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Chemmeen Muringavaal Curry (King Prawns and Drumstick in thick coconut gravy) is my mother's signature Dish. I don't think I had it from anywhere else before. It's my dad's, husband's and his friends' favorite curry. My mom makes excellent food in a very simple way, and yet they turn out too good . But She doesnt do as much as experiments as I do and doesnt dare to cook from magazines or books too much. This is one of the curries that my husband's friends ask my mom to prepare when they visit us. My husband always used to ask me to learn from her when I was living with my parents, I just felt so lazy to cook and so dint learn many of her recipes. I learnt my basic cooking by making distant phone calls to my mom and writing down the recipes and through enormous experiments done in my kitchen, until I got the desired result. My Husband is my greatest inspiration and critic. When anything goes wrong, he tells on spot and I try to correct it and make it perfect. If he wasnt there to critisize, I would have still been struggling to find where my mistakes are! Anyways, this curry can be made for lunch along with rice or for dinner along with neypathal (Fried rice pancake) which I will post the recipe soon, Thengapathal,Ottil pollichathu,marichedutha Appam,poori,chappathi etc.
225 gm (shelled) Large King prawns (23 pieces)
2 large Drumsticks peeled and cut into 2" length (15 pieces)
1 cup chopped tomatoes (3 small ones)
2 cups chopped onion (2 medium)
Green chilli – 2 nos (slit lengthwise)(Optional)
1 tbs Kashmiri Chilli Powder
1 tsp Coriander Powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
3/4 cup Freshly Grated Coconut or dessicated coconut
1tsp Fennel seeds (perumjeerakam)
Salt – as reqd
1 cup + 1 1/2 cup Water
1 tsp Mustard seeds
3 twigs Curry leaves
3 tbs Coconut oil
1. Keep a medium sized sauce pan on medium heat and add 1 tbs of oil.
2. Add onions, tomatoes, green chilli and salt and close the lid and cook for about 10 minutes or until onions turns translucent and cooked and tomatoes go soft.
3. At this point, add chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and prawns and stir well. Keep simmering on medium heat for about 3-4 minutes until the prawns and well coated in spices.
4. Add the Drumsticks and add enough water to cover it (I added 1 1/2 cups of water). Cover and cook until the prawns and drumsticks are cooked well for about 25 minutes.
5. Meanwhile grind the fennel seeds along with coconut and 1 cup of water. Keep them aside.
6. When prawns and drumsticks are cooked well, and the gravy is thick, add the ground coconut and boil for a minute.Turn off the heat and temper.
For tempering :
Heat another pan and add 2 tablespoon of oil. When the pan is smoking hot, add mustard seeds and cover with a lid. As soon as they finished spluttering, add curry leaves and let them splutter for a few seconds. Add this tempered oil to the curry made earlier. Serve hot with plain rice, thengapathal, ottil pollichathu,chappathi, poori, battura,fried Rice pancakes (Neypathal) etc...
1. You can do the tempering in the beginning also.For that, Add oil,splutter mustards,curryleaves, then add onions and tomatoes and follow the rest as usual.
2. I normally skip the green chillies because the green chillies I get here are so spicy and it makes the curry very fiery.


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(CNN) — President Barack Obama said Wednesday that the red line he spoke of last year regarding Syria's use of chemical weapons came from international treaties and past congressional action, and he challenged the international community to join him in enforcing bans on such armaments.
In direct and confrontational remarks to reporters in Sweden, Obama laid out his rationale for wanting to attack Syria on the same day a Senate committee in Washington will vote on a proposed resolution authorizing limited U.S. military strikes.
He also insisted he had the authority to order attacks on Syria — expected to be cruise missile strikes on Syrian military command targets — even if Congress rejects his request for authorization.
America "recognizes that if the international community fails to maintain certain norms, standards, laws, governing how countries interact and how people are treated, that over time this world becomes less safe," Obama said. "It becomes more dangerous not only for those people who are subjected to these horrible crimes, but to all of humanity."
He cited World War II as an example, saying "the people of Europe are certainly familiar with what happens when the international community finds excuses not to act." At the same time, "as commander in chief, I always preserve the right and the responsibility to act on behalf of America's national security," Obama said.
Conservative critics have said Obama painted himself into a corner with his statement last year that Syria's use of chemical weapons was a red line that would change his approach to the civil war in the Middle Eastern country.
"A red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized," Obama said in August 2012. "That would change my calculus."
Now, critics on the right say, he must respond to what U.S. officials call a major chemical weapons attack by the Syrian regime that killed hundreds in suburban Damascus or lose credibility.
The administration and top congressional leaders pushed back against that criticism Tuesday during debate on Capitol Hill. Even House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, the chamber's No. 2 Republican, said any president would have drawn that red line based on international norms.
Obama made that same argument Wednesday, saying: "I didn't set a red line. The world set a red line."
"The world set a red line when governments representing 98 percent of the world's population said the use of chemical weapons are abhorrent and passed a treaty forbidding their use, even when countries are engaged in war," he said at a joint news conference with Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt on the first day of a four-day trip that includes the G-20 summit in Russia.
"Congress set a red line when it ratified that treaty," Obama continued. "Congress set a red line when it indicated that in a piece of legislation entitled the "Syria Accountability Act" that some of the horrendous things that are happening on the ground there need to be answered for."
Asked about whether he was seeking to save face, Obama insisted that "my credibility is not on the line — the international community's credibility is on the line."
He framed the question for the United Nations and the global community at large as: "Are we going to try to find a reason not to act? And if that's the case, then I think the (world) community should admit it."
Opposition by Russia, a Syrian ally, has scuttled U.S. and British efforts to get the U.N. Security Council to authorize a military response against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
U.N. inspectors returned from Syria last week from their mission to confirm if chemical weapons were used, but Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday it would take three weeks for samples collected to analyzed and results announced.
"I respect the U.N. process," Obama said while standing next to Reinfeldt, who opposes military intervention without U.N. approval.
"We agree that the international community cannot be silent," Obama added, saying also that the U.N. investigators had done "heroic work."
Noting the U.N. team's mandate was only to determine the use of chemical weapons, and not identify who used them, Obama repeated past statements that U.S. intelligence has confirmed chemical weapons use beyond any reasonable doubt and has further confirmed that al-Assad's regime "was the source."
"I do think that we have to act, because if we don't, we are effectively saying that even though we may condemn it and issue resolutions and so forth and so on, somebody who is not shamed by resolutions can continue to act with impunity," Obama said.
International norms then "begin to erode," he added, and "other despots and authoritarian regimes can start looking and say, 'that's something we can get away with.'"
He described the intended U.S. response as "limited in time and in scope, targeted at the specific task of degrading (al-Assad's) capabilities, and deterring the use of those weapons, again."
Later Wednesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is scheduled to consider a revised resolution to set a 60-day deadline for use of force in Syria, with an option for an additional 30 days.
The United Nations has said more than 100,000 people — including many civilians — have been killed since the popular uprising spiraled into a civil war in 2011.
On Tuesday, top U.S. officials faced tough questions from senators about plans for attacking Syria as House leaders lined up behind Obama's push for a military response.
Foreign Relations Chairman Robert Menendez, D-New Jersey, later said he and the committee's ranking Republican, Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, successfully negotiated a revised resolution authorizing military strikes.
According to a copy of that text, provided to CNN by a legislative source, the measure puts a time limit on the authorization and makes clear there would be no U.S. boots on the ground.
Kerry, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, appeared before the Senate panel to press for approval of authorization.
Obama isn't asking the United States to go to war, but to "degrade and deter" the capacity of al-Assad's regime to launch another chemical attack, Kerry said.
However, senators on the panel wondered if giving the administration the green light to attack Syria would draw the United States into that country's civil war.
"Americans are understandably weary after the fiasco in Iraq and over a decade of war," said Sen. Tom Udall, D-New Mexico. "How can this administration make a guarantee that our military actions will be limited? How can we guarantee that one surgical strike will have any impact other than to tighten the vise grip that Assad has on his power, or allow rebels allied with al Qaeda to gain a stronger foothold in Syria?"
Kerry said the administration has no intention of sending American ground troops to Syria "with respect to the civil war." But he opposed any effort to put a ban on deploying ground forces into a congressional resolution authorizing military action, leaving open the possibility that U.S. troops may have to seize chemical weapons "in the event Syria imploded" or if extremist groups were poised to obtain them.
The session was interrupted early on by a member of the anti-war group Code Pink, who shouted "The American people do not want this" as she was dragged out of the room by police.
Kerry first became famous decades ago as a former Navy officer testifying against the war in Vietnam in front of the same committee. He responded to the Code Pink protest by saying that "Congress will represent the American people, and I think we all can respect those who have a different point of view."
Earlier Tuesday, the leaders of both parties in the House of Representatives emerged from a White House meeting to support Obama's call for American strikes.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters the use of poison gas was "a barbarous act" to which only the United States is capable of responding. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, added that Washington must respond to actions "outside the circle of civilized human behavior."
In a written statement later, Boehner said it is up to Obama "to make his case to the American people and their elected representatives" — including securing support from individual members.
"All votes authorizing the use of military force are conscience votes for members, and passage will require direct, continuous engagement from the White House," the speaker said.
Most of the focus of administration lobbying has been on the House, which returns from its summer recess on Monday.
In the Senate, a Democratic source familiar with Majority Leader Harry Reid's thinking told CNN that Reid is confident any authorization measure will pass his chamber. The source said it is likely 60 votes will be needed to overcome a filibuster, and Reid thinks the votes are there.

subset: commoncrawl


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Hangover Helper: Migas at Goode Company Taqueria in Houston
Just what the doctor ordered.
"This was where we'd come for breakfast after big nights out," said a Houston-native friend as we stood in line to order at Goode Company Taqueria. And I could see why. The counter-service Houston restaurant is ideal for groups, with a huge seating area and outdoor patio; and it's got an extensive menu with just about every permutation of eggs, meat, and hot sauce you could imagine. (Including stranger options like "Quail and Eggs" and "Venison Sausage with Eggs.")
We were quite happy with the migas ($9.95), eggs with crumbled chorizo and bits of crisp tortilla integrated so that every bite had something meaty, a little spice, a little corny crunch. Salty and just hot enough and insanely filling, it's the sort of meal that rights what's wrong with you. I loved the fresh-tasting, pliant flour tortillas, as a migas side as well as in the guise of soft tacos, wrapped around fajita-style beef or chicken. There's salsa, of course, but the better morning-after option is a side of queso: I've yet to meet anything not improved by a dip in molten gooey cheese sauce.
Every order should be followed up with a chocolate cinnamon shake ($2.95 for a massive small), lightly spiced, refreshing and somewhere around the consistency of soft-serve; there's no way to really get it through a straw. And if you need a little hair of the dog, their frozen margaritas are great—totally smooth and reasonably potent and tasting of lime rather than sour mix, they're easily the best I've had straight from a dispenser. (Another night in Houston, we found that Goode Company is as good a place to create a hangover as to cure one.)
Goode Company Taqueria
4902 Kirby Drive, Houston TX 77098 (map)
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.


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Home >> Course Descriptions >> College of Arts and Sciences
Intermediate Photography.
Three semester hours.
A continuation of ARTS 2356, with attention to broadening and deepening the topics covered in Photography I, as well as increased emphasis on critical thinking. Student effort will be directed toward the production of a coherent individual project. Prerequisite: ARTS 2356 or equivalent.
Home - General Information - Student Services -
Academic Undergraduate Regulations -
Undergraduate Degrees - Academic Graduate Regulations -
Graduate Degrees - Course Descriptions - Faculty -
Appendix A - Appendix B - Appendix C - Appendix D


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Article No :746 | October 18, 2011 | by Sachendra Yadav
Pulse is a news reader that aggregates feeds from various sources using RSS and presents them in an attractive interface. I've been using RSS readers for a while and at a first glance Pulse seemed like a great leg up from the existing apps such Reeder or Byline. It feels like you're using a proper app with all the goodies of immersive experience instead of a web browser wrapped in an app. Steve Jobs showed off the iPad version of the app in his keynote and there have been lots and lots and lots of rave reviews about the app, so I won't go into those details but focus on the issues instead.
The Key Differentiator Is the Problem
This is a classic example of how not to design for multiple devices. This interface was designed for iPad and it worked great there, but the problem started when the exact same UI was scaled down for the iPhone. Now when you start off its all hunky dory, but when the novelty wears off, you realize it's not that usable. Here's a comparison between BBC, which has a layout similar to Pulse.
Now I understand the need to stand out and be unique, but that can't come at cost of basic usability. As described above, this layout works for BBC because it has control over its content but won't work for someone who sources their content from independent feeds and has no control over their content.
I suggest something on the lines of TIME layout, which works better when you cannot exert control over the content.
I understand the business need to stand out and be unique, but that cannot come at the expense of basic usability. If there is a business need to present content in a particular manner, the designers should at least give users the choice to shift to a layout that aids efficient and easy consumption of the content.
The Pulse news reader interface was designed for iPad and it worked great there, however, the adaptation of the interface from iPad to the iPhone by scaling it down created a broken user experience.
- Users expect delightful experiences across devices.
- UIs created for one device may not work for others.
- Understand the context in which you application will be used.
- Understand the limitations and strengths of the device and other dependencies.
- Adapt the content presentation to achieve a great experience for each device.


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As Republicans and the White House continue to jostle over the "fiscal cliff," the public remains pessimistic about a solution and is largely prepared to blame the GOP if no agreement is reached.
A new poll from the Pew Research Center and the Washington Post shows that only four in 10 adults believe that the two sides will hammer out an agreement to dodge the fiscal cliff by its Jan. 1 deadline, while nearly half (49 percent) believe no deal will get done in time.
The $2.2 trillion proposal floated by House Speaker John Boehner was shot down by the White House, which said Republicans' rejection of tax hikes for the wealthy and sweeping cuts to popular social programs are unacceptable. NBC's Chuck Todd reports.
What's more -- in a trend surely being eyed by the Obama administration -- the public still appears ready to place blame for the impasse on congressional Republicans over the White House by a nearly 2-1 margin.
With a divide similar to public perceptions earlier in November, 53 percent of those surveyed said they would point the finger at the GOP for the failure of the negotiations, while just 27 percent say the president would be at fault.
The fiscal cliff counter-offer issued by House Republicans has one thing in common with last week's White House proposal – neither was designed to win any bipartisan support. The Daily Rundown's Chuck Todd reports.
While Democrats surveyed are far more optimistic than Republicans about an agreement (by 55 to 22 percent), all partisan groups appear uncertain about exactly what the consequences of the cliff's automatic spending cuts and tax increases could be. Only about a third of adults overall say they understand the effects of the fiscal cliff "very well," but over 60 percent say those effects will have a "major effect" on the US economy. But not as many respondents think that a tumble over the cliff will dramatically affect their own lives, with 43 percent saying the cuts and taxes would have a "major effect" on their personal finances and 35 percent labeling the consequences "minor" in their own lives.
Yuri Gripas / Reuters
U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) speaks during a GOP news conference on the "fiscal cliff", on Capitol Hill in Washington, November 28, 2012.
The survey was conducted between Nov. 28 and Dec. 2 among 1,003 adults. It has a 3.7 percent margin of error among its overall sample of adults.


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discover an urban retreat
If you are looking for a specialty hotel in Kuala Lumpur, look no further. Hotel Maya prides itself to be a 5-star 'boutique urban resort' in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
This Malaysian owned and managed hotel offers spacious rooms and suites, spa, trendy food & beverage outlets and many other facilities that make up the total Maya experience.
The Maya Pink club is a program that rewards members for making bookings at Hotel Maya.
Find out more on the sights and sounds of Kuala Lumpur. From local attractions to designer names, Kuala Lumpur has it all.
Click to preview a visual display on some of the unique and artistic angles Hotel Maya.
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Each year, Atlanta magazine recognizes the top doctors in the metro Atlanta area as ranked by a thorough physician-led research process. The 2011 Atlanta Magazine Top Docs list included 318 doctors from across the Atlanta area and across specialties, highlighting the cream of the crop in specialties ranging from pediatric to geriatric services and everything in between. We're very pleased to announce that not only can you find over 100 of the doctors recognized this year here at Emory, seven of them are our very own transplant team members!
Our Emory Transplant Center and its physician team are unique in that they are part of a multidisciplinary team providing care in seven core transplant specialty areas: kidney transplant, pancreas transplant, heart transplant, hand transplant, islet transplant, liver transplant & lung transplant. All of our doctors here at Emory Healthcare play a role in changing and saving lives, but often times our transplant team and the treatments they provide touch the lives of our patients and their families on a deeper level. And more often than not, receiving treatment from our transplant specialists is their last, if not only option. Thankfully, based on our program's rankings, both from a statistical post-transplant quality outcome perspective, and the perspective of the physician research team, researchers at Castle Connolly Medical LTD, and Atlanta Magazine, the Emory Transplant Center is a great option to have.
We again congratulate each of our transplant surgeons for their dedication to providing outstanding patient centered care for our patients and families faced with less than idea circumstances that can warrant organ transplantation. It is because of our multidisciplinary team of transplant specialists and their compassion, that recognition such as the Atlanta Top Doctors rankings is given. If you'd like to shout out a particular transplant doctor who has impacted your life, please do so in the comments below. You can also find the listing of transplant surgeons recognized in this year's rankings below. If you're interested, check out the full list of Emory Healthcare doctors recognized as the best doctors in Atlanta.
Pancreas & Kidney Transplant Doctors:
- Chris Larsen, MD, DPhil – Transplant Surgeon
- Kenneth Newell, MD – Transplant Surgeon
Liver Transplant Doctors:
- Stuart Knecthle, MD – Transplant Surgeon
Lung Transplant Doctors:
- Seth Force, MD – Transplant Surgeon
Heart Transplant Doctors:
- Andrew Smith, MD – Transplant Surgeon
- Javed Butler, MD – Cardiologist
Hand Transplant Doctors:
- Linda Cendales, MD – Transplant Surgeon


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|Chess Without Borders: Charity & Computers
|By Rishi Sethi
|March 19, 2013
The non-profit Chess Without Borders based in Barrington, Il, demonstrates that many other skills can evolve from addressing the challenges we face in chess. The mission of combining chess education with service and philanthropy presents constant challenges. Students are encouraged to use their imaginations to design projects that incorporate this mission. One such project was to start a computer center for students "our age" (quote by 11 year old Alec Onker) in an underprivileged school. The goal was to raise funds for 10 computers at this center to be used by students & families who otherwise would have no such access to technology.
Following through on this plan, chess students and their families established a computer educational center at the Project Why School in Delhi, India. Project Why is a New Delhi (India) based non-profit organization engaged in education, support and life skill enhancement of slum children and their families. This computer center will bring computer literacy and chess education to about 200 families.
Chess students demonstrated initiative, calculation, insight, planning, enterprise, and problem solving as they transformed themselves into social entrepreneurs. For example, 3rd grader Ethan Gagliano asked individuals to sponsor his games at a tournament raising $500 through his initiative. Other students sold food, held art exhibits, and helped with production and sales of a documentary produced by Chess Without Borders on another project.
GM Shulman donated a portion of the money from the summer chess camps and his textbook sales to help make the computer center a reality. Parents inspired by the work of their students also made contributions towards this center. Joseph Ridgway, an accountant and professional photographer donated his time to photograph the event.
The computer center is named after teacher and chess organizer Ms. Maggie Gruber who was instrumental in bringing chess to the area and has dedicated the last ten years to promoting the mission of combining chess with service and philanthropy. The Maggie Gruber Computer Center will honor her work.
Last week the 5th Annual Chess Tournament was held at Hough Street Elementary School in Barrington, Il and 100% of the entire proceeds of the tournament were donated to charity. One of the sustained projects has been to support the medical treatment and education for a little girl, Meher, from the slums of Delhi, India. The other project was to establish this computer center.
GM Shulman and 30 other volunteers donated their time, gifts, talents and services to make this a unique experience for both the givers and receivers of these charities. Adults volunteered with students to cook, clean, sell food to the approximately 250 visitors attending the tournament. 107 players registered to play in the event. A unique feature of the event was special homemade Middle Eastern food cooked by chess enthusiast and Microbiologist Zein Bertacchi. Several local businesses also contributed towards making this event special.
For more information about the program and its direct impact go to Shulmanchess.com.
Anyone who would like to participate in the program is welcome. An ipad version of the textbook is available on Itunes.


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San Francisco, CA – December 13, 2012 – GREE today announced the release of Knights & Dragons: Rise of the Dark Prince, an all-new free-to-play game for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Knights & Dragons takes players on a medieval adventure to a fantastical kingdom, a once-peaceful place that has been overrun by the evil Dark Prince and his army. The game was developed in collaboration with Vancouver-based developer IUGO Mobile Entertainment Inc., and is available for free on the App Store.
In Knights & Dragons, players are invited to save their beloved kingdom and return justice to the state by battling treacherous monsters that are wreaking havoc across the land. Players can select the most advantageous armor for battle based on the monster's elemental attributes – fire, water, spirit, air and earth – and recruit the best knights from friends' kingdoms, offering control over battle outcomes and an exciting level of strategy. As knights emerge victorious, they will unlock additional heroes to join their court and collect valuable materials to craft new armor. Knights can further prove their valor by combining and enhancing armory to weld stronger sets and build an ultimate coat of arms. Knights & Dragons features a deep storyline with fun adventure role-playing elements, including exploring magical lands, engaging in hundreds of quests, building and designing a magnificent castle, and customizing characters with unique and powerful armor.
"In Knights & Dragons, we set out to develop a fun and accessible RPG experience that delivers all the social, strategic and immersive elements that mobile social gamers love," said Eiji Araki, SVP, Social Games, GREE International, Inc. "We also wanted to bring a deeper storyline by introducing an entertaining plot, witty dialogue, playful characters and high-production art, as well as a continuous dose of new content, features and events to keep the fun fresh. We've worked hard to make this title more than a game, but an ongoing entertaining experience."
Knights & Dragons offers a suite of robust social features, including battling friends in weekly player-versus-player tournaments, hiring friends' knights to use in battle, accessing leaderboards, and viewing players' profiles and adding them as friends. Players will also able to check their in-game achievements and send game invites to other users.
Knights & Dragons: Rise of the Dark Prince is available for free from the App Store on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore.
For more information on the game, please visit http://greegam.es/knights-and-dragons, follow us on Facebook at https://facebook.com/KnightsandDragons or on Twitter at https://twitter.com/KnightsDragons. For more information about GREE, please visit www.gree-corp.com.
About GREE, Inc.
GREE is a global mobile social gaming company at the forefront of mobile technology. GREE is focused on building the world's leading gaming ecosystem for users and developers, while creating and supporting unique free-to-play game content. GREE is continuing to expand globally and has offices in Tokyo, San Francisco, London, Singapore, Seoul, Beijing, Amsterdam, Dubai, Sao Paolo, and Vancouver.
About IUGO Mobile Entertainment, Inc.
Founded in 2003, IUGO is an innovative studio focused on creating premium game experiences on mobile devices. The passionate team is a perfect balance of inspired game creators and strong technology experts. In parallel with creating great games, IUGO has invested significant efforts into developing a suite of robust and high performance mobile-specific technologies. This has given the studio an edge to deliver superior products that look and play better. IUGO has earned a solid reputation for delivering recognized AAA titles for major global publishers as well as achieving success with its own self-published original games.
GREE and the GREE logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of GREE, Inc., in Japan and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.


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831 members31 Likes
Angela has not received any gifts yet
Great, I've just messaged you into inbox. Hope the weather will get better soon, see you later, Blanka
Absolutely. I could do this evening 7pm, if that works, alternatively tomorrow, Thursday and Friday either 7.30am or 7pm- Santa Monica or Marina del Rey. Would any of this work for you?
Hi Angela,
I'm looking for regular hitting partners. I live in Venice very close to Santa Monica.
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What information should you read to get started.
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There are many ways to save on long-term care insurance and we provide information. Click on the Ways To Save tab.
At some point, you really will need to speak directly with a long-term care insurance professional. They can tell you whether you can health qualify for this protection - which is critical. Be sure to ask if they represent only one insurance company or if they will check multiple insurance companies to get you the best coverage for the lowest cost.
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Reuters Staff
President Vladimir Putin ordered the launch of large-scale Russian military exercises in the Black Sea region on Thursday, his spokesman said, in a move that may create tensions with Russia's post-Soviet neighbors Ukraine and Georgia.
Putin issued the order to start the previously unannounced maneuvers at 4 a.m. Moscow time (12.00 a.m. EDT) as he flew back from an international summit in South Africa, his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters by telephone.
"These are large-scale unannounced test exercises," Peskov said, adding that 36 warships and an unspecified number of warplanes would take part. "The main goal is to check the readiness and cohesion of the various units."
He did not say how long the exercises would last.
Putin has stressed the importance of a strong and agile military since he returned to the presidency last May after four years as prime minister. In 13 years in power, he has often cited external threats when talking of the need for unity in Russia.
Russia's Black Sea fleet, whose main base is in the Ukrainian port of Sevastopol, was instrumental in a war with Georgia in 2008 over the Russian-backed breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Disputes with Kiev over Moscow's continued lease of the Black Sea navy base have been a thorn in relations with its former Soviet neighbor.
Peskov said that Russia is under no obligation to warn neighbors ahead of time of plans to hold the air and sea military exercises as long as fewer than 7,000 servicemen participated in the maneuvers.
(Reporting by Alexei Anishchuk; Writing by Alissa de Carbonnel; Editing by Douglas Busvine and Toby Chopra)
Yahoo News (Estados Unidos)


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The invitations were owl cards made on the cricut and were delivered with a sleep mask:
The goodies:
Owl topped treat bags filled with spa items: bracelets, rings, nail polish, lotion, an eraser shaped as a spa item (you know the fun ones that come apart), and homemade lip gloss.
Owl pillow boxes filled with M&M's (also doubled as the prizes for Bingo).
Sundaes, but not an ordinary sundae, one made for the bath.
Owl S'mores - graham crackers, marshmallows, yellow candy melts, chocolate chips, and a candy corn.
Bottles to hold their drinks. They had owls on the front, holes drilled in the lids for straws, and their first initial on the back.
The owl cake:
and blowing out the candles (can you tell the flames are colored?)
And the sad part: I didn't take pictures of the spa part. I was busy finishing the cake & s'mores. I put my oldest & her friends in charge of the pedicures and manicures. We had a foot bath using the ingredients from the Sundaes pictured above. The girls picked out their nail polish and they were all decorated up. We had started the party with a pizza dinner, had manicures/pedicures, played bingo, had cake and ice cream, unwrapped presents, and then watched a movie. That filled up the night from 6:00 pm until 10:23 pm (but who was counting?).
To see more detail about the party, for tutorials, and printables, click HERE (Part 1) and HERE (Part 2).
Linked to:


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Initial review from Jason Calacanis - Sig #1
Initial review from Jason Calacanis - Sig #1
Sweet review!
It's almost obscene how much fun you must be having! Thanks for the brain dump. More please!
"Each of four wheel wells that, you guessed it, can each hold an overnight bag." -- This made me laugh quite a bit. Thank you.
Is it just me or did Tesla include an "Opportunity Console" in this car? The video seems to show a lipped storage location and Jason refers to it in his review as well. I always remembered that area as carpet.
If you're referring to the center console between the passenger and driver Andex23, it is HUGE. You could put a (small) duffle bag in it!
Drove another 25 miles today and the person in the passenger seat said "i can feel the blood rushing to the back of my brain" when I hit the gas.
Having driven the Roadster for 3+ years/15k miles, I can tell you this is 1000x the car. Tesla has a HUGE hit on its hands. Huge.
@ andex23 – We received delivery of our car on July 27. The lipped storage area between the front seats is not the "Opportunity Console." It is the standard center console that comes with the car. Many of the Release Candidate cars used at the drive events have a ribbed bottom in this center space, but the production version is just plain black carpet on the floor of the console area. The lipped sides do keep things stored in that area from sliding out of the center console area.
I think the area is great for storage and the shelf is so useful. I test drove with stuff all over those areas and it stayed put. I'll use the pouch in front of seat for storing hidden things.
The bidding is going up! Previous best was 100X the Roadster.
Geez, if I've said it once, I've said it 1.3253 million times: never exaggerate, people just discount it!
It sounds like seniors may need to be cleared medically before riding in the car :p
I am very happy to see that Jason's personal impression of Elon and his capabilities are in line with what I have gleamed by watching and reading interviews. I own a much smaller amount of stock than Jason did, but bought it because I believe in the logic of this company and the man running it. I think this car will lead to a tipping point in automobile history. Perhaps not the Model S alone, but once the Model X is on the road and we are looking at Gen III and perhaps an affordable family model, then the mass market will see the inherent value of an electric car.
Thanks for posting your experence Jason, and Congradulations!
JasonC- I have enjoyed your posts. But how did you manage to "hit the GAS" in your 8/13 post?
(Sorry, couldn't resist :o)
He just hasn't learned to call it the "goose pedal" yet. So you "goose it", "hit the goose", or "step on the goose". Or SLT. IMO
ACCELERATOR dammit :P
Primary accelerator ;)
Torque pedal!!!
I am a reservation and stockholder holder and have been on the online Tesla journey for 2 1/2 years. I believe strongly in this company and drove RT 440 miles from Orlando for my test drive:
I drove the brown 85kw non performance model. Exterior fit and finish was very impressive, In my excitement, I forgot to ask whether the paint was metallic.
TEST AREA: combined local, boulevard, and small stretches of highway with an option to get on I95 for one exit.
Ride: The showroom is in an idustrial area and the road is rather bumpy. The air shocks and low profile 21" silver rims handled the bumps suprisingly well. The tires did not feel like rocks. Well Done Tesla.
Performance: Like many others...just great, the G-forces kick in and the car pulls its substantial weight extremely well. I was doing 79mph in a heartbeat and most importantly, the brakes are performers. No nose dive or squeal...just a prompt safe stop. The low center of gravity is all that is published. S bends were amazingly smooth, I was leaning more than the car.
Overall: Tesla has lived up to its claims, the car is everything I thought it would be.
Two areas of concern:
1. I believe Tesla has to rethink interior finishes. Not everyone wants Black and Gray. The tan leather is wonderful, but the dark interior finishes attract heat. Tesla needs to add ONE lighter colored option to address buyer tastes and the heat element for hot or warm climates. At first impression the non leather finishes look plastic-like and don't appear to meet the standard of a car in that price range. I think this is an area for improvement.
2. I intend to buy the 60kw battery model. Pricing appears to revolve around range, which makes sense...BUT, there should be more appeal in the mid range by adding a performance inverter otion...perhaps 0-60 in 5.0 seconds, combine it with the 21" wheels and air shocks. Tesla's success in selling the Model S will come in this and the lower range battery. Not everyone has 84k+ to spend. I pose this as a question for the engineers, marketers and bean counters.
I am anxious to hear from others who have test driven the car.
Observe that Brown is in the Metallic paint group.
Only white is present in multiple groups (Solid and Tesla Multi-Coat).
Thanks for your review purrpleh. The positive reinforcement is welcome. I too live in Orlando and would love to compare notes in the future. What is "RT"? (Roadster?)
I missed my test drive at Dania Beach but hope to get another chance in October. :-(
Nevermind... RT = Round Trip. Duh!
@purrpleh: Regarding your suggestion of a Performance model of the smaller-capacity pack. Keep in mind that performance is dictated by how much current can be drawn from the pack, which is in turn dictated by both the capacity of the inverter, and the ability of the pack to deliver current.
A larger pack, with more cells in parallel, can more readily deliver high current than a smaller pack.
So, it may be the case that the 60kWh pack is already delivering as much current as it can without doing damage to the cells.
I'm also a little confused by your comments regarding the leather. You said you think the tan is wonderful, but say that Tesla should offer a light-colored option. I've seen the tan and the grey, and they're both pretty light. What do you have in mind?
I think it would be nice if there were a lighter textile offering, and if getting textile didn't preclude you from getting the heated seats. I've had heated textile seats for the last 10 years in my RAV4-EV, and they're great, although I am honestly looking forward to leather in my Model S!
Thx Jason, for this nice review. I can't wait to get my Signature Performance here in GER.
Having never had a car with leather seats, I'm wondering if the leather will require any special treatment. I've had handbags, that when stored in a drawer for a length of time, get a white dusting and stiffen up so that they are seemingly a bit brittle. I am getting the leather only because I want the lighter interior and the heated seats; I agree that if I could get these two things in fabric, I probably would.
The leather seats I've had in cars start cracking within a couple of years. You can buy products that help preserve the leather but they have a tendency to stain your clothes. In my opinion, leather and wood in cars are left over from when horses pulled carriages and shouldn't be in a modern automobile.
Leather is also hot and sticky in summer and cold and slippery in winter (that's why most cars with leather seats have heated seats--no one could stand the leather in winter otherwise, some even have cooling in summer to get rid of the stickiness.
I had my test drive today in a leather-seat Model S. No way will I getting leather.
No way will I be getting leather (an edit feature is really needed).
Not sure what you are dong to damage the leather. The 22 year old leather in my 928 isnt cracked, nor is the 12 year old leather in my wife's BMW.. (& this is in the Australian sun.
I prefer it to material seats, and found it easy to clean and maintain in comparison.
My 2001 Saturn leather with heated seats is hold up just fine. It is my construction sight work car and I have not cleaned the interior since 2003... I think. The steering wheel is really worn but the rest is doing really well, very dirty but in good shape. The back seat transported my 13 year old Lab/shepard mix until this year and they are also in good shape.
I'm not really sure either, but I haven't had much success with leather.
My 2001 Dodge Durango has leather seats, and they've held up very well, despite my total lack of care or treatment.
I guess Jason has disappeared and flown to heaven!
It's a great review. However, I find the comparison Tesla Motors to Apple is insulting to Teslar Motors. Apple basically just improved existing technology and made it accessible to a lot more users. Apple didn't invent the computer, the touchscreen, the UI, just improved them. In contrast, Tesla Motors created new amazingly high performance electric drivetrain, get put a lot of energy into the battery pack and deliver the power and torque that no one said possible. This is a real engineering feast. Apple = improvement of existing technology to make devices easier to use. Tesla Motors = inventing new technology that is clean, more powerful and more pleasant to use than existing technology. Apple should only be credited with clever marketing tactics and not with engineering. Tesla Motors developed technology and engineering and is a real inventor. Comparing Tesla Motors to Apple Computer is insulting to Tesla Motors, I believe.
lol modelsboy....good one!
I am a huge fan of Tesla and appreciate what they are doing, but lets keep it real; the comparison to Apple is a fair one.
"Invention: a device, contrivance, or process originated after study and experiment"
You are correct that Apple has not invented anything new, but have only improved on existing technology. In other words, they have innovated. What their ability to innovate has done, however, is to revolutionize several markets.
This is exactly what Tesla is on the cusp of doing. Electric cars have been around for 100 years. Nothing new here. Tesla is improving on the packaging of this technology in a way that could change the automotive industry forever!
Apple - most innovative and valuable company in history. Nothing insulting about that comparison.
I agree. Apple's value-adds are: build quality (every time I have priced other equipment, once you put the same quality parts in the price is the same or more as Apple's), software (look and feel), infrastructure (Apple B&M and online stores), and user environment (the interoperability between the Apple products).
Tesla's value-adds are really the same: build quality (okay, the jury is still out on this one but if half the rhetoric happens that will be a pass or better and signs are that build quality is improving--gaps between the body panels appear to be the main area of concern), software (look and feel), infrastructure (Tesla stores, service centres, rangers, and online support), and user environment (another area where there isn't the experience to determine pass or fail. I expect over the first two years at least there will be frequent updates to add features that time didn't permit for the initial cars).
+1 Chas and jerry3.
I do believe that the AC induction motor was in fact invented by Nikola Tesla. The batteries are made by Panasonic. I doubt Telsa makes their own inverter.
What makes a great product is not the invention of new technologies (well sometimes it is) but recognizing when the right combination of new and emerging technologies create the right combination of attributes to disrupt the existing marketplace.
Apple did not make the first mp3 player, but combined the small form factor hard drives that were about to come out with a good user interface. The rest is history.
What Tesla has done is combine existing technologies in a clever way to make them effective as disruptive to the market. I strongly suspect without pressure from Tesla there would be no electric vehicles available on the market in 2012 or 2013.
Tesla makes their own motor. I've never heard one way or the other about the inverter but to have it match up I suspect they make the inverter as well--or at least assemble the components.
The battery cells are made by Panasonic. The battery is made by Tesla.
I agree that Telsa is leading the market and other companies are reluctantly having to hedge their bets.
"Apple has not invented anything new." Tell that to Samsung, they can ask for their billion dollars back...
Application and software patents are out of control in my opinion (as the holder of several of my own!). Application patents are for the idea of combining different ideas to create something "new". IMHO this has gotten just a bit out of control over the last 15 years (did you know that lots of people have patented the FFT? - well at least using one for a special case...). It is easy to understand that someone might think using an FFT to calculate the frequency of a signal is somewhat obvious, and certainly it should be to someone "skilled in the arts", but there are many cases of this out there. Combine several public arena technologies, usually thoroughly published, and voila you have a patent!
My colleagues and I were recently discussing this, and for the most part, patents have become obsolete based on the rapid rate of change in technology.
I suspect that if patents went away, companies would use trade secrets, and get that head-start. Is the idea of a touchscreen taking multiple touch points really novel, or is it really just an obvious extension of technology enabled by the underlying touchscreen technology?
And don't get me going on Trade Dress... Are softened corners on icons really something you can sue someone over?
Anyhow, this isn't isolated to Apple, it seems like all corporations have become patent trolls of late, and the result is that everyone patents every possible feature they can think of just in case someone uses that idea and they can pounce.
The only people that really benefit from this crap are the lawyers that are paid to run the patents through the system, and go after other companies.
I strongly believe that all this patent trolling will start to piss off Apples potential customers, and they will lose way more than $1B in market opportunities by tarnishing their reputation as a pioneer, and instead being the big bad corporation that everyone likes to see fail.
It's hard for me to watch these lawsuits and say, wow, Apple sure is using their resources to make the world a better place with better technology interaction!
I stand corrected.
Apple's patents would constitute inventions I suppose. The combination of various components/technologies in a way that provides a unique and original experience would align with "process" in Websters definition.
The point is still the same: Tesla and Apple are doing the same thing.
I agree. The main thing that patents do is keep the big guys big and the little guys little. Generally, the big players have acquired enough patents that a patent war results in mutual annihilation but if the big players decide that the little guy is getting to be they just shut him down.
However, I'm not really happy about Samsung selling knock-offs. The average person (who's not a techie) can't tell the difference between the two (other than the user experience should they get to try both). I have a friend who's non-technical and a couple of month ago he told me that he received an iPhone from the company he works for. He also complained about some problems. When I actually saw the device I told him that wasn't an iPhone but just a knock-off. He was surprised to learn that the iPhone was only from Apple. I suspect there are a lot of people like that out there.
Wow, I'm actually a bit surprised that they couldn't tell the difference, but I am a techie. Are you sure they weren't just falling into the "Kleenex" for tissue trap?
Anyhow, it seems like the i-phone is capping out. The only major change on the 4S was Siri, which it seems not so many people like. I just saw an article comparing it to the Microsoft paperclip lol.
The next big change will be a really big change I think, where the handset goes away altogether (at least from a user interface standpoint). We'll see what company gets that first.
Leofingal -- Are you sure they weren't just falling into the "Kleenex" for tissue trap
Yes, my friend was actually surprised to find out that it wasn't an iPhone.
-- Anyhow, it seems like the i-phone is capping out
The bean counters have taken over. It will take another visionary to move to the next level. I don't think that there are any of those at either Apple or Samsung, and certainly none at that other company.
You mean something like this? I don't think they've totally given up on it yet:
Probably not the best solution if you're a cerumen hypersecretor ;)
@ChasF Apple's patents would constitute inventions I suppose.
I don't think any of those patents that were in question in Samsung vs Apple constitute as inventions. Patents there were made to prevent anybody else using same kind of ideas in their products, most of those were so obvious that nobody else than Apple just thought they should be patented. Like that multiple touch point touch screen. That's not Apple invention, but they have patent for it.
Real criminal in Samsung vs Apple patent issues was the patent office that gave patents to those things and whole patent system. I agree with Leofingal that "Application and software patents are out of control". Someone just recently tried to patent winking smiley ";-)" here.
"99" -> "1999"
"00" -> "2000"
Was patented as well.
-- I agree with Leofingal that "Application and software patents are out of control".
I think everyone agrees with that statement, Timo. Originally patents were meant to protect the little inventor but that didn't last long. But it's not a new problem. Look at the number of barbed wire fence patents issued in the mid-1800s--over 500 of them. Another example is that Hollywood was started because the independent film producers wanted freedom from Edison's patents.
Actually, patents were intended to prevent "trade secrets". Their theoretical purpose is to make ideas and devices widely available (after a minimal reasonable delay) by making the patent sufficiently specific that anyone "skilled in the (relevant) arts" can reproduce it. Part of the reason for requiring submission of actual prototypes.
Those wanting to truly remain exclusive for as long as possible often thus don't patent, just rely on secrecy. Reverse engineering is their enemy.
Often, it's just "time" for an invention. The car, phone, radio, etc. were multiply invented. Bell, Marconi, etc. just won "footraces" to the patent office.
TM's PEM may be genuinely new.
As i understand it, the PEM is manufactured in Taiwan. I saw this in writing somewhere a long time ago, but really have no idea where, however it was on an official Tesla site.
That could have been case for Roadster, but I don't think it is the case with Model S, at least it would feel weird for them to outsource that part.


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Issa posted 166 pages of sensitive but unclassified State Department communications related to Libya on the committee's website afternoon as part of his effort to investigate security failures and expose contradictions in the administration's statements regarding the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi that resulted in the death of Amb. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.
"The American people deserve nothing less than a full explanation from this administration about these events, including why the repeated warnings about a worsening security situation appear to have been ignored by this administration. Americans also deserve a complete explanation about your administration's decision to accelerate a normalized presence in Libya at what now appears to be at the cost of endangering American lives," Issa and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) wrote today in a letter to President Barack Obama.
But Issa didn't bother to redact the names of Libyan civilians and local leaders mentioned in the cables, and just as with the WikiLeaks dump of State Department cables last year, the administration says that Issa has done damage to U.S. efforts to work with those Libyans and exposed them to physical danger from the very groups that had an interest in attacking the U.S. consulate.
"Much like WikiLeaks, when you dump a bunch of documents into the ether, there are a lot of unintended consequences," an administration official told The Cable Friday afternoon. "This does damage to the individuals because they are named, danger to security cooperation because these are militias and groups that we work with and that is now well known, and danger to the investigation, because these people could help us down the road."
But Darrell doesn't care, because all he's interested in is creating a scandal. For years now he's been hounding Attorney General Eric Holder over the Fast and Furious program, and Holder was exonerated last month. Now he's changed targets to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. I'm sure it will be just as effective, considering evidence is now mounting that the CIA analysis of the initial attack was exactly what the Obama administration said it was. If anyone was wrong here, it was, surprise, the CIA.
No word from the right on Issa outing more sensitive information. Again. Imagine that.


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Okay, Isak Dinesen had her own farm, but these days you can sidle up to that Out of Africa fantasy by booking a stand-alone villa in the bush for your next safari (as Brangelina and their brood did). Susan Hack goes wild for the space, the privacy, and—surprise!— the great values in luxury villa rentals all across Africa
A luxury safari lodge is as much about the amenities as the game viewing, offering butlers, infinity pools, and an on-call masseuse—all in the middle of a vast wilderness. Pampering demanding travelers unwilling to dispense with creature comforts is all well and good, but on my mission to investigate a nascent safari trend, the stand-alone African villa, I had another requirement in mind: absolute privacy. A safari veteran, having been on some thirty trips into the bush, I was tired of being regularly upstaged by the khaki-clad strangers who fill up boutique lodges or tented camps and always seem to witness something more exciting than I do: the lion kill, the rhinos mating, thirty thousand wildebeests crossing a crocodile-infested river. By renting my very own house, I'd also have my very own safari. A guide just for me. A chef and a table overlooking the savanna just for me. And, best of all, a parade of wildlife for my eyes only—and for those friends and family who I handpicked to join me.
Incredibly, I learned, the cost of all this privacy, extra space, and individual attention could be far less than a stay at a top-of-the-line safari camp. For example, a double tent at Singita's new Mara River Tented Camp in Tanzania costs a whopping $950 per person per night—in low season. By contrast, the rental fee for Luangwa Safari House, a four-bedroom thatch fantasy on a lagoon in southern Zambia, can be split by just four friends for $590 per person per night.
The African villa concept, explained Cherri Briggs, one of Condé Nast Traveler's Africa specialists (see "Perrin's People: The Villa Pros"), evolved out of an appreciation of privacy as the ultimate luxury and the challenges family travel poses to the safari industry. In the past, an African game-viewing trip was considered something for grown-ups, not only because baby-chomping leopards presented liability issues for lodge owners but because kids were considered a buzz kill when it came to rituals such as sundown gin and tonics. Today, parents want to bring kids on exotic expeditions. To meet the growing demand, safari lodges are sprucing themselves up to be more luxurious and child-friendly. They're adding pools, spas, and babysitters and, most recently, building stand-alone digs roomy enough for families or groups of friends.
The company you keep is the best part of any villa vacation, and while it can be wonderful to reunite or spend quality time with family, sometimes what you really want is to experience a new destination with old pals. My fellow escape artist was just such a BFF, an American resident of Paris and sometime church choir soloist whom I shall call The Diva. She had never traveled to Africa, in part because her concept of a safari included the dread terms big spider, drop toilet, and bucket shower.
Briggs suggested that we start by exploring southern Namibia's desert landscape, where the vistas are wide and the predators few. (The Diva, more accustomed to house rentals in the south of France, had confessed to feeling skittish about tigers that might eat her. There are no tigers in Africa, we reassured her.) Then we would move on to Zambia's game-rich South Luangwa National Park and a house imaginatively designed from local materials. We'd end our trip in a villa on the Lamu archipelago in Kenya, to enjoy some Indian Ocean beach time and a taste of Swahili culture.
And so in June, at the start of southern Africa's winter, we chartered a Cessna from Windhoek, the Namibian capital, to a desert airstrip where brown-striped Burchell's zebras were taking dust baths beside the runway. Our destination was Private Camp, one of four small properties in the seven-hundred-square-mile NamibRand Nature Reserve that make up the Wolwedans Collection. Profits from the properties fund the Wolwedans Foundation, a nonprofit that supports conservation programs and local people by creating, among other things, jobs and hospitality schools.
Dwarfed on a vast celadon grass plain, Private Camp is a tent-house hybrid made from ridgepoles, canvas walls, and solar panels. Spectacularly modest at first sight, it looks less like an oligarch's getaway than a bunch of shacks cobbled together by a Burning Man devotee. Inside, our butler, a twenty-something Herero woman named Joan Karuhumba, revealed luxuries that exceeded our expectations without overwhelming the natural world outside. Striking in their elegant simplicity, two huge bedroom suites with four-poster beds flanked an expansive living room filled with leather chairs and couches, writing desks, and antique books; the rooms and a massage shala were linked by wooden decks with loungers and sweeping views. From my bathroom I looked out through a rolled-up canvas "window" and spotted a herd of horse-tall oryx walking single file right past the house.
The Diva didn't bother to solar-charge her ancient iPod. Instead, we listened to the breeze and the whistles and staccato pitches of small birds dive-bombing the grass in search of buzzing insects. After serving up a dinner of eland fillet and an apricot chocolate trifle, the chef and butler drove home, leaving us alone to putter around the joint. There was no cell phone signal, no Wi-Fi, no way of contacting the outside world except by a radio transmitter linked to the reserve office, a thirty-minute drive down a rutted dirt track. But while the odd hyena or leopard might have been lurking, there are so few that our biggest danger was stepping barefoot on a scorpion. Later that night, a loud crunching sound came out of the grass not ten yards from the deck chairs where we were sitting. "Um, should we be worried?" asked The Diva.
I ventured that it was probably a porcupine and insisted that to use the radio to summon someone just to shine a flashlight into some Namibian grass was like calling Alvy Singer to kill a spider in a Manhattan bathtub. Sheer cold eventually drove us inside where I discovered a treat: hot water bottles left under the covers. I pulled the comforter over my head, tried not to think about scorpions, and fell asleep.
The plan over the next three days was for guide Lucas Mbangu to arrive after breakfast and drive us by Land Rover across the tapestry of dunes, grassland, and inselbergs, or island mountains (so named by southern Africa's early-twentieth-century German explorers who mapped lone rocky atolls rising above the veld). The reserve requires that drivers stick to a grid of thoughtfully mapped tracks so as not to mar the landscape, and Mbangu had coordinated with guides at the other three Wolwedans properties so that his Private Camp guests remained out of sight of other travelers' game drive orbits.
Getting out of the car to climb the dune's face, Mbangu explained the reason for the sand's red rust color and took out a magnet that immediately turned fuzzy with iron particles. From the dune we saw a bit of drama: a female ostrich running after a blurry brown shape that turned out to be a jackal stalking her chicks. Farther on we watched a kudu walk toward Fairy Circle Valley, where hundreds of symmetrical sand circles, bordered by sage-colored bushes, pock the plain. There was no other human traffic, but Mbangu stopped the car to let a chameleon cross the road, and we spent time taking portraits of giant armored crickets, four-inch-long monsters whose slow-motion hinged walk makes them look like Transformer robots. For lunch, we picnicked on cold zebra fillet salad in the shade of house-size boulders.
Back at Private Camp later that evening, chef Toivo Andimba prepared farm-raised oryx with rosemary and mustard sauce. The open kitchen was in the middle of the living room, so The Diva and I stood at the counter to chat and beg recipe tips. Andimba, twenty-five, came from an Ovambo village in northern Namibia and grew up herding cattle and goats. He dreamed of owning his own farm, becoming Namibia's first homegrown star chef, and opening a restaurant named after the Disney film Ratatouille. He had already satisfied some Wolwedans celebrity clients—Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, and their children and nannies (they rented the reserve's twelve-bed Dune Camp). "Those kids," he recalled fondly. "They would not sit down while they ate, but they liked everything I cooked."
When it was time for us to say good-bye, Andimba pulled a handwritten poem out of his chef jacket pocket and read aloud in his mother tongue. "We are happy that of all the places in Namibia you chose Wolwedans for your holiday," our butler translated. "We hope you will be happy, strong, and keep in your mind and heart for us a corner of your memory."
The Namibian landscape is less about wildlife than the romance of ever-changing light, color, and form. Next time, The Diva and I agreed, we would bring painting easels and a pair of Denys Finch Hattons for our Isak Dinesens.
In Zambia, we encountered death in the afternoon not twenty minutes from Mfuwe Airport, in the form of a family of hyenas gnawing on a buffalo carcass. But our welcome at Luangwa Safari House was all civilized gentility. Khaki-uniformed staff greeted us with chilled hand towels and fruit juice cocktails. Elephants were padding down to the lagoon next to the house, including a baby so young it fit beneath its mother's belly and tripped over its own trunk. When the elephants were finished, a dazzle, or herd, of plains zebra took a turn, followed by a journey of Thornicroft's giraffe and a sounder of warthogs. The cheeky baboons hadn't yet learned their manners. When we got up from the outdoor lunch table to look at some ground hornbills, an adolescent baboon leapt onto the deck and snatched a butter ramekin, racing away to lick the contents like a guilty child with a stolen cookie jar.
Luangwa Safari House was the brainchild of Jo Pope, wife of the legendary Zambian walking safari guide Robin Pope. The couple realized that their own fully walled three-room residence—with its pool and terrace overlooking the Luangwa River—would be ideal accommodations for parents of young children anxious about the wilderness setting. But while perfectly comfortable, their house wasn't quite luxurious enough for style-conscious sorts wanting privacy from the main lodge, so Jo Pope hired Neil Rocher, a South African former guide who had launched a second career designing boutique safari lodging. For Luangwa Safari House, Rocher set twenty-five leadwood tree trunks into the concrete foundation of a "grove" and built walls that followed the tree branches' flowing curves. The stone-walled front entrance looks like a castle, with two rounded turrets topped by a witch's hat–shaped thatched roof. A huge, asymmetrically planked front door pivots open to reveal a living room soaring under a 40-foot ceiling and completely open at the back, leading the eyes straight to the landscape and an ever-changing wildlife tableau.
From the four bedrooms I selected an upstairs suite that had a drawbridge-style balcony overlooking the lagoon. The Diva took a ground-floor room with a polished copper tub. "Please refrain from taking your siesta outside by the pool," our hostess, Irene Hinaran, had warned during the house tour. "There are wild animals here, and they will eat you." At dusk staff blocked off walls and windows with grates that allowed us to see outdoors, while keeping monkeys and larger animals (but not bats) at bay.
During dinner, the maître d' interrupted our beef and mushroom stew with a stage whisper: "Excuse me, mesdames, but something is happening to the moon." A lunar eclipse was under way, and we broke the do-not-under-any-circumstances-leave-the-house-after-dark rule to join the kitchen gang watching a full moon turn a smoldering earthworm-pink, as if it had molted into a still-furled, newborn creature.
In the night, I heard the rumbling "hunnhh, hunnhh" of two male lions calling. I knew from experience that safari newbies fall into two categories: people who think wild animals exist to be photographed, and those who become seized by primeval fear. "Susan, I don't think I can do this," The Diva said, clawing my arm when Kanga Banda, our game guide turned up the next morning to lead our half-day walking safari. A 30-year-old Zambian dead ringer for Chris Rock, he cajoled her into a pontoon boat across the slow-flowing Luangwa River. We were met by the ranger and a four-by-four vehicle on the opposite bank inside the park and drove to a plain where some female puku antelopes were grazing, stalked by a nervous, rutting male with swept-back spiral horns. The guide parked under a tree; no lions in sight, we got out and walked single file into the bush, me dressed in insect repellent–impregnated khakis, The Diva exposed to tsetse flies in strapless Lululemon yoga gear. I'd been looking forward to getting up close to at least a few of the park's 60 mammal species and 400 bird species, but to calm my friend's nerves I said we'd be happy just to walk for a little while and look at plants and insects.
Norman Carr, Zambia's original walking safari guru and Robin Pope's mentor, earned fame for safely guiding clients within pouncing distance of lions and leopards and within stomping and goring distance of elephants, black rhinos, and African buffalo. To build up The Diva's confidence, we played chicken with an ant lion—the larva of a dragon-type fly—gently poking a twig into the inverted cone of its sandy trap; we were rewarded by the sight of pincer jaws, monstrously out of proportion to the larva's body, snapping at what it thought was an ant. On our "Little Five" safari, we spotted the buffalo weaver (a bird) but struck out on the rhinoceros beetle, leopard tortoise, and the elephant shrew.
During a late-afternoon game drive, The Diva had her first big cat encounter when we followed baboon alarm calls and found the agitated troop high in mopane tree branches. On the ground, three large males bared their teeth and mock-charged a young female leopard. She turned, paused oh so casually, and climbed a termite mound to glare down at us all. Leaving the spotted princess, we proceeded to the riverbank for sundown aperitifs.
In the middle of our last night in Zambia, The Diva was awakened by the noise of tearing branches and made out through the screens of her room the immense silhouettes of elephants using their trunks to strip leaves. "The sound of their breathing was like a giant purr," she marveled to me later. Instead of reaching for her emergency whistle, she had parted the mosquito netting, gotten out of bed, and peered into the dark with her nose against the screen. "Those sounds were so delicious in the darkness that my conservative instincts were overcome with curiosity," she admitted. Perhaps the animals with night vision were equally transfixed. In the middle of the equivalent of a lighted window, The Diva stood, onstage, in their jungle.
After our other two African houses, both of which were about taking in the natural world, our final stop, in Lamu, promised to give us a wholly different perspective on life in Africa. From Nairobi, we caught a small plane to the Kenyan archipelago colonized by Omani sultans in the ninth century. In 2001, the Swahili culture and still-inhabited traditional buildings led UNESCO to list Lamu as a World Heritage Site. The buzz, not to mention the pristine beaches, attracted waves of trendy foreigners—Princess Caroline of Monaco among them—who have bought plots for a song and restored old houses into vacation homes with million-dollar price tags. More changes loom large: Last year, Kenya's government began building a mega-port facing Lamu's deepest channel, envisioning an East African Dubai. While construction may provide a new source of employment for locals, the community as a whole faces being outnumbered by outsiders recruited for the mega-workforce.
Browse photos of properties from the portfolios of Condé Nast Traveler Villa Agents. view slideshow
At first the islanders' laissez-faire vibe proved a bit much for The Diva to take. "Sir, where are the life jackets?" she grilled the boatman who picked us up at the airstrip for the 20-minute dhow ride across a channel to Shela, the village where our rental, Full Moon House, was located. There weren't any life preservers. Nor was there a gangplank to disembark from a water taxi on our trip to Lamu's main market. Dreadlocked Captain Yahia pragmatically hoisted me over his shoulder and waded up seawater-covered stone steps to deposit me on the quay. At noon, shops shuttered for Muslim prayers, and residents disappeared into courtyard houses topped with thatched-roof, breeze-catching wind towers. Donkeys, the major form of transportation, wandered unsupervised through coral-walled alleys. Full Moon House overlooks the water from a plot purchased in the 1960s by the late Anne Spoerry, a Frenchwoman who, as a member of the Flying Doctors organization, for more than 30 years provided medical care to isolated Kenyan communities. As a medical student during World War II, she ran a safe haven for the French Resistance in Paris. After the war, some of which she spent in a German concentration camp, Spoerry moved to Kenya. (Her bio became even more curious when records discovered after her death revealed that she was accused of collaborating with the Nazis during her internment.)
Her nephew, the Dubai-based architect Bernard Spoerry, designed Full Moon House in the Swahili style. The first floor consists of a dining room and a sitting lodge with open walls facing an arch-shaped turquoise swimming pool. The second floor has two bedrooms opening onto a balcony that has an Arabian majlis with cushioned benches. I took the top floor, an open-plan suite with a four-poster Indian-style bed and a private balcony with plantation-style lounge chairs.
A caretaker introduced us to Dixon Kaplanga, our room steward, and Anthony Mbwana, the chef, and left us with her cell phone number and a two-page printed explanation of how the house worked. The main thing we picked up on were instructions not to swim too far out to sea between the tides, when the current is strongest, and to avoid walking beyond the Omani-style fort because visitors to the archipelago have suffered robberies—and worse. In 2011, one tourist was fatally shot and two others were kidnapped by Somali gunmen. Since then, the Kenyan government has heightened security in the archipelago, and military forces stop and search any vessel with a motor powerful enough to make a quick getaway to the open ocean.
But here, as with the two safari houses, all our misgivings disappeared in no time. There were ruins to wander and reefs to snorkel, but our greatest escape was falling into the easy rhythms of villa and village life. We visited a tailor to order bespoke kikoi dresses. Fishermen brought baskets of fresh crab, squid, and shrimp to the house. Mbwana shopped in the market for produce; dressed in full whites, he would sit on the kitchen floor grating coconut meat for our nightly soup course. The grocery tab for a week's gluttony came to $77. Hiring a dhow captain and his hash-smoking cousin, who brought munchies of homemade samosas, we sailed into tidal arteries where we watched shark fin–shaped sails prowling over the green mangrove tops.
Before our trip, I'd told my friend that no matter the level of comfort, the most memorable trips to Africa come down to serendipity: the flash of cheetah spots, a conversation with someone whose life is beyond your ken. Our villas in the Namibian desert, the Zambian bush, and here on the white sand beach of Lamu provided privacy, sanctuary, and, best of all, the chance to experience an Africa that only the lucky few ever get to see.
The per-person cost of a safari villa can be less than luxury lodge rates while at the same time guaranteeing you privacy and freedom to plan your activities. Beyond picking a house whose amenities and decor suit you and your budget, you need to consider rainy seasons, animal migrations, and the variety of habitats (do you want a house in the desert or the bush?). Cherri Briggs of Explore, Inc., who lives in Zambia part of the year, can book all three of the houses featured here—Private Camp, Luangwa Safari House, and the Full Moon House. She also has several other beach, wilderness, and city houses in her listings. See page 106 for more details on Briggs and her portfolio.
In addition to Private Camp (two bedrooms; from $450 per night), there are three other luxury properties in Namibia's Wolwedans Collection, including the 12-bed Dune Camp, where Brangelina and family stayed (264-61-230-616; from $450 per night). Because of the suspended staircases leading to upper bedrooms, Zambia's Luangwa Safari House is not suitable for very young children (four bedrooms; from $2,360 per night), although the three-bedroom Robin's House, where famed safari guides Robin and Jo Pope once lived on the shore of the hippo-filled Luangwa River, is child-friendly. It also has a pool and comes with a chef (265-179-4491; from $510 per person per night with a two-person minimum).
Furnished in Swahili style, the Full Moon House on Kenya's Lamu Archipelago shares its pool and garden with another rental property. All the houses, including Mama Daktari, the original residence of Flying Doctor Anne Spoerry, come with the services of a housekeeper and a chef who will do grocery shopping based on your dietary preferences (254-722-209-490; from $220 per night for two with a three-night minimum). Note: After Somali militants kidnapped two tourists nearby in 2011, security has tightened considerably in the area.


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A more proper post soon (I know I am long overdue, and the truth is that I've had a draft post sitting here since before Christmas, but I've been (blissfully) disconnected -- both from my computer and my machine -- for the better part of the last 2 weeks), but for now I just wanted to let you all know of another virtual quilting bee that's open and looking to fill its last few spots. If you've read my SewConnected posts and are interested in participating in a similar group, head on over to the Little Blue Cottage to sign up.
Oh, and Happy New Year everyone!!
Monday, January 5, 2009
Virtual Quilting Bee
5 comments:
Hey John!ReplyDelete
I was hoping that things were ok on your end. . .miss seeing new posts on your blog.
Happy New Year,
In peace & pieces,
Sherry V.
happy new year to you too!!!!ReplyDelete
I have signed up for the quilting bee, well, I say signed up, I've asked the 'please can I join in' question!!!
Happy New Year, John! Thanks for the info. Wishing you good luck in my giveaway!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJanuary 5, 2009 at 11:24 AM
Thank for posting this John! It definitely helped fill those spots. I'll be sending out emails soon.ReplyDelete
happy new year, john!!!ReplyDelete
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Heard Around the West
Even after he was caught making an outrageously racist remark, Republican state Sen. Chris Buttars refused to resign. Buttars had criticized a revenue-sharing bill for school districts, saying, "This baby is black, I'll tell you. This is a dark and ugly thing." Buttars said he was sorry, but he apologized only after the Senate president announced that he'd caused "a breach of decorum." This was not enough for Jeanetta Williams, president of the Salt Lake branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, who said she was appalled by Buttars' language and urged him to quit. Buttars told the Deseret Morning News he wouldn't oblige: "I stand by my apology. That's it. This issue is done as far as I'm concerned." Well, maybe not entirely. Buttars later complained to the Salt Lake Tribune that he'd become the target of a "hate lynch mob," and added plaintively: "How do I know what words I'm supposed to use in front of those people?"
If you're going to deliberately plow your vehicle into a herd of antelope, it's a stupid idea to post pictures on the Internet. But there were the photos on an off-roading discussion board, along with a bragging account of what happened near Farson, Wyo.: "So here we are cruising down the road, jon (bonbon) driving and me sleeping when Jon wakes me up. ... I look ahead and there's a herd of about 20 antelope just standing in the road. ...we sped up. Most of the herd got out of the way, but two ... dumber ones turned back. ..." Accompanying photos showed "mangled and bloody antelope carcasses," reports the Associated Press, "a man giving a thumbs-up next to the blood-splattered grille of a pickup truck, and HA HA!!! written over the image of a severed antelope head." An anonymous tip on Wyoming's "Stop Poaching" Web site led authorities to the narration and photos, and one picture conveniently included the pickup truck's license plate. Now, 23-year-old Jonathan Hefner, a gas-field worker, has been charged with two counts of wanton destruction of big game, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail, and a $10,000 fine for each count. Hefner, who no longer works at National Oilwell Varco, has pleaded not guilty; others may still be charged.
Reed College in Portland, Ore., is crowing because it can boast that it possesses the earliest known recording of "Howl," Allen Ginsberg's legendary anthem for the Beat Generation. Ginsberg read his poem at Reed College a few months before it was published in 1956 to acclaim and controversy. Recently, literary scholar John Suiter came upon the tape in the college's library, where it had been cataloged, filed and forgotten for 52 years. The tape, which was made as Ginsberg read to students at a dormitory, doesn't contain the complete "Howl." Ginsberg quit before completing Part II, saying, "I don't really feel like reading any more. I just sorta haven't got any steam."
Fed up with armed nut cases invading schools to kill students, two state legislators from Mesa, Ariz., are writing a bill to give teachers and older students the right to bring loaded guns onto campuses, something the law now prevents. Gun owners, however, would have to obtain a state permit to carry their concealed weapons. "This way, nobody knows who has a concealed weapon," said Republican state Sen. Karen Johnson, one of the co-sponsors. Reaction at the Capitol has been "mixed," as the Arizona Daily Sun put it, with some legislators approving of arming teachers at schools and colleges -- but not students -- and others fearing yet more outbreaks of violence with so many armed people in classrooms. Phoenix Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema had a practical concern: If police were called to an incident at a school, "How do they know who to stop when there's like 18 people wielding guns?"
Guns are busting out all over the political scene, including Washington, D.C., where an amendment to a reclamation bill for public lands would allow national park visitors to carry loaded and easily reached firearms. This amendment has nothing to do with guns, says Bill Schneider in NewWest.Net; it's about embarrassing the two Democratic senators vying for the presidential nomination. He suggests introducing a five-word resolution that every member of Congress must vote on: "We support the Second Amendment." Once that's out of the way, he says, "we won't have to deal with such counterproductive amendments and riders that have no relation to the legislation they delay or kill."
There's a real deal of a rental in the college town of Logan, Utah, reports the Herald Journal. There is one catch, however: You can rent the mobile home for $250 a month only if you "agree to milk cows two nights a week."
Betsy Marston is editor of Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News in Paonia, Colorado. Tips of Western oddities are always appreciated and often shared in the column, Heard around the West.


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I ran across this blog site where someone built a Pinewood Derby car with two CO2 cartridges on it, and then made a simple mechanism that would puncture the cartridges as the gate went down. Thought some of you might want to take a look at it (click on the pics for a better view):
http://crazyallenmoments.blogspot.com/2 ... derby.html
-Nitro Dan
CO2 Powered Pinewood Derby Car
Anything related to CO2 powered racing, such as Blastcar, and event coordination.
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1 post • Page 1 of 1
CO2 Powered Pinewood Derby Car
Take good and make it great. Take fast and make it faster. Performance drives success!
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text: The two greatest defensive catchers during the Fin de siècle of the late 19th – early 20th century were the Bergen brothers, Marty and Bill. Both have distinct legacies in the annals of baseball history. Bill Bergen is undoubtedly the worst hitter in the history of the National Pastime. During an 11 year career spanning […]Please, blog, may I have some more?


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Carrie Underwood will join Brett James, Luke Laird, Hillary Lindsey and host Bob DiPiero for the CMA Songwriters Series in Boston on July 31. The show will take place at the Royale, a concert venue in downtown Boston's theater district. Tickets go on sale Friday (June 29).
Many of Underwood's biggest hits have been co-written by James ("Jesus, Take the Wheel," "Cowboy Casanova" ), Laird ("So Small," "Last Name," "Undo It," "Mama's Song" and "Temporary Home" ) and Lindsey ("Just a Dream," "So Small," "Jesus, Take the Wheel," "Wasted" and "Last Name").
"I'm so excited to be a part of the CMA Songwriters Series with Hillary, Luke, Brett and Bob," Underwood said. "Not only are they some of the most respected songwriters in Nashville, but I'm very lucky to call them my friends. It's going to be a great night!"


text: Free legal assistance to the public was offered on Sunday, June 30th at the annual Young Lawyers Section and Minorities in the Profession Legal Fair. NOBA Members of the Young Lawyers Section, Minorities in the Profession Committee, and Health Care Law Committee were on hand to address questions relating to successions, family law, medicare and medicaid issues, and criminal law. Held at Exodus Place Community Center in Central City, this program was funded by a grant from the American Bar Association. Many issues were addressed by the lawyers on hand who offered basic legal advice. More complex issues of attendees were referred to the appropriate local agencies including Southeast Louisiana Legal Services. Special thanks to all who volunteered and to Aaron Greenbaum, YLS Public Service and Legal Fair Chair; Dana Douglas, Minorities in the Profession Committee Chair, and Michael Ecuyer, Health Care Law Committee Chair, for all their assistance.


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Kobe Bryant reaches 30,000-point milestone in Lakers win
Kobe Bryant became the youngest player to reach 30,000 career points in the NBA on Wednesday as he helped the Los Angeles Lakers to a 103-87 victory over the New Orleans Hornets.
Kobe Bryant became the youngest player to reach 30,000 career points in the NBA on Wednesday as he helped the Los Angeles Lakers to a 103-87 victory over the New Orleans Hornets.
With 1:16 left in the second quarter, Bryant drove into the lane and rose to connect on a jump shot, taking his tally for the contest to 14 and for his career to 30,001.
"It's a huge accomplishment," Bryant said of becoming just the fifth player in NBA history to reach the milestone.
He joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387), Karl Malone (36,928), Michael Jordan (32,292) and Wilt Chamberlain (31,419).
"It feels good," Bryant added. "I've been very fortunate that I haven't really had any serious injuries. It's been a lot of sacrifice on my part and my family's part -- a lot of time away and just working extremely hard."
At 34 years old, he's the youngest player in history to reach the milestone. Chamberlain was 35 years old, while Malone and Abdul-Jabbar were both 36 and Jordan 38.
However, Bryant was the fifth-fastest player in terms of games played to reach the milestone, achieving it in his 1,179th contest. Chamberlain got there in 941 games.
NBA Commissioner David Stern was on hand to see the feat, but Bryant was just as concerned that the Lakers reversed their recent fortunes with a victory.
He finished with 29 points and six rebounds as the Lakers ended a two-game skid. They bounced back from a disappointing loss at Houston -- where they surrendered a double-digit fourth-quarter lead -- to win for just the second time on the road this season.
Dwight Howard added 18 points, eight rebounds and five blocks for the Lakers.
"We came out very focused in the second half," Bryant said, praising Howard in particular. "We just kept on rolling."


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Bernie Sanders Draws 28,000 in Portland, Largest Turnout for Any Presidential Candidate This Year
He also has zero endorsements from the set of Congress + governors. Hillary has an "unprecedented for a non-incumbent Democrat" number of endorsements, over 300 with more than six months to go before the first primary.13. "If a bank is too big to fail, I think it's too big to exist."
12. "We must end the embarrassment of this country being the only country on earth that does not guarantee workers paid medical and family leave."
11. "We see kids getting criminal records for having marijuana, but the CEOs of these large institutions get away with theft."
10. On the Koch brothers: "When you have one family spending more than either political party, that is not democracy, that is oligarchy, and that has got to end."
9. On Republicans: "What they mean by family values is that our gay brothers and sisters should not be able to marry and enjoy all the benefits of citizenship. I disagree."
8. "Men, stand with the women and demand pay equity. There is no defensible reason why women are making 78 cents on the dollar. That has got to change."
7. On attendance: "Portland, you have done it better than anyone else."
6. "A minimum wage of $7 an hour is a starvation wage. I applaud those cities—Seattle, Los Angeles and others—that have raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour. And that is exactly what we will do at the federal level."
5. On the very rich: "They control vast sums of money. But we have something they do not have. We have a united people."
4. "Every public college and university in America will be tuition-free."
3. "The cost of war is real, and it is terrible. I believe that war should be the last resort, not the first resort."
2. On his Supreme Court nominees: "They will have to tell the American people that their first order of business will be to overturn Citizens United."
1. "This campaign is sending a message to the billionaire class: Yes, we have the guts to take you on."
http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/201 ... t-primary/
My money is on a four-way between Clinton, Bush, Trump, and Sanders! Trump has already said he would totally run as an independent if he failed to get the nomination for the Republicans. I seriously doubt the DNC is going to let Sanders get the nomination for the Democrats. I think they're going to contest his name on the ballot in several states.


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DAVIS, CA (Gray News) - A 48-year-old man who ambushed and killed a rookie police officer left a note in his apartment saying that police had been targeting him with "ultra sonic waves," the Davis Police Department said Saturday.
Police found the typed letter on the bed of Kevin Douglas Limbaugh, the suspect in the Thursday shooting death of 22-year-old Natalie Corona.
The entire note reads: "The Davis Police department has been hitting me with ultra sonic waves meant to keep dogs from barking. I notified the press, internal affairs, and even the FBI about it. I am highly sensitive to its affect (sic) on my inner ear. I did my best to appease them, but they have continued for years and I can't live this way anymore."
The note was signed by "Citizen Kevin Limbaugh."
"There have been a lot of rumors as to why this happened, why he did what he did, and we're hoping this sheds some light," Davis police Lt. Paul Doroshov said. As for the placement of the note, which was found face-up on Limbaugh's bed, "I really can't speculate as to why it was there like that."
Limbaugh shot and killed Corona on Thursday while she responded to a triple-car crash in Downtown Davis. He was later found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.
Limbaugh was arrested in September at his Davis home on a felony charge of battery with serious bodily injury, according to SF Gate.
He also had been previously ordered to surrender a semiautomatic rifle last fall, according to the Sacramento Bee.
"She was a very humble, loving person," said Rosa Corona, said of her niece Natalie Corona. "That's all she had to give was love."
The 22-year-old had recently completed her training in December after graduating from the Sacramento Police Academy in 2018.
Corona is the oldest of four sisters. She played volleyball and basketball and was homecoming queen of her high school, according to KMAX.
Copyright 2019 Gray Television Group, Inc. All rights reserved.


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Bronx's Little Italy Tour
On the Bronx's Little Italy Tour you'll explore the exciting area between Belmont and Arthur Avenue in the Bronx. It's an area known for it's incredible food scene. Learn about the area's immigrant history and sample some culinary treat in the Bronx's Little Italy.
- Explore New York's culinary center
- Learn about the Bronx's fascinating immigrant history
- Try some of the area's best culinary treats in Little Italy
Get a Taste of Bronx's Little Italy
Explore Belmont and Arthur Avenue, known as New York culinary center with it's authentic Italian bakerys, butcher shops, fish market, specialty stores and more. Learn the history of Belmont and Fordham Road, learning how generations of Italian, Irish and other immigrants shape the history of the Bronx. Then you'll get to sample culinary treats in the Bronx's Little Italy.
After the tour we recommend that you end your day with exploring other areas of the Bronx such as The Bronx Zoo and the Bronx's Botanical Gardens.
The tour is operated in English.
How do I get my tickets?
Shortly after your booking is complete your e-ticket will be send directly to your email, just print it out and bring it on your tour.
Where does the tour begin?
The tour starts in front of Grand Central Station. Please be there 15 minutes before the tour starts.
How long does the tour last?
The tour lasts 2.5 hours.
Are there children's tickets?
Yes, children's tickets are available for children between 6-12 years old.
Reserve tickets
Bronx's Little Italy Tour
The meeting point is Grand Central Station. We'll meet by the entrance that is near the intersection of Park Avenue and East 42nd Street. This entrance is directly across the street from the Pershing Square Café.
Bronx's Little Italy Tour
The tour operates Wednesday at 11 AM.
Click on the map below to see where Grand Central Station is located.
View map


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