text:
Looking Back on our Chef's Trip to Mexico City…
"No es de donde es el ingrediente originario, sino lo que el ingrediente representa para una cultura" . "It's not the origin of an ingredient that's important, but what that ingredient represents for a culture." –Chef Ricardo Muñoz Zurita
These words by Ricardo caught my attention before leaving to our Mexico City Chef's Trip in January. They got me even more excited for the trip; the reunion with both Ricardo Muñoz and Ana Elena Martínez, our shared sense of purpose, the smells, sounds, colors of people, of foods, structures, skies–everything that makes your land of birth sing to you, always calling you home. These words especially got me looking forward to seeing our guests fall for Mexico and, "getting" the importance of what an ingredient can, indeed, represent for a culture.
And fall they did. Some- once again, others- for the first time, others still- through our viewpoint. A marvelous combination of food people, from different backgrounds and cultures and culinary experiences. They soaked up the subtle difference of a cooked- as opposed to an uncooked- tomatillo in a "raw" salsa, our delicious mestizo food world and it's class differences- visible in our cuisines, a joyful miscegenation of ingredients and techniques; the depths that corn reaches back into our culture, the soul food of Tlaxcala, a warm northerner's rock and roll edgy cooking, the happily "surreal" idiosyncrasies of our country and their influence on a chef and perception of color, a chef's conscientious quest to go back- and bring forward- old styles a la slow foods….Chefs Ricardo Muñoz, Josefina Santacruz, Irad Santacruz, Cooks Nicolas Hernández and Dalia Rodríguez, Chefs Antonio de Livier, Martha Ortíz and Gerardo Vázquez Lugo outdid themselves and REALLY showcased those ingredients and what they represent to our multi cultures of Mexico. I can't thank them enough.
We will be posting photos of the trip now and then between sending out a cry for Oaxaca, which we shall visit in September at the end of the abundant harvests of rainy season. More to come on that fabulous trip!
I had Ricardo's words in my mind on the way to Mexico City. But they came back to me while reflecting on Marilyn Tausend's departure and what she means to me, her unplanned influence on so many people over 30 years, her stubbornness for Mexico, for cooking, writing, learning and, connecting people. Her lost soul as a child, found again perhaps in Mexico, makes me realize that it is not her origin that is important, but what she means and represents to the Mexican culture and the world she created.
Mil gracias, Marilyn, q.e.p.d.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
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Yesterday Maui and I made ice cream together! I was so excited to make ice cream again. I found out she hadn't seen Labyrinth (imagine) so we watched that while we waited for the ice cream to finish.
Before you get started: These instructions are written for using a Kitchen Aid ice cream maker. You need to freeze the bowl at least 24 hours in advance, and make the base of the ice cream the day before.
Yields: 16 servings of approx 120 mL (½ cup) per serving
- 590 mL Half and Half (2½ cups)
- 8 egg yolks
- 200 g granulated white sugar (1 cup)
- 590 mL Heavy Cream 35% (2½ cups)
- 1 vanilla bean, split and scrapped
- 0.5 g salt (⅛ tsp)
- 200 g chopped rhubarb (2 cups) + 25 g white sugar (2 tbsp)
1. In a sauce pan on Medium, heat the Half and Half until it's steaming but not boiling. Stir often. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. In mixing bowl, whip the yolks and sugar until just combined.
3. Gradually add the heated mix to the sugar, (I used a strainer since a skim developed). Once all the hot mixture has been added and the mixture is combined, return it to the sauce pot.
4. Add the vanilla bean to the pot.
5. Cook on Medium until small bubbles form at the edge and mixture steams, don't boil it.
6. Transfer to mixing bowl with a spout (I strained it again), stir in whipping cream and salt. Using a bowl with a spout is the best thing you can do since you'll be pouring this into a moving mixer later which you cannot stop as you pour.
7. Cover and chill overnight.
8. Half an hour before you're ready to start the ice cream, turn the rhubarb into jam-like consistency. Put the chopped fruit and the sugar in a sauce pan, heat on Medium for a bit until it starts to break down, then keep on Low until it's pulpy, stirring often. Once the fruit is broken down, set it aside.
9. Time to churn ice cream! Put the drive assembly in place and set the dasher into the frozen bowl. Turn mixer on to Speed 1 BEFORE you add the cooled mixture. Churn at least 20 minutes until the machine makes a clicking noise.
Churn it up!
10. Spoon the rhubarb into the ice cream and stir a bit more.
11. Store in air-tight container and freeze.
Delicious! I will add an extra cup of rhubarb next time, since I can't see much pink in the ice cream. I can taste it but I was envisioning striations of fruit through the ice cream which didn't really happen.
I will also churn the ice cream for longer, I found that the bottom of the bowl was still soupy and hadn't firmed up. That fixes itself once you freeze it, but to enjoy it right away I think you do need to churn it longer, or maybe risk stopping the bowl and using a spatula to scrape it up from the bottom? I don't know. Last time I stopped the bowl while ice cream making everything immediately froze to the side of the bowl.


text:
If you're launching a new service that you want people to rely upon, it's not the best idea to get everybody excited by, er, killing off a service that lots of people rely upon. That's exactly what Google has done, though: no sooner had it rubbed out Google Reader than it introduced Google Keep.
"Keep" is of course short for "We'll keep this running forever, unless we change our mind like we did with Google Reader and Google Notebook".
According to Google engineer Katherine Kuan, Keep is for people who "often discover that the desk, fridge or magazine wasn't such a clever place" to leave things they want to remember. Better, surely, to rely on something more permanent.
Like Google Reader. Ho ho!
Phone it in
Last week was dominated by the Samsung Galaxy S4 launch and the associated "world's best smartphone" chat, but are we looking at the wrong phone? Could HTC's confusingly named HTC One - not to be confused with the One X, One X+, One SV or defunct pop magazine Number One - be the best Android device money can buy?
Gareth Beavis is on the case, giving the One four and a half out of a possible five stars. It's "the best HTC phone ever, without a doubt," he says - and "it's the best phone on the market full stop." Not only that, but it managed to launch without offending anyone.
That's more than you can say about the Galaxy S4, whose launch made Joe Hanlon wonder whether the tech industry is still too sexist. The S4 has also been a bit of a let-down this week in the UK as it was discovered the nation wouldn't be getting the octa-core version of the phone. Instead the handset will be powered by a still-mighty quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon. As John McCann explains, it's all for 4G.
Pictures and tweets
While McCann pondered the big picture, we were pondering big picture takers: Canon's 100D, a tiny SLR, and the high-end Canon 700D, which is an upgrade to the current 650D. Our early verdicts on both cameras? We think Canon has a pair of winners on its hands. Fuji also revealed the hardy XP200.
Another winner is Twitter, which is celebrating its seventh birthday this week. Author Michael Marshall calls it "a punch in the face for modern friendship" while TechRadar's own Gary Marshall reckons that if it served beer, it'd be the world's best pub.
They're both right, of course: Twitter is as good or as bad as the people using it. As Smith says, tech is "bringing thousands of people we don't actually know into our new-tech caves. And disappointingly few are bringing hostess gifts, or bottles of fine wine."
Next week Twitter's going to be full of games chat, because the annual Games Developers Conference, or GDC for short, kicks off on March 25. We've been polishing our crystal balls to predict the highlights, which should include PS4 playtime, Xbox 720 details and a glimpse of gaming's future.
And then a few weeks later it's E3 time again, a spectacle of sound and fury where we'll see the games we'll be playing later this year and next.
Apparently at E3 2013 we'll even see Unreal Engine 4 "really rip the seams of reality". That sounds rather like the beginning of Doom to us, but it's not the only odd thing happening in tech right now: as Hugh Langley reports, Apple has been reverse engineering cats to create phones that land on their feet, or something.
Apple's patented invention "essentially shifts the insides of a device when it's falling in order to reduce chances of damage." That'd be handy to have in an iPhone, but it'd be even better in toast.


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Sen. Hagan wants more info on new health care site
North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan said Tuesday that she's seeking more answers about the poor rollout of the federal health insurance exchange. The Democrat is again trying to balance support for President Barack Obama's signature health overhaul law — which she voted for — while responding to constituent displeasure with it a year before her re-election bid.
Hagan told reporters she's asking Senate colleagues to sign a letter she drew up that seeks information from federal auditors about the run-up to the web portal's Oct .1 launch. She wants to know more details about the dozens of contractors who worked on the project, how much they were paid and whether fixing problems will require more taxpayer dollars.
"These problems are simply unacceptable, and Americans deserve answers and swift solutions," Hagan wrote in the letter provided by her office. "Taxpayers are owed a full and transparent accounting of how the vendors contracted to build the site failed to launch it successfully."
The portal's shortcomings have made it nearly impossible for the uninsured to enroll for insurance options at the federally-run exchange. The launch "has been unacceptable, and I share the frustration of so many people in North Carolina," Hagan said during a conference call, adding "North Carolinians deserve better."
Hagan has become more vocal over the past two weeks about the rollout, which Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius agreed was a "debacle." Hagan sidestepped a question about whether Sebelius should remain on the job, saying she now wants more information from the Government Accountability Office and the inspector general within HHS to find out what happened.
The letter also asks why it took so long for the primary contract to build the website to be awarded and what could be done to prevent future government information technology problems.
Hagan already asked the Obama administration to delay the open enrollment period expected to end March 31 by two months and has co-sponsored legislation that would force insurers to reinstate canceled policies. A wave of cancellation letters from health insurance companies are hitting mailboxes of people who buy their own plans appears to undercut Obama's comments that people who liked their coverage could keep it.
Hagan, one of 16 Senate Democrats who met last week with Obama to talk about the health care rollout, said Tuesday the overwhelmingly majority of Americans still continue to receive insurance outside of the exchange. She praised the 2010 health overhaul law for several provisions, including those that offer children coverage through their parents' policies up to age 26 and prevent cancellation of coverage due to pre-existing conditions.
"There are many, many benefits in the Affordable Care Act that I think (are) making a difference in the delivery of health care," she said.
Longtime state Democratic consultant Brad Crone said the one-term senator is really "having to thread the needle" when talking about the health care law.
"The last thing she wants to do is to have next year's campaign to be a referendum on the Affordable Care Act," Crone said in an interview. "She has to hold the White House accountable on the rollout and still embrace the Affordable Care Act to placate her base in the Democratic Party."
State Republican Party spokesman Daniel Keylin said in a release the letter was a "political stunt" and that Hagan should have questioned the health care law before the rollout. "No matter how desperate Kay Hagan gets in attempting to run away from the Obamacare disaster, North Carolinians know she owns it," he said.
The conservative-leaning Americans for Prosperity said last month it will spend $1.7 million on television ads critical of Hagan's support for the health care law. The Democratic-aligned political committee Senate Majority PAC countered last week with its own ads praising Hagan and suggesting the AFP ad is false.
Hagan's seat is considered one that Republicans need to flip in order to retake control of the Senate after the 2014 elections.


text: 2009/9/14 Bruno Coutinho <coutinho at dcc.ufmg.br>: > > 2009/9/14 John Hearns <hearnsj at googlemail.com> >> >> HPCwire today had an article on BOXX workstations which use something >> called PCOIP to transfer >> the graphics display over a slowish network connection. > > Nomachine NX does this too. > You can download a client and test on their servers. > http://www.nomachine.com/ > Bruno, I am a big fan of Nomachine, and I use it on my personal workstation. However, in my experience Nomachine does not handle OpenGL accelerated graphics - there is a recipe on their site for doing that, but it did not work for me. Also, and I hesitate to do a company down who I think are generally marvellous, they were not interested in doing an IA64 version for our Prism visualization system. If anyone is using Nomachine NX successfully to run a remote display of a decently specced visualization box running Linux and OpenGL then I'd really like to hear about it.


text:
NEW: Follow up post here
Amazon (yes, that Amazon) is launching a movie studio, and they just gave our horror screenplay Faeries a "consider". What's that mean? Not a lot, as near as we can tell.
First, here's a brief primer on the history of the Amazon Studios deal. (I'm confident in my understanding of this history, but if I'm wrong about any of the details, point me at a source, and I'll make a correction.)
How it all started
About a year ago, Amazon announced that they were going to become a movie studio, and produce their own content.
The model (generally) was to create a community website for screenwriters and filmmakers, and invite the writers to upload their scripts for the community to see and participate in: this is called a public submission. Then, other members could download and read them, offer their comments and suggestions, and rewrite them if they were so inclined, uploading the new versions as their own. (Yes, there is some protection for the original writer. But it's confusing at best.)
While lots of wannabe newbies participated, there was also an outcry… from the professional community (Amazon was not Writer's Guild [WGA] Signatory so was beholden to no guild requirements – thus keeping real professional writers far far away) as well as the more cautious element of the newbie community.
So Amazon changed things (a little) a few months in and allowed writers to disallow collaboration from other members, letting the original author keep some control.
A "Public" script still means everyone can read it. Within "public" there are now three levels of collaboration:
— Open: Anyone can submit derivations (written or video), which Amazon will own.
— By Permission: I can choose who submits written derivations, but anyone can submit video assets, which Amazon will own.
— Closed: Nobody can submit written derivations, but anyone can submit video assets, which Amazon will own.
From FAQ: "If you uploaded an original movie script, these project collaboration settings [open/permission/closed] only allow you to limit the addition of revised scripts to your project at Amazon Studios. They don't limit other participants' ability to add video content based on your script, and filmmakers and actors may not adhere to your script in making video content."
What Amazon gets
Throughout all this, Amazon gains rights to your work the moment you upload it to the site. They essentially have an unpaid option on your hard work (45 days), as well as rights to any of the rewrites other members do, or any video assets from the community (members can make faux trailers, shorts, or even full length features based on your script and upload them).
If during the 45 day option period Amazon decides to pay for a longer option on the script, they'll give you $10,000 and the 45 days becomes 18 months.
And if you yourself decide to take to heart any of the community feedback and upload an improved version of your 'play [which assumes it's public and thus you can get feedback], or if any other stranger on the site uploads their take on your property [which assumes it is set to "open" or "by permission"], the 45 day clock starts all over again. Even if the first 45 days has come and gone!
And if that's not enough, once you remove the screenplay from the site, Amazon RETAINS THE RIGHTS to the associated content (other writers versions, their videos, etc). They can stream member videos based on your screenplay on their subscription VOD platform, plus make money off advertising. Forever. For free. With no payment to you.
Remember, no matter what sharing settings you choose for your screenplay, any other member can always make video derivatives of your screenplay. And:
"[Amazon retains] The right to make and distribute trailers based on it [the screenplay], up to 10 minutes in length, forever." [from FAQ]
This is a great deal for Amazon. And it is ingenious… they're in the business of (among other things) content acquisition. You give them an option on your intellectual property for free, they encourage other people to develop your property for free, they encourage you to improve your property for free, and essentially maintain a never-ending option on the property. Free. Plus potentially get video content for their video platform. Forever. Free. Did I mention free? Free.
Smart business for Amazon. I just don't see this as a good deal for writers, and neither did many other writers with a lot more experience and credits than me – like Craig Mazin and John August.
(For those of you not screenwriters, when your script is under "option", it means the holder of that option has exclusive rights to develop your script with an eye toward eventually purchasing it, and in the meantime you can NOT submit to any other prodco, sell it to anyone else, or submit to any industry competitions. You give up your rights for the option period. Usually writers are paid for option rights… traditionally about 10% of a predetermined purchase price. Learn more about how options work.)
Things change
Fast forward a year (to a couple of months ago) and after negotiating with the writers' guild in an effort to attract the professional community Amazon changed their model. Now, professional WGA writers could submit to Amazon, not through the community website, but through a guild sanctioned (and presumably more financially professional) back door.
What's that do for the amateur community? Nothing. So they also changed their offering to the rest of us: Now non-guild writers can choose to upload a script as a private submission. Not visible on the site. Nobody but Amazon can see it. No other member has any rights to rewrite it or make video assets based on it. It's private.
Under a private submission, Amazon has 45 days to review the script, and if they like it enough to want it, they can option it from the writer for $10,000 against a purchase price of $200,000. That's only about 5%, but hey, the economy's tough and these are unrepresented writers.
If they don't want to option it, you get it back. Free and clear. All rights.
Now this IS a good deal for screenwriters. And a lot of other screenwriters, including professionals like John August and Craig Mazin, thought so too.
Of course, here's the thing: If they DO option it, they can make it public on the site, invite others to collaborate on it just as though it had been a public submission. All the rights issues that came with public submission now transfer to your private submission.
But at least you're getting paid. After all, if a big H'Wood studio optioned your screenplay for money, they also would bring on other writers to edit and polish, artists to do previz, maybe do some test shoots, etc.
Back to Faeries
We were not interested in a public submission to Amazon… way too many questions, and too many rights issues. But we liked the sound of the private submission. It's a great opportunity to get your screenplay in front of a capable producer who's willing to actually read it.
So we submitted our horror screenplay Faeries privately.
Amazon reviewed the screenplay, and chose not to option it. They did, however, let us know that they'd rated it a "consider". (See this article by my Twitter buddy Michael Lee for an explanation of a "consider" rating on a screenplay.)
Nice. But that's not all. They also offered to feature the screenplay on their "consider list". Out of all the screenplays submitted, precious few make it to the consider list. To make it happen, all we need to do is click a button, and make our script a public submission – starting that 45 day option clock ticking.
Now, we could choose to make the script public and displayed on the consider list, and set the collaboration feature to 'closed'. So nobody can write new version for Amazon to own rights to. But remember, the 'closed' setting only applies to written versions. Filmmakers COULD still make video content based on our script. And Amazon would own the rights to those videos. FOREVER. And they can distribute those videos as they please – on YouTube, or on their subscription based VOD platform, and collect ad revenue from associated ad content. Forever. For free. Did we say free? Free. Did we say forever? Forever.
What this amounts to is that while they didn't want to pay for an 18 month option, they did want us to give them a free option for 45 days. And all that that implies. Exactly what we were trying to avoid by going with a private submission in the first place.
Why would we do this?
We appreciate what Amazon's trying to do. And we may regret our ultimate decision. But there is no proven value in having our screenplay listed on Amazon's consider list (as much as we appreciate their kind valuation). There might be someday… hard to know.
Are there other production companies unassociated with Amazon who are trolling the site, reviewing the consider list, anxious to buy? Maybe. Maybe not. There are other places we can post our script (and brag about our "consider" rating from Amazon) where we know producers troll for new projects: InkTip is just one. We've already optioned one script through InkTip (Grampa Was A Superhero).
Would we benefit from the feedback of amateur members who read the script on the site? Maybe, maybe not. Likely not as much as we would from the feedback we've already gotten from real contest readers and professional analysts.
While there's no proven upside, there's a known downside: the screenplay would be off the market for 45 more days, unpaid. And if we uploaded a revision based on Amazon's notes (which, by the way, they won't supply to us unless we go public), or those of other members, the 45 days would start over again.
And here's our biggest concern. How much luck do you imagine a screenwriter will have down the line (once they've removed their screenplay from Amazon's site) optioning or selling the screenplay to another production company, or making it themselves and finding a distributor, when there are ALREADY videos based on that screenplay in the marketplace, on an Amazon platform, in which the screenwriter owns no rights?
If Amazon just gave us the opportunity to post the screenplay to the consider list for 45 days as a good will congratulations, gave the community a chance to weigh in with opinions on the property, perhaps gave us notes explaining why they passed, but otherwise completely protected our rights by disallowing any derivative works (written, video or otherwise) we probably would have done it.
But under the circumstances, we can't see an upside compared to the risk of one day being in competition with Amazon when we try to sell our screenplay to another producer.
We appreciate Amazon's "consider" rating. And maybe their public submission option model makes sense for some folks.
But for us, it just doesn't seem like smart business.
NEW: Follow up post here
Amazon FAQ: Who can revise your screenplay?
Amazon FAQ: About rights to original screenplays
Craig Mazin on Amazon Studios' original deal
John August on Amazon Studios' original deal
Screenwriter John August and Craig Mazin discuss the new Amazon deal
Michael Lee on what a consider rating on a screenplay means


text:
List of Oscar winners
List of winners at Sunday's 86th annual Academy Awards presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Best Picture: "12 Years a Slave."
Actor: Matthew McConaughey, "Dallas Buyers Club."
Actress: Cate Blanchett, "Blue Jasmine."
Supporting Actor: Jared Leto, "Dallas Buyers Club."
Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong'o, "12 Years a Slave."
Directing: Alfonso Cuaron, "Gravity."
Foreign Language Film: "The Great Beauty," Italy.
Adapted Screenplay: John Ridley, "12 Years a Slave."
Original Screenplay: Spike Jonze, "Her."
Animated Feature Film: "Frozen."
Production Design: "The Great Gatsby."
Cinematography: "Gravity."
Sound Mixing: "Gravity."
Sound Editing: "Gravity."
Original Score: "Gravity," Steven Price.
Original Song: "Let It Go" from "Frozen."
Costume: "The Great Gatsby."
Makeup and Hairstyling: "Dallas Buyers Club."
Animated Short Film: "Mr. Hublot."
Documentary Feature: "20 Feet from Stardom."
Documentary (short subject): "The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life."
Film Editing: "Gravity."
Live Action Short Film: "Helium."
Visual Effects: "Gravity."
Honorary Oscars:
— Peter W. Anderson.
— Film-processing labs over past century.
— Angelina Jolie.
— Angela Lansbury.
— Steve Martin.
— Piero Tosi.


text:
How time flies…We have been so busy here; the garden takes so much of our attention and leaves little time for anything else. The space the garden occupies is the footprint of the garden that was maintained by the man who once lived here but has since passed away. Funny coincidence, he too was a member of the master gardeners and more than one of my fellow members remembers him and stranger still, several of them would come here to help him in the garden. It has been interesting to learn about him and the methods he used here.
When we hold our monthly meetings, we always have a potluck dinner. Along with a large platter of salad greens fresh from our garden, I brought a tray of cookies. Well, we call them cookies but to the folks in Australia where this recipe originates from, they call them biscuits. If you take the time to read about the recipe in the book Dorie's Cookies, you will learn that Anzac is an acronym for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and that the history of the cookie suggests that it is a wartime recipe and was most likely favored because it was easy to ship. Interesting to say the least but truthfully, tasty cookies worth the effort!
The recipe calls for golden syrup, a traditional British and Australian favorite but I used wildflower honey; it tasted awesome in the cookies. Oatmeal and coconut are the other predominant flavors but the surprise is that the cookies contain no eggs!
Crispy and chewy at the same time. These went fast at the potluck and I received many compliments. The verdict; must make these again! May even pick up some golden syrup just to see if it makes a difference.
To see how the other bakers did, check out the website. Feel like baking along with us? Pick up a copy of the book and get to work!


text:
Media« Back to All Media
Prince Edward Island fishermen fighting midwater trawlers
April 08, 2012
Journal Pioneer
ALBERTON The P.E.I. Fishermen's Association is continuing to apply pressure in hopes of convincing federal Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield there's too much at stake in allowing seiners to fish for herring with mid-water trawls.
"Herring are the queen of the sea," said PEIFA president Mike McGeoghegan. "If the herring goes, everything goes with it."
He noted tuna and other species of fish follow the herring.
McGeoghegan said inshore fishers are worried that the mid-water trawls have the ability to wipe out entire schools of fish.
Should the fishery in any area of the Gulf of St. Lawrence be decimated, no existing compensation programs are in place to mitigate losses, the PEIFA noted.
"They collapsed the fishery in Europe. They collapsed it in Western Canada and they collapsed it on the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. How much documentation do you need to realize this is not a good fishery?" McGeoghegan asked.
Hosting • Design • Development: Community Internet Cape Cod Web Design


text: These reclosable poly bags are the right choice for many applications. Made from clear polyethylene. Durable enough to protect your products with a clean professional look. These bags are the safest and most economical way to package food and other small parts. Single track zipper closure keeps your product in and unwanted elements out.


text:
Live Now:
CTV News Channel
Viewer-submitted photos of Jupiter and Venus at their closest approach point on March 1, 2023.
Viewer-submitted photos of the first snowfall in the region.
A storm system moved through southern Ontario on July 20, 2022 causing damage in some areas including Thedford and Lucan.
With most staff working out of the office, phone calls may go unanswered. We encourage viewers to email instead at email@example.com
Where to find CTV London
Bell Express VU: Channel 220
Bell Fibe TV: Channel SD 202, HD 1202
Rogers: Channel HD 9, SD 137, HD 595
Shaw Direct: 645
Cogeco Cable: Channel SD 349
Digital over the air: HD 10.1
Cogeco: Channel SD 10, HD 801
Eastlink: Channel SD 5, HD 606
Execulink: Channel SD 10, HD 210
HuronTel: Channel HD 10
Zazeen: Channel SD 25
VMedia: Channel HD 584
SourceCable: Channel SD 34


text:
Teton Drama
Grand Teton National Park, WY
Summer brings afternoon thunderstorms to Grand Teton National Park that often lead to dramatic sunset conditions. This twilight shot was taken just as a break in the clouds let the warm sunset light through, illuminating the mountains under the dramatic storm clouds.
Biscuit Basin Sunrise
Yellowstone National Park, WY
When shooting the geologic wonders of Yellowstone the conditions are constantly changing as the steam becomes heavy and is then blown away from the morning wind. I very much enjoyed this relaxing shoot at sunrise walking among the otherworldly geology.
The Great Fountain Geyser
Yellowstone National Park, WY
One of the wonders of Yellowstone, this humongous geyser is at least a hundred feet across and provides dramatic reflections of the pink sunset light in its piping hot but beautifully still waters.
The Bathing Lovers
Telluride, CO
I found these rocks while hiking near Telluride, CO one crisp June afternoon. Multiple exposures were taken to capture the full range of light from the shadows and deep red of the surrounding rocks to the bright highlights of the spring water flowing throughout the scene.
Iris Sunrise
near Telluride, CO
After spotting this groove of Iris flowers the day before, I drove in the dark back to this spot to capture the sunrise and morning light over the beautiful flower field. Noticing a yellow flower mixed with the Irises, I framed it to provide a visual anchor in the field of beautiful lavender.
Emerging from the Earth
near Telluride, CO
As the sun rose over the Colorado "fourteeners", I found many photographic opportunities in this field of wildflowers. In this shot, I framed the beautiful lupine and waited patiently for the sun to break through the dramatic clouds above. The results were worth the wait!
Mountain Majesty
near Telluride, CO
Shooting this Iris field at sunrise, by myself in near silence, was a very spiritual experience. There was no wind and the valley in front of me seemed to stretch on forever towards the majestic mountains of the San Juan Range.
Iris Field
near Telluride, CO
Another, more intimate shot from the Iris fields near Telluride, CO.
Balsamroot Salute
Grand Teton National Park, WY
These lovely little flower bushes are everywhere in the Teton valley in June. This composition features common shapes in the foreground, middleground, and background to create a 3-dimensional viewpoint, drawing the eyes towards the most beautiful range in North America.
Into the Prismatic Sunset
Yellowstone National Park, WY
Sunset clouds are reflected in the still waters of the "Grand Prismatic Spring", Yellowstone's largest and second most famous geologic formation (after, of course, Old Faithful herself).
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
This stormy Yellowstone afternoon provided countless photographic opportunities, including this shot of a lone bison underneath the dramatic, stormy skies. I used a telephoto lens to isolate the bison, capture the most dramatic section of the sky, and keep a safe distance!
In an Instant
Gardiner, Montana
After a joyous day of enjoying Yellowstone's grandeur, I was treated to this once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon to capture the sunset with a lightning bolt next to a rainbow. It was pouring on my the whole time, but I was able to hold my umbrella over my tripod and capture one frame of this unbelievable moment as lightning struck from the pink clouds above.
Dreaming over the Gallatin Range
north entrance, Yellowstone National Park, Montana
A rainbow shines through the stormy pink sunset clouds near the North Entrance to Yellowstone National Park.
Balsamroot Sunrise
Grand Teton National Park, WY
Beautiful pastel sunrise light shines over the balsamroot flowers so common to the Teton valley floor in June.
Sunburst in the Tetons
Grand Teton National Park, WY
The last light of the day illuminates the balsamroot flowers underneath the drama of the Teton peaks.
Fiery Falls
Yellowstone National Park, WY
Reflecting the Depths
Yellowstone National Park, WY
Dramatic "godbeams" refract from a storm cloud above the geologic pools near Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park.
Yellowstone Falls Sunrise
Yellowstone National Park, WY
Here I enjoyed a peaceful moment on the usually overcrowded outlook known as "Artist's Point" that provides a sweeping view of Yellowstone Falls and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.
Lower Falls Rainbow
Yellowstone National Park, WY
A rainbow shines from the mist below the lower portion of Yellowstone Falls in the warm morning light.
Sunset on the Tetons
Grand Teton National Park, WY
Last light hits the top of the Teton peaks above the meadows of the Teton Valley below.
Sunrise at Oxbow Bend
Grand Teton National Park, WY
Oxbow bend provides a famous view of the Teton peaks reflected in the grandeur of the Snake River. I captured the first pink light on the Tetons during this tranquil sunrise.
Grand Prismatic Flavors
Morning Glory Pool
Tres Arboles
Lupine Meadows
Grand Teton National Park, WY
The Grand Prismatic Spring
The Spectrum
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Jenny Lake Sunrise


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I may have been the only kid in the world who was happy when the summer weather started to end. Shorter days and longer nights meant that it was truly dark outside when I went to bed and got to feel like I'd stayed up late even though I hadn't. Most importantly though—the end of summer weather meant that the rainy season was coming, and, if I was lucky, that meant blackouts.
As an adult blackouts are kind of annoying because they keep me from getting work done (or worse, they interrupt my DVR recordings), but once the initial annoyance passes and I'm left trying to figure out how to entertain myself without any kind of technology, I think back to my childhood and can't help but smile. I loved blackouts as a kid.
I loved wandering around the house with candles and flashlights. It was like my own adventure; the house was familiar and yet strangely foreign. The best part about power outages though, was that I always learned really cool things when we had no power.
When I couldn't watch movies, I learned that movies were just a series of still images shown one right after the other (at least they were when I was growing up, back in the days before digital movie projectors) and from that I learned how to make flip books (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip_book). When we couldn't use the refrigerator, Mom told me about how people used to preserve foods before refrigerators existed and explained the canning and drying processes. I learned that I was better at jigsaw puzzles than my brother and sister, but that my sister will always win Scrabble games, and my bother somehow has ridiculous luck with Yahtzee dice. My dad taught me how to make the best couch forts and paper airplanes. My mom taught me to sew things by hand and my grandmother taught me how to knit. Grandma also taught me a lot of different card games (due to a blackout, I learned to play poker when I was 11).
My family has always been big on finding teachable moments, and blackouts were prime time for learning about how the world was before electricity. Blackouts were like my own personal time machine; I learned a lot about the way things used to be done because I was living the same way people used to. (And when I started learning about the Oregon Trail in school, I felt a connection with the covered wagon travelers—I knew about how they had to preserve food, sew clothes by hand, and entertain themselves with cards and dice.)
So the next time a blackout rolls through your neighborhood, instead of packing up the kids and going somewhere that still has power, use the blackout as an opportunity to teach your kids a little practical history. Spend a few hours learning about the way things used to be done and creating your own entertainment; you'll have a lot of fun spending time with your family (and when the power comes back on, I guarantee that you'll have a renewed love for your light switches).
If you live in an area with a relatively stable power grid and don't have blackouts very often, make your own! (Bonus: Blackouts created by hand equal electricity bill savings created by hand.) Find the breakers for your house or apartment and just flip the main. You'll have to reset the clocks on your microwave and stove (and don't forget your alarm clock!), but at least you probably won't have to deal with the dreaded VCR clock my dad always complained about.
Here's some ideas for electricity free activities:
- Hide batteries and flashlights around the house and go on a treasure hunt (complete with maps and clues) to find them before it gets dark.
- Make your own beef jerky, just like people did before they could keep meat in refrigerators. (Bonus: Use the jerky as snacks for the following week. Home made jerky is also a cool show and tell item—kids will love the 'I made it myself' factor.)
- Knit scarves for cold weather. (Learn to knit here: http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/home/how-to-knit.htm or here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uw-nUvGrBY)
- Create a flip book.
- Have a paper airplane race.
- Using sheets, turn your entire living room into a giant fort (and see how the sheets glow when you light them from inside with flashlights).
- Lay out an area on your floor and get the whole family to put together a giant jigsaw puzzle. (Make your own smaller puzzles by cutting magazine pictures or drawings into interesting shapes.)
- Act out your favorite movies, or even better, write your own play! (Or use puppets made from socks or paper bags to act them out.)
- Cook outside. Fire up the grill or cook hotdogs over an open fire in the backyard. (Be safe and use a fire pit or make sure to line your fire with stones to keep it in one place.)
- Hand write letters to friends and family members telling them how much you love them.
- Stargaze. If the power is out in your neighborhood, there will be less ambient light and the stars should be more visible.


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angles, Basil, birdbath, Brick Wall Illusion, Columbine, Diagnal, Fern, Focus, Forget-Me-Nots, Geranium, Lattice, Lavender, Lines, perspective, Primrose, Viewpoint
Kinda-sorta like that Brick Wall Optical Illusion thing, but not really.
From looking at this
I found this.
Seeing the forest through the trees (or in this case, the Forget-Me-Nots through the fronds.
But then, take a look at them there trees (or in this case, again, the fresh fern fronds of spring).
And then there's this. Yeah. A bunch of blah, right?
I got super excited about seeing this.
My basil plant from last year, sprouting.
Finally, while admiring the whimsical, non-conforming feel of this section of garden,
I caught sight of something, non-conforming though it was, of which I felt compelled to tweak, or rather pluck, like that of a wild hair. Can you see what I did?


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We conclude this series with a look at those who put in a good all-round performance in their only opportunity in international cricket. We will look at batting + bowling as well as batting + fielding in the three formats of the game.
We start with Tests:
30-plus runs and 3-plus wickets in their only Test:
Heading the list is MF Malone, one of the Packermen who was given a chance in the final Test of a series which Australia had already lost. It would clearly be the best all-round performance for someone who played only one Test. Next would come that of JP Faulkner. He is a key member of Australia's current limited-overs teams and will probably play a few more Tests.
30-plus runs and 3-plus dismissals in their only Test:
Again, some relatively lesser-known players. Ronchi and Ojha can be expected to play again. L Ronchi's performance, for the moment, is the best for any keeper who played in only one test. NV Ojha would be next.
Passailaigue is the only non-keeper here. He put on 487* for the 6th wicket with George Headley in 1931-32 which is still the world first-class record for this wicket.
Now for ODIs:
10 or more runs and 1 or more wicket in their only ODI:
After scraping the bottom of the barrel, we have these 8 ODI players. India's leading spinner of the 70s is there along with a few other Test players such as AV Mankad, ADG Roberts and JR Hammond. Fittingly Chandrashekhar has the best bowling here, while AV Mankad has the highest score.
10 or more runs and 1 or more dismissal in their only ODI:
ADG Roberts appears in both of these lists. Other famous names are Bill Lawry and the now-familiar Phil Emery.
Finally we move to T20Is:
10 or more runs and 1 or more wicket in their only T20I:
Famous names include Tendulkar (in India's first T20I), Rafique (Bangladesh's first genuine all-rounder) and Gillespie. The list is headed by Scott Borthwick who also played one Test and two ODIs.
Gillespie scored the most runs (!) while Hitchcock is the only one to take 2 wickets.
10 or more runs and 1 or more dismissal in their only T20I:
12 in this list, and some of them like Tendulkar, Borthwick and Fayyaz appear again.
Dinesh Mongia, like Tendulkar, made his only T20I appearance in India's first ODI. He has the highest score here,while no one has more than one dismissal. Nixon is the only one to make a stumping.
There are a number of Test players here including Read, Nafees, Tendulkar, Key, Reifer and Kieran Powell.
This concludes our series on those who did well in their only opportunity in international cricket.


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President Barack Obama's vacillation on Syria — first delaying military action, and then booting the decision to Congress — poses grave threats to U.S. prosperity.
Imminent military action, especially in the Middle East, instigates fears of shortages and panic in oil markets. Two years ago, oil prices jumped to more than $110 in anticipation of the U.S. action in Libya but then subsided when the worst did not happen to oil supplies.
With mounting evidence that Syria used chemical weapons, oil prices again jumped, and a prolonged debate in Congress could push gasoline above $4 per gallon. That would dent Detroit's resurgent auto sales, shelve investment decisions across manufacturing, and weigh on already flagging new home sales.
Should the Congress approve military force, Iran could attack Israel or cut back on oil production, permanently pushing up prices. However, once U.S. strikes begin, if those consequences don't materialize, oil prices should fall back.
The president exacerbated near-term fears by first vacillating after Syrian President Assad crossed his red line, and then asking Congress to vote on the matter . Had Obama acted quickly on his own authority, or at least called Congress back into session immediately, the period of uncertainty would have been cut from at least a month to one week.
Extended uncertainty can wreck havoc on investment and consumer spending, and potentially tank the economy.
The president faces formidable opposition among Congressional liberals and the tea party, who don't grasp what is at stake for U.S. security and economic interests. Since the days of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the United States has carefully promoted a system of international law that prohibits aggression, protects human rights, and promotes freer markets for international trade and investment.
The Chemical Weapons Convention, which 188 nations have signed, clearly prohibits Assad's egregious conduct. Sadly, the British Parliament abdicated its responsibilities by voting against UK military action. The Germans and Japanese are hardly supportive. Russia and China, who abide only by international rules that suit their convenience, have blocked action at the Security Council.
Among nations with significant military power, or at least the financial resources to back it, America, France and perhaps a few others stand alone.
The liberals and tea party, who are very reluctant to support military force unless U.S. security is directly threatened, should consider the longer-term consequences of U.S. inaction on the economy and jobs.
With the United States, China, Japan and Germany account for about half the global economy. The latter already view the United States as a weak and fading power. By history and design, none has much use for the rules of commerce established by the WTO and similar institutions, and have acted with considerable impunity.
For example, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic recovery program hinges on purposefully undervaluing the yen to pump up exports and steal jobs in the U.S. automotive sector and elsewhere in U.S. manufacturing.
Chinese and German commercial policies victimize smaller nations — consider what Angela Merkel's austerity policies are doing to Greece and Portugal to keep Germany's export machine going — and destroy American jobs — China's undervalued yuan and naked protectionism stole the solar panel industry from U.S. manufacturers.
They behave so badly, despite U.S. protestations, because from Obama is viewed as weak and naïve. By leading from behind internationally and failing to act forcefully against protectionism that harms American workers, he has emboldened those nations' to give lip service to international rules and then do whatever they please.
Meanwhile, the U.S. recovery drags along at a paltry 2 percent, while China grows at 7.5 percent, and Japan and Germany recover.
If the liberals and tea party block U.S. military action, that vote will mark the end of the United States of America as a prosperous nation with the resolve to lead.
Peter Morici is an economist and professor at the Smith School of Business, University of Maryland.
About the Author
Credit: Steve Schaefer/AJC


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As often happens ahead of major product unveilings, a poster on a Chinese-language forum has posted some pictures of a highly anticipated device. Today, that comes in the form of pics of Samsung's expected Galaxy S IV smartphone. It's always best to take such photos with several grains of salt, since there's essentially nothing that we can do to verify their authenticity. That said, the phone looks as we'd expect: a fairly conservative, slightly larger version of the Galaxy S III with new software and upgraded specifications.
The pictured phone's specifications line up with current rumors, best guesses, and even some of the items on our feature wish list: it uses Android 4.2.1 with Samsung's now-familiar TouchWiz UI overlaid, a 5-inch 1080p display, 2GB of RAM, and Samsung's eight-core Exynos 5 Octa 5410 system-on-a-chip (SoC) with an Imagination Technologies PowerVR SGX544 GPU. That graphics processor is very similar in architecture and performance to the one used in Apple's A5 and A5X chips, though we won't know how it performs for sure until we know how many GPU cores it has or what its clock speed is. The phone also supports SELinux, a key ingredient needed to support Samsung's new Knox enterprise management software for its smartphones.
As much as pundits like to see big companies taking big chances with their new products, it doesn't look like the world's largest Android vendor is doing anything along those lines. A safe design that builds on what came before (while using the same general aesthetics as the rest of the phones in Samsung's lineup) makes sense, given that the S IV is the follow-up to a hugely successful product. Ars will be on the scene at Samsung's Unpacked event on March 14 to confirm whether these rumors are true or simply very convincing fakes.


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Jesus went through His worst day, to help you through yours. When we go through junk, it makes us masters and gives us wisdom for those going through the same struggles. In one day Jesus was emotionally distraught to the point of sweating blood, was physically beaten, strung up naked for public humiliation, rejected by all his friend, suffered the most agonizing death, and yet he still perfectly taught us how to get through a bad day. He said 7 things on the cross, and all of them are significant for us today:
- "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke23:34)
- "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise." ( Luke23:39-43)
- "Woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." (John19:25-27)
- "My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?" (Matt.27)
- "I'm thirsty." (John19:29)
- "It is finished." (John19:30)
- "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." (Luke23:44-46)
– Heb. 12:2 (MSG) – keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God.
1. On your worst day, forgive people
"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke23:34)
– Eph. 6:12 – we struggle not against flesh and blood but evil forces in the spirit realm.
If you need someone to be mad at, get mad at the devil.
Forgiveness is not:
1) Minimizing the seriousness of the offense
2) Instant restoration of trust
3) Resuming the relationship without changes
We need to forgive because:
1) Our own emotions can't be healed from the pain until we let go of it
2) Everyone has done something wrong
3) If we can't forgive, we can't be forgiven by God or man
4) Jesus forgave us
5) The people who hurt us were victims too
2. On your worst day, help someone else
"Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise." ( Luke23:39-43)
– Luke 23:39-43 – One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, "Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!" But the other answered, and rebuking him said, "Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? "And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong." And he was saying, "Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!" And He said to him, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise."
Jesus was dying on the cross, and He didn't fear piling on more rejection from people, or harm from the soldiers – He still spoke the truth. He talked to the two criminals hanging next to Him. It was a 50/50 shoot. He took the chance and He saved one! One criminal accepted Jesus as his savior. The other, more or less, said, 'Get yourself off the cross and I'll believe what you have to say; why should I trust you if you are in the same position I'm in?' It didn't faze Jesus.
We feel like we don't have the right to try to help others when we are going through the same struggle that they are. Jesus shows us otherwise. On your worst day, and in the middle of your worst situation, you can still speak Life to someone else. It probably comforted Jesus to have a friend hanging there next to Him, going through the same pain He felt; especially after all his so-called friends had rejected Him that day. It's easy to say 'I can't take anymore', but what if helping someone else is God's way of lifting our pain? Taking our mind off our own problems can ease our anxiety. Seeing someone else go through the same struggle can give us a different perspective that can help us. There are countless ways that God uses helping others, to help ourselves.
– 2 Cor. 1:3-4 – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
– Col. 3:12 – Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
3. On your worst day, take care of those who are important to you
"Woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." (John19:25-27)
– John 19:25-27 – Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, "Woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
Joseph, Mary's husband, was dead and Jesus, her son, was dying. Jesus' situation was really bad, but He still did what it took to take care of those He loved; even if it meant getting a friend to help Him do it.
The people closest to you, usually get the brunt of your bad day, but Jesus took care of the people closest to Him. What a great example!
4. On your worst day, you'll feel like God has forsaken you
"My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?" (Matt.27)
Sometimes we try to make God tell us why, before we do what He assigned to us.
– Job 3:23 (MSG) – What's the point of life when it doesn't make sense, when God blocks all the roads to meaning?
Realize that there are going to be some questions that you don't get an answer for. We live by faith, and without faith it is impossible to please God. God says His plans for us are good, so we have to take His word for it sometimes. When you get to heaven, and get the answer, you will say, 'Oooo, ok. I couldn't see that, but I'm glad that happened the way it did.' God's plan for everyone is good. Job basically said, 'God, make this mess in my life go away, or at least tell me why my life is so messed up.' There are 35 chapters of that, before God responds from a scary storm:
– Job 38:2 – Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?
– Job 38:1-5 – Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
– Job 38:18-21 – Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this. "What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside? Can you take them to their places? Do you know the paths to their dwellings? Surely you know, for you were already born! You have lived so many years!
– Job 40:2 – Do you still want to argue with the Almighty? You are God's critic, but do you have the answers?
Basically, we assume that if God gave us an answer that we would be able to comprehend it. Gods understanding far exceeds our own. Sometimes the answer is too complex for us. We can only understand it once we get to heaven and see how it played out with our new, more capable, mind.
God got a little sarcastic with Job. God who has lived infinite years, said 'Surely you know, since you have lived so many years!' The point is, we don't have to understand everything. We can just trust Him. Paul & Silas did:
– Acts 16:22-23 – The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison
Was it God's will for them to be flogged and imprisoned? No. It happened because God gave people freewill, and the ability to make their own choices. Freewill is a gift, but unfortunately it is one that is highly abused. God chose not to control us, or make us slaves, and I thank Him for it, because I've had enough control and manipulation in my life to be sick of it. Anyway, they were flogged and most of us would be wondering why God would allow that to happen. Yes freewill, but yes, He could also save them. God could've rescued them. God rescued several other people from things like this. Nonetheless, they weren't offended that God didn't rescue them. In fact:
– Acts 16:25-26 – About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone's chains came loose.
God delivered them. He came through. Not on their timing, but with perfect timing. They went on the mission to spread the gospel. The free people didn't receive the message, but God knew who would. The people in the prison had been mistreated the same way Paul and Silas had. Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. Paul and Silas had freedom, and that freedom got on everyone. God allowed Paul to go through the flogging so he could save all the prisoners. Since that was Paul's intentions of going to the city anyway, I don't think he would've had a problem with being flogged, once he knew how many people it saved. But Paul didn't have to know God's plan in advance. He knew God and trusted that His plan was good.
1. God is always with you; even in the depths of hell (Ps.139:7-8 )
2. God is never late (Hab. 2:3)
3. God knows best (Heb.11:39-40)
4. God cares (James5:11)
5. On your worst day, you have needs
"I'm thirsty." (John19:29)
Be human enough to acknowledge your need. We feel like we can't have feelings or emotions. We like to act like we have it all together, but God Himself acknowledged His need. We need people in the church to start being real with each other.
We all have hidden weaknesses, a desire for approval, and past hurts that need healing. We need support, growth, protection, and unconditional love. This is what the church should look like.
6. On your worst day, you need to know that it doesn't last forever
"It is finished." (John19:30)
Be confident that there is a purpose, and an end, to every suffering. No struggle is pointless. No suffering is unending. This life is temporary, but the glory to come is eternal and every tear will be wiped away.
– Ps. 126:5-6 – those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.
– Rom. 8:28 – And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
He works everything out for our good.
– 2 Tim. 1:12 – That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.
1. I know that God loves me
2. I know that God wants the best for me
3. I know that God has a plan for me
4. I know that God will bring me through
– Lam. 3:21-22 – Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
– 2 Tim. 4:18 – The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
7. On your worst day, you can give it to God
"Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." (Luke23:44-46)
Jesus felt abandoned by His father, but He still knew that He needed to trust Him. Surrender your day to God, and let it go. I'm going to turn this loose and let you have it, God. I want to hold onto this, but take it over.
– 1 Peter 5:7 – Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
– Phil. 4:6-7 – Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Worry is a control issue. Are you going to be in control or is God going to be in control? The root word means to choke or strangle. It means a divided mind. Worry is unreasonable, unnatural, unhelpful, and unnecessary.
– Matt. 6:27 – Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
Worry doesn't make life better, it shortens life. Ever heard the phrase: 'I'm worried sick.' Worry is bad for us. Remember God promises us 7,000 times, in the Bible, that He will take care of us.
– Matt. 6:32 (MSG) – People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.
– Matt. 6:33 – But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
1. Get to know God
2. Put God first in every area of your life
3. Live one day at a time
For more on this topic: How to Live Through A Bad Day – Highlands Sermon Series
Worship: Where you Go, I Go, by Jesus Culture
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"My Thanks"
March 17th, 2010
This is the third time that I have written a review wherein I believe myself to be writing about the final episode of Scrubs, which is sort of bizarre when you really sit down and think about it. However, this whole season of Scrubs has been bizarre: just months after the show went out with an emotional final episode (the great "My Finale"), it came back in a form that was sort of like Zombie scrubs: it looked familiar in some ways, as certain characters stuck around to provide continuity and the stories were ripped out of the first few seasons when things were still fairly fresh, but other characters were different, and the shift of first-person focus was enough to throw the show off its axis. Zombie Scrubs, or "Scrubs Med School" if we're being a little less facetious, was met with fairly tepid responses from fans and viewers in general, being written off as a failure even before it went on a lengthy hiatus leading up to last week's sudden return.
But while I will agree that there were some execution problems early on that rendered Scrubs Med School a bit of a failure, I think that we need to separate expectation from reality. If you expected this show to continue the Scrubs legacy from Season Eight (which I personally found a substantial improvement on the last few NBC seasons), then you would be disappointed; however, if you expected what Bill Lawrence was interested in creating, a new show featuring familiar characters that dealt with med students and the struggles they face, I would actually suggest that "My Thanks" caps off a pretty successful "first season."
I don't think that it's possible to forget what the show was before, and I don't think that Lawrence made the right decisions along the way, but I want to see more of the show that "My Thanks" represents, regardless of the Scrubs name and the endless finales that the show has endured over the years. That's not enough to save the show, perhaps, but I need to at least tip my hat to Lawrence for managing to make this Zombified show work at the end of the day.


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VENEZUELA — Plane passengers are used to paying for check-in baggage or priority boarding, but one airport in Venezuela is now charging for the ultimate hidden extra — air.
Anyone departing from the Simon Bolivar International Airport of Maiquetia in Caracas now faces a levy of 127 bolivars ($18) to pay for a new air conditioning unit installed earlier this year, according to a statement on the airport's website.
The airport says its air conditioning system "eliminates contaminants" and injects ozone into the atmosphere to improve the environment and protect the health of passengers.
It boasts that the system is the first of its kind in an airport anywhere in South America and the Caribbean.
The "breathing tax" which came into force on July 1 and must be paid by all domestic and international passengers to airlines at check in, has generated bemusement in Venezuela, with many taking to Twitter to criticize the measure.
"While the stench of the toilets asphyxiates me … they have started to charge 127 bolivars for breathing the ozone," wrote Vero (@VeronicaTorresA).
Another, Chipopo (@ELvDav) comments that whatever task the air conditioning unit performs, it doesn't seem to include lowering the temperature.
"Maiquetia airport is 36 C, it must be the injection of ozone that makes the temperature shoot up," they write.
Daniel Martinez (@DanielMartinezD), a radio presenter, tweeted his gripes about the measure.
"Could you explain to me the ozone thing in Maiquetia? The toilets have no water, the air-con is broken, there are stray dogs inside the airport, but there's ozone?"
Built in 1945, Maiquetia airport — as it is known by locals — is the main international air hub serving Venezuela. It's currently undergoing a major overhaul, according to Worldtravelguide.net


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German tank deliveries to North Africa are a fascinating topic for anyone researching the war in the desert, and have a substantial bearing on the ability of the Axis forces in the theatre to carry out their mission.
I originally published an article based on secondary sources, but tt was pointed out to me that the original article at this link contains errors. I have therefore gone back into the actual cargo ship loading manifests to try and correct it. The result is attached in the form of the PDF, which can be downloaded here: Tank Deliveries up to March 1942. The file is at present published for comment and corrections prior to finalisation.
I will continue this work through to the end of my documentation of manifests, which is sometime towards the end of 1942, as time permits me. At present the file covers to 31 March 1942 inclusive.
Explanatory notes:
- Yellow highlighted cells indicate interpretation of tank type based on weight. I.e. no vehicle type other than 'Panzer XX tonnen' was given. 5-7 tons is a Panzer I or kleiner Befehlswagen (command tank on the basis of Panzer I chassis), 10 tons is a Panzer II or a Panzerjaeger I or a kleiner Panzerbefehlswagen for Panzerjaegerabt. 605, 20 tons is a Panzer III or grosser Panzerbefehlswagen (command tank on Panzer III chassis), and 22 tons is a Panzer IV.
- Peach highlighted cells indicate sunk tanks. For example, S/S Adana and Arta were part of the ill-fated Tarigo convoy which was sunk in its entirety off the Kerkennah banks off Sfax, Tunisia, during the night of 16/17 April 1941. This convoy primarily carried units of 15. Panzerdivision. The two tanks on Adana would almost certainly have been grosse Panzerbefehlswagen, while that on Arta is difficult to tell.
- This list does include tanks delivered on Italian cargo ships, such as Andrea Gritti.
Burning kleiner Panzerbefehlswagen in Libya, from the AWM via Wikimedia Commons
German steamer S/S Adana in better days. From Wrecksite.eu


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LIU Brooklyn earns berth in NCAA tournament with 91-70 win over Mount St. Mary's in NEC final
NEW YORK – It may be the third time in a row LIU Brooklyn has won the Northeast conference tournament, but this championship was anything but secure for the Blackbirds.
C.J. Garner scored 31 points and LIU Brooklyn punched its ticket for the NCAA tournament with a 91-70 win over Mount St. Mary's on Tuesday night in the tournament finals.
Third-seeded LIU (20-13) was coming off a season in which four of its players were suspended in the fall for their role in a fight and reigning NEC player of the year Julian Boyd tore his ACL in December.
So, beating the fifth-seeded Mountaineers (18-14) was perhaps the sweetest victory in the three-peat.
"Me and C.J. talked about everything we've been through from the suspensions, your player of the year goes down — it could have gone both ways," said senior Jamal Olasewere. "We knew this one was personal."
Watson and Olasewere seemed determined not to let this one slip through their fingers. Watson's 31 points were a career high and Olasewere added 15 points and 10 rebounds to help coach Jack Perri become the third coach in the conference to win the title in his first year on the job.
Perri, who had been an assistant for the Blackbirds before being promoted this season, said this was the sweetest of the three titles for him.
"I'm very emotional right now because of what we went through," he said. "(It was a) totally different book than the last two years, totally different story. Everything went right the last two years and this year they had to show their true colors."
After a frantic back-and-forth first half, LIU Brooklyn opened the second half with a 35-31 lead. Led by a decisive dunk by Olasewere and a three-point play from Garner, the Blackbirds went on a 13-4 run to go ahead by 13 only 6 minutes into the half.
LIU Brooklyn didn't allow Mount St. Mary's to pull closer than 12 the rest of the way.
The enthusiastic LIU Brooklyn crowd, which spent much of the second half chanting "Brooklyn Three-peat", stormed the floor to celebrate what was a career night for Garner and a definitive statement for the small LIU program.
"You have to have a monster recruiting class that's essentially better than anyone else's in the league," said Mountaineers coach Jamion Christian. "I think them being able to do that with a coaching change and all of the adversity in the beginning of the year really speaks to them and their hearts as champions."
LIU Brooklyn's win cut Mount Saint Mary's comeback from an ugly start to the season a bit short. The fifth-seeded Mountaineers came in riding a nine-game win streak after upsetting top-seeded Robert Morris for a chance to play in the finals. A win for Mount St. Mary's would have topped an impressive turnaround for the team, which started a dismal 2-6 in conference play.
During the first half, it seemed as though the Mountaineers would take this one. LIU Brooklyn didn't grab its first lead until more than 10 minutes had passed. From there, it was back-and-forth with five lead changes until the Blackbirds took over in the second half.
Sam Prescott, who scored 19 points, started 4-for-4 from 3-point range before going cold in the second half for the Mountaineers,
"I think we were down four or five and our guys got a little antsy," said Christian. "We didn't share the ball."
Garner scored 17 of his points and Olasewere 10 after the break for the Blackbirds, who shot close to 68 percent in the second half.
Garner, who averaged 28 points during the tournament, was named its most valuable player, in a game that gave the LIU Blackbirds a place in the NEC record book for most consecutive conference wins.
"Ever since last year, history has really been on the board (for us)," said Olaseware. "We really wanted to come back and create history. We had minor setbacks but we're a family. They wrote us off but we came back and did what we had to do and we made history."


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Throughout the past six months, an Olympic-style torch has been making its way across the United States—and even parts of the world. Its ultimate destination is Howard University in Washington, D.C., where its arrival will mark the launch of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority's 51st Convention from July 11-17.
The District is the ultimate stop of the multi-city Torch Tour, a symbolic relay that is among a slew of commemorations meant to honor the centennial anniversary of the sorority's founding.
"Our motto is: Intelligence is the torch of wisdom. Our founders lit the torch 100 years ago what they started here has impacted the world. So we wanted to carry on that torch," said centennial chairwoman, the Rev. Dr. Gwendolyn E. Boyd, in an interview with the AFRO.
The Delta Torch is a "burning symbol of the passion and commitment of the organization's global reach;" and, beginning Jan. 1, selected members of the sorority have carried the Torch to 22 cities, representing the 22 founders of the organization.
The tour was launched in Los Angeles, Calif., and wended its way through scheduled stops, including: Seattle; Denver; St. Louis; Oklahoma City; Dallas; Little Rock, Ark.; Chicago; Detroit; Cleveland; Mobile, Ala.; Atlanta and Augusta, Ga.; Tampa, Fla.; Greensboro and Charlotte, N.C.; New York; Baltimore; and New Orleans. It also went to Tokyo, Japan, and the Caribbean island of Bermuda.
The chosen cities are the hometowns of the organization's living past-presidents and current Executive Committee members and the sites of two international chapters.
"The connection that the 22 selected cities on the torch tour have with Delta Sigma Theta is infused into the history of this organization," said Delta National President Cynthia M. A. Butler-McIntyre, who hails from New Orleans, in a statement. "We honor our founders and past national presidents as we bring the flame they ignited in us so many decades ago back to their cities."
At each stop, there were regionally and culturally appropriate celebrations – such as a Mardi Gras-type fête in New Orleans and a waterfront event in Seattle – that included historical reflections, music, acknowledgments from officials and more.
"The response in each city was tremendous," said Boyd, who led in the arrangements of the events. "Our organization worked very hard to ensure the publicity was there and that the events were appropriate and timely."
And beyond attendance, the events produced the outcomes that were expected, she added.
"It (the tour) was meant to celebrate but there's always a programmatic angle to what we do," Boyd said. "We were also using it to electrify young people to pursue their education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)."
For example, at one stop, 1,200 young people were invited to a local HBCU, where representatives from 50 companies in the STEM fields came to talk to them and offer information; one student also received a $22,000 scholarship for college.
"Delta Sigma Theta has remained a prominent force in the communities it serves for100 years," Butler-McIntyre stated. " we not only want to celebrate our founding and our accomplishments, but we also want to acknowledge those communities and leaders who have partnered with and stood by us as we collectively affected change throughout the U.S. and abroad."
That pioneering spirit and dedication to public service is a flame officials say the sorority will continue to burn brightly as it lights their path into the next century.


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Antiochus IV
Antiochus IV (Antiochus Epiphanes)āntī´əkəs ēpĭf´ənēz [key], d. 163 BC, king of Syria (175 BC–163 BC), son of Antiochus III and successor of his brother Seleucus IV. His nephew (later Demetrius I) was held as a hostage in Rome, although still claiming the throne. Antiochus is best known for his attempt to Hellenize Judaea and extirpate Judaism—a policy that instigated the rebellion of the Maccabees. Antiochus invaded Egypt, which was torn by strife between Ptolemy VI and his brother (later Ptolemy VIII), and would probably have conquered that region if the Romans had not intervened in his siege of Alexandria (168). Antiochus was briefly succeeded by his son, Antiochus V, a boy king who was overthrown by Demetrius I.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2023, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Ancient History, Middle East: Biographies


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(2014) Animated Feature (Focus) Starring the voices of Ben Kingsley, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Elle Fanning, Dee Bradley Baker, Toni Collette, Jared Harris, Nick Frost, Simon Pegg, Richard Ayoade, Tracy Morgan, Steve Blum, Nika Futterman, Pat Fraley, Fred Tatasciore, Max Mitchell, Maurice LaMarche, Laraine Newman, Brian George. Directed by Anthony Stacchi and Graham Annable
We have a tendency to look down upon those who aren't members of our economic and/or ethnic stratum. If we are rich, the poor receive our disdain. If we are middle-class, we hate the rich. If we are white, we mistrust those whose skin tones are darker. And of course, right back at the whites from the other ethnic groups.
We might paraphrase Tom Lehrer when talking about this film; "All the red hats hate the white hats, and the white hats hate the red hats…and everybody hates the Boxtrolls." That's because these underground dwellers who come to the surface each night to scavenge refuse and spare parts have stolen a baby and killed his father, which according to exterminator Archibald Snatcher (Kingsley) was for a delectable Boxtroll delicacy. Snatcher, a red hat, has long coveted a white hat and sees the Boxtrolls as his ticket to le chapeau blanc. Lord Portley-Rind (Harris), whose main concern is cheese – the town of Cheesebridge is famous for their fromage – absently grants Snatcher his wish. Provided, of course, that he rids the town of every last one of the vermin.
The problem is with the scenario is that the Trubshaw baby isn't residing in the belly of a Boxtroll. Nor is he even dead. The kindly Boxtrolls have adopted the young orphan and given him a box of his own to hide in – the Boxtrolls are timid creatures who have learned to hide and run rather than stand and fight. True to their custom, they have named the boy Eggs after the product that was stored in the box that he wears and uses as a convenient hiding place. Therefore other Boxtrolls are named Fish, Shoe, Fragile and Oil Can.
Winnie (Fanning), the spoiled daughter of Lord Portley-Rind, is fascinated by the Boxtrolls and by blood, guts and grimness in general. She is further fascinated by them when she discovers that a young boy her age is with them, although nobody believes her tale. When Eggs (Wright) returns to the surface during a cheese festival to try and stop the humans from stealing his friends and releasing those who are imprisoned, he runs into Winnie. She of course doesn't believe his assertion that the Boxtrolls are gentle and far from dangerous. They are builders, not destroyers.
As it turns out, Snatcher has a fiendish plan in mind which if his henchmen Trout (Frost) and Pickles (Ayoade) had known about they might have had a philosophical issue with. It would mean the extermination of every Boxtroll in town – including Eggs. And as Lord Portley-Rind obliviously chews his cheese, his daughter Winnie realize that it will be up to her and Eggs to save the day if the Boxtrolls are to survive.
Based on a lavishly illustrated almost 600 page children's book by British author Alan Snow entitled Here Be Monsters, this is the third movie from Laika, the stop-motion animation studio that previously brought us Coraline and ParaNorman. Like those films there is definitely a supernatural bent to the movie. Like those films, the painstaking process includes a fantastically detailed background with meticulously crafted characters.
Kingsley's normally mild voice is given a kind of over-the-top Cockney villain infusion, breathing life into a character who has allowed his dreams to warp him. He will achieve that goal no matter what it costs and the devil help whomever gets in his way because God surely won't. Equal parts Snidely Whiplash, Wile E. Coyote, the Child Catcher (from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) and Monty Python, Archibald Snatcher is a memorable villain who will delight children and adults alike.
So too will the environment created both in the town, which is perched on a hill much like the Wedding Cake town of Gondor in the Lord of the Rings trilogy while the underground home of the Boxtrolls is filled with Rube Goldberg-esque contraptions, unexpected beauty and plenty of gross protein. The entrance into their world is through fun looking slides which would be a slam dunk if Universal ever decides to put a Boxtrolls-themed play area for children in one of its theme parks.
Although Laika is based in the Pacific Northwest, the movie has a definite British sensibility (the source material is, after all, English) not only in the accents but also in the humor; all it lacks is Graham Norton skulking about looking for celebrities to interview. Anglophobes, take note.
Also the story is a bit simplistic which of course comes with the territory when adapting children's books. While there is plenty of subversive class conscious mockery going on, there are definite bad guys and good guys. Even Archibald Snatcher's motivation isn't too hard to understand; if this weren't geared for kids I suspect they would have made the character a little less malevolent and more sympathetic. I would have liked that myself because, after all, there's nothing wrong with wanting to better your situation. The issue comes when you give up your humanity in order to do so and perhaps that's the point they're making, but even so I think it would have been more poignant if they'd made Archibald a decent fellow to begin with.
But that might not have worked so well with little kids who need someone with a black hat to boo. There is nothing really scary about the Boxtrolls other than maybe a scene or two when one or more of the characters is in grave peril but there isn't anything wrong with bringing your littlest tykes into this one. It's fun, there's a definite Halloween vibe to it and adults will be as enchanted as their rugrats at the movies and in a year of mediocre family entertainment at best, this one stands out as pure gold.
REASONS TO GO: Wacky and as enchanting for adults as it is for kids. Kingsley voices one of the greatest villains of recent animated films. Beautiful stop-motion animation.
REASONS TO STAY: May be too British for some. Plot can be simplistic.
FAMILY VALUES: A bit of rude humor, some peril and a bit of animated action. Okay for most kiddies.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Pegg and Frost, good friends in real life, didn't find out until after they'd recorded their portions of the dialogue that they'd both lent their voices to the movie.
CRITICAL MASS: As of 10/21/14: Rotten Tomatoes: 74% positive reviews. Metacritic: 63/100.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: Monsters, Inc.
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