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Why not enjoy the outdoors and nature in your own backyard? Now you can add the next level of excitement to your family and friends gatherings with backyard games. These outdoor games are also great for events in parks, on the beach and so much more!
Outdoor games can range from the size of a frisbee to a life size giant Jenga! With all of the options out there, I'm sure you'll find the perfect ones for your next gathering!
Life Size Games / Giant Games
Life size games also known as giant games, yard games or lawn games are your childhood favorite games turned into giant games so you feel you are part of the game. These are always fun as you can move around while you play, others can easily watch, and it makes people want to jump in and join! The most common life-size game is Jenga, but there are so many more you probably never thought of!! Our favorite is the Giant Connect 4! A simple, easy to learn game, but super huge! We will go into detail of each giant size yard game so you can see which ones are best for you.
Pros and Cons of Giant Games vs Traditional Games
Uniqueness – Giant games are usually unique so everyone wants to play. It helps get everyone involved and together. Sometimes though you need to take time the explain the rules or have a sign somewhere with the rules on it.
Exciting – When a play is made, such as the Jenga falling, Giant games are so much larger than the tradition table games that it creates more excitement! But, that doesn't mean that table games or smaller yard games are still not thoroughly enjoyed.
Travel – The size of some giant games often make it hard to take somewhere, but this depends on the game and your vehicle. Most traditional backyard games are easy to transport and come in handy holding bags.
Cost – Some giant games cost a decent amount, but the extra fun they bring and the uniqueness experience is always worth it! You surely will be bringing life to the party! Traditional yard games are usually more cost friendly.
Continue Reading "Enjoying the Outdoors with Backyard Games"


text: Back COPD Remains Widely Undetected According to the American College of Chest Physicians, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the fourth leading cause of death in the world. In the U.S., the CDC lists chronic low respiratory disease as the third leading cause of death among U.S. adults ages 55 and older. COPD encompasses several lung diseases, including emphysema and chronic bronchitis, all of which make it difficult to breathe. In the majority of COPD cases, smoking is the main culprit. COPD develops slowly. People often don't seek care for it and aren't diagnosed until their 50s, when the disease has already affected their lung function and their lungs have been irreparably damaged. COPD symptoms include a persistent cough with phlegm, fatigue, shortness of breath (especially during exertion), wheezing (a whistling or squeaky sound when you breathe), and chest tightness. These symptoms are often confused with asthma or thought of as a normal part of aging. Nevertheless, not everyone who has a persistent cough or phlegm develops COPD, and not everyone with COPD has a cough, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Although it is impossible to undo the lung damage caused by COPD or halt the disease altogether, diligent management of symptoms and lifestyle changes can slow its progression. First, an accurate diagnosis is needed. Diagnostic testing Experts recommend a spirometry test for people who have COPD symptoms or who are at risk for COPD because of smoking and other risk factors. Spirometry, an easy, painless test, shows how well your lungs are working. For the test, you breathe hard into a large hose connected to a spirometer machine. When you breathe out, the machine measures how much air your lungs can hold and how fast you exhale after a deep breath. An abnormal reading is any value lower than the predicted value for you; the predicted value is based on your age, height, ethnicity, and gender. Other tests used for diagnosing COPD include bronchodilator reversibility testing, chest X-ray, and arterial blood gas. A treatment plan If you are diagnosed with COPD, your health care provider will work with you to relieve symptoms, improve your ability to exercise, slow progression of the disease, and prevent complications. If you smoke, you should quit. Talk with your health care provider about methods you can use to quit smoking. Treatment is based on whether your symptoms are mild, moderate, or severe. Your doctor may prescribe inhaled or oral corticosteroids, inhaled short- or long-acting bronchodilators, oral bronchodilators, or a combination of these medicines. Antibiotics may be needed periodically. Your health care provider may also have you enroll in a pulmonary rehab program. Rehab programs include exercise, disease management training, and counseling. You should take steps to reduce your chances of developing a lung infection. These include washing your hands regularly, avoiding people who have respiratory infections, getting a pneumonia shot, and an annual flu shot.

subset: commoncrawl


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University ensembles are open to all students enrolled at the University. Auditions are required for all ensembles except for Marching Band, Pep Band and Choral Union. Auditions for ensembles take place in September, within the first two to three days of school (see Dept. of Music posting, first floor, Durgin Hall). All students, music majors AND non-music majors audition for seating placement. At this time auditions for the following non-major instruments are closed: guitar, electric bass, drumset.
Students should prepare a solo work (District/All-State level) when auditioning for classical Wind Ensemble, Orchestra, Brass Ensemble or Concert Band.


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MinXray Generators
Having worked with veterinary experts for decades, MinXray offers portable x-ray equipment for all equine/large animal, companion, exotic and mixed animal practices. Our systems include solutions to everything from individual imaging equipment components to complete veterinary digital radiography systems. Recognized internationally as a trusted source for providing innovative, lightweight and portable imaging solutions. MinXray's units are easy to use, ultra-durable, and create digital images of superior quality. No matter what digital imaging challenges you face, wherever you need to be, our advanced veterinary digital radiography systems are right there with you.


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A View From the Cave blogger Tom Murphy is holding the annual Aid Best Blogger Awards (ABBA). I don't consider my blog to be an "aid blog" per se but I think I fit into the general category that Tom intended to include in his awards.
If I may toot my own horn a little, I even once got a shout out from one of the better know aid bloggers out there, Chris Blattman (Blogger of the Year last year).
So if you like what you read on this blog please go ahead and nominate the blog for this year's awards here.
Some of my better posts in recent months have been on the topics of the upcoming elections in Kenya and the conflict in eastern DRC.


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On good days I can't resist taking photos of Oakland from the high hill at Mountain View Cemetery. I usually regret it because my camera isn't good enough, but three years and three days ago, this shot of Lake Merritt came out pretty nice. Lake Merritt used to be a tidal slough, until Dr. Samuel Merritt took it upon himself to build a dam and turn it into more of a proper lake. His mansion, among those of many other of Oakland's early swells, surrounded the lake in the late 1800s.
Nowadays the lake is regulated with a better dam, but it's still rather artificial. In 1870 it was named America's first wildlife refuge. Its water is brackish, with salt content that fluctuates with the rainfall. This view looks across San Francisco Bay to the high hills of the San Mateo Peninsula, with the San Andreas fault at their feet.


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The group SMS service Twitter launched last year. Essentially it's a message board you can update from your phone via SMS, or from the Web or your IM account (the IM function is new). Twitter updates are limited to 151 characters each, which makes sense for an SMS service, but it does put a limit on depth, to say the least. Twitter's Web entry window even says "What are you doing?" which also encourages short and content-light updates, such as "I'm putting on my hat."
This raises the obvious question: Who cares? But you can do a lot in a few words, and I was sitting next to a Twitter junkie at a bar last night who was singing the service's praises. She was using Twitter as a Dodgeball-like service, telling her pals what she was up to. Twitter could also be a good tool for live-blogging events or breaking news, or for group chats. It's a lot like IRC in that regard, but much, much easier to use. And the cross-platform (Web and phone) support is great.
I like this service as a publishing platform. I'm not so sure I like the idea of either subscribing to a person's every move or of constantly updating the service with my life's minutiae. (Fortunately, you can easily unsubscribe from a Twitter board that you're following on your phone, with a simple SMS command.) Nonetheless, I'm going to keep the Webware Twitter updated for the rest of today, as an experiment. Follow along in the widget if you have nothing better to do.


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|The Global Greenhouse Regime. Who Pays? (UNU, 1993, 382 p.)
|Appendix: The Climate change convention
In their actions to achieve the objective of the Convention and to implement its provisions, the Parties shall be guided, inter alia, by the following:
1. The Parties should protect the climate system for the benefit of present and future generations of humankind, on the basis of equity and in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. Accordingly, the developed country Parties should take the lead in combating climate change and the adverse effects thereof.
2. The specific needs and special circumstances of developing country Parties, especially those that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change, and of those Parties, especially developing country Parties, that would have to bear a disproportionate or abnormal burden under the Convention, should be given full consideration.
3. The Parties should take precautionary measures to anticipate, prevent or minimize the causes of climate change and mitigate its adverse effects. Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing such measures, taking into account that policies and measures to deal with climate change should be cost-effective so as to ensure global benefits at the lowest possible cost. To achieve this, such policies and measures should take into account different socio-economic contexts, be comprehensive, cover all relevant sources, sinks and reservoirs of greenhouse gases and adaptation, and comprise all economic sectors. Efforts to address climate change may be carried out cooperatively by interested Parties.
4. The Parties have a right to, and should, promote sustainable development. Policies and measures to protect the climate system against human-induced change should be appropriate for the specific conditions of each Party and should be integrated with national development programmes, taking into account that economic development is essential for adopting measures to address climate change. 5. The Parties should cooperate to promote a supportive and open international economic system that would lead to sustainable economic growth and development in all Parties, particularly developing country Parties, thus enabling them better to address the problems of climate change. Measures taken to combat climate change, including unilateral ones, should not constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination or a disguised restriction on international trade.


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What's New
Chancellor Font Family by Pintassilgo Prints
About: Chancellor is a robust hand-drawn sans serif display typeface. Its sturdy letterforms takes inspiration from Plakatstil era posters, while bringing up also cool adornments to flourish your lettering designs. This all caps typeface has two versions for each letter, amplifying your composition choices. Itís positively a great tool for a wide range of creative display uses.
Tags: 1920s, 1930s, Art Deco, Distressed, Font, Sans Serif


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|US Size
We are excited to offer Free Standard Shipping through FedEx on all orders shipped to the continental US. Upon shipment, FedEx Ground packages can take anywhere from 10-12 business days to arrive at their final destination. Orders placed outside of these times will process within 10-12 business days. For more details on destination specific delivery estimated see our shipping page.
We're excited to offer a pre-order option for new seasonal styles that are not yet in stock. When pre-ordering, payment is collected at the time of placing the order. Look for the "Ship By" information on the product page—found underneath the "Pre-order Now" button"—to determine when your pre-order will ship. For more details on pre-orders, please see our FAQ page.
Our 14 Day Return Policy-
We gladly accept returns on full priced items (except items marked "Final Sale") for a full refund within 14 days from time of delivery and sale items with a $10 return shipment fee. Items must be unworn and have all original tags attached.
If you have any questions about your order, please email email@example.com.
Monday-Friday 10am-5pm
Pretty in Pleats
Our signature pleats return this season in beloved colorways from the past, as well as in exciting new options: metallic rose pink and fuchsia.
Be Our Guest
Resort is a season of celebration, and so we've designed this collection with a focus on wintertime event dressing. Materials like fuchsia satin, spruce green velvet, and diamanté are bold and extra-special, perfect for luxurious mixing and matching.
Made for Walking
Our best-selling tall boots, Gia and Goldy, return this season in tried-and-true colors as well as in a new neutral: birch.Seasonally-appropriate updates to our Boot Shop include water-resistant, Vibram-soled weather booties–perfect for rain, sleet, and snow.
Resort Ready-to-Wear
Everyday wintertime dressing is made easier with a new mix of functional pieces. We love pairing utilitarian workwear pants with feminine blouses for a balanced end result. For days when we're feeling less inspired, we like to reach for matching sets in gorgeous florals and special textures.
Wintertime Dressing
We designed a new assortment of fleeces, knits, and coats to stay warm through the season, and for event dressing, are pleased to introduce a mix of new holiday party-perfect dresses in all-new florals, organzas, and cloqués.
Cozy Up
Warm woolen knits and touches of shearling add texture and insulation for even the coldest of winter days, and a wide assortment of accessories—including hats, scarves, and mittens—perfectly accompanies our new collection of outerwear and sweaters.
The Craft Fair
Each year around the holiday season, we highlight some of the artisans and makers we love to support in our annual Craft Fair. We hope you enjoy shopping this year's edit of gift-worthy goods.


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Wikipedia:Did you know
|Rules (WP:DYK)
|Suggestions (T:TDYK)
|Queues (T:DYK/Q)
|Archives (T:DYK/A)
|Discussion (WT:DYK)
Wikipedia:Did you know (DYK) is the project page for coordinating the content of the "Did you know..." section on the Main Page. The DYK section gives publicity to interesting facts from Wikipedia articles, as a way of thanking the editors who work on those articles and to encourage other editors to contribute to and improve that article and the encyclopedia.
More general discussion of the main page takes place at Talk:Main Page, and errors are reported at Wikipedia:Simple talk.
DYK participants[change source]
Any editor may volunteer to help with DYK. The following editors have significant DYK experience and currently are active in contributing to DYK's operations:
- Eptalon (talk · contribs)
- Ferien (talk · contribs)
- ImprovedWikiImprovment (talk · contribs)
- TDKR Chicago 101 (talk · contribs)
- つがる (talk · contribs)
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Currently inactive[change source]
Users here have previously participated in DYK, but are currently inactive with the process.
How a DYK suggestion makes its way to the Main Page[change source]
A DYK suggestion goes through three steps before appearing in the Did you know section on the Main Page.
- First, an editor can nominate an article and a hook for that article at the DYK discussion page.
- Then, another editor will review it and will decide if the hook and article meets DYK criteria to appear on the Main Page.
- If it is approved without disagreement, then the hook will be moved to Queue 1.
- When it is time for the live Main Page DYK template to be updated, which is every seven days, an editor can move the verified hooks from the next update page to the template.
- Old DYK entries that are removed from the Main Page are archived.
Volunteers to help are welcomed!
Rules[change source]
- Only one article can be nominated for a Did You Know hook.
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- This main article is the link which is in bold. This article must meet the DYK rules.
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- Article talk page: ({{dyktalk}}) {{dyktalk|24 March|2023}} (check if small style templates in use, if so add the small=yes parameter)
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- DYK is NOT a general trivia section.
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Jay Robbins tries to kill self after child porn found on cellphone, police say
Vero Beach man tells police he has 'urges to look at child pornography'
A Vero Beach man tried to kill himself after it was discovered he had child pornography on his cellphone, police said.
Jay Robbins was arrested Wednesday on one felony count of possession of child pornography.
IMAGES: 32 Men Most-Wanted For Crimes Against Children
Vero Beach police said a woman had purchased the phone for Robbins, who was battling a drug and alcohol addiction. However, after she found out Robbins had been using drugs again, the woman took the phone back and found a pornographic image involving a naked child on it.
When detectives went to the home where Robbins had been staying, they found him with self-inflicted injuries on his wrists. He was taken to a hospital to be treated for the injuries.
Detectives said Robbins admitted to downloading the image on his phone and said he tried to kill himself because he knew the woman who confronted him about it would turn him in. Detectives said he admitted he "has issues and urges to look at child pornography."
Police said they don't know the girl's identity or where the incident took place.


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The Devil's Man is a really quite odd — not to mention staggeringly cheap — little Eurospy film from director Paolo Bianchini, the man who spoiled Superargo for everyone with his limp sequel to Superargo vs. Diabolicus, Superargo and the Faceless Giants. It's one of those Italian genre films in which the actors walk through it as if in a dream, reacting to situations in ways that no human being ever would simply because that is either what the script required of them or because they were given no direction as to what a more sensible course of action might be (ad libbing was obviously outside the pay scale). Remember that scene in Nightmare City where the woman quite improbably stands stock still and screams while a zombie pokes her eye out with a stick just because that was what was required in order to pull off the cheap prosthetic effect? Well, I was going to say that that is representative of the degree of logic informing The Devil's Man, but, on second thought, that at least makes sense on some level.
In the film, Luisa Barratto (billed here as Liz Barrett) plays Christine Becker, a young woman who arrives in Rome with her father, Professor Becker, a noted brain surgeon. Soon thereafter, the professor goes off to meet with a colleague and fails to return. Christine then spends some time wandering aimlessly around the city, running into a man dressed in a Santa Claus suit who is sitting by a fountain and then a sinister chestnut vendor, before going to the home of her father's colleague, a gentleman by the name of Professor Block, to look for her dad. There she finds Professor Block murdered and her father missing.
Not long after that, a man who will later be referred to simply as "Mike" shows up on the scene. Christine stands by and watches wordlessly as he rifles through Block's apartment, even though she obviously has no idea who he is and he has said absolutely nothing by way of introduction. Finally, Mike sees fit to address her, requesting that she not inform the police of this matter. This prompts Christine to in turn inquire as to Mike's identity, though, quite nonsensically, she asks him if he's a policeman. No, Mike tells her, he is a reporter, although nothing that Mike will do over the course of the rest of the film will support this claim. It is for this reason that The Devil's Man today maintains its somewhat precarious foothold in the Eurospy genre (rather than — what? — the Euro-reporter genre?). Despite the nebulousness surrounding Mike's identity and profession, his actions throughout the film are pretty much right in line with those of your typical Eurospy hero, with instances of teeth-bared machinegun strafing and cold-cocking of criminal minions outnumbering those of scribbling notes and phoning in copy by roughly a thousand to zero.
"Mike" is played by Guy Madison, an American cowboy star who saw his career's second act play out in the world of 1960s European genre cinema. In addition to some espionage films, he appeared in quite a few spaghetti westerns, including some pretty good ones, such as Gianfranco Baldanello's This Man Can't Die. As far as his performance in The Devil's Man goes, as with all of the other actors in the film, it's difficult to make an assessment — as it is even to use such basic terms as "performance" or to say that anybody actually "played" anybody at all. The cipher-like figures who inhabit The Devil's Man can't really be said to constitute "characters" in any conventional sense, and, as such, playing them simply requires that the actors appear in front of the camera and rotely march through a few murkily-defined paces.
Eventually Mike and Christine's search leads them to the North African desert, and the hidden compound of a masked supervillain who, in keeping with the stubbornly generic tone of the proceedings, is never identified by any kind of proper name. You might think that this villain is employing the mask to conceal his identity, and that we are in for a startling "reveal" at the film's conclusion, when we will find that he has all along been one of the characters we were introduced to earlier in the story. But when the mask is removed, we instead find that he is just some anonymous guy whose face, for reasons we are never made privy to, is a little bit scarred.
Anyway, this villain, with the aid of a team of captured scientists, has concocted a synthetic superbrain which he now hopes to have Professor Becker implant into his head so that he can reign over the rest of us stupid people — even though stupid people have proven that they don't necessarily always choose intelligent ones to be their leaders. Mike ultimately manages to bring mask guy down with the aid of a helpful tribe of nomads who, in a confusing riot of poorly shot action and mismatched stock footage, do battle with said villain's army of milky-eyed zombie foot soldiers, ultimately bringing about, through entirely mysterious means, the required ka-boom of the amorphously defined (is it a castle? is it a cave?) supervillain lair.
As alluded to earlier, The Devil's Man's production exhibits an almost poignant level of impoverishment. It's interior scenes are so tightly shot that, for all we can see, they could just as easily have been set in a curtained-off corner of a warehouse or the cramped basement rec room of the director's house as in an actual studio — and I suspect that in many cases their backdrops consisted of little more than a blanket hung over an exposed drain pipe. The resulting over-reliance on extreme close-ups and tight two-shots makes for a claustrophobic viewing experience, to the extent that your enjoyment of the film will depend a lot on how much you'd like to be locked in a closet with Guy Madison for seventy-five minutes.
It is difficult for me to recommend The Devil's Man. While it is definitely a weird movie, it is not weird in the wild, WTF way that we typically like, but rather in the way that makes you sit silently for a couple of minutes after it's conclusion with a mildly quizzical look on your face, trying to decide whether you are disappointed or just perplexed. That it is today considered obscure was inevitable, given that it is so noncommittal on every level of its conception and execution that it barely maintains more than a spectral presence. But being that it is less a film than a ghost of one, it is also mildly haunting, though more in a kind of nagging and annoying way than an actually spooky one. In the final analysis, I guess I would have to say that, if you have ever had a half-remembered story related to you by a narcoleptic two-year-old, and you were pining to have that experience again — only in cinematic form — then The Devil's Man is the film for you.


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Lawn & Garden Equipment
Daily: $80.00
Weekly: $280.00
Monthly: $600.00
* Prices are subject to change. Tax and other fees not shown in above price estimate.
* Please call us for any questions on our packer plate large rentals in Regina SK, also serving Southern Saskatchewan, including Moose Jaw, Pilot Butte, Lumsden, White City, and Fort Qu'Appelle.


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Nass El GhiwaneTroubadours of the Old and New Morocco
The stadium in Agadir is rocking. Long-haired youths tear off their T-shirts, waving them to the music like flags. People dance in a crush, pushing against the lines of soldiers and policemen trying to force them back. A girl slips bravely through the cordon, jumps between the musicians. She dances with them for a moment before the marshals pull her off the stage. But after the final chord, there's no holding them back. The youngsters storm the barriers, grab instruments, fly at the musicians. The plump Moroccan girl is back, and stands in front of Larbi Batma as he's leaving the stage, tying her scarf around his neck…
Impressions from the wild 1970s. And indeed, with their Beatles-style haircuts and flared trousers the Moroccan musicians looked just like contemporary rock stars. But listen closely and something doesn't seem quite right: there's no howling electric guitar, no huge drum set. The instrumentation was sparse, some pieces were only sung and accompanied by rhythmic clapping.
Religious and inflammatory
Then the musicians again brought out traditional instruments: the harraz, the cup-shaped drums of itinerant musicians and beggars, the tbila drum of the Sufi brotherhoods, covered on both sides, the framed drums of the Jilala and Aissawa and the gembri, the percussive bass of the Gnawa musicians.
They did indeed use these instruments to play the music of the traditional Sufi brotherhoods, the Jilala, the Hmadcha, but above all the trance music of the Gnawa. But they had composed new lyrics, partially in the style of religious Sufi poetry, but always infused with courageous directness and social brisance.
In the educated Morocco of the 1960s and 70s, which had its cultural centre in Fez, this music was regarded as primitive and backward. After all, it was often used to conjure up spirits in healing ceremonies developed by popular Islam.
Instead, Moroccan radios broadcast overblown emotional music or the noble tones of zither and violin. It was already a sensation in itself that four musicians played their own songs and lyrics on traditional instruments – an approach that soon packed the biggest venues and stadiums in Morocco.
In June 1971, they were the warm-up act before a performance by the Radio Orchestra at the National Theatre in Rabat. But the audience didn't allow the orchestra – with its classical Arab and western orientated repertoire – onto the stage, celebrating instead the music of Nass El Ghiwane. They were henceforth hailed in the Moroccan media as "the Moroccan Beatles".
In the late 1960s, four young men from the working-class district of Hayy al-Mohammadi in Casablanca joined a theatre group and provided a musical accompaniment on traditional instruments to the socially critical plays. They were an instant success, and soon formed the group "Nass El Ghiwane". The addition of the banjo to their ensemble made the group the first in Morocco to modernize traditional music.
The "Ghiwane" musicians that gave the group its name were the troubadours of old Morocco, members of traditional Sufi brotherhoods who used music to convey the latest news, religious messages and entertainment to the people.
Not long after independence, in the midst of the worst economic crises and harshest political repression, the group mixed popular Sufi music with their own texts. Nass El Ghiwane was the first-ever Moroccan group to denounce the misery of the young and disenfranchised, despotism and omnipresent corruption:
"Oh, what a miracle! Our summer has become winter … The rulers' tyranny becomes all the more oppressive, their despotism more brutal." (Excerpt from Nass El Ghiwane: "Subhan allah")
Sufi music and Arab protest
Although they originated from the leftwing intellectual student milieu of their time, they were not flying any particular political banner, but expressed through song their desperation, their hopelessness and the isolation of the young man who came to the city from the country.
But through Sufi music they also celebrated something lacking in the western student movement, but which to this day remains an integral part of all Arab protest: a religious fervour that turns to Allah for help. Gnawa music, the legacy of black African slaves in Morocco, still played in the African jazz pentatonic, still interfused with strange words of Bambara and Wolof, in turn mirrored the feelings of the young, the disenfranchised and persecuted. They too perceived themselves as slaves of repression.
In 1974, the young gembri player Aberrahman Paco came from the traditional Gnawa stronghold of Essaouira to join Nass El Ghiwane, thereby further strengthening the influence of black African healing and trance music on the group. The fact that Gnawa music now enjoys pop status across Morocco is due to Nass El Ghiwane.
But after almost 20 years, in 1993, Paco withdrew from the furore surrounding Nass El Ghiwane and returned to his roots: the Gnawa cult in Essaouira. He suffered a stroke there a few years ago, and has been bed-ridden ever since. He has however passed the musical baton to his son Youness Paco, who played with Nass El Ghiwane as a young boy.
Morocco and the Arab Spring
I meet Youness in the port city of Essaouira, where he founded the group "Paco El Ghiwane" with his brother Yassine and the banjo player Rachid from Marrakech. But the student movement is no more, and socialist models appear to have been enduringly discredited.
But Arab society is showing itself to be anything but paralysed. Suddenly young people are organising themselves on Internet forums, filling the streets with people. Morocco is not spared. Although the young King initiated hurried constitutional reforms, demonstrations also began here. After all, the King continues to be the unchallenged ruler of the land and parliament, and abuse of office and corruption on all levels persists.
I push for a response from the musicians to the political events of the Arab Spring. Of course, they welcome Ben Ali's resignation, Mubarak's ousting, the removal of Gaddafi and the rebellion against Assad in Syria.
But Youness' response to developments in Morocco and the "February 20 Movement" is very cautious: No one wants to question the authority of King Mohammed VI., who is also the nation's religious leader.
As far as the musicians are concerned, the problem is corruption within the ranks of advisers and parliamentarians. This is why a movement such as "February 20", which calls for greater parliamentary democracy, is garnering little support beyond the economic metropolis Casablanca. Instead, even the smallest "February 20" demonstration is followed by a massive counter-rally in support of the King.
But Rachid, who arrived from Marrakech during the night, has driven away his fatigue with a few brisk banjo solos and is now on a roll. His entirely unsatisfactory predicament in which he, a talented musician, is forced to take on exhausting, badly paid jobs, makes him sick. Yes of course there are musicians in Morocco who can earn a good living from their performances.
But they had connections that he, Rachid, doesn't have. That's corruption in Morocco: without friends in high places, artists can either starve or give up on their craft. He plays a few runs on the banjo in an attempt to dispel these gloomy thoughts. The lyrics of Nass El Ghiwanes appear to be more relevant than ever:
"Oh you jailers! Open the doors of the prisons … Oh you rulers! Cease your barbarity." (Excerpt from Nass El Ghiwane: "Al-Samta")
Andreas Kirchgäßner
© Qantara.de 2012
Editor: Lewis Gropp/Qantara.de


text:
Riding the Rails Timeline
October 1929
The stock market crashes, marking the end of six years of unparalleled prosperity for most sectors of the American economy. On October 24 -- Black Thursday -- stock prices plummet and panic selling ensues as people try to sell stock for any price they can get. By October 29 -- Black Tuesday -- stocks will completely collapse and banks will be calling in loans. An estimated $30 billion in stock values will "disappear" by mid-November.
November 1929
President Herbert Hoover says, "Any lack of confidence in the economic future or the basic strength of business in the United States is foolish."
March 1930
More than 3.2 million people are unemployed, up from 1.5 million before the October, 1929 crash. President Hoover remains optimistic, however, stating that "all the evidences indicate that the worst effects of the crash upon unemployment will have passed during the next 60 days."
November 1930
The street corners of New York City are crowded with apple-sellers. Nearly 6,000 unemployed individuals work at selling apples for five cents apiece.
January 1931
Texas congressman Wright Patman introduces legislation authorizing immediate payment of "bonus" funds to veterans of World War I. The "bonus bill" had been passed in 1924. It allots bonuses, in the form of "adjusted service certificates," equaling $1 a day for each day of service in the U.S., and $1.25 for each day overseas. President Hoover is against payment of these funds, saying it would cost the Treasury $4 billion.
February 1931
"Food riots" begin to break out in parts of the U.S. In Minneapolis, several hundred men and women smash the windows of a grocery market and make off with fruit, canned goods, bacon, and ham. One of the store's owners pulls out a gun to stop the looters, but is leapt upon and has his arm broken. The "riot" is brought under control by 100 policemen. Seven people are arrested.
Resentment of "foreign" workers increases along with unemployment rolls. In Los Angeles, California, Mexican Americans are accused of stealing jobs from "real" Americans. During the month, 6,024 Mexican Americans are deported.
December 1931
New York's Bank of the United States collapses. At the time of the collapse, the bank had over $200 million in deposits, making it the largest single bank failure in the nation's history.
January 1932
Congress establishes the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. The R.F.C. is allowed to lend $2 billion to banks, insurance companies, building and loan associations, agricultural credit organizations and railroads. Critics of the R.F.C. call it "the millionaires' dole."
March 1932
Three thousand unemployed workers march on the Ford Motor Company's plant in River Rouge, Michigan. Dearborn police and Ford's company guards attack the workers, killing four and injuring many more.
April 1932
More than 750,000 New Yorkers are reported to be dependent upon city relief, with an additional 160,000 on a waiting list. Expenditures average about $8.20 per month for each person on relief.
May 1932
More than 300 World War I veterans leave Portland, Oregon en route to Washington, D.C. to urge Congress to pass the Bonus Bill. It will take them 18 days to reach Washington, D.C.
June 1932
Determined to collect their "bonus" pay for service, 15,000 - 25,000 World War I veterans gather and begin setting up encampments near the White House and the Capitol in Washington, D.C. On June 15, the House passes Congressman Wright Patman's "bonus bill" by a vote of 209 to 176. The bill falls to defeat in the Senate, however, 62 to 18. The vets maintain their determination to stay camped out until they get their pay.
July 1932
The Reconstruction Finance Corporation is authorized to lend needy states sums from the National Treasury. The money is to target relief and public works projects.
President Hoover signs a $100,000 transportation bill to assist "bonus Army" demonstrators in getting home. He sets a July 24 deadline for the men to abandon their encampments.
On July 28, when some "bonus Army" members resist being moved from their camps, violence erupts, leading to the deaths of two veterans. Hoover orders Federal troops, under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, to assist D.C. police in clearing the veterans.
November 1932
Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected president in a landslide over Herbert Hoover. Roosevelt receives 22.8 million popular votes to Hoover's 15.75 million.
March 1933
Before a crowd of 100,000 at the Capitol Plaza in Washington, D.C., Franklin Delano Roosevelt is inaugurated. FDR tells the crowd, "The people of the United States have not failed. In their need they have registered a mandate that they want direct, vigorous action. They have asked for discipline and direction under leadership. They have made me the present instrument of their wishes. In the spirit of the gift I take it."
FDR announces a four-day bank holiday to begin on Monday, March 6. During that time, FDR promises, Congress will work on coming up with a plan to save the failing banking industry.
By March 9, Congress passes the Emergency Banking Act of 1933. By month's end, three-quarters of the nation's closed banks will be back in business.
On March 12, FDR delivers the first of what came to be known as his "fireside chats." In his initial "chat" he appeals to the nation to join him in "banishing fear."
April 1933
President Roosevelt, under the Emergency Banking Act, orders the nation off of the gold standard.
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) is established. Designed as a relief and employment program for young men between the ages of 17 and 27, the CCC is made up of groups of young men who work in national forests, parks, and federal land for nine-month stints. FDR envisions the program as a kind of volunteer "army." The first 250,000 young men are housed in 1,468 camps around the country. At its peak in 1935, the CCC will include 500,000 young men.
May 1933
The Federal Emergency Relief Administration is created by Congress. President Franklin Roosevelt appoints Harry L. Hopkins as its chief administrator. By the end of his first day on the job, Hopkins has issued grants totaling more than $5 million.
The National Industrial Recovery Act is introduced into Congress. Under Title I of the act, the National Recovery Administration is designated to maintain some form of price and wage controls. Section 7(a) of the act guarantees labor the right to organize and bargain collectively. As part of the act, The National Labor Board is set up to negotiate disputes between labor and management.
The Tennessee Valley Authority is created. A federally run hydroelectric power program, the TVA Act is considered a huge experiment in social planning. The TVA also builds dams, produces and sells fertilizer, reforests the Tennessee Valley area, and develops recreational lands. Opponents of the TVA call it "communistic to its core."
June 1933
Congress passes the Glass-Steagall Act that separates commercial from investment banking and sets up the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to guarantee bank deposits.
August 1933
With an eye toward organizing farmers into soil conservation districts, the federal government establishes the Soil Erosion Service. The creation of this service was made necessary by the years of drought and dust that plagued the Southwestern Panhandle states.
September 1933
In an effort to stabilize prices, the Federal Agricultural Program orders the slaughter of more than 6 million pigs. Many citizens protest this action since most of the meat went to waste.
October 1933
The Civil Works Administration is established. Devised as a wide scale program that could employ up to 4 million people, the C.W.A. is involved in the building of bridges, schools, hospitals, airports, parks and playgrounds. Additionally, C.W.A. funds go toward the repair and construction of highways and roads. Early in 1934, Congress will authorize $950 million for the continued operation of the C.W.A.
May 1934
A three-day dust storm blows an estimated 350 million tons of soil off of the terrain of the West and Southwest and deposits it as far east as New York and Boston. Some east coast cities are forced to ignite street lamps during the day to see through the blowing dust.
November 1934
Father Charles E. Coughlin establishes the Union for Social Justice. Using the radio airwaves as his pulpit, Father Coughlin railes against "predatory capitalism." His criticism of the banking industry and disdain of communism soon dovetails into a troubling gospel of anti-Semitism.
April 1935
FDR signs legislation creating the Works Progress Administration. (Its name would be changed in 1939 to the Work Projects Administration.) The program employs more than 8.5 million individuals in 3,000 counties across the nation. These individuals, drawing a salary of only $41.57 a month, will improve or create highways, roads, bridges, and airports. In addition, the WPA will put thousands of artists -- writers, painters, theater directors, and sculptors -- to work on various projects. The WPA will remain in existence until 1943.
Business Week magazine announces that "Depression is a forgotten word in the automobile industry, which is forging ahead in production, retail sales, and expansion of productive capacity in a manner reminiscent of the 'twenties.'"
June 1935
The National Youth Administration is set up to address the needs of young men and women (who are not allowed in the CCC). The NYA works on two levels: a student-work program and an out-of-school program. The student-work program provides students with odd jobs that pay them enough to stay in school. The out-of-school program sets young people up with various jobs ranging from house painting to cleaning local parks, and eventually comes to include vocational training.
July 1935
FDR signs the Wagner National Labor Relations Act. The goal of the act is to validate union authority and supervise union elections.
August 1935
The Social Security Act of 1935 is signed into law by FDR. Among the most controversial stipulations of the act is that Social Security will be financed through a payroll tax. Historian Kenneth S. Davis calls the signing of the act "one of the major turning points of American history. No longer could `rugged individualism' convincingly insist that government, though obliged to provide a climate favorable for the growth of business profits, had no responsibility whatever for the welfare of the human beings who did the work from which the profit was reaped."
March 1936
Photographer Dorothea Lange visits a pea-pickers' camp in California's San Joaquin Valley and takes photographs of harvest workers. The images, especially those in the "Migrant Mother Series," vividly illustrate the plight of the workers. The San Francisco News runs the photo essay under the headline, "Ragged, Hungry, Broke, Harvest Workers Live in Squallor (sic)."
October 1936
The San Francisco News publishes a series of articles written by John Steinbeck called "The Harvest Gypsies." The series explores the hardships faced by those living and working in migrant labor camps. Steinbeck writes, "...One has only to go into the squatters' camps where the families live on the ground and have no homes... to look at the strong purposeful faces, often filled with pain... to know that this new race is here to stay and that heed must be taken of it."
November 1936
Defeating Kansas Governor Alfred M. Landon, FDR is elected to his second term as president, winning every state in the Union except Maine and Vermont.
January 1937
United Automobile Workers strike at the General Motors Plant in Flint, Michigan. The strike turns violent when strikers clash with company-hired police.
March 1937
The slow economic recovery made possible by New Deal programs suffers a setback as unemployment rises. FDR's detractors call it the start of the "Roosevelt recession."
May 1937
At Republic Steel's South Chicago plant, workers and their families try to combine a picnic with a rally and demonstration. Ten people are killed and a dozen more are wounded in the "Memorial Day Massacre."
April 1938
FDR asks Congress to authorize $3.75 billion in federal spending to stimulate the sagging economy. Economic indicators respond favorably over the next few months. Still, unemployment will remain high and is predicted to stay that way for some time.
November 1940
Franklin Roosevelt is elected to an unprecedented third term as president, defeating Wendell Willkie. FDR's victory is seen as proof of the nation's support of his war policies. Roosevelt lobbies Congress to pass the Lend-Lease Act, which will aid Britain in its struggle to fend off Germany.
In little over a year, following Japan's December 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor, the U.S. will enter the war in the Pacific and in Europe. The war effort will jump-start U.S. industry and effectively end the Great Depression.


text:
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text:
Gleason's Gym has been a real lifeline for me of late.
The surety of going through my paces so to speak, the shadow boxing, pad work, heavy bag, double-ended bag, speed bag, abdominals, stretching and combinations thereof are a balm.
Even the early mornings offer solace. Up a 5:30 AM, off to the gym by 6:30 AM, in the ring by 7:00 AM out by 8:00 AM, showering and dressing, and off to the subway by 8:20 AM or so—two to three mornings a week. Then the long Saturday morning, where I can tarry and work extra rounds, and feel embraced by the easy camaraderie of people who push themselves to their physical limits.
What I also know is that I am a little sad and a little scared and a lot angered by a myriad of issues that are whirling around me. Unpacking them is complicated by a reticence to really face up to the deeper veins of truths that I would rather not face suffice to say they always come out anyway so sooner or later the reckoning will happen.
Gym life, and boxing gym life in particular, offers a microcosm of the range and power of emotion. Just the act of putting on a pair of gloves offers up so many different strands. For one, the gloves symbolize boxing itself. On an immediate basis one can think of such things as power, ability, courage, bravery, and skill. Gleason's Gym itself calls out those concepts on the wall of the gym and on the back of every T-shirt:
"Now, whoever has courage, and a strong and collected spirit in his breast, let him come forward, lace on the gloves and put up his hands." Virgil, Book 5, Aeneid
And yet there are other emotions. With puff pillows for hands one cannot "do" for oneself in any meaningful way. Sure, one learns to hold on to a water bottle between two gloved hands, but one cannot drink from it unless someone has unscrewed the cap. One also finds oneself being ministered to in such intimate ways. A trainer will towel off the sweat from ones face, apply vaseline, adjust ones clothing, tie a boot, wipe one's nose. There's a real "giving over" to allow all of that—a trust that one puts on to others.
For me the act of putting on the gloves swirls in the duality of empowering myself and giving myself over. At once I seek a kind of perfection of movement and strength, while also allowing myself those helpless feelings: That sense that I cannot always take care of everything whether that means throwing a perfectly executed one-two combination or asking my trainer to dab the sweat out of my eyes.
It's also how I know that I cannot magically and in any immediate way change the political nightmare I feel we are living through—except that I know that my voice can count among the many and on that basis push through, just as rising three mornings a week in the predawn light and heading to the gym is a sort of metaphor for becoming something better and stronger.
Yes. I'm in the midst of a stew—as many of us are on any given day in the cycle of life, but waking up and feeling the power of the leather hitting a heavy bag goes a long, long way towards making it all a who lot better.


text:
I must admit stopping at service centres and truck stops have got to be my favourite places to stop when on the road Going to Montreal and coming back on the Highway 401 East and West bounds. There have been many experiences and I must say each one is so much fun. Sometimes I would stay for 10-15 Minutes to fill up gas and go get something to munch on from the Market, I'd stop in for half an hour, sometimes an hour if I am in no hurry. I'd often start making friends here and there and start up conversations with ordinary people. Its fun meeting people at service centres.
I don't know if I have a map or GPS Written on my forehead but I would just be standing there, minding my own business when people come up to me and ask me and tell me Ma'am, how many minutes or hours left until we get to Montreal? It was this really nice family that came up to me. I said Oh I am headed that way as well. So from the OnRoute Service centre in Morrisburg at exit 758, I told them its about another Hour and a half, and they asked me what there is to Do in Montreal, and I explained to them what the hot-spots and great places to see there. Its like they know me from long ago, they said thank you so much for your help, I said no problem. I told them after 32 times to Montreal in Just this year excluding all the other years I have been to Montreal, I know Montreal inside and out. They said wow thats so awesome! After almost 30 minutes I had spent with them, They ended up giving me $20.00 because I helped them out a lot and said go and buy yourself snacks or whatever you want, I said "I can't take your money!" They said no we insist, its not everyday we meet someone who actually cares to give directions and information to a place were going to go explore for the first time. So we gave each other our contact information and we have been friends ever since. They are just 15 minutes from me. Its so awesome. then they had to get back on the road and continue their travel journey to Montreal.
At times I would order food from Burger King, A&W, or get myself a french Vanilla from Tim Hortons, or get a few snacks from the Market and by surprise a few of the workers who I recognize all the time, they surprisingly remember me and a few times they said Hey its you again! I said yes, then they said wow you sure do make lots of trips on this highway, I said i sure do. I know all the exits, cities, towns by heart and I am like a personal tourguide to people who stop at service centres and I dont know what it is, but they always seem to ask me, The worker said, I guess people sense on who knows more than the other person at service centres and they said of course they would ask you of a friendly and lovely face like yours. I would just be like, Thank you! 🙂
Now here is something funny that happened, I know I had said this about the Cops I had spoke about in several blogs ago, but do not want to repeat that in my OPP Post, but another funny thing had happened. This time we stopped in Brockville, Ontario going toward Montreal and there was a huge convention or something going on with cops from parts of Ontario, so here is me always finding ways to talk to Officers, and they had all come to Tim Hortons, so I said to this officer, Now this Tim Hortons is the safest one with all of these fine and incredible officers, The officer from Brockville started to laugh, He said thats the first time I have heard that one lol. He said thanks thanks, Then I told him and his officer partner, that I am on my way to Montreal and they said awesome have fun, and then they said DONT SPEED Or we'll come after you, I go you have no problems with me because I dont speed. LOL They said good better not ahahaha. it was good ol fun, then I left for the road.
Now a few times I have stopped at truck stops like 5th Wheel, Flying J, Husky on the 401. I would see these big huge trucks and I would actually go stand right beside them. they are so huge, that you dont really realize it from your car driving on the highway all the time unless you stand right beside it. Its a huge beast! I have made many trucker friends. I am telling you, my adventures at these service stops are so fun! I sometimes dont keep track of time only the times i am not in a hurry of course as I said. There are these monthly trucker magazines on the rack and I would always go and get a copy of that and read about the transport trucking industry, about new truck lines, new laws and everything else. Its an awesome truck mag. I like those magazines, pamphlets, brochures about the areas, what to do, see. I keep them all and i document them.
A few of my friends told me, why don't you work in a Highway Transport Safety Office? Tourism of Montreal office? Or Highway safety? Its awesome. I told them no, but recently, I found my real passion and it is to write, but giving people directions and explaining about the cities towns stretching across the 401 east and stuff is something i like to do on the side. I am not sure when I will go to Montreal again or visit these service centres, but I hope its soon. I just have a blast everytime and I do not think its long at all. 4 and a half hours and I am there. Gotta love it!


text:
The office said Thursday the cause of the girl's death has not been determined.
Oklahoma City Fire Department Deputy Chief Marc Woodard says the girl's body was recovered Wednesday in Oklahoma City, about two miles from where she and her family sheltered from the tornado in a storm drain. Woodard says she hasn't been formally identified.
He says another child is still unaccounted for after the May 31 flooding.
A total of 48 deaths have been blamed on storms that raked across central Oklahoma in May, including two people who died on May 19 and 24 who were killed on May 20.


text:
(CNN) -- Eleven people were indicted Tuesday for allegedly stealing more than 40 million credit and debit card numbers, federal authorities said.
Attorney General Michael Mukasey said the effects of identity theft are sometimes felt by victims for years.
The indictments, which alleged that at least nine major U.S. retailers were hacked, were unsealed Tuesday in Boston, Massachusetts, and San Diego, California, prosecutors said.
It is believed to be the largest hacking case that the Justice Department has ever tried to prosecute.
Three of the defendants are from the United States; three are from Estonia; three are from Ukraine, two are from China and one is from Belarus.
The remaining individual is known only by an alias and authorities do not know where that person is.
Under the indictments, three Miami, Florida, men -- Albert "Segvec" Gonzalez, Christopher Scott and Damon Patrick Toey -- are accused of hacking into the wireless computer networks of retailers including TJX Companies, whose stores include Marshall's and T.J. Maxx, BJ's Wholesale Club, OfficeMax, Barnes and Noble and Sports Authority, among others.
The three men installed "sniffer" programs designed to capture credit card numbers, passwords and account information as they moved through the retailers' card processing networks, said Michael Sullivan, the U.S. attorney in Boston.
"This has other personal numbers that could give them access to credit or debit cards that have already been issued and are active," Sullivan told CNN. iReport.com: Have you been a victim of identity theft?
The probe began in late 2006, Sullivan said. In addition to the Justice Department, the Secret Service has been conducting an undercover investigation for more than three years through the U.S. attorney's office in San Diego, he said.
The three then concealed the data in encrypted computer servers they controlled in the United States and eastern Europe, the Justice Department said.
Some credit and debit card numbers were sold on the Internet, and were "cashed out" by encoding the numbers on the magnetic strips of blank cards. "The defendants then used these cards to withdraw tens of thousands of dollars at a time from ATMs," authorities said.
Gonzalez and the others used anonymous Internet-based currencies to conceal and launder their proceeds, as well as channeling funds through bank accounts in Eastern Europe, the department said.
"There are ties between all three districts and ties internationally that go all the way to the Ukraine and Latvia," Sullivan said. "The 41 million credit and debit numbers were used internationally."
Gonzalez was previously arrested in 2003 by the Secret Service on suspicion of access device fraud, the Department of Justice said, and was working as a confidential informant for the agency. However, the Secret Service discovered during the investigation that Gonzalez was involved in this case, authorities said.
The California indictment charged eight others with operating an international stolen credit and debit card distribution ring, selling stolen card information for personal gain -- millions of dollars, in at least one case, authorities said.
Three of the defendants in the most recent case, among them Gonzalez, were also charged in May in a related indictment in New York, Justice said. Those charges allege the three were engaged in a scheme to hack into computer networks run by the Dave & Buster's restaurant chain and steal credit and debit card numbers from at least 11 locations.
The three installed "sniffer" programs at the cash register terminals of the locations, capturing credit and debit card numbers, authorities said. At one location, the sniffer captured data for some 5,000 cards, causing some $600,000 in losses to the banks that issued the credit and debit cards.
Gonzalez is awaiting trial on the New York charges. The other two of the international defendants are also in custody, police said.
"Identity theft can involve a single criminal stealing the personal financial information of a single victim or, as it did here, it can involve a group of criminals stealing the credit card numbers of millions of people, many of whom may not even learn that they were victims for months or years," said Attorney General Michael Mukasey.
"Identity theft victims suffer well beyond the immediate financial costs; they suffer lost confidence in their privacy and security, as well as the emotional strain and the time it can take to repair damaged financial lives and credit histories. In many cases, the effects of these crimes can be felt for years after they are committed."
Mukasey and other officials said the case serves as a reminder that computer crimes can cross international borders.
"We have been working with countries around the world to identify and address technical vulnerabilities in computer networks, and to ensure that laws and procedures are adequate to deal with these kinds of crime," Mukasey said. "And we have been working closely with our international partners to crack specific cases when they take us beyond our borders."
CNN's Ninette Sosa contributed to this report.
All About U.S. Department of Justice • Identity Theft


text:
Here's an inventive use for a staple snack: Drop a giant MoonPie from a tall building to mark the New Year.
by Bakery Boy
Everyone knows about the giant crystal ball that descends in New York's Times Square on New Year's Eve, but have you heard of the giant MoonPie Over Mobile that serves a similar purpose down South?
As midnight approaches on December 31 in downtown Mobile, Alabama, a huge, shining, plastic, electrified likeness of a MoonPie — measuring 12 feet across, weighing 350 pounds, and brightly illuminated from within — drops from the top of the 34-story RSA BankTrust building. It plummets 317 feet in 60 seconds and stops at the 6th floor, directly above a crowd of street-party revelers on St. Joseph Street and St. Francis Street, just as the countdown ends and both January 1 and fireworks begin.
The free event, which drew an estimated 40,000 people last year, begins with a 7:30 p.m. parade, continues through a series of live concerts and a laser lights show, peaks with the midnight MoonPie Drop, and concludes with wee-hours restaurant and bar hopping. This year's featured band is Three Dog Night, which will undoubtedly play suited-to-the-occasion hits "Joy to the World" and "Celebrate" and, who knows, might even play "Mama Told Me (Not To Come)" and "An Old Fashioned Love Song" too.
You might be asking: What does MoonPie have to do with Mobile?
Try to follow this reasoning: 1) Mobile hosted the America's first Mardi Gras celebration in 1703, before nearby New Orleans began its famous version, and takes great pride in the long-running annual tradition. 2) MoonPie is a favorite treat for Mardi Gras parade-float riders to throw to people who line Mobile streets and watch. 3) Mobilians typically consume more than four million MoonPies annually, and many consider the cellophane-wrapped goodie to be an unofficial emblem of the city. 4) If MoonPies are good enough for Mardi Gras, they're good enough for New Year's too. 5) Hey, does anyone really need a reason to do silly things like this on New Year's Eve?
MoonPie aficionados (they are legion) will point out that the MoonPie is more closely related to Chattanooga, Tennessee. That's where the iconic chocolate-covered-graham-cracker-and-marshmallow sandwich cookie originated in 1917 and where Chattanooga Bakery Inc. continues to produce them at the rate of about a million a day. The bakery teamed with Mobile to create the giant electric MoonPie for dropping during the city's New Year's Eve celebration.
With that cleared up, one key question remains. Will you wash down your celebratory New Year's Eve MoonPie with RC Cola or champagne? Either drink goes well with it. Happy 2012!
More about MoonPie Over Mobile: www.mobilenewyear.com
More about Mobile: www.mobile.org
More about MoonPie: www.moonpie.com


text:
Rialto >> In response to concerns raised over a Holocaust essay assignment that brought national media attention to Rialto Unified, a top district administrator said Tuesday that the district will add new processes and increase oversight of lesson planning when teachers meet this summer to plan next year's curricula.
The district has been widely criticized over the assignment, which directed students to "read and discuss multiple, credible articles on this issue, and write an argumentative essay, based on cited textual evidence, in which you explain whether or not you believe (the Holocaust) was an actual event in history, or merely a political scheme created to influence public emotion and gain wealth."
Susan Levine, Rialto Unified's associate superintendent for educational services, said the assignment was developed locally by a small group of teachers and did not come from any textbook or off-the-shelf curriculum.
When teachers meet over the summer to work on the first writing prompts for the 2014-15 school year, there will be more oversight, she said.
"We'll put a new process in place that will have more levels of review on future topics and we'll ensure that there's no topic that could be construed as insensitive or could be left open for massive misinterpretation," Levine said.
The Holocaust assignment was developed in December by a group of eighth-grade teachers working on the third-quarter English Language Arts argumentative writing/research project. It was based on the eighth-grade "Diary of Anne Frank" unit the students would be working on.
"We have district writing prompts," Levine said. "The writing prompts are put out for review, for comment, to the other teachers and the principals. If any revisions need to be made, that's done."
The assignment was distributed to middle school sites in February where, she said, there were no issues raised.
"I didn't get one complaint from teachers, from parents, from students," Levine said.
Approximately 2,000 eighth-graders completed the assignment.
The district did get complaints from other quarters, though. News of the assignment quickly spread after it was first reported on Sunday. Broadcast media jumped on the story immediately, along with wire services and other media. By Monday, the district offices were besieged by news vans, and telephones rang off the hook with calls from around the country, including a death threat leveled against two employees. Local politicians and the Los Angeles City Council likewise voiced their disapproval of the assignment.
After initially defending the assignment on Friday as a critical thinking project, Rialto administrators reversed course Sunday, saying the reality of the Holocaust would no longer be questioned in Rialto Unified classrooms and the assignment would not be repeated.
On Tuesday, Levine repeated that decision:
"We saw it as a sensitive topic, but we thought the students were mature enough to determine that the Holocaust did exist," she said. "We understand that controversial topics are not the subjects to address this (critical thinking) standard and it will not happen again."
The in-depth examination of issues and emphasis on critical thinking is part of newly adopted Common Core state standards, but Levine said the Holocaust assignment was not specifically tied to those standards.
"I don't see this as a Common Core issue in any way," she said. "The Common Core is a set of standards, and we pick the materials we use to teach the Common Core (skills)."
She also stressed that neither she nor anyone she works with doubts the reality of the Holocaust. Levine's maternal grandmother's family was killed by the Nazis in Czechoslovakia prior to her grandmother emigrating to the United States, she said.
"No one in this district believes the Holocaust did not exist," she said.
And that apparently includes the district's eighth-graders: District officials have been looking over the written responses since Monday.
"We have not found one yet that said the Holocaust did not exist," Levine said.
The Rialto Unified School Board — four out of five of whom could not be reached for comment for this story, starting Thursday night — will hold an emergency meeting on today to discuss the Holocaust assignment, along with, behind closed doors, anticipated litigation and threats to public services or facilities.
The meeting will take place at 5:30 p.m. at district headquarters at 182 East Walnut Avenue in Rialto.
Historians estimate 6 million Jews — about two of every three in Europe — were killed by the Nazi regime between 1933 and 1945. In some European countries, including Germany, Holocaust denial is a crime punishable by jail time.


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There comes a point, when you've absent-mindedly eaten half a bowl of raspberry flavoured buttercream icing while spooning it ungracefully into an icing bag and are starting to feel a touch queasy, where you start to question the rationality of embarking on cupcakes at all. Luckily cupcakes are pretty things and the sight of them makes you remember why.
Can you tell where I started getting ideas above my station?
I've spent the last two days prepping for and working at the Big Day Out music festival in Auckland and partway through all the madness it seemed like a brilliant idea to make cupcakes when I returned to Wellington. It was a fantastic, and I think successful day, but also very very long and draining, and I haven't been feeling so well this week. For some reason my brain delivered me "cupcakes" as the comedown cure for all this. Who am I to argue with myself? It has been a long time since I've made any- the last time would have been when my flatmate was filming the intro to the Rising Star award for Handle The Jandal and needed my assistance.
I use a recipe of Nigella Lawson's, and variations or repeats of it appear in every last one of her books. I often wonder about cupcakes, (especially given what I guess you could call their pop-culture status) whether they were invented by some entrepreneurial type who hooked their thumbs thoughtfully into their belt-loops, rocked back and forward and then said in an auspicious manner, "Team: today we sell sponge cakes. Tomorrow we're going to make them one twelfth of the size but sell them for six times the price. Trust me. People will blog exclusively about them, replace their wedding cakes for them, and consume them in an influential manner on shows about sassy New York women in high heels." I mean I wonder, but not enough to actually google the history of the cupcake in case my well-rounded theory gets shattered. I'm tired. Let me have this.
The making of these cupcakes meant I got to try out two of my Christmas presents – a jar of vanilla paste and an icing kit. The vanilla paste is summin' else, its intensely vanilla fragrance rising up and curling round your head as soon as you open the jar lid. It's a thick syrup, dark and gritty with vanilla seeds and smells so heavenly that I sincerely want to smear myself with it and run down the streets flinging it at people by the spoonful. Luckily for the good folk of Wellington, it's too expensive for that kind of behaviour. The cupcakes were gratifyingly studded with vanilla seeds, almost as though someone had dropped iron filings into the batter (not entirely implausible, knowing how clumsy I am.) You can find some mighty tempting and elaborately iced cupcakes in shops, but these are a humble and relaxed version. And they're not audaciously priced.
Spot the vanilla seeds!
From every single Nigella book in existence.
- 125g soft butter
- 125g sugar
- 125g self raising flour
- 2 eggs
- 1 Tablespoon milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste or vanilla extract, optional
Set your oven to 200 C or 390 F and line a muffin tray with paper cases. Or in my case, use the very nifty silicone cupcake liners gifted by family members a year or two back. Put all the ingredients in the food processor and blitz till it's looking good and batter-y; or do as I do and cream the butter and sugar, and once they're light and airy beat in the eggs. Add the flour, the milk and the vanilla and beat together. Drop spoonfuls into the paper liners and bake for 15 – 20 minutes till golden and puffy. Allow to cool before icing however you like.
These are wonderfully buttery, tender, spongy little cakes, and the vanilla flavour really shone, through the simplicity of the ingredients. Topped with pink, raspberry flavoured icing they're quite the delightful mouthful. They're not exactly useful, but they do taste fantastic and I feel distinctly soothed and defrazzled now that I've made them, like someone has taken a GHD straightening iron to my life. That said, I'm still not 100% unsick. These cupcakes are more palliative than completely restorative in nature but it's a start.
Title comes at you via: Morrissey's song Such A Little Thing Makes Such A Big Difference, which you can find on his gem of a live album Beethoven Was Deaf. a typically cumbersome-of-title tune. Like the cupcakes, it's been a while since I've quoted Morrissey and it's so rainy and cold here in Wellington even though it's supposed to be the middle of summer that it just felt right to put him in here.
On Shuffle while I type/sneeze
Downtime by locals Kidz In Space from their EP Episode 001: Chasing Hayley, who were seriously fantastic while occupying our stage at BDO. A head-nodder if ever I heard one.
Gershwin's Stairway To Paradise as sung by Rufus Wainwright. Tim and I, (both feeling under the weather) were watching a Broadway documentary and it occurred to me that I hadn't listened to any Gershwin in too, too long. A difficult choice but I think Stairway To Paradise is my favourite song of theirs. So optimistic…so beautiful.
Next time: well, hopefully I'll not be feeling so seedy. I really don't like being sick in the middle of summer (admittedly, the weather here in Wellington is hopeless) but unfortunately my immune system is unmoved by the stern telling off I'm giving it. I'm usually fairly robust so I'll surely bounce back from whatever this creeping malaise is. I've also bought what's probably the last of the season's asparagus to make what Nigella calls Pasta Salad Primavera…which is making me feel perkier just typing it out.


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India's security environment is
defined by a complex interplay of regional and global imperatives
and challenges. The size and the strategic location of the country
places us at the centre of a security dynamic, impacted concurrently
by the positive forces of regional and global connectivity on the
one side and by the consequences arising from unpredictability,
instability and volatility in parts of immediate and extended
neighbourhood, on the other.
As India seeks to achieve
transformative national growth and development internally, we pursue
a robust defence strategy and policies which aim to address the wide
spectrum of conventional and non-conventional security challenges
faced by the country. Guided bythe principle of building strength
through the principles of strategic autonomy and self reliance,
India seeks to enhance her own capabilities and also to pursue a
constructive engagement with neighbours and partner countries in the
regional and global community to promote peace and stability.


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Main Content
Top of the page
The heel and elbow joints are common sites of tendon injuries. For more information about tendon injuries in these areas, see the topics Achilles Tendon Problems and Tennis Elbow.
This topic does not address severe tendon tears or ruptures. To help you assess a tendon injury, see the topic Shoulder Problems and Injuries, Elbow Injuries, Knee Problems and Injuries, Finger, Hand, and Wrist Injuries, or Toe, Foot, and Ankle Injuries.
Tendons are the tough fibres that connect muscle to bone. For example, the Achilles tendon connects the calf muscle to the heel bone. Most tendon injuries occur near joints, such as the shoulder, elbow, knee, and ankle. A tendon injury may seem to happen suddenly, but usually it is the result of many tiny tears to the tendon that have happened over time.
Doctors may use different terms to describe a tendon injury. You may hear:
Most experts now use the term tendinopathy to include both inflammation and microtears. But for many years most tendon problems were called "tendinitis." Many doctors still use this familiar word to describe a tendon injury.
Most tendon injuries are the result of gradual wear and tear to the tendon from overuse or aging. Anyone can have a tendon injury. But people who make the same motions over and over in their jobs, sports, or daily activities are more likely to damage a tendon.
A tendon injury can happen suddenly or little by little. You are more likely to have a sudden injury if the tendon has been weakened over time.
Tendinopathy usually causes pain, stiffness, and loss of strength in the affected area.
The symptoms of a tendon injury can be a lot like those caused by bursitis.
To diagnose a tendon injury, a doctor will ask questions about your past health and your symptoms and will do a physical examination. If the injury is related to your use of a tool or sports equipment, the doctor may ask you to show how you use it.
If your symptoms are severe or do not improve with treatment, your doctor may want you to have a test, such as an X-ray, ultrasound, or MRI.
In most cases, you can treat a tendon injury at home. To get the best results, start these steps right away:
As soon as you are better, you can return to your activity, but take it easy for a while. Don't start at the same level as before your injury. Build back to your previous level slowly, and stop if it hurts. Warm up before you exercise, and do some gentle stretching afterward. After the activity, apply ice to prevent pain and swelling.
If these steps don't help, your doctor may suggest physiotherapy. If the injury is severe or long-lasting, your doctor may have you use a splint, brace, or cast to hold the tendon still.
It may take weeks or months for a tendon injury to heal. Be patient, and stay with your treatment. If you start using the injured tendon too soon, it can lead to more damage.
To keep from hurting your tendon again, you may need to make some long-term changes to your activities.
Symptoms of tendinopathy can include:
The joint areas most commonly affected by tendinopathy are the shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip, knee, and ankle.
Sometimes tendon pain is caused by inflammation around calcium crystals in or around the tendon (calcific tendinitis). The cause of the deposits often isn't known. These crystal deposits can be quite painful and can become a chronic problem.
Symptoms of tendinopathy may be similar to those of inflammation of the bursa (bursitis). For more information, see the topic Bursitis.
To diagnose a tendon injury (also known as tendinopathy), your doctor will review your medical history and daily activities and conduct a physical examination to check your overall health, areas of pain and tenderness, and range of motion and strength. Your examination may also include checking your nerve function (feeling and reflexes) and blood circulation (pulses). If your symptoms are related to use of a tool or sports equipment, your doctor may want you to demonstrate how you use it.
If your medical history and physical examination point to a tendon injury, you will probably not need more testing.
If your symptoms are severe or have not improved with treatment, more tests may be helpful. These may include:
Initial treatment for a tendon injury (tendinopathy) typically includes rest and pain relievers. Acetaminophen can reduce pain. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) can reduce both the pain and inflammation you might have from a tendon injury. The goals of this early treatment are to:
If you are still having pain, stiffness, and weakness after initial treatment, your doctor may recommend some type of physiotherapy. Also, you may need to make long-term changes in the type of activities you do or how you do them to prevent your tendinopathy from returning. The goals of ongoing treatment are to:
Take the following steps to treat tendinopathies:
If these steps do not help to relieve pain, other treatment may be considered. Your doctor may:
Medical researchers continue to study new ways to treat tendon injuries. Talk to your doctor if you are interested in experimental treatments. Some of the treatments being studied include:
Arthroscopic surgery or open surgery (using one larger incision) is sometimes used to treat calcific tendinitis that has not responded to non-surgical treatment and is causing pain.footnote 1
You can help prevent a tendon injury (also known as tendinopathy) from developing or recurring by taking steps at home, work, and during activities to promote healing and protect your tendons.
Home treatment steps include:
To help prevent tendon injuries from developing or from happening again:
See the following for ways to ease a specific joint problem:
CitationsHurt G, Baker CL (2003). Calcific tendinitis of the shoulder. Orthopedic Clinics of North America, 34(4): 567–575.Other Works ConsultedBannuru RR, et al. (2014). High-energy extracorporeal shock-wave therapy for treating chronic calcific tendinitis of the shoulder: A systematic review. Annals of Internal Medicine, 160(8): 542–549. DOI: 10.7326/M13-1982. Accessed September 3, 2014.Colburn KK (2015). Bursitis, tendinitis, myofascial pain, and fibromyalgia. In ET Bope, RD Kellerman, eds., Conn's Current Therapy 2015, pp. 597–600. Philadelphia: Saunders.Coombes BK, et al. (2010). Efficacy and safety of corticosteroid injections and other injections for management of tendinopathy: A systematic review of randomised controlled trials. Lancet, 376(9754): 1751–1767.Klaiman MD, Fink K (2005). Upper extremity soft-tissue injuries. In WR Frontera et al., eds., Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation: Principles and Practice, 5th ed., vol. 1, pp. 907–922. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.McMahon PJ, et al. (2014). Sports medicine. In HB Skinner, PJ McMahon, eds., Current Diagnosis and Treatment in Orthopedics, 5th ed., pp. 88–155. New York: McGraw-Hill.Mercier LR (2008). The knee. In Practical Orthopedics, 6th ed, pp. 215–251. Philadelphia: Mosby Elsevier.
Current as of: March 9, 2022
Author: Healthwise StaffMedical Review: William H. Blahd Jr. MD, FACEP - Emergency MedicineBrian D. O'Brien MD - Internal MedicineAdam Husney MD - Family MedicineE. Gregory Thompson MD - Internal MedicineKathleen Romito MD - Family MedicineKenneth J. Koval MD - Orthopedic Surgery, Orthopedic Trauma
Current as of: March 9, 2022
Author: Healthwise Staff
Medical Review:William H. Blahd Jr. MD, FACEP - Emergency Medicine & Brian D. O'Brien MD - Internal Medicine & Adam Husney MD - Family Medicine & E. Gregory Thompson MD - Internal Medicine & Kathleen Romito MD - Family Medicine & Kenneth J. Koval MD - Orthopedic Surgery, Orthopedic Trauma
This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated, disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use. Learn how we develop our content.
To learn more about Healthwise, visit Healthwise.org.
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Burnaby Lake #2
Current location: Toronto
Please contact the gallery for more information on this work.
Wallace's acrylic works on canvas are made up of muted palettes, with gold, bronze, and turquoise blue detailing that captures water's magical, reflective properties. Pieces are stretched on canvas with a matte finish, and are available framed and unframed.


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In less than 24 hours, Verizon and Apple sold out of their pre-order stock of iPhone 4 handsets. The actual number of handsets put aside for the pre-order was not disclosed, but Dan Mead, president and CEO of Verizon Wireless, confirmed Verizon had the most successful first day sales in the history of the company. So successful, it sold more handsets from 3-5 a.m. than it has sold during the first day of any other launch. These previous launches include the highly-touted Motorola DROID and Motorola DROID X. Customers looking to purchase the iPhone yesterday can attest to these brisk sales with intermittent slow downs and server crashes commonplace throughout the day.
Now that the Verizon-only pre-order is over, all customers, including those from Verizon who failed to order an iPhone yesterday, will have a chance to order online starting February 9th at 3 a.m. For those that don't want to wait for the handset to ship, the iPhone 4 will be available in Verizon Wireless retail stores, Apple stores, select Walmart locations, and in Best Buy starting February 10th. All retail stores will open at 7 a.m. You can also purchase the iPhone online verizonwireless.com and Apple.com.
Verizon's press release announcing its record sales is on the second page.
[Via Verizon Wireless]


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The freedom to speak freely is a hallmark of the American constitutional tradition, as is the freedom of religion. These twin liberties are two reasons why so many people have risked – and continue to risk – life and limb to make it to our shores. Not surprisingly, these freedoms often come into conflict with each another in the public arena. No one likes to see their deeply held beliefs insulted, degraded, or mocked, yet the right of free speech includes the right to criticize our neighbor's religious views. The moment we deny our citizens the right to criticize other people or their ideas, we will no longer be truly free.
By all indications however, our government appears to have developed a double standard when it comes to criticism of certain religious traditions – or, I should say, one such tradition. While other religious groups in America (Christians in particular) are expected to tolerate all manner of offenses, debasements, and outright attacks against their beliefs in the name of the First Amendment, Muslim Americans benefit from a government that goes out of it's way to avoid offending their religious sensibilities. In a country that has gone to sometimes extreme lengths to preserve the hallowed "separation" between Church and State, the question is, why?
Many Christians in America today feel that their religion is under attack, and with good reason. An attitude of skepticism and downright hostility towards Christianity has taken hold in many corners of society, resulting in actions that test the charity and tolerance of even the most pious believers. Revered Christian icons have been immersed in urine and smeared in elephant dung in the name of "art" (with the patronage of the federal government, no less), Jesus Christ and his followers have been portrayed as gay lovers in an off-Broadway play, personal faith testimonies and religious groups have been censored on high school and college campuses across America, a veterans' cross memorial in the California desert has been the target of an ACLU lawsuit, and Bibles have been burned by the U.S. government in the name of "diplomacy."
Despite the role that Christianity has played in the character and formation of the United States – despite it's status as the majority religion in America and one of the three great world religions – I don't recall a single instance where a President and a Secretary of State and a general intervened on behalf of Christians with a plea for respect and restraint directed toward provocateurs who denigrated their faith. I certainly cannot recall any instance in which an anti-Christian provocateur has been told by such luminaries that his actions against Christianity might prompt Christians around the world to commit violent acts of retaliation. An offense against Islam, however, is a different story. When rumors began to circulate that a fundamentalist Christian pastor named Terry Jones was planning to burn the Koran on September 11th as a sign of American opposition to Islamic terrorism, darn near the entire government – from the military to the State Department to the FBI, even the President himself – weighed in.
So we're back to the original question: Why the double standard? Why do Muslims warrant special treatment in a country that prides itself on its ability to distinguish between the secular and the sacred? Dr. Mark Mitchell, author and Professor of Political Theory at Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, Virginia, offers an interesting perspective. Turns out, while the American constitution may view all religions as equally valid in the eyes of the law, not all religious traditions comport equally well with the principles embodied in the American constitution:
"Let's reverse the situation for a minute. Imagine that an obscure Imam in Kuwait decided to burn a pile of Bibles to commemorate the end of Ramadan. . . . The American response to a Muslim cleric burning Bibles might indicate an important fact about Christianity and about the American Constitutional order. Christ taught his disciples to turn the other cheek. To love their enemies. To pray for those who persecute them. Christianity at its best is a religion dedicated to loving God and loving one's neighbor. Thus, the proper Christian response to the Bible burning Imam is to pray for him. To pray as Christ did while on the cross: 'Father forgive them.' Peaceful persuasion rooted in prayer and characterized by love is the Christian ideal. Protests and violence (or the threat thereof) is not in keeping with the Christian faith; although, plenty of Christians have veered down that road to the detriment of the very faith they claim.
The American Constitutional order is one historically rooted in the Christian faith but separated from any established national church. In that sense, the American Constitutional order is secular in form but an outgrowth of a culture permeated by assumptions about human nature and moral truths born of Christianity. As a result, we enjoy a political sphere that can be influenced by the religious sphere while at the same time citizens are free to worship as they please and the state has no say over the content of religious beliefs. . . . There are no Muslim states that effect the separation of the state and the church save Turkey, an experiment imposed in the early twentieth-century by a strong ruler who was attempting to help Turkey become a modern nation. While Turkey certainly provides some evidence in support of the hope that Muslim nations can establish political institutions that are formally separated from the dominant religious institutions, the jury is still out and recent trends suggest a resurgence of Islamicist control. So the question remains: can Islam exist as a majority religion in a nation committed to religious pluralism and freedom of expression? This is one of the great questions of our time."
Dr. Mitchell poses an excellent question, one that our leaders in Washington would do well to ponder. Should the American government abandon its ideals and compromise on its constitutional principles to appease a segment of the population who, because of their religion, refuses to integrate those principles into their way of life? Should we allow fear of violent retaliation abroad to prevent us from defending the exercise of constitutional liberties of American citizens here at home, however offensive and misguided their actions may be?
The President, for one, had no difficulty in standing up for the First Amendment rights of those wishing to build a Muslim community center and mosque near Ground Zero, despite the highly offensive nature of the project. He unequivocally stated his view that Muslim Americans have a right to build a mosque wherever they wish to build one, be it Ground Zero or any other location allowed by law. The inappropriateness of the project's proposed location didn't merit a word from the Commander in Chief. The insult to the memory of those that died on that spot nine years ago at the hands of fanatical Muslim terrorists didn't warrant a call for compassionate restraint.
The nuanced distinction between "right" and "rectitude" that the President should have acknowledged with regard to the Ground Zero mosque proposal was instead employed against the pastor in Florida, whose desire to burn the Koran was offensive and misguided – yet nonetheless protected by the Constitution. In this instance the President's focus shifted from the legality of the action to the appropriateness of the action. A call for restraint was issued, pressure was applied, and the pastor backed down.
At no time during the Koran-burning controversy did the President see fit to address the troubling fact that Muslims often respond violently whenever their religious sensibilities are offended. Yet the assassination of Theodore Van Gogh, the threats against Salman Rushdie and the violent response to the Danish cartoons that mocked Muhammed were not that long ago. Alas, the President and his emissaries seem resigned to the fact that Muslims often appear incapable of tolerating criticism of their faith with grace and civility. But is a policy of appeasement toward Islam a proper course under the Constitution? Does allowing Islam to occupy a "criticism free zone" comport with American constitutional ideals? Or will such a policy increase the likelihood that the producers of "Muslims Behaving Badly" will be all the more inclined to trot out their act the next time any critic of Islam deigns to speak unkindly of the Islamic faith?
The current clash of civilizations is not going away. Many European countries are struggling to deal with the fallout from tensions between their secular societies and Muslim immigrants. The American people need to know that they have a president who is prepared to protect and defend the liberties of all Americans, regardless of religion. When it comes to the Constitution, there is no room for double standards.


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World Premiere: Chocolate Delight (Sponsored)
Finding that unique gift for the foodie in your life has never been easy. It seems every idea you've had for a new restaurant, dessert or bottle of wine, they've already been there, sampled and sipped that.
Here's a delicious solution. Padovani's Chocolates has teamed up with Malcolm and Nadine Leong of The Sake Shop to offer an unexpected delight for the holidays — sake ganache-filled chocolates.
Chef Padovani first paired his ganache-filled creations, ranging from matcha green tea to caramelized apple banana, at a special sake and chocolate pairing at The Sake Shop in October. The new, limited edition confection features the same velvety European-style chocolates the Padovani brothers are known for and matches it with rich, sake-infused ganache. The result is a luxuriously smooth, sophisticated treat that makes for the perfect gift or an indulgent sweet for yourself.
Sample it for the first time at a special tasting next Sunday, December 16 at The Sake Shop, 2 – 5 p.m. A limited number of pre-packed sake ganache chocolate boxes and signature ganache chocolate boxes will be available for sale at the event. Orders will also be taken for pick-up just in time for Christmas giving. Call 536-4567 or e-mail firstname.lastname@example.com.
Padovani's sake ganache-filled chocolate premiere will be at The Sake Shop, 1461 S. King St. Yoshiharu Suzuki of World Sake Imports will also be on hand to answer any sake questions. Call 947-7253 with any questions.