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Star Wars Figures, T-Shirts, Backpacks, Merchandise, Hoodies, including The Book of Boba Fett Merch
We're just going to go ahead and say it–if you're not on the Star Wars bandwagon yet, what exactly are you doing?
Look, we believe in repping your Star Wars love loud, proud, and wherever you are–no need to wait to represent until May the Fourth. That's why Hot Topic's created the ultimate Disney's Star Wars collection to help you do just that. No matter what you can't get enough of, there's Star Wars shirts, merch, gifts, apparel, collectibles, and one-of-a-kind items just waiting for you.
Are you super obsessed with all things The Mandalorian? Friends, join the club. We've got plenty of merch that shouts of your all-time fave bounty hunter (and of course, baby Yoda, duh). From our Mandalorian Fashion Face Mask 3-Pack to our Mandalorian The Child Waffle Maker, it's safe to say we can help you deck out your home, your closet, and your life with must-have The Mandalorian merch.
Looking for something special to wear to the latest Star Wars premiere? We've got you. For a subtle nod to your fandom, check out our Her Universe Star Wars Solo Off-The-Shoulder Top or our Her Universe Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Stormtrooper Jersey Dress.
Lookin' for something a little bolder to show-off your love for the universe? Check out A New Hope Group Tapestry Throw Blanket, our Star Wars Celebration On the Go Lunch Cooler, or even our Porg & Chewbacca Accordion Sunshade.
The best part? We've also got collectibles (like our Rebel Scum Patch), accessories (like our Star Wars Imperial Galactic Empire and Tie Fighter Enamel Pin Set), and home décor (like the Star Wars Darth Vader Toaster) that you desperately need in your life.
Once you've got your Star Wars merch in the bag, be sure to stop by our collection of general graphic shirts to take your collection to the next level.


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Amid the whirlwind of the Battle of Tarawa, Japanese soldiers dash for cover as nearby Marines open fire. A cameraman, then–Staff Sergeant Norman Hatch, captured the gripping scene—the only instance that U.S. servicemen and enemy forces appeared in the same World War II combat images. But the footage was only a fraction of what Hatch filmed on Tarawa Atoll's Betio Island, the highlights of which appeared in a short documentary, With the Marines at Tarawa. The historic film brought the grim realities of Pacific island fighting to the American home front and earned the 1945 Academy Award for best short-subject documentary.
Retired Major Hatch, who passed away in 2017 at age 96, was a valued contributor to and friend of the U.S. Naval Institute. On 24 July 2007, he sat down with Yehuda Goldman for what would be a 1-hour, 45-minute interview for the Naval Institute. That raw footage, which is now available for general viewing, was edited down to 90 seconds and appeared as one of the Institute's Americans at War television interstitials.
What follows is former Naval History Editor Fred Schultz's interview with Major Hatch, which appeared in the magazine's December 2008 Tarawa issue.
Naval History: Tell us how you got started in the film business.
Hatch: I was a private first class in the Marine Corps as well as cleared for duty with Navy public affairs. When I came out of boot camp, I went into teaching English at the Marine Corps Institute. Then an opportunity came to join the Leatherneck magazine staff.
On the bulletin board one day, I saw an ad for a photographic school that had just started in New York at something called the March of Time. It was to teach military personnel how to tell stories with cameras. So I applied for it. Even though it said no experience was required, I was turned down because I had no experience. I then applied a second time and once again was turned down.
After I transferred to the Navy Department, I applied a third time. After President [Franklin D.] Roosevelt called for using the Naval Reserve, one of the new public-information officers was a reserve lieutenant by the name of Alan Brown. He had been a director at the March of Time.
I told him my story and he said, "Let's see what happens with this request you've got in right now." In the middle of September in 1941,1 received word that I had been turned down again.
So I went back to Lieutenant Brown and explained what had happened. He told me Louis de Rochmont, the producer of the March of Time, was coming to town the next day. He said, "I'll call him up and tell him your story and that you're coming by."
I dropped in on de Rochmont, and we talked for an hour. When I got back to the office, I called Lieutenant Brown and told him it was a very nice conversation, but I thought I was doomed.
Two days later, I heard that I got orders to be in the next March of Time class. I went back to Lieutenant Brown's office and asked him how this happened. He told me de Rochmont had been a Navy lieutenant in World War I, and his roommate was now the chief of naval personnel, a rear admiral. So when de Rochmont constituted the school, he asked his friend the admiral to send a half-dozen Navy petty officers competent in camera work.
Lou was apparently pleased with meeting me and called the admiral's office, asking for Marines and for me by name. So I wound up as an instructor. That's how I learned my trade and set out on my career.
Naval History: Now, take us to Tarawa. How did you get to go there?
Hatch: After I left the March of Time, I went to Quantico. The 2d Division was forming, and we fully expected that some of us would be shipped out. Two of us who had been at the March of Time were shipped to San Diego to join the division.
We found out we were the only trained motion-picture cameramen in the organization, two of us to cover a division of 20,000 men. We convinced the bosses that we should go to Hollywood and buy as many 16-mm cameras as we could and the color magazines to go with them. We bought about a dozen or so and all the film in Los Angeles we could find. When we shipped out, we heard we were heading to New Zealand.
We were there for 11 months, and Johnny Erkel, the other motion-picture cameraman trained at the March of Time, and I taught a number of our cameramen how to shoot movies. When we mounted out to go to combat in November 1943, we at least had movie men and still men who could do a credible job.
Johnny and I carried 35-mm Eyemo cameras, which were the standard of the day. The film went through our cameras at 100 feet a minute, and we could only put 100 feet in the camera. So we had to be very careful about how we shot.
Naval History: How were you transported to the beach?
Hatch: I wanted to go with a certain battalion and its leader, at that time Major [Henry] "Jim" Crowe, the battalion commander, 2d Battalion, 8th Marines. I selected Crowe because I knew that wherever he was, there was going to be trouble.
When I went to see him, he asked me who I was and what I was doing. When I told him, he said, "I don't want any goddamn Hollywood Marine with me!"
I told him I had five years' experience and said I knew if I needed a rifle, all I had to do was bend down and pick one up. He looked at me for a second or two and said, "Well, all right. But stay the hell out of my way!" Consequently, I went into his LCVP and sat on the engine hatch alongside of him.
I was correct in assuming that being with Crowe would be right. In making the landing, the amphibian tractors were having a bit of a problem on Red Beach Three, Crowe's beach. His battalion exec was already ashore with the amtracs, and Crowe wasn't due to go in until the succeeding boat waves came in.
Naval History: What did you find the situation to be when you reached the beach?
Hatch: Even after all the Navy gunfire and preliminary bombing, we still faced enemy fire. It seemed that as soon as a boat would drop its ramp on the reef, a shell fired from bunkers on the island would explode in the boat, and people were forced to swim the reefs.
This happened all up and down the beach. The Navy had made a tremendous mistake by firing 14-inch armor-piercing shells at sand block houses. When a shell hit the sand, the impact wasn't enough to set it off and it would skitter over the ground and finally out to the airfield. The airfield was covered with unexploded 14-inch shells.
Naval History: What did you see on the beach?
Hatch: Off to our left was a Japanese machine-gun turret firing at the amphibian tractors. The shooter was apparently scaring the life out of the amtrac drivers. On our right, a pier ran out about 600 yards, and amtracs were bunching up against it.
All Crowe could visualize was his landing craft unloading on an unprotected beach. So he told the coxswain to put his boat into the water. But the coxswain ran it up on the reef, and the ramp wouldn't go down. Everybody had to go over the side.
In the LCVPs, the gunwales up at the top and on the sides were almost shoulder level for most of those people who were six feet tall, like my assistant, Bill "Kelly" Kelleher, and I were. At least we were tall enough to see over the damn thing without having to hold on.
Everybody had to go over with 80 pounds of gear and drop in the water. The kids who were short had to start swimming right away, whether they knew how to swim or not. When Kelly and I went over the side, we had the Navy guys put the cameras and film canisters over. We could not get into the water with the film and the cameras. Jokingly, I told Kelly that if he fell into a hole and got those cameras wet, I was going to kill him.
In the end, neither of us fell, and we walked in. Many of the guys who came out of the LCVP did a lot of dog-paddling, because we were being shot at by the Japanese from under the pier as well as by the guy with the machine gun.
When we reached the beach, both Kelly and I were exhausted. After 15 minutes or so, we got our breath back and got oriented to where we were. Jim Crowe was walking up and down, yelling at his troops to "get over that goddamn seawall! They can't hit you, what are you hunkering down here for?"
They eventually moved up and went over the seawall, but a lot of guys had wound up under the pier because they had lost their weapons and didn't know what to do. Eventually, a couple of junior lieutenants got the troops doing what they were supposed to do.
Of course, I started shooting film. Crowe was directing things from the stern of an amtrac that tried to crawl up over the seawall but didn't make it. That became his permanent command post during the 76-hour battle.
Naval History: What happened at the large sand-covered blockhouse?
Hatch: The battalion exec, Major Bill Chamberlin, said that they were going to take this blockhouse that had been an obstacle to us since day one. When he got through telling how he was going to do it, he turned to me and said, "Do you want to come and photograph it?" Now, what's a staff sergeant going to say to a major when he asks a question like that?
At 0900 he stood up and waved his hand, loudly yelling: "Follow me! Follow me!" We tried running up the side of the sand blockhouse, but the sand made it slow going. We finally got to the top and looked over the other side. Japanese troops were standing outside, wondering what the hell we were doing.
We turned around, and there wasn't another Marine in sight. Nobody followed me. So I asked the major, "Where's your rifle?" He said he gave it to somebody who lost theirs in the landing. I asked, "Where's your pistol?" He said he lost that, too. I had a pistol, but it was in the back of my belt and it was covered with film canisters.
Finally, we both agreed we'd better get the hell out of there and ran back to the command post. Soon after, the attack started. And I photographed it.
While I was shooting, flamethrowers were being used on the top of the hill, and somebody said, "Here come the Japs!" I swiveled my body, and in the view finder was a shot of a machine-gunner in the foreground. In the distance, about 15 yards away, I saw Japanese running out of their block house. There were about three squads of them, and we eliminated them all.
That was probably the best footage I shot, because it was the only time, to the best of my knowledge in both the Pacific and European theaters, that a cameraman was fortunate enough to capture both sides in a fighting stance.
Naval History: How did With the Marines at Tarawa win the 1945 Academy Award for short-subject documentary?
Hatch: The battle took place in November of '43, so we needed to rush to have a film together and out in theaters before the end of that year to be eligible for the award the following year.
Naval History: Why do you think it won the award?
Hatch: I think maybe it was not so much that the film was so great, but that for the first time, it told the public what war was like. No one really had seen anything like it.

subset: commoncrawl


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Prague and Lisbon Open
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About us
The Munich Debating Society is an international student debating society for students in and around Munich, Germany. We're open to anyone who is interested in debating, regardless of your current experience and skill level.
Then drop by at one of our debates! Unfortunately, we can only offer limited debates during the Corona-related security measurements. On Mondays we hold online debates on the "MixIdea" portal, on Wednesdays we debate at Leopoldstraße 11 (KHG). For in-person debates, prior registration is currently required! Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date!
(As of July, 14, 2020)
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'General Hospital' Star Quits After 21 Years
Get ready to say goodbye to Jason Morgan on General Hospital -- actor Steve Burton just announced that he's leaving the role after playing the popular character since 1991.
"I've been through 21 years of ups and downs with GH — regime changes, cast and crew changes, budget cuts, shakeups of one kind or another, and it's been nothing but a huge positive in my life and for my family. I have no complaints, no negative feelings at all," Burton, 42, tells TV Guide Magazine. "But it's time to go. I'm going to take some time off and do nothing but relax, just enjoy life a little bit with my wife and kids."
Related: 'GH' Star Opens Up About Bipolar Disorder
However, he didn't completely rule out appearing on the long-running soap again.
"I would never say that I am closing the door to GH. But, in addition to my personal reasons for leaving, I do want to see what else is out there for me, as an actor and as a producer," he says.
And the opportunities are certainly plenty -- he confirmed that he's working on a new TV project with James Franco and former General Hospital executive producer Jill Farren Phelps.
"The three of us collaborated on an idea and came up with a really good one. Jill will EP it, I'll produce and star in it and so will James. We'll be able to get a lot of great cameos and guest stars because of James' connections. It'll be a fun show to do," he dishes.
Video: Fans Breathe 'Life' in 'General Hospital'
Related: 'Baywatch' beauty Donna D'Errico on searching for Noah's Ark, and leaving her wild past far behind
As of now, Burton is enjoying not knowing what's next.
"Here's the thing: As cool as it was to know I had a nice, cushy place to go every day with GH, I think it's going to be just as cool to not have a nice, cushy place to go every day. I like not knowing what's next for a change. I'm jumping off a cliff in a total leap of faith."


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You are currently browsing the tag archive for the 'Irwell Sculpture Trail' tag.
We are doing a lovely piece of consultation and market research on the Irwell Sculpture Trail.
Soon to be relaunched, the Sculpture Trail runs from Salford Quays up to Bacup – approximately 30 miles along the River Irwell dotted with sculptures.
For our first day we were set up outside Salford Museum and Art Gallery on an incredibly hot day. Our stall, which has been lovingly designed for this piece of consultation, features bunting, pots of spring flowers, and a map of the trail.
We also set up an Easter kids activity on some picnic blankets – making Easter nests from hay and filled with chocolate eggs and a yellow chick.
Over the next couple of weeks we will be out at various locations along the Sculpture Trail to speak to people about the sculptures and find out how people find out about places – especially whether people like the idea of new technologies such as downloadable audio tours and QR codes.


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It's been a cold, foggy, blowy day. The sun never came out, and tourists hurried into souvenir shops and Walgreens to buy crappy beige SAN FRANCISCO sweaters and hoodies. On days like today you wonder how the hell the city ever became known as the capital of free love, unless it was the urge to get back into bed, and when two people had the same idea, then… Yeah, that would work.
This morning I went to my favorite café, Progressive Grounds at 21st and Bryant. As I sat there reading The Savage Detectives I became aware of a woman with a braying voice having a loud phone conversation — unusual at that café. "I'm twenty-six," she was saying. "I've got long hair, almost down to my ass. I'm 36 double-D. I'm real pretty, I work at Centerfolds…"
I looked up. The speaker was a frankly ugly woman with thin, straight shoulder-length hair. She was in her mid-30s at least, fat, and dressed like a Capp St. hooker in a dirty pinkish party dress and a bright pink puffy jacket. She had on weird hookerish tinted glasses and high-heeled shoes, and she was saying "I just got off work at 4:00 a.m. Yeah, I have pictures on disk that I can send you. Well, what are you looking for? No, I don't have a cell phone camera. Well, why is that important?"
Then the party she was talking to apparently hung up. The woman went to the counter and ordered a complicated vanilla latte with lots of whipped cream. (The staff at the café treated her with as much respect and politeness as they treat everyone, I noticed. Did I say I really like that café?) Then she took her drink back to the table and, with her finger on an advertisement in the back pages of the SF Weekly, phoned another potential employer.
I was thinking two things at the same time: She is atrocious, but also, she is awesome. She had probably never been pretty. Her voice sounded like the dregs at the bottom of a bottle of beer. But she was working that camera-less mobile phone and lying up one side and down the other about how gorgeous she was. What was the point? What were people going to say when she actually showed up at whatever strip club or massage parlor she was calling? Did she look in the mirror and see herself as she described herself? And how much of the way we all present ourselves is mostly bluff and squinting in the mirror and hoping that other people never call us on it?
After the second phone call she checked her messages, collected her things, and departed.


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The internet is all a-chortle with reports of Kindle Fire owners having trouble connecting to those self same internets. Amazon's own forum is full of people who can't connect to Wi-Fi, or can connect to Wi-Fi but not their network.
It's not entirely clear what the issue is and Amazon hasn't acknowledged the problem in any official way, but the good news is that it sounds like there may be a fix. The majority of those who are reporting connectivity problems are using version version 6.1 (or occasionally 6.0) of the OS. If you can't get online at all, download version 6.2 on your computer and load it onto your Fire via USB, it sounds like that's solved the problem for a lot of people.
It's possible to assume that the Kindle Fire has a less tech-savvy user base, which could result in more user error than usual, but that this appears to be a legit bug, and our own resident Linux god Chris Beidelman has confirmed it on his own machine. Have you had Wi-Fi problems with your Kindle Fire? Let us know in the comments, and please include whether or not upgrading to 6.2 helps or not.
(Side note: The Kindle Fire is a new thing with a new OS. So why start their OS at version 6.0? Who do you think you're fooling, Amazon?) [CNET]


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50-year friendship comes to tragic end
Women killed in crash on Abington-Brockton line
Kathryn "Kay" Cushman and Betty Marini were the best of friends for 50 years. They raised their families together, traveled together and supported each other in tough times.
Their friendship lasted a lifetime until their lives were cut short on Tuesday, the Enterprise reported.
The pair were out for a drive with Kay's husband, Robert, when their car and a van collided near the Abington-Brockton line at the intersection of North Quincy Street and Boundary Avenue at 1:49 p.m.
Kay Cushman, 76 and Betty Marini, 75, both died at hospitals due to injuries from the crash, and Robert Cushman suffered severe injuries, police said.
The driver of the van, Timothy Dearth, 44, of Brockton, was also injured in the crash, police said.
"The only thing we know is that it was a beautiful day and Kay said, 'Let's go get Betty and take her for a ride,' like they sometimes would," said Debbie Marini, Betty Marini's daughter-in-law. "It was spur of the moment."
Kay Cushman and Betty Marini's friendship started 50 years ago when there were neighbors in Holbrook, said Debbie Marini, who lives in Abington.
They raised their families together, three children each. The two stayed close friends after Betty Marini moved to Abington 23 years ago to live with her son. They traveled together to Florida and Eastham on Cape Cod.
Betty Marini had three sons and when two of them died suddenly at a young age, Kay Cushman was there, said Debbie Marini.
And when Betty's husband was in his last days battling cancer, Kay Cushman was there for her.
"Kay was there through every ounce of it," said Debbie Marini. "She would show up first thing in the morning and when Betty's husband was sick, Kay pretty much lived there. She's just part of the family."
Betty Marini loved her grandchildren and her pets. She loved to crochet and donate blankets for the baptisms at the Old South Union Church in Weymouth, Debbie Marini said.
"I would say her that she was the best friend anybody could ever have," Debbie Marini said of her mother-in-law. "She loved life and never hesitated helping people who needed her."
Kay and Robert Cushman stayed in Holbrook over the years where they raised their three children.
"Kay couldn't do enough for her friends," said Debby Marini. "She had a passion for people and her family."
The families are stunned by their sudden deaths, she said.
Robert Cushman remains at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston suffering from serious injuries, police said.
Brockton Police Lt. Paul Bonanca said they are waiting for a report from a state police accident reconstruction team to determine who was at fault in the collision. No citations have been issued as a result the crash, he said.


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This lovely glass bowl holds my favourite daily pieces.
Around The House...
This lovely glass bowl holds my favourite daily pieces.
131 comments:
I'm in closet envy! I just adore your fabulous closet!! I dream of having a closet like this someday. :)ReplyDelete
<3 AShley
1 thing only: swoon!ReplyDelete
those framed shopping bags are fab. SO clever!ReplyDelete
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that idea w/ the ikea frames! genius :)ReplyDelete
hope all is well!
Lovely closet!! And is that Chloe perfume that I spy there? Love!ReplyDelete
Thanks Loves!! and yes Brittany you did spot some chloe perfume... Isn't it divine?? xoReplyDelete
Oh that's too good. You're an organising and decorating goddess!!ReplyDelete
Erica, when can I come over with a bottle of wine so we can sit on the floor, drink it, and just soak in all of the beauty of your closet? xoReplyDelete
Thanks Kerry! Sending hugs and hope you're keeping dry! xoReplyDelete
Thanks for the tour! I'm happy to have been invited! ;)ReplyDelete
Is your closet furniture all from ikea or just the pant racks? Love the white, as per usual.
Melissa, lovely you're welcome any time especially if we have wine... not even kidding! I just can't sit on the floor too long or I'll get a sore back. :)ReplyDelete
Hilary! thanks sweets! And yes entirely ikea... I wanted to save money to buy the goodies in the closet! ;)
So organised! Everything would be fabulously easy to find - you are obviously very disciplined! {Me, I verge from organisation to throw it all in and shut the door when things are crazy!}ReplyDelete
It is beautiful AND functional! What a pretty place to pick out clothes in the morning :)ReplyDelete
Thanks Virginia... but don't be fooled it's organized because as a single mom to 5 BOYS it's the only place that I can escape chaos and the cloud of testosterone! :DReplyDelete
Thanks Carrie! It does make me smile in the morning and keeps me out of sweats... well, most of the time. ;)
ohhhhhhhhh, it's a dream closet!! Fabulous! :-)ReplyDelete
Such a nice sanctuary for a hard working Mom. I am going to steal some ideas for my closet. I too have a pretty organized closet but I may be stealing some of your chic ideas : )
Wow, your closet makes me drool. AMAZING!!ReplyDelete
LOVE LOVE LOVE! Why did I not save any of my store bags???ReplyDelete
And you have two of my favorite fragrances. (hermes merveilles and flowerbomb)ReplyDelete
So girly, so organized. I just love it!ReplyDelete
Oh, I'm drooling!ReplyDelete
I love the bags. So clever.ReplyDelete
Absolutely dying over your closet. I was literally JUST saying how I wanted to post pictures of my closet but I wasn't sure anyone besides myself would be interested. Turns out some people like to look! Maybe I'll post next week. You've given me even more inspiration. I absolutely adore it allReplyDelete
I'm in love.....ReplyDelete
Loved the framed bags... ingenious idea! xxReplyDelete
Wow so organized and pretty! I love the framed bags, you are so smart!ReplyDelete
Excellent - thanks for the reply. Do you remember which closet units that is? I looked on ikea tried to see...then felt like I'd been smelling to many perfumes! ...in other words totally disoriented.ReplyDelete
Let me pick myself up off the floor - your closet is fabulous! I'm having a case of major closet envy right now ;o)ReplyDelete
OMG love it and everything in it!!ReplyDelete
Seriously..gorgeous. So Erica do you like to shop or something..just wondering:-) ha!ReplyDelete
Way to put those bags to use.
xx - CB
oh my flippin' goodness- do you think I could persuade you to come organize my closet? I DIE over your framed bags- what neat art! as always, I LOVE your blog :) Happy Weekend!ReplyDelete
What a great closet! So funny, I'm currently framing some of my special shopping bags too! :)ReplyDelete
I love the framed bags! I've been saving bags to do this for my daughter (PrettyStuff tumblr) when we have enough!ReplyDelete
I love the idea of framing bags for a closet. It also looks like you have been a lucky girl. You have quite the collection. Your closet looks great! It is inspiring me to re-do (clean) mine. I hope you have a lovely weekend.ReplyDelete
Completely in love with your closet, period.ReplyDelete
I'm so jealous of your closet. It is absolutely stunning! I LOVE it . . . and I'm happy to see you using wooden hangars. I see so many closet transformations with people keeping the plastic. Clothes look so much nicer hung on wooden hangars! :-)ReplyDelete
hello dream closet!ReplyDelete
*sigh* It's offical, I'm in love with a closet, yours!ReplyDelete
.... just viewed your images, now I can't wait to go home and fix up my closet over the weekend......ReplyDelete
Love the bag / frame idea!!
Northern Light
Gorgeous, elegant, stunning.... Ok I have to work on my closet. Excellent job.ReplyDelete
I'm seriously delighted by this outpouring of love for my little closet!!ReplyDelete
Thanks so much my Moth Lovelies!! xoxo
This is so glamorous and inspiring and all out amazing and perfect...um yeah...I kinda love your closet!:) (planning on stealing all sorts of ideas here...brilliant!!!)ReplyDelete
Your closet is inspiring me to de-clutter and organize mine. I love it.ReplyDelete
ohhh, my!! simply gorgeous! what a great way to get dressed every day!! LOVELY! xoxoReplyDelete
that was the best closet tour I have been on in a while.....I love the way your personalized and organized everything....I am so in love with your closet girl!ReplyDelete
I am ENVIOUS of your closet! :)ReplyDelete
Just found your blog! It's amazing! I think i could move to your closet ;)ReplyDelete
By the way i'm new reader :)
Love, love, love, love, love!!!! This closet is SO inspirational. Thanks for sharing. Especially what to do with cherished shopping bags. I've slowly gotten rid of most of mine over time due to the fact that I didn't know what to do with them but not that you have inspired me the collection is going to begin again!!! Hope you're having a good weekend! (new follower)ReplyDelete
I am new to your blog and have fallen for your home! And your closet is my dream closet with my dream shoes. I love it all. I just featured photos of your home in my blog. I hope you don't mind. Have a great Sunday!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJan 16, 2011, 4:04:00 PM
Your closet is amazing!! Love the framed bags and I really need to do something with my closet. This post might just have given me the motivation to get started!! xoReplyDelete
That closet is pure Buyah...and the framed bags, genius.ReplyDelete
Cheers and best of luck with your boys, Alcira
Hi! I nominated you for an award today!ReplyDelete
Oh man! I die!!! I love the bags framed, I remember seeing this in a magazine and I can't for the life of me remember where, have you ever seen it? Your closet is to die for Erica!ReplyDelete
Nancy xo
Oh my gosh, I love it! It is just so fabulous, very chic, my dear!ReplyDelete
As an artist I love the idea of framing the couture bags!! Your closet is amazing and you have really inspired me!!ReplyDelete
Be sure to come and enter my Gorgeous Giveaway from Blydesign......
Art by Karena
What an amazing closet. I share mine with my hubby and he keeps creeping onto my side! Wish mine was as pretty as yours. Sigh....ReplyDelete
Thanks for following! Following back!
Wow, your closet is quite a showplace in itself. Gorgeous!ReplyDelete
oh, that's just torture!!! absolutely a gorgeous space dripping with femininity, organization and fabulous fashion....*sigh* i love it and can only hope to one day have a little place like this to call my own...ReplyDelete
thanks for stopping by my blog today...xoxo
LOVE the bag collection. And your closet- feminine and funky at the same time, which is my kind of closet :)ReplyDelete
So glad to have found your blog!
your closet is just AMAZING. I love the idea of framing fun bags. Simple, inexpensive art. BrilliantReplyDelete
Awesome!! I wish I had your closet!ReplyDelete
Gorgeous closet, I love those Christian Louboutins in the last pic :)ReplyDelete
There she is - our stylish friend! I now have serious closet envy. Not only because of the wonderful space you have created but also because of what it stores! So many pretty things. (I am a little brand lover myself).ReplyDelete
Dream closet indeed!
Warm hugs,
Wow!!! What a perfectly gorgeous closet! Lucky you!ReplyDelete
OH my goodness!!!! I must revamp my closet, I love the idea of framing shopping bags!ReplyDelete
Hi Erica,ReplyDelete
I loved your closet so much I just had to share it on my blog, http://athousandlaughingstarfish.blogspot.com/.
Here is the link to the post: http://athousandlaughingstarfish.blogspot.com/2011/01/art-of-clothes.html
Job well done!
Thanks for all the love!ReplyDelete
I'm feeling even more inspired to work on the other half... or the bright side as I call it. I'll be sure to share when it's complete. xoxo Erica
Swoon!! I wish my closet looked this good! Thanks for visiting today... I'm a new follower ( and can't believe I haven't discovered your fabulous blog until today)!!!ReplyDelete
Eee! Gorgeous. I looooove those framed bags, what a fabulous idea!ReplyDelete
great idea! so happy to have your blog! xoReplyDelete
okay I must know how you did the bags? I bought the frames at Ikea to do the same thing, but I found the bags too puffy for the frame. I am wondering if I should cut the bag in half. I have been collecting carrier bags for like 8 years so I am desperate to figure it out. New to your blog and so far love it!ReplyDelete
Thanks dolls! xoReplyDelete
Lolo, I had to cut the backing off of some of the bags... and untie/remove the knotted handles on the backside too. Hope this helps! :)
Best closet...ever! Love all your creative ways to display your things. I am thrilled that lolo asked more specifics on framing the bags. I am going to do this in my daughter's room...I have the bags out on the dining room table and will be at IKEA in the morning!ReplyDelete
Yay! Don't forget to share the outcome Annie! :)ReplyDelete
Wow! Absolutely gorgeous!!! Would I ever love to play dress up in your closet!! It's full of many,many beautiful things and styled with such flair! Angie xoReplyDelete
- AnonymousJan 22, 2011, 2:56:00 PM
What a great closet! I LOVE the framed shopping bags!!ReplyDelete
I just stumbled across your blog and I'm in love... and I want your closetReplyDelete
I love love love your closet! What a great idea to frame shopping bags. I'd love to share this (and some pictures of your amazing home!) with my readers over at Hare Styling. I hope you don't mind :)ReplyDelete
I will most definitely be sharing this on my blog! I will be sure to link back to all 3 of your lovely blogs!ReplyDelete
Love your fabulous closet! I have the bags but need the frames. What style of Ikea frame did you use?ReplyDelete
Loving your closet! So pretty! Love the feature wall I was thinking of doing something similar in my dressing room!ReplyDelete
I still have a long way to go but here is mine!
You are my hero.ReplyDelete
Again... more thanks!! Bri, I should have been in bed an hour ago...but that comment makes my night. heehee ♥ReplyDelete
- AnonymousFeb 10, 2011, 2:05:00 PM
Ok I have been meaning to frame some of my nice shopping bags. We are OBSESSED with your closet. It makes us so happy!!!!ReplyDelete
xoxo E&A
OH HOW I HAVE MISSED YOU!! You do realise that I am having this complete love affair with you and your blog..and once again you Ace it! What a beautiful space to reinvent yourself for the day...awesome job lovely..and love the new logo too XReplyDelete
I love this Erica. It is so organized and beautiful. So beautiful that I made a blog-post about it on my blog. Hope it's okay, otherwise let me knowReplyDelete
Drooling on my keyboard here! So love the idea of framing the bags, love, love love it!ReplyDelete
Following you from Twitter! Off to read more of this gorgeous blog of yours!
Love the idea of framing all the gorgeous bags! Thanks for the inspiration! Miss Walker xoxoReplyDelete
Hello from NZ. I have just found this post on your wardrobe and It's inspired to get my own into a state of organised bliss. Thanks!ReplyDelete
Absolutely LOVE your closet! Where is the white, 3 tier jewelry stand from? I'm dying to get my hands on one! Keep up the great job decorating. You house is stunning as well :)ReplyDelete
I just found my way over via Arianna Belle's blog. I love your closet! But please share where you got the acrylic boxes that are storing your belts and scarves... I've been looking for straight-sided acrylic boxes for a while and haven't been able to find any that don't have some sort of bump or curve to them.ReplyDelete
Thanks for all of the lovely thoughts and compliments.ReplyDelete
Annady, the lucite containers I have were purchased from a store called Caban when they were closing their doors. The boxes were actually for display in the store. (sorry to disappoint)
Warrenh1, I will look in to where the 3 tiered stand is from. I've tried to find it for another reader before. I'll have to see if I can find the receipt. :)
- AnonymousApr 19, 2011, 8:10:00 AM
This has got to be one of the most amazing gallery walls I have seen! I love the bags (I'm obsessed!) As a little girl, I covered my entire bedroom walls with bags...bringing back old memories!!ReplyDelete
This is every girls dream closet and an inspiration to all :-) Bless you my lady for sharing this.ReplyDelete
Brilliant idea to frame the bags!!ReplyDelete
this is perfect... the only thing better will be the day you do a clean out. :) call me, when you do! :)ReplyDelete
Thanks so much Anon, Cheris, and Cyd! I'll be sure to let you know Lauren! We could have quite the fun little girly party sorting in there. :)ReplyDelete
This comment has been removed by the author.ReplyDelete
Thanks Cosette! I'll keep you posted! :)ReplyDelete
absolutely love the designer bags in frames! OMG, I just died a little bit!! :)ReplyDelete
This is beautiful! I love the shopping bags being framed. What great idea, I totally going to see if I can do something like this in my bedroom now.ReplyDelete
xo $ARMIN
I love this post! I am especially inspired by the shadow boxes holding shopping bags from Hermes, etc. I have a few of those bags myself and I have saved them. I think I finally know what to do with them so thanks for the great idea!ReplyDelete
Your closet is to die for ~ I absolutely love your "girly" corner in your home ~
xoxo Laura
- AnonymousSep 17, 2011, 8:08:00 AM
I like to spend my free time by reading different web sites and today i came across your blog and I realize that it is one of the best free resources available! Well done! Keep on this quality!ReplyDelete
This is the best closet idea i have ever seen! (Found you through pinterest) I am following along on your blog now to see all the other great ideas you haveReplyDelete
I love your closet, very organised! All of my clothes are in a built in wardrobe, maybe I should remove the doors..?ReplyDelete
I love it!!!!! your closet is all inspiring its great :)ReplyDelete
Love the closet! Where did you get that sliding drawer in the middle?ReplyDelete
Its fabulous!
Thanks so very much everyone! xoReplyDelete
And to Erica, all interior components are from IKEA. :)
This is such a fabulous idea for reusing my shopping bags I NEVER like to part with but, don't want to throw away. It gives a more structured look the the closet space as well. FAB!!! Doro DReplyDelete
This is one of the most lovely and inspirational closets I have seen in a while. I am going to enjoy reading your blog.ReplyDelete
i actually love the stuff in this closet as much as i love the closet itself:) love the sunglasses, would you mind mentioning their brands? thanks!ReplyDelete
Thanks so much Arzu! The glasses are Gucci, Tom Ford, Forever 21, Prada, and my fave YSLs in the back. :)ReplyDelete
I need this!!!! Such great ideas :)ReplyDelete
Thanks so much Megan! :)ReplyDelete
truly a great space and genius! featured you on my blog today and now following you on twitter and Pinterest {hmmm. would love to have you on my Must-Follow Interior Designers Pinboard!!! Will add you soon!}ReplyDelete
What was your resource for your frames with glass? custom?
Anyway, LOVE your ingenuity and style! So nice to meet you in blogland.
- {darlene} of www.fieldstonehilldesign.com
goodness, just read it more carefully and found the info about the ikea frames! Perfect!! GREAT design!ReplyDelete
- {darlene}
- AnonymousFeb 13, 2013, 6:27:00 PM
I have searched until my eyes are blurry, and even enlisted the help of friends, to try to figure out what brand of handbag you have in your last closet photo-- the quilted black leather one sitting on the floor covered with gold studs. Please put me out of my misery! Thank you :-)ReplyDelete
Dear Anonymous- I wish you had just asked my dear. I would have told you immediately and saved your poor eyes and weary searching friends. ;)ReplyDelete
The bag is Marc Jacobs circa SS10 I think it was called the dancer bag.
I found one similar online here with tassels. Maybe it will help track one down. I'f I ever sell mine I'll be sure to let you know. Keep me posted on the search.
ps- the studding detail is actually little tiny silver grommets.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousFeb 13, 2013, 8:56:00 PM
Thank you, Erica, for your speedy, helpful response. If I had known how easy and painless it was to post a comment, I would have done so earlier!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousFeb 26, 2013, 3:05:00 AM
simply stopping by to say helloReplyDelete
My jaw dropped when I first laid eyes on your closet. I'm moving to a new apartment soon that was built in the 1920s and part of the apartment is an extra room (not a bedroom) with a built in vanity...now I'm truly inspired to create something as beautiful as this in that room! I definitely plan on re-creating the framed shoppers but can I ask if you know the name of your wardrobe? I know it is from Ikea. Thank you and again, GORGEOUS work!ReplyDelete
So sorry this took me a bit. I published your comment along with several others and then lost track of it... my apologies.
The wardrobes I used were the Pax system. Because I had existing closet doors I simply bought the structure without doors and slid them in to my existing closet. There are three sections, so I had to do the left and right first and then slide the middle in or it wouldn't have fit around the doorway. Make sense?
Hope this helps.
Erica :)
Hi Erica! Just wondering where you bought that round white tray to hold your perfumes? :)ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJul 19, 2013, 1:00:00 PM
Yes I second the same question from: FASHIONABLY BROKEASS! -- Where could I get the same white tray?ReplyDelete
Fashionably Brokeass and Anonymous,ReplyDelete
This tray was purchased a long time ago at a store called Caban. If you google white lacquer tray they are often easy to find online. Hope this helps.
Erica :)
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Beckett had total command of his fastball, curve and change from the outset and turned in a dominating performance (7-2-1-0-8, 83). He struck out Ichiro swinging three times, all on fastballs away. His only hiccup was two hits to begin the third: Johjima's single to left and Betancourt's double to right (a run scored on an infield grounder). No other Mariner reached base in the first seven innings.
Meanwhile, the Jeff Weaver Face (2-7-7-2-1, 70) was out in force for two innings. The Sox then battered Jake Woods (2-4-4-3-0, 56) and Brandon Marrow (1-1-2-2-0, 26) and led 13-1 after five innings. Six Seattle pitchers threw 196 pitches in eight innings.
Pitches seen:
Seattle - 16 11 18 8 7 12 11 6 22 - 120Bats: Lugo singled, doubled, walked twice and scored twice -- in four innings. Youkilis doubled twice and singled. Ortiz singled, walked and scored twice. Ramirez singled and walked. Drew homered, scored twice and drove in three. Lowell doubled, knocked in two and scored twice. Varitek singled twice, doubled and knocked in three. Crisp had two RBI. Hinske, who subbed for Manny in the 5th, walked, doubled and scored twice.
Boston - 47 23 26 30 26 14 16 14 x - 196
It was the most runs the Red Sox have scored in a Fenway opener since beating the Yankees 15-5 on April 6, 1973.
Brendan Donnelly relieved Beckett in the 8th. He fanned Jose Guillen on three pitches and must have said something because Guillen started yapping back and both benches and bullpens emptied. BD may have grabbed his crotch a la DLowe; it was hard to tell from the replays, but Guillen did yell "What the fuck are you talking about?"
It was the first time the two players had faced each other, but there is a back story. Guillen was the guy who alerted Nationals manager Frank Robinson to the pine tar on Donnelly's glove last year. (Thanks, Jere.) Don Orsillo noted that when Guillen and BD were teammates in Anaheim in 2004, after Guillen was hit by a pitch, none of the Angels pitchers retaliated. Guillen was annoyed and BD was not pleased at his comments.
After Donnelly plunked Johjima with a 1-1 fastball in the left thigh, he was ejected. Home plate ump Phil Cuzzi was apparently the only guy in Massachusetts who thought that was deliberate.
Okajima finished the inning and Timlin pitched the ninth. He allowed a leadoff single, a two-out walk and a two-run scoring double to Sexson before closing it out.
A very plesant 3:06. Next, it's Matsuzaka, Ichiro and King Felix tomorrow night!
(In the opening ceremonies, Dice and Papelbon received the loudest ovations. Ian Browne writes: "Johnny Pesky got such a loud hand that he appeared to be on the verge of tears as he stood on the first-base line". ... Browne also quotes Tito on when it is appropriate to use Papelbon in the eighth inning: "When we're getting ready to lose.")
Jeff Weaver / Josh Beckett, 2 PM
Fenway Park's 96th Opening Day!
Weaver returns to the AL and makes his 2007 debut.
Update: Mike Timlin was activated and Javier Lopez was sent to Pawtucket. ... Wily Mo Pena will probably start on Thursday. ... RHP J.D. Durbin, claimed on waivers from the Diamondbacks yesterday, will be designated for assignment. If he clears waivers (in 10 days), he'll go to Pawtucket.
Papelbon: "When I was in spring training, starting every fifth day, I was dying a slow death. Once I got a taste of what it was like last year, closing a lead, there was no turning back."


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Be mindful of what you feed your pets during the holidays
(RNN) - When it comes to what you really want to spoil your pet with during the holiday season, you may think of extravagant gifts, but others want to include them in family feasts.
Luciano Aguilar with America Now said though it may be tempting to slide your pet a piece of turkey or pie, take a close look at the ingredients, because they actually are the biggest warning signs.
"This holiday season is going to be packed with lots of food. Some of these foods can be dangerous - not because of the food, but because of the ingredients. Onions and garlic come in almost every meal we make. They contain sulfites - these sulfites attack the red blood cells in dogs and it can make them anemic. And that's not good. So be careful what you feed your pets this holiday season," he said.
Other items that can also be of danger to our pets are grapes, raisins, chocolate, avocados, and foods made with artificial sweetener.
Not only does the stress of cooking in the kitchen add up, but so do the crowds gathering around. It can cause a lot of stress on pets, especially if you allow friends and family to bring along their four-legged friends.
"This holiday season, you're going to have friends and family over, and it's going to be a little bit hectic with all these people running around and you making sure that your guests are well taken care of. If your friends bring their pets over, that's just going to add to the stress and to the commotion because those dogs don't understand the rules and the boundaries of your house," Aguilar said.
His recommendations are that they should leave their pets in the safety of their home, and to keep your own pets in the safety of the home they're used to. This way there's no added stress for your pet.
Everyone always seems to talk about the stress the holiday season can cause, but Aguilar said pets can also feed off the energy of the others around them.
He recommends when you need a breath of fresh air, to let your pet outside as well.
"One of the things I love to tell people is that emotions travel up and down leash. This holiday season it's going to get hectic - which means stress," he said. "Your stress is going to travel down to your dog which may cause them to act out a little bit, so set aside some time for playtime with your dog. This way, there's not that much change and it will also help out with your stress."
Aguilar said ultimately when it comes to feeding your pets during the holidays, don't do anything you normally wouldn't do. If table scraps and treats are not your norm - don't do it.
"It wouldn't matter so much about putting a safe meal together for your pet. Your pet doesn't understand that it's Thanksgiving, or it's Christmas, or any other holiday. It's a nice gesture, but you really don't have to do that," he said.
TV station KOLD said there are a few other things you could look for when it involves pets and the holidays. Poinsettias may be a staple holiday plant, but they can pose a great risk to your pet.
The plant itself may not be lethal to dogs and cats, but it can cause irritation and vomiting. A general good idea is to keep all house plants, including Christmas trees, in places where pets cannot get to them.
If your pet does get sick and you can't take them to a vet right away, Dr. Roger Dieguez with Rocky Ridge Animal Clinic told WBRC you can give them a small amount of hydrogen peroxide and it will force them to throw up what they ate.
He said to allow them to drink water but don't feed them for at least 24 hours.
Copyright 2013 Raycom News Network. All rights reserved.


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WELCOME TO The REAL ESTATE REPORT
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Amrita Chowdhury
Co-Founder of Gaia
AMRITA CHOWDHURY | December 09, 2021
The construction industry, whether operating at the building level, infrastructure level, or city level, has undergone significant changes over the past decade, and the pace of change has only intensified in the past year. Opaque operating models are giving way to digitalization and transparency in every aspect of the industry, leading to better accountability of the business stakeholder ecosystem and better experience and quality of life for the end customers.
The value realization for the sector is coming in three different ways, each with its set of technologies, tools, systems, and processes that lead to specific value maximization.
1. Connected Stakeholder Ecosystems
Every stakeholder and their interactions and service provision to building and construction has been digitalized and automated.
Architects, urban planners, designers have long been using tools and technologies. The use of 3D modeling and visualization, AR/VR platforms, and drone mapping are creating intuitive means to fast-track the design iteration process and reduce errors. Innovation has been happening in building materials and technologies for smart logistics and inventory management, which is digitalizing the procure to pay cycles and reducing the cost and sustainability footprint of the industry. Infratech is being included into civil construction, and information, communication, and operational tech hardware and software solutions are being integrated at the design stage itself.
The industry uses the services of a network of internal and external third party providers and managers. The combination of mobile and enterprise applications, connectivity, and internet of things devices and variables is connecting these people together. Unified frameworks and digital and AI/ML tools allow seamless construction, management, and optimization of built spaces. The sales process is becoming highly digital with the use of customer relationship management platforms, channel management applications, and digital sales aids that blend AR/VR, 3D visualization, audio, video, and digital.
The governance and financial mechanisms have evolved as well. Government bodies have digitalized and permissions, access rights, and payment mechanisms are increasingly digital. Regulators are moving towards real time sensor based monitoring and centralized digital reporting on effluents and emissions, aiming to improve sustainability metrics. An array of digital and cloud financial management tools, systems, and dashboards allow every aspect of the financial flow to and from entities to be managed, monitored, and optimized.
The users, in both the customer and citizen persona, have become digitally savvy and experiential. The connected and sentient building, infrastructure, and city ecosystem increasingly allows for connected living where many services can already be accessed digitally.
2. Connected Lifecycle Management
The construction industry is using digital and automation technologies at every stage of projects – from design to monetization of building, infrastructure, or city systems. Ingredient technologies such as internet of things, artificial intelligence, block chain, distributed computing, edge and mesh intelligence, cloud computing, big data analytics, and data visualization are allowing the industry to plan better and act predictively.
The Design phase, in addition to using design and planning tools and technologies, is increasingly adopting concepts of wellness, biophilia, and blue-green integrations to blend technology and architecture.
The Build phase has significantly transformed through innovative construction materials and methods, as well as digital, cloud, and sensor based solutions to monitor staff, progress, audits, and errors in construction. The entire land records management system in the country has been digitalized, and plans are underway to use drone based mapping to catalogue all assets and sites at a national level.
The Sell phase is using technologies and platforms that have disintermediated some ecosystem partners and aggregated others, increasing the flow of information, communication, validations, and transactions. From marketing to site visits to legal documentation and commercial transactions, every step has been digitally transformed through a combination of AR/VR, AI/ML, digital, and cloud technologies.
The Operate phase is seeing newer models of maintenance and management of assets over the long term. Tech enabled metering and monitoring allows for discretization of pay per use type of commercial arrangements, which can be digitally contracted and managed. This allows multi-stakeholder and multi-user assets to operate seamlessly. Multiple automation and real time monitoring systems and solutions – whether fully integrated or point solutions, are enhancing visibility and improving efficiency of operational performance.
The Experience phase ensures an interplay of operational and service related systems and technologies allow the users to better access services at building, infrastructure, or city level. There is a lot of emphasis on enhancing customer experience by reducing wait times, improving service levels, creating areas and systems for interaction and engagement, and delivering a better quality of work or life to the end user.
The Monetization phase is increasingly at the top of mind of administrators, owners, and operators of construction assets. Long return on investment cycles and complex modes of deployment of public and private capital predicate focus on easing the flow of money and identifying multiple modes of monetization to ensure that projects can succeed. Value added services through retail, advertising, data, or service based use cases are allowing for recurring revenues to be generated. Many of these services can be digitally conceptualized, delivered, and managed.
3. Connected Systems and Services
Buildings and infrastructure spaces are increasingly envisioning themselves as an interconnected system of functions, utilities and services, all managed centrally and digitally through a building level control room or an infrastructure or city level integrated control and command center.
The set of technologies first adopted for smart cities - such as networking and connectivity; smart management of water, waste, lighting, power, sewage, air quality and emissions; smart access to services and retail; interconnected mobility, parking, and traffic management; and managing request-response systems and on-demand servicing and issues management - are increasingly becoming important for buildings and infrastructure projects. Transport hubs are reimagining themselves as microcities. Road assets are creating logistics hubs and multiple digital monetization channels. Buildings are transforming into mixed use spaces that are accessed and managed digitally. On-demand, surge, discounted pricing mechanisms rely on complex algorithms and predictive forecasts.
Multiple indices and standard comparative metrics are being considered by users, governments, regulators, and financiers of patient long-term capital. At the building level, Green ratings and Well Building standards are being measured and reported, and creating methods of differentiating premium and non-premium buildings. Global Infrastructure rankings rate countries in the quality and density and access of road, transport, utilities, and other major infrastructure systems and projects. Ease of Living Index and Sustainable Development Goals create the benchmarks to measure and monitor the performance and impact of city systems. Increasingly, gamification through Swachh Survekshan, Municipal Performance Index, and other city, state, and national level assessments is creating awareness and improving service levels. The indices themselves rely on a set on technology inclusion within projects and technology systems to aid performance measurement.
At Gaia, we have been engaged with this ecosystem in many ways. Our Ops Tech solution stack blends internet of things, mobile and enterprise applications, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and data analytics to provide data as a service and intelligent solutions to manage assets, people, processes, and operations. These solutions have been deployed for clients at the building, infrastructure, and city levels, and bring transparency and accountability into multi-party operations. Our Design & Advisory practice creates technology blueprints, detailed projects reports, and engaged in end to end implementation monitoring and program management.
The construction industry serves the trillion dollar plus building, infrastructure, and smart city economy and its associated technology and service partner industries. The industry is revitalizing itself with a focus on value delivery and value realization at every stage in the lifecycle of projects and for every stakeholder. While the specific benefit being delivered is unique in each case, what connects this transformation is continued focus on digital automation.
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We're sharing a new juice or smoothie recipe every weekday in January. Got a favorite juice or smoothie combo? Tell us about it in the comments section! Looking for more smoothie and juice ideas? Start here...
How many of you are taking January off from drinking? How's that going? I'm guessing that either you: 1) feel clearheaded and energetic, happy and healthy, and even more committed to treating your body better in 2014. Or 2) you could really use a cocktail right about now... Either way, this juice is for you.
I kind of hate the word 'mocktail'—it seems girly and fake, and makes me think of overly sweet and pink virgin strawberry daiquiris used for toasting at a baby shower. Non-drinkers deserve better. And more and more cocktail bars are remembering that, providing a section on the menu that's booze free.
We've discussed some of the keys to creating delicious alcohol-free cocktail substitutes before: it can help to include a touch of spice to echo alcohol's heat. Here, that's done with a little fresh ginger. It's not enough to give a big gingery flavor, just a flare on the tongue that could just as well be booze.
Of course, any drink, alcoholic or not, should balance sweet and sour: in this combination, the sweetness (and the drink's rich base) comes from ripe Anjou pears. You don't need to peel them before juicing, though I do recommend removing the stem and seeds.
The most important part of this drink, though, is a handful of kumquats. If you have a juicer and you haven't put kumquats in it yet, you're doing it wrong. These little buggers add tangy, piercingly tart acidity and just a hint of bitterness. They take the mellow pear juice and amp it up into cocktail land, as if you'd poured in a dose of, say Aperol, or even Campari and lime. The three parts together—ginger's heat, pear's sweet, and the tartness and bitterness of the kumquats—work wonderfully. You won't miss the booze, I promise.


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Indie hip-hop duo Atmosphere—Sean "Slug" Daley and Anthony "Ant" Davis—recently released the second single from the group's upcoming album Southsiders. The single, 'Kanye West' is a solid follow-up to the album's lead single 'Bitter.' Daley writes in the song's opening verse, "She said she wanted somebody she could take care of/And right then is when we paired up/Pull a chair up and make a space for yourself/You should taste what I felt/It's probable/That those on the bottom/Gonna hold you accountable/It's lonely at the top/And it's also hostile/Everybody got their own course full of obstacles/Don't let your heart grow cold like a popsicle/She said she wanted someone to treat her as an equal/And right then we started speeding toward Reno/Burnin' rubber in the burgundy Reagle/Fly like a dove/Then dive like an eagle/I'm a seventy-duce/That year was a classic/Buzz got loose/And we here tryin' to catch it/She said she was unimpressed/That's when I stood up and did the Kanye West." The very first thing that listeners will notice in this song is the length of the verse. The song's other verse is just as long. That's not a bad thing, either. As a matter of fact, it's a good thing. That's because it's so unlike most mainstream rap and hip-hop songs stylistically speaking. Instead of just writing a radio friendly rap song, Daley and Davis have crafted a piece in this song that paints a vivid musical story.
Speaking of writing a musical story, the video for 'Kanye West' can be viewed online now at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JrDVPsVbVA. The companion video, which presents an older Asian man and a younger black woman, is quite the effective companion to the song. The meaning behind the visuals has been hotly debated. Some have gone so far as to say that the elderly man is supposed to represent Kanye West and his waning relevance. Others have made reference to North West, the daughter of West and his wife. Regardless of whether there's any credence to these theories, the video for the song brings the song full circle. Just as the song will keep audiences listening, so will the companion video. The two together make 'Kanye West" one more contender from Atmosphere to be one of the year's best new singles.
Atmosphere's new album Southsiders will be available Tuesday, May 6th via Rhymesayers Entertainment. It can be pre-ordered now online at http://fifthelementonline.com/collections/atmosphere-southsiders-pre-order and https://itunes.apple.com/album/southsiders-deluxe-version/id828734533. More information on that album, the duo's new single, its tour dates and general information is available online at http://www.facebook.com/Atmosphere and http://twitter.com/Atmosphere. To keep up with the latest sports and entertainment reviews and news, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and "Like" it. Fans can always keep up with the latest sports and entertainment reviews and news in the Phil's Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.


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Barack Obama said the people in the small towns of Pennsylvania "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them". He spoke aloud what many liberals think. His remarks in San Francisco, which have now come to be known as "Bittergate," are very telling about the man. These were not scripted and pre-thought words, but were a spontaneous, honest answer to a query. Obama's words are a looking glass into his deepest thoughts.
We believe Obama was projecting his own beliefs on working, mainstream Americans. Since making the comments, he has been in retreat. Now, he says that anger and hope go together. Evidently, Barack Obama's message of hope is actually a brew including anger, bitterness and resentment. Are these the emotions lingering in his heart when he speaks of change?
No one denies that in the past many wrongs were perpetrated against African-Americans. However, let us put it in perspective. Jews, Italians, the Irish and many other groups of people faced cruel and unfair treatment in our history, especially when they were new arrivals to America. While not slaves, many were indentured servants…only a small notch above slavery.
Secretary of State Condi Rice has a much healthier attitude on these issues when she says our nation had a "birth defect" when the nation was born, because of slavery of African-Americans. She holds out hope by talking about the healing process, which began with the Civil War, continued with the Civil Rights movement, and is ongoing today.
Obama has a way of turning around negative situations. He excels at making "the other person" out to be the bad guy. Instead of apologizing for his latest comments, as most people do after they offend someone else, he plays the victim and acts offended. This is the tactic a wife abuser uses when saying, "It's her fault that I hit her, she made me do it." Obama offends millions of Americans by his remarks about people in small towns, guns, religion and immigrants, and then dismisses it as "the silly political season."
This is not the first time that he has used the tactic. When America learned about his racist, anti-American, profane pastor, what did Obama do? He turned the dialogue into a discussion about why it is America's fault that Rev. Wright said all of those hate-filled words.
Either Obama is an arrogant, intellectual elitist or he just does not "get it." It is probably a combination of the two. Obama is disconnected from, lacks empathy for, and has no understanding of the beliefs and values of these small town and suburban Americans. Here lies the great divide in worldviews.
The Harvard-educated, urban-dwelling, Hollywood-embracing, Pastor Wright- following Obama just has trouble understanding why we love America without conditions. He continues criticizing the "bad" in our past, while we choose to embrace America, even with her flaws, because she is still, by far, the best and greatest nation the world has yet seen. Despite our sins, we still are the beacon of hope and opportunity for freedom loving people around the globe.
Barack Obama: your derogatory, demeaning, and stereotype-filled remarks may reveal more than you realize. Be careful, because your arrogance may lead to your downfall…we are beginning to hear the condescension in your slick words.
Hope mixed with anger is not the solution. Former slave and the founder of Tuskegee University in Alabama, Booker T. Washington, wisely said it best concerning the effects of bitterness, "I would permit no man…to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him."


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This article was originally published in the November/December 1997 issue of Home Energy Magazine. Some formatting inconsistencies may be evident in older archive content.
| Back to Contents Page | Home Energy Index | About Home Energy |
Home Energy Magazine Online November/December 1997
Insulation Tricks for a Midwestern Climate
By Don Otto
Two techniques, used around the entire envelope, have proved too convenient and effective not to mention.
Instead of using either expanding or minimally expanding foam to seal window and door jambs to the rough opening, I use foam backer rod. It comes in various diameters and fits easily and tightly. It can be placed and repositioned precisely without ever having to be trimmed, and there's nothing to dispose of or clean up afterward.
Be aware that this material now becomes a vapor barrier, so it's important to follow the rule of placing the vapor barrier on the warm side of the wall. In heating climates, place it as close to the inside as practical. In cooling climates, especially with high humidity, place it out near the nailing flange.
This principle was born out of vivid personal experience. I had to replace four second-story casement windows in a home that my wife and I had built 15 years earlier. The lower two-thirds of the window frames were rotted, and the lower on the frame, the farther outside the decay reached, so that ultimately, the bottom hinges fell free. In installing the windows, I had scrupulously caulked the brick mold to the foam sheathing and the siding, but I stuffed fiberglass only along the frame and the extension jambs. Water vapor diffused into the rough-opening space, condensed on the jambs, and had no way to escape.
For our climate, I have developed a higher-to-lower priority for what side of the wall and what level of the house to be most concerned about and most careful to seal. The rule is inside-out and top-down.
The second technique, shared with me by a conscientious builder in Arizona, is consistent with my inside-out priority: joint-tape the drywall to the subfloor. It doesn't have to be pretty. When the crew is taping the drywall joints, ask the workers to run one strip along the bottom edge and onto the subfloor. It helps to seal out air infiltration and eliminates one more path for bugs to come in. It never costs more than $250 for the whole house, and if you're on good terms with the crew, your own gesture of thanks might get you by with a lot less.
The rest of the details center on the basement and focus especially on the footing-floor-wall area.
When excess water is used to make poured concrete flow more easily, the concrete ends up porous; it can soak up water like a sponge. Even with the theoretically correct water-to-cement ratio, concrete is not waterproof. Pouring the footings on a 4-ft wide strip of 6-mil polyethylene is one good way to keep moisture out.
Even though it represents only a small area of a building's envelope, there's a lot going on at the footing-floor-wall joint. Since concrete is a good conductor, heat escapes through the footing. And soil gases, including water vapor, easily pass through the small shrinkage gap where the floor and wall meet. I can confirm that from my own experience too. One winter, when I was finishing our neighbor's basement, I picked up a fiberglass batt left on the floor the night before, next to an outside concrete wall. On the wall, coming out right at the floor joint, was a feathery damp patch where water vapor was condensing. Fifteen minutes later the wall had warmed and the damp spot dried up. The fiberglass probably didn't keep water vapor from leaking into the basement, but had it not been there to cool the wall, I wouldn't have seen the condensation.
To inhibit the capillary wicking of ground moisture through the shrinkage gap (usually 1/16 inch or less), I mop water-emulsified dampproofing on the footing and to within 1 inch of the floor line on the wall.
To reduce conductive heat loss and to keep the floor from making contact with the footing and the wall, I press foam sill sealer into the angle. Usually the dampproofing has just dried by the time I reach my starting point, and is tacky enough to hold the sill sealer without any other fasteners.
A month or so after the basement floor is poured, I seal the shrinkage gap with urethane caulk to keep out soil gases. Iowa leads the nation in EPA action levels of radon over 4 pico-Curies per liter of air (pCi/l). I have never had a basement reading over 2.5 pCi/l.
In addition to the basement walls, one area I think it really pays to insulate is under the entire basement floor--both for energy efficiency and for comfort. $475 will buy enough 2-inch thick expanded polystyrene to insulate a 1,500-ft2 basement. And yes, I cover it with poly vapor barrier.
Incidentally, during the construction of a Victorian home a couple of years ago, weather conditions provided a visual glimpse of the effect of basement insulation. We poured the floor in October, when frosty nights follow warm days. Preparing for the pour the next day, the flatwork crew laid the washed rock, insulation board, poly vapor barrier and reinforcing steel, while I tended to my floor-wall details. That night, a light frost formed on the black poly vapor barrier everywhere except--and distinctly so--over the pier footings, which had no insulation over them (see photos this page).
Sure, the insulation kept the ground heat from radiating into the basement that night, but under finish conditions, the owner will keep the basement about 20°F warmer than the constant ground temperature, and the floor will feel warmer.
We might extrapolate the effect of basement floor insulation we saw here, to visualize how frost-protected shallow foundations work. With this technique, insulation is used around a shallow footing to trap escaping ground heat and keep frost from reaching underneath to heave the footing.
One pleasant endorsement from the owner of that Victorian home came late last winter, after a week of windy weather when the temperature climbed as high as 5°F. He called and said, Don, I didn't realize it until I came up from the basement. It's warm down there!
Don Otto runs DPO Construction in Iowa City, Iowa.
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Senate approves controversial Obama ATF nominee after long delay
The Senate voted in dramatic fashion Wednesday to approve one of President Obama's nominees. For Democrats to prevail, all it took was a last-ditch vote switch by one senator, a flight back from North Dakota by another and an afternoon roll call that stretched into the evening.
Five hours after the balloting started, the Senate voted to end Republican delaying tactics against B. Todd Jones, Obama's pick to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It then voted in a comparatively instantaneous 29 minutes for his final confirmation, 53-42.
A defeat would have been a setback for Obama, who is trying to plug gaps in his second-term administration's lineup, and dealt a blow to the recent cooperation between the two parties over allowing votes on the president's nominees.
The lengthy roll call and the theatrics accompanying it nearly obscured that Jones' approval marked a rare congressional victory for gun-control forces. His confirmation came three months after the Senate rejected Obama's drive to expand background checks for firearms buyers.
In a written statement, Obama applauded senators of both parties for confirming ATF's first director in seven years -- gridlock, he said, caused by Senate Republicans who "put politics ahead of the agency's law enforcement mission."
Republicans have said Obama showed no urgency, waiting until November 2010 -- almost two years after taking office -- before naming his first nominee for the ATF, Andrew Traver, whom the Senate never acted on.
Obama nominated Jones weeks after the December massacre at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., that killed 20 first-graders and six staffers. Jones, a former Marine, has been acting ATF director since 2011.
Gun control advocates backed Jones' nomination, saying he would strengthen an agency long weakened by congressionally imposed restraints. With a national registry of gun owners forbidden by federal law, authorities face constraints when they want to trace firearms used in crimes.
For most of Wednesday afternoon, the Senate idled in neutral waiting for Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., to fly back from her home state, where aides said she had taken ill. She then cast the 60th vote needed to end a GOP procedural blockade aimed at derailing Jones' nomination.
But to get the 59th vote, Democrats earlier had to persuade Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, to switch her initial vote.
In a prolonged spectacle played out largely in full view on the Senate floor, Democratic senators swarmed around Murkowski after she at first voted to support her party's delaying tactics.
As the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and other Democrats tried persuading her to switch, Republican senators joined the group, urging her not to change. More than a dozen lawmakers spent nearly an hour imploring Murkowski, first on the Senate floor and then in a private cloakroom.
She finally emerged from cloakroom and switched her vote.
She said in a written statement that she switched her vote after learning that Jones no longer was under investigation, as opponents had said he was, for his performance as U.S. attorney for Minnesota. She later voted against his confirmation.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who was in the middle of the crowd surrounding Murkowski, said Democrats also argued that blocking a vote on Jones "would have disrupted the relative and recent comity in the Senate."
With an autumn of fights over the budget and other issues coming up, "The last thing we want to do is leave with some radioactive blowup," Klobuchar said. Congress is due to leave for a five-week summer recess this weekend.
Most Senate roll calls take about 20 minutes.
The Senate Historian's Office said that while it lacked exhaustive data on the longest-lasting Senate roll calls, the chamber's 2009 vote on Obama's economic stimulus package lasted five hours and 15 minutes. It ended when Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, returned from a family funeral in Ohio to vote.
Many congressional Republicans have been harshly critical of the ATF, especially for its fumbled Fast and Furious Operation aimed at gun-smuggling across the Southwest border. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and others have also complained that Jones' nomination should not move forward because of whistle-blower complaints against Jones involving his work as U.S. attorney for Minnesota.
Five other Republicans also voted Wednesday to end the blockade against Jones.
They included Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., who came under pressure at home from gun control supporters after she opposed wider background checks in April. Ayotte, like Murkowski, voted against Jones' confirmation.
When Obama nominated Jones, he seemed to face long odds for winning approval. But the politically potent National Rifle Association said this week that it was neutral about Jones, which even critics of Jones conceded was important.
Senators had planned to vote Wednesday to confirm Samantha Power to become ambassador to the United Nations. That roll call was postponed until Thursday.


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Parent Directory | Revision Log
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escript now supports out-of-tree builds. All build and test files are now created under a user-definable build_dir directory. This also fixes issue 291. Removed most svn:ignore props since they are no longer required.
Fixed script filename
This should keep scons happy on systems without pdflatex issuing a warning to the user. Also updated all other doc sconscript files to use a global release_dir prefix so we can easily move the files somewhere else if req'd.
Merging dudley and scons updates from branches
List tests as not working with MPI
Shortened runtime of cookbook examples to aid testing.
Disable some cookbook examples until we can get issues sorted out
Temporarily removing example8c from unit testing. It seems to lock the test - or it runs for rediculous timeframes.
Updates to cookbook scripts. Gravitation Examples.
Switched the build_dir keyword param to variant_dir. Should fix issue 525.
forgot to skip example06.py as well
example05c.py is not tested if matplotlib library version is too old, where quiver() does not support angle parameter.
even more renaming in the cookbook
more renaming in the cookbook
more renames in the cookbook.
renaming examples part 1
a new almost completed version of the cookbook
more changes on the cookbook
Bringing non-release specific things from stage3.1 r2922 back to trunk
some minor :-) fix.
Don't panic. Updating copyright stamps
Switching tests which read gmsh to not run under MPI
Trying to get cookbook scripts passing. Split cblib in two to avoid importing pylab in scripts which don't otheriwse need it.
documentation for pycad added.
Removed stuff in user guide about needing to make table larger to allow boundary points. The table interpolation is now OMP parallel.
Base matplotlib tests on version number. This will stop the Mac trying to run some tests it can't execute.
Renamed the main cookbook tex file to match our convention. Replaced doc/cookbook/figures/heatrefraction002contqu.pdf with a version which is actually pdf. However it needs to be regnerated since it it sideways. The examples have had their copyright notices fixed (dates were too early). sb2.py has been removed since it uses pyvisi. scons will now build the cookbook as parts of a docs build. Also in reposnse to : scons cookbook_pdf
a comma is missing.
2D fault systems are now working. 3D still needs work.
ecording some changes related to Anthony's cookbook. These tests still do not run. test_heatref.py is the current problem. Current problems include: undefined symbols a dependence on X somehow. I've already addressed the matplotlib X thing somewhere else. Find and apply.
Disabling cookbook example checks until we can fix them.
Updates to cookbook. Updates to scripts. Updates to figures. Working examples added to SCons. Data folder structure included minus data. More folder rejigging.
Fixed unit test for missing matplotlib case.
Fixed problem with unit tests
matplotlib description added to usersguide
Updating copyright notices
Operation_make_pyvisi_go_away: Stage 1 of PI Removing pyvisi example files.
Fixing doc build so examples tar and zip are built properly. Fixed image filenames in user guide. Please do not put extensions on image files.
tests for examples added. utest is not working yet.
a bit more info are printed for the DarcyFlux now.
numarray removed from docu; Locator revised.
bin/escript is now under version control. The wrapper template is no longer used. Extraneous output doc removed from scons during build. note: finleypython is no longer built (it was deprecated anyway).
Another attempt at building the doco. --transform is not supported by savanna's tar
Fixing the build of example tar and zip files so they don't have full paths.
Added skeleton of install guide. Removed some files which come in the standard texlive distro anyway. Updated README_LICENSE to list python tex styles.
Updates for running epydoc and creating examples_zipfile
Copyright updated in all files
Merged noarrayview branch onto trunk.
Branch scons-dev is hereby closed. Some parts of scons scripts have been re-written.
And get the *(&(*&(* name right
Restore the trunk that existed before the windows changes were committed to the (now moved to branches) old trunk.
Make a temp copy of the trunk before checking in the windows changes
Repaired all targets for: scons docs It runs all these targets: release_examples guide_pdf api_epydoc api_doxygen
Changes needed for windows. This still does not work on and has not run on linux and the altix. There are a few changes in names in the scons script, in particular _libs is used rather than _lib and _libs is always a list. By default on windows MSVC is used. The location of python is at C:\Program Files\python<version>, boost at C:\Program Files\boost and netcdf at C:\Program Files\netcdf.
Fixed build of epydoc documentation. Now builds html in relase/doc/epydoc .
latex build documentation is working now
More copyright info added.
change scons files to match new esys_options based format
Building of API documentation now works. Both epydoc- and doxygen-generated docs are built.
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Is This Your Listing? Are you the owner of Ocean Boulevard Bistro & Martini Bar in Inner & Outer Banks North Carolina? Send us more details! Claim Your Business Or Contact Us
An American Bistro & Martini Bar right across from the ocean in Kitty Hawk, NC! Comprehensive Wine List and unique and tasty Cockatils accompany an upscale and creative menu. Expect seasonal offerings including local and regionally sourced seafood, beef, pork, duck, lamb, etc. A casual menu is also available, along with all of our nightly menus, at the Martini Bar. Off- and On-premise Catering is also available.
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Share the love this Valentine's Day season. Here are a hand full of places to rekindle the family flame.
More From Good Housekeeping
Sonoran Desert Hideaway, Scottsdale, AZ.
The whole family will enjoy a rekindling of spirits in the sumptuous Arizona desert landscape. Check into the Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North where jagged peaks combine with prickly cactus to provide a visual feast. The whole gang can scamper up the adjacent Pinnacle Peak nature trail and then relax by the pool. While the kids head out to get in touch with their inner wrangler or join in the Kids For All Seasons program, mom and dad can enjoy a couple's massage inspired by native traditions using desert sage and jojoba oils. Contact: 1 -480-515-5700; www.FourSeasons.com/Scottsdale
Rocky Mountain Romance, Gunnison and Crested Butte, CO. Enjoy a weeklong celebration of love in this high mountain haven. With something for every member of the family, you can choose from couple's energy massage classes, music, plays, ski clinics, brunch at a local yurt, sleigh rides, cooking classes, chocolate making classes just for kids and yoga programs. Contact: 1-800-814-8893;www.GunnisonCrestedButte.com.
Riviera Nayarit, Mexico. Share the love with the whole family and check into spacious all-inclusive accommodations in an ocean-view Master or Parlor suite at the Grand Velas All Suite & Spa Resort on Banderas Bay. Enjoy strawberries and chocolates upon arrival as well as a special Valentine's Day dinner for the whole crew at any of three a la carte gourmet restaurants. While the children are playing at the Kids Club or enjoying the Kids Cooking Classes, mom and dad can pamper themselves with a complimentary 45 to 60 minute guided hydrotherapy ritual at the Grand Velas Spa. Also included: meals, beverages, 24-hour in-suite service, in-suite mini bar, fitness facility, work-out- programs and more. Children up to 16 years of age stay and eat free when sharing the rooms with their parents. Contact: 1-888-320-7579; www.grandvelas.com.


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British Newspaper Salutes Canadians
Posted by auroracitizen on November 15, 2008
This article was published April 21, 2002 by Kevin Myers – The Daily Telegraph, London. It is as relevant today as it was then.
The country the world forgot – again
UNTIL the deaths last week of four Canadian soldiers accidentally killed by a US warplane in Afghanistan, probably almost no one outside their home country had been aware that Canadian troops were deployed in the region. And as always, Canada will now bury its dead, just as the rest of the world as always will forget its sacrifice, just as it always forgets nearly everything Canada ever does.
It seems that Canada's historic mission is to come to the selfless aid both of its friends and of complete strangers, and then, once the crisis is over, to be well and truly ignored. Canada is the perpetual wallflower that stands on the edge of the hall, waiting for someone to come and ask her for a dance. A fire breaks out, she risks life and limb to rescue her fellow dance-goers, and suffers serious injuries. But when the hall is repaired and the dancing resumes, there is Canada, the wallflower still, while those she once helped glamorously cavort across the floor, blithely neglecting her yet again.
That is the price which Canada pays for sharing the North American Continent with the US, and for being a selfless friend of Britain in two global conflicts. For much of the 20th century, Canada was torn in two different directions: it seemed to be a part of the old world, yet had an address in the new one, and that divided identity ensured that it never fully got the gratitude it deserved.
Yet its purely voluntary contribution to the cause of freedom in two world wars was perhaps the greatest of any democracy. Almost 10 per cent of Canada's entire population of seven million people served in the armed forces during the First World War, and nearly 60,000 died. The great Allied victories of 1918 were spearheaded by Canadian troops, perhaps the most capable soldiers in the entire British order of battle.
Canada was repaid for its enormous sacrifice by downright neglect, its unique contribution to victory being absorbed into the popular memory as somehow or other the work of the "British". The Second World War provided a re-run. The Canadian navy began the war with a half dozen vessels, and ended up policing nearly half of the Atlantic against U-boat attack. More than 120 Canadian warships participated in the Normandy landings, during which 15,000 Canadian soldiers went ashore on D-Day alone. Canada finished the war with the third largest navy and the fourth largest air force in the world.
The world thanked Canada with the same sublime indifference as it had the previous time. Canadian participation in the war was acknowledged in film only if it was necessary to give an American actor a part in a campaign which the US had clearly not participated – a touching scrupulousness which, of course, Hollywood has since abandoned, as it has any notion of a separate Canadian identity.
So it is a general rule that actors and film-makers arriving in Hollywood keep their nationality – unless, that is, they are Canadian. Thus Mary Pickford, Walter Huston, Donald Sutherland, Michael J Fox, William Shatner, Norman Jewison, David Cronenberg and Dan Aykroyd have in the popular perception become American, and Christopher Plummer British. It is as if in the very act of becoming famous, a Canadian ceases to be Canadian, unless she is Margaret Atwood, who is as unshakeably Canadian as a moose, or Celine Dion, for whom Canada has proved quite unable to find any takers.
Moreover, Canada is every bit as querulously alert to the achievements of its sons and daughters as the rest of the world is completely unaware of them. The Canadians proudly say of themselves – and are unheard by anyone else – that 1 per cent of the world's population has provided 10 per cent of the world's peace-keeping forces. Canadian soldiers in the past half century have been the greatest peace-keepers on earth – in 39 missions on UN mandates, and six on non-UN peace-keeping duties, from Vietnam to East Timor, from Sinai to Bosnia.
Yet the only foreign engagement which has entered the popular non-Canadian imagination was the sorry affair in Somalia, in which out-of-control paratroopers murdered two Somali infiltrators. Their regiment was then disbanded in disgrace – a uniquely Canadian act of self-abasement for which, naturally, the Canadians received no international credit.
So who today in the US knows about the stoic and selfless friendship its northern neighbour has given it in Afghanistan? Rather like Cyrano de Bergerac, Canada repeatedly does honourable things for honourable motives, but instead of being thanked for it, it remains something of a figure of fun. It is the Canadian way, for which Canadians should be proud, yet such honour comes at a high cost.
This weekend four shrouds, red with blood and maple leaf, head homewards; and four more grieving Canadian families know that cost all too tragically well.
We have much to be grateful for and much to be proud. Lest we forget.
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Note: For the 32 days between February 1st and March 4th, I'm adopting a completely vegan lifestyle. Every weekday I'll be updating my progress with a diary entry and a recipe. For past posts, check here!
These falafel-esque fritters started off as exactly that—an experimental recipe for falafel. My problem? I longed to have a recipe that could give me the satisfying crunch and nutty/herbal flavor of falafel without having to pull out the deep fryer.
The base for the fritters is made with canned chickpeas that I carefully dry and combine with bulgur wheat in the food processor. I found that if I add all the chickpeas at once, it's hard to get good textural contrast in the final dish. Better is to pulse half of them until roughly pureed to form a binder, then pulse the remaining half just until roughly chopped to give you nice big bits to bite into.
For flavor, I use a ton of herbs—parsley, cilantro, and mint—by the handful, blending them right into the mix along with a dash of coriander.
At first I thought that the solution to my deep-frying conundrum might be as simple as forming them into patties and shallow frying them. This didn't work too well—the patties disintegrated in the oil, leaving me with a sludgy browned mess to clean. It even happens in the deep fryer if you don't dry your canned chickpeas well enough
The solution was simple: just bread the suckers to give them a firm coating that will keep them from falling apart. As I found in my Fried Eggplant Sandwich recipe, a simple mix of flour and water works just fine to get breadcrumbs to adhere.
After that, it was a simple matter of making them into a meal. A bit of mashed avocado adds brightness, richness, and creamy texture to the mix, while a nice mixed green salad rounds it all out.


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I ran across this article on Life Hacker about Pairing Beer with your food.
Here is the cheat sheet:
- Pale Ales – Salads, light appetizers, fish and seafood
- India Pale Ales (IPAs) – IPAs can stand up to a little more richness and flavor. They can go well with things like pulled pork, pizza, and fried chicken, as well as lighter salads and seafood dishes. And if you like heat, try an IPA with spicy food – the hoppiness really pumps up the spice quotient!
- Hefeweizens and Wheat Beers – Fruit dishes, dinner salads, grain salads, and desserts made with warm spices (cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg).
- Amber Ales – Ambers are a good middle-of-the-road beer and go well with just about anything: burgers, grilled cheese, roast chicken, soups and stews
- Stouts and Porters – Barbecue, stews, braised dishes – any kind of meat dish, really. Also rich desserts with chocolate and espresso flavors.
For the full article – go to : LIFEHACKER ARTICLE
—- becky beamer