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Video Courtesy Associated Press
(RNS) President Obama and his likely GOP challenger Mitt Romney called for prayers and reflection after a deadly shooting at a Colorado movie theater, while liberal religious leaders called for stricter gun control laws.
Police have identified James Holmes, 24, as the man who opened fire at a midnight showing of the new Batman movie "The Dark Knight Rises," killing at least 12 and wounding 58 others in Aurora, Colo.
President Obama cut short his campaign trip in Florida, instead delivering a brief address in Fort Myers. "There are going to be other days for politics," Obama said. "This, I think, is a day for prayer and reflection."
Obama touched on the fragility of life, his concerns as the father of two young daughters, and urged Americans to "spend a little time thinking about the incredible blessings that God has given us."
"Our time here is limited and it is precious," Obama said. "And what matters at the end of the day is not the small things, it's not the trivial things, which so often consume us and our daily lives. Ultimately, it's how we choose to treat one another and how we love one another."
Romney also curtailed campaign events, delivering brief remarks at what was to be a rally in Bow, N.H.
"This morning Colorado lost youthful voices which would have brightened their homes, enriched their schools and brought joy to their families. Our prayer is that the Comforter might bring the peace to their souls that surpasses their understanding."
Paraphrasing the Apostle Paul, Romney said, "Blessed be God … who comforteth us in all our tribulations, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble."
Religious leaders urged wounded victims and relatives of the deceased to put their faith in a higher power.
"As Catholic bishops, we 'weep with those who weep,' said Archbishop Samuel Aquila and Auxiliary Bishop James Conley of Denver, citing, like Romney, the Apostle Paul.
"But in Aurora, which means 'the dawn, the sun rose this morning," the bishops continued. "In a city whose name evokes the light, people of hope know that the darkness may be overcome."
The Catholic bishops also prayed for the perpetrator of the shooting, and for his conversion. "Evil ruled his heart last night," said Aquila and Conley in a statement. "Only Jesus Christ can overcome the darkness of such evil."
The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team quickly sent chaplains to the scene in Aurora, as they have after mass killings in Tucson, Ariz. in 2011 and at Virginia Tech University in 2007.
"We will be there to offer emotional and spiritual care, and the hope and compassion of Jesus Christ, in the aftermath," said team director Jack Munday in a statement.
Other religious leaders argued that the U.S. needs tougher gun control laws. Holmes had four guns, including an assault rifle, according to law enforcement authorities.
Kathryn Mary Lohre, president of the National Council of Churches, called on elected officials to "seek policies that will foster greater peace in our communities and throughout this country."
The NCC, which represents about 10,000 congregations — most from mainline Protestant, historically African-American and Orthodox traditions — passed a resolution on ending gun violence in 2010.
Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, echoed the NCC's call, noting that the shooting occurred in the same state as the 1999 Columbine High School attack.
"Although details about this gunman and shooting are still coming to light, this horror reinforces the need to ensure that common-sense gun control laws are in place to help reduce such acts of violence," Saperstein said.
The Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and culture editor at America magazine, tweeted on Friday morning: "Gun control is a pro-life issue. … Pray for the families of the victims and for an end to the taking of life by senseless violence."
Later Friday, the popular spiritual author Anne Lamott tweeted, "Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy. Is no one going to say that these massacres (wouldn't) happen if the crazy men had to use bats or hammers?"
Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, on the other hand, argued that the shooting occurred because Americans have become unmoored from their moral and religious foundations.
"You know what really gets me, as a Christian, is to see the ongoing attacks on Judeo-Christian beliefs, and then some senseless crazy act of a derelict takes place," Gohmert said on "Istook Live!", a broadcast of the conservative Heritage Foundation.
The Texas congressman also suggested that Americans have lost the "protective hand" of God because school prayer is not allowed at public schools. "Where was God? What have we done with God? We don't want him around," Gohmert said.
"Rep. Louis Gohmert truly tortures logic when he concludes that this violence had something to do with perceived attacks on majority faith in America," said Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association.
"At a time when families are mourning in the wake of this tragedy, Gohmert used it as an opportunity to push a religious agenda," Speckhardt said.
The Rev. Welton Gaddy, Interfaith Alliance president, called on Americans to unite "regardless of faith or belief" to comfort the victims and the families.
"As I have said after past incidents, we as a nation need to be done forever with the thought that killing settles anything," Gaddy said.


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Rule #1 - Be Patient - Rule #2 - Don't ask when, if you don't contribute - Rule #3 - You have coding skills - LinuxMCE's small brother is available: http://www.agocontrol.com
However.... Using an audio pipe means that volume commands are directed to the pipe (whether it handles them or not) so in my scenario (and yours I suspect) there is now no way to control the volume as these commands need to be processed by the App Server (which controls the sound card volume controls).
I discussed this on IRC with Thom I think it was and he is convinced that i am using the system in an inappropriate way and that is expected behaviour. I disagree and believe that volume commands should be able to be directed to whatever device can handle them perhaps with a heirarchy based order - but until I can change this code then that it teh way it works.
My temporary solution which might help you was to listen for the Media Playing and Media Stopped events and use these to turn the Amp on/off. This meant removing the audio pipe so that the volume commands would still be handled by app server and go to the sound card. It works but is a bit of a hack really and ideally I would like to have the pipe connected but that is just added to teh list of things that I would liek to do.....
dest = <X10 switch device ID>;cmd = Command.new(0,dest ,1,1,192);cmd.params_[97] = "98";SendCommand(cmd);
Hope that helps in some way

subset: commoncrawl


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Own this business? Learn more about offering online ordering to your diners.
Jake's Grill
French Fries
with marinara Sauce
cheddar and pepper jack cheeses
with tartar sauce and lemon
herbed vinaigrette and parmesan cheese
with Horseradish Cream Sauce
soy ginger glaze
celery and blue cheese
with toasted baguettes
garlic wine sauce
trapiche malbec trapiche chardonnay
eld inlet, Washington
cape cod, massachusetts
British Columbia, Canada
baynes sound, British Colombia
St John, New Brunswick
delmarva, Virginia
one each of the top oysters
two each of the oysters
Romaine hearts and garlic croutons
napa cabbage, almonds and wontons with ginger-soy dressing, topped with chicken
topped with seared rare ahi tuna
bay shrimp, scallops, crab, bacon and blue cheese
served over field greens with citrus vinaigrette
blue cheese, carrots, celery and tomatoes
spiced pecans, strawberries and mandarin oranges
white balsamic vinaigrette, blue cheese crumbles and walnuts
traditional preparation with thousand Island dressing
parmesan, herbed breadcrumbs and served with mushroom demi
grilled with shiitake mushrooms, and lemon butter
Cedar planked with Northwest berry sauce
sesame crusted, shiitake mushrooms, cabbage, soy butter sauce
asparagus, local mushrooms and fresh dill cream sauce
blackened with julienne onions, peppers honey lime chile sauce
bay scallops and shrimp in classic garlic cream
pan fried oysters with French fries and cole slaw
grilled with soy ginger glaze and stir-fry vegetables
parmesan crusted with fresh lemons and crisped capers
cashew crusted with Jamaican rum butter
baked with New England style bred crumbs
served over linguine marinara
battered in crispy panko with fries and cole slaw
shrimp and sun-dried tomatoes in a spicy red sauce
sauteed with a light wine sauce
tender breast meat, soy ginger glaze with stir-fry vegetables
cocktail sauce, French fries and cole slaw
mushrooms and peppers in a spicy cajun cream sauce
pan seared with tartar sauce
oven roasted with mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy
Menu for Jake's Grill provided by Allmenus.com
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Le Meridien Chic "Walk the Runway" Red Carpet Fashion Charity Event
Showcasing High Fashion To Raise Awareness for CLARE FOUNDATION
(Santa Monica) — Known for creating a new level of emotionally charged relationships with fans, Privi, a global technology company, was one of the featured sponsors as Le Meridien Chic "Walk the Runway" Red Carpet Charity Fashion Event became "Powered by Privi" on Sunday, November 15, 2015.
Privi brought innovation to the evening's events with their cutting-edge mobile platform, engaging guests throughout the evening, starting with digital RSVPs to the exclusive Garden Gallery Mixer featuring artists like Richard Schemm and Shanny Brooke hosted by Le Medaillon Champagne.
Artist Shanny Brooke
After heading down the glamorous red carpet, guests enjoyed chic runway fashion overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Le Meridien Delfina Hotel's gorgeous penthouse ballroom, with powerful opening performances by celebrity choreographer Michael Silas and designs by celebrity fashion stylist Arman Morozov. As always, the show opened with high energy theatrics as Creative Director and founder of Fashion Speaks Joshua Washington brought his signature avant-garde creativity to the runway show opening, fashion show lineup and choreography, with music stylings by the femme fatale duo Two Way.
Le Meridien Chic "Walk the Runway"
Music stylings by femme fatale duo 2Way @2waymusic
Hosted by actress Vanessa Martini, "Walk the Runway" Red Carpet Fashion Charity Event featured WantMyLook by Lilly Ghalichi's newest collection after a super successful New York Fashion Week Event, as well as Andrew Christian, JNG, Maor Apparel, Merlin Castell, CM2K by Cheryl Koo, and Dan Richter.
WantMyLook @wantmylook by Lilly Ghalichi @lillyghalichi
Host Vanessa Martini, Creative Director Joshua Washington @fashionspeaksla
The show marked a precedence for Le Meridien Delfina with charitable and creative platform Fashion Speaks, as they produced this highly charged event partnered with Privi, ShowStyleBrands, AR Designs, Tier 1 Model Management, and Slater Agency to raise awareness for CLARE Foundation.
Patrick Starr @PatrickStarrr and Arika Sato @arikasato
WantMyLook Guests with Jason Bies and Jack Douglas Stewart
from left: Janine Jordan – Founder/Electronic Music Alliance, Michael Kaliski – Good Planet Media, Melissa Curtin – La La Scoop, Jennifer Serdienis – Gypset Bazaar, NuNu Deng – Privi, Sin Jin, Marissa Alix – FLOGG
Filmmaker Kirk Fraser @kirk_fraser and Heith Brown with Amanda Manares @mindastronaut, Privi Senior Director/Partner
NYC Dragun @nycdragun and Ash Kholm @ash_kholm
About Privi:
Privi believes in empowering the world's largest global brands and public figures with elite access, reaching your international affinity groups and fan base in a way you've never been able. We measure ourselves against our ability to deliver an experience, not just a message. Through an innovative SMS/MMS marketing platform, Privi delivers international, world-class content, redefining industry standard. Create new monetary streams with merchandise and ticket sales, paid subscription channels, and more. Put Privi's Celebrity Services to work for you, and deliver to your fans an experience unlike any other, creating an emotionally charged relationship with your brand. www.goprivi.com
Try Celebrity Services now. Text GOPRIVI to 234-244-7283 or click HERE to try a demo today.
For GUEST Event Photos – please visit PRIVI GUEST ALBUM
For WANTMYLOOK Runway Photos – please visit PRIVI DESIGNER ALBUM, WANTMYLOOK
For CM2K Runway Photos – please visit PRIVI DESIGNER ALBUM, CM2K BY CHERYL KOO
For Merlin Castell Runway Photos – please visit PRIVI DESIGNER ALBUM, MERLIN CASTELL
For Maor Luz Runway Photos – please visit PRIVI DESIGNER ALBUM, MAOR LUZ
For Andrew Christian Runway Photos – please visit PRIVI DESIGNER ALBUM, ANDREW CHRISTIAN
For JNG Runway Photos – please visit PRIVI DESIGNER ALBUM, JNG
For Dan Richters Runway Photos – please visit PRIVI DESIGNER ALBUM, DAN RICHTERS


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Yes, Virginia …
Editorial of The New York Sun, 1897
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence.
We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! He lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.


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Peanut allergy is one of the most common allergies in the United States, afflicting up to 1.5 million Americans and killing about 100 people a year.
To prevent an allergy from developing, doctors have recommended that small children and nursing mothers avoid peanuts.
But recent studies questioned if early exposure limited the allergy or increased the risk, perhaps explaining a rise in allergies.
The latest study, published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, found that early exposure might provoke tolerance.
The authors examined two populations of genetically similar children, more than 8,000 in all. In one group, most ate peanuts by 9 months; those in the other had little or no early exposure. The scientists found the unexposed children were six times as likely to develop the allergy.
Dr. Robert A. Wood, a pediatric immunology expert at Johns Hopkins, said the research was intriguing but not final, and parents should be cautious.
Some children may be genetically destined to be allergic. Parents should be on the lookout for infants who show allergies to other things or have a family history of allergy.
Source: The New York Times


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Try it, love it, and make it yours. It's easy to browse rings online, but nothing compares to seeing it on your hand. Our complimentary home try-on program lets you try replica engagement rings on at home, with no obligation to buy.
Own a piece of our past. For the first time in Kirk Kara's history, we've unveiled a curated selection of vintage treasures and discontinued designs from our vault. Each piece reflects the styling and aesthetics of decades past, but with a common thread: the signature quality that's synonymous with our family name. Once sold, these iconic pieces will never be in production again.
You're on a quest to find The One: a diamond ring that will forever take your breath away. At Kirk Kara, each mesmerizing detail is designed to provoke love at first — and eternal — sight. Intricate hand engravings, colored gemstone accents and perfectly matched wedding sets are just a few of the designer touches you'll enjoy with a Kirk Kara engagement ring. Fall in love with yours, and see why we're Forever Captivating.
If you have a Kirk Kara customer account, please sign in.
Register with Kirk Kara to enjoy personalized services, including:


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Now that we've done a whole lot about enriched categories in the abstract, let's look at the very useful special case of categories enriched over — the category of abelian groups.
We know that is a monoidal category, with the tensor product of abelian groups as its monoidal structure and the free abelian group as the monoidal identity. Even better, it's symmetric, and even closed. That is, for any two abelian groups and we have an isomorphism , and there is a natural abelian group structure on the set of homomorphisms satisfying the adjunction .
Further, is complete and cocomplete. All together, this means it's a great candidate as a base category on which to build enriched categories. Of course, these will be called -categories.
So let's read the definitions. An -category has a collection of objects, and between objects and there is an abelian hom-group .
For each object we have a homomorphism of abelian groups which picks out the "identity morphism" from to itself at the level of the underlying sets. Remember that we're no longer thinking of an abelian group as having elements — only its underlying set has elements anymore, and the underlying set of an abelian group is the set of abelian group homomorphisms .
Given three objects we have a "composition" arrow in : . This is associative and the identity morphism acts as an identity in the sense that the appropriate diagrams commute. Of course, since the composition arrows are morphisms in they are linear functions in each input.
An -functor between -categories and is defined by a function from the objects of to the objects of , and for each pair of objects a homomorphism of abelian groups . Two diagrams are required to commute, saying that these linear functions preserve the composition and identity functions.
An -natural transformation is one of two forms. In one we're given two -functors and . Then a natural is a collection of linear functions making one diagram commute. In the other we're given an object and a bifunctor . Then is a collection of linear functions making another diagram commute.
Together, -categories, -functors between them, and -natural transformations (of the first kind) form a 2-category. We can pair off -categories and to get the product category (in fact we already did once above) and we can take the opposite category . Thus -categories form a symmetric monoidal 2-category with a duality involution.
There's a whole lot of structure here, but ultimately it boils down to "the hom-sets all have the structure of abelian groups, and everything in sight is -linear". And that's the usual definition given, that I decided to forgo back when I started in on enriched categories.


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"On The 9th Day of Christmas, MoSop shared a poem…. to lighten up your holiday home!"
Christmas Time
With the hustle and bustle of Christmas time,
Our family starts to complain and whine
There is snow to shovel, and food to prepare
The in-laws are coming, with no time to spare
There are too many goodies affecting our waist
But we can't resist having "just one little taste"!
Dad is in bed, he's come down with the flu
Poor little Sarah can't find her lost shoe
Mom and the kids have to string up the lights
But wires are tangled and all start to fight
There's shopping and baking and wrapping to do
And poor little Sarah still can't find her shoe!
But wait! Stop! What is Christmas about?
The Christ-child of course, there isn't a doubt!
So let's pray for Daddy, and find Sarah's shoe
Untangle the lights, and try something new
We'll all work together, and have a fun time
Remember the Christ child, and His birth divine.
[special thanks to the MP2 Relief Society Sisters]


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Decay may or may not cause discomfort; even though it doesn't hurt, the tooth is deteriorating.
Cavities can develop from the biting surface of the tooth (occlusal surface) or from the surfaces between the teeth (interproximal surface).
Decay - Cervical
Decay - Occlusal
Decay - Interproximal
Using higher magnification and powerful lighting, it is easier to detect decay at an early stage to prevent excessive tooth damage. When cavities are small, they are much easier and less expensive to treat. If decay is left untreated the nerve of the tooth may become infected and die. This may cause an abscess.
Early tooth decay does not tend to show many physical signs. Sometimes the tooth looks healthy, but your dentist will be able to see from an x-ray whether you have any decay under the enamel or under existing fillings.


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Are you a government employee on strike? Like Top Gear? Here's what Jeremy Clarkson thinks of you: "I'd have them all shot. I would take them outside and execute them in front of their families." Clarkson made the characteristically over-the-top remark on The One Show, a daily, magazine-type program on BBC One.
Clarkson's comment refers to massive striking among public-sector workers in the UK to protest austerity measures, including pension reform, proposed in response to the UK's government debt. The strikes have ignited a public hatefest among government wonks and public figures.
According to reports, approximately two million people walked off the job this week, closing some state schools (the equivalent to public schools in the US) and causing a work slowdown among first-responders. Some ambulance services, for example, are covering only life-threatening emergencies.
Always the provocateur, Clarkson's maybe-ironic-but-maybe-not quote spiked his Twitter trending, and will likely be on the cover of every UK newspaper tomorrow with calls for his sacking from the BBC.
(Photo: Hannah Johnston/Getty Images)


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Today's News: Our Take - Report: Kate Middleton's Nurse Left Suicide Note
Jacintha Saldanha, the nurse found dead after mistakenly patching through a prank call at the London hospital where Kate Middleton was being treated, reportedly left a suicide note, according to London's Evening Standard.
Although the newspaper claims the nurse left a suicide note to her husband Ben Barboza and children Junal, 17, and Lisha, 14, a representative for the family says that they still want answers.
PHOTOS: In memoriam -- those we've lost in 2012
"There are unexplained circumstances," Labour MP Keith Vaz said. "The family want to know everything. All the facts, fully and clearly. The hospital needs to be more proactive, a full inquiry is needed and the family need to be included in that."
Last week, two Australian DJs pretended to be Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles, asking for information about Middleton, who was hospitalized with severe morning sickness at the time. Saldanha answered the call at the reception desk and patched it through to Middleton's room, where a nurse provided detailed information about Middleton's well-being, thinking she was speaking to members of the Royal Family. The interview was broadcast on the radio show and picked up worldwide. Saldanha was later found unconscious near the hospital and pronounced dead by police.
"I am devastated with the tragic loss of my beloved wife Jacintha in tragic circumstances," Saldanha's husband said on his Facebook page. "She will be laid to rest in Shirva, India."
View original Report: Kate Middleton's Nurse Left Suicide Note at TVGuide.com
Other Links From TVGuide.com


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A Siemens spokeswoman was unable to give any details about the turbine or when it would be launched. However, she said it would be 6MW and direct drive.
However, according to reports and industry rumour, a prototype will be ready at the end of 2010 or early 2011. There is also speculation the turbine's capacity could be increased to a higher rating by the time it is ready for testing.
Manufacturers are arguably racing against each other to create bigger wind turbines. Proportionately higher O&M costs at involved using smaller capacity machines at sea make larger capacity machines more economical.
Among these, Repower recently launched its 6.15MW machine while Samsung is rumoured to be working on a 7.5MW product. Both of these will be dwarfed by Clipper Windpower's 10MW Britannia turbine and AMSC's 10MW SeaTitan.
With the output of offshore turbines continuing to rise, there is a question of whether the Siemens should be developing a larger capacity machine.
Garrad Hassan GL principal engineer Joseph Phillips said it is not necessarily a case of bigger is better when considering offshore. He said: "Both cost and risk need to be taken into account when determining the capacity of a new wind turbine product.
"With respect to the former, the most useful metric is some form of Cost of Energy, which takes account of capital and operational costs as well as energy production over a turbine's lifetime."
Phillips said Garrad Hassan believed the optimum offshore turbine capacity – when considering primary markets – was in the 5MW to 7MW range.
Other industry sources have said suggested Siemens is right to be conservative in its approach to the turbine's capacity. One view was that it would be less risky to make smaller steps in terms of product development by largely relying on tried and tested technology.
An alternative to this approach has been taken by Clipper, which is designing the 10MW Britannia turbine. Prior to this, its biggest product is the 2.5MW Liberty turbine.


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The Red Lion, Lacock, Wiltshire.
The Oriel Window, South Gallery, Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire.
The pioneer photographer, William Henry Fox Talbot used this window to take his first successful camera image in either 1835 or 1839.
This was the earliest surviving negative and led to Fox Talbot's development of the negative/positive process to record images by chemical means.
Lacock village, Wiltshire.
Lacock village , Wiltshire.
Lacock Village, Wiltshire.
Lacock, Wiltshire.
"At The Sign Of The Angel" - Lacock village, Wiltshire.
Dating from the 1400's, the name derives from the gold "Angel" coin that was a currency at the time.
Lacock Church, Wiltshire
Lacock village
Village lock-up at Lacock, Wiltshire.
Used to hold drunks and vagrants prior to appearing before the local magistrate.
The cloisters at Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire.
Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire.


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[We have the following call for submissions for two prizes sponsored by the Society for the History of the Federal Government.]
The Society for History in the Federal Government awards two prize each year for outstanding scholarship in a published article or essay related to the history of the federal government. We are inviting submissions for the 2010 prizes, for articles or essays published during calendar year 2010. (The deadline for submissions is December 15, 2010.)
1. The James Madison is an annual award given for excellence in an article or essay that deals with any aspect of the federal government's history.
2. The Charles Thomson Prize is awarded for the best article or essay on a topic in federal history. The nominated article or essay must have been prepared by a federal historian or for a federal history program, including history offices in the federal agencies and history-related programs in other federal entities.
An entry for either prize should consist of a copy of the published article and a letter indicating the significance and merits of the article (a cover letter from the journal's editor is preferred,although a letter from the author is acceptable). For articles published late in the year, the Committee will accept photocopies of the galleys in lieu of the final published article. A copy of the submission should be sent separately to each of the members of the Prize Committee:
1. Larry DeWitt, Social Security Administration Historian's Office, Rm. 1532 OPS, Baltimore, MD. 21235. (email: firstname.lastname@example.com)
2. Michele Lyons, 875 Hunting Lake Drive, Huntingtown, MD 20639 (e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com)
The Madison Prize commemorates the nation's fourth President and the principal author of The Federalist Papers. The Thomson prize commemorates the nation's first federal archivist. Both prizes are awarded at the Society's annual conference in February.
More information regarding the Society and its prizes is here.
Image credit


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July 19, 2013— -- Two men square off in a Texan bar. Nick Cooper moves sideways and snaps a left hook into his adversary's jaw. The man, dressed as a cowboy, takes it well and rolls with the impact. Then he winds back to return a punch. Cooper sees the flicker of motion in the cowboy's eye, the tightening of his deltoid, and the twist of his obliques. He catches everything in an instant, the way a normal person can recognize a stop sign. The punch is a knockout. But for Cooper, who can see where it is going to land, avoiding the hit is easy.
Cooper is not very unlike Sherlock Holmes. He is a man of reason, an evolved person who recognizes patterns, and reads them to predict the future. And it is precisely this talent that has lead federal agent Cooper on a mission to hunt down other gifted people, known as "brilliants" or "twists," in Marcus Sakey's latest novel Brilliance—released on July 16.
Sakey, the author of multiple novels, including The Blade Itself—optioned for a movie by Ben Affleck, and Good People—slated for another film starring James Franco, has sold the movie rights for Brilliance to Legendary Pictures, the producers of other science fiction and comic book blockbusters like Inception, Watchmen, and the Dark Knight trilogy. Legendary, which presented the Pacific Rim prequel graphic novel and movie with screenwriter Travis Beacham at the San Diego Comic Con on July 18, and will present its upcoming lineups at the convention this Saturday, is a good fit for Brilliance's alternate world where exceptional individuals threaten to make normal humans obsolete.
While science fiction and comics have long been thought of as escapist literature, general readers will find many real life parallels in Brilliance to relate to. The Department of Analysis and Response (DAR), the agency that employs Cooper, can easily evoke the National Security Agency (NSA) in the way that it polices and investigates a "radically changing world," sometimes pushing the limits of civil rights and privacy. Sakey's novel can be specially insightful for adult and young readers who may feel disgruntled by current politics, or consider themselves outsiders who are sometimes at odds with mainstream culture and society. But, the idea that brilliants, or twists, could be anyone's father, estranged brother, wife, or friend makes them universally appealing.
"[They] could be adolescents, or gay or black or Irish. They could stand for any minority, represent the feelings of every outsider…" writes comic book creator Grant Morrison in the national bestseller Supergods about another exceptional group of beings—the X-Men. The comparison between Brilliance and Marvel's mutant heroes is unavoidable to the extent that the successes and failures of brilliant and mutant cultures capture the stories of all minority groups—including Latinos—who are struggling to gain recognition, mainstream acceptance. However, Sakey pointed out in an interview with Fusion that Brilliance is not just about supermen and superwomen living amongst us in a marginalized way, but a more encompassing world faced with a "believable problem where everyone has to desperately fight to avoid going over the precipice."
With over 130,000 people attending last year's comic book convention in San Diego, and this year's event selling out in 93 minutes, the success of science fiction and comic book cultures is an indicator of how we have become a nation of outsiders. We increasingly root for immigrants and underdogs who have become symbols of our self-made ideals, and the way individuals can still climb up social ladders to impact mainstream culture in a positive way. In this sense, even when only 300 people attended the first Comic Con in San Diego in 1970, geeks and nerds who were otherwise social outcasts found refuge and solidarity in their love of comics.
The San Diego convention today brings together and celebrates different kinds of pop culture, including video games, toys, movies, and anime. And it has become a premiere venue for presenting the hottest projects. This Saturday, I, Frankenstein will get its first big showcase. 300: Rise of an Empire, and the much anticipated Hunger Games: Catching Fire, will also be presented with other exciting projects on the same day.
Perhaps the biggest draw to being a comic book geek today is the excitement of belonging to a diverse culture where you can learn from a spectrum of different perspectives. Science fiction and fantasy novels like Brilliance, and comic books in general, have become a sacred place where you can discover and defend your identity, a stage where you can play out different ideas about the future. "Instead of just a team, or even a tribe, we imagined a fully formed Homo superior society finally emerging into the light of emancipation," wrote Morrison about the New X-Men in Supergods. And at least for a moment, comic book conventions have become the sanctuaries of this advanced society, where ordinary children and adults can be transformed into the heroes of tomorrow.


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Mindy Weinstein
Founder and President
Market MindShift
Mindy is the founder of Market MindShift and Director of Training and Strategic Advisor at Digital Current. She is a national speaker and has taught search engine optimization courses to companies of all sizes. Mindy co-authored The Marketing Avengers and Rich and Thin: Slim Down, Shrink Debt, Turn Calories Into Cash (McGraw Hill). She is a contributor to SearchEngineJournal.com and StreetFightMag.com and has been interviewed on Fox, NBC and ABC. She has also been quoted as an expert in The Huffington Post and The Washington Post. She is a marketing professor at Grand Canyon University and University of Denver.


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The trait that proteins aggregate into long fibers and then form plaques is common in all amyloid diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, cataract and type 2 diabetes. Yet in vitro studies have found that neither the amylin monomer precursors nor the plaques themselves are very toxic. New evidence using two-dimensional infrared (2D IR) spectroscopy has revealed an intermediate structure during the amylin aggregation pathway that may explain toxicity, opening a window for possible interventions, according to a report in the current issue of Biomedical Spectroscopy and Imaging.
"Figuring out how and why amyloid plaques form is exceedingly difficult, because one needs to follow the atomic shapes of the protein molecules as they assemble. Most tools in biology give either shapes or motions, but not both. We have been developing a new spectroscopic tool, called two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy, which can monitor the plaques as they form in a test tube," said lead investigator Martin T. Zanni, PhD, of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The investigators employed this new technology to study the amyloid protein associated with type 2 diabetes. Isotope labeling was used to measure the secondary structure content of individual residues. By following many 2D IR spectra from one particular region (known as the FGAIL region) over several hours, they were able to visualize the amylin as it progressed from monomers to fibers.
These results help to elucidate the physics of the aggregation process, the chemistry of amyloid inhibitors, and the biology of type 2 diabetes, as well as clarify previously contradictory data.
The authors suggest that differences between species in their capacity to develop type 2 diabetes may be related to the capacity to form these intermediate amylin structures. That may be why humans develop the disease while dogs and rats do not. "I am not encouraging us to begin engineering our DNA to match that of rats, but our findings may help to develop plaque inhibitors or hormone replacement therapies for people suffering from type 2 diabetes, because we know the structure we want to avoid," says Dr. Zanni. He adds that mutations in the FGAIL region may inhibit fiber formation by interfering with the formation of these intermediates.
Source: Eurekalert


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Stories in Search of an Author?
I have come to believe that the stories we tell, exist before we confine them with words, harass them along paths, or have the arrogance to decide where they begin and end.
I have dreamt stories. I don't mean derived stories from dreams, I mean written a complete story within the dream, at a desk in an examination setting with a two hour deadline, handed it to the 'examiner' and woken up. That story was set in Vermont.
That was inconsiderate since I have never been to Vermont, and when I showed it to those who had, one said 'Soggy leaves do not lie on the autumn ground in Vermont, they get blown into corners against fences, in piles'. Another said that my hick-speaking character would live further south in Appalachia.
Still it was a good story, and one day I might redraft it. Or go to Vermont!
But my conviction in the pre-existence of stories found corroboration in reading Stephen King's 'On Writing'. I have avoided picking up this book because I am a curmudgeon by nature, and everyone had said 'This is the only writing book you HAVE to read.' So I didn't.
But I now just have. Yes, it is as good as they all said.
Here comes the interesting part.
Some years ago I thought I would try my hand at a genre story, crime, romance or some such just to prove I could. And because what I normally write has an uphill climb to find readers, too literary, too poetic, too philosophical, too difficult to Dewey. You name any difficulty and what I write will plead 'guilty as charged.'
I would also write a short short story since my others run to 5K or more. I would stick to 2K. and do what I usually avoid, write in the present tense.
So I wrote a story called 'Honey I'm Home'.
Now Stephen King sets one single practise 'exercise' in the course of his book. Here it is paraphrased and derived from the 'Police Beat' section of most local papers, most weeks, Here is what he sets.
' A woman- call her Jane- marries a man who is bright, witty and pulsing with sexual magnetism. We'll call the guy Dick, the world's most Freudian name. Unfortunately Dick has his dark side, short tempered… control freak… Jane tries to overlook…make the marriage work…They have a child…when the little girl is three or so the jealous tirades begin again. Abuse is verbal and then physical…
At last poor Jane can't take it anymore. She divorces the schmuck and gets custody of their daughter, Little Nell. Dick begins to stalk…Jane gets a restraining order…about as useful as a parasol in a hurricane…finally after an incident which you will write in vivid and scary detail…Richard is arrested and jailed/
After Dick's incarceration…Jane takes herself home to a house…how she comes by this house the story will tell…Something pings at her as she lets herself in…makes her uneasy…decides to have a cup of tea and watches the news. Three men have escaped killing a guard in the process. Two were recaptured the third still at large…Jane knows beyond a shadow if doubt the one who escaped was Dick. That unease was the smell of Vitalis hair tonic. Only Dick would make sure he had hair tonic in jail.
It is a good story but not unique. I want you to change the sexes of the antagonist and protagonist before beginning to workout the situation in your story. Narrate without plotting and let this one inversion carry you along…." ( On Writing Stephen King)
So here is the one I prepared earlier. Names are unchanged. Every single one. I promise. Just a hasty draft to see if I could!
When you have read it tell me the probability of the synchronicity? Or consider whether the writer anywhere is simply a scribe?
Honey I'm Home.
The trainee nurse in the white cap and uniform sitting in the pallid spring sunshine pretends to read. The long fair pigtail down her back hangs like a bell-rope, there for the pulling. It had been twelve years, almost to the day.
'I want to come to you' he'd written' somewhere anonymous, somewhere nice. Go feed the ducks in St James's Park and I'll walk to you. I want the pleasure of finding you.'
She sits feeling as conspicuous as an archery target, unable to predict from which direction the arrow might come, and unwilling to swivel or look anxious. She would wait for a hand on her shoulder before she would believe him. It comes, falling familiar despite the years.
"Oh Daddy, at last!"
"My love, you waited" The shell of her father, this thin new ascetic in a checked shirt walks around the bench and gathers her to his chest. Silently they stand, and weep, soundlessly, mingling in joy. They had waited together and apart since that day.
Richard Dearlove is exhausted and it shows. His former days of athletic promise have been carved like wood; hair scraped over the pate with a curry comb, clefts from nose to chin deep enough to nest a wagtail and those once seductive eyes sloped with the effort of concealing shame. This man, scuff-walking along a country road, is buffeted by heedless cars passing at speed. He is inconspicuous even to himself; a drooping man in a rust coloured jacket out walking from nowhere to nowhere.
This remnant of manhood is sheltering hope, a candle lit in a wind. He is heading towards it, the hope of a home, a home yet to be. With little Nell and without Jane who liked to be called Janice. Will that even be possible? Jane had filled every room in every house with the smoke of terror, the smell of terror is all he now remembers. But now there is a shack in a clearing of a bosky wood, thick with billowing oaks, a shack concealed, and secured. He tries to visualise a future Nell, introduced to the liberty of safety; tree houses, friends, perhaps a puppy? Richard had cooked oatmeal porridge, tied her hair ribbon and ridden the bus with her to her new village school, a single room of golden stone and country children eager, open faced, and robust with knock about knees and country boots. His pinched peaky daughter had clutched his hand, her mouth tight and determined. Brave was his damaged daughter as he released her to the schoolmistress with swinging glasses on a chain, below a ready smile.
'I'll bring her home myself today. I know where you are'
'That's really kind' Richard said.
'Well is makes the link' she said 'I like to imagine where my pupils start their day' Nell was led away, looking over her shoulder and nodding reassurance.
Richard is determined not to think of Jane, now safely ensconced in the 'compassionate asylum for the mentally disturbed'. The savage event that had precipitated her psychiatric diagnosis ('borderline schizophrenia' hardly did justice to the true evil of her nature) had also cost his income, since no legal firm needed a rumour of 'domestic violence', not even to help the innocent party. Men were never believed innocent. The Law was far from impartial when it came to its self interest. They had paid him off generously and fortunately too late for her to hear of it. Securing her restraint had cost the family home, the capital invested to see her right for twenty five years. Given what had happened, he was only too glad to be rid of it. Rid of all of it, work included, because the Law was now an hypocrisy, that always left the victim abandoned.
What little money was left had bought the shack, hidden and lit in a clearing, remote, simple, quite sufficient. Jane had known nothing of this refuge; so not even her imaginative thought could sidle through a crack. Thinking of her penetration, Richard wonders whether he might manage without a telephone. That might be unwise if Nell got ill and a doctor was needed, but there would be no television, no internet, no crude stridency. He and Nell needed solitude until courage grew stronger. Was that too much a burden, to need his daughter to give shape and recovery to his own life?
Nell would soon get accustomed, find friends. Richard's spirits lift at the thought of her opening out, like a flower, dropping her tight shoulders, running heedless through wet grass, and swinging on a tire from a rope. Trees he now has, enough to create walkways and platforms, a high world for her to command. Please God he thinks. His recovery would be through witnessing hers, he knows that.
The key was where he had left it, in the toe of Nell's small Wellington boot, lying as though discarded in haste. Richard has become master of other people's perception. He glances at the Harley Davidson under a tarpaulin, also undisturbed. He knew that a single father who rode a motorbike with his daughter riding pillion would raise the eyebrows of the social services. He had to believe in taking risks, to show Nell how to learn to be unafraid. What social worker would understand that? With her small arms about his waist they both might fly. It was easier to conceal, better to escape on narrow tracks and some things had innate nobility. His motorbike, always resented by Jane, was one of them, his last defiance.
He lets himself in. Ah the cool calm of a deserted house! He walks through the simple living room taking pleasure from the half drawn curtains that filter a woodland light. A bird rises outside with a sudden wild cry and a flapping tumult of feathers. Richard freezes. Is that a scent dropped like guano from a startled bird? It carries a clear musk, like Jane's cloying perfume assailing his nostrils and his prickling skin. Get a grip he tells himself. All terror carries the scent of Jane, each resurrecting all the others.
He loosens his tie and tosses it over a chair. Would such simple freedoms ever eradicate the visions of her silent stealth? Her eruptions that could never be predicted? Her slithering withdrawal to lay new traps? Without Nell he might have escaped. Nell had chained him to Jane and Jane had used every convincing persuasion to try and strip him of her. Not because she cared for Nell, but because he did.
That would have been a defeat too far. Jane alone with Nell meant certain torture for his defenseless daughter. Taking her abroad would have been pursuit unending; Jane as 'wronged mother' would have stopped at nothing, and all the world would have added outrage to fuel her determination. Law, Equality, Liberation; none had been so much as scratched. He wanted nothing to do with the world with its vacuous pretenses.
A deep disquiet follows him into the kitchen, almost a blind puppy, nose to his heels. How has memory such power to penetrate where she had never been? She is in a locked ward and no doubt well sedated. She would be seething angry. Richard fills a kettle from the pleasing brass tap that offers an effortless smooth flow. He lights the gas and reflects that everything here would slow him down; no electric kettle, no efficiency, no intrusions.
As he stands gazing onto a patch of sunlight on the uncut grass he feels a pressure from the hall, and the sense of a step on bare boards that creaks. He grips his forearm and digs the nails of his right hand in the flesh to chastise himself, and release his irrational fear. He turns on the small clock radio which offers tinny drumming that drill through his teeth. Twiddling the dial offers the three beeps that herald the news.
'News at One. Geoffrey Lancaster reporting. News just released. The Amphora Clinic, a secure unit for the mentally ill in North Hertfordshire reported the escape of three inmates earlier today. A night nurse changing to go off duty was attacked and stabbed. Attacked from behind and her throat slashed, she was reported dead at the scene. Her name is not yet being released nor those of her attackers who stole her car keys and made off with her car. Two were captured after they stopped at a garage to buy sandwiches. They were abandoned by the driver who drove off. She was only recently admitted to the Unit, and has conspicuous red hair worn loosely scarved. A woman in her early forties, she is considered extremely dangerous. Any one seeing her is warned….
Richard knows. Not a shred of doubt. Jane has escaped, and Jane has murdered without hesitation, and abandoned her accomplices, ruthless as always. Now his thought flows in beads of sweat below his shirt. He fights to retain some vestige of rational grasp. She knows nothing of this refuge, would there have been time even if somehow…. Richard quickly shuffles the details, the mortgage correspondence, the interrupted postal deliveries. He had been careful, perhaps too careful. Shuffling produces no clarity, just the cold certainty that she had been here already.
"Are you making tea for two?" The voice that chills the blood comes from behind the open door A foot stabs into view, propped on a puce stiletto heel. Richard reaches for the cutlery draw.
"Don't do that" she says. He does it anyway. Terror is changed into clear and controlled fury. He grasps a small knife in his palm, blade towards his sleeve, ready to flick it forward, full fist thrust behind. All the years of self control is now concentrated in his blind desire to kill her.
"You and your little instrument…" she mocks, shimmying into sight, that hair, her weapon always, falling to the cleavage revealed by a faux kimono. For a woman who had just violently murdered she was unruffled, watchful, and bloodless.
"How did you find me?" Richard knows this is a pointless question but he needs to speak to concentrate his resolve.
"I never lost you, lover" Jane smiles. "I came here two months ago. Don't believe me? Check the cupboard, all my lovely shoes waiting for walkies. We'll have new kinds of fun…"
Richard is defeated. She lives only to torment him. Nothing will stop it. He lets the knife fall to the floor. Jane moves towards him to retrieve it.
"Where's our Nell?" she asks bending down.
The name and the possessive were enough. Richard kicked with all force possible, collecting Jane beneath her chin, snapping her head sharply back. She falls heavily sideways against the kitchen shelves which spill steel in a crashing of pots and lids. A steel colander spins a prolonged applause. Her long legs sprawl outwards, her unconcealed sex her flaunted mocking weapon. He snatches up the pitiful vegetable peeler and slashed it aiming for her throat, but instead slices from one ear to the corner of her mouth. The mouth smiles wider. Somewhere outside himself Richard knows she is enjoying this, her new macho man armed with inadequate means. As always. He slashes again, across those mocking eyes. Welling blood oozes and rolls down the sides of her nose, like the beads of a crucifixion, to the smiling mouth.
That smile must be wiped. Survival depends upon it.
After Richard has kicked her to death among the ecstatic noisy pots, he washes the knife and replaces it in the drawer. It is almost time for Nell to be delivered by the school mistress.
He drags the matted body by its blood coloured hair to the back door, and out onto the flags that already look damp as a grave. He could not bear to touch her body so nudged her into a decent death with a foot and covered the shape with the bright kimono. He pulls her head up by the hair, pushes a cushion beneath it. He fetches a blanket from his bed, throws it over her and closes the door.
The pots are replaced, the floor is mopped, and Richard waits. Nell would be home soon.
The sound of slow tires and bruised gravel causes a moment's panic. Nell runs in through the open front door.
"School's lovely Daddy. Isn't this all lovely, lovely, lovely…" she sings capering round his chair. The car reverses, and drives slowly away.'
"Didn't she want to come in? Did you ask her?"
"Course I did. She said….Daddy what's wrong?" Nell leans across Richard's lap looking into his eyes. They are not the eyes she remembered from earlier. He puts a hand on each cheek and pulls her between his knees, holding her firm and still.
"I have just killed your mother." Nell puts a finger to her mouth. Does she understand? Does she believe him? She puts her arms around his neck and thrusts forward to climb onto his lap. He lifts her.
"I'm glad" she says "Now we really are free. Aren't we?"
"In one way, perhaps the most important way. Shall we go out to a restaurant for supper?"
"Ooh Yes! Can I have steak with chips?"
The Harley Davidson kicks into life on the first attempt, and slowly Richard nurses it through the grass onto the track. With the roar of acceleration Nell clasps his waist, her head warm against the small of his back.
After supper a tired man, hand in hand with his daughter, walks into the police station.


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Spanish version
There has been a lot in the news and on social media recently about walkouts and other demonstrations related to the Parkland, Florida school shooting. Here in Jeffco, there are plans for student demonstrations during school and in the evening on March 14th. Though the district takes no position on these types of issues, we are respectful of everyone's right to express their opinion peacefully.
We have worked with our school and student leaders in planning for March 14th - keeping our students as safe as possible and making sure these events are well-organized, orderly, and timely.
Many of our principals have already sent communications to families about plans and expectations regarding March 14th activities particular to their school, but I will also take a moment to express my expectations for everyone connected with our schools.
Please note, unless a school has invited families and the community to join activities on March 14th, only students and staff will be allowed on school property due to safety reasons. We also know the news media is interested in student activities, but they have been directed to stay off school property during the school day. There is another student-led community event happening in the evening that is open to all.
I would also like to remind you of our School Safety Panel on Tuesday, March 20 at Lakewood High School (flyer). I am looking forward to talking about Jeffco Public Schools' current safety and security practices as well as our partnerships with other agencies. Attendees will have an opportunity to discuss school safety and give feedback. We will be livestreaming the event for those unable to attend in person, it will be available for viewing later, and we'll have a web page to learn more and share thoughts as well. I anticipate this is the beginning of a discussion involving our students, staff, citizens, and community partners to take a fresh look at school safety.
We all love our children and the issue of school safety is emotional. This presents challenges for all of us to work on hearing and understanding others who have different, but also positive, values and beliefs when it comes to what we should do going forward. I encourage and expect all in our community to model a commitment to listening to each other. Only through this can we find the right path forward for Jeffco.


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Five years ago, Karen Soltero's workout routine was anything but routine.
"I'd try to go on runs, but I was really inconsistent, and I didn't see results," admits the 37-year-old Dallas-based photographer and writer. Then she met Alex. Since they started hitting the road together, Karen has dropped 10 pounds, finished two Olympic-distance triathlons, and stopped abusing her snooze button. "Alex motivates me to get out the door," she says.
"He's able to keep me going long after I want to quit."
More From Women's Health
Alex is the ideal running buddy: Part cheerleader and part drill sergeant, he's friendly but he doesn't let Karen slack off on her pace or bail on a workout. And all he expects in return? Belly rubs. Yes, it's that easy to satisfy this 9-year-old dog.
Studies are now confirming what Karen has learned: Canine owners are more likely to exercise regularly and to be fitter and healthier than their pooch-free peers. New research from Michigan State University reports that people with canine companions are 34 percent more likely to get the recommended 150 minutes of exercise a week than are folks with other pets (sorry, kitties) or none at all.
"A dog can do more for you than a treadmill," says Rebecca Johnson, Ph.D., an associate professor of nursing at the University of Missouri and coauthor of Walk a Hound, Lose a Pound: How You and Your Dog Can Lose Weight, Stay Fit, and Have Fun Together. "When you interact with a dog, endorphins rise and stress levels fall. This emotional connection gives an extra boost to your workouts."
When you consider that an energizer doggy can help you get fit, lose weight, and have fun in the process, a chewed-up pair of sandals becomes a worthy sacrifice.
You Move, You Lose
Research shows that dog owners often log in double workouts--they don't see taking the dog out as a sweat session, so they still spin and lift. But don't discount those walks. If you keep a moderate pace, you can burn up to 68 calories in 20 minutes. Indeed, a study from the University of Missouri found that overweight participants who walked dogs for 20 minutes five days a week for a year lost an average of 14 pounds. Throw in some high-energy games of chase, tug-of-war, and Frisbee, and you'll stoke your metabolism even more, says Gregory Florez, a certified athletic trainer in Salt Lake City.
Pure Energy
You'll never find anyone who loves to exercise more (Richard Simmons included). And that enthusiasm can be contagious. One Australian study found that dog owners felt more resilient to exercise barriers such as a busy work schedule or social life and felt more confident that they could find time for exercise regardless of other commitments. "A dog is always ready and willing to go," explains dog trainer J.T. Clough, author of 5K Training Guide: Running with Dogs. Plus, unlike a neighbor or your most dependable coworker, an ever-eager pup "never cancels on you at the last minute, complains about being tired, or backs down from rain or snow."
For that reason, University of Missouri researchers say the best exercise buddies very well may be the four-legged variety. They reported that people who walked with their dogs increased their speed by 28 percent over 12 weeks, while those who strolled with a (human) friend got only 4 percent faster. The reason? People tend to whine ("I hate hills!") or talk each other out of workouts ("Glee is on!"), says Johnson, the study's author. Dogs, on the other hand, are always game.
Follow His Lead
Have a race goal? You've just found your coach. Dogs are creatures of habit, and they'll help you stick to a training plan.
Once your pup gets into the routine of a morning run, you won't need an alarm clock--the wet nose in your face will work. And his steady tempo can also make you a legit speedster. "We don't realize how much our thoughts slow us down," says Clough. "A dog has a one-track mind; he'll push the pace."
Plus, if you're feeling tired or bored, you can feed off your companion's uppity demeanor, which can be a pick-me-up and take your mind off the miles, says Clough. And thanks to dog-friendly events (like Athens Run for the Dogs in Georgia, and Race for the Rescues in Pasadena, California, both being held this fall), you can even cross the finish line together.
Romp and Roam
There's no need to limit yourself (and your pooch) to walks around the block or runs in the park. Dogs crave adventure, and many breeds are perfect hiking, biking, in-line skating, or swimming buddies, says Clough. A word of caution: If your dog has a love of squirrel chases--and you have a dislike of wipeouts--rethink cycling and skating, or practice first in a parking lot where you can sharpen training cues.
You can also try a dog-friendly boot-camp class (there are several across the country). Leash Your Fitness in San Diego starts with a warm-up followed by cardio circuits. "Sprinting alongside your dog can help you step out of your comfort zone and increase your speed," says athletic trainer Dawn Celapino, who runs the program. Then, while your panting pal practices obedience commands ("Sit! Stay!"), you knock out a series of muscle-building moves like pushups and lunges. The workout wraps up with--what else?--downward-facing dog, a "doga" (yoga for dogs) pose.
Rescue Effort
Don't have a dog? You can still get in some canine workouts: Volunteer to run or walk a pound puppy (find a shelter at aspca.org). Research from the University of Missouri shows that people who walk shelter dogs tend to stick with their workouts because they feel committed to the animals.
Jeff Graves, founder of KC Dog Runners in Kansas City, Missouri, an organization that matches volunteers with rescue dogs for twice-monthly runs, agrees. "Virtually no one cancels, because there's this sense that the dogs really need the workout--and they do," he says. "Because the animals are able to release some of their pent-up energy, they show better to prospective adopters and are taken into good homes faster." Talk about exercise rewards.


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Making judicial history
The remarkable thing about what happened on the Senate floor Monday night was that it was utterly unremarkable.
The matter under consideration — the nomination of the first openly gay man to serve on the federal bench — would at one time have been a flashpoint in the culture wars. But Paul Oetken was confirmed without a word of objection on the Senate floor and with hardly a mention in the commentariat.
?Even some of the chamber's most ardent social conservatives — Tom Coburn, John Cornyn, Jeff Sessions, Jon Kyl — cast votes for Oetken. When the lopsided vote tally of 80-13 was read out, there was no cheer or reaction of any kind. Senators continued their conversations as if nothing unusual had happened.
It would be premature to believe that Oetken's easy confirmation heralds some new post-sexual era in American politics; the fight over gay marriage continues undiminished. But it was a signal moment nonetheless.
The nominee's sexual orientation was deemed unimportant — or at least less important than his moderate politics and his pro-business record (he's a corporate lawyer, with Cablevision).
"As the first openly gay man to be confirmed as a federal judge," Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told a nearly empty chamber before the vote, "he will be a symbol of how much we have achieved as a country in just the last few decades.
"And most important, he will give hope to many talented young lawyers who until now thought their paths might be limited because of their sexual orientation.
"When Paul becomes Judge Oetken, he will be living proof to all those young lawyers that it really does get better."
But Schumer observed, correctly, that this bit of history was an "otherwise quiet moment" for the Senate. The ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, gave a brief speech in support of Oetken, mentioning the nominee's Iowa roots but nothing about his homosexuality.
The proceedings were so routine that Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy made only a spare mention of this "important milestone" before using his floor time to deliver an unrelated speech about the FBI director. Because there were no more speakers, most of the 30 minutes allotted for debate were passed in a quorum call.
Closeted gay men have probably served as judges since the beginning of the republic. And a lesbian, Deborah Batts, has been a federal judge since 1994. But when Batts went before the Judiciary Committee, her homosexuality was left unmentioned in the confirmation hearings.
Oetken, by contrast, downplayed nothing about his sexual orientation: his work with Lambda Legal and the ACLU Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Project, or his co-authorship of a Supreme Court amicus brief opposing an anti-gay law. At his confirmation hearing, he introduced Grassley to his partner.
Opposition was relegated to where it belongs: in the dark recesses of the Internet. "A vote to confirm this nominee is in effect a vote to subject New York by force of judicial fiat to the homosexual agenda, lock, stock and barrel," wrote one commentator on World Net Daily.
The posting warned of "Oetken's homosexuality on the sleeve approach" and said "he is likely as well to harbor animosity toward the proponents of traditional sexual morality."
Tellingly, it was signed by "Frank J. Bleckwenn" — a pseudonym.
Grassley and his colleagues had no use for such poison. "Mr. Oetken grew up in my state of Iowa," Grassley said, calling the candidate a "consensus nominee." He recited Oetken's credentials, including his Yale Law degree and Supreme Court clerkship. "I support this nomination and congratulate him on his professional accomplishments," Grassley said.
To his credit, that is all Grassley thought relevant.
Dana Milbank's email address is firstname.lastname@example.com.
Washington Post Writers Group


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How do I explain my blogging drought?
Well on a recent trip to the local mandir, The Hindu Temple of Minnesota,
I was faced with a sign that my non-Hindu reality-American side could scarcely live up to, let alone my fantasy Hindu traditional side could aspire to. Check these rules out that are posted within the Mandir and ask yourself which do you follow:
So I've been quite busy focusing on living up to expectations as described in detail above, integrating my gori human shell with my inner Hindu atma. I was so confused because I already was following most of them, such as high educational pursuit, but then realized that it may not actually count because I'm not a doctor, or an engineer, and then I felt bad, but then I was pragmatic and realized hey I can still rely on myself with the education I have, yet then I suddenly felt violent, lacking all self-restraint, which I was able to temper just in time (due to my sense of time) and respect my own individual rights, and finally I felt a sense of duty and loyalty to the blog, and came back here again. I think I'm all set, so now I can blog again! Let me gather inspiration and strength first.
Nicki, aka Apunbindaas, the Hmong Chick who loves Indian Cinema, made a pilgrimage on Minnesota for a shaadi, but was kind enough to allow new blogger, Tollywood is my Bollywood, and Kamala Chan of Daydreaming Lotus, and me to show her around our fair city. It's always fun to meet fellow cyber friends in the flesh, and despite her attire, (see photo below) the monks did allow Nicki into the mandir, for her spirit is pure. I altered their images slightly to preserve anonymity, but pictured below are Jjake, Sita-ji, Apunbindaas, and Kamala Chan in the Hindu Mandir of MN.
Here's another one of Nicki and I ouside the Mandir.
Apundindaas posted more about the trip on her blog post Minneapolis Desi Style . Earlier in the year some Hindi movie enthusiasts traveled from The Dakotas to Minneapolis in order to see My Name Is Khan on the big screen, and also make a temple visit. Pictured below are Octoberzine, her escort, her compatriot, CL, and me, Sita-ji.
On that visit we also spied the Retaining Hindu/American Values declaration sign, and yet another sign on the door to the bathroom which captivated Octoberzine.
Please enjoy some more photos I took at The Hindu Temple of Minnesota, and if you ever visit the Twin Cities, look me up and I'll take you on a field trip to the mandir.
Artists working behind the scenes at the mandir:
Nandi, waiting outside the mandir for Lord Shiva:
Finally, I think another reason for my blogging drought is taking time to mourn the loss of Briyanshu's (A white, American gay guy looking at Indian men) blog, which he announced in a post last month HERE.
When I fall in movie-love with an actor, I could count on Briyanshu to have posted plenty of photos of the actor to satisfy my curiosity, and now what to do!? I enjoy Briyanshu's witty comments even more than his insanely delightful and meticulous screen capping of the actors, or in some cases, cricket players. Briyanshu is a true connoisseur of lovely images. Thank goodness for his digital reference library of lustful imagery. Long may that live! I offer a puja to the memory of Briyanshu's blog…maybe I need another trip to the mandir, or maybe I'll just search the word mandir, or temple, or pooja at Briyanshu's blog to see what I find… or what about cricket? Now I need a cool drink.


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If you like to find new ways to tweak OS X, you sometimes need to look in unexpected places. For example, the Accessibility pane of System Preferences, which houses a number of features to help users who have limited seeing, hearing, and mobility, contains some nifty features that all users should know about. Here are five system tweaks that you might want to try on your Mac.
1. Change the cursor size
If you mirror your Mac's display to a large-screen TV or use a large (or especially high-resolution) monitor, you may find that the cursor on your screen is too small. You can change the size of the cursor, and make it anywhere from big to huge.
Go to Apple Menu > System Preferences, click Accessibility, and then click Display. Drag the Cursor Size slider from Normal (smallest) toward Large, settling on the size you want to use; the cursor changes size as you drag the slider.
This setting will change the standard mouse pointer, as well as other cursors (the text input cursor, for example), though it won't work in all applications. It will even make the hand pointer, which displays when you hover over a link in Safari, much larger.
2. Zoom everything, easily
Have you ever visited a webpage where the text is tiny, or wanted to get a closer look at an image? You can activate keyboard shortcuts to zoom the entire display, or you can use a scroll gesture—a two-finger vertical drag on a trackpad, or a turn of a scrollwheel—to zoom in when you press a modifier key, such as the Control key.
Go to Apple Menu > System Preferences, click Accessibility, and then click Zoom. Select the Smooth images option, so that you don't see the pixels in images as they grow larger. You have a couple of Zoom Style choices: Fullscreen zooms everything on the display, whereas Picture-in-picture zooms the area around your cursor.
Click the More Options button to see additional settings, such as the exact magnification of the maximum and zooms, and how the screen image moves in relation to your pointer.
3. Get silent, visual alerts
You may have found a cool alert tone, such as the ringtone from 24 or a favorite character's rejoinder from a sitcom, but these alerts might annoy your friends and coworkers. If you're working with headphones on, no one will hear them; but if not, it's a good idea to be more discreet.
You can change the alert sound by going to System Preferences and clicking the Sound pane. Or, you can use a setting in the Accessibility pane to silence your alert. Click Audio, and check Flash the screen when an alert occurs. Instead of hearing a sound, you'll see a subtle flash whenever your Mac alerts you to something, such as when you receive a notification, or when OS X beeps. Click Test screen flash to see what this effect is like. It might be just the thing to promote harmony in busy offices.
4. Make modifier keys sticky
Do you find it hard to press Command-Option-Shift-W, the Safari keyboard shortcut to close all windows? Well, you're not the only one. Pressing more than one modifier key (the keys you use in shortcuts together with letters or numbers, namely Command, Option, Control, and Shift) can be tough for a lot of people.
Click Keyboard in the Accessibility System Preferences pane and select Enable Sticky Keys. If you activate this option, you can press the Command key once to activate it, and it stays "pressed" until you press it again. This arrangement makes it easy to press several modifier keys, as they will all add up. If you click the Options button, you can choose to have the keys display at the top-right of your display so that you know when they're pressed.
5. Mouse with your number pad
Sometimes you might want to move the cursor to a very particular location before clicking. Or you may simply want to navigate your Mac from the keyboard without using a trackpad or mouse.
Click Mouse & Trackpad in the Accessibility System Preferences pane. Here you can turn on Mouse Keys, which lets you move your pointer by pressing keys on your keyboard. This technique works with the number pad on a full-size keyboard, or with the 7-8-9, U-I-O, and J-K-L keys. Move the mouse in any of eight directions, in tiny steps, by pressing the outside keys in that square, and click the mouse by pressing the 5 or I key.
Click the Options button to adjust some settings for this feature, such as the ability to turn it on by pressing the Option key five times. You might find this setup useful, for instance, if you're working on a detailed Photoshop file and need to select something with precision.
With these five system tweaks, you'll find new ways to work with your Mac. Try them out and see if they make your computing life easier.


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Maritime Monday, Sailmakers from Baltimore, pt 3
Today I will tell you about the last sailmaker in my Joynes family, Oliver Joynes, son of Daniel and grandson of Leonard Joines.
Oliver Norris Joynes was born in Baltimore in January, 1834, according to his military records. "Ollie," as he was known, was the oldest son of Daniel and Sarah Foos Joynes.


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I'm not saying you should injure yourself to avoid taking your children to see Jackie Chan's latest film, The Spy Next Door. I'm just pointing out that five hours in the emergency room would be considerably more pleasant. Spoilers ahead.
I went to see an early screening of Chan's new movie for two reasons:
1) I've been a huge fan of Jackie Chan's work since I lived in Asia for a few years, and my lingering adoration for his work in such classics as Police Story, Armor Of God 2: Operation Condor and Drunken Master 2 has already led me to sit through some other terrible films in the past decade or two. For goodness knows what reason, I cherished a hope that this film might not be completely unwatchable.
2) The movie has a vaguely science-fictional storyline, involving a villain who has developed a formula that turns all petroleum (and petroleum products, like vinyl) into sludge, which then evaporates. The supervillain who has this formula could hold the world's oil supplies to ransom, or just ensure that only Russia has any oil reserves left. Or something. It's pretty much just a McGuffin, but there is a scene where the secret formula disintegrates some oil as well as the female villain's PVC boots.
You pretty much only have to watch the movie's trailer to get a hint of the hideousness that awaits:
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But I still feel like a warning is in order — you might think, after watching that trailer, that this is just a Kindergarten Cop type movie. Or something along the same lines as that movie where Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson plays a football star who has to get a tiny ballerina hooked on horse steroids.
But The Spy Next Door is actually much worse than you're expecting - it's even worse than the last decade of Jackie Chan's career would lead you to expect. I was left wondering if this was a script that had been written for Adam Sandler, which Sandler turned down, and then Rob Schneider, David Spade and several other third-tier ex-SNL stars also had a crack at it before bowing out - and then Chan got suckered into it.
Okay. So Chan is a Chinese superspy, on loan to the CIA, who decides to retire from spying. But he doesn't go back to China, as you'd expect. Instead, he decides to stay in the United States indefinitely, under his cover identity as the schlubby employee of a pen company. In his cover identity, Chan is doing a sort of sub-Jerry Lewis dweeb impression in a sweater and thick glasses, which is meant to contrast with his "suave" spy persona. Anyway, Chan is in love with his next-door neighbor (Amber Valletta) but her kids can't accept him because he's too much of a dweeb — if only they knew the truth! Ha ha ha yeah... Uh.
Anyway, so even though Chan is retired, he's asked to help out with One Last Case — a Russian supercriminal that Chan put away has busted out, and he's got that aforementioned secret formula. And the secret of the formula is contained on a website called Stockholm.GBH, and the CIA asks Chan to help decrypt the website. Or something.
But then the neighbor's nosy kids sneak into Chan's house. And one of the kids sees the Stockholm.GBH thing on Chan's computer - and somehow the kid thinks it's a Stockholm concert by the band GBH, and it's just the thing to make him popular at school at last. So the kid "downloads" the encrypted Russian website onto his iPod, and the bad guys detect this and decide to chase after him to get their website back. (It's explained at one point that by "downloading their website," the kid may have gotten enough info to allow someone to concoct an antidote to the Secret Formula, but the baddies also run around saying thigns like "He downloaded our website! We have got to get it back!!"
So then Chan agrees to babysit Valletta's thoroughly annoying children while she's out of town, so the kids will start liking him — and meanwhile the Russians are slowly, painstakingly tracking down the person who downloaded their website.
The bulk of the movie is Chan Mr. Mom-ing it up, in a frilly apron over his dorky sweater and glasses. He tries to make oatmeal - with hilarious results! He can't get the kids to go to sleep! The tween daughter insists on dressing like a slut!
It's almost a relief when the evil Russians show up and attack, and Chan has to fight them off with the littlest kid clinging to his leg:
There is one decent bit in the entire movie - the littlest daughter, the one who's clinging to Chan's leg in that big fight scene, wants to be a princess, hence all the pink outfits. And the other kids think Chan is a cyborg at one point, because of the amazing things he does. So after Chan saves her, the littlest daughter decides she no longer wants to be a princess - she wants to be a cyborg. And for Halloween, she dresses in a super-cute Borg costume, as you can glimpse in the trailer.
I don't mean to be grouchy and misanthropic here - I know that kids' movies aren't supposed to be The Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind. But this movie planted a large bruise on the surface of my brain, which took days to clear up and still hasn't vanished entirely. It was as if Jackie Chan, frustrated by his inability to do even the simplest stunts himself any more, instructed his painfully obvious stunt double to bludgeon my medulla oblongata with a lead brickbat.
The sad thing is, Jackie Chan used to be a comic genius — not just at physical comedy, but at general silliness, as any one of his collaborations with Sammo Hung will prove. You only have to watch his silly antics as the unlikely mob boss in QiJi (saddled in English with the godawful title of Mr. Canton And Lady Rose) to appreciate how funny he really was back in the day. To watch him simpering in an apron in one of Adam Sandler's cast-offs is just grievous.
In any case - avoid The Spy Next Door at all costs. Jackie Chan has made dozens of better movies in his career, including many that your kids will appreciate way better.


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A Queens Library leader won a national honor last week for being a "Champion of Change" for cultural institutions in her community.
Jennifer Manley, the vice president of government and community affairs for the Queens Public Library, was one of 12 people in the nation this year to be recognized as an advocate for museums and libraries.
"Manley believes in the power of information and education to improve lives, one at a time, neighborhood by neighborhood," the White House said in a statement.
The 62 branches of the Queens Public Library circulate more than 13 million items and see more than 13 million visitors a year. It has become a leader in providing services to immigrants, who make up half of the borough's population, library and White House officials said.
"Jennifer's work embodies what this program is all about — recognizing leaders who make a difference in their communities," said Congressmember Steve Israel. "Queens Borough Public Library is fortunate to have leaders like
Jennifer who contribute so much to the excellence of the institution."
Congressmember Joseph Crowley called Manley a "staunch advocate" for libraries. He said she "works hard to preserve this invaluable resource for the people who need it most."
The Champions program gives accolades to individuals and groups who do "extraordinary things to empower and inspire members of their communities," the White House said.
"Jennifer has been a tremendous asset to the Queens Borough Public Library," said Congressmember Grace Meng, "and this award exemplifies the outstanding work she's done to make a difference throughout the many communities of Queens."


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If your work involves sitting a lot and using a computer, here are some tips to help you sit correctly.
If your work involves sitting a lot and using a computer, here are some tips to help you sit correctly.
You can reduce your risk of
A correctly adjusted chair will reduce the strain on your back. Get one that is easily adjustable so you can change the height, back position and tilt.
Your knees should be slightly lower than your hips. Use a footrest, if it feels necessary.
Adjust your chair height so you can use the keyboard with your wrists and forearms straight and level with the floor. This can help prevent repetitive strain injuries.
Your elbows should be by the side of your body so the arm forms an L-shape at the elbow joint.
Place your feet flat on the floor. If they're not, ask if you can have a footrest, which lets you rest your feet at a level that's comfortable.
Don't cross your legs, as this may contribute to posture-related problems.
Your screen should be directly in front of you. A good guide is to place the monitor about an arm's length away, with the top of the screen roughly at eye level.
To achieve this, you may need a monitor stand. If the screen is too high or too low, you'll have to bend your neck, which can be uncomfortable.
Place your keyboard in front of you when typing. Leave a gap of about four to six inches (100mm-150mm) at the front of the desk to rest your wrists between bouts of typing.
Keep your arms bent in an L-shape and your elbows by your sides.
Some people like to use a wrist rest to keep their wrists straight and at the same level as the keys.
Position and use the mouse as close to you as possible. A mouse mat with a wrist pad may help keep your wrist straight and avoid awkward bending.
If you're not using your keyboard, push it to one side to move the mouse closer to you.
Your screen should be as glare-free as possible. If there's glare on your screen, hold a mirror in front of the screen so you know what's causing it.
Position the monitor to avoid reflection from overhead lighting and sunlight. If necessary, pull blinds across the windows.
Adjusting the screen's brightness or contrast can make it much easier to use.
People with bifocal spectacles may find them less than ideal for computer work. It's important to be able to see the screen easily without having to raise or lower your head.
If you can't work comfortably with bifocals, you may need a different type of spectacles. Consult your optician if in doubt.
Position frequently used objects, such as your telephone or stapler, within easy reach. Avoid repeatedly stretching or twisting to reach things.
If you spend a lot of time on the phone, try exchanging your handset for a headset. Repeatedly cradling the phone between your ear and shoulder can strain the muscles in your neck.
Don't sit in the same position for long periods. Make sure you change your posture as often as is practicable.
Frequent short breaks are better for your back than fewer long ones. It gives the muscles a chance to relax while others take the strain.
Important: Our website provides useful information but is not a substitute for medical advice. You should always seek the advice of your doctor when making decisions about your health.


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So we have trying to be eating clean for a few years, and this year we even went a step further and removed ground nuts, gluten, dairy (except cheese on occasion), and believe it or not we have removed coffee on most days. It really hasn't been that challenging, and to be honest now when I eat sugar and gluten and ground nuts I don't feel well.
Now that's not to say that we are always good about what we eat. We are humans, and definitely imperfect ones. We eat healthy most of the time, but sometimes I want a cookie, or brownie, or pizza. So we give ourselves one day to eat whatever we want, and then get back on track with clean eating.
Recently I have also reduced my complex carbs, and lost 3.5 pounds last week, which is amazing, since I hardly ever lose anything. Wednesday we will see if this trend will continue or it was a fluke…
Well, Karol saw a recipe on Facebook that appealed to her and so I made it for dinner a few weeks ago. I will say it was quite yummy, and I wanted to share it with you today. It isn't as pretty as the video by Delish, but it is my version, in a regular kitchen with regular people. So without further ado I give you my Caprese Chicken recipe:
Chicken Caprese
1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts
kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 c. balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
2 tbsp. shredded basil
4 slices mozzarella
Brown Rice spaghetti, cooked according to the package
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat oil.Season chicken with salt and pepper and cook until golden and cooked through, 6 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate. Add balsamic vinegar to skillet an let simmer for a few minutes (deglazing), then add garlic and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add tomatoes and season with salt. Let simmer until soft, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in basil.Return chicken to skillet and nestle in tomatoes. Top with a slice of mozzarella and cover with lid to melt cheese. Spoon tomatoes over chicken and serve over the cooked pasta. (This would also be quite yummy without pasta, served with some veggies or salad)
Then cook 6 minutes on each side:
Remove chicken to a plate and add balsamic vinegar and garlic to hot pan. (I probably used less that 1/4 cup as I am not a huge fan of balsamic vinegar)
Then add the tomatoes and let simmer for a few minutes:
Put chicken back in the pan:
Put a slice of mozzerella cheese on each breast and let it melt:
Serve over pasta:
It was sooooo good! I used the basil from my garden. Can't wait until we have some grape tomatoes from the garden and can use those!
I truly believe you will love this dish! Let me know what you think if you try it!


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The spectacular racing of the 34th America's Cup was, at times, frustrating for we sailors, with an overhyped know-nothing commentator and an over-aged AC winner pointing out irrelevant facts and useless trivia in vain hopes of getting the 'mainstream' to buy into the live feed. We got to see some of the most amazing sail racing ever captured on screen, but it was often better with the sound off.
This week's 18 Footer Worlds (also known as the JJ Giltinan Championship presented by Sydney City Marine) might feature some of the same faces; AC34 Regatta Director and AC35 Challenger of Record CEO Iain Murray is helping out with the commentary at times, while numerous AC sailors are spread throughout the fleet.
But this broadcast ain't for the landlubbers, it's for sailors only, and the boys behind the microphone make no bones about it. So if you're a racer and you want to know who's on the inside of what shift, and who's got a slightly better kite drop than the other guy and the inside position at the Zone, this live coverage is for you.
Check out Day 3 of the JJ above, with all the news and current results from yesterday's racing here. Scroll down the page for yesterday's video, and the highlight reels are here.


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A Friday Fun TwoFer
May 16, 2008 at 11:21 am Janie Hermann 1 comment
Have you had a chance to vote in the Doodle 4 Google contest? If not, it is not too late to view all the wonderful submissions that made it to the finals and then vote for your favorites by this Sunday, May 18.
Doodle 4 Google is a competition where K-12 students were invited to reinvent Google's homepage logo around the theme of"What if…?" Thousands of doodles were submitted and 40 finalists have been selected. Each doodle also contains a caption that expands upon the "What if…" statement. For example:
What if everyone recycled? Would Earth have a chance for survival? If we start today imagine what can happen tomorrow.
What if the whole world rocked? I think that people can express themselves in a creative and energetic way with music. I think that the whole world would be happier if they rocked out to the music they love.
Great thoughts and great doodles galore! The votes will help select a national winner to replace the usual logo on the Google homepage on May 22, 2008.
Now for the TwoFer deal:
The manager of adult services at MPOW recently reactivated a long neglected blog that never quite got off the ground for its original purpose and turned it in to what we have started to call "The Reference Gong Show". Check out PPL Reference, a blog where we are discussing each week an item from our reference collection and whether or not the librarians on staff vote to keep it or let it go. Budgets are tight and we are trying to determine the best use of our funds. The entries and work we are doing is serious, but the comments often stray to the humorous. (This perhaps could have gone under the heading of "steal this idea", but I felt like it was twofer type of day).
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