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PSE Allergy Side Effects
Generic name: carbinoxamine / pseudoephedrine
Note: This document contains side effect information about carbinoxamine / pseudoephedrine. Some dosage forms listed on this page may not apply to the brand name PSE Allergy.
Applies to carbinoxamine/pseudoephedrine: oral liquid, oral suspension extended release, oral tablet, oral tablet chewable, oral tablet extended release.
Cardiovascular side effects have included arrhythmias and increased heart rate or blood pressure.[Ref]
Gastrointestinal side effects have included vomiting, diarrhea, dry mouth, nausea, anorexia, and heart burn.[Ref]
General side effects have included weakness and pallor.[Ref]
Genitourinary side effects have included polyuria and dysuria.[Ref]
Nervous system
Nervous system side effects have included sedation, dizziness, headache, nervousness, convulsion, central nervous system stimulation, tremors, hallucinations, and insomnia.[Ref]
Ocular side effects have included diplopia.[Ref]
Respiratory side effects have included respiratory difficulty.[Ref]
More about PSE Allergy (carbinoxamine / pseudoephedrine)
Related treatment guides
1. "Product Information. Pediatex D (carbinoxamine-pseudoephedrine)." Zyber Pharmaceuticals Inc (2004):
Further information
Always consult your healthcare provider to ensure the information displayed on this page applies to your personal circumstances.
Some side effects may not be reported. You may report them to the FDA.


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Thoughts and Links About the Facebook Login Fiasco
Thursday, February 18th, 2010
I think most people that follow the same news feeds that I read probably have heard about this whole Facebook login thing, so I won't summarize too much. Basically, the blog ReadWriteWeb posted an arcticle about Facebook. The article subsequently got ranked as a very high search result for "Facebook login" on Google. The content of the article itself is irrelevant to the issue at hand (although the article itself is interesting). Pay special attention to the comments (or at least the first 100 or so).
First Impressions
The typical nerd response to this has been laughing and pointing. Now, I have to admit, that was my first response as well. But, after I stopped laughing and shaking my head (well, actually I'm still shaking my head), I started thinking of all of the crazy things that I've seen people do in the last 5+ years I've spent working in computer support. While I find this whole thing rather amusing, I can't say that I'm actually surprised. I have witnessed someone physically lift a mouse into the air when asked to "move the mouse up".
I think the biggest difference between developers (or nerds) and normal people, is that normal people don't want to know how a computer or the internet work. They don't care. They don't want to learn. I've never really gotten over this because it's something that I find terribly disappointing about working in computer support. I can watch a person do the same thing over an over again knowing that there is a better way to do it, but they don't care. They don't want to understand. They don't want me to teach them how to understand why something works a certain way. They just want to get the result they need.
I still have yet to decide the which angle of this attitude is the more important one. Is it an indication that a certain population of people will always be lagging behind because they refuse to adapt to a quickly changing world that requires them to understand certain aspects of technology? Or perhaps is it an indication that technology (and the people who develop it) simply hasn't evolved enough to adapt to "real people" who do not "need" to understand black box in order to use it?
The Wider Debate
Much has been written in regard to the Facebook login fiasco, and quite a controversy has been sparked in the development community about what this really means, and whose "fault" it is. First, check out some of these articles which highlight very interesting points for both sides of the debate.
- We're the Stupid Ones: Facebook, Google, and Our Failure as Developers
- Reply to Funkatron's Analysis of the RWW/Facebook Debaucle of 2010
- No, We're Not The Stupid Ones
- Really? Are we the idiots?
- Some People Can't Read URLs
- Why It's Not A Google Failure
On Whether Or Not Google Got It Wrong
I guess this really depends on how far exactly the RWW article made it up the search rankings. I'd say that it's an entirely different debate depending on whether the search result was first or fifth. I thought originally the result was first, but Stratton claims it never made it to number one. I don't see any reason why that RWW article should not reach a high rank on the search term "facebook login" since that is what the article is about. It's a popular blog and presumably the article was popular as well.
A number one search result is another matter though. I agree with the camp that says it would be impossible for Google (or any other search engine) to always know what a person meant. But seriously, isn't that what Google is always trying to do? It just doesn't sit right to me that an article about a website as huge as Facebook would ever be a more popular search intention that the site itself.
The search "facebook login" seems to clearly indicate a search for the login page itself. That seems fairly intuitive. In fact, substitute facebook for most major web apps and I think it's the same. However, if the search changes slightly to something like "facebook changes login", it's now an entirely different issue.
Perhaps the artificial intelligence of search algorithms just isn't sophisticated enough to parse nuances of language that seem so obvious to humans. Then again, perhaps they are and that's why the RWW page never made it to the number one spot for the "facebook login" search. In that case, I really think this whole debate about whether or not Google got it wrong is really a non issue.
On The Users Themselves
Moving past the whole Google question, there are a couple of things that really baffle me about this entire fiasco. First of all, it's clear that these users have no idea what a URL is. Both because they are using Google Search to find a URL like facebook.com and also (and more importantly) because they did not realize that the RWW URL bears absolutely no resemblance to any Facebook URL, and therefore cannot possible be the Facebook website.
How is it that these users who have to most superficial understanding of what a website is and how the internet works, are also capable of writing comments to the RWW page? They are baffled about how to log in to a site that's not the Facebook site they're used to (and in fact bears absolutely no resemblance to it). But they still can use the comment form in order to voice their disapproval of the perceived redesign.
Okay so, maybe typing into a comment form is no big deal. Even people that think the entire internet is just Google/Facebook/YouTube can figure out a comment form. What about using Facebook itself? It's not like Facebook is that simple to use. This isn't a slam on Facebook user interface, it's just that Facebook is huge, and there are a lot of things that you can do on it. How can these people figure out how to use Facebook?
Perhaps this is an issue of normal people realizing that they want to use Facebook enough to spend time learning about friend networks, walls, how to upload photos in the little snazzy uploader. Why is it that they deem it important enough to figure out how to use websites like Facebook, but at the same time don't care to understand what a web address is? I think I just fail to understand why someone would not care about that kind of stuff because I am so interested in it myself.
Is It Actually a Facebook Problem?
I logged on to Facebook for the first time in several weeks today. I don't find myself doing this too much these days because I often either don't look at Facebook at all or only look at it through the Facebook iPhone app. Much to my surprise, Facebook looked quite a bit different than the last time I saw it. I started thinking about how often I have to do what Steve Krug calls "muddling through" when I'm using Facebook. I know what I can do on Facebook, it just usually takes me a couple of tries to figure it out.
Why is this? Well, when I think about it, the Facebook website changes quite a bit. They've made several large and small changes to the website in recent years (or less?). Compare this to something like the Google home page which has changed very little since it's inception.
Perhaps Facebook users have come to expect over time, and through personal experience, that the Facebook website will change, and sometimes change dramatically. They expect this because it has happened. Perhaps it wasn't so far fetched after all to believe that the RWW page was simply just the newest reiteration of a Facebook design.
Now, I know this is a stretch, but perhaps it's not too much of a stretch. Has Facebook changed its pages so much that users are now willing to accept that a complete makeover, such as the RWW page being a new Facebook design, is a real possibility? Does Facebook redesign too often? Has Facebook unwittingly trained it's users to expect this?
One Last Only Slightly Related Thought
Anyone like me (aka: nerd, developer, gamer, general computer enthusiast) who thinks that the iPad is stupid and going to be a flop is not seeing the big picture. The iPad is designed for exactly the type of people commenting on the RWW website. Both Mike Rundle and Fraser Speirs are dead on (along with some other smart people as well). I think that most people will love the iPad. I think the iPad is going to revolutionize the netbook/eReader market just like the iPhone revolutionized the mobile phone market. Will the iPad be as successful a device as the iPhone? I don't know. But I guarantee that it will change the game.

subset: commoncrawl


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Himalayan Salt Brick (8" x 8" x 2")
- We are providing an alluring and unique Himalayan pink salt brick made from pure natural salt.
- Have different combinations of salt made brick to give an exceptional and attractive look
- Install these different attractive and stylish Himalayan salt bricks in their homes, offices and at public places too.
- Enhance the look and healthy environment in the surroundings.
- This salty atmosphere will give the ionizing effect in the air so that it will clean the air perfectly.
- Dimensions are 8"(L) x 8"(W) x 2"(H)
- Weight is 7 Pounds
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Sand drift explained
Researchers in countries such as Denmark, the Netherlands and Poland study sand drift, but most of them are focusing on sand dunes along the coastline, not on the plains further inland.
"Sand dunes are dynamic. For all we know, they may have been formed last year. But sand plaines are much older and in periods more stable. Thin organic layers present in sands are interesting, when trying to understand sand drift in pre-historic times," says botanist Lisbeth Prøsch-Danielsen at the University of Stavanger's Museum of Archaeology.
Together with her colleague, geologist Lotte Selsing, she studies the transportation of sand to the plains behind the sand dunes on the beaches along the coast of Jæren in the south-western part of Norway: Why and when it first occurred, and in which areas it is most prevalent.
Pre-historic sand drift
Aeolian sand consists of particles, usually quartz, which has been transported by the wind.
"As a result of having collided with each other and thereby acquired a rounded shape, sand particles which have been shifted around by the wind over a long period of time, have a characteristically faint surface. Keeping the sand grains moving requires a certain wind force around 12-15 metres per second. Such wind forces may occur at any time of the year in Jæren since deglaciation," Selsing says.
Several archaeological excavations have shown aeolian activities. They date back as far as 9000 calendar years. In some places, layers of aeolian sand are quite thick.
"When Stavanger Airport was extended during the 1980-ies, a large area was surveyed archeologically. The site was covered by as much as two metres of sand, which had simply levelled out the entire landscape," says Selsing.
Changing landscapes
The coastal landscape in Jæren was fundamentally altered by sand drift, and the original topography obscured. Finding pre-historic settlements in areas covered by aeolian sand is thus very difficult. But this new research has enabled us to point out the location of cultural monuments more accurately, Prøsch-Danielsen and Selsing explain.
Their findings indicate that the common occurrence of sand drift in Jæren may be attributed to sea-level changes, and human activities which have influenced the local environment and climate.
"Between 7500 and 5500 years ago, the coast line was one kilometre farther inland from today. The big, shallow fiords and estuaries were filled with sand, deposited during sea-level changes. This sand, dating back to the Glacial and late Glacial times, is the origin of today's beaches along Jæren. When the sea-level eventually, large areas of sand were exposed, and the wind could play around with the sediments again," says Prøsch-Danielsen.
For sand drift to occur, a number of factors have to be present, she adds. Sandy material has to be available, together with a lack of vegetation cover and a good measure of wind to transport the sand.
Near the Salthelleren prehistoric site in Ogna, there are traces of sand drift dating back approximately 7000 years prior to any agricultural activities.
Human activities tore away the vegetation cover, exposing soil to the wind and thereby reinforcing sand drift.
Vanishing forests
"Although it may be difficult to envisage today, Jæren was covered by pine and forest during the Early Stone Age," says Lisbeth Prøsch-Danielsen.
But early settlers began logging and burning the trees to provide pasture for animal husbandry resulting in large moors, tended by grazing and slash-and-burn agriculture. In a span of 1500 years, the Jæren forests were completely gone. The coastal heaths were predominant until the Second World War, when modern agriculture finally gathered ground.
This man-made transition from forests to coastal heath land changed the local climate significantly, especially along the coast. There were no trees left to protect the soil from the strong winds coming in from the sea, and because of the wind's cooling effect, temperatures felt lower, Selsing explains.
Agriculture a contributing factor
When agriculture was introduced in Rogaland 6000 years ago, the aeolian activity increased even further. Human settlements enforced environmental degradation by exposing the coastal landscape to erosion and desertification.
As the first farmers ploughed their fields to sow barley and wheat, they tore up the soil and exposed the sand underneath, thereby sparking off sand drift.
The scientists have uncovered plough marks in layers dating back to the Iron Age. There are also signs of farmers having been forced to move their pastoral fields as a result of sand destruction.
"Sand drift affected the landscape as well as the family units, and the society as a whole," says Prøsch-Danielsen and Selsing.
Environmental degradation
The Stavanger Airport excavation uncovered alternating strata of soil and sand, indicating stable and unstable cycles during early agricultural times in Jæren.
"Among pre-historic farmers, the desire to reap short-term benefits seems to have overruled the need to preserve land for securing the long-term basis of existence," says Prøsch-Danielsen.
The impact of deforestation on the local climate and environment was severe. It is comparable to the situation we are facing today, the two scientists observe. But unlike pre-historic man-made environmental changes, modern interventions are more far-reaching and difficult to rectify.
Sand drift and profound environmental changes to the Jæren landscape continued during the Middle Ages until today. There are local pockets of desertification, matched by few sites in Norway. One is Kvitsanden near Rørøs, which is the country's only inland desert and the result of logging to fire the former copper mining industry, Prøsch-Danielsen explains.
Provided by University of Stavanger


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Hannah Gadsby
Australian comedian
Hannah Gadsby (born 12 January 1978) is an award-winning Australian stand-up comedian from Smithton, Tasmania whose subjects include small town life, dysfunctional parents and same-sex sexuality.
- Tasmania is famous for its shape, which is the same shape as the pubic hair region on a woman's body, which I personally don't identify with. Mine's more like a map of the former Soviet Union. Not to scale.
- ...You shouldn't clap, that [was] a lie... I like to tell lies. According to Shakira, hips don't lie. Which makes me a bundle of contradictions.
- My mother doesn't like sex. She doesn't like the word, she doesn't like act, and I'm not entirely sure she's too impressed with the results. Ah well, you get out what you put in.


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Remember Me
Neo-Paris. 2084. Personal memories can now be digitised, bought, sold and traded. The last remnants of privacy and intimacy have been swept away in what appears to be a logical progression of the explosive growth of social networks at the beginning of the 21st century. The citizens themselves have accepted this surveillance society in exchange for the comfort only technology can provide. This memory economy gives immense power over society to just a handful of people. Remember Me™ is a 3rd person action adventure where players take on the role of Nilin, a former elite memory hunter with the ability to break into people's minds and steal or even alter their memories. The authorities, fearful of her knowledge and capabilities arrested Nilin and wiped her memory clean. After her escape, Nilin sets out on a mission to recover her identity, helped by her last and only friend. This search for her past leads to her being hunted by the very people that created this surveillance society.
- 14/12/2012
- DONTNOD Entertainment
- Capcom Entertainment Inc.
- Action & Adventure


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Crooked Fingers On World Cafe
Eric Bachmann can't seem to stay away from music. The talented singer-songwriter first attracted mainstream and underground attention in the '90s with Archers of Loaf before introducing a new project called Crooked Fingers in 2000. That band's stripped-down folk-rock has drawn comparisons to the likes of Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen and Nick Drake, but it explores a bit of new terrain on last year's Breaks in the Armor.
The genesis of Breaks began when Bachmann moved to Taipei to teach English in an effort to escape the music business for a while. In this interview, Bachmann describes how he bought a guitar within two weeks of arriving in Taiwan and began writing what would become Breaks in the Armor.
Recorded with Matt Yelton ( Pixies' sound engineer) and Liz Durrett on backing vocals, Breaks is retrospective and often solemn, with its songs of regret enhanced by Bachmann's rough voice. On World Cafe, Bachmann and host David Dye discuss the process of making Breaks in the Armor,and also touch on the recent spate of Archers of Loaf reissues.
Copyright 2020 XPN. To see more, visit XPN.


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How Did So Many People Feel a 5.8 Earthquake in Richmond, Virginia?
People from South Carolina to New York to Akron, Ohio, felt an earthquake that struck near Richmond, Virginia, this afternoon. It was a rare earthquake for the eastern seaboard and a rare kind of earthquake, in general.
The Virginia quake struck at a depth of just 6 kilometers. That's unusual as the plot above shows (note it's logarithmic scale on the vertical axis). Most strong quakes occur deeper in the Earth's crust. The depth of a quake has a direct relationship with how intense humans at the surface perceive its shaking to be, although that depends on a lot of other things, too. Still, relative to a deeper quake, this 5.8-magnitude tremor was felt more strongly than you'd expect.
But there's something else going on, too. At first, I had the West Coast-native thought that perhaps it wasn't actually that far from Richmond to New York and it was just the weird perception of East Coast distances that made it seem a long way. But then I mapped the distance between Richmond and New York. It turns out that it's a little further than San Francisco to Santa Barbara. It'd be one strange quake that hit SF but left buildings in the LA metro area seriously shaking.
That's backed up by more data, too. The USGS maintains a website called "Did You Feel It?" that crowdsources perceived earthquake intensity data. The Virginia quake has a very interesting graph. Its intensity stayed high over hundreds of kilometers. Compare those numbers with yesterday's Colorado quake.
I should note, though, that depth doesn't fully explain these numbers. The Colorado quake was even shallower than the Virginia one, which means that some other geological factors account for the long-distance effect. That's probably because East Coast crust is "older and colder," which makes it a more efficient transmitter of seismic energy.
Of course, these are still just guesses. Every earthquake is different in precisely how it manifests. Earthquake intensities are determined by the acceleration of the earth in all three dimensions. In fact, if you record the x, y, and z motion, you can "play back" historical earthquakes on shake tables at places like the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center.
We'll keep you updated on what geologists think happened.
Update 6:11pm: Check out this great post from Virginia geologist Callan Bentley for more about the interesting dynamics that produced this quake. (Via @burritojustice)
Update 7:18 AM: Watch seismic shocks ripple across the country. Credit: IRIS.


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To hear some tell it, perhaps hyperbolically but with real conviction, 12 Years A Slave may be the definitive cinematic treatment of American slavery. Rarely, it's true, have the cruelties of the antebellum South been so thoroughly catalogued. Steve McQueen, the British video artist who made Hunger and Shame, spares his audience little. In retelling the harrowing true story of Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free black man kidnapped and sold into the plantation system circa 1841, McQueen meets the atrocities of the era head-on. His unblinking gaze settles not only on oozing lacerations—the barbaric handiwork of the overseers—but also on the dehumanizing spectacle of people trotted out like cattle, of children torn from the arms of their screaming mothers, and of a slaver forcing himself, in the dead of terrible night, upon his "property." Viewers who avert their eyes won't escape, as hearing the sickening slap of leather against skin, invariably accompanied by a bellow of pain, is just as disturbing as seeing it. If there was any doubt that this is a horror movie, Hans Zimmer's score pounds and roars with dread—the appropriate soundtrack for the madness of history.
Deeply, and unsentimentally, 12 Years A Slave delves into the unpleasant details of Northup's 1853 memoir, taking a few dramatic liberties along the way. Yet it's more than just a litany of sorrows, the ultimate slavery movie it's already been dubbed. Channeling the evils of human bondage through the experiences of one weary figure, McQueen has constructed another intensely physical character study about a man trapped in his own flesh. However, while Hunger and Shame found the director looking upon his subjects from a certain remove, his interest devoted more clearly to surfaces than psychology, 12 Years A Slave erases the emotional distance between him and his protagonist. Though still enamored of long takes, McQueen no longer seems obsessed with the perfection of his images; he's instead found a story—an episodic one, headlined by a complicated victim/hero—in which he can truly invest. That makes this wounding historical drama at once the richest, and the most conventional, of the filmmaker's features.
Spanning a dozen hardscrabble years, with a few achingly sad flashbacks meted out along the way, the plot finds Northup—a husband, father of two, and gifted violinist, living in Saratoga, New York—falling prey to a pair of traitorous opportunists, who force him into the clutches of a Washington, D.C., slave trader. Stripped of his identity, the former free man (rechristened Platt) is soon bounced among plantations in Louisiana. His first owner, Mr. Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch), seems about as upstanding as one could expect a slaver to be, lavishing compliments (and a fiddle) upon his suspiciously learned new slave. Of course, the man's decency has limits: When Northup rebels against a petty, sniveling carpenter (Paul Dano, earning his most deserved beating since There Will Be Blood), Mr. Ford saves his slave's life but denies him his freedom, trading him to a notoriously cruel counterpart rather than take a loss on the purchase. Through this story strand, 12 Years A Slave punctures the romantic myth, perpetuated by Gone With The Wind and its ilk, of the kindhearted slave-owner. "The plague of the Pharaohs is but a poor sample," says Alfre Woodard's favored slave mistress, "of what awaits the plantation class."
Ring Video Doorbell (Wired)
Two-way talk function
No need to leave the couch to answer the door anymore. Just pull out your phone and check the Ring app to see who's there via the 1080p camera.
There's more eloquence where that came from: Screenwriter John Ridley, who penned the WWII-flyboy melodrama Red Tails, displays a knack here for flavorful 19th-century vernacular. His script gains a new dimension of terror and psychosexual drama once Northup ends up in the cotton fields of sadistic drunkard Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender, McQueen's mercurial muse), who constantly yanks his slaves into the middle of bitter spats with the missus (Sarah Paulson). Proving yet again why he's one of the most exciting actors working today, Fassbender transforms his character into a compelling human monster—a figure for whom malice and affection are intrinsically entwined, as they were for Ralph Fiennes' terrifying Nazi commandant in Schindler's List. There's a subplot, the movie's most devastating, about a young girl, Patsey (Lupita Nyong'o), forced to bear both the lecherous advances of her master and the violent jealousy of his wife. Her ordeal rivals Northup's for sheer nightmarishness, and Nyong'o seems to carry the full weight of this national trauma on her frail shoulders.
But the true standout of the cast, peppered with fine unknowns and a few too many star cameos, is the actor at its center. In a remarkably nuanced performance, Ejiofor portrays a man at war with his very humanity. To survive, Northup must suppress traces of his past—his way with words, his fierce intelligence—and embrace his future as an anonymous field hand, lest the oppressors learn the dangerous secret of his origins. That conflict provides 12 Years A Slave with its dramatic backbone, as Ejiofor slips further and further into hopelessness (and the role of Platt) as the years blow by. There's poetry in his struggle, enhanced by a director attuned, for once, to the emotional states of his characters. For all the hardships he starkly depicts, McQueen knows just when to slip in an image of overwhelming, metaphoric beauty—for example, the raspberry juice that streaks down the side of a bowl, pooling at the edge like leaked tears, spilled blood, or the ink that could provide Northup with his impossible freedom. 12 Years A Slave is all about sea change, and not just for its unfortunate hero. Before everyone's eyes, a visual virtuoso has transformed into a great storyteller.


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Barnes & Noble loss more than doubles, stock dives
- Barnes %26 Noble%27s losses totaled %24118.6 million in its last quarter%2C much worse than a year ago
- The Nook has fallen behind other e-readers like Amazon%27s Kindle
- Shares have dropped 19%25 on Tuesday
NEW YORK (AP) — Sales plummeted at Barnes & Noble bookstores in the latest quarter and its Nook e-book devices failed to keep up with competitors, pushing the company to a net loss that more than doubled from a year ago.
Its stock nosedived 17.1% in trading Tuesday to $15.61 per share.
The largest traditional U.S. bookseller said Tuesday that it will stop making its own Nook color touchscreen tablets as a result, a move intended to stem the losses it has suffered from its digital unit.
It said it will continue to make its more basic, black-and-white e-readers but farm out the tablet manufacturing to a third-party.
"We know this is a sizable change from our existing strategy," CEO William Lynch said in a call with analysts. As for how the tablet partnership will work, he declined to give specifics and said the company is currently in discussions with "a lot of interested parties."
Barnes & Noble had been pouring money into developing its Nook devices to keep up with changing reading habits and beat back competition from retailers such as Amazon, which makes the popular Kindle readers.
It hasn't worked. According to research firm IDC, Barnes & Noble's tablet shipments fell to 1 million in the fourth quarter, down from 1.4 million a year earlier. At the same time, sales of Kindle e-readers have kept growing.
Michael Norris, senior analyst in the trade books group at Simba Information, said Barnes & Noble didn't differentiate its product aggressively enough.
At an analyst presentation, for example, he noted that Barnes & Noble had Kindle devices on hand to demonstrate how much lighter its Nooks were. But it failed to do that in stores for customers, he said. The company also didn't have as much money to spend on advertising as its rivals.
"It's kind of unfortunate," Norris said of the decision to outsource tablets but continue making its e-readers. "They're getting out of the hardware business that has the most potential and hanging onto the business that has the least."
Whether the change will help Barnes & Noble remains to be seen, but Norris warned that it could be going down a dangerous path.
"That's where Borders got it so wrong," he said. "They had a bunch of devices lined up like Formula One race cars. You'd ask an associate about it, and they wouldn't have a clue about them."
There had been signs that Barnes & Noble was seeking to exit the hardware business to develop software and content for other companies' tablets and smartphones. This month, the company slashed prices on its Nook readers, leading some to suggest that it's looking to clear out its stock of tablets.
On Tuesday, the company said it planned to sell its remaining inventory at the reduced prices. Some have speculated that Microsoft, which has a 6.8% stake in the Nook unit, could offer to buy it outright.
For the quarter, the company booked inventory and impairment charges for its Nook unit. It said it sold fewer devices and that sales of digital content for the readers also fell 9%. It blamed the decline of e-book sales partly on the tough comparison from a year ago, when "The Hunger Games" and "Fifty Shades of Grey" trilogies boosted results.
In the broader e-book market from the largest publishers, Barnes & Noble has said it has about 25% of content sales. But it admitted that figure has been under pressure from Apple Inc. and Amazon lately.
"We're holding our own, but it's declined slightly," said Michael Huseby, chief financial officer.
The company declined to say how its device sales split between tablets and dedicated e-readers. But it said its "biggest readers" use e-readers, which drive a majority of its content sales.
Meanwhile, its bookstores also saw sales decline. Revenue at stores open at least a year, a key metric, fell 8.8% during the period. It also warned it expects that figure to decline in the "high-single digits" for its fiscal 2014, partly as a result of tough comparisons with last year.
Overall retail sales, which include Barnes & Noble bookstores and online sales, declined 10%, in part because of store closings.
The company also said it's reviewing previous financial statements that may result in a revision.
For the February-to-April quarter, Barnes & Noble Inc. said its net loss totaled $118.6 million, or $2.11 per share. That compares with a loss of $56.9 million, or $1.06 per share, last year.
Revenue fell 7% to $1.28 billion.
Analysts expected a loss of 97 cents per share on revenue of $1.33 billion.


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Why a Checking Account May No Longer Be the Best Option
Significant restructuring appears to be underway in the personal finance market as major banks look to avoid whats estimated to be a $9.4 billion revenue loss as a result of the Federal Reserves cap on debit card interchange fees that takes effect on Oct. 1.
Many banks, including Wells Fargo, (NYSE:WFC) JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) and SunTrust (NYSE:STI) have already eliminated their debit card rewards programs. Regions Bank, along with the three aforementioned banking institutions, is experimenting with new monthly fees for debit card use. Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) is implementing additional requirements that customers must meet in order to avoid monthly fees as high as $15.
In light of these simultaneous debit card rewards decreases and fee increases, the question must be asked: Should we be looking for checking account alternatives?
Whether or not replacing your checking account is an immediate concern really depends on your particular bank. However, given that prepaid debit cards have been the fastest growing method of payment over the past two years and are not subject to interchange fee caps and can basically serve the same purpose as a checking account, they might be worth checking out.
With a prepaid card account, you can directly deposit your paycheck, pay bills online, transfer funds between accounts, access your funds through a MasterCard/Visa card, etc. You just cant write paper checks with a prepaid card, and for many of us, this act is no longer truly necessary as our financial lives become further digitized.
This fact has not escaped major banks, which recognize that prepaid cards and checking accounts are slightly different means to the same personal finance end and that one is regulated (i.e. less lucrative) while one is not (i.e. more lucrative). Attractive new prepaid cards are already popping up, and you can expect banks to begin steering their customers to these and other new products that will emerge after the debit card interchange fee cap takes effect in October.
Even in the current landscape, a prepaid card can essentially serve as a free checking account if used correctly. According to a recent Card Hub report , which examined cards from five of the most well-known issuers, a Green Dot prepaid card would be free to use by a consumer who deposits a paycheck of at least $1,000 each month and only visits in-network ATMs.
Still, given that prepaid cards were not subject to the financial reform laws and regulations that were enacted in response to the Great Recession, transparency can be an issue, particularly in terms of the plethora of fees. Different prepaid cards have lots of different fees for different things and call them by different names, which can obviously make product comparison difficult.
You may therefore feel more comfortable sticking with the known quantity for now. Whatever you decide, however, make sure to keep an eye on prepaid card offers in the coming months.
Odysseas Papadimitriou is the CEO of Card Hub, a leading online marketplace for prepaid cards, gift cards and a broad selection of credit card offers, including 0% credit cards and no fee credit cards.


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Jan Finney (8-7 MMA, 0-0 SF) isn't rattled by bookmakers as she heads into her co-main event title fight against Strikeforce women's 145-pound champion Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos (9-1 MMA, 3-0 SF) at "Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum."
After all, she's not the one who's supposed to win.
"It's just gives me more motivation," Finney today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "It's great. There's no expectations for me."
Most current odds peg Finney at +800 to Santos' -2000, a smaller gap between an earlier line in which the champion stood at -2500.
Finney, who describes MMA as a "hobby" that compliments her regular gig as a personal trainer, has faced many top female competitors in almost six years of professional fighting, with mixed results.
Usually, she fights at 135 pounds, but she's fought as high as 150 pounds for a November 2008 bout with Erin Toughill, who was widely expected to fight Santos before contractual issues mired her return. Toughill, a former boxer with heavy hands, beat her by unanimous decision.
Finney sees a few similarities with that bout, but her experience going into Saturday's fight has been wholly different. For one, she's not fighting on three-weeks' notice, as she was against Toughill (last-minute bouts and cancellations are all too common in women's MMA). Finney has also remained active since January, when she entered an eight-women women's bantamweight grand prix for Freestyle Cage Fighting and bested her first two opponents by decision.
"Cuddles" pulled out of the tournament to fight Santos and has had seven weeks to prepare specifically for the bout. She won't be cutting weight this week.
"I'm a fairly strong girl, and I don't think people realize it," Finney said. "They just look at me as a 135-pound fighter. But I'm a big 135-pound fighter."
The Brazilian champion Santos, who cuts weight to make the 145-pound limit, has won half of her fights in the first round by bulldozing opponents early on with punches. Only two of them – Yoko Takahashi and Vanessa Porto, considered to be among the toughest female competitors in the business – have gone the distance with her.
Despite that impressive track record, Finney counters that most of Santos' opponents give in before they start to fight.
"I'm going to come right back at her," she said. "I'm not going to cower away. I'm probably going to be one of the strongest opponents she's faced. I'm not saying I'm as strong as her, but you never know – I might be.
"I think she tries to mentally break you. [She] just comes in aggressive (and) tries to break you right off the bat in the first two minutes – non-stop. The biggest thing is not just being able to weather that, but counter it, and move. … Don't just take it."
Finney is coached by UFC veteran Mike Patt, among others, and spends the bulk of her time training with men at Beavercreek Martial Arts. She said the men don't hold back in the gym and hit harder than her female opponents, which has enabled her to develop toughness inside the cage.
"If you're faced with that every day, it just becomes the norm, and it's not such a shock when you get in the ring," she said.
Santos, of course, is married to and trains with fighter Evangelista Santos and shares his nickname. Famed MMA brawler Wanderlei Silva is a big fan of her work.
Finney knows what's coming, but she expects to be standing after the storm passes.
"I have a few tricks up my sleeve," Finney said of pulling off the upset. "I would also say I've got a pretty nice right hand."
If she wins Saturday, MMA might become more than just a hobby.
"It would be a dream come true, that all that work I've been putting into MMA has finally come to fruition," she said. "It may end up being more of a career."
For more on "Strikeforce and M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Werdum," check out the MMA Rumors section of MMAjunkie.com.
(Pictured: Jan Finney)


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I "retired" from the corporate world a couple of years ago because I wanted to experience a real life after years of 80 hour work weeks and constant travel. A year later I realized that I was having a really good time, was always busy (how did i ever fit in a job??) and needed a creative outlet to share my experiences. Now I split my time between California and New Mexico but, wherever I am, I write about delicious, fresh, local, organic/sustainably grown food.
Monday, June 30, 2008
do you like fresh figs?
fast forward many years...when my husband and i saw our farmhouse for the first time, i immediately noticed there was a fig tree in the yard. this was one of the reasons i feel in love with our house..the fig tree, the other fruit trees, and all of the herbs reminded me of both of my grandmothers...they both loved to garden..and peter's grandmothers also always had big gardens..so the house felt like home from the beginning. we moved into the farmhouse the month of september and that first year we had a bumper crop in september and october...more than i could eat straight off the tree. i began experimenting with fig recipes..and to be honest..went a bit overboard..we had fresh fig cakes, cookies, tarts, bread, poached figs, baked figs, roasted figs, stuffed figs, caramelized figs, figs in salads, figs with pork, with chicken, fig salsa, fig jam, fig marmalade...do you see where i am going? peter finally said.."enough! i cannot eat another fig this year!" well, i think he put a hex on my tree.... the next june our tree was fully leafed out with tons of fruit (or inverted flowers if you guys call me on my "fun fact"). who knew fig trees in napa had two harvests? june and sept/oct.... one morning around 6:00 am, we were still in bed and were awakened by a very loud crash..the ground was shaking...i almost thought it was an earthquake. we got up..walked through the house..didn't see anything..went outside and saw our fig tree split in half. my heart sank...peter took one look and said "it's gone..we will need to have it pulled up and hauled away. " i burst into tears..said there must be something we could do and so we called an arborist. happily, he said he thought the tree could be saved..told us to prune it way back..and to not let it get too full for a few years... he was right..four years later, our tree is producing as many figs as before..although we are much better at pruning..and despite an ugly gash in the middle of the trunk...the tree looks really good.
see the gash?
so it is the end of june today..we have a ton of figs..and are ready to begin the fig recipe onslaught once again..however, i do make much more jam and marmalade..and less daily fig dinners..no more hexes from my darling husband!
here are a couple of really easy fig "recipes"... so easy..not sure they count as recipes...
fresh fig appetizer..determine quantities based on the number of people..and how much you love figs...
fresh figs
prosciutto, thinly sliced
parmigiano reggiano cheese
slice figs in half lengthwise and arrange on a platter. mound up the prosciutto and cut the parmesan into small chunks..add to platter. drizzle with the aged balsamic vinegar and serve with bread..i serve this with bruschetta.
my sister susan and i wanted to create a not-too-sweet fig jam or marmalade..we read tons of recipes and decided to keep it really simple..just figs, a bit of sugar and meyer lemon zest(cause i have a meyer lemon tree) . some recipes suggest adding rum or brandy to this..i keep mine straight.. also, i do like to can so i make large quantities of this recipe, can it and keep on hand all year. if you want to do this..and have not canned before..i recommend using the process described on the bell or kerr mason jar boxes...otherwise..just keep in your refrigerator.
fresh fig marmalade
2 1/4 pounds figs
2 cups sugar
zest from one meyer lemon
wash the figs, cut them in half and combine them with the sugar in a large pot. ..do not peel! cook over medium heat until they come to a boil.( stir frequently).. add the lemon zest, reduce the heat and simmer, skimming away the foam occasionally until thick (about 25-30 minutes). you will know it is ready when you can place a spoonful of the marmalade on a plate..tilt the plate..and the marmalade sticks..does not run... transfer the marmalade to sterilized jars and process if you wish..i do..or keep refrigerated for up to one week.
fresh fig bruschetta
again..this is not really a recipe..just use the best and freshest ingredients you can... and adjust ingredients quantities to your liking...
1 onion..sliced..sauteed in 1 tbsp good quality olive oil until onion is dark brown
3/4 cup mascarpone cheese
6-8 fresh figs sliced lengthwise into 3 or 4 slices each
aged balsamic vinegar
6-8 pieces freshly made bruschetta..drizzled with best quality extra virgin olive oil
spread some of the mascarpone cheese on each bruschetta..1-2 tbsp. top each bruschetta with some of the onion and 3-4 fig slices. put on a cookie sheet and place under the broiler..broil until the cheese begins to bubble..just a minute or two..watch carefully to ensure they do not burn. take out of oven, put on a serving platter..drizzle with the balsamic vinegar..and serve while hot
note..sometimes i sprinkle on a bit of freshly minced rosemary or lavender before the vinegar...
romaine salad with roasted figs and pine nuts
6 fresh figs
2 tbsp. good quality olive oil
8 cups washed and dried romaine lettuce, torn into bit sized pieces
4 oz. parmigiano reggiano cheese (cut into small, bite-sized chunks)
1/3 cup shelled pine nuts..roasted in saute pan until light brown
6 tbsp good quality extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
grey sea salt and freshly cracked pepper
preheat oven to 400 degrees. cut figs in half, place on a baking sheet and drizzle with the olive oil. roast in oven 10-15 minutes until hot and tender. cool to room temp.
make dressing..here is my trick..i always use a mason jar for my salad dressings... combine the olive oil, vinegar and salt/pepper to taste in a mason jar..cover with the lid..screw tightly..and shake away! very easy and quick. if you wish, you can whisk the ingredients together..but my way is much more fun...
place the lettuce, cheese and nuts in a salad bowl and gently toss. add just enough dressing to lightly coat the leaves..toss again..taste and adjust seasonings if needed. place on a serving platter and arrange the roasted figs on top..serve immediately...note..i sometimes use gorgonzola cheese instead of the parmesan...
so enough recipes for today...please let me know what you think of them...and..this is really, really important...i always am on the hunt for terrific fig recipes..i will share some more with you throughout the season..but i always need more..remember peter's hex? so i invite all of you to share your recipes with me..and with the other readers..please post your favorites in the comments section of this post....my fig tree and i will be eternally grateful...
napa farmhouse 1885™
"live a green life of style"™
15 comments:
I love your blog!
My favorite thing to do with fresh figs is to cut a small slit in the top of a few, stuff the holes with a bit of goat cheese and an almond, and broil for a minute until the cheese begins to melt.
- July 1, 2008 at 10:06 AM
You inspired me. I had fresh figs with yogurt drizzled with honey for breakfast. Delish.
- July 1, 2008 at 12:09 PM
I always forget about figs. I eat them all the time when I am on vacation in Italy. Thank you for the nudge.
Love the blog
- July 2, 2008 at 11:26 AM
I love fresh figs but never know what do do with them except eat straight off of the tree. Thank you for the recipes.
- July 2, 2008 at 11:40 PM
- Napa Farmhouse 1885 said...
thanks for the kind words!
alice..i love your idea, thanks
lisa..am eating figs daily for breakfast!
ellie and susan..you are welcome
everyone else...recipes please..do not let peter do another hex job...
- July 3, 2008 at 9:10 AM
- Amy Sherman said...
I posted about figs ages ago, here were my suggestions:
* Wrap figs in prosciutto as an appetizer
* Serve sliced in half with a dollop of ricotta and a sprinkling of chopped walnuts
* Cut into quarters and dip into yogurt or marscapone, dust with cinnamon
* Poach figs in port and serve with vanilla ice cream
* Chop figs and mix with an equal amount of gorgonzola, spread thinly on toasted baguettes, serve warmed or at room temperature
* Chop finely and mix with vinaigrette to dress a green salad
- July 3, 2008 at 10:17 PM
- LeLo said...
Oh figs wonderful figs. I love them too! They won't be in season here in the Portland area until later this summer, but last year I did some explorations with them. Yum!
P.S. I love your blog. :)
- July 4, 2008 at 3:21 PM
- Napa Farmhouse 1885 said...
amy and lelo..thank you so much for the recipes!!! excellent...
- July 5, 2008 at 9:48 PM
I have a fig tree here in Atlanta. My wife hates figs, but I love them. I usually give a bag (Kroger shopping bag) to my elderly widow neighbor as well as the neighbor two doors down.
I still have a ton of them leftover (even after my own gorging). I'd like to sell some (maybe on craigslist). What do you think is a fair price? I was thinking half of what they'd charge in the grocery store......unfortunately, I never see fresh figs there. Any price ideas?
- July 19, 2008 at 2:02 PM
So please your tree recovered. We've got a huge crop over here this year and I found you whilst searching for ideas on what to do with them.
Very inspirational - thanks. I've linked this post to mine - hope that is OK. Sally
- July 21, 2008 at 7:29 AM
- Napa Farmhouse 1885 said...
hi fresh-fig-fan..i saw fresh figs in the supermarket last week..they were $4.50 for a very small basket..wow! now, our june fig season is really short so i will check it out in the fall when figs are more plentiful..and repost then...in the interim..$3.00 a basket seems fair..what do you think?
- July 22, 2008 at 3:51 PM
- Napa Farmhouse 1885 said...
hi sally/casalba..thank you so much for the link..of course it is o.k. i checked out your blog..really beautiful..and how cool to be living in italy. i will visit your blog frequently..please feel free to do the same..
- July 22, 2008 at 3:53 PM
- 'A Tuscan view.....from Umbria' said...
I found you lovely blog via Sally at Casalba, you have some yummy figelicious recipes here! Your farmhouse looks beautiful too, I hope you don't mind if I stay a while and have a little snoop about.
Ciao Amanda
- July 27, 2008 at 4:32 AM
Sounds good to me, Napa. Thanks for replying.
- July 27, 2008 at 4:11 PM
- Napa Farmhouse 1885 said...
hi readers!..well it is september..and our fig tree is producing again..think i need to write another fig post..in the interim, we had the best salad tonight..romaine lettuce, sliced red onion, sliced fresh figs. crumbled blue cheese and walnuts in an aged balsamic/evoo vinaigrette..really, really good..peter asked me to make it again tomorrow night. i am also making a fig/balsamic vinegar reduction..will post the recipe too..
- September 6, 2008 at 9:48 PM


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Chemical Modeling of Acid Waters
The Chemical Modeling and Thermodynamic Data Evaluation Project supports and maintains chemical speciation program WATEQ4F. WATEQ4F is ideally suited for processing large numbers of water analyses. The most recent publication of the user's manual for WATEQ4F is USGS Open-File Report 91-183. Since this publication was released, many upgrades and modifications have been made, including complete reworking of the uranium and arsenic thermodynamic data and modification to the structure of input and output file formats to accept and generate spreadsheet-compatible input and output. Efforts are underway to develop a Linux version and to add chromium speciation and solubility calculations to WATEQ4F. The only up-to-date version presently available is the PC version.
The WATEQ4F chemical speciation model and related materials (data and documentation) are made available by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to be used in the public interest and the advancement of science. You may, without any fee or cost, use, copy, modify, or distribute this software, and any derivative works thereof, and its supporting documentation, subject to the USGS software User Rights Notice.
View WATEQ4F manual (Open-File Report 91-183) in pdf format
Download WATEQ4F software (0.3 MB)
Add me to the WATEQ4F mailing list (Include the word "subscribe" in body of letter)
Related software supported by the USGS can be found at : http://wwwbrr.cr.usgs.gov/projects/GWC_coupled/
Participants: Blaine McCleskey, Kirk Nordstrom (NRP)
USGS Headquarters | Water Resources | Biological Resources | Geology | Mapping | USGS NRP | Help! | USGS Search | USGS Privacy Statement | Disclaimer
URL: http://wwwbrr.cr.usgs.gov/usgs/
Created/Maintained: R. Blaine McCleskey; email@example.com
Last Updated: 08/22/2013


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Victim identified in Rockford's 8th fatal hit-and-run crash
ROCKFORD - Authorities have identified the victim of a fatal weekend hit-and-run crash on Charles Street as Michael Livingston, a 27-year-old homeless Rockford man.
Livingston was deceased when Rockford Fire Department paramedics arrived at 5:45 p.m. Saturday in the 1900 block of Charles Street near 15th Street.
On Monday, Winnebago County Coroner Sue Fiduccia said Livingston, who has family living in Chicago, suffered severe head injuries during the crash.
An autopsy was scheduled to proceed Monday.
This was the eighth fatal hit-and-run crash of 2013.
In the five years preceding 2013 combined, there were only five total fatal hit-and-run crashes, including two recorded last year.
There is no known explanation for the sudden increase, Sgt. Mark Jacobi said.
Police have made arrests in five of the year's eight fatal hit-and-run crashes, Jacobi said. Several have involved pedestrians walking in the street. It was not known if snow- and ice-covered sidewalks are playing a role in the fatal pedestrian crashes.
"They shouldn't be in the roadway," Jacobi said. "And it's rather disturbing that these drivers would ... hit a person and keep going."
There have also been an elevated number of fatal crashes in Rockford and Winnebago County resulting in 33 deaths, including the fatal hit-and-runs. There were 25 deaths from fatal car crashes in both 2011 and 2012.
Investigators said Livingston and a friend were walking west on Charles on the road. Livingston was struck by a westbound vehicle. The driver of the dark-colored four-door vehicle was last seen traveling west on Charles Street, Jacobi said.
Police are looking for a dark four-door vehicle last seen traveling west on Charles Street. No further suspect or suspect vehicle information is known, Jacobi said.
Anyone with information about the crash is asked to call police at 815-987-5824 or call Crime Stoppers at 815-963-7867.
Jeff Kolkey: 815-987-1374; firstname.lastname@example.com; @jeffkolkey
Fatal hit and runs rise
Rockford police report elevated number of fatal hit-and-run crashes in 2013, out-numbering the past five years combined. The total number of hit-and-run crashes appears on pace to match or come in lower than 2012.
Year Hit-and-run crashes Fatal hit and runs
2008 1,669 1
2009 1,569 0
2010 1,458 1
2011 1,304 1
2012 1,161 2
2013 1,035 8
Note: Hit-and-run crash total for 2013 as of Dec. 18. Fatal hit and run total for 2013 as of Dec. 27.
Source: Rockford Police Department


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Archbishop's handling of abuse claims challenged
The Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson, is coming under increasing pressure to explain what he knew about clerical sexual abuse when he was an office-holder in the NSW diocese of Maitland-Newcastle in the late 1970s and 1980s.
Archbishop Wilson has just been re-elected as chairman of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference, and is widely tipped as a possible successor to the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, if Cardinal Pell leaves Sydney to take up a senior post in the Vatican.
The Maitland-Newcastle diocese has become notorious as perhaps the epicentre of Catholic clerical sexual abuse in Australia. Four serious paedophile priests have been jailed since 1997. Father Vincent Ryan's crimes led to a $6 million compensation payout to victims - a record for the Catholic Church in Australia so far. Father John Denham is due to be sentenced later this month, and the compensation settlement with his victims is expected to be even larger. Yet another priest, Father David O'Hearn, is due to stand trial in the next two weeks.
Now a victim of convicted paedophile Father James Fletcher, who died in jail in 2006, says Archbishop Philip Wilson was a priest living in the bishop's house in Maitland when Fletcher was also living there in the late 1970s, and that Philip Wilson should have been aware that he was being sexually abused in Fletcher's upstairs bedroom.
Peter Gogarty says Philip Wilson regularly saw him in Fletcher's company as he was being taken upstairs to Fletcher's bedroom, and after he came back downstairs. At one point, when Bishop Leo Clarke became suspicious, Gogarty was banned from being in the bishop's house, but Fletcher continued to sneak him in the back door. Peter Gogarty says Philip Wilson should have intervened.
"Jim started sneaking me in the back door in the kitchen in the back of the house, straight past the common room where I would regularly pass Philip Wilson and then up the stairs to his bedroom," he said.
Conveniently for Jim Fletcher, Peter Gogarty was attending a school right next door to the bishop's house. He says the abuse would occur at lunch time and many afternoons after school. He says he has spoken to Archbishop Wilson over the phone in recent years about what the archbishop thought was going on.
"I asked now Archbishop Wilson what he thought was happening at the time. Did he know that Bishop Clarke had banned me from the house? His response was, no, he didn't know anything about that, and that as far as he was concerned Jim was a good bloke and he didn't think Jim was up to anything untoward," he said.
Peter Gogarty says he can't accept this explanation from Archbishop Wilson.
"I think, how could a man living in a house with another man not even be remotely curious as to why his house-mate was taking at least one boy up to his bedroom, and there may have been others."
Two weeks ago, Peter Gogarty lodged an official complaint with the NSW Police.
Today Archbishop Wilson responded to a series of questions put to him by the ABC. He has denied any knowledge that Jim Fletcher was sexually abusing Peter Gogarty in the bishop's house.
In 1978, Philip Wilson was made director of Religious Education for the Maitland-Newcastle diocese and taught at St Pius X High School, Adamstown, in Newcastle. St Pius X was the scene of horrific sexual assaults on young boys by another teacher at the school, Father John Denham. Denham is due to be sentenced this month over 135 offences on 39 victims. It is expected that the compensation settlement for Denham's victims will be even higher than that paid out to victims of Father Vincent Ryan, and that it could potentially bankrupt the diocese.
A former student of St Pius X High School from 1975 to 1979, Stephen Kilkeary was taught religion by Archbishop Wilson in 1978 when he was in Year 10. He says the atmosphere at St Pius X was violent, and that boys were frequently sexually assaulted. He says he finds it impossible to believe that Philip Wilson did not know about what was going on:
"My view would be that it would be impossible for anybody not to know, it was so rampant, so endemic. Everybody talked about it, not just at the school, even in the local community it was widely known that boys were being sexually abused at the school," said Mr Kilkeary.
Responding to questions put to him by the ABC, Archbishop Wilson has denied that he had any knowledge that Denham was assaulting boys at St Pius X while he was teaching there.
McAlinden allegations
Two weeks ago, a former principal of St Joseph's Primary School, Merriwa, west of Newcastle, accused Archbishop Wilson of being involved in covering-up the sexual assault of an eight-year-old girl by Father Denis McAlinden in 1985. At the time, Philip Wilson was secretary to then bishop of Maitland-Newcastle, Leo Clarke, and he was sent to the school to talk to parents. Former principal Mike Stanwell says Philip Wilson assured him that McAlinden would be sent away to get help. Instead McAlinden was transferred to another parish where he came into contact with other children, and later he was transferred to a remote parish in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Over the next decade he sexually assaulted five more girls under the age of 10.
In 1995 Philip Wilson took a statement from one of these girls who recently lodged an official complaint with the NSW Police. The ABC has obtained a copy of her letter to police, which states:
"I have advice from a Senior Counsel that based on the documents which are now in the possession of the NSW Police, there are sufficient grounds to warrant an investigation by the Police.
"The purpose of this letter is to formally complain about the conduct of the people noted above, and to request on behalf of all the victims of Father Denis McAlinden that you undertake an urgent inquiry into their conduct."
NSW Police are now investigating documents which show that only days after Philip Wilson took the girl's statement in October 1995, Bishop Leo Clarke launched a secret "defrocking" process, promising Denis McAlinden in a letter that his "good name" would be protected. That letter concludes: "A speedy resolution of this whole matter will be in your own good interests as I have it on very good authority that some people are threatening seriously to take this whole matter to the police."
Bishop Leo Clarke died in 2006, the year before NSW Police established Strikeforce Georgiana to investigate sexual abuse in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese. Bishop Clarke was never interviewed about the full extent of abuse in the diocese.
In previous media statements, Archbishop Wilson has claimed he referred all complaints of abuse he received about Denis McAlinden to Bishop Clarke. But Peter Gogarty says he doesn't think that is good enough.
"I don't think passing on your responsibility to someone else resolves you of you own responsibility. I just see that as an easy opt out to say, 'It is not my problem'," he said.
Diocese cover-ups
Archbishop Wilson is not the first former vicar general of the Maitland-Newcastle diocese to be accused of a cover-up. In 1996 NSW Police wanted to charge Monsignor Patrick Cotter over his concealment of sexual assaults by Father Vincent Ryan in the early 1970s, but the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions ruled that Cotter was too old to stand trial. Cotter died in 2007.
Last year another vicar general, Father Thomas Brennan, was convicted of making a false written statement to protect Father John Denham, and placed on a 12-month good behaviour bond. He is the only person in a position of authority in the Catholic Church in Australia to be convicted for covering-up abuse.
The present bishop of Maitland-Newcastle, Michael Malone, has been warned by police for "tipping off" Father Jim Fletcher that he was under police investigation. The Ombudsman's report into the incident was highly critical of the bishop's role. Bishop Malone has since apologised to victims for his poor handling of the issue.
Peter Gogarty says he believes Archbishop Wilson's response to media queries has been inadequate.
"I would really like him to come clean and apologise for all of this, and I would like him to look people in the eye who have been hurt by all of this and say, 'I am sorry'."


text:
There really is nothing quite like the super-tart flavor of key limes. Whether that fresh flavor appears in a dessert or a drink, it really can't be beat. Pucker up and dive into these 14 key lime recipes that are about to make you feel like you're basically in Key West right now.
1. Key Lime Popsicles
What better way to enjoy the summery flavor of key limes than in the form of a popsicle?
More From Cosmopolitan
Get the recipe from Spoonful of Flavor.
2. Key Lime Pie
Pie is about the best way to enjoy key limes, especially when it's encased in a coconut macadamia crust.
Get the recipe from Two Peas and Their Pod.
3. Coconut Key Lime Pie Martini
Why, yes, you can have your key lime pie in a martini glass.
Get the recipe from Home Cooking Memories.
4. Key Lime Macaroons
The tart flavor of key limes is the perfect accent for super-sweet coconut macaroons.
Get the recipe from Dessert Now Dinner Later.
5. No-Bake Key Lime Cheesecake Bars
With no oven needed, these bars combine cheesecake and chocolate to make the best ever key lime treat.
Get the recipe from Pass the Sushi.
6. Key Lime Smoothie
This breakfast smoothie gets your day started off in a most delicious way.
Get the recipe from Chelsea's Messy Apron.
7. Key Lime Magic Bar Pie
Magic Cookie Bars + Key Lime Pie = Total Awesome
Get the recipe from The Domestic Rebel.
8. The Best and Healthiest Key Lime Pie
There's a reason key lime pie is so freaking good: It's loaded with sugar. This version takes 70 percent of the sugar out of the equation and is still incredibly delicious.
Get the recipe from Nosh and Nourish.
9. Baked Key Lime Pie Donuts
This just might be the most flavorful donut you'll ever taste!
Get the recipe from Taste and Tell.
10. Mini Key Lime Cheesecakes
Teeny, tiny key lime cheesecakes? I'll take 20.
Get the recipe from Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts.
11. Key Lime Pie Ice Cream
The citrus flavor of key lime lends itself perfectly to cold, creamy ice cream.
Get the recipe from Café Johnsonia.
12. Coconut Key Lime Monkey Bread
Monkey bread gets a tropical twist thanks to coconut and key lime.
Get the recipe from Beyond Frosting.
13. Raspberry Key Lime Italian Soda
You'll be the hostess with the mostess when you serve up this DIY Italian soda.
Get the recipe from Will Cook for Smiles.
14. Key Lime Shortcake
Move over strawberries, key lime has come to Shortcake Town.
Get the recipe from Living Locurto.
Jane Maynard is a food blogger at This Week for Dinner and Babble, a writer and designer, and a lover of all things chocolate.
Follow Jane on Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook.
12 Totally Life-Changing Baking Hacks20 Sweet Cherry Recipes to Try This Summer20 Desserts You Can Make in Less Than 30 Minutes
Photo credit: Getty Images


text:
Hi Everyone,
This is a great site by the way, thanks to everyone who put it together. I'm looking for 2 songs. I don't have the artists name or title but do have several lines and I think both songs are from the 80's:
First song:
- when you went through the school of hard knocks
- I I I didn't want to rub it in, i just wanted to let you know,
- one day you wake up and it comes as a shock, it isn't something you didn't already know
- I told you, I told you so
Second song:
- You know babe, lifes so short it's passing by
- I want to reach out, reach out and touch someone
- when the moments gone I'm gonna carry on, loving for you
Thanks in advance.
Need help identifying 2 songs
What ever happened to...?
Post Reply
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text:
For Ray there are 14805 on Yasni with different names. The most frequently searched first names for Ray are: Rahul, Ana, Anil
Among the most common last names on Yasni Ray is on position 247.
During the last seven days Ray was searched 22 times.
There is no meaning available yet for "Ray".Send in a meaning!


text:
The height of faux outrage:
… Urban Meyer and Florida aren't the only ones who have some bitter memories about its game against the Bulldogs. Meyer didn't like Georgia's end zone celebration in a 42-30 Bulldogs win.
Auburn defensive tackle Sen'derrick Marks is still smarting from the 45-20 whipping the Tigers suffered last season to Georgia.
"Their team embarrassed us," Marks said today at SEC Media Days. "They've beat us two years in a row but last year, they went black out. They danced on us. The mascot danced on us. The ballboy danced on us and the commentator even did a Soulja Boy on us."
The commentator was in on it? The bastard!
Hey, insult our players and our coaches. But when you jump on Uncle Verne, man, that's like peeing on the American flag.


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Our efforts to intentionally alter our home planet have been unpredictable at best. Can we terraform other planets without making the same mistakes? Should we?
Current plans to terraform another planet generally involve Mars. There are other terraforming targets in our solar system (certain Jovian moons, for instance), but Mars is more conveniently located. So if we're going to transform a barren planet into a thriving Eden where humans can hang out, Mars it is.
The particulars of how we'd terraform Mars are mostly well-known: pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, thickening it and warming the planet, thus releasing frozen water with which to grow plants that would in turn oxygenate the atmosphere. Wait 1,000 years, add colonists, sit back and enjoy.
It's telling though, that under this plan, the very first thing humans would ever build on another planet would be a factory. Better still, in some scenarios it would be a factory that doesn't actually produce anything. It would just grind up chunks of the Martian landscape and churn out carbon monoxide. A factory that makes nothing but pollution. That's like a space program based on some kind of grotesque Gilliamesque satire.
When I first started writing this series of articles, I had the more or less default position on terraforming Mars that people who like science, science-fiction and futurism hold: of course we should terraform it, it's just a barren rock. Bringing lush, green life to such a place can only be a good thing. Now, I'm not so sure.
It turns out this reticence toward transforming another planet is not uncommon. Terrestrial environmentalism holds that we have no inherent right to go to Mars or anywhere else and start mucking around. Even if there are no Martian microbes to be disturbed, and even if many people see no intrinsic value in that red desert, this school of thought suggests it is not our place to write all over the solar system's blank pages. And if all that sounds like a little too much hippie dippie bullshit for you to swallow, let me put it to you this way: do you want to be the first human who violates the Prime Directive?
At the other end of the spectrum you'll find people like Bob Zubrin, co-founder of the Mars Society. At the group's 1998 founding convention, Zubrin spoke of terraforming Mars in terms of Manifest Destiny, and that it was specifically the western world that should do it, since, "this is the only system of values that has created a society worth living in." I'm not going to weigh in on the merit of that statement other than to suggest that it is probably open to debate.
In the middle is a more utilitarian point of view: preserve what is worth preserving, make the rest as good as it can be. Who makes that judgment? The only beings we've met thus far capable of making it at all: humans. Will we make mistakes? Certainly. Will some things be irrevocably changed for the worse? If the past is any guide, yes. In the end, the benefits of progress, carefully weighed, outrace the costs and losses.
This is probably the kind of late-night college coffee shop discussion that can never be truly resolved. How will governments ever make these kinds of decisions? Probably they won't, considering the cost and lengthy waiting period before the profits start rolling in. If it ever somehow becomes economically feasible in the short term to terraform Mars, I have no doubt that it will happen. I personally can't help but thrill to the vision of a shining green gem of a planet, transformed by the ingenuity and perseverance of humanity into a second home, maybe even a second chance.
But then I imagine the strip mines. Or worse, the strip malls.
Read the rest of the articles in this series on Terraforming Earth.
Grinspoon, David. "Is Mars Ours?" Slate, Jan. 8, 2004.
McKnight, John Carter. "The Intrinsic Rights Of Martian Bugs." Space Daily, Aug. 1, 2003.


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Oreos to Hydrox: Resistance Is Futile
(FORTUNE Magazine) – It's a familiar story: A small, fledgling company comes up with a great new product--so great that a bigger, more powerful company copies the idea. The larger firm flexes its superior distribution and promotional muscles, the smaller outfit watches helplessly as its business slips away, and that's that--another case of the strong running roughshod over the weak.
You may not realize it, but it was this type of incident that gave rise to the modern chocolate sandwich cookie market. The common perception is that Oreos are the genuine article and Hydrox the generic knockoff, but the truth of the matter is precisely the opposite: Hydrox debuted in 1908, the signature product of the nascent Sunshine Biscuits, and ruled the category until 1912, when National Biscuit (later Nabisco) launched the remarkably similar Oreos. Given Nabisco's superiority over Sunshine in everything from distribution channels to advertising budgets, it was no contest--Hydrox never had a chance. Over the years, Oreos' popularity and market hegemony became so overwhelming that the product transcended the consumer realm and came to be viewed as a cultural icon, an American original--even though there was nothing original about it.
Hydrox partisans tend to be fiercely loyal, but Sunshine never attracted enough of them to mount a serious challenge to the Oreo juggernaut. Sales numbers from 1998 tell the story: $374 million for Oreos; $16 million for Hydrox. That's all about to change, however, if the folks at Keebler have anything to say about it. The elf-associated bakery acquired Sunshine in 1996 and, after a careful review process, is now bringing Sunshine's cookies under the Keebler brand umbrella. Most of the products will simply get a packaging revision, but Keebler decided that the Hydrox situation called for more drastic measures. The cookies themselves have been given a kid-oriented design face-lift, with an updated flavor formulation to follow this spring. The biggest change, however, is the name: Hydrox will henceforth be known as Keebler Droxies.
The demise of the Hydrox brand name (a smaller logotype of which is being retained on Droxie packages for a short transitional period and will be retired for good in April) marks the end of what is surely one of the more unusual stories in the annals of American snack-food marketing. Back in 1908, Sunshine's founders were looking for a product name that would evoke purity and goodness. After deciding that water was the purest thing they could think of, they drew upon water's atomic elements--hydrogen and oxygen--to come up with Hydrox. Alas, as Keebler's market research has confirmed, this is a much better way to name a cleaning fluid than a cookie.
"We had very negative feedback on the name, even from loyal consumers," says Carolyn Burns, Keebler's marketing director for cookies. After toying with a few replacement monikers, including Hydihos, Hydunks, Twisters, and Choco Twists, Keebler settled on Droxies. "Not only does it cue back to 'Hydrox,'" explains Burns, "but it's a fun, whimsical name that really works with the Keebler imagery." Fair enough, although I think it's actually more fun to think about what Keebler could have done had it stuck with Hydrox (imagine an ad with those elves poring over the periodic table: "Hydrogen and oxygen are uncommonly good elements....").
In any case, it'll take more than a new name to compete with Oreos, and nobody realizes this better than Burns, who's been entrusted with the thankless task of challenging one of the most phenomenally successful products on the consumer landscape. "We're up against a giant, and we know that," she says. "Obviously we have to look for ways to differentiate Droxies, because we have no intention of going up against Oreos head- on." When asked how she plans to differentiate her cookie from its extremely similar, far more popular rival, she takes a long pause. "Candidly," she finally says, "that's something we're working on. And we're not there yet."
Unfortunately for Keebler, the product's unique selling point--that it was the first, the original, the real deal--is now moot in a world that long ago anointed Oreos the king of the category. "According to our research," Burns explains, "not only is that claim [of Hydrox predating Oreos] not meaningful to consumers, it's not even credible. People don't believe it--they think Hydrox are the knockoff of Oreos, not the other way around."
The big irony there, of course, is that some consumers may now mistakenly think that Droxies are a knockoff of Hydrox--a generic of a generic--leaving the product with an even bigger image problem than it had before. All of which reinforces one of the business world's crueler lessons: Sometimes it just doesn't pay to have a good idea.
PAUL LUKAS, author of Inconspicuous Consumption, obsesses over the details of consumer culture so you don't have to.


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From the Wall: Roundup of 10 Status Updates
From the Wall: A Weekly Roundup of Hilltown Families Status Updates on Facebook
As part of our a communication network, every day we post status updates to the Hilltown Families Facebook page, including announcements, volunteer opportunities, conversation starters, promotions, links to archived posts, videos, podcast… To receive these daily status updates, check the wall on our Facebook page, or better yet, "Like" our page then add Hilltown Families to your interest list to receive status updates in your Facebook newsfeed.
Here's a round up of what we shared and are talking about this past week. Click on the links to follow through to our page and join in on discussions and find links to access more info:
CISA needs volunteers on two Saturdays, January 26 (in Springfield & Northampton) and February 2 (in Greenfield & Amherst), to help out at the farmers' markets holding this year's Winter Fare events. Tasks may include greeting attendees, handing out maps and taking surveys. Markets will run from about 10am-2pm. Please email firstname.lastname@example.com if you would like to get involved.The nomination period for the 2013 Colin Higgins Youth Courage Awards is now open! Know of a LGBTQ youth who has demonstrated courage in the face of adversity and discrimination based on gender and/or sexual orientation? Nominate them today!
Wondering how to stave off colds and flu this winter? Check out these Western MA folk remedies, compiled by Hilltown Families Contributing Writer, Tony Lemos:
Mark your calendars for the 91st Annual Greenfield Winter Carnival happening February 1st-3rd… 3 days of winter play!!!
Athol Public Library writes, "Bring your gently used jeans to the Athol Public Library for our "Teens for Jeans" campaign. Jeans will be taken to Aeropostale and donated to teens in area homeless shelters. Donations will be accepted now through January 31st. A great opportunity to help out! For info please call: 978-249-9515
There will be a teacher workshop at Smith College Museum of Art on Asian Art on Wed., Feb. 6th from 10am-3pm for K-12 teachers. Explore interdisciplinary connections between Asian and "Western" art objects through exercises and presentations led by SCMA Education staff. Curator Fan Zhang will provide teachers with an overview of the Collecting Art of Asia exhibition and Anne Prescott, Director of the Five Colleges Center for East Asian Studies will outline valuable K-12 resources for teaching about Asia across the curriculum.
If you missed the broadcast of the Hilltown Family Variety Show's South Africa Episode last May with guest DJ, Debbie Lan of Grenadilla, no worries! You can listen the podcast anytime. Gather the kids around and follow the link. Debbie features music by Mahlathini & The Mahotella Queens, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Mafikozolo, Amompondo, and many others, including a few cuts off of their newest CD, "Can't Wait," one of our top 11 picks for 2012!
Have your kids asked yet how babies are made, or where babies come from? What did you say? If they haven't asked yet, how might you reply when they do?
Last year we asked our readers to share their love for their pediatricians, recommending a pediatrician to families in Western Massachusetts who might be looking for a doctor for their children…
Thinking about venturing out to the Norman Rockwell Museum with the kids this winter? Check out their family guide! Designed specifically for families interested in extending art studies past a museum trip, the Norman Rockwell Family Guide is full of Rockwell's work and includes information and questions to keep in mind while examining the images. Follow the link to check it out our write-up from last year with links and resources:
There have been lots of opportunities lately to volunteer with your families as a Citizen Scientist, assisting with bird population counts! Audubon's Christmas Bird Count and Bald Eagle Count both took place recently, but there's another bird count that you can do any time of year! Mass Audubon offers a checklist of birds that visitors to Canoe Meadows in central Berkshire Cty. can print and take along on their excursion.


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The True Story Behind Portland's Secret Kebab
In mid-2011, things were going splendidly for Alparslan Yilmaz, a.k.a. the Turk. His operation Secret Kebab had charmed local eaters by selling fat lamb wraps in a semiclandestine fashion: orders via Twitter, text, or e-mail during the Turk's erratic hours. Deliveries bore passing resemblance to a drug deal.
"We were ... leaning against the chain-link fence ... at 30th and Killingsworth," a Secret Kebab customer wrote on Yelp. "I was ... fumbling with the wad of cash in my pocket and trying to anticipate what the delivery guy would look like."
By most accounts, the kebabs were worth the intrigue. But the Turk was even better known for his inspired, fractured-English enthusiasm on Twitter: "BOOM BOOM!! Kebab delivery it is on!! The lamb is run and jump and back flips to you in #NWPDX!! Name adres telefon and how many?!" One newspaper called the Turk "a literary creation," and noted that his alleged Turkish was as bad as his English, but no one seemed to care. Alparslan Yilmaz was well on his way to urban-legend status.
Meantime, the world of John J. Goddard, a 40-year-old chef and writer, was not quite so sunny. He'd lost his job and was bouncing between wobbly living situations. At one point, he ended up camping in a park and showering at his gym.
Goddard was, of course, the Turk.
A St. Louis native and career professional cook, Goddard landed in Portland in 2009 in unsuccessful pursuit of an old flame. He had also lived in Croatia twice, where he'd fallen hard for its anarchic culture of handmade food: "Everywhere you go, people are selling cured meat, honey, or wine they make themselves. No licenses. No regulation." So when a Northwest Portland restaurant laid him off after the 2010 holidays, he decided to take matters into his own hands.
After one trip to Kitchen Kaboodle, he was soon crafting East Euro-style sausages and cured meats in his home kitchen. He'd pack his wares in a briefcase and hit Northwest bars to sell them. (In a blog post, he described himself as a "meat pirate.") Goddard also launched a delivery-only bakery and served Balkan pop-up dinners at restaurants under the name Luka. And then Secret Kebab was born.
"I couldn't keep all these concepts going," Goddard says. "The Turk was the result of needing a figurehead." He began tweeting as Alparslan Yilmaz, punctuating kebab updates with Dadaist riffs: "Now I am banana hasish for the teas!! HAÇA!!"
As orders began to trickle in, Goddard says, he cooked kebabs in a series of houses, each situation shakier than the last. At one point, he says, he walked up to an empty, foreclosed-upon house in Northeast Portland and opened the door. "The power was on, and I was home." Eventually, Goddard says he abandoned the squat for a tent in woodsy Macleay Park. He showered at 24 Hour Fitness and cooked at the Pearl District's KitchenCru, an incubator for start-up food businesses. "When people asked about Alparslan, I'd say he was an eccentric Turkish man who lived in the Northwest hills," he says now.
Today, Goddard lives in Zagreb. This summer, he published a cookbook showcasing Croatia, one of Europe's least-known culinary strongholds.
And the Turk? One recent tweet struck a note of mingled melancholy and hope: "Lamb will not return to Portland this year, but Lamb will soon cross the sea."
John J. Goddard's book Dalmatian Cooking and the Turk's Lamb Goes in Town are available via adriaticpublishing.com.


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How much does the Internet weigh? It depends on who you ask. According to one calculation, the information that comprises the Internet weighs little more than a single grain of salt. Other estimates put it at closer to the weight of a strawberry.
How does one even go about calculating the weight of the Internet? Simple: you weigh the electrons that it uses to move information. Every website, blog post, meme, torrent, picture and email you ever created or consumed via the Internet was transmitted via electrons. Add all those electrons up (at 9.1 x 10-31 kg apiece), and you get about 2 ounces.
So why should you care that the Internet weighs next to nothing? Well, strictly speaking, you shouldn't — because as NPR's Robert Krulwich points out, the true weight of the Internet is measured not by electrons, but by ideas:
You can weigh the Internet till you are blue in the face, but the grams won't tell you anything important.
The Internet connects people. What it is doesn't matter. What it carries, that matters. Ideas aren't like chairs or tables. They have their own physics. They make their own weight.
So the Internet weighs about as much as a strawberry? It can still stop tanks.
Ask yourself: How much does "of the people, by the people, for the people" weigh?
Read the rest of Krulwich's post over on NPR.
Top image by andi.vs.zf


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Board Games
The gruff, boastful art of claiming Indonesia's surf as your own
Hajak, my "captain," was a Sasak. He was stoic, serious, and maybe 11 years old. Dressed like a California surf kid in baggy Quiksilver shorts, he sat in front of his Evinrude, navigating an outrigger canoe through the water, between weathered wooden frames floating on the surface and marked with ragged flags.
"What are those?" I asked, in a mix of poor Indonesian and sign language.
"Rumput laut," he answered.
Seaweed. Deep columns of it were cultivated under the frames. These were the industries in Grupuk, on the Indonesian island of Lombok: fishing, farming seaweed, and ferrying Westerners to a distant surf spot.
Grupuk Bay is one of those tropical inlets that look like paradise from a distance, with palm-carpeted hills rising from an expanse of blue water. Hajak let us glide to a halt near a clean blue break just off a sandy beach, then dropped anchor next to another pair of canoes. A group of us travelers spent the lazy, sweltering morning paddling around the bay.
It wasn't the surf of a lifetime; it wasn't the reason I'd disappeared (from my family's and friends' perspective) to a remote Indonesian island. But then surfing can be like fishing. For the big stuff you just have to wait.
Lombok is a poor Muslim island next to Bali, and the village of Kuta, on the southern shore, is a weird assemblage of thatched huts, surf bungalows, and luxury hotels. It's a slumbering cousin to Bali's electric-lit surf metropolis, also called Kuta, dozens of ocean miles to the west. Lombok's Kuta has no sports bars or flagship stores for surf brands, but it faces south, and its beaches receive the same Indian Ocean swells.
In Kuta village I had found a $4-a-day surf bungalow near the beach, an orange-painted rattan hut with a stinking pit toilet and a jaundiced lightbulb so weak it had trouble penetrating my mosquito net, so I spent the evening on the breakfast terrace, where Indonesians served beer and surfers played cards under the fluorescent light.
By our choice of breaks, and the way we tackled our food, we announced our prowess as surfers. Later we would compete for waves according to skill, but the jostling for position started over fried rice and pancakes. Most of us had dreamed for months of crowd-free surf on a remote equatorial island. No one wanted to hang with a kook, and no one wanted to tag along. This winnowing and sifting had to occur without an impolite word. It was a poker game: civil, thoughtful, boastful, and gruff.
After breakfast we split up. I hired another Sasak, Amat, to buzz me on his motorbike to Selong Blanak. We climbed along winding roads through faded green hills of palm trees and half-dried grass. But along the way, we turned off to check Mawi. We followed a muddy goat trail, and the motorbike skidded, startling a meter-long monitor lizard warming itself in the sun—glistening, muscular, almost black. It slithered heavily into the brush.
The goat trail was a private road maintained by farmers. Their sons showed up at the beach to enforce a kind of toll. If you paid, nothing got stolen. The price was fair; the arrangement satisfied everyone.
A stout, sectioning wave broke from a rocky volcanic outcropping on the left and moved evenly across the bay. Soon Dave and his two friends showed up. Then the Canadian arrived on his motorbike. Finally everyone from breakfast had convened on Mawi Bay, and the coincidence caused embarrassment.
"Bit sloppy now, mate."
"Swell might give it some shape."
"If the wind turns offshore, it'll be bloody nice."
Slowly, we all made our way into the water, where the real hierarchy established itself. Instead of poker-faced bravado, you started to hear excuses. I'm a bit sick today. My board has a new ding. This rental piece of shit isn't long enough for this swell. But a mist hung over the green hills, and the landscape itself seemed to absorb the complaints. The biggest waves shattered on the rocky outcropping; white water streamed between sharp crags. There was a sense of danger as well as a deep sense of peace.
Dave and his older Australian friends went out on "skis"—kayaks with bulbous tails designed for larger surf. They raced ahead with double-bladed paddles and trimmed the waves. The swell increased while the rest of us crawled along; deep-blue water mounded into a wave that pitched up in angry steps. You had to slide to your belly and paddle. The wave met you halfway, and went on rising. There was a sound like rain from the feathering peak as you leaned the tip of your board through and floated in a muted netherworld. On the next wave, bigger now, I stroked up the surface as it rose, then turned and took off. My feet lost contact with the board. For a second I was in a free fall, frighteningly, until I landed again, leaned into a turn, settled into the face, and sailed along. The curtain of water slopped over my head and for a moment I heard the rushing echo of a tube. Then the wave shot me forward along the face, and I ran out ahead and let the wave collapse and push me toward the beach.


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Trac proudly powers the recruitment for
Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust
Spread over an area of 20,640 kilometres and serving a population of 2.9 million, our diverse area encompasses tranquil rural retreats, busy seaside resorts and large urban conurbations.
But our varied and modern services are tailor-made for each community's differing environmental and medical needs, from cycles to fast response cars, frontline ambulances, helicopters and nurses in our control centres.
We attend more than 250,000 emergency calls a year, over 50,000 urgent calls and transport over 1.3 million non-emergency patients to over 200 treatment centres throughout England and Wales.
Our dedicated staff are our biggest asset, and we employ 2,576 people, 76% of which are operational – 1,310 on emergency duties and 693 on non-emergency and health courier services.
We operate from 90 ambulance stations, three control centres, three regional offices and five vehicle workshops.
We also have our own National Training College to ensure our staff remain at the top of their game and receive regular professional development.
From 1st April 2007 NHS Direct Wales transferred to become an integral part of the Welsh Ambulance Service. NHS Direct Wales provides a 24 hour health advice and information service, signposting the people of Wales to the most appropriate level of healthcare for their needs.
We hope this site will tell you everything you need to know about the ambulance service, whether you want to work with us, join a First Responder team, sit on a patient's panel or use our extensive news and picture libraries.
Area Technician/Mechanic
Closed for applications on: 29-Mar-2023 00:00
Vacancy status: Closed
Closed for applications on: 29-Mar-2023 00:00
No longer accepting applications
Sorry, this vacancy is no longer accepting applications.
You can search for similar jobs on the employer's job board, or visit our national jobs board Health Jobs UK.


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Patriots owner Robert Kraft says team's offer was better than Denver's for Welker
PHOENIX – New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft says his team's contract offer to Wes Welker was better than what the receiver got in Denver.
Kraft also says Welker's agent, David Dunn, "misrepresented" Welker's market value.
When asked about Patriots quarterback Tom Brady being upset that Welker left after Brady reworked his own contract, Kraft adds Monday: "I don't answer to Tom Brady. He's an important member of the team and we chatted. He has never put a demand" on the Patriots.
Welker got a two-year, $12 million deal with the Broncos. Kraft says Welker could have received $8 million in the first year of a two-year contract with New England as opposed to $6 million he gets in Denver "and there is no guarantee that he plays the second year there."