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College of Education faculty member performs Pa. folk at international rock fest
College of Education faculty member performs Pa. folk at international rock fest
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.— Kai A. Schafft, associate professor of education in the Department of Education Policy Studies, performed June 20 with indie rock band Marah Presents Mountain Minstrelsy at Azkena Rock Festival outside of Bilbao, Spain. The band played in front of more than 14,000 people at Azkena, one of the largest European rock music festivals, alongside legendary bands such as Scorpions, Blondie, Violent Femmes and Wolfmother.
Mountain Minstrelsy's show was hailed in the Spanish version of Rolling Stone magazine as one of the festival's triumphs. The band followed Azkena with a second show in a small town in the foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains, hosted in part by an anarchist artists' collective, konventpuntzero.
While Schafft has played music semiprofessionally for 15 years, the singer/guitarist/tenor guitarist/banjo player found his big break when a manager at Elk Creek Café + Aleworks in Millheim, Pa., introduced Schafft to Marah's David Bielanko and Christine Smith about six years ago.
It may seem odd that a college professor would pursue a side career in music, but Schafft, trained as a rural sociologist, says that everything he does has to do with rural and folk culture. He has been interested in the subject ever since he attended a small state school in Maryland, the surrounding rural town of which was transformed with the construction of a naval base. His observations of the change in traditional life sparked his strong sociological curiosity about rural and folk culture.
"Folk culture is the connection of people to place, place to people and people to people, both intergenerationally and in the moment," Schafft said.
According to Schafft's definition, Mountain Minstrelsy music project was created in true folk fashion. Band members David Bielanko and Christine Smith were inspired by the folklorist and "song catcher" Henry Shoemaker's book "Mountain Minstrelsy of Pennsylvania," a collection of song lyrics gathered in the mountains of Pennsylvania more than a century ago.
The band formed with old and new members, including 10-year-old fiddle player Gus Tritsch, to write new music and resurrect the old lyrics. The album itself was recorded live into a single microphone in an old local church in Millheim that the band had converted into an analog studio.
Schafft said the transformation of the church could have been profoundly alienating for the eclectic band since local churches used to be the key community institutions in rural Pennsylvania towns like Millheim. Many congregations lost their following over the decades, and local churches were subsequently closed and replaced by "mega churches," which have now phased out most small churches.
"We have a profound respect and cognition of what we're doing with this (music project) and how we are involved in some way with this space and the local people," said Schafft.
It became clear to the band that bringing in elements from the community was the best way to make the album. Mountain Minstrelsy renewed the old church as a community center by leaving the church doors open during recording sessions, allowing neighbors, fans, and additional talent to enter and even participate in recording sessions.
"We got these little tap dancers, a tuba player, a chorus," Schafft said. "There was no real recruiting involved."
The band recorded and produced the album for about a year before releasing their vinyl album Feb. 25. The band used no digital interface.
When asked about the performance, Schafft said, "I've played in front of a lot of people before, but never in front of so many (people)," he said. "I've never played internationally. I've never had a rider," referencing a document outlining the artist's preferences for backstage and dressing rooms.
All of that has now changed. Mountain Minstrelsy will play at the Philadelphia Folk Festival in August and the Americana Music Festival in Nashville, Tenn., in September. They are planning a second brief tour of Spain in the fall.
Schafft will travel overseas again in February when he goes to Hungary on his Fulbright fellowship at the Central European University Institute for Advanced Study. He will be revisiting his initial 1991 study of local development and political mobilization of Roma-Gypsy minority self-governments in post-socialist Hungary.


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The Dallas Cowboys' already shorthanded defense will be stretched even thinner to start the season.
Cornerback Orlando Scandrick has been suspended for the first four games of the season for violating the NFL's policy on performance-enhancing drugs, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones told reporters on Monday night.
Scandrick, 27, became one of the Cowboys' top cornerbacks last season after taking over a starting role for the injured Morris Claiborne. He recorded 59 tackles and two interceptions and was expected to compete for an outside role with Claiborne, who missed the Cowboys' preseason opener with tendinitis in his right knee.
The suspension is the latest blow to a Cowboys defense that ranked last in the league last year in yards allowed. Dallas lost defensive linemen DeMarcus Ware and Jason Hatcher in free agency, and linebacker Sean Lee is out for the year with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.
The Cowboys open the season by hosting the 49ers. They travel to the Titans and Rams before playing the Saints in the final game Scandrick is scheduled to miss.
PHOTOS: NFL player suspensions

subset: commoncrawl


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Although what this guy really means is, "Why don't you stand up and fire back hard at the racially-driven attacks?"
"There's Hollywood Elsewhere and then there's everything else. It's your neighborhood dive where you get the ugly truth, a good laugh and a damn good scotch."–JJ Abrams(Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Super 8)
"Smart, reliable and way ahead of the curve … a must and invaluable read."–Peter Biskind(Down and Dirty Pictures Easy Riders, Raging Bulls)
"He writes with an element that any good filmmaker employs and any moviegoer uses to fully appreciate the art of film – the heart."–Alejandro G. Inarritu(The Revenant, Birdman, Amores Perros)
"Nothing comes close to HE for truthfulness, audacity, and one-eyed passion and insight."–Phillip Noyce(Salt, Clear and Present Danger, Rabbit-Proof Fence, Dead Calm)
"A rarity and a gem … Hollywood Elsewhere is the first thing I go to every morning."–Ann HornadayWashington Post
"Jeffrey Wells isn't kidding around. Well, he does kid around, but mostly he just loves movies."–Cameron Crowe(Almost Famous, Jerry Maguire, Vanilla Sky)
"In a world of insincere blurbs and fluff pieces, Jeff has a truly personal voice and tells it like it is. Exactly like it is, like it or not."–Guillermo del Toro(Pan's Labyrinth, Cronos, Hellboy)
"It's clearly apparent he doesn't give a shit what the Powers that Be think, and that's a good thing."–Jonathan HensleighDirector (The Punisher), Writer (Armageddon, The Rock)
"So when I said I'd like to leave my cowboy hat there, I was obviously saying (in my head at least) that I'd be back to stay the following year … simple and quite clear all around."–Jeffrey Wells, HE, January '09
"If you're in a movie that doesn't work, game over and adios muchachos — no amount of star-charisma can save it."–Jeffrey Wells, HE
Although what this guy really means is, "Why don't you stand up and fire back hard at the racially-driven attacks?"
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Oman Air beat two other newcomer airlines to win the much coveted "Promising New Foreign Airline of the Year" award in the sixth edition of the KLIA Annual Award held recently. Malaysia Airports Berhad (MAB), honoured Oman Air with the "Promising New Foreign Airline Of The Year" award for exceptional performance for the year 2010. In 2010, MAB had laid the welcome mat for three new airlines – Oman Air, Royal Jordanian and Mahan Air - and all three were automatic contenders for the award.
Oman Air stood out from among the newcomers with its dynamic and strategic offerings, technologically innovative onboard performance and its smart alliances among other attributes. In the end, Oman Air successfully grabbed the pole position in this particular category because MAB recognized Oman Air's excellence in boosting passenger traffic despite being a newcomer. The win itself was primarily based on the comparison of the highest passenger volume by a new foreign carrier operating at KLIA.
This was achieved through Oman Air's year long positive involvement in relentlessly pushing the boundaries of distinction in within the field of aviation, thereby enabling KLIA to raise the profile of Malaysia as a desired aviation and tourist destination while at the same time further advancing KLIA's reputation in the area of service excellence.
Chief Office of Corporate Affairs, Philippe Georgiou commented, "Oman Air views this win as a deserving accolade for the inventiveness and people centric winnable attitude of the Oman Air team that has been determined from the beginning to take Oman from beyond the sandy shores of Oman to the greener grassy borders of the fast growing South East Asian region. "
He further added, "The KLIA Awards offer recognition to different categories of airlines and service providers in KLIA. The winners were chosen based on their 2010 feat in sectors such as passenger movement, growth factor, sales performance, international recognition as well as their service performance. Incidentally, the award ceremony itself was also a unique event since it coincided with Malaysia's 100 year celebration of its involvement in the aviation industry and Oman Air is proud to have been part of this."
"Malaysia's aviation industry is undergoing rapid growth and has become an important air transport hub for South East Asia and beyond. KLIA's passenger movements continue to indicate growth that outpaces its closest rival. As the momentum continues, Malaysia is on its way to be a prominent hub of the region and Oman Air too is poised to grow its share of the Malaysian and South East Asian aviation market. This latest award will help lift further Oman Air's progressive push for excellence in aviation services by several degrees for certain," he added.
The award was presented to Kathleen Leong, Oman Air District Sales Manager in Malaysia who has been instrumental in spearheading Oman Air's foray into Malaysia. On the winning of the award, she commented, "Together with the Oman Air team in Muscat have made a hugely positive impact on the Malaysian landscape about Oman Air's single-minded purpose of opening its borders to Malaysians and vice versa. This win will be the catalyst for greater forward moving momentum in the years ahead."
First introduced in 2006, the KLIA Awards is Malaysia's one and only aviation award in the country and it pays tribute to the best performers in aviation industry and in the process has gained a highly respected reputation as one of the most important events in the calendar of Malaysia's aviation sector.


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Mental health issues need to stop being society's dirty little secret - particularly in the current unstable economic conditions, which are contributing to the problem in the workplace, according to a recent report that says our failure to deal with them is a drag on productivity.
The report from the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development says one in five workers is struggling to cope with some form of mental illness, such as depression or anxiety, which affects productivity and well-being in the workplace.
"Increasing job insecurity and pressure in today's workplaces could drive a rise in mental health problems in the years ahead," says the OECD. "The share of workers exposed to work-related stress, or job strain, has increased in the past decade all across the OECD.
And in the current economic climate, more and more people are worried about their job security."
The report says the employment rate of people with a mental disorder is 55 per cent to 70 per cent, which is 10 per cent to 15 per cent lower than the rate for those without a mental disorder.
"This employment gap reflects an enormous loss to the economy, as well as for the individuals concerned and their families," it says, noting that more people with mental disorders would like to work but are twice as likely to be unemployed as those without such a disorder.


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The digital age of wordless communication took front and center Thursday in a Butler County courtroom where an ambiguous emoji proved to be a Brady Township man's undoing.
Jason E. Cyphert, 48, admitted he texted the "thinking emoji" — nothing else — to his estranged wife last week.
The bright yellow symbol was enough to earn him three months on probation for violating his wife's protection from abuse order, which barred Cyphert from having contact with her for three years.
At Tuesday's hearing before Judge Kelley Streib, and without an attorney, Cyphert pleaded guilty to the charge.
Along with probation, Cyphert was also ordered to remain at the Ellen O'Brien Gaiser Addiction Center for up to 90 days and undergo a mental health evaluation.
Read more about this case in the Butler Eagle.


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All video game movies suck? Not so fast. The anime based on the Professor Layton puzzle series is quite good.
Released last December in Japan, Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva was subtitled into English for its Singapore release last month. The film was written by Akihiro Hino, who designs the games, and created by OLM, the studio responsible for the recent Pokémon films.
According to the Anime News Network, British anime distributor Manga Entertainment has revealed it will be releasing Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva on DVD and Blu-ray this September. No word whether the film will use the game's English voice actors for a dub or retain the original Japanese track.
The film was so successful that there are plans for another Layton anime, which has the tentative title of Professor Layton and the Second Movie. And then there will be plans to make more of these films! There have also been plans to make a live-action film as well.


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Not a craft fair Saturday, but just a regular Saturday at the farmer's market:
As for canning? That's tomorrow's brand-new adventure.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Farmer's Market in Focus
3 comments:
- cake said...
beautiful! please know you can call me, if needed, with canning questions. i'd love to help!
- September 6, 2009 at 2:24 PM
Gorgeous photos...it's like being there without having to go. ;) We hit 4th Street instead.
- September 7, 2009 at 3:40 PM
- julie said...
It's awful of me, but I HATE the Fourth Street Festival! Everything there is super-expensive and/or not at all to my taste, and it's always really crowded, AND every year we try to go we never look at everything because a kid melts down or Matt and I get in a fight.
- September 7, 2009 at 4:09 PM
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The Leone Crime Family is an Italian-American Mafia criminal organization, originating from Sicily (referred to by Salvatore Leone as "the old country") whose main base of operations is in Liberty City.
Salvatore Leone became the Don of the Leone family after a bloody power struggle during the mid-1980s. He has a son, Joey Leone, who much to Salvatore's dismay is not wed yet. The Leones are clearly based off of the Corleone Family from The Godfather movie; this is also supported by their involvement in the gambling industry. They are the secondary antagonists in Grand Theft Auto III, and one of the player's main allies in Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, alongside the Southside Hoods and Avenging Angels.
The Leone family was active in Las Venturas in 1992, where they held a stake in Caligula's Casino with the Sindacco and Forelli families, to unite the organizations into one mafia family. The casino was later robbed in a heist organised by former ally Carl Johnson, Zero and the Triads.
What happens after that is uncertain. At some point between 1992 and 1998 he abandoned his investments in Las Venturas and moved back to Liberty City.
By 1998, the Leone family had become engaged in a three-way gang war with the Sindacco and Forelli families in Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. The hostilities lead to Salvatore being arrested, the assassination of the Forelli-controlled Mayor Roger C. Hole, the death of Sindacco family Don Paulie Sindacco and the massive bombing and destruction of Fort Staunton. The Leones also manage to weaken the Sicilian Mafia, led by Uncle Leone and Massimo Torini, making them the only mafia family with significant power in the city. The Leone family also recapture a club in the Red Light District, renaming it Luigi's Sex Club 7. They also gain new territories in the Red Light District and parts of both Hepburn Heights and Chinatown. However, these events lead to a weakening of the Leone family, with the Diablos and Triads moving onto Portland Island. Hostilities with the Yakuza also remain, as Toni had murdered the Yakuza leader, Kazuki Kasen. Having failed to secure Donald Love as Mayor of Liberty City, they begin to control new Mayor Miles O'Donovan after rescuing him from the Sicilian Mafia.
In 2000 Yakuza co-leader Asuka Kasen employs Mike to extract revenge on the Mafia for the murder of her brother Kazuki. The Mafia presumably refers to the Leone family as the Sindaccos and Forellis are severely weakened following the events of GTA Liberty City Stories. She has Mike kidnap at least fifteen Leone Family gang members to sell them in Asia as servants. However they are soon rescued following a raid of the re-taken over casino once owned by Kazuki, which lead to Kenji Kasen, another brother of Asuka taking over the casino and renaming it after himself.
By 2001 the Leone family have lost some power in the city, although they remain one of the strongest crime syndicates in the city. Most of the territory they had gained in Chinatown is lost to the Triads whilst the Diablos have taken control of Hepburn Heights, as predicted by Toni Cipriani in 1998. This leads to shootouts between the Leones and the Triads around the Red Light District which is Leone Turf and Chinatown which is Triad territory. The Colombian Cartel have also been undermining the Leone family, selling SPANK from the factory on freighter in Portland Harbor and through noodle stands. This sparks major hostilities in and around Trenton, the business place of Underboss Joey Leone, and also around Portland Harbour. The Leone Family first launch a full-scale war against the Triads. This leads to the death of three Triad warlords and the destruction of the Triads Fish Factory. The Cartel too are weakened with the destruction of their freighter in Portland Harbor. Whilst neither conflict with the Triads or Cartel is resolved, both appear to be going in the Leone's favour.
However, Salvatore's paranoia sets in when his wife, Maria Latore, tells him that she is in an affair Leone associate Claude. He rigs a car in order to kill Claude, although Maria informs Claude of this plot. The two meet at a small jetty with the co-leader of the Yakuza, Asuka Kasen, who has Claude kill Salvatore to prove that he has severed all ties with the Leone Family. It is unknown what happens to the Leones after that, but they still appear in Saint Mark's and will attack Claude on sight. It is likely Toni Cipriani and Joey Leone had taken over proceedings afterwards.
In Grand Theft Auto III and GTA Liberty City Stories, Leone henchmen wear black suits; some with sunglasses. In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the mobsters (presumed to be the Leone family) dress in either brown leather jackets with gray pants, light blue shirts with chains or in black jogging suits.
The official gang car of the Leone family is the Mafia Sentinel, a modified jet black version of the Sentinel which is supercharged only in GTA LCS. However, there are also uniquely jet black versions of other cars either used by the Leone family or located near their property in both GTA III and GTA Liberty City Stories. These include a Rumpo used by the Leones in Under Surveillance, a Pony used by Toni Cipriani in Taking the Peace, a Kuruma used by former Capo Vincenzo Cilli and parked outside his house, and a PCJ-600 parked outside Salvatore Leone's mansion.
Their favorite radio station is Double Clef FM. This radio station is also favored by the city's other Mafia families (and the Leones' biggest enemies), the Forellis and the Sindaccos. In GTA III, they might sometimes listen to Flashback FM.
The Mafia are very dangerous once hostile, capable of making quick work of vehicles if the player drives within range of their shotguns.
- The Leone family is heavily based on the Corleone family of The Godfather trilogy, Leone is a contraction of Corleone's surname Cor-Leone. Both families are the most powerful organizations in their respective cities. Don Vito Corleone and Michael Corleone are also the main inspiration of Don Salvatore Leone and his son Joey. The two families settled their operations in Italian neighborhoods, little Italy and Saint Mark´s and were responsible for the murder of the heads of the other families in the city.
- Leone is Italian for "Lion".
- In GTA III, it was mostly pronounced as "Le-own", but in GTA: SA and in GTA: LCS, it was given less emphasis on the "e"'s, making it said by many characters in said games as Lee-o-nies. Both pronunciations would be incorrect in Italian, however.
- The scenario in which the Sicilian Mafia attempt to take over Liberty City may be similar to the real-life event in which the Sicilian Mafia reformed the American New York Mafia.
- Salvatore being at war with his uncle in 1998 is clearly inspired by the events of season 1 of The Sopranos wherein main character Tony Soprano is in conflict with his uncle Corrado "Junior" Soprano over control of their crime family. Leone's uncle's appearance is also based on that of Junior Soprano.
- Even though Toni Cipriani is a member of the Leone family, other members will still be hostile to him if he attacks them or carjacks a Mafia Sentinel with a member inside.
- The Leones are the second most dangerous gang in GTA III, the first being the Colombian Cartel.
- It is extremely dangerous to drive through Leone territory in the later stages of GTA III (after you've killed Salvatore) due to the fact that the Leone goons will shoot on sight. This is especially bad, as Leone members carry shotguns, which can destroy a vehicle in only 2 shots.
- It is interesting to note that in GTA LCS, there is a rampage where Toni has to kill the members of the Leone family. It is unknown why this rampage exists since the Leones are allies with the player at the time (in 1998).
Mission Appearances
- The Getaway
- Salvatore's Called A Meeting
- Chaperone
- Triads and Tribulations
- Sayonara Salvatore
- Under Surveillance
- Gangcar Round-up
- Rigged to Blow
- Espresso-2-Go!
- GTA San Andreas
- GTA Liberty City Stories
- Smash and Grab
- Contra-Banned
- The Guns of Leone
- The Portland Chainsaw Masquerade
- Sindacco Sabotage
- The Trouble With Triads
- Making Toni
- The Shoreside Redemption


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I don't know if you guys heard what happened at the ROH show a few hours ago, but Hass retired tonight, this is from ROH World:
"He comes out to take on some guy who's name I don't know to this very minute...And Haas gets the mic and tells everyone in the audience that he's given it all to wrestling and all his friends have died (naming his brother Russ, Umaga, and Lance Cade) and this is his last match. We all are shocked, obviously, and a "Thank You Charlie!" chant starts up. And he starts crying. He says he can't wipe his ass without it hurting and turning 40 sucks. He basically tells Kevin Kelly to go fuck himself about ten times then the match begins. He's yelling a Kevin Kelly the entire time and said he was going to beat the hepatitis out of Nigel McGuinness, and that drew some noise from us... And Haas loses to this guy with a little crucifix pinning combo...
So he's lying there on the mat crying and he gets up to more "Thank You Charlie!" He asks for a mic again. The ROH crew refuses, as some of the guys near the curtain are waving for him to come back and don't do all this. They absolutely won't give him the mic. So my buddy yells out for everyone to shut up so we can hear him talk and luckily they do. He thanks us all and tells us how much he loves us, and how he's ready to be a good father and husband. He then hops out of the ring and gives Kevin Kelly the finger very agressively and walks out."
Rumor is he was ferious when ROH refused to have a 10 bell salute for Reid Flair, but who knows for sure. It was expecially shocking considering he had a huge match with Shelton at Supercard.


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Law Waves U.S. Flag at Pirates
Yesterday the U.S. House passed by voice vote a resolution praising the captain and crew of the U.S.-flagged ship Maersk Alabama that was seized by Somali pirates earlier this month. It was a riveting story that ended well for the brave crew and their Captain Richard Phillips, thanks to the work of Navy Seal sharpshooters. But one question that has yet to be adequately discussed is just what that ship was doing over in such dangerous waters off the coast of strife‐torn Somalia.
The answer may surprise you: the U.S. government sent them there.
The ship and its American crew of 20 were delivering U.S.-government food aid to Africa. Under the Food Security Act of 1985, food aid sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Agency for International Development must in most cases be delivered by U.S.-owned, flagged and crewed ships. The law is one of several, including the Jones Act, that are designed to steer business to generally high‐cost U.S. shipping companies.
The laws in that narrow sense have worked: While 95 percent of international cargo arriving in the United States each year is carried by lower‐cost, non-U.S.-flagged ships, 83 percent of U.S.-sponsored food‐aid cargo is carried by U.S.-flagged ships. [You can read a WTO critique of U.S. cargo shipping preference programs beginning on page 121 of its 2008 review of U.S. trade policy.]
Such laws are anti‐competitive and cost U.S. companies and taxpayers millions of dollars a year in higher shipping costs. But the case of the Maersk Alabama reveals another unintended cost. Almost by definition, food aid goes to regions troubled by war, civil strife and oppressive governments. The Food Security Act essentially requires American civilians to be inserted into dangerous places, which creates yet another inviting target for pirates and another argument for a U.S. military presence.
The U.S. government could ship its official cargo at lower costs, and keep civilian American citizens out of harm's way, by repealing all its protectionist, anti‐competitive cargo preference laws.


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Comment Investment banker Frank Quattrone has said Autonomy's Mike Lynch is right and Oracle is wrong: Mike Lynch did not shop Autonomy to Oracle - he did.
Oracle, in a decidedly aggressive and blunt press release and website blitzkrieg, had said that Autonomy boss Mike Lynch, accompanied by Frank Quattrone, head of Qatalyst Partners, tried to sell Autonomy to Oracle at a meeting in April. At the confab were Oracle president Mark Hurd and Douglas Kehring, Oracle's M&A head. Oracle has supplied two Qatalyst slide decks to support this stance.
Slide wars
Mike Lynch, who is reportedly gaining $500m from the HP deal to buy Autonomy for $10.2bn – agreed earlier this year by the since-ousted HP CEO Leo Apotheker – denied this.
It was a 30-minute meet-and-greet session to discuss database issues and went nowhere, Lynch said.
Autonomy then released a statement saying that Qatalyst had independently sent the slides to Oracle on 26 January. The Autonomy press release added: "Autonomy did not present these slides in the meeting."
Lynch then said Oracle needed help with its unstructured data, saying in an interview on Tuesday that the Oracle CEO's "understanding of the problems in the unstructured world is very weak". This is knockabout stuff, rarely seen on the CEO stage.
Now Frank Quattrone has waded in with an admission to the FT that he tried to sell Autonomy independently to Oracle in January, the date on one of the slide decks, and that Autonomy had known nothing about this:
The slides Oracle posted publicly were sent by me to Mark Hurd in January, were prepared by Qatalyst and were for the purpose of our independently pitching Autonomy as an idea to Oracle. These slides were not used in our April meeting with Mark and Doug.
Omissions and obfuscations
We have Frank Quattrone and Mike Lynch both telling Oracle in public, loudly and very clearly, that its strongly asserted view of an April meeting involving Mark Hurd and Doug Kehring is wrong, and implying that Oracle's accusation of Mike Lynch being a liar is itself a lie.
In any other public company this would be followed either by lawsuits, the sacking of the president involved or the board-enforced resignation of the CEO. If Quattrone and Lynch are wrong then Oracle has to prove it, going to court if necessary.
Revolving doors, falling shares
The Oracle war of words with HP looks like a contemptuous series of shots from the hip which appear to have started after Ellison's tennis-playing buddy Mark Hurd resigned from his CEO position over some minor expenses infringements and some disagreement over his involvement with an executive meet-and-greet actress. Since then Hurd has joined Oracle and Ellison has publicly berated HP time and again.
HP hired ex-SAP man Leo Apotheker to be its replacement CEO, and appointed ex-Oracle COO Ray Lane to be its board chairman. Lane was at the helm when Apotheker left 11 months later – this September. This was after Apotheker cast off Palm, abandoned HP's tablet, raised doubt about the future of its PC division, and bought Autonomy for the breathtaking sum of $10.2bn, all while HP's share price declined.
It was $48.99 on 16 February, now it is $23.78, more than 50 per cent lower.
Enough was enough. Apotheker went and Lane's board buddy Meg Whitman, the ex-eBay CEO and failed California gubernatorial candidate, was appointed CEO in his stead.
Thunderbolts from Oracle's battlements
Meanwhile Ellison had Oracle publicly walk away from supporting HP's Itanium-based servers, and has been involved in lawsuits against HP and SAP, as well as hurling PR thunderbolts from the battlements of Oracle castle on Redwood Shores.
Why all this sound and fury from Oracle? Why is Ellison bothering with all this? Is something else going on here? Does Ellison want to buy HP?
HP shares are currently trading at $23.78, and the company's market capitalisation is $47.25bn. Oracle shares are worth $29.65 and its market capitalisation is $149.57bn, three times that of HP. Does Ellison want to publicly humiliate HP's board and executives by acquiring the keys to HP's kingdom?
HP might fear so. It recently hired Goldman Sachs to defend itself against potential bidders and aggrieved investors. We can expect poison pill stock arrangements shortly.
Whitman worries
All this sound and fury will boost Oracle OpenWorld's attendance and Oracle's general PR exposure. It may also shake the confidence of HP's customers and investors and – importantly in our view - that of HP employees who may start leaving. The appointment of Meg Whitman, who has no experience running a global hardware-manufacturing, software-producing and services business of this scale, may also be making investors concerned.
It almost beggars belief that a person with just eight months' board experience of HP and some dramatic success running an internet auction company – success moderated by an apparent over-payment for Skype – could be considered as a CEO candidate for HP, let alone get the job. There is widespread apprehension among the Wall Street community that things could go from bad to worse at HP, despite the breadth and depth of its experienced executives and staff, and the strength of its products and services.
El Reg's estimation? Oracle could be kicking HP around the head because it enhances Oracle's business prospects: Or it could have a deeper intention, an acquisitive intention ... a desire to have HP for lunch. ®


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ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Corey Kluber allowed one run over eight innings and the Cleveland Indians beat the Texas Rangers 5-2 Tuesday night to snap an eight-game losing streak.
The Indians also ended a 12-game road losing streak.
Mark Reynolds had RBI single in the fourth off Derek Holland (5-3) that put Cleveland ahead to stay. Drew Stubbs added a two-run single in the fifth and scored on a single by Nick Swisher, who had only two hits his previous 28 at-bats.
Kluber (4-4) went to Coppell High School, which is less than 25 miles from Rangers Ballpark. The right-hander struck out three with three walks and benefited from three double plays.
Lefty Holland, who pitched a season-low 4 1-3 innings, was 4-0 with a 2.40 ERA in his previous seven starts.
Holland struck out the game's first three batters on 11 pitches. But the left-hander was gone after his only walk loaded the bases with one out in the fifth after the Indians already scored three times that inning. The Ohio native had been 3-0 in six previous career starts against Cleveland.
Neither team took pregame batting practice on the field after a busted water pipe under the infield caused a sinkhole right behind the mound. Workers had to dig more than 3 feet deep to try to fix the pipe, but completed the repair and had the grass back in place behind the mound about an hour before the game.
With his team mired in the losing streak, Cleveland manager Terry Francona joked before the game that there were no Bull Durham-like shenanigans by his team trying to get a day off.
"We're not there yet," Francona said with a chuckle about the reference to a scene in the Kevin Costner baseball movie. "We're frustrated, but we're not there."
The Indians were glad they got to play, and feeling better when the game was over.
Ryan Raburn had a leadoff double in the fourth and scored on Reynolds' second hit of the game. Reynolds was 2 for 25 the first seven games of the trip that ends with Wednesday's series finale.
Yan Gomes and Mike Aviles, the Nos. 8 and 9 hitters in the Cleveland lineup, had consecutive singles to start the fifth. Both moved up a base on Holland's errant pickoff throw into center when trying to pick Gomes off second base. Stubbs followed with his runs-producing hit before Jason Kipnis was hit by a pitch to bring up Swisher.
Elvis Andrus led off the Texas first with a single but was quickly erased on a double play when David Murphy lined out to third baseman Reynolds. Nelson Cruz grounded into a double play after A.J. Pierzynski's leadoff walk in the second.
After Kluber walked Leury Garcia and Andrus to start the sixth, Garcia was thrown out trying to advance to third on Murphy's flyout to left.
Murphy had an RBI double in the eighth. Pierzynski homered in the ninth off reliever Joe Smith.
NOTES: Andrus has hit in all 34 career games against Cleveland, the longest hitting streak ever by a Texas player against one opponent. … Rangers DH Lance Berkman reached in the first on a bunt single toward third base — with the Indians infield shifted the other way and third baseman Reynolds near shortstop. … Kipnis led off the seventh with a walk, stole second base and scored on a wild pitch.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.


text:
- "Well? How are they? Oh, they're great! They're like sex! Except I'm having them!"
- ―Fry, eating popplers for the first time
"The Problem with Popplers" is episode 19 in the second season of Futurama. It originally aired in North America on May 7, 2000.
Desperate for food after a visit to the Planet of the Moochers, the Planet Express crew land on a Planet to look for Roddenberries and instead find the planet covered in a delectable delicacy, which they decide to sell under the name Popplers. The crew create a catchy jingle and sell Popplers on the street for $1 a dozen, with great success. Fishy Joe makes the crew an offer to sell the treats at his chain of seafood restaurants for $2 a dozen, of which they get half.
Protesters, including "anti-food activist" Free Waterfall, Jr. rally outside the Planet Express building. A Poppler Leela is about to eat opens its eyes and says "Mama" to her: realizing that Popplers are intelligent, she joins the activists in protesting the trade in Popplers. While at first, the crew reasonably think she is delusional, but when Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth suggests they painfully dissect its brain, leading the terrified Poppler to beg for protection. Shocked, they then vow to help Leela's cause, although they do not get much headway (i.e., Fry handcuffs himself to a revolving door to stop people from going into a Fishy Joe's restaurant, leading to him literally getting walked on). A televised debate between "Fishy Joe" Gilman, Free Waterfall, Jr. and Turanga Leela is interrupted by the arrival on Earth of the Omicron Persei 8, who reveal that Popplers are in fact Omicronian young, with the planet Bender, Philip J. Fry I and Leela found being one of their nurseries. The Omicronians demand vengeance for the eating of their young: the initial demand that Earth 'serve' one human for each of the 198 billion Popplers eaten. However, during negotiations with Zapp, there are revealed to be not as much humans so they eventually settle on Leela, as the discoverer of Popplers, to be presented for consumption.
While Lrrr waits to eat Leela on live television, Zapp formulates a "brilliant" plan to use an orangutan to be substituted for Leela, in the hopes that the Omicronians' inability to tell humans apart can be exploited. Kif attempts to makeover the ape as best he can. Oblivious to the danger it places Leela in, Free Waterfall Jr. reveals that the ape is an ape: Ndnd confirms it by eating it and Lrrr demands the real Leela. Only the intervention of Jrrr, the poppler Leela didn't eat, saves her. Lrrr eats Free Waterfall, Jr. instead, but feels woozy from eating him and the crew retires to a meal which includes dolphin, which they deem as unintelligent because "it blew all its money on lottery tickets".
Ongoing ThemesEdit
Fry and LeelaEdit
While Leela awaits execution in her cage, Fry tells her that she's beautiful and a great friend.
A dolled-up orangutan takes Leela's place at the execution.


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Every day here at GeekTech, we feature all sorts of inventive projects--everything from cardboard robots to music made by scanning barcodes (and that's just in the last week!). The imagination and ingenuity of the people who make these sorts of creations is incredible... but it's also enough to make you feel a little jealous.
But just because you don't know everything about coding or engineering shouldn't stop you making something cool, because doing your own hacks is a great way to teach yourself a few new skills.
One person who has done this more than a few times is Tom Scott--a self-described "maker of things" with a list of works longer than... well, longcat--who just recently made a Nyan Cat service for fax machines.
With such a big history of hacks, Tom is used to working in unfamiliar territory. He told GeekTech, "Most of the skills I've learned have come from the things I've made: rather than learning for the sake of it, I learn because I need to.
"The best example of this would be some of the projects I helped put together for the TV show Gadget Geeks last year: Suddenly, I needed to do lots of graphical displays, and so I learned Processing. Then I needed to work with a 3D printer--which meant I needed a crash course in Python!"
Any project starts with an idea. But once he's come up with that, how does Tom go from there? He explained: "The idea tends to arrive, fully formed, and then I've got to work out how to build it. Sometimes it just isn't practical--there are half a dozen things on my ideas board that won't work unless I have the budget to hire a helicopter. Most important is how to make it quickly: I have a worrying tendency to lose interest in things after a while...!"
So it's possible--and not unusual--to teach yourself new tricks as you go along with a hack. But how can you actually do it?
In my spare time, I've had a few silly hack projects--normally a joke website making fun of some aspect of British culture (hey, it's what we British people do best). Most of the time, I don't know what I'm doing, but it hasn't stopped me yet.
My first main tip is to break down the idea and figure out what it means from a technical perspective. When you start to figure out what the sort of functions it needs in order to work are, read about your selected topic online and get a bit of an idea for which bits of the puzzle you'll need to put together. Once you know the basics of the technology you're working with, it's easier to know which bits you need to look for specifically.
There's also no harm in working with what's already out there. There are plenty of great guides and tutorials out there, but if you're trying to do something quickly or don't need to reinvent the wheel, use what other people have made available for reuse as a starting point!
One of my projects was pretty much only possible because of this: I wanted to make a version of Twitter that felt like a Teletext service (the text thing you could get on analog TVs, like Electra in the 1980s).
Unsurprisingly, finding an open source Twitter client for Android that I could understand was a bit too difficult, but I did come across Fork-A-Twitter-Client, a hackable, JavaScript-based Twitter client. Just like that, I had my own working Twitter interface to hack around with.
The freely-available code already out there was much better than what I could come up with, and by working with it, I was able to better understand a bunch of the tricks involved.
Two sites worth keeping an eye on for work you can build on are Github and Instructables. GitHub is particularly useful if you're doing a coding project, while Instructables is great for learning about hardware hacks.
But if there's nothing ready to modify, don't feel too proud that you can't ask for help. If someone's managed to do something that stumped you, send them a message and ask for advice.
Another project of mine involved making a parody version of a popular Twitter snow map that collated people's tweets to build a real-time weather forecast. Who better to ask how to make that... than the maker of it himself? I asked Ben Marsh, the developer of #uksnowmap, if I could use some base code of an older version, and he kindly said, "Go for it!" And so, with my own tweaks and fixes, I got my project going in no time.
If you want to have a go at teaching yourself as you go along with your own hacks, Tom has one final bit of advice for you: "Never stop. If you spent ten pounds on it, it's likely to fail--but if you spend a million pounds, it's still likely to fail! So make lots of things, because each one is a different roll of the dice, and you never know which one will succeed!"
Jonathan Cresswell makes things about stuff on the Internet. When not wasting time on Twitter, he writes about video games and turns jokes into one-off websites.
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Avondale resident honored in White House celebration
By ACL
On Aug. 20, President Barack Obama greeted the members of the 1972-'73 Miami Dolphins, which included Avondale resident Garo Yepremian, background.
By Richard L. Gaw
Staff Writer
Garo Yepremian was born in Lanarca, Cyprus to Armenian parents in 1944, and when he was a child growing up in Cyprus, his family had no indoor plumbing and kept warm in winter by burning olive pits.
On Tuesday, Aug. 20, Yepremian met the President of the United States at the White House.
On the 40th anniversary of the Dolphins' celebrated 17-0 season, for whom Yepremian served as the team's kicker, the team was honored in ceremonies at the White House. Yepremian was one of 31 players who stood on a three-level riser, an occasion that had been scheduled to be held in 1973, but was postponed by the Nixon Administration, which at the time was embroiled in the Watergate scandal.
For the next four decades, the White House had thought of ways to honor the team, which won the 1973 Super Bowl with a 14-7 victory over the Washington Redskins. Plans began, sputtered, and began again, only to be postponed. Two weeks ago, a representative from the White House called the Yepremian home in Avondale, and asked him if he'd like to be a guest of the President at the White House.
"I said to the representative, 'Is that a question or a statement?'" Yepremian said. "I said, 'Are you kidding? I would walk there.' When the Office of the President calls, it doesn't matter what your political beliefs are, it's the White House, the symbol of the freest country in the world."
On Aug. 19, Yepremian and his wife Maritza arrived in Washington, D.C. by Amtrak from Wilmington. That evening, they had dinner with former teammates and their wives at the Westin Hotel. The next morning, however, the Yepremians found out that Maritza had not been cleared to be in attendance at the ceremony. She spotted the wife of Otto Stowe, a back-up wide receiver on the '72 Dolphins, and together, they saw a few of the players' wives board the team bus for the White House. They were not among them.
"Here, my husband is in the White House being honored, and I can't get in," Maritza said. "We were excited for them, but when we saw a few of the wives had boarded the bus, we were very disappointed that we were not able to be there with them."
The team bus arrived at the White House at 11 a.m. For Yepremian, walking into the White House was awe-inspiring, but also touched with sadness; his wife of 42 years was not coming. To pass the time before the ceremony, Yepremian visited eight rooms in the White House, which were filed with portraits of the nation's first presidents, as well as gifts of china from around the world.
Eventually, the team, led by Head Coach Don Shula, were ushered to the Blue Room. President Obama entered a room crowded with team members and well-wishers, and personally greeted every player. When he reached Yepremian, he asked the former kicker, "How's your passing?" a direct reference to an errant throw Yepremian made during the '73 Super Bowl that was picked off by Redskins' safety Mike Bass and run for Washington's only touchdown of the game.
"Sir, I'm the highest-rated quarterback in the history of the Super Bowl," Yepremian responded.
"You can still throw a football?" Obama asked. Yepremian said that he could.
Immediately, someone tossed a ceremonial football to Yepremian. Looking up, he saw Obama going out for a pass. Yepremian turned his back, tossed the ball behind his back, and to his surprise, he saw Obama leap high in the air and catch the ball.
"Here I am, an immigrant who arrived in the United States 47 years ago, and I made the President jump," Yepremian said.
In the days prior to the ceremony, three of Yepremian's teammates from the team - Jim Langer, Manny Fernandez and Bob Kuchenberg - publicly voiced their opposition to the policies of the Obama administration, and did not attend the event.
"It's unfortunate that some people put politics above the highest honor you can receive," Yepremian said. "How many opportunities do you have to be in the White House? When you go to the White House, you put politics aside. These guys were born in this country. They should have been proud to be there."
Meanwhile, Maritza, who is recovering from thyroid surgery two weeks ago, began to walk in the direction of the White House, more than a mile from the hotel. Once she arrived, she pleaded her case to secret service officers. One of them sympathized with her; his wife had just had a similar operation. Once inside the White House, she got through additional security, and began to run up a long flight of steps. Her husband had just taken his position in the half-circle greeting line, waiting for the President. As Obama walked into the Blue Room, Yepremian received a text message. It was one of his sons. "Mom is in the White House," the message read. Maritza arrived in the Blue Room, just as Obama was about to begin the ceremony. There, she saw her husband shake hands with the President of the United States.
In addition to being a fine artist, and the chairman of the Garo Yepremian Foundation for Brain Tumor Research, Yepremian gives motivational speeches to groups and organizations throughout the country, where he shares the story of his rise from being an immigrant from Cyprus to playing a key role on the most successful single-season team in professional sports in the last 50 years.
"This moment will be the highlight of the story I will tell from now on," he said. "After family, this is the highest moment of my life. I came to this country with a dream to breathe the free air that America offers. Once you come to America and appreciate its laws and appreciate what it stands for, you have a special feeling for this country."
Upcoming Fundraiser
The Garo Yepremian Foundation for Brain Tumor Research
presents "A Night to Remember"
Thursday, September 12
The Desmond Hotel, Malvern
Wine tasting and hors d'oeuvres begin at 5:30 p.m.
Event features 4-course gourmet dinner, and the comedy of Dick Hardwick
Space is limited. For more information and reservations, call 610-268-2299, or visit www.yepremian.org.


text:
All major UK retailers sell Israeli goods, and most of them sell produce from illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Some have made statements in support of Zionism and some have contracts with Israeli companies.
There is a growing movement to boycott Israeli goods in solidarity with the people of Palestine and in line with an international call for boycott, divestment and sanctions. There have been reports in the press that Israeli producers are experiencing a decline in demand for Israeli produce since the bombardment of Gaza in January 2009. This could be the beginning of a snowball effect for the global boycott movement.
Tesco stores stock a large amount of produce grown in the Occupied Territories and purchased from the Israeli state, including fruit and vegetables from producer Carmel-Agrexco. Israeli products stocked by Tesco include fruit juice, mangoes, avocados, grapes, stonefruit, dates, herbs, pickled cucumbers, Exquisa potatoes, mixed peppers (from Israel and a second country of origin), Barkan wine, Yarden wine, biscuits, cold meat, dips, Osem soups and cakes, snacks by Beigel & Beigel, Telma (soup mixes and cubes, noodles etc) and socks (Tesco's own brand).
Tesco sells products from illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, many of which are exported by Carmel Agrexco. The company admitted sourcing 'a number of products' from illegal settlements, including avocados, herbs, grapes and stonefruit, such as peaches, from farms in the West Bank and Golan Heights. In 2006 War on Want reported that Tesco sells Beigel and Beigel products sourced from the settlements. Tesco also sells gas cylinders for products made by settlement company Soda Club, and repackages settlement dates from Hadiklaim as Tesco own brand dates. Mehadrin-Tnuport Export Company (MTex) supplies Tesco with settlement citrus fruit and there are links between Tesco and the Arava settlement company.
In October 2007, a group of campaigners from the Brighton Tubas Friendship and Solidarity Group entered Tomer settlement in the occupied Jordan Valley and photographed medjoul dates, packaged by Carmel Agrexco, labelled 'Made in Israel' and marked as bound for Tesco stores.
Products exported as 'Made in Israel' benefit from the preferential trade terms of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which came into effect in 2000. Settlement products, however, are excluded from the beneficial terms of the EU-IAA.
When ITN screened an expose in 2007 accusing supermarkets of misleading British consumers, Tesco admitted it had acted "in error" and stated that Israeli dates "originating solely in the West Bank will [in the future] be labelled as such."
BIGCampaign and others groups have been campaigning against the 'West Bank' label as it misleads consumers into believing produce from illegal settlements is actually Palestinian. The Palestinian General Delegation to the UK has written a letter of protest to Tesco, and other retailers, for persisting in the use of this misleading label.
Tesco says that 'freedom of choice' is one of the company's priorities and consumers can choose not to buy Israeli products. However, in correspondence with campaigners in 2006, Tesco representatives said they were phasing out Tesco's line of Israeli peppers due to consumer pressure. Boycott Israeli Goods campaigners have also consistently attended the Tesco AGM to raise the issue of settlement produce and propose a boycott of Israeli goods.
John Porter, one of the principal shareholders in Tesco, also has substantial investments in Israeli companies. In 2000, Tesco awarded a $1 million IT contract to the Israeli firm Tescom to provide a solution for Tesco's Year 2000 conversion requirements.
During the bombing of Gaza, Tesco was targeted across the country by campaigners calling for a boycott of Israeli goods. In Swansea, activists stole Israeli settlement produce from Tesco and sprayed it with red dye to highlight Tesco's complicity in Israel's war crimes by profiting from settlement produce and enabling the settlements to trade and profit from their illegal occupation of Palestinian land.
Email: email@example.com
Tesco PLC
New Tesco House
Delamare Road
England EN8 9SL
Marks & Spencer
Historically, Marks & Spencer has made statements in support of Zionism. Lord Sieff, chairman and founder of M&S who died in 2001, made several statements in support of Israel's military policies. In 1941, Sieff said that "large sections of the Arab population of Palestine should be transplanted to Iraq and other Middle-Eastern Arab States" (Jewish Chronicle, 21/09/1941). In 1990, Sieff, in a book entitled On Management: The Marks and Spencer Way, wrote that one of the fundamental objectives of M&S was to "aid the economic development of Israel."
There have been no reports of M&S openly showing ideological support for Israel since 2004. The retail company has repeatedly asserted that "[it has] no 'special' relationship with any government, political party or religious group" but accepts that M&S does "make representations to governments in support of [its] commercial aims." M&S management has not, to our knowledge, commented on Lord Sieff's remarks in support of Zionism and has not made a statement as to whether the current management stands by them.
In 1998, Sir Richard Greenbury, then CEO of Marks & Spencer, received the Jubilee Award from Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. In 2000, the Jerusalem Report stated that "M&S supports Israel with $233 million in trade each year."
In October 2000, the Jewish Chronicle reported that the British-Israel Chamber of Commerce (B-ICC) had held meetings at Marks & Spencer's offices in Baker Street. However, in 2008 the store claimed that M&S "do not host meetings on our premises for the B-ICC." Nevertheless, in December 2004, Stuart Rose, CEO of Marks and Spencer at the time, was a listed speaker at the annual dinner of the B-ICC.
When questioned in correspondence about the sale of Israeli goods in M&S stores in 2008, an M&S spokesperson said that the company buys "from Israel as… from 70 other countries…" and went on to state that the company would continue to do so. The letter continued to say that, "[w]e always put the country of origin on the products we sell. Where we buy Israeli products we label them as products of Israel."
M&S stocks Israeli grapes, lychees, figs, plums, dates, fresh herbs, sweet potatoes, potatoes (Maris Piper, Desiree, Jacket, Marfona, and King Edward). Many of these products are imported through Carmel-Agrexco, a company part-owned by the Israeli state.
M&S also stocks large quantities of Delta Galil clothing, largely underwear. Delta Galil is Israel's largest manufacturer and marketer of textiles. It is also a major beneficiary of the establishment of 'Qualifying Industrial Zones' (QIZ) in Egypt and Jordan which promote an unequal normalisation of trade arrangements between Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Egypt and Jordan. Marks and Spencer also sells textiles produced by Israeli firms, Solog and Polgat.
Until very recently, M&S openly sold products from illegal Israeli settlements. The Guardian reported in 2004 that the company stocked an extensive range of settlement products. Since 2007, however, M&S has made repeated statements to the press claiming that they do not stock goods from the Occupied Territories (see here, for example). In 2008, the store wrote: "We do not buy products from the West Bank, Golan Heights or Gaza as we cannot safely visit the suppliers in these areas because of the current security situation." It seems probable that the move to cease selling settlement products was, in fact, due to effective campaigning, protests and fear of adverse press coverage.
But despite the above assurance, there is evidence that M&S continues to stock Hadiklaim dates packaged as an M&S own brand product. According to a recent report by School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Hadiklaim, the Israel Date Growers' Cooperative Ltd, "exports dates from Israel and from the occupied territories, especially Israeli settlements in the Jordan Valley."
In correspondence with SOAS in 2008, David Gregory, Technical Food Director for M&S, stated the following:
"In the past, we have sold dates from this region. However, we made a policy decision sometime ago to cease all purchases from this area. However, our UK suppliers do buy raw material (dates) from the organisation Hadiklaim on our behalf. The contract explicitly prohibits purchase from Palestinian Territories and Hadiklaim source the dates from elsewhere within Israel to satisfy our requirements. Traceability systems are in place to confirm the source of the dates."
M&S has faced sustained protests due to their historic ideological support for the Israeli state and because of their policy of stocking Israeli goods. Pickets have been held and store signs and billboards subvertised. In Manchester, three pickets were held in January 2009 in response to the bombing of Gaza. Weekly demonstrations have been held in Newcastle and in London. M&S has repeatedly ignored campaigners' representations against the continued sale of Israeli goods.
Marks and Spencer plc
Waterside House
35 North Wharf Road
London W2 1NW
Email: email@example.com
ASDA sells Israeli basil, tarragon, rosemary, sage, chives, dill, mint, thyme, passion fruit, mangoes, Blackfine plums, autumn red plums, medjoul dates, dragon fruit, pomegranates, avocados, organic sweet potatoes, sweet pointed peppers (red), sweet potatoes ("Georgia Jet"), frozen meat, biscuits, table wine (red, white, rose & sparkling), garden storage units and tinned grapefruit. ASDA also sells Carmel-Agrexco products (see above).
Since ITN's 2007 report, ASDA has made several statements denying that it stocks goods in its stores from the 'West Bank' (i.e. settlement goods). However, ASDA has recently made several ambiguous statements contradicting its earlier stance. A spokesperson from the company recently wrote, in correspondence with campaigners: "I am sure you can imagine it is very difficult for ASDA to take a position on behalf of all our customers over politically controversial issues such as the current conflict you refer to (the occupation of Palestine). On the sourcing of products from overseas we are always guided by the position of the UK Government and by the European Union on trade policy."
There is evidence that ASDA does stock goods from illegal Israeli settlements in its UK stores. ASDA stocks potatoes from Mehadrin-Tnuport Export Company (MTex). MTex is now the second-largest Israeli exporter of fresh produce to the UK after Agrexco. In 2005, the company exported 1,500 tonnes to the UK, with a value of £25 million. MTex exports fruit and vegetables from the region, stretching from Lake Tiberias to the Dead Sea; this includes territory both inside and outside the green line.
Campaigners have recently reported seeing herbs labelled 'West Bank Israeli Settlements' in ASDA stores. At least that's accurate labelling but it does contradict ASDA's previous statements to the press.
Campaigners have held many pickets of ASDA stores in Brighton and London in 2009 protesting against their sale of Israeli goods.
Paul Mason, Chief Executive Officer
Great Wilson Street,
Leeds LS11 5AD
Telephone: 0113 243 5435
Fax: 0113 241 8666
Despite the Co-operative family of businesses' ethical image, the shelves of its supermarkets and high street stores have been found to carry Israeli products, including Carmel mangoes, sweet potatoes, peppers, sweet peppers (grown by Sulat), cherry tomatoes, herbs, passion fruit, Jaffa oranges and own brand tinned grapefruit.
The Co-op has faced pickets and repeated representations from consumers and campaigners over its sale of produce from illegal settlements and Israeli produce. In the last year, criticism has centred around the sale of settlement produce. For example, campaigners attended the Co-operative Group South East Region General Meeting in January 2008 and raised concerns about the ethics of selling settlement produce. The Co-op board undertook to look into conditions on settlement farms. Throughout the year, the issue was raised with Co-op management by members of the Co-op and its customers.
On the 5th January 2009 Len Wardle, Co-operative Group chair, wrote:
"The Co-operative Group board has decided to suspend sourcing products from illegal West Bank settlements. However, we will continue to trade with Israel and will seek to develop trading links with Palestinian farmers. The Co-operative Group only rarely curtails trade with particular countries or regions. However, in the case of the illegal settlement in the Israeli controlled occupied territories, it has proven to be all but impossible to ensure that supplies derived from the region are not perpetuating injustice and unfair terms of trade. We will no longer source dates, grapes and a number of herbs from the illegal West Bank settlements and will be phasing out the use of similar items from our own brand products."
In making this statement, the Co-op is the first store to base its reasons for ceasing the sale of settlement goods on ethical concerns. The statement is weaker in some ways than that of M&S, but only in that it precludes the sale of West Bank goods and not produce from the Golan Heights. It is also unclear whether the Co-op's definition of the West Bank includes East Jerusalem. Moreover, the Co-operative Group does not make any assurance that it will not sell products in its stores supplied by companies which source products from both the settlements and 1948 Israel, such as Hadiklaim, M-Tex and Carmel Agrexco.
In November 2008, YNet claimed that the Co-op had met with the Co-op Israel (a separate organisation) and agreed to open a chain of kosher supermarkets which will be equally owned by Co-op Israel and the UK Co-op. The UK Co-op has refuted this claim but admitted that a meeting took place with Co-op Israel.
On 16th February, 2009, students at the University of Aberdeen protested at the university's Elphinstone Hall, where Co-op members were meeting, to pressure the food retailer to ban all Israeli products from its stores. A Co-op representative at the meeting said a motion on the subject of Israeli goods was due to be discussed by the organisation's executive.
The Co-operative Group
Customer Relations
Freepost MR9473
Email: email@example.com
Waitrose stocks Israeli basil, tarragon, thyme, lemon thyme, rosemary, chives, sage, oregano, mint, curly leaf parsley, 'Red Rosa' pears, sharon fruit, passion fruit, figs, lychees, oranges, lemons, grapefruit, grapes, strawberries, pomelos, pomegranates, galia melons, dragonfruit, organic medjoul dates, hadrawi dates, "Deglet Nour" dates, Cherry tomatoes, sweet potatoes, 'Pamino' peppers, 'Red Romano' peppers, mixed peppers, goods from the Tivall vegetarian food range, 'Food for Thought' snacks by Beigel & Beigel, cold meat, biscuits, dips and Dead Sea Magik cosmetics (found in John Lewis stores).
Waitrose has refused to enter into any debate about the sale of Israeli goods and its management has repeatedly refused to meet with campaigners. In February 2009, a spokesperson for the store reiterated that Waitrose was "unable to arrange a meeting". In a letter to one customer, Waitrose said: "Whatever our own views may be about Israeli products, we do not think it is right to ask our buyers to base their choice of products on any other criteria than the commercial ones of quality and value for money."
Waitrose stocks goods from illegal Israeli settlements and has been unresponsive to the ITN and More 4 reports which have led other stores to label their goods more clearly. The supermarket chain stocks a large range of products sourced from Carmel Agrexco, including a wide variety of organic herbs and vegetables grown on Israeli settlements, mainly in the Jordan Valley, and certified as organic by the Soil Association. Although Waitrose has not made statements to the press about labelling, a store spokesperson said "we clearly label our food to enable our customers to make informed choices." It appears unclear, however, whether Waitrose still labels some goods from illegal settlements as 'Made in Israel'.
According to War on Want's Profiting from the Occupation report, Waitrose sells Beigel and Beigel products. Beigel and Beigel Ltd. is located in the Barkan industrial zone in the occupied West Bank and produces pretzels, savoury biscuits and crackers.
The John Lewis Partnership is one of the only large retailers to sell Ahava beauty products. Ahava is a settlement company based on the illegal settlement of Mitzpe Shalem. Waitrose also sells dates from settler company Hadiklaim (see above).
Waitrose claims that, if it ceased to deal with Israeli settlements, it would impact on Palestinian farmers. In correspondence with consumers, the retailer has described the settlement farms it works with as "joint Israeli and Palestinian" enterprises. In February 2009, a spokesperson wrote: "We currently take organic cut herbs from two farms in the West Bank on which a mixed Palestinian-Israeli workforce have worked side by side for many years."
Waitrose has responded to some concerns about the conditions of labourers on settlement farms. However, the response has been to assure customers that each 'supplier' audits the relevant settlement farms using a "tight criteria" that relates to "worker hours, salaries and employment contracts." This effectively means that Waitrose entrusts the auditing of settlement farms to the settlement company supplying the produce, presumably Carmel Agrexco. Waitrose claims that its technical directors have inspected its supplier farms in the West Bank.
Overall, Waitrose has been one of the most intransigent British supermarkets when faced with concern over sale of Israeli produce and Israeli settler produce. The chain has been the subject of protests and pickets across the UK, including in Brighton and London where protesters dressed as burglars and displayed banners claiming "Waitrose sells stolen goods".
Waitrose Customer Service Department
Waitrose Limited
Doncastle Road
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Sainsbury's sells Israeli oranges, grapefruit, avocados, strawberries, thyme, tarragon, parsley, coriander, rosemary, passion fruit, sharon fruit, 'Shelly' mangoes, mejdoul dates, lychees, fresh figs, plums, fruit juice, minneola (tangerines), potatoes ('Desiree', 'Vivaldi', 'Rooster', white, baking, baby, salad), sweet potatoes, peppers ('Ramiro'), pickled cucumbers, pickled olives, radishes, 'Splendid' flowers, 'Basics' flowers, 'Saveur Mediterranean' hummous, turkey, smoked chicken breast, Rumples party pretzels, Osem croutons, Telma chicken soup mix and soups, feta cheese, Tivall vegetarian food range, 'Food for Thought' dips, table wine (red, white, rose & sparkling), Kiddush wine and Yarden wine and Osem foods.
This extensive list includes many products from illegal Israeli settlements, including fresh lemon grass from the West Bank and Sainsbury's 'Taste the Difference' Pomodorino tomatoes. Sainsbury's stocks Hadiklaim dates labelled 'Made in West Bank' and products from Soda Club, which has an office based in the settlement of Ma'leh Adumin.
Sainsbury's has said, in correspondence with Boycott Israeli Goods Campaign supporters, that the store is not a political organisation and it does not boycott products from any country. Sainsbury's does acknowledge, however, that "ethical trading is a growing area of concern for our company and consumers" and that it has an "ethical trading policy." Whether ethical trading concerns would extend to the sale of goods from an apartheid regime on occupied land, that's not something the retailer seems interested in answering.
Palestine solidarity campaigners have attended Sainsbury's PLC shareholders meeting several years running, in an attempt to persuade the company to stop selling Israeli goods and to label its produce more accurately.
Sainsbury's says it is committed to 'informative labelling', despite describing one piece of produce as being from 'Gaza Strip, Israel'. After the 2007 ITN report about mislabelling of settlement Medjoul dates as 'Produce of Israel', Sainsbury's admitted that it had mislabelled produce and stated that "as from today, all dates from the West Bank will be labelled as coming from the West Bank. We are investigating how this error occurred."
Meetings have been held between Sainsbury's management and campaigners and NGOs about the labelling of settlement goods. At a meeting in 2009, James Clark, a 'public affairs and stakeholder relations spokesperson', told campaigners that Justin King, CEO of J Sainsbury plc, had written to Hilary Benn, Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), asking him to clarify how retailers should label goods from Israeli settlements. Mr Clark said Sainsbury's would be revising its labelling policy in the next six months and might consider labelling settlement produce 'Produce of Israeli Settlement'. Mr Clark was not prepared to listen to arguments that settlements were illegal and argued that the store did not have instructions to this effect from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, despite the fact that this is clearly set out on the FCO website.
Sainsburys have been picketed across the UK by campaigners calling for a boycott of Israeli goods.
J Sainsbury plc
33 Holborn
Somerfield sells both Israeli goods and settlement goods in its 880 stores. Apax Partners, an investment company with subsidiaries in Israel and which advises funds holding shares in Israeli settlement companies Tnuva, Agrexco Agricultural Export Company and Field Produce Ltd, has a majority of shares in Somerfield.
It seems that because of the takeover by the consortium dominated by Apax Partners in December 2005, Somerfield rescinded its commitment to the Ethical Trading Initiative. However, as of December 2008, Somerfield is in the process of being taken over by the Cooperative Group. It remains to be seen whether Somerfield, under new ownership, will take a similar stance to the Co-op against the sale of Israeli settlement produce.
Somerfield Group
Somerfield House
Whitchurch Lane
tel: 0117 935 9359
fax: 0117 978 0629
Principal sources for this piece:
Boycott Israeli Goods Campaign – www.bigcampaign.org
Palestine Israel Ethical Shopping Initiative – www.easi-piesi.org
Coalition of Women for Peace: Who profits from the Occupation – www.whoprofits.org
War on Want – www.waronwant.org
Palestine Solidarity Campaign – www.palestinecampaign.org
UK economic links with Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory – Report produced by SOAS
Islamic Human Rights Commission – www.ihrc.org
Brighton-Tubas Friendship and Solidarity Group – www.brightonpalestine.org


text: The pressure cooker and pressure skillet are the ideal cooking equipment for everyone who values today's modern cooking methods. The short cooking times see to it that more of the vitamins, minerals and flavor are preserved. There is practically no dish or cooking method for which the pressure cooker cannot be used. All Fissler pressure cookers are, of course, extremely safe and easy to use.


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NOTE: this is not a political analysis, this is just a lament and a cry...
In a conversations with a friend, I wrote:
Almost fifty years of occupation, terror, wars, bombs on buses, bombs from the sky, settlements that never end, peace talks that are a sham, leaders interested only in themselves, people on both sides afraid of peace, no moral high ground, no winners, regular folks dying while generals and presidents on all sides order more death, pretending there is no other way, killing in the name of God and Allah, in the name of peace and security, in the name of self determination and freedom, all a sham, so many opportunities lost,so much stupidity, so little courage, so much hate, so little understanding...it gets old and we are an old people, and WE, Jews, should know better than any others where all of this crap leads and how it deforms a people and disgraces a religion...all of this madness between two people's who in reality have so much in common....killing children and ending futures as if it is just how things are. Yes, I am sick of it...
And I am sick of those who pretend to speak in the name of the Jewish people who do nothing but embarrass us all, tarnish our history, and try to turn us into those we have always fought and resisted. They do not speak for me and they do not speak for my people. They speak only for themselves. They who claim to be the stalwart defenders of the State of Israel are leading Israel down a path which can only end in destruction and death. These are not Jews, these are not even Zionists, these are nothing but a pack of wolves enamored with their own power.
As a Jew and in the spirit of the prophets, I denounce them just as I denounce the evil men of Hamas. Let them all go far away and fight each other to the death and leave the rest of us, Jews, Muslims, Palestinians, Israelis alone.
I spent many years working for peace in the Middle East. I marched and demonstrated, I wrote and spoke, I organized in the Jewish community and worked with Palestinians and Israelis, years I spent...I KNOW these people can live together in peace and in friendship. I KNOW this is possible, if only the misleaders on both sides would just go far, far away.
But they won't and I have little hope for anything...the worst is yet to come...and someone should pay.
And I have met victims of occupation and victims of terror. I have been to Israel and i have helped to bring Israelis and Palestinians here to speak for peace.I have met men and women who have fought on both sides, I have literally spoken with Israeli generals and PLO members, peaceniks and politicians, poets and artists, bus drivers and villagers...these are real human beings, Israeli and Palestinian who have really experienced it all and who somehow came out of it willing to work together to find peace. All that has stopped them is the stupid leaders on both sides, and their hateful supporters who number far too many. And as for the American Presidents, they have done nothing but use us both. I do not believe for a minute that these Presidents have a clue, and few of them really give a damn about anything but their own power and glory and the next election. Parroting the government of Israel, of the likes of ""Bibi" is a farce. I am sorry but I don't trust the lives of my people or of the Palestinian people in these MEN'S hands...democrat or Republican...not really. Yes, I am bitter and this latest round of blood has me in a bad place and in much despair.


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Black & White Bouquet (Square) Canvas Art
Make 4 interest-free payments of $39.75 AUD fortnightly with More info
Featuring a striking and chic monochrome bouquet of flowers, this square canvas print was originally hand painted by our in-house artist team, and now available as a reproduction stretched and ready-to-hang canvas art piece. If you look up close you can see the original and incredible brush stroke detailing from our artist's brush. Read more about our unique process (HERE).
All stretched canvases are designed and proudly made in Australia upon order, and come ready to hang as soon as you remove from the box. By selecting the first option, 'Stretched' this means that the woven canvas fabric is printed with our artwork, & then stretched to a wooden frame & will be ready to hang on your wall when shipped.
Or there is also an option to add a shadow box floating frame (four colour options available) for a more premium gallery look. The finished dimensions for our canvas prints when they have this shadow box floating frame around them, will be an additional 4cm approximately to the listed size dimensions (height and width) due to this additional frame.
See our 'Size Chart' for more information. Also, this artwork design is also available as a paper Art Print (framed or unframed) too in addition to printed on canvas, you will find this in our 'Art Prints' collection. And we can ship rolled canvas prints internationally upon request for our international customers.
All prices are in Australian Dollars AUD$
- Proudly designed and made to order in Australia
- Premium poly/cotton artist's canvas
- Printed with quality UV fade resistant eco-friendly giclee inks
- Stretched onto a 34mm thick pine craft-wood frame
- Arrives ready to hang on your wall
- Gallery-quality finish backing wire metal d-ring hooks
- All canvas edges have mirrored artwork, for a full wrap around effect of the design
- An option to add a 5cm deep shadow box floating frame (in white, black, light timber-look, natural timber-look (non timber PVC MDF), or our deluxe genuine raw oak timber option). Which by adding a box frame, adds approx 4cm extra to the overall height & width, when on the wall.
- Care instructions: wipe down with a wet cloth
- On most sizes of our canvases the use of removable hooks eg 3M brand instead of traditional hooks is fine. This means no damage to walls, which is especially great for renters.
- All framed orders arrive safely wrapped within a protective box carton
- For International customers, upon request we can offer a price and freight quote to your location for an un-stretched (rolled canvas) shipped in a mailer tube. Please email us if you wish to know more.
For more information on our products and FAQ, see (HERE)
Dear Customers,
We hope you are all staying safe and well. Just a little note to say for us It is business as usual here at present with our production in terms or staffing and manufacturing, and luckily we make locally in Australia, and do not import.
We custom make-to-order proudly in Australia, & are ourselves based in Melbourne and shipping daily currently at present. We really do appreciate your business in this strange unforseen time.
We ship with couriers such as Allied Express for framed prints, or Australia Post Eparcel for mailer tubes (unframed Art print rolled up). At this time, with the increased volume of parcels in their network, there may be slight delays to deliveries above normal timeframes, please allow this or reach out if you have any q's and we can help guide you.
Please do not hesitate to reach out should you have any q's, email@example.com or through our CONTACT form or 'Live Chat' us on our website 'chat' button, during business hours.
Kind regards & much love, xo
The Print Emporium Team
Production Times in a Nutshell: (during Covid-19 period)
We ourselves are based in Melbourne, and we proudly make in Australia!
E-Gift Card Voucher = instant! Shop Gift Cards HERE
Unframed Paper Art Prints = 3-7 working business working days to print your print to order, pack in a protective mailer tube (rolled), then dispatch out from our warehouse based in Melbourne via courier.
Framed Paper Art Prints = between 2-4 weeks to custom print and professionally frame, then dispatch out from our Melbourne warehouse with courier.
Stretched Canvas Prints = between 2-4 weeks for us to print and professionally stretch and frame your canvas print, then dispatch our from our Brisbane QLD warehouse with courier
Our Courier partners (Australia Post, Allied Express, TNT, Fastway etc) may be experiencing higher than normal volumes at present - please expect this.
How much is shipping on each item if i buy on your website?
$15 AUD Flat Rate Per Order on all Unframed Art Prints
$29 AUD$ flat rate on all Unframed Art Prints (rolled and shipped in a mailer tube). Please note that it is the responsibility of the customer for any import taxes or duties if any incurred.Please note: currently we do not ship framed prints or stretched framed canvas outside of Australia. Rolled canvas prints can be requested, email us for info.
How long does it take to receive artwork I purchase?
For Australian customers, we offer both unframed art prints, and also stretched canvases, and framed art prints. We ship our unframed prints rolled in a protective mailer tube, with Australia Post Eparcel (who use local couriers such as Couriers Please, or Fastway Couriers) with signature required on delivery as standard. All framed items (canvases or framed prints) are safely shipped in protective boxes with Allied Express couriers for bulky items, or Australia Post Eparcel for unframed prints (sent in mailer tube). As our range is made to order locally in Australia, please allow 2-4 weeks production time for framed items, or 2-4 days for unframed prints, freight transit time additional. Note: We cannot deliver to PO Boxes or Parcel Lockers.
If our courier partners have attempted delivery, left a calling card and your order returns back to us , to redeliver out, a shipping fee applies quoted at cost to ship to you with our courier.
For International customers: All unframed art prints are shipped worldwide with Australia Post Eparcel International Air Mail sent rolled in protective mailer tubes. Dispatch ex-Australia is approx 10-21 days from order, as a guide, as all prints are printed to-order. In busy seasonal times, some delays may occur, please allow this. All parcels are shipped with a tracking number and 'signature required' on delivery, to ensure safe arrival. Australia Post International (who we use to ship our overseas orders) partners with all major postal services in each country, and a calling card will be left if the recipient is not at the delivery address at the time of delivery. Note: We cannot deliver to PO Boxes or Parcel Lockers.
Do you ship internationally? And if so, which items?
Do I receive a tracking number # once I place an order?
You sure do! We will advise your tracking number and carrier info once your order is dispatched. And should you wish to track your order you simply go to the Order Status section under your account. Or email email@example.com and we can happily help you out with any q's you may have
Once I have placed my order, can i change it or edit the shipping details?
Once an order is placed, it is usually sent to our warehouse right away, so generally once it is placed, we likely cannot change it as we may have started production! However feel free to email us to check if it is possible to do so. If you ever need to edit your shipping details just let us know. Please note, we ship with Allied Express (courier) for framed items, or Australia Post Eparcel for rolled art prints in Australia. For all framed items, we ask you put a Shipping Address eg place of business where someone can sign for the package with Allied Express couriers. Business workplace address is preferred where someone is there to sign for the package within business hours. Goods cannot be left unattended. Art Prints (unframed) shipped in mailer tubes are sent with Australia Post International (which in turn is shipped using the local carrier eg UK Post, UPS Post etc) or Australia Post Domestic (Australian orders).
Please note: All art prints on paper come with a 'self' white border (a few CM of unprinted area (white) around the edges, for a contemporary look when framed. Please request 'edge to edge no border' in the comments box at checkout should you wish for the artwork to fill the entire paper area.


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The Irish News (22 November) has a review of a new book about the founder of the Knights of St Columbanus, Canon James Kearney O'Neill.
O'Neill was born at Ballypatrick, near Ballycastle, in 1857.
After studying at St Malachy's Diocesan College in Belfast and Maynooth College he entered the Roman Catholic priesthood and in 1906 he was appointed parish priest of the Sacred Heart parish, Oldpark Road, Belfast.
After studying at St Malachy's Diocesan College in Belfast and Maynooth College he entered the Roman Catholic priesthood and in 1906 he was appointed parish priest of the Sacred Heart parish, Oldpark Road, Belfast.
He established the Knights of St Columbanus in 1915 and as regards this organisation I have taken the following from an excellent booklet, Brotherhoods of Ireland, which was written by Anthony D Buckley and Kenneth Anderson and published by the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum in 1988 to accompany an exhibition.
The Order of the Knights of St Columbanus was formally founded in 1922. The organisation arose, however, in the period before the Great War, when working people and others were organising themselves as never before into trade unions, friendly societies, temperance societies, Hibernian, Orange, Masonic and other groups based upon the brotherhood ideal. Father James K O'Neill, a parish priest in Belfast's Oldpark district, who was much concerned with the then recently defined Roman Catholic 'social principles' tried to draw Catholic men into a society 'to cherish fraternal charity and to develop practical Catholicity among its members, to promote and foster the cause of the Catholic faith and Catholic education'. By early 1916 there were four 'Councils of Knights' in Belfast from which they assembled a Board of Governors. Soon more Councils of Knights were formed in Armagh, Cork, Derry, Dublin, Lurgan, Newry and Portadown.
Meanwhile, there was already in esistence a body known as the Columban Knights whose aims seemed to have been very much the same as the Knights of St Columbanus. At the insistence of Archbishop Byrne, who had bneen one of the first priest-members of the Columban Knights, these two Orders were amalgamated and effectively the present Order of the Knights of St Columbanus came into existence.In the early years, the Knights of St Columbanus had secret signs and rituals in the same manner as other brotherhoods. Its rituals were based on those of an American Catholic organisation, the Knights of St Columbus. Nowadays, as has happened in many other brotherhoods, the original secretive rituals have been modified to a non-secret and simpler form.
That covers the early years of the Knights of St Columbanus but it is only the beginning of the story. During the years of 'Rome rule' in Eire the Knights of St Columbanus were one of a number of organisations that promoted that agenda. For example,they were at the heart of the Meath Hospital controversy in Dublin in 1949.
The new biography of Canon O'Neill was written by Frank Rogers, who lives in Ballycastle, and can be obtained directly from him or from Impact Printing in Ballycastle.


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Thursday, 30 September 2010
Lemon Curd and Blueberry Loaf Cake
27 comments:
- Maggie said...
Your cake looks lovely Maria. I made this cake some time ago and for whatever reason it didn't turn out!!
- 30 September 2010 at 18:00
- Chele said...
I've made this cake before now and it is a touch on the yummy side - certainly didn;t last long around here. I'm sure your Hubby will love it ;0)
- 30 September 2010 at 18:39
- Scented Sweetpeas said...
scrum - bet he will run through the door with the smell of that scrummy cake!
- 30 September 2010 at 18:43
- Brownieville Girl said...
That is the prettiest loaf cake I have ever seen - have to give this one a go!
- 30 September 2010 at 19:52
- Jacqueline Meldrum said...
I agree with Brownieville Girl. Such a pretty loaf. I am sure hubby will be very pleased :)
- 30 September 2010 at 20:41
- Jean said...
This looks lovely and perfect for our charity cake stall for Children in Need next month. I love the idea of decorating it with icing and flowers, not to mention the hundreds and thousands, that I have been addicted to since childhood, when my mum always put them on her fabulously delicious trifle.
- 30 September 2010 at 20:59
- Jemima said...
Looks very pretty Maria! I have got a recipe for east lemon curd, I am going to try it out this weekend, if it's any good I will blog it. x
- 30 September 2010 at 21:50
- Victoria said...
Oh Maria! I'm almost addicted to the lemon curd:) And, the flavor of lemon and blueberries is a wonderful mix... Your cake is so beautiful and very well decorated!
- 1 October 2010 at 00:25
- Heather said...
How pretty! I just love the flowers on top.
- 1 October 2010 at 00:45
- Gloria Baker said...
What lovely,lovely cake María, this cake look really awesome, I love it! gloria
- 1 October 2010 at 01:57
- cocoa and coconut said...
Maria I love the look of your cake! The colours make it very girly and the little flowers are adorable. I'm sure it will be very much appreciated. Also, a cake with lemon curd? Far out...I would not be able to resist.
- 1 October 2010 at 04:32
- Rhyleysgranny said...
This cake sounds just perfect Maria. More than that it looks just gorgeous. So prettily decorated. I love those little flowers. Did you make those?
- 1 October 2010 at 08:03
- Nic's Notebook said...
Aww what a lovely wife you are! I used to make a yogurt cake years ago - your one looks even better with the lemon & blueberry. Looks just my thing, will let you kow if I try it :) xx
- 1 October 2010 at 09:51
- dining furniture said...
The cake is pretty! I like the color and the decorations that you used!
- 1 October 2010 at 09:56
- The Caked Crusader said...
Total are extremely generous with their samples aren't they? I baked with it and shared the leftover with friends and I still have some left - this cake could well be it's destination!
- 1 October 2010 at 11:01
- Barbara said...
Blueberries and lemon...yum! Your cake looks really moist and what a welcome home gift! Bet he loved it.
- 1 October 2010 at 12:54
- Lucie said...
This just adorable Maria! Beautiful and moist. Have a lovely weekend xx
- 1 October 2010 at 14:20
- The Wandering Pit said...
This looks lovely and very pretty Maria! Plus love the flavour combo of blueberries & lemon curd! Enjoy!x
- 1 October 2010 at 16:21
- My Taste Heaven said...
i love the icing!
- 2 October 2010 at 03:48
- Laura said...
This looks wonderful! I love how you put the flowers on it. :) Adorable!
- 2 October 2010 at 05:54
- Helen said...
Mmm, that sounds lush. It looks so pretty with the flowers on top too.
- 3 October 2010 at 14:05
- Choclette said...
This looks so delicious, a gorgeous colour and the daisies look lovely. The fridge load of yogurt makes me laugh, knowing what it's like and reading the exclamations from others who've received it. I almost can't make a cake without it now as it does seem to make it extra light and moist as you say.
- 3 October 2010 at 16:15
- Danielle said...
That cake looks so pretty! And the glaze and flowers look perfect on top. I'll have to make this sometime!
- 4 October 2010 at 21:11
- Maria♥ said...
Thanks everyone for the lovely comments ;o)
- 5 October 2010 at 13:45
- Unknown said...
I'm gonna make this one, it looks and sounds delicious. I love Lemon Curd, but never seem to do much with it.
It might lift my spirits after the nightmare that is 'househunting'.
- 5 October 2010 at 17:47
- Abitofafoodie said...
This looks really lovely - the combination of lemon curd and blueberry is so good. I'd love a slice right now (...but I suspect you've finished it by now!).
- 5 October 2010 at 20:11
- Always talking,always dreaming,always eating (email@example.com) said...
oh my goodness, this looks DELICIOUS!!I love blueberries and lemon as a combination, yum,yum!
- 5 October 2010 at 22:13


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Multi-platinum recording artist Adele announced on her blog today that she is expecting her first child with boyfriend Simon Konecki.
"I'm delighted to announce that Simon and I are expecting our first child together," she said in the post on her blog titled "I've Got Some News." "I wanted you to hear the news direct from me, obviously we're over the moon and very excited but please respect our privacy at this precious time."
Shortly after the news was made public, the British songstress' website crashed due to the heavy volume of traffic. It's unknown how far along she is.
The latest news from around North Texas.
Ironically, Adele, 24, garnered mainstream pop culture superstardom and six Grammys for her breakthrough album, "21," which details the heartache of a relationship gone sour.


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