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The sun was just breaking over the LA horizon as Michelle Lovitt kicked off another early-morning workout with her new client. On tap was an intense, 45-minute strength-training session that involved seemingly endless burpees and squat jumps. It was grueling, but this client—a charismatic and likable overachiever in her 40s—was willing to put in the work. She'd come to Lovitt with the same goal as many of the other entertainers and athletes Lovitt has trained over the years: to shed fat that collects around the middle in the stretches between gigs or seasons.
Wishing for a "flat belly" is as regular as rain, but for star actresses like this one—we'll call her Client X—having one is practically a job requirement. And while anyone would consider her lean and lovely, she was battling a stubborn layer of ab fat that her previous trainers hadn't been able to help her shake. It was a challenge that Lovitt was more than happy to take on. After all, if someone with access to the best resources couldn't disprove the idea that abs go kaput at 40, how could any other woman stand a chance?
For the past few months, Lovitt had run Client X through a plan so demanding, most of us would rather live with the extra fluff than subject ourselves to it: hour-long treadmill runs, killer strength sessions, and ab work that religiously included holding planks a full minute with perfect form. It was a fat-shedding recipe that Lovitt, who's an exercise physiologist and a sports nutritionist, had always used with success. The cardio burns through the fat, the circuit work spikes metabolism, and the core exercises take care of the rest. In weeks, Client X's arms and legs were as defined and slender as the manzanita branches hanging over the trails above Hollywood.
More From Prevention
But when it came to Client X's belly fat, Lovitt recalls, something was off. They'd scrubbed her diet, already relatively clean, until it sparkled. In the gym, Client X had poured on more and more effort. But that little layer of belly fat did not comply. Lovitt, approaching 40 herself, became frustrated. "I'm exhausted thinking about it," she says. "It wasn't sustainable, and it still wasn't delivering the results she wanted."
More from Prevention: 15 Flat Belly Recipes
What Lovitt and Client X were fighting uphill against was what most of us with XX chromosomes know too well: the dreaded middle-age fat migration. While it tends to hit with a vengeance in your 40s and 50s, the slide starts in your 30s, when you begin to lose half a pound of lean muscle a year—resulting in a 5% slower metabolism every decade. Then, in your mid-40s, the hormonal storm of perimenopause kicks in, morphing you into a shape-shifter. As estrogen levels naturally begin to drop, fat that typically lingers on the hips and thighs pulls up stakes and settles in where it's wanted even less: the belly. "Other than your ovaries, your fat cells—especially those around the stomach—are the only place the female body can produce estrogen," says Deborah Clegg, associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern. "As the ovaries slow down, your belly-fat cells try to pick up the slack and, as a result, swell and multiply."
As the training sessions rolled by, Lovitt felt the tension building. Client X was getting fitter but her belly, no flatter. Driving home one morning, Lovitt wracked her brain.
Chill out, she told herself. You're too stressed to think clearly. And then, right in the middle of Route 101, a lightbulb clicked on: What if the stress of trying so hard to eliminate the fat was actually making eliminating the fat harder to do?
Cortisol, a potent stress hormone with a knack for holding on to ab fat, is never not a problem for women. (Name a decade when you weren't stressed out about something.) But starting in your 40s, levels naturally climb. Just as our aging joints don't work as well as they did in our 20s, researchers say, the part of the brain that helps regulate the hormone (for science types, that's the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis) stops performing at its peak. That up-tick in cortisol might make as big a difference in the waistline as taking up a nightly glass of wine: Yale researchers found that women with high cortisol levels had more abdominal fat even if they were slender elsewhere. And Client X, Lovitt realized, had multiple drivers of cortisol creep built into her life. She was driven. She exercised like a fiend. And she was on a chronic diet.
"When you want to shed fat, the natural instinct is to adopt an 'eat less, exercise more' mentality," says Jade Teta, an integrative physician and the author of The Metabolic Effect Diet. "But this may cause metabolic stress and raise cortisol levels, which only compounds your problem."
Of course, any physical activity can create stress on the body, resulting in the production of cortisol. "The problem arises when you train too hard too often and don't take enough time to rest and recover," explains performance coach and exercise physiologist Pete McCall.
As Lovitt connected the dots, a theory started to percolate: Perhaps when you hit your 40s, the trick isn't always to push harder—sometimes it could be doing less. The solution was counterintuitive, and Client X wasn't easily convinced to give it a try. (Mind you, this was before short training programs like HIIT and Tabata had become mainstream.) Finally, Lovitt leveled with her: "I realize how crazy it sounds, but let's see what happens."
Lovitt knew that if her hunch didn't work, she'd be out of a job. Even worse, she would have no recourse for future clients (or herself) when the after-40 hormone change locked in. She also realized that her scaled-back plan had to hit the perfect note: intense enough to burn fat, but not so wicked that cortisol levels spiraled upward. To achieve that, she decided to watch her client's heart rate like a hawk.
The program itself wasn't hard to construct. She broke Client X's long runs into shorter intervals, alternating between running at 85 to 90% of maximum heart rate and walking at 60 to 70% of MHR. To keep heart rate in the Goldilocks zone (not too high, not too low) during resistance work, Lovitt cut back on burpees and favored moderate standing core moves like lunges with knee lifts. Instead of 1 day off a week, Lovitt built in 2. She also added calories, swapping her client's previous "breakfast" (a latte) for sprouted bread with avocado and egg whites.
Then she waited, the fate of Hollywood and womankind not exactly in the balance, but at least open to change. Within a few weeks, Client X noticed her first shift. Her abs—after months of effort—showed glimmers of definition. Then, a few weeks after that, it happened. Her belly fat began slowly, visibly falling away. "Not only did it work," says Lovitt, "but it was something she could stick with long-term."
Lovitt never monitored Client X's cortisol levels. She couldn't prove that allowing the woman's body to de-stress was critical. But, confident in her theory, Lovitt began using the tone-down-to-tone-up method with all her clients humbled by the 40-plus roll. Eventually that included herself. "I'll never forget thinking, 'Sh*t, this really does happen,' " she says. As remarkable results rolled in, Lovitt learned it wasn't a fluke. Client X had proved to be a harbinger of a sustainable, effective solution.
Lovitt's routine, which she has crafted into our new fitness DVD, Ultimate Flat Belly: Amazing Abs, Gorgeous Body, is not for the naive. Like any routine, it requires work and discipline. But, with nothing more than a resistance band, light hand weights, and a few feet of space, it will help anyone feel more confident and at ease with her abs.
And so: Start with the workout and move on to the full routines on the DVD. While your middle may never be up to Hollywood standards—we know it's as much about feeling good as looking good in a bikini anyway, right?—Lovitt promises that you'll get as much out of your age and genes as Client X eventually did. "Whether it was Lauren Graham, Julianne Moore, or Courteney Cox, what does it matter?" asks Lovitt, never one to break the trainer-client code. "The point is that they all make 40-plus look as amazing as it is."
More from Prevention: 10 Flat Belly Breakfasts
Bari Lieberman is the former Senior Associate Fitness Editor for Prevention and Prevention.com. She's a certified personal trainer and Spinning instructor, and University of Miami graduate. She owns more sneakers than stilettos and tries to wear spandex as often as possible. Follow her on Twitter at @barilieberman.


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Did Tchaikovsky get crunk off Jack and Coke?
We're not saying it happened, but it could have.
Classical music guys may seem old, but relatively speaking they aren't. Put them into context with other institutions of the day and you'll have a whole new perspective!
Don't laugh, all of these things are within the realm of possibility...
Baroque Era (1600-1750)
Pachelbel could have been drinking a Löwenbräu - a 300 year old beer by then - while composing his famous "Canon In D."
Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706), Löwenbräu (1383), "Canon In D" (1680)
Vivaldi could have played patty-cake.
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (1678-1741), "Pat-A-Cake, Pat-A-Cake, Baker's Man" (1698)
Vivaldi could have lined his catbox with newspapers that are still being published today.
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (1678-1741), "London Gazette" (1665), "Stamford Mercury" (1695)
Bach could have been an Ivy Leaguer.
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Harvard University (1636), Yale University (1701)
Handel could have rapped about Moët & Chandon way before The Notorious B.I.G. and 50 Cent.
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759), Moët et Chandon champagne (1743)
Classical Era (1750-1820)
Mozart could have hummed "Oh Dear, What Can the Matter Be? Johnny's So Long At The Fair."
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), "What Can the Matter Be?" (1780)
Mozart wasn't featured in the first edition of "Encyclopaedia Britannica." He was just a passing fancy at that point.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), "Encyclopaedia Britannica" (1768)
Mozart could have done body shots of Cuervo off a stripper with George Washington.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), José Cuervo tequila (1759), George Washington (1732-1799)
Beethoven could have read the "Old Farmer's Almanac" or "The London Times" while sitting on the can.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), "Old Farmer's Almanac" (1792), "The Times" (1785)
There could be naked photos of Beethoven somewhere.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), First known surviving photograph (1825)
Romantic Era (1820-1910)
Italian opera composer Rossini could have sat on Santa's lap at Macy's.
Gioacchino Antonio Rossini (1792-1868), R. H. Macy & Co. (1858), Macy's first in-store Santa (1862)
Brahms could have gone joyriding in a Mercedes-Benz.
Johannes Brahms (1833–1897), Benz Patent-Motorwagen (1886)
Tchaikovsky could have ordered something out of the Sears catalog.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), First Sears, Roebuck & Co. catalog (1893)
Tchaikovsky could have gotten crunk off Jack and Coke.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), Jack Daniel's whiskey (1866), Coca-Cola (1886)
Tchaikovsky could have incorporated record scratches into the "1812 Overture."
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), Phonograph (1877), "1812 Overture" (1880)
Modern Era (1910-Present)
Debussy could have composed while wearing Levi's blue jeans.
Claude Debussy (1862-1918), Levi's jeans (1873)
Gershwin could have worked for IBM.
George Gershwin (1898-1937), IBM (1924)
Carl Orff of "O Fortuna" fame could have played games on the Commodore 64 personal computer with Madonna.
Carl Orff (1895-1982), Commodore 64 personal computer (1982), Madonna (1958-Present)
Aaron Copland could have sat in on the recording session of the first Nirvana album.
Aaron Copland (1900–1990), "Bleach" (1989)
John Williams could tweet this post from his iPhone.
John Towner Williams (1932-Present), Twitter (2006), iPhone (2007)
There you have it. Classical music has mostly happened in the last 300 years or so, along with a lot of other stuff that doesn't seem that old.
For more frame of reference, consider that "Canon In D," the oldest piece on http://www.kickassclassical.com, was composed 60 years after the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620. And 40 of the 50 composers on our site were alive during and after the days of the "Wild West," which began with the California Gold Rush in 1848.

subset: commoncrawl


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Most stringed instrument players prefer to use a plectrum, or pick, to provide the percussive force that causes the strings to resonate. A number of performers, however, prefer to use their naked hand. There are distinct advantages to using one's hand. The same articulation and precision that can be achieved with a pick is possible, though it requires a great deal of practice. Those softer parts of the hand, the outside of the pinky and the pads of the fingers and thumb, can produce gentle, muffled tones. Of course, the entire hand can be used for the loudest passages, providing more volume than a pick can usually pluck out of the instrument.
For a ukulele or any plucked, stringed instrument player, the nails are one of the most important parts of the hand. In most cases, performers who use a finger-picking style will grow out the nails on their right hands to their preferred length. It's important to note the term "preferred length". There are any number of sources that will try to say what's too long or too short where nail length is concerned. This is entirely up to the performer. Nail length affects how an instrument is played and its sound quality, so there is no choice to be made here that is not aesthetic and individual in nature.
One's nails will increase in strength as they're used. They may split and break at first, but keep them filed and trimmed and they'll rapidly increase in the amount of work they can perform. Remember to keep the entire nail smooth. People tend to have ridges and depressions on the back of their nails. These can be filed down to make the smoothest possible surface. Nails should be trimmed and filed to eliminate bends and hooks.
To avoid splitting and breaking, it is ideal to use methods to help strengthen the nail itself. For instance, vitamin E oil can be applied to the nail. Daily vitamin use is also ideal for good nail growth as well as strengthening them. Vitamin rich lotion is also an ideal way to keep your nails strong and looking healthy.
If for whatever reason you have problems with nail growth and keeping them strong, you have other options to consider including acrylic nails and Lee Press On Nails (Yes, they are still available if you dont have any leftover from the 80s!). Both can be applied to the nails to provide you your ideal ukulele playing nail length as well as provide you with the strength you need to play effectively.


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Click to viewSteve Ballmer finally gets to join his buddy Bill Gates in the "food target club" after a visit to the Hungarian University of Economy. A guy (grad student? just some dude?) stood up, yelled "Give back the money of the taxpayers" in an accent Ballmer probably couldn't understand, and started throwing eggs at him.
Our tipster Joco explains:
Microsoft has midterm contracts with the state in Hungary for "way cheaper than from the store" Campus-licences. This costs billions (in HUF, 160HUF=1USD) for the state and makes students stuck in the Microsoft-world, not knowing Linux etc.
It's not quite as violent as the Bill Gates encounter, but it still doesn't feel good. You know, when someone eggs you. Ballmer is not a house.


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It's almost that time of the year again! Yes, it's nearly New Year, and so the idea of making a resolution or two has probably crossed your mind. In 59 Seconds, I describe some of the research that I have carried out into how best to keep your resolution….here are my 10 top tips, and a little video….
1) Make only one resolution, your chances of success are greater when you channel energy into changing just one aspect of your behaviour.
2) Don't wait until New Year's Eve to think about your resolution and instead take some time out a few days before and reflect upon what you really want to achieve.
3) Avoid previous resolutions; deciding to re-visit a past resolution sets you up for frustration and disappointment.
4) Don't run with the crowd and go with the usual resolutions. Instead think about what you really want out of life.
5) Break your goal into a series of steps, focusing on creating sub-goals that are concrete, measurable, and time-based.
6) Tell your friends and family about your goals, thus increasing the fear of failure and eliciting support.
7) Regularly remind yourself of the benefits associated with achieving your goals by creating a checklist of how life would be better once you obtain your aim.
8) Give yourself a small reward whenever you achieve a sub-goal, thus maintaining motivation and a sense of progress.
9) Make your plans and progress concrete by keeping a handwritten journal, completing a computer spreadsheet or covering a notice board with graphs or pictures.
10) Expect to revert to your old habits from time to time. Treat any failure as a temporary set-back rather than a reason to give up altogether.
So, are you going to make a resolution and, if so, what is it?


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The British Medical Journal or BMJ is official journal of the British Medical Association (BMA). It is one of the oldest medical publications in the world having been first published in 1840.
The BMJ is one of the most widely read general medical journals in the world. It is studiously scientific with a strong emphasis on peer-reviewed, evidence-based medicine. It not only publishes original research and clinical reviews, but also news, editorial perspectives, personal views and career focus articles.


text: The new Men's Brooks Adrenaline GTS 21 features more DNA Loft Cushioning then ever before. That creates an even smoother heel to toe ride than before. That's a big deal since V20 is a great shoe. Brook's GuideRails support keeps you moving comfortable by guiding the foot and lower body through every step. This is a surefire recipe for comfort that's custom made for your stride.Specs:


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New 2023 Thor Motor Coach ACE 30C
Motor Home Class A
Stock #m44821
Conroe, TX
Favorite RVs
Save your favorite RVs as you browse. Begin with this one!
Excellent Customer ServiceNice rv
Excellent Customer ServiceAn amazing selection but most are locked. Its difficult to simply browse one manufacturer to another without a salesperson shadowing.
Excellent Customer ServiceHe was a big help and had a great personality . Trust in that he is a honest sales man.
We are here to help!
We strive to ensure all pricing and information contained in this website is accurate. Despite our efforts, occasionally errors resulting from typos, inaccurate detail information or technical mistakes may occur. We are not responsible for any such errors and reserve the right to correct them at any time. Please note that 360 virtual tours are for reference of the corresponding floorplan. Actual features, colors and finishes may vary to the unit in stock.


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The Ars Technica GOG collection: Our picks from GOG's big Spring Sale - Ars staff hand-picked some classic and modern PC games for this DRM-free sale.
42 minutes ago
Writer's Email: email@example.com
Fone WST... +1318.717.9017
"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws." ~ Gaius Cornelius Tacitus
Let's run a bit of a thought experiment.
There are two of us in this economy -- you and I. We're both adult males.
We both desire sex ...
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate:
As economists, we want to express to Congress our great concern for the plan proposed by Treasury Secretary Paulson to deal with the financial crisis. We are well aware of the difficulty of the current financial situation and we agree with the need for bold action to ensure that the financial system continues to function. We see three fatal pitfalls in the currently proposed plan:
1) Its fairness. The plan is a subsidy to investors at taxpayers' expense. Investors who took risks to earn profits must also bear the losses. Not every business failure carries systemic risk. The government can ensure a well-functioning financial industry, able to make new loans to creditworthy borrowers, without bailing out particular investors and institutions whose choices proved unwise.
2) Its ambiguity. Neither the mission of the new agency nor its oversight are clear. If taxpayers are to buy illiquid and opaque assets from troubled sellers, the terms, occasions, and methods of such purchases must be crystal clear ahead of time and carefully monitored afterwards.
3) Its long-term effects. If the plan is enacted, its effects will be with us for a generation. For all their recent troubles, America's dynamic and innovative private capital markets have brought the nation unparalleled prosperity. Fundamentally weakening those markets in order to calm short-run disruptions is desperately short-sighted.
For these reasons we ask Congress not to rush, to hold appropriate hearings, and to carefully consider the right course of action, and to wisely determine the future of the financial industry and the U.S. economy for years to come.
Signed (updated at 9/25/2008 8:30AM CT)
- the list of signatories is very long - 192 so far and include from here in louisiana james r. bartkus of xavier university. click here to view the entire list or here to download the five page .pdf.
Posted by wst... at 17:17
Labels: 2008_american_financial_collapse


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Legislative gridlock surfaced so often in Congress in 2013 that historians will have ample room to chronicle a "do-nothing" Congress.
Lawmakers managed to shutdown parts of the U.S. government for 16 days. They averted a near default by the government and held so many philosophical disagreements about policy and priorities that many people outside Washington, D.C. openly groaned when they heard the impasse of the day.
Meanwhile, cupboards across the country went bare as the food stamp program shrunk by $5 billion just weeks before Thanksgiving. Millions of families lived in limbo as Congress failed to pass long-promised comprehensive immigration reform. And 57,000 children were kicked out of Head Start because of sequestration, the budget-bludgeoning that occurred because members of Congress were too busy fighting to agree on where to trim.
In sum, 2013 has not been the most constructive of times in Washington, D.C. Star Paschal, a mom who's active in her Alabama community, says she's seen just one significant thing coming out of the halls of Congress this year – hot air.
"In my opinion," the public housing worker said, "they haven't done anything but cause chaos."
At one point during the gridlock, the Senate chaplain prayed to a higher power for help: "Rise up, O God, and save us from ourselves."
All this while the stock market climbed to new heights - and income inequality remained at record levels. As the Census Bureau reported, 46.5 million people were living below the poverty line in this country. That number climbs to nearly 50 million people when different poverty measures that give a fuller picture are included.
Leaders in the capital may not have played nice together, but outside of Washington, D.C., families and grassroots advocates around the country were joining together to make things happen.
For some, it was a new school discipline policy. Or being able to draw a glass of clean water from the tap. For others, it was the promise of a little more in the paycheck. Or actually getting paid for something many people take for granted – overtime.
Sweeping policy changes? Not in all cases. But they do tell a story about patience, about persistence and about the power of people who show up, year after year, to put in the work to change policy that affects their families. Government may come late to the party; sometimes, it fails to show up at all. But in communities around the country, work is getting done.
"To me, that has been one of the biggest signs of hope in 2013," said Melissa Boteach, director of Half in Ten, a campaign to halve poverty in a decade. "In spite of a gridlocked Congress, you've really begun to see advocates, activists, everyday people, taking the narrative back and building momentum for long-term change."
A "do-nothing" Congress? Whatever. That made 2013 a year for people in neighborhoods to shine.
Changing School Discipline
In New Orleans and Los Angeles, in Greenville, Miss., and beyond, parents have been fighting the same issue for years: harsh school discipline policies.
Instead of a visit to the principal's office, students were being suspended for infractions as minor as tardiness. Many were kicked out of school entirely. All too often, they would wind up in the juvenile justice system. It's been dubbed the "school-to-prison pipeline."
About five years ago, grassroots advocates in Louisiana began trying to implement a model discipline plan, along with a codified program of positive support for students. It was hard to argue with the basic premise: It's better to change kids' behavior than to kick them out of school.
In 2011, a bill to reform school discipline policies was passed by the Louisiana state Legislature, but it was vetoed by Gov. Bobby Jindal. When that path was blocked, advocates found another, going district by district and lobbying school administrators to implement model discipline policies.
Parents in New Orleans were among those seeking change. In some schools there, one in every four students was suspended out of school, according to the Dignity in Schools Campaign. Eventually, the district began to see things the way the community groups did. "They're understanding that you can't just put kids out of school for minor infractions," explained Ernest Johnson of Families and Friends of Louisiana's Incarcerated Children.
Last year, the district implemented the model policy.
Meanwhile, similar movements were going on around the country, led by parents and community groups. In 2013, advocates in 22 states held marches, community forums or teach-ins to change harsh school discipline policies, according to the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative.
"The entire country is kind of jumping on it," Johnson said.
Even if it means going one district at a time.
Finally, Running Water
Being able to get a potable glass of water from the tap is taken as a basic necessity. But there are pockets of the country where that isn't a given.
"Definitely, it's something that people deserve," said Amy Meeks, who works with Adults and Youth United Development Association (AYUDA), an El Paso organization that's been working on the issue for years.
In some communities in Texas, the fight has been going on for decades. The communities are known as colonias – unimproved land located outside city limits, where many immigrants live without public utilities.
"People bought the land with the idea it was going to be something better for their families," Meeks said. "They started building, and then they realized they were struggling more."
Over the years, community members have organized, cajoled and lobbied until, colonia by colonia, they have picked up policy wins, significantly reducing the number of people living without public water.
This year's winners included about 700 people in four colonias near El Paso. There, residents could drive a stretch down the road and see new neighborhoods that had all the normal utilities. Yet, when they asked for water lines, they were told they'd have to wait.
Several years ago, AYUDA was able to get 2,500-gallon water tanks for residents so that they could have water delivered to their homes a few times a month. The deliveries cost about four times the average water bill. And the water wasn't even potable. Residents had to buy their drinking water separately.
Convincing officials that things had to change was not easy.
"There was a point where they were saying there's not really a lot of people living out there, so we gathered signatures," Meeks recalled. "They said, 'No,' and 'No,' and 'No,' but we continued to go back."
As Meeks put it, "You know what? Eventually, they're going to have to say, 'Yes.'"
And finally, after about 15 years, they did.
Domestic Worker Advocacy Pays Off
Talk about persistence: Domestic workers have spent decades advocating ordinary wage and hour protections. In 2013, they had several victories.
"We won a change that's going to put hundreds of millions of dollars into the pockets of low-wage working women," said Andrea Cristina Mercado, campaign director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance.
The movement began in the 1970s, when domestic workers began organizing to be included in minimum wage laws. They didn't succeed. In 1974, home health care aides were specifically excluded from changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act and placed in the same category as casual babysitters.
Compared to the 1970s, the landscape for domestic workers now is different. Home health care aides, for example, are relied upon for increasingly complex care, as growing numbers of aging people remain in their own homes rather than move into institutions.
Still, wages have remained low. For home health care workers the current average hovers a little over the federal minimum wage. The National Domestic Workers Alliance said 20 percent of respondents in their surveys reported there were times in the previous month when there was no food in the homes. Advocates say more than half of home health care aides live at or below the poverty level and receive public benefits.
Around 2000, a new domestic workers rights movement began to take shape and has picked up steam in the last five years or so. States and even the federal government have begun to notice and respond.
In 2013, California and Hawaii passed domestic workers bills of rights. A federal rule change ensured that home health care workers nationwide will earn minimum wage and overtime pay beginning in 2015.
"We started talking to one another, from California to New York to Washington to Maryland," Mercado explained. "That's when the work took off."
Hope for a Living Wage
As December comes to a close, the agricultural industry and the one in seven people who use food stamps are waiting for Congress to pass a comprehensive farm bill. Immigration reform is on hold. The president advocated raising the federal minimum wage in early 2013, but nothing has happened on that front – nothing, that is, in Congress.
Communities from coast to coast, however, have taken matters into their own hands. Voters in San Jose, Calif., approved an increase that took effect last year. Ditto for SeaTac, Wash., which approved a $15 minimum for some hospitality and airport workers in November. State minimum wages were increased in New York, Connecticut and California.
In Illinois, the people are pushing for a living wage as well, through lobbying, signature-gathering and acts of civil disobedience. In November, "Black Friday" rallies in front of Wal-Mart, often cited as an example of a major retailer paying low wages, led to a number of arrests.
Charles Jenkins is among them. As an activist, he puts himself in the middle of just about every social justice campaign that hits Chicago.
"I may be out in the street in the morning at a rally, and then that afternoon I may be door-knocking or flyering or phone banking," he said. "Whatever moves the barometer a bit closer to a just society."You name it, we've done it," Jenkins said.
He feels they've been successful, even though the minimum wage hasn't budged. Legislation was introduced in the Illinois General Assembly earlier in 2013, calling for a series of increases. Meanwhile, in Chicago, advocates announced in December that they had gathered enough signatures to put a non-binding referendum on the city ballot.
Jenkins is optimistic.
"I know it's going to happen," he said. "It's a tough grind, but I also know that when you [want to] make something happen, you don't worry about how much work you had to put in yesterday, or today. You continue to stay positive and do positive things, and it's impossible to fail."
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text:
I knew Wendy Lichtman was a good writer (Washington Post, New York Times), but I never thought she (or anybody) could pull off a book so inventive and winning as "Secrets, Lies & Algebra" (HarperTeen; 183 pages; $6.99 paperback).
It's a great novel for young readers in the 6th-8th grades, but if you're a math-phobic oldster like myself, it's even better for mature(d) audiences.
The story takes off like a rocket and before you know it, principles of algebra and even a little non-Euclidean geometry (I never heard of it before but now find indispensable) fly into your brain as though destined to reside there. (more…)


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The charter plane carrying almost the entire Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team took off in perfect weather this morning, had trouble gaining altitude, clipped a radar tower and crashed 1.5 miles from the airport. It's the exact same plane that had been banned two years ago by aviation authorities from flying to Europe because it did not meet any of the international standards for safety.
The Yakovlev Yak-42 was developed in the late 70s, the first Soviet aircraft to use modern turbofan engines. This specific jet, tail number RA-42433, first flew in 1993 and saw heavy service as a commercial airliner.
In 2009, the European Commission published a report on foreign carriers that did not meet standards. Included was RA-42433, previously operated by Tatarstan airlines.
On the basis of verified evidence of major safety deficiencies affecting flight operations detected on the part of the air carrier YAK Service certified by the competent authorities of the Russian Federation, the Commission launched a formal investigation of that air carrier on 15 July 2009...These aircraft were not equipped to perform international flights as per ICAO standards (not equipped with TAWS/E-GPWS) and their certificate of airworthiness had expired and had not been renewed.
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The Russian Federation initially promised they would bring the aircraft up to date, but later decided against it. All planes owned by charter company YAK Service have been prohibited from flying to countries within the European community, which does not include Belarus, today's destination.
Preliminary legislation is currently making its way through labyrinthine Russian law that would bring the country's aviation standards up to the rest of the world's, in a "gradual reform." Currently Russia and the former Soviet States have the world's worst air safety record, with 13 times more incidents than the international average.


text: Hi, I'm Aya. I've always had a profound love of nature. I love trees, flowers and the warmth of the sun (but not too hot!). I got into digital photography when I took a course at my local community college, as I am a student there (working on my A.F.A). I've always been very much into digital art, and it never crossed my mind to take a digital photography class. As a result, I've been bitten by the photography bug and I'm lovin' every minute of it! I love to go for walks with my camera in the hopes of coming across something beautiful from nature. Nature is beautiful and I want to add that beauty to people's lives.As a result of playing around with my photographs in Photoshop, I seem to have fallen deeply in love with photo manipulation and digital art.


text: Animals Pets 5 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Raise Wild Animals as Pets By Jenn Savedge Jenn Savedge Writer University of Strathclyde Ithaca College Jenn Savedge is an environmental author and lecturer. She's a former national park ranger who has written three books on eco-friendly living Learn about our editorial process Updated May 3, 2020 Share Twitter Pinterest Email Just because you see a baby animal, doesn't mean you should 'adopt' it. (Photo: Prokaev Vladimir/Shutterstock) Animals Wildlife Pets Animal Rights Endangered Species Let's say you're walking with your kids in the woods or a neighborhood park and you come across what looks like an abandoned baby bunny. Do you keep walking? Should you try to raise that bunny as your own? Neither. You should call your local wildlife rehabilitation center and have one of their employees come out to take a look. Oh, come on, you say. Bunnies (or squirrels, or fawns) make great pets, right? Everybody knows someone who told stories of having one of these wild animals as a pet as a kid. But what most folks leave out of the "raising a baby squirrel" tale is the story about the day that the wild squirrel (or bunny, or bird) went a little "crazy" and had to be released back into the wild. Wild animals are not pets, and they shouldn't be treated as such. Here are five reasons why you should not try to raise a wild animal on your own: 1. It's Illegal It is against the law to try to raise any type of wild animal in captivity. That goes for baby crocodiles and monkeys from the illegal pet trade as well as baby robins and bunnies from your back yard. 2. You Can't Domesticate a Wild Animal Domestication is a process that takes centuries within an animal species. Dogs and cats have been bred as pets for thousands of years. You can't simply love the wild out of an animal. 3. Wild Animals Carry Diseases Did you know that many wild animals — like raccoons or skunks — can be carriers for rabies without showing any symptoms? And according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tens of thousands of people get salmonella infections each year from wild reptiles or amphibians. Bringing a wild animal into your home exposes your whole family — you, your kids and your pets — to a slew of potentially fatal diseases. 4. They Don't Stay Little Forever Baby animals, by their very nature, are hard to resist. They are incredibly cute and appear dependent upon others for their very survival. But within a few months, those babies grow up and their natural instincts kick in. They may bite, scratch, tear up the furniture, or worse. This is usually the time that most people who have tried raising a wild animal decide it's time to release it back into the wild. But the problem is that the baby animal may not have developed the critical skills necessary — like hunting for food or evading predators — to survive in the wild. 5. They May Not Need Rescuing Remember the baby bunny you came across in the park? He may have looked abandoned, but the truth is that mother bunnies generally stay away from their babies during the day to avoid drawing attention to them. They typically check on them and feed them once during the night, and even then they only stay for about five minutes. It may sound harsh, but that is exactly what a baby bunny needs to survive. Not a medicine dropper filled with organic skim milk. If you really think a baby animal is in trouble, call a local wildlife center to ask for advice, but don't bring it home. You won't be doing the baby, or your family, any favors.


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The toxin of anti-Semitism isn't a threat only to Jews.
Honored recently with an invitation from the family of Daniel Pearl to give the annual memorial lecture that bears his name, I tried to speak about the protean character of the world's most ancient and tenacious prejudice. The Passover Haggadah speaks of Jew-hatred or attempted Judeocide as something that happens in every generation, but as true as this may be, it is of little help in making distinctions. There is, probably first and certainly foremost, religious anti-Semitism. Unlike other nations or peoples, Jews were among the witnesses to the alleged lives and preachings of Jesus and Muhammad, and turned away from men they deemed false Messiahs. It is inconceivable that they will ever be quite forgiven for doing so. Most medieval Christian anti-Semitism was of the "Christ killer" sort, usually enriched by lurid allegations about ritual slaughter and the ineffaceable nonreligious but actually racial deformities (body odor, birthmarks) that branded the Jew as outcast. After the deportation of Jews from Christian Spain, the Muslim Ottoman Empire kept up a tradition of "tolerance," allowing large Sephardic communities in European cities as diverse as Salonika and Sarajevo as well as on the North African littoral. But the Jews of the Arab lands were expelled again in revenge for the defeat of Palestinian nationalism in 1947–48, and now the most evil and discredited fabrication of Jew-baiting Christian Europe—The Protocols of the Elders of Zion—is eagerly promulgated in the Hamas charter and on the group's Web site and recycled through a whole nexus of outlets that includes schools as well as state-run television stations.
This might license the view that the sickness is somehow ineradicable and not even subject to rational analysis, let alone to rationalization. Anti-Semitism has flourished without banking or capitalism (for which Jews were at one time blamed) and without Communism (for which they were also blamed). It has existed without Zionism (of which leading Jews were at one time the only critics) and without the state of Israel. There has even been anti-Semitism without Jews, in states like Malaysia whose political leaders are paranoid demagogues looking for a scapegoat. This is enough to demonstrate that anti-Semitism is not a mere prejudice like any other: Sinhalese who don't like Tamils, or Hutu who regard Tutsi as "cockroaches," do not accuse their despised neighbors of harboring a plan—or of possessing the ability—to bring off a secret world government based on the occult control of finance.
Paradoxically, then, there is something almost flattering about anti-Jewish racism. To have been confined in the ghetto for so long, and then to be held responsible for Marx, Freud, and Einstein, to say nothing of Rothschild … Yet the outcome is always the same: to be treated as human refuse and to be either deported or massacred. Jean-Paul Sartre's essay profiling the anti-Semite has many shortcomings, but it's hard to argue with his conclusion that such a person must necessarily carry a thirst for murder in his heart. Yet this is perhaps true of other racists as well. What strikes the eye about anti-Semitism is the godfather role it plays as the organizing principle of other bigotries. The Nazis may well have thought of Slavs and Poles as less than human, but it was the hatred of Jewry that cemented their worldview (and, horribly enough, gave them something in common with many of their Slavic and Polish victims).
Given the salience of this, it's of some importance to teach ourselves to make distinctions. Robert Wistrich has been writing about this subject for a considerable time, and has succeeded in retelling the old and dolorous tale of witch-hunting, Inquisition, and pogrom in such a way as to furnish a solid work of reference. Yet for him, almost any piece of anti-Jewish graffiti is to be taken as seriously as the Protocols themselves, and virtually all propaganda against the state of Israel participates in an ancient agenda that has extermination as its object.
Thus, according to him, in 1982, after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon:
In Italy, shortly before Yasser Arafat was granted a hero's welcome by the government, no fewer than two hundred thousand trade unionists passed before the Holocaust memorial of a Rome synagogue uttering cries of "Death to the Jews" and "Jews to the ovens."
This simply did not take place as described. It is probable that some in that crowd shouted some of those things, but the Italian labor movement is not like that, as Wistrich knows full well. Nor does he mention that 300,000 Israeli Jews demonstrated in Tel Aviv at the same time over their revulsion at the massacre of Palestinians in Beirut by an Israeli-supported Phalange party that had been a historical sympathizer of National Socialism. At that time, too, Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon attempted to meet any criticism of their complicity in crimes by terming it "blood libel." One does not want such a grave charge as that to be degraded by propaganda to the point where it meets diminishing returns.
Wistrich is not the only one sickened to see half-baked pro-Palestinian protesters superimposing the swastika on the Star of David (especially when some of the protesters don't actually think the swastika was all that bad to begin with). But this is an auction of imagery that was started by Begin and other Israeli extremists who once openly and regularly compared the PLO to the Nazi Party. Yeshayahu Leibowitz, editor of the Encyclopaedia Judaica, used the dubious term Judeo-Nazi to describe elements of the Israeli settler movement as early as 1967: you could hardly guess at the existence of critics like him if Wistrich was all you had to go on. (Wistrich does devote a little space to the idea of the "self-hating" Jew, another catch-all propaganda device, most recently employed by Netanyahu fans to describe David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel.)
In some contrast, Anthony Julius's study of the phenomenon in its English form is punctilious and specific. You "catch it on the edge of a remark," as Harold Abrahams observes of non-philo-Semitism in Chariots of Fire. And if by chance you miss it, Julius will be there to catch it for you:
Scoffs and scorns, which are predicated on a sense of difference, may be evidence of nothing more than a certain amused contempt. I have several proof texts for this proposition: a World War I memoir, Adrian Bell's Corduroy, a passage from one of Macaulay's letters, a Balliol College rhyme, and then, by way of identifying the limit of this perspective, a short prose piece of Virginia Woolf's and a remark of a Cambridge don.
And, by Jove, so he does deploy all these arcane "proof texts." Indeed, his long section on British literary anti-Semitism is a small masterpiece of research, improving on his earlier study of T. S. Eliot's Judeophobia. It was "free-thinking Jews," remember, whom Eliot deplored in After Strange Gods. Medieval English authors like Chaucer dealt in the Christian stereotypes of their day, and Shylock and Fagin have troubled Jews for many years, but Shakespeare included all the reasons why a Jewish moneylender in Christian Venice might feel resentful. Dickens went to considerable trouble to amend the text of Oliver Twist (and to create a sympathetic Jewish character in Our Mutual Friend). George Eliot, who would be the heroine of this story if it had a heroine, exerted herself to learn the Hebrew language and Jewish history before embarking on Daniel Deronda. She also formulated a ban that still stands. As she wrote to Harriet Beecher Stowe:
Can anything be more disgusting than to hear people called "educated" making small jokes about eating ham, and showing themselves empty of any real knowledge as to the relation of their own social and religious life to the history of the people they think themselves witty in insulting? … The best thing that can be said of it is, that it is a sign of the intellectual narrowness—in plain English, the stupidity which is still the average mark of our culture.
Equating Jew-hatred with being ill-bred and vulgar is still a fairly useful form of damnation in English society. In 1938 the extremely right-wing Evelyn Waugh was writing that British Fascism amounted to little more than "a form of anti-Semitism in the slums." A few aristocrats did try Fascism as a fashion, or as a political tactic, but they ended up as objects of ridicule or hatred, or both. (By the time Nancy Mitford and P. G. Wodehouse had finished with Sir Oswald Mosley, he was wise to remove himself to France for the pathetic remainder of his career.)
On two other vital questions, also, the English used to be unusually proof against the more paranoid versions of anti-Semitism. For one thing, they had their own biblical concept of themselves as "a chosen people." Oliver Cromwell—who first allowed the Jews back to England after earlier monarchical expulsions—expressed a view of his countrymen as "God's elect" that is echoed in literature from Blake to Burke, which often makes explicit comparisons to the children of Israel. Second, when the English of the 19th and early 20th centuries heard tales of a worldwide financial empire that gave a single people the anointed right to rule, they were fairly sure that there was indeed such a thing, and no bad thing either, since it was they who were running it. Few other countries or cultures had such a stolid sense of security.
However, if we examine the single grandest exception to this, which is the self-evident anti-Semitism of that lofty patrician Arthur James Balfour, then we find both of our authors becoming somewhat vague and defensive. There cannot be any doubt that the British debate over the so-called Aliens Act in 1905 was heavily infected with the racial prejudice of a Conservative Party once led by Benjamin Disraeli, yet Wistrich guardedly reports this by saying that "even" Balfour (the actual leader of that party) supported the anti-Jewish agitation. He compounds this by saying that, "ironically enough," the main opponent of the Balfour Declaration 12 years later was the British Cabinet's only Jew, Sir Edwin Montagu. It is as if one was forbidden "even" to think that an anti-Semite could favor a separate state for Jews (a phenomenon manifested again by the Christian right in America) or that a British Jew could have a non-"ironic" reason for resenting being told that he belonged in Palestine. Julius gives a fairer and larger account of this wrenching historical episode, but rather shrinks from exploring its implications. A single anecdote that he tells, about the weird press coverage he himself received for being the sharp divorce lawyer for Princess Diana, is enough to persuade one that anti-Jewish caricatures among the English are now both widespread and weak.
I began by saying that anti-Semitism is protean and contradictory, but then, so are Judaism and Zionism. Is there such a thing as "chosenness"? Is there a special "covenant"? Does the state of Israel have the right to speak for all diaspora Jews? Is Israel not in fact a part of the diaspora? Will the Messiah come? Does he take an interest in certain territories and not others? Who is a Jew, anyway? Rabbinical authorities and Israeli spokesmen have proved themselves unable and unqualified to decide these matters, and meanwhile vast numbers of Jews have secularized themselves and become big friends of a smaller Israel. This implied self-criticism of the faith and the project is not self-hatred, nor does it owe anything traceable to the disgusting slanders anatomized by Wistrich and Julius. The chief impetus of anti-Semitism remains theocratic, and in our epoch anti-Semitism has shifted from Christian to Muslim: a more searching inquiry into its origins and nature might begin by asking if faith is not the problem to begin with. This would also entail the related and essential question of whether the toxin of anti-Semitism is a threat only to Jews.
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Who doesn't like wearing a comfortable t-shirt? Who is tired of wearing plain tees? Who is done with paying for high-priced graphic-shirts at the store? I know I am! (Is this a overloaded sales pitch or what?!)
As an alternative, I like designing and making my own tees, and I thought it would be a good thing to share on the blog. The best part is, this whole project only cost me a little under $8 to complete! This project takes about half-an-hour, so just gather your supplies, turn on your favorite 30-minute TV show, and create your new tee!
Supplies needed: a plain v-neck t-shirt, fabric markers, a stencil, a small bit of fabric. All supplies can be found at any craft store like Michael's, A.C. Moore, etc.
Step 1: Lay your plain v-neck t-shirt on a flat surface.
Step 2: Test out the marker colors on the inside of the shirt to make sure they show up how you want them to.
Step 3: This step is very important. Take a piece of cardboard (I used the packaging from the stencils) and place it inside the shirt directly under the stencil.
This way the markers won't soak through to the back of the shirt.
Step 4: Begin coloring, making sure you don't move the stencil.
Step 5: Decorate the sleeves with a stencil or by hand, still using the cardboard in between the fabric layers.
(back view)
Step 6: Whip stitch one or two strips of fabric to the neck (the fabric should be hemmed on all sides, so it doesn't unravel in the wash).
Mission Accomplished!
Have you ever re-designed a t-shirt?
If this shirt was for sale, would you buy it?
Do you have any designing tips for my next shirt?


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1. Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream: Yes, they are now owned by food giant Unilever, but as I learned on my tour of the factory, most of the ice cream is still made in Vermont. And it's still really, really good, as proven by our vanilla ice cream taste test. My daughter assures me that their current limited edition of Rocky Road-ish is "the best ever." Today (April 3rd), you can get a free cone (any flavor!) in their stores from 12 to 8 pm.
2. Cabot Cheese: I love their clothbound cheddar. When I can't get that, I pick up their sharp, aged varieties (at Costco, no less) and serve it sliced or stir it into mac and cheese. We've had good triple-test results here in the test kitchen with their reduced-fat cheeses too.
3. Vermont Butter & Cheese Butter: I'm not the only one who loves their butter. Their Cultured European-Style Butter with Sea Salt Crystals won over 20 testers in our Test Kitchen Taste Test.
More From Good Housekeeping
These dairy-rich treats can be found in markets across the country, so even if you can't make it to the green mountain state, you can have a taste of it.
To see how we conduct our taste tests, visit us on a tour of the Good Housekeeping Research Institute.


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Privacy Policy Information
Effective date: December 21, 2022
This privacy notice governs how Patagonia Europe Coöperatief U.A. ("Patagonia", "we", "our" or "us") collects, uses, maintains and discloses information collected from users (each, a "User" or "you") of the eu.patagonia.com website, Patagonia's mobile enhanced version of its online website and Patagonia's mobile apps (together, the "Sites").
Who is responsible for the processing of your personal data?
Patagonia is responsible for the processing of personal data obtained through the Sites and otherwise in accordance with EU General Data Protection Regulation, because we determine how and why your personal data is processed. See "Contacting us" below for how to contact us.
What personal data do we process, for what purposes and on what grounds?
Any information related to a person that can be used to identify them directly or indirectly is personal data.
Patagonia collects personal data from you when you open an account, place an order for our products, contact our customer service, subscribe to our mailing list, participate in a contest or promotion, respond to a survey, provide a product review or otherwise fill out a form on the Sites.
Patagonia may process the following personal data: name, gender, email address, Universal-Unique-Identifier (UUID) (unique online identifier that is only used on our website), IP address, billing address, shipping address, postal code, country, phone number, language preference, payment method, details of purchases, details on returned goods, correspondence exchanged between you and our customer service team, your feedback in surveys and product and customer service reviews including photos and videos that you upload and your sport interest.
We use your data for purposes of creating your account, fulfilling your orders and addressing customer service queries in order to fulfil our contractual relationship with you. We use an automated fraud engine when processing your order to determine if your order can be accepted.
If you have provided your consent, we process your personal data to send you emails as described in "Mailing List" below and, if eu.patagonia.com website is experiencing technical difficulties, to inform you when it is working again.
We also process your personal data to meet our legal obligations and for our legitimate interest to operate our business and provide services to you, except in cases where our interests are overridden by your interests or fundamental rights and freedoms which require protection of your personal data.
Mailing List
If you decide to subscribe to our mailing list, you will receive emails about Patagonia products, sales, promotions, store events, environmental action alerts and invitations to participate in surveys or to provide product reviews. You can decide to sign up on one of our Sites, or we can invite you to sign up via a pop-up invitation. Emails may be personalized according to gender, language, country and sport interest(s) that you indicate. If at any time you want to unsubscribe from receiving future emails, you may do so by following the unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of each email or by using the link in the section "Your rights and withdrawal of permission" below.
Capturing user feedback
Patagonia engages the services of third parties to conduct surveys and capture feedback from its Users to improve the usability and experience of the Sites. Patagonia would like your feedback on what parts of the Sites you like or what you would suggest to improve. Neither Patagonia nor these third parties will use your personal data captured with your feedback for any other purpose than mentioned in this notice or in the survey. Any personal data (e.g. email, phone number, address, etc.) provided with your feedback will only be used by Patagonia to contact you with further questions about your feedback, should Patagonia deem it necessary.
Providing product and customer service reviews
Patagonia makes use of the services of a third party to invite Users to submit online reviews related to its products and customer service. When you buy a product from us we may invite you by e-mail to conduct a review. Users may also post a product review when they are logged into their account. If the User provides their consent to do so, Patagonia can publish the review on its website under the name that is provided by the User. The User will also be able to provide an anonymous review.
Storage period of personal data
We will retain your personal data for as long as you maintain an account or as otherwise necessary to provide you with our services. We will also retain your personal data as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. Where we no longer need to process your personal data for the purposes set out in this policy, we will delete your personal data from our systems. Where permissible, we will also delete your personal data upon your request; information on how to make a deletion request can be found in the section "Your rights and withdrawal of permission" below.
Your rights and withdrawal of permission
You have the right to opt-out of the use of your personal data by Patagonia for our mailing list or other direct marketing purposes at any time. You may do so by either clicking the unsubscribe option at the bottom of each email or by making a request to us through our data subject access request portal located here.
You also have the right to request an overview of your personal data processed by Patagonia, object to or restrict its processing, and request removal or correction if your data appears incorrect or irrelevant, by making a request to us through our data subject access request portal located here. Please note that if you request the removal of or restrict the processing of some or all of your personal data, we may not be in able to meet our contractual obligations with you or respond adequately to your customer service queries.
In addition, you have the statutory right to complain to a competent data protection authority.
Providing and sharing your personal data
Our Group Companies
Patagonia employees, including some employees based in the United States, may have access to your personal data. Access rights of our employees are limited and granted only on a need to know basis, determined based on their job functions and roles.
Services Providers and Other Third Parties
Patagonia may also share your personal data with third parties including logistics providers, workflow software suppliers, email service providers, e-mail form (pop-up) providers, CRM providers, address verification service providers, online User review service providers, ecommerce platform providers, payment service providers, and order management system providers. We use the services of these third parties to process your purchases, payments, returns, repairs and complaints, to send you marketing and promotional email communications, or e-mail invitations to participate in Patagonia surveys or reviews. To the extent that such third parties are data processors, they are contractually bound by Patagonia to only process data in accordance with Patagonia's instructions and applicable legal requirements. For transfers of data to third parties outside the EEA, please see below.
Transfers Outside the EEA
All transfers of personal data to either Patagonia employees, our affiliated group companies or to third parties who are located outside the European Economic Area (comprising all the EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) are either bound by EU Standard Contractual Clauses or are EU-US Privacy Shield-Certified.
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Users may find advertising or other content on the Sites that link to the sites and services of Patagonia's partners, suppliers, advertisers, sponsors, licensors, social media and other third parties. Patagonia does not control the content or links that appear on these sites/social media outlets and is not responsible for the practices employed by websites/social media outlets linked to or from the Sites, except for official Patagonia campaigns or official Patagonia social media posts. In addition, these sites or services, including their content and links, may be constantly changing. These sites and services may have their own privacy notices and customer service notices. Browsing and interacting on websites and social media outlets which have a link to the Sites is subject to that website's or social media outlet's own terms and notices.
Changes to this privacy notice/translations
Patagonia has the discretion to update this privacy policy at any time. When Patagonia does, Patagonia will revise the updated date at the bottom of this page. Patagonia encourages the Users to frequently check this page for any changes to stay informed about how Patagonia is helping to protect the personal information Patagonia collects.
This privacy notice is in English; any translation in another language has been provided by Patagonia for the User's convenience only. In case of conflict between the English text and the translated text, the English text shall prevail.
Contacting us
For questions about this privacy policy or the practices of the Sites, you can contact Patagonia at Jollemanhof 11, 1019 GW Amsterdam, The Netherlands or via email at firstname.lastname@example.com.
This document was last updated on 6 February, 2019.


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TOLEDO, Ohio — Caught up in a family disagreement over who should care for three young children, a grandmother and her son barricaded themselves and the kids in a garage and filled it with deadly carbon monoxide gas. All five died.
Police spent Tuesday trying to explain the heartbreaking scene discovered a day earlier at the home of 54-year-old Sandy Ford and her son Andy in a quiet Toledo neighborhood.
Firefighters using a sledgehammer broke down the garage door to find the bodies of 5-year-old Madalyn Hayes, her 6-year-old brother, Logan, and 10-year-old sister, Paige, slumped inside a car, along with their grandmother and uncle. Two hoses attached to the exhaust of a pickup truck pumped gas fumes through the car's rear window.
Police said letters inside the house indicated the woman and her son plotted the murder-suicide, beginning by picking up the children from school Monday morning after their mother had dropped them off earlier.
They also had disabled the garage door opener and nailed plywood over the windows, said Toledo police Sgt. Joe Heffernan. He wouldn't say what was in the letters, but it appeared some were written by the children.
"We're trying to figure out all the why's in this," he said.
Authorities were called to the home by the children's frantic grandfather after he discovered the letters and was unable to force open the garage door. Despite the grisly scene, investigators found no signs the children were forced into the car and believe all five died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Until last week, the children had spent the last three years living with their grandparents, Sandy and Randy Ford, and their uncle at the house in a residential neighborhood close to the Michigan state line.
Their mother, Mandy Hayes, had asked her mom for help caring for the three children because a fourth child at the home was becoming disruptive, said children's services representatives and a family friend.
"She was just being protective," said the friend, Cammie Turner.
While the children were living with their grandparents, their parents saw them almost every day and went on outings to parks and the zoo, Turner said.
"Their kids mean everything to them," she said.
But recently Hayes had decided they should all return home, and the children moved back in with their parents last week, upsetting Hayes' mother, Turner said.
"Mandy wasn't taking the kids away from her entirely," she said. "She wanted them home. It wasn't like she was taking them and grandma could never see them again."


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The natural leather items companies have develop a lengthy selection of goods over so many years. So, exactly what are the various leather material-produced products which men and women choose to acquire? The subsequent dialogue illustrates the most popular leather material merchandise and easy methods to buy them.
Leather-based Goods very popular
Before you decide to understand distinct leather material goods you can purchase, right here are one of the elements that can make them highly well-liked:
- Leather-based has got the capability to extend that makes products manufactured from it highly functional.
- It is amongst the supplies that are recognized to be breathable.
- Natural leather items reach the resilient nature and highly proof against deterioration.
- Natural leather products don't retain dampness and this promotes it's programs in numerous fields.
- Eventually, leather products are a symbol of trend and high end.
Leather material Items to Own
Leather found its use within production limitless item types. In this article are some of the items you should hold for a better style of dwelling:
- Apparels: Leather finds a notable area in the garments industry. Leather material trousers, layers, overcoats and many other trend use products not just keep one warm in winter months but also reflect high end.
- Shoes and boots:AndnbspLeather boot styles, footwear, flip flops and also other footwear merchandise is in wonderful demand for offering ease and comfort and type.
- Purses: Handbags consisting of natural leather are highly profitable for leather-based products vendors and suppliers because they are in huge require around the world. Offered in unrestricted number of variations, hues and designs, leather-based purses comprise a massive industry in numerous countries around the world.
- Athletics Merchandise: Leather merchandise for a variety of sporting activities use a excellent track record among sportsmen. Footballs, basketballs, volleyballs, cricket balls and hockey balls comprised of good quality natural leather add value to the sporting activities.
- Covers: Leather upholstery is popular in residences, workplaces and autos to get high quality appear and feel. Durability and water resistant mother nature tends to make furniture manufactured from natural leather well-known over that made out of other materials.
- Other Merchandise:AndnbspLeather belts and buckles, mitts, handbags and wallets, briefcases and travel bags, folders and situations are also well-known merchandise many individuals choose to own.
The way to Purchase These Kinds Of Products?
- To start with, understand more about different kinds and grades of leather material. Cowhides, calfskins, goatskins, sheepskins, pigskins and crocodile skin are among the well-known forms of it what type must look into during purchase.
- A vital issue to find out is how you can distinguish between genuine and fake natural leather. Make sure you buy from a respected leather-based product or service company and provider.
- Select natural leather merchandise on such basis as colors, designs and designs to generate a best fit to meet your needs and life-style.
Search for leather product manufacturers and suppliers from the well-liked enterprise directories and get from the merchandise catalogues from the firms existing at on the web worldwide marketplaces.
Inspired by: ezinearticles


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Tampa, Florida (CNN) - Hours before the start of the first-ever CNN/Tea Party Republican debate, a new national survey indicates that Texas Gov. Rick Perry is maintaining his lead in the race for the GOP presidential nomination.
And according to a CNN/ORC International Poll, what appears to be Perry's greatest strength - the perception among Republicans that he is the candidate with the best chance to beat President Barack Obama in 2012 - seems to be exactly what the GOP rank and file are looking for.
Full results (pdf)
On Monday, Sept. 12th, CNN will broadcast the "Tea Party Republican Debate," live from Tampa, Florida at 8 p.m. ET. Follow all the issues and campaign news leading up to the debate on CNNPolitics.com and @cnnpolitics on Twitter.
The survey, released Monday morning, indicates that 30 percent of Republicans and independents who lean toward the GOP support Perry for their party's nomination, with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at 18 percent. Romney, who's making his second bid for the White House, had been leading the list of Republican candidates in the national polls, but since Perry launched his campaign a month ago he's jumped ahead of Romney to capture the top spot.
The poll's Monday morning release comes a few hours before CNN teams up with the Tea Party Express and tea party groups from all 50 states to put on a presidential debate that will be held at the Florida State Fairgrounds just outside Tampa.
"Perry's support comes mostly from Republicans who support the tea party movement, although he has a statistically insignificant edge among non-tea party Republicans as well," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.
According to the survey, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is at 15 percent. The 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee has flirted with a presidential bid, but hasn't taken any concrete steps to launch a campaign.
Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who's making his third run for the White House, is at 12 percent. Every other candidate is in single digits.
Rep. Michele Bachmann, who was at 10 percent in the last CNN poll, now stands at four percent.
With Palin out of the running, the headline stays the same: Perry 32 percent, Romney 21 percent, Paul 13 percent and all other candidates, including Bachmann, in single digits.
"Perry doesn't simply have the most support in a hypothetical ballot - he also tops the list of GOP candidates on every personal quality tested," adds Holland.
Thirty-six percent, for example, see him as the strongest leader in the field, with Romney second at 21 percent. According to the poll, 35 percent say Perry is the Republican candidate most likely to get the economy moving again, with Romney in second at 26 percent.
Nearly three in ten say that Perry is the candidate who is most likely to fight for his beliefs, with Palin in second place at 23 percent and, significantly, Romney in a distant tie for fourth at just 11 percent.
But Perry's biggest strength may be the electability factor, with 42 percent saying he has the best chance of beating Obama next year. Some 26 percent say Romney has the best chance of defeating the president.
"That may go a very long way toward explaining his rise in the polls, since three-quarters of all Republicans say they would prefer a candidate who can beat President Obama over one who agrees with them on major issues," says Holland.
The poll indicates that Perry doesn't fare quite as well on issues. Only 26 percent say he is the Republican hopeful who is most likely to agree with them on the issues. That's good enough for the top spot on that measure, too, but it's a far cry from the low 30s and high 40s Perry pulls on electability and leadership.
Perry's biggest Achilles heel may be the likeability factor. Only one in four say he is the most likable GOP candidate out there, his lowest mark on the six items tested.
Romney typically finishes second to Perry on those measures, but it's worth noting that only 15 percent say he is most likely to agree with them on issues and only 11 percent say Romney is most likely to fight for his beliefs.
The poll was conducted for CNN by ORC International September 9-11, with 446 Republicans and independents who lean Republican questioned by telephone. The survey's overall sampling error is plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.
–CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
- Follow Paul Steinhauser on Twitter: @PsteinhauserCNN
He's not bad, the tea party is going to win the election whoever GOP picks.
Dear CNN,
All of your free media has been great for Perry. Thanks for giving him a pass.
Please also remember to make the CNN/Tea Party debate a Perry/Romney love fest, just like MSNBC did. We need to remind the unthinking rubes who they should vote for.
See you at the country club.
The Republican Establishment
Perry? Please No. Anyone but him! May as well elect Bush again.
A friggan telephone pole????????? 1000 people???????? Why not do it on the website and see what happens.....Ron Paul would make a killing..........
RIP United States of America. This is such a brainwashing of the American public. We are being "TOLD" that perry is most electable. Seriously? even Texans don't like him. Here's a toast to the end of America.
Ron Paul third place!
BWAAAAA! Perry cannot beat Obama.
The republican party is a bust . . . mentally handicap freddie could top the polls if they thought he could beat Obama. A sad sate of affairs. when all they can think of is beating Obama. No other solutions except get that black man out of our white house. LOL! Obama in 2021 Period.
He'll be electable when he understands that people would rather have facts guiding governmental decisions. Look at the planning that went into the invastion of Iraq. It was mostly ideology. That cause the previous administration to lose focus on Bin Laden and cost American lives and money. There was no forward thinking in that and shows that people need to have understanding which Perry doesn't have enough of now (and may never).
If Perry becomes the contender than every death penalty case he ignored will be tried on television and the web...we will elucidate the type of man he is and his callous view regarding facts...not to mention the forced immunization program he has endorsed...This guy is into Frankenscience and has abused the powers given to him as Governor...the only way he will become President will be through Koch brother financing...Conservatives need to look somewhere else besides Texas for their candidate...we have had enough unqualified people from there in positions of authority...their record stands firmly against human rights...
Perry has called for the execution of Social Security & Medicare.
Just how electable does that make him? Only r_____ fools that want to ignore that to vote Mr. Obama out of office find Ricky Perry "electable".
The man has a $27BILLION state deficit – – WORSE than Pawlenty`s – – I suppose that makes him "electable"?
Only a fool cuts his own throat. Chose wisely.
Sarah will enter eventually. Has cnn become the mouth piece for the tparty? It seems to have out foxed fakes knews. The kochs have long arms and deep pockets indeed. We can trust wolf to ask the tough but fair questions.
Maybe he's got some fleeting "electability" among voters who might simply vote on who might have the most classic jawline and slickest hair. When you actually get to this guy's record, he's completely dead in the water among the GOP and Independents. This guy is done. Al Gore's campaign man in Texas? Trying to force young girls to get vaccinated with Gardasil through -executive order- after Merck expands their lobbying and drops him a few thousand dollars? Wanting to have the blessing of the Tea Party, yet supported the Bailout, and took tens of billions in stimulus money for Texas while bragging about jobs and budgets? Even though his credentials are more fitting for that of a big-government liberal, it's even less likely any thinking Democrat would ever vote for him either. For obvious reasons, Ron Paul more consistently has the most electability when matched up against Obama. He rallies the independent vote, the senior vote, the youth vote, and pulls the anti-war vote, something none of the other candidates can do. Sound money. No more bailouts. Free the markets, end the wars, hold officials accountable. Get the corporations out of our government. Audit the Fed. Restore liberty and defend the Constitution. Let's take our country back. President Paul or bust, 2012.
Perry, Romney as well as the rest of the republican field are both unelectable in comparison to our current President in my opinion.
Let it also be known that Representative Paul has been elected into office more times than any other candidate in the race.. including of course, President Obama.
Has ANYONE listened to what this man believes?????????
Perry 2012!!


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I was cyber stalked my freshman year of college.
It was 2004 and I'd just started engineering school at the University of Michigan. I've never been limited by social conventions in terms of who I befriend, and I would go out to parties, flirt with guys, and carry on. It was the first time in life I had a chance to date, since I wasn't allowed to growing up with my mom, and it was the first time I had my own computer and free reign over the Internet, since I wasn't allowed to use it outside of school research all through high school. It was my first taste of freedom.
So when I walked into the first day of biomedical engineering class and saw Andy, my little heart went aflutter. He was everything I ever wanted in a guy. He had spiky black hair and facial hair and was wearing a t-shirt featuring some band I'd never heard of. And he spoke, the first day of class. He answered a question that our professor, the ever-intimidating inventor of the multi-channel MRI RF coil and the corresponding fast imaging SENSE algorithm, asked us all, and he got it right. I was in awe.
Then one day, I was smoking a cigarette after a chemistry exam, and I struck up a conversation with these two guys, bonding over the intensity of it all. We all lived on North Campus, where the university exiles the engineers to slave away in silence, so we rode the bus back together, discussing the exam. I had never taken a harder exam, but they weren't even doubtful. They were perfect study buddies, I decided, and the deal was sealed when I ran into them smoking outside the cafeteria a few days later. From then on Billy, Aman and I were friends.
Much to my surprise did I discover that Aman shared a room with Andy, and Billy lived across the hall. It was the trifecta of intense boys. I would go over to do homework with Billy and Aman, or pretend to do homework and drink Johnny Walker and play video games instead. We got to be rivalrous comrades, especially when Kelley, an emerging feminist from Bangkok who listened to hardcore music and lived upstairs, was involved in the discussions. But Andy remained a mysterious wall. I would try to make conversation, and he would shy away from me in a polite but gruff manner and go off to study alone. For someone so manly-looking, I was baffled to find he was a total introvert outside of class. Combined with how nervous and awkward I probably was around him, Andy and I were always outside of the realm of meaningful communication.
But we did seem to connect over politics. He was a total lefty and was always watching the Daily Show with John Stewart. In November, we all gathered there to watch the election that sealed another 4 years of this country's decline. We were all devastated after, Andy the most, I think. I remember him going on a rant afterwards about how the government would drill all of the oil out of Alaska a big hole, then take all the minorities in the country, push them in, bury them, and put an American flag on top. This was more words than I'd ever heard him say. I was in a state of repulsed shock as well, which probably enabled me to snap out of my Andy-fog and say something intelligent around him for a change. When I left, I furiously wrote in my journal about all the signs I thought I could tell he might be giving me, and how in love with him I was.
The next day, I got an instant message from someone with the screen name HowCouldBushWin. It was the point in history when AIM was just about to cease being the go-to service for instant messaging on a daily basis, before Gchat came along, and if you had your screenname posted on MySpace or something, you might occasionally get random IMs from lonely guys in their parents basements, who you could quickly weed out. But the facebook had just launched that summer, providing new access for college students curious about their peers.
HowCouldBushWin began chatting me up about the election, and what bullshit it was. I responded at first, waiting for them to reveal who they were. I asked, and they asked me back another question, changing the subject and engaging me. Drawing me into conversation. Whatever, I have to go, I typed, and went on with my plans that night.
That evening when I came back online, I had a message waiting. A link to a funny picture. I smiled and went to sleep.
The next day after class, another message. I replied, assuming it was one of my friends, Billy or Aman, or maybe both, assuming they would reveal their identity momentarily. But the conversation drew on and on. He flattered me with attention asking me endless questions and attempting to intellectually engage me. It was obviously someone who wanted to know me more, who was too shy to approach me in real life. Or maybe they did approach me, daily even, but wanted to know a different side of me. I liked the attention.
I tried to get him to tell me where he knew me from, but he would evade everything while comforting me at the same time. I could tell he was having fun as I made gambles about who it was. Really funny, Billy. Are we still studying later? He let me believe I'd solved the mystery as I went through the list of likely pranksters, but only momentarily. Then he'd taunt me while, at the same time, flattering me with more attention and assurance that I'd be happy when I found out.
This was stupid, I decided. I didn't have time for it, I had to study. In what I hoped was a last ditch effort, I bargained with him that I would invite him to my birthday party if he would come and reveal himself. I went to my party that night hoping to meet the man of my dreams, who was smart and political and shy despite a tough exterior. And most of all, I was hoping it would be Andy.
Andy never came, and nobody ever revealed themselves to me. But the next afternoon as soon as I got online, an IM window popped up. It was HowCouldBushWin telling me how great I looked at the party last night. I told him he was lying, that he didn't go, and that he was nobody I knew - that he was probably just some Internet weirdo who found me on MySpace and didn't even really know me.
Then how could I know what you were wearing last night? he asked. It was like that scene in Scream where Drew Barrymore thinks the phone stalker is fucking around, but then he says he's on her front porch and the screen pans out around her shocked face.
I told him to go away, that I was hoping it was someone who I wanted it to be, and it clearly wasn't, so I was done with this game. No wait, I'll tell you who I am, he pleaded. That's what drove everything that happened subsequently. I needed to know. The promise of finding out if I just engaged in conversation for a little bit longer outweighed the logic telling me to sign off.
And I didn't want to sign off. It was my Internet. My playground and work space. I needed to be on there. But every time I signed on, he would message me, saying he was finally ready to tell me who he was.
Eventually he let a detail escape him that allowed me to conclude that he was in Engineering school with me. He told me he liked my Radiohead shirt, but it was a shirt I borrowed from my roommate and only wore to class once, no where else.
In lectures, I examined every male skeptically. I tried to concentrate while I was discretely surveying the room, watching to catch anyone who stared at me a bit too long or looked at me funny. HowCouldBushWin told me he was going to give me a signal in class that day, so I would know for sure. Of course, I never saw a signal, and I was left feeling frustrated and unnerved that someone was watching me and I had no idea who. Later, he told me he did it when he thought I was looking. It was right in front of my face, and I must not have seen him.
I blocked HowCouldBushWin. I'd had enough. Game over. I was able to feel relief for a night, thinking that I could start putting this behind me, accepting that I may never know.
The next night, HowDidBushWin messaged me.
HowDidBushWin: TALK TO ME AND I'LL TELL YOU WHO I AM
Me: ok
HowDidBushWin: SEE I KNEW I COULD GET YOU TO TALK TO ME
Me: who are you?
HowDidBushWin: IT DOESN'T COME THAT SIMPLE
The conversation went on for hours and involved me breaking down into desperation. Eventually I blocked that screen name too. He made more.
Andy liked Conan. Was there any way? No. I had to ignore his bait. He was feeding me hope that he was the person I wanted him to be, because he wanted to be someone I wanted.
It wasn't, but it had to be someone I knew. Was it the man trifecta's guy groupie who I didn't get along with? The acid head serial gamer next door who was always playing an MMORPG with massive headphones? Their other roommate, the famously cool midget who rode around campus on a scooter? The senior in CS downstairs who taught me the meaning of trolling and tried to get me into S&M porn? The super shy, geeky guy in my chemistry class who kept inviting me to participate in clubs and stuff but I never went? The guy I met at a Halloween party and had a moment with who now was trying to date me?
It could have been any of them. Or, it could have been a completely random person who I'd never even spoken with before, who found my screen name on the facebook. I had no way of knowing for sure. Meanwhile, my stalker did not relent.
icanmakemoreforu: You'll be sad that you never know who I am
talktomearikia: Please. Come on, I'll be nice.
pleasearikia: I'd give you what you wanted eventually.
pleasearikia: talk to me :(
pleasearikia: I'll write you a haiku, about you, if you talk.
pleasearikia: I'll do anything. Right now. One time offer. 5 mins.
pleasearikia: you're making me crazy
pleasearikia: i'm spazzing out
pleasearikia: are you happy now?
I got sucked into the debate once again. He told me now after how inappropriate his messaging had been, he was afraid to tell me because I would hate him forever, whereas if he didn't tell me, he might be able to still interact with me in person without me knowing. I tried to convince him otherwise, because I needed to know. But he didn't give in, so I blocked him again.
My class attendance declined. I couldn't concentrate, so there was no point.
By that time I'd told some of my friends about it. Some were concerned, and tried IMing the stalker themselves to pull his identity out of him. It didn't work, and he just got mad at me. He began to become verbally abusive in his messages. Following it up with an apology, and please don't block me again, I'll tell you. I would try new tactics of interrogation with him. Everything I could think of. I offered to meet him anywhere. He entertained the idea but refused. So I blocked him again, but he would spawn back up with a new screen name the next day.
stalkerdearest: why did you ignore me and make me go through all those names?
He told me what kind of late night sandwich I would always order.
That's when I went to the police. I printed out all the conversations I'd been saving since my Drew Barrymore moment, took them to campus security, and told them I was being harassed and to do something to make it stop. I think they thought it was funny. Since he hadn't actually threatened to physically harm me, they couldn't do anything. They certainly couldn't track his IP, though they said it was because they didn't know how, which I believed.
I couldn't sign online without a new message box popping up. I was furious. I needed to be there. I needed to talk to my friends and to virtually study. I was becoming a nervous wreck. I hadn't been to class in weeks because I would distract myself by going out drinking with friends, to escape my computer and my stalker.
My friends were worried. I stopped entertaining the idea of dating, because I was skeptical that anyone who wanted to get to know me was this person.
My stalker told me he would admit it was him if I asked him in person. So I confronted people who I thought it might be, which is of course a really offensive thing to be confronted with. "Am I cyber stalking you? Are you serious?" Desperate to cover all bases and resolve the mystery for good, I asked Andy about it after class one day. I explained what had been going on. "That sucks," he said sympathetically. Finally I blurted out that if it was him, he could tell me, because I understood why he would do that. He practically laughed in my face. No, of course it wasn't him. Then I backpedaled by saying I thought it might be his roommate, the midget, and he got really pissed off that I would think that. That was me officially blowing it with him. It was probably the most embarrassment I'd ever felt in my life at the time.
I went home to another message from a new user on my screen.
The stalker wanted to make a deal. If I told him who I thought he was, he would tell me who he was. I wouldn't. You're just being stubborn because you're afraid of being wrong, he accused.
In the end he made 18 total screen names and I blocked them all. I changed the settings on my AIM account so that nobody who wasn't pre-approved on my list could contact me. I felt defeated. I hated it that I had to sacrifice potential approaches from decent human beings and close myself off online because some lame guy couldn't control his impulses online.
I eventually ended up dropping out of engineering school and matriculating to the Literature, Science & Arts college. It wasn't just because of the stalker, but that happened so early in my college career that it set the tone for my whole experience there, and the tone of my GPA. I was in the 20% female minority there, surrounded by guys who were always giving me unwanted attention. I was skeptical of them all. Then I got it from one of my professors too, and I just decided that engineering wasn't where I wanted to be. I didn't want to be in an environment where the few women were objectified by the sex-starved majority of men. And all that locking myself away studying wasn't really my thing anyway. I'm a social animal.
I never found out who it was, but I still idly run the possibilities in my head sometimes, coming up with nothing again every time.
It was like being mentally raped. It marred the start of my college experience. I bounced back, obviously. Because that's what I do. But even now, when someone contacts me anonymously and carries the joke on for longer than a minute, I start to panic.
That's why when someone messaged me anonymously four days ago by posting this via formspring, I felt like Julie in I Know What You Did Last Summer when she got that note. Mine read:
I think you were in love with me, but never admitted it for obvious reasons – the first being that I had a girlfriend. But, I'm single now.
I initially got the same hopeful excitement that I did with my first college stalker. I wanted to badly for it to be someone who I did fall in love with. I've been lonely lately, and I've encountered some people along my post-college journey that I've been holding out hope for. At the same time I worried it would be another stalker who would never admit his identity, especially after a few exchanges that were unsuccessful in figuring it out. I decided I wasn't going to make the same mistake in confronting people who I thought it was. I entertained this person's anonymous messages strategically for four days. I was going to smoke this person out by being smarter this time.
And I did. And it turned out to be a really sick joke.
I hope who did that realizes how hurtful what they did was to me, and that anyone else who may be reading this thinks twice about engaging in anonymous stalking behaviors.
Arikia Millikan is a Brooklyn-based editor and community manager at Wired.com. This post initially appeared on The Millikan Daily.