text: Last week's OpenStack Summit left me with some strong impressions, along with some questions and reservations. The bottom line: If you're an enterprise CIO, OpenStack is going to be very important to your future.First, in terms of overall energy and tone, the Summit reminded me of last November's Amazon Web Services AWS Re:invent conference. Both conferences exuded the unmistakable sense of, to quote Charlie Sheen, "Winning." The OpenStack Summit had more than 2,500 attendees, with large contingents from Rackspace, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and IBM. There were even a few end-user types sprinkled among the attendees. All seemed ebullient about OpenStack and in no doubt that it represents the future.Based on the sessions I attended and conversations I took part in, here are my takeaways from the Summit:Game Over for Private Cloud?The most striking takeaway from the Summit is the depth of commitment to OpenStack on the part of the large systems companies. Dell, HP and IBM all seem to defining OpenStack as their choice for cloud orchestration.IBM presented a session on upcoming products that are all standards-based, including OpenStack and the TOSCA cloud management standard. As far as I can tell, IBM says OpenStack will be its favored orchestration product going forward.Now, IBM is a canny company that, better than any other, has figured out how to use open source to make money\u2014and, just as importantly, how to use open source to compete with others. To me, this announcement indicates that IBM has concluded that cloud orchestration is going to be a commodity product, it will leverage OpenStack to achieve commodity economics and it will look to other layers in the stack\u2014and hardware as well, no doubt\u2014for revenue and profits.OpenStack Summit News: Red Hat Advances Enterprise OpenStack Distro to Early Adopter Program Dell and HP have both suffered from customer (and analyst) confusion about their primary cloud strategy. Both have had a bit of a smorgasbord approach in the past, offering multiple products from different vendors to (quite understandably) befuddled customers. From what I saw and heard at the Summit, both have fastened on OpenStack as their primary orchestration product and cloud strategy foundation going forward.With the three largest systems companies choosing OpenStack as their orchestration vehicle, it raises the question: What's going to happen to the other contenders for IT private clouds?Commentary: VMware Tantrum Shows It's Not Connecting With Cloud Buyers or SellersMy interpretation of what the companies were saying at the Summit is that their main recommendation to users will be to implement OpenStack. This obviously excludes VMware's vCloud, although crucially\u2014and no doubt to the relief of IT organizations that have large investments in VMware's ESX\u2014it does not exclude VMware's hypervisor. OpenStack can (at least theoretically) run on ESX. I would expect to see greater priority in the future placed on certifying OpenStack on ESX.It seems the future battleground for private clouds will be VMware and its army of system integration partners fighting the large system vendors that will be pushing OpenStack. It's for this reason I say OpenStack is going to be important for IT organizations going forward. When all the vendors align on a single solution, it's hard to imagine it's not going to become a core piece of IT infrastructure.Deployment Matters, Not Just DevelopmentOn the other hand, don't let all the hoopla and triumphalism distract one from a vital reality: OpenStack is a young product that's not yet mature. The most vivid evidence of this is the Summit's overemphasis on developers and development\u2014or, perhaps I should say, the absence of deployment discussion and sessions.If OpenStack is truly to achieve its destiny as the de facto private cloud orchestration product, it has to be easy to consume. That means deployment has to be given priority. It's an open secret that upgrading OpenStack from one release to another is not seamless, and the releases come hot and heavy every six months. In fact, it's typically easier to start fresh rather than try and migrate an existing installation to a new release. That's unacceptable to a mainstream enterprise IT market. \n\nNews: Rackspace to Offer Openstack Deployments for Service Providers\nMore News: Red Hat, Hortonworks Prep Openstack for HadoopOpenStack release plans and decisions need to incorporate end-user deployment requirements much more than has been done in the past. It can't just be lip service, either. Once a technology moves past the early adopter market, stability and manageability commonly become much more critical to the rest of the potential user base. Ignoring these requirements in favor of developer priorities will greatly hinder OpenStack mainstream market uptake.Interoperability: How Should OpenStack Providers Compete?Interoperability came up frequently at the Summit, and it's interesting that it did. When OpenStack was originally launched, founders trumpeted its use of the Apache license, citing the license's flexibility, which would let OpenStack providers modify the product for competitive differentiation purposes.The downside of that licensing approach is that everyone's OpenStack product is different and incompatible. "Incompatible" is a word enterprises hate, because they know that, over time, they will end up with at least one of everything\u2014and if they can't work together or, worse, work differently, it's a nightmare to manage.Analysis: Cloud Fight Keeps Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Rackspace Clamoring for Enterprise CustomersI participated in an interoperability panel and made the following points:Interoperability is typically important to users. At a minimum, users want to know that major versions of a product, such as OpenStack Grizzly, provide the same functionality. To date, OpenStack "distros" vary significantly more than Linux distros do. That's unacceptable. A Grizzly distro has to be nearly identical for core functionality, no matter who it comes from.\n\nSpecification interoperability\u2014for example, when a vendor certifies that it developed its product to a certain standard\u2014always gives way to creation of a test suite and certification of conformance to the standard by successful completion of the suite. Critical to this is definition of APIs and testing of API conformance. Using the same source base, while useful, is not sufficient for interoperability. Interoperability is based on behavior, not contents, so a test suite validating API conformance will be the true measure of OpenStack interoperability.\n\nOpenStack providers are going to feel significant end user pressure in the future to provide better interoperability. My prediction: This will lead to creation of a test suite and certification process and, once one large vendor (say, HP) certifies, everyone will have to do so ASAP for competitive reasons.In summary, the Summit seemed to be OpenStack's moment in the spotlight, an emergence into a role that is likely to lead to a position of preeminence in the private cloud world.As the clich\u00e9 goes, with great power goes great responsibility. As OpenStack moves along its path of destiny, it's going to encounter new requirements that invariably accompany mainstream success\u2014ease of installation, stability, interoperability and the like. My recommendation: The OpenStack Foundation should recognize the looming presence of these market needs and promptly move to include them in its plans.Bernard Golden is the vice president of Enterprise Solutions for Enstratius Networks, a cloud management software company. He is the author of three books on virtualization and cloud computing, including Virtualization for Dummies. Follow Bernard Golden on Twitter @bernardgolden.Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline, Facebook, Google + and LinkedIn.


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Video of Avalanche Creek in Montana's Glacier National Park by Janson Jones
"Start a huge, foolish project, like Noah…it makes absolutely no difference what people think of you." ~ Rumi
Well, one of the only good things about being bi-polar is that sufferers of this condition have manic bouts in which they become very hyper and have a lot of energy. Granted, I don't have these bouts of mania the way that I used to, mostly because of my medication, but since I'm not taking my medication as I am supposed to, I am now having these spurts of energy. Did you follow all of that?
Anyway, yesterday I don't know what got into me, but I cleaned the kitchen and then proceeded to do all of the paperwork that has been backed up, which meant forms to seven pharmaceutical companies requesting participation in their patient assistance programs. In addition to the forms, I had to include supporting documentation showing why I need this assistance. After completing the forms online, I then tried to get all of the packages together but ended up confusing myself, so I enlisted Corey's help in going through each package to make sure that I had everything.
I also had to do an explanatory cover letter, and a cover letter to my doctor explaining everything that I was trying to do. In addition, I finally got the paperwork together for my student loan requesting forbearance due to poverty, and I completed a form for another withdrawal from my retirement, this time to pay my health insurance premium. At this rate, I will have absolutely no money left in my retirement, well, very little.
But the point is that I got all of this paperwork completed and ready to go to the various places to which it needs to be disbursed; I also filed my copies and filed a pile of other stuff that was cluttering up my desk. Finally. And of course, Corey helped. So a very productive day. Today? Well today my back is killing me and I have a headache—the price for doing too much in one day.
"It is not the perfect who always succeed in life, but those who keep trying even in the face of tremendous hardships . . ." ~ Steven Apel
The director of the publishing program at George Washington University denied my grade appeal, which I predicted he would do, but at least I finally found out what grade I got on my project for the infrastructure class. He claims that the grade was posted on Blackboard, but it was not posted for the three months that I checked. I got an A on the project, but since the project only counted for 15 percent of the grade, it wasn't enough to balance my abysmal performance on the midterm or final exam.
Quite frankly, that class was a failure as far as I'm concerned. The professors who were team-teaching did not mesh well. Entirely too much material was presented without there being any type of background preparation. It was a very advanced course without a background course preceding it in the cohort.
A bit of background here: The publishing degree that I completed in the summer of 2008 was set up as a cohort, which meant that everyone took the same classes for the sequence of the degree, with the exception of the concentration classes. I took the e-publishing concentration, which included this computer infrastructure class. However, at no point in the sequence was there a basic HTML course or a course in creating a website. As a result, those of us with little or no HTML backgrounds were completely lost in the infrastructure class.
We were also the second cohort to complete the program, which is now undergoing a complete restructuring. In essence, our cohort, along with the first cohort, were the guinea pigs, the ones they got to experiment on to see what worked and what didn't work. There was duplication among the courses, and then there was the problem with the e-publishing concentration.
Now I must pause here to say that overall, the instructors in the program were wonderful, with diverse backgrounds in the publishing industry. I learned a great deal, and wouldn't trade the experience for anything. However, I do feel that we were short shrifted in that the kinks in the new program had yet to be finessed. Oh well. Live and learn.
"A thousand words leave not the same deep impression as does a single deed." ~ Henrik Ibsen
Now that I've complete my major paperwork project, I've finally gotten Corey to agree to painting the bedroom. I really hope that he comes through this time. Originally the bedroom was supposed to be painted for Mother's Day . . . 2008! Since it was never done, the new bedroom bureau has been sitting in the living room taking up much-needed space and is part of the reason for the clutter that I go on about so much.
We have all of the supplies to do the bedroom, but it's such a huge undertaking that we haven't gotten around to doing it. We have to move furniture out of the room, move things into the middle of the room, removed everything from the walls, spackle, prep, etc.
To be fair, I know personally how hard it is to get motivated for such an undertaking when you just aren't feeling right. Being out of work for as long as Corey has been has really taken a toll on him emotionally. His self-esteem is shot, and in essence, he cannot really concentrate on anything too big. I know this feeling well.
But Corey's job with Vane Brothers is fast approaching; his point of contact said the end of December or beginning of January. I can't believe that it is almost December, but if we can all make it through the upcoming holidays, things should be looking up by 2010. I know that Corey will like being back at work, and I also know that it will greatly improve his state of mind.
Unfortunately, the apprenticeship with the shipyard did not pan out as Corey does not have the required background in advanced math classes, which is a requirement for acceptance. By the time he takes the 12 hours of math and technology, he will have a semester of college completed. The way he looks at it, and I agree, is that if he has to take a semester of college to get into the program, which he would complete with an Associate's Degree (four to five semesters of work), he might as well go ahead and register for classes and get his Associate's in his preferred field.
With the upcoming position with Vane Brothers, the disappointment with the apprentice program has been cushioned, and Corey is looking forward to getting back on track professionally.
"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." ~ Winston S. Churchill
As for my own career, who knows? One of the areas that I would like to explore would be book indexing, which is something that I could pursue at home, which would allow me to work at a more comfortable pace without the pressures of a regular schedule. If anyone out there knows or works for someone who is looking for a book indexer, I'm available, and I'm good at it.
However, part of me really wishes that I could go back to a real job, one in which I interact with other grownups, have responsibilities, make a decent living with benefits. The reality is that I don't know that I'll ever be able to do that again. But I'm not giving up on the idea entirely. I suppose that it's just one more thing in my life for which I'll have to wait and see what the future holds.
So other than those tidbits, I don't have a lot to report, but here are a few thoughts for Friday:
- How did Heidi Klum manage to walk the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show only six weeks after giving birth to her fourth child? That woman must have incredible elasticity in her skin, that and very good genes.
- Speaking of Heidi Klum, Project Runway finished last night with Irina being declared the winner. Personally, I liked Carol Hannah, but I knew that Irina would win. That show is one of my guilty pleasures.
- I read that a man in London has been found not guilty for strangling his wife. Apparently, he has suffered long-term from a sleep disorder and has automatism, a condition in which the sleeping individual has no control over his or her actions. Brian Thomas, the man on trial, strangled his wife because he mistook her for an intruder. Hmm, things that make you go hmm.
- In Peoria, Arizona, a family's home was burglarized. The intruders took electronics and a music box containing their deceased baby's ashes. Man, I'd like to know what kind of person steals ashes.
- Linday Lohan is upset that she wasn't allowed to take $15,000 worth of jewelry from an event. She was promised between $1500 and $2,000 of loot for her appearance. Hello? I would show up wearing a gopher suit to get $1500 worth of free loot, and I wouldn't complain. I mean, I'm a lot funnier than Lohan, whose only claim to fame at the moment is that she does nothing.
- Hershey Co. is making a bid for Cadbury PLC. This disheartens me. I don't really like Hershey's chocolate, but I absolutely love Cadbury as it's the chocolate that I ate as a child in England. Cadbury Fruit and Nut Bar, Cadbury Caramello. Um Um Good.
- MSNBC regularly posts photographs of people who have had Ambush Makeovers. These are "Today Show" fans who are grabbed off the street and given a makeover. I wonder if they make house calls . . .
- Speaking of house calls, I am seriously thinking of submitting our house for "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." I know that we don't have eight children, but geez, does every deserving family have to have a boatload of kids to qualify? What about normal everyday people who have a real need? Maybe they could consider someone like us for a change.
- And speaking of houses, I'm not liking the current season of "House" that much. I mean, the two-hour season premier was wonderful, but since then, it doesn't seem to have its usual bite.
- And while I'm on shows that have lost their bite, "Law & Order SVU" might be on its last leg. What makes that particular L&O franchise so good is the interaction with the criminals and the nature of the crimes themselves. This season is spending too much time on the personal lives—a show about Olivia, a show about Elliott, a show about Huang. An episode about ADA Paxton. Get back to the squad room and the victims.
- The long nightmare is over: Jon & Kate are finally saying buh bye. Never watched the show myself, but am soooo tired of hearing about this two. And what's with her hair?
- And finally, an image of the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus has appeared on a piece of glass in a church in Latvia. I don't mean to be mean, but the image that they are showing looks more like the snow suits that Luke and Han wore on the ice planet in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Does that make me a bad person?
Many thanks to my comrade Janson Jones for the inspiring video. More later. Peace.
One of my all-time favorite songs: "Chances Are," by Bob Seger and Martine McBride from Hope Floats.

subset: commoncrawl


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From time to time my spiders bring back strange things, most of the time involving people I haven't heard of and/or were only vaguely aware of. So this time they brought back and item from Digital Spy, citing an interview in Metro with Alain de Botton, who appears to be an atheist who has penned some influential books. Inter alia:
Are you friends with Harry from One Direction?
That would be overegging it. I was introduced to him at a party. Neither of us had heard of each other. We had a nice chat. It was fun.
Did you have much in common?
My plan is to shut the Arts Council and get people such as Harry Styles to go on television and recommend to everyone they read Proust and Hegel, which would achieve more in five minutes than the Arts Council achieves year in, year out. David Beckham could do Aristotle and Plato. The cause of intellectual life in this country would be helped immeasurably. The problem we've got is the most famous people in the country tend to believe in things that aren't particularly ambitious whereas the people who believe in really ambitious things are stuck away in an ivory tower and no one bothers listening to what they think. In an ideal world Harry Styles would be teaching his 10million Twitter followers a little more about Greek philosophy.
Then from Digital Spy we learn that Harry Styles actually took up the suggestion:
… which, as Digital Spy notes, is cribbed directly from Wikipedia … we might cynically observe that a Diogenes might mark a watershed in a different sort of way (horrible puns abound!) … anyhoo, I think it would be more impressive if he tweeted something Plato put in Socrates' mouth … in Greek.


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DALLAS -- Former Cowboys tackle Josh Brent will spend at least 45 days in rehab after his release from jail in the drunken-driving death of a teammate, and a return to his former team remains a possibility.
Brent was released Sunday after serving about five months in jail for the wreck that killed Cowboys practice squad linebacker Jerry Brown, his close friend and college teammate at Illinois. A judge ordered Brent to spend at least 45 days in a residential facility for substance abuse as part of his sentence of 10 years of probation.
Brent avoided prison time at trial -- he faced up to 20 years -- and at age 26, he presumably could seek to re-enter the league. His agent, Peter Schaffer, declined Monday to discuss Brent's pro prospects.
"It's up to the treatment professionals as to what's best for him, and he will do whatever they think is best," Schaffer said. "Nothing else matters right now."
Brent and Brown were headed home from a nightclub in December 2012 when Brent lost control of his Mercedes and crashed on a suburban Dallas highway. Officers arriving at the scene saw Brent trying to pull Brown's body from the wreckage.
Tests showed Brent's blood alcohol level was 0.18 percent, more than twice the state's legal limit for drivers. A prosecution expert estimated that the 320-pound lineman would have needed to have as many as 17 drinks on the night of the crash.
Brent did not play after the crash and announced his retirement from the Cowboys before the trial. League spokesman Greg Aiello said Monday that Brent can apply for reinstatement through the office of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who must also consider whether to discipline Brent under the league's personal conduct policy.
As a possible precedent, Goodell suspended Donte' Stallworth without pay for the entire 2009 season after the wide receiver pleaded guilty to a DUI manslaughter charge in Florida.
While acknowledging that the league will have "a big say" in Brent's future, Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said recently that the team had not ruled out his return. Team executives and players have stood by Brent after the crash, with the support of Brown's mother, Stacey Jackson.
Brent was starting in place of the injured Jeremiah Ratliff at the time of the crash and had 31 tackles in 39 games over three seasons in Dallas.
Dallas County prosecutors have said they won't object to Brent's attempting a comeback as long as he doesn't violate his probation. Brent was jailed briefly before trial after testing positive twice for marijuana. His probation conditions are expected to include restrictions on drug use and travel.


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People have been screaming for the ice cream, and Yuengling's Ice Cream listened.
On Thursday, the ice cream with the same name as the Pottsville-based brewery began its first run of batches after a 29-year hiatus. The company, based in Orwigsburg, Schuylkill County, originally intended to start production in March, but it moved up the date in response to strong demand from retailers that wanted to get it on shelves sooner.
"I think we have one of the most popular nonexistent products on the market," said David Yuengling, 51, president of the company and second cousin of brewery owner Dick Yuengling.
The 1-quart containers of Yuengling's Ice Cream are being produced at Leiby's Dairy Inc. in Tamaqua, Schuylkill County, and they are expected to be on shelves by mid-Feburary at Weis Markets, Acme Markets and select independent grocery stores in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, West Virginia and Virginia.
Read more: http://www.ydr.com/business/ci_24933307/known-its-beer-yuengling-brings-back-its-ice


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On Monday, December 7, 2015, Bill Bramhall, editorial cartoonist for the New York Daily News published the following image of presidential candidate Donald J. Trump, in response to Trump's announced policy of denying Muslim immigration to the U.S.
The image was placed on the cover of the daily paper, overlaid by an updated and paraphrased version of Martin Niemöller's iconic and poignant quote from 1963 about his inaction regarding Adolf Hitler:
The image shows the Statue of Liberty as a victim of Trump's political terrorism. Lady Liberty, the beloved symbol of American values and immigration, is beheaded. A bloated Trump raises his weapon of choice, a scimitar, historically associated with Eastern and Ottoman cultures. In effect, Trump balances his own scales of justice with her head in his other hand. The remainder of her majestic body lies prostrate, her torch has tumbled away — her welcoming beacon of light is extinguished.
Bramhall's image brings to mind Thomas Nast's 1871 double-paged cartoon,"The Tammany Tiger on the Loose – "What are you going to do about it?""
Though not a cover, (many of Nast's cartoons were featured as covers), this cartoon received an equally coveted double-page spread in the center of Harper's Weekly, the premier illustrated weekly of its era. A portly Tweed, whom Nast dresses as a Roman emperor, sits in his imperial reviewing box and gloats upon his weapon of choice, the Tammany Tiger as it takes down Columbia, Nast's preferred personification of American values. Drawn 15 years before the Statue of Liberty was dedicated in 1886, Nast favored Columbia as the maternal symbol to represent the American nation. Her cousins, Lady Liberty and Lady Justice, distinguished by a crested helmet and the scales of justice respectively, appeared less often as substitutions for Columbia, but frequently as sisterly companions.
Tweed's tiger looks straight into its audience and bears its teeth, poised to tear into Columbia's neck. Columbia often carried a sword, symbolizing the strength of her resolve to protect American values of tolerance, fairness, and compassion. Her weapon has left her grip, broken apart by the force of the beast's pounce. Like Tweed, the tiger arrogantly asks, "What are you going to do about it?"
Thomas Nast, known as the "Father of American Caricature" or alternately as the "Father of the American Political Cartoon" rose to worldwide attention and wielded significant political power by the deft and powerful strokes of his pen — the ire in Nast's ink often appeared on the cover of the illustrated weekly magazine, Harper's Weekly. To get his message across, Nast and other great cartoonists of the time employed the ego-cutting tools of caricature: ridicule, physical exaggeration, and careful placement of symbols, to elicit emotions from readers and viewers. Nast is best known for excoriating and bringing down New York politician William M. "Boss" Tweed through these techniques. The visibility and power of Nast images continued for two decades as undeniably effective weapons against corruption.
Few escaped seeing Nast's images. Apocryphally, Tweed is famously quoted as saying, "Stop them damned pictures. I don't care so much what the papers say about me. My constituents don't know how to read, but they can't help seeing them damned pictures!"
According to Nast's biographer Alfred Bigelow Paine, Tweed representatives tried to entice Nast with bribes to tempt the artist to stop maligning the city boss. Intrigued, Nast strung the agent along, seeing how high he could negotiate the bribe. It reached $500,000, a tremendous amount of money for its time. Nast refused to be bought.
The American editorial or political cartoon in the twenty-first century grasps an uncertain future. The genre thrived in Nast's era, a time in which photographs could not easily be mass reproduced for the print media. In the century that followed, modern political cartoons traditionally found their stage off the front page, yet, placed in a venerated position in the editorial sections of daily and weekly newspapers. The photograph took over on covers. There were exceptions, of course, the New Yorker magazine being the most notable, today giving prominence to the cartoon cover with provoking results.
The tradition of home delivery or buying a paper at a newsstand and enjoying that publication at the kitchen table or office desk— physically leafing the pages and sharing sections among family and friends, assured these editorial cartoons would be seen multiple times over.
With the demise of many print editions of newspapers and magazines, new generations of readers are now able to cherry-pick their news from online offerings. Some fans of the art form fear that these hand-drawn visual commentaries, and appreciation for what Donald Dewey has called The Art of Ill Will, might lose their historic influence, or get lost among the many clickable headlines, losing ground to the altered digital photograph — satire by Photoshop.
Bramhall's cartoon offers hope that the cartoon caricature is still beloved. It possesses the qualities to pack a powerful punch. Bramhall's image rose above the fray and was instantly picked up across media outlets and shared prolifically on social media.
The New York Daily News use of Bramhall's cartoon as its cover, therefore, is in the best tradition of an excellent and scathingly successful takedown of a public figure by an editorial or political cartoon, drawn and delivered, much like Trump's sword, as a blunt courier of raw truth. In the best New York City media tradition, the cartoon exposes both the disturbing and the ridiculous.
In our saturated and specialized markets, editorial cartoons must compete for broad attention. But when they are timely and deftly drawn, these black and white lines of editorial expression expose stark realities through exaggeration. Ah! To dish out the glorious tool of ridicule, a technique Trump wields with expertise and lately, to great effect.
Like Nast and Bramhall's cartoons, the crème de la crème of caricature will always rise to the top — viral-worthy, these images and the artists who create them, serve the public good by striking a tender national nerve and provoking us to consider both the obvious and the subtle.
If Nast were around today, he'd be proud, and perhaps, a little envious.


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Want to win a copy of Ace of Spies plus some awesome spy gear? READ THIS NOW:
Oh, hello there. I didn't see you come in. Do take a seat, why don't you?
I've called you here today to see if you're interested in doing a little work for us. Nothing too major, just a little bit of codebreaking. Of course, we wouldn't expect you to do it for nothing…
Every day for the next week (from Monday April 9 through to Friday 13) I'll be posting a code of some sort on the Ace of Spies page here on Board Game Geek. If you want to get ahead of the game, I'd suggest following the Ace of Spies twitter feed as well –http://twitter.com/Ace_of_Spies – as they'll be giving some helpful hints on how the codes can be broken every day.
Each code will comprise a question that will need to be answered. If you have that answer, send it to firstname.lastname@example.com and – assuming you're correct – you'll score an entry into our prize giveaway. Get them all right and you'll have a maximum of five entries. One entry will be chosen at random on April 19, the day before the Ace of Spies Kickstarter campaign launch, and they'll win the following quite splendid prizes:
- 1x Invisible Ink pen, complete with built in UV light to reveal your secret messages,
- 1x Secret Spy pen, complete with built in video camera to capture your target's movements, and
- 1x copy of everyone's favourite game of sets and sneaks, Ace of Spies!
Entries can be sent in at any time, but each of your answers must be sent INDIVIDUALLY! It makes life easier for us here at the Base of Spies. You're only allowed ONE entry per day, so make sure you're happy with your submission. The closing date and time for entries is 12 noon GMT on April 18, 2012. Any questions?
Good. Then let battle commence!


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Ep. 48: Teen Angst. Meep & Daniel go back to high school and tap into their angst. Big time. 20 angst fueled Teen Movies and more!
Retro Movie Love Podcast Episode 48: Teen Angst
on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/retro-movie-love-podcast-tv/id858116084
on Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/michael-j-ferrari/retro-movie-love-podcast
on Google Play: https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Iy2ngjoto34essqrryll7e5j7iy
Song Credits:
Angst in My Pants by Sparks
Just What I Needed by The Cars
Edge of Seventeen by Stevie Nicks


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Bishop Eddie Long Divorce 'Storm' Discussed by Wife Vanessa Long
In a recent meeting with the women's ministry at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Vanessa Long spoke on the struggles she endured during husband Eddie Long's sexual misconduct allegations in 2010 and her subsequent filing for divorce in 2011, a petition which she ultimately chose to close and dismiss.
"I was in the middle of a storm, and I got off the ship," Long metaphorically explained of her marriage struggles to the hundreds of women attending the Heart to Heart women's ministry on Aug. 21, which is coordinated by New Birth Baptist Church and serves as a speaking forum for Christian women.
Long, an elder at New Birth, told those in attendance that while she struggled with the decision to divorce Bishop Eddie Long after he was faced with multiple accusations of sexual misconduct with male minors in Sept. 2010, she ultimately chose to return to her marriage and to the New Birth family so she could share her experience and offer guidance for others.
"I realized that the best thing I could do was to let you see me as a woman, just like you. A woman capable of making good decisions and a woman capable of making bad decisions," Long told the audience, struggling to hold back tears as she received a standing ovation.
"Instead of condemning myself, I can use what happened as an opportunity to minister myself to someone else going through a storm," Long concluded.
Long received immense support for speaking to the Heart to Heart ministry, with several congregants on New Birth Missionary Baptist Church's Facebook page calling her speech "powerful," "inspiring," and spiritual."
"God is and will always be in control. Some of us will leave the boat during the storm, but it takes a true Virtuous woman to get back on and conquer. Love you…First Lady Long," commented Rhonda Chapman.
Long announced on Dec. 2, 2011 that she would be terminating her marriage to husband Eddie Long, who is the senior pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church located in Lithonia, Ga., a suburb in Atlanta.
Shortly after her announcement, Long changed her mind several times, releasing a series of statements which both confirmed and denied her plans to file for divorce.
Ultimately, on Feb. 13, 2011, the divorce case was "dismissed without prejudice," meaning the case may be re-instituted or re-filed in the future.
Long's divorce filing came after her husband was the subject of five separate allegations of sexual misconduct with male minors of his congregation in 2010.
Four of the five alleged victims filed lawsuits against Long in Sept. 2010. In May 2011, all four lawsuits were settled out of court with undisclosed terms.
It is worth noting that Vanessa Long chose to speak on her marital struggles nearly two years to the date of her husband's accusations of sexual misconduct.
Long has been married to her husband for 23 years. They share three children together.


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In recent years there seems to have been a shift towards the power of gratitude in daily life, of being thankful for what you have rather than the endless pursuit of what you don't have in your life at this time. It is a deceptively simple idea.
I have read of people using gratitude journals on a daily basis, or at least regularly, to track moments of gratitude in their life. Part of me acknowledged that this could be beneficial in various ways, but still I did nothing about it apart from being a little more mindful about the many good things in my life.
Then about a year ago a friend mentioned that various studies confirmed that one of the best things that you could do for your long-term mental health was to keep a gratitude journal. I made a mental note at the time then moved on to the next thought. It was only during November last year that it floated back up through my mind and I started to keep track of what I was grateful for. Short and sweet, three little things each day. And I've kept up the practice.
Off the top of my head, the main sources of gratitude in my life are my family and friends, my dog and my garden. Writing and creativity feature quite a bit too. Sometimes I am surprised at what comes to mind when I pause to think of what has brought me joy during the day. Here is a sample.
- Watching pelicans paddle past, the almost impossibility of their gravitational pull.
- The purple blossoms of jacaranda trees.
- The clever reuse of old buildings as space for creative use (old dairy in Bellingen).
- For the world having so many books of wonder.
- For having a heart and feeling, even sad things.
- Sunset.
- Arriving home. Instantly better.
- Watering the garden and finding new flowers.
- Heavy fog on the way to work – altered perception.
- Laughing with friends till we cry.
- Feeling flat but writing anyway.
- Walking with the start of a story in mind.
- Smiling at strangers and collecting smiles in return.
- Hearing kookaburras. Anywhere, anytime.
Do you take stock of little moments of gratitude in your life?
[Photo: a repurposed candle holder in my Mum's garden]


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[by Rick Hanson]
Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and other great teachers were all born with a brain built essentially like anyone else's. Then they used their minds to change their brains in ways that changed history.
With the new breakthroughs in neuroscience, combined with insights from thousands of years of contemplative practice, you, too, can shape your own brain for greater happiness, love, and wisdom.
Written with neurologist Richard Mendius, M.D., and with a Foreword by Daniel Siegel, M.D. and a Preface by Jack Kornfield, Ph.D., Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom joins modern science with ancient teachings to show you how to have greater emotional balance in turbulent times, as well as healthier relationships, more effective actions, and greater peace of mind.
You'll learn how your brain creates worry or inner strength, heartache or love, anger or peacefulness, confusion or clarity, and suffering or its end – and how to:


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Who needs "The Bachelor"?
"Dancing With the Stars" is prime-time's most compelling dating show.
All the bumping, grinding and half-naked bodies have both pros and celebrities hopping in the sack like teenagers on prom night.
"When you have two single people in a room and you are spending so much time together, it's natural to have chemistry and to be curious," longtime pro Cheryl Burke tells The Post.
"All of a sudden you think you are in love because you are grinding on each other seven days a week."
Backstage love connections happen "a lot more than people know," pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy confirms.
And they rarely end well.
One celebrity nearly left his wife for a pro who has bedded as many as four other participants, an on-set source reveals.
"They all fool around with each other," the insider says. "The problem is that many of these people are married. It is disgusting!"
While much of their time at work is spent in front of producers and cameras, the dancing partners often retreat to L.A nightclubs for late-night rendezvous.
Last month, Pamela Anderson fueled speculation of a budding romance when she invited partner Tristan MacManus on a Mexican vacation, during an appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live."
"Pam is totally into him, but Tristan is madly in love with his girlfriend [Australian model Tahyna Tozzi, 26]," our spy says.
The show has no official policy about workplace hookups, but producers are often faced with cleaning up the mess when a showmance fizzles out.
All-Star contestant Shawn Johnson had "a nasty breakup" with pro Mark Ballas after they won the mirrorball trophy in season eight, a source says. "That's why they couldn't be paired up again [for the All-Star shows]."
Both parties have denied the affair.
"Us dancers are very touchy feely," Burke says. "We're used to grinding on each other. But for other people, that's not normal. This is why feelings start to happen. They think 'she likes me.' "
The two time champ admits to canoodling with only one of her previous partners. She won't say who, but insists "it wasn't a great experience."
Burke, 29, may have been referring to disgraced football star Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson, who asked her out in 2010 during a televised interview on "Entertainment Tonight." (She said yes!)
After the pair were eliminated, Johnson presented her with a $10,000 diamond ring.
"I gave it back to him," she says. "I felt weird wearing that big diamond that first of all is way too big for my hand. And it sent a weird message. Like, what are you guys engaged?
Maks, 32, did become engaged — to fellow dancer Karina Smirnoff — in 2009, but the romance quickly flamed out, creating an awkward work environment
"There is bad blood," he told The Post last year. "I will never speak to that person again."
Maks — who is currently paired with Kirstie Alley -— admits he also "crossed the line" with partner Willa Ford during Season 3.
He is now dating Australian dancer Peta Murgatroyd, who recently ended a five-year courtship with "Dancing" pro Damian Whitewood.
(Whitewood is reportedly dating Russell Crowe's estranged wife, Danielle Spencer, a contestant on "Dancing with The Stars" in Australia.)
A source close to the show says Maks' brother Valentin may be the next dancer to take the plunge with his celebrity partner, Kelly Monaco.
"I truly believe that by the end of the season they will hook up," the spy says. "They are both very emotional people. Right now they want to concentrate on the competition, but they have more chemistry than I have seen in years."


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KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Scientists have found what they described this week as the earliest oil paintings ever discovered.
Afghan murals show oil painting was going on for centuries earlier in Asia than Europe.
Murals found on cave walls in Afghanistan prove that painting with oil had been going on in Asia for centuries before artists used the technique in Europe, scientists said this week.
Until now, art historians believed that oil painting started in Europe in the 15th century.
Scientists found the murals in a network of caves where monks lived and prayed in the Afghan region of Bamiyan, according to a statement on the Web site of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, where the ancient paintings were analyzed.
Until 2001, two colossal 6th-century statues of Buddhas stood at the mouth of the caves. Then the Taliban, which then ruled Afghanistan, blew up the statues on the grounds that they were un-Islamic. The action drew international condemnation.
Inside the caves, scientists found murals painted in the 7th century. They show images of Buddha in vermilion robes sitting cross-legged amid palm leaves and mythical creatures.
In 12 of 50 caves, the murals were painted using drying oils -- perhaps from walnuts and poppy seeds -- the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility said.
Its findings on the age of the oil paintings were published this week in The Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry.
"This is the earliest clear example of oil paintings in the world," said Yoko Taniguchi, leader of the team of scientists.
Bamiyan, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) northwest of Kabul, was once a thriving center of commerce and Buddhism. The paintings, scientists say, were probably the work of artists who traveled along the Silk Road, the ancient trade route between China, across Central Asia's desert to the West.
The Taliban used dozens of explosives to demolish the Buddha statues in Bamiyan.
Museums and governments around the world had hoped to save the two Buddhas, the earliest of which is thought to have been carved into sandstone cliffs in the third century A.D.
At heights of 53 meters and 36 meters, the statues were the tallest standing Buddhas in the world.
Later in 2001, U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban following the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
Now, the United Nations cultural agency, UNESCO, is trying to restore the bigger of the two statues. The task could take years. E-mail to a friend
All About


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The U.S. military launched 59 cruise missiles at a Syrian military airfield early Friday in the first direct American assault on the government of President Bashar al-Assad since that country's civil war began nearly six years ago.
Syria and Russia swiftly denounced the attack, launched at around 3:40 a.m. local time Friday (8:40 p.m. EDT Thursday) from U.S. ships in the eastern Mediterranean.
Assad called the missile strikes an "unjust and arrogant aggression" and Syrian officials said they would hamper the country's ability to fight militant groups, Syria's state news agency reported.
Talal al-Barazi, the governor of Homs province that includes the air base, said at least 13 people were killed in the missile strikes, including five soldiers on the base and eight civilians in areas surrounding the facility. The figures could not be independently confirmed.
In Moscow, Russia announced it was pulling out of a pact with Washington to share information about warplane missions over Syria, where a U.S.-led coalition is also waging airstrikes on Islamic State targets.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called for an immediate meeting of the U.N. Security Council, and his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, called the U.S. missile strikes "violations of the norms of international law, and under a far-fetched pretext."
But President Trump said the strike was in the "vital national security interest" of the United States and called on "all civilized nations to join us in seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in Syria. And also to end terrorism of all kinds and all types."
"We ask for God's wisdom as we face the challenge of our very troubled world," he continued. "We pray for the lives of the wounded and for the souls of those who have passed and we hope that as long as America stands for justice then peace and harmony will in the end prevail."
The missiles were launched from two Navy destroyers — the USS Ross and USS Porter — in the eastern Mediterranean. They struck an air base called Shayrat in Homs province, which is the site from which the planes that conducted the chemical attack in Idlib are believed to have originated. The targets included air defenses, aircraft, hangars and fuel.
The U.S. military said initial indications were that the strike had "severely damaged or destroyed Syrian aircraft and support infrastructure."
Syrian state TV said a U.S. missile attack hit a number of military targets inside the country, according to the Associated Press.
U.S. officials said the Russians, who maintain significant forces in Syria, were given advance warning of the strike. There is a Russian military area at the base that was hit, but the United States took precautions not to strike that area, according to Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman.
In comparison, the start of the Iraq War in 2003 saw the use of roughly 500 cruise missiles, and 47 were fired at the opening of the anti-Islamic State campaign in Syria in 2014.
The attack may put hundreds of American troops now stationed in Syria in greater danger. They are advising local forces in advance of a major assault on the Syrian city of Raqqa, the Islamic State's de facto capital.
The decision to strike follows 48 hours of deliberations by U.S. officials and represents a significant break with the previous administration's reluctance to wade militarily into the Syrian civil war and shift any focus from the campaign against the Islamic State.
Senior White House officials met on the issue of Syria on Wednesday evening in a session that lasted into early Thursday, and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, Trump's national security adviser, have communicated repeatedly since Tuesday's chemical attack, the officials said.
The U.S. Central Command has had plans for striking the Syrian government for years and has significant assets in the region, enabling a quick response once a decision was made.
While the Obama White House began operations against the Islamic State in 2014, it backed away from a planned assault on Syrian government sites a year earlier after a similar chemical attack on Syrian civilians.
Tuesday's apparent nerve-agent attack in northern Idlib, with its widely circulated images of lifeless children, appears to have galvanized Trump and some of his top advisers to harden their position against the Syrian leader.
The assault adds new complexity to Syria's prolonged conflict, which includes fighters battling the Syrian government and others focused on combating the Islamic State, which despite over two years of American and allied attacks remains a potent force.
Within the administration, some officials urged immediate action against Assad, warning against what one described as "paralysis through analysis." But others were concerned about second- and third-order effects, including the response of Russia, which also has installed sophisticated air defense systems in Syria, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
The Trump administration's position on the strongman appears to have quickly shifted in the wake of the chemical attack as senior officials voiced new criticism of the Syrian leader.
On Thursday night, McMaster predicted the strikes would result in a "big shift on Assad's calculus. It's the first time the United States has taken direct military action."
McMaster described a deliberative process inside the White House and on the National Security Council, where three options were examined at the request of the president. He said that Trump made the final decision and that the strikes "clearly indicate the president is willing to take decisive action when called for." He emphasized, however, that the move did not otherwise alter the U.S. military's posture in Syria.
Earlier Thursday, Tillerson suggested that the United States and other nations would consider somehow removing Assad from power, but he did not say how. Just a few days ago, the White House had said that removing Assad was not realistic, with press secretary Sean Spicer saying it was necessary to accept the "political reality" in Syria.
"We are considering an appropriate response for this chemical weapons attack," Tillerson said in Palm Beach, Fla., where Trump was meeting Thursday with Chinese President Xi Jinping. "It is a serious matter. It requires a serious response," he said.
Speaking later Thursday, Tillerson recalled a 2013 agreement with Syria to hand over its chemical stockpile and for Russia to act as a monitor to ensure Assad did not renege on that deal. "Clearly, Russia has failed in its responsibility on that commitment," he said. "Either Russia has been complicit or has been incompetent on its ability to deliver."
The summit with the Chinese leader will continue Friday, and some U.S. officials say the strike will also serve as a warning of U.S. willingness to strike North Korea if China does not act to curtail the nuclear ambitions of the government there.
It was not immediately clear whether Friday's assault marked the beginning of a broader campaign against the Assad government. While the operation was the first intentional attack on Syrian government targets, the United States accidentally struck a group of Syrian soldiers in eastern Syria last year in what officials concluded was the result of human error.
The Obama administration had insisted that Assad could never remain in any postwar Syria, and it supported rebel groups that have tried unsuccessfully to oust him.
The United States has a broad arsenal already in the region, including dozens of strike aircraft on the USS George H.W. Bush, an aircraft carrier that is deployed to the Middle East and accompanied by guided-missile destroyers and cruisers that can also launch Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Additionally, an amphibious naval force in the region includes the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit with Harrier jets and Cobra gunships. The Pentagon also has scores of aircraft in the region flying operations every day against the Islamic State group, including from Incirlik air base to the north in Turkey.
The attack appears to have involved only missiles. U.S. fighter planes, if used, would have had to contend with a modest web of Syrian air defenses and potentially more-advanced types of surface-to-air missiles provided by Russia.
One of Assad's more prevalent systems, the S-200, was used to target Israeli jets last month, but missiles were intercepted by Israeli defense systems. The S-200 has a range of roughly 186 miles, according to U.S. military documents, and can hit targets flying at altitudes of around 130,000 feet.
Russian S-300 and S-400 missiles, located primarily around Khmeimim air base in western Syria, have a shorter range than the S-200 but have more-advanced radar systems and fly considerably faster than their older counterparts used by Syrian forces. The S-300 has a range of roughly 90 miles and could also be used to target incoming U.S. cruise missiles.
In a joint statement, Sens. John McCain (R.-Ariz.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said the operation "sent an important message the United States will no longer stand idly by as Assad, aided and abetted by Putin's Russia, slaughters innocent Syrians with chemical weapons and barrel bombs."
They also called on the administration to take Assad's air force out of the fight and follow "through with a new, comprehensive strategy in coordination with our allies and partners to end the conflict in Syria."
David Nakamura in Palm Beach, Fla., and Abby Phillip, Anne Gearan, Carol Morello, David Weigel and Brian Murphy in Washington contributed to this report.
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Central Wyoming Fair And Rodeo Finals [PHOTOS]
It's been a wild ride at the Central Wyoming Fair and Rodeo, and we totally intended for that pun. This is because the Rodeo part of the CWFR has been a roller coaster (or a bull ride?) of emotions. There were winners, losers, dreams chases,dreams realized, and dreams crushed as men and women put i all on the line for their shot at glory. Here are just a few photos from the CWFR Finals.


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Nintendo didn't seem to keen on releasing Mother 3 for the Gameboy Advance outside of Japans, so a group of fans banded together and took localization duties into their own hands. Nearly two years after the project first started, the Mother 3 fan translation website has launched version 1.0 of their labor of love. Now mind you that actually utilizing the translation requires the use of a ROM, which in turn requires the use of an emulator, which pretty much equals being shady. Pay special attention to the first step listed in the instructions on the web site.
Import a copy of the game, if you can find one. It's not cool to brazenly pirate stuff! Itoi, Nintendo, HAL, and Brownie Brown worked hard on this game. Can't find a copy? Consider buying some official merch (below).
Ignore the can't find a copy bit. Buying official merchandise in no way excuses pirating a copy of the game. Honestly I was hesitant to even mention the project due to such concerns, but now an entire page of my email client is filled with Mother 3 subject lines, so there you go.
The Mother 3 Fan Translation [Official Site - Thanks Everyone]


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These are a few excerpts from my private journal in September 2010, shortly before I started this blog. We were living in Mike Perry's summer house here in Newtown, while our future home's interior was being renovated on Perry's Point by Paul's two handy cousins and by Paul himself.
Of note, this excerpt was written during Hurricane Igor and its aftermath. Also of note is my poem at the end.
Very slowly, the old house on the point is undergoing its planned metamorphosis. My emotions are mixed. To see the rot exposed, the peeling paint and wallpaper, the ancient cobwebs hanging from the now-bare and blackened rafters, the unbelievable mess in the yard created by demolition, and now reconstruction – all of this plays havoc with my need for cleanliness and order. Are we really going to live here, in this two-storey house on a piece of rock jutting out into the cold North Atlantic? And are we ever going to find carpenters to install the new windows and clapboard while the rest of the work is done?
But then on one occasion when I visited the point last week, I saw something. I caught an encouraging glimpse of what could be. Of what that old house could become. My eye is drawn to the sun shining in through the multi-coloured glass of the windows we are not replacing. I see promise in their dazzling jewel tones of green, pink and yellow.
I get a mental picture of the rooms, devoid of junk and sawdust. Instead, they are neatly decorated, warm and comfortable, the kitchen filled with welcoming smells, music playing, Paul laughing at our cat Vivian as she skitters across the floor after a pop bottle stopper. I see Paul in his home office working on design plans, and I see me typing another page in my new novel. I welcome a visitor, put the kettle on…
I pretty much wish we were already there, playing house. Patience has never been my strongest virtue, so time drags on.
Sept. 21
So the house in Paradise didn't close yesterday as planned. The buyers require a survey of the land…why did they wait until the last minute??
And now we are back in Newtown, enduring the wrath of Hurricane Igor as he sweeps over the province, the likes of which we have never witnessed. There's a leak in the living-room here at Mike's that started since Paul left to go out on the point. The wind is howling, the rain is hitting the windows in sheets. Mother Nature is showing her teeth today and she means business! The radio assures me that this storm is a record breaker, and I feel like I have three houses to worry about: this one, the one on the point, and our biggest investment up to now, the one in Paradise that is almost sold.
Even Maisie and Vivian look worried.
Sept. 23
Everyone I love now has their power back. My sister Lynn got hers at 1 yesterday, my mother-in-law last evening, and daughter Denise at 4 this morning (no other family lost theirs). We had it gone for about seven minutes on the night of the storm. So I breathe a great sigh of relief that all is well once again. I smile to realize that many have no cable TV or internet access right now – just like us!
Of course, we still wait for a phone call from our real estate agent or our lawyer as to when the house will close. I pray the walk-thru goes well. We wait to see if the Trans Canada Highway will open later today. And we wait for our new windows to be delivered. Sometimes life feels like a long drawn-out waiting game.
I love cooking and baking. Sometimes it feels downright therapeutic. As I made cod au gratin and a strawberry-apple crumble yesterday, a feeling of such peace and contentment enveloped me, it made me think of the book Simple Abundance and how much truth is in it. Whenever I cook and there is lots of time to do it right, I adore it. Thinking of living on the point and cooking and baking in my brand new kitchen fills me with happiness. I taped some loose recipes into my personal cookbook just this morning, in anticipation of using them soon.
The only thing that hurts is to read the recipes that Mom dictated to me over the phone not that long ago.
And I wait for a call from Lynn to see if they have a new placement for Mom. I don't think I will get over the hurt of her Alzheimer's disease for a very long time, and the worst is yet to come. Right on the heels of Dad's ALS and death in 2003, the dreaded condition swooped in on my precious mother and changed her forever. Why has this double whammy hit our family, I wonder. I fear that the knowledge of it and the pain of its aftermath have changed me forever too.
As a way of dealing with these feelings, I wrote a poem this morning.
God, give me back my mom, I beg you and I plead
we've lost her much too early, the pain will not recede
First we lose our father to a death no one should know
too young he was to leave us–my God! I miss him so..
The grief it proved a burden our mother couldn't bear
her sadness turned to illness with a name I've always feared
I know not how her soul survives as her mind and body waste
she lives and yet she doesn't; a stranger took her place
Where is my mother's heart? Where is her winsome smile?
I miss the wisdom of her words, her gentle, caring style
God, give me back my mom, if it's only in a dream
let her put her arms around me; let her hold me as she sings
Then please take her up to heaven, let her suffering be gone
reunite my precious parents–maybe then I can go on.


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Why Are They Called 'Homofascists'? Here's Why…
Many Christians have been warning for years that the radical homosexual activist lobby is made up of Christian-hating fascists who are in rebellion against both God and nature, who are hell-bent on criminalizing Christianity and pushing to the fringes anyone who publicly acknowledges natural human sexuality and the age-old, immutable institution of legitimate marriage as created by God.
Sadly, many people, even many Christians, think that I and others are using hyperbole when we refer to this sexual anarchist "LGBT" movement as "homofascist" or the "Gaystapo." I hope you'll think again. It's time to wake up and smell the impending anti-Christian persecution. It's fully at hand.
BarbWire contributor Laurie Higgins, commenting on the Washington Examiner story below, summed it up well in an email tonight:
CEO and co-founder of Mozilla (and inventor of JavaScript) Brendan Eich is forced to resign because of his $1,000 donation to Prop 8 six years ago. So, I guess it's semi-official: American citizens who believe marriage is inherently sexually complementary cannot work in America–not even in their own companies. First Amendment: R.I.P.
Reports the Washington Examiner:
Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich resigned under pressure after gay rights activists demanded that he step down or recant his support of traditional marriage laws.
Eich donated $1,000 to support Proposition 8, the California ballot initiative that amended the state's constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman.
"I don't want to talk about my personal beliefs because I kept them out of Mozilla all these 15 years we've been going," Eich told The Guardian. "I don't believe they're relevant."
That wasn't an option. "CEO Brendan Eich should make an unequivocal statement of support for marriage equality," a Credoaction petition signed by almost 75,000 people said, per The Inquirer. "If he cannot, he should resign. And if he will not, the board should fire him immediately."
When asked if his beliefs about marriage should constitute a firing offense the way racism or sexism does, Eich argued that these religious beliefs — and beliefs popular as of 2008 — should not be used as a basis for dismissal.
"I don't believe that's true, on the basis of what's permissible to support or vote on in 2008," he told CNET. "It's still permissible. Beliefs that are protected, that include political and religious speech, are generally not something that can be held against even a CEO. I understand there are people who disagree with me on this one."
Oh, oh, Mr. Eich, how wrong you are. That's the America we used to live in. That's the America of our founding. Welcome to "Amerika." Homofascism is the order of the day and Christian "intolerance" simply will not be tolerated. That was before we became the godless, wicked nation we are today. A once-great nation that now takes "pride" in calling "evil good and good evil."
And here's the kicker: Mr. Eich's position on so-called "gay marriage" in 2008 is identical to none other than one Barack Hussein Obama's. While running for president that year he said, "I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. I am not in favor of gay marriage."
Off with his head! Where are the calls for Obama's resignation? Well, there are none because he got with the homofascist program. In a clear effort to raise funds for re-election, he pulled a 180.
Is anyone surprised?
Continues the Examiner:
On Thursday, Mozilla announced that he had resigned. "Mozilla prides itself on being held to a different standard and, this past week, we didn't live up to it," executive chairwoman Mitchell Baker wrote. "We know why people are hurt and angry, and they are right: it's because we haven't stayed true to ourselves. We didn't act like you'd expect Mozilla to act. We didn't move fast enough to engage with people once the controversy started. We're sorry. We must do better."
Do you see what's happening? Did you read that? That's fear — deathly fear. Fear of a radical, hateful, intolerant, obnoxious, fascist, evil and power-crazed group of sex-obsessed anarchists who demand that we all affirmatively celebrate their deviant and self-destructive sexual sins.
Christians, buckle up. Your whole world is about to change. The Rainbowshirts are emboldened and they've broken out the long knives. "Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence" – Psalm 73:6.
They smell blood in the water. I've often said that these folks want those who speak Biblical truth about human sexuality and legitimate marriage either 1) dead, 2) imprisoned or, if they can have neither of these, 3) marginalized to the point where they can't even support their families.
Check No. 3 off the list. I guess they're working backwards.
Freedom is hanging on by a thread, America, and it is those who worship the sin of Sodom that are determined to finish it off once and for all.
April 7, 2014 3:55 pm
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Agree, they are self hating people BUT Christianity is not the cause.The percentage of Jews is amazing. Nor is just homosexuality. One must look at the "attack weapon" those people use, all have one thing in common "if you cannot make it up then bring it down to your level" Do you ever ask yoursef why the entertainement industry goes to exptreme to make us look to despicable and make the worst NORMAL. As for Fascist, it is true Gay love money, in fact their love of mnaterialistic objects goes beyond most silly human who follow that trand. We need to demand better programs, program that point at the best in human to be elevated and for kids to admire.We all have that good point, or natural gift, just find it. Drop this "socializing craziness" Nothing wrong being along to read,you cannot find me a genius or any one that rose high who were not private. Trade a good book for a bad companion. So, you are not a backslapper, but I bet your are good at something usefull.
April 7, 2014 2:55 pm
Present day medications keep 'AIDS Victims' (sic) alive for some 24 odd (I do mean odd) years. These creatures get 100% Social Security Disability benefits and some 15 to 20 thousand dollars a year in free medications. Getting one of these creatures in and out of the hospital with pneumonia adds another 9 thousand dollars to the total. In sum, our government will spend some 600 + thousand dollars to keep these blasphemous animals in a state of complete creature comfort. At the same time, our government has no money to meet the health care costs of children with leukemia and brain tumors. Homosexuals need a death with dignity bill. Homosexuals need a death with dignity bill. See:


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Today was errand day. On the way home from work, I dreamed of taking a nap. I've caught the ubiquitous "Welcome Back to School" sinus infection. Thinking clearly is not my strong suit. This statement is more true than false, especially between about 1:00 PM and 5:00 PM. I don't know why. My gray matter just seems to shut down on me and I make decisions on limited information.
My example? Grocery shopping.
I didn't do too badly. I got everything on the list. (Okay… and one chocolate bonbon for the ride home….) However, my fruit selecting skills were apparently on the fritz. I wanted to pick up some crispy, sweet fall apples. After all, I live in apple land. It should not have been that hard.
Uh huh. Sure. I still managed to come home with 6 beautiful Jonagold apples that are NOT crispy in the least. While they held up to the texture, smell, no worm-holes tests, apparently I didn't test them well enough. I snuggled under a blanket while the jambalaya for dinner was simmering away on the stove to enjoy an apple. And in one bite, I knew. I'd blown it. The texture was not nice. No crispy crunch met my lips at all. Oh, so disheartening!
I brought my apple up to the kitchen and chopped it up, sprinkled it with lemon juice and put it in the fridge. It was going to have to wait until after jambalaya. (Which, by the way, was a killer recipe given to me by a student's mom. I think I'm in love…. OH MAN it was GOOD!)
After chowing down and packing up leftovers for lunches, I set to work on my not-so-crunchy apple. It wasn't super sweet either. And while I love a great apple muffin (sweet ones that taste like apple fritters), I really wasn't in the mood for something that sweet.
I ran across this recipe from Whole Foods for their Whole Wheat Flour Carrot Apple Muffins. And that sounded like a great combination: carrots and apples. And… hmm… what about some ginger? Yeah! That's it! I'm making muffins!
These are tasty treats. Their nutritional value isn't bad either. These come in with less fat and less calories that the Whole Foods muffins too! I had to vary my recipe from theirs substantially because (1) the whole wheat flour, (2) I just didn't want to use milk or applesauce and (3) I really wanted to add some candied ginger. Oh yum. I'm glad I did too.
These muffins are tasty and moist. Since I made mini muffins and regular muffins, I have to say this: I think I prefer the mini muffins. Two bites and breakfast is done. Perfect for the non-breakfast eaters in the world (like me).
Here's the nutritional data for TWO mini muffins as made with my recipe below: 72 calories, 2g of fat (1g saturated fat, 0 trans fats), 10g Total Carbohydrates, 2g Dietary Fibers, 6g sugar, and 3g protein. Not too bad, huh? (Thanks for catching my incorrect listing, Ginny! I've fixed it now.) 🙂
Here's the recipe. I hope you get a chance to try it.
Gluten Free Apple & Carrot Mini-muffins
Makes 36 mini muffins (1.5 – 2 Tablespoons of batter per muffin)
2/3 c. sorghum flour
1/3 c. tapioca starch flour
1/4 cup flax seed meal (ground flax seeds)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
4 ounces baby carrots (about 2/3 cup, loosely packed)
1 large apple, peeled, cored and chopped into pieces
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
4 Tablespoons butter, melted (or olive oil)
2 ounces candied ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- Preheat your oven to 375F.
- In the bowl of your food processor, finely chop the candied ginger into small pieces. Continue to process until the ginger begins to ball up into a small ball of sticky ginger. Scrap into a mixing bowl.
- Now place the baby carrots into the food processor. Process until fine pieces. Add the apple slices with the lemon juice and process to combine well. (In total, this will be one cup of apple and carrot mush.) Scrap this into the mixing bowl with the ginger.
- Mix together the apple/carrot and ginger.
- Add 1/2 cup of sugar, 4 tablespoons melted butter, vanilla, and 2 eggs. Mix until even again.
- Sift together sorghum, tapioca, ground flax seeds, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and xanthan gum.
- Dump dry ingredients in to wet and mix together on low until combined. Increase speed to medium-high and beat together for 2-3 minutes.
- Line/prepare muffin tins. If using mini-muffin tins, fill each with 1 1/2 tablespoons (or so) of the batter. If using large muffin cups, fill 2/3 of the way with batter. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown on top. A toothpick inserted in to the center will come out clean when the muffins are done.
- Allow to cool completely before storing in an airtight container on the counter top. (These muffins may freeze nicely as well.)
Happy Muffin-making!


text: The photos herein are a direct result of our love of frogs. No frogs are hurt or stressed while creating these photographs. The utter enjoyment of taking these FrogScape photographs has also led to photographing other critters like chameleons, geckos, praying mantis and other wonderful critters. All of these Frogtography images are for sale.Read More


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House Sharing for Boomer Women Who Would Rather Not Live Alone
Having roommates saves money and provides valuable companionship
The time was right for the three 50-something women to pool their resources and buy a house togehter.
Louise Machinist, a clinical psychologist, was ready to move out of her house now that her children were grown. Jean McQuillin, a case management nurse, had just moved into a rental apartment from the home she had shared with her then-husband. Karen Bush's job as a corporate consultant required her to travel often, which meant making arrangements for her cat and fish — and returning to an empty house.
For the women, buying a home to share made sense. Said Machinist, "There's every advantage to be gained from it."
(Watch the video below to see how the trio make their shared household work.)
The House-Sharing Trend
Other older singles seem to agree. Increasingly, female boomers and older women — both bosom buddies and strangers — are moving in together as a way to save money and form a community.
Online home-sharing websites, workshops and meetings for prospective housemates are booming. One such event recently occurred in Sarasota, Fla., where people in the city's Living in Community Network met potential housemates.
At the online service Let's Share Housing, based in Portland, Ore., which provides a list of people who want to live in shared housing and homeowners who want to share, 80 percent of the clients are boomer women. Fifty-five percent of the women enrolled at the Vermont-based in-person matching service Home Share Now are over age 50. Online interest in the program has doubled since 2007 — likely due, in part, to many more people who have never been married enrolling.
Conditions are ripe to make home sharing an option for many women. Four million women age 50-plus live in U.S. households with at least two women 50-plus — a statistic that is expected to rise. According to the National Center for Family & Marriage Research, one out of three boomers will probably face old age without a spouse. Women, on average, live about five years longer than men. Adult children are often far away. And since 1990, the overall divorce rate for the 50-plus demographic has doubled.
Add the recession, rising health care and housing costs, and longer lives to the reasons for shared housing's popularity. "My hunch is that money will be the incentive to get over the fear of 'Me? Live with a stranger? Never!' " says Annamarie Pluhar, a shared-housing consultant and author of Sharing Housing: A Guidebook for Finding and Keeping Good Housemates. "But it's also having someone say, 'How is your day?' and having a social connection that feeds the soul."
Few could deny that there are emotional and physical benefits from friendship and social engagement — and research supports this. In a home share, the residents can also split household chores, feel safer with more people around, and grow older at home without feeling isolated.
The Logistics of Living Together
After conferring with attorneys, accountants and financial planners, McQuillin, Machinist and Bush took out a three-way mortgage on a brick, five-bedroom, $395,000 colonial in Mount Lebanon, Pa., a suburb of Pittsburgh. McQuillin has the third-floor bedroom, bathroom and office; Bush, a second-floor bedroom and private bath that adjoins her office; and Machinist has the master suite.
Every month, the women deposit the same amount into their joint checking account to pay for utilities, property taxes and repairs. They each contribute a $100 gift card, with which they buy and share groceries — if someone entertains family or friends, she pays separately — and they occasionally eat together. They have house rules, including no overnight guests for more than seven consecutive nights, with built-in flexibility.
"It's like living with two wonderful sisters," says Bush, 65. The three have coauthored a book titled My House, Our House: Living Far Better for Far Less in a Cooperative Household.
Another home sharer, Marianne Kilkenny, 63, not only owns a house-sharing coaching business in Asheville, N.C., and gives workshops (one is called "Women Living in Community: From Dreaming to Doing"), but lives with three other women ages 48 to 69; two are divorced, another never married. Each has her own bedroom and bathroom, but Kilkenny pays the most, $900 monthly, including utilities, because she has the in-law apartment with a separate kitchen. The other rents range from $550 to $650. They share living areas, including a screened-in back porch where they eat in good weather.
The women have a meal together at least once a week as well as a weekly meeting. There are rules, such as hours when they can't do laundry or must be quiet in the halls. Everyone must be notified before guests, such as boyfriends or children, visit.
Lorraine Chambers, 69, is one of Kilkenny's housemates. Chambers' son, Jason, is a college dean and father to young children, and he lives more than two hours away. "It's comforting to know Mom is in a safe neighborhood with people who genuinely care about one another," he says. "And it's the leveraging of each other's financial resources that makes it possible for her to share such a nice place."
When Kilkenny first moved in at night two years ago, someone left the light on for her. "I was so moved," she says. "It's the little things that mean so much." On her 62nd birthday, her housemates left cards outside her door. "Feeling cared about is worth going through some of the conflict that will occur," she says.
The Drawbacks of Home Sharing
Not having your own place can also involve compromise. Sharing means less privacy and dealing with someone else's habits.
Experts say problems usually occur when areas of conflict — household chores, communal property, pets, cleanliness, temperature of the house, noise, guests — haven't been addressed before the move in or within the first week or two. They also happen when expectations are unclear or there is no home-share agreement (see sidebar).
Zoe Morrison, 55, of Portland, Ore., who runs the house-sharing service Let's Share Housing, is divorced and has grown children. She has lived in cooperative households six times. One time she called it quits when her new housemate's lover moved in unannounced. Another time the bills turned out to be higher than she had been told.
McQuillin, Machinist and Bush say that if they lived alone, they'd have their parents, children and grandchildren over more often. "Living with anyone has trade-offs," says Machinist, "but I'm willing to make little trade-offs and have a little less freedom."
But as they get older, the three women realize that what they used to call the "old biddies commune" can't be their home forever. When they bought the house, they were in their 50s and weren't thinking about health issues. Now McQuillin has a knee problem and lives up two flights of winding stairs. Machinist says her next place will be more accessible for older people. Bush thinks she'd prefer to live in a warmer climate.
They'll worry about that later, say these converts, and remain right where they are. Says Machinist, "This is the best way I've ever lived."
Sally Abrahms writes about boomers and aging. She is based in Boston.
Also of Interest
- What's happened to housing affordability?
- 9 nasty things you should throw away
- Find great volunteer opportunities in your community
See the AARP home page for deals, savings tips, trivia and more


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Do the Democrats want to see Syria look like Iran? Women should be barefoot and in Burkas like they now do in Iran?
Flashback to 30 years ago to the fall of the Shah of Iran and his pro-Western government. France and America's Democrat party let him go.
Ayatollah Khomeini was sending daily broadcasts to his Islamic followers while "in exile in Paris." The French gave him free international phone services so he could continue his campaign to take over Iran. Soon after, movie theaters were burned down by the scores. They were "sinners" according to Khomeini's Islamic teachings.
In one horror, Islamic followers, locked the doors of a theater and burned over 500 Iranians alive. There were also killings of Christians and Jews by the Khomeini mobs.
A strange call from Washington DC came in for the Shah. It was to be A CALL FROM SENATOR EDWARD KENNEDY the leading liberal from the US, calling about human rights. It turned out to be some kind of elaborate hoax. When the Shah picked up the phone a quiet voice kept repeating "Mohammad abdicate, Mohammad, abdicate."
Did Carter's new CIA pull the prank?
Today. The Iranian people are fighting for their freedom and life and getting no support from the mainstream liberal media: the New York Times, Washington Post, SF Chronicle, LA Times, CNN, CBS, NBC, and America's dominant political party, the Democrats. As they did 30 years ago the "elite liberal media" are not reporting the crisis in Iran.
The are back on the same playbook that Jimmy Carter and the Democrats used in 1978 when they sainted the Ayatollah.
In fact, the NY Times described Khomeini as tolerant and "his entourage of close advisers is uniformly composed of moderate, progressive individuals." The editorials went on to say Khomeini would provide "a desperately needed model of humane governance for a third-world country. Andrew Young went even further saying Khomeini would be hailed as a saint. Jimmy Carter let the former friend of the West, the Shah fall. Soon after, their were mass murders of the Shah's government and Americans on assignment in IT and in the oil fields. One afternoon, George Link, an Exxon general manager working in Iran was being driven back to work after lunch when his driver stopped the car and got out to open a gate, an assailant leaped from the side of the road and tossed a bomb in the car. Link threw open his door and jumped out. A moment later the car exploded. Evacuations of Americans started soon after, but not soon enough.
Tensions wer running high and Paul Grimm, on loan from Texaco to try and get the Iranian oil companies back up was driving to work one morning when a shot was fired from a car following his. He died instantly.
After more bloodshed the Shah's kingdom decided to evacuate all it's Western employees. The expatriates assumed that their exit was only temporarty because the media was not reporting the violence. They would never return.
Within a month, Khomeini was on a chartered Air France 747, the extra seats on the flight were sold to the New York Times, Washington Post, the BBC and other European journalists to pay for the flight.
Khomeini was resting in the first class cabin about to become the new ruler after the Persepolis monarchy that had ruled since 330 BC.
Soon after Khomeini returned he set up his candidate to lead the new Iran. A puppet named Bazargan.
There were still 20 or so oilfield managers left, among the group was Jeremy Gilbert, an Irish mathematician who became a petroleum engineer for BP. They remained only a few days before they realized this country was a nightmare. Gilbert was the last BP man left because he was in a hospital with a case of hepatitis. He was nearly killed there when nurses started chanting "Death to Americans" and a fellow patient beat him nearly to death.
The old regime of 2000 years in Iran was gone. Ironically, Iranians are not Arabs. Now they were ruled by an Islamic sect of Arab tyrants.
The Ayatollah now had millions of fanatical puppets killing off the middle class Iranians and ready and willing to die for their mullahs. Some of the stories were told, of the 50 American hostages captured by "students," beaten and tortured as crowds chanted their favorite new "prayer" "Death to Americans!"
What the media didn't tell you about was the "Death to Iranians" that carried on well into the '80s.
The next two years brought untold terror to the world. Iraq, watching the internal blood bath and purge in Iran took advantage of the chaos and attacked their refineries and oil production cities. With the Shah dying of cancer, Jimmy Carter finally let him visit the US for medical treatment, but not stay beyond that. Some friend?
Egypt let the Shah spend his last months alive on their soil.
Meanwhile, Hussein ordered an all out war against Iran with legions of armies amassed on their shared border.
To the shock of the world, thousands of Iranian children with plastic keys to heaven around their necks ran ahead of the more important Iraqi tanks and soldiers, they were even dragging their coffins with them. The Ayatollah promised them heaven for their lives. They even used the young girls for finding land mines. Human mind sweepers.
Goats are more valuable to the mullahs. Mull that one over.
I wonder if the Iranians ever wonder why the Ayatollahs live to their 90s while they send 9-year-olds to death as human shields? Don't the mullahs want to go to heaven? To their perfume gardens with all those virgins?
A lot more than sign waving has to go on to bring freedom to that poor country.
And now you see where this all started.
And you aren't reading it in the newspapers in America. Their monopoly on rewriting history is over.
Iraq has it's new freedom thanks to America's other party, the Republicans.
Obama took two weeks to say anything about the Iranian protests and killings by the Islamic tyrants.
The media/Democrat party alliance is not reporting the side of the protesters. But TWITTER is. The day of citizen journalists has arrived.
Visit TWITTER. Sign up for a free account and search for #iranelections. Join the effort to free Iran.
This is a great source of citzen journalist sites: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=List_of_citizen_journalism_websites


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U.S.: Russia Responsible for Downing of Malaysia Airlines Plane
Secretary of State John Kerry made the Sunday morning news show rounds to outline the United States' case—citing American and Ukrainian intelligence reports and social media that "obviously points a very clear finger at the [pro-Russian] separatists"—that Russia was responsible for the attack that brought down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, killing 298 people.
"This is the moment of truth for Russia," Kerry said on CNN's State of the Union. "Russia is supporting these separatists. Russia is arming these separatists. Russia is training these separatists, and Russia has not yet done the things necessary in order to try to bring them under control."
Appearing on CBS' Face the Nation, Kerry said that the U.S. has reason to believe that Russia has supplied the separatists fighting in Ukraine with the necessary weapons to shoot down the plane.
"What we have is a lot of evidence that points in the direction, that raises very, very serious questions, including the fact that a few weeks ago, we have 150-vehicle convoy coming from Russia, going into the east of Ukraine with tanks, artillery, multiple rocket launchers, armored personnel carriers, turned over to the separatists," Kerry said. More from CBS News:
Kerry also noted that there was an SA-11 surface-to-air missile in the vicinity of crash right before the plane was shot down, and said that there is documentation on social media that separatists bragged about shooting down the plane. The U.S. has also intercepted recordings of separatists talking to each other about the plane being shot down.
Finally, Kerry said, there is video evidence that a SA-11 system was moved back into Russia and is now missing from Eastern Ukraine. "So there's enormous amount of evidence, even more evidence than I just documented, that points to the involvement of Russia in providing these system, training the people on them," Kerry said.
"There's a buildup of extraordinary circumstantial evidence," Kerry said on NBC's Meet the Press. "We picked up the imagery of this launch. We know the trajectory. We know where it came from. We know the timing, and it was exactly at the time that this aircraft disappeared from the radar. We also know from voice identification that the separatists were bragging about shooting it down afterward." More from the Associated Press:
Shortly before Kerry's television appearances, the U.S. Embassy in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, released a statement saying experts had authenticated the calls.
"Audio data provided to the press by the Ukrainian security service was evaluated by intelligence community analysts who confirmed these were authentic conversations between known separatist leaders, based on comparing the Ukraine-released internet audio to recordings of known separatists," the statement said.
British Prime Minister David Cameron, in a frontpage op-ed in the Sunday Times, appears to have expressed his solidarity in the case against Russia, writing, "If President (Vladimir) Putin does not change his approach to Ukraine, then Europe and the West must fundamentally change our approach to Russia." From the Guardian:
"If this is the case then we must be clear what it means: this is a direct result of Russia destabilising a sovereign state, violating its territorial integrity, backing thuggish militias and training and arming them," he wrote in the Sunday Times.
Cameron also appeared to criticise fellow members of the European Union for being slow to act against the Kremlin.
"For too long there has been a reluctance on the part of too many European countries to face up to the implications of what is happening in eastern Ukraine," he wrote.
"It is time to make our power, influence and resources count. Our economies are strong and growing in strength.
"And yet we sometimes behave as if we need Russia more than Russia needs us.
"We hope this is a wake-up call for some countries in Europe that have been reluctant to move," Kerry said on Face the Nation. "The way Russia is currently playing this dual-track policy, say one thing, do another, is really threatening both the larger interests as well as that region and threatening Ukraine itself."
[Image via AP]


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In Kahuho village, up on the foot of the Aberdare Ranges, is a potato farmer, Loise Mugure. Loise owns a two-and-a-half acre piece of land but while she could plant it all at once, she only cultivates a quarter an acre each season. She is among the 87 farmers from her village who approached M-Farm for help.
The price uncertainty on agricultural commodities has forced farmers to gamble on how much to plant each season.
Yes, these farmers had learned and embraced good agricultural practices. They have adopted new climate resilient crop varieties, even improved the health of their soils but their problems persisted. They needed information on how the markets behaved.
At M-Farm, we set out to five markets in Kenya to provide them with real-time agricultural price information. We went a step further and made this information readily available through SMS platform. We thought this was the ultimate solution the farmers needed. There still existed a gap. The farmers wanted to be shown the future of markets. It needed data. The data was scarce. We could only do much with the few months' data we had gathered.
Working with farmers on a daily basis, I became frustrated too. I could not provide them with the outlooks they needed because I did not have the agricultural data to analyse and present to them.
It is exciting to have the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNET) dataset on Agriculture available to M-Farm. As a software solution and Agribusiness company focused on connecting farmers, we intend to integrate this dataset into our SMS information platform for our farmers.
We are processing the data to more meaningful information to farmers, then package it to suit their needs. This will help the farmers take important decisions on agricultural productivity.
What is beautiful about the FEWSNET data that the USAID has provided to our farmers is that it is from markets we know and on crops that are our staples. Finding local interpretation of the FEWSNET dataset gives us control of our situation. We can help protect food insecure populations from hunger with this data that has been made open to us.
With access to the FEWSNET market price data, our farmers are richer with more useful information on the market behavior. The more the data, the more sophisticated the analysis and the presentation tool.
Connecting farmers with the right information and at the right time levels the playing field for them, creates transparency and improves their livelihoods.
At M-Farm the FEWSNET database is not just data, it is critical information that is finding its way into the lives of the primary producers who feed the nation.


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The Community Relations and Crime Prevention Division of the Elgin Police Department collects cell phones to distribute to Elgin residents, age 60 or older, as part of the CASE (Cellular Assistance for Seniors of Elgin) Program. The cell phones are used to assist seniors in reporting emergencies and are programmed to only call 9-1-1. They are free of charge and there is no monthly fee for the service.Cell phones must be functional and have a working charger in order to be eligible for donation.
For more information on the program or to donate a phone, call (847) 289-2530.