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Experiencing losses is as much part of forex trading as winning trades. Unfortunately, a lot of traders take losses personally and they end up reacting to their losses by taking revenge trades.
Revenge trading is mainly driven by the fear of being wrong. It's usually when a trader, coming from a particularly frustrating loss, decides to make up for it by being more aggressive in his/her next trades.
This is dangerous for your account for two main reasons. First, it forces you to throw your trading discipline out the window. It shifts your focus from your trading process and good risk management to trying to make enough money to recover your losses with less thought out trades.
Trading based on emotions and luck is not trading. It's gambling. Without any risk management plan, it can bleed your account one trade at a time.
It's also a lose-lose situation. If you lose a revenge trade, you deepen your drawdown with a trade that you had barely planned for. If you win, then you're led to believe that trading on guts and emotion works and you're enticed to do it again.
Revenge trades come in many forms but the most common one is when traders take impulsive (and usually bigger) trades after a particularly frustrating loss in the hopes of making back the money they've lost. Here are other examples:
Ian is losing $97 out of the $100 short that he placed on USD/JPY. He sees that the pair is still popping up but he still believes in his trade idea. He adjusts his stop and waits for the reversal. Two hours later his adjusted stop gets hit. He ended up losing $250 instead of his initial $100 risk.
Mika just lost $50 on a trade that went her way only hours after her stop loss got hit. Frustrated, she decides to double up and put $100, double her usual risk, on her next trade. Not wanting to log in another loss, she cut her winner as soon as she "recovered" her $50.
Though they incurred different results, both Ian and Mika are guilty of revenge trading. Ian lost more than double his initial risk to assure himself that his idea is correct while Mika took on a more aggressive trade than she was used to and lost her potential profits by cutting a winner. Both disregarded their usual strategies in favor of avoiding losses.
Luckily, there are ways to recover from a bout of revenge trading. Let's take a look at some of them:
1. Step out and clear your head after a frustrating loss. Do non-trading related activities and come back only once you've acknowledged that losing is part of the game.
2. Document the reasons why you lost your trade. Identifying what went wrong with your trade and focusing on improving your trading process helps lessen the feeling that the market is against you.
3. Take note of your triggers and tells on your trading journal. Do you do it when you're trading big positions or when you got taken out by unexpected catalysts? Do you do usually bite your fingernails, snack on Cheetos, or scream at your cat before doing it? Knowing your triggers helps you prevent yourself from taking on more revenge trades.
4. Trust in your system! If you've tested your system and follow your trading plan 100%, then you won't mind the losses much because you know that the end numbers will add up in your favor in the end.
5. Practice risk management. If you make risk management a habit, then you'll have better trading discipline and are less likely to take impulsive trades. If you're not used to it yet though, then you can start with following strict rules on position sizes and trade duration.
Remember that even the most consistently profitable traders have bad trading days. It's all part of the game after all.
Don't take losses to mean that the market is against you. It doesn't care about your feelings or how sound your trade ideas are. In fact, it's our job as traders to trade what we see and not what we think. Let go of your ego and focus on getting one good trade after another. It's not you, it's just forex trading.


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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – As summer approaches, relief is in sight for drought-stricken New Mexico and many other parts of the West as Mother Nature appears ready to ease up on her back-to-back blows of stifling heat and gusty winds.
A break in the unfavorable weather can't come soon enough for the hundreds of firefighters battling a blaze on the Navajo Nation that has consumed more than 20 square miles of pinon and juniper forest along with grazing lands that tribal livestock owners have used for centuries.
The Assayii Lake Fire has destroyed at least four structures. Another 50 homes near the rural communities of Naschitti and Sheep Springs were threatened, with some in Naschitti evacuated.
Forecasters with the National Weather Service said storms moving across the Southwest have helped raise humidity levels, and the winds are expected to die down by Thursday, giving firefighters the window needed to directly attack the flames.
'What we saw over the past three or four days will basically end tomorrow. No more wind,' meteorologist Chuck Maxwell said Wednesday.
Despite the variability in the weather and drought, the fire season has been relatively slow across the U.S., according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Idaho. The number of acres burned so far this year is half of the 10-year average, and there have been fewer large fires. In the Southwest, the acreage burned is only 46 percent of average.
'The reason the Southwest is below average is because it had a late start to its fire season,' said Robyn Broyles with the interagency fire center. 'There was a lot of moisture throughout the spring for both New Mexico and Arizona. They're actually having a less severe fire season.'
There are nine large fires burning across the country, including the blaze on the Navajo Nation.
New Mexico, including a large swath of the Navajo Nation, is in its fourth year of severe drought and the risk of fire has been high. So the blaze is only making matters worse for families who are watching from afar as their summer and winter grazing pastures are charred.
Tribal agriculture officials said that depending on the intensity of the Assayii Lake Fire, it could be many months before sheepherders and cattle ranchers get to return to the hills outside Naschitti and Sheep Springs. Officials say they will search for other areas on the sprawling reservation where livestock can graze.
Authorities have repeatedly urged Navajo families to refrain from heading into the mountains to search for their livestock.
'They really do value the life of their livestock more than they value their own,' fire spokeswoman Shari Malone said. 'It's been difficult.'
On Wednesday, planes dropped fire retardant on the southern part of the blaze, while crews began building a line along the western and northern flanks. They were also trying to protect a communication tower to the north.
Elsewhere, diminishing winds have helped firefighters nearly contain a blaze burning near Lake Isabella in California's southern Sierra Nevada. The blaze was 90 percent contained Wednesday morning, with no flames jumping the perimeter.
In northern Arizona, a 7-acre wildfire that broke out in Oak Creek Canyon was contained. The fire was just north of a blaze that charred 31 square miles last month in the scenic canyon between Sedona and Flagstaff.

subset: commoncrawl


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Anchor Brewing Releases Zymaster® Series No. 5: Harvest One American Pale Ale
October 14, 2013
San Francisco, CA (October 14, 2013) – Today, Anchor Brewing Company announces the release of the fifth brew in their Zymaster® series, Harvest One American Pale Ale.
It's hard to imagine that the Cascade hop, today one of craft brewing's most popular hop varieties, was ever new. Yet this distinctively aromatic hop, developed in Oregon by the USDA's breeding program, was first released in the early 1970s. In 1975, Anchor Brewing featured Cascade hops with the debut of Liberty Ale®, America's first craft-brewed, dry-hopped ale. Anchor Brewing has been using it in Liberty Ale® ever since.
Over the years, Anchor Brewing has experimented with many different hops—both old and new—from around the world. For Zymaster Series No. 5: Harvest One American Pale Ale, Anchor Brewing decided to feature an experimental new hop variety. This yet unnamed, pre-commercial, aroma hop provides a uniquely Anchor twist to Zymaster 5.
Zymaster Series No. 5 (7.2% ABV) is made with a special blend of pale, caramel, and Munich malts, which contribute a distinctively complex maltiness and deep golden color. Nugget hops give it a tangy bitterness. But the hallmark of Zymaster 5: Harvest One American Pale Ale is the intriguingly novel aroma of an experimental new hop, which was used liberally in both the brewhouse and the cellar. A late addition to the boil plus dry hopping provides Harvest One with an incredibly lively hop aroma reminiscent of tree-ripened peaches, with just a hint of fresh melon. The result is a uniquely exciting new beer unlike anything brewed or tasted before.
"We have a fantastic and long-lasting relationship with the hop growers we work with." Said Mark Carpenter, Brewmaster at Anchor Brewing. "When we had the opportunity to sample and test a small set of experimental hops that we're being grown; we were excited at the opportunity to work with something new and different. Out of about a dozen or so samples, there was one that really stood out to us. Right away, we knew this was a new hop variety we wanted to brew on a large scale. We were after something unique and aromatic, and this hop was one we hadn't seen or smelled before and would fit well in our Zymaster Series. Similar to how Anchor introduced the world to the Cascade hop in 1975 with Liberty Ale, we are proud and excited to share our take on this new, experimental hop in this new American craft beer."
Beginning on October 14, 2013, Zymaster Series No. 5: Harvest One American Pale Ale will be available in select California markets in 22-ounce bottles and on draught, as well at the Anchor Brewing taproom in San Francisco. In the coming months this release will be available nationally.
Learn more about Anchor Brewing at www.anchorbrewing.com.
# # #
About Anchor Brewing Company
Anchor Brewing Company's roots date back to the California gold rush making it one of America's oldest craft breweries. Its Anchor Steam® Beer is San Francisco's original since 1896. In 1965, Fritz Maytag acquired and revived the struggling brewery at a time when mass production of beer dominated and seemed unstoppable. Maytag started a revolution in beer that originated today's craft beer movement. An undisputed icon, Anchor is America's first craft brewery where beers are handmade in our traditional copper brewhouse from an all-malt mash. At Anchor, we practice the time-honored art of classical brewing, employing state-of-the-art methods to ensure that our beers are always pure and fresh. We know of no brewery in the world that matches our efforts to combine traditional, natural brewing with such carefully applied, modern methods of sanitation, finishing, packaging and transporting. See what we are brewing today at www.anchorbrewing.com.
About Anchor Brewing Zymaster ® Series
Zymaster® is a new word coined by Anchor Brewing to describe a brewmaster with hands-on experience throughout the a-to-z process of creating a new beer, from the research and selection of the raw materials and development of a recipe to brewing, fermentation, cellaring, and finishing. Harvest One American Pale Ale is the fifth addition to the Zymaster® Series, a unique series of beers from Anchor Brewing, rooted in its exceptional respect for the ancient art and noble traditions of brewing, featuring extraordinary ingredients, innovative techniques, and unusual flavors.


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http://mmajunkie.com UFC lightweight Kurt Pellegrino raised the stakes prior to his most recent fight when he said he'd retire with a loss to George Sotiropoulos this past Saturday at UFC 116.
But after re-injuring his left knee in the first round of the fight and dropping a unanimous decision, Pellegrino is adamant that he won't hang it up.
"I'm so sorry I lost the fight – to all my fans – but I don't want to go out that way," Pellegrino today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).
Doctors today informed Pellegrino that he re-tore the meniscus in his left knee, which was first injured in a fight against Fabricio Camoes at UFC 111. On Friday, Pellegrino will arrange a date to repair the damage and said he will take his time before he returns to the gym.
Still, he is already angling to get back inside the octagon by year's end.
"I want to fight in December," he said. "If I can fight in December, that will give me enough time to go through the surgery, to heal my leg and get ready to fight."
Pellegrino (15-5 MMA, 7-4 UFC) said the injury came in an early scramble with Sotiropoulos (13-2 MMA, 6-0 UFC).
"If you watch the fight, he knocks me down," Pellegrino said. "As he jumps on top of me, he pushed me over my leg, and you can see me holding my left knee as he was punching me in the face.
"I have no idea how I was able to fight through that – just by the grace of God and the will to where I tell people I'll never tap. I think it was just that will that kept me going."
The setback snapped a four-fight win streak for the New Jersey native. But Pellegrino takes nothing away from Sotiropoulos' performance, and he concedes he was beaten fairly and squarely.
"I was completely healed from my injury; the doctors all cleared me, and I was ready to go," Pellegrino said. "That's why I fought. George completely, 100 percent won the fight. If I didn't get knocked down, I wouldn't have re-tore my meniscus. But I got knocked down, so that was a credit to George and a discredit to me.
"Whether or not that hampered me from winning, I still took him down. I still knocked him down, and I stood there in front of him and took punches. I fought to the best of my ability that night, and I was not the winner. I was the loser."
Nevertheless, the loss has motivated Pellegrino to solider on and go out on his terms, whenever that may be.
"I will not keep my head down for too long," he said. "I used that retirement for motivation, but there's still huge fights for me in the UFC. I'm looking to have a big fight, win the big fight, and get right back into the title picture.
"Kenny (Florian) is one of my heroes, and when he lost for the title against B.J. (Penn), he went and fought (Takanori) Gomi in his next fight. That put him right back into it. I would like to follow the same footsteps as my mentor."


text: (BeWellBuzz) Medical jargon can be one of the most intimidating pieces of information, especially without concrete guidance. However, it is the proper knowledge of essential nutrients and important concepts of medicine that allows us to make informed choices about our health and wellness. In this section, we give you detailed, laymen information on what MSM is, its key benefits ... Continue Reading


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Prophecies of The Brahan Seer
Fulfillment of
the Seaforth Prophecy
HAVING thus disposed of the
seer himself, we next proceed to give in detail the fulfilment of the
prophecies regarding the family of his cruel murderer. And we regret to say
that the family of Seaforth will, in this connection, fall to be disposed of
finally and for ever, and in the manner which Coinneach had unquestionably
predicted. As already remarked, in due time the Earl returned to his home,
after the fascinations of Paris had paled, and when he felt disposed to
exchange frivolous or vicious enjoyment abroad for the exercise of despotic
authority in the society of a jealous Countess at home. He was gathered to
his fathers in 1678, and was succeeded by his eldest son, the fourth Earl.
It is not our purpose to relate here the vicissitudes of the family which
are unconnected with the curse of Coinneach Odhar, further than by giving a
brief outline, though they are sufficiently remarkable to supply a strange
chapter of domestic history.
The fourth Earl married a
daughter of the illustrious family of Herbert, Marquis of Powis, and he
himself was created a Marquis by the abdicated King of St. Germains, while
his wife's brother was created a Duke. His son, the fifth Earl, having
engaged in the rebellion of 1715, forfeited his estate and titles to the
Crown; but in 1726 his lands were restored to him, and he, and his son after
him, lived in wealth and honour as great Highland chiefs. The latter, who
was by courtesy styled Lord Fortrose, represented his native county of Ross
in several Parliaments about the middle of last century. In 1766, the
honours of the peerage were restored to his son, who was created Viscount
Fortrose, and in 1771, Earl of Seaforth; but those titles, which were Irish,
did not last long, and became extinct at his death, in 1781.
None of these vicissitudes
were foretold in the seer's prophecy; and, in spite of them all, the family
continued to prosper. That ruin which the unsuccessful rising in 1715 had
brought upon many other great houses, was retrieved in the case of Seaforth,
by the exercise of sovereign favour; and restored possessions and renewed
honours preserved the grandeur of the race. But on the death of the last
Earl, his second cousin, descended from a younger son of the third Earl and
his vindictive Countess, inherited the family estates and the chiefdom of
the Mackenzies, which he held for two short years, but never actually
enjoyed, being slain at sea by the Mahrattas, at Gheriah, in the south of
India, in 1783, after a gallant resistance. He was succeeded by his brother,
in whom, as the last of his race, the seer's prophecy was accomplished.
Francis Humberston Mackenzie
was a very remarkable man. He was born in 1794, and although deaf, and
latterly dumb, he was, by the force of his natural abilities and the favour
of fortune, able to fill an important position in the world. It would have
been already observed that the "Last of the Seaforths" was born in full
possession of all his faculties, and that he only became deaf from the
effects of a severe attack of scarlet fever, while a boy in school, which we
have previously noticed in connection with his remarkable dream. He
continued to speak a little, and it was only towards the close of his life,
and particularly during the last two years, that he was unable to articulate
- or perhaps, unwilling to make the attempt, on finding himself the last
male of his line. He may be said to have, prior to this, fairly recovered
the use of speech, for he was able to converse pretty distinctly; but he was
so totally deaf, that all communications were made to him by signs or in
writing. Yet he raised a regiment at the beginning of the great European
war; he was created a British peer in 1797, as Baron Seaforth of Kintail; in
1800 he went out to Barbadoes as Governor, and afterwards to Demerara and
Berbice; and in 1808 he was made a Lieutenant-General. These were singular
incidents in the life of a deaf and dumb man. He married a very amiable and
excellent woman, Mary Proby, the daughter of a dignitary of the Church, and
niece of the first Lord Carysfort, by whom he had a fine family of four sons
and six daughters. When he considered his own position - deaf, and formerly
dumb; when he saw his four sons, three of them rising to man's estate; and
when he looked around him, and observed the peculiar marks set upon the
persons of the four contemporary great Highland lairds, all in strict
accordance with Coinneach's prophecy - he must have felt ill at ease, unless
he was able, with the incredulous indifference of a man of the world, to
spurn the idea from him as an old wife's superstition.
However, fatal conviction was
forced upon him, and on all those who remembered the family tradition, by
the lamentable events which filled his house with mourning. One after
another his three promising sons (the fourth died young) were cut of by
death. The last, who was the most distinguished of them all, for the finest
qualities both of head and heart, was stricken by a sore and lingering
disease, and had gone, with a part of the family, for his health, to the
south of England. Lord Seaforth remained in the north, at Brahan Castle. A
daily bulletin was sent to him from the sick chamber of his beloved son. One
morning, the accounts being rather more favourable, the household began to
rejoice, and a friend in the neighbourhood, who was visiting the chief, came
down after breakfast full of the good news, and gladly imparted it to the
old family piper, whom he met in front of the Castle. The aged retainer
shook his head and sighed - "Na, na," said he, "he'll never recover. It's
decreed that Seaforth must outlive all his four sons." This he said in
allusion to the seer's prophecy; thus his words were understood by the
family; and thus members of the family have again and again repeated the
strange tale. The words of the old piper proved too true. A few more posts
brought to Seaforth the tidings of the death of the last of his four sons.
At length, on the 11th
January, 1815, Lord Seaforth died, the last of his race. His modern title
became extinct. The chiefdom of the Mackenzies, divested of its rank and
honour, passed away to a very remote collateral, who succeeded to no portion
of the property, and the great Seaforth estates were inherited by a
whitehooded lassie from the East. Lord Seaforth's eldest surviving daughter,
the Honourable Mary Frederica Elizabeth Mackenzie, had married, in 1804,
Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, Bart., K.B., who was Admiral of the West India
station while Seaforth himself was Governor in those islands. Sir Samuel
afterwards had the chief command in the Indian seas, whither his lady
accompanied him, and spent several years with him in different parts of the
East Indies. He died while holding that high command, very nearly at the
same time as Lord Seaforth, so that his youthful wife was a recent widow at
the time, and returned home from India in her widow's weeds, to take
possession of her paternal inheritance. She was thus literally a
white-coifed or white-hooded lassie (that is, a young woman in widow's
weeds, and a Hood by name) from the East. After some years of widowhood,
Lady Hood Mackenzie married a second time, Mr. Stewart, a grandson of the
sixth Earl of Galloway, who assumed the name of Mackenzie, and established
himself on his lady's extensive estates in the North. Thus, the possessions
of Seaforth may be truly said to have passed from the male line of the
ancient house of Mackenzie. And still more strikingly was this fulfilled as
regarded a large portion of these estates, when Mr. and Mrs. Stewart
Mackenzie so1d the great Island of Lewis to Sir James Matheson.
After many years of happiness
and prosperity, a frightful - accident threw the family into mourning. Mrs.
Stewart Mackenzie was one day driving her younger sister, the Hon. Caroline
Mackenzie, in a pony carriage, among the woods in the vicinity of Brahan
Castle. Suddenly, the ponies took fright, and started off at a furious pace.
Mrs. Stewart Mackenzie was quite unable to check them, and both she and her
sister were thrown out of the carriage much bruised and hurt. She happily
soon recovered from the accident, but the injury which her sister sustained
proved fatal, and, after lingering for some time in a hopeless state, she
died, to the inexpressible grief of all the members of her family. As Mrs.
Stewart Mackenzie was driving the carriage at the time of the accident, she
may be said to have been the innocent cause of her sister's death, and thus
to have fulfilled the last portion of Coinneach's prophecy which has yet
been accomplished.
Thus we have seen that the
last chief of Seaforth was deaf and dumb; that he had four sons; that he
survived them all; that the four great Highland lairds who were his
contemporaries were all distinguished by the peculiar personal marks the
seer predicted; that his estates were inherited by a white-coifed or
white-hooded lassie from the East; that his great possessions passed into
the hands of other races; and that his eldest daughter and heiress was so
unfortunate as to be the innocent cause of her sister's death. In this very
remarkable instance of family fate, the prophecy was not found out after the
events occurred; it had been current for generations in the Highlands, and
its tardy fulfilment was marked curiously and anxiously by an entire clan
and a whole county. Seaforth was respected and beloved far and near, and
strangers, as well as friends and clansmen, mourned along with him the
sorrows of his later years. The gradual development of the doom was watched
with sympathy and grief, and the fate of Seaforth has been, during the last
half-century of his life, regarded as one of the most curious instances of
that second-sight for which the inhabitants of the Highlands of Scotland
have been so long celebrated. Mr. Stewart Mackenzie, the accomplished
husband of the heiress of Seaforth, after being for many years a
distinguished member of the House of Commons and a Privy Councillor, held
several high appointments in the Colonial Dominions of the British Crown. He
was successively Governor of Ceylon and Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian
Islands, and died, universally beloved and lamented, in the year 1842.
Lockhart in his Life of
Scott, in reference to the Seaforth prediction, says: - "Mr. Morrit can
testify thus far - that he heard the prophecy quoted in the Highlands at a
time when Lord Seaforth had two sons alive, and in good health, and that it
certainly was not made after the event"; and he goes on to tell us that
Scott and Sir Humphrey Davy were most certainly convinced of its truth, as
also many others who had watched the latter days of Seaforth in the light of
those wonderful predictions.
The late Duncan Davidson of
Tulloch, Lord-Lieutenant of the County of Ross, on reading our Second
edition, wrote to the author, under date of May 21, 1878, as follows: -
"Many of these prophecies I heard of upwards of 70 years ago, and when many
of them were not fulfilled, such as the late Lord Seaforth surviving his
sons, and Mrs. Stewart-Mackenzie's accident, near Brahan, by which Miss
Caroline Mackenzie was killed." Tulloch was, he said, during the latter
years of Lord Seaforth, a regular visitor at Brahan Castle, and often heard
the predictions referred to among members of the family. The letter is in
our possession, and it was published, during Tulloch's life, and by his
special permission, in Mackenzie's History of the Mackenzies, p. 267.
An attempt was recently made
to sell the remaining possessions of the family, but fortunately, for the
present, this attempt has been defeated by the interposition of the
Marchioness of Tweeddale and Mrs. Colonel Stanley, daughters of the present
nominal possessor of the property. At the time a leading article appeared in
the Edinburgh Daily Review giving an outline of the family history of the
Seaforths. After describing how the fifth Earl, with the fidelity
characteristic of his house, "true as the dial to the sun," embraced the
losing side in the "the Fifteen"; fought at the head of his clan at
Sheriffmuir; how in 1719 he, along with the Marquis of Tullibardine, and the
Earl Marischal, made a final attempt to bring the "auld Stewarts back
again"; how he was dangerously wounded in an encounter with the Government
forces at Glenshiel, and compelled to abandon the vain enterprise; how he
was carried on board a vessel by his clansmen, conveyed to the Western
Isles, and ultimately to France; how he was attainted by Parliament, and his
estates forfeited to the Crown; how all the efforts of the Government failed
to penetrate into Kintail, or to collect any rent from his faithful Macraes,
whom the Seaforths had so often led victorious from many a bloody conflict,
from the battle of Largs down to the Jacobite Rebellions of 1715 and 1719;
and how the rents of that part of the estates were regularly collected and
remitted to their exiled chief in France, with a devotion and faithfulness
only to be equalled by their own countrymen when their beloved "bonnie
Prince Charlie" was a wanderer, helpless and forlorn, at the mercy of his
enemies, and with a reward of £30,000 at the disposal of many a poverty
striken and starving Highlander, who would not betray his lawful Prince for
all the gold in England; the article continues: - But their (the Seaforth's)
downfall came at last, and the failure of the male line of this great
historical family was attended with circumstances as singular as they were
painful. Francis, Lord Seaforth, the last Baron of Kintail, was, says Sir
Walter Scott, "a nobleman of extraordinary talents, who must have made for
himself a lasting reputation, had not his political exertions been checked
by painful natural infirmity". Though deaf from his sixteenth year, and
inflicted also with a partial impediment of speech, he was distinguished for
his attainments as well as for his intellectual activity. He took a lively
interest in all questions of art and science, especially in natural history,
and displayed at once his liberality and his love of art by his munificence
to Sir Thomas Lawrence, in the youthful straits and struggles of that great
artist, and by his patronage of other artists. Before his elevation to the
peerage, Lord Seaforth represented Ross-shire in Parliament for a number of
years, and was afterwards Lord-Lieutenant of the county. During the
revolutionary war with France, he raised a splendid regiment of Ross-shire
Highlanders (the 78th, the second which had been raised among his clan), of
which he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant, and he ultimately
attained the rank of Lieutenant-General in the Army. He held for six years
the office of Governor of Barbadoes, and, by his firmness and even-handed
justice, he succeeded in putting an end to the practice of slave-killing,
which at that time was not unfrequent in the Island, and was deemed by the
planters a venial offence, to be punished only by a small fine.
Lord Seaforth was the happy
father of three (four) sons and six daughters, all of high promise; and it
seemed as if he were destined to raise the illustrious house of which he was
the head, to a height of honour and power greater than than it had ever yet
attained. But the closing years of this nobleman were darkened by calamities
of the severest kind. The mismanagement of his estates in the West Indies
involved him in inextricable embarrassments, and compelled him to dispose of
a part of his Kintail estates - "the gift-land" of the family, as it was
termed - a step which his tenantry and clansmen in vain endeavoured to
avert, by offering to buy in the land for him, that it might not pass from
the family. He had previously been bereaved of two of his sons, and about
the time that Kintail was sold, his only remaining son, a young man of
talent and eloquence, the representative in parliament of his native county,
suddenly died. The broken-hearted father lingered on for a few months, his
fine intellect enfeebled by paralysis, and yet, as Sir Walter Scott says,
"not so entirely obscured but that he perceived his deprivation as in a
glass, darkly." Sometimes he was anxious and fretful because he did not see
his son; sometimes he expostulated and complained that his boy had been
allowed to die without his seeing him; and sometimes, in a less clouded
state of intellect, he was sensible of his loss in its full extent. The last
"Cabarfeidh" followed his son to the grave in January, 1815, and then - Of
the line of Fitzgerald remained not a male, To bear the proud name of the
Chiefs of Kintail.
The most remarkable
circumstance connected with this sorrowful tale, is the undoubted fact that,
centuries ago, a Seer of the Clan Mackenzie, known as Kenneth Oag (Odhar),
predicted that when there should be a deaf and dumb "Cabarfeidh" (Staghead,
the Celtic designation of the chief of the clan, taken from the family
crest), the "gift-land" of their territory (Kintail) would be sold, and the
male line become extinct. This prophecy was well known in the north long
before its fulfilment, and was certainly not made after the event. "It
connected," says Lockhart, "the fall of the house of Seaforth not only with
the appearance of a deaf 'Cabarfeidh,' but with the contemporaneous
appearance of various different physical misfortunes in several of the other
great Highland chiefs, all of which are said to have actually occurred
within the memory of the generation that has not yet passed away."
On the death of his lordship,
his estates, with all their burdens and responsibilities, devolved on his
eldest daughter, Lady Hood, whose second husband was James Stewart
Mackenzie, a member of the Galloway family, and whose son has just been
prevented from selling all that remains of the Seaforth estates. "Our
friend, Lady Hood," wrote Sir Walter Scott to Mr. Morritt, "will now be
'Cabarfeidh' herself. She has the spirit of a chieftainess in every drop of
her blood, but there are few situations in which the cleverest women are so
apt to be imposed upon as in the management of landed property, more
especially of a Highland estate. I do fear the accomplishment of the
prophecy that, when there should be a deaf 'Cabarfeidh,' the house was to
fall." The writer concludes thus: - "Scott's apprehensions proved only to
well founded. One section after another of the estates had to be sold. The
remaining portion of Kintail, the sunny braes of Ross, the church lands of
Chanonry, the barony of Pluscarden, and the Island of Lews - a principality
itself - were disposed of one after the other, till now nothing remains of
the vast estates of this illustrious house except Brahan Castle, and a mere
remnant of their ancient patrimony (and that in the hands of trustees),
which the nonresident, nominal owner has just been prevented from
alienating. Sic transit."
Leaving these extraordinary
prophecies with the reader, to believe, disbelieve, or explain away on any
principle or theory which may satisfy his reason, his credulity, or
scepticism, we conclude with the following:
In vain the bright course of
thy talents to wrong
Fate deaden'd thine ear and imprison'd thy tongue,
For brighter o'er all her obstructions arose
The glow of the genius they could not oppose;
And who, in the land of the Saxon, or Gael,
Might match with Mackenzie, High Chief of Kintail?
Thy sons rose around thee in light and in love,
All a father could hope, all a friend could approve;
What 'vails it the tale of thy sorrows to tell?
In the spring time of youth and of promise they fell!
Of the line of MacKenneth remains not a male,
To bear the proud name of the Chief of Kintail.
And thou, gentle Dame, who must bear, to thy grief,
For thy clan and thy country the cares of a Chief,
Whom brief rolling moons in six changes have left,
Of thy husband and father and brethren bereft;
To thine ear of affection, how sad is the hail
That salutes thee - the heir of the line of Kintail!
Na 'm biodh an t'earball na bu
ruighne bhiodh mo
sgialachd na b'fhaide.
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text:
Hypocrisy in the Middle
February 26, 2007
Hundreds of thousands of American troops already occupy Afghanistan and Iraq, a number that is rising as the military surge moves forward. The justification, given endlessly since September 11th, is that both support terrorism and thus pose a risk to the United States. Yet when we step back and examine the region as a whole, itĺs obvious that these two impoverished countries, neither of which has any real military, pose very little threat to American national security when compared to other Middle Eastern nations. The decision to attack them, while treating some of regionĺs worst regimes as allies, shows the deadly hypocrisy of our foreign policy in the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia, the native home of most of the September 11th
hijackers. The
Saudis, unlike the Iraqis, have proven connections to al Qaeda.
Saudi charities have funneled money to Islamic terrorist groups.
Yet the administration insists on calling Saudi Arabia a ôgood partner
in the war on terror.ö
Why? Because the U.S. has a longstanding relationship with the Saudi
royal family, and a long history of commercial interests relating to Saudi oil.
So successive administrations continue to treat the Saudis as something
they are not: a reliable and honest friend in the Middle East.
same is true of Pakistan, where General Musharaf seized power by force in a 1999
coup. The Clinton administration quickly accepted his new leadership as
legitimate, to the dismay of India and many Muslim Pakistanis. Since 9/11, we
have showered Pakistan with millions in foreign aid, ostensibly in exchange for
Musharafĺs allegiance against al Qaeda. Yet has our new ally rewarded our
support? Hardly.
The Pakistanis almost certainly have harbored bin Laden in their remote
mountains, and show little interest in pursuing him or allowing anyone else to
pursue him. Pakistan
has signed peace agreements with Taliban leaders, and by some accounts bin Laden
is a folk hero to many Pakistanis.
more members of al Qaeda probably live within Pakistan than any other country
today. North Korea developed its nuclear capability with technology sold to them
by the Pakistanis. Yet somehow we remain friends with Pakistan, while Saddam
Hussein, who had no connection to bin Laden and no friends in the Islamic
fundamentalist world, was made a scapegoat.
tired assertion that America "supports democracy" in the Middle East
is increasingly transparent. It was false 50 years ago, when we supported and
funded the hated Shah of Iran to prevent nationalization of Iranian oil, and
itĺs false today when we back an unelected military dictator in Pakistan- just
to name two examples. If honest democratic elections were held throughout the
Middle East tomorrow, many countries would elect religious fundamentalist
leaders hostile to the United States. ClichÚ or not, the Arab Street really
doesnĺt like America, so we should stop the charade about democracy and start
pursuing a coherent foreign policy that serves Americaĺs long-term interests.
coherent foreign policy is based on the understanding that America is best
served by not interfering in the deadly conflicts that define the Middle East.
Yes, we need Middle Eastern oil, but we can reduce our need by exploring
domestic sources. We should rid ourselves of the notion that we are at the mercy
of the oil-producing countries- as the worldĺs largest oil consumer, their
wealth depends on our business.
We should stop the endless game of playing faction against faction, and
recognize that buying allies doesnĺt work. We should curtail the heavy
militarization of the area by ending our disastrous foreign aid payments. We
should stop propping up dictators and putting band-aids on festering problems.
We should understand that our political and military involvement in the region
creates far more problems that it solves. All Americans will benefit, both in
terms of their safety and their pocketbooks, if we pursue a coherent, neutral
foreign policy of non-interventionism, free trade, and self-determination in the
Middle East.


text:
(CNN) -- Despite sprains, foot pains and blisters, towering footwear has legions of loyal female fans.
Among them are pop stars who dance intricate choreography wearing colossal shoes. Lady Gaga wore a pair of staggering 12-inch Alexander McQueen heels in her music video "Bad Romance." The theatrical shoes she wore were unveiled by the late British designer McQueen last fall, prompting some models to decline to walk the runway for him.
"We have entered a moment of heightened impracticality in footwear," said Elizabeth Semmelhack, author of "Heights of Fashion: A History of the Elevated Shoe." Heels tend to get higher during economic recessions, she added.
During the Great Depression in 1930s, the oil crisis in the 1970s, and the dotcom bust heels went higher. Although she's not sure why, Semmelhack said, "it could also be sort of a greater need for escapism."
While high heels elongate legs and make women feel skinnier and taller, they also mean ankle injuries, hammertoes and pain, podiatrists warn.
Doctors know their patients will wear the torturous footwear anyway.
"It's partly why we have a job," said Dr. Martin Alongi, a podiatrist at Beverly Hills Podiatrist in California.
"I just figure women in their 20s are going to do it. If they take care of their feet all the other time, most people can get away with it. There's going to be an occasional person who injures themselves."
There are way to lower the pain quotient on fashion.
Being fashionable doesn't mean wearing the highest heels, said Hal Rubenstein, InStyle Magazine's fashion director. Women have a lot of options this season with platforms, wedges, solid heels and jeweled sandals.
InStyle: What's your go-to shoe?
"I think there's a wide open field of what people can select," he said. "It's not like, 'Oh my God, if I don't wear 6-inch platforms, everyone's going to make fun of me.' Those days are gone. That's the old way of looking at fashion. It's about balance. So much of it is about proportion. You can't say a certain type of heel is in. That's separating the shoes from the rest of the outfit."
If a pair of heels make a woman feel sexy and confident, she should wear them. If the shoes torture her the point she says to herself, "I wish this day was over," then don't wear them, Rubenstein said.
"Should anyone wear shoes that tortures them? No, why would you wear clothing to be miserable?" he said.
InStyle: 12 Heels that Don't Hurt
But not everyone is following that message. Megan Forlines, a 20-year-old New York City resident, said walking to classes and her internship in 7-inch Jimmy Choo heels was torturous.
"The balls of my feet would hurt, I wouldn't be able to stand," said the fashion student. "I would get blisters, because I would stand in them wrong. My foot felt like it was broken."
She wore them anyway "because they look cute and because fashion is pain."
During nights out, Forlines brought a change of shoes or spent most of the evening sitting so she could slyly remove her footwear under the table.
Women tend to ignore the advice "wear sensible shoes," because "it's a damning term" with connotations of a mousyness, said Semmelhack, senior curator at the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, Canada.
Dr. Kathleen Stone, president of the American Podiatric Medical Association, suggests giving the feet breaks during the day and changing into high heels at night. She advises against wearing heels that are higher than 2 inches but knows many are not likely to heed the advice. The health effects of high heels are well-known.
"It's very difficult, not only on the foot, but the knees and low back," she said. "The way the shoes put pressure on the front part on your feet, it applies compression on your toes and irritation to the nerves in the toes."
The bones in the ball of the feet, called sesimoids, can be damaged or broken. Constant pressure on the feet can result in thickening of tissues around the nerves of the toes, called Morton's neuroma, causing pain, stinging or numbness in the toes.
Recent studies have affirmed the relationship between foot problems and high heels.
-- A Harvard study published in the October issue of Arthritis Care & Research found that 29 percent of 1,900 women reported generalized foot pain. The research showed that those who chose to wear uncomfortable shoes early in life suffered with foot pain in later years, while men did not experience the same type of foot pain as women. More on this study
-- A Korean study published in January suggested that high-heeled shoes may contribute to a change of the knee joint muscles while walking. More on this study
Stone warns against straining or doing vigorous activities in heels because it could overstretch ankle ligaments, which are like rubber bands and can snap.
Forlines said she doesn't worry about such health problems. She took a high heel recovery course that trains women to walk in heels. Tim Driscoll, founder and director of Backbone and Wingspan, a New York studio, started the class that incorporates Pilates-based exercises.
Women often treat their feet like blocks to stuff into their shoes and push all their weight into the front of the feet, he said.
"Draw the heel back and get in touch with the hamstring," Driscoll advised. Driscoll's advice on walking easier with heels
Forlines changed her posture and weight distribution on her feet. They used to ache immediately after putting on her red glitter Christian Louboutins, but now they only tire after hours of standing.
It's "bearable pain," she said.


text:
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text:
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text:
OSHS Lady Bobcats softball team advances in state tourney
Staff Writer
The Oliver Springs High School Lady Bobcats softball team were victorious Tuesday night in their first game at the state tournament in Murfreesboro.
The Lady Cats beat the team from University High School, 4-3.
The seniors missed their graduation ceremony to play in this game, so they wore their caps on the softball field instead of on stage. The sacrifice was worth it, since they are advancing to the second round of the tournament.
The team was set to play Richland High School Wednesday.


text:
It's about time we had a Carreon article. Too much sadness and anger lately. We needed a comedic break.
Charles Carreon Keeps Digging; Now Targeting Lawyer Who Is Seeking Legal Fees [Updated]
from the digging-digging-digging dept
If you haven't had your Charles Carreon fill in a while, here you go. Last we'd heard, despite promising to go after a parody blogger who was mocking Carreon (and threatening the blogger's employer), when that blogger filed for declaratory judgment, Carreon first avoided being served, and upon finally being served almost immediately capitulated and promised not to sue. However, what Carreon did not apparently realize was that he left himself open to having to pay the legal fees from the other side, which has led to an ongoing fight in which the lawyers, Paul Levy and Cathy Gellis, are seeking upwards of $40,000 — a number that seems to keep going up the more and more Carreon tries to fight their every move.
The latest is that Carreon has asked the court for a 120-day extension in responding to Levy's motion for fees. Asking for an extension is not uncommon, and it's often granted — but the reasoning here is a bit out of the ordinary (which, perhaps, should not be unexpected given who is involved). Rather than citing significant other cases or workload that might get in the way, or highlighting why the basic requirements in responding to the motion require more time, Carreon seems to be trying to smear Paul Levy and his employer, Public Citizen (full disclosure: Levy is a friend, and has, at times, represented this site against threats). Much of Carreon's argument is this bizarre conspiracy theory suggesting that Levy trolls the internet seeking cases where he can file for declaratory judgment, and then tries to cash in on legal fees. He cites two (two!) cases where Levy has, in the past, sought legal fees and lost. And then suggests he needs more time to research all of this more, including seeking discovery from Levy and finding groups to file amicus briefs ("friend of the court" briefs) on his behalf.
To put it mildly, this is crazy. Carreon seems to be trying to turn a case in which he was clearly the initial bully, and got called on it, into one where he tries to sift through documents concerning the lawyer who called his bluff. Basically, it's back to Carreon's game plan throughout this mess: when in trouble, keep digging — and, as part of that digging, accuse everyone against you of somehow doing something nefarious. In the past, this has included accusations against bloggers and press who were covering his saga (including threats to sue some of them), and now it's extended to threats to drag Levy into a time consuming and meaningless discovery process. Levy filed a short response, noting that he has no problem giving Carreon a 30 day extension, but going on a fishing expedition via discovery makes no sense as they're just trying to settle whether or not Carreon needs to pay legal fees. Furthermore, the search for amici to support him is no excuse for asking for an extension.
Carreon then responded not by countering any of the legal points that Levy raised concerning the extension or discovery, but simply by playing a weird game of "gotcha" in which he wants to call the court's attention to the fact that, in his reply, Levy decided not to even bother responding to Carreon's silly assertions about Levy deliberately trolling the internet for cases where he could seek legal fees (based on the two cases Carreon found where Levy sought legal fees).
Plaintiff's counsel's silence regarding the judicial rebuffs his arguments suffered in the Eleventh and Fourth Circuits speaks volumes.
Mr. Levy is simply engaging in a form of forum shopping, eagerly seeking and recruiting clients who create gripe sites to file preemptive declaratory relief actions in various venues, hoping to coerce settlements from vulnerable defendants, or perhaps to lead some court into error by failing to disclose his prior defeats on the very same issue in other jurisdictions
Of course, this ignores a much more plausible scenario (one that happens to be true). As is Public Citizen's charter, Levy and others in the Public Citizen litigation group have a core focus, which is that the group "specializes in cases involving regulation, consumer rights, access to the courts, open government, and the First Amendment, including Internet free speech." Basically, they look for cases that help promote the public good on those particular issues. As such, they are certainly one of the leading groups that people reach out to when they are threatened unfairly. And, based on that, it's not surprising that, at times, this leads to cases in which it is appropriate to seek legal fees. Sometimes they will get those legal fees, and sometimes they will not.
What that has to do with whether or not Carreon should pay up legal fees for his actions is anybody's guess.
Oh, and I think that we (and a few other sites still talking about Carreon) get a bit of a backhanded mention in this one:
Defendant is not a public figure, no issue of public importance has been addressed, and the matter has not been found newsworthy except in online publications desperate for pseudo-legal content.
Are we an "online publication desperate for pseudo-legal content"? We have more than enough content, honestly, and I could do without any more Carreon filings, but he just keeps digging, so the topic just keeps flowing.
Oh, and despite Carreon's claims that Levy is all too eager to jump into these kinds of cases, filing declaratory judgments and then seeking legal fees, I will note that my own personal experience with Levy was that he has, multiple times, steered me away from going that route. If his ultimate goal was to file as many such cases as possible, I doubt that would be the case.
Update: And… between me writing this story and publishing it, the judge has quickly rejected most of Carreon's arguments, giving him 60 days as an extension but saying no to the discovery request, saying simply:
Defendant's request for extensive discovery would amount to a mini-trial on plaintiff's motion for attorneys' fees. Such extensive discovery is unnecessary and a waste of resources.
"Unnecessary and a waste of resources" seems like a phrase that can be applied to an awful lot of Charles Carreon's recent activities.
Filed Under: carreon effect, charles carreon, legal fees, paul levy


text:
Give Thanks This Thursday—and Always
For your health and happiness, practice gratitude 365 days a year
Posted November 19, 2012
Sometimes our world can be pretty crappy.
There's violence and crazy people. Maybe your candidate didn't win the election. Perhaps you hate your job, and that—on top of life's other personal, familial, and financial burdens—is wearing you down. Maybe you got to your morning coffee after it went cold, and that set off a bad tone for the rest of your day.
If you're celebrating Thanksgiving this Thursday, don't forget the true meaning of the holiday between the stressful hubbub of cooking, shopping, planning, and appeasing Great Aunt Gertie: giving thanks.
As it turns out, expressing gratitude is more than just a nice idea—it's beneficial to your health and happiness.
Back in 2003, Robert A. Emmons (UC Davis) and Michael McCullough (Miami) were among the first to publish a study in examining the link between thankfulness and a person's well-being in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
The researchers divided 192 undergraduate participants into three groups. All participants kept a weekly journal—the difference was what they wrote about.
Those in the first group (the "gratitude" group) were instructed to list five things for which they were grateful that had occurred in the past week. Participants in the second ("hassle") group detailed daily stressors that had brought them down over the previous week. Those in the third group ("neutral") were simply told to list five circumstances that had affected them, whether good or bad.
After ten weeks of journaling, participants were assessed for whether they experienced any number of physical symptoms (headaches, pain, illness, acne, etc.), rated how they dealt with people helping them ("reaction to aid"), and ranked their overall life views and well-being.
Participants in the "gratitude" group expressed more positive feelings about their lives after ten weeks, and were found to be 25% happier than the "hassle" group. They even exercised an average of 1.5 hours more and were more willing to reach out and help others.
Feeling good, physically and emotionally, is ideal, of course. But as pro-social beings, we crave acceptance and attention from people for successful relationships. Can expressing gratitude make others feel good, too?
A study published back in May by Amie Gordon and colleagues in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology answers with a resounding "yes."
First, the researchers had 50 undergraduate participants—all of whom had been in their current relationship for over a year—fill out a questionnaire every night for a week about how much they appreciated their partner and, in turn, how appreciated they felt.
Nine months later, the 50 subjects were surveyed about their relationship. Those who felt appreciated were more likely to return the feeling, and (perhaps most telling) were less likely to have broken up after nine months. In fact, these individuals considered themselves more "committed" than when first examined.
In a separate study, Gordon and colleagues brought a variety of couples into the lab (ranging between 18 and 60 years of age, half of whom co-habitated). The authors examined their interactions, scoring how many times the participants touched their partner, made eye contact, and how engaged each were in conversation.
The more often a person expressed compassion toward the partner, the more appreciated the partner felt, and the happier they ranked their relationship.
Says lead author Amie Gordon, "What goes wrong in a lot of relationships is you start to take your partner for granted. You get used to having them in your life and forget why you chose to be with them."
Life can be tough, so much that sometimes the last thing you want to do is pull back the covers and get up in the morning. But if you can remember to be grateful for the things you have and the people in your life, you might reap physical, emotional, and social benefits—and pass them on to those you love, too.
But let's be fair—we'll wait until after trampling our way through the crowds at Target on Black Friday Eve for some sweet Xbox 360 Kinect deals until we show gratitude for what we've already got. *sigh*
Emmons RA, & McCullough ME (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: an experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of personality and social psychology, 84 (2), 377-89 PMID: 12585811
Gordon AM, Impett EA, Kogan A, Oveis C, & Keltner D (2012). To have and to hold: gratitude promotes relationship maintenance in intimate bonds. Journal of personality and social psychology, 103 (2), 257-74 PMID: 22642482


text:
Amazon plans to demonstrate a new version of Kindle for the Web on Tuesday, one day after Google launched its Google eBooks and eBookstore strategy. (See correction below.)
An Amazon spokeswoman said via an e-mail to Computerworld late Monday that the new Kindle for the Web will "enable users to read full books in the browser and [enable] any Website to become a bookstore offering Kindle books."
The spokeswoman didn't elaborate. The Kindle for the Web concept first surfaced in September and the Tuesday announcement could be a "natural evolution" of Amazon's e-book strategy, said Allen Weiner, an analyst at Gartner.
Amazon first launched Kindle for the Web as a beta application in September to allow customers to discover new books by sampling first chapters of the books directly through Web browsers without the need for a software download. Based on the spokeswoman's statement on Monday, the new version would allow book purchases of Kindle books through various Web sites offering them. It also would also allow reading of the full book, not just samples.
Google announced Google eBooks and Google eBook store on Monday, giving customers e-book purchasing and browsing access through dozens of devices including, importantly, various Google-backed Android smartphones and tablets. In addition, the e-books can be purchased from Google's eBookstore or independent booksellers.
The open, cloud-based system might look like a sure winner for Google, but analysts noted that Amazon is well-established with years of experience selling e-books. Amazon has also sold millions of proprietary Kindle e-readers, although there is disagreement on the actual figure. Some believe the number is 5 million to 6 million, although Amazon has not said.
Gartner and other analyst firms estimate that Amazon's Kindles make up about half of the market for black-and-white e-readers, not including devices like Apple's iPad or the Samsung Galaxy Tab. In addition to its Kindles, Amazon supports other platforms for reading its e-books, including Android-based devices, the iPad, the iPhone and the BlackBerry, as well PCs and Macs.
James McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester, said that Kindle for the Web "is all the more reason to say that cloud-based reading is not a strong differentiator for Google on the consumer side."
With Amazon's ability to let independent booksellers sell books through Kindle for the Web, as well as Google's similar capability, McQuivey questioned whether an independent seller would be "happier to feather Amazon's nest or Google's nest? Which enemy do you want to strengthen?"
Those independent sellers will face that tough decision between Amazon or Google "if they want to be in business five years from now," McQuivey added.
While Kindles hold half of the black-and-white e-reader market, the more serious question is how many books Amazon has sold through its e-readers. McQuivey said Amazon has about two-thirds of the e-book market. "I don't expect that to really change," he said, even with Google's announcement.
"In the long run, Google eBooks may just convert more people to e-reading who may then go on to buy a Kindle," McQuivey added.
Weiner said Google is a clear threat to Amazon, however, because Google can support many more devices than Amazon.
Google has talked about supporting the PDF and ePub formats for making its approach more open than Amazon's, although McQuivey dismissed those formats as not all that important.
"EPub doesn't mean anything to most buyers, especially when reading on the Kindle platform feels a lot like reading on the cloud," McQuivey said. The Google vs. Amazon e-book battle is complicated by many other devices and systems, including the iPad, the Galaxy Tab based on Android, and a range of other attractive devices, including a color Nook e-reader from Barnes & Noble, analysts said.
But Weiner said the distinction with Google and Amazon is that both have ownership of enormous e-book ecosystems that go from arrangements with book publishers all the way through systems to convert book and magazine content to digital content. "Both are powerful players," Weiner said. "Whether there's a big battle between Google and Amazon depends on what Amazon does next," Weiner said. "If Amazon is serious about the device space, they are going to have to open up devices ... whether that is based on Windows or Android or something else."
What's more, Weiner said, Google has to "prove to be a worthy competitor to Amazon, which has years with a global footprint, really strong apps on every device and a great brand."
Amazon also has the ability to allow a quick online checkout, which comes from years of experience selling books and other goods online, and is a tool that Google lacks, Weiner said. "Amazon also has a return policy that's amazing with great customer service," he added.
Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld. Follow Matt on Twitter at @matthamblen or subscribe to Matt's RSS feed. His e-mail address is email@example.com.


text:
This tree diagram shows the relationships between several groups of organisms.
The root of the current tree connects the organisms featured in this tree to their containing group and the rest of the Tree of Life. The basal branching point in the tree represents the ancestor of the other groups in the tree. This ancestor diversified over time into several descendent subgroups, which are represented as internal nodes and terminal taxa to the right.
You can click on the root to travel down the Tree of Life all the way to the root of all Life, and you can click on the names of descendent subgroups to travel up the Tree of Life all the way to individual species.
For more information on ToL tree formatting, please see Interpreting the Tree or Classification. To learn more about phylogenetic trees, please visit our Phylogenetic Biology pages.close box
von Balthazar, M. and P. K. Endress. 2002. Development of inflorescences and flowers in Buxaceae and the problem of perianth interpretation. International Journal of Plant Sciences 163 (6):847-876.
von Balthazar, M., P. K. Endress, and Y. L. Qiu. 2000. Phylogenetic relationships in Buxaceae based on nuclear internal transcribed spacers and plastid ndhF sequences. International Journal of Plant Sciences 161 (5):785-792.
About This Page
Page copyright © 2006
All Rights Reserved.
- First online 13 January 2006
Citing this page:
Tree of Life Web Project. 2006. Buxaceae. Version 13 January 2006 (temporary). http://tolweb.org/Buxaceae/20712/2006.01.13 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/


text:
Lei Chic's no-cook recipe for overnight oatmeal
Raise the Jar: Overnight Oats
Today marks the launch of a new DIY series exploring the many ways to use one of our favorite household objects, the mason jar, which you can pick up at most grocery and drugstores.
Here in the office, we've coined a new term: hangry, the condition of an editor when she skips a meal and transforms into a total drama queen (hungry+angry=hangry).
Symptoms tend to appear mid-morning and are typically preceded by an alarm malfunction, misplaced keys, and/or fussy kids. So, we developed our own overnight oats: a simple, no-cook breakfast that can be prepared in a jar the night before and snatched out of the fridge on our way out the door. The recipe is arguably tastier than regular oatmeal (less mushy, more hearty), and today, we're sharing it with you.
It's all part of our mission to end world hanger, one jar at a time.
Lei Chic's Overnight Oats
- 1/3 cup plain or Greek yogurt
- 1 Tbsp. honey
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup milk (regular, soy, or almond)
- 1/2 cup oats
- 1/8 cup finely chopped nuts
- 1/4 cup berries and/or sliced bananas
Combine yogurt, honey and vanilla extract in a mason jar. Stir in milk until smooth. Add oats and nuts. Cover and leave in fridge overnight. If oatmeal is too thick the next morning, add a splash of milk. Top with fresh fruit and a drizzle of honey (optional, to taste).
Note: Feel free to play with the recipe – use whatever fruit you have on hand, substitute maple syrup for honey, add a sprinkle of cinnamon, flax or chia seeds. If using frozen berries, add them the night before so they can thaw.


text:
Census says number of vacant homes doubled in some towns
The number of vacant houses, apartments and condominiums in Massachusetts spiked by more than 80,000 in the past decade, according to the 2010 federal Census, apparently driven by the mortgage crisis and recession.
Many towns and cities in the eastern part of the state saw their number of empty homes double since 2000, according to Census results released last week.
But some communities have many more vacant dwellings than others. Census takers recorded less than 3 percent of the housing stock as unoccupied in places like Holliston, Norfolk and Medfield, but said one in 10 homes is empty in Fall River, Fairhaven and elsewhere.
The data does not differentiate between rentals and owner-occupied homes, nor between homes that are abandoned and those for sale or for rent. The Census plans to release more detailed results at a later date.
Kevin Sears, past president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, said foreclosures have left homes empty across the real estate market. The mortgage crisis first seemed to hit multi-family homes the hardest, but as the recession took hold, foreclosures spread, he said.
"We were finally seeing the foreclosures hitting the middle-class family, the single-families in the nice neighborhoods, where people didn't expect that sort of thing," said Sears, who was the association's president last year. "Folks are losing their jobs. The next thing they're going to lose is their house."
Overall, Massachusetts has added 186,265 homes since 2000, for a total of 2.8 million units.
A higher percentage of the total homes in the state were reported vacant in the new Census – 9.3 percent, or 261,179 units – compared to 6.8 percent, or 178,409 units, in 2000.
Barry Bluestone, dean of public policy and urban affairs at Northeastern University, said while some states might have built too many new homes in the last decade, that does not appear to be the case in Massachusetts. Foreclosures are likely a bigger factor in rising vacancies, he said.
Compared to other states, Massachusetts seems to fare comparatively well in terms of empty homes. Its vacancy ranks 46th lowest among the 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, according to the 2010 Census.
Susan Strate, Population Estimates Program manager at the UMass Donahue Institute, said more detailed Census data will eventually shed more light on the state's housing position.
"Without knowing the full story, if housing vacancy rate is a sign of economic downturn and burst of housing bubble, Massachusetts looks to be in a better position than most by far," Strate said.
In the Bay State, where seasonal homes dot the Berkshires, Cape Cod, islands and other areas, the Census data comes with a major caveat: It does not distinguish between vacant houses or apartments and vacation homes, which may simply have been unoccupied when the national survey was carried out.
"Seasonal, recreational or occasional vacant houses were prevalent in April 2010, especially in resort areas where there are cottages, condominia and homes that are used only during the given tourist season," Census Director Robert M. Groves wrote in a February blog post.
In towns with many vacation homes, Census vacancy rates can be a misleading measure of the housing crisis, Groves warned. The Census reported vacancy rates as high as 68 percent in Barnstable County towns Wellfleet and Truro, and 61 percent in Provincetown.
However, most Cape towns and Nantucket showed higher percentages of homes recorded as vacant in last year's Census than in 2000. In another indication that the housing crisis hit Barnstable County, too, the Registry of Deeds there reported more than 700 foreclosure deeds filed in 2010 as of last December.
In Middlesex County, 5.1 percent of homes were recorded as empty, up from 2.7 percent a decade ago. Some of the lowest rates turned up in Sudbury, Holliston, Billerica, Reading, Tewksbury, Hopkinton and Ashland. Lincoln had a higher rate – 8.1 percent – while Cambridge and Concord neared 7 percent.
Marlborough's vacancy rate was 6.2 percent, more than double the 2.7 percent recorded in 2000. Code Enforcement Officer Pam Wilderman largely chalked the increase up to foreclosures.
"In the city on any given moment, I'm looking at 120 to 180 living units in some form of the foreclosure process," she said.
Getting a home back on the market can take time, depending on whose hands it lands in and what problems may have cropped up while it was vacant, from broken water pipes to mold, she said.
"An empty property isn't doing me any good," Wilderman said. "It isn't doing the city any good."
In Bristol County, vacancies reached 7.6 percent, with Westport, Fall River and Fairhaven seeing the highest numbers. At the bottom of the list are Raynham, Berkley and Easton.
The Census said 9.5 percent of homes in Plymouth County are vacant, but the problem with vacation homes crops up here, too. Brockton had a vacancy rate of 6.3 percent.
The city at one point topped the state for its foreclosure rate, and while recent reports show foreclosures have slowed, more will come, said Brian Moriarty, director of Neighborhood Housing Services in Brockton.
"The data coming forward now, it's just a lull," said Moriarty, whose agency offers services ranging from foreclosure counseling to homebuyer education. "We're going to see another influx of new foreclosure filings."
Essex County, where vacation homes may skew some results as well, had a vacancy rate of 6.8 percent. Worcester County's vacancy rate was slightly higher, at 7.3 percent.
Norfolk County had the lowest rate in the state – 4.6 percent – with the town of Norfolk at the bottom of the list at 2.3 percent. Higher were Needham at 7 percent and Cohasset at 8.7 percent.
David Raymondo, president of the Greater Fall River Association of Realtors, said he sees positive signs despite his city's comparatively high vacancy rate of 10 percent.
He noted the Census shows the city added nearly 1,000 housing units since 2000, yet its vacancy rate changed little – not bad during a recession, he said. Some abandoned properties are selling and new foreclosures have slowed down. Pending sales are up.
"I think there's a light at the end of the tunnel," he said.
(David Riley can be reached at 508-626-3919 or firstname.lastname@example.com.)
What is your town's home vacancy rate? Compare the 2000 and 2010 Census figures: Download spreadsheet here


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Two weeks without a post. Dearie me.
It's been one heck of a spring so far, primarily consisting of familial highs and lows, and mostly just lows for running. First, my stepmother nearly died after surgery complications. That was three weeks ago. She's still in the ICU, clawing her way back to normality. So that's completely sucked. But I did learn a lot about my family and myself in terms of our personal strengths and weaknesses and how we all cope with disaster. That was interesting and useful.
Then I blew up in the Long Island Half and declared that marathons were dead to me. My feelings have not changed.
I spent the last week in England with Jonathan's family, and that was a great time, although, like all travel and concentrated social time, kind of exhausting too. J.'s brother and his husband live in southwest London, while his mother and her husband live in the western cape of South Africa. We try to convene in one of our locales at least every 18-36 months. I hadn't been to the UK since 2006. It's changed in some ways but not in others. For example, while cars (and people) are getting bigger, their streets and parking spaces are not. This makes riding in a car a harrowing experience. I spent a lot of time with my eyes closed, worrying about my inlaws' paint job and side mirrors.
We are active tourists. I think it's really stupid to travel to a place and sit around inside, which is part of why I don't care where I stay, usually, as long as it's not diseased or dangerous. Fortunately, J.'s family is also up for lots of walking, tube-riding and ticket-buying, so our days and evenings were filled with interesting things to do. Highlights include:
A guided walk with London Walks, which has become a kind of tradition when we go there. This time around we did a square mile tour of the city's center, getting a history of, among other things, Roman London, the Black Death, the births of the Stock Exchange and Lloyd's of London, and too many buildings designed by Christopher Wren (the Michael Caine of historical London architecture) to count.
War Horse, which has been playing in London for quite awhile but just opened in Lincoln Center and has gotten a shitload of Tony nominations. As previously noted, I'm not a theatre person, but I appreciate a creatively conceived and executed production in any media, and this delivered. Skilled puppeteers steered giant horses (and a tank) around a stage for two hours. The play's a little long and overly sentimental (but that's par for the course in almost any English treatment of WW1 and WW2 — that's my sweeping, culturally insensitive opinion; go ahead and flame away!), but it was nevertheless impressive. The casting director gets Most Creative Casting award for putting a black man into the role of an embittered SS Captain. Not since seeing Charlton Heston playing a Mexican narc in Touch of Evil have I had to work so hard to suspend my disbelief.
Also, I noted that at play intermissions, English people rush out to the lobby to buy tiny containers of ice cream, which they bring back to their seatmates in huge stacks. Then they all sit there and eat it together, looking supremely happy and satisfied. This was a spectacle so utterly charming and weird that I was beside myself.
A massive Joan Miro retrospective at the Tate Modern, which I dragged J.'s family to, although I did not hear complaints. But they were probably being polite. There were 13 rooms of works spanning his career, organized chronologically and placed within the context of the Spanish Civil War and Franco's Spain, which I admit to having known absolutely nothing about. Now I know almost nothing about those periods of history.
A long weekend in County Dorset, to the southwest of London, which is on the southern coast. J. spent most of his childhood and his early teens in this area and it's incredibly beautiful. Friends of his brother's have an apartment right on the beach in Sandbanks that they let us use. We had two memorable lunches: the first to reconnect with Jonathan's stepfather, who we'd last seen circa 1993; the second to celebrate a major milestone birthday for his mother. We visited too many pubs to recall.
The cultural highlight of that last venue was viewing the Eurovision Song Contest, an annual televised music competition that drew 125 million viewers this year. Each European nation puts forth its "best" song and performer(s) in a bid to win the votes of its peers (you can't vote for your own country, nor are larger nations allowed to skew the numbers — everyone gets the same number of votes). If you have never seen Eurovision, it's difficult grasp its level of sheer gaudy absurdity. The event goes on for hours, and it's kind of like Star Search meets Top of the Pops meets Solid Gold. Fortunately, we have YouTube (see below).
Singers from nation after nation take the stage, usually with lots of non-singing dancers in tow, against a backdrop of often stunning visual effects. Then the voting begins and at that point you're glad you've been drinking because it goes on for about an hour and half, with each nation's vote doler outer (usually a tarted up woman, probably a local television personality) struggling to chatter coyly in broken English (Ha! Ha! Foreigners are so funny when they try to speak proper English!). The winning nation gets the dubious prize of hosting next year's Eurovision, which is presumably a massively expensive proposition, so we found ourselves wondering if Portugal, Iceland and Greece might be sandbagging. Winning performers rarely go on to stardom, the exception being Abba, who won in 1974 with "Waterloo."
I think my favorite part of watching Eurovision is the spontaneous reactions we all have. We can't stop ourselves from saying things like:
"God, is everyone in Iceland that fat?"
"Wait a minute. Her name's Kati? But that's a man!"
"What is wrong with the French?"
You also get a real sense of what people in the various countries find sexy and stylish. It's rarely what I find sexy and stylish.
I have never correctly guessed who will win. I'm never even close. This year's winners were Azerbaijan's Ell/Nikki, with an anemic, schmaltzy duet called "Running Scared." I was banking on either Ireland, with its bizarre, poppy entry from twin brothers (and big fans of epaulets, hair gel and Devo) Jedward. Or Serbia's Nina, who rocked the final with a stylish sixties vibe and, as a chunky-legged girl from peasant stock like myself, proved exteme bravery in wearing white tights on international television. But, no, all the bands I hated made the top 10. Special mention goes to Moldova, for its entry, "So Lucky," which embodies the sort of demented eye- and ear-raping that you expect of Eurovision.
Azerbaijan: Cream-colored bland FTW.
Ireland: We don't care if we win. We'll charge it!
Serbia: Don't worry, if we don't win we can always get jobs at Target.
Moldova: Coneheads and unicycles! Thank you!
Clearly, given the length of my Eurovision report, this was my favorite part of the trip. But I sampled a lot of English culinary staples this time around: black pudding, Scotch eggs, pork pies and my ritual fish and chips/mushy peas, this time from a decades-old childhood chippy that Jonathan was amazed to find still bustling despite everything around it having changed.
Unfortunately, since J. got the bright idea that we should all drink absinthe during this musical ordeal, I had a mild hangover the next morning and, while stumbling out for a walk along the beach, managed to bash my left foot on a gate. I've done something to it because after an eight mile run the next day my left hip flexor and adductor were iffy. My foot still hurts when I flex it. Kids, don't drink and run.
With the foot issue, travel stress and terrible nutrition (and almost no running) of the past week, I plan to jog rather than race the Brooklyn Half this weekend, mostly to collect my 10 points for internal New York Harrier scoring. I'm hoping I can redeem them for pistachio nuts or bobby pins or something at the end of the year.
Filed under: drinking, eating, elites, everyday life, music, ny harriers, travel |


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Talk about the novels, new and used books that Farquhar has written!
Author Farquhar's Book Reviews
Taught to the Tune
Beth McKay is a first year teacher in a one room rural school meeting with discipline problems, interfering parents and a retired teacher who wants her fired. She is helped in her struggle by Andy, a handsome young teacher on sabbatical. In addition to fighting against growing opposition to her teaching, the two become romantically involved. ...


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We ship all our packages through major logistics companies. Since our products are highly breakable, we create bespoke wooden packages for our orders. Delivery charges include packaging charges and only part of the charges are borne by the customer, part of us is borne by us, The Decor Kart. Shipping is charged on invoice value as follows -
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- Above Rs. 5000 - Free
All Delhi NCR orders are dispatched and delivered within 5 days of order confirmation by our in-house logistics team.
All orders for the Rest of India are handled by our logistics partners. Tracking details and Partner details for your orders are sent to you via mail upon dispatch of your order. Only after dispatch of your order, the order status page for your account will reflect any change. You can even visit the partner websites to manually check the status of your orders by putting in the AWB number sent to you via mail.
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Apple is finally taking on Snapchat, WeChat and Slack.
Wait, what?
When iOS 10 appeared on Tuesday, it featured a long list of enhancements. The biggest news is the transformation of Apple's messaging service, iMessage, into a full-fledged, modern messaging platform.
As with so many things, Apple is an exception to industry norms. The new iMessage will become far more than just another messaging service. It changes everything.
(Note that iMessage is the service based on Apple's proprietary Apple Push Notification Service protocol and should not be confused with Apple's iOS or OS X messaging app, which is called Messages. The Messages app supports iMessages and standard SMS or MMS service. )
Don't be distracted by the fun, playful and goofy stuff, of which there is plenty and over which the press is obsessing.
The new iMessage has effects that can take over the screen with fireworks, lasers, confetti, balloons or shooting stars. Other effects can make dialog bubbles "loud" (large), "gentle" (small) or "slam."
An "invisible ink" feature keeps your words and pictures invisible until the recipient swipes a finger across the screen.
Some effects are automatic. When you type "happy birthday," balloons rise across the screen. When you say "congratulations," the full screen rains confetti.
If you double-tap on any part of a conversation, you can add thumbs up or down or other quick responses, which are affixed to that part of the message. So if someone sends you a confusing photo, you can double-tap on the photo and choose the question mark icon, which is placed near the upper right corner of the photo.
The new iMessage also borrows from the Apple Watch. A feature called Digital Touch lets you send sketches scribbled with a finger, as well as vibration taps and heartbeats (using an Apple Watch or other sensor).
You can also do handwriting. When you're on an iPhone, simply turning the phone to horizontal mode enables a full-screen writing mode. The scribbling feature looks even better on an iPad, with its larger screen. It feels a bit like using an Apple Pencil on an iPad Pro -- the lines are thick or thin as you draw based on the speed of your finger's movement across the screen.
When you paste a link into a message, pictures and elements from the page you linked to appear in a box (similar to what Facebook does when you add links to comments). If you link to a YouTube or Vine video, the video appears in the message and can be played in place.
Emojis do more in the new iMessage, too. When you send three or fewer emoji without any text in the same line, they appear three times the size. After you've typed a message, you can tap the emoji button on the keyboard and the easily emojified words appear in orange. By tapping on each of those words, you get emoji options for instantly replacing the words with emoji.
Apple executes on all this stuff really well. Ultimately, though, it's just decorated communication -- fun, but not important.
Here come the apps
The biggest change to iMessage is the introduction this week of third-party iMessage apps. Some of these are pure iMessage apps, and others are extensions from regular iOS apps.
A quick glance at the featured apps in the iMessage app store shows more fun and frivolity: endless stickers, emoji, GIF options and other ways to add canned personality to regular messages.
A deeper looks uncovers apps that let you do things with iMessage beyond the cheesy, the goofy and the garish.
Secret for iMessage brings the original functionality of Snapchat to iMessage, which is self-destructing messages. As the sender, you can control how long each message, photo or video appears before vanishing, as well as the number of times it can be viewed. You can also revoke messages you've already sent, and the developer, Koder Inc., says there's no log-in and messages are anonymous. Recipients without iMessage can see the self-destructing messages on the web.
Confide for iMessage performs similar tricks. (In general, Secret appears to be aimed at younger people and frivolous uses, and Confide seems aimed at older and professional users.) I told you about Confide for iOS and Android in this space last year. Confide supports texts and pictures. The app provides additional privacy on the recipient's end. The picture or text arrives blurred out and becomes visible only by dragging a finger across the blur. Both users need Confide or it doesn't work.
The social payments company Circle rolled out an iMessage app last week called Circle for iMessage. The app enables you to send money in U.S. dollars, euros, British pounds and bitcoins to other iMessage users without charge. In China, the dominant messaging app, Tencent's WeChat, is heavily used for mobile payments. Users can pay bills, buy things online, send people money and even buy things in brick-and-mortar stores. To use Circle for iMessage, you add information associated with your debit card, so the transfer is from one debit card account to another.
Another service called Square Cash from Square enables money transfers within the U.S. only, and now via both iMessage and Siri. You can use it to send "gift wrapped" cash gifts (the amount is obscured until the recipient "opens" it).
An app called iMessage Analyzer even gives you statistics on your messaging -- how often you get messages, how often you use specific words and so on. You can slice and dice the data by date, people, time of day and other factors.
These apps provide a hint about what's coming to the iMessage platform. And, yeah, it's kind of a big deal.
Why iMessage apps change everything
But wait, you might say. Why is the support of apps in iMessage such a big deal? After all, other messaging services have had apps for years.
Let's consider Apple's history with apps. When Apple launched its iPhone App Store in 2008, there were other smartphones with big user bases and app stores. But apps became a central part of what enabled Apple to grab the majority of smartphone industry profits, and apps remain one of the reasons why users say they choose the iPhone.
It's hard to remember now, but consumers were surprised in 2008 and 2009 by what apps enabled a smartphone to do. For many people, smartphones and apps together have replaced media players, radios, compasses, voice recorders, timers, flashlights, scanners and walkie-talkies, and they're in the process of replacing digital SLR cameras. Phones like the iPhone 7 are attempting to do in software and with dual lenses what SLR cameras do with large, interchangeable lenses.
I believe iMessage apps will replace a different category of products -- namely, other apps. It's unclear exactly which major apps will lose steam with the advent of app-enabled iMessage. But if I ran Snapchat, WeChat or Slack, I'd be worried.
While not everyone has an iPhone, the current crop of iMessage apps shows that it's possible to offer web-based equivalents for non-iPhone users.
I'd also be worried if I ran a company focused on messenger-based chatbots. The one element conspicuously missing from the new iMessage is bots. I'm hearing that the reason has something to do with iMessage's end-to-end encryption, but I'm not buying it. If Apple wanted bots on the platform, there'd be bots.
So why no bots?
I believe it's because Apple has decided that bots aren't ready for prime time. (The company has a good track record for judging when things are or should be mainstream.) I've noticed that users appear to be stymied by the hundreds or thousands of bots available on platforms like Facebook Messenger; they also appear to not care about bots. Besides, what can a bot do that an app (or Siri) can't?
The new iMessage is far more than just an upgrade. It's the birth of a platform and the start of a new Apple app ecosystem that will probably change what people use their phones for in profound and unpredictable ways.
And the software companies that make apps are getting the message.


text:
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