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Sunday, August 2, 2009
Mats and Lydia Carlston
2 comments:
- Teach06 said...
Ok, this is going to sound totally crazy, but I googled this last couple and I found their names listed in this LONG list of BW/WM couples on http://concreteloop.com/
Some of the couples you already have, or maybe you've seen it, but nevertheless, here are the list of names. Maybe more for the blog! Happy Blogging! - Nicole
I have to post the list in segments...
Alison Stewart (Host of "The Most") & Bill Wolff (VP–Prime Time Programming MSNBC)
Virginie Silla & husband Luc Besson (French Producer-Director and Movie Mogul)
Prince Maxmilian of Liechtenstein and Angela Brown
Erica Dunlap (Miss America 2004) & Husband, Brian Kleinschmidt
Suzan-Lori Parks (Pulitzer Playwright & MacArthur Award winner) & Paul Oscher (Award Winning Blues Guitarist)
Paula Patton (Actress) & Robin Thicke (Recording Artist)
Angela McGlowan (Fox channel Host of "Street Talk") & John Venners, CEO of Venners Group
Lydia Carlston (Model) & Mats Carlston (Global Finance Leader and Partner, Nixon & Peabody Law Firm)
- August 2, 2009 at 7:24 AM
- PurpleNepenthe said...
Thank you! :)
I think I have this list. I will compare it to mine and see what I've posted and what I've researched. I didn't post your other lists so I could go through them first - I hope you don't mind. BTW, I have a gmail account with PurpleNepenthe if you want to email me personally.
I'm still looking for good forums!
- August 2, 2009 at 9:34 PM

subset: commoncrawl


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Experts do not respond to Preventive treatment, tooth decay and infection due to reasons such as the filling or root canal therapy applications gone unnoticed unrecoverable removal of teeth, oral and dental health expert Indicating that brushing one's teeth before the tooth extraction, to act with caution in Patients warned after tooth extraction. Do not shake your mouth for a period of least 30 minutes. shot wound healing and prevents the formation of blood clots, which will cause delay in healing. 15-20 minutes, until the buffer is placed after tooth extraction dentist bite firmly and do the normal swallowing is not ruined. Accumulation of saliva in the mouth and spit blocking the formation of blood clot can cause Continuously bleeding to continue.
Exposure may cause irritation of the hot, spicy food should be avoided, 24 hours after the shooting said that the duration of smoking and alcohol.
After tooth extraction for Patient's, Do not eat anything until the numbness in your mouth. Unconsciously, lethargic after biting the hand and face regions. 24 hours after tooth extraction to continue regular oral care routines of life. pain, over 24 hours of bleeding, bad taste in the mouth and no sense of smell, call your dentist without delay.


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Am I Ready for a Triathlon?
I just found your site because I am beginning to get a little nervous about my first sprint triathlon. It's in 6 weeks and I just began training pretty much from scratch. I am not a completely unhealthy person but my son being born 7 months ago made it a lot harder to get up and do things. The one that I am doing (Druid Hill Park Triathlon in Baltimore Maryland) has only a 300 yard swim 8 mile bike and a 5k but I am afraid I won't be ready in 6 weeks.
I have a job that I don't have to work during the summer months so I have all the time I need to put in to this. I have full support from my wife who believes that I can do this. However, I also know that she supports me in everything that I do so if I fail she will be just as upbeat as if I had succeeded.
I am see that on this website you say that it takes 6-9 months and there are a lot of others that say it takes longer. I think I just need to be told either 1. This isn't going to be possible try to find one in September 2013 or 2. Stick with it and try your best. Can I be even ready to do this at all?
Background on me:
- On the swim team in high school but have been out of high school for 14 years.
- Always been someone that loves to bike since I would deliver newspapers as a child.
- Don't really love to run as I have always liked sprinting over long distance running (this is the scariest part of the event for me).
OH 2 more questions:
Is it ever alright to walk during the event?
More unlikely probably, is it ever alright to get off your bike during a the ride?
A. Striegal from Maryland
Hi Lynn,
Thank you for contacting TriathaNewbie.com!
First off, welcome to the world of triathlons and give a big hug to your wife for being so supportive! It's great to have a fan that's 100% behind you no matter what!
Now, on to the questions you have…
In general, it takes 6-9 months to train for your first triathlon, especially if you are not an athlete. Our definition of athlete is someone who is currently active and working out roughly 3x's/week for at least an hour doing some type of cardio activity.
In general, it takes 6-9 months to train for your first triathlon, especially if you are not an athlete. Our definition of athlete is someone who is currently active and working out roughly 3x's/week for at least an hour doing some type of cardio activity.
As with anything in life, if you have a miserable experience doing something for the first time, you'll probably never do it again; same goes for triathlons. BUT if you give yourself adequate time to train, your body and mind will be ready for the race and you can feel excitement that comes with standing at the starting line.
Here's our advice:
- Do not attempt the triathlon in 6 weeks. You will either not be ready for the race, or you will be tempted to overtrain and potentially hurt yourself.
- Grab a triathlon training guide and start training.
- If, after four weeks, you feel like you are doing well, consider signing up for the September triathlon. Be honest with yourself, and don't try to compensate by doing too much too soon.
- You note that specifically, you have been a swimmer before. That is great, as it can often be the most challenging for new triathletes. If you find that your swimming comes right back to you and you are an old pro at the pool, you might be able to train in a little less than 6 months, assuming you are in good shape today.
You have one thing going for you that most people don't; you already know how to swim and are comfortable in the water. That will be a great asset in your training.
Per your walking questions: Yes, it is ok to walk during the run and bike, but it's more respectful to the sport if you train to run/jog and bike during those legs. If you need to walk, you will not get disqualified.
Be well.
TriathaNewbie.com staff
TriathaNewbie.com Recommended Resources:
Triathlon Swim : – Get the low-down on gear and read tips for training and events.
Triathlon Bike: – Learn how to structure bike workouts, find safety tips and read recommendations on great bike gear.
Triathlon Run : – Get the ultimate skinny on running sneakers, running gear, safety tips and much more.
"First Triathlon" Stories
Read stories written by people like YOU who talk about their first triathlon.
"Triathlete Profile
Read interviews of people like YOU who give advice on training, balance and much more.
There are Newbies Starting Triathlons Every Day. Today Just Happens to be YOUR Day!
Pennsylvania Triathlon – Connellsville Parks and Recreation Triathlon –-Great sprint triathlon for beginners!
New York Triathlon – Brooklyn Sports Club Mini Indoor Triathlon – This unique indoor event is perfect for first-timers
Is My Bike Ready for a Triathlon? …My concern is I will start ramping up my training and my bike won't last…
Buying a Triathlon Bike– Learn how to buy the right bike without breaking the bank from experts in the field
Running: Good for the Body and the Brain – Could running make you smarter? The answer may surprise you.
Triathlon QuestionWalking Instead of Running in a Triathlon –– The race promoters presented an award to a 69 year old female who had had 2 knee replacements…
New York Triathlon – Brooklyn Sports Club Mini Indoor Triathlon –This unique indoor event is perfect for first-timers
Georgia Triathlon – Tri for the Shelter Sprint Triathlon – USAT sanctioned, This triathlon takes place in the gorgeous Rocky Mountain Recreation..
My First Triathlon, Nicholas D'Angelo – It was the end of my life as I knew it and the beginning of the beginning. I decided that I wanted to live. I wanted to be a better husband, father, son, brother, uncle, and friend…
First Triathlon Story – Greg H. from Texas – just to raise your arms at the finish line and know that you accomplished a triathlon is such a great feeling.
Age Groups – Can you tell me why the age groups are 25 to 34 … while most races use 20 to 29, 30 to 39, and 40 to 49?
Triathlon ResourceWhat to Wear for a Triathlon – Is it insane to think I can bike/run in shorts and a sports bra that I swam in?


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I am conducting an experiment to utilize the frozen local tomatoes in my freezer during the bleak mid winter.
If you liked the Bruchetta in a jar please taste:
– Winter Salsa- Bruchetta style
– Winter Bruchetta in a jar
These products are slightly different as they are not made from summer local tomatoes and have some different ingredients.
Please let us know what you think!
At the Weare & Contoocook Farmers Markets 4oz jars are available for many of the jellies,jams & marmalades. Come on down to the farmers markets and taste what we have to offer!


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Things Required
- Take printout of above image as per the number of participants
- Tambola tickets
- Pen/Pencil
Kitty Party Games | One Minute Party Games | Games For Kids | Couple Party Games | Birthday Party Games | Icebreaker Party Games| Adult Party Games| Gift Ideas | Party Ideas | Valentine Party Games | | Holi Party Games
make this game more clear.. why will be need tokens for this game ??
will all players cut the tambola numbers together in one min..
then how to give early 5 etc.. ???
Hi Priya,
Thanks for pointing out, we do not need tokens to play this game.
Yes all players will play this game together at the same time.
Whoever cuts first five number on the sheet
will win early 5.
[…] Anniversary Tambola Game […]
Copyright © 2019 · Ladies Kitty Contact Us Disclaimer Privacy Policy


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Thursday, October 18, 2012
Brandy Graces The Cover Of VIBE Vixen (Photo)
Brandy recently released her first album in a decade which she titled Two Eleven. She says that people were calling her a "has been" and that she thought it "was over". Evidently, it's not. Fans and critics alike have already begun to give the songstress rave reviews on her work.
She's been doing promo all over the place for her new project and had this to say during an interview with VIBE Vixen- "It's amazing that people still have a love for me and still feel like they can relate to me". In her own words, "Go Bran", here's to relevancy and staying power.
(Image courtesy of Twitter)
-Care For Some Tea?
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In the 13th century a herbalist who came from the town where I now live – Bernard de Gourdon recognised the value of this plant. The virtue of all mints in aiding digestion continues in the fashion of 'after-eight mints'. Three hundred years later it was incorporated in a concoction of herbs used as a poultice to aid the cure of gunshot wounds – the 'arquebusade' .
The form of the flower is different from that of the true mints in that each flower has two lips and they are gathered in rather loose groups. In the true mints there are four small and somewhat equally sized petals arranged in dense groups or spikes. You can see this in the mint called Pennyroyal, the other photo. Again, except for the very north of France it is found everywhere on calcareous land. In Britain it has become quite rare having disappeared from most of its erstwhile localities. It also has a powerful smell and was famed for deterring fleas from the bedding. It is very likely that the Romans gave it the name of 'pulegium' for this reason (pulex = flea). The name Penny Royal, used since the middle ages, is derived from the early French 'puliol–réal' which possibly means the royal flea killer! It also indicates that its medicinal virtues were known amongst the Anglo-Norman aristocracy. In French its name remains la menthe pouliot.
In fields near my home, the sheep avoid the penny-royal. Possibly the minty smell generally repels the insect predators, for these plants seem to be fairly free from such attack.
Both of these species flower late into autumn. Other species of mint are more common and more spectacular; Apple mint, Pepper Mint (a hybrid of the next two), Water mint, and the most useful Spear mint which everyone should cultivate for mint tea and famously mint sauce, a desirable British addition to be encouraged in the French cuisine.
Pennyroyal Recipe for a weary stomach:- It is a worthwhile tisane. Place 30 grams (1 oz.) of the herb in a half litre of boiling water. Add honey to taste and drink warm.


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All-in-one, "saltwater-tough" knife sharpener includes line cutter scissors and fishhook sharpeners.


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Ice Cream Bro is officially shut down. We are incredibly thankful for each and every one of you and loved delevering ice cream for you all. If you have any questions or want to reach out to us for anything, feel free to email us at email@example.com.
Want to tour the site? Email Reid and he'll create you an account.


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The Management Blog
Tips & advice to help you improve your performance
If you work in an industry that requires your employees to be creative, such as advertising, writing, marketing or such, there are ways you can boost their imagination.
While many individuals do find inspiration within themselves to get the job done, there are several ways managers can boost their employees' originality. Learn More


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Turns out Sugarland's Kristian Bush CAN sing! I Admit I Was Surprised
The first thing I think everyone wants to know is if Sugarland have broken up,they have not. I even asked Kristian today when he visited us at WGNA if there is any bad blood there and he assured me there wasn't. They are just both in a break from their album schedule and have like many other artist realized they just can't stop creating.
I will admit though when I heard Kristian was coming in today I almost didn't even make it. I was pretty busy and while I have always known he is an amazing talent as a song writer and musician, I really wasn't sure he was a singer. I guess though when you have a girl like Jennifer Nettles to sing your songs why would you do it yourself right? Well it turns out not only can the guy sing, he sings pretty darn well!
SO why we wait for more Sugarland music I think it's pretty cool that we still get to enjoy some of the great song writing that Kristian has to offer. It seems that his upcoming album is full of great music. I for one am pretty excited about it.
So before I play for you the album's title cut, "Southern Gravity" from today's WGNA garage session (I really love the song... it reminds me very much of Van Morrison, who I love) I think you should check out the song that is his first release from the album, "Trailer Hitch".
Right? Well now we know the dude can sing. Now even though the quality isn't the same ...in fact maybe not great at all I'd love to share this video from today's garage session, this one is called "Southern Gravity" and I can't wait to hear it on the album!


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After Katrina there were a spate of New Orleans cookbooks, and frankly, they began to be a bit monotonous. So we totally overlooked Susan Spicer's Crescent City Cooking. What on earth were we thinking?
Here is the big disclaimer: While we would never, ever think that we could be swayed by that evil television hanging on the wall, one must admit that we were drawn to Susan Spicer's cookbook after finding out that she helped develop the wildly popular HBO series, Treme. Especially Kim Dickens' character Janette Desautel, who may be our favorite character. OK we admit we were swayed by television.
While we might have been swayed by the TV, we were won over by Spicer's conviction to the food an flavors of the South in general and New Orleans in particular. Flipping trough the book it is often hard to place it in The Crescent City, as it feels more deeply Southern than specifically New Orleans. Subtitled Unforgettable Recipes from Susan Spicer's New Orleans, one realizes that the recipes, while rooted in New Orleans, have a broader appeal.
Spicer was born in Florida, but as an "Navy Brat" her family traveled and her mother cooked with a broad stroke of the palate. Spicer spent much of her young life in New Orleans and was always drawn back. When she finally decided to cook in earnest, she came to New Orleans.
Here is an example of a recipe that has a New Orleans "ring " to it. Rename it Fried Chicken over Beans and Corn and it would fit in any Southern cookbook.
Cajun-Style Chicken Breast with Chili Bean Maque Choux
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 6 ounces each)
1 tablespoon olive or other vegetable oil, plus 1-2 tablespoons veg. oil for sauteing
2 tablespoons Creole or whole-grain mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon each black and cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons chopped scallion
If you plan on grilling the chicken, light the coals about 1/2 hour before you're ready to cook.
Rinse the chicken breasts and pat dry. Combine the olive oil, mustard, salt, and spices and smear it on the chicken.
Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes, or up to several hours, until you're ready to cook. Meanwhile make the maque choux.
To cook the chicken, heat the vegetable oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Pat excess marinade from the breasts then sear for 3-4 minutes on each side, or until nicely browned, Alternatively, you can grill the chicken over hot coals or broil it.
To serve, place a scoop of maque choux on each plate, garnish with chopped scallions, and top with a chicken breast. The corn and beans together provide a good amount of starch, so this s dish needs nothing more than a tossed salad or a simple green vegetable, Of course, a big slice of warm corn bread would be delish too.
Maque Choux
2 ears sweet white or yellow corn, shucked and silk removed, or 1-1/2 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed
1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup peeled, seeded, and diced fresh tomato, or canned tomato (with juices)
1 14 ounce can red beans, kidney beans, or chili beans (for a bit more heat), drained and liquid reserved
Hot Sauce
Cut the corn kernels from the cob, being careful not to cut too close to the cob (where the kernels become dry and starchy). Heat the oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a skillet to foaming. Add the onion and cook for 2-3 minutes. Then add the corn, jalapeno, and garlic and stir to mix. Cook b for about 3 more minutes, then add the tomato, beans, and 1/4 cup of water or reserved bean liquid and season to taste with salt and a little hot sauce. Stir and cook until heated through, then swirl in the remaining tablespoon of butter. Keep the vegetables warm while cooking the chicken.
Its not to late to jump on the bandwagon. Grab this book and catch Season 3 of Treme.


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Artist: Elle King
Album: Love Stuff
Released: 2015
1. Where the Devil Don't Go
2. Ex's and Oh's
3. Under the Influence
4. Last Damn Night
5. Kocaine Karolina
6. Song of Sorrow
7. America's Sweetheart
8. I Told You I was Mean
9. Ain't Gonna Drown
10. Jackson
11. Make You Smile
12. See You Again
Bought From: Amazon
Price $9.99
Thoughts of Album
Most of us are familiar with Ex's and Oh's and man did they play the crap out of that song in late 2015 and early 2016 it was literally everywhere from commercials to every other song on the radio. So please believe me I was very hesitant to listen to her whole album. What convinced me was watching a clip of her on James Corden show (I heart him) singing American Sweetheart and I thought man that girl has just enough rasp to her voice and sings just enough edgy lyrics I'm curious enough to check her out.
I'm glad I did Elle takes you on a ride from making you wonder why the Devil will be her savior to Kocanie Karolina which is almost folky sounding to American Sweetheart you are bounced back and forth thinking man this girl has had a really hard life for sure. Her music goes from dance and scream out loud to smooth almost a jazz quality of Under the Influence where you almost sway along to. She is still edgy in it but gives her vocals a little more go of it. If she isn't boozing, drugging or in love with someone in this album then girlfriend is pretending well. I have to say though whenever I feel like being a rocking rebel (which that alone should prove to you I am not one) Elle King is who I put on and I rock out to her. She is not a sit back and listen to with the gals and wine or read a book while listening to. She is more of a get ready for a night out kind of music. She reminds me a lot of Gin Wigmore who is one of my favorite go to raspy female fighting the male system drink whiskey and let's be hurt together singers.
Then you get like every other song that are soft and slow wanting to get back with someone, or they are folksy in nature. It's like a drastic contrast to what is happening in the hard hitting songs. She is heartbroken one moment, angry the next, at a square dance the next second, then angry again. She kind of bounces all over the place in this album for me. While I enjoy all the songs it has not real flow in a story for me and the album seems jumbled out of order and chaotic. Definitely a good voice but could have used more direction on how to place the songs in order.
Favorite Tracks:
I love I Told You I Was Mean makes me feel rough and bad even though I am far from it although to be fair I can be mean at times.
When I need to slow down with Elle Under the influence is my softer song I go to it.
American Sweeheart is a fun song to sing along to and pump up to if you are getting ready to go into a meeting that you need to wake up for or just need to be pumped up for.
Grade B+
Would Recommend: I think Elle is an acquired taste just like whiskey she did her one song to glory and American Sweetheart came out not as popular, but if you can learn to swallow what she is serving she is great. If you don't like cussing make sure to get the clean version of the albums in case you have a mother who was listening to this as you were reviewing....
Buy on Amazon here
Buy of Itunes here - cheaper on Itunes for $5.99 right now


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Does your personality match the Newcastle suburb you live in?
From its energetic nightlife, superb shopping and top-notch cuisine, Newcastle is one of the most exciting cities in the world! Voted 'Great Britain's no.1 tourist attraction' by The Rough Guide to Britain it's no wonder why you're considering to move to the north east.
It may be a relatively small city with less than 300,000 people and 40,000 students but you'll find it accommodates to your every need. Letslivehere specialises in finding the best property for your individual needs! Check out our suburb choices based on your personality:
The bargain hunter
Get familiar with Heaton. The standard of properties is value for money and has an abundance of independent cafes, BYO restaurants and bars that hold the ultimate pub quiz. Both Heaton and Chillingham Road will keep your adventurous heart satisfied with numerous independent retailers that calls for a few hours bargain hunting on your to-do list.
The trendiest cafes in Newcastle can be found in this humble suburb such as The Naked Deli who offers organic, paleo style meals and The Butterfly Cabinet you produce a "damned good cup of coffee'. Need not to worry about getting into the city centre with the number 1 bus available every 8 mins and Chillingham road metro.
The book worm
Sandyford is where you will shine bright. With a hop, skip and jump to uni it means you'll never worry about how you will get home after a late night out at the library. Nestled into a charming quiet area of Newcastle, studying at home won't be a problem either as you won't get noisy neighbours blasting music at 1am. Feel like letting loose? Sandyford has many hidden gems such as your local The Bluebell which has one of the best beer garden's in the city where you can relax and enjoy a cold beverage. If you feel like leaving the nest, Jesmond and the city centre is situated within close proximity.
The sick-of-it-all final year
Gosforth is your top pick. You are as mature as uni students come. With a range of independent shops, unique bars, vibrant cafes and every supermarket known, you could easily not leave the Gosforth bubble. It is the place to escape to after a long day at uni without going home and being surrounded by rowdy uni students. But that doesn't mean you miss out on all the fun'¦with charming local bars such as The Brandling Arms and close distance to Jesmond, you can tailor your evenings as you like it. With only a sort 15-minute bus ride or metro into the city centre you'll find it's the happy travel medium.
The night owl
Find yourself an exclusive Tyneside apartment in the city centre. With 24-hour activity, entertainment and amenities right on your doorstep, you will never find yourself spending a weekend in watching episodes of 'Come Dine with Me'. Become a regular among the best spots in town 'Oh, 50cent was in Newcastle? Old news, you were in his VIP section of Tup Tup Palace on Sunday night.
The city centre is the perfect place to live when you stay up all night and have a 9am lecture the next day, as you can literally roll out of bed minutes before class.
The party animal
The place to be, Jesmond. Your popularity rank just moved up 10 places. This stylish and upmarket area is right up your ally. The line of bars will find you devouring quality food at Jam Jar, making the most of happy hour at Osbornes or chilling on a Sunday afternoon with a few fine wines at Spy Bar. You will find it accommodates to students, professionals and locals alike so you will never experience a lonely night.
Jesmond is where anyone and everyone begins before a night out, but fear not, if you find yourself getting the boot from bars at 11pm head to As You Like It. Open till 2am Friday, Saturday and Sunday with live entertainment you'll be sure to leave with your inner party animal satisfied. Jesmond is only a 10-minute walk or two-stop metro ride into Newcastle's city centre your future hungover self will thank you!
Send us a message if you have any questions you would like to ask our letting professionals.


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The Rocking Horse by Gloria Zachgo
WordsAPlenty received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Gloria Zachgo's The Rocking Horse will take your breath away in the first few pages. A family is brutally murdered without thought or remorse, a young child is ripped away with nothing to cling to but her wooden rocking horse. The small town and remaining family and friends find it difficult to continue on, struggling to rise above their despair. This unsolved murder rocks Shady Creek, Kansas to its core.
"Amanda jumped when she heard the door open. At first she was merely startled, but she became alarmed when she realized the unwelcome guest was high. She looked into glassy eyes as he staggered toward her."
Several years later the town is visited by a young woman with an uncanny presence about her facing her own demons. A homeless veteran struggles to decipher what he sees, what he knows and what he fears. A sheriff with a dark deep secret that has been eating him away daily faces death with a clearer conscience. Can those left behind after the vicious murder survive the secrets and discoveries?
"Helen got a sick feeling down deep inside when she read the letter. She suspected that whatever had haunted her husband for the past twenty years was going to be passed on to Dan."
Zachgo does an excellent job of keeping the reader guessing while perched on the edge of their chair. Vivid descriptions, shocking revelations abound in The Rocking Horse with a twinge of the supernatural thrown in.
Character descriptions and developments are perfect. The plot is clear and easily followed with a few twists and turns thrown in to make the mystery stronger. The romance is fresh and slow moving in order to build a stronger relationship at the end. The hurt is clearly evident and painfully felt through the thoughtful words used by Zachgo.
Zachgo is an avid story teller that knows the way to a good solid book and the way into readers hearts and minds.
This book was quickly read as it grabs your attention and won't let go.
WordsAPlenty gives this book a 5 star review.
To purchase your copy, click here.


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Opened in late 2012, the new Wonders Of Flight attraction in Pigeon Forge, TN brings all new altitude to a visit to the Smoky Mountains. Wonders Of Flight is a giant tethered balloon ride which is manufactured by Aerophile. The ride takes passengers 400 ft in the air, and offers spectacular views of Pigeon Forge, Sevierville, and the Great Smoky Mountains national park. It is located just behind the giant WonderWorks museum (the upside-down house) on the Parkway in Pigeon Forge. The ride usually lasts between 10-12 minutes. A strong cable is used to keep the balloon in place as […]Read more →
Archive for the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg Category
The holiday season truly is the best time to visit Nashville, TN. Back on December 10th…I did just that. Yeah the holidays are over now and Spring is right around the corner, but why not take a look back at the festive offerings found in Nashville during this past Christmas season. In this trip/photo report, I take a look at two popular Nashville destinations: Rainforest Café located in Opry Mills Mall, and the world famous Gaylord Opryland Hotel.Read more →


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Deathwatch: Everything must go as Borders faces final chapter
The collapse of Borders could be bad news for their rivals as the crocked book shop chain launches a liquidation sale today in all 45 of its Borders and Books Etc stores.
With Waterstones' parent company HMV still mulling over whether to snap up some of the stores, huge dents could be made in their own profits as customers flock to Borders to nab the marked-down stock.
When Borders' Oxford Street branch closed down earlier in the year (pictured), there were near-riots as punters raced to liberate thousands of drastically discounted books from the shelves. Similar scenes could occur over the next few days across the country.
If and when the stores close, it could be bad news for the likes of Paperchase, Game, Red5 and Starbucks, who all have concessions in Borders stores. It is estimated that Paperchase could lose as much as £10 million in annual sales.
But hey – if you're looking for bargain-priced Christmas gifts, and if the price-slashing is drastic enough, Borders could be the place to be today and tomorrow. Cruel but true.
[Thanks for HotUKDeals member alan6012 for the tip-off]
17 comments
- KevinI cannot think that there is any chance for 50%+ off deals this early. That's what happened in Oxford Street. Anyway in many cases it would take 30-40% cuts just to bring the books down to the same price as online stores (or even other physical bookshops in some places). As most of the staff will be losing their jobs (at least until other shops take over the locations) at some point they might as well just sell everything off, but I can't imagine the administrators dumping their stock so cheaply so quickly. But if they do then bargains and lots of books for Christmas presents this year!
- meits 20% off and started yesterday until Sunday...
- Nice.Wanna know where the 50% off sale is?? Amazon. Thats the problem. I hate to remind you, but over 1500 people are about to be made unemployed at Christmas and there aint gonna be many places for y'all to sit about reading magazines whilst sipping your cuntacchinos anymore. But, yeah, enjoy your bargains ya sad fucks. You wont be missed.
- KevinI'd heard that as well but thought that can't be the liquidation sale mentioned as 20% is bugger all.
- Chris F.everything is 20% off, only a few sections are reduced to 50%, the girl i asked said it was politics and history mainly that were reduced. not really many bargains to be had, frankly.
- mattcaution! anyone with a gift card, they are only letting you use a gift card for 50% of the total, so if like my son who has a £10 gift card, you have to spend £10 to use the gift card. I refused to give them any money, I'd rather throw the card in the bin and give my lad a tenner to spend in a decent shop that treats its customers well,
- royborders always was extremely expensive, especially for DVDs, it was awful. I remember seeing the Alien collection for £60 when it was £15 at everywhere else. Totally terrible pricing, aimed at praying on people who dont shop around.
- KevinI used my Borders Card (from their deal a while ago where you got a free £10 card if you spend x amount) the other day, knowing that this would happen when they went under. I know not everyone can get to one easily but after everything that happened, especially with Zavvi last year there was no way I wasn't going to use it up! I would have thought most people would have done the same. Kevin
- salim pretty gutted about borders shutting down, it was my favourite store and when I heard it was in trouble I hoped another company would save it. Smiths or HMV seem good candidates. ive spent many an hr browsing the good selection of mags/books etc then having a coffee. No where else to do this in my area, whsmiths dont compare. Dont know where Ill get the unique magazines from now. Another casualty of cheap internet retailers and supermarkets. Soon enough all thats going to be left in my area is charity shops and supermarkets. :(
- bwah h.I like Borders too. The magazine selection was great.
- Angry S.@ sal "ive spent many an hr browsing the good selection of mags/books etc then having a coffee" - did you mistake it for a library? No wonder they've gone bust.
- Pissed E.Matt you're a heartless bastard! "in a decent shop that treats its customers well," Have you not noticed we're in administration?? Do you not realise over 1000 people could be out of a job just in time for xmas? Do you not realise the gift cards were issued by Borders UK, which technically doesn't exist anymore, and that the administrators technically have every right to NOT accept them at all? Borders management has implemented the 'you can use an egc for half the cost of sale' policy and the administrators have allowed us to do this for the moment, they can stop this whenever they damn well please! Do you realise the amount of verbal and physical abuse shop floor staff are taking at the moment? People who've never set foot in a bookshop in their lives are thinking 'woohoo! closing down sale!' and trashing the place! I hope you and your son have a happy fucking xmas surrounded by nice things that me and my colleagues will not be able to afford!!
- Pissed E.Angry of Scotland, I couldn't agree more. Sal, you sound like a nice lass, but do you realise your browsing without buying is partly the reason we're going down? Too many people stole free gifts off mags, took newspapers into the cafe & did the crossword or took the sports supplements out before dumping them unceremoniously on the floor. Too many people took books/papers/mags into the cafe and spilt coffee/cake all over them. Too many people sat in our lovely comfy chairs and broke the spine of books, thumbed the pages til they tore, put bookmarks in the bit they'd got to and hid the books under the chairs so they could come back the next day and continue reading. Too many people damaged the books to such an extent that we had to dump them in the clearance section therefore losing a fortune. Too many people came in and thumbed through our books then went home and bought them on Amazon at a 'cheaper' price, forgetting they'd need to add postage on at the end. Once Borders has gone all Amazon has to do is kill Waterstones and Smiths and they're fucking laughing all the way to the bank. Once Amazon and Tesco online are the only places you can buy anything anymore you'll all be moaning about the demise of the high street and how shops used to be such useful/fun places to go you'll all be fucking sorry!
- Kevin'Too many people came in and thumbed through our books then went home and bought them on Amazon at a 'cheaper' price, forgetting they'd need to add postage on at the end.' Free delivery on most things from Amazon, even when you had to pay £15 for free delivery that was easy enough, only pay for delivery if it's from Marketplace. People went home and bought it on Amazon as it was massively cheaper. Example (Book People not Amazon but same idea) the (not that great) Mock the Week book. I paid £4.99 for it. RRP of £14.99 Even reduced in any of the high street bookshops by £3-£4 I saved £6-7. If the difference is a pound or so thats one thing but without reductions (I bought it before shops started reducing it) it was £10 cheaper. That just can't be matched in physical bookshops (unless a loss leader, which is what the supermarkets do). But when it comes down to it, £10 saving is a £10 saving! I think the whole problem with the people taking things to sit down read is something Borders only had itself to blame as it was something that was pushed when they started in the UK. I have no idea if this was an original Borders US idea (I'm guessing it was from what I've seen) but it was a selling point, that was used to get people in and treat a visit to Borders as something different over the other bookshops. Why didn't that get changed in later years? As for newspapers and broken books that just says to me that staff should have been able to charge people for them. I never saw a sign saying please do not take Borders products into Starbucks. That's another policy issue, theres no way people should have been allowed to get away with it. I think one of the differences about WH Smiths and Waterstones is the type of business they are. WH Smith owns the distribution system as well as the shops. Waterstones is owned by HMV which is doing rather well. Borders was out on it's own, even more so apparently after the buy-out in July. They had the businesses spread out enough to support it in other ways, Borders didn't. Hopefully many staff will be able to get jobs in whatever comes round next. In Cambridge the best thing to do would be to knock through the connecting wall between WH Smith and Borders and make it a giant WH Smith. I never go into WH Smith as it's far too cramped, badly stocked, tacky as hell and has awful opening hours. Good lucky pissed off Borders employee. Hope you are all getting to get some decent stock for yourselves as well.
- BrianWhat total crap, I can't believe it, I was given a Borders Gift token, to the value of £50.00 only to find out that it has been devalued, apparently, if I purchase books to the value of £50.00 the card will only count as £25.00 and I would have to add another £25.00 to purchase the items. This is ridiculous, totally absurd, definitely won't be receiving my hard earned cash. They want me to pay extra cash on top of the £50.00 already paid, they must be mad. I agree with Matt, and I would rather burn the card than throw away my cash, it's hard, especially when you are unemployed.
- The B.[...] the devil are Borders up to? It's no secret they've tumbled into administration and that their stores are selling off stock ahead of their inevitable closure. In fact, Borders [...]
- the o.I'm in high school, and I got a Borders gift card as a reward for being one of the best pupils in my year at my school. I bought a melee CD with part of it, and I had £10 left to spend. In November, I was walking through my local Borders, as I was looking for notes for the 2 books i am doing for IGCSE English Literature. Unfortunately, they didn't have any, and an employee said that they were in administration. I then bought a £5 book for £2.50 of my gift card and some of my pocket money. Unfortunately, no bookshop in my town had the books i needed. I went to Waterstones, they didn't have it, but they were able to order me a book which had almost all of what I needed (but i haven't got it yet.) I walked past Borders last week, and i was with my brother. I looked at the window, and there was nothing in it. I screamed "I STILL HAVE A BLOODY GIFT CARD!!!!!!!!" and now, i'm here telling you people this because.. well. i haven't a reason. But, if you think about it, we are all to blame. Yes, Borders was a bit pricey. Yes we shouldn't sit in starbucks or wherever and drink coffee whilst taking advantage of what borders had to offer. I feel that this is only the beginning of something bigger. First it was Woolworths, then Threshers? Now it's Borders. Every single high street shop will close if we take advantage of it. Honestly, we will end up with no more high street shops if this keeps up. The recession is the worst we've had in a while. Maybe if taxes weren't to be raised in january 2010, then we could easily get out of the recession quicker! more people would buy things, which'll fuel the economy, and it would stabilise quicker than it is now. And i'm only in year 10.


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Stephanie Smith Albert has been named the first director of diversity and inclusion at Rochester Institute of Technology's National Technical Institute for the Deaf.
Albert has more than 10 years of professional experience in the educational field as a school counselor at the Georgia School for the Deaf in Cave Spring, Ga.; St. Rita School for the Deaf in Cincinnati; Pennsylvania School for the Deaf in Philadelphia; and most recently was the director of student life at Ohio School for the Deaf in Columbus, Ohio.
In her new role, Albert will be responsible for all NTID issues relating to diversity and inclusion, monitoring NTID's progress on RIT-wide and NTID-specific initiatives and goals, and identifying issues to bring to the NTID president and his administrative council, as well as the RIT vice president and associate provost for diversity and inclusion.
She also will keep current on diversity, inclusion, equal opportunity and access regulations and issues in higher education; present on these topics to internal groups of faculty, staff and students; and work with student leaders and other units within the college, including the NTID Diversity Group, to support diversity-specific initiatives.
Albert earned a master's degree in school counseling at Gallaudet University, a bachelor's degree in marketing at Wright State University, and an associate degree in accounting at RIT/NTID. She has also held secondary school counselor certification in the state of Georgia and an alternative administrative specialist license in the state of Ohio.
"We are pleased to have Stephanie 'back home' at RIT/NTID in this new and exciting role," said Gerry Buckley, NTID president and RIT vice president and dean. "Diversity and inclusion are top priorities for both NTID and the greater university, and we look forward to what Stephanie will bring to these efforts."


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Ikea is not for the faint-of-heart in any instance. The lines; the cart-only escalator; the miles and miles of lamps, bowls, desks, linens and things-you-didn't-know-you-needed can make anyone turn on her heels and head for the nearest mom-and-pop furniture store (are there any of those left?). And you really want to make Ikea a miserable shopping experience? Go by yourself.
Yesterday I was in the Ikea neighborhood and headed there for a desk. A simple desk. No drawer, no keyboard drop, no hutch. Essentially a tabletop with legs. Nothing too deep, nothing too long. Ikea had just the thing, I discovered via the Internet, and the price was right. I also wanted a small nightstand lamp, and we all know that Ikea can't be beaten for cheap lighting.
So I went there. Alone. I think I was the only single person there.
First, it's the choosing. To be honest, going to a grocery store post divorce was kind of weird too. I looked with sadness at the old people strolling the produce aisles holding hands. I couldn't get used to buying food just because I wanted it. No reading labels to make sure it was suitable for Mr. Ex the vegetarian to eat. No thinking about what the kids would eat for lunch or what the family would share for dinner. Nope, just me. But I got over it. And, to be honest, there are always lots of alone people at the grocery store.
At the grocery story, though, it's not like you see a bunch of people standing around discussing the relative merits of Gala apples over Honeycrisp.
Not Ikea. Everything at Ikea is a discussion. White table legs or silver? Red bowls or blue? And everywhere you look there are couples and families trying to figure out if it will fit, get home in the car and if it's really that easy to put together.
And then there's the pulling off the shelves and getting the item into the cart with nobody else to hold it steady. I bet you never appreciated that extra person before, right? Go ahead and do it yourself without looking like your cart was taken hostage by Candid Camera. Whoops – there it goes down the aisle while the divorced lady chases after it with a tabletop in her arms.
Then it's the buying. They don't bag at Ikea (they don't even give you bags – you have to buy them now). They just take your money. And since most people use plastic in some way, they really just scan and give you a slip of paper with numbers on it. So you're stuck bagging after you've paid, if you're alone. While the people behind you stand tapping their feet because you're now in their space.
Then there's the dreaded holding area. The pickup zone (I don't mean that in a good way). The leave-your-cart, get-your-car zone.
I may be overly suspicious, but I'm not happy about spending a lot of money for stuff and then leaving it alone so I can run and get the car. And I didn't do it yesterday. Luckily I know I'm suspicious, so I planned ahead (I do that occasionally) and chose a parking space that was fairly convenient to the pickup zone. And my purchases weren't that heavy (and, of course, I had my new, 59 cent Ikea bag), so I grabbed them out of the cart and carried them to the car myself. And even got the 48-inch tabletop in the trunk first try.
All-in-all, it was a pretty miserable shopping experience. The exciting news is that I got the purchases home and managed to put everything together from the no-words, goofy pictures instructions.
But I'm not excited to do it again any time soon.


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Marketing—whether you are an established Fortune 500 company or a start up business—will always be an important part of your campaigns. There's no negotiating that. Without using the proper marketing strategies, you run the risk of losing your "connection" with your target market. And when that happens, there could be bigger problems in your hands.
To make things a bit clearer, let's discuss some of the things (aka: marketing "sins") that you should avoid—to help ensure a steady influx of profits:
Sin#1: Neglecting Your Audience or Target Market
Regardless of the strategy you're using, never forget the recipients of your marketing message. Otherwise, you might be spending an enormous amount of time and money formulating various campaigns—but end up flat because you failed to keep your audience in mind.
If you plan to hand out promotional items or customer perks to your target market, make sure that it actually addresses their needs.
Study your market. What do they prefer? What particular strategies do you believe would work on them? Remember: the purpose of marketing is to encourage people to support you. And the more you are able to understand your market—the more effective things will be for you.
Sin#2: Making Your Campaigns Uninteresting
To catch your market's interest, you need to put a lot of thought in your campaigns and strategies. Creating ads just for the sake of creating one won't deliver the results that you want. Instead, it might only cause your market to lose interest in you and what you have to offer—and that's a very big red flag.
Make your campaigns a bit more "human." Having a more humanistic approach to your marketing efforts will make it more interesting and enticing. Accordingly, this can make you more endearing to your intended audience, which is certainly a significant advantage.
Sin#3: Being Outdated
Let's face it. Times have changed. The strategies that may have worked before may not be as effective today. As it is, you need to keep up with the times, in order to attract potential clients—and to maintain your current ones.
Go online and engage in social media marketing campaigns. Offer new types of promotional items that even teens will love. Note: this doesn't mean you should just forget about traditional marketing. However, by using newer platforms, you get to reach out to all kinds of people—and help spread your message across at a more efficient pace.
Promos Canada is a marketing specialist that offers different types of promotional items and customer giveaways for interested businesses who want to connect with their audience—in a different way.
If you want to know more about us, give us a call at 1-877-552-6068 or you can click here for additional details.


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HUB Reporting
HUB Program Reporting
The HUB Office is charged with collecting data and determining compliance with N.C. General Statutes 143-128.2, 143-128.3, 143-129 and 143-131 regarding the utilization of businesses with minority, women, and disadvantaged owners for State funded projects. The Office compiles and generates two reports:
- HUB expenditures for Purchasing of Goods and Services
- HUB expenditures for Construction made by state agencies, community colleges, state universities, public school systems and other public entities.
For additional information on Program Compliance and HUB Reporting, contact firstname.lastname@example.com or 919-807-2436.


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This document develops a Use Case similar to current EDI practices in order to generate requirements for the
I used as a template the
It is a work in progress.
Please send comments to the
Last Modified: $Date: 2002/06/19 14:45:54 $
A large company (BigCo) wants to purchase widgets from a small
widget manufacturer (SmallCo) using web services to transmit the
various documents (e.g. purchase orders and invoices) involved.
There are web services set up at both BigCo and SmallCo that handle
the document transmissions required to implement an
industry-specific business process which has been defined by an
industry-vertical standards body (e.g. ComProServ from
BigCo and SmallCo set up a trading relationship in which web services provide functions similar to those offered in a proprietary setting by EDI VAN's (Value Added Networks) such as Ariba, CommerceOne or GE.
The focus of this use case is the technical infrastructure required to implement the business processes, not the business processes themselves. In this example we will assume that BigCo and SmallCo have already set up their trading relationship. How they found each other and made the agreement to trade with each other is beyond the scope of this example. Payments in this example are sent through financial institutions and involve electronic processes beyond the scope of this example (because it is beyond the scope of the EDI people whose experience forms the basis of this use case). Opinions may differ about what aspects of the requirements belong in Web Services "technical infrastructure" and which belong in "business process". For example, we think that unique ID and timedate stamping of the messages should be "infrastructure" but that sequencing of the messages belongs in "business process". These issues are discussed as they arise below.
BigCo purchases widgets, both via EDI provided by a VAN (eg. Ariba, CommerceOne, GE) and via web services as described in this use case. BigCo uses big software packages internally. For example, financials and business information are handled by an ERP system (SAP, JDE, etc), and there is an eProcurement front end (perhaps from a different provider, eg. Ariba, SAP) that implements the purchasing logic. Connectivity and data transport within the company are provided by an EAI system (Tibco, WebMethods, BizTalk Server). BigCo's primary motivations in this activity are cost control, reliability and security. Automated processing is much cheaper than typing invoices in by hand and also can be more accurate.
SmallCo manufactures widgets and gets orders from BigCo occasionally (perhaps a few per month). SmallCo's primary motivation is to do business with BigCo and other companies of this sort, and messing with electronic procurement systems is part of what you need to do to get the sale. However, SmallCo needs to keep the cost down and cannot afford to purchase elaborate software systems to implement these processes. SmallCo uses a low-end bookkeeping system (e.g. QuickBooks, PeachTree Accounting) and does a lot of hand entry into this system. SmallCo has a web site hosted by a local ISP.
BigCo: A business analyst is responsible for the relationship between BigCo and SmallCo, an engineer initiates the request for purchase, the purchasing department handles the mechanics of the transaction.
SmallCo: Mom takes the order and tells Sonny to ship out N widgets, meanwhile telling Pop to enter the transaction into Quickbooks and generate an invoice against BigCo.
The following use cases first illustrate the steps involved in a typical purchasing transaction, then show some typical "fixing the screwups" operations.
An engineer needs to purchase widgets for a project, finds the SmallCo offering in a catalog and initiates the purchase.
A typical transaction looks like this:
Engineer finds SmallCo widget offering in an internal web catalog of goods and services.
Engineer initiates a request for quote to SmallCo.
SmallCo responds with a quote.
Engineer initiates a purchase order that is sent to SmallCo.
SmallCo receives the P.O. ships the widget and sends an invoice.
BigCo receives the widget, checks that the received widget is really what was ordered, and initiates payment through a financial service.
BigCo sends a payment advice to SmallCo.
There are lots of other messages that might be sent in a purchasing scenario. This is just sort of a bare-bones illustrative example.
The messages that go from BigCo to SmallCo are generated automatically by the software systems in BigCo. SmallCo, on the other hand, is using a shareware web services module that implements the web services necessary for these commercial transactions in a generic way but knows nothing about the industry-specific business protocols involved.
Failure of the process at each step triggers appropriate actions, often involving flagging the transaction for attention by a person in the purchasing department of BigCo or raising an error condition in the web service facility of SmallCo.
The basic transactions take place via
We are requiring here that the messages be ordered but not sequenced, even though many of the VAN's on which this usage case is based do offer sequencing. Sequencing would imply that each message between two partners in a given direction has a sequential index and that no gaps are allowed. One could then, if desired, set up a process in which sequential receipt were enforced. That is, if BigCo gets message 22 from SmallCo and then receives message 24, BigCo would not accept message 24 (presumably holding it in some sort of buffer) until message 23 arrived, and probably would throw some sort of error if it did not arrive in some time period. We are not including this type of operation in the usage case because we feel that it is fairly unusual actually to make use of this logic. Moreover, if desired such sequencing could be made part of the payload and included in the business logic. The only reason we can think of to include sequencing in the enveloping mechanism would be to enforce sequencing across different types of business transaction, and we don't think that this is likely to be very useful. Would you want to hold up an invoice, for example, because a message involving HR had not arrived yet?
The usual security suspects (Accessibility, Authentication, Authorization, Confidentiality, Integrity and non-Repudiation) are all matters of concern. Non-Repudiation is of particular importance, although in practical terms less in terms of a legal process than simply the ability to say, "You got this invoice on March 24, and here is your signed confirmation of receipt". That is, by far the most common scenarios that require non-repudiation involve people in both companies trying, in good faith, to sort out what has gone wrong in some screwed up transaction. What is required in these cases is an unambiguous record, not rock-solid legal proof. Taking these issues to court is a very rare occurrence given an ongoing trading relationship between businesses. This is probably a less strong requirement than what is usually called "non-repudiation", but stronger than "auditing". Perhaps we can call this requirement "reconciliation". Various aspects of Reconciliation will be exercised in the use cases below.
Other aspects of security are also necessary. It must be
possible for both BigCo and SmallCo to be sure that the messages
they receive are actually from the company that they are supposed
to be. That is, each company must be able to identify itself
unambiguously (
The SmallCo web service knows how to receive and send messages and will present these messages to users at SmallCo in a browser window. A SmallCo employee transfers information from the XML to their bookkeeping system via cut and paste. How does SmallCo generate the XML that goes into the messages that it sends? The web service knows how to generate the envelop (message ID, datetime, and so on), but not the message contents. To assist SmallCo's either BigCo or the industry standards body provides a web site that implements messages like "quote" and "invoice" in a web form into which a SmallCo person types information and which returns suitably formatted XML in the browser window.
BigCo has instituted an automated reconciliation procedure to check on a monthly basis that messages have not been lost by comparing transaction logs from BigCo and SmallCo. In this scenario a discrepancy is found and addressed.
At the end of the month the Bigco web service automatically sends a request to the SmallCo web server for a list of the message ID's sent and received during that month.
The SmallCo response is automatically checked against a list of messages processed by the purchasing system, and it is found that a whole bunch of messages show up on SmallCo's logs as sent to Bigco but not on BigCo's as received and processed.
The BigCo web service raises an error condition that is sent to a person in the Purchasing Department who looks into the situation.
It turns out that all the lost messages were from a particular weekend during which a server at BigCo was misconfigured and was trashing messages.
BigCo sends a request to the SmallCo web server to resend the messages in question that have been lost.
Somebody from BigCo calls up SmallCo, apologizes, and explains why they have not been responding in a timely manner.
Reconciliation: the SmallCo web service must be able to respond to (authorized) requests for information about what messages have been received and/or sent in a time period or between marker messages. The web service must be capable of resending messages on request.
SmallCo thinks that it has not been paid because they did not get the payment advice. Well, they got it but didn't put it into their records so they think that they have not been paid. However, the payment was really made through the bank into their account. The objective here is to clean up the mess so everyone agrees what has happened.
SmallCo calls their contact in BigCo (a business analyst) and complains that they were not paid for a particular order. They give the business analyst the ID of the invoice message.
The BigCo purchasing department pulls all the messages involved with this transaction (the transaction is labeled in the business process definition, not the web service envelop), and finds that payment was actually made and confirmed by the bank.
BigCo sends copies of this information to SmallCo, including the message ID of the payment advice and identifying information for the bank payment. The bank payment information includes information that links it to the ID of this transaction (again, this is in the business process definition, not the web service envelop).
SmallCo queries its web service for the payment advice message, checks its own bank statements, and eventually realizes that they really were paid and did not book it properly.
SmallCo calls BigCo and says, "Oops. Looks OK now."
Reconciliation: the key here is to be able to retrieve messages by ID. The linkage of the messages into a transaction is beyond the scope of the web service itself and belongs in the definition of the business process.
SmallCo sent an invoice and this time they really didn't get paid. After a while they call BigCo as in the previous scenario. The objective here is to get SmallCo paid.
SmallCo calls their contact in BigCo (a business analyst) and complains that they were not paid for a particular order. They give the business analyst the ID of the invoice message.
The BigCo purchasing department pulls all the messages involved with this transaction (the transaction is labeled in the business process definition, not the web service envelop), and finds that payment really wasn't made. Somebody didn't approve it and the transaction died. (Of course, this is after a flurry of documents, letters, and phone calls back and forth, not to mention various emails within BigCo, many of them to people that have never heard of SmallCo or anything else that has anything to do with the problem at hand).
Somebody at BigCo finally says, "Oops, we really didn't pay it". BigCo initiates payment.
BigCo calls SmallCo and says, "Oops, sorry. My bad. The check is in the mail."
The requirements are really the same as for the last scenario. We just wanted to illustrate that there are all sorts of ways the business process can get screwed up, no matter what technical processes are in place, and that the fault may lie on either side of the transaction.
Thanks to Hugo Haas for his help with getting this document into into XML format.


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I have just completed teaching for nine days in London. The programs were organised by Harmony Yoga UK. There was a two day workshop on Essentials of Vinyasakrama Yoga (12 Hrs), a 25 hour week long Core Vinyasa krama Yoga TT program, a 12 hr program on Developing a Daily Home Yoga Practice during another weekend. Then there was 2 hour talk at Jivamukti Yoga Studio in London
The London TT Grouphttp://groups.google.com/group/vinyasa-krama
The Saskatoon TT Yogis
In May I had also completed a 25 hour Core Vinyasa krama Yoga program in Saskatoon, Canada organised by One Yoga, Saskatoon. I also did a weekend workshop there
During these programs a couple of questions repeatedly came up. Of course I have talked about in other programs, written about it earlier and also dealt with it in my book. One of the questions was about Vinyasakrama methodology. How is it that the program I teach is somewhat different from the teachings of many well known teachers of the Krishnamacharya lineage? In fact this question bad been raised for several years now.
Many pointed out that the vinyasa krama movements are very slow, most people who do yoga are used to brisk movements or vinyasas. Seldom is the organised regulated, synchronised conscious breathing takes any part in modern yoga exercises. It is done with breath completely under autonomic nervous system unlike in vinyasakrama wherein the breathing is completely under voluntary control. This perhaps is the most important element of Sri Kriahnamacharya's teaching of yoga as I learnt from him. Because people are used to rather brisk movements many felt that this is very slow. Further the number of vinyasas I had learnt from my Guru was over 700 in about 150 asanas and grouped into ten major sequences. So when I started teaching in the West more than a decade ago, I found that there were very few people interested in this system even though many people came to my programs out of curiosity and to know how one more of Krishnamacharya's students taught yoga
So after some time, as I was getting older I realized that there may not be anyone interested in this system I learnt from Krishnamacharya. So I decided to write a book detailing all the ten major sequences , 150 asana subroutines and the 700+ vinyasas with instructions about the accompanying breathing. Fortunately a few of my old students and friends from Kalakshetra the famous Bharatanatyam dance school in Madras worked as models.
How is it that the system I teach is different from other schools of the same lineage. I started studying Yoga with Sri Krishnamacahraya when I was about 15 years old . I studied several asanas, vinyasas, pranayama and after several years he stared teaching vedic chanting and the study of the texts like Yoga Sutras and the Upanishads. One day after about 20 years I had been his student, he said that I could teach Yoga if I wished. I had absolutely no such plan, but after a few days, I was asked by Sri Desikachar if I would be interested in teaching at Kalakshetra an institution considered to be of national importance by the Government of India. I met the director, the well known dancer and administrator Smt Rukmini Devi. From then on I taught yoga to the students of Kalakshetra for about 20 years. When I started teaching I was asked to teach yoga for the first two years of the under graduate program. I was very enthusiastic and taught them whatever I had learnt from my Guru. Since they were young, very agile and talented, many of them could do asanas beautifully. You could feel that Yoga is really an art when you see them do asanas slowly gracefully with the breath. In fact I have some videos of them doing yoga way back in the 1980s uploaded on my channel in YouTube.
Coming back to the story,- after I found that I had very little new to teach after about 6 months, I approached my Guru and told him about my predicament. I told him that I had to teach the same students another 1 ½ years and I was stuck. He smiled and asked me if I had taught a few specific vinyasas. I said that I did not, because he had not taught those asanas and vinyasas. Then he taught me a few new asanas and vinyasas, which I practiced at home and taught in Kalakshetra. Then he taught more vinyasas and asked me in what sequence and with which asana I should teach. Slowly I saw a beautiful system emerge. When I finally completed the 2 year teaching I had a wonderful system of Vinyasakrama as taught to me by my Guru Sri Krishnamacharya. He also instructed me in what order I could teach.
This is the story of the Vinyaskrama system I teach. It is a very comprehensive sikshana krama (teaching or learnig method) of yogasanas and vinyasas I learnt from Sri Krishnamacharya
There are questions asked about teaching of Yoga Sutras by my Guru. In India Yoga sutras are considered to be a very abstruse text and is a fertile field for scholars to play around. But Krishnamacharya used to call it an adhyatma vidya or a body of knowledge meant for the welfare every human being. It was not just a scholarly exercise but something very down to earth. His elucidation of the word Yoga as derived from different roots to indicate yoga as union or yoga as peace of mind or chittavritti nirodha as Patanjali points out was a revelation. He also explained that the Yoga sutras are written for three different levels of yogis. The first chapter nirodha yoga was for the born yogi who can get into samadhi effortlessly. He is called a samahita chitta. Then in the second chapter Patanjali talks about kriya yoga for the entry level yogis who are in a state of vikshepa—agitated and distracted. He would point out that Patanjali talks about a more involved yoga a more comprehensive system than Kriya yoga called ashtanga yoga made of eight parts for the lifelong committed yogi. This would make understanding of the YS easier. It was remarkable to know that these nivritti shastras as samkhya yoga and vedanta are developed for individual good. They may be treated not as scholarly exercises but systems for personal development and evolution
Srivatsa Ramaswami


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Archive for the 'NetFlow' tag
Near-realtime blacklist warnings with NetFlow, Perl and OTX
Installing IDS sensors in your network for monitoring traffic is not always feasible, for several possible reasons. Perhaps the network infrastructure is too complex, leading to blind spots. Maybe the affected network links have higher capacity than your ad hoc IDS sensor, causing packet loss on the sensor. Or your company may be organized in such a way that installing "foreign" hardware in the network infrastructure is not easily done.
Still, without going "all in" on a potentially expensive IDS project, it could be useful with some insight into what's going in to and out from your network, keeping an eye on known malicious IP addresses and networks. Setting up a NetFlow feed from the company's routers will usually not incur any significant loads, nor does it interfere with the network traffic, so that could be a possible approach. I've previously covered NetFlow and SiLK for rear-view mirror analysis of whether any blacklisted IP resources have been communicating with your system and users in the past. What if we could do the same, just in (almost) real-time? With the help of Perl and the Net::Flow module, we can.
Bill of material
- Router(s) that support(s) NetFlow (I've used version 9 but the Perl module seems to support v5 and IPFix as well).
- Perl, and the Net::Flow module for parsing the NetFlow data.
- One or more IP blacklists of your choice. For the purpose of this test I'm using my subscribed lists from AlienVault's Open Threat Exchange, but the list of IP addresses to compare against can easily be extended with – or replaced by – other lists like the SANS blocklist or any DNSBL/RBL.
The Perl script I've set up for this purpose is crudely derived from the Net::Flow sample code, and after my tweaks it's currently not something that should see the light of day. Its output, however, is pretty enough for a modest presentation. The IP addresses (IPv4 as well as IPv6) and other info are extracted from the different flow fields, detailed in this Cisco document. In my script, each offending IP is associated with URLs linking to OTX pulses where further information can be found.
Some sample entries from the Perl script's output:
2016-06-07 12:38:20 : 126.96.36.199:48928 -> aa.bb.cc.dd:53 (TCP) https://otx.alienvault.com/pulse/56fdd27e4637f207cbccfda7/ https://otx.alienvault.com/pulse/5711d7740ebaa4015af20592/ 2016-06-07 13:37:46 : aa.bb.cc.dd:5901 -> 188.8.131.52:12207 (TCP) https://otx.alienvault.com/pulse/56bbe5ba4637f25d9365dcab/ https://otx.alienvault.com/pulse/568a9c1f67db8c057c6fc09f/ 2016-06-07 13:51:34 : aa.bb.cc.dd:443 -> 188.8.131.52:58879 (TCP) https://otx.alienvault.com/pulse/56c3ab564637f26ad04e3dc3/ 2016-06-07 17:51:13 : 22.214.171.124:43140 -> aa.bb.cc.dd:443 (TCP) https://otx.alienvault.com/pulse/5709fcb267db8c4b471bdc3c/ https://otx.alienvault.com/pulse/568a99df4637f2624bcdbcb8/ 2016-06-07 18:00:52 : 188.8.131.52:46521 -> aa.bb.cc.dd:53 (UDP) https://otx.alienvault.com/pulse/5709fcb267db8c4b471bdc3c/ https://otx.alienvault.com/pulse/571c4147c1492d015c14c214/
Some unsolicited questions and answers
- What can this be used for? It can be a proof-of-concept, in cases where you might need to argue why you want to install an IDS. It can also be used for statistical purposes, to get a grasp of how often your network is communicating with malicious systems on the Internet.
- Will I be missing information with this simplified setup? Yes, most likely. This implementation is not intended as an IDS replacement, but it will give an indication of unwanted activity to and from your network. Also, your router may provide sampled NetFlow data, e.g. only a portion of the traffic will be selected for NetFlow analysis. At times you might see only the response traffic, in cases where a remote node contacting a non-responsive port will not always be classified as an established flow but a related ICMP response might be.
- Why isn't it real-time? A flow won't be registered by the router until a connection is completed or has timed out. Depending on your router's configuration, it could also be batching up the NetFlow feeds for regular transfers. I've seen 20 to 30 seconds delay between the actual connection and the NetFlow push from the router.
- Can I use the output somewhere else? Sure, you can make the Perl script log to syslog or to a file that OSSEC or something similar can read from.
Threat intelligence: OTX, Bro, SiLK, BIND RPZ, OSSEC
Building a toolbox around threat intelligence can be done with freely available tools. Shared information about malicious behaviour allows you to detect and sometimes prevent activity from – and to – Internet resources that could compromise your systems' security.
I've already described how to use lists of malicious domain names in a BIND RPZ (Response Policy Zone). Adding an information feed like AlienVault OTX (Open Threat Exchange) to the mix further extends the awareness and detection capabilities.
AlienVault is probably most known for their SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) named Unified Security Management™, with a scaled-down open source version named Open Source Security Information and Event Management (OSSIM). They also provide a platform for sharing threat intelligence, namely Open Threat Exchange (OTX). OTX is based on registered users sharing security information, for instance domains and hostnames involved in phishing scams, IP addresses performing brute force SSH login attempts, etc. The information is divided into so-called pulses, each pulse a set of information items considered part of the same malicious activity. For example, a pulse can contain URLs to a site spreading drive-by malware, the IP addresses of their C&C, along with hashes of the files. By selecting which pulses and/or users to subscribe to, the registered information in each pulse will be available through a feed from their API.
Carefully reviewing which users/pulses to subscribe to – there's always a risk of false positives – I'm now regularly receiving an updated feed. This feed is parsed and currently split into two files: One RPZ file containing hostnames and domains for use with BIND, and one file containing IP addresses for use with SiLK.
As explained in an earlier post, OSSEC will let me know if someone (or something) makes DNS requests for a domain or hostname registered as malicious. Extending this to include the DNS records obtained from OTX was simply a matter of defining a new RPZ in BIND. Depending on how this is used (block? redirect? alert?), a whitelist should be in place to prevent accidental blocking of known good domains. One pulse describes all the Internet resources a client infected by a certain exploit will contact, including some certificate authorities which are not necessarily considered evil.
The file with IP addresses can be used directly with a firewall, by logging or even blocking or throttling traffic to/from the IP addresses in question. For rear-view mirror analysis it can be used with SiLK, to find out if there has been any network traffic to or from any of these addresses. To do this, you will first have to create an IP set with the command rwsetbuild:
# rwsetbuild /some/path/ip-otx.txt /some/path/ip-otx.set
Now we can use this set file in our queries. For this query I've manually selected just a few inbound matches:
# rwfilter --proto=0-255 --start-date=2016/01/01 \ --sipset=/some/path/ip-otx.set --type=all \ --pass=stdout | rwcut -f 1-5 sIP| dIP|sPort|dPort|pro| 188.8.131.52| my.ip.network|60264| 53| 17| 220.127.116.11| my.ip.network|33091| 80| 6| 220.127.116.11| my.ip.network|63604| 993| 6| 184.108.40.206| my.ip.network|60633| 993| 6| 184.108.40.206| my.ip.network|60888| 993| 6| 188.8.131.52| my.ip.network|32985| 993| 6| 126.96.36.199| my.ip.network|33060| 993| 6| 220.127.116.11| my.ip.network|33089| 993| 6| 188.8.131.52| my.ip.network|33103| 993| 6| 18.104.22.168| my.ip.network|33165| 993| 6| 18.104.22.168| my.ip.network|33185| 993| 6| 188.8.131.52| my.ip.network|33614| 993| 6| 220.127.116.11| my.ip.network|33750| 993| 6| 126.96.36.199| my.ip.network|60330| 993| 6| 126.96.36.199| my.ip.network|60000| 80| 6| 184.108.40.206| my.ip.network|60000| 80| 6| 18.104.22.168| my.ip.network| 0| 0| 1| 220.127.116.11| my.ip.network|43176| 53| 17| 188.8.131.52| my.ip.network| 0| 0| 1| 220.127.116.11| my.ip.network|60000| 80| 6| 22.214.171.124| my.ip.network|60000| 80| 6|
When you need more details about the listed address or other indicators, OTX provides a search form to find the pulse(s) in which the indicator was registered.
OTX can be used with Bro as well, and there are at least two Bro scripts for updating the feeds from the OTX API. The one that works for me is https://github.com/hosom/bro-otx. The script will make Bro register activity that matches indicators from an OTX pulse.
Sample log entries, modified for readability:
my.ip.network 59541 some.dns.ip 53 - - - union83939k.wordpress.com Intel::DOMAIN DNS::IN_REQUEST my.ip.network 40453 184.108.40.206 80 - - - ow.ly Intel::DOMAIN HTTP::IN_HOST_HEADER 18.104.22.168 47235 my.ip.network 80 - - - 18.104.22.168 Intel::ADDRConn::IN_ORIG
This article mentions just a few components that can be combined. Obviously there's a lot of possibilities for integrating and interfacing between different systems. There are several companies that provide threat intelligence feeds, some for free and some for paying customers. Depending on the product(s), a SIEM would be able to combine and correlate the different kinds of threat intelligence to detected events.
Geomapping network traffic
Did you ever wonder where your network traffic goes (and originates from)? With the SiLK suite and optionally some JavaScript map classes it's quite easy to find out.
SiLK is a tool quite equal to Cisco's NetFlow, and SiLK does indeed accept NetFlow output from a router. Just like NetFlow tools, SiLK stores network traffic metadata (like "when" and "where", but not "what"), so as opposed to capturing the complete network traffic SiLK can store a lot of information over a long time without eating too much disk space. In my setup I've configured my Mikrotik router to transmit traffic flow data to a Linux server running SiLK.
With GeoIP mapping, SiLK can identify the country of source and destination IP addresses. Combined with a "top 20" construct, it turned out easier than expected to create a world map like this:
For the map I've been using the very useful JavaScript interactive Highchart maps (Highmaps) from the Norwegian company Highsoft. To feed the map with data I wrote a small piece of code that converts the output from SiLK's rwfilter/rwstats output to JSON, which makes the map dynamically update itself upon refresh.
As shown on the screenshot to the left, when hovering the mouse over each bubble the JavaScript map code will show the percentage value of the traffic associated with the different countries. When identifying traffic from unexpected sources you can use the command line based SiLK tools to drill down in order to find out what's really going on, like in this case when I was wondering what was being transferred from Switzerland (it turned out to be some Flash movies the kids were watching). In addition to the command line tools there are also GUI and web based interfaces for querying SiLK data. The command used to find the source IP and port for the traffic originating from Switzerland (.ch) is shown below:
# rwfilter --start-date=2015/10/09 --end-date=2015/10/09 \ --proto=0-255 --type=all --pass=stdout --scc='ch' | rwstats --top \ --count=5 --fields=sip,sport --value=bytes INPUT: 327 Records for 19 Bins and 39783096 Total Bytes OUTPUT: Top 5 Bins by Bytes sIP|sPort| Bytes| %Bytes| cumul_%| 184.108.40.206| 1935| 38839614| 97.628435| 97.628435| 126.96.36.199| 80| 476083| 1.196697| 98.825132| 126.96.36.199| 1935| 402414| 1.011520| 99.836652| 184.108.40.206| 80| 15276| 0.038398| 99.875050| 220.127.116.11| 443| 9328| 0.023447| 99.898497|
There's a few snags with my setup, but with some tweaking it gives a general idea and I think I've handled the corner cases. These are the knows issues – so far:
- This setup is a NATed IPv4 network environment. In order to detect inbound traffic I have to enter my router's outside address as the destination. This address might change now and again, breaking historical data.
- I'm also running an IPv6 network provided by HE.net (tunnelbroker.net). My allocated IPv6 ranges are consequently registered as physically located in the US, so SiLK will register any internal-only IPv6 network traffic as based in the US, increasing that percentage.


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We're all used to hyperbole these days.
Journalists use it to grab their readers' attention ("Freddie Starr Ate My Hamster"); marketeers use it to grab consumers' attention ("Guinness For Strength") and children use it to seriously annoy their parents ("But Muuum, eeevvvrrryyyyone has one!").
Similarly, claims to be the world's first are either so niche or so mundane that they're unimportant. However, that doesn't mean to say that once in a while they're not true.
"I imagine we are the first international consultancy to be born out of social media," Akhila Vijayaraghavan, Founder and Director of the Green Den Consultancy (GDC), tells me. I think she's right, and the groundbreaking nature of GDC probably goes way beyond just CSR.
Like many people taking the lead in sustainable business , Akhila's background is varied and fast developing. Five years ago she completed a degree at the University of Glasgow in Molecular and Cellular Biology before working in climate change and environmentalism for The British Council and Greenpeace.
It was during this time that she started to look at CSR and the seed that became GDC was first planted in a blog which had "no real purpose than to vent some frustrations and bring some issues to the spot-light".
"I knew I wanted to make a change – specifically I wanted to work with small/medium sized businesses from ground up," elaborates Akhila. "When I started tweeting a year ago and exchanging ideas with people … I reached the conclusion that I did have a valid business model. After that, GDC gathered steam."
From there, GDC has now launched as what Akhila first envisioned: "I wanted to bring together a bunch of consultants with the same goals to work on local projects with a global outlook …We are remote-based, with different academic and cultural backgrounds but at the end of the day we speak the same language (ie. sustainability)."
It's this latter point which makes The Green Den such a groundbreaking initiative. It's not a traditional company working in one sector or one geographic location. While it's core team all specialise in CSR, they're spread across India, the US and Europe with competencies as varied as environmental law, the built environment, quantitative research and public private partnerships.
"The Western world comes with a different set of challenges and the Eastern bloc is a different ball-game altogether," Akhila explains. "We cover many industries and specialities that will be very beneficial to multi-dimensional businesses. Some of us are more economy oriented and other of us are more scientific oriented … we are more flexible and are able to understand our customers' problems and needs better."
Features on the overlap between CSR and social media are becoming more and more commonplace, and with good reason: social media enables the direct staff, customer and client "peer to peer" communication which CSR demands.
However, GDC goes beyond this. It was quite literally born in the Twitterverse when like minded people from around the world started to discuss issues and exchange ideas. So, not only is profit orientated "business as usual" coming to an end, but so is the whole way companies are established and operate. In Green Den Consulting we can see this future, and it looks really rather good!
Join the environment forum now !


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It's spring in the Pacific Northwest, so I thought we should take a break from hard science and just stop to enjoy the flowers. I saw these at one of the local gas stations today. At first, the flowers looked like azaleas to me, but when I looked at the leaves and the structure of the plants, it seemed pretty clear that they were rhododendrons. Both flowers tend to be among the first perennials to bloom here. So we'll call them rhodies, though opposing viewpoints are welcome.
More importantly, they're magenta:
Image credit: Photos taken and processed slightly by Cujo359
Here's a closeup that includes buds, flowers, and leaves:
As always, click on the pictures to enlarge.


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American Wind Energy Association (AWEA)
From Open Energy Information
(Redirected from American Wind Energy Association)
American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) is an organization based in Washington, District of Columbia: Energy Resources.
AWEA is a national trade association with over 2,500 members & advocates, including: wind power project developers, equipment suppliers, services providers, parts manufacturers, utilities, researchers, and others involved in the wind industry. The mission of the American Wind Energy Association is to promote wind power growth through advocacy, communication, and education.
AWEA Resources
- AWEA's website provides additional information about wind power (e.g. industry standards, industry statistics, utility scale wind, etc.) and about issues related to wind power (e.g. federal and state policy, siting, transmission & grid integration, etc.).
- WindPAC is the Political Action Committee of the AWEA. Its purpose is to help elect candidates to the U.S. Congress who support AWEA's legislative goals for growing wind power in America.
- ↑ "About AWEA"


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>> Tuesday, October 18, 2011
This CU pack contains 8 different Day Lillies. Flower heads, flower heads with buds, flowers with stems are included in this assortment! Full size, drop shadows and resized for preview only! Photographed and extracted by me! Saved as *.Png's CU, S4H, S4O Okay! $2.00
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