text:
Two visitors from a local chapter of a national church that makes home visits came by last week. The young women wanted to give me some encouraging words of scripture.
I said, "Sure."
One woman produced her bible. "These are from Saint James."
"Saint James?" I asked.
"Really? Because if you want encouragement from the New Testament, Saint James is really not your best choice."
"You read the bible?" They smiled but looked surprised.
"Yes. As Saint Jerome says, "Ignorance of scripture is ignorance of God."
"Who is Saint Jerome?" She asked.
Grateful I'd just recently read a piece on him, I answered. "He's a doctor of the Church, born around 342 AD."
One of the ladies began to feel a bit nervous and backed away.
"What religion are you?" the other asked. She seemed excited to have this conversation.
"Catholic. Celebrating the 12 days of Christmas right now. Like the lights?" Three of my smaller ones came running by the door. They were singing "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer." and holding dinosaurs, sheep from the Nativity scene and My Little Ponies.
She smiled. The other one took the opportunity."We don't celebrate Christmas..." but her friend jumped in, "Can I ask you? I've always wanted to know what the 12 days were."
"Oh. That's a either French or English carol, depending upon who you ask, and some say it's a means of secretly passing along the catechism of Catholicism from a time when it was illegal in places like England to be Catholic. There's dispute about it, and I'm not super up to speed. I know the partridge in the pear tree is Christ on the Cross. But we do celebrate Christmas from December 25th through the feast of the Epiphany." I wished I could give her more, but I didn't know enough to answer.
She nodded. "Cool." and as an afterthought asked, "Would you like to read some of the writings about our Church?" holding out a pamphlet.
"No thanks. I write that kind of stuff myself, for a Catholic publication." She asked for my name and as they left, she admired the Christmas decorations.
I'm thinking, if she leaves their church, they'll take our address off the list for places to visit.
Sometimes serious, sometimes funny, always trying to be warmth and light, focuses on parenting, and the unique struggles of raising a large Catholic family in the modern age. Updates on Sunday, Tuesday and Friday...and sometimes more!
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Be Ready at All Times
Posted by Sherry Antonetti at 3:38 PM
Labels: Christmas, slice of life, visitors
1 comment:
- Carol Bannon said...
This is too funny...and I agree ..They won't be back. Thanks for sharing
- January 7, 2015 at 5:34 PM
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
Proud Member
Click Here to Join

subset: commoncrawl


text:
For those of you who don't know, Rosie has her own talk show and even her own magazine. She's diet Oprah. On her talk show, Rosie's built a name for herself as one of the nicest people on television. And on her magazine, Rosie frequently puts herself on the cover, smiling nicely.
And I want to choke on a glock every time I see them. While she may claim to be nice, and force her image across America, it's not without an agenda.
In simplest terms, here's why Rosie came out. There are thousands of orphaned children in Florida, in need of foster care. A gay couple has been adopting children and doubtlessly been giving them a loving home. The state, however, said, "Hey, you're gay! You shouldn't adopt kids!" and is keeping them from adopting more kids.
Rosie - with her female companion, a gay parent herself - took this opportunity to come out, challenging the state system, and changing beliefs around the world. She's a hero!


text:
There really isn't much to this recipe because I use my favorite BBQ sauce from a jar but since a couple of people have asked me how I make it, I wanted to put up a quick post. Also, check out Coach's recipe for BBQ Pulled Pork in a Slow Cooker here. Easy BBQ … Read More
Day: July 31, 2012
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread
Another zucchini recipe! By the way, I froze some of the zucchini muffins and now I take them out one at a time to enjoy for breakfast, or lunch. You can do the same with this bread. Sorry there are no pictures this time but I promise you, it's very easy! Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread … Read More


text:
Well first and foremost let me start by saying thank you. I am continually surprised by the outpouring of love and support from those around me. I couldn't pretend to be alone if I tried.
Today was a hard day. Today reminded me what a hard day really is. I wept for most of the first part of the day but I did so freely. I allowed myself to submit to my feelings and just be. To say I miss my son would be an understatement. I grieved and wept with everything within me. For MY loss. For my husband's loss. For my daughters loss. Never for Donavin's. Even through all the tears and hurt the truth was not far from my mind. He is at peace. He knows nothing but happiness. For that I will always rejoice.
Today showed me how far I have come. Today felt like the first few days following his death. It reminded me that even when I feel I have "hard days" its nothing compared to where I have been. God has carried me through the hardest experience of my life in ways I would have never imagined. He picked me up when I didn't realize I was falling. He never let my greif cloud my vision of the blessings that my family, including my son, has been given. Its ok with me that it will always hurt (I say as if I have a choice ;) because with the hurt is the constant reminder to be thankful for what you do have. Yes, I have lost my son but I have also gained a new respect and love for my husband, I have also gained a new joy in watching my daughter grow daily, I have also gained the knowledge that I have an amazing amount of love and support from people all around me. I have way more then I deserve and I will be eternally grateful to the Lord for that.
Happy Birthday Donavin. I love you.
On another note...I have run into a lot of people with that "I don't know what to say" face when they realize I am hurting and I have experienced this with others as well when I realize I am. I heard this song on the radio on my way home tonight. It said it perfectly so I thought I would share.
Thank you all for your love and support. It means more to me then you will ever know.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
Sign up for our Action Network
Help keep arts in schools
Organize your community
ArtsOC Alerts Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez to Threats to NEA Budget & Tax Deductions for Charitable Contributions to the Arts
Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (47th District-Santa Ana/Anaheim/Garden Grove/Fullerton), above center, invited Arts Orange County Executive Director Rick Stein and Deputy Director Pat Wayne to brief her last week on the status of arts education in her district. Among the encouraging news was the fact that Santa Ana Unified School District's new superintendent Dr. Thelma Melendez is supporting its arts plan.
Congresswoman Sanchez expressed pride that Anaheim's Chance Theatre had received its first grant from the National Endowment for the Arts recently. But she was dismayed to learn from ArtsOC that the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Interior Subcommittee had just voted to cut the NEA budget for 2013.
ArtsOC also conveyed to the Congresswoman the arts community's growing alarm over reports that some in Congress are specifically targeting contributions to the arts for elimination from charitable tax deductions.
Ms. Sanchez was adamant about the vital role that philanthropy has played in creating and sustaining Orange County's arts community and expressed her support for continuing to facilitate that through the charitable tax deduction.
ArtsOC encourages its constituents to contact their U.S. Representatives now to reject the NEA funding cuts.
Link here for an easy way to send your message
RESOURCES FOR ARTISTS & ARTS ORGANIZATIONS - ArtsOC.org
ARTS & CULTURAL EVENTS + CALLS FOR ARTISTS + AUDITIONS + JOBS + CLASSES + VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES - SparkOC.com
www.artsed411.org Home • firstname.lastname@example.com • California Alliance for Arts Education • copyright • 85 S. Grand Ave., Pasadena, CA 91105 • 626.578.9315


text:
The spending budget Trump is set to release Thursday will offer the clearest snapshot of his vision for the size and role of government. Aides say that the president sees a new Washington emerging from the budget process, one that prioritizes the military and homeland security while slashing many other areas, including housing, foreign assistance, environmental programs, public broadcasting and research. Simply put, government would be smaller and less involved in regulating life in America, with private companies and states playing a much bigger role.Remember also there's really nothing there to push back against the coming of the new Gilded Age. Not only does a hard right Republican Party control the Congress, but the #Resistance, such as it is, is comprised of a Democratic Party who has swallowed whole and promulgated this exact ideology for decades. Trump is only bringing it to its logical conclusion.
The real problem, though, as it always has, lies with the faithless Democrats. Every time you heard Bill Clinton tell you, "The era of Big Government is over," this was the logical outcome. Every Democrat who has held hands with Wall Street bankers or Silicon Valley venture capitalists has pushed the ball further in Trump's direction. Every "Public Private Partnership" trumpeted in Aspen has furthered Trump's argument.
Now Trump is here to blow everything up. And the "opposition" is too steeped in complicity to present anything like a credible counterargument.


text:
As the 91 closed, Rheamie Crenshaw and husband Geno Crenshaw of Corona stopped their car on top of Promenade bridge to watch traffic disappear.
She ended her day at her job as a clerical specialist with Orange County Pathology and drove home. A trip that was expected to take 90 minutes took only 30.
"It was strange," she said.
She picked up her husband from Corona Community AME Church and they drove to the Promenade Avenue bridge.
"This is the best way to see the 15 and the 91," he said.


text:
Perfume brand Unique Fragrance allows customers to personalize a perfume for themselves, or as a gift for a loved one, with just a few clicks of a button.
The website allows a customer to personalize a perfume through several steps. The fragrances are available for both men and women and the customer has creative reign over every aspect of the design and scent of the product. They can choose the gender, character of their perfume, the scent, notes, the label design and can even design their own bottle.
Having some general knowledge of scents and fragrance notes would certainly help, however the unique concept makes an excellent choice for those who are stumped for ideas and would like to gift something personal, for those who are sensitive to certain commonly used fragrances or to those who have very specific tastes.
Hyper-Customized Perfumes
More Stats +/-
Observatory Scent Labs
Tea-Inspired Perfumes
Citrus-Based Scent Collections
Turtle-Shaped Luxury Perfumes
Retail Perfume Galleries
Free 2019 Report & eBook
Get the top 100 trends happening right NOW -- plus a FREE copy of our award-winning book.
Our Research Methodology
This article is one of 350,000 experiments. We use crowd filtering, big data and AI to identify insights.
Unique Fragrance Allows Customers to Personalize a Perfume
- By: Mishal OmarMay 3, 2016
References: uniquefragrance
References: uniquefragrance


text:
Welcome to High Acceptance Loans
Online loans which can be applied from anywhere at any time are the good alternatives for short term cash need. We at High Acceptance Loans are providing such type of real time loan matching facility, so that you can find suitable loan even with your mobile.
Now a natural question will arise, what will be the acceptance rate?
Loan acceptance rate depends on few factors like loan repaying capacity, your past credit history, your regular employment, proper bank account and UK citizenship. Last three requirements i.e. you should a UK resident age above 18 and engaged in regular job for more than last six month and your salary is credited in bank account are mandatory without which you can not apply for these loans.
Now we will take other two loan requirements your credit score and monthly savings to loan repay.
As per new guidelines for direct lenders in UK, which is popularly called "responsible lending policy" every lender have to verify loan suitability of borrower before any loan approval. So if you are not in position to afford loan then this option will not work for you.
Now final factor to evaluate your loan acceptance rate is your credit score. The good news is that all loan seeking persons can apply here irrespective of their credit history. The basic logic behind this is that, you may have failed to repay your loan or other dues in past, but one cannot draw inference that you will fail this time also.
Of course every lender will verify your credit score before loan approval to assess his loan risk but if your current fiscal status is strong enough then despite of your bad credit, your loan may be accepted.
|Loan Amount
|Credit score
|Acceptance rate
|Not required
|Not required
|Bad Credit
From above table it is clear that for bad credit scores applicants, lenders may ask for a guarantor before loan approvals. Guarantor is a person who signs the deal with you and lender with a declaration that if you fail to repay loan, then lender can recover loan from him.
We can easily draw other inference from table that for small loans approval rate is always high in comparison to high sum.
Loans with brokers or direct lenders
Loans with direct lenders have many benefits over loan through a broker. As brokers are associated with many lenders and they will try to sale your loan lead to lender who will pay the maximum commission. Till broker will not find good deal for this sale he will keep your loan application on hold. This will delay your loan processing at the time when you are expecting early funding.
|Loan with lender or broker
|Loan cost
|Processing time
|Direct Lenders
|Same or more than direct lender
|Time taking
Frequently asked questions
How to get payday loans?
Now a day's searching and getting payday loan is on your finger tips.
Yes, with the smart phone it is matter of only few minutes only.
Just give input of little personal information and get instant results about loan proposals.
The required details like loan type, your source of income, your credit score (if known), cash purpose, loan amount and term for repayment will be sufficient.
For small amount like 100 pound to 300 pound you can get simply by sending text massages to your known direct lender, as he already have your above details.
For higher sum like 500 pounds to 1000 pound you can apply for payday loans for which many lenders are offering same day payouts.
Payday loans for bad credit
If you have bad credit history then also no problem some lenders have specialisation in bad credit loans.
What about credit check?
Credit check is a big challenge in any loan approvals but this does not stop you from applying for loan because credit check is done at lenders only at the time of credit decisions.
What about cost of payday loans?
As text loans and payday loans both fall under category of Short Term High Cost Credit so interest rates are always high.
Requirement of guarantor or collateral
You should not worry about guarantor or collateral for these text or payday loans as these loans are unsecured loans.
Payday loans with direct lender or broker
Text loans with direct lenders are always beneficial in comparisons to apply through brokers; this will save your time as well as money.
Brokers are paid by lenders for every loan lead forwarded by them and ultimately lender will recover from borrowers only.
Are same day payday loans are possible?
Same day loans are possible if you apply in working days for your bank as well as the lender so that they can transact money in your account.
Where to apply for payday loans?
Now loan application process for text and payday loans is automated and online so you can apply anytime from anywhere.
Lender will use soft or hard credit search
If you are hesitating for hard credit search then relax, normally broker and lender go for soft credit search, means they access your credit details which is available without your permission and this will not be recorded to affect your credit score.
Is Text loans no credit check is possible?
Text loans direct lenders no credit check is not realty because as per responsible lending concept every lender have to check this to gauge your loan suitability.
when we get bad credit payday loans?
Bad credit payday loans are available in cases where credit score is affected by other than loan defaults for example because of CCJ or other legal actions.
For whom text loans are suitable?
Text loans are very high cost loans so these should not be used for repayment of other loans otherwise chances of spiral loan trap may happen.
How FCA regulation is protecting payday loan borrowers?
Although FCA has tightened the regulations of payday loans but you should read each and every line of loan terms before going ahead.
Caps for loan interest is fixed with 0.80% per day means £24 for £100 loan with loan term 30 days.
Penalty is also limited with a cap of £15 for a whole loan term.
Main clause of payday regulation to protect borrower is of total repayment amount cannot exceed double of the basic loan amount.
Means if you have borrowed £100 from a lender then under no circumstances he can claim more than £200 including all fees, interests and penalty.
Who should avoid payday loans
The basic purpose of text or payday loan is to come out from short term cash crunch when your present financial condition is good enough to repay loan on scheduled date.
Getting loan is not a big issue as this is lender's business to do approve loan to all eligible borrowers, the most important part of loan cycle is of its repayment on due time. Most cases the salary day is taken as fixed repayment date for payday loan. If your net salary is not enough to recover loan through direct bank account debit method then this may lead to a bad era for your finances as well as for your credit history.
For loan default lender may impose a penalty of £ 15 plus interest till you repay whole amount and also he may send data to Credit score agency for adverse entry.
Any negative entry will reduce your chances for getting loan in future so be alert well before loan repay due date and if you find Difficult take your lender into confidence to reschedule date.
Why borrowers search text loans no credit check
Many borrowers attracted by the head line "text loans no credit check" or "payday loans no credit check" because of two reasons.
First they think that lender may reject their application due to poor credit as lenders are not willing to approve payday loans for bad credit.
Other reason of avoidance of credit checks that every credit check will leave foot print in credit history to pull it down.
What are different loan options?
Unsecured loans for short term are popular in UK with different names like text loans, payday loans, payday text loans, txt loan, 100 pound loan, bad credit loan, high acceptance loans etc you have many options to select.
Role of source of income in payday loan approval
As payday loans are short term finances and their approval depends on current repaying capacity of the borrower so present income and source of earnings is key point in loan approvals. You have any type of regular income and if you can prove it via salary slips or bank statements then loan approval chances are high. Your income may be any one of following type:
Credit score and loan acceptance chances
Good credit score help you in to way for payday loans, first you are eligible to negotiate with lender for better rate. Second your loan approval chances will be high. Every lender is happy to fund borrower with good credit ratings as their loan risk will be less means loan recovery probability will be high and vice versa for bad credit score. For first time borrower have no credit history this is also not good in lender's point of view as he will be unable to draw any conclusion. Your ratings may be from very good to very bad if you know better to tell the lender.
For what purpose payday loans are fit?
For any sudden cash requirement, payday loans are good option it may be bill payment, house or equipment repair need, holiday or party planning or so. You can tell lender about your purpose for this loan.
Payday loan amount
As payday loans are high cost short term unsecured loans so loan amount is not very high to avoid risk both from lender as well as borrower point of view. If lender approves for large sum and borrower becomes defaulter then this will be a loss for lender. After FCA new regulations, lender has only limited options of penalty and interests. You should loan amount wisely and at minimum to fulfill current obligations only.
Selection of loan term in payday loan
The basic purpose of payday loan for arrangement of temporary funding till next payday means 7 days to maximum 30 days. But now scope of payday loans is raised further, some lenders are giving choice up to 12 month for payday loans. Keeping in mind the high interest rate which are calculated on day to day basis, loan term should be keep as minimum as possible.
About HighAcceptanceLoans.co.uk
We at HighAcceptanceLoans.co.uk are not a broker or direct lender. We are working with a group of lenders who have all required licenses and permissions from payday loan governing body in UK. At our end we do not hold your data and pass it to lenders directly. For our online loan application facility we do not charge any brokers fee, our services are free to use.
All credit checks are done by direct lender only, we are not involved in this process. All loan approvals are on the lenders will, we have no role in approval. We do not guarantee about loan approval time lines as well as requirements, if lender need more information he may contact you.
For all query related to loan approvals, repayments or rescheduling of loan term please contact to your lender only.
Non repayment consequences
If at any point of time you feel difficulty in loan repayment inform your lender immediately, he may offer you some options for extension of loan term.
For any loan default, lender may forward your case to third party loan collection agent who will also add recovery charges in outstanding loan amount, or lender may refer your name to credit score agency for adverse ratings.
As short term loans are high rate of interest loans so should not be used as regular borrowings. If you have already loan balance then never try to repay by this loan, this misadventure may cause you financial loss or you may trap in spiral loan trap.


text:
McKinney, TX 75070
Beautiful 4 bedroom one story home in the wonderful Hidden Creek subdivision in McKinney! As you enter you are greeted with extended rich hand scraped wood floors, crown molding. Beautiful open formals provide a spacious feel in the entry. Island kitchen includes stainless appliances, walk-in pantry, granite, window at sink, built in desk. Gorgeous stone archway from breakfast nook to family room provides a custom feel for that extra architechtural detail! Master bedroom has large walk-in closet. Secondary bath has granite, 2 sinks & door to bath area. Relax with your morning coffee or enjoy entertaining on the 25x16 covered patio space. See list of recent updates for this well maintained home!
Julie K Baxter with eXp Realty, LLC
2019 Kevin Mcgovern. All rights reserved. © Collaborative Home Search by RealSavvy
© 2018 North Texas Real Estate Information Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
All information provided is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed and should be independently verified. The information on this page may not be reproduced, may not be redistributed, and is provided exclusively for consumers' personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties that consumers may be interested in purchasing.


text:
Don't worry, I haven't dropped something on the keyboard, that word is 'climbing' in welsh, which sums up the last week's activities pretty well.
After an anarchic late night show at Edinburgh's Fringe on Saturday night, winter-scratcher and part-time rock-jock Viv Scott and I started the L-O-N-G drive south to Pembroke on Sunday, eventually getting to St. Govan's Inn in Bosherston in time for last orders. I've concluded that despite not being all that big, Wales must be very dense as it takes a long time to move through. Finally fed, watered and fighting fit (or maybe fighting fat), we were ready to kick off our wee trip, and stumbled down to Stennis Head the next morning to traverse out above a rather angry sea on Riders on the Storm. After neither getting wet or falling off, and finding solace in some of the biggest holds known to mankind I decided that Pembroke is rather fun, and we set about ticking more classics, with Viv on Cool for Cats and me on Manzoku, and then headed down into Huntsman's Leap for Viv to take a good lob from the crux overlap on Beast from the Undergrowth - be warned, the photo in the Rockfax guide of someone making 'the stretch move', is complete anti-beta. Well done. Meanwhile, Blair was working his way up Just Another Day/Scorch the Earth only for it to start raining (a running theme of Blair and
Nona's trip), but he waited it out and topped out in the dry. Good work Fyffe.
We started the next day on First Blood at St. Govan's East, followed by Calisto, then swung round to St. Govan's proper and I had an amazing time on Deranged, which was possibly the best route of the trip, and Viv romped up the super-classic and super-polished Army Dreamers. We were tempted by a final route to finish the day, but instead decided to eat ice cream, explore St Govan's Chapel and then go to the beach. Slackers.
Wednesday dawned overcast and windy, and after a pot of tea at Ma Weston's we decided to up sticks and explore the crags round St. Davids, eventually reaching Carreg-y-Barcud in time to climb Beyond the Azimuth and The Great Valerio before the tide did for us. Both of these were great routes on thin (ish) slabby sandstone, and the antithesis of South Pembroke's steep limestone, so we decided to stick around and return the next day. In the mean time we ate more ice cream (I recommend Blue Lagoon flavour) and deep/shallow water soloed the perfect Red Wall at Porth Chlais, before retiring to The Farmer's Arms.
Viv going sideways on The Great Valerio
Enjoying big holds and big sea on Red Wall
Back at Barcud the next day I started us out on Sinecure, a fingery wee number, and Viv styled the crag classic Kitten Claws. There was then just enough time before the impatient tide and approaching showers to nip up the soft touch Stingray. We then headed back into St. David's for some culture and a look around the 12th Century Cathedral. Those that know me will know I don't exactly have positive leanings towards religion, but there's no denying that from a historical perspective it's a truly stunning building; full of ancient tombs, shrines and ornate decoration, and well interpreted so oiks like me can understand what I'm looking at. In particular it felt nice to get to know a bit more about the place we were visiting than just the crags, pubs and campsites.
Following up Kitten Claws
After another flourescent blue ice cream we hopped in the car and headed north for stage two of the trip...
On arrival in Llanberis, it was rather wet, and remained rather wet for a few days. Rob Greenwood very kindly put us up in his nice new house (within a pebble toss of Pete's Eats), which made life significantly better than mouldering away in a soggy tent. Rob took us on a brilliant run up a hill above town, whose name I will never remember except that it sounded like Noel Edmunds, which was a timely reminder that OMM training should start about now.
Each night we made a vague plan to do some routes in the slate quarries the next morning, then to head up the Pass or out to the coast, but each morning the plans were re-written by the drizzle. On Saturday we ended up going out to Llandudno, guided to Craig-y-Don on the Little Orme by Rob. I lead up a classic venture called Hydro, and Rob then casually strolled up Frozen Moment/New Wave and Nimitz. By now the tide had gone out and LPT was good to go, so we went and clipped shiny seaside bolts. My aim was to do the classic 7a The Pink Pinkie Snuffs It, which I'd fallen off on a very quick onsight attempt a year and a bit ago. Rob kindly put the clips in for me, and I managed it first go this time, which was nice. I then got nauseatingly pumped onsighting Under the Boardwalk and spent the rest of the evening not doing much. Meanwhile, Rob redpointed the rather savagely sharp sounding La Boheme.
And then it was Sunday and the last day of the trip, and since it was drizzling in town we hatched a Gogarth shaped plan and headed for Holyhead. Other than The Strand on Upper Tier last year, I've never climbed at Gogarth, so was keen for my introduction to be solid and relatively safe and stress-free, so I managed to persuade Viv out of going straight down Red Walls and over to Castell Helen, where we did the brilliant Atlantis/True Moments/Freebird link up. Despite this being amazing, I still didn't feel ready to up my game to proper choss-shuffling, so pursuaded Viv that the slate would be dry by now and to bail back inland. Luckily for me, he assented, and the slate was dry, so I finished off the trip with one of the routes I had most wanted to climb in Wales, Comes the Dervish, which, rather unsurprisingly, was bloody brilliant. Celebratory beers in The Heights ensued, followed by a Pete's breakfast next morning, and of course, as we drove away the sun was out and folk were out climbing in the Pass. Typical.
Viv traversing out on pitch 2 of the Atlantis link.
Excited about the Dervish
The End


text:
The Single Parent Resource Center, Inc., located in mid-town Manhattan, was started in 1975 as a small pilot program of the Community Service Society of New York. Now an independent, not-for-profit organization, SPRC is the only comprehensive agency devoted solely to providing programs for over 2,000 of New York City's single parents and their families annually.
Our services are available to all single parents, including those who are living in transitional housing; struggling with substance abuse; or have been released from incarceration. To further our mission, SPRC does the following:
1. Develops responsive programs for single parents and their families to fulfill unmet needs.
2. Advocates for improvements in social practices, policies and regulations which affect single parent families.
3. Promotes a positive image of single parents and their families within the New York City community.
Mon - Fri, 10:00 am - 5:30 pm


text:
Creating a secure password can be a daunting task at first. When you look at the requirements of some sites, you may wonder how you will ever remember the secure password. Remember, you should NEVER write a secure password down and keep it by your computer. If you must write a secure password down, keep it in a secure place, like a safe. But if you follow the recommendations in this article, you will never have to write it down.
A secure password is based on two requirements: (1) Length and (2) entropy. Length is determined by the number of characters in the secure password. For instance, the password "password" has 8 letters, therefore its length is 8 characters. Pretty simple. Entropy has to do with the ability to guess the password. In our example "password" is very easy to guess, so it would not be a secure password to use. Also, it's a common English word that could be found in the dictionary. A dictionary-based attack could easily crack this password. On the other hand, a password like L8?j would be difficult to guess, and could not be cracked with a dictionary-based attack, but the length is too short. This password could be easily cracked using a brute-force attack.
A brute-force attack is where a hacker will use a computer program to run through every possible combination of numbers, letters and symbols to crack the password. Our previous password of L8?j would be cracked in a matter of seconds with a brute-force attack.
Many websites require a minimum length of 8 characters. Recent studies have shown that this length is not secure enough. It could be cracked in a matter of minutes. Professionals are now recommending a password length of at least 14 characters, with at least an uppercase letter, lowercase letter, number and symbol. To meet these requirements, a password of "u9&kLT6!e@3,js" would be very difficult to crack, but almost impossible to remember. But don't worry, I will show you two different ways to create a secure password that is easy to remember.
One way to create a secure password is to take an easy to remember password, and substitute the vowels for symbols. For instance "MickeyMouse" is easy to remember. We already meet two requirements for a secure password. It has uppercase letters and lower case letters. Let's substitute the vowels with numbers. The easiest way to do this is to put the vowels in order and just use the corresponding number. For example, "a e i o u" could be substituted with "1 2 3 4 5". Now our MickeyMouse password becomes
Our password is looking more secure. "MickeyMouse" is usually two words, so we can use a symbol to separate the words. How about the "&"? Now we have:
We are still two characters short of a secure password. How about we begin the password with the first initial of my first name. So "s" in this case. And end the password with the first initial of my last name, which is a "b". So now our password is:
Now we have a secure password that is very difficult to crack, but easy to remember. All you have to remember is your initials, "12345", an "&" and "MickeyMouse".
An even easier way is to use a pass phrase instead of a password. Did you know that a "space" is considered a symbol? Pass phrases are short sentences that are easy to remember, but difficult to crack or guess. Here is an example passphrase that would meet all the above requirements.
I Wake Up At 7:00am
It doesn't get much easier to remember than that. It has 19 characters, uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers and symbols. Everything needed in a secure password. Which is easier to remember, "u9&kLT6!e@3,js" or "I Wake Up At 7:00am"? Obviously the latter.
For even more security, you can substitute the vowels for numbers, as in our previous example. So, our new password becomes:
3 W1k2 5p 1t 7:001m
Using the methods that I have shown you, you can create a very secure password that meets all requirements and is easy for you to remember so you won't have to write it down. Consistently use the same methods, and you will never forget a password again!
Creating a secure password can be a daunting task at first. When you look at the requirements of some sites, you may wonder how you will ever remember the secure password. Remember, you should NEVER write a secure password down and keep it by your computer. If you must write a secure password down, keep it in a secure place, like a safe. But if you follow the recommendations in this article, you will never have to write it down.


text:
It is with deep regret that I announce my most recent disease, the reason behind a definitive decision that should have already been taken quite a while back. Giving a really meaningful account of recordings involving the use of canned exhalations and saliva-related noises resonating in metallic conduits – whatever the source – has become an insurmountable barrier for this reviewer. In the last decade or so I have listened, initially with pleasure, to hundreds of CDs that, one way or another, have gradually conformed to a growing number of unwritten rules and aesthetic conventions. The press has been filing them under dozens of names and categories; I won't add any. It's not Robin Hayward's fault, of course: in this record from a couple of years ago he did manage to make this listener perk up his ears, in search of new things to cheer for. The tuba is an interesting machine in that sense, and Hayward is definitely more intelligent than the many a wannabe I've had the delight to meet along the "spit-and-gurgle-inside-the-instrument" path. However, the truly gripping moments of States Of Rushing are still too few to place the disc amidst the ones whose spinning will be reiterated, which is basically the same of what usually happens with similar releases, most of them macroscopically ballyhooed by compliant groups of well-connected writers. Essentially, those flashes of involvement occur when the protagonist stays for protracted periods within insistent rhythmic capsules whose slight "human" irregularity causes some vibrational extrusion in the cranium. That ceaseless "thunk-thunk-thunk" nearly reaches a hypnotic effect, and that's saying a lot in an area infested by the virus of everlasting tedium. But I'm too outmoded and deprived of precious time to keep struggling for words to illustrate outings where not a single pitch – a significant pitch – is emitted. Warm-and-wet air and infinitesimal fractions of upper partials resonating inside tubes – frequently in "practically inaudible" mode, even if that's not the case here – won't be tolerated further. This – barring prodigious efforts that one can't even imagine at the moment – will be the final time in which you'll read about analogous materials on Touching Extremes.
ROBIN HAYWARD – States Of Rushing


text:
Looking back on it now, I am actually embarrassed I owned it. Yeah it was a 1980 Ford Thunderbird. It looked a lot like this...
Only it was in a pretty sorry state. The biggest story with this car is the purchase itself.
I think it was the end of winter, late Feb or Early March, and I had given up on the Diplomat (radiator fluid in the oil pan. NOT good). And decided after much thought to scrap the car. Still my budget to replace it was small, maybe $400.
Where was I going to find a car for $400?
It was then my finance drew my eyes to the local paper. The Classified ad read Police Car Auction this weekend! And I thought, cool. I've never done that before.
The morning wasn't too bad, there were signs of thaw on the ground as I stepped in a slushy pothole getting out of the car. I was looking forward to the wonders of the yard, and I had about 1/2 an hour to wander the 30 or forty vehicles on site for auction that day.
I admit, I was nervous, I was excited. I had never been to an auction before.
And then I walked in through the gate after registering as a bidder. Wreck after wreck lay in their isolated spots, and I started to worry a bit, then a couple of gems became visible as I walked down the rows. There was an 86 monte carlo, top of the range on the lot. It looked to be in excellent condition and I was interested in bidding but the car sold for well over $5000 as I remember. I also remember speaking to the previous owner. He'd flogged it out anyways. Told me he got stacks of tickets in it.
There was also a really cool motorbike, a crotch rocket. And there were a few other vehicles. As I said, some more recognizable than others. There was also an old 1980 Tbird.
I didn't think much of it. At least one of its tires was flat, and the headlight covers were half open, giving the car a sleepy look. The seats had been torn to bits, and the abandoned vehicle sticker was still on the glass.
The auction started. The auctioneer was on the back of a pickup that stopped at each lot for bidding. So we started walking. The auction started with a couple of wrecks that sold for the minimum bid ($140 I think) to a local wrecking yard. The first decent car came up and it sold for more than $400. I started to worry. A couple of more vehicles went by and I was wondering if I'd get anything useful, and it was time to bid on the tbird. I remember saying to my fiance that I didn't really want it.
She gave me one of her looks... "But its a T-Bird..."
I thought, "For fuck's sake..." The auctioneer said $150 looking for 160..
They got a 170 and 180 bid. Shelley nudged me. I raised my card...$190. Okay. I bought it for $240 plus auction fees.
So what kind of car was it?
Well, it ran. It ran in great billowing clouds of smoke and burning oil. The engine leaked so bad when it was running I refused to take it out of town. The interior was ratshit. The seats had been cut open as if someone had been looking for something. The interior roof lining was half off, and before I drove it off the police lot I ripped it out completely. I had to get my mate Rob to tighten some shit up underneath the car before I could even take it anywhere.
I was shocked when this smoking, smelly thing passed the insurance inspection.
I also enjoyed driving it. It didn't even smell that bad if you were moving fast enough to keep the air under the car. It didn't have a huge engine, but I reckon it would do 0-100kph in about 10 secs (the diplomat did the same in about 13.5) and it could out corner the diplomat as well.
I got two years and change out of the diplomat. The Tbird got hit 9 months after I bought it. As my employment situation changed shortly after that, I didn't bother to immediately replace it. In fact, It would be many years before my name appeared on a pink slip. I was, however, driving my fiance's car.
Thursday, 16 February 2012
A Driving History Part Three- Torggil Gets a T-Bird
Posted by Torggil at 07:07
1 comment:
I have a correction. The Monte Carlo I spoke about was actually Hurst Oldsmobile. I did a little snooping and saw a photo on the net. The colours on the Hurst are so distinct, once I saw the photo I knew immediately that it was the car at the auction. Whoever bought it for the $5000+ price tag stole it. Its a collectors car, and only 201 of the 3001 production were exported to Canada. Thanks Winnipeg Free Press, "An Oldsy but a Goody."ReplyDelete
It's a small detail, I know, but I prefer accuracy whenever possible.
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
Wednesday, 15 August 2012
Book Review... The Hawk and the Lamb - Susan Napier
The Hawk and the Lamb - Susan Napier
Mills & Boon Romance
Mills & Boon, 1993
My rating
From the back cover:
The allure of a dangerous liaison fired Elizabeth Lamb's passions and nearly made her forget the real reason behind her visit to the South Pacific island. She thought only of J. J. Hawkwood. His dark sex appeal made her hunger for a taste of ecstasy, a touch of the forbidden. For under the eye of the hawk, nothing was safe--not Elizabeth's emotions, not her secrets, not her body...."
No one writes books quite like Susan Napier; she has this very evocative, almost risqué, style that I simply love. This book is a great example of that.
Everything about this story feels sensuous and earthy, the interactions between the hero and heroine literally throb, and the surroundings are vividly painted with a richness that really adds to the overall mood of the book.
The story itself has a nice bit of complexity that really keeps you intrigued, plus a bit of suspense and excitement.
Nothing about this book is ordinary, especially not Susan Napier's characters, and as a result it shines. Where this book isn't overloaded with a lot of angst like many Harlequin Presents of this era, it is makes up for it by being packed full of emotion and positively screaming 'sex'!
Different, but really enjoyable.
Labels: 4 stars, Category Romance, Mills and Boon, Own-Copy, Review, romance
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
So, it's been a few weeks now that Apple and EMI announced their DRM-free initiative.
initially I was very excited about this because this was a necessary evolution if online music distribution is to grow into a long-term feasible business model since the usage of purchased music wasn't "flexible" enough in the current situation. Mainly due to limited usage permissions and device specific restrictions. The quality of the music is another obvious issue that needs to be taken into consideration.
But, is this sufficient to convince me to buy music online? Well, I'm afraid it isn't!
I again purchased 2 audio CDs on Amazon.co.uk! WHY?
> Because the price was right (one was cheaper than iTunes, one was slightly more expensive but then again it was a Special Edition),
> because I can rip the CDs in the audio quality I choose,
> because I can Get the Album Artwork in iTunes anyway,
> because I use the audio CD as a perfect back-up,
> because I'm just old school about owning the little shiny discs,
> because buying online doesn't offer me any advantage (I don't mind waiting a day or two for my CD)!
1) If I was into alternative music, there would be a couple of reasons to indeed purchase music online. Maybe the music isn't available on any physical carrier, maybe it's only available on vinyl but I can't be bothered with vinyl, maybe online distribution offers a feasible distribution model to bands, musicians, performers that otherwise would never get published?
2) A wireless connected world, where my music is safely stored on a server that can stream my music (purchased, customised radio channels, etc.) to multiple streaming-enabled devices like my car stereo, my mobile phone (no more mp3 players needed, which explains Apple's iPhone I guess), my home entertainment system, portable audio devices, etc. In this context it is interesting to see how initiatives like MediaMaster will develop?
Wednesday, 18 April 2007
DRM-Free, but still not a good enough deal ...
So, it's been a few weeks now that Apple and EMI announced their DRM-free initiative.
Posted by Gregory T'Kint at 12:00
Labels: Amazon.co.uk, Apple iTunes, DRM, DRM-Free, EMI


text:
Post equality Ireland must now deal with the past
Ireland has come a long way in embracing equality for LGBT families and communities, but we must not gloss over the real lives of those who for so long had their very existence denied
What is a family? Are you tired of hearing that question yet? As a country we've just spent months debating it.
Is it a married man and woman, with a white picket fence and 2.4 children? Or is it simply a collection of people who love each other and link their lives together?
Where we draw the line isn't important. What matters are the questions that we ask, why the answers matter to us and — more than anything else — the honesty and humility with which we ask them.
Remember May 23rd? Where you were when Ireland voted for marriage equality? I woke up first thing that morning, turned over and checked the news on the radio. By 9.30 I couldn't stay inside a…


text:
news and updates
this is chad
Being born and raised in Charlotte, NC the traditional southern style was something that always bored me as much as it gave me a nice state of nostalgia. Through my travels around the globe as a tour manager for bands it helped me to develop my personal style of urban street wear mixed with curated suit seperates and vintage thrift pieces. I love to enjoy delicious food and travel as much as shopping so follow along on my daily adventures and i hope you have a rad time!


text:
The Farm
Ethyopia Highlands offer a more appropriated climate to rose floriculture than any other country in Africa & amp ; Asia allowing a quality production of roses nearly similar to the one of Ecuador.
The geographical proximity of European & ;Middle East market implies than fret, which is one of the most important component of rose cost of goods,is inferior outward bound Ethyopia to Europe than fromany other country of Africa,of Asia,or of South America.
Here,costs of goods perrose are low:Uganda&Ethyopia have a slight advantage in costs compared to Kenya,Tanzania,Zambia & amp;Zimbabwe.
But the profit of all these advantages could operate only if African Bloom Management™ produces unrivalled & amp;constant quality roses.
Established in 2005, is ideally located in the Highlands of central Ethyopia at 2300 meters above sea level.
Is located at the exit of Sebata Village on Jimma Road in Oromian State.
Award Winning
we have been awarded in 2013 the second best Grower in all Ethiopia by the International Comittee.
Continuous Chain
We cut the Roses in the morning and they arrive in Europe the following day. Our Roses are unrivalled Fresh!
Social Responsibilities
The Farm employs more than 250 Women locally, garanteeing their family financial independency
Green Houses
We grow roses on 10 hectares with totally automated and climate controlled Green Houses
Established since 2005 in the Highlands of Ethipia, at 2.300 meters height, our unrivall production climate is like no other
After being calibrated, our Roses are bundled and stored in cold rooms if necessary. Our Roses last more than 12 days on a vase


text:
The Boxcars want to invite you to tune in to Sirius/XM's Bluegrass Junction this week and hear our "Track By Track" with Kyle Cantrell. It will air on Wednesday (10/27) at 11AM EST and will re-air on Thursday (10/28) at 9PM EST, Saturday (10/30) at 8AM EST, and once more on Sunday (10/31) at 11AM EST. We will play through the new album and talk with Kyle about the songs, recording process, and lots more.
Learn more about Kyle's Shows at: Bluegrass Junction


text:
2 Tbsp flour
¼ tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
4 boneless chicken breast halves (4oz each)
4 tsp olive oil, divided
1 medium yellow onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 can (14oz) tomatoes (undrained)
½ cup chicken broth
½ tsp basil
½ tsp thyme
In a small bowl, combine, flour, salt and pepper. Sprinkle chicken with flour mixture.
In a large non-stick skillet, heat 2 tsp olive oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken, sauté until golden brown on both sides (about 10 minutes). Place chicken on plate, cover with foil and set aside.
Add remaining oil to skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic. Cook stirring frequently until golden (about 3 minutes). Add tomatoes (with liquid), broth, basil and thyme. Bring to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to break up tomatoes.
Return chicken to skillet. Simmer until chicken is no longer pink (about 10 minutes)
Place chicken on serving plate. Spoon tomato mixture evenly over chicken.


text:
SA Clinics (Pty) Ltd
Health / Nutrition
SA Clinics (Pty) Ltd is a medical administration company which administers over 100 clinics situated around South...View ads
- 4 vacancies
- City of Johannesburg, Gauteng
- Health / Nutrition
SA Clinics (Pty) Ltd is a medical administration company which administers over 100 clinics situated around South...View ads
South African Pharmacy Council (SAPC) is the regulator established in terms of the Pharmacy Act, 1974 (Act 53 of 1974)...View ads
The Body Sense Group have offered clients a unique opportunity in the health and wellness industry with the choice of...View ads
Working Knowledge International is an Occupational Health Company with more than 10 years of experience in the field. We beliView ads
The Global Gold standard in low energy formula food Offered in a flexible range of programmes based on a nutritionally...View ads
Skin care and beauty clinicView ads
MVG Recruitment Specialists, based in the Western Cape, is a national recruitment agency operating within the...View ads
We are a brand new African Day Spa opening on the Eastrand and offer Spa services and beauty treatments.View ads
Mediclinic International, founded in 1983, is an international private hospital group with operations in South Africa, NamibiView ads
Shababco has established the largest branch of the globally recognized American brand Grand Gold's Gym- in the world...View ads
DARREN ABORTION CLINIC IN SOUTH AFRICA DR DR DARREN ABORTION ,TERMINATION, WOMEN\\'S CLINIC AND ABORTION no side effects 100%View ads
Training and supplier of ingredients needed for dairy product manufacturing. Selling of cultures and other diary...View ads
Go Health Club is a health club that makes use of new technlogoy in the form of a Wellness Key to unlock entry to our...View ads
A small medical equipment company based in Pretoria. Importers of medical equipment as well as repair services to...View ads
NES Healthcare started out providing Resident Medical Officers to the UK market in the early 90's. During the year of...View ads
We have four different football classes each tailored to a different age group. However, we have two core beliefs that...View ads
Our organization/ laboratory is actively involved in pathology laboratory services to meet the challenges of...View ads
Alphafemmeyou consists of a group of companies driven by their commitment to get results the right way—by operating...View ads
AGILITY HEALTH PROVIDES INTEGRATED ADMINISTRATION & RISK MANAGEMENT SERVICES TO MEDICAL SCHEMES. Its unique healthcare...View ads


text:
Intravenous news: University of West of Scotland have launched a distant learning advanced vascular access module. The module, which is delivered via distance learning, will provide practitioners with the essential knowledge and skills required for safe and effective vascular access device placement.
The 20-week programme aims to produce healthcare practitioners who can engage in innovative and creative thinking and apply principles of best practice to enhance the care of patients requiring intravenous (IV) therapy. Students of this module will be equipped with the skills to recogonise and respond to potential complications associated with IV access.
As well as potentially enhancing career progression, practitioners who successfully complete this programme, which is 20 points at SCQF level 11, may proceed to undertake further study at Masters level, ultimately achieving a Masters Degree relevant to their specific profession.
Module Content:
- Accountability and legal issues: consent, confidentiality and expert witness
- Clinical leadership: development and leadership of practitioner services
- Anatomy and physiology related to vascular access
- Physiology of blood flow
- Vascular access device selection
- Microbiology and infection control
- Audit and research
- Focused patient assessment
- Insertion complications
- X-ray interpretation for central venous catheter (CVC) tip placement
- Electrocardiogram (ECG) recognition in relation to device placement
- Ultrasound principles (physics and techniques)
- Techniques of peripherally inserted central catheter, tunnelled cuffed central venous catheters and totally implanted central venous catheters
- Emerging technologies for vascular access
- Patient involvement in their care
Entry Requirements:
Applicants will normally posses a first degree and are required to be employed in a clinical area that facilitates achievement of specific work-based competencies, such as vascular access services, IV teams, renal medicine and interventional radiology. Applicants, who will normally have employer support to undertake this programme, should also have a minimum of five years' post-registration experience. Those applying to the programme must ensure they identify a mentor/supervisor available and willing to support them achieve competencies. Applicants may also be considered with other academic, vocational or professional qualifications deemed to be equivalent.
Cost of Course:
£555 per module (UK and UE students)
£695 per module (non-EU overseas students)
For further information please contact:
Linda J Kelly, Lecturer and Module Co-ordinator, on 01689 283 100 (Ext 8636) or email firstname.lastname@example.com / Ann McQuarrie, Lecturer, on 01689 283 100 (Ext. 8642) or email: firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Hey there creative maker!
Have you experienced The Maker's Summit? If not, you're in for a treat!
Last year I had the honor of being a keynote speaker, and this year I will be heading back to lead a workshop on how to break into the retail market by selling wholesale. There are a variety of other awesome keynote speakers and panel discussions lined up to help you learn to grow your business, including Jordan Ferney from Oh Happy Day! and Susan Petersen from Freshly Picked. It's an amazing opportunity to meet with other creatives and get inspired!
Just let us know one goal or project you want to accomplish in 2014! Comment on the blog post and you could be joining me in Greenville, South Carolina on March 1! We will announce the winner on Friday, Jan 31st.
To learn more about The Maker's Summit click here!
* Includes an all-access pass to the conference and craft party. Travel is not included.


text:
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Curry Cuisine by Vivek Singh, Corinne Trange, David Thompson, Das Sreedharan, Mahmood Akbar and Sri Owen
I adore curries. However, my knowledge of them is limited. I had no idea so many existed, nor did I know that they came from so many different parts of the world. This book opened my eyes to so many possibilities. This is a terrific book!!
The book is organized into regional cuisines. There are sections for North India, South India, Pakistan, Myanmar and Maritime South-East (SE) Asia, Thailand, Mainland SE Asia and Outposts. Each section starts off with an introduction, followed by a section with a photograph, list, and explanation of the ingredients used in that area. This section is definitely one of my favourite parts of the book. Some of the ingredients used are either foreign to me or a little exotic, so seeing what they looks like or learning what they are before having to find them in a store, is invaluable.
The first time through the book, I read the introductions and looked at the ingredients all the while noting a few recipes I wanted to try. Mostly things I was familiar with. I also learned a lot. The second time through, I found a bunch more recipes for things I had enjoyed in the past and added those to the list. It seemed that every time I picked up the book, I either learned something new or found another recipe to try.
For the purposes of this review, I picked Chicken Tikka Masla (page 330) to try. It's from one of the outposts, Britain. I figured I might as well as start with something I sort of know. The chicken is marinated overnight in yogurt, lime juice and variety of spice and other ingredients. The creamy, spicy, tomato sauce is made the next day and combined with the cooked chicken. The process was a little long, but I think it was worth it. It didn't turn out perfect or exactly how I pictured, but it was pretty good nevertheless. The smell from the freshly roasted and grinded cumin and coriander seeds was heavenly. However, the whole dish was a bit too acidic and the chicken had a slightly odd texture. I used chicken breasts instead of thighs. That may have done it as I don't think breasts need as much tenderizing or marinating. Anyway, next time (and there will be a next time) I'll either use thighs or cut down on the marinating time and perhaps use a little less lime juice.
Other recipes I want to try are: Doubles (Bara and Curried Chickpeas), page 316, from the Caribbean; Khamiri Roti, page 146, from Pakistan; Murgh makhami (Old Delhi-style Chicken Curry), page 42, from Delhi and Punjab; and lots of others. They all sound delicious.
The table of contents is very detailed and lists all of the recipes in the section. However, page numbers are only given for major sections or countries within areas. That's okay, though, because the index is quite extensive and should help the reader find items in the book. The glossary is very limited and only covers some basics. However, there's a lot of explanations within the book itself, so this is too bad. It's still well-worth the read.
The book also contains a list of suppliers. Most are websites, but a few have actual brick and mortar locations. Unfortunately, these are mostly in New York City or California. I'm sure I can find most of these ingredients here, but it's good to know that online suppliers are available to fill in any gaps.
Highly recommended for curry lovers like me!
For more information about this book, please visit DK's website.
I'd like to thank those nice people at DK Canada for this review copy.
Curry Cuisine by Vivek Singh, Corinne Trange, David Thompson, Das Sreedharan, Mahmood Akbar and Sri Owen, Dorling Kindersley (DK), ©2010. ISBN 9780756662073(Trade Paperback), 352p.
Labels: #50BookPledge, 2012, cookbook, DK
2 comments:
Hi there, the September edition of Books You Loved is live. Here is the link Books You Loved September Edition Please do pop by and link in a post about a book you loved. Maybe this one? CheersReplyDelete
Wow - you are adventurous! I've never even eaten curry, much less made any. But now I'm curious. Thanks for the review.ReplyDelete
Thanks so much for your comment. I really appreciate it. Unfortunately, I've been getting lots of spam comments, so I'm turning on word verification to help keep spammers away. I know it's a pain; I don't like it either. Hopefully, in time I'll be able to turn it off again. Thank you!
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
As longtime readers know, I've always been a fan of the Guelph Jazz Festival—not just for its adventurous programming and combination of academic papers and concerts, but because it extends the festival season past Labour Day. This year, the festival is paying tribute to ECM Records, with concerts by Dino Saluzzi & Anja Lechner, Marilyn Crispell and Charles Lloyd, and co-ordinating a 'nuit blanche' event that promises to tie in events throughout the small college town.
This year, the season is extending even further for me, with an assignment from DownBeat to report on the fourth annual Quebec City Jazz Festival. I haven't seen the full lineup yet, but headliners include Charles Lloyd (this time fronting his marvellous quartet with Jason Moran), Ron Carter, Kurt Elling and the Mingus Dynasty.
I'll be blogging from both festivals.


text:
Sales Have Ended
Sales Have Ended
Date: Friday, March 23rd, 2018
Time: 10:00 am – 11:30 am
Location: UBC Botanical Garden, 6804 SW Marine Drive
Tour Cost: Child $7, Concession* $9, Adults $11, taxes included, plus Eventbrite fees.
*Concession = Garden Members, UNA Residents, Youth (13-17), Seniors (65+), UBC Students|Staff|Faculty. Valid ID card required.
Do you want to become a citizen scientist and help the scientific community learn more about bird behaviour and habit? Join us at UBC Botanical Garden as we search the Garden for exciting birds and listen for their melodious calls. This workshop will take place in the great outdoors so make sure you come prepared for the weather! This event is family friendly and great for beginner birders.
This workshop will focus on identifying common birds in UBC Botanical Garden and the Vancouver Area. The workshop will highlight:
- Bird shapes – how to identify bird families by their shape
- Where is that bird? On the ground, in the bushes, in the sky? What does that mean?
- How to create bird-friendly habitats around your home
- What do cats have to do with birds?
- Importance of habitat protection along migratory flyways
- Vancouver's best birding areas
Bring your family outside and learn about migration, birds and biodiversity. Discover the best bird watching hotspots in our 80-acre garden located on the edge of the Pacific Ocean. Take a walk with our Garden Guides to learn about how our amazing collection of plants supports the migration of our fine feathered friends along British Columbia's Pacific Flyway. Get some fresh air as a family and enjoy a guided walk through Vancouver's oldest demonstration Food Garden, our Alpine collection and the Carolinian Forest.
Notes: Please dress for the weather and bring footwear suitable for all terrains. Tour will go ahead rain or shine. Bring your binoculars for a closer look at birds. TreeWalk is closed in winter and will open April 1st, 2018. Free Visitor Parking for 3 hours, provided you enter your license plate.
Cancellation Policies: A $5.00 processing fee per attendee is charged if cancellation notice is less than 7 days prior to your scheduled program. There is no fee for transferring the registration to another person. Cancellations can be made by contacting email@example.com. In the event that a program is cancelled by UBC Botanical Garden, we will offer the option of transferring to another program or obtaining a full refund.


text:
Cruising from Bayonne, N.J., to Bermuda, singer Christine Andreas sat listening to departure bells in the East Coast port and thinking about her debut engagement at Feinstein's at the Nikko in The City this weekend.
The cruise is a partnership between 54 Below and Celebrity Cruises, bringing artists who appear at the popular new Manhattan, N.Y., nightclub to perform on the high seas.
It's nice work if you can get it, and Andreas likes to really get away. "To leave for two or three weeks on a cruise is one of the best things you can do," she says. "It's called living!"
The 54 Below club is also where the Tony-nominated Broadway star developed "Bemused," the show she brings here right after she docks. It's a word with many meanings and Andreas studied them all.
One definition is "to have feelings of wry or tolerant amusement" which makes Andreas laugh. "That's a good one," she says, "though there's a lot of ego investment in that one."
Instead, she considers bemusement as "an impact with another creative energy that takes you deeper and expands you more fully. Sort of one plus one makes 10."
She finds the musical expression of this concept in unique, iconic parings of singers and songwriters such as Harold Arlen and Judy Garland, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Astrud Gilberto, or Dionne Warwick paired with Burt Bacharach and Hal David.
"They seriously bemused each other," she says, "which has elements of being confused, engaged in thought and even thunderstruck." She likens it to the blossoming of her relationship with her husband, composer Martin Silvestri.
"When we met and started making music, it was just like some other energy took over," she says. "Suddenly there were ideas for arrangements and songs to write. Our energies just fomented together and created something neither one of us could have anticipated."
Stephen Holden of The New York Times called the show "deliciously tangy" and wrote that Andreas "conveys a high-strung emotionality that is sharpened by her acting skills."
"He was very nice," she says. "You never know. Sometimes you birth something in other places so you can see what you have, but this was birthed in New York and it had a good flow."
That was January, and she's now recording a new CD based on the show, which, she says, has helped her "get it under my fingernails again" so the material is a little tighter and she can be a little looser.
"I'm a little lighter in my old age," she laughs. "I don't take myself so seriously anymore."
IF YOU GOChristine Andreas in 'Bemused'
Where: Feinstein's at the Nikko, 220 Mason St., S.F.
When: 8 p.m. Friday, 7 p.m. Saturday
Tickets: $30 to $55
Contact: (415) 394-1100, www.feinsteinssf.com


text:
Your attitude is like a box of crayons that color your world. Constantly color your picture gray, and your picture will always be bleak. Try adding some bright colors to the picture by including humor, and your picture begins to lighten up.
There are so many stories to share about our recent trip to New York City - the food! the shopping! Helen Mirren! The Waldorf-Astoria! The Fricke! - but I felt that my first post ought to be about some of the fine people who pop in here from time to time to share their thoughts on some of the random nattering that I do.
This is no fancy blog - I am not modelling my constant clothing purchases, not travelling to exotic places all the time and rubbing shoulders with the rich and the famous.
I live in a small place in a small corner of the world. I have a budget. I could use to lose some weight. I am mockingly optimistic, even when things go wrong; I believe none of us get out of here without some terrible heartaches along the way, but then I see a sunset or talk to someone who is living an interesting life, or I eat a good plate of french fries and I think "hey, it's all worth it, isn't it?"
And having friends, however we come by them, create the colour of our world!
So I am always thrilled when anyone stops by here. And I know many are shy to comment and that's okay as I can talk to for many (and do!), but I do delight when someone says something and mostly they say nice things because mostly people are nice, especially to people who are just plodding along like me!
Imagine my delight when a bunch of them agreed to come to the city for a cup of coffee and a meet and greet! It was so much fun to put faces to names of people who've stopped in here or whose blogs I have long admired. We met at FIKA cafe, a good (and random) pick by Louise she of Ingredients fame and soon to be my designer of choice (she probably thinks I am joking about this but I am serious!). The company included Barry and myself, Louise, Knityarns, (and her patient son!) Well Fed Fred, AJC Shopping Habit, and Teacups. Sadly, Marie was unable to make it due to a personal matter, and can you believe it - she dropped a gift off to me at my hotel - a gorgeous scarf from Anthropologie? I was touched! And it was funny when we walked in as Fred knew me right away! What a delight! We laughed and people shared stories and we got lots of recommendations for good restaurants.
if you want to see the picture, go here!
I will not tell who is who, as some people prize their privacy and I am not one to break it!
Suffice to say, everyone was delightful and interesting and so kind to us! We had a wonderful time and hope to see you all again soon!
Tomorrow, I think I may discuss The Queen.
In the interim, my good pal Dani was discussing the snow on her blog yesterday. I giggled when I saw the pictures as they reminded me of the scene in Crocodile Dundee when he says "That's not a knife, THIS is a knife..."
And thus, a picture of Barry standing in his parent's driveway last week. Ours is nearly as bad..
|Note: this is NOT at the end of the driveway where
the plow has gone by - this is how much snow we have gotten.
For reference, Barry is 6'3".
Have a happy Saturday!
xoxo wendy


text:
Monday, February 6, 2012
Blast to the Past With Our History Crossword Puzzle
Welcome to the new week, friends! To continue our new routine of sharing weekly games to get your mind moving, here's the latest in our #MotionMonday series. To prepare for this crossword puzzle, go to the history page on our website and read up about the origins of Bishop-Wisecarver and the signature product that helped launch it all: The DualVee Guide Wheel.
[ Download ] the puzzle to dive right in! Need an answer key? Fire off an email to email@example.com to request an answer key. To check out past puzzles, visit our blog games archive. Good luck!


text:
Terence Moore writes for MLB.com. I always get a good laugh reading his columns, because at the very end of his columns there is this disclaimer:
Terence Moore is a columnist for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
What Terence writes is not subject to approval from MLB. Sure, he works for MLB.com, but MLB doesn't give a shit what he writes. He could do a ten-part expose on how Rob Manfred is a closeted bigot who molests children in his spare time. IT DOESN'T MATTER, RUN THE STORY! That's how the reader is supposed to see it. Yet over the past few years Terence, an avowed "traditionalist" who hates all changes in baseball post-Big Red Machine, has written about how much he loves the following: a pitch clock, the one game Wild Card playoff, the All-Star Game format, and has slobbered all over Bud Selig once before. Well, once is not enough. Terence Moore has written the all-time fluff piece on Bud Selig and it's embarrassing. These two should just get a room.
I've defended Selig a few times, because I think he's done some good for MLB, and he gets mocked too much. Considering how outright hated Roger Goodell and Gary Bettman have become, while David Stern always received way too much credit for being handed the Bird/Magic/Jordan/Shaq/Kobe/LeBron era of the NBA and not fucking it up, I think Selig did a decent as commissioner of MLB. Bud Selig isn't my idea of a good time, but I also think he wasn't one of the worst commissioners in sports either. He moved baseball forward, and as much as the Steroid Era leaves a stain on his legacy, he also responded to the Steroid Era with a strong drug policy. But still...this is just too much. Terence Moore, NOT AT THE BEHEST OF MLB OR BECAUSE HE WORKS FOR THEM, thinks Bud Selig is the greatest and he's not afraid to slobber embarrassingly over Selig while making an ass of himself.
When Bud Selig isn't walking around his longtime Milwaukee neighborhood,
stretching his 80-year-old legs while listening through his headphones
to any baseball news he can find, he is watching 15 games a day.
There is a lot to mock here. The presentation as Bud Selig as an everyman is, of course, funny. I imagine that Selig's neighborhood isn't just a regular old neighborhood like you and I live in, but one of those neighborhoods that is really a shelter for the super-wealthy with a gate of some sort that keeps the unwanteds out. Also, I like to imagine Selig is listening to a Sony Walkman that doesn't even have a tape player.
Oh, and one other thing. It's impossible for Selig to watch all 15 games in a day. I doubt he stays up until 1am every night to catch the games. Good try, but I'm not buying it.
"I'm at home, and I have a little clicker, and I have a satellite, and I go from game to game,"
"A clicker." He has "a clicker," which I imagine he bangs on the couch cushion when it won't go to the channel he wants to go to immediately.
And if Terence wasn't on-the-nose enough with his description of Selig as an everyman, he'll just go ahead and point out that this fluff piece is about Bud Selig as an everyman. Just in case it's not obvious to the reader, here is what Terence is trying to paint Selig as being,
said the Commissioner Emeritus of Baseball, sharing his routine as just another fan.
Just another fan. And remember, no one asked Terence to write this column. This was a tongue-bath that he is giving Selig on his own accord. How this makes it better, I am not sure.
Well, Selig isn't just any fan. He spent more than two decades as the
Commissioner, and he is four months into a retirement that doesn't
Walking around the neighborhood, watching baseball all day. That's not retirement? If walking around the neighborhood and watching sports all day isn't retirement, then I have to wonder what Terence believes retirement to be. What Selig is doing all day, isn't that retirement for most people?
That means Selig is far from your average guy dreaming of snagging a foul ball some day from the bleachers.
As always, it wouldn't be a Terence Moore column if he didn't submarine his own point along the way. Bud Selig is a regular guy except he isn't.
(Terence Moore a few paragraphs ago) "Bud Selig is just like a regular guy watching baseball all day."
(Terence Moore now) "Bud Selig is not the average guy because he's too important and really, really wealthy."
Selig is that guy in spirit, though.
Well, in spirit I am really nice guy who is super-athletic and I treat everyone as I would like to be treated. Unfortunately, what I am in spirit doesn't matter when I'm not athletic enough to play professional sports, I can be an asshole and I'm incredibly impatient with some people. See, what I am in spirit doesn't matter, because in reality I'm not what I am in spirit.
Selig said he has been known to get a little excited at times while studying this baseball moment or that one.
"Studying this baseball moment..." I tell you, it sounds really fucking exciting just to talk about. I love sitting in front of the television, studying baseball moments. This sounds like something a real fan of baseball would do.
"Hey want to come over and use 'the clicker' to study baseball moments? Bring the fat free milk jug too. You know what? Screw it, bring over the jug of whole milk. I'm getting a little excited. There are baseball moments happening."
"I don't shout much, but I do mumble," Selig said. "Believe me, I will do that.
I'm not sure mumbling counts as getting excited. People who mumble when they get excited generally tend to be vagrants or other individuals who are slowly losing their mind. But yes, I absolutely do believe Bud Selig will mumble when he gets excited. That, I do believe.
Other than that, I may say on occasion, 'What the heck is going on
here?' That's when things aren't going the way I like them to go."
When those baseball moments aren't going right, sometimes you just have to ask "What the heck is going on here?" I like how Terence believes he's painting Bud Selig in a positive light, but he's portraying him as the same weird, quiet guy who seems aloof from everything and everyone that he was stereotyped as commissioner.
Selig was speaking about "things" on the diamond, not in his life.
Especially not his baseball life, because that has been an intriguing
Because as much as Terence wants to paint Bud Selig as a regular guy, "things" away from the field have gone pretty well for Bud Selig. His dad owned a car leasing business and Bud made a few bucks off of that. But no, Bud Selig is just a regular fan of baseball, walking around the neighborhood and watching television all day. Just like you and I watch baseball all day, except Bud Selig is much wealthier, has "a clicker," is definitely not living a life of retirement, and used to the commissioner of baseball.
I witnessed many of the middle chapters of that story, and this was when
I knew Selig before I formally knew him. If you lived in Milwaukee
during the early 1970s when my family and I moved to town, everybody in
Wisconsin knew Allan Huber "Bud" Selig. He was woven into the fabric of
the state. He owned the Brewers, and he was on the board of directors of
the Green Bay Packers. His roommate at the University of Wisconsin was
Herb Kohl, who became a U.S. Senator and the owner of the Milwaukee
Bucks. Among Selig's best friends was Hank Aaron, which made sense.
And of course Terence Moore is writing this fluff piece on Selig because he grew up in Milwaukee. It's just like how Terence idolizes the Big Red Machine and so he writes 3-4 articles per year on them.
Selig breathed all things Braves during their stay in his native
Milwaukee from the early 1950s through the mid-1960s. When they left for
Atlanta after the 1965 season, he got the White Sox to play games at
old Milwaukee County Stadium
He eventually convinced baseball to allow the troubled Seattle Pilots franchise to become the Brewers before the 1970 season.
Bud Selig stole professional sports franchises from Seattle before it was cool to do so. He's ahead of his time in so many ways.
I began knowing Selig for real during his journey from original owner of
the Brewers to acting Commissioner in 1992 to full-time Commissioner
from '98 through his retirement in January. Through it all, Selig never
left Milwaukee as his primary residence.
That's so noble of him to include Milwaukee as his primary residence and not include any beach, vacation, or second homes as his primary residence. So even though Bud Selig may have multiple residences like any other baseball fan has, he is a man of the people, as seen by his keeping Milwaukee as his primary residence for tax purposes. I'm getting the warm and fuzzies now.
Has Selig gone back to the future as Wisconsin's staunchest baseball fan?
"Well, that's the first thing people always ask me, and then they
say, 'Now you can openly root for the Brewers,'" said Selig, with a sigh
after a pause. "But I'm still careful that way."
Yes, be careful not to let anyone think the team that Selig grew up loving and used to own, like own in terms of him actually legally owning the franchise, would be the team he would cheer for when he's retired (I'm sorry, I meant "not really retired"). Can't have that. It's better to keep the people in the dark on Selig's rooting allegiances.
Before long, he did something that his predecessors couldn't do, and
that is, he got his fellow owners to come to a consensus on a slew of
issues. He also was able to do the same with the Major League Baseball
Players Association. Interleague Play. From two divisions to three, with
Wild Cards in the playoffs. A replay system, and then an expanded
replay system. The toughest drug-testing program in pro sports. A
lasting peace between management and labor.
Outside of the one-game Wild Card, which I still hate, these is a nice list of Selig's accomplishments which have led to many baseball moments he can mutter under his breath about.
"I am a fan, and I enjoy the game immensely," Selig said, adding that he was particularly fond of the retired Derek Jeter,
I mean, who doesn't love The Jeter? The answer? Minka Kelly. She is probably not a fan of The Jeter. And possibly Mariah Carey or Jessica Biel. Though no one can be sure since Derek Jeter still has their phones confiscated upon entrance to his home, so any complaints they had at the time about The Jeter will remain in those phones.
and now they have what they call "The Selig Experience" at the same Miller Park that Selig built for the Brewers.
The "Experience" opened last week as a high-tech exhibit that uses
multimedia to describe how Selig saved Major League Baseball in
This doesn't sound self-serving at all.
It features a 3D version of Selig in his old Milwaukee County Stadium
office, and the highlights include Aaron slamming his National League
pennant-clinching home run in 1957.
A 3D version of Bud Selig. Screw muttering about baseball moments, I want to see a 3D Bud Selig for a real sense of excitement.
"You know, it was just unbelievable when they opened 'The Selig
Experience' last week, because sitting right next to me was Henry
[Aaron], and right behind me was Robin Yount," Selig said, referring to
two Baseball Hall of Famers with Milwaukee connections.
"I'm telling you. I wish you could have seen [Aaron's and Yount's]
emotion while watching this thing. I do have a passion for baseball, and
if you watch 'The Selig Experience,' I wouldn't have to tell you too
much more."
"It's great to have these two great baseball players sitting there while they celebrate how I saved baseball in Milwaukee. What a great moment and everyone should celebrate how great I am."
Okay, it's not exactly what Selig means, but in a fluff piece about Bud Selig it's easy to mock how Selig seems to be celebrating himself just a little bit as well.
You ready for the money shot of slobbering that Terence will do over Bud Selig? It's basically a tongue-bath in written form. If "Open Arms" could be translated into sports talk, then sung by Terence Moore while on one knee as Bud Selig blushes and acts like he's embarrassed, then these last two sentences would be the equivalent of that song.
Actually, I've watched something better than "The Selig Experience" to see Selig's passion for baseball.
I've watched Selig.
Wow, that's an embarrassing way to end the column. I'm not sure I've ever read a person fawn over Bud Selig like this since the last time Terence Moore fawned over Selig. And in no way has Terence written such an embarrassingly devoted column because he works for MLB.com and cares to keep Selig's legacy in the forefront of people's minds. Not at all.
Though I do have to ask the following question. Is Terence saying "The Selig Experience" isn't as good as sitting there on the couch, staring at Bud Selig, watching him mutter and bang "the clicker" on the couch in order to get it work? If so, that doesn't say a hell of a lot for "The Selig Experience."
The real "Selig Experience" would be watching a four hour baseball game and then having it end in a tie while everyone shrugs their shoulders and then walks home. Later, the decision will be made in order to prevent a tie from happening, as opposed to simply continuing to play baseball until one team wins, that there must be stakes tied to the game. Then World Series homefield advantage will be tied to this exhibition game, as if the real issue was that the stakes in the game weren't high enough and wasn't simply that the game ended in a tie. Knowing an exhibition game ended in a tie and figuring the best way to solve this problem was to raise the stakes and then tie these stakes from an exhibition game to the World Series, as opposed to simply making rules stating the exhibition game can't end in a tie...now that's the real "Selig Experience."


text:
About this font family
Bacterio is a typeface I designed for this hulk of a friend of mine who is a kitchen designer. He is huge but has a very delicate feeling for form. One day he said he was trying out something new and if I couldn't make a font for him. Then he showed me the surface design, a hard-plastic covered multilayered wood. The surface design was called "Bacteria" and it looked just like that, only in multicolors.
Well here is "Bacterio" the font that looks just like that surface of my hulky friend.
Yours very design infected Gert Wiescher
- Basic text strings
- Random text strings
- News feeds
- Pangrams
Available formats
available in all of the styles:


text:
he and us
By Naja - 2:15 PTG
The kid has no ability to have a walk on his own like others did.he's special.
He is infront me.trying to get up on the fluffy soffa.he failed.
So he try.again and again.
He fall every singgle move he have done.
He still not give up.
Now he able to stand up..by his knee.
He is dissable.but it is not impossible for him to stand still.so why we can't do exactly like he did?we even can run reversely while he only can run his eyesball.look at us.


text:
I've tended to ignore debates about race and Hollywood films because people like you, Max Landis, are vocal enough. I've linked to your video because you've made a point, but where the casting of Scarlett Johansson in 'Ghost in the Shell' is concerned, I think you've missed a few others.
Point #1: Max, you didn't mention that 'Ghost in the Shell' is fiction, just like 'James Bond'. So many white actors have played James Bond that it's arguable that 'James Bond' is the codename for 'Secret Agent No. 007 of MI5'. This could be anyone, even a woman (no, Idris, I'm not calling you a woman or likening you to one, but please remember to thank me when you get The Call). After all, it's fiction, right? On that note, Scarlett Johansson's role in 'Ghost' is as a cyborg. Would 'Ghost' be different if her role went to either a man, a transgender person, or a robot?
Point #2: Max, your thoughts on the allegation that CGI was used to make Scarlett Johansson 'look more Asian' in 'Ghost', or that the taping of Caucasian eyes to 'make them look more Asian' actually happened in 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' and 'Cloud Atlas' would have been welcomed. Do you know what 'look more Asian' means? Are there decision-makers who decide what it means to 'look white' or 'look black' or 'look Asian', or have a set standard of 'acting Asian', or 'acting white', or 'acting black', or 'acting Native American'? What do you think of Sacha Baron Cohen? Has he set the standard for his acting as 'blackness', 'gay
Austrian-ness' and 'Kazakh-ness', and why/why not?
Point #3: Max, you forgot to mention that just as most white people don't look like oil paintings,
most East Asian people don't look like scroll paintings or manga. All humans don't look like paintings or drawings of any sort because we are three-dimensional and we have urbanisation, industrialisation, improved nutrition, new ways of using makeup, and good cameras. We don't even need surgery to look uber-gorgeous anymore.
Point #4: Max, you didn't talk about white adults having to play extreme make-believe games for the sake of money, and what this means for our world. You see, I personally think that Mickey Rooney was a wonderful weirdo in
'Breakfast at Tiffany's', Justin was a great ape in
'Dragonball', David Carradine was legendary as a bald wanderer, and
Rooney Mara was an inspiring pixie dust spreader in 'Pan'. I am
particularly grateful to these white actors for doing what
they did, because they took one for the team and helped to stop struggling
American and Asian-American members of their fraternity from looking and
acting like complete and utter prats.
Point #5: Max, you blamed 'the system' for creating the Scarlett Johansson Ghost in the Shell fiasco, but as a writer in Hollywood, what part do you play? Why did 'Ghost in the Shell' have to come from Japan? Why didn't you or your mates come up with 'Ghost in the Shell'? Did 'Ghost in the Shell' have to come from Japan to be marketable? Does a marketable idea from the Far East always have to involve a make-believe East Asian female whose femininity is central to her identity (can a man play her? Why/why not?)? Given as the current President of South Korea is a woman, while Hilary Clinton gets horrid comments for being female, and Donald Trump gets away with making nasty comments about females, is Hollywood out of touch?
For your next big idea, where will you and your mates be looking?
B x


text:
34th Annual Choreographers' Showcase
College Park | Website
This event occurred in the past.
The Choreographers' Showcase is one of the longest-running forums for new and established choreographers in the country. Presented together with the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, the Audience Choice Award winner is eligible to participate in NextLOOK, a community incubator program in partnership with Joe's Movement Emporium to support the development of new work by regional artists.


text:
kanyakumari Thiruvalluvar Statue and vivekananda rock
>> Friday, January 15, 2010
Kanyakumari district is the southern most point of peninsular India.
Thiruvalluvar Statue
Thiruvalluvar is the author of Thirukkural. Thiruvalluvar Statue is a 40.5 m (133 feet) tall stone sculpture of the Tamil poet and saint Tiruvalluvar. It was opened in the year 2001 Jan 1 and is located in a small man made island near the town of Kanyakumari, the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea, and the Indian Ocean meet.
The statue has a height of 95 feet (29 m) and stands upon a 38 foot (11.5 m) platform that represents the 38 chapters of "virtue" in the Thirukkural. The statue standing on the platform represents "wealth" and "pleasure", signifying that wealth and love is earned and enjoyed on the foundation of solid virtue. The collective height of the statue and platform is 133 feet (40.5 m), denoting the 133 chapters in the Thirukkural. It has a total weight of 7000 tons.
Vivekananda Rock It is located at the convergence of the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean in Kanyakumari. The specialty of Vivekananda Rock is Dhyan Mandapam, a meditation zone. Vivekananda Rock juts out of the convergence of the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. About 400 mts offshore the two rocky islands became the seat of enlightenment for Swami Vivekananda, an Indian truth-seeker and public reformer. It is believed that in the year 1892, Swami Vivekananda swam across the sea and meditated on this inaccessible rock island, imparting the spiritual charisma to him.


text:
The late great baseball player and philosopher Yogi Berra once quipped, "It ain't over till it's over." Our new study, "Millennial Children of Intermarriage: Touchpoints and Trajectories of Jewish Engagement," attests to Berra's wisdom. Despite decades of worry that American "children of intermarriage" would be lost to the community, a large-scale study of young adult applicants to Birthright Israel found that the story is more complicated, and more hopeful.
Not surprisingly, young adults raised by intermarried parents grow up with a more limited set of Jewish educational and social experiences. However, if these children of intermarriage become involved in Jewish experiences in college — through Birthright Israel, Jewish campus groups or courses — their Jewish identity and later engagement look in many respects very much like that of children of two Jewish parents.
We know from the 2013 Pew Research Center study that 60% of millennials from intermarried families identify as Jewish and that half of all Jewish millennials are children of intermarriage. This prompted us to ask how childhood touchpoints interact with experiences during the college years to shape the Jewish trajectories of millennial children of intermarriage. We interviewed and surveyed nearly 3,000 applicants to Birthright Israel, a sample that resembles our target population of millennials with one or two Jewish parents. Half of our sample was selected from among applicants who were children of inmarriage and half from among children of intermarriage.
We developed statistical portraits of two "typical" millennials: Taylor, a child of intermarried parents, and Jordan, a child of inmarried parents. Taylor grew up with no formal Jewish education or involvement in camping or youth groups, but celebrated Hanukkah and Passover. Taylor also celebrated Christian holidays and occasionally attended Christian religious services. Jordan, as a child, went to Hebrew school, had some informal Jewish education (camps, youth group), celebrated Hanukkah and Passover, and attended Jewish religious services at least monthly. Using these two profiles, we were able to see the effect of various experiences on Jewish behaviors and attitudes.
Some assume that Jewish identity and trajectories of engagement are fixed by the time a young adult leaves home and goes to college. But our findings point to the critical role of college experiences and to the period of development that takes place after age 18. Emerging adulthood is a period of exploration and experimentation and, for millennials, appears to be exceptionally important in shaping their religious and ethnic identities.
If Taylor participates as a college student in Birthright Israel and has some involvement with Jewish groups or courses, profound changes in Jewish attitudes and behaviors become evident. Taylor's level of engagement in Jewish life looks more like that of Jordan. On some measures, such as participation in Sabbath meals and Jewish holidays, the difference between Taylor and Jordan substantially narrows, but on others, in particular attachment to Israel, the gap is completely closed.
One striking finding relates to Jewish identity. Taylor, without exposure to Birthright and Hillel/Chabad, is more likely to identify nonreligiously. In "Pew Speak, Taylor is more likely to be a "Jew of no religion" than "Jewish by religion." In contrast, Jordan — even without exposure to college Jewish experiences — identifies as JBR. Taylor, however, is transformed by participation in Jewish life during college and becomes much more likely to identity as JBR.
Skeptics might think that what we have found is simply an artifact of selection bias and that those who choose to participate in college Jewish experiences are more highly motivated. However, although childhood Jewish experiences make it more likely that young adults will participate in Jewish life during college, programs like Birthright Israel attract individuals with a wide range of prior Jewish education. Because our respondents were all applicants to Birthright Israel, and we were able to compare similar individuals who participated and did not participate, we were able to take account of motivation.
Intermarriage has, undoubtedly, changed the contours of the American Jewish community. The Jewish identity of those who are part of intermarried families is less likely to be framed around religious involvement and attachment to Israel. But the key finding of our work is that Jewish identity is malleable for far longer than had been assumed. Meaningful engagement with Jewish life during college, even for those like Taylor, who arrive at college with little prior exposure, can be life-altering.
In 1978, a few years before the first millennials were born, Rabbi Alexander Schindler (then-head of the Reform movement) told his community that intermarriage "does not mean that we should prepare to sit shiva for the American Jewish community. On the contrary, facing and dealing with reality means confronting it, coming to grips with it, determining to reshape it."
We now have evidence that the Jewish community can, indeed, influence some of the outcomes for children of intermarriage. Engaging the Taylors of the community in meaningful education, whether during childhood or young adulthood, actually makes a difference. Rather than throwing up our hands in exasperation over demographic realities, our findings point to the importance of the community rolling up its sleeves and rededicating efforts to educate and engage all its young adults.
Berra also said, "It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future." Indeed, predicting the future of American Jewry is difficult, in part because the character of Jewish life is dependent on what we do. Our evidence of the effectiveness of a host of programs that alter the trajectories of Jewish identity and engagement makes clear that the future is in the community's hands.
The study was carried out with funding from Brandeis University's Maurice and Marilyn Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies and the Alan B. Slifka Foundation.
Leonard Saxe is a professor of Jewish community research and social policy at Brandeis University and director of the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies and of the Steinhardt Social Research Institute.
Fern Chertok is a research scientist at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University.
Theodore Sasson is a professor of Jewish studies at Middlebury College and a senior research scientist at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies .