a large number of carp, said to be sacred because of the legend which tells how Abraham was saved from a fiery death by an act of God.
After coming out of hiding, Abraham became a stalwart oppo- nent of the Assyrians' megalomaniac leader, Nemrut. Abraham attempted to destroy all the idols of the Assyrian temple and, nat- urally enough, this angered Nemrut no end. The despot decided to have Abraham put to death by plunging him off the citadel battlements into a fire below. Fortunately, the prophet was saved by the command of God who made the flames turn into water and the firewood turn into carp. Legend has it, of course, that these were the very same fish that you see in the pond today. This would make them about 2,500 years old.
It is strictly forbidden to catch the fish, and to do so would probably result in the same sort of fate that a curious non-Muslim would suffer if he sneaked into Mecca: sudden death by divine intervention.
These oversized goldfish had grown fat on the countless offer- ings pilgrims had made over the past two millennia, but still they had not lost their appetite. I bought a bag of hemp seeds to feed the fish.
The water boiled in an orange whirlpool of feeding frenzy as I threw my seeds to the waiting carp. The pilgrims at my side smiled and remarked on the prodigious appetite of the fish. I smiled back and gave some seed to a little boy so he could throw it into the pool. We all beamed contentedly at the thrashing forms in the water.
We were starting to become that same creature, the pilgrims and I-tourists with a spiritual bent, for want of a better descrip- tion. Our aspirations were not so radically different, really. Our dif- ferent religious and cultural worlds were starting to lose their focus as self-imposed boundaries began to break down. I could not go to Mecca, nor could I ever be a Turk, and my natural skepticism probably prevented me from ever becoming a Muslim, too. But none of this really seemed to matter that much.
For a few brief minutes, I was another pilgrim participating in a small, enjoyable ritual that was part of life's journey. They would go on to travel to Mecca, I would return to England. For the time being, however, we were equals in spirit.
Laurence Mitchell has traveled widely onfive continents. He has worked at variousjobs but these days concentrates his energies on travel writing and photography. Hefinds that the condition affectionately known as "wanderlust" does not improve with age, but, rather, becomes more acute,
like rheumatism or hair loss. Despite a love of mountains, he lives in aflat part of England: life is rarely perfect. He is currently working on a book about Egypt and Sudan.
"The Road to Urfa" By Laurence Mitchell
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on the
Blue Ridge Parkway
When Edwin Boston Mabry (1867-1936) built his water powered mill in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains, he had no way of knowing it would become one of the most photographed places in the United States. The mill, on the Blue Ridge Parkway, is now run by the National Park Service and has several hundred thousand visitors each year.
Ed Mabry (Frelen6, John, Charles, Isaac, George, Francis) was one of the fifth generation of Mabrys to live in this part of Virginia. He was born in Patrick County and is buried in Floyd County not far from the mill.
On March 22, 1782 his great, great grandfather, Isaac3Mabry, received a grant for 183 acres of land on the south side of Robertson's Creek of the Dan River. This land is on Mayberry Creek about 4.5 miles southwest of the Mabry Mill and about one mile east of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Nearby is Mabry Gap and Mayberry Presbyterian Church. Isaac Mabry's brother, George3 Mabry, had land on Rock Castle Creek, about two miles northeast of the Mabry mill and also on Burk's Fork and Greasy Creeks near the present line between Carroll and Floyd Counties. Today there are hundreds of Mabry descendants living in Floyd, Patrick, Carroll and other nearby counties.
Before 1890, on land not far from his birthplace in Patrick County, Ed Mabry had a water turned lathe which he used to make chairs . Later he worked as a blacksmith in the coal fields of West Virginia. In 1903 he returned to Floyd County and soon began construction of the mill. It was first a blacksmith and wheelwright shop, then became a sawmill. By 1905 it was in operation as a gristmill. By 1910 the front part of the mill was completed and included a lathe for turning out wheel hubs, a tongue and groove lathe, a planer, and a jig-saw. Between 1905 and 1914 he bought adjacent tracts of land, mostly for the purpose of acquiring more water power. Those who knew Ed Mabry thought well of him and have described him as peaceable, easy-going, honest, hard working, a Primitive Baptist, and a Republican. Whatever he needed he tried to make himself including most of the furniture in his home. He didn't travel much, but when he did it was either on foot or in his one-horse Concord wagon.
Today the Mabry Mill is one of the most popular attractions on the entire Blue Ridge Parkway. The gristmill and sawmill have been restored by park naturalists in order that visitors might see live exhibits, a real mill, and a working miller to demonstrate the milling process. The grounds of the mill include other interpretive media, all designed to tell about mountain industry. The Matthews Cabin is an outstanding example of mountain architecture and workmanship and offers an intriguing look into the tanning and shoemaking crafts. There is also a whiskey still, a sorghum mill, and a working blacksmith shop.
Ed Mabry left no children, but his legacy lives on reflecting the self-sufficiency and hard work of our ancestors on the Blue Ridge.
More about the Mabry Mill: Bob Heafner has a wonderful article "Mayberry Wood" about the old Mayberry Store, just a short distance from the Mabry Mill.
August 2014


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Scarred: Enough or Too Much?
"Ifunnaya, leave alone I want to bathe myself!"
"Why did you push me? Now my leg is bleeding. Mummy, Ifunnaya has cut my legs o!"
"Oooooooh, this water is now cold!"
"Mummy, I have not finished my home work oo!"
"Ifunnaya, leave me alooooooooooone! I can dress myself!"
|{This was their exact same reaction when i showed them the picture of a burning body. Would teach them to stop playing with fuel and generator. But i digress...}
Today, he thought it was business as usual.
Today is #Day5 of my #JuiceFast.
Today, I didn't sleep a wink because his sister was crying from earache all night.
Today, the combination of hunger and lack of sleep was doing me in.
Today, his father left the house at the crack of dawn.
Today, I got into my car and left him...with Zi wailing, "Mummy, please don't leave my bwother!"
Mummy thinks i should break the fast. Mummies are usually right. And the Bible did say "Honour thy Mother and thy Father so that thy days may be long..." I didn't say it. I'm just gonna observe honour and listen to my dear mother.
9 comments:
- MsJB said...
Eh yah
I feel bad for him
Meanwhile, tomorrow is already the 6th day. One more day and you're good. Don't you think the chicken can wait? :)
- June 8, 2013 at 1:49 AM
- Hazel said...
Ah! @MsJB The tummy hurts a bit! Prolly cos of the grape juice. But thanks for the support. Lets see how the day goes!
- June 8, 2013 at 10:54 AM
- Chuwechuwe said...
You have almost made your target Haze. One more day. Maybe juice up some fruit (have juice and pulp) to fill you up a little more? well done for coming this far though. You have done an awesome job. - @Chet - The lesson needed to be learnt but somehow it still makes one feel sad to see them facing their punishment bravely.
- June 10, 2013 at 7:31 AM
- Sisi Yemmie ™ said...
awwwwwww....don't feel so bad sha. That kind of discipline is needed once in a while, next time when you threaten him, he will behave!
- June 10, 2013 at 11:37 AM
- Abiola said...
I bet the lesson will stick..for the day or the week if its your lucky week. #kids will always be kids.
- June 10, 2013 at 12:00 PM
- Toinlicious said...
Aw Chets *snif* I get what you mean though. I'm sure this particular lesson has been properly learnt
As for your fast, you are almost there! Don't break it yet pwease
- June 10, 2013 at 12:31 PM
- HoneyDame said...
LMAOOO>..only u Hazel! how you manage to invoke several contradictory emotions in me with ur posts is just.....somehow! How could I go from...."children sha" to "oh no, bad timing" to "deng, she made true on the promise" to "LMAO" to "mushy feelings" and then back to "LMAO".......*sigh, I give up!
On a more serious note though, it is such an emotional post. I cant believe that he was making his way to school...I felt a tug on my heart.
As for u and the weight loss, again LMAO...so now you want to hide under mommy's canopy, ba? Nfana Ibagha. Sha quickly lose the weight and lerrus share the loot....*munches beef burger, sorry, celery*
- June 11, 2013 at 1:20 PM
- Jemima said...
aww such a touching post honestly i feel your dilemma, these kids eh..i think he will be fine joor. Since i am late in commenting..hope u finished the fast o, you really did well, juice fast? i can't o!
- June 14, 2013 at 7:25 AM
- Fluffycutething said...
So have you had to threaten him again?
- July 12, 2013 at 11:56 AM


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2015 Engineering Leaders Under 40
With the future of manufacturing heavily relying on the younger workforce, Control Engineering and Plant Engineering are honored to present the 2015 Engineering Leaders Under 40. These 30 individuals are involved in a variety of industries and responsibilities that force them to sharpen their multi-tasking and management skills daily.
The majority—70%—serve the engineering and system integration (SI) sectors, while instrumentation and measurement (57%), consulting (50%), and food, beverage, and tobacco (50%) round out the top four segments in which they are involved.
Here is a quick look at this year's Leaders:
- Education: 90% of the Leaders have earned their bachelor's degrees, 20% master's degrees, and 7% associate's degrees.
- Job function: 23% are primarily involved in SI roles, 17% control engineering, 10% general/corporate management, 10% consulting, 7% product design, 7% manufacturing engineering, and 6% plant management/engineering.
- SI or engineering services: 79% provide SI or engineering services to manufacturing organizations.
- Products or systems: The top five products or systems purchased or specified by this year's Leaders are industrial control equipment or systems (57%), software (53%), I/O products or systems (53%), instrumentation (53%), and programmable logic controllers (53%).
- Machines for resale: 37% design, build, or install machines for resale to other companies; 47% design, build, or install machines for use within their companies.
The 2015 Engineering Leaders Under 40 are in the September 2015 issues of Control Engineering and Plant Engineering, and will be honored at the 2016 Engineering Awards in Manufacturing dinner hosted by Control Engineering and Plant Engineering on Monday, March 21, 2016, in downtown Chicago. For information on how to nominate for 2016, visit www.controleng.com/EngineeringLeaders.
Click here to learn more about this year's Leaders Under 40.
Want this article on your website? Click here to see how ContentStream® can make that happen.


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This hotel is a budget hotel along a main road. The decor is lovely and the rooms are clean but there is no lift and it gets difficult for the elderly to climb up. The rooms are not well sound proof and at night you...More
We just wanted a night rest after a grueling 7 hrs drive from KL. we have another 2 hrs to go but decided to just get an accommodation in Sungai Petani. We found this hotel on the internet with a good review so far.
My business partner & I decided to stay in a hotel that would give us a different experience from the norm. After scouting on Agoda, we found El-Zahraa Inn to be the one. The room was beautiful & the architecture of the Hotel proved to...More
Room is good
Toilet is good
Water pressure is good
Only is no lift and need to take staircase!
Breakfast is provided but deliver to your room.
Limited parking
small TV
Friendly staff
Near to main attraction of SP
This place was surprisingly better than expected. Beds were comfy. Take note, breakfast is not included but there are alot of shops nearby and a mall, so food shouldn't be a problem. I stayed at the junior suite for 2 nights. Iron is provided on...More
"Rooms not facing the main road is much better"
"lower floors for family and older travellers"
"Choose the one on the Ground Floor as there are no lifts!"
"Would like to recommend SUITE ROOM"


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Personally, I am scared of the worm-like things that make me feel uncomfortable and such kind of feelings. Hence, I cannot put my focus on pokemon Caterpie, because it looks like a green worm on the leaves of the plants, it has green and tan colors, four legs and antenna, yeah, so fearsome!
|Picture Credit
|Picture Credit
However, when I found the pokemon Gijinka Caterpie cosplay, yay, I have to say that is so cute and charming but not unpleasant.


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As regular readers of this blog (Sid and Doris Internationalist) will be aware, I am in the process of stepping down from my UNISON responsibilities – but that does not mean that I care nothing for the future of UNISON, a trade union which continues to have tremendous potential, mostly unfortunately yet to be realised.
That's why I will be one of the complainants at the final day of the Certification Officer hearing into complaints arising from the last General Secretary election, on Wednesday week (22 February) from 10am at the Holiday Inn in Carburton St, London, W1W 5EE.
At this hearing we will hear the closing submissions on behalf of the complainants and the Union. After the hearing concludes I will publish further commentary upon the evidence put before the hearing by all parties, much of which it is important that UNISON members can access before they decide how to vote in the forthcoming elections to the National Executive Council (NEC).
Candidates in support of the failing status quo within UNISON will want to sweep the overwhelming evidence of serious wrongdoing under the carpet – but I am pleased to know that the largest ever number of candidates who really believe in trade unionism and democracy are standing to transform UNISON.
The UNISON Centre (a.k.a. the Great White Elephant of the Euston Road) is a deeply unhappy place where committed employees and intelligent activists alike despair at our lack of vigour and direction. Perhaps this need not always be so.


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|This foundation is of the greatest importance to our study of the universities, for it was the first college, in the sense of a corporation including both masters and students living together under rule, ever to be set up for seculars in either of the English universities. Such an arrangement was common enough amongst the religious orders, but students from the secular clergy lived in small hostels or in lodgings without supervision and exposed to every conceivable temptation. Men of outstanding character might survive such a test, but many vocations were inevitably lost.
Walter de Merton,[1] bishop of Rochester, was therefore a pioneer. He made his original foundation at Merton in Surrey in 1264 but, after playing with the idea of moving to Cambridge, he transferred it without refoundation to Oxford ten years later. 1264 is, in consequence, a turning-point in the history of English education and, because nobody on the continent had anticipated his plan, it was also a turning-point in the history of European education. Merton College became the pattern for all subsequent colleges at the universities.
The rule of life at Merton, though novel in the middle of the thirteenth century, has become familiar enough since. Those of the students, who were not yet in holy orders, were not to be bound to the divine office. The day was divided into periods, some for work, others for recreation. During the meals, there was to be reading as in the monasteries. Study of the liberal arts was to precede that of philosophy, canon or civil law, and theology. This is still the ideal of the older English universities which deprecate specialization until general education has been completed. Experts are not to be ignorant as G. K. Chesterton[2] warns us they often are. College membership was restricted to the secular clergy alone. This was strictly interpreted, and any who wanted to enter religious orders had to go. It is said that Duns Scotus[3] and William of Ockham[4] fell victims to this rule and left Merton to enter the order of St Francis.[5] The original plan was to allow for a warden, two or three chaplains and twenty undergraduates. By the fourteenth century, the college was unrivalled in influence amongst the secular clergy.
Bishop Walter acquired the advowson[6] of the church of St John the Baptist which, at first, served the college for a chapel. It probably stood on the site of the north range of Mob Quadrangle. Three ordinary houses along the street were used as lodgings for the members. In 1289, the choir of the present chapel was begun, and it was finished by 1294; the old chapel was then converted into lodgings. In 1330, the transepts and the tower were started, but progress was slow and they were not complete until 1424. A nave was planned, as you can see if you examine the west wall of the chapel, but it was never built. There is some fine medieval glass and a brass lectern of the same period. A double piscina is to be seen in the south transept; it served the altars which stood along the east wall. It is an ambitious chapel for so small a community as a medieval college.
Meanwhile, the little enclosure called Mob Quadrangle was put up on the south side of the chapel. The south and west ranges and the library, which still contains many medieval fittings, were finished by 1379.
A little way down Merton Street, there is a turning on the left named Logic Lane which will take us back again into the High, between University College on the left and the Examination Schools on the right.(From Goulder, Pilgrimage Pamphlets: Oxford and Cambridge, 1963.)
For more on Merton College, see their site.
Blessed John Duns Scotus, the medieval Franciscan theologian and philosopher, is famous for his defence of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. However it seems unlikely he was at Merton. Henry, Cardinal Manning was elected a Fellow of Merton in 1832, as he prepared for Anglican orders. (He became a Catholic in 1845.)
Merton was strongly Catholic during the Reformation period; on the accession of Queen Elizabeth, they refused to cooperate with Archbishop ('Nosey') Parker. In a famous episode the College stood siege against the officers of Archbishop Parker for three weeks.
[1] Bishop of Rochester 1274-1277.
[2] Lived 1874-1936.
[3] Lived 1270-1308. Upheld the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception against Aquinas (lived c. 1226-1274).
[4] Lived c. 1280-1349. An advocate of civil absolutism, though he accepted the Church's authority in spiritual matters.
[5] Lived c. 1181-1226. Francis of Assisi. The Franciscan rule was approved by Innocent III (pope 1198-1216) in 1210. Like the rule of St Benedict, that of St Francis has been variously interpreted and there have always been different branches of the order. The medieval Franciscans wore a grey tunic with a capuce, sandals and a girdle of rope. At the dissolution, the Greyfriars had sixty-six English houses. The Observants came to this country in Henry VII's reign. They changed their habit to brown and had six houses at the suppression.
[6] The right to present candidates to a benefice.
Labels: College/Hall


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Brian Austin Green Joins A Wedding Band
Desperate Housewives star Brian Austin Green and Lost actor Harold Perrineau, are teaming up for the new TBS pilot, The Wedding Band.
The hour-long, scripted comedy will follow a group of guys who try to escape the stress and craziness of their lives by performing in a wedding band. Anchored by lifelong best friends – one a perennial bachelor and the other a married father of two – the band will stop at nothing to make every wedding, birthday or bar mitzvah a concert to remember.
ARE YOU EXCITED to see Brian Austin Green and Harold Perrineau join The Wedding Band?


text: Pregnant Kim Kardashian stuns in black and white Celebrity news News & Gossip 0 Kim reveals her burgeoning baby bump in super-stylish monochrome dress Monochrome is very now, and when it comes to maternity wear pregnant celebrities are certainly embracing the monochrome moment. Kim Kardashian, who's normally a fan of wearing tight leather and low-cut blouses, debuted a new chic maternity look out and about in Beverly Hills, on her way to Barneys for a spot of shopping. The reality star, who's expecting her first baby with rapper boyfriend Kanye West, looked glamorous in an unusual monochrome shift dress, white stilettos and added a pop of colour to her look with a slick of bright red lipstick. From the front the black and white dress obscured Kim's changing figure but from the side there was no missing her baby bump. The 32-year-old recently revealed that her style has changing since dating Kanye and that she tries to wear outfits he'll like. "I dress for my man way more than for myself,' she says. He (Kanye) likes cool, drapy things. Very casual," Kim reportedly told US Weekly. Kim said at the moment she definitely sways towards more monochrome outfit, explaining her style is "definitely more sleek, sophisticated and very monochromatic these days." Here at MFM we think Kim looks great and we're loving the monochrome trend that the expectant celeb are rocking! Even royal mum-to-be Kate Middleton is embracing the trend as she stepped out in a gorgeous monochrome outfit earlier this week. Want embrace the monochrome mania? If your pregnant check out 10 best monochrome mum-to-be buys, or if you've just given birth take a peek at 10 best monochrome new mum buys. Read more… Kim Kardashian makes her baby bump debut Michael Bublé reveals pregnant wife's blood-thirsty food cravings Why dad Chris Hemsworth is a super-human baby carrier By Sophie Westnedge 0 Comments Share Like this article? Showing of Uh-oh! You need to be logged in to do this... Sign In Sign Up Load more posts Write a comment


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iPad Live hits the air tonight at 9pm ET, 6pm PT, (1am GMT we think?!). We'll be talking iPad 2 one week later and of course the bombshell that is AT&T buying T-Mobile. Come join us. Bring a friend. Frak, bring an enemy! Just bring people!
Place: http://www.imore.com/live/
If you have any questions or topics you'd like us to discuss, just leave them in the comments then come be part of the show!
(And yes, you can watch from iPhone via Ustream Viewer app (here's how) and iPad (we recommend Duet Browser.)
Chat with you soon!


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Tacoma Art Museum Opens New Benaroya Wing With Dazzling Glass
Stunning glass trees by Debora Moore highlight the addition's initial offerings.
The Royal Opulence of 'Peacock in the Desert'
Seattle Art Museum's showcase of Indian art might lack cultural depth, but it's certainly a spectacle.
The Voyeurism of Polaroids: Personal, Private, Painterly
The collection of authorless snapshots at Bellevue Arts Museum raises questions about our relationship with instant photography.
What's Old Is New Again for Capitol Hill Art Walk
With reopening galleries joining the old stalwarts, neighborhood's visual art scene is entering a fresh, thriving era.
Searching for Relief in the Frye's 'Group Therapy'
The new group exhibit finds artists tapping into themes of natural wellness and psychological self-care.
Snag a Free Museum Day Ticket
Smithsonian Magazine 's September 22 celebration opens the doors to some of the region's best cultural institutions.
All's Fair in Love and Art
The Seattle Art Fair stands out from its peers, but it's still finding its footing in our tech-driven city.
Re-Presenting Black History in Art
Seattle museums look to foster a conversation with their spring visual art exhibits.
The Nascent Feminism of Doris Totten Chase
Changing Forms celebrates an artist who forged a new feminine poetics in early video art.
Liz Mputu Creates a Physical Testing Zone for Digital Spirituality
LVLZ Healing Center at Interstitial presents prismatic, pixelated, emoji-laden therapy pods.
A Waste Facility Is Paying Artists to Talk Trash
Recology CleanScapes' resident artists explore the underworld of garbage.
Two Miles of Moving Pictures
Along the SoDo busway, muralists turn the blurring landscape into a blur of art.
'No Hiding Place Down Here' Explores Issues of Exposure, Privacy for Seattle's Homeless
Tatiana Garmendia's exhibition ponders the city's complex relationship to those without shelter.
Ethnomusicology Legend Charles Duvelle Shows His Snapshots From Around the Globe
His recordings were included on Carl Sagan's Golden Record, but this week his photos are in Seattle.
10 Years of Glam at SAM Remix
How a small side-program turned into one of the city's most cosmopolitan events.
Storme Webber's Stories of Survival
"Casino: A Palimpsest" shines light on a Pioneer Square history not often told.
Through Art, Books, and 'Anti-Reality Hallucinations,' X Y Z Is Building a New Seattle Scene
Four arts collectives formidable in their own right are joining forces in an exciting new space.
Don't Slight Out of Sight
The location may have changed, but this Seattle Art Fair satellite event still has its own gravitational force.
The Ripple Effects of the Seattle Art Fair
The Fair may be about selling art, but the energy it sends through the local art scene is more exciting than just that.
Quota. at SOIL Gallery Challenges the White Gaze
Curators of the show use gallery admission as a lesson in privilege and race.


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International Left-Handers Day
On 13th August 1992 the Club launched International Left-Handers Day, an annual event when left-handers everywhere can celebrate their sinistrality and increase public awareness of the advantages and disadvantages of being left-handed. This event is now celebrated worldwide, and in the U.K. alone there have been more than 20 regional events to mark the day in recent years – including left-v-right sports matches, a left-handed tea party, pubs using left-handed corkscrews where patrons drank and played pub games with the left hand only, and nationwide "Lefty Zones" where left-handers creativity, adaptability and sporting prowess were celebrated, whilst right-handers were encouraged to try out everyday left-handed objects to see just how awkward it can feel using the wrong equipment!
These events have contributed more than anything else to the general awareness of the difficulties and frustrations left-handers experience in everyday life, and have successfully led to improved product design and greater consideration of our needs by the right-handed majority – although there is still a long way to go!!
The Left-Handers Club was formed in 1990 aiming to keep members in touch with developments, make their views known to manufacturers and others, provide a help & advice line, to promote research into left-handedness and development of new left-handed items.Since its formation the Club has gone from strength to strength with members all over the world and is highly regarded as the foremost pressure group and advice center on all aspects of left-handedness.
he idea of Left-Handers Day is of everyone to celebrate in fun, practical ways, making right handed family members/friends/colleagues realize how "dexterous" (right-handed term, hmm…..) we have to be because we are constantly adapting a right-handed world to work for a left-hander.
Getting right handers to do everything left-handed for the day is a great way to make the point!
National Filet Mignon Day
Filet mignon is the star of the show on August 13 as people across the country annually celebrate National Filet Mignon Day.
Filet mignon (which translate as "cute" or "dainty" steak) is sure to impress any crowd.
Think of the two long muscles that run down either side of your spine. If you were a cow, those would be your tenderloins. Now, as a cow, the part of the tenderloin closest to your head would be called a filet mignon.
Some American steakhouses serve the middle of the tenderloin as a filet mignon, and while not technically the correct cut of meat, it's better for presentation because of its roundness.
Because the tenderloin doesn't carry any of a cow's weight, it's very tender. But, that means it doesn't have a lot of fat, and fat equals flavor. As a result, filets are often wrapped in bacon prior to cooking as that adds flavor and helps protect the delicate cut of meat.
A T-bone, or Porterhouse steak, has the tenderloin down one side and a New York strip down the other. It's essentially two steaks in one.
The simplest, and arguably best, way to serve a filet mignon is to sear it at high heat after simply seasoning it. As with most cuts of meat, it's important to let the steak rest before cutting into it.
Filets are often served with sauces to add flavor. A popular option is to serve the steak au poivre style. This classic French preparation involved crusting the filet with coarsely cracked peppercorns and serving it with a cognac based sauce. Heavy cream can be added to the sauce and then reduced.


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Lawmaker donates relief materials
Good cheer has returned to the faces of victims of a Fulani/Tiv clash in Benue State, thanks to a member of the House of Assembly, Hon Avine Agbom.
The lawmaker, who represents Makurdi North on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC), donated relief materials to the people who were displaced by the crisis.
He implored the people to take part in the sharing of the materials, including members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) who were victims of the bloody crisis between Fulani herdsmen and Tiv farmers in Makurdi Local Government Area.
The crisis claimed many lives.
The relief materials included bags of rice, millet, among other items, including personal effects like clothes and cooking utensils.
The donor said the effort was meant to cushion the effects of the crisis on the people.
Hon. Agbom urged the federal and state governments to set up relief camps for internally-displaced persons who are mostly from his constituency.
He also pleaded for more relief materials for the victims.
"The displaced persons have no camp," he said. "They can no longer go back to their houses. I want to appeal to the federal and state governments to provide shelter for them. Some are staying at a camp called Duadu where there are no mosquito nets, adding that the children have been dying every day for the past two years without any kind of support from government."
He stated that the relief materials worth millions of naira are specifically for the victims of the crisis in Mbalagh and Ayaka wards which are parts of Agan Ward. He added that the second batch would be spread to other communities.
Responding, President of Mbalagh Women Association, Mrs. Margaret Bija advised the victims of the crisis to be law-abiding and wait for the outcome of government's intervention in the crisis.


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Originally posted on ATMA & Funomena:
See…I DO have a social life! I recently attended my university's (in collaboration with a few other unis) Anime Society Christmas Party. I was cosplaying as a stereotypical stalker (not really…I was just a guy with a fancy DSLR, occasionally snapping up a few pictures). The photographs here were all extensively…
Christmas With AnimeSydney 2015: Funomenal Gallery
Originally posted on ATMA & Funomena:


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WASHINGTON (Feb. 1, 2011)—"America I AM: The African American Imprint," an award-winning touring exhibition conceived and presented by broadcaster Tavis Smiley, opens at the National Geographic Museum in Washington, D.C., this week. With more than 200 artifacts, the exhibition celebrates nearly 500 years of African American contributions to the United States. The museum's presentation, opening Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2011, during Black History Month, and continuing through Sunday, May 1, 2011, is the fifth stop on the exhibition's 10-city, four-year tour.
"We are pleased to host this exhibition highlighting the contributions of African Americans and furthering a dialogue about our collective experience," said Susan Norton, director of the National Geographic Museum. "We look forward to sharing the stories — some familiar, some surprising — of the influential African Americans featured in the exhibition. Our hope is that visitors leave with a richer understanding of the diverse culture and history of the United States."
Through 12 galleries, this ticketed exhibition offers an in-depth look at the pivotal role African Americans have played and continue to play in the development of America.
"America I AM: The African American Imprint" is developed in partnership with Tavis Smiley and is organized by Cincinnati Museum Center and Arts and Exhibitions International, a division of AEG Live.
The exhibition is made possible by presenting sponsor Walmart Stores Inc. The exhibition's educational partner is Northern Trust. Local sponsors include GEICO; The Madison, the museum's Official Hotel Partner; and Amtrak.
"Walmart is proud to sponsor the 'America I AM' exhibition as the nation embarks upon its annual celebration of black culture and contributions in the United States," said Alex Barron, regional general manager, Mid Atlantic States, Walmart U.S. "To help give all families access to this rich collection of history and culture, we are making tickets available for purchase in select Washington, D.C., area stores."
"Northern Trust is proud to be the educational partner of this inspiring exhibition portraying some of the many significant contributions African Americans have made to our society," said Northern Trust Chairman and CEO Frederick H. Waddell. "We are deeply committed to promoting cultural understanding and inclusion among our employees, clients and the communities we serve. We hope many people in the Washington, D.C., area and around the world will experience 'America I AM' and its celebration of African American history and culture."
National Geographic also has enlisted the help of community partners African Continuum Theatre Company, Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, D.C. Public Library (DCPL), African American Civil War Museum, Busboys & Poets restaurant and Eatonville restaurant. Collaborations range from a reading program and complementary exhibit with DCPL to participation in the Feb. 6 A.C.T.O.R. (A Continuing Talk on Race) discussion at Busboys & Poets. Restaurant partners for the exhibition are Georgia Brown's, Langston Bar & Grille, Restaurant Marvin, Sodexo and Wild Onion Cafe & Catering.
Filled with poignant artifacts showcasing nearly 500 years of history, "America I AM" celebrates the imprint African Americans have had on the United States. Visitors will see objects ranging from shackles used in the slave trade to abolitionist material and the poetry of Langston Hughes. Personal items from contemporary African American figures such as Serena Williams, Michael Jordan and Prince will be on display. An interactive area will allow visitors to leave video "imprints" of their own experiences, a collection that continues to grow throughout the tour.
Exhibition highlights include:
-"The Door of No Return" from the Cape Coast Castle in Ghana, which enslaved Africans passed through to board ships to begin the Middle Passage;
-Items from contemporary icons, including Ray Charles, Michael Jackson, Etta James, Jimi Hendrix, Michael Jordan and Tupac;
-Objects pertaining to the African American troops that fought in major U.S. wars;
-Malcolm X's journal and personal Quran;
-The door key and stool from the Birmingham jail cell that held Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when he authored "Letter from a Birmingham Jail";
-Frederick Douglass' clothing and a reproduced letter from President Lincoln that enabled Douglass to move among Union lines recruiting black soldiers;
-The robe Muhammad Ali wore during training for the "Rumble in the Jungle," where he defeated world heavyweight champion George Foreman;
-A model of the first traffic signal, invented by Garrett Morgan, which served as the basis for today's traffic lights.
The exhibition focuses on different aspects of African American history and culture as it unfolds across 12,000 square feet in both exhibition spaces of the National Geographic Museum's 17th Street building. The 12 featured galleries are "W.E.B. Du Bois Vestibule," "Our History," "Rooted in Africa," "Our Foundation," "The Measure of Justice," "The Soul of Freedom," "The Voice of Equality," "Invincible," "Spirit," "Patriotic," "The Conscience of a Nation" and "The World and What's Your Imprint?"
The National Geographic Museum and National Geographic Live, the public programs division of National Geographic, will present several free and ticketed programs during the run of "America I AM." For full details of related public programs, see the enclosed "America I AM: The African American Imprint" listing.
The museum will celebrate Washington D.C.'s Emancipation Day with a free family festival from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on April 16. Activities will include a screening of the film "Emancipation Day," an academic lecture and panel and other performances, lectures, workshops and exhibition ticket giveaways from the Junior Ranger Program from the Frederick Douglass House, Pearl Coalition, F.R.E.E.D. (Female Re-Enactors of Distinction) and Cadet Corps from the African American Civil Rights Museum.
Among the other free family workshop programs presented throughout the exhibition run will be a performance of the play "Lions of Industry, Mothers of Invention," by the Smithsonian's Discovery Theater (Feb. 5); a sneak peek at the story, actors, songs and dances created for the African Continuum Theatre Company & Adventure's upcoming theater play "Mirandy and Brother Wind" (Feb. 19); "The Art of Adornment" (March 26), which will examine the expression of African American culture and identity through adornment with textiles, masks, feathers and jewelry; a look at the history and traditions of African American quilting and patterns with "Creativity Through Quilting: Exploring African American Traditions"; and many more. Some programs require advance registration; complete information is available at www.ngmuseum.org.
The museum will also present a free "America I AM" film series, sponsored by Walmart Inc., showcasing documentaries that take an in-depth look at historic events, cultural movements and the lives of prominent African Americans. The films include "A Litany for Survival: The Life and Work of Audre Lorde" (Feb. 12 & 13, 11 a.m.), "Chisholm '72: Unbought & Unbossed" (Feb. 12 & 13, 1 p.m.), "Richard Wright – Black Boy" (March 6, 11 a.m. & 1 p.m.), "Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life" (March 12 & 13, 1 p.m.), "Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin" (March 12 & 13, 11 a.m.), "Pip & Zastrow: An American Friendship" (April 3, 11 a.m. & 1 p.m.).
National Geographic Live will present two events in Grosvenor Auditorium as part of the 2011 spring season. "Music On…Stage featuring Music Makers Revue" will take place March 29 at 7:30 p.m. ($12 Concert Ticket / $20 Concert Ticket plus Museum Pass). In association with the Music Makers Relief Foundation Inc., "Music On…Stage" will feature musicians Cool John Ferguson, Captain Luke and other legends of Southern music as they showcase the best of blues music. On April 23, the performance group Step Afrika! will host a free workshop at 10 a.m. followed by a demonstration at noon ($10) and a performance at 7:30 p.m. ($25).
National Geographic Live also will screen three films in Grosvenor Auditorium in conjunction with the exhibition as part of its free "Tuesdays at Noon" film program. The films are "We Are Arabbers" on Feb. 8, "Black Indians: An American Story" on Feb. 22 and "The Doll" and "Louisville" on March 15.
The museum and DCPL will host a reading program for children from March 1 to April 16. Each child who reads one or more of the selected books will receive a free ticket ($6) to the exhibition, and parents will receive tickets at a discounted rate. Participating readers will be recognized on the museum's website and will have the opportunity to win a National Geographic book from their library. In addition to the reading program, D.C.'s Martin Luther King Library will host an exhibition, "DC I Am: Growing Up in the Shadow of the Capitol," focusing on the local history of Washington, D.C.
Tickets are timed and dated and can be purchased online at www.ngmuseum.org, by phone at (202) 857-7700, and at the National Geographic ticket office, 1600 M Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. Specially priced tickets can also be purchased at Walmart stores in the Washington, D.C., area. The museum is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Ticket prices are $12 for adults; $10 for seniors (over age 62), students, military personnel and National Geographic members; and $6 for children ages 2-12. Children under age 2 are admitted free.
Walmart, Northern Trust and National Geographic are making complimentary tickets available for all school, scout and youth groups serving children under 18. In partnership with the D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities and D.C. Arts & Humanities Education Collaborative, Walmart is making 10,000 free tickets available to D.C. public schools and chartered public schools, plus costs for transportation for student field trips. Interested schools should contact the D.C. Arts & Humanities Education Collaborative at (202) 204-7750. Educational partner Northern Trust has also provided tickets and transportation to underserved school groups in the D.C. area one day a week during March. All other school, scout and youth groups (25 people or more) from any geographic location should contact the National Geographic Museum at (202) 857-7700 in advance to make arrangements for complimentary tickets. Transportation costs are not included. For every 10 youngsters, one adult is required as a chaperone (all adult tickets must be purchased).
Prices for adult groups of 25 or more are $8 per ticket. For more information on group sales, call (202) 857-7281.
For ticketing and additional information, visit www.ngmuseum.org or www.americaiam.org.
The National Geographic Museum, located at 1145 17th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., features a variety of changing exhibitions as well as permanent and interactive displays that reflect the richness and diversity of our world. For more information, visit www.ngmuseum.org.
About The Smiley Group Inc.
Founded in 1998 and based in Los Angeles, The Smiley Group Inc. (TSG) is a communications corporation dedicated to supporting human rights and related empowerment issues. The mission of TSG is to achieve positive results through advocacy and education on issues of concern to African Americans and other people without substantial economic or social standing. TSG is the holding company for Tavis Smiley Presents, Smiley Radio Properties, High Quality Speakers Bureau, TS Media and SmileyBooks.
The Tavis Smiley Foundation is a nonprofit organization that provides leadership development training for youth. Tavis Smiley is the host of "Tavis Smiley" on PBS and "The Tavis Smiley Show" from PRI and the author/editor of 14 books, including the New York Times best seller "Covenant with Black America." His latest book is "Accountable: Making America as Good as Its Promise." For more information, visit www.tavistalks.com.
About Arts and Exhibitions International (AEI)
Founded in 2003 by president John Norman and international vice president Andres Numhauser, AEI produces the award-winning exhibition "Diana: A Celebration" in association with the Althorp Estate in the United Kingdom, two touring exhibitions dedicated to the treasures of King Tutankhamun and "Real Pirates: The Untold Story of the Whydah from Slave Ship to Pirate Ship." Norman and Numhauser have nearly 40 years combined experience in the entertainment and exhibition business, working over the years on such projects as "Titanic: The Artifact Exhibit" and "Saint Peter and the Vatican: The Legacy of the Popes." The company has relationships with the most important museums in the world and has presented traveling exhibitions on four continents. AEI is part of AEG Exhibitions, an affiliate division of AEG LIVE. AEG LIVE is the live-entertainment division of Los Angeles-based AEG, one of the leading sports and entertainment presenters in the world. For more information, visit www.artsandexhibitions.com.
About Cincinnati Museum Center
Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal is home to the Cincinnati History Museum, Duke Energy Children's Museum, the Museum of Natural History & Science, the Robert D. Lindner Family OMNIMAX® Theater, and the Cincinnati Historical Society Archives & Library. It is a nationally recognized educational and research resource and one of the top cultural attractions in the Midwest. With more than one million visitors each year, Museum Center is the top cultural attraction in Cincinnati and the most visited museum complex in the state of Ohio. Originally built in 1933 as the Union Terminal train station, the building is a national historic landmark and was renovated and reopened as Cincinnati Museum Center in 1990. For information, call (513) 287-7000 or (800) 733-2077 or visit www.cincymuseum.org.
About Walmart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT)
Every week, millions of customers visit Walmart Stores, Supercenters, Neighborhood Markets and Sam's Club locations across America or log on to its online store at www.wal-mart.com. The company and its Foundation are committed to a philosophy of giving back locally. Walmart (NYSE: WMT) is proud to support the causes that are important to customers and associates right in their own neighborhoods, and last year gave more than $270 million to communities in the United States. To learn more, visit www.walmartfacts.com, www.walmartstores.com or www.walmartfoundation.org.
About Northern Trust
Northern Trust Corporation (Nasdaq: NTRS) is a leading provider of investment management, asset and fund administration, banking solutions and fiduciary services for corporations, institutions and affluent individuals worldwide. Northern Trust, a financial holding company based in Chicago, has offices in 18 U.S. states and 16 international locations in North America, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region. As of Dec. 31, 2010, Northern Trust had assets under custody of US$4.1 trillion, and assets under investment management of US$643.6 billion. For 121 years, Northern Trust has earned distinction as an industry leader in combining exceptional service and expertise with innovative products and technology. For more information, visit www.northerntrust.com.


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A California court has ordered the President of the United States of America to return pop music icon Michael Jackson's glove to the President of Equatorial Guinea's son, Teodoro Nguema Obiang. In October 2011, the Obama administration seized assets worth $71 million from the 41 year old, including a yacht, a $38m Gulfstream jet, and $3.2m dollars worth of bejewelled Michael Jackson memorabilia, including the crystal-encrusted glove from the singer's 1987 'Bad' tour, purchased for $300,000.
Obiang currently serves as the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry in his father's administration, for which he's paid a monthly salary of $6,800. The court said Obiang hasn't been charged with any crime in his home country, nor in the U.S, and therefore should take possession of his properties seized by the American government.


text: Saturday's title fight between World Boxing Association lightweight champion Livingstone Bramble and Tyrone Crawley in Reno, Nev., has been postponed because of a hand injury to the challenger. Crawley injured his right hand while sparring last Thursday. He reinjured it Tuesday, and a doctor told him there was a possibility he could have permanent damage to the hand if he fought.''


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Challenge Me Happy
has a new challenge for you! We want you to create a layout about your "today". Use that word in your title and make it about whatever is current in your life!
Here's the layout I did last week for this challenge, about my seriously busy schedule and all the things I do to benefit mankind.
Right. About lay in the pool is all you can really accomplish on a day that gets to 108 degrees. Not counting humidity.
So that's what I did.
I got to use my new vintage (wait...is that right? new vintage...? whatevs, you know what I mean) fountain pens that you have to dip in an inkwell and everything!! Makes me very happy!
There's a prize for this challenge! Link us up at Challenge Me Happy and we'll do our best to see that you get something fun from 2Crafty Chipboard!


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First in was SV Singam.
Then Michelle Yoon emailed me to volunteer.
We sit down this Friday to undertake the task of auditing the fund and the expenses.
Someone sent in a comment to ask if the profiles of the auditors.
I requested both Singam and Michelle for brief resumes and they obliged. They appear here →


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Home » Community » Blog » October 2016 » International Credit Union Day
International Credit Union Day is on Thursday, October 20 this year, and it has been celebrated on the third Thursday of October since 1948. Credit unions utilize this day to celebrate the history of the credit union, the credit union movement, and to show member appreciation. It is also a day to raise financial awareness.
Credit unions are founded on the philosophy of cooperation, and they abide by various Operating Principles. Here's a quick look at those principles and how they benefit you!
Democratic Structure
• Open and Voluntary Membership – open to all people within the accepted common bond of association.
• Democratic Control – the credit union serves its members and is controlled by its members.
• Non-Discrimination – credit unions are non-discriminatory on all grounds.
Service to Members
• Distribution to Members – the credit union returns profits to members through higher savings rates and lower loan rates.
• Building Financial Stability – the credit union aims to build financial strength through adequate reserves and internal controls to ensure continued service to members.
• Service to Members – all services are directed to improve the economic and social well-being of all members.
Social Goals
• On-Going Education – credit unions actively promote the education of members, officers, employees, and the public with the economic, social, democratic, and mutual self-help principles of credit unions.
• Cooperation Among Cooperatives – credit unions actively cooperate with other credit unions to best serve the interest of their members and their communities.
• Social Responsibility – credit unions seek to bring about human and social development and to extend service to all who need and can use it.
As part of International Credit Union Day this year, we want to stress the importance of financial youth education. Financial education should begin at a young age, and you can start by talking about three basic money principles with your child: spending, saving, and sharing. As your child grows, you can introduce more complex topics. Even if you feel ill equipped or don't think you have a handle on your own finances, you can still use your experiences to teach your child. Have you struggled with credit card debt? Be honest with them so they can learn from you. In what areas do you do well with your finances? Tell them about that too. Learning is an ongoing process. We all still have areas where we can grow. Today is the day to start.
Categories: Education, Finances
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SAN to SAN Migration Using Server Consolidation/Migration Utility
Novell Cool Solutions: AppNote
By Michael Faris
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Posted: 22 Sep 2006
Our company recently upgraded our SAN solution and the SAN switch was an older model. Utilizing EMC's SRDF migration utility was not a practical option because the 300+GB of data for one server would have been copied from the old SAN to a intermediate device before being copied to the new DMX. We utilize two HBAs per server for load sharing and redundancy. The question whether we could transfer the data between SANs by connecting one HBA to one SAN and the other HBA to the new SAN and simply copy the data and trustees.
How could this be done? I looked at several solutions.
- TOOLBOX is fast and copies long filenames on the same server, but does not copy Trustees. Nope.
- ZEN for Servers is an option, but we don't use it and we don't have the time frame. Nein.
- RSYNC could have worked but I know it tends to have problems with very large (2+GB) files on initial Sync. Next.
- Windows-based Ncopy? That would take forever and a differential copy on the final cut-over would be impossible. Whew.
What about Novell's Server Consolidation/Migration Utility? And use the Server agents?
- Server based copy, no data copy through the client.
- Long filenames and trustees.
There was one question and I quickly found that it will indeed migrate data from one volume to another on the same server. Sweet.
This is what I did ...
Give the World Wide Name (WWN) to the SAN engineer so the new target volume can be zoned. Once complete, connect the second HBA to the new SAN switch.
I'm a long time console guy so I use the command line utilities. Creating a new volume can be accomplished using iManager, NetWare Remote Manager (NRM) or ConsoleOne.
Create the New Volume
At the server console, load NSSMU and you should see the new unpartitioned space.
Look at each device on the left-hand side and use the arrow up/down keys to move. Highlight each device and look for the new device, (Hint: The new device will show very large "unpartitioned" space).
Highlight the new device and press F3 to initialize it for use.
Escape back to the main menu and select Pools. Press Ins to create a new Pool. Name the pool something meaningful relating to the new SAN, i. e., DMX-POOL.
Once the pool is created, escape back to the main menu and select Volumes. Press Ins to create a new Volume. At this point, the name of the volume doesn't really matter because, later you are going to rename it for administrative reasons.
When you create the volume, you will see the new NSS partitioned space available. Assign all of it to the volume and when complete, exit the NSSMU Utility and back to the server console.
Type Volumes at the console and you should see the new volume you just created. If not, try mounting it to see if it mounts.
Create the Server Migration Script
Install the Novell Server Consolidation/Migration Utility on a workstation and load it.
Click ok on the splash screen.
This will be a NetWare to NetWare Consolidation.
In our example here we are not copying printers.
Create a New Project.
Enter the name of the project and where you want the files to be stored.
NOTE: Don't worry about the location being local, when we verify the data and state the server-based copy, the utility will transfer the project files to the server.
If you are authenticated to eDirectory, then the name of your Tree will be in both fields. If not, then you can click on Login and browse to your target Tree.
On the top menu, click Project | Enable Server-Based Processing. The above window will appear.
On the left-hand side of the window, expand your Source volume. Select the folders you wish to copy, drag them to the Right-hand side (target) and drop them on the volume name. Note the Blue Arrows!
Note: This action does not copy or alter anything! This is what you intend to do. You can change it however you like at this time.
Once you are satisfied with your project, click Project and Verify and Copy Data.
This is the Verification Wizard. It will give you some more options for your consolidation.
Here is a list of the folders you dropped to the new volume and the source is listed on the left.
Because you enabled Server-based earlier, the "Yes" is selected for you.
Choose Always copy for the initial copy. When you move for your final cut-over, you will run this again and select Copy if newer to "refresh" the new volume with file changes.
I left this page as the default, since I wanted to copy everything to the new volume.
This page will allow you to exclude files, is desired. Again, I wanted a complete copy.
Make sure that your Tree, and username are correct. Enter your password. (This will be encrypted in the final XML file).
I left this unchecked because my new volume was larger than the existing. You don't have to disable login for the initial copy. This utility does just fine with users accessing files while this takes place. The final cut-over copy should disallow users from accessing their files.
This screen informs you that the utility is ready to check the server(s) to ensure the copy can take place. It checks SMDR versions and whether the your user account has the necessary rights to perform this action.
This screen is the final part of the planning of the copy. It tells you that everything is cool and it will copy the necessary files, (nlms, and the project xml files) to the server. If you forgot anything or need to make changes, click Back now. Otherwise, click Proceed.
This screen tells you that the process has been created and you are done with the client side of this project. Click Close and proceed to the Server Console.
Server-Based Execution of the Project
If you run any server based antivirus software, is it faster if you unload them before you start the process. Also, ensure that the user performing this process, probably you, has no volume restrictions on the target volume.
At the server console, type:
NUWAGENT -a "projectname"
With Quotes!
The screen will change and you will see the progress of the project. When it is complete, the agent exits and you will be returned to the server console screen.
Post Consolidation Tasks
I did this copy during the production day and only saw a 20% increase in utilization on the server. On the day we did the final cut over, I created a new project and chose to merge the existing directories, to only copy if newer and to disable login.
Once the final copy was completed. I dismounted both the existing and the new volumes. I renamed the existing volume and then renamed the new volume to the old volume's name.
Existing volume name: VOL1 New volume name: VOL2
Rename the existing volume to VOL3 Rename the new volume to VOL1
If other resources, i.e., ZENworks Application Objects are stored on this volume, the paths to the files will not have to change to reflect the volume change.
We used the Home Directory Changer from Cool Tools: http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/tools/14312.html to change all the volumes back to VOL1. Renaming a volume changes this attribute in the user's environment.
After we checked everything else, we were able to remove the fiber from the old SAN.
Novell Cool Solutions (corporate web communities) are produced by WebWise Solutions. www.webwiseone.com


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Christchurch, Winter 2010.
The atmosphere in the Christchurch hotel room is very tense.
Two young women in their early thirties sit on either side of their mother, and both make only occasional eye contact with others in the room.
With a brief prompt, one begins to relate a story of horror – of a childhood and a family life ripped apart by overzealous doctors and therapists.
Joanne Fraser tells of the time that a female doctor told her to disrobe in a hospital ward, conducted an internal examination, and then told the trembling nine-year old that she appeared to have "enjoyed" the invasion of her young body – providing incontrovertible "proof" that her father had sexually abused her.
Joanne knew it was a preposterous lie. Nonetheless, the doctor insisted her father had interfered with her, and called the bewildered child a "slut" for having allowed it to happen.
Tears are flowing freely in the room now. Joanne's Mum Margaret pulls her daughter close. This is the first time she has heard this revelation.
Dabbing her eyes, seeking to gain some composure, Joanne's older sister Teresa nods and says much the same thing was done to her by the doctor.
Moreover, that upon Teresa's admission to Christchurch Hospital's Ward 24 for "treatment", Teresa, then aged eleven, had been made by therapists to wear a small but very heavy backpack for up to eight hours a day.
"I was told this backpack – which was full of wooden blocks – was my 'burden'," Teresa tells her family. "The staff would tell me that if I were to disclose something about my Dad abusing me, then they would take a block out of the bag. Sometimes when I wasn't co-operating, more blocks would go in."
By this stage, Margaret is beside herself. She knows how dreadfully hard it has been for all her family since the utterly false allegations were made about her husband in 1988, but she never fully understood the toll it had taken on her girls.
The Fraser family sit and quietly absorb the body-blows of these fresh disclosures. The youngest child, Michael, aged 27, grimaces in his seat – hurting, physically a lot more than his older sisters today.
His jaw and three ribs, freshly broken in a fight last week with a distant relative, who at a family funeral called his father a "kiddie-fucker," then handed him a severe beating.
This is just one of as many as a dozen broken families, who lost innocence, hope, contact with their loved ones, and in several cases even life itself, because of a single-minded and misguided obsession.
Children to Ashes, Fathers to Dust.
In the late 1980's a number of families – mostly in and around Christchurch – were ripped apart by accusations of child sex abuse.
Two doctors – one a psychiatrist, the other a supposed child health specialist, engineered the removal of probably in excess of 20 children from their parents.
The reason: the child health specialist believed she had a revolutionary new way of proving that kids – especially girls – had been sexually abused.
The technique she used has now been internationally discredited, but the damage remains.
The children concerned – who were aged between five and seven years old at the time - are now emerging from the darkness to which they and their families were consigned.
Many of them have suffered major mental trauma as a result of having been taken from their parents – all carry the scars. At least two of the wrongly accused fathers died in their forties – their children convinced their hearts and health were broken by the accusations.
The paranoia about sexual abuse in Christchurch at that time, finally had its sequel in the infamous Christchurch Creche affair, - a story which divided a nation, and finally made us start to ask if we hadn't been too zealous.
The "stolen" children are now adults, and they are fighting mad. The passage of 22 years has done nothing to diminish their adamant denials that they were never sexually abused by their fathers.
The awful irony is that some of these people were placed into foster care where, they allege, they suffered the exact abuse their fathers were falsely accused of perpetrating.
Some of the former victims of the diagnosing doctor have ended up in tragic situations in respect to their health and lifestyles.
The tales are literally like something plucked from the pages of Charles Dickens.
In thirty years of making TV programmes I have yet to come across a more ghastly situation. That it could have happened in Aotearoa defies belief.
Those who were falsely diagnosed as having been abused would – in an ideal world - confront the doctor who tore their families asunder, the policeman who told their Dads to get a gun and shoot themselves, to save the courts the expense of a trial, and a system which has shrugged its shoulders at their pain.
Also left in the wake of this affair, a number of frightened health professionals and others whose own attempts to stop what was occurring in the eighties, were met with threats, intimidation, and jacked-up claims that they were probably child abusers too.
Those who perpetrated what are now generally acknowledged as having been terrible breaches of natural justice, have never been called to account.


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Stephen Strasburg is making his Major League debut for the Washington Nationals tonight. For those of you who don't follow baseball he's predicted to be a great player in the future (or maybe even now). If you want to buy tickets to tonight's game at this point you have two options. You could buy off the secondary market or you can buy tickets to tonight's game as part of a 4 game package.
Surprisingly this package includes one free game. So really you just have to buy 2 more games to see Strasburg. The Nationals must think they make more money from selling tickets to three different games at 2/3 the price then they would not selling those tickets. Since other than tonight the Nationals probably won't sell out a game the rest of the year this isn't a bad bet. Unless fans who would buy tickets to future games decrease the number they would have purchased when the buy the 4 pack of games to see Strasburg tonight.
A lot of teams do this trick where in order to see a marque game they force you to buy less desirable games. I tried to see a Twins game earlier this year and they were sold out unless you bought tickets to many more games as part of a season ticket plan.
Why don't teams just raise their prices for marque games? They are starting too, many teams charge more for better opponents (Yankees, Red Sox) or weekend summer games. There is some negative reaction to this. I think there would be even more if the Nationals raised their prices just for tonight.
In short people hate it when teams or companies increase prices, but don't seem to mind so much when the increase in price is including as part of buying a larger item such as tickets to 4 games.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Strasburg is so good he gets you to buy tickets to 4 games
Posted by Seth Gitter at 10:20 AM
3 comments:
- 姿思穎穎 said...
your english is incredible............................................................
- June 8, 2010 at 6:42 PM
- Lisa said...
Perhaps you're forgetting about the (nonmonetary) incentives presented to the franchise? A "sellout" is a selling point for people trying to woo advertisers, and probably makes the team more attractive to potential players, too. How to maximize sellouts? Find a way to get people to buy tickets to less enticing games.
Just my two cents!
- June 8, 2010 at 8:23 PM
- Paul C said...
Thought you might also throw in something about the Giants and their variable pricing this year... I haven't followed a lot of it, but this article seems to sum it up: http://www.baseballdailydigest.com/2010/02/25/san-francisco-giants-and-variable-pricing-year-two/
- June 9, 2010 at 5:31 PM
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City fans are a naturally divided bunch. Whether that's truer of us than the fans of any other given club, I couldn't tell you, but from Lee Johnson to Sean O'Driscoll the fanbase has never been short of subjects to disagree vehemently about.
Chief amongst those this season might well be the 'Five Pillars'.
The Five Pillars were announced towards the end of last season and represented the distillation of City's strategy; the five key principles which would be adhered to in order to build a sustainable club with a sound base. By prioritising Community Engagement, Academy and Youth Development, Player Recruitment & Talent Identification, Financial Prudence & Control, and Facilities, City would begin to take a genuinely long-term view. No more quick fixes, no more sticking plasters. Decisions made today would now be on the basis of the effect tomorrow. In turn, these Pillars ought to guarantee that there would be City fans in the future, that they would have home-grown players to support, that their club would no longer offer long contracts to declining players, that the club would not be vulnerable to administration or predatory owners, and that there would be a fit-for-purpose stadium together with good quality training facilities.
Personally (while I had a slight concern over nicking the way a major world religion expresses its tenets to talk about the strategy of a football club) I welcomed the articulation of a clear strategy. Some fans argued that this is simply codifying what all football clubs do as a matter of course, but I didn't buy that argument; while all football clubs presumably have some sort of community programme, academy, scouting network etc, there are also a number of other things football teams do: maximising commercial appeal, say, developing their profile away from their home city, and looking after long-term and older fans. City probably do all of these things too, but the point of the Five Pillars is that they comprise the things that can't be messed around with, that the club will stick to when choices have to be made and when push comes to shove.
For my sins, I spend a fair bit of my professional time analysing strategies, and the Pillars don';t feel too bad. They're relatively forward thinking and mark out the type of club we aspire to be – a Swansea or a Southampton rather than a Cardiff or a Hull. The very fact that I can say "these are clubs that seem to do this sort of thing, these are ones that don't" I think proves the point that the pillars aren't just best practice – they're a more important statement of intent. They're clear enough to be comprehensible and thorough enough that everything we do should contribute to them.
Thing is, though, it seems that they're also transient. There's been a lot of talk about this recently, and there's no doubt for me that the spirit and letter of our "Player Recruitment and Talent Identification" pillar has been moved away from, for the time being at least. The wording of this pillar, in part, is:
"Revealed by the club's majority shareholder Steve Lansdown in January, the club has taken a major change in direction with regards to its policy on recruitment.
The club aims to sign players aged 24 and under more often than not, with older recruits becoming an exception, rather than the norm."
In Steve Cotterill's first transfer window we've signed two players permanently – Karleigh Osbourne, 25, and Adam El-Abd, 29. Both are defenders. We signed two defenders in the summer, too – Aden Flint, 24, and Derrick Williams, 20. This is a pretty clear shift. All are most comfortable at centre-back so with the best will in the world they can't all play regularly. And entirely reasonably the new boss is likely to prefer his own players.
A lot of people have been prepared to accept this on the basis that we've not been doing very well of late, and the long-term plan has to be put on hold while we sort out the short-term. I can understand this argument, but it speaks to some fairly terrible strategic thinking at Board level if we do indeed have a strategy that we can only adhere to when we're winning games.
The point of a strategy is that your short-term tactics, whatever they may be, need to measure up to it. If a strategy is so poorly defined that under certain circumstances it's impossible to stay with, then frankly it's pretty ill-thought-through. Anybody developing a strategy needs to know what the risks, short-, medium- and long-term are, and they need to know how those risks are mitigated in line with the strategic aims, the pillars.
Having a bad start to the season was always a possibility given the level of turnover in the summer. It's ridiculous to say it wasn't; so many new players in a division that's infamously tricky always made that a chance. And as well as being reasonably likely, such an eventuality would have a significant impact on the club. For that reason it should have been one of the main risks the club foresaw, and they should have had a decent plan available for dealing with it. Clearly they didn't – the action we got was divergent from the strategy, which means one of two things. Either the response was wrong, or the strategy was.
I don't think the strategy was wrong, at least not that part of it. I think that bringing in predominantly younger players is a very, very sensible policy, and one has to accept that losing games due to to mistakes, or not being able to control matches as we might prefer, is the only way a club like ours can thrive in the long term. Doing the opposite is what got us here. I can understand the word "exception", but if there was latitude to make exceptions in January then there ought to have been latitude to permanently sign an exceptional, experienced centre-back in August (O'Driscoll's loan market activity makes it quite clear to me that he knew the squad was missing one). A change of policy here makes the entire thing meaningless. If your strategy's right, you don't change it in response to events; you respond to events in line with the strategy.
Cotterill and the board have obviously agreed to change it. The problem is that the only guarantee here is that young players don't develop if they don't get played. And while we've seen a fair bit of Williams I'd be surprised if he keeps his place – even more surprised if he and Flint both play when we're at full strength. There's no guarantee, however, that Adam El-Abd is the man who'll keep us up. Clearly having an experienced Championship level centre-back improves your chances. But it doesn't, can't, guarantee anything.
Cotterill's brief seems to be different to O'Driscoll's – he's been told to keep us up then worry about improving the team, rather than doing the two at once. But focusing on the short-term hasn't yet paid dividends – his first seven games in charge have produced precisely as many points as O'Driscoll's final seven, with the only difference between two surprisingly similar records being that we've conceded one goal more under Cotterill. This isn't to have a go at the new boss, who's done much right since arriving. It's to point out that there are no guarantees in this business – our form, which had been steadily improving until O'Driscoll was removed, has plateau'd. Given the counteracting effects of a new manager bounce (positive) and a lack of continuity (negative), you might have expected something roughly along these lines. But plateauing won't do if we're to stay up. We need to get our form improving again, just as it did in November and December.
Cotterill's lack of strategic restrictions mean, perhaps, that he has more cards to play when it comes to keeping us up. But if we do go down now, we go down in worse shape than if we'd done so after a season of bringing through young players and developing a style. Given that we can't know what would have happened had we kept O'Driscoll it seems an odd gamble to take. We've not learned the lessons of the past, we risk reaping the consequences of abandoning the strategy because, frankly, we don't seem to have realised why one was a good idea in the first place.
Funnily enough I think Steve Cotterill just might be good enough to keep us up. And he'll have done well if he does. But if so, we need the board to recognise that long-term planning isn't only for times of plenty. Football is a constant gamble, with too many factors in play to guarantee anything over a game, a month, or half a season even. Like any gambler a good football club needs always to minimise its losses. And in my view City have been guilty of failing to do that.