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ownCloud 2012 file sync and share builds on popular open source project to bring security and flexibility to business data sharing
Boston, MA – April 3, 2012 – ownCloud Inc., the commercial entity behind the popular open source enterprise file sync and share project, today launched commercial offerings based on Version 3 of the community edition, bringing business-class flexibility and security to the file sync and share market.
ownCloud 2012 Business and Enterprise editions include anytime, any device access to files – introducing sync clients for Linux and Windows, as well as mobile apps for Android and iOS. The commercial offerings also extend the capabilities of the community edition by adding easier management, support and maintenance subscriptions, plug-ins and commercial licenses.
With more than 400,000 users (and growing rapidly) of the community edition, ownCloud offers the ease-of-use of Dropbox with more flexibility and security. ownCloud users can run their own file sync and share services on their own hardware and storage, use popular public hosting and storage offerings, or both. Because it's open source, ownCloud offers no vendor lock in, and pulls in innovative features from the community.
"For more than two years now, ownCloud has been giving corporate IT managers the ability to offer their users easy – and secure – access to corporate data, while leveraging their existing infrastructure as the back end," said Markus Rex, founder and CEO, ownCloud. "These new offerings give end users easy-to-use sync clients and mobile apps, and give IT commercial support."
"File synchronization across desktops and mobile devices of individual users and groups is a white-hot market. It is also a market that epitomizes the 'consumerization of IT' in the enterprise. Adoption of iPads and other devices happened faster – and often by an organization's most senior executives – than IT was prepared for, and, in many cases, IT hasn't been able to meet end-user requirements to make these devices truly usable for work," said Simon Robinson, research director at 451 Research. "Hence, the Mobile File Sharing and Synch Platforms market is shaping up to be an incredibly active and extremely disruptive one in the foreseeable future as IT finds solutions that give users what they want, while at the same time securing corporate data."
About ownCloud Business and ownCloud Enterprise
ownCloud Business extends the core ownCloud Community 3 infrastructure and adds maintenance and support, an AGPL license, support for open source plug-ins.
ownCloud Enterprise adds an ownCloud commercial license, a management console for easy deployment and management and enablement of commercial plug-ins.
Availability and pricing
Both ownCloud Business and ownCloud Enterprise are available now. Pricing for ownCloud Business starts at $999 a year ($100 a month) for up to 50 users. ownCloud Enterprise starts at $15,000 a year (or $1,500 a month) for up to 250 users.
ownCloud is also available through partners around the world. Last week, the company announced a partner program that drew more than a dozen premium partners.
About ownCloud Community Edition
ownCloud Version 3 enables users to share files and folders from their privately controlled infrastructure. Major new features in this release include: the ownCloud application store, which allows users to take advantage of the extensibility of ownCloud; and, directly edit text file capabilities from a browser. ownCloud is the only technology to offer such functionality made possible by its open and modular nature.
ownCloud began at a KDE community event in 2010, aiming to bring greater flexibility, access and security to data in the cloud. ownCloud enables universal access to files through the widely implemented WebDAV standard, providing a platform to easily view and sync contacts, calendars and bookmarks across devices while supporting sharing, viewing and editing via the web interface. Installation has minimal server requirements, doesn't need special permissions and is quick. ownCloud is extendable via a simple, powerful API for applications. For more information, please visit: http://www.owncloud.org.
About ownCloud Inc.
Based on the popular ownCloud open source community project, ownCloud Inc. was founded in 2011 to bring greater flexibility, access and security to unstructured data in enterprises. Company headquarters are in Boston, with European headquarters in Nuremberg, Germany. For more information, visit: https://owncloud.com.


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First Take: Obama's problem? VA outrage is bipartisan
For once, a Washington scandal hasn't split along partisan lines.
And that is President Obama's dilemma.
Reports that veterans had to wait for months to see a primary-care doctor -- and that some VA facilities covered up those delays -- prompted outrage and demands for the resignation of Veteran Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki by both congressional Republicans and some Democrats, especially those in tough re-election battles in November.
Shinseki, bowing to what seemed increasingly inevitable, offered to step aside in a face-to-face meeting with Obama at the White House on Friday.
"We don't have time for distractions," Obama then told reporters in the briefing room, saying he had accepted with 'considerable regret' the resignation by the retired four-star Army general. "We need to fix the problem."
For the White House, however, Shinseki's departure doesn't solve what threatens to become a major issue in the midterm elections and a serious stain on Obama's tenure. That's in contrast to the continuing congressional investigation into the 2012 Benghazi attacks -- which Democrats dismiss as a partisan witch hunt -- and even to controversy over the Affordable Care Act. While Republicans hammer the health law, Democrats generally support it and the administration argues that time (and fixing the botched healthcare.gov website) ultimately will prove its value.
The VA controversy fuels some of the same criticisms made in those other cases, and without a partisan overlay: That Obama has failed to manage the government competently, sometimes to disastrous effect, and that political calculations have trumped the administration's commitment to transparency. To some, it reinforces the case that state governments or the private sector can be more trusted than the federal government to manage major enterprises.
That is a perception that Obama's supporters in particular and liberals in general don't want to take hold, and one that complicates efforts by Democrats to avoid sweeping losses this November that could cost them control of the Senate.
After all, there is no political division when it comes to the nation's promise to care for the aging veterans who served in Vietnam and the younger ones returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The strength of that commitment is reflected even in the department's geography: The massive VA building sits just across Lafayette Square from the White House, a quote from Abraham Lincoln displayed on its facade.
Little surprise, then, that within 48 hours after the VA's independent inspector general issued a stinging report Wednesday more than 100 members of Congress had called for Shinseki's resignation. They included New York Rep. Steve Israel, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and the half-dozen Democratic senators most endangered on November's ballots.
To be sure, Shinseki's departure won't solve the problem or settle the issue. The task of addressing the VA's far-reaching and systemic dysfunction will take time and money. And the flood of veterans who have returned from two long wars is a challenge this president and future ones will be facing for decades ahead.

subset: commoncrawl


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Crystal Skulls: Old/New Tools for Spiritual Transformation
In various New Age and crystal stores, both brick-and-mortar and online, and elsewhere on the Internet, including Ebay, you may have seen skulls made of rock quartz and other stones, ranging from amethyst and citrine to charoite and ruby zoisite. Some are only a half-inch in length (back of head to leading edge of chin) and weigh just a few grams, while others may be as large as 10" and weigh 20 lbs or so. In rare instances, even larger, "Titan" skulls are offered, one nearly 17" long and just over 145 lbs.
Just what are these crystal skulls, which elicit varying reactions from observers, from disgust and even horror to fascination and even appreciation bordering on reverence? In short, they are divination, transformation and healing instruments, new to many, yet presumably familiar to the ancients. Some devotees believe the crystals skulls were major spiritual tools for Atlantis and other past civilizations; and they are surely used in rituals performed even now by Mayan shamans, some Native American medicine men and women, and Buddhist Red Hats in Tibetan Monasteries.
The Meanings of the Skull Image
"So why are these stones in the shape of skulls?" is usually the first question I have to answer when I introduce them. The questioner often feels either queasy and/or fearful of what in the collective consciousness is simply a symbol of the macabre, of decay and death. Yet, the skull image serves several important functions when these stones are used with spiritual intention. First, since communication with the crystal skulls is a primary way of interacting with them, the skull face offers the image of a personality, a more familiar interface than a mere smooth or convoluted surface. Second, just as when we look into the eyes of a fellow human, when we likewise look into the eye sockets of a crystal skull, we can more easily sense having access to deeper truths. In fact, most psychics who interact in this way particularly with translucent skulls start to observe static and moving pictures behind the eye sockets.
Third, the skull image reminds the observer who seeks wisdom that we usually associate knowledge with the head or brain; not surprisingly, many crystal skulls, especially those made of quartz, are assumed to be repositories of ancient knowledge waiting to be unlocked for the good of humanity. Fourth, as Jaap van Etten, one of the best crystal skull researchers, notes on his website, http://www.lemurantis.com, the skull shape reminds us that we use the brain also to focus into three-dimensional reality and to translate into a useable form what we get from Spirit. Fifth, what we get from Spirit often comes from the crown and third eye chakras, which are also represented by the skull; thus, there is an emphasis on using crystal skulls as portals or bridges to intuitive knowledge, which is then interpreted by the brain. Sixth, especially when the crystal skull is one of those rare "singing skulls," i.e., one with an open mouth or detachable jaw, the throat chakra is also implied, suggesting that the skull has something to convey to those who can listen.
Seventh, although the skull image certainly points to death, it also points to immortality. Many of the stones, including quartz, that are carved into skulls are millions of years old. Some others like Nuumite (found only in Greenland as part of the earth's primordial crust), and Stromatolite and Crinoid Fossil (both from fossilized primordial creatures) are several billion years old. We are thereby reminded that the essense of the human is immortality literally in the "face" of death. Eighth, the skull image is a symbol of the essential human in another way: its flesh-less state does not distract the viewer with skin color and other ethnic features that, very unfortunately, sometimes alienate. Yet, ironically, the immense and even intense "skin" beauty of the stones themselves, with all their different carving styles, flowing and static patterns, and swirls of interacting colors and luminescences, seduce the observer into interaction with them. And, again like every human, each crystal skull is unique in its patterning and coloration while sharing a common morphic field.
Ninth, the fact that the image of the human skull is carved in often very hard (many register 5-8 on the Mohs hardness scale), enduring stone suggests both a passing over to another world while also being rooted to Mother Earth, glorious in her variegated color. This combination of opposites suggests two more metaphors/functions of the skull image: the crystal skull is thereby an image of Heaven on Earth, and also an interface, an intermediary, a portal between the two worlds.
Finally, according to Jaap van Etten in the best basic book on crystal skulls, Crystal Skulls: Expand Your Consciousness, sculptors of crystal skulls in Brazil have told him that they experience a consciousness shift as soon as they carve the eye sockets of the skull image. In his own research, Van Etten has confirmed that crystal skulls, just because they display the skull image, have a frequency that is addition to the natural one of the stones that are carved. And some believe that these "new frequencies are in the range of human thought" (www.angelslove.net), an indication, if true, that the skull image opens up a range of energy that is most useful to humans.
Before discussing how to work with these spiritual tools, I want to provide some context, depicting some of the important issues and controversies associated with crystal skulls, including problems with classification (difficulties in authenticating truly ancient crystal skulls, especially the Mitchell-Hedges Skull), and the mysterious Legend of the Thirteen Crystal Skulls.
The Classification of Crystal Skulls
Back in the 1980s, the late F. R. "Nick" Nocerino, one of the foremost crystal skull researchers and co-author of the 1989 book, Mysteries of the Crystal Skulls Revealed, setup up a classification system for crystal skulls based on their presumed ages: skulls were "contemporary" if they were less than 100 years old, "old" if they were considered carved between 100 to 1500 years before now, and "ancient" if they were carved more than 1500 years ago. The age of a crystal skull is important because the older the carving is, the more valuable and rare it is, and the more likely it is associated with older civilizations and their wisdom. The problem is that the stones of most crystal skulls, particularly quartz, cannot be carbon-dated, nor can the carvings themselves. Thus researchers depend on electron-microscope examinations of marks left by carving tools. If the marks are parallel lines, it is assumed that the carving took place within the last 100-150 years; if the marks are uneven or non-existent, the carvings are deemed much older because the assumption is that the ancients had nothing like modern carving tools.
This kind of reasoning, however, is questionable; for it assumes that technology pursues a linear development. Yet, some ancient civilizations, like the ones that built the Giza pyramids and Puma Punku in Bolivia, were capable of feats that defy the abilities of modern engineers. Choosing to bypass this controversy, van Etten proposes that skulls be classified according to how many energy layers (up to 32) have been activated in any one particular skull, noting that the most ancient, like the famous Mitchell-Hedges Skull, have the most activated layers; there is no known energetic way today to activate that many layers. Nevertheless, this system is not full-proof because, as van Etten notes, some skulls that may in fact be ancient may have been carved in places where no one knew how to activate them or where such activation was not considered necessary.
The Mitchell-Hedges Crystal Skull
The most famous, most beautiful, most anatomically correct, and possibly most ancient crystal skull of all, the Mitchell-Hedges Skull (MHS), whose present caretaker is Bill Homann, is no stranger to controversy about its origin and the age of its carving. In 1924 on the day of her 17th birthday, Anna Mitchell Hedges, the adopted daughter of adventurer and archeologist, F.A. Mitchell-Hedges, allegedly found the top part of this amazingly clear skull and, three months later, its detachable jaw at the bottom of a hitherto unknown, Maya pyramidal structure in Lubaantún, Belize. Although Anna affirmed the veracity of the tale to the day of her death in 2007, that story has been questioned many times, even by crystal skull researchers F. R. "Nick" Nocerino and Stephen Mehler, the latter co-author of The Crystal Skulls: Astonishing Portals to Man's Past.
In 1970, art conservator and biocrystallographer, Frank Dorland, author of Holy Ice: Bridge to the Subconscious, was allowed to bring MHS to the Hewlett Packard Laboratories in California for testing. While two other crystal skulls—the Paris Skull and the British Museum Skull, that were tested along with MHS at the lab—were declared fake ancient crystal skulls, MHS was declared a mystery. In 1986, Dorland noted that a forensic team made a facial reconstruction from the skull and concluded that it represented a Mongoloid female who died when she was between 25 and 29 years old. Despite these intriguing discoveries, in 2010, Jane Walsh of the Smithsonian Institute determined that, through electron microscopy, lapidary tool marks were found on the skull that supposedly disqualified MHS from the status of ancient crystal skull.
Still, even this information is inconclusive, given the prejudicial view I mentioned above that such marks could be made only by modern tools. Moreover, MHS defies modern creation in other ways. First of all, the Hewlett Packard technicians determined that the part of MHS that was to be the jaw was cut loose from the rest of the skull and then shaped in perfect alignment with the stress lines of the main part of the skull—an absolutely amazing lapidary feat! Furthermore, according to Dorland, and later Mehler and Childress, in the roof of the mouth of MHS is an extraordinary prism surface; it was astoundingly carved so that light coming from the bottom of the skull through formulated light wells or "pipes" and hitting the prism would be reflected into the cranium and also out through the eye sockets. This phenomenon, along with the movable jaw, suggests the skull may have been used as an oracle by an older civilization. Finally, as archeologists Mehler and Childress note, the carving was made across the natural crystal axis—the quartz should have shattered if carved with modern, high-vibration tools.
One more point here: Mehler and Childress's observations about Jane Walsh's conclusions regarding the testing of other, supposedly ancient crystal skulls cast doubt on her declarations of the age of MHS. In 1996, as reported by Mehler and Childress, other supposedly ancient crystal skulls, Max (the "Texas Crystal Skull," used by Mayan priests in Guatemala and later given to a Tibetan Red Hat Lama and then to Jo Ann Parks), Sha Na Ra (found in a Mexican dig by Nocerino using "psychic archeology" and now in the hands of his daughter, Michelle), the British Museum Skull, and a few other skulls were tested at the British Museum using electron microscopy. All the skulls, except for Max and Sha Na Ra, were declared modern; but the staff had no comment about the first two! Yet, Walsh, who was only an overseer of the tests, repeatedly declared for years that all the skulls were modern!
The Legend of the Thirteen Crystal Skulls
Whatever the truth is about the origins of MHS, there is continual speculation about it, including the idea that the skull is the crystallization of the skull of an Atlantean princess! Another idea is that it is one of the legendary thirteen crystal skulls. The basic notion of this legend is that the skulls hold all the information that, if downloaded and decoded, would prove vital to the world's survival in the advent of a global catastrophe. But the skulls' knowledge may also further the evolution of the human species as that information is presumed to have done in the very distant past. According to the Legend, the skulls are now either buried or otherwise hidden; only when the Twelve are discovered and brought together with the Thirteenth Skull, the Master One, is such a revelation possible.
This legend has been passed down in various forms by some Native American tribes and other groups. One such variation is told by Cherokee Harley SwiftDeer to writers and filmmakers Chris Morton and Ceri Thomas and recorded in their The Mystery of the Crystal Skulls: Unlocking the Secrets of the Past, Present, and Future. According to SwiftDeer, when the Elders of the original twelve planets observed that Earth was not evolving properly, they encoded into twelve, flawless skulls with detachable jaws all the wisdom of the planets and placed them in an Ark on Earth with a thirteenth skull that encoded the consciousness of all the worlds. As extraterrestrials, the Elders brought them to Earth and, hundreds of thousands of years ago, seeded the civilizations of Lemuria, Mu, Atlantis and Mieyhun. The skulls were passed down to the Olmecs, Mayans and Aztecs, the latter abusing the skulls' power; as a result, when Cortez came, conquered the Aztecs and pursued the skulls, the priests hid them all over the world. Another variant has the skulls' downloading information from twelve star systems, such as the Pleiades, Sirius, Alpha Centauri and Orion. In his first book, Crystal Skulls: Interacting with a Phenomenon, van Etten notes also that there are physical portals in Sedona and around the globe associated with these skulls, that there may even be fifty-two (4 X 13) crystal skulls, and that the original thirteen may not even be physical, but instead be fields of information/energy.
It is not even clear that all the physical manifestations of these possibly ancient skulls are made of clear rock crystal quartz, like MHS, Max, Sha Na Ra, Synergy (whose earthly origination is a tiny village in the Andes and whose current caretaker is Sherry Whitfield), and Einstein (which weighs nearly thirty-three pounds and is under the care of Carolyn Ford). But other skulls that may be ancient are not clear quartz, such as the smoky quartz skull named ET (whose caretaker is Joky va Dieten and was found in Guatemala in 1906, though the Maya allege it came from the Pleiades); Ami, the Amethyst [Quartz] Skull (whose caretaker is now unknown, though its first known appearance was sometime between 1876 and 1910 on the desk of President Diaz of Mexico); the rose quartz skull, Baby Luv (whose caretaker is Joky van Dieten and may date back to 700 BC in Russia); and Amar, the possibly ancient, slightly smokey quartz, Tibetan Skull (used by Tibetan monks for healing and now in the care of the owner of CrystalSkulls.com, one of the best sites for buying skulls).
Yet what is important is that all of these skulls and many other, possibly ancient skulls are all quartz, clear or otherwise. Quartz, more than other crystals, reflects, transmits, attunes, focuses, transforms, refracts and amplifies energies. According to van Etten, only quartz skulls can be activated to 36 layers, while some other stones can be activated only to 24, and most only to 12. The more layers activated, the more power the skull has and the greater the energy field around it. Quartz (silicon dioxide) also makes up about 80 % of the Earth and is needed to maintain the health of our bodies. Moreover, its capacity to use mechanical stress to create an electrical voltage (the piezoelectric effect) and vice versa makes it valuable in the mechanical regulation of clocks and computers. In addition, experiments have shown that it is possible to store information in holographic form in quartz crystal, an indication that the belief that some quartz skulls are repositories of ancient wisdom may well be true.
Now, with this entire context, this info, my reader might well be eager to become a caretaker of and work with his or her own crystal skull.
Buying Your Crystal Skull
If you are not given a crystal skull as a gift, you can purchase one, usually a contemporary carving. (Beware of deals "too good to be true," especially if what is offered for sale is purportedly an ancient crystal skull, for these skulls are exceedingly rare; few individuals today know enough about crystal skull frequencies to use that awareness to determine the very high activation level of ancient crystal skulls.) When choosing, use your awareness, your felt sense, of what skull most speaks to you.
Your attention to the beauty of the stone, by itself, is usually not enough to determine the best skull for you. Holding it in your hand and near your heart will usually give you enough vibrational information about the suitability of the skull for you. You can also use dowsing, commonly performed by using a pendulum over a particular skull and asking appropriate yes or no questions about its usefulness to you (that is, after you have determined which movements of the pendulum designate yes and no answers).
Yet it is possible to choose a skull also by looking at a picture of it online (as at Skullis.com, which is based in Beijing, or CrystalSkulls.com, which is based in Washington State and British Columbia) if you prepare yourself by going into a meditative state and asking help from your Higher Self. However you choose your skull(s), keep in mind that, just as Native Americans see themselves, not as owners of the land they live on, but rather as its stewards, so, too, it is wise and appropriate to see yourself not as an owner of a skull, but rather as the caretaker of this personalized energy form.
Cleansing Your Crystal Skull
Once you have become a caretaker of a skull, you need to cleanse it and then activate and program it before using it. To cleanse it, use one or more of the usual methods for cleaning crystals, such as burying it for a time in Mother Earth, setting it in sunlight (being aware that some crystals fade in this light) or moonlight, covering it with "alive" running water (knowing some stones can dissolve in water), immersing it in "alive" salt water (checking first which stones can be damaged by water), exposing it to the energy of cleaned quartz crystals, and/or using ritualized intention. Smudging with sage, sweetgrass, and palo alto will clear any unwanted energies attached to the crystal skull. The same outcome can be achieved through using sound from Tibetan bells or crystal bowls.
Activating and Programming Your Crystal Skull
Activating a crystal skull is the process of turning on its full potential. Skullis.com offers brief, downloadable activation audios by psychic Amazing Grace and DVDs featuring Nick Nocerino. The crystal skulls offered from this site are already activated by the huge, very old crystal skull, Amar. Proximity to and pictures of other ancient skulls may also be useful for activation. Still other modalities may be found online at various crystal skull sites. In his second book, van Etten outlines the process I find most powerful. Essentially, the caretaker goes into a meditative state, fills him/herself with love and then merges with the skull to activate it. He suggests a similar process to program the skull with a clear, simple and unequivocal intention for self- or other-healing or for divination. And, in both activation and programming, van Etten makes an extremely important point not found elsewhere: that, under no circumstances, is the caretaker of a crystal skull to give up any of his or her own power to the skull.
Working with Your Crystal Skull
This admonition is important because these skulls are very powerful. Researchers and caretakers of many of the skulls already described have reported strange phenomena while near them, like odd smells, cloudy emanations, changes in the skull's color or clarity, unusual sounds, and changes in the skull's temperature. Scenes or images from past lives or other venues also have been seen within translucent skulls or through psychometry. Spontaneous physical healings have occurred for several observers, and telepathic communications have been registered, not only by professional psychics like Carole Davis, as recorded in The Skull Speaks, but also by amateur intuitives.
For healing self and others, it is best to pair a clear quartz crystal skull with another skull whose specific healing energies are either known or intuited. The quartz skull acts as an amplifier of the other skull's energies while also transmitting its own. After the healer grounds and protects and clears him/herself of unwanted energy; cleanses, activates and programs both skulls; and asks permission to heal from the subject and his/her Higher Self, the healer might once again fill up with love and gratitude, send that energy into the skull, image the individual to be healed, point the skull's face towards the location of the person and then image the individual as healed. To heal the self, the same procedure is followed with the exception that the skull is pointed toward oneself or placed upon the exact spot on the body requiring healing. Healing is intensified if several individuals follow this process with their own skulls directed at the person to be healed.
For divination purposes, an opaque or translucent skull may be used. After grounding and protecting and cleansing the self, getting permission from those involved, and activating and programming the skulls, the intuitive can use the shamanic technique of "rock divination" with the opaque skulls; this involves asking the intuitive's Higher self and that of the client to focus the intuitive's awareness on a particular pattern or part of a pattern on the rock's surface and then to direct the interpretation, even before the intuitive knows the client's question. With translucent skulls, the intuitive can look into the skull at various depths and be guided to detect and interpret an interior pattern formed by inclusions, etc.; or the intuitive may see directly moving or static scenes relevant to the client's question. Another way to get messages is for the intuitive, after proper preparation, to gaze into the eye sockets of the primary skull, go into a deep trance, and hear/see important telepathic messages. Still another method is to make the usual preparations and then direct the skull, on behalf of the client's question, to make contact with the crystal skull grid or energy field, to which all skulls are connected and contribute their particular wisdom. A final process is to use the skull, after proper preparations, as a portal to other sources of wisdom, including guides/angels who may be using the skulls to communicate.
No matter how you use your skull(s), always remember to have respect, but not abject veneration, for these old and new tools of transformation. Your being in charge with positive intentions ensures that the skulls' power will be used appropriately.
Crystal Skull Readings with Joe
If anyone wishes to have a crystal skull reading with me, please contact me at email@example.com. I can do the reading in person, on the phone, or by Skype. The divination will generally follow the process described in the next-to-last paragraph. A typical session lasts one hour at a cost of $130.00. In that time, a person may ask for skull wisdom with two or three questions, each directed to a different skull or to the same skull. If the individual is contacting me through a phone call, I will send the individual pictures before the session of various skulls; the person may then choose which skull(s) he or she wants me to use.
"I highly recommend a crystal skull reading with Joe. It was especially powerful for me because Joe does the reading without any preconceived questions or guidance…the reading is based on the patterns and images from the skull that resonate with him. After explaining the process clearly, Joe had me write down a question that I did not share with him. He was then guided to patterns, images and messages in the skull that he shared with me; he then asked if they resonated with me and my question. His words and the patterns he saw resonated deeply with a big transition that I was going through and helped me reframe some of the things I am struggling with and also working to create in my life. It was unbelievable how clearly the patterns and messages from the skull spoke to my reality and how clearly Joe articulated them. Joe's deep knowledge and appreciation of skulls made the reading all the more powerful and fun!"—S.B., Health Consultant
Resources for Those Interested in Crystal Skulls:
www.crystalskulls.com (based in Washington State and British Columbia) www.skullis.com (Based in China)
Mahalo Minerals , http://www.mahalominerals.com, 301 585 9534
Mountain Mystic Trading Company, http://wwwlmountainmystic.com, 540 635 6318
www.angelslove.net (Sherry Whitfield Merrell, caretaker of Synergy) www.crystalskullexplorers.com (Joshua Shapiro) http://www.lemurantis.com (Jaap Van Etten) http://www.crystalswork.com http://www.crystalskullconsciousness.com (forum you can join) http://www.angelslove.net/csbbs (crystal skull message board you can join)
Bowen, Sandra, & F.R. 'Nic' Nocerino & Joshua Shapiro. (1988). Mysteries of the Crystal Skulls Revealed. Pacifica, CA.: J & S Aquarian Networking.
Childress, David Hatcher, & Stephen S. Mehler. (2008). The Crystal Skulls:Astonishing Portals to Man's Past. Kempton, IL.: Adventures Unlimited Press.
Dorland, Frank. (1992). Holy Ice: Bridge to the Subconscious. St. Paul, Minnesota:Galde Press.
Kaehr, Shelley. (2007). Crystal Skull Consciousness. Dallas, TX.: An Out of This World Production.
Mercier, Patricia. (2011). Crystal Skulls & the Enigma of Time: A Spiritual Adventure into the Mayan World of Prophecy and Discovery. London: Watkins Publishing.
Morton, Chris, & Ceri L. Morton. (1997, 1998, 2002). The Mystery of the Crystal Skulls: Unlocking the Secrets of the Past, Present, and Future. Rochester, VT.: Bear &Company.
Murray, Kathleen. (1998). The Divine Spark of Creation: The Crystal Skull Speaks. Huntly, U.K.: Galactic Publications (Earth).
Shapiro, Joshua, & Katrina Head (2012). Journeys with the Crystal Skull Explorers: Hidden Secrets of the Crystal Skulls. Ebook edition found on Amazon.com.
Van Etten, Jaap. (2013). Crystal Skulls: Expand Your Consciousness. Flagstaff, AZ.: Light Technology Publishing.
_________________. (2007). Crystal Skulls: Interacting With a Phenomenon. Flagstaff,AZ.: Light Technology Publishing.
Webb-De Sisto, Marion. (2002). Crystal Skulls: Emissaries of Healing and Sacred Wisdom. Xlibris Corp.
Novels Involving Crystal Skulls:
Arceneaux, Leon M. (2005). The Crystal Skull: A Novel. Lincoln, NE.: iUniverse.
Arena, Linda. (2010). Guardians of the Crystal Skulls: The Thirteenth Order. Victoria,
BC, Canada: Friesen Press.
Crichton, Michael. (1999). Timeline. New York: Ballantine Books.
Harbinson, W.A. (1997). The Crystal Skulls. Custom Books Publishing.
Morton, Chris, & Ceri L. Thomas. (2009). 2012: The Mystery of the Crystal Skulls.
Winchester, U.K.: O Books.
Visser, Jan. (2004). The Crystal Skulls.
Videos About Crystal Skulls:
Childress, David H., & James, Ronald. (2008). The Search for the Crystal Skulls (75minutes). Adventures Unlimited Media.
Merrell, Sherry W. (Caretaker of Synergy). (2009). Echoes From the Ages: Talking Story with Crystal Skulls (77 minutes). Avalon Video.
Rosely, Steve. (2010). The Legend of the Crystal Skulls Remarkably Mystical & Healing (52 minutes). AVS Video Productions.
Walsh, Jane M. (2008). The Legend of the Crystal Skulls: Ancient Mystical Artifacts or Ingenious Hoax? (46 minutes). Smithsonian Networks. Note: this film is hardly opento the mysteries of ancient crystal skulls.


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MUMBAI: Asia's richest man Gautam Adani is seeking control of an Indian media firm for a bigger foothold in the nation's competitive digital and broadcast sector.
Adani Group indirectly acquired a 29.2% stake in New Delhi Television Ltd, or NDTV, and offered to buy another 26% from the open market for a combined 6.07 billion rupees (US$76mil or RM341mil), according to exchange filings on Tuesday.
Adani Group firms announced an open offer at 294 rupees (RM16.52) per share – a 20.5% discount to NDTV's closing share price on the day.
NDTV or its founders were not aware of any transaction and were not part of any discussion regarding the stake sale, the company said in a statement.,
,telegram超级索引(www.tel8.vip)是一个Telegram群组分享平台。telegram超级索引包括telegram超级索引、telegram群组索引、Telegram群组导航、新加坡telegram群组、telegram中文群组、telegram群组(其他)、Telegram 美国 群组、telegram群组爬虫、电报群 科学上网、小飞机 怎么 加 群、tg群等内容。telegram超级索引为广大电报用户提供各种电报群组/电报频道/电报机器人导航服务。
This acquisition marked "a significant milestone" for AMG Media Networks Ltd that aims to "pave the path of new age media across platforms," Sanjay Pugalia, the company's chief executive officer said in a statement.
"NDTV is the most suitable broadcast and digital platform to deliver on our vision."
The group's founder-billionaire Adani, with the world's biggest wealth gain this year, built his empire on agri-trading and ports but has speedily diversified into airports, data centres, cement, renewable energy and now media.
This breakneck growth, sometimes in unrelated sectors, is making some investors wary about the group being too indebted and the management bandwidth getting too stretched across newer businesses.
Earlier this year, Adani Enterprises Ltd established AMG Media Networks, an arm it said would be in the publishing and broadcasting businesses among other things. — Bloomberg
转载说明:本文转载自Sunbet。 皇冠官方APP声明:该文看法仅代表作者自己,与本平台无关。转载请注明:telegram超级索引(www.tel8.vip):Billionaire Adani to buy New Delhi Television


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Minnesota-Based Arctic Cat Recalls 16,500 Snowmobiles
THIEF RIVER FALLS (AP) — Arctic Cat Inc. is voluntarily recalling about 16,500 snowmobiles because of a possible loss of control.
Arctic Cat and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the recall Wednesday.
The recalled snowmobiles are 2010 model Arctic Cats manufactured at the company's Thief River Falls plant.
Consumers should immediately stop using those snowmobiles and contact their local Arctic Cat dealer for a free repair.
The company says the front lower suspension arm can crack during use, which could lead to loss of control.
Arctic Cat has received 13 reports of suspension arms cracking. No injuries or accidents have been reported.
The recall involves all 2010 Arctic Cat Z1, TZ1, F, Bearcat, M, and CF model snowmobiles. All variations of color and model features of the listed models are included in the recall.
Consumers with any questions may contact Arctic Cat at 1-800-279-6851 (8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CST Monday through Friday) or visit the website at http://www.arctic-cat.com.
(Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved)


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According to HMRC, the scammers are preying on victims by cold calling them and impersonating an HMRC member of staff. They tell them that they owe large amounts of tax which they can only pay off through digital vouchers and gift cards, including those used for Apple's iTunes Store.
Victims are told to go to a local shop, buy these vouchers and then read out the redemption code to the scammer who has kept them on the phone the whole time. The conmen then sell on the codes or purchase high-value products, all at the victim's expense.
HMRC said the scammers 'frequently use intimidation to get what they want, threatening to seize the victim's property or involve the police'. The use of vouchers is an attractive scam as they are easy to sell on and hard to trace once used.
HMRC said it would never request the settling of debt through such a method.
The scam continues to hit a large number of people. Figures from Action Fraud, the UK's national fraud reporting centre, show that between the beginning of 2016 and August this year there have been over 1,500 reports of this scam, with the numbers increasing in recent months. The vast majority of the victims are aged over 65 and suffered an average financial loss of £1,150 each.
HMRC says it is working closely with law enforcement agencies, Apple and campaign groups to make sure the public know how to spot the scam and who to report it to
"These scammers are very confident, convincing and utterly ruthless," HMRC's Director General of Customer Services, Angela MacDonald, said. "We don't want to see anyone fall victim to this scam just before Christmas. That's why we're working closely with crime fighters to ensure taxpayers know how to avoid it.
"These scams often prey on vulnerable people. We urge people with elderly relatives to warn them about this scam and remind them that they should never trust anyone who phones them out of the blue and asks them to pay a tax bill. If you think you've been a victim you should contact Action Fraud immediately."
Chief Executive of Tax Help for Older People, Gary Millner, said: "Tax Help for Older People fully support HMRC in tackling this particularly wicked scam. We have taken too many calls from people who have fallen foul of it. The amounts of money lost are significant for some and the feelings of helplessness, violation and embarrassment are immense."
Check GOV.UK for information on how to avoid and report scams and recognise genuine HMRC contact.


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Palin PAC gives $54,500 to candidates including former candidate Martha Zoller
JUNEAU, Alaska - Sarah Palin's political action committee spent nearly three-quarters of a million dollars during the latest fundraising period, with about $55,000 donated to candidates.
SarahPac raised about $833,900 from July 1 through Sept. 30. The $774,000 it spent went mostly to the business of running the PAC, including consulting, travel expenses and postage and mailings.
It donated $54,500 to candidates, including U.S. Reps. Paul Gosar of Arizona, and Allen West and Sandy Adams of Florida; and U.S. House candidates Martha Zoller of Georgia, Mia Love of Utah, Ted Yoho of Florida and Kirk Adams of Arizona.
It also contributed to U.S. Senate candidates Deb Fischer of Nebraska, Dan Bongino of Maryland, Ted Cruz of Texas and Jeff Flake in Arizona.
SarahPAC ended the quarter with nearly $1.3 million available.


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In about two weeks, Redmond has managed to turn a marketing idea into something that may just shock you. Microsoft blogger Ina Fried is reporting that Microsoft managed to trick XP users in San Francisco into loving Vista simply by telling them a small fib. The company told these users that they were using a new version of Windows, codenamed "Mojave." When asked about their experience with using Mojave, over 90 percent said they were impressed with what they saw. Then Microsoft told them they had been using Vista all along.
The company hasn't figured out how it will use this to market Vista (the company has video footage of users exclaiming "wow!" and so on), but the Mojave project will likely help in Microsoft's plan to tell the "real Vista story." This is some real ammo here: these are XP lovers saying they love Vista, not just more Microsoft employees giving statements to sell the software giant's latest operating system.
Bill Veghte, Microsoft's senior vice president of Online Services & Windows Business Group and the man who recently outlined the Windows roadmap, strongly believes that Vista's negative opinion by many users is due to poor perceptions created by the media, from Apple's anti-Vista ads to many journalists spewing Vista hate because it brings in the hits. Mojave is a perfect example of this—to an extent. Microsoft has time and again admitted that Vista has its problems, but has also emphasized that the majority of problems have been fixed. What's your take on the Mojave story?
Further reading
- Beyond Binary: Microsoft looks to "Mojave" to revive Vista's image


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BlogBack to Blog
Posts Tagged '2013 resolution'
2013 Innovation Resolution: Make Mistakes
At the beginning of every year, I pick one solid quote to live by for the year. This year, my quote comes from Neil Gaiman. Gaiman himself never graduated from college. He never even enrolled in college. Yet, today, he is one of the most celebrated and prolific writers working today. "I hope that in this year…Read More


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July 25th, 2011
Deaths from chickenpox down
Deaths from chickenpox (the varicella virus) have dropped 97 percent in adolescents and children since the use of the vaccine began in 1995, new analysis shows.
"I think there's certainly the potential for very little disease in the future and very few deaths if we are to fully implement and maintain that program," said Jane Seward, deputy director, Division of Viral Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The study appears in journal Pediatrics. Researchers from the CDC looked at data from 1990 to 2007.
"Every kid did get chickenpox and, in the pre-vaccine era, there were 3-4 million cases a year," Seward said. "What people may not have realized, every year, about 105 people died of chickenpox. About half of those were children and about 11,000-12,000 were hospitalized with severe complications. We started preventing the disease to really prevent those very serious complications."
Among adults younger than 50, the decline was 96 percent; overall, the decline was 88 percent. Seward pointed out that adults get more serious chickenpox than children and also need two doses of the vaccine.
"They have about twenty times higher risk of dying from chickenpox than children do. So it is really important for adults who haven't had chickenpox to get the vaccine."
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About this blog
Get a behind-the-scenes look at the latest stories from CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen and the CNN Medical Unit producers. They'll share news and views on health and medical trends - info that will help you take better care of yourself and the people you love.


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Thriving Toronto Culture
The Annex is a very famous and historic neighbourhood in downtown Toronto that is bounded by Dupont Street to the north, Avenue Road in the east, Bloor Street in the south and Bathurst Street in the west. Bloor Street is the main street that runs through this area and it is a bustling street full of restaurants, shops, cafés and bars.
The Annex neighbours on the University of Toronto and as such, this neighbourhood is home to many students as well as faculty members. There are also many businessmen and businesswomen that live in this area that either work in downtown Toronto or own one of the several independent establishments along Bloor Street. Aside from Bloor Street, the Annex is a primarily residential neighbourhood made up of one-way streets and old Victorian style homes.
Some of the Annex's most famous landmarks are the Tranzac Club, the Bloor Cinema, the Poor Alex Theatre (now closed) and Trinity-St. Paul's United Church. Two of the Annex's most notable residents are Timothy Eaton, Margaret Atwood and David Suzuki.


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Macca vs Gomez in Barcelona
Double Ironman Hawaii winner to face Olympic silver-medal star at Challenge event
There's less than a week before the ETU European Half Distance Championship – Challenge Barcelona, which is taking place on May 19 in the Catalan town of Calella.
No fewer than 2,000 people have confirmed their attendance in what is already set to be a landmark event in triathlon history by bringing together, for the first time ever, two of the greatest champions in the world, Chris McCormack and Javier Gómez Noya, this event marking the Middle Distance debut for the Spaniard, who starts as one of the big favourites to win one of the places on the podium.
But these are not the only triathlon greats that will be competing. The women's entry list also includes some big names, including Denmark's Michelle Vesterby, winner of the latest edition of Lanzarote Ironman and 12th in Kona, Camila Pedersen, the runner-up in the World Long Distance Championship of 2012 and the defending champion of the Half Challenge Barcelona, Italy's Martina Dogana, and Germany duo Kristien Lie and Olympian Ricarda Lisk, the latter making her middle distance debut.
In the men's event, all eyes will naturally be on Javier Gómez Noya and Chris McCormack, but despite the obvious attraction of seeing that pair go head-to-head, there are several other top triathletes involved as well, including, among many others, Danish Olympian Jens Toft, winner of the Half Challenge Fuerteventura, Italy's Cigana and D´Aquino, the superb Belgian duathlete Joerie Vansteelant and the Russia's Pavel Andreev, who is practically invincible in winter triathlons.
Representing host country Spain at HALF CHALLENGE Barcelona are both of the current national Middle Distance Champions Raúl Amatriain and Marta Jiménez.
For the 2013 edition, the triathletes will be enjoying a brand new cycling segment, a spectacular circuit that takes in two natural parks and is perfectly adapted to Middle Distance racing.
Other new features for this European Championship include the new transition area located next to the Sport Area Calella sports and medical centre, and the Hotel Sant Jordi which will be the epicentre for the organisation of the event.
These are just a few of the new additions, which also include the Challenge Party that will take place after the trophy presentation, all helping to make this the biggest Middle Distance triathlon event to be held in Spain in the last decade.
For further information: www.challenge-barcelona.es
Image: Delly Carr/ITU


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I had to have them. Basically, these boots are a sleeker version of my Dries wedges. A pair of short and practical black boots are something that I've desperately needed since my beloved BCBG boots (circa 2000!) have been dying a slow death.
It's always nice to receive real mail. The lady that assisted me at the YSL boutique in Honolulu a few weeks ago just sent me a sweet personalized letter on the best stationery ever. So cute!
Going to Disneyland earlier this month was really exciting, but at the same time it made me miss the overwhelming size and number of parks at Disney World. I haven't been since 1994, but later this year, I'm gonna try to pull off a pilgrimage to Florida with my dad. Sidenote: The first time I went to Disney World in 1992, I got to see Captain EO featuring Michael Jackson! I might be a little biased, but they should totally start screening it again.
Phone calls from Star, ridiculously funny chats with Gala about reality shows, sneak peaks at Helvetica necklaces, hard cider with dad at the Kennedy School, rediscovering old clothes, stumbling upon a favorite new designer and getting super good feedback on a project I've been working on for the last few weeks….
How was your week?


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"Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago takes oath to start his five year term as mayor of Kampala" (NBS TV Uganda, 2016)
Tag: Oath
Suspension of the nurses from Abim Hospital says: "No open door policy during election, period".
There are sometimes you do something wise during elections like a public display and speech that makes a difference. We have today seen the release of the letter telling that the NRM-Regime feels victimizes over the pictures and stories released after the FDC and Dr. Kizza Besigye visited the Abim Hospital.
The Nurses that are suspended just did their public duty to address the matter of their working place, they knew that the NRM-Regime and their elections squad wouldn't take a step into the premises and caring about their working place. This is also a state-run institution who serves the people. And supposed to serve the people, be a place of healing the local community and have service which employee's standard conditions to secure the health of the local public.
Reports from April 2015:
"Operational standards at Abim hospital in Abim district have sparked resentment among various groups of people in and around the district.This follows alleged increase in the number of people dying in the hospital due to poor administration and management of the hospital.Five people reportedly died from the hospital last weekend" (104.7 NENAH FM Karamoja, 21.04.2015).
Later in April:
"Abim Hospital!!! Medical and support staff at the above hospital have laid down their tools, others have resigned due to non payment of 4months salary! Someone In The Office Of CAO is messing up service delivery to the local populace!" (Karamoja Development Forum, 29.04.2015).
There is surely some missing money for not only equipment, but also ghosted monies that were supposed to go the hospital. This is looking worse for the NRM-Regime, the more I dig! But here is the letter everybody is talking about:
If you wouldn't believe where the shattered hospital we're there been reports of embezzled funds that could have built and reshaped the structures and equipment of the hospital. Just take a look!
Statement from Moses Byamugisha today:
"The Abim district CAO Mr Nandala Moses Kaziba who wants to dismiss the nurses over Besigye visit to Abim hospital told Public Accounts Committee sometime back that vouchers for shs900m he embezzled were eaten by termites".
Some more statements:
Former reports on the Abim Hospital:
"Besigye who was on his campaign trail in the area last week promised to have the entire health care system in Uganda overhauled once elected president. Now according to the Resident District Commissioner Samuel Mpimbaza Hashaka, Sh700 million has already been disbursed to facilitate renovation of this hospital. He explains that the contract has been awarded to Pearl Globe Engineering Limited and the renovation is envisaged to be complete by June next year. After renovation, the hospital is expected to have an average capacity of 1,400 for out patients and 120 admissions" (RadioCity 97FM, 09.12.2015).
What Dr. Kizza Besigye wrote on 5th December after the visit to the hospital:
"I would like to thank the people of Abim for welcoming us. Today while on the campaign trail we took some time off to visit Abim Hospital, the patients there just like in other districts live due to the mercy of God, a small medical team that is not paid well and paid on time is not motivated to work extra hours when they are needed. What we witnessed in Abim Hospital is a pure brain drain. An FDC led government believes in investing in our human capital and our pledge includes paying our medical workers well and on time".
We can just see through the pictures and the stories coming out that the NRM isn't looking good on this after 30 years of their rule. And that in the middle of their lovely funky wonderful stories that makes Mzee looks spotless.
The visit and stories from Abim Hospital is different than the beautiful wished stories from the NRM. Like the ones they had with the Gig Song and Bebe Cool fooling himself around on the road talking about the development and steady progress of NRM. But with the last action the Hoe Project and little goodwill they still carry dwindles even more. The nurses being suspended is just a blunt move from a regime losing grips on reality. What is next? What is the next move from the greatness and stature of the State?
FDC passed by and got real stories about the situation. They didn't misuse it or put the people of the hospital in a bad place, it became a essential example of the neglect of the NRM-Regime and their systematic exploit of government institution instead of actually offering the citizens the services they need. And that hurts the citizens first and secondly the NRM has neglected to provide the service the citizens needed. This has been proven by statements and reports from last year. Together with the PAC ordeal with Nandala Moses Kaziba has taken money that was supposed to go the hospital. They have already had issues with payment and other money missing.
That the nurses get the stick for getting in the MEDIA is just foolish. Well, Kahinda Otafiire and Tamale Mirundi I am sure has some well put words to drop. Online already TVO has said his peace. FDC has gotten brownie points and the NRM has lost the media-war…


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One of the things that I hate about instant messaging clients is the lack of adherence to standards. In fact, the specification that I think should be adhered to the most, isn't. I've blogged about this before, so I apologize to the planets that I am syndicated to in advance for duplicating content. However, due to the recent poll about which IM client you use, I've setup another.
In the last poll, the top 5 Linux clients that are currently in operation are, as a result of my poll, in order from most used to least:
- Gaim
- Kopete
- Gajim
- Gossip
- aMSN
I look at those clients, and recognize that there isn't a single standard between any two of them for encrypting your messages. There are just too many options:
- gaim-encryption: Only works with Gaim, or clients implementing the Gaim code.
- otr: a good alternative, working with Gaim, Adium for Mac and Trillian for Windows, but not available for other clients.
- otr-proxy: probably a better alternative than it's parent, allowing any IM client that can utilize a proxy access. However, at the moment, it only works for AIM and ICQ protocols, alienating many users.
- GnuPG: In my opinion, the best alternative using your personal GnuPG keypair, but, only implemented in Gajim and Psi.
I'm sure there are other options, but I think the point is made. I should be able to choose any IM client, and encrypt my traffic with a standard spec that is implemented across the table, regardless of which client my friends choose.
As mentioned, I personally favor using my private and public GnuPG keypair. To me, that just makes sense. Why keep track of two keys, one for IM, and the other for everything else? But, I would be willing to see otr or otr-proxy as the standard as well. The point is just setting the standard, then implementing it across clients.
As such, here is another poll. Should an encryption standard be set, regardless of IM client or protocol, given the information that I outlined here?
I should mention that I use Jabber as my means of IM communication. Jabber, by default, implements SSL/TLS. So, my traffic is already incrypted on the wire with my friends. However, can I trust that the Jabber server I or my friends connect to are not decrypting and logging the chat sessions? Something to think about.


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Last year we missed the blooming sakura, Tokyo's famous cherry trees. One of the most famous is Ueno park, truly breathtaking in the middle of a city of 40M.
Config: Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 28-300mm f/2.5 USM.
Down the main path – the sky was filled with blossoms.
As with everywhere in Tokyo, there were large crowds. Everyone enjoying Hanami;
is the Japanese traditional custom of enjoying the transient beauty of flowers, "flower" in this case almost always meaning cherry blossoms ("sakura") or (less often) plum blossoms ("ume").[1] From the end of March to early May, sakura bloom all over Japan,[2]
Truly spectacular. Should have brought some sake to sit with the crowds …


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Jedidiah's Beef Jerky is a brand produced by Jedidiah's Jerky and Gourmet Snacks of Laughlin, NV.
The brand, which has been around since 2005, is the idea of David Coffey, a veteran in the beef jerky industry since 1984, having worked for several different brands. He created the Jedidiah's brand to represent a higher quality of beef jerky than most major brands, and to offer something unique and special to the beef jerky lover.
The "Private Reserve" line of beef jerky represents Jedidiah's beef brisket jerky, which results in a very soft and moist jerky. The brand also offers a "Premium" line, which represents standard beef jerky.
Beef brisket, teriyaki sauce, brown sugar, chili peppers, pineapple juice, garlic powder, worcestershire sauce, honey, pepper, ginger.
Upon putting a piece into my mouth, the very first taste that presents itself is a strong sweetness. A spicy hot bite from the chili peppers follows very quickly, as well as a saltiness.
Being advertised as "hot & spicy", it certainly lives up to that billing. I find it hot enough to moisten my scalp, and leave a good burn on my tongue. I'd rate this as being "hot". But after eating several pieces, my eyes are watering, my nose is running, and I'm having to reach for a swig of water after each swallow.
The package also advertises this as being a teriyaki variety, and there is indeed a teriyaki taste to this. But I think the teriyaki sauce is heavy on the sweet. This is more like "meat candy", than it is teriyaki flavored. But I can still sense the unique teriyaki flavoring that I think it does warrant the advertisement on the package.
The natural meat flavors are not well evident in this jerky, however. First, there's a lot of flavors competing for my attention, with the sweetness, the spiciness, and the saltiness. I let a piece sit in my mouth for several seconds, and extracted out the juices, but still couldn't really get a good sense of the meat flavors. There is indeed a "meat aroma" to this, but I can't really taste the unique beef flavors.
In terms of saltiness, this is definitely on the salty side. There is still plenty of sweetness to this that it offsets a lot of it, however.
Overall, this jerky is just brimming with flavor, with both the sweet, the spicy, and the saltiness dominating the taste throughout the chew. As a spicy variety, this will set your tongue on fire.
Meat Consistency
This appears to be slices of real beef brisket, sliced thin, and in strips of about 8-10 inches long, and 1 inch wide.
This is a soft and tender variety of jerky, being semi-moist. It's very easy to tear apart and chew. Some strips do provide a little more resistance to tearing, but still nothing that a toddler can't eat.
Being cut from beef brisket, I can see some fat marbilization, and I do get some chewy material, probably membrane and/or tendon. Otherwise, I found no gristle.
Overall, this jerky provides an excellent meat consistency.
Product Value
Jedidiah's Jerky and Gourmet Snacks sells this Hot & Spicy Teriyaki variety from its website at a price of $7.99 for a 3.65oz package. That works out to a price of $2.19 per ounce, putting this into the expensive price range.
For general jerky snacking purposes, it offers a decent value, considering it's extremely flavorful, and very easy to eat.
But as a hot & spicy variety, it's a great value, because it's really hot and spicy. If you found other brands of hot jerky to be disappointingly mild, you'll be happy with this variety from Jed's.
Then as a teriyaki variety, it's a weak value. While there is indeed a teriyaki taste to this, it's heavy on the sugar side, and less on the soy sauce. And at a price of $2.19 per oz, you can find more teriyaki flavor in lesser priced brands.
I'm giving this a best rating.
This Hot & Spicy Teriyaki variety from Jed's Private Reserve is packed with flavor, offering flavor combination of spicy hot chili pepper and sweet teriyaki, all in a very easy to eat meat consistency.
It also lives us to its advertised flavor, mostly as a hot & spicy variety, and less as a teriyaki variety. There's still plenty of teriyaki taste, but a heavily sweetened one, and one that is overshadowed by the chili pepper seasoning. While the saltiness is on the strong side, it's offset by the strong sweetness, and doesn't really wear you down.
While the natural meat flavors are very difficult to find in this, I still found the intense flavors to make this extremely snackable.
Rating: Best
Buy this online:
Friday, August 15, 2008
Jedidiah's Beef Jerky - Private Reserve - Hot & Spicy Teriyaki
Jedidiah's Beef Jerky is a brand produced by Jedidiah's Jerky and Gourmet Snacks of Laughlin, NV.
1 comment:


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I started my morning off with a trip to the dentist. It's not the most pleasant way to begin the day and truthfully I had no idea that I even had an appointment. There was some sort of a mix up at the office—they thought Piyush had an appointment at 7am, so they called to remind him about it. He said he didn't make the appointment, so they thought maybe it was me. They called me and I had no idea that I made an appointment either (especially at 7! on my day off!). Since I was free for the day, they convinced me to go in and get my pearly whites cleaned and checked out. Unfortunately, Dr. Watkins gave me some bad news…
This princess is getting a new crown! I've never had a crown before—actually I've never really had any dental work, aside from some cavities filled. Sadly it's because of one of those cavities (mostly the really bad job my prior dentist did filling it) that I now need this crown. Ok, and it might also be that I drank too much soda as a kid…and too much hard liquor as a college student, but there's nothing I can do to change that now. The damage has been done, my friends.
I was out of the dentist's office in about an hour, and since I was already awake—and functioning—I decided I might as well check out the thrift store and see if I could find anything neat. Today was a bust. I didn't find anything super exciting, but I did get a new book to read, a shirt for Piyush, some canning jars, a terra cotta garlic roaster and a cake platter. Total spent? Around 10 bucks.
There was a big dresser that matched the one I bought for my entry way, it was obviously from the same set. I thought it'd make an awesome buffet for our dining room (with a little elbow grease and repurposing), but the price tag said $50. That's about 30 dollars too much, in my opinion. So I passed.
When I got bored of thifting, I grabbed a few groceries and headed home to a sink full of dirty dishes. At home, I was quickly reminded that it was winter and I needed to put on boots and stop wearing my totally awesome crocs:
Seriously, I never thought I'd be a croc kind of girl…but I love these shoes! They're slide ons—so they're quick. They're durable, comfy and rubber (or something like that…I don't really know what they're made from, actually). I hate wet feet, so these do a good job of keeping them dry. I wore them everyday in India—even when we were climbing the steep hills of Darjeeling (I have really high arches and walk more on the sides of my feet. Even without my custom insoles these shoes give me no pain.) Basically, I love this shoe. But sadly, they have no traction…and are terrible on ice! Lucky for me, I am a very graceful faller. Like, really graceful. You should have seen it. I slipped on the ice, went into a perfect lunge—didn't even crack my knee on the ground—and slid back up, all in one motion. It was like some sort of weird ice ballet. I bet it looked awesome.
After shimmying my way down to the mailbox, trying to avoid the ice…and back up to the house, I decided to make Piyush a nice dinner. I had some chicken breasts, so I knew that was going to be the base.
I eventually settled on seasoning the chicken breasts with marjoram, making a simple pan sauce and serving it all with mushrooms and roasted purple potatoes. I was worried he wouldn't like it. But it turned out really delicious and he scarfed it down…no complaints. He even told me the recipe was a "keeper." Yay.
The purple potatoes were amazing! I've never had them before so I had to try them out. They taste really similar to red potatoes…but they're such a beautiful color!
I cut them in half (or quarters, if they were big), drizzed them with some olive oil, seasoned with salt/pepper, added some chopped rosemary and smashed garlic and then roasted in the oven at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes. Simple. Easy. Fast.
While they roasted away, I got to work on the chicken.
Marjoram Chicken with Mushrooms and Marsala Pan Sauce
(recipe inspired by Bon Appetit)
- 4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves
- 6 teaspoons dried marjoram (use fresh if you have it!), divided
- 1 tsp. fresh rosemary, chopped
- 2 tablespoons butter, divided
- 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
- 10 ounces assorted wild mushrooms (I bought a frozen bag at the co-op…and they were awesome!)
- 4 shallots, diced
- 3/4 cup low-salt chicken broth (make your own!)
- 1/4 cup half and half
- 1 tsp. flour
- 3 tablespoons dry Marsala
- Salt/Pepper
Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper, then 2 teaspoons marjoram (I didn't really measure—just sprinkled liberally).
Melt 1 tablespoon butter with 1/2 tablespoon oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken to skillet and sauté until just cooked through. Transfer chicken to plate; tent with foil to keep warm.
Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter with1/2 tablespoon oil in same skillet. Add mushrooms, shallots, and 2 teaspoons marjoram. Sauté until mushrooms are brown and tender, about 6 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to bowl.
Combine broth, cream, Marsala, rosemary and remaining 2 teaspoons marjoram in same skillet; boil until thickened and reduced to 1/2 cup, about 5 minutes. Season sauce with salt and pepper.
Divide mushrooms among 4 plates. Top mushrooms with chicken. Spoon sauce over and serve.
This meal came in at around 650 calories for my portion (pictured above). It's not something I'd eat all that often, because it's so rich. But it's definitely something I'll make again! It had a lot of flavors and they all worked extremely well with one another. The original recipe didn't call for rosemary but I thought it'd be a good addition…and I was right!
If you're looking to impress someone (Valentine's Day is around the corner….I'm just sayin'), this will do it. This meal is seriously restaurant quality…and I'm not talking "Olive Garden" or "Applebees" kind of restaurants. This tasted like something I'd expect from a really fancy place. It was that good!
Now that I have a full belly, Teen Mom is over, and my face has been cleansed…it's off to bed! I have a long day tomorrow!


text:
One Fraught Englishman
The turbulent life of Kingsley Amis
In his 1991 Memoirs, Kingsley Amis stated roundly: "I have already written an account of myself in twenty or more volumes, most of them called novels." He partly qualified this by adding:
Novels they fully are, too, and those who know both them and me will also know that they are firmly unautobiographical, but at the same time every word of them inevitably says something about the kind of person I am.
If this seems like having it both ways— while blocking the boring interviewer who inquires how much a certain character is drawn from life—it is also the ideal opportunity for a serious literary biographer. In this astonishingly fine and serious book, which by no means skips the elements of scandal and salacity, Zachary Leader has struck a near-ideal balance between the life and the work, and has traced the filiations between the two without any strain or pretension.
There is a biography within the biography here, and it brings into high relief the figure of Hilary Bardwell, the bewitchingly lovely woman who was Amis's first wife, the mother of two of his children (as well as the mother of another whom he never disowned), the source of his infinite regret and self-reproach, and, at the end, his mother-surrogate. Among her numberless charms is a complete absence of guile, combined with an absolutely penetrating acuity that often reveals more than she quite realizes. Here she is, on the glamorous and sexy and brilliant young man she met at Oxford (where the mind reels at the thought of his induction into the Communist Party by Iris Murdoch). He was invariably interesting and amusing but he would make
endless complaints about what seemed to me harmless things like apparently ordinary, nice people coming through the swing-door at Elliston's restaurant. He'd start muttering, "Look at those fools, look at that idiot of a man", and so on. If doors got stuck, or he was held up by some elderly person getting off a bus, or the wind blew his hair all over the place, he would snarl and grimace in the most irritating fashion.
I barked with laughter when I read this, because I remember Amis once converting a loud belch into a brilliant sort of trumpeting sound, and then explaining to me that it was wrong to waste a perfectly good noise. The same was true (as all readers of Lucky Jim will remember) of any scowl or frown that might come his way: These were opportunities of which the absolute maximum should be made. As for the chance encounter with a bloody fool or a raging bore, well, Amis knew meat and drink when he saw it.
A man who is terrified of boredom, was overindulged by parents who got on his nerves, is easily irritated, and can moreover transmute a lowly fart into a piercing trombone imitation is possessed of the lineaments of literary and comic genius, but he may conceivably be hard to live with. The feelings of the tolerant and decent Hilary were extremely injured when her husband took her shambling old pedant of a father and made him into Lucky Jim's insufferable Ned Welch, whose smallest gesture drives Jim Dixon into a frenzy of tedium-induced rage. But, recovering as she later did from many worse abuses, she never ceased to appreciate that you couldn't really have the one Kingsley without the other.
Any dolt can see the connection between the mother-smothered Amis and the later unstoppable tit-man who was also a slave to Bacchic overindulgence. (Patrick in Difficulties With Girls has a reverie about the ideal female: "wise, compassionate, silent and with enormous breasts": If this young lady had lived in a single bedroom upstairs from a pub, Amis might have questioned his own stout disbelief in God.) But the need for anarchic release was always qualified by an impressive discipline—evidenced in a no-less-impressive output that barely flagged until the end—and by a prolonged wrestle with the demons. Both elements are present in a letter to Philip Larkin just after the sudden celebrity and fortune that attended Lucky Jim: "I feel in a sense that 'they can't stop me now', except when I take up my new novel and feel how easy it will be for me to stop myself."
This instinct for hubris and nemesis perhaps partly underlay the numerous dreads and phobias that black-dogged Amis throughout his life. In an especially interesting section on the time Amis spent teaching at Princeton (acquiring a Warren Beatty–like reputation among faculty wives), Leader makes one realize how very close Amis came to making the move permanent, and to becoming an American. He didn't write even once to Larkin, his most insular friend and most faithful correspondent. But then one of the reasons for his own later relapse into insularity was his unvanquishable fear of getting on an airplane. As to his other terrors, and the means of combating them, here is his other great epistolary partner, Robert Conquest, writing to Larkin in 1960:
Your points on K are interesting. Note also his new line that screwing is a way of forgetting about dying. Negative thinking there, eh? And allowing ten fucks a week at twenty minutes each, it leaves an awful lot of time for seeing the skull beneath the skin, lifeless creatures underground, etc.
Actually, that "new line" is one of the oldest in the human book, but almost a decade later, Amis's novel The Green Man would demonstrate with unsettling insight the failure of sex to ward off intimations of mortality and post-mortality. Indeed, one might say that the diminishing returns of the avid sexual life are a leitmotif in the entire oeuvre.
The larger and longer arc—of the declension from Angry Young Man to clubman and gouty curmudgeon—is the one that many critics confidently expected Leader to follow. In this rather dull expectation, they will find themselves somewhat disappointed. Amis never considered himself part of the John Osborne Look Back in Anger phenomenon, any more than he believed himself to be a member (along with Conquest, Larkin, and John Wain) of what one critic rather unimaginatively termed "The Movement." He was very much his own man. In order to annoy people, he may sometimes have quoted Conquest's "First Law," which states, "Generally speaking, everybody is reactionary on subjects he knows about." But on the great subject that he himself did know about—English literature and language—he was far from being an axiomatic conservative. Though he might have served as the beau ideal of Henry James's injunction to be one of those on whom nothing was lost (those noises!), he never missed a chance to ridicule James himself, and other establishment figures as well. He must have been delighted when the austere academic gatekeeper F. R. Leavis dismissed him as "a pornographer."
Amis had a bracing attitude toward popular culture, writing about science fiction, for example, "As a recently retired university teacher I can't help being slightly drawn to any form of writing that reaches no part of its audience through compulsion." The great drawback of sci-fi is the dearth of sex from which it compels itself to suffer (I realized when reading Leader's book that this is why I have never bothered with the genre), but Amis, not content with writing scholarly treatments of the subject, produced a historical/futurological novel, The Alteration, which Philip K. Dick himself rightly praised as possibly the best "alternate world" fiction of the lot. I might add that the subject of sex in this work is introduced in the most radical and subversive way, though without the smallest hint of the pornographic.
Contra Leavis, it goes without saying that Amis never described any sexual encounter without the greatest subtlety, tenderness, and (this isn't easy; try it if you don't believe me) wit. It should also go without saying that none of his fictions betrays any vulgarity or prejudice, against any supposed "minority." If one of his characters expressed such views—the eponymous hero of Stanley and the Women being the most notorious case in point—Amis was always honest enough to say that he was capable of drawing on feelings of his own that he found less than admirable. The absolutely necessary novel here is Girl, 20, in which the character of whom Amis most disapproves politically is also made irresistibly charming, and in which—this is a really brilliant knight's move—the activity on which Amis himself had expended the most time (adultery) is shown by the actions of this very charmer as destructive to all parties.
But the closing years were gruesome, in a way that almost certainly derived from the antithesis between his two chief desires (women and drink: "You can't do both," as Amis phrased it in another connection), and Leader doesn't flinch from saying so. It wasn't just dreadful to see the old boy drifting into his "Shoot Mandela" twilight of curmudgeonhood. It was dreadful to see him abandon all effort to be witty—the very man who in plotting Ending Up had masterfully noted 45 different ways of "being annoying." The usual way of defining a reactionary pose that becomes a reactionary drone is to say that the face has grown to fit the mask. Amis himself prefigured this idea in a poem titled "Coming of Age," where the central figure "played his part so well / that he started living it … / His trick of camouflage no longer a trick." Noticing an Amis booze bill that was heroic by any standards, I thought of the tally for the "intolerable deal of sack" in Henry IV and scribbled "Falstaff" in the margin. As if to help my thought along, there was Amis, not many pages later, comparing himself to the old knight. Profane and surfeit-swelled he certainly was, the majestic trumpetings becoming louder but less amusing, as of a dying pachyderm, while he became more of a fool and less of a jester.
However, no "Imperialist Racist Fascist" sexist could have hoped to evoke the genuine admiration and mourning of two of Britain's strongest literary feminist voices, Janet Montefiore and Rosie Boycott. Nor—though this is perhaps slightly more arguable—could anyone who was entirely selfish have been forgiven by so many family members and ex-lovers who could have complained of being wronged. Just as the image of the expiring elephant suggests a massive pathos, so it became apparent that Amis, very far from being a misanthrope, was lonely and frightened and more in need of other people than he liked or dared to admit.
It is sad to find that his muse of alcohol—the gift of Bacchus—was what got him in the end, but there are several novels, beginning with One Fat Englishman, in which he quite clear-sightedly sees this coming, and one might in valediction remember what Winston Churchill said about brandy, which was that in life's eternal wager, he had gotten more out of it than it had taken out of him. Indeed, you couldn't have one Kingsley without the other, and Zachary Leader's wonderful book shows us both of them, as it illustrates the rival processes of composition and decomposition.
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text:
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Export 12 ingredients for grocery delivery
Step 1
Heat the oil in a heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add the sausages and cook until brown on both sides, about 7 to 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and drain.
Step 2
Keeping the pan over medium heat, add the peppers, onions, salt, and pepper and cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the oregano, basil, and garlic and cook 2 more minutes.
Step 3
Add the tomato paste and stir. Add the Marsala wine, tomatoes, and chili flakes, if using. Stir to combine, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to release all the browned bits. Bring to a simmer.
Step 4
Cut the sausages into 4 to 6 pieces each, about 1-inch cubes. Add the sausage back to the pan and stir to combine. Cook until the sauce has thickened, about 20 minutes.
Step 5
Serve in bowls. Or, if serving as a sandwich, split the rolls in half lengthwise. Hollow out the bread from the bottom side of each roll, being careful not to puncture the crust. Fill the bottom half of the roll with sausage mixture. Top and serve sandwiches immediately.


text:
Have you ever thought you were going to get your dream job, then have it not come to pass? I did. At first I was disappointed. But as I learned more about the company, I was relieved to have dodged a bullet. You never know what ugliness hides beneath an impressive outer layer.
At the time, I was ready to move on from the major consulting firm where I was employed, mainly because I was frustrated about my lack of career advancement. I was also ready to live in a different location. After some searching, I landed an interview for the job of VP of application development in a city I really liked. I was impressed by the company from the research I'd done.
[ For more stories about exasperating IT jobs, check out InfoWorld's "7 blowhard bosses bollix up IT." | Pick up a $50 American Express gift cheque if we publish your tech story: Send it to firstname.lastname@example.com. | Get your weekly dose of workplace shenanigans by following Off the Record on Twitter and subscribing to the Off the Record newsletter. ]
I arrived on site armed with a list of questions, wanting to make sure I was careful even though it seemed like a dream job. The building was classy and pleasant, and the people courteous and professional. I was ushered into a meeting with the CIO, who was personable and conducted a good interview.
Getting answers
In preparation, I'd studied the industry and noticed the company was moving in a direction counter to that of its competitors, and when I asked why, the CIO laid out a very sound business strategy. In my research, I'd found that the company's financials were positive -- it'd been through a rough patch, but the new management team appeared to have turned the ship around.
The CIO explained how the company was building new systems that were key to significant cost savings and improvements in service levels. I was interviewing for the position to lead that application where the systems strategy was central to the success of the business strategy -- an exciting prospect.
I had a couple of concerns. First, the company was building its own code generation engine, which could be a real can of worms in the long haul. The second had to do with a clear vision the entire executive team had bought in to. In my work as a consultant, I'd seen major systems implementations run into problems when executive management was not aligned.
The CIO told me the executives were all rowing in the same direction except for one person, who was on vacation. The CEO had told the exec that when he came back from vacation he needed to start rowing in the same direction as everyone else, or maybe he needed to go do something different.
The CIO and I really hit it off, and he wanted me for the job. He asked me to come back and interview with the CEO. I was jubilant and started looking into what it'd take to move. I was flying out on a Sunday, and my interview was Monday. I had my airline tickets and was all set.


text:
Brockton middle school student raped,police say
Dafney Tales, The Enterprise
School parents are facing a dilemma after a serious incident involving two students from the Oscar F. Raymond Middle School.
One middle school student is facing a charge of rape after a classmate accused him of attacking her in a wooded area minutes after school dismissal earlier this month. That student faces one count of rape, said police Lt. Kenneth LeGrice.
Ward 7 City Councilor Shirley Asack, who represents the ward where the school is located, expressed concern, the Enterprise reported.
"It's concerning to me as a parent," she said. "I have a 12-year-old. I don't let my kids walk alone. We're going to do everything we can as far as public safety, but parents need to know where our kids are. It's scary, it's pretty scary."
School police Lt. Donald Mills said the 16-year-old boy was arrested a week after the alleged rape occurred on March 6, less than a mile away from the Raymond School as the two walked together to their respective homes.
The 14-year-old victim told police that the incident took place on a pathway near the Gilbert Walker Playground shortly after the 2:35 p.m. dismissal. Both of the students are eighth-graders at the kindergarten through Grade 8 school.
The incident went unreported for six days while the student refused to return to school or speak with authorities, police said. Once she did return, Mills said, her mother reported the incident to school officials, who immediately notified police.
The 16-year-old suspect was arrested at the school by school resource officers the next day, he said.
School Superintendent Kathleen Smith declined to comment on the matter citing the level of sensitivity with the case and the ages of those involved.
Although the incident occurred off school grounds, parent Rosa Pires, who has three children enrolled at Raymond School, said school officials should have notified parents about the incident.
"You would think they'd tell us something like this," she said. "If your child does something bad, they're quick to call you, but stuff like this you don't hear about."
The incident raised concerns of public safety among school and city officials.
Brockton School Committee Vice Chairman Thomas Minichiello said, "This is just so horrendous. It's extremely disappointing that this happened."
"Someone doing something allegedly outrageous, all we can do is remind students to be careful not to place themselves with people they may not know or trust," he said.
Asack added, "We'd love to have more school police so they can have more of a presence after school."
To reduce violent incidents involving students, parents, school officials and community members should go beyond the legal system and seek to educate students, said City Councilor-at-large Shaynah Barnes.
"It's important that they look at school and home history," she said. "Safety in school should involve guidance counselors teaching the kids about how to behave with their classmates, a specialist coming in to do some workshops and training teachers on how to detect signs of sexual aggression."
Mayor Bill Carpenter declined to speak about the incident, but said he will reach out to school district administrators and law enforcement to address safety measures.
"Thousands of other parents will also want to know," he said.
Brockton School Committee member Andy Robinson, of Ward 2, also declined to discuss the specific incident, but said that officials have gone to great lengths to create an environment in schools that makes students feel comfortable with coming forward with concerns.
"For better or worse, bad things still happen and some of them unfortunately happen outside of school," he said. "The school district is taking appropriate action within their ability to ensure the safety of students."
Ward 7 member Raymond Henningson also declined to comment. Meanwhile, messages left with committee members Judy Sullivan of Ward 5, Patricia Joyce of Ward 4 and Allisha Jean Clark of Ward 3 for comment were not immediately returned.
School Committee members were notified about the incident the day the incident was reported, Minichiello said.