text:
MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference 2012- Day 1
Ah finally. The MIT Sports Analytics Conference:
As those of you who read my last entry know, I'd been waiting for this day for a while. I bought my ticket in October, but I had known, and therefore wanted to go to this conference ever since Moneyball came out (whenever that may have been).
First of all, here is the video showing me taking a tour of the halls of the third floor of the convention center where this was being held:
Anyway, the day was action-packed, so let's get to the action, why don't we. The first panel, which was the only panel everyone attending the conference saw was the " In the Best Interest of the Game: The Evolution of Sports Leagues" panel:
This panel included five people. Those five were:
Michael Wilbon (Moderator of the panel):
– Commentator for ESPN. Most notably a co-host of the program "Pardon The Interruption" of PTI for short.
Gary Bettman:
– Commissioner of the NHL. On a side note, the first two look kind of nasty in the pictures I caught them, but I can assure you, they were nothing like that during their presentations.
Adam Silver:
– COO of the NBA.
Rob Manfred:
– Executive Vice President of Labor Relations and Human Resources for MLB.
Steve Tisch:
– Chairman and Executive Vice President of the New York Giants. Also I learned that he won an Oscar for his work on Forrest Gump.
Scott Boras:
– President of Boras Corporation (he's a Baseball agent and that is his company).
I won't bore you with all the details since this IS a *Baseball* blog and the panel wasn't entirely Baseball comprised, but there was a discussion brought up on Labor Negotiations of MLB alone. There only Boras and Manfred talked and both made good discussion. Obviously, Boras was on the players' side and Manfred was on the league's side for most of the all of the labor conflicts the two have gone through, so they discussed this. There was no actually "arguing" during any of the panels i went to yesterday, but the panelists did give a better view of their side than the average fan usually gets. During this portion, Boras made an interesting point that the actual average career of a MLBer is 3 years and the players have this in mind during negotiations.
Here is a look at the panel via the video screen since I couldn't fit all of them in one picture without a couple being blocked by some person's head:
Here is a video of the whole panel if you so wish to watch what actually went on during it:
After the panel ended, I walked up to the stage and photographed it to give you a better idea of how it looked. Here was the result:
I also went to the back of the room to take a picture of the control booth/platform:
I then left the room to explore a little more since there is 20 minutes between sessions. The most interesting thing I found on this little venture. If you want to read the actual presentation, the picture is high enough quality to click on it and zoom in to read it, but for me to actually explain the idea behind the presentation would be too long to write out. Anyway, here is said picture:
The next panel I attended was entitled, "The Business of Sports: Winning Off the Field", which was also held in that main Ballroom. The panelists were:
Jessica Gelman (moderator):
– Vice President of Customer Marketing & Strategy for the Kraft Sports Group.
Neil Glat:
– SVP Corporate Development for the NFL.
David Gill:
– CEO Manchester United.
Steve Pagliuca:
– Co-Owener of the Boston Celtics (that spelling is of whoever put together the book not my own).
Scott O'Neil:
– President of MSG Sports. One story for him is that during the panel, he gave a signed Jeremy Lin T-Shirt to a Houston Rocket's personnel to thank that specific person for releasing Lin (I assume that person was the GM, but I don't pay enough attention to the NBA to know the name). Edit: After going to the second day, I realized that it was one of the co-chairs of the conference O'neil gave the shirt to. Who was this co-chair, and what did he have to do with the Rockets? It was actually Daryl Morey, the GM himself. So this whole exchange makes much more sense now that I know this information.
Jeanie Buss:
– Executive Vice President, Business Operations for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Again, I won't go through of any of the details, because there were no MLB panelists. However, if you really want to watch it, here is the hour-long video of the panel:
If you want to see the Jeremy Lin Jersey Exchange, it can be seen starting at around the 7:00 min mark of the video.
Next I went to the Research room for a couple of PowerPoint Presentations. Let me just clarify one thing, there was no set route for a person to go. At anytime there were at least 4 different sessions going on at a time and it was your job to decide which it was that you were going to.
The first Presentation was entitled, "Big 2's and Big 3's: Analyzing How a Team's Best Players Complement Each Other". It was a Basketball Presentation, so I won't share anything, but I will show that it was presented by this guy:
If you do, however, have an interest in this research paper and what the presentation was like, here is the video:
The next presentation was entitled, "Predicting the Next Pitch". This was a completely Baseball study looking at whether some students at MIT could develop a method for predicting pitches. The presentation itself was done by the professor, John Guttag (I assume that's his name as it was on the cover slide):
Since it was a Baseball Presentation, here are some of the slides:
If you want to have a look at the presentation itself, here is the video for ya:
Next was definitely one my favorite sessions of let's see if you can guess which panel it was:
If you guessed Baseball Analytics, you are correct. Oh yeah and if you read this tweet before answering it's cheating:
"They just claimed this is, 'The best Baseball Analytics panel assembled'. A bold one, but looking at them, I believe it."
Anyway, the panel itself went as follows:
Rob Neyer (moderator):
– Editor for SB Nation.
Scott Boras:
– I've introduced him already.
Rocco Baldelli:
– Special Assistant in charge of Scouting and Player Development for the Tampa Bay Rays.
Mark Shapiro:
– President of the Cleveland Indians.
Jeff Luhnow:
– GM of the Houston Astros.
Bill James:
– Operations Advisor for the Boston Red Sox.
The panel discussed many things, so I will share what it is I wrote down.
- Jeff Luhnow used to work with the Cardinals, but when asked he said he liked the Astros, because it let him start from scratch in terms of implementing analytics.He also mentioned that analytics was a part of why the Cardinals won the World Series this past season.
- I have a note simply labeled "Sports Psychology". I guess that means he was focused a lot on the mental part of a player.
- Rocco Baldelli said he would like to know why certain guys hit and certain guys don't.
- Mark Shapiro commented after Bill James spoke that it reminded him how little he knew.
- Scott Boras made a great argument against the implementation of an International Draft.
- He also said that Baseball has an advantage because everyone plays, but they then release the kids into other sports.I personally played Soccer before Baseball, but I get the point.
Next up was a presentation in the "Evolution of Sports Room":
Actually I missed the best part of that banner in that particular picture, but see if you can spot it in any of the pictures from either this entry or the next one.
The presentation was entitled, "The Sixth Tool: Training Baseball Recognition". The presentation was given by this guy, Peter Fadde:
Since it was a Baseball related presentation, here are a few slides:
Basically, the idea was to train hitters to recognize the pitch based on the first .150 seconds of flight. It was a very interesting idea for me as a manager of my high school baseball team. If it is interesting to you, here is the video:
The next presentation was yet another Baseball presentation and I'll also show the extent of what I paid attention to:
It just wasn't THAT interesting a presentation. The slides were monotonous, both speakers were uncertain in their words, and the demo site they put together for the conference was pretty unimpressive and basic. I really wanted to leave and got to "Art and Analytics of Negotiation", but didn't want to be rude in such a small room so I stayed for the whole thing. A fun fact, though, the first presenter, Mike Attanasio, is both an MIT Sophmore and the son of the Brewers' own Mark Attanasio, or so I am told. Basically, the only thing I would possibly use the site for is looking up stats if I wanted to know how a specific player performs in a certain temperature. The example they used, Carl Crawford, stunk in cold weather last year, but did well in warmer weather. Anyway, it might be interesting for you, who knows. If that is the case, here is the video for this presentation:
The next session I went to was one entitled, "Competitive Advantage: Sports Business Analytics". I really didn't like this one, because it was four presentations instead of a panel and I once again wished I were in the ballroom. This time the panel taking place was "Coaching Analytics". Anyway, here are the faces of the people who presented in this session. I don't know their names, because they're not in the book I got since they weren't a panel:
Next was the final session of the evening simply listed as "A Systematic Approach to Sports Negotiations". I didn't think it was possible, but it competed with the Baseball Analytics panel for my favorite of the day. The speaker was Ron Shapiro. TH first thing he did once he got up on stage was that he complained that his son, Mark Shapiro, and his son-in-law, Eric Mangini had already spoke (both were present for this session) and "thousands of people showed up, but now that the old man was finally up there were only a few dozen (to be fair, he did have the room filled. It was just that his room was significantly smaller than the Ballroom where both of them spoke. It is very interesting for anyone looking to get into the business side of sports. If you have any such inclination, or just want to watch this presentation, here is the video. Some of the presentation goofs are pretty entertaining:
In addition to being a baseball session, sort of (Shapiro does a bunch of things. He was/is: Cal Ripken's and Joe Mauer's agent among others, has worked in/for the front of the Baltimore Ravens and San Antonio Spurs, and was originally a lawyer.) It was also an amazing talk. So, I will put up every picture I have of him. I did take some video in this session and once i have it on YouTube, I will announce it via twitter that this entry has been updated, but I don't know how long that could take since my home computer is nearing its disk limit and videos tend to take up a lot of space on that:
So that was my first day it was a great day and now that I've gone through it, I can say that the second day equaled it, so stay alert, because that entry will be published either tomorrow or Monday and then I will resume the Offseason Recap and Preview entries with the Washington Nationals, the Atlanta Braves, and some team from whichever division you select.


text:
Lara Spencer Promoted to Co-Host on Good Morning America
Lara Spencer has been promoted to co-host on Good Morning America, ABC News announced Friday.
The news comes just weeks after Spencer renegotiated her deal with ABC and Josh Elliott announced he was leaving GMA for NBC Sports. The promotion now gives Spencer, 44, the same title as George Stephanopolous and Robin Roberts.
Michael Strahan confirms Good Morning America gig
In a note sent out after Friday morning's broadcast, new ABC News President James Goldston called Spencer "as talented as they come" and a "key member" of GMA's on-air team. "Lara is clearly an essential ingredient in the success we have enjoyed and I am so pleased to announce that Lara has been elevated to co-host of the program along with Robin and George," he wrote.
Stephanopolous tweeted about the big news on Friday. "Huge congrats to my GMA co-anchor and friend Lara Spencer on her promotion!" he wrote.
Spencer has served as Good Morning America's lifestyle anchor since rejoining ABC in 2011. She was previously a national correspondent for the morning show from 1999 to 2003.
Are you excited to see more of Spencer on Good Morning America?
View original Lara Spencer Promoted to Co-Host on Good Morning America at TVGuide.com
Other Links From TVGuide.com

subset: commoncrawl


text:
When Facebook stocks begin trading on the market—most likely this Friday—Wall Street hotshots and ordinary folks will be clamoring to get in on the action. Don't worry if you don't have a broker and a fancy investment portfolio because there are plenty of companies more than happy to help you get a single share—for a price. CNNMoney reports:
Buying through a one-share site is generally more expensive for customers than buying through a broker. Both GiveAShare.com and OneShare.com charge a $39 fee for their services, which include buying the share and procuring the paper stock certificate.
So for $39 plus the price of a share, you get a piece of paper that says you own a teeny tiny piece of Facebook. If you've got an account with a broker on the other hand, trades typically cost less than $10. Buying a single share of Facebook won't make you any kind of wealthy, so hey, might as well throw away your money as efficiently as possible. [CNNMoney via AllFacebbok]
Image courtesy of the SEC


text:
One year ago, a group of female Deadspinners got together and built a website that would forever alter the sportswriting landscape. Some delusions of grandeur, but whatevs.
Artwork, as always, by the one, the only, the incomparable Lady J-Money, who credits our success to the quality of our ingredients.
When we last saw our heroines, we were raising glasses to six months of this contraption. Since then….where to start? We got out of the house a little, and brought a few friends along for the ride. We stirred up a couple hornets' nests and got our knees dirty. We launched a blatant homerism lovefest and let lust rule our fantasy drafts. We went undercover with the Mets and the Mitchell Report and got inside with the Tigers. We turned back time and had ourselves a total eclipse of the heart. We pledged our hearts to the World Series, and just about killed ourselves trying to get there, and just about GOT ourselves killed once we were…but that all worked out just fine, didn't it? We got down and dirty with the history of Rock and championed the little guys. We came heroically close to covering every single bowl game. We said fond farewells to a fine crop of college boys, and found new targets for next year.
And the snacks. Oh, TSW's snacky goodness. The legendary Buffalo Chicken Dip. The homemade corn dogs. The 9-Layer Ranchero Dip, K2 of snack foods. Pork with more pork. The genesis of our quiche obsession. The other Ladies got into the act, to the tune of Pudding Shots, Beer Bread, Cheese Straws, and a variety of meats and cheeses.
We celebrated (properly) the apex of football season (and then some), and marked the turning of the sports season. We got our gamble on. We gave thanks, wished on our stockings, spread holiday cheer and strove to be better fans. We found humor in the worst of times and stood up for boobs everywhere. We rassled and clawed and even screwed each other.
After the jump, some poetic and prosaic reflections on our year together.
Many thanks Ladies
Where are our satin jackets?
Time for the clubhouse.
12 months in the Men of the Mitchell Report calendar
11 (or more) insane liveblogs
10 prospects scouted in advance
9 new ways to look at Riley Skinner
8 Ladies… at-bat songs and screwed over
7 (or more) anipals at Metsy's
6 KSK writers over whom we reigned victorious
5 fanbases better informed on lovemaking
4 regions in the disastrous Hot Blogger Bracket
3 genius All-Star Game BINGO cards
2 horrendous days in Cleveland
1 fantastic year
After one year, I can make a confession.
Until last night, I had never seen Demetri Martin's "Ladies…" bit.
There! I said it! I've come clean! I knew what the joke was via internet memes, but had never actually watched the video. So for everyone who has never known where the name "Ladies…" comes from, check out around the 1:50 mark. No shame in finally catching up now.
So much has happened in this past year, the stories that I think define Ladies the most are the ones that we worked on as a team or were email conversations that we posted. CHEEZE DOODLE BACON PANTS still makes me laugh. Love, Sports, and Dating should be stapled to the foreheads of the
bitches editors at Jezebel and Radar. Our fantasy quarterback draft saw Tom Brady picked eighth. This got us in trouble (especially me) but I still think it was funny. We praised our mothers and fathers.
Mike Tomlin. We met, there was training camp, and you were proven to be hotter than Coach Nolan.
I was lucky enough to interview Curtis Granderson because of this site. Ladies allowed me to call out the NFL's breast cancer awareness month. Seven kind women indulged my Sidney Crosby obsession. And they tolerated the monster that the Friday Football Foodie devolved into.
Sadly, my time at Ladies has come to a close. (To everyone who has asked, no I am not going to Defamer, although from what I hear I am pretty much the only person not applying for the job.) While I loved every minute I worked on Ladies, (okay, maybe not every minute), I've also pushed too many other things (career, friends who do not like sports, houseplants, pregnancy) to he side while working on this site. My use of the 2am/3am/4am/5am blogging tags needed to stop. (QUITE FRANKLY, my writing here suffered due to time constraints, and I felt shitty for putting up more dreck than droll.)
Thanks to everyone for reading for this past year. I look forward to playing in the comments and enjoying the brilliance of six fine Ladies for the next year!
Programming note: This will also be my final post for Ladiesdotdotdot. I've been invited to join the crew at EDSBS, and I'm packing up my bag of tricks and taking my game home to the Ess-Eee-Cee. I'm happy to be going but sad to be leaving, if that makes any sense, and hope you'll all keep in touch.
Our pink corner of the internets has been a fantastic playground this past year. We've had some big stories—the Bracket and the KSK takeover come immediately to mind, of course—and I've used it to broadcast my love for football and flex my dramatic chops /poetry wings, but it's the little stories I've treasured the most. And after everything we've been through, my all-time favorite moment is being accosted by that Dodgers fan. The one who read a blog titled "Ladies…" and a post titled "What Not To Wear" and thought I was a dude. A real life laff riot, twelve months of it, and epic in every sense of the word. Tears, bloodshed (internet blood), strong men, and the realest bitches alive—seven beautiful women I'll miss terribly.
And no, my bed's still not made. Be seein' you.
The Ladies… made me care about baseball before October and the NFL before the playoffs. They shared in my utmost love of college football and college basketball. They don't deride me (too much) on my football boyfriend Tom Brady (Michigan y'all), my love for Michigan football (screw you Appalachian State), and they (at least not to my face) don't show their hate for Duke. They actually made me think about hockey for a minute. And that was a minute longer than I have ever thought about hockey before. They know that a last second buzzer beater in the first round of the tournament or a walkoff homerun or game winning touchdown is more than a great moment in a game, it's an almost religious experience. The seven women that let me tag along are the sweetest, funniest, down to earth, passionate, straight up coolest people I know. And they taught me how to cook. In other words, they're da realest bitches alive. Fo sho, yo.
Thanks to all our readers, and here's to another unforgettable year.
The Ladies…


text:
The author of the California law that allows parents to force sweeping changes at failing schools stands by it, warts and all.
"There are some ideas that are right," said Gloria Romero, who as a state senator formerly represented the 24th District, which encompasses east Los Angeles and much of the San Gabriel Valley. "It's not about manana any more. How long is a kid supposed to wait?"
The 2010 parent-trigger law allows groups that gather signatures from 51 percent or more of a school's parents to force changes originally set down in the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The schools must have failed to meet federal testing benchmarks five years in a row, be below California's 800 Academic Performance Index benchmark score and not be in a special federal program meant to help the absolute worst school districts.
This school year, three Southern California schools — two in Los Angeles and one in the High Desert city of Adelanto — have reopened after parents successfully forced changes through the law.
The law allows parents to force a school to rehire staff, force out administrators or even bring in a charter school to run the campus, each of which happened this year.
"This is about giving the people directly affected (by bad schools) — kids — the power," Romero said. "They have no lobbyists. … If it freaks out the teachers' unions, so be it."
The California Teachers Association and teachers unions in Los Angeles and Adelanto have criticized the law.
The parent-trigger law is "perceived as a threat when you are the vested interest," said Romero. A part-time professor at Cal State Los Angeles, she's a dues-paying member of the CTA.
"It does challenge their jobs, their seats at the table. And that's what it's supposed to do."
Some parent-trigger critics have suggested she was doing the bidding of the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council when she wrote the law, a suggestion that Romero said she finds "so insulting."
"I had a discussion with Ben Austin and he said, 'Why don't you look at this idea?'" she said.
Austin later became the executive director of Parent Revolution, the group that has organized all the parent-trigger efforts so far.
After hearing the idea for the parent trigger, she said, she crafted the law on her own and never heard from or met with anyone from ALEC.
"I was writing bills about (school) choice," Romero said.
Her mother had a sixth-grade education, she said, but always believed in the importance of a good education for her children.
"The vast majority of parents want good education for their kids and don't know how to do anything about it," Romero said.
Now the California chairwoman of the Democrats For Education Reform political action committee, which seeks "to push the debate about education reform within the Democratic Party," Romero knew she would get little support from her fellow Democrats, who she describes as being "joined at the hip" with teachers' unions. (Romero announced Thursday that she will be leaving DFER to start a new "parent empowerment" group.)
"I had to twist a few arms, using personal relationships" to move the parent-trigger law forward.
"I called it a civil rights issue," and got help from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Despite that, the law remained unpopular with many Democrats.
"If Jerry Brown was governor then," instead of Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, "we wouldn't have it. He's too bought by the unions."
The California Teachers Association remains opposed to the parent-trigger law.
"CTA opposed the parent-trigger law when it was rushed through the legislature at the last minute in a failed attempt to qualify California for federal Race to the Top Funds," spokesman Frank Wells said.
"As its divisive and chaotic implementation has only validated our concerns and raised several glaring new ones, it's hard to imagine our members — as well as many parents and education advocates — wouldn't oppose it again. But given its track record, we'd hope the Legislature would never let it reach the governor's desk in the first place, at least not with its multiple current failings."
As Wells suggested, the implementation of the parent-trigger law has been disruptive, and the process of implementing it has divided school communities in Compton, Adelanto and Watts.
"It's not going to be a silver bullet," Romero said, but "no matter how many schools are triggered — and some of the petitions were done horrendously — it's going to open things up."
In particular, she said the failed parent-trigger campaign in Compton was the fault of Parent Revolution organizers. In Adelanto, organizers circulated two different petitions, which she said would inevitably "invite confusion" among community members.
Romero says there's room for improvement in the law, including requiring that community members be notified when a trigger effort begins, clear information about how and when documents are to be filed and disclosing who's paying for petition-gathering efforts.
"No law is perfect and compromises need to be made" to get them passed, she said. "If you wait for perfection, it'll never happen."
She would also like to see Austin's Parent Revolution, which has been involved in every parent-trigger effort in California so far, take a step back.
"I didn't write the law for one organization," she said. "I wrote it for parents."
Despite the bumpy road parents have traveled successfully enacting the law and the continuing criticism and opposition to the basic concept, Romero says "there would be a bloody war" if opponents attempted to repeal it.
"I feel excited. It's like the Little Engine that Could," she said. "I would never want to take back parent-trigger."


text:
Score an inside look at ELLE's January cover shoot featuringJessica Biel, as the actress travels through Paris for two days to meet and shoot with a collection of outstanding designers. Though she loves to dance all night long in the City of Light, Biel expresses equal enthusiasm about modeling for top leaders in fashion.
Highlights of the video include Biel wearing Maison Martin Margiela evening wear, posing for Giambattista Valli (whose designs she later wore to her wedding!), playing an ethereal spirit for Mugler, looking both dressy and casual in Isabel Marant, and being the life of a rooftop party with Jean Paul Gaultier. Don't miss this exclusive video, incorporating behind-the-scenes chats with even more designers—Olivier Rousteing of Balmain, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli of Valentino, and Christian Louboutin.


text:
Axminster Carpets LTD
Looking for Carpeting?
Look no further than Axminster Carpets LTD.
About Axminster Carpets LTD
One of very few carpet manufacturers who can claim 'from fleece to floor', Axminster Carpets make woven Axminsters and Wiltons as well as highest quality tufted carpets, all famous for comfort and long lasting durability, recommended by generations. If that makes you associate Axminsters with the past, however, think again. Real Axminster TM carpets range from stunning plains in everything from neutrals to high fashion colours, to fabulous textures and contemporary patterns, to the splendour of those newly modish antique style carpets in the grand French and Persian traditions. Axminster Carpets is also the only manufacturer to spin its own yarn and manufacture Axminster, Wilton and Tufted products for commercial specifiers as well as for the domestic market. In the commercial and interior design sector, the company offers stock ranges, innovative bespoke design skills, bespoke services, technical support and project management capabilities.


text:
Just because you're six stories up and the closest thing to a balcony you've got is the fire escape, doesn't mean you can't have yourself a kick-ass herb garden. The Volet Végétal concept could give even the densest city dwellers access to a little greenery.
The Volet Végétal—"plant shutter"—was conceived by French design firm Barreau & Charbonnet as a submission to Jardins Jardin exterior design expo in Paris. The device's outer frame mounts on the interior of a window frame and supports an inner three-row frame of planters. This inner frame swings down, like a drawbridge, as slack is let out in cables attached to the upper edges of the inner frame. This allows the plants to get more sun during the day and be hoisted in during inclement weather or at night. It also triples the amount of windowsill space available for growing. The only immediately foreseeable issue is a maximum allowable plant height. [Barreau & Charbonnet via Treehugger - Gif and image: Barreau & Charbonnet]


text:
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - When it comes to Christmas films, "It's a Wonderful Life" can still melt critics' hearts nearly 70 years after it was released, according to a survey of the best-reviewed Christmas films.
The survey, to be released on Friday by review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, found that the 1946 redemption story starring Jimmy Stewart edged out the 1942 Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire musical "Holiday Inn" and Tim Burton's 1993 stop-motion fantasy "The Nightmare Before Christmas."
World War Two drama "Stalag 17," released in 1953, and 1947's "Miracle on 34th Street" round out the top five.
"It's a Wonderful Life" vaulted to the top spot from No. 5 in 2009, when the list was last compiled, bumping "The Nightmare Before Christmas" from its best-reviewed status.
Films that use the holiday as a backdrop for the plot such as 1988's "Die Hard," which was No. 6 on the list, and 1983's "Trading Places" at No. 9, were also eligible, the website said.
Rotten Tomatoes, which analyzes film reviews and assigns a score based on total critical reception, applied that same formula to Christmas films for the list, Matt Atchity, the website's editor in chief, told Reuters.
"You look at the list and it's all the classics ... the cream floats to the top," Atchity said, adding that the rankings were weighted to reflect the amount of reviews a film received, which could artificially boost or decline a score.
Films from the 1960s and 1970s were notably absent from the list. Atchity said studios were more focused at that time on work by big-name directors than on seasonal films.
Here are the 25 best-reviewed Christmas films of all time, according to website Rotten Tomatoes:
* "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946)
* "Holiday Inn" (1942)
* "The Nightmare Before Christmas" (1993)
* "Stalag 17" (1953)
* "Miracle on 34th Street" (1947)
* "Die Hard" (1988)
* "Arthur Christmas" (2011)
* "A Christmas Story" (1983)
* "Trading Places" (1983)
* "Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale" (2010)
* "Lethal Weapon" (1987)
* "A Midnight Clear" (1992)
* "A Christmas Tale" (2008)
* "While You Were Sleeping" (1995)
* "Scrooge (A Christmas Carol)" (1951)
* "Elf" (2003)
* "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" (2005)
* "Gremlins" (1984)
* "The Santa Clause" (1994)
* "The Bishop's Wife" (1947)
* "Bad Santa" (2003)
* "8 Women" (2002)
* "Batman Returns" (1992)
* "White Christmas" (1954)
* "The Ref" (1994)
The full list can been seen at http://www.rottentomatoes.com/guides/best_christmas_movies_2012/?hub=10
(Reporting by Eric Kelsey, editing by Jill Serjeant and Stacey Joyce)


text:
The Milwaukee Bucks have acquired the draft rights to South Dakota State guard Nate Wolters from the Philadelphia 76ers, General Manager John Hammond announced today. Wolters was originally selected by the Washington Wizards with the 38th overall pick in last night's draft. His rights were subsequently acquired by Philadelphia before being moved to Milwaukee. In exchange for the draft rights to Wolters, the Bucks sent the draft rights to Ricky Ledo, the 43rd overall pick in the draft, and a future second round pick to the Sixers.
Wolters (6-4, 190) played four years of college basketball at South Dakota State University (2009-13), where he left holding school records for scoring (2,353 points), assists (663) and free throws made (644) over his career. He is one of only four players in Division I history to leave school with 2,000 points, 600 rebounds and 600 assists, and the only player in South Dakota State history to surpass the 2,000-point mark.
As a senior in 2012-13, Wolters averaged 22.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game, earning Third Team All-American and First Team All-Summit League honors in addition to being named the 2013 Summit League Player of the Year. He was selected to the First Team All-Summit League his sophomore, junior and senior seasons. Wolters scored in double figures in all but 13 of his 128 games as a Jackrabbit.


text:
If you are in college, I don't mean to alarm you—but you are probably being experimented on. Stop checking for both of your kidneys; it's not that kind of experiment. But chances are, one or more of you courses is currently being administered upside down, or "flipped." Everything is backward: The lecture is assigned as homework! The "homework" is completed in class! The sun revolves around the Earth, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria.
While there is no single model, in order to consider itself flipped, a course has to assign as homework what's usually administered in person, often the lecture. This frees up classroom time to do what the homework would normally be—usually problem sets, now completed in teams or individually, with the instructor flitting about the flipped classroom, aiding the flummoxed with a flourish.
According to Inside Higher Ed, a recent study by the Campus Computing Project showed that more than two-thirds of U.S. colleges and universities are already, or willing to start, using lecture-capturing software to make lectures available to students at home—the gateway to a large-scale flipocracy. Proponents argue that flipping courses inspires students, gives them more control over their own learning, and frees more class time for meaningful interaction. Opponents bemoan the oversimplification of difficult course material, the technical difficulties, and the extra homework—for students, and for faculty.
But professors are forever annoyed—often justifiably so—at the possibility of "disrupting" an instructional style that is often the result of years of trial and error. Does flipping work? And if so, what, exactly, were we doing in college for all these hundreds of years?
The idea is so intuitive as to be obvious: Why sit through a lecture in person, if it's going to be the same for everyone? Why not, instead, view that lecture at home on your own time, and have the instructor actually help you, one-on-one, to do the work she's assigned? In the math, science, and programming classrooms where the model is popular, as long as the technology cooperates, students seem to appreciate both the interactivity and the individual guidance.
Some humanities professors are also experimenting with flipped classes—but it's here that the flip threatens to flop. Sure, some subjects naturally take to the flip: In the first-year German courses I have taught, for example, booting grammatical explanations out of class might keep face-to-face instruction dedicated to activities, and thus make class a lot more fun and interesting. But many of the other humanities seem, frankly, unflippable: Literature. History. Philosophy.
The New York Times' Tina Rosenberg insists that it's worth it to have "students set their own goals and manage their own time," while history professor and Slate contributor Jonathan Rees outright flays the very pretense. "Dear Flipped Classroom Messiah Squad," he tweeted (and, as you can see, it incited a minor war), "When are my students going to do their reading?" And, he continued on his blog, with two-thirds of institutions rubbing their palms together at the cost-savings of digitizing their lectures, what if we all start being forced to flip against our will? Then, "it will become increasingly difficult for those of us who currently teach the way we want to teach to continue doing so."
Rees might be onto something—first, a recent study out of Harvey Mudd College showed that flipping had little effect on learning outcomes. And also, what about the reading? I assign a lot of it, and if I piled on a 30-minute YouTube of me yapping about the connection between childlike being and the concept of "genius" in Faust, wouldn't that incite mutiny? And what would constitute a "problem set" about Goethe, anyway?
I decided that rather than just flinch at this fledgling fad, I'd see what all the flap was about. Last semester, a few of my classes started flaunting a little 'tude about doing their work, right during the most flaccid weeks of our 16-week semester. After a hellacious journey through the Inferno—I'd never had students drag ass through the Ninth Circle before!—I decided that for our next text, Macbeth, these kids needed a change. So instead of flunking, I flipped.
One of the objections to the backward model is that it takes oodles of extra time to put lectures online, which often necessitates multiple takes, special equipment, and the mastery of proprietary university software. It also gives a professor the unwelcome feeling she's creating her own obsolescence via the MOOC vids she's recording on her own time. No thanks.
However, I teach in discussion-based seminar format—so, since I don't really lecture anyway, I didn't bother to YouTube myself pontificating on what "make thick my blood" means. I did put this slideshow online for them, though I worried it lacked intellectual heft. If all a Shakespeare seminar required was spitting out a few biographical facts and some lore about "the Scottish play," class would be 10 minutes long. A slideshow is but a visual aid to our actually talking—about the reading, about how it fits in with the trajectory of the semester.
But, like the mediocre gymnast I'd been in my youth, I would not be deterred from attempting a flip. After all, what good was a Macbeth discussion if they didn't actually read carefully? So, for class, I foisted upon them this "problem set," a worksheet of passage-analysis questions that forced them to regard some passages with depth. (Whether this meant they were rereading the passages carefully, or reading them for the first time, was up to them.) I put them as fully in charge of their own mastery as I could, giving them three formats for class between which they could flit as they saw fit: them working quietly (very boring for me), me walking around to each group and addressing them one-on-one (less boring), and us opening the discussion up to the whole class (hooray!). Everyone handed in their "in-class homework" on their way out the door, and I graded them all that night (boo!).
In my case, the flipped class worked—but not the way you think. Yes, the students did a more thorough job reading Shakespeare than they had with Dante. But we never had a chance to have the kind of discussion for which college was invented: the kind that happens when careful reading gets done at home, so there is time in class for everyone's ideas to be challenged, everyone's theories to be pushed and tested. Yes, they read carefully—but the reading itself took up so much of class that I felt their "end point" was still, in some ways, more cursory than a traditional class would have been.
At the time, students seemed to enjoy the flipped class, although now I suspect this was because I was grading them. Because at the start of this semester (ours is a yearlong course), several asked timidly: "Are we going to have the flipped class again? Because … I didn't really like it."
"Only if everyone starts slacking off," I smirked.
And that, my friends, is how the flipped literature class works for me. As a threat. As a punitive measure. Don't want to read your Dostoevsky, young man? I will flip this class RIGHT around.
For me, though, the most interesting aspect of the flipped-course fad is that flipping is not that innovative at all. Just like its flashier cousin the MOOC, the flipped model prizes a method of conveying information—the lecture, huge, impersonal, and ever-prone to skipping and slacking—that many professors don't even like. Why isn't the solution to replace the massive lecture course with discussion-based seminars? How, instead, is the answer to record the lecture—to make it the length (and intellectual depth) of a TED talk, and even more impersonal?
Do not confuse this skepticism with a Luddite's cry. Many "traditional" professors, myself included, love discussion boards, wikis, blogs, podcasts, and all manner of digitally assisted pedagogy. But for those of us blessed with smaller classes to begin with, where every "lecture" is different because it involves actually interacting with students, flipping can ring hollow. And indeed, perhaps it is smaller classes, rather than a flashy delivery model, that the edu-trendy should be flipping out about.


text: Women who pick birth centres for shipping and delivery already have decided for a natural childbirth expertise. Childbirth locations give you a a lot more "property like" feel as opposed to, how some women input it "medical feel" of your medical facility. These centers offer an option which is a lot more centered around family… Continue reading Is a Birth Center Right for You?


text:
Community Forklift is a nonprofit reuse center for home improvement supplies. We collect donations of unwanted and salvaged building materials throughout the metro DC region. Then, we make the building materials available to the public at low cost, and provide vintage materials for restoring old homes. We also offer public education about reuse, and distribute free supplies to local nonprofits and neighbors in need.
Community Forklift lifts up local communities by making repairs affordable, reducing waste, promoting reuse, and creating green jobs.
By donating, shopping, or volunteering at Community Forklift, you help to:
Construction Waste is a BIG Problem!
Americans love to redesign their homes—we often change out materials like cabinets, appliances, and bathroom fixtures for the newest color, shape and technology. To keep up with demand, suppliers clear out leftovers and overstock, throwing away brand-new items. To make way for new construction, developers demolish old buildings, destroying old-growth lumber and antique fixtures.
As a result, building materials make up approximately 30% to 40% of our nation's solid waste stream!
Then, we buy brand new materials. To produce these new building supplies we must harvest, drill, mine, and transport natural resources across continents, causing serious environmental damage. Manufacturing the items and transporting them to stores uses even more fossil fuel, releasing carbon into the atmosphere.
We're turning the waste stream into a resource stream!
Community Forklift is breaking this destructive cycle by finding new lives for old materials. Since 2005, we have:
Community Forklift has created a lot of green jobs and economic activity.
Building-material reuse is a solution that just makes sense. Everyone benefits from less waste, a stronger economy, and a cleaner environment!
Download our factsheets to learn more about some of the types and amounts of materials we diverted in 2022 and how some of those materials were used.


text:
The home building business is based on trust. Doing business with a member of the Central Oklahoma Home Builders Association (COHBA), means you are dealing with someone who stands behind the products they sell. That's something you can build on.
Central Oklahoma Home Builders Association is a non-profit, professional organization that promotes the home building industry and its members by connecting builders, developers, associates and home buyers. Since our inception in 1943, COHBA has become Oklahoma's strongest home building association. We are also affiliated with the National Association of Home Builders.
If you are building, repairing, or remodeling your home, make sure to use someone you can trust. Ask if you are doing business with a member of the Home Builders Association.
To learn more, or to join COHBA, contact us today! You can also give us a call at (405) 843-1508.


text:
StadtService H35 – our city-service office
Dear citizens and guests of Gera,
If you have any questions or requests addressed to the city administration, if you request a new identity card or driver's licence, if you need a second income-tax card, want to de-register or modify the details of your trade… or have any other requests: We provide the service for you in our centrally located city-service office StadtService H35 opposite the central bus and tram station in Heinrichstraße.
The office allows you to save time by approaching only one central point. Many requests can be taken care of immediately in the office from Monday to Friday, 8am-8pm and Saturday, 8am-6pm, either face-to-face or via phone or internet. All requests, that can't be taken care of right there, will be forwarded to the responsible department for completion and you will not be charged. Please see the bottom of this page for further details on our services.
Do you have any suggestions or problems? We are here to help you!
Your StadtService team in Heinrichstraße 35


text:
Members of Parliament will hold a debate in the House of Commons on children's social care next week. The topic was selected by the Backbench Business Committee, and the discussion on the day will be opened by Tim Loughton, MP.
Westminster Hall debates usually feature a motion, and take place in the Grand Committee Room. The events are free and open to the general public to watch, with entrance worked out on a first come, first served basis.
The motion for this debate hasn't been made public yet, with Parliament's website only offering the detail that this is going to be a 'general' debate on social care. Such a wide scope could make the conversation superficial at best given the limited amount of time that MPs will have to talk over issues, however the Committee should offer more information closer to the event.
The debate is scheduled to take place on Tuesday 9th October. We'll update you with more details as soon as they're available.


text:
Controllab offers a range of products for model based design.
- With 20-sim you can simulate the behavior of dynamic systems, such as electrical, mechanical and hydraulic systems or any combination of these.
- With 20-sim 4C you can run c-code on hardware to control machines and systems. 20-sim 4C imports models (c-code) from 20-sim, Scilab (experimental) and Simulink (experimental) and runs them on hardware like embedded arm boards, PC 104 systems and much more.
- A line of hardware products is offered ranging from low cost single board computers to high quality industrial controllers.


text:
It's safe to say that no other federal building has inspired the sort of language heard at a dedication on Friday for "Sustainability Base," NASA Ames Research Center's first new building in 25 years.
Officials were not shy in praising two new crescent shaped office buildings near the NASA Ames security gate, after the 1969 moon landing site "Tranquility Base."
"This is a historic day," said Congresswoman Anna Eshoo. "This is one of the highest performing buildings in the world. It stands as a model for the world."
Ames director Pete Worden called it "the first moon building on the planet Earth" because of all the NASA technology that's been incorporated, including a water recycling system similar to what is used on the space station, cutting water use by 90 percent. "I want to do something I don't do often," Worden said. "That is to thank NASA headquarters for their enthusiastic support."
"This is the leading edge of what buildings in the future can be," said Steve Zornetzer, Ames deputy director. "It brings NASA technology back to people on the planet Earth."
Last week the building received the highest award for green building, a LEED platinum rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. Officials noted it was a major feat, made possible by using geothermal wells to take advantage of the earth's temperature for heating and cooling and solar panels and fuel cells to power itself and other buildings at Ames. Its computer system constantly optimizes the building's efficiency, opening and closing windows to let in natural winds, or cooling off a conference room before a scheduled meeting.
The building combines "high technology and ancient wisdom," said architect Kevin Burke, noting how the building was positioned to make the best use of winds flowing south from the Bay.
"Imagine if every building from this day on generated more energy than it consumed?" Zornetzer said. "What would that mean for our carbon footprint? It's possible, it can be done."
"If you could replicate this building across the U.S., we would no longer have an energy crisis," said Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren.
Sustainability Base architect Bill McDonough ended the ceremony with a thought-provoking speech. He urged the audience to aspire to Mother Nature's designs when thinking about architecture.
"The problem is a material one," McDonough said. "We have carbon, a beautiful thing -- the basis of living systems, in the wrong place."
Mother Nature said, "Let's give ourselves a nuclear power plant, 93 million miles away, and its wireless," he said of the sun. The design "takes carbon from atmosphere and absorbs it in biota" or plants and trees.
"How do you design a building like a tree? That's a question I've been asking since 1989," McDonough said. "What if you could design something that makes oxygen, sequesters carbon, creates habitat, changes color with he seasons, produces food and fuel, creates micro-climates and self replicates? How about building like a tree? How about building more of them? Let's think about that."
McDonough said the Sustainability Base was designed to allow it to be taken apart relatively easily to allow its materials to be recycled.
"We don't have income, like we do with solar energy, with materials," McDonough said. "We need to handle these materials with great care and enjoyment and make sure they can continue to be used by future generations. That's what we see here. This building is full of cradle-to-cradle certified products, which are designed to go back to the industries from which they came."


text:
dark horse
dark horse, in U.S. politics, a person unexpectedly chosen by a major party as a candidate for public office, especially for the presidency. A presidential dark horse is usually chosen at a party national convention and often has acquired only a local or limited reputation at the time of his nomination. He is invariably the offspring of compromise after rival factions have deadlocked the convention. Probably the best-known example of a dark horse is James K. Polk, who was selected at the Democratic convention of 1844 on the ninth ballot, although he had not been nominated until the eighth ballot.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2023, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Political Science: Terms and Concepts


text:
You know how the first time you see a little flower bud pop up after a long winter, you're all "spring is here!"? Well, spotting models around every corner is kind of like that--for Fashion Week.
The amazingly awesome ladies from SRSLY (if you haven't seen this video interpretation of nail-polish-color-selection-panic Megan shared on Obsessed, please do yourself a favor and watch it now) captured that "Oh yes, it's beginning to look a lot like Fashion Week" feeling in our first Team Glamour/Team SRSLY video below (yay).
More on Fashion Week
6 Ways to be a Part of New York Fashion Week, No Matter Where You Live
4 Date-Night Outfit Ideas to Steal from Rachel Comey's Spring 2013 Runway
Surviving New York Fashion Week, as Illustrated by Kevin Bacon


text:
Many moralists have remarked, that pride has of all human vices the widest dominion, appears in the greatest multiplicity of forms, and lies hid under the greatest variety of disguises; of disguises, which, like the moon's veil of brightness, are both its lustre and its shade, and betray it to others, though they hide it from ourselves.
It is not my intention to degrade pride from this pre-eminence of mischief; yet I know not whether idleness may not maintain a very doubtful and obstinate competition.
There are some that profess idleness in its full dignity, who call themselves the Idle, as Busiris in the play calls himself the Proud; who boast that they do nothing, and thank their stars that they have nothing to do; who sleep every night till they can sleep no longer, and rise only that exercise may enable them to sleep again; who prolong the reign of darkness by double curtains, and never see the sun but to tell him how they hate his beams; whose whole labour is to vary the posture of indolence, and whose day differs from their night, but as a couch or chair differs from a bed.
These are the true and open votaries of idleness, for whom she weaves the garlands of poppies, and into whose cup she pours the waters of oblivion; who exist in a state of unruffled stupidity, forgetting and forgotten; who have long ceased to live, and at whose death the survivors can only say, that they have ceased to breathe.
But idleness predominates in many lives where it is not suspected; for, being a vice which terminates in itself, it may be enjoyed without injury to others; and it is therefore not watched like fraud, which endangers property; or like pride, which naturally seeks its gratifications in another's inferiority. Idleness is a silent and peaceful quality, that neither raises envy by ostentation, nor hatred by opposition; and therefore nobody is busy to censure or detect it.
As pride sometimes is hid under humility, idleness is often covered by turbulence and hurry. He that neglects his known duty and real employment, naturally endeavours to crowd his mind with something that may bar out the remembrance of his own folly, and does any thing but what he ought to do with eager diligence, that he may keep himself in his own favour.
Some are always in a state of preparation, occupied in previous measures, forming plans, accumulating materials, and providing for the main affair. These are certainly under the secret power of idleness. Nothing is to be expected from the workman whose tools are for ever to be sought. I was once told by a great master, that no man ever excelled in painting, who was eminently curious about pencils and colours.
There are others to whom idleness dictates another expedient, by which life may be passed unprofitably away without the tediousness of many vacant hours. The art is, to fill the day with petty business, to have always something in hand which may raise curiosity, but not solicitude, and keep the mind in a state of action, but not of labour.
This art has for many years been practised by my old friend Sober with wonderful success. Sober is a man of strong desires and quick imagination, so exactly balanced by the love of ease, that they can seldom stimulate him to any difficult undertaking; they have, however, so much power, that they will not suffer him to lie quite at rest; and though they do not make him sufficiently useful to others, they make him at least weary of himself.
Mr. Sober's chief pleasure is conversation; there is no end of his talk or his attention; to speak or to hear is equally pleasing; for he still fancies that he is teaching or learning something, and is free for the time from his own reproaches.
But there is one time at night when he must go home, that his friends may sleep; and another time in the morning, when all the world agrees to shut out interruption. These are the moments of which poor Sober trembles at the thought. But the misery of these tiresome intervals he has many means of alleviating. He has persuaded himself that the manual arts are undeservedly overlooked; he has observed in many trades the effects of close thought, and just ratiocination. From speculation he proceeded to practice, and supplied himself with the tools of a carpenter, with which he mended his coal-box very successfully, and which he still continues to employ, as he finds occasion.
He has attempted at other times the crafts of the shoemaker, tinman, plumber, and potter; in all these arts he has failed, and resolves to qualify himself for them by better information. But his daily amusement is chymistry. He has a small furnace, which he employs in distillation, and which has long been the solace of his life. He draws oils and waters, and essences and spirits, which he knows to be of no use; sits and counts the drops, as they come from his retort, and forgets that, whilst a drop is falling, a moment flies away.
Poor Sober! I have often teased him with reproof, and he has often promised reformation; for no man is so much open to conviction as the Idler, but there is none on whom it operates so little. What will be the effect of this paper I know not; perhaps, he will read it and laugh, and light the fire in his furnace; but my hope is, that he will quit his trifles, and betake himself to rational and useful diligence.


text:
Brown Squirrel Quill Series-2100 Size 4
Click Image for Gallery
Brown Squirrel Quill Series-2100 Size 4 Brown "Kazan" Squirrel Lettering Quills Kazan Brown Squirrel Quills Made with the finest Brown Kazan Squirrel Hair available. Mounted with Synthetic Quills for uniformity. Ideal for painting on glass and very smooth surfaces for a sharp, clean, professional look. Sizes 1 - 12 Available. Brown Squirrel Quill Series -Size 4
- $26.60
Tags: Brown Squirrel Quill Brush Series-2100 Size 4, brown hair, squirrel hair, sign painting quill, series 2100, brush for lettering, lettering brush, sign painter brush, natural hair
Related Products


text:
Get information from local Culinary schools in New Jersey
Find Culinary Programs in New Jersey
Find colleges and trade schools in New Jersey with culinary arts certification classes and restaurant management degree programs. Learn about accredited schools near you and get information about their culinary arts programs, New Jersey college campus locations, financial aid assistance and more. You can specialize in pastry art or baking, nutrition, restaurant management and others. Use the search application to connect with a school near you.
Learn about: Culinary Art Careers Guide
Atlantic Cape Community College
5100 E Black Horse Pike
Mays Landing, NJ
400 Paramus Rd
Paramus, NJ
765 Newman Springs Rd
Lincroft, NJ
900 College Circle
Pemberton, NJ
214 Center Grove Rd
Randolph, NJ
Hudson County Community College
70 Sip Avenue
Jersey City, NJ
Mercer County Community College
1200 Old Trenton Rd
West Windsor, NJ
2600 Woodbridge Avenue
Edison, NJ
137 Bey Lea Rd
Toms River, NJ


text:
I like to burn candles. They give a room some umph and can change its energy. As the weather turns and it gets colder outside, I shift to heavier scented ones. I was home one day recently and decided it was a good time to try one I was sent, Pumpkin Chai by Nest Fragrances.
I will admit, when I first heard about it, I thought it's to early to be thinking about the holidays. (Pumpkin triggers memories of mom's cooking) But I decided I would give it a try mainly because of who's behind Nest, Laura Slatkin.
It's no secret that I'm a fan of Harry Slatkin's candles. Heck, Fresh Bamboo was burning in my home last weekend. So I was naturally curious to smell Pumpkin Chai and what his wife has cooking. Yes it's warm, and cozy and a great fall scent. But what I appreciated most of all is how subtle it is. I was not expecting that. The scent was just enough to add to the moment without overpowering it.
As we get closer to the holidays, the smells of cinnamon and pine will be chasing you as you stroll through the stores. Oddly, I never really want that in my home. Pumpkin Chai, however, is the best medium, awesome fall scent but not beating you over the head, that I've found.
Pumpkin Chai by Nest Fragrances retails for $32 and is a blend of wild pumpkin, spicy Masala chai, cardamom, ginger, and cinnamon. Available at Neiman Marcus and other fine boutiques.


text:
Pittsburgh restaurant gives female employees paid day off for 'A Day Without a Woman'
One restaurant in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania did not have female staff members work on International Women's Day, instead offering them a day off instead.
Scratch F&B owner Don Mahaney gave female employees the day off -- with pay -- to show support for a national strike known as "A Day Without a Woman."
"We have women in the kitchen, women behind the bar, women in the dining room, and they're indispensable for what we do here," Mahaney said.
The 11-person staff at the restaurant includes seven women, all of whom will stay home for the day and still get paid.
Food and drink specials will be available for customers. Donations will be collected, with all the money and tips being given to Planned Parenthood.
"Everyone I talked to thinks it's a really awesome idea, and super generous of the owner Don to really step forward and say this is how it always should be," bar manager Mandi Crosby said.
"We turned what was just a nice supportive gesture for our staff into something a little bit bigger," Mahaney said.
"A Day Without a Woman" is being organized by the leaders of the Women's March on Washington that was held in January to protest the policies of President Donald Trump.


text:
Christianity: It's Just About Being Nice to People?
Someone wrote to us from a "non-English speaking country," to say that his friend asked him why he, as an atheist, objects to Christianity—since it's only teaching people to be good to one another? The writer said he wasn't very familiar with Christianity and asked me why it should be such a big problem for people to teach their children to be kind? What did I think about that? Here is what I replied:
Thank you for writing.
I encourage you to do a Google search for "Why do we need salvation?"
What Christianity teaches is not just to be a good person.
It teaches that all people are wicked. Many of the churches teach that even children are born wicked. Because of this, people need to be "saved." If you ask "saved from what?" you will hear about some sort of punishment or torment, usually. Some sort of hell, or some sort of eternal separation from god—that is darkness and despair. According to Christians, this is what all humans deserve—sometimes even children deserve hell for being born sinful. Churches believe that human beings all deserve to die—not just that we will die, but we deserve to die. And some churches think every human deserves to be tortured for eternity—just because we are human, and that is how horrible every human being is.
I think that is a horrible lesson for children. I think people are good. Sometimes we can do bad things. But we are basically good people—most of us. We do not deserve to die. We do not deserve to be tortured or tormented forever. That is awful.
So, to show his "love," god decided that he would send part of himself to Earth to become a human being. He was born, grew up, and preached to people for a few years. Sometimes he said nice things—like treat people nicely. And sometimes he was pretty bad—chasing people with whips and comparing one woman to a dog, because she was a different ethnicity. Sometimes he taught good things—like help people in need. And sometimes he taught irresponsible things—like do not prepare for your future, because god will take care of everything for you.
Then, after a few years, it was time to "save" everyone. And here was god's plan: Since Jesus had not done anything bad, he was considered to be clean. In the Old Testament, the sacrificed animals had to be pure and not sick or lame. They were sacrificed to god as payment for all the wrong-doings the person had done. But god was tired of all these animals, and so he thought a really good sacrifice would be to have a perfect human being slaughtered for him. So he wanted a human sacrifice this time—not just more animals. And so he had Jesus beaten and tortured and crucified to death as a human sacrifice. Jesus had not done anything wrong—but other people had. And so god thought it was a good application of justice to kill an innocent person to pay for other people's crimes.
So, Jesus was sacrificed to god, and god was happy with that.
Then after three days, Jesus came back from the dead to show everyone that he was more powerful than death. And when people saw it—they were happy because they believed him when he told them that they could be more powerful than death, too. All they had to do was devote their lives to Jesus and follow his rules and believe he would bring them back to life after they died. They had to follow him and be grateful that he was a human sacrifice. And they had to also admit they were worthless, evil creatures that needed to be washed cleaned in the execution blood of Jesus.
Every weekend after that, they all would meet together and drink wine and eat bread—that represented the blood and flesh of Jesus. And they would have a symbolic cannibalism snack to remind them about the bloody human sacrifice.
And this is the core teaching of Christianity.
The letter writer responded to say, "Thank you for taking your time and answered my question, it was pretty funny how you put it, about what Christianity is based on, hahahaha it made me laugh, and again, thank you and keep up with the show "
Tags: salvation


text:
Space Adventures is going to use an Armadillo Technologies rocket to launch amateur astronauts 62 miles into the sky. Nothing new, except that they will do it for half the price of Virgin Galactic's ticket, and in a real rocket!
Yes, an actual rocket launching vertically, not a glorified spaceplane like SpaceShipTwo. A real rocket, launched vertically. Clear the tower, godspeed, and all that. You know, like the real astronauts with the right stuff in the right places. And then, five minutes on the edge of space, and down you go. Almost like Alan Shepard in his Freedom 7—but hopefully with a lot less Gs—instead of playing a snob version of Chuck Yeager in Rutan's spaceplane.
The price tag will be $102,000, which puts it beyond most budgets, but is half Virgin Galactic's projected "more than $200,000" ticket. Looking at this price drop, perhaps we will be able to go to space in our lifetime, after all. Make it $50,000, and I will be there in my Star Trek suit. [Jaunted]


text:
Bonatti, Walter
Bonatti, Walter, 1930–2011, Italian mountain climber. He became famous for such feats as the first climb (1951) of Grand Capucin in the Mont Blanc massif and the ascent (1958) of Gasherbrum IV in the Karakorum; other landmarks include solo ascents of the Petit Dru in the Alps (1955) and of the Matterhorn's north face in winter (1965). His triumphs were overshadowed by the controversial first ascent (1954) of K2, during which Bonatti was denied the summit and the climbers accused one another of wrongdoing. Bonatti's claims were later largely substantiated by summitting climber Lino Lacedelli's K2: The Price of Conquest (2004, tr. 2006). Among Bonatti's books are On the Heights (tr. 1964), Great Days (1971, tr. 1974), and The Magic of Mont Blanc (tr. 1985).
See his autobiography (tr. 2001).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2023, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Sports: Biographies


text:
freehdvideo.xyz has the best high quality, full length HD xxx vedio com videos for women. Download xxx videos, free xxx porn videos, mobile xxx porno videos, play online xxx sex videos. This website is dedicated to bringing you the highest possible quality of various hindi bf niches sorted in many different categories. The best part about it all is that it is completely free! No need to spend any money on other websites when you can have it all here for completely free and in HD quality. Enjoy the best beeg porn tube videos at freehdvideo.xyz!
© Copyright 2023 by freehdvideo.xyz


text:
I wrote an article on "liberal religion," and how said religion was utterly empty of any meaning. And pointed out that the total lack of liberalism to stand for anything outside of itself was the reason it is going the way of the Dodo bird. And why militant Islam is growing in the void created by the emptiness of Western secular humanism.
Somone responded to that article by sneering:
"The only true religion is the Napkin Religion. It says so right here on this napkin."
Sound like anyone you know?
Obviously this is a rather pathetic way of accusing me of circular reasoning. The claim is being made, however poorly, that I believe the Bible because the Bible tells me to believe the Bible.
Aside from St Peter's words –
"Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation." For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men" (2 Peter 3:3-7)
– Here was my response:
Actually it doesn't.
We know more about Jesus' death than virtually anyone else in humany history. And history has had this record to contemplate for 2,000 years.
As a result of something amazing that happened, Jesus' disciples went from cowardly men who only wanted to hide to bold proclaimers that they had seen Him alive even at the direct risk to their own lives. These one-time cowards then proceeded to go all over the known world, with all but one dying as martyrs testifying that Jesus was the glorious living Savior just as Jesus Himself had proclaimed Himself to be.
Look into the "Lord, Liar or Lunatic" argument. Was Jesus a cynical liar from hell? Or was Jesus mentally deranged? Or was He whom He said He was? Lord and God? It is a FACT that Jesus gave the most sublime moral teaching the world has evern heard. Even Gandhi would testify to this truth about Christ:
In the cross of Christ, Gandhi found the supreme example of satyagraha: Christ was the 'Prince of satyagrahis'. "It was the New Testament", wrote Gandhi [on page 92 of his autobiography], which really awakened me to the value of passive resistance. When I read in the Sermon on the Mount such passages such as, 'Resist not him that is evil: he who smiteth thee on thy right cheek turn to him the other also, and love your enemies, pray for them that persecute you, that ye may be the sons of your Father which is in heaven', I was overjoyed."
Do you believe that the greatest moral teaching ever heard in this world came from a demonic liar or a deranged lunatic? I don't.
Another question: given that the disciples of Jesus were in a unique position to KNOW FOR CERTAIN that Jesus was who He claimed, and that He truly rose from the dead; and given that they basically all died testifying to His Resurrection, let me ask you this: how many people do you know who would WILLINGLY DIE FOR SOMETHING YOU KNEW FOR CERTAIN WAS A COMPLETE LIE???
Muslim terrorists die for lies that they sincerely believe to be true. But the disciples were uniquely able to know for certain whether Jesus was standing before them or not, whether He could speak to them or not, whether they could touch Him or not. And they went out and proclaimed the Resurrection until they were killed for proclaiming it.
History also records that Christians in the hundreds of thousands or even in the millions died during the persecutions of the Roman emperors. History clearly records as reported by the BBC (when again, these first Christians were in a unique position of being able to verify the truth, to actually talk to actual witnesses of the Resurrection):
Christians were first, and horribly, targeted for persecution as a group by the emperor Nero in 64 AD. A colossal fire broke out at Rome, and destroyed much of the city. Rumours abounded that Nero himself was responsible. He certainly took advantage of the resulting devastation of the city, building a lavish private palace on part of the site of the fire.
Perhaps to divert attention from the rumours, Nero ordered that Christians should be rounded up and killed. Some were torn apart by dogs, others burnt alive as human torches.
Over the next hundred years or so, Christians were sporadically persecuted. It was not until the mid-third century that emperors initiated intensive persecutions.
Which means the persecutions against Christianity actually went from terrible to even worse. And while Islam grew by the spread of violence and threat of death, Christianity flourished under the reality of some of the worst and most murderous persecutions in human history.
The book of Hebrews recites some of the great past martyrs of God's Word, and says that which we also proclaim of these martyrs soon to come:
"They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated, men of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground" (Hebrews 11:37-38).
And yet, because of the ROCK of Jesus' testimony to the truth, Christianity flourished in spite of the worst efforts of the devil to stop it. It triumphed over the Roman Empire. It has triumphed over the world, with 2.3 billion followers today, according to the statistics that I show in my article above.
And with all that said, all I have to do is look at my calender. When I see it is "2011," I know that it is 2011 Anno Domini, "In the year of our Lord 2011." Because the very calender that you look at every single day testifies to the power of Jesus. And while some peoples maintain separate calenders, they have to know the one that testifies to Jesus Christ.
None of this is stuff I have to depend on my Bible to know: they are all documented facts of history. I put the record of history together, and then I read my Bible, and I see that the Bible teaches the Truth that Jesus came to testify to (see John 18:37).
Good luck with your worship of napkins. I'll stick with my Jesus who confirmed who He was in human history by rising from the dead, just as He told His disciples He would do, just as His disciples proclaimed, and just as the Word of God teaches.
The bottom line is that 1) virtually all of the basic claims of Christianity are testified to in the works of ancient historians and 2) the Bible itself has been proven over and over again to be reliable history. And while a devout Jew has other reasons for affirming the reliability of Scripture, I myself begin with the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead, and the transformed lives of the witnesses of His Resurrection from the dead, and then proceed to believe the testimony of the risen Christ about just Whose Word the Bible is.
The fellow proceeds to post back, saying:
"documented facts of history" Ludicrous…actually, just plain silly. It's sad really, as you seem so lucid but for these self-corroborating delusions. Not a crumb of proof. Not a scintilla of documentation.
The holy napkins are just as likely to be true as your ancient books and prehistoric god-man.
I'm happy for you that you have found something that works for you, but the venom and vitriol you direct at others compelled me to respond.
If you really want to come off as erudite, you might want to spend a few minutes with a sixth-grade science book. Study the part about the scientific method, and someday you might come to understand why reality has such a strong "liberal" bias.
Or just ignore my advice and continue to scream obscenities in your empirical darkness. Everyone needs a hobby, I guess.
I'm left wondering just which of my "documented facts of history" aren't documented facts of history. It's not 2011 AD? Or what evidence there possibly is to make such an assertion that what I say in that response above isn't true. "Not a scintilla of documentation"??? The life and the teaching of Christ. The record of the very well historically attested lives and martydoms of Jesus' disciples. The history of the early Christian church and the intense persecution it not only survived but thrived under – until Rome itself embraced the faith it had tried and failed to destroy for three centuries. The calender that has dominated both Western Civilization and the entire world that was the result of this demonstrable triumph of Christianity. Nope; not a scintilla of documentation. One begins to wonder about the point of offering substantial arguments to someone who refuses to even acknowledge that you offered any argument at all.
And yet this sneering liberal who merely dismissively waves his hand in contempt at the clear record of history thinks he is the "objective" one.
This liberal (both secular and theological) doesn't seem to need to acknowledge arguments. He doesn't need to present any facts. His opinions are all he needs for his self-contained bubble. But this particular liberal proceeds to offer an assertion that the "scientific method" somehow proves his secular humanist liberal worldview to be the correct one.
That assertion runs into one small problem: it entirely lacks the virtue of having any truth whatsoever to justify it. He depends on a pure myth that somehow science erupted entirely free of Christianity, and that science somehow proceeded to replace, correct and refute Christianity.
So what is there to say about the assertion that if I just knew anything at all about the "scientific method" I would see the light? I respond to this drive-by claim as follows:
I wish you yourself would study the "scientific method" without the bias that consumes you.
I write an article titled, "The Intolerance Of Academia Creating Modern-Day "Galileos" I end that article pointing out:
106 of the first 108 colleges in America were founded as religious Christian institutions. It was these colleges that shaped the minds of our founding fathers, who in turn produced the foundational principles and values that enabled this country to become the greatest nation in the history of the world. And in a similar but even earlier vein, the first universities in Western Europe were founded under the aegis of the Church, and emerged from the monasteries. The scientific method itself emerged from the mind of a publicly-confessed Christian: Roger Bacon joined the Franciscan Order in 1247, and argued that a more accurate experimental knowledge of nature would be of great value in confirming the Christian faith. Sir Isaac Newton – almost universally regarded as the greatest scientist who ever lived – actually wrote more on Christian theology than he did on science. And the founders of every single major branch of science were confessing Christians.
The fact is that science arose only once in human history – and it arose in Europe under the civilization then called "Christendom." Christianity provided the essential worldview foundations necessary and essential for the birth of science: The earth was not the illusion of Eastern religion and philosophy, but a physical, tangible place. And the material world was not the corrupt and lower realm of Greek religion and philosophy, but God created it and called it "good." And God endowed the capstone of His creation, man – as the bearer of His divine image – with the reason, the curiosity, and the desire to know the truth. And God – who made the universe and the earth for man – made man the caretaker of His creation. And thus the great astronomer Johannes Kepler described his project as "thinking God's thoughts after Him."
And yet today, amazingly, against all history and against all truth, we are assured that science must be officially and completely atheist in order to have any legitimacy, and that God – or even the possibility of God (or even a far more intellectually neutral "Intelligent Designer" – must be purged from every element and aspect of "science."
Tragically, genuine science has been perverted and undermined by ideologues who are attempting to impose their atheistic worldviews upon society and remake the scientific enterprise in their own image. And in their efforts, they are using the very worst and most oppressive of tactics to destroy, intimidate, and silence their opposition. Such academics cite Galileo (another confessing Christian, by the way) and the largely propagandized tale of his persecution by the Church as an example of religion being hostile to science. But how is their own behavior any different from the worst intellectual intolerance exhibited by the Church? In their overarching zeal to persecute and expunge any meaningful sign of God from the ranks of academia, they have themselves become even worse than their caricature of religion which they so despise.
The facts are that the universities from which the scientific method came themselves came from Christianity. The facts are that the "scientific method" that you point to actually came from Christians who were thinking and reasoning out of a uniquely Christian world view. We wouldn't HAVE a scientific method if it weren't for Christianity; nor would we have virtually any significant branch of science had it not been all those Christians who laid the foundation. Versus you, who have as your foundation your feet planted firmly in midair.
I have written before why this is: science is limited. It must necessarily depend on something greater than itself to have any foundation or offer any valid conclusion.
It's actually funny that you speak the way you do. I offer fact after fact. You express your useless opinions, and like a fool ignore the facts.
Then you speak of "my venom and vitriol," but again, the record of academia today – with the above article being merely one of many I can cite (here's just one example) – is one of people who think like me being rabidly attacked and persecuted and fired by people who think just like you.
Now begone. I won't continue to argue with someone who spews worthless opinions in a drive-by attack. Two such comments were enough.
Why do I block him? Am I disinterested in having debate? Well, when someone doesn't even bother to respond to your argument, and proceeds to offer assertions in place of facts, there is little point to a "debate."
I point out:
Mark Twain said, "A lie can get halfway around the world before the truth can put it's boots on."
One of the problems with lies versus the truth is that any fool with an opinion can tell a lie. And tell it very quickly. But it takes knowledge and careful argument to present the truth and refute the lies.
I don't have any intention of spending all my time on my blog. But if I allowed liberals to post these 3-4 sentence fact-free dismissals, and then worked on refuting them, I would end up spending ALL my time on my blog.
The book of Proverbs chapter 26 verses 4-5 teaches that one needs to respond to a fool, lest the fool become wise in his own esteem. In the same breath, it teaches that if one spends too much time arguing with a fool, others won't be able to tell the difference between the fool and the one trying to correct the fool.
I try to strike a balance.
And I do.
The fellow posts back to my spam file to inform me that boy did he ever wipe the floor with me, and that just as my hobby is whatever he wants to imagine it, his hobby is "destroying Christians" or somesuch. I'll let you be the judge as to whose arguments prevail, and whose are rather trivial assertions with no basis in fact. I don't doubt for a second that unbelievers will see whatever they want to see. The question is, as Jesus Himself asked, is what do YOU think about Jesus? Who do YOU say He is?
I thought the above discussion was illustrative due to a) the facts I present and b) the galling absence of facts or truth or even the perception of the need for them by my attacker. It's interesting that secular humanists only see the Christian's need to win the argument, but never feel that their worldview should ever be questioned or need to be defended.
There is an interesting story that illustrates how the world thinks when it comes to Jesus and the Bible that I heard in a sermon on John 15:18-16:4:
When missionaries were first going to inland Africa, the wife of an African chief visited a missionary station. Hanging outside the missionary's cabin, on a tree, was a little mirror. The chief's wife had never seen her hardened features and hideous paintings on her face. (She was want we would call "one ugly momma!)" She gazed at her own terrifying countenance and then jumped back in horror, exclaiming, "who is that horrible person inside the tree?"
"Oh," the missionary explained, "it is not the tree. The glass is reflecting your own face."
She wouldn't believe it until she was holding the mirror in her hand. When she understood, she said to the missionary, "I must have the glass. How much will you sell it for?" The missionary really didn't want to sell his only mirror, but the African insisted so strongly that the missionary didn't want to cause trouble, and so finally capitulated and sold the mirror.
The chief's wife took the mirror, exclaiming, "I will never have it making faces at me again!" And with that she threw it down, breaking it to pieces.
And the fact of the matter is that people hate to see what they really are and hate God's Word because it reveals their true selves. The mirror never changes. Every human being must choose how he or she will react when we take a good look at Jesus as revealed in God's Word. Either we will repent of our sin and turn to him, or we will reject and hate him.
Given that communism is state atheism, and given that state atheism has been documented to be responsible for more than 100 million murders during the 20th century alone and during peacetime alone, one would think that secular humanists and atheists should also have to give an account for why what they believe should be accepted as true. But in our elite mainstream media culture, that challenge is never given. Meanwhile, the Bible and the historic resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead stand like twin anvils no matter who pounds on it or for how many centuries successive generations of unbelievers continue pounding.
Jesus conquered death. We know more about that death (in which Jesus gave His life to take the blame for our sins) than any other death in antiquity. And people have had two millennia to examine that perfect life and the details and results produced by that death.
We also know that more people celebrate that death than have ever celebrated the life of any other human being who ever lived. Because of the testimonies of the witnesses to that death – and the glorious Resurrection that followed – which was sealed in the blood of these martyrs – Christianity stands confirmed by history. The tomb of every other great religious leader is venerated by the followers of those religions.
We have stories like this one that fittingly came out on the day that Christians celebrate the Ressurection of Jesus Christ from the dead:
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Indian spiritual guru Sri Sathya Sai Baba, revered by millions of followers as a living god, died Sunday in a hospital in southern India. He was 86.
Sai Baba, who was admitted to hospital in his hometown of Puttaparti a month ago, died of multiple organ failure, media said.
His followers, estimated to number six million, included top Indian politicians, business tycoons and Bollywoods stars.
Soon we will be able to visit Sri Sathya Sai Baba's tomb, just as we can go and see the tomb of the prophet Muhammad. The same is true of Buddha, and Confucious, and everyone else. The tomb of Jesus alone is empty.
And because of Jesus' life, and death, and glorious Resurrection to resurrection life as the firstfruits of all who call upon His name, the world changed. And, myths and lies aside, the very science that secular humanists point to as a replacement for the ultimate Truth of the Christian Life is itself a powerful testimony to the incredible change that Christianity brought to the world.
A sermon by John Piper points out that ultimately – and I believe one day very soon – the scoffers will receive all the proof that they have always demanded. But by the time they receive the evidence their refusal to believe demands, it will already be too late. And their eternal destiny will already be decided.
I pray you don't share their fate.
Maranatha, my glorious King of kings.


text:
Maisy Muffin Rag Dolls Plus
- 5756 items sold
Maisy and her best friend Mo live in a pretty village called Mulberry Green. Maisy lives with her mother and father on Mulberry Farm and Mo lives in a little cottage at the top of Mulberry Lane.
In the village there is a post office, a bakery, a sweet shop, a hardware shop, a greengrocer's, a sewing shop, a butcher's and a grocer's.There is also a little church and, of course, a school – Mulberry Green Infants' School, where Maisy and Mo are pupils.
Maisy has a cute little puppy, called Molly and Mo has a baby sister called Daisy.
There are other children in Maisy's class at Mulberry Green Infants'School - Violet, Billy, Amber, Rose, Ruby, Marigold, Tilly, Amelia and twins Oliver and Olivia. The children are all 28cm tall, Baby Daisy is 16cm and Molly the dog is just 8cm. Maisy and Mo love nothing more than having adventures with their friends.
You can read about their adventures on my Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest pages - Maisy Muffin Rag Dolls
This item will be posted to you by Maisy Muffin Rag Dolls within 3 days of receiving payment.
|Shipping destination
|Additional items
|United Kingdom
You have 14 days, from receipt, to notify the seller if you wish to cancel your order or exchange an item.
Unless faulty, the following types of items are non-refundable: items that are personalised, bespoke or made-to-order to your specific requirements; items which deteriorate quickly (e.g. food), personal items sold with a hygiene seal (cosmetics, underwear) in instances where the seal is broken; digital items.
Please note that if your order is being posted outside mainland UK, you (or the recipient) may have to pay customs or VAT charges and a handling fee. The seller is not responsible for any charges or fees that may incur.
Designed by Martine Brumwell in Devon
More items from this category


text:
Ever wonder what steps the people who work in the IT security industry take to protect their computer networks? I did, so I asked a few for their favorite tips or nuggets of advice.
From Roger Thompson, chief research officer at AVG Technologies:
- Have multiple passwords, write them down, and store them in your wallet or in a password manager. At least if you lose your wallet, you know you have to cancel all your credit cards, and change your passwords.
- "Think before you link." In other words, think about it before you click that link.
- If it sounds too good to be true, it is probably not true. No one wants to send you $5 million. You are not the millionth visitor to the website. You are not a winner (I have to tell my kids that all the time, which might make me a bad parent.) And the Pretty Russian Girl who wants to be your friend is probably not pretty and not even a girl. She doesn't want to be your friend … she wants your money.
From Phil Lieberman, president and CEO of Lieberman Software:
- Enterprises should ask the right questions of their cloud providers before taking the leap into cloud and blindly assuming that their data is safe there.
From Victor DeMarines, vice president of products, V.i. Labs:
- Software piracy is a global issue that has a direct impact on the bottom lines for ISVs. Companies all over the world are using unlicensed software for their own financial gain, much to the detriment of software vendors, who lose out on millions in stolen software and licenses each year. Software vendors need to know that there are ways for them to recover the lost revenue and protect their software intellectual property.
From Novell:
- Encryption of data. Though it is important for companies to protect their data from outsiders, it is also important to protect it inside the network.
- Controlling who has access to what. It is extremely important for companies to have the ability to control what employees have access to, verify it, and make changes in real time.
- Reporting. Once companies have implemented technologies to help meet compliance regulations, they will need to prove it. Technology that allows you to create specific and cutomized reports will be an easy way for businesses to maintain compliance.
- Protecting end points. According to a recent Ponemon study, 50 percent of recent data breaches were due to lost or stolen equipment. Businesses need to protect all sources of data, including laptops, smartphones, USB drives and mp3 players.


text:
Green tea with rice krispies in it? You bet-cha.
Genmaicha, having spent long-suffering generations in the category of poor folks' tea, has come into its own in more tea-enlightened years. The unique blend of toasted rice and green tea is one of the more balanced, accessible green teas going.
A good tea rarely comes without a fable, and the origin stories of how roasted grains of rice fell into a cup of green tea leaves vary. The bloodiest of legends (far more interesting than wise Japanese merchants seeking to stretch their low-grade teas with filler) involves a peckish servant, whose "snack he was saving for later" in his kimono sleeve dribbled crispy brown rice puffs into a cup of green tea. Though the servant lost his head, the nutty-grassy mix of puffed rice and tea lingered on Japanese tongues long enough to become a worldwide phenomenon.
Or was it simply a practical way to stretch a spoonful of tea? This is more likely, and indeed, Genmaicha's original incarnations leaned heavily towards the economically pragmatic: bancha, a late-season picking of green tea leaves, has traditionally been relied upon as the tea base for genmaicha. The roasted-rice flavor of genmaicha nicely offsets any of the bancha leaves' less refined characteristics.
Nowadays, however, genmaicha can be easily found comprised of the oft-savored sencha, a spring-and-summer harvested green tea calibrated by many tea blenders to a popular, smooth and flavorful taste profile. The combination of the more elegant sencha with the toasty notes of roasted unbleached brown rice forms an odd, sort-of-healthy-tasting-yet-rich, smooth tea that's reliably pleasing.
Though it's argued that the nutrients in the brown rice enhance the already bountiful health properties of green tea, genmaicha shouldn't be taken too seriously. Tea purveyors allow some of the grains of rice to actually pop like popcorn; it's a pretty fun, tasty cup to sip.
Try steeping your genmaicha for 2 to 3 minutes at 175 to 180 degrees Fahrenheit and experiment to find the green, toasty sweet spot you like best.


text:
I finished the second to the last section this evening. I'm glad I talked to one of my beta readers in person about this because she said some things to my face that she didn't write to me that ended up breaking wide open my understanding of the problem with the section. So, that was nice.
I'm feeling… not like a failure, but I don't know, like things aren't coalescing. Like I'm all fart, no turd, as they say.
I really want to be a turd, though.
So… that's a weird metaphor, but I guess I'll stick with it.


text:
I Love Las Vegas Realty
Spring Valley, NV is in the heart of Las Vegas. It is the home to numerous attractions including The Las Vegas Premium Outlets North.
Spring Valley NV is a part of Las Vegas located in Clark County, NV. It is located approximately two miles (three kilometers) west of Las Vegas Strip. The 2010 census recorded a population of 178 495. Spring Valley was established in May 1981, but it had been developing since 1946, when it was created by U.S Route 91. This became known as "Las Vegas Boulevard South". John T Jones, a trading post he established in the 19th century, was located one mile north of Sahara Avenue.
Business Name:
I Love Las Vegas Realty
8400 W Sahara Ave #2B, Las Vegas, NV 89117Las Vegas Nevada 89117United States
Our Newest Profiles