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Jennifer Lopez: Homegirl, Working Woman, Empire Builder
By DANA KENNEDY
November 3, 2002
Jennifer Lopez as a maid, Tyler Garcia Posey as her son and Ralph Fiennes as a patrician Senate candidate in the romantic comedy "Maid in Manhattan."
PHOTO: Barry Wetcher/Columbia Pictures
AT an hour when most people had long since left work, the atmosphere in the control room at the Hit Factory, the Midtown Manhattan recording studio, was just heating up. It was after 9:30 p.m. when Jennifer Lopez, dressed in a Miu Miu poncho and her own J. Lo Rider jeans, leaned against the console, closed her eyes and blissfully sang along to the sound of her own voice.
The song, "You're Perfect," was one she wrote for her coming album, and as it filled the room, her record producer and her voice coach, both dressed in sweatsuits bearing the Sean John label of Ms. Lopez's ex-boyfriend, the impresario Sean Combs, leaned back, rocking out to the music. Her assistant Tiana; her hulking bodyguard, who goes by the name B-O-B; her manager, Benny Medina, and an assortment of hangers-on watched in approval.
Jennifer Lopez in "Maid in Manhattan", opening in December.
PHOTO: Barry Wetcher/Columbia Pictures
Ms. Lopez, the sultry actress, singer and entrepreneur who presides over a one-woman entertainment empire, had begun the day at 7 a.m. in Philadelphia, where she was filming "Jersey Girl." After working out with her personal trainer for an hour, she helicoptered to the Chelsea Piers to be photographed for the album.
After putting some finishing touches on the new album, "This Is Me . . . Then," she was to fly back to Philadelphia at midnight. She planned to use the time in the air to decide what she would wear a few days later, when she would accept the Most Influential Artist of the Year prize at the VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards on Oct. 15.
Then there was "Maid in Manhattan," a movie developed in part by Julia Roberts's former longtime agent, the producer Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas. It opens on Dec. 13, and Ms. Lopez's handlers hope this romantic comedy, about a hotel maid from the Bronx who finds love with a patrician Senate candidate (Ralph Fiennes), will break her recent string of disappointing films and do for her what "Pretty Woman" did for Ms. Roberts.
"It's a lot, I know, and I'm tired," Ms. Lopez said of her breakneck schedule. Then she added, laughing, "But I love it." It is packed through next June, and involves not only movie and music careers but a clothing line, a restaurant, a new perfume and her production company Nuyorican Films, which will oversee two of her future movies and is developing an NBC sitcom that Ms. Lopez will produce. "People think I'm superhuman," she said. "I'm not. I just work really hard."
Ms. Lopez, a paparazzi favorite who was involved with Mr. Combs (also known as P. Diddy) before his brush with the law over a nightclub shooting in 2000, denies that her acting career has suffered because of her recording career or her business ventures. Yet that very morning, a newspaper reported that she had abruptly dropped the agency that had represented her, International Creative Management. The item placed the blame on the lack of box office for recent Lopez films like "Enough," "Angel Eyes" and "The Cell." But, Ms. Lopez said, "I don't regret any of them." She added, a bit wryly: "It's occurred to me that writing is really important. But I choose my scripts; at the end of the day, I make those decisions. Nobody forces me. I can't blame an agent for that."
Ms. Goldsmith-Thomas was herself Ms. Lopez's agent until late 1999. They had worked together for several years before Ms. Lopez fired her. "I was so hands on, I was insistent about what I wanted," Ms. Goldsmith-Thomas said recently in New York. "We were two strong personalities."
After they parted, Ms. Goldsmith-Thomas said, the two did not speak for several months. "But then," she said, "we missed each other and got back in touch. Jennifer is actually really fun to hang with. Her drive is both wacky and inspirational."
Last year, when Ms. Lopez was a guest at Ms. Goldsmith-Thomas's house in Los Angeles, Ms. Goldsmith-Thomas told her about an idea she had for a movie based on a script by John Hughes ("The Breakfast Club") called "The Chambermaid." Ms. Goldsmith-Thomas then wrote a 40-page outline of the movie she envisioned, renamed "Maid in Manhattan," and Ms. Lopez promptly signed on.
"It was more of a fairy tale in the beginning," Ms. Goldsmith-Thomas said of the Hughes story. "I wanted it to be more realistic. I had just moved to Manhattan, and I was struck with the idea of this island surrounded by boroughs, as if they were populated by people with their nose pressed up against the window. People who serve Manhattan but can't afford to live here."
It's not Jennifer Lopez's story but it might have been. Her character, Marisa Ventura, is a single mother, a Hispanic woman born and bred in the Bronx who works at an upscale Manhattan hotel. Through a quirk of timing, the candidate, Christopher Marshall (Mr. Fiennes), mistakes her for a well-off guest at the hotel. They share an afternoon together and, of course, fall in love.
Ms. Lopez, 32, is famously from the Bronx herself. The daughter of a computer engineer and a kindergarten teacher, she grew up in the Castle Hill section. When she goes home, there is no mistaking her for someone else. The movie's first day of filming happened to be in the Bronx, and the director, Wayne Wang, said her fame almost brought the production to a standstill.
"It was pretty scary and amazing," he said. "When school got out, kids surrounded us and almost caused a riot. Jennifer was almost in tears. They love her, but it really got out of control."
Ms. Lopez can cause a stir in Manhattan as well. Mr. Fiennes, by telephone from London, still sounded dazed by the experience. "We were shooting on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum one night," he recalled. "It was lit romantically, and Jennifer was wearing an evening gown, looking incredibly stunning. Suddenly there must have been a thousand people screaming her name. It was like witnessing this icon."
Ms. Lopez is as matter-of-fact about acting as she seems to be about most everything else in her life. "As long as I'm prepared, I think I can do a pretty good job," she said, "and I'm almost always prepared." Mr. Wang said he had been so concerned about her extracurricular activities that he telephoned Michael Apted, the director of "Enough," to find out if she would be difficult to work with. "He told me she was very professional," Mr. Wang said, adding that he had also found it to be the case. "I don't think she even flubbed one line," he said. "She works with an acting coach and rehearses beforehand so she has it down once she comes to work."
Ms. Lopez's rise from Catholic school student to $12 million-a-movie superstar she made history in January 2001, when she had the No. 1 movie, "The Wedding Planner," and the No. 1 album, "J. Lo" has been steady and fairly swift. She got her first break as one of the dancing "fly girls" on the Fox sketch series "In Living Color" in 1990; did brief time on series like "Second Chances" and "South Central," and got her first major movie role in 1995 with "Money Train," opposite Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson. She followed that with the creature feature "Anaconda" and got star billing (and a $1 million paycheck) in 1997 for "Selena," the movie biography of the Mexican-American singing idol. She made two other movies in 1997: "Blood and Wine," opposite Jack Nicholson, and "U-Turn," directed by Oliver Stone. In 1998 she played the tough and sexy deputy federal marshal who gets locked in a trunk with George Clooney's escaped convict in Steven Soderbergh's "Out of Sight." Her performance, and their chemistry, got Ms. Lopez her best reviews to date.
While "Maid in Manhattan" seems tailored for Ms. Lopez's core fans, it may also appeal to those who will see authentic parallels between the story, which is more "Working Girl" than "Cinderella," and Ms. Lopez's own life.
Ms. Goldsmith-Thomas said Ms. Lopez has not forgotten her roots. "She so understood this character," she said of "Maid in Manhattan." She mentioned one scene in particular in which Amy Sedaris, playing a rich, haughty guest, makes some ethnic slurs and calls the Lopez character "Miss Cinco de Mayo."
"You could see Jennifer bristle," Ms. Goldsmith-Thomas said, "and it was for real. She's very protective of where she comes from."
Ms. Lopez says she has only fond memories of her childhood. She said her mother told her and her two sisters that "we could do whatever we wanted to in life and not to depend on anyone but ourselves." She enrolled in dance classes when she was 5.
"My mom came here from Puerto Rico when she was 2 and didn't have a lot of advantages," Ms. Lopez said. "So she wanted us to have dancing classes, music classes, whatever we wanted. My mom's a little frustrated actress. I think I'm living her dream."
Ms. Lopez said her father, who was also born in Puerto Rico, worked nights, so the happiest times involved being at home with her mother and two sisters, watching musicals on television. Her favorite was "West Side Story." Her mother, who grew up on East 102nd Street in Manhattan, was partial to it, too. "Every time that movie came on, she'd point out a place in some scene and say, `That's where I busted my head open once,' " Ms. Lopez recalled.
After high school, Ms. Lopez spent a semester at Baruch College in Manhattan but left to immerse herself in dance classes. She got her job with "In Living Color" through a casting call she found in the entertainment journal Backstage. She was soon in Los Angeles, "living high" on her $1,300-a-week salary, renting a two-bedroom loft, driving a brand-new car.
MS. LOPEZ spent her free time auditioning for commercials. She never got one. "I was terrible at it," she said. "If I don't feel passionate about something, forget it."
Through a contact she made at "In Living Color," Ms. Lopez was hired for the short-lived Fox drama "South Central." A few television roles followed, but Ms. Lopez had bigger plans. She wanted to become a movie star.
"I can remember running on the treadmill every day and saying to myself, 'Only the strong survive,' " she said. "Really cliché things. I was into working out, being the best."
Ms. Lopez says that her reputation as a diva is the bane of her existence, but she clearly has a fearless attitude that has served her well. Though an interview scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Hit Factory did not happen until 8 p.m., because the Chelsea Piers photo shoot ran hours later than expected, Ms. Lopez mentioned mildly that the interviewer was a few minutes late. But when she was reminded how late she was, she smiled good-naturedly.
She's nobody's patsy, however. In 1996 she auditioned for an Oliver Stone movie, "Noriega," which was never made. She felt, she said, that Mr. Stone was not sufficiently attentive, and she called her manager in a rage. "I said, 'I'll never work for Oliver Stone,' " she recalled. "I made all these sweeping statements that were so obnoxious and pompous." When Mr. Stone came calling again, it was to ask her to audition for "U-Turn." Ms. Lopez did so reluctantly. But this time, things went better: "I went in and he said he'd always been afraid of Puerto Rican girls. And I said, `You should be!' He said he used to take the bus in New York when he was younger, and the Puerto Rican girls were so tough. I told him he was silly, and got the part."
Ms. Lopez was no more intimidated when she decided, shortly after "Out of Sight,", to pursue a music career. She met with some producers from a division of Sony Music who, having heard her demo tape, wanted to sign her. She insisted on first seeing the head of the company. She was having her hair done in Manhattan when she got a call saying Tommy Mottola would see her in an hour. "I said, `I'm getting my hair done can't we do it tomorrow?' " But, she said, Mr. Mottola was going out of town. So Ms. Lopez, mother in tow, went over to meet with him. She said she wasted no time in expressing her annoyance over being interrupted at the hair salon. "He goes, 'What?' " she recalled.
The rest of the meeting went smoothly at least for Ms. Lopez. "I sat down with Tommy for five minutes, and then he closed the door and said, 'O.K., what do you want?' I said, 'I want the A treatment, I want everything top of the line.' He clapped his hands and said, 'All right, done deal.' I said: 'No way, I've got to call my manager first. He'll call you tomorrow.' "
Ms. Lopez laughed merrily at the memory. "Sometimes it's good not to know too much," she said. "Ignorance is bliss, a little bit."
Ms. Lopez seems too street-savvy to have ever been truly ignorant, but she is certainly not given to shows of introspection or angst. She doesn't even mind, except every now and then, the tremendous interest in her personal life. Since her breakup earlier this year with her second husband, the dancer-choreographer Cris Judd, Ms. Lopez, who is sporting a sizable diamond on her left hand, has been involved with Ben Affleck, her co-star in the coming comedy-drama "Gigli" and in Kevin Smith's "Jersey Girl." (She was married briefly to a former waiter, Ojani Noa, in 1997.)
She and Mr. Affleck escaped on a recent outing to Cape Cod, a rare break for her. "It was a particularly great weekend," Ms. Lopez said. "It was overcast weather; we looked at the ocean and talked. It was really quiet, which we liked. We were staying out at this remote house with Ben's mother, and during dinner we heard someone knock on the door. It was a fan asking if me and Ben were there. Ben's mom just said no. It's hard sometimes when people don't realize I'm also just a human being with a life to lead with someone I'm in love with."
The recording studio also appears to offer a refuge of sorts. She was especially at ease at the Hit Factory, joking around with her entourage in language much tougher than what she used during the formal interview.
The question was posed to everyone in the room: Was she really a diva? Her producer, Cory Rooney, and her voice coach, Kenny Hicks, cracked up. "She whips us!" Mr. Hicks yelled. "She flogs us!" Mr. Rooney said. "I beat them senseless," Ms. Lopez agreed.
She refused to say if she was more partial to music or film. If someone held a gun to her head and made her choose between acting and singing?
Ms. Lopez shook her head.
"You'd have to shoot me," she said. "I could act and sing in heaven."


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* Product disclaimers and legal policies.
Third-party logos and marks are registered trademarks of their respective owners. All rights reserved.

subset: commoncrawl


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Tuesday, 10 September 2013
Project 10 Pan Update!
So I haven't purchased (m)any beauty products since I started my project 10 pan...hi-fives all round ladies! Because of my great success so far, I thought I would extend my project 10 pan into a 'Project 20 Pan'.
Labels: Beauty
FODT: Movie Edition
So recently (by this I mean a few weeks ago...) I went off to the movies with some friends. I
decided to pop on a simple and fresh makeup look, and show you the products I used.
To begin with I gave my face some much needed moisture with the Chantecaille (pronounced 'shan-ta-ky') Magnolia, Jasmin and Lily Healing Emulsion, which is so unbelievably soothing on the skin.
Smashbox Photo Finish Hydrating Primer helps my face stay on just that little bit longer, which gives me the luxury of not having to touch up my makeup throughout the day. It's also quite hydrating, and soaks into my skin immediately.
For my foundation, Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua is the perfect 'natural' coverage. It's heavy enough to even out my skin tone, but at the same time light enough to feel weightless and allows you to actually see some skin. I used my all time favourite concealer to hide some clearly apparent dark circles and redness, which is the Ellis Faas Concealer in S202.
For a nice fresh and rosy cheek look I put on some Gorgeous Cosmetics Cheek Cream in 'Strawberries & Cream' and used MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in 'Soft and Gentle' for some added radiance.
As I am generally super pasty, I used NARS 'Laguna' Bronzer to give me a natural looking bronzed glow (oh how I love makeup!).
As for my eyes, a simple matte brown shadow in the crease using Gorgeous Cosmetics True Taupe and some mascara to define my eyes (Benefit They're Real') was as far as I could be bothered to go that night, but effective none the less.
To add a pop of colour to my lips I used the Stila Peppermint Balm Lipstick in 'Isabelle'. This stuff is so soothing and tasty, it can be a challenge not to eat it off your lips sometimes.
To set my makeup I used the MAC Fix + which is very refreshing and sets the makeup so that it holds throughout the night (great for nights on the town).
As a final touch I spritzed on my go-to perfume at the moment, Serge Lutens 'Un bois vanille'. It's brinking sickly sweet, but after it fades it is utterly delicious. Perfect for the colder months.
As for my nails, a quick coat of MECCA 'Volumina' gave me that added bit of bling to my outfit.
As for my nails, a quick coat of MECCA 'Volumina' gave me that added bit of bling to my outfit.
Sorry about the lack of a finished face shot, I forgot to take one before I left...my bad. But I will remember to do one next time I promise!
Apologies for the lack of posts lately too, I'll be back in the swing of things soon enough.
Poppy xxx
Posted by Poppy Owen No comments:
Wednesday, 10 July 2013
Easy Winter Makeup Look
Hi lovely people! I've been having a bit of a play with my makeup looks in the past few weeks as winter has come upon us here in Australia and there have been a few things that I have been loving.
1. Winged eyeliner
2. Dark berry lips
3. Simple eyeshadow
The Stila Stay All Day Liquid Liner in Intense Black has been my saviour and has allowed me to improve on my winged liner application (there have been some serious failures in the past, let me tell you!) This is a winner winner chicken dinner for me <3
'Simple eyeshadow' are definitely two words people like to hear. With a bold lip and some killer winged liner, why not just let the eyeshadow be easy for once!
If you would like to see how to achieve a simple yet sassy makeup look for winter, check out my video below
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I am writing in response to Norman Plombe's Aug. 31 Xpress letter "We Become Heroes by Saving." To quote Mr. Plombe, "Every time a firefighter dies while actually fighting a fire, conventional society jumps into lock step to deify him."
Perhaps Mr. Plombe does not realize that firefighters place themselves in harm's way to help people, not only while "actually fighting a fire," but also when they perform their duties as first responders answering calls at homicides, suicides, hazardous-materials spills, motor-vehicle accidents, medical emergencies, trench rescues, swift-water rescues, missing-person searches and a plethora of other "cushy" situations that HVAC technicians, exterminators and fast-food workers have neither the training nor the stomach to handle.
Mr. Plombe, if you don't seek to degrade firefighters, please don't confuse a fallen firefighter's funeral procession with a "parade" and don't assume you know how "cushy" our jobs are. It is true: we sleep and eat on the job. We work 24-hour shifts. Occasionally we read and watch TV on the job. We also train on the job.
To be realistic, firefighters accomplish more before noon than most people do in an eight-hour day, yet we are on the job for another 16 to 18 hours.
As for our excellent pay and benefits packages, most firefighters work second jobs just to make ends meet. On average, our retirement after 35 years of service is about 54 percent of pay. True, we have paid vacations, a health-insurance plan and life insurance that our family members hope they never have to be dependent on.
You are right, Mr. Plombe, "we don't become heroes by dying." I don't know any firefighter who considers himself or herself a "hero." We all do, however, genuinely like helping people.
— Jim Hitesman


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Well we had a fabulous time in Myrtle Beach....so much fun. Our dear friends Margie and Ashur joined us for a few days. It was so nice to see them again. We laughed until we couldn't laugh anymore.
So much fun.
Last night we went to see the Jersey Night Christmas Nights Show...How fun! Christmas Favorites, Frankide Valli Fav's and lots of Motown.....felt so good to relieve all that great music!!!
....and another sneek peek from the new Occasions.....how fabulous is this??? Love the combination of foil and vellum along with the washi.....stay tuned for shares coming real soon.....you won't want to miss out.
I will be posting a list of products in the next few days and will place the share orders on the 2nd of January. Please let me know if you are interesed.
Have a super fabulous day my sweet stamping friends!!!


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Burlington in Chittenden County, Vermont — The American Northeast (New England)
Quadricentennial Celebration
Burlington's International Waterfront Festival
The Burlington International Waterfront Festival featured more than 100 Champlain-themed theater preformances, concerts, food events, film screenings, a performance parade, and French-Algerian choreographer Heddy Maalem's dance spectacular, From the New World, featuring 60 Vermont, Quebec, and native dancers. Historians met at Champlain College to re-consider the Champlain legacy - and affirm the leading roles played in 1609 by First Nations leaders. An authentic 17th century Abenaki Cultural Village and Indigenous Signature Event highlighted Native culture and ideas, attracting thousands of people - and capacity crowds turned out for Abby Paige's original theater performance, Piecework: When We Were French, exploring the region's Franco-American heritage.
The July 11th Champlain parade unfolded despite a deluge, with rain-soaked spectators cheering more than a thousand hip-hop dancers, prancing horses, stunning black stilted puppets - and more. The Champlain festival ended
One thousand performers participated in a colorful July 11th parade commemorating Champlain's journey. Thousands cheered as they moved down Burlington's rain-soaked Main Street. Photo by Stephen Mease.
Festival producers commissioned "From the New World," an original cross-cultural dance event inspired by the Samuel de Champlain expedition. Photo by Mike Worthington, Jr.
Quebec City band, The Lost Fingers, performed gypsy swing versions of '80s pop tunes on the Queen City Radio Hour. Photo by Mark Harlan.
Quebec puppet troupe Les Saes Fous took audience members on a magical voyage outside the ECHO Center, where waterfront alleys became canals. Photo by Stephen Mease.
Representing France, "Aurelia's Oratorio" combined circus arts and visual illusion to create a dream-like landscape of theatrical magic. Photo by Richard Haughton.
[marker is also in French]
Location. 44° 28.616′ N, 73° 13.194′ W. Marker is in Burlington, Vermont, in Chittenden County. Marker is at the intersection of College Street and Lake Street, on the right when traveling west on College Street. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Burlington VT 05401, United States of America.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Celebrating Champlain (here, next to this marker); Lake Champlain Navy Memorial (about 600 feet away, measured in a direct line); The Lone Sailor (about 600 feet away); The Battle of Valcour Island (about 600 feet away); George Dewey, Admiral of the Navy, U.S.N. (about 600 feet away); Honor and Tradition (about 600 feet away); The Battle of Plattsburgh Bay (about 600 feet away); Little Italy (approx. 0.2 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Burlington.
Categories. • Entertainment • Exploration • Native Americans •
Credits. This page was last revised on June 16, 2016. This page originally submitted on December 15, 2015, by Anton Schwarzmueller of Wilson, New York. This page has been viewed 200 times since then. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on December 15, 2015, by Anton Schwarzmueller of Wilson, New York.


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Saturday, October 5, 2013
Manchester City vs Everton
Everton aim to continue their strong recent Premier League record against Manchester City when they visit the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
The visitors have won nine of the past 12 league meetings between the two, with City triumphant just twice during that time.
The Etihad has been a happy hunting ground for Everton of late too, with three wins and a draw from their last five visits to the ground.
They will make the journey this term in good spirits, with genuine hopes of adding to their recent run.
City, under new manager Manuel Pellegrini, have had a mixed start to the season so far, winning three, drawing one and losing two of their opening six league matches.
Their most recent league outing ended in a surprise 3-2 defeat at Aston Villa, while on Wednesday they were comprehensively beaten 3-1 at home by Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
They are the Premier League's top scorers this season with 14 so far, but they have been susceptible to conceding soft goals and currently sit seventh in the table, five points adrift of leaders Arsenal.
Pellegrini's side have lost a league-high number of points from winning positions (six), a figure that is in stark contrast to last season, when they dropped just seven points from winning positions across the entire campaign.
However, they will take comfort from the fact that they have found the net in 53 successive home Premier League games in a run going back to November 2010.
Everton are also under new management this season, with Martinez coming in to replace the departed David Moyes.
His new side have started strongly, boasting the only unbeaten record in the division thus far.
After three draws from the opening three league games, Martinez's side have won their last three games to climb to fourth in the table, three points behind Arsenal.
Were they to win on Saturday, it would represent the first time the club has won four successive league games since March 2008.
Their latest victory came in Monday's 3-2 win over Newcastle United at Goodison Park, with on-loan Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku scoring twice either side of a Ross Barkley strike.
That brace took Lukaku to three league goals for the season and in his last six Premier League appearances, and the Belgium international has averaged a goal every 37 minutes he has been on the pitch.
Everton will be without England international midfielder Gareth Barry, as the terms of his season-long loan deal from City dictate that he is ineligible to face his parent club.
Meanwhile, Martinez hopes Darron Gibson (knee) and Kevin Mirallas (ankle) will shake off their respective knocks in time to be included.
David Silva returned to action for City on Wednesday but long-term absentee Martin Demichelis remains out with a knee injury, as does former Everton man Jack Rodwell with a muscle problem.
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The Psychology of Hazing
Students have been expelled for dangerous acts of hazing as far back as 1684. Many laws exist to protect against hazing, yet it's still alive and kicking today. Check out the infographic below presented by BestSchoolCounselingDegrees.com to learn more about the psychology behind hazing and why it's here to stay.
Source: The Psychology of Hazing


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A Prayer for You and Yours" published last year in Give Us This Day. Poignant — all the more so given his recent death — with a touch of torque on the language that I deeply admire and appreciate, it speaks of the lengths and depths parents will go to, and God.
Give Us This Day swept the category this year, taking first, second and third places. All three essays pulled on the authors' experiences as parents. Listen to Mary Stommes' mother's wise words about an exasperating child in "The Wisdom of Our Elders": love him. We, too, are loved by God -- no matter how exasperating at times.
Third place? That went to my essay,"We Are Never Alone," about Psalm 139 for last May's issue: We are never alone, but besieged and beloved, from the beginning of time to the ends of the earth. I can't tell you how surprised I was at the news!
Do read Brian Doyle's and Mary Stommes' pieces and feast on the riches they lay on the table. Mine, too, if you are so minded!
Tenet insanabile multo scribendi cacoethes
An inveterate and incurable itch for writing besets many
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
Catholic Press Awards: And the winner is...
Posted by Michelle at 11:30 PM
Labels: Give Us This Day, writing
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We also did a little fingerpainting project to go along with handwashing. It was more of a sensory activity than an art project, though. I brought in some dishwashing soap from home (yes, handwashing soap would have been more appropriate, but the kids didn't notice) and got out primary paint colors.
UPDATE 11/21/2013: First of all, the hand washing chart is great! Not only do the kids remember to wash their hands every morning, but they learned how to read each other's names! Secondly, I won the contest I linked up to. (see below) Yay!!
Linking up to:
Hosted by A Cupcake For the Teacher, Miss Kindergarten, and A Modern Teacher.


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Mario Fruit Bubbles
Played 2331 times
Mario Fruit Bubbles game information:
Mario and Princess are chilling in this beautiful sunny day with flower, mushroom, and grass under the tree. Try to make the princess as happy as she could ever be by picking the best fruits ever for her.
How to play:
Match 3 or 4 of the similar fruits to clear out and give it to Princess.
Add this game to your website or blog!
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Here are a few I've found....more will be coming...
Kreativ Kirstin is giving away some great Magnolia Stamps and other goodies, she is going to pick 2 winners just visit her blog and follow her instructions.
Closing Date: Monday 15th September
If you go to Karen's Creation you could win these goodies which include 12 Dovecraft birthday 8x8 papers, eyelets, fibres, buttons, other embellishments, some Studio g stamps.
Closing date: Sunday 14th September


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You are here: Home ‹ Board index ‹ Jim Carrey Discussion ‹ The Speakeasy
Club Med.
Jim Carrey discussion on non-movie related topics or topics which doesn't fit anywhere else...
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Club Med.
I love this movie but I can't believe they made it into a DVD(R4). Then they changed the cover so people who don't know any better will think it is new. Here it is for anybody with a r4 DVD player(and for Nano who I know loves this movie. lol.)
Ebay

Re: Club Med.
Muahahahhahaaaaa! That's funny!

I can't believe there's a DVD!
"Whatever makes you feel good when you sit down and do it,
is what you should be chasing in your life." - Jim Carrey

2 posts • Page 1 of 1
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Joe Jonas appeared on "Live With Regis And Kelly" on September 8th. Jonas performed his new single "I'm Sorry." After the song, Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa talked with Jonas about the song and he revealed that it was an apology to a girl who's heart he broke, but he withheld the name of the ex.
Some of Joe's exes include Demi Lovato, Ashley Green, and Taylor Swift, so it could be to any of these stars, but as we previously reported, sources say that Jonas has been trying to win Taylor Swift back over, so my vote goes that this is directed towards Ms.Swift.
Some of the lyrics include:
was it the things i said, can i take them back
baby, cause without you there's nothing left of me
we can run away, we can change our fate
baby, what can i do to show you i'm sorry
|Recipe: Delicious Homemade Thanksgiving Stuffing - Once Upon A Maritime
|Tips For Cutting Thanksgiving Carbs - Once Upon A Maritime
|DIY: Stuffed Christmas Tree Craft For Kids - Celeb Baby Laundry
|Nick Lachey & Family Visit Disneyland - Celeb Baby Laundry
|Thanksgiving Cat safety Check List – Keep Your Pets Safe During The Holidays! - Cats & Meows
|Easy And Quick Chicken Cat Food Recipe - Cats & Meows


text: Taking care of those who need a helping hand is part of Rex Altree's philosophy. He believes a strong community is the best support system for the residents and businesses alike. Being part of the positive influence of the children of the world is helping to build a better future for everyone. Mr. Altree has achieved a high level of success through his ambition and hard work and wants to encourage others in his organization to experience the same level of success and achievement. This is the hallmark of Mr. Altree's character and is part of why he is a much admired businessman in the business community.


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Wednesday, 2 January 2013
Is Scotland's Renewables Policy Unrealistic?
Yesterday this part of Scotland was bathed in sunshine: a bright beginning to a New Year. There was little or no wind and although it was around 7 degrees at the height of the day, it felt warmer owing to the lack of the wind chill factor.
Unfortunately the lack of wind wasn't good news for a local small town which depends upon the wind blowing the turbines which decorate a nearby hillside. The people of this town were bribed into accepting the wind farm by promises of considerable amounts of money, on a regular basis, for years to come. I'm informed the monetary income has been far short of what was promised and the reason given to the townsfolk is that the 'right kind of wind hasn't blown often enough'. The wind farm owners have yet to explain what they mean by the 'right kind' of wind.
But the right kind of wind is possibly just one of their problems. In a report by Professor Gordon Hughes of the University of Edinburgh, one of the UK's leading energy and environmental economists, one of his findings involved Scotland:
Analysis of site-specific performance reveals that the initial load factor of new UK onshore wind farms, normalized for wind availability and size, declined significantly from 2000 to 2011, especially in Scotland. It seems that progressively worse sites are being developed.
His study highlights three important implications for wind generation policy. The first suggests that the subsidies are too generous and should be cut. The second mentions the actual life-span of wind turbines which is 12-15 years. I know the town here which bought into this particular market were sold it on the basis that the turbines would function for a minimum of 25 years. Professor Hughes' report cuts that by 50%.
It's all well and good for the Scottish Government to have a target of 100% of Scotland's electricity consumption coming from renewables by 2020, but at what cost to Scotland's consumers? Last month Ed Davey have a speech in Edinburgh where he stated that, in an independent Scotland, Scottish consumers would have to bear excessive costs for power. Westminster scaremongering aside, he is not the first to say that costs would be even higher than currently, the Renewable Energy Foundation warned the government a year ago that the impact on the Scottish consumer would be approximately £300 per household, of which about £140 would be for subsidy alone.
There's also the question of what happens to these turbines once their productive life is over. This should be addressed as soon as possible because planners need to start being honest with people who are affected by wind turbines. The Scottish public should be told the cost of dismantling and disposing of these massive machines. It could make the suggested £300 seem very optimistic.
Alex Salmond and his government must re-examine their energy policy now that further evidence is available regarding wind farms. To allow further wind farm developments in the light of Professor Hughes' findings would be irresponsible.
65 comments:
- Woodsy42 said...
Not just a Scottish problem SR, although your Mr S has put you in the highest cost category.
Happy new year.
- 2 January 2013 at 10:37
- Peter A Bell said...
People seem to have a problem grasping the rather obvious fact that onshore wind generation was never going to be a long-term solution. A market for renewables had to be created and nurtured. Onshore wind turbines offered the only viable technology at the time. Had the Scottish Government not chosen to fully support commercial-scale development of wind farms we would not now be in a position to make the transition to offshore generation.
Had the market for renewables not been established using onshore wind, there would have been little or no incentive for the accelerated development of marine energy technology.
There is no magic way of getting to where we want to be in terms of clean, reliable and affordable energy. It is a process. The Scottish Government is to be congratulated for recognising this fact and for not indulging in the kind of short-termism that tends to blight policy-making.
- 2 January 2013 at 11:09
- cynicalHighlander said...
Anonymously peer-reviewed!
Scottish Renewables responds to REF report on wind farm economic lifespan
"Let's also remember that Gordon Hughes' previous research on wind energy has been described by the UK Energy Research Council's Dr Robert Gross and others at Imperial College, London as "economically irrational, a nonsense scenario" and "economically absurd, spurious and misleading".
- 2 January 2013 at 11:10
- JRB said...
The immediate and succinct answer to your question "Is Scotland's Renewables Policy Unrealistic"? – is of course Yes!
All the evidence has shown that the scientific and technical development has lagged far behind expectation or need; and the cost effectiveness of such systems is never discussed lest it frightens the natives.
But in all truth this whole topic has gone far beyond wind turbines and wave machines.
The subject mater has become an irrelevance; we could just as easily be discussing renewable purple widgets.
Our politicians in all their wisdom have decreed that there will be renewable energy by 2020.
So, regardless of the science, the cost or public opinion there will be renewable systems – the politicians have spoken – renewables by 2020 - and that is their final word.
For if the politicians were to accept the truth and admit that they have gone down the wrong road – think of the loss of face – the loss of credibility – the loss of voters support - the loss of their seats.
No! All that is unthinkable. We are stuck with renewables.
- 2 January 2013 at 11:16
- Peter A Bell said...
ThE Scottish Government's target is not, as stated here, "100% of Scotland's electricity consumption coming from renewables by 2020". The actual target is that the EQUIVALENT of 100% of requirement should come from renewables. The intention is to move to a situation where renewables constitute a major component of a MIXED generation capacity.
- 2 January 2013 at 11:20
- Elby the Beserk said...
Wind farm disaster predicted
The Renewable Energy Foundation [1] today published a new study, The Performance of Wind Farms in the United Kingdom and Denmark,[2] showing that the economic life of onshore wind turbines is between 10 and 15 years, not the 20 to 25 years projected by the wind industry itself, and used for government projections.
The work has been conducted by one of the UK's leading energy & environmental economists, Professor Gordon Hughes of the University of Edinburgh[3], and has been anonymously peer-reviewed. This groundbreaking study applies rigorous statistical analysis to years of actual wind farm performance data from wind farms in both the UK and in Denmark.
The results show that after allowing for variations in wind speed and site characteristics the average load factor of wind farms declines substantially as they get older, probably due to wear and tear. By 10 years of age the contribution of an average UK wind farm to meeting electricity demand has declined by a third.
This decline in performance means that it is rarely economic to operate wind farms for more than 12 to 15 years. After this period they must be replaced with new machines, a finding that has profound consequences for investors and government alike.
- 2 January 2013 at 11:45
We need the facts, not political biased anti wind farm spin. There may not have been much wind where you were, but it's been blowing well here in the north east of Scotland. The facts speak for themselves. 35% of electricity in 2011 provided by renewables the bulk of that produced by land based wind.
Land based wind turbines will provide the cheapest electricity in the near future. The cost of everything else is set to go sky high. Fracking will be a short term blip, a flash in the pan providing minimal respite from the cost of energy.
.. but the subsidy you cry .. Investment! I would call it .. we would not get anywhere if we did not invest in renewables .. Only the Scottish government has the long term commitment. The UK government wants .. ahem ,, to invest in new nuclear .. that will be the biggest subsidy of them all.
- 2 January 2013 at 12:56
Why would we dispose of the turbines after 15 years? It would be a far more sensible idea to refurbish them when required. This 'cost disposing of' is a red herring predicated on them costing more than other forms of energy production. I'm just not buying it.
- 2 January 2013 at 13:26
- Joe Public said...
I just wish those promoting "Renewable Energy" had to exist with it alone. Unsubsidised & un-supplemented by reliable, predictable, conventional sources.
Those greedy companies & individuals who offered their land as "Subsidy Farms" on which to accommodate the turbines, should be forced to honour their financial pledges to affected communities who agreed to allow the developments in return for bribes.
'themidgies' is deluded - firstly with the comment "Land based wind turbines will provide the cheapest electricity in the near future." I invite him/her to give a simple "yes" or "no" answer to the question: 'Would you equip a hospital with wind turbines as its ONLY power source?'
The fact that wind turbines produce some 'free' electricity, some of the time, does not make them "the cheapest". There is a difference between low cost and best value.
Secondly, would he/she substantiate from a knowledgeable source, the comment "....Fracking will be a short term blip .."
- 2 January 2013 at 14:13
- Sobers said...
@Peter A Bell: I have read and re-read your statement several times and still can't make head nor tail of it. What exactly is 'equivalent to 100% of requirement', if not actually 100% of requirement?
- 2 January 2013 at 14:25
@Joe Public you asked "Would you equip a hospital with wind turbines as its ONLY power source?"
What an absurd question.
Wind power is only part of the renewables and non renewables mix right now. In future as non renewable resources decline or become too expensive we will be using the power from tidal energy, wave energy, hydro energy and wind energy. We will be interconnected with the rest of Europe (It's happening now) so that when all of our resources are not providing quite enough energy we will import the energy from sources such as hydro in Norway. ..but to be honest Scotland is so well endowed with renewable resources that we will never stop exporting energy to those less fortunate countries.
EU wide grid: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-18066306
On fracking: "This fracking fantasy is the delusion of fossil fuel addiction" http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2012/dec/13/shale-gas-fracking-davey
One more thing regarding investment. "Lord Browne, the former chief executive of BP, has backed wind power subsidies. "People forget the government supported the oil and gas supply chain in its early days: with generous tax incentives, training programmes, strategic infrastructure; and supportive regulation," he said in 2011. "The result today is a world leading industry, creating jobs in manufacturing and engineering across the UK.""
- 2 January 2013 at 15:07
- Lord Monty said...
This windmill scam has lumbered on for longer than most expected. I suspect it's because the msm refuse to challenge any of the claims made by the windfarmers and just print whatever they are told. If they immediately divided any claimed energy output by 4 ( load factor 25%) and asked how much the land owner was trousering then the scam would die off earlier.
Oh and constantly reminded people that the windfarmers need 100% back up from power stations and produce nothing when it's most required...during the cold high pressure winters.
Oh and Happy New Year SR :)
- 2 January 2013 at 15:21
- cynicalHighlander said...
Joe Public
Secondly, would he/she substantiate from a knowledgeable source, the comment "....Fracking will be a short term blip .."
#3 - Is Shale Oil Production from Bakken Headed for a Run with "The Red Queen"?
- 2 January 2013 at 15:51
- Apogee said...
I think that there is a mistaken idea regarding renewable energy, the water and the wind may be free, but the actual generating equipment most certainly is not. Once the power is generated the cost of moving it to where it is to be used is the same.But it seems from some reports that it is cheaper moving power through the network if you are generating in the south of England than the North of Scotland and this seems to be to be due to pricing structures on the power grid and nothing to do with physics.Anyone have the full story on this?
Once generated the needs of a power grid are the same, costs are the same. Wind generators are not cheap, they have to be maintained and serviced like any machine and it seems that like so much of the "windustry",fiction is more in play
than fact. Round the world there are many thousands of wind generators where the owners/operators have walked away because the maintainance/operation is no longer economical and the cheapest option IS to walk away.
Without subsidies the industry is
UN-sustainable and my fear is that even with the mega-bucks being spent, the system will be terminally uneconomic and that one day, the lights, the central heating (needs electricity to run) the TV and most of civilisation will stop. Ever thought how much of your/our food delivery/supply needs power? Freezers, computers,lighting,transport round warehouses, have a think, you may be surprised where it is needed.
And our elected representatives are choosing to force on us the most unreliable system possible.Why do you think ships no longer use wind power?(sails). Because it was no longer economically reliable!
Oh, and don't forget the banks and all their computers, the ones that handle your pay, that handle the supermarket payments that pay for the food you buy, and it goes on!
And why are the powers that be pushing this? why, the "Green Movement",which is worth a lot of money, by the way, ask Tim Yeo, Al Gore ,just for two ,and Greenpeace,and there are a lot more.They can make a lot of noise about "green issues" and a lot of politicians nod their heads sagely
without really knowing what they are agreeing about or to. And we pay the bills for their folly.
And remember also that the power output marked on the casing of a wind generator is the maximum it can generate, but in practice the average due to wind strength variation is about 30%.Would you buy a car which would only give 30% average that the salesman said? When you realised you would be looking for the salesman for the answers to a few questions. You wouldn't buy the same again. Would you? Seems on your behalf the politicians are!
- 2 January 2013 at 16:11
- Brian said...
I thought the "equivalent to 100% of requirement" was the development of a system in which 200% of requirement for Scotland was generated by a mix of renewable and economic generating plant and the renewably generated green electricity surplus was sold to the gullible Sassenachs in order to help them keep their lights on and meet their stupid government's EU renewables requirement. Scotland meanwhile keeps the 24/7 100% reliable gas and hydro electricity north of the border.
- 2 January 2013 at 16:28
- Joe Public said...
@ themidgies 15:07
"........... to be honest Scotland is so well endowed with renewable resources that we will never stop exporting energy to those less fortunate countries."
That's some pipe dream.
The Peterhead-Bergen Interconnect will only work where there's a difference in price, and that price will keep fluctuating throughout the day. It won't be operational until 2020 /21 at the earliest (if ever); and the capital cost is currently estimated to be in the region of £1.5 billion. [And capital-intensive projects like that have a spectacular track record of initial underestimation, simply to encourage the ball to start rolling!]
If Scotland's "always going to be exporting", are you stating it'll be 100% self-sufficient, and never at any time have to import?
@ cynicalHighlander 15:51 said...
"#3 - Is Shale Oil Production from Bakken Headed for a Run with "The Red Queen"?"
I'm puzzled by your link about Shale Oil production, at Bakken, North Dakota, USA ??
Here's a knowledgeable estimate of the UK's resources:-
Similarly, from the British Geological Survey map of shale formations:-
- 2 January 2013 at 17:30
The equivalent of 35% of Scotland's electricity was generated using renewable resources in 2011 using Scottish renewables.
Due to grid balancing UK wide, some of that electricity was exported to England.
Hence equivalent.
Let's look forward 50 years. How much do you think you will be paying for gas to burn in power stations to produce electricity? It will bring tears to our eyes I would think.
If we invest now we can in future be producing vast amounts of electricity from tidal energy. Tidal relies on the moon's gravity dragging on the oceans. It's quite a regular thing I hear.
.. but isn't the wind awful :) .. one minute it's hardly blowing at all and the next it's blowing your wig clean off! .. When the wind blow we can be exporting our surplus energy or we can be converting it into hydrogen for powering our cars. .. in the not too distant future.
What are you guys going to do when we can't afford to burn gas and oil? I suppose we can burn coal like in the good old days .. Steam engines anyone?
- 2 January 2013 at 17:38
- Key bored warrior. said...
It is incredible to watch comments on the subject and even authors of articles such as this who wilfully ignore that fact that we have since the 1950s been right royally shafted by the Nuclear industry and their admirable ability yo extract billions and billions in tax payers money subsidies without hardly a whimper from the tax payer. And as a result of their filthy activities we will continue to pump more billions in to cleaning up their mess for the next several hundred years. The fact that the Nuclear generation industry has been since it's inception been inextricably linked to WMDs, has paved the way for the massive con it has perpetrated on us that leaves any subsidy given to renewables in the shade.
If Nuclear were to be allowed to take to the field again in Scotland,all that would do would be to create a massive black hole that would suck in all the available subsidies and R&D money to the total exclusion of all others. Scotland is admired and lauded internationally for it's far sighted renewables work and investments. It will pave the way for a cleaner greener country and help to re industrialise our industries that were gutted by London politics. The Hydro industry being but one example.
- 2 January 2013 at 17:46
- Brian said...
A propos the conversion of surplus wind-generated electricity to hydrogen and its necessary liquefaction, may I remind readers of Scot James Dewar, who pioneered liquefaction of gases and invented the Dewar Flask? It's unfairly named the Thermos Flask, btw.
- 2 January 2013 at 18:49
- Joe Public said...
@ themidgies 18:38
1. The equivalent of 35% of Scotland's electricity was generated using renewable resources in 2011 using Scottish renewables.
That sounds impressive. Was that each and every second of each & every day; or, at times when that amount actually wasn't wanted & so had to be dumped?
BTW - you mention exports 'to England'; did your source also give 'imports from England'?. I wonder what the relevant ratios were?
I recommend this site to show exactly which sources are providing your electricity, in real-time.
Sometime wind supplies 10% of our needs; sometimes that same day it may be supplying less than 0.1% of our needs. This irregular unpredictability forces us to maintain conventional power stations running; and, at lower efficiency than they would normally have to, to match the rapid variability-swing. Wind-power actually increases CO2 production over time.
You suggest "looking forward 50 years", with your supposition (prices) would 'bring tears to our eyes'.
Firstly - look back 50 years - the relative cost of energy then was greater than it is now.
Secondly, there's what's known as 'the price of discovery'. As prices rise, previously-discovered fields of gas & oil are announced - i.e. their production becomes viable.
Thirdly - guess how the discovery & exploitation of shale gas in the US has affected natural gas prices? It's not kept them steady; it's not reduced them by 10% - 20%; there's been a massive 70% reduction. And the UK is sat upon massive reserves of the cleanest, most efficient, most practical fuel/energy source available. Time to rejoice.
- 2 January 2013 at 18:50
- Lord Monty said...
keyboard...Sotland's greenieness is lauded by the windmill makers and Al Gore etc. Not exactly a roaring vote of confidence.
Our scenery won't be lauded for much longer that's for sure.
Germany and the US are seeing the error of their ways and switching to coal and shale respectively ( present green subsidies to be used up first of course). 23 New coal power stations in Germany on plan.
I wouldn't worry about nuclear and coal as the SNP are phasing them out. No idea where the 65% energy loss will come from. Nuclear power from France via the inter connector no doubt.
It's the fibs about windpower that are so annoying.
Take Whitelees for example. It's website says....
"The windfarm has 140 turbines which can generate 322MW of electricity, enough to power 180,000 homes"
Yet the output from the windmill farm has never exceeded 24% of maximum capacity. And was 13% one year.....
This playing with us is replicated across the windmill world and is never challenged. Giving them extra money for expansions on a false premise.
I doubt if our politicians who sign away our money and scenery have the slightest idea what a 'load factor' is or how much concrete each windmill base takes or how devastating the rare earth mines are in China that are needed for the gearboxes.
Offshore will be a bigger catastrophe and will multiply the costs 4 times.
- 2 January 2013 at 19:29
@Joe Public
Interesting page you link but not as interesting as this one showing the real time export of electricity onto the grid from Scotland to England:
http://www.nationalgrid.com/uk/Electricity/Data/Realtime/Demand/Demand60.htm (look on the right hand column)
... and we have hardly begun to exploit our renewables potential.
I already explained to you that the intermittency of the wind will be mitigated by tidal and hydro, by EU wide grid balancing and by storing the energy as hydrogen for example. Wind turbines wont go away though because they will producing relativity cheaper electricity into the future.
.. but on your fracked future:
"UK shale gas is more lead balloon than silver bullet"
"Shale gas from UK fracking might, with state help and many years from now, produce a relatively small amount of gas, which won't reduce gas prices and would bust our carbon budgets unless emissions are expensively buried. ....if all the environmental concerns are addressed, especially methane leakage. But as I think the analysis above shows clearly it's not so much a silver bullet as a lead balloon."
- 2 January 2013 at 19:38
- Elby the Beserk said...
themidgies said...
Sorry. That's utter bollocks. Not even the wind people claim that,
If wind hits 5% in a week, it's VERY unusual.
35%! That's a downright lie. Citation please, other than your say so. Not to mention that wind needs permanent fossil fuel backup.
Scheesh. Green brain-washing.
- 2 January 2013 at 19:54
- Elby the Beserk said...
themidgies said...
Sorry. That's utter bollocks. Not even the wind people claim that,
If wind hits 5% in a week, it's VERY unusual.
35%! That's a downright lie. Citation please, other than your say so. Not to mention that wind needs permanent fossil fuel backup.
Scheesh. Green brain-washing.
- 2 January 2013 at 19:54
- Elby the Beserk said...
- 2 January 2013 at 19:56
@Elby the Beserk
I'm talking about Scotland not UK ..
See here:
Good progress don't you think? Look also at the chart that shows the amount that wind contributes to the renewables mix.
- 2 January 2013 at 20:17
- cynicalHighlander said...
Joe Public
When did US physics differ from UK physics?
The whole shale industry is a financial scam sucking investors money in including vast amounts of taxpayers money to stand still. The TOD is written and commented on by those directly involved in the drilling industry and as such will generally give a truer picture than the majority of the MSM.
- 2 January 2013 at 20:26
- cynicalHighlander said...
N.Ireland to Great Britain: -252MW
France to Great Britain: 1492MW
Netherlands to GB: 994MW
North-South: 8704MW
Scot - Eng: 2524MW
Looks like England is short of over 5,000MW
I belive that Hunterston has been shutdown for over 3 months producing no power only sucking power to keep it relatively safe that is why electricity is so expensive.
- 2 January 2013 at 20:31
- subrosa said...
Yes it's expensive Woodsy and will become more so.
Happy New Year to you too.
- 2 January 2013 at 22:10
- subrosa said...
If that is the case Peter, why are these farms still being built?
People don't have a problem grasping the fact - politicians have a problem because they never explained that to the public.
Marine technology research has been underway long before windfarms sprung up everywhere so that's a poor excuse. Marine developed from the excellent hydro systems installed in the 50s and now uses much more modern methods.
No, there's certainly no magic way, with that I agree, but scaring our landscapes so brutally and for short term gain for a few, seems rather silly.
'Not indulging in short-termism'? Isn't installing windfarms which will last no longer than 15 years short-termism?
- 2 January 2013 at 22:15
- subrosa said...
Erm CH, the UK Energy Research Council is a quango which is there to support government decisions.
I suspect the truth lies somewhere between the two opinions.
- 2 January 2013 at 22:17
- subrosa said...
Exactly JRB and at any cost because their ambitions rate far higher than the extra financial burden which will be put on every Scot.
We are stuck with it although there has been little mention of other types of renewables.
- 2 January 2013 at 22:19
- subrosa said...
My apologies Peter, I should have put that in quotes as it came from another source. Of course there has been little mention of anything other than on or off shore wind.
- 2 January 2013 at 22:20
- subrosa said...
Aye Elby and that study isn't the only one to state that wind farms don't last more than 15 years. Plenty US studies have shown the same for some years now.
- 2 January 2013 at 22:22
- subrosa said...
Themidgies, I'm in Perthshire and there was no wind yesterday and only a light breeze today. Last week we had high winds - too high for the turbines I was told.
I don't believe turbines will provide the cheapest electricity in the future. That's what we'll be told though.
Investment? OK but the investment's not for Scotland because most of the businesses involved are foreign.
- 2 January 2013 at 22:25
- subrosa said...
The midgies, this may interest you:
- 2 January 2013 at 22:32
- subrosa said...
Me too Joe, although I do know a couple of farms which are totally self-sufficient. Of course that's because needs must in their cases.
- 2 January 2013 at 22:34
- subrosa said...
Well said Monty. A Happy New Year to you too. :)
- 2 January 2013 at 22:35
- subrosa said...
Excellent comment Apogee.
- 2 January 2013 at 22:36
- subrosa said...
Ah Brian, you're more informed than me. I thought we were stepping away from gas.
- 2 January 2013 at 22:37
- subrosa said...
The midgies, I'd be interested to know how much of Scotland's electricity was generated using renewables in say 1970.
Hydro has been producing quite a percentage since the 50s.
- 2 January 2013 at 22:39
@ Subrosa
When you say no or little wind are you able to view a local windfarm? You will find that although at our height there does not seem to be much wind, up where the turbine blades are there is a good amount. Of course it varies but nevertheless .. it still works as I've pointed to the stats don't lie. take a look a at charts 4 and 5 here http://www.scottishrenewables.com/scottish-renewable-energy-statistics-glance/
High winds you say? We also get serious winds here. I have seen only a couple of turbines stopped in those conditions while the rest were going great guns. So I suspect one or two turbines were shut down for over capacity on the grid, but only for a short time.
I agree it is a shame that we are not building or managing these turbines but who is to blame for that situation? Previous Scottish governments and of course the usual suspects in London. Manufacturing is coming back to Scotland in this very area under the current Scottish government.
Would you be in favour of them if more were built in Scotland?
Possibly not .. You have this crazy notion that they are not good looking and don't blend in to the Scottish countryside. I can confirm that given the correct location, you are, well, just wrong about that. :)
- 2 January 2013 at 22:48
- Joe Public said...
@ themidgies 20:17
Thanks for the N-S link, I wasn't aware that data existed. Seems it's a good job we're all part of the UK, sharing the Scottish bounty, eh.
@ cynicalHighlander 20:26 & 20:31
1. The extraction physics are probably similar, I just wondered why you introduced a US shale-oil opinion into a UK shale-gas discussion.
2. Surely a huge additional discovery & supply of a commodity which will dramatically reduce unit prices is a good thing? If prices have reduced, how can you claim it is "...a financial scam sucking investors money in.." BTW, investors make their choice freely; unlike all UK electricity consumers who have to massively subsidise wind- & solar generation.
As a parting shot...........
What's the point in trying to reduce CO2, there's been no Global Warming for 16 of the past 18 years, despite significant year-on-year increases in atmospheric CO2?
Russia has this week now joined the US, China and India in refusing to commit themselves to expensive reductions of greenhouse gas emissions.
- 2 January 2013 at 22:51
- subrosa said...
I'd agree hydro is a good example KBW, but of course hydro's been around for a long time now. Wind hasn't and it's now being shown that turbines are short term solutions - expensive ones at that.
- 2 January 2013 at 23:16
- subrosa said...
Thanks for the link Brian.
- 2 January 2013 at 23:17
- subrosa said...
Thanks for the stats CH.
- 2 January 2013 at 23:19
- subrosa said...
Yes I'm able to view a local windfarm the midgies if I drive a few miles. I know people who see it every day though and they say the propellors have not turned in two days. Last week they didn't turn for nearly 3 days because the wind was too strong.
Living near the Grampians makes unusual weather patterns so perhaps that's part of the problem. I must say many of the local townsfolk aren't impressed by the performance of their local windfarm, although most of them were in favour of it initially.
No I don't want to see our lovely countryside scared by more of these. Visitors are already mentioning the blot they make on the landscape and I wouldn't like my country to be famed for having once had the most wonderful scenery but now has the biggest density of wind turbines.
Of course they don't 'blend in'. Neither do pylons. But I'm realistic enough to realise there have to be concessions - sensible ones.
- 2 January 2013 at 23:27
- Lord Monty said...
Hydro is pointless as well SR. I looked at the figures a while ago and found the 72 hydro projects in the UK provided less energy than one coal powered station. For massive devastation to the countryside.
It's good for little islands or isolated farms I suppose. As long as the river doesn't dry up or flood...oh hang on.
- 2 January 2013 at 23:45
- Lord Monty said...
I found a 'good' video of life next to a wind farm SR if you want to pop over. Wee dram waiting as well ;)
- 3 January 2013 at 00:16
@Joe Public
Remember the hole in the ozone layer? Caused by humans using CFCs. Fixed by humans banning CFCs by international agreement.
It's not unexpected that our activity can have a big effect on the environment.
In 1950 there were a mere 2.5 billion people on earth. Now there are nearly 7 billion. It was all very well I suppose when there was a limited number of people using energy and resources like there was no tomorrow. .. but now China , India and Brazil are joining the party. That's a massive increase co2 production.
The earth will do what the earth has always done. That is: cycle between warm periods and ices ages over hundreds of thousands of years, but I also believe that the activities of humans, burning, consuming, multiplying must be speeding our way to a big change in our weather patterns. Violent weather? Rising sea levels? Melting icecaps? (the source of fresh water for many) Undoubtedly.
" climate change in Asia is losing the "Water Tower of Asia," which consists of the glaciers in the Tibetan mountains. Yan believes that within 30-40 years the entire basin area, comprising hundreds of millions of people, will experience a severe water shortage because of the loss of melting glaciers"
So, although I am more interested in keeping the cost of energy in the future down, creating jobs in a sustainable industry and providing a way for Scotland to benefit from our renewable energy potential, I also think we will be blazing a trail to a sustainable future that the whole world must follow.
- 3 January 2013 at 00:22
- Lord Monty said...
themidgies..I doubt if the hundreds of high altitude nuclear explosions during the testing period did the ozone layer much good either.
Oh and the melting glaciers nonsense is so last year mate. Debunked and forgotten.
- 3 January 2013 at 00:27
- Joe Public said...
@ themidgies 00:22
We're in total & absolute agreement:- "The earth will do what the earth has always done. That is: cycle between warm periods and ices ages over hundreds of thousands of years,.. "
The ozone hole is mainly caused by chlorine (that well-known original 'poison gas') from human-produced chemicals.
This country (and many others) is wasting £billions trying to reduce emissions of a life-supporting trace-gas, CO2, increases of which actually improve plant life.
"In 1950 there were a mere 2.5 billion people on earth. Now there are nearly 7 billion."
So you'd actively recommend Scotland to copy & impose China's 1-child policy?
Lord Monty beat me to it with the fact that the original IPCC scare story of Himalayan glaciers melting by 2035 has, along with many of their other false predictions, been well & truly debunked nearly 2 years ago.
- 3 January 2013 at 01:11
- subrosa said...
I don't think hydro has massively destroyed the countryside Monty. In fact the Pitlochry scheme has enhanced it I would say and the buildings involved are splendid architectural specimens.
However the population there is sparse compared with the cities. I can remember the public outrage when that particular scheme was mooted and yet visitors from all over the world have been going to see it for decades now.
Thanks for the link to the video. I'll go and watch it right now.
- 3 January 2013 at 01:11
- Key bored warrior. said...
Hi Rosie, if you read The Hydro Boys by Emma Wood it gives you a terrific insight in to the machinations and politics that killed Hydro in Scotland. We were once again stripped of an essential industry to satisfy the insane ideology of a Tory government we never voted for. There is as much Hydro capacity left in Scotland as has been developed. You are correct on Pitlochry. It took almost 25 years of planning objections to overcome to put the Hydro scheme there. Most of these objections came from the vested interests of coal, the NUM and Gerald Nabaro who was King Coal as he represented thousands of miners in his constituency. Once more Scotland had to dance to the tune of England. Scotland could have been self sufficient in Hydro and coal decades ago with no Nuclear. That is the Nuclear you fail to mention Rosie like so many others you turn the Nelsonian eye to it as it has been one of the most expensive cons ever perpetrated on us, and all at the insistence of the USA. And we will leave a nasty toxic legacy to our kids with it. Dounreay and Sellafield are forecast to be toxic for hundreds of years. There are ponds full of toxic filth in Sellafield that had to change it's name to Windscale, that no one has a clue what to do with and they do not know exactly what is in them. Clean energy my arse.
Please try and accept that Scotland is not covered with wind turbines and never will be. Just because some saddo behind a keyboard says so it is not true. As is the remarks made that Hydro has decimated the country side. It is just nonsense. Whitlee near me has had to extend their car park to cope with the visitors they now get every weekend. It is a fantastic facility with miles of tracks where thousands of people now roam freely in a part of Lanarkshire that would never receive a visitor. Except the occasional visitor to a Covenanter monument. People cycle and walk their dogs there and use the excellent cafe and information centre on site.
You refer to the fact that you have seen some turbine blades not turning. If you lived with in sight of Torness, a facility built for political reasons, how would you tell that one of it's reactors has been idle now for over a year due to fracturing and an explosion. There are no revolving blades to tell you and the industry certainly will never tell you due to it's inbred default position of secrecy. Hunterston is also having the same problems as both these facilities struggle to stay alive on an extended and dangerous life cycle.
The 200ft deep shaft at Dounreay they filled with waste has now begun to contaminate the local water table, you won't find that in The Scotsman or Telegraph. I know people who work there.
Just imagine Rosie a network of generators that produce energy for free from the wind that manufactures Hydrogen. You pull up at the pump and fill your car, with a fuel that produces water as waste. During the night the turbines are turning as you sleep producing more. Or they may be sending electricity to a pumped hydro scheme somewhere, so that in the morning when you switch on your kettle there is plenty power. That is the prize we are aiming for. The technology exists right now to do this, hydrogen cars are with us. Pumped hydro is with us. All it takes is a political vision, and will to kick start it all, and overcome the vested interests of Nuclear, Oil and Coal, that are very very powerful. Wind turbines are but one fraction of an overall energy policy that seeks to put clean sustainable power at the top of our countries agenda.Scotland has that vision, we just need to take the next step and vote for self government to grasp the gold medal.
- 3 January 2013 at 11:06
- pa_broon74 said...
No idea about the actual costs of wind/hydro/tidal versus nuclear/coal/gas.
Having lived in the shadow of a coal fired power station, I know which I prefer.
I also think (a belief I have) that any form of power generation would need subsidised (someone mentioned 'investment' earlier which I think is more apt.) The idea that we wouldn't be having the same arguments about coal or gas stations in terms of costs to the consumer is I think, optimistic.
I think new power generation should be more forward looking, taking onshore wind in isolation, it does seem short sited, but then you wouldn't have carbon capture on new coal fired stations (for example) without first having coal fired stations with out it.
I think there is too much emotion in this argument, to much ideology and entrenched views.
I don't beleive in the global warming scam but I do think we need to be a bit more thoughtful about how we do things, I also think we'd be getting fleeced by any industry that produced consumer electricity (thank the tories in the 80's for that.)
As I said, having lived with a coal fired power station, including the mining and fueling infrastructure, I'd far rather have wind turbines.
Folks complaining about wind farms on local hillsides are actually quite lucky, I mean, if you had to have something generating power on your doorstep, what would you choose?
- 3 January 2013 at 11:21
- subrosa said...
Hi KBW, I'll definitely get that book because a couple of years ago I decided to make a photo library of all the building connected with the Tummel hydro.
I'm not turning a blind eye to nuclear but I'm not up to date with the current facts of storage etc, My fault. (I remember writing a thesis about it way back in the 70s and even then I argued against it, but much has changed since then).
You say Scotland's not covered with windmills. Can I say I meet many visitors to Scotland each year and last year I would say around 50% of them mentioned the windfarms. Only a few didn't object to their location in regard to the scenery. It seems that some people find windfarms attractive but certainly overseas visitors do not.
As I said, I know a few people in the town which was supposedly to be 'benefiting' from having a windfarm and it's from them I receive my information. They feel they've been conned about the amount of money they would be adding to the town's coffers.
Of course all that's political.
The public need to know more about all renewables. How do they store wind for example?
Sadly I'm an old pessimist and don't believe that renewables will reduce bills. Maybe I'm becoming too cynical. :)
- 3 January 2013 at 14:01
- subrosa said...
Good points there pa_broon. Many thanks.
I think wind turbines can create their own problems for those who live closeby though.
- 3 January 2013 at 14:04
Q How do they store wind power?
A: They can use it to fill dams for hydro power (pump storage).. but in the near future they might also convert it to hydrogen.. the technology is already available. At the moment they just add it to the grid.
Q: Will renewables reduce bills?
A: Only relative to non renewable generation. Prices are going up, they will continue to go up regardless of the method of power generation. It's a question of which methods increases bills the least.
A good link was posted above:
"Renewables offer lower bills than gas and nuclear says new report" 03 January 2013
"The report from the Committee on Climate Change, advisers to the UK Dept of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), concludes that household energy bills will be about £600 higher per year by the end of the decade if the UK relies increasingly on gas, whilst they would only be around £100 higher than today's average if the UK concentrated on renewable power generation."
- 3 January 2013 at 14:26
- pa_broon74 said...
I just can't quite bring myself to believe anything coming from something calling itself the 'committee on climate change', I just can't help but feel they have as much of a vested interest as say, the nuclear lobby or fossil fuel crowd.
Same goes for these reports, who's funding them? This is where the science seems to leave the building and all the vested interests flood in...
Which is annoying because I would much prefer renewables to oil/gas/nuclear alternatives, they just seem more sensible. Even if they were more expensive and providers where honest about it, I'd still have them over o/g/n generation.
- 3 January 2013 at 15:23
- Brian said...
"Ah Brian, you're more informed than me. I thought we were stepping away from gas".
Rosie, That's a good policy, as I was reminded this New Year why Jasmin the Labrador isn't allowed even one leftover sprout.;(
- 3 January 2013 at 16:53
- Barney Thomson said...
Joe Public at 01:11 -
Your Telegraph link which "debunks" the retreat of the Tibetan plateau glaciers is not about Tibet. It is about the dirty, reflective and western facing glaciers of the Karakorum.
This article includes information about the Tibetan glaciers -
- 3 January 2013 at 23:28
- Key bored warrior. said...
To add to my comments above. For anyone who thinks that Nuclear should be the way forward for Scotland take a look at the following articles:
- 4 January 2013 at 16:36
- cynicalHighlander said...
Nuclear was always about producing weapons of mass destruction which is why the US etc are so worried about Iran and its route down this road which has sweet FA to do about electricity production.
- 4 January 2013 at 21:54
- subrosa said...
Many thanks for the links KBW. I appreciate the points you make and also the time you've taken to contribute so well to the debate.
- 5 January 2013 at 03:09
- subrosa said...
There could be something in what you say CH.
- 5 January 2013 at 03:10


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sometimes exceptional ideas are kind of gushing out of my brain,my so called 'creative moments' ,but everytime i have one of those rare and very special moments, i'm either far away from any piece of paper or pencil, or i don't know how to sort my ideas and everything ends up in extraordinary flash flood or even in endless chaos. what is most annoying is if you have such a moment at 2 am. i don't want to stand up and note down what came into my mind, although i know if i don't do so i would forget everything until morning.. so i wake up like: ' fuck! i had this unbelievably great idea last nigt but i can't remember what it was about!' sometimes i remember through the day, but most times i'm just mad at myself because i didn't write my ideas down, so they are lost in space until forever.
posted 2/22/2011
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Here's the fourth post in our series of guest posts by Microsoft Most Valued Professionals (MVPs). Since the early 1990s, Microsoft has recognized the inspiring activities of MVPs around the world with the MVP Award. MVPs freely share their deep knowledge, real-world experience, and impartial and objective feedback to help people enhance the way they use technology. Of more than 100 million users who participate in technology communities, around 4,000 are recognized as Microsoft MVPs.
This post is by Denny Cherry, SQL Server MVP. Thank you, Denny!
This post and our next few "From the MVPs" posts cover aspects of the about-to-be-released Microsoft SQL Server 2012.
Hello; Denny here. AlwaysOn and SQL Server Availability Groups are probably the biggest, shiniest new feature in SQL Server 2012. There's a lot of pretty complex stuff that goes into building a successful AlwaysOn implementation. Throughout this post I'll demystify the various parts that make up AlwaysOn and describe how all these pieces fit together.
The basic concept of AlwaysOn is to take Database Mirroring–like data-moving capabilities combined with the Windows Clustering failover capabilities to provide a single seamless environment that allows for the failover of databases between physical servers without any single points of failure. This is done by using the Windows Clustering components of Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 to control which SQL Server will be hosting the active copy of the database and using the data-moving processes I just mentioned to replicate the data between the servers in either a synchronous or asynchronous configuration.
While SQL Server 2012 was in its beta cycle, many people (including me) assumed that Database Mirroring had been upgraded and that Database Mirroring was actually doing the data movement between the servers hosting the Availability Groups. But this isn't the case at all. The data movement component of AlwaysOn was actually rewritten completely (as Database Mirroring was being deprecated).
Availability Groups
You've probably heard the term Availability Groups being kicked around already. Availability Groups, or AGs, are the overarching object name used to set up this thing we call AlwaysOn. When we configure AlwaysOn, we create and then configure one or more Availability Groups within AlwaysOn. Three components are configured within an Availability Group: Availability Replicas, the Availability Databases, and the Availability Group Listeners. Configuration of the Availability Replicas and the Availability Databases is mandatory, and configuration of the Availability Group Listener is optional.
Availability Replicas
The Availability Replicas are the servers that will be hosting the databases contained within the Availability Group. The Availability Replicas include a primary replica and multiple secondary replicas. The primary replica is the SQL Server that has the databases available in read/write mode. The secondary replicas receive the transactions from the primary replica in a continuous feed of data. There must be multiple Availability Replicas within a single Availability Group, and a server can be an Availability Replica for multiple Availability Groups.
Availability Databases
The Availability Databases are the databases on the primary replica that are to be replicated to the secondary replicas. There can be one or more databases within a single Availability Group, but databases can exist only within a single Availability Group. For a database to be placed within an AlwaysOn Availability Group, the database must be in full recovery mode and in any compatibility mode supported by SQL Server 2012.
The secondary databases can be configured in three different modes:
- No access to the secondary databases.
- All connections are allowed to the secondary databases but only for read access.
- "Read-intent only" mode, meaning only direct read-only connections are allowed to the secondary databases and the secondary databases are all available for read access
When the database is in read-intent only mode, only applications using the new ApplicationIntent=ReadOnly connection string parameter can connect. (Different drivers have different connection string parameters, with this example being for the ".NET Framework Data Provider for SQL Server.") Databases in the more traditional read-only mode allow any application to connect to the database, allowing the user to query for data from the read-only database. In either of these modes, users are able to connect to the read-only secondary and run queries against the database, getting back real-time data from the database.
Availability Group Listeners
Without an Availability Group Listener, users would need to know which SQL Server instance was hosting the primary replica of the Availability Group. The Availability Group Listener gives end users a single network name to connect to, no matter which Availability Replica is hosting the primary replica. This is because the network name and IP address (or addresses configured on a multisubnet cluster), which are configured within the Availability Group Listener, are configured within the Windows Cluster, so they are brought online automatically when the Availability Group is failed over from one Availability Replica to another.
Prerequisites for Using AlwaysOn
A few prerequisites must first be met before you configure SQL Server 2012's AlwaysOn feature. All of the servers that will become Availability Group Replicas must be within the same Windows 2008 R2 Cluster. This means that they must be running the Enterprise or Data Center edition of Windows 2008 R2 Server. The instances don't need to be installed as clustered instances; they can be, but it isn't required.
Additionally, each instance must have the AlwaysOn feature enabled within the SQL Server Configuration Manager. You do this by selecting the properties of the SQL Server Service within the SQL Server Configuration Manager and, on the AlwaysOn High Availability tab, checking the Enable AlwaysOn Availability Groups checkbox, as shown here:
After you click OK, the SQL Service must be restarted for the AlwaysOn feature to be enabled. The final prerequisite is that all of the SQL Server services must be running under the same Windows Domain Account. Local service and local Windows accounts are not supported for running the SQL Server.


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30 Oct 2017
Fall Flower Beauty
Summer, summer, summer where are you? So sad that our bright, warm, luxurious summer days are over. The need of being pampered is overwhelming. It's good to know that Fall brings us lots of beauty with rich tones of red, burgundy, orange and purple...intoxicating smells and velvety petals of heavenly flowers. Let's enjoy the beauty of a given treasure - Flowers. Let's make loved ones feeling pampered, treasured, let's give a gift of flowers to the ones who are sad, lonely, disappointed, mad. Let's celebrate life with flowers. It's a God's given gift to us-humans. Let's enjoy the perfect beauty!


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By Mike Allen and John Mintz
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, December 3, 2004; Page A01
President Bush has chosen Bernard B. Kerik, the New York police commissioner during the attacks on the World Trade Center, to take over the Department of Homeland Security from its first leader, Tom Ridge, administration officials said yesterday.
White House officials described Kerik, who campaigned aggressively for Bush's reelection, as a proven crisis manager who can straighten out the lines of authority in the infant department and work to prevent a catastrophic attack or cope with its aftermath. Other Republicans said Kerik would provide a telegenic presence, and one presidential adviser pointed out that Kerik "brings 9/11 symbolism into the Cabinet."
Kerik will appear with Bush at the White House today, a senior administration official said. Some Bush officials said they were concerned about his lack of Washington experience, because commanding respect within the Cabinet and with Congress remains a challenge for the agency.
Bush also surprised Republicans yesterday by naming Nebraska Gov. Michael O. Johanns, 54, a dairy farmer's son who was the party's leading candidate in an upcoming U.S. Senate race, as secretary of agriculture. If confirmed, he will succeed Ann M. Veneman, an original member of Bush's Cabinet who said two years ago that she is fighting breast cancer.
In a third change as Bush reshapes his government for a second term, U.N. Ambassador John C. Danforth, 68, a former U.S. senator from Missouri, submitted his resignation after five months on the job.
Officials said Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson will announce his resignation soon and is likely to be replaced by Mark B. McClellan, a physician and economist who is administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Bush chose Kerik, 49, after the commissioner's former boss, former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, "made an impassioned personal plea to the president to give Kerik the job," one administration official said. White House officials said several people recommended Kerik and he was chosen on merit, not because of Giuliani.
The department that Kerik inherits from Ridge faces challenges on nearly every one of its high-priority fronts. The department, a collection of 22 preexisting agencies and offices, is under criticism for what some say is a failure to address many security gaps, such as protecting U.S. ports and chemical plants, securing the United States' borders with Mexico and Canada, and helping the country's first responders to prepare for attacks.
A number of panels of experts have concluded that the department is severely underfinanced and understaffed in many of its key functions. In particular, Homeland Security has almost no high-level staff members who are assigned to develop strategies about key policy problems.
At the New York City Police Department, Kerik is credited with improving relations with the city's minority communities after years of friction. He also was in charge during a period of declining crime rates in the city, although some experts say that was less a result of Kerik's policies than of demographic factors.
Kerik resigned as commissioner two months after the Sept. 11 attacks, citing a desire to spend time with his family. After the invasion of Iraq, he took the job of directing the training of Iraqi law enforcement officials, an effort that has met with mixed success. Many of the trainees have fled at the first sign of danger, but Kerik's defenders say he can hardly be blamed for that.
A high-ranking business executive who is familiar with Kerik's tenure as police commissioner and as head trainer of Iraqi police recruits expressed shock at his selection, and said Kerik is not an accomplished manager. "Management just simply isn't his strong suit," the executive said.
A number of New York elected officials praised the selection. "Coming from New York, Bernie Kerik knows the great needs and challenges this country faces in homeland security," Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement.
Bush said during an October campaign appearance with Kerik in New Jersey that the former commissioner "knows something about security -- he's lived security all his life."


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Events for March 3, 2018
Events for March 3, 2018
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Fastpitch Dreams Spring Classic Softball Tournament
http://www.fastpitchdreams.citymax.com/Schedules.html School playing - University of Michigan-Dearborn- Ferrum College Ferrum College JV Brenau University Grove City College SUNY- Delhi Lehman College Olney Central College Alpena Community College Garrett College Penn State-Schuylkill- PSU- Harrisburg- Walsh University Eastern Mennonite Florence Darlington Tech Schoolcraft CollegeFind out more »
USA National Prep School Basketball Championship
The City of North Myrtle Beach welcomes 60 basketball teams participating in the annual USA National Prep Basketball Championship tournament. The tournament will feature high school teams from 8 different states and Canada. Schools will bring Varsity, Junior Varsity, Girls and Prep teams to North Myrtle Beach for the 3-day event. Tip-off for the tournament […]Find out more »


text: Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, has agreed to settle a lawsuit that produced a $624-million jury award over the breakup of a distribution partnership with a Mexican company. Terms of the settlement with Valores Corp., Mexico's second-largest grocery wholesaler, weren't released, though Wal-Mart agreed to pay "less than the verdict," said spokesman Jay Allen. A Texas state court jury found that Wal-Mart and its McLane Co. unit acted with malice when they broke a 25-year agreement to handle grocery-store distribution in Mexico in partnership with Monterrey, Mexico-based Valores. Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart said reserves would cover some of the settlement, and it also will take a charge of about 3 cents a share in the fiscal second quarter, which would amount to roughly $133.5 million. Wal-Mart shares fell 69 cents to close at $45.69 on the NYSE.


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Rainbow Fund receives first donation and makes first grant
The newly re-constituted Rainbow Fund has received its first donation from the Brighton Bears Weekend. The Rainbow Fund recently announced that it would transfer its account from the Sussex Community Foundation to establish itself as an independent group. The Brighton Bears...


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We're open for rental by corporations, organizations, non-profits and other groups.
Our beautiful, contemporary Gallery accommodates gatherings of any size - from an intimate breakfast meeting to an afternoon seminar or glamorous evening cocktail reception.
Throughout the year, the Gallery showcases exhibitions of work by local, national and international artists, making for a fresh and unique event setting.
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Our base fee is $650/half day (based on a minimum 4-hour booking), which includes:
Meeting & Event Rentals
Aaron Archibold


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Life's too short – go explore the world.
Experience new cultures, ways of thinking and see some amazing sights.
We are here to help you travel to new places and experience new cultures.
We do the testing, the reviews so you don't have to.
You get the best gear the first time and save money to explore further.
There are 7 continents on this planet – how many do you want to see and explore. My target has always been 7 and why not. There are some amazing places to see.
I actually want to do 7 marathons in 7 days in 7 continents but that's fair for another day.
There are over 200 countries and many many islands. Do you really wanna be on your deathbed and say you have only visited 5 or 6.
Neither do i. That's why I created this site to help you and me travel further.
We will cover:
- New Gear
- New hotspots to visit
- Interesting places to visit
- General outdoor news
Do we sell products?
Do we have any commercial arrangements with any particular brands?
Why – we want to be open and honest. So if we say a product is good you will trust us. Also, means we can properly review items without having to worry about upsetting any of our partners.
However, sometimes some of the links we use, may allow us to earn a small commission if you purchase the product.
We don't let this decision determine the review, but it does mean we can keep the site free for you to use.


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First of all, all my progress since I began studying and decided on this journey in May 2012 can be found on the Crimson Daggers study group here - http://crimsondaggers.com/forum/thread-911.html It is 21 pages of pain and suffering. But god is it ever worth it. Watching yourself improve at something you love feels incredibly rewarding. With hard work, I truly believe you can accomplish your goals - It's just dependent on how much your willing to sacrifice.
I've got a lot of stuff to post in the coming weeks, a personal project among other things. I've also begun freelancing.
In the mean time a few of my daily still life studies and some sketches.


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Traci's Unique Party & Floral Boutique 2103 Gault Ave N, Fort Payne, AL 35967
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