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Gaudí on a Natural High? The Argenteria waterfall, Congost de Collegats, Lleida
It's not been so very long ago that a trip to the upper Noguera Pallaresa valley, beyond the town of La Pobla de Segur, was quite an adventure. The conditions of the roads were 'as built' and with numerous patches and repairs. Anyone with experience of pre-EU Spanish roads will know what that means, patches on patches on patches! Furthermore, the road itself was 'engineered' sometime between 1886, when the road arrived at La Pobla, and 1924, when the road over the Port de Bonaigua and into the Val d'Aran was opened, so the curves were, shall we say, interesting! Almost the first obstacle one encountered was the Congost de Collegats ravine, where the road twists and turns for what seems like miles, ducking down to the river or lurching along precipitous cliff faces, where the telephone lines were fixed directly onto the rock wall and a dementedly driven Pegaso truck seemed to lurk around every blind corner. Throughout years of short holiday trips the pretty village of Gerri de la Sal seemed a good enough goal to aim for, as indeed it still is. But, even more, the ravine itself contains a hidden treasure. It's ironic that since the new road was blasted through the ravine during the early 1990′s (almost all of it through long tunnels thanks to the sterling efforts of environmentalists reclassifying the ravine as a protected area), and the original road is now an official footpath, one of the region's few 'tourist attractions', which even rates ** 'worth a detour' in the Michelin Guide, has been eclipsed. Notwithstanding a rather forlorn looking car park at the end of the north tunnel and one of the ubiquitous hideous brown heritage signs pointing to it, the fact is the sub-species Homo sapiens michelinnus won't get out of their cars and walk a few hundred yards for anything that isn't spoon fed to them – poor fools!
Needless to say, having a genuine, Michelin starred attraction in their midst has led certain less scrupulous locals, with an eye for the main chance perhaps, to be rather hyperbolic. But the urban myth surrounding the Argenteria waterfall has a touch of genius. Not only does the idea that Gaudí's design for the Nativity Façade of the famous Sagrada Familia temple in Barcelona was inspired by it has a grain of credibility but also, as Gaudí did indeed travel around Catalonia during his early years as a participator in the contemporary trend for Excursionisme, it is at least theoretically possible that it's true!
It is axiomatic that Gaudí incorporated themes and elements of the natural world into his work and he is known to have been influenced by such luminaries as John Ruskin and William Morris. Moreover his work bursts with representations of nature, especially in the Nativity Façade , so why not this example? (courtesy of www.gaudiallgaudi.com NB I don't like copying images so crave your indulgence by opening the complementary images in a new tab) The immediate evidence is in the physical impression of similarity a visit to both sites gives. Sadly this doesn't come across at all well in the photographs but it's to do with the scale and the sense of power that both structures share. This is heightened by the means of arriving at both sites; as many readers will know the S.F. hits you right between the eyes the first time you come across in, lurking as it does behind the corner of a perfectly ordinary street, or nowadays as you emerge from the glass lift from the new metro station there. Similarly, the Argenteria seems to pop out of the rest of the cliff face only as one passes it close by; otherwise it is swallowed up within the grandeur of the whole scene.
Then there is the devil in the detail. Compare this element in the Façade (with thanks to Barcelona Photoblog) to these views of the Argenteria: Here in the globular looking masonry that frames scenes from the Nativity has the look of melted candles, giving an impression in stone of fluidity. These 'arches' of 'melted rock repeat throughout the whole Façade. This conical form is repeated in the Argenteria; although this is a result of water erosion rather than an igneous process, the conical shape has a vivid similarity. This is reinforced with repetition up and across the rock face as it does in the Façade. Furthermore, little 'vignettes' of vegetation, nesting birds, etc. under the frames formed by the rock resemble the various Nativity scenes in the Façade.
Another example is in the way strange reptilian beasts leer down from on high on the Façade, seeming to emerge from the molten rock as if out of the primordial slime itself! Similarly, strange glowering forms left by calcium deposit dotted around the edges of the Argeneria leave an equally eerie impression. In fact the Argenteria gives a strong feeling of the power of elemental forces. Perhaps the most striking element is the contorted strata of the exposed face of sedimentary rock right alongside. To get an idea of scale, note the fully-grown trees dotted around the structure. That such huge sections of solid rock are twisted and torn like so many sheets of paper is truly awe inspiring. Perhaps it is beyond the scope of this blog (it's certainly beyond my scope!) to posit that Gaudí drew parallels between the Nativity story and the Creation. This portrayal of the latter in terms of the emergence of animals and plants from a morass has so much resonance with the imagery of modern ideas of the origin of life on earth that it is certainly too tempting to suggest an influence there; that would be a very big leap indeed! Apart from anything else the timeframe is all wrong; Darwin talked about the Origins of Species not the origins of life itself.
Back to the Urban Myth idea, a quick Google search reveals the nature of the beast. Here's an entry by an anonymous contributor to the MisPueblos, a sponsored blog about villages in Spain (NB. errors in translation are all mine):
"me dijo un historiador que aquí venía Gaudí en bicicleta para inspirarse y coger croquis de de los encantos de la roca para realizar la Sagrada Familia y su Arte."
" I'm told by a historian that Gaudí came here by bicycle to take sketches of the charms of the rocks and to be inspired for the Sagrada Familia and his Art."
A more inclusive entry on a commercial travel site, turismeacatalunya.com, includes the poet Jacint Verdaguer (1845 – 1902), Catalonia's emblematic dead poet, who devotes a few lines to the Argenteria in his epic poem Canigó of 1885:
"Així trobem: l'estret de Collegats amb l'Argenteria, que fou font d'inspiració per a Gaudí i Mossèn Cinto Verdaguer . . ."
"Here we find: the Collegats ravine with the Argenteria, which was a source of inspiration for Gaudí and Friar Cinto Verdaguer . . ."
A personal report comes from a pair of tourists, Laura and Jordi, writing in Gallician and Mallorcan respectively, on their voyage along the Pyrenees:
"Paga la pena aparcar el cotxe al congost i fer una excursioneta fins a l'Argenteria, una formació rocosa que, segons diuen, va inspirar a Gaudí a l'hora de construir la Sagrada Família."
"It's worthwhile to park the car and take a short walk to the Argenteria, a rocky formation which, so they say, inspired Gaudí's idea for the Sagrada Familia."
Now the Lleida tourist board description:
". . . la Argenteria, lugar en que dicen se inspir Antoni Gaudí para crear la fachada del edificio de la Pedrera."
". . .the Agenteria, the place which is said to have inspired Gaudí to create the façade of the La Pedrera building."
Note the subtle change to the La Pedrera building in Passeig de Gracia. This has led to a change of direction recently. Here's a description in English from pyreneestourism.org, which looks like an NGO but is in fact a "tourism interactive .com LTD business" – and very good of them to point this out in miniscule writing!
"The Catalan intelligentsia have been coming to admire the scenery here for well over a century, and the portion of the canyon labelled L'Argenteria, with its sculpted, papier-mâche-like rockface streaked with rivulets, supposedly inspired Antoni Gaudi's La Pedrera apartment building in Barcelona."
I can't quite see the similarity to La Pedrera, but I'll take their word for it – as far as I take anyone's! There are altogether too many passive references that fail to identify the source for my liking; and that, "supposedly", in the final description certainly looks suspicious! I've no doubt at all that all of these remarks have been made in good faith, however, I heard the myth back in the 1980′s long before people started writing blogs or building tourist websites, but maybe it's now time to seek some clarification. I'll be visiting Barcelona in September to have another look at the subjects in question. Meanwhile, at least the Verdaguer poem is carved in stone on a monument at the site. As for Gaudí, well it's August, we're in Spain and my only source of an actual definitive life of Gaudí is in the library, which is closed for the duration. So see this blog in a few weeks' time for The Truth!


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subset: commoncrawl


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by Kevin G. Gilbert / staff photographer
Phoenix program helps people with acquired brain injury
By KATE COLEMAN
Staff Writer
There were five days remaining in Scott Thrasher's senior year as he drove to school the morning of May 22, 1989.
The 6-foot-2-inch Oakland, Md., resident had celebrated his 18th birthday 11 days earlier.
Thrasher never made it to school that day. His car, which he had owned for less than a month, drifted across the center line and hit a fertilizer truck. He suffered injury to his brain that left him in a coma until the following October. It changed his life forever.


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Series: Applause Books
Publisher: Applause Theatre & Cinema Books
Format: Softcover
Editor: Lawrence Harbison
Featured in this year's volume:
• Barbecue by Robert O'Hara – a wildly inventive new play that proves family can be a bigger vice than any other addiction.
• New Country by Mark Roberts – a rowdy, raucous rodeo and a New York Times Critics Pick.
• Lost Girls by John Pollono – a hard-hitting working-class drama about people struggling to redefine family.
Plus three more of the most innovative and enjoyable plays to hit the stage in 2015!
Inventory #HL 00151255
Width: 5.6"
Length: 8.5"
376 pages
"A solid collection practitioners will find useful for study as well as for production." – Library Journal, Larry Schwartz, Minnesota State University Library, Moorhead
Prices and availability subject to change without notice.


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Pole RingPart #: 233 017
White Bronze, Burnished, 0122
This pole ring is used on hopper or hung windows to operate out of reach sashes with a sash pole. The ring is used to open or close the window in place of the ring handle found on the locking hardware. The use of these rings avoids bending and damaging pole operated handles.
Click here to download as a PDF.
Intellectual Property Notice: This drawing and the design represented herein are the intellectual property of The Bronze Craft Corporation, Nashua, NH, USA. Reproduction of this document or the design depicted herein, without express written consent of The Bronze Craft Corporation is prohibited. Copyright 2014, All Rights Reserved.


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Infrared Dream
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17 responses
Bruce Wendler said (13 Jul 2010):
Interesting PP.
Julieta De león said (15 Jul 2010):
Interesting! where is that?
aerociro said (21 Jul 2010):
really cool, how you make it? you shooting at night..the question is how?.....answer mda faca! i am the 3 rst person is asking!! heheh no ofense!
Shauna Rose gave props (25 Jul 2010):
like something from my dreams.. Love it.
Nabeel Alam gave props (1 Sep 2010):
Cool shot!!
Yasmine Ghorayeb said (9 Sep 2010):
This shot is amazing. We can really feel it.
Ognjen Karabegović gave props (2 Oct 2010):
rainn gave props (19 Nov 2010):
Love this. Very difficult to shoot infrared night photography. kudos!
Marti gave props (24 Nov 2010):
I love this shot!
DJ (Deleted) gave props (20 Dec 2010):
Very cool - like this :)
Pedro Teixeira gave props (23 Sep 2011):
Melissa Valencia gave props (2 Oct 2011):
Super cool!
Heather Mellon gave props (16 Jun 2012):
Very cool, has a mood all its own.. love it!
Donna Mullins (Deleted) gave props (25 Jun 2012):
Saroj Swain gave props (27 Jun 2012):
Fabulous shot
John Linton gave props (27 Jun 2012):
Striking Fear in the Heart of JPG's Theme Park
Lynn E. Harvey gave props (11 Jul 2012):
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Warmed up this morning by lettering out the lyrics to an old A.A. Bondy tune I've been listening to on repeat all week. It's called "Killed Myself When I Was Young," and you can click here to listen to it. I keep thinking these lyrics would look great painted on the side of a train, each line a different car, so when it is passing through, you see the story roll by.
TREASURE HUNTIN' x 20
We just finished painting & signing 20 small pieces we're donating to MARN– the Milwaukee Artist Resource Network. These pieces will be available for the finding at their annual Treasure Hunt event. We're not entirely sure how the process works, but at the very least we know that by the end of the event, you could go home with one of these pieces.
The tallest ones are about an inch taller than an iPhone. The medium sized ones are as tall as a Blackberry. And the smaller ones? About the size of a pager. (Hello, 1989.) Hope you dig 'em!
Though I don't share it too often, I do a LOT of design work. Which makes total sense, considering four score and seven years ago, I spent about four score and seven billion dollars to get properly educated in the ways of the graphic designer. The above poster is one such example of what I get to do with said education. It's for one of our favorite clients, Alverno Presents, for one of their remaining four shows.
We wanted to keep it simple, like an old soul show poster. But also classy, 'cause these are LEGENDS we're talking about here. LEGENDS. And we fought like crazy to keep this thing free of the usual distressed textures we love to see.
If you have a minute and want to get a fast music education, google these gentlemen. Then I'll see you at the show.
Normally, I paint two or three pieces at live art gigs. That way, folks coming and going throughout the night have a chance to see a piece come to completion. (Or close to it, anyway.) Saturday night, I scrapped that, and spent the entire 4 1/2 hours painting one 18″ x 24″ piece instead. It started with the white hand and head above. Then the tiny details started coming in. The rest is history.
(click on the images to see 'em a little bigger!)
Most of the images came straight out of my head, 'cause there's a lot of crap in there just dying to get out. Most of the words, however, are me messing around with the lyrics of the songs that Why B and E.Rich were playing. (Can we all agree that "rap patrol on the cat patrol" is better than "gat patrol?") Did I mention I love painting when those dudes DJ? I do. 'Cause they make your favorite DJ's idea of a party look like a bridge tournament.
This is what happens when you ask E.Rich to play Drake.
Shout-out to my favorite Spike Lee character, and about a thousand other things.
High-five to the guy who got the Slick Rick reference.
Okay. So maybe some of the text is out of my head, too.
The finished piece! All in a day's work. And sold to Eric, who runs one of my favorite shops in the city.
As always, big thanks to Nate and the Rogues Crew, for making Rogues Gallery one of my favorite places in MKE to both drink and paint. Same goes for Why B and E.Rich– two of my favorite DJs to paint to. And high-five to Fred Kaems for painting alongside me. Hassle him to share what he painted that night.
If downtown Milwaukee seemed a little sad on Sunday, it's probably because all the work from Rogues Gallery's first-ever group art show came down. Don't worry. They'll recover. The new show they're hanging is ridiculously good. And I'll be glad to have my special movie-themed pieces back. Wanna' see 'em? Here you go:
TITLE: "I Want My Two Dollars"
FILM: Better Off Dead
If you're confused, watch this. Marvel at his persistence. And his sweet switchblade comb.
TITLE: "Human Centipede"
FILM: Human Centipede
My attempt to make something incredibly disgusting seem incredibly adorable. Mission accomplished?
TITLE: "The Blues Brothers"
FILM: The Blues Brothers
This is me trying to sum up one of our favorite films of all time in one simple 11 x 17 panel. Piece of cake, right?
So what do you think? Should we do some more movie-themed pieces? More like the Blues Brothers piece? Do you think someone in Hollywood should make OUR version of HUMAN CENTIPEDE?
A few weeks ago, Vic and Gab asked me if I'd be interested in making some art for their next album. Considering you're reading a blog post called "Vic and Gab – Bridges and Guns," it's pretty obvious I said yes. And you being the smart cookie you are, I bet you already figured out that the above image is my sketch of the front cover.
The packaging would be a basic cardboard sleeve. Nothing too complex. All they'd need from me is a front cover, a back cover, and something for the CD itself. The above image is what I came up with after listening to some of the songs, and having them tell me the basic theme of most of the tunes– losing someone to violence, and how that loss affects the lives of everyone around them. And this is what I came up with for the back:
With the front cover so loaded with imagery, I wanted to keep the back simple. I also knew we'd need space for track listing, album info, and the bar code.
Within a day of sending these off to the band, I heard back from them. They liked it, but thought it hit too close to home. The iconography was too heavy and accurate, considering the tragedy they'd written the songs about was theirs. They asked me to try and scale it back a bit, and I obliged. The last thing I want to do is making art for a band that the band can't stand to look at.
The result?
A revised cover, a revised title, and PURPLE. No other color would do. As for the back:
I was hoping to keep that background all purple as well, but being able to read that album info was kind of important, so I brought the banner color from the front to the back side. No, I could NOT have added a white drop shadow or outer glow. Those are terrible ideas, both this time, and 90% of all other times.
Last but not least, the actual disc art:
You being the savvy you that you are, I don't need to remind you that the green, blue, pink and gray are all part of the template, and not the actual disc. No, true believers, the actual disc is a plain white, with simple black characters of Vic and Gab, as well as the album title. I initially put the band name and song titles on it, too, but Vic and Gab decided less is more— a philosophy I can ALWAYS get behind. (Except when it comes to getting paid.)
If you want a physical copy, drop Vic and Gab a line here, or nab one at a show. You can also grab it now at this crazy new thing you've probably never heard of called iTunes. Once you've spent some serious time listening to the tunes, let me know if I did the album justice!


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On Friday we went down to Hastings to have a look at the poor old pier. We have all read about the fire in the papers, and although the pier has been run down for a number of years, surely it did not deserve this fate? It really is a very sad sight, and I do wonder if they will be able to rebuild it, I suppose time alone will tell. One of the shops along the seafront has a model of the pier in its window, as it looked in its heyday, I am sure they will treasure that model now. Luckily the weather stayed dry for us, but it was very cold! We had a good day anyway, and a lovely lunch, along with some retail therapy!
Below are some photos I took, I haven't figured out how to get the writing under the pics so it appears in the right place, but I am sure I will figure that out one day! Keep warm all and enjoy what is left of the weekend.


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text: Olof Sahlen, PhD, has joined Comlase (Stockholm, Sweden) as vice president of engineering. He will direct development of the company's high-volume Nitrel process reactor. Comlase's Nitrel technology enables manufacturers of semiconductor lasers to increase the manufacturing yield, performance and reliability of a product by eliminating facet oxidation and related failure or degradation mechanisms. Sahlen has more than 20 years of experience in developing photonic components and telecommunications systems. His previous positions included vice president of engineering at Optillion, manager of laser development at Ericsson Microelectronics, senior scientist at Ericsson Fiber Optics Research Centre and scientist at the Institute of Optical Research, Stockholm. Sahlen received a PhD in physics from the Royal Institute of Technology, in Stockholm, where he is an associate professor. . . . Schott AG's fiber optics unit and Zett Optics GmbH have announced a joint venture to develop fiber optic light sources and light source modules for a variety of applications. Schott will be responsible for flexible fiber optic light guiding and application, and Zett will be responsible for selecting a light source to integrate into the fibers. Work will be performed at Zett Optics, in Braunschweig, Germany, and the resulting products will marketed under the Schott brand name. Schott's fiber optics business unit, based in Mainz, makes products such as fibers for the illumination of operating microscopes and endoscopes, flexible coherent fibre optics and light guides, fiber optic tapers and fiber optic faceplates for image transfer in medical x-ray machines, light-guiding fibre optic rods and tapers and laser beam guide systems. Zett is a developer of light, LED and medical technology and plastic optics, including light sources for microscopy and medical applications that use halogen incandescent lamps, discharge lamps and LEDs. In a previous join venture, the companies developed cold light sources for microscopy. . . . Spectro Analytic Instruments GmbH, a provider of optical emission and x-ray fluoroscopy (XRF) spectrometers, announced it has chosen optical components maker Berliner Glas as its strategic partner to manufacture precision quality diffraction gratings for Spectro's line of analytical instruments. Berliner has supplied various glass and optical components for Spectro instruments for more than 20 years. Under the new exclusive collaboration, it will provide specialized holographic diffraction gratings for use in Spectro's high-precision laboratory instruments and spectrometers. Diffraction gratings produce a 'super prism' effect, breaking light into its component wavelengths.


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Hello Environmentality Listeners,
Today Jaime chatted with Robert Bender from the Friends of the Organ Pipes National Park (FOOPS), Smokey dropped by a little later towards the end of the show. Robert has been a member of FOOPs since 1983.
Located off the Calder Hwy in Sydenham, The Organ Pipes National Park is the smallest national park in Victoria. The significance of the park is the basalt columns or organ pipes, a volcanic formation that formed when volcanoes erupted 1 to 2 million years ago to fill in the old river valleys. The area was initially used as a ground to teach geology students about volcanism.
|Courtesy of FOOPS
FOOPS was established in 1972 when the group volunteered to restore the park from pastoral land filled with weeds, pest and rubbish to its natural state. In 1973 FOOPS propagated seeds in the park, and after 15 years the trees were inhabited by animals. An animal study conducted by the Arthur Riley Institute discovery of 7 species of bats lead to the installation of 10 bat boxes in 1992. 27 additional boxes have since been installed totaling 37 bat boxes with a count of 470 bats. Sugar gliders were released into the park in 1989. The sugar gliders eat the black wattle sugar turned into gum in the winter. Unfortunately as the black wattles were all planted during the same period they also all died in the same year, so all of a sudden there were no trees and the sugar glider population was greatly impacted. However it is great news to hear that new trees were planted which are now coming into maturity and the sugar gilder population is growing. Weeding continues to be an ongoing project due to pest such as the Artichoke Thistle, African Boxthorn and the Prickly Pear.
|Courtesy of foter.com
The park is extraordinarily active with monthly working bees and bat, frog, sugar glider and water studies. Robert stresses the significance of volunteers to the restorative success of the park, however with decreases in volunteers numbers, more volunteers are needed to help continue the fantastic work done so far. Given that it will take about 500 years to restore the ecosystem, and out of the 300 species needed to restore the park to its natural state only 50 species has been reestablished, Robert reminds us all that ongoing commitment along with a much better funding and support system is needed to ensure that the incredible work by FOOPS continues into the future.
Anyone can join the group and any of the projects. To join you can contact Parks Victoria on 13 1963. You can also email Robert at email@example.com or Terry Lane at firstname.lastname@example.com.
We would like to thank Robert for coming on to the show and showing us what can happen when a group of volunteers get together to work on a common goal!
For more information about FOOPS you can access the link to their website here
Listen to the podcast here
Tracks played:
Archie Roach- Song to Sing
Oh Mercy- Confessions
Mia dyson- tell me
Linda Ronstadt- Blue Bayou
Linda Ronstadt- Winter light
Shane Howard- Solid Rock


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(Logan, NJ) – Laurie Dempsey, author of Memoirs of My Life, will hold several book signings at the DREAM Park in December.
Memoirs of My Life is a book about Legend, a difficult Morgan, who has a way of looking at things different from most horses and is not always eager to please but eager to do well in what he does. He decides to love his owner and devotedly works for what she wants to accomplish.
The book would be a great holiday gift for any age reader that loves horses. The book is on sale at the DREAM Park for $13.95. Get to know the author, Laurie Dempsey. She will be available for a book signing on the following dates: DREAM Park - Boarding BarnSaturday, Dec 2. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Woodedge Horse Show - DREAM Park - Main ArenaSaturday, Dec. 9 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.Saturday, Dec. 16 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
http://www.lauriedempsey.com The DREAM Park is located at 400 US Route 130 South, Logan Township, NJ 08085. For questions call (856) 241-1415 or visit www.dreamparknj.com.###


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I used to think we were courageous. But oh Oswin, I never knew courage until I met you.
In the summer of 2008, tall, dark and handsome walked into my life. (Hint hint: That was your Papa.) Little did I know that night at the karaoke bar on a tiny street in Philadelphia, that within a year and a half we'd be married and moving abroad to France. Me, the Philly girl who had been previously content with the idea of spending the rest of her life working in the health care industry in the city of Brotherly love. Living the city life. Maybe one day finding the man I was meant to marry. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd be so lucky as to have your Papa so magically come into my life.
And never did I ever dream we'd move to a small French village along the French-Swiss border. With more cows than people. Surrounded by vineyards. Shopping at a tiny weekly market. And a beautiful mountain as our backyard.
I thought at the time that Papa and I were courageous. We packed up our lives, together. We said goodbye to our family and friends, together. Papa taught me how to say "Je suis désolée, mais je ne parle pas français" on our plane ride over. I kept the airplane blanket because, being my first trip to Europe, I couldn't believe they gave you a blanket. Papa humored me. We held hands as we landed in a grey Geneva, Switzerland.
I thought we were courageous. But no Oswin, I've never known courage until I met you.
You were born on a cold and grey day in Switzerland. You had trouble breathing at first, and the doctor's had to help you get started. Papa stayed by your side the entire time. You were so brave my sweet girl, they said you fought them the entire time.
Now you are a big girl, six and half months old to be exact. I'm amazed day in and day out at how fearless you are. You are limited only by your current physical stature and rate of development. You don't care what something is, if it catches your eye, you want to touch it. Be near it. Experience it with all of your senses (for better or for worse). You stare right into a person's soul when you meet them. Right to the heart of the object, taking it all in. Courage is embracing the new, the unknown, and you've been showing us how courageous you are since day one. Much like when Papa and I moved to France, you are seeing and experiencing things for the first time. You inspire me beyond compare. To go closer to things. To not be afraid to look longer. To follow the path that interests me. Your little face pushes me out the door each day, despite my insecurities of being a stranger in a strange land, because I want to show you everything. You push me to try harder, and you push me to become the best version of myself. You help me find my inner courage on a daily basis.
It's not just a physical courage that you possess either, you are courageous in the unconditional love that you show to Papa and me. It is incredibly brave to trust two people as wholly as you trust us. To trust someone else to attend to your each and every need. And even more courageous to forgive us when we're not at our best. Sometimes we might miss the mark. We're still learning. I know we'll spend our entire lives learning. But to wake up each and every morning with a smile that could melt the coldest of hearts, that says "It's ok Mama, today we're going to have a great day," well, that is a courageous love you share with us my dear. Your courage teaches Papa and I so much - patience, unconditional love, and how to listen. I can't wait to see what other things you teach us.
Your courage has been contagious for Papa and me, and we often find ourselves embarking on spur of the moment day trips to places like Annecy, France, Geneva, Switzerland, and nearby towns in what we like to call the "SwitzerFrance" region. Or to take bigger chances on longer road trips to places like Basel, Switzerland, Mulhouse, France, and Freiburg, Germany. And then there was that three week trip back to the United States for you to meet your extended family for the first time. We've learned so much from all of those experiences, despite the initial nervousness that traveling with an infant can bring. Your courage in new situations has been impressive beyond belief. New sounds, new time zones, strangers who come to meet you and want to pinch your cheek - you've been fearless in all environments. We hope that these sorts of trips will give you the continued courage to go out on your own and see new places as you get older. To truly follow your wanderlust takes courage, and this is something we want to instill in you from the get go, almost like a second nature. I think we're off to a good start.
One day my dear, I hate to say, there may be people who cause you to question your courage. Events in your life may cause you to doubt how brave you truly are. Remember that having courage doesn't mean that it's always there just waiting for an adventure, it must be worked on like everything else in our lives. Courage can get lazy. Courage can spend a few weeks in its pajamas hiding under the covers with a hot cocoa. Sometimes we have to rip the covers off, get out of our comfort zone, and kick courage out onto the street. Or the mountain trail. Or a train to somewhere, anywhere. To the destination, be it place or person, that our heart desires. I hope you remember in those times just how courageous you truly are, and if you forget, know that Papa and I will be here to remind you, no matter how old you are.
But having courage isn't just about getting out of your comfort zone, it's also about respecting yourself. Having the courage to let go of that which does not serve you - be it acquaintances, or situations - can be a difficult brand of courage to come by. You are so worth loving, and we hope that you choose to surround yourself with positive, loving, inspiring people. Life is too short to be surrounded by anything but loving, genuous and inspiring individuals. Be courageous with your heart, and know when a situation or person is not healthy for you.
That being said my dear, having courage also means learning to cut yourself some slack. It takes a lot of courage to admit when you're wrong. It also takes a lot of courage to forgive yourself for mistakes. You may be perfect to us, but believe it or not, you will make mistakes. Having the courage to face those mistakes head on, and learn from them, is where true growth comes from. We hope that you'll learn to love the choices you'll make, because they will help mold the amazing woman you'll become. Regret nothing. Feel no shame, for you are a wonderful and loving little girl that is learning who she is in this big ole world. Learn to laugh at yourself when you do something silly. Have the courage to own it, rather than run (even though you may want to). Courage isn't all about planting flags on mountain tops, it's also about lifting yourself out of the mud from time to time, and hopefully, with a smile.
I thought we were courageous Oswin. Living the expat life isn't an easy one. Saying abiento to everyone you know and love is a tremendously difficult thing to do. But with you in our lives, you've given us the courage to tackle any new challenge, because we'll be doing it together, for the three of us. We used to think we were courageous. With all the love, joy and fun that you have already brought to our life, I now know that we are. Thank you in advance for the adventure.


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NVM reports strong growth from its Northern offices .
18 June 2014
Over £24 million injected into growing SMEs by NVM's Northern investment team
Britain's biggest business event, the International Festival for Business, has now launched in the North West. It is anticipated that the event will generate more than £1.7 billion of business for the region by 2020. Commentators have recently reported that the North of England is experiencing the fastest pace of growth of any UK region. So it's no coincidence that NVM Private Equity (NVM) is reporting strong levels of activity from its Northern offices, following a successful 12 months of investing in businesses and increasing its presence across the region.
In 2013, NVM announced that it had £100 million to invest in UK businesses. Over the past 12 months, over £24 million has been invested from this pot of capital by NVM's Newcastle and Manchester offices into five growing businesses.
Firstly, in June 2013 Stockton-on-Tees based Cleveland Biotech received £3 million of investment capital from NVM to take advantage of the growing demand for its environmentally friendly biological waste treatment products. A month later, £7 million was invested in the management buy-out of Nelson based upholstered furniture manufacturer, Buoyant Upholstery. Early in 2014, It's All Good, a Gateshead manufacturer of premium tortilla chips and other snacks, received £3.5 million of development capital to help bring its products to the forefront of the UK grocery industry.
Finally this month, NVM's Northern investment team has supported two more management buy-outs. North West creative events agency, The fresh Group, received £5.7 million, and Aberdeen based oil and gas technology business, Arnlea, £5 million.
NVM has been investing in the North for nearly 30 years, and continues to build on its longstanding presence and relationships. Currently, 30% of NVM's UK investee companies are headquartered in the region, across a wide range of sectors.
The NVM investment team has responded to an increase in activity across the North by opening a new Manchester office, and with the appointments of Andy Leach, Liam May and Karl Cockwill to help boost investment opportunities and manage NVM's portfolio.
Andy Leach, Investment Director of NVM for the North West:"Since joining NVM 18 months ago, I have been greatly encouraged by the level of investment opportunities we have seen. There are many interesting businesses across the North West that have prospered, notwithstanding the challenging economic environment that has prevailed over the past five years, and are now poised for a step change in their growth. We have seen manufacturing reshoring back to the UK, as consumers opt for quality over cheap products and services. Entrepreneurialism and innovation is increasingly being supported by both UK finance and Government. I have great confidence that North West businesses will continue to prosper and grasp opportunities to grow both domestically and internationally."
Notes To Editors
NVM Private Equity is independently owned with nearly 30 years' experience of investing in unquoted UK businesses. NVM is a generalist investor, managing over £290 million of funds, and is differentiated by having executives living and working in regional business communities throughout the UK. NVM seeks investment opportunities in UK businesses which have the right mix of growth potential and market vision. They may be looking to grow organically, acquire another business or secure a management buy-out. Typically, NVM looks to invest between £2 million and £10 million in each transaction. www.nvm.co.uk
For further information please contact:
- Liberty Bollen (NVM: PR & Marketing) – 0778 644 4349
- Andy Leach (NVM: North West Investment Director) – 0161 935 8419
PR & Marketing Natalie Dickinson
Location Reading office


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Stroke Risk Assessment
Are You At Risk For A Stroke?
Stroke Risk Factors Check List
- Are you Male > 55?
- Do you smoke or live with someone who smokes every day?
- Is your blood pressure >140/90 or you don't know?
- Are you 20 pounds or more overweight?
- Have you been diagnosed with Coronary Artery Disease?
- Race – African Americans are at higher risk.
- Do you have a Positive Family History?
- Is your Cholesterol–Total >200 mg/dl?
- Is your LDL (bad cholesterol) > 100 mg/dl or you don't know?
- Are you physically inactive (Less than 30 minutes 3 times a week)?
- Are you diabetic or take medication to control your blood sugar?
- Have you ever had a Stroke/TIA or Carotid Artery Disease?
If You're At Risk…
Have blood cholesterol checked annually.
LDL should be below 100 mg/dl.
Have your blood pressure checked at least every two years.
Keep track of it. 140/90 is high and constant high blood pressure damages your vessels. Controlling high blood pressure reduces stroke risk by 30–40%.
Have fasting plasma glucose checked at least every three years.
Like coronary heart disease, diabetes is considered a disease of the vessels.
Maintain a healthy weight
For most, it's a lifestyle choice that involves improving your diet and activity levels.
Be active or exercise at least 20 minutes a day
Increasing exercise to even a moderate level reduces stroke risk by 20%.
Don't smoke
Quitting smoking will decrease the risk of stroke. After 5 years of not smoking it is no longer considered a risk factor.
Don't consume alcohol in excess
If you drink, do so in moderation. One per day if you're a woman and two for men.


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Thursday, August 20, 2009
kettle head
Posted by Lilli Carré at 8:57 PM
3 comments:
love this animation! (and your work too)ReplyDelete
i posted it on my blog (with your link and credits) hope you don't mind :)
have a very nice day
haha i just came across via misako mimoko! love, love these little animations. the bottom one with the plant growing from the head - sweet!ReplyDelete
thanks very much guys!ReplyDelete
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


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|25 Apr 2012
Want to install windows on SSD, using drivers/patches from current cpu
I have my current system live and working well. I want to add an SSD as the main boot drive.
Is there a way I can migrate or reinstall easily on the new drive without having to run updates on everything again? The only hardware changing (adding) would be the SSD.
I plan to format the old drive to use as storage.
|My System Specs
|25 Apr 2012
Imaging or cloning.
Windows has an imaging tool built in, but many say third party tools such as Macrium or Acronis are superior and easier to use.
Imaging and cloning can both fail. Be prepared to do a clean install with your Windows disk in that case.
Paragon has a migration tool that you can use also. I think it is $20.
Macrium is free. Acronis is paid; or free if you have a Seagate or Western Digital hard drive.
|My System Specs
|25 Apr 2012
Have a look at this: SSD - Install and Transfer the Operating System
|My System Specs
|25 Apr 2012
Perfect - just what I was looking for guys
|My System Specs
|25 Apr 2012
Quick follow up - when you say fail, does that mean the transfer to drive? Will I risk losing data or needing a reinstall on the source?
|My System Specs
|25 Apr 2012
Where does it say 'fail' and at which step.
|My System Specs
|25 Apr 2012
Your data is always at risk.
I have never heard of cloning or imaging failing so badly that the source installation was harmed, but I'm not saying it can't happen.
The standard way it fails is that you cannot boot the restored image or cannot boot to the restore disk or cannot see the either the image file or the target partition when you boot the restore disk. Imaging is reliable enough to usually make it worth a try, but it is far from bullet-proof.
Cloning is just a direct transfer of a system from drive A to drive B with no intervening image. It's not usually used as a "disaster recovery" mechanism. You get an immediate answer to whether it worked or not. It's not an "insurance policy" type of thing that disappoints you when you read the fine print (have a drive failure). Cloning is pretty much just a convenience when moving to a different drive--more convenient than a clean install. If it works.
You have probably a 90 plus percent chance of it working out. It's up to you to decide if that is a showstopper before even making an attempt.
|My System Specs
|25 Apr 2012
Always back up your files, preferably offsite in case of a fire but definitely off the same HD which can fail.
You can upload up to 25 gigs to Skydrive with each Windows Live ID under a promotion right now for free 25 gigs in addition to the 7gb normally given free. I find this so easy I access my files from anywhere I am in the world this way rather than even bothering to carry them with me - keeping them synched as well on all my machines with Live Essentials' Mesh which makes the process effortless all around.
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On the heels of the Flames convincing Saturday night victory over the Oilers, Flamesnation has more good news. A fresh new "Comment of the Week" contest.
Those of you without ad-blocker probably noticed recently that Hudsons Canadian Tap House has become a sponsor of the site. Now there's obvious some down-sides to sponsorship: the banner ads, the cluttering of the site, the feeling of being a filthy sell-out. But sometimes there's upsides too. This time, Hudsons has given us monthly gift certificates to do with as we please.
Besides use them ourselves to get beer and girls, Pat and I have decided to start a weekly contest rewarding the best commenters on Flamesnation. Each week, we'll pick the funniest or most inciteful comment* from a game thread or post-game thread and give the originator a $50 Hudson's GC. The comment will be posted in an announcement each and every Sunday.
Things begin this week, so swing by to share your wit and charm and maybe even get rewarded for it.
*(Pat and I hold the right to completely and arbitrarily change the criteria for awarding the "comment of the week" without notice or apology. Yup…it's like that.)


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Title: Director of Operations
Location: Ukraine
When did you start working for Heifer? September 8, 2003
What attracted you to work for Heifer? Heifer International's noble mission and a very nice team in Ukraine and Heifer's headquarters.
What has been the most memorable experience you have had while working for Heifer?
Heifer Ukraine staff gathered funds to support one of our project leaders who needed an expensive heart surgery.
My education includes:
- Diploma in Applied Mathematics from the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute
- Diploma in Accounting and Audit from the International Institute of Market Relations
- Certificate in Audit issued by the Ukrainian Chamber of Auditors
- Certificate in Procurement issued by World Bank
- A course in Procurement
- Diploma in Financial Management through the International Labour Organization in Turin, Italy
- Certificate in International Financial Reporting Standards through the Business Education Alliance from The Institute of Financial Accountants Program, England.
My hobbies include: Reading, playing chess and running.
My family consists of: My spouse Dariia, me and three kids: Vladimir, Olha and Oleksii.
Something about me that you might not know: I am a certified scuba diver.
What is the best thing about working at Heifer Ukraine? The possibilities to help poor people in Ukraine's rural areas.


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Are you looking for Plumbing In Vancleave that you can afford? CALL 228-474-4984
Plumbing Service Vancleave - http://waltman-plumbing.com - Waltman Plumbing offers the very best Vancleave MS Plumbing Vancleave as well as new plumbing installation and plumbing repair services available for Vancleave.
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Vancleave Plumbing is totally covered Plumbing Business Vancleave for both liability and workmans compensation. Most importantly, Plumbers In Vancleave is completely focused on our customers. At the conclusion of each project, we conduct a Customer Satisfaction Check-Up which gives Vancleave Plumber the capability to make certain that our customers are entirely pleased with our handwork.
Vancleave Plumbing Contractor truly believes that plumbing is both a craft as well as an art. Every single one of Vancleave Plumbing are finished to optimum standards.
A lot of plumbing contractors are heavily focused on generating a profit by finishing plumbing tasks as quickly as feasible. Here at Waltman Plumbing, our primary emphasis is integrity and a higher level of craftsmanship. Plumber Vancleave by no means compromises the standard of a plumbing project by cutting corners or the use of materials that are not the highest quality. A Waltman Plumbing crew isn't paid by speed. Our Waltman Plumbing crew is compensated when the project has been completely inspected and designated as perfect. For the security of most of Plumbing Vancleave customers, Plumbing Repair In Vancleave always strictly installs all materials according to the manufacturers standards.
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Is your home or business suffering from clogged drains, tree root damage, damage from a storm, frozen pipe damage, water leakage, or just falling apart? Your home is the largest investment you will make in your lifetime. Sound maintenance of your plumbing will help guarantee that your home or business will continue to stay in top condition.
Plumbing Vancleave is an authority in lots of difficult, hard to mend plumbing systems Hot Water Heater Repair that many competing plumbing contractors will not tackle.
Waltman Plumbing Plumbing Vancleave service areas include Vancleave, Ocean Springs, Diberville, Moss Point, Pascagoula, DeLisle, Gautier, Hurley, Escatawpa, Gulfport, Saucier, Lyman, Biloxi, Long Beach MS, Pass Christian and all of both Harrison County MS and Jackson County MS.
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Be sure to ask Waltman Plumbing about our lifetime service contract when we replace any plumbing in your home.


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Madden Mobile | Sharpen your skills in this game
Madden Mobile is better for you than other games
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Home >
This 1kg mix can make either a 12" round cake, a 10" square cake or 36 cupcakes.
You only need to add egg, vegetable oil and water to the mix to create a beautifully moist vanilla sponge cake and all of the instructions are supplied in 4 simple steps!
If you prefer decorating your cakes and cupcakes more than actually baking them, this mix is perfect as you still get the same homemade tasty finish but it has been made simple and quick!
This cake mix is also available in rich chocolate flavour, so you can create your favourite cakes and cupcakes in a delicious chocolate flavour too!
1. Add the cake mixture to the eggs in a bowl fitted with a beater
2. Beat for 1 minute on low speed, scrape down and then beat for 3 minutes on medium speed.
3. On low speed, add the oil and water and mix for 1-2 minutes until well combined.
4. Scrape down and continue mixing for a further 3 minutes on low speed.


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Complete range of Engineering Services to the Manufacturing and Power Press Industry across Europe.
For over forty years, Bowyer Engineering has supported manufacturers with expertise-led engineering services.
We work across the full machinery lifespan, from supplying new and used machinery, to emergency repairs, to full turnkey installations and bespoke equipment.
We offer a our wealth of experience and knowledge gained through working in many different sectors of Industry.
We work with private and multinational manufacturers alike. Each one of our customers needs the support of an engineering partner with a no-nonsense approach and a breadth of technical expertise to deliver the right solution.


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Various Techniques Used in Carpet Cleaning
When you like to make sure that your carpets stay in great shape for a long time, then you should ensure that you take proper care of them. One of the most excellent things that you can do is to hire a carpet cleaner on a frequent basis. The experts know the best way to keep the carpet fully clean and looking great.
You may think that you can take on such task on your own but the reality is that the carpet cleaning services peabody specialists can do a lot better job when it comes to keeping the carpet clean. Surely, this doesn't mean that you must neglect your duties and only depend on the professionals. But, every now and then, calling the professional carpet cleaners to do a specialized cleaning service by one of the following methods can have such notable effect on the state of the carpet.
One technique is the steam cleaning. Such method is also called hot water extraction since this would involve injecting the carpet with such hot water under pressure. This would help in loosening the dirt in the fibers and any other solid particles that may have stuck deeply. There are times that some cleaning solution is added to the hot water for such extra punch. The carpet stain danvers method is considered to be the most popular since it is really effective when it comes to cleaning the spoils of the carpet. The only disadvantage to this is that the carpet should be dry before you can use this again.
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There is also the dry foam shampoo that is a different take when it comes to shampooing. The main difference of such lies that the shampoo is in the foam of foam if applied to the carpet. This would limit the amount of liquid since the foam is about 10 percent moisture and 10 percent air. With this, the carpet will not take much to dry and such is one of the main advantages with this method.


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In a new monthly feature, BarrisTourista will spotlight an adventure travel. This month, Lauren of Outdoorsy Diva, shares highlights of her experience hang gliding in Florida. Here are Lauren's words:
Just 52 miles east of Tampa, Florida I experienced one of the top 5 all-time exhilarating (and slightly dangerous) adventures of my life. I went hang gliding at Wallaby Ranch, world-renowned school for hang gliders to earn their certifications.
Hang gliding is not exactly the first activity that comes to mind when you think of Florida adventure. However Wallaby Ranch has been a fixture in this state for the last 25 years! When I learned that such a crazy adventure was just an hour away I had to add it to the top of my bucket list.
I talked another daredevil into going with me. Once we found the ranch we had signed our lives away, literally in moments, and before we knew it we were being fitted into our harnesses with our tandem pilots. The winds were starting to change so they wanted to be sure we had time to have our flight.
Just like that we were up, up and away!
The Flight
So how is this even possible since there aren't cliffs or mountains to take flight from? At Wallaby they have perfected the technique of air-tow. A small little crop duster plane towed us up in our hang glide and once we reached the desired altitude of 2000 ft, we detached our ropes.
The best way I can describe the feeling is similar to being a human kite. Of course the initial shock of seeing the plane leave us and head down to the ranch was something to reckon with. However, once the shock wore off I looked around and just took it all in.
Birds have the best views of any animal on the planet. We soared and turned at every angle, providing breathtaking views of the horizon and the clouds below. Yes…I said the clouds were below us! It was surreal.
The best part of the flight was seeing something not many can say they have seen in their lifetimes. I saw the "pilot's halo". When the sun was behind us and the clouds were below us, the light refracted in such a way that it formed a rainbow circle around our silhouette. I was literally squealing because I had never heard of this phenomenon, let alone seen one.
I will cherish that moment for a lifetime! It's also captured very faintly on the action camera video footage.
We had almost 20 minutes of flight time, which I was worried would be too long. Once we were up there I didn't want to come back down. Unfortunately that's not how gravity works.
On the way down to land, my tandem pilot gave me complete control of the hang glide. So naturally I was cool as cucumber and guided us down safely. No, not really. I freaked out when I realized it was all on me so that didn't last too long.
Once we landed, I was on an adventure high! Who wouldn't be after being able to say you touched a cloud! My adrenaline was pumping and I just couldn't calm down. One flight just wasn't enough. That most certainly won't be my last visit to Wallaby Ranch.
Things to know before you go hang gliding in Florida
- Cost: $170
- Attire: Something comfy! Just remember depending upon the time of year it can be quite chilly up there in the clouds.
- Reservations: Highly encouraged to call ahead of time to book your slot. They will also have to confirm that the weather and winds are right. They are all about safety!
Read the play-by-play commentary of this adventure and see video footage from the flight on Lauren's blog, Misadventures of an Outdoorsy Diva.
Lauren Gay is the creator of the Misadventures of an Outdoorsy Diva blog. Her mission is to inspire other women, moms, and singles just like her to live adventurously, step out of their comfort zones, and explore the world around them. Lauren is a single mom to one son and they have done everything from kayaking with alligators, to zip lining, to snorkeling in an underground prehistoric cave, to swimming with manatees, to glamping, and even deep sea fishing.
She has been to 10 countries and counting and she is always in search of the next great adventure. Lauren encourages her readers and members of her online Facebook community, Adventure Is A Lifestyle, to live life as one great big adventure. She shares her adventures in travel, food, and the great outdoors. She also aims to defy cultural stereotypes and bring more awareness to minorities of the outdoors and highlights other unconventional activities minorities are often assumed not to take an interest in. Read about her adventures on www.OutdoorsyDiva.com and follow her on Instagram: @OutdoorsyDiva.


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Viacom has pulled its 17 cable channels including MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, BET, VH1 and Spike off of DirecTV after the parties failed to negotiate a new carriage agreement. Unlike AMC Network's current dispute with Dish, many more people watch Viacom's networks, so it will be interesting to see who blinks first.
DirecTV claims that Viacom is asking for an increase of one billion dollars in fees and argues it is already paying Viacom hundreds of millions a year. To put the extra billion dollars in perspective, that amounts to less than $5/month more per DirecTV subscriber. That's the wholesale price though, the retail markup would be higher.
Big corporations fighting over how to divvy up billions of dollars isn't exactly a new problem. Carriage negotiations are nothing new either. But I'm sure the TV media establishment will spin this along with AMC's squabble with Dish as a signs of an apocalyptic breakdown in the TV business model.
I always figured that the divvying of the pie was going to be an increasingly painful process. It effectively amounts to redistribution of revenue where some cable networks gain at either the expense of other networks or at the expense of the MSOs (Comcast, DirecTV, Time Warner, etc) or both. And of course at the expense of the subscribers. But it's not like that hasn't been painful the last 20 years either. But in the past it has been uncommon for channels to actually to be pulled.
Things are more painful for DirecTV and Dish Networks these days. Their business model may not be completely broken, but it's not as good as it once was. All the satellite companies really can compete on now is pricing. Everybody can catch up on technology. Remember when DirecTV was using "more HD than anyone else!" as a selling point? That lasted about 5 minutes. Meanwhile the cable companies have grown the hell out of their broadband Internet businesses, something that DirecTV and Dish aren't well positioned to do and so growing their businesses is very difficult.
When content providers want to raise prices and all DirecTV and Dish can really compete on is price, passing along the price hikes to subscribers isn't a happy proposition, but eating the price hikes without passing them along isn't any fun either! So option "C" it is.
That's no fun for the subscribers though and I don't expect DirecTV to send its subscribers an announcement of "Bad news, good news! The bad news is no Snooki or SpongeBob, but the good news is we're lowering your bills now that we aren't paying the hundreds of millions of dollars a year we were paying before! Yay!"
Instead DirecTV has taken a very populist stance of " Viacom thinks their networks are worth a billion more, then you have to be able to select what's most important in your own living room. It's your money, so you should be able to decide."
That position will go over very well with a lot of people. I can't fault Viacom for wanting to increase the percentage of its TV revenues that come from monthly subscriptions (vs. advertising). But it's hard to find fault with DirecTV saying "screw that!" even if it's spun as "power to the people!"
Jersey Shore won't be back for a while and there's plenty of SpongeBob on Netflix, so perhaps it's not a bad time for DirecTV to play chicken and see how much of a ratings hit the Viacom networks take (DirecTV accounts for ~20% of the homes with cable channels). My guess is the Viacom channels will be back on DirecTV sooner rather than later, but it will be interesting to see how it plays out.
You can read more of DirecTV's position at http://www.directvpromise.com/


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and a break from writing fiction. Masquerade 19 is coming along nicely. What I should do is write up some of the scenes I got in my head last night, the ones that kept me awake until five (this despite my antidepressant and Lortabs). I am very much afraid that this particular story is going to go longer than my usual 23 chapters. Much longer.
The toe isn't giving me the jips right now, for which I'm grateful. The kids have been helpful; the Girl is cleaning off the stove and the counters in the kitchen, and the boys have helped keep me from getting up too much. The day looks like we might get some rain again, though. I did remind the kids that their dad wants them to clear stuff out of the carport so we can actually put our van back there again. I don't think they've done that, though.
C's picture, the one scene she did from Masquerade, came in the mail and was brought in today. I've already posted it at my Photobucket account and at IR:TNP. She says that I'm to get the picture of Jeff that she'll be doing for the "swimsuit" calendar! Wooooo Hoooo! But first, she's got to find a pose to inspire her. I wish I could help her on that!
Just got a thank you card from my oldest niece for the gift we sent her. I can't believe she's graduated from college! It seems like just yesterday that she was 4 years old, running around at our wedding rehearsal dinner in her underwear! (A favorite memory of hers, I'm sure! Mwahahaha!) At least now I have an address so we can try to stay in touch.


text: Ok, i have a MIJ Ibanez SDGR 5er with EMG J`s in it. I`ve tried DR`s lo-riders - i LOVED the tension, but not the sound - it`s a bit too smooth and dark for me. So, I`m looking for high-tension stainless steel strings with bright, early faith no more type of sound. Any recomendations? Will Dr Hi-beams do it?


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Today was sunny but still a little chilly here, even so the kids and I stayed outside to soak up a little vitamin D while my husband switched our tires from winter to summer ones! Our dog Chico had fun too, he saw a cat and went crazy..LOL!!
I had done some coloring last week and today I got cracking on creating a card for a few of them, here's one!!
Isn't it the sweetest!! This is a great card for several occasions, perfect for Mother's day coming up or a birthday card for a special someone!!
For this card I followed a sketch from Freshly Made sketches#81:
I also used 3 dies, some dew drops and the strip of orange DP came from the 12x12 paper I'm suing from American Crafts, it came in really handy!! and of course some flowers from my stash.
I will be entering the following challenges:
Freshly Made sketches, challenge #81
Birdie Brown, April freebie challenge
One Stitch at a Time, #159 bright colors
Lacy Sunshine, #6 spring fever
Thanks for stopping by,
& Remember to ...
love & create ...with a smile :)


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The Best Exercises for Removing Cellulite - Truth about Cellulite Review
It diminishes your superiority in front of other girls who have tight and shiny butt and thighs. It is impossible to zero in on a girl where the bulk of girls is available for example; at beach or seaside you may see those who are in shorts and knickers, it is their living ways. It is up to you to motivate your partner because it is the matter your ego.
Well, there are some machines which can be effective as well as harmful. Laser machine is also effective, but can harm your upper layer of skin because sometimes your skin can't bear its red rays. According to the Joey Atlas Program Truth about Cellulite Review; There is also a mesotherapy process in which drugs or vitamins are injected in your middle layer to cure it. In this condition you feel pain sometimes.
A Set of Lifting Weights
Because of being lazy woman you can have cellulite on your bottom that you will not be okay with yourself. Cellulite is not good at all and you try to go for cellulite removal machine. Stop! Stop! You do not need to play with your cellulite otherwise you will not have desired result. It is good to know that set of weight can be more effective than this machine. Doing this exercise twice a day can be better because lifting light weight will melt your tough fat that is why you would not face it.
Elevator VS Stair
If you will use elevator, it is a sign that you are a slight lazy but, if you go up to reach the floor, you must opt climbing instead of using elevator. Climbing stair will maintain your blood level normal; you will have fast metabolism, your excessive fat will be cut and hormonal change will be less. Thus, you will have smooth and sexy body.
Resistance Band
Resistance band is also important to lessen which you are willing to remove, you stand on the floor knee down, wearing it and there must be tightness. It is known side step to have glorious thighs and calf. From Truth about Cellulite Review Program by Joey Atlas, there is a misconception that only obesity suffering people are affected by cellulite, but it is not 100 percent right because thin people can also have this problem.
Avoid Following 6 Mistakes
1. Do not scrub your cellulite a lot.
2. Do not try hard to pop it without the suggestion of your doctor
3. Never eat fatty foods.
4. Avoid too much cardio.
5. Stay away from digital cellulite removal machine.
6. Do not delay if having serious condition.
Final Words
After having a look at the advantages of doing exercises which are convenient to reduce cellulite has been recognized. Whenever you will follow these important things, you will have good result by far.


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Tag Archives: occupy
Occupy Monsanto!
Occupy Monsanto Download, print and hand out at your local march against Monsanto on Oct. 12!
Two Years Later!
Two Years Later! September 17 marks the 2nd anniversary of Occupy Wall Street! The second anniversary is as important as the first; we've made it two years, but college debt, monetary inequality, war and greed are still the norm. The … Continue reading
ReConnecting Occupy With The 99% #S17 #OWS #Occupy New York City, NY
Occupy Wall Street and many affiliated 99% Movement's are creating actions, meetings, assemblies and events leading to September 17, 2013 (S17) the second anniversary of the founding of Occupy Wall Street Movement in New York City. For more information visit … Continue reading
Occupy National Gathering 2013, Kalamazoo, MI
We, the National Gathering Working Group 2013 (NGWG2013), propose a National Gathering of the Occupy Movement, and peoples' movements worldwide, in Kalamazoo Michigan, to collectively assemble and embrace our different ideologies and perspectives; to find our common visions; to share … Continue reading
Host a Feminist General Assembly!
The 99% movement is creating change! Tool Kit to Host a Feminist General Assembly (FemGA) FemGA Agenda Template FemGA Talking Points Follow the FemGA in NYC May 17 on Twitter @wowsnyc #FemGA May 30th, FemGA & NATO report back conference … Continue reading


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Beer Schneider Weisse, "Aventinus" Weizen Eisbock, 0.33 L
Reviews of purchase Schneider Weisse, "Aventinus" Weizen Eisbock, 0.33 L
Tasting Notes
Beer dark brown.
Full, smooth, warm, well-balanced taste of beer is sweetish, but sugary tones of dark fruit (cherries, plums, figs), sweet spices (vanilla, cloves), candied fruit and nuances of banana, caramel, raisins, brown bread and flowers. Without bitterness aftertaste, with lingering notes of dark fruit, caramel, molasses, toast, toffee, pepper, wheat, cloves, and colors.
Rich malty flavor beer demonstrates tones of dark fruit, spices, toasted oak, candied fruit, cloves, wheat, banana, toast.
Beer ideal as a digestive after heavy meals. It goes well with pancakes Suzette, profiteroles with dark chocolate sauce, tiramisu and mature Parmesan cheese.
Interesting Facts
"Aventinus" Weizen Eisbock - dark unfiltered unpasteurized beer with a strong aroma and a rich, warm, like a wine taste. His creation is obliged beer case. Up until the 1940s, wheat doppelbock "TAP 6" Unser Aventinus - the most intense and complex wheat beer in the world, were transported to Bavaria in containers without temperature control. That beer is not spoiled by the way, a precious drink partially frozen for transportation, not knowing that by separating the water from the liquid beer becomes more concentrated. Thus was born the unique version of "Aventinus", but as a separate version of this beer style eisbocks not issued. Well aware of this story, Hans-Peter Drexler, brewer Schneider, decided to recreate it "wrong" beer in modern conditions, reviving its sixty years later.
Brewery G. Schneider & Sohn - the keeper of the ancient traditions of the manufacture of wheat beer - drink that from the time of Duke Maximilian I nearly 400 years was considered a privilege of the aristocracy and the upper class. For a long time in Germany the production of wheat beer was the exclusive right of the aristocratic family Degenberger Bogen. In 1856, Georg Schneider I bought from King Ludwig II of Bavaria, the exclusive right to manufacture wheat unfiltered beer, and produce it in a rented factory in Weissen Hofbrauhauses in 1855-1873 years.
In 1872, Schneider father with his son Georg Schneider II founded the G. Schneider & Sohn, buying one of the oldest breweries in Munich - Maderbrau, where it was first produced beer under the name Schneider Weisse. It was the first and the world's oldest registered trademark of wheat beer. Each successive generation of the family Schneider strengthen the brand Schneider Weisse.
By the outbreak of World War I, Schneider & Son became the largest brewery for the production of wheat beer in southern Germany. The postwar years were difficult for the brewing industry, as more than half of the Bavarian factories closed. But Schneider survived and even bought a few breweries in Munich, Straubing, as well as "Weisse Brauhaus" in Kelheim, where the production of Schneider Weisse move after the Second World War, during which the factory building of G. Schneider & Sohn will be destroyed by the bombing.
Nowadays brewery G. Schneider & Sohn led by Georg Schneider VI successfully combines tradition and innovation, consistently adhering to high quality standards. Beer production company selects only the best Bavarian malt, hops from the Hallertau valley and mountain water from the surrounding rocks.
Today in Bavaria no more "Bavarian" beer producer than Schneider Weisse. Bavarians themselves very fond of him and proud of it, and it enjoys a special honor at the elite Bavarian society. All brands have marked the highest ratings of beer critics and the highest awards of international beer competitions.
Producer's description
Warning: according to recommendations of the "ФС РАР" from 2018.06.25: alcoholic production can be bought only personally in the Winestyle shops.
ООО "Стор Вайнстайл", ИНН 9717017438, license: 77РПА0012229 from 2016.06.08 Moscow, Lyusinovskaya 53, 1st floor, room VI. Working hours: 11:00 - 23:00, from Monday to Sunday


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I still think you should make your neighbors and Dr M share Roy with you. If he isn't a therapy dog, I don't what one is. Take care. :)ReplyDelete
Is Full Roy mad or is that his doggie smile?ReplyDeleteReplies
Just being a dog...I was shooting with a zoom lens. He's NEVER mad, that I know of...such a sweet ol' thing!Delete
I am thankful that I have your friendship and Dr. M's. The next time I do groceries, I will get green beans, potato chips and mayo. My bangs need trimmed before I go and visit my cousins on Wednesday. Thank you for sharing. I hope your Dad and his new bride enjoyed an amazing time and will continue to enjoy their love together.ReplyDelete
Egg salad and potato chips? I've never heard of such. But I must say -- it sounds rather good. It sounds very good. Perhaps I'll forego the egg salad and just have chips. Does Roy like chips? I'll bet a chip or two would do the trick -- he'd be yours forever. On the other hand, he seems to have fit right in as it is. He surely is a handsome guy.ReplyDelete
That ramp's a good idea. When Mom was recovering from her broken ankle at my place, the only way she could get up and down steps was on her rump. We designated one pair of slacks as her stair-sliding pair, and then crossed our fingers that they'd hold up until she could walk again. They did.
Congrats to your dad and his bride! Somehow I missed that a wedding was coming up -- that's just great.Replies
The ramp is on its way! It is fold-up, portable, so it will be of great use the next 6-10 weeks (we don't know at this point). Roy is the sweetest dog ever! He doesn't need chips, lol. Thanks for your friendship...hard times. The wedding was in Hawaii, so obviously we did not attend, but I am very happy for them! They need each other.Delete
I'm the same way with yarn.ReplyDelete
I have the hardest time with that yarn though - it always gets frayed where it clumps up on me. UGH. I love how soft it is though.
Oh, Bug! I don't know what's worse--Growing Out Blues or your lousy hip making even three steps such Agony. I'm so sorry--about both! Why is life So Hard?ReplyDelete
I'm with Rebecca Jo about that yarn. It looks wonderful, but it is a real bitch to work with. My mother dumped a bunch of that stuff on me, and I keep shoving it to the bottom of my basket. I'll use it up eventually, but at least for knitting, it's awful.
(Jean Luc Placard--Winner. I'm sticking with that name, no question.)Replies
Thanks, Nance! I thought Jean Luc Placard was inspired...heart is breaking for her, but I am mad stubborn, so we get by. Love you from afar, beautiful soul.Delete
your sandwich? yuck.ReplyDelete
Yarn leaves me cold, but I'm with you on the chocolate. I hope you get your ramp soon, and the surgery, too.ReplyDelete
I let my bangs grow out ONCE in my entire adult life. Horrible two years. And then I looked in the mirror. What was I thinking??? I'm meant to have bangs or else my face looks like your last Saturday picture.Replies
Standing on the shoulders of giants leaves me cold...REM reference...ramp ordered...should greatly improve mobility over the next six weeks or so.Delete
I love potato chips on tuna fish sandwiches and on pimento cheese sandwiches. Why'd you have to go and make me think of that.ReplyDelete
I'm so sorry you're having such a bad time of it. I hope the ramp is working for you. The disability placard should help. Sometimes we need those things.
I meant, hope the ramp "will" work for you "when" you get it.ReplyDelete
I'm surprised the beans didn't work on the sandwich! Love the patriotic outfit, the daylilies and "Patrick Stewart" -- LOL!ReplyDelete
Perhaps you should publish a "Exotic Sandwiches" cookbook ;)ReplyDelete
Freshly snapped grenn beans can be a tasty snack.
Loved Dr. M's day lily post--an unbelievable variety.


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Day Five
Friday, Sept. 27, 1996
Ahem. I was leading up to a point before another technical glitch. (Battery ran low as I was typing frantically at 2 a.m. with a flashlight shining on my notes in a cold tent, all of which I would sum up this way: Friends, we have a way to go before the universal information appliance is a reality.) I'd been thinking Wednesday about the desperate hard work of scrabbling for a livelihood.
I'd wanted to add the example of the two men who had once owned Spieden Island, where we were camped. They'd set it up as one of those despicable hunting ranches where rich men come to shoot half-tame creatures. That business failed, but three animals they imported–Spanish sheep, light-skinned fallow deer from Europe, and Japanese sitka deer, whose warning yelp is the sharp, high, short cry of a bird–have thrived on the island, eating up its plants and new trees, so that the rolling hills of the place look like some kind of surreal park of huge trees with unnatural empty spaces between them.
The problem of getting a living puts me in mind of two different geniuses: Charles Darwin, who saw how the ferocious competition for a living shaped all life, and the Buddha, who intuited long before that every act has consequences rippling away from it in all directions, and that therefore, what you think of as evil is often a consequence of your position in the struggle for life. Hunting, for instance, is permitted on the island. This is evil if you happen to be a deer, and a positive good if you love rich forest which the deer are destroying. It takes a supreme rationality to realize that even if something is out to eat you, it isn't evil. It's just hungry. And that, for instance, the two blue herons I saw chasing each other in trees near my tent–with their big heads and long beaks, they looked, as Martine Springer says, like long-legged pterodactyls–were there for reasons that had nothing to do with me. I think this is what Buddhists mean by "mindfulness"–to look for connections, and to not project yourself onto the world.
About 50 yards away from my tent, up on a bluff, was a tall fir with a long, bare crown jutting up out of its leaves like a broomstick. A bald eagle was perched there, so I lay down next to my tent with some binoculars and tried to take it in. It was getting its living, too, methodically surveying land and sea, turning its head every few minutes like the lamp of a lighthouse. The striking thing about an eagle in a tree is that the animal is so outsized, 4 feet tall where you expect a bird to be 2. The chocolate-brown wings give an impression of muscle, and then of course, there's the famous profile. This one's crown had feathers slicked down by water, perhaps from an earlier hunt. When he looked in my direction I was surprised at how owl-like his white head was, domed and wide-staring, turning like a turret. At dusk, he tensed his tail feathers up, bowed his head slowly, and leapt off the tree, spreading his wings 6 feet wide and soaring over me before gliding into a 90 degree turn and disappearing west.
Thursday morning we all rose early amid much chuck-chucking and whistling and piping from the birds, and got ready for our last paddle as the sun came up over the ocean. As we headed away from Spieden we saw the dorsal fins and rolling black backs of porpoises, but they didn't linger. Back near San Juan, Martine stopped us in a bed of bladder kelp–a species of algae that grows strong dark-amber cables (shiny and coppery, they look kind of industrial) from which radiate long, flat blades. We tasted kelp (not bad; McDonald's was wise to put it in their low-fat burger) and looked for creatures.
Martine turned up a kelp crab, coppery as the kelp leaves and a little smaller than her hand. Disturbed crabs throw furious tantrums of self-defense. Plopped down on the deck of Martine's kayak, this one reared and bristled, waving its two fighting claws. It attacked the nearest thing, rolling itself onto her paddle and pinching at it with all its legs. She picked it up by one leg, and the crab got her with a couple of pincers immediately. She tried to hold it by its shell but nothing would stop its lemme-at-'em fury, its legs writhing and pinching in all directions until she put it back down into the water onto a big kelp leaf, which sank under its weight. The crab went down fighting, still jabbing and pinching and raging, and our last sight of it was a single upstretched claw waving over the water, a boxer's gesture of triumph, as in, hah, I got away. Crabs rule.
On the way back to our starting point I asked why it was called Smallpox Bay. Martine says it was because a tribe of people had lived around the place until they caught that European disease, and now the cove named for what killed them is all that's left. Tribe follows tribe, again. Nobody rules forever. Which reminds me: My diary's now over, just as I was getting the hang of it. That's life.


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Private communities have become ground zero for Monroe County's wave of foreclosures.
Private communities have become ground zero for Monroe County's wave of foreclosures.
Monroe is in the midst of a home market transition with far-reaching consequences. Foreclosure sales could spell trouble for not only real estate professionals but homeowners and communities as well — economically, socially and educationally.
Home sales dropped 7 percent last year. But foreclosure sales grew by 28 percent. That meant foreclosure sales accounted for a bigger piece of the overall home sales pie in Monroe County during 2009.
How much bigger? In 2008, foreclosures were 21 percent of all homes sold. Last year's 28 percent meant that more than one of every four homes sold was a foreclosure.
Foreclosure sales made up the highest portion of sales in Coolbaugh, Stroud and Price townships. While the average ratio of foreclosure sales to total sales for the county is 28 percent, Coolbaugh Township came in at 40 percent. Stroud and Price were at 38 percent.
Private communities, common in the Poconos, have been hard hit.
Three foreclosure clusters showed up in Monroe County last year: The two largest surround Penn Estates, in Stroud Township, and a three-community area in Coolbaugh Township that includes A Pocono Country Place, Pocono Farms and Pocono Farms East, according to a Pocono Record analysis based on the Multiple Listing Service for the Pocono Mountains Association of Realtors database.
A third, less-dense cluster appeared on the border area of Tunkhannock and Chestnuthill townships, where several communities are located.
A Pocono Country Place had 87 foreclosure sales last year, the highest of all private communities in the county.
APCP, along with Pocono Farms, also in Coolbaugh Township, accounted for 116 foreclosure sales, about a quarter of the county's total. Penn Estates reported 36 foreclosed homes sold — or 55 percent of all that community's home sales for the year, according to MLS data.
While the county's average ratio of foreclosed to regular home sales was 28 percent, the two private community clusters were almost twice the rate, at 54 percent.
The impact on A Pocono Country Place was apparent, where foreclosed homes sold for 44 percent less. The average price of a foreclosed home in the community was $57,241, compared with the average price of a non-foreclosure sale of $101,483.
One real estate professional said the problem is twofold. It began with the popularity of the private community concept.
"When you look at the homes that were sold in the past five years, there were a larger amount sold in these communities, since they typically are more affordable. And there was a lot more new construction in these communities," said Keith Torregrossa, broker/owner of RE/MAX of the Poconos in Stroudsburg.
He also believes the subprime market of home financing, popular over those years, led to the high foreclosure rates.
"People bought the homes at a higher rate in these communities," he said. "It (subprime loans) was a tool you could use to purchase investments, but it wasn't used for what it was intended for — investments."
Why does all this matter? Rising foreclosures affect price.
Before approving a mortgage, banks must determine how much they are willing to lend a prospective buyer. They do this by making sure the home represents sufficient collateral in case of a loan default. Appraisals help determine the market value of a home, and the appraisals look at recent sales to establish that value.
Appraisers use comparative market analysis, or comp, a tool that looks at all sales of a home type in a particular area during a particular time. Foreclosure sales, when used as comps, typically apply downward pricing pressure in this analysis.
Banks want to recover their investment. They aren't in the real estate business, and it costs them money to own a repossessed home because it's not generating mortgage payments for them. So, they are more likely to sacrifice price to sell the home faster.
And, of course, with lower-priced foreclosure homes on the market, there's more pressure on non-foreclosure home sellers to close the price gap.
In Monroe County, the average price of a non-foreclosed home in 2009 was $181,049. But foreclosed homes sold, on average, for $115,692 — more than one-third less, according to MLS data.
The result — foreclosure sales brought the average selling price of all homes down by 10 percent to $162,938 in 2009.
Foreclosures can have a devastating effect on the bond within a community.
"Especially in the Poconos, where we are struggling for that cohesion, some neighborhoods where so many people have moved in disrupts the cohesion," said Erin Reilly, assistant professor of sociology at Northampton Community College's Monroe Campus.And foreclosures can wreck individual relationships.
"We all know how financial stress can impact relationships. Losing a home is the ultimate financial stress. It can potentially impact quality of relationships, and whether they can continue," Reilly said.
Foreclosures can also provide opportunities for increased crime, particularly when homes stay vacant.
"Any time you have abandoned properties, they can potentially serve as a magnet for criminal activities," she said.
When families lose their homes, it can disrupt the educational process as well. The children affected may not be able to stay in the same school district.
"And think of the existence. You may potentially be staying on your aunt's couch one week, grandma's couch next week. Obviously, that could disrupt the flow of a child's routine," Reilly added.
Pocono Mountain School District was hit hardest of all the districts by foreclosures. It had more foreclosure sales than the other three school districts combined. Pocono Mountain had 230 foreclosed homes sold, or 2 per 100 students.
The next closest district was Stroudsburg, which saw 76 foreclosed home sales, or 1.3 per 100 students.
Foreclosures pose a particularly difficult set of problems for schools. As foreclosures rise, each district's tax collection rate falls with missed or delayed payments, squeezing already tight budgets and hurting cash flow.
Pocono Record writer Dan Berrett contributed to this story.