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The Best of California Wine Country
Our definitive guide to Sonoma and Napa Valleys
Sonoma Valley
How does a green and gold valley roughly 17 miles long and eight miles wide absorb 21/2 million visitors a year?By luring them to the main route, Highway 12, then leading them off it. Set atop ridges and buried in leafy canyons are wineries turning out great Zinfandels (Ravenswood and Kunde) and Cabernets (Arrowood Vineyards). Narrow roads lead to outstanding olive oil and lamb, apples and cheese (goat and dry jack), all notable products of a county still defined by a relaxed rural air. Gather local bounty as you cruise, and choose a place to plant your picnic blanket: a tranquil hillside with a view of Jack London's Beauty Ranch; a fragrant spot amid the lavender gardens of Matanzas Creek Winery. Even the most winning small towns-- Sonoma in the south, Healdsburg in the north-- have perfect green plazas. Sonoma County inns tend to be as peaceful as parks; the locals, sophisticated yet practical. The only slick polish you'll find here is on the pickup trucks. This valley is happy to leave the fancy jeeps to that other valley, its friendly rival due east.
Where to stay in the Sonoma Valley
At the El Dorado Hotel (405 First St. W., Sonoma; 707/996-3030, fax 707/996-3148; doubles from $90, including breakfast), the five rooms-- including two with enormous terraces-- that overlook Sonoma's plaza book first since they offer front-row seats for events like the Fourth of July parade and the Vintage Festival at harvest time. All 26 rooms, however, have French doors leading to balconies and, considering the modest rates, are tastefully if simply outfitted with surprising comforts like down duvets.
Beltane Ranch (11775 Sonoma Hwy., Glen Ellen; 707/996-6501; doubles from $110, including breakfast) has the best porch in Sonoma Valley, a wraparound double-decker outfitted with a swing and hammocks for catching the sunset. There are only five rooms and 1,600 acres, so guests have plenty of privacy and space to roam-- but so do the cougars in the hills. Take a pal with you on the eight-mile trail that winds through the property.
Even guests who aren't drinkers (in wine country?) should plan their day around cocktail time at Above the Clouds Bed & Breakfast (3250 Trinity Rd., Glen Ellen; 800/600-7371 or 707/996-7371; doubles $155, including breakfast). From its perch up in the Mayacamas Mountains, the circa 1850 house overlooks a vast sweep of Sonoma's Valley of the Moon, all ablaze at sunset. Dinner options are wine-country-wide: a left turn out of the driveway takes you three miles down to the floor of Sonoma Valley; eight miles in the other direction and you're in Napa. Come back to rooms (there are only three) as neat and sweet as the proprietors.
It took no time at all for leafy vines to enshroud the newer stuccoed structures at Kenwood Inn & Spa (10400 Sonoma Hwy., Glen Ellen; 707/833-1293, fax 707/833-1247; doubles from $225). Guests mosey in from 12 rooms to the Tuscan-style main house for luscious breakfasts hot from the open kitchen. Brilliant blue (the pool) and lush green (persimmon trees, rosemary, and ivy) furnish the courtyard of this compound, which resembles an Italian hamlet. Unfortunately, no amount of skillful landscaping can mask the rumble of the Sonoma Highway, just steps away: piped-in music simply piles on more noise. (For information on the spa, see .)
Streets packed with shops and restaurants circle the redwood- and palm-shaded central plaza in Healdsburg, such an appealing town that you might as well stay in the heart of it. Two blocks from the plaza, the Camellia Inn (211 North St., Healdsburg; 707/433-8182, fax 707/433-8130; doubles from $75), an Italianate Victorian, has nine comfortable rooms, big buffet breakfasts, and a pool out back. Oh, and 50 varieties of dreamy camellias.
Where to shop in Sonoma Valley
Tom Swain's business card for his shop, Acanthus (22 Boyes Blvd., Boyes Hot Springs; 707/935-7950), defines the inventory as "nothing ordinary." If the mix of minerals, decorative objects, and eclectic furniture is a bit odd, his collection of vintage costume jewelry is nothing short of extraordinary. Slip on a dazzling choker and let your Oscar acceptance speech roll.
Home furnishings emporium Sloan & Jones (100 W. Spain St., Sonoma; 707/935-8503) has been attracting more attention than ever since its recent move, a block and a half west, to Sonoma's plaza. Thanks to Sheelagh Sloan and Ann Jones's sophisticated vision, giant French stone urns, lacquered apothecary chests from Korea, Mexican cathedral candles, and English Bakelite flatware all make simpatico housemates.
A vintage stove is admittedly a bulky souvenir, but the ones at Johnny's Appliances & Classic Ranges (17549 Sonoma Hwy., Sonoma; 707/996-9730) are so chubby, gleaming, and characterful, they're worth a time-travel detour back to an era of aproned pie bakers.
Readers' Books (131 E. Napa St., Sonoma; 707/939-1779), just off Sonoma's plaza, makes you wish for rainy days so you can spend them among its meandering shelves. Back at your hotel, curl up with great reads you might never have discovered were it not for owner Andy Weinberger and his literate staff.
Of the 8,000 rare and used volumes at Plaza Bookshop (40 W. Spain St., Sonoma; 707/996-8474), roughly a fifth are devoted to the American West, with special attention to local author Jack London-- and to wine, of course. All the books are collectible, from first editions to an 1814 printing of a history of the Lewis and Clark expedition.
You can be sure all 15,000 of the toys work at Toyworks (103 Plaza St., Healdsburg; 707/433-4743), because they have been tested by experts: the owners' son and daughter and the manager's four children, among others. Toys that are interactive, educational, or just plain fun get the green light.
The selection of decorative objects is tempting at Leftovers (421 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg; 707/433-3652). One month the windows were dressed in Art Deco and "genteel poverty" themes. Venture inside, and you'll find a gilded ballroom pediment, an 1860's student's lamp, and 1960's Italian silver picture frames.
Where to eat in Sonoma
If you left San Francisco hungry, you'll be especially happy to spy Viansa Winery Italian Marketplace (25200 Arnold Dr., Sonoma; 707/935-4700), just 45 minutes out of the city, anchoring a hill as you enter Sonoma Valley. Take your selection-- a slice of torta rustica, a glass of 1995 Piccolo Toscano, and a fig bar-- out to one of the tables beneath a shady pergola, and try to identify all the waterfowl in the 90-acre wetland preserve below.
Piatti (405 First St. W., Sonoma; 707/996-2351; dinner for two $40) may be part of a chain, but its spit-grilled chicken is moist and flavorful, its patio cool and popular. Best of all, it serves until 10 o'clock, 11 on weekends (late in these parts), so you can have dinner after catching an indie movie or a poetry reading at the Sebastiani Theater across the plaza.
The menu changes weekly at Bistro Ralph (109 Plaza St., Healdsburg; 707/433-1380; dinner for two $50), except for favorites like the Szechwan pepper calamari, whose absence would cause an uproar. Chef-owner Ralph Tingle draws exclusively from the Healdsburg area for his organic produce, lamb, breads, and wines; fish swim in on ice (but never frozen) from San Francisco.
Until the Flying Goat Coffee Roastery Café (324 Center St., Healdsburg; 707/433-9081; coffee and pastries for two $8) arrived, there wasn't any real read-the-paper-all-day hangout in Healdsburg. Now half the local population seems to spend half the day here, nibbling on panini or slices of coffee cake amid the aroma of roasting beans. Tuck a Goat Bar (chocolate, oats, and walnuts) in your pocket for a quick pick-me-up later.
Ravenous (117 North St., Healdsburg; 707/431-1770; dinner for two $45) is what you will no longer be when you've had a meal of mahimahi with black rice and tropical salsa at this eight-table café. The adjoining movie theater, the 600-seat Raven (707/433-5448 for show times), is the largest in Sonoma County. An evening divided between the two spots makes for a perfect low-key, low-cost date; a black T-shirt with a red raven makes a squawkin' souvenir.
Without so much as a table, the Downtown Bakery & Creamery (308A Center St., Healdsburg; 707/431-2719), on the square in Healdsburg, always draws a morning crowd. Almond pecan twists and focaccia pizzas are best eaten on the spot. A jar of fig jam is a packable memento, though it will make you long for this bakery's modern wonder breads. Sourdough baguettes and sticky buns are best-sellers.
The prosaic name suits the Jimtown Store (6706 State Hwy. 128, Healdsburg; 707/433-1212). Neighbors come in to pick up toilet paper and six-packs along with newspapers and gossip, and travelers stop for fresh-squeezed lemonade to go with Brie and olive salad on baguettes. Children or the child-minded flip for baskets brimming with balsa-wood gliders, drawstring bags of gold gum nuggets, and Myrna Loy paper dolls. En route from the store to the picnic tables on the patio, check out the folksy antiques from America's heartland.
Napa Valley
Considering Napa Valley's status as the most densely concentrated winery region in the world-- 240 wineries in the 30-mile stretch between the towns of Napa and Calistoga-- it's still a relatively peaceful place. Just about the only time you'll have to wait in line is when the traffic slows along Highway 29, the two-lane main road. Still, 29 is a thoroughfare you can't and wouldn't want to avoid utterly, lined as it is with worthy restaurants and shops, in addition to tasting rooms. As you travel north, you'll pass signs for lanes that traverse the valley floor. Take one so you can shift from highway to byway, and from the vein of commerce to the land of glens and pastures and rhythmic rows of vines. The Silverado Trail runs parallel to 29 along the eastern side of the valley, but at a more relaxed pace. After a few days of exploring and sipping, you'll no longer dismiss Napa's hokey billboards that declare, " . . . and the wine is bottled poetry. . . ." Yes, even Robert Louis Stevenson fell under the area's spell.
Related: Insider's Guide to Napa Valley
Where to stay in Napa Valley
Oak Knoll Inn (2200 E. Oak Knoll Ave., Napa; 707/255-2200; doubles from $225) may be conveniently close to Highway 29, but the 600 acres of Chardonnay vines that surround it ensure guests the greatest luxury of all-- quiet. The veranda and views are broad; the pool, Jacuzzi, and arbor, perfect elixirs for hot summer days. There are only four (huge) rooms, which means a lucky few get all of the above to themselves.
David Jackson and Craig Claussen are restless types, forever tinkering with their 20-room project, La Residence Country Inn (4066 St. Helena Hwy., Napa; 707/253-0337, fax 707/253-0382; doubles from $150). Flanking a trellised pool area are an 1870 mansion with tall Victorian interiors and a French barn with larger rooms, done up à la Pierre Deux. Live oak centenarians filter the summer sun, though not the hum of traffic. Care for a little Italian with your French?Popular Bistro Don Giovanni is a five-minute walk up the road.
Waterways course through the Eden-like grounds and tidy clusters of two-story buildings that make up the Vintage Inn (6541 Washington St., Yountville; 800/351-1133 or 707/944-1112, fax 707/944-1617; doubles from $150), a lucky thing since the gurgle and splash help mask the noise of nearby Highway 29. Rooms on the ground floor lead to rosebush-bordered patios; the ones upstairs soar to cathedral ceilings and open onto verandas. And in any of the 80 rooms, you can light a fire; too bad the logs are artificial.
The juiced-up scale of Michael Taylor's 1981 interiors now seems more amusing than chic. Still, the 52 guest rooms are oh-so-comfortable. After all these years, no inn tops Auberge du Soleil (180 Rutherford Hill Rd., Rutherford; 800/348-5406 or 707/963-1211, fax 707/963-8764; doubles from $350) for indulgence-- in terms of space, sun, and privacy. With a pool, tennis courts, sculpture trail, deep views, and the most romantic restaurant in the valley, the Auberge makes sure you never need or want to leave.
El Bonita Motel (195 Main St., St. Helena; 707/963-3216, fax 707/963-8838; doubles from $87) is so fastidiously cared for and charmingly embellished-- with window boxes, trellises, and potted topiary-- you can't help falling for it as a model of its kind. Rooms in the newer two-story building at the back are larger and quieter. Families will appreciate the kitchenettes and the supply of cribs and rollaway beds.
Vineyard Country Inn (201 Main St., St. Helena; 707/963-1000, fax 707/963-1794; doubles $195) has none of the dolls and dainty dishes that characterize so many of its kin. Instead, it has handsome pencil-post beds, walnut armoires, and wrought-iron lamps in 21 spacious suites, most of which look out, through windows unobstructed by swags, to rows of mature vines. Dancing across the slate roofline are spiraling brick chimneys for the wood-burning fireplaces that are in every room.
The accommodations at the Inn at Southbridge (1020 Main St., St. Helena; 800/520-6800 or 707/967-9400, fax 707/967-9486; doubles from $195) are the most refreshing in Napa Valley. Ceilings open to the rafters make the second-floor rooms lofty; white piqué cotton bedspreads and pickled-fir woodwork lend them a lightness; fireplaces, fruit, and candles make them notably luxurious. The inn has little in the way of public rooms or facilities, but who needs lots of lobby when you have all of St. Helena at your doorstep, or sports equipment when you have privileges at sister resort Meadowood, less than two miles away?The inn is opening its own spa this summer.
As you wind into the canyon where the White Sulphur Springs Resort & Spa (3100 White Sulphur Springs Rd., St. Helena; 707/963-8588, fax 707/963-2890; doubles from $85) takes shelter, ignore the private property sign and take note of established 1852 engraved in a stone pillar at the entrance. For a modest price you get rustic lodging at the inn, or in the carriage house, or in a cottage-- as well as dips in the hot springs (spa treatments available), trails winding into redwoods, waterfalls, songbirds, and a creek skipping past your door.
Calistoga has no shortage of cottage accommodations, but none are better-conceived than those at the new Cottage Grove Inn (1711 Lincoln Ave., Calistoga; 800/799-2284 or 707/942-8400, fax 707/942-2653; doubles $175). Each of the 16 storybook structures has a front porch with wicker rockers, a fireplace, TV/VCR, wet bar, and deep Jacuzzi tub. Twin armchairs and bedside lights keep couples happy.
Indian Springs Resort & Spa (1712 Lincoln Ave., Calistoga; 707/942-4913; doubles $160) is a bungalow colony where Adirondack chairs pair up on the lawn and croquet mallets are left out for pickup games. Welcoming porches front the 17 little houses; out back are hammocks and Weber grills; across the way is the 1913 bathhouse for spa treatments and mud soaks. When it's too cold for a cookout, it's just right for a dunk in the Olympic-size pool, whose 100-degree water is supplied by a thermal geyser.
By the time you've pulled up to Meadowlark Country House (601'605 Petrified Forest Rd., Calistoga; 707/942-5651, fax 707/942-5023; doubles from $125), you've crossed a narrow bridge and passed a suits-optional pool and a meadow with frisky horses raised by innkeeper Kurt Stevens. The sun, the shade, and the silence will hold you-- but break away long enough to see the world's largest petrified forest, just up the road.
Where to eat in Napa Valley
In spite of its French moniker, Bistro Don Giovanni (4110 St. Helena Hwy., Napa; 707/224-3300; dinner for two $45) sets a spread that is pure Italian, meaning the vegetable of choice is garlicky broccoli rabe, the pesto ravioli is house-made, and dinner can be as simple as pizza with fennel sausage (from a wood-fired oven, of course) and a glass of Barbera d'Asti at the bar.
It's worth rising early so you can squeeze in breakfast at your hotel, plus: cornmeal pancakes at the Yountville Diner (6476 Washington St., Yountville; 707/944-2626);a morning bun from Napa Valley Coffee Roasting Co. (1400 Oak Ave., St. Helena; 707/963-1183); and a cranberry-orange buttermilk scone from the Model Bakery (1357 Main St., St. Helena; 707/963-8192).
At the French Laundry (6640 Washington St., Yountville; 707/944-2380; dinner for two $150), the problem for diners who'll try anything once is that 1+1+1+1+1+1+1 spells R-I-C-H. Though the portions are reasonable in Chef Thomas Keller's tasting-menu dishes, the ingredients are the likes of foie gras, caviar, and wild mushrooms. The strategy: Fast all day before dinner, pace yourself during the meal (take advantage of the thoughtful selection of half-bottles on the wine list), and if you edge near the precipice of complete overindulgence, borrow the clothespin that came with your napkin and apply to lips. Choose from a five-or seven-course tasting or vegetarian menu and reserve a table well ahead, in the garden if possible.
Could it be that 20 years have gone by since Domaine Chandon (1 California Dr., Yountville; 707/944-2892; lunch for two $60), the area's only full-scale winery restaurant, threw open its French doors?Chef Philippe Jeanty hooks diners with seafood in particular-- tuna pepper steak topped by a leek tumbleweed, grilled salmon wrapped in pancetta, sea scallops with sweet-pea sauce. Try a different glass of sparkling wine with every course. And if you want to dine under a market umbrella on the terrace, surrounded by vineyards and towering oaks, reserve for lunch.
Locals stream into Gordon's Café & Wine Bar (6770 Washington St., Yountville; 707/944-8246; lunch for two $20) for cinnamon buns at breakfast, and niçoise or roasted tomato tarts at lunch. But they pile up on the front porch on Friday nights, the only time the café serves dinner, a wildly popular $30 prix fixe menu. No reservations are taken, but house-cured Italian olives and local wine, available by the glass or splash, help while away the wait.
The parking lot is always full at Mustards Grill (7399 St. Helena Hwy., Yountville; 707/944-2424; dinner for two $50), where the food has never wandered far from home cooking. Out of the smoker come duck and ribs; off the grill jump hanger steak and center-cut pork chops marinated overnight and rubbed with hoisin sauce. Garlic mashed potatoes are so popular they're whipped up all day long.
Brix (7377 St. Helena Hwy., Yountville; 707/944-2749; lunch for two $40) is especially fun at lunchtime, when you can watch the cooks pluck herbs, lettuces, and root vegetables from the raised beds while you sit back, relax, and chomp on a seafood cigar-- finely ground shrimp, salmon, mahimahi, and ono combined with minced vegetables in a lumpia wrapper. Having trained most recently with Hawaiian star Roy Yamaguchi, chef Tod Michael Kawachi brings a welcome Pacific Rim influence to wine country.
A call ahead to the Oakville Grocery (7856 St. Helena Hwy., Oakville; 707/944-8802), Napa Valley's best outpost for unconventional picnic fare, reserves a box lunch. Better yet, customize your basket by sampling from the charcuterie and bakery departments. The hummus with chipotle peppers, inspired by Oaxacan deli manager Angel Perez, is a must, as are crackling orange-ginger cookies for the road. Starting this month, Sonoma County gets to share in the bounty when a new Oakville Grocery, with outdoor seating, opens on the plaza in Healdsburg (124 Matheson St.; 707/433-3200).
The smell of steak cooking over a hardwood fire at the Rutherford Grill (1180 Rutherford Rd., Rutherford; 707/963-1792; lunch for two $25) lassos hungry drivers. Inside, they find red booths and dim lighting reminiscent of old Hollywood grills and one of the tastiest bargains in the valley, an $8.50 chicken dip sandwich, served with a heap of coleslaw or wild rice salad. Kids' portions of tender rotisserie chicken or leg of lamb are $6.75; a bone for your dog, free of charge.
With Pinot Blanc (641 Main St., St. Helena; 707/963-6191, dinner for two $60), chef-owner Joachim Splichal brings his bistro empire north from Los Angeles. Tinted windows and a dining room that seats 170 hardly evoke a French country restaurant, but rabbit loin and roasted foie gras do. Other specialties of a chef known in the business as Mr. Potato: lasagna and a "layer cake," both made of spuds.
If there's one place to go with a gang of friends, Ristorante Tra Vigne (1050 Charter Oak Ave., St. Helena; 707/963-4444; dinner for two $60) is it. Order a plate of pesci fritti (calamari coated in arborio rice flour, fried, and tossed with mustard-seed vinaigrette). Or when the restaurant is too mobbed, head for the tasting bar at Cantinetta Tra Vigne in the courtyard, and work your way through the house flavored oils and vinegars.
Kids and grown-ups alike love Tomatina (1016 Main St., St. Helena; 707/967-9999; lunch for two $20) for its straightforward menu of pizzas and pastas, free drink refills, fast service, and long wooden tables that encourage family-style dining. Look for the big red tomato out front.
At Terra(1345 Railroad Ave., St. Helena; 707/963-8931; dinner for two $90), chef Hiro Sone, formerly of L.A.'s Spago, is a pilot who delights in an unexpected itinerary. You may touch down in Europe (panzanella with feta cheese) and Asia (sake-marinated sea bass) before circling back to the States (angel food cake with strawberries and lemon custard cream). It all adds up to a memorable meal, without a lot of fuss.
Like the students enrolled in the Culinary Institute upstairs, diners at the Wine Spectator restaurant (Culinary Institute of America at Greystone, 2555 Main St., St. Helena; 707/967-1100; dinner for two $55) delight in taking their t-buds on tour, a task made easy by the menu's extensive list of cold and hot tastings. The best thing about the fried-to-a-crisp fresh anchovies and the gigante beans in a tomato ragoût?Not having to slave over a hot stove, like the students upstairs, to enjoy them.
From under the wine country blanket of Mediterranean fare comes Catahoula Restaurant & Saloon (Mount View Hotel, 1457 Lincoln Ave., Calistoga; 707/942-2275; dinner for two $50), a Louisianan wake-up holler. Surrounded by two-dimensional Catahoula hound dogs, diners wash down Bienville oyster cakes and spicy barbecue shrimp-- chef Jan Birnbaum's nod to mentor Paul Prudhomme-- with Sazeracs, the house cocktail. The only way to drink this mix of Old Overholt whiskey, Herbsaint (an aromatic spirit), bitters, and sugar?Straight up in a martini glass.
On a balmy evening in Calistoga, the place to be is at a table under the grape arbor at Wappo Bar & Bistro (1226B Washington St., Calistoga; 707/942-4712; dinner for two $40), ordering something exotic. Try the seared Chilean sea bass with mint chutney and lentil crêpes, or the hornado, pork braised in chilies and beer. If you still have room, the caramel ice cream sandwich topped with caramelized bananas will take care of it.
Where to shop in Napa Valley
At her eponymous shop, Erika Hills (115 Main St., St. Helena; 707/963-0919) knows better than to tamper with the finish on an 18th-century Venetian mirror. But Hills is free with a brush and milk-based paints when it comes to Austrian-style armoires and Louis XV'style armchairs in need of embellishment. The icing on the cake: Limoges, Dresden, and Capo di Monte porcelain that seduces decorators from San Francisco to New York.
The ladies who give luncheons load up on Italian ceramics, natural-fiber table linens-- and paper goods in imitation of both at Vanderbilt & Co. (1429 Main St., St. Helena; 707/963-1010).
You'll pay heavenward prices for the clothes in earthy hues at WilkesSport (1219 Main St., St. Helena; 707/963-4323), but the swath you cut through the vineyards will be strictly sophisticated, in that understated wine country way.
Calla Lily (1429 Main St., St. Helena; 707/ 963-8188) stocks ultrafine bed linens from Italy and Ireland. A great find for travelers: the fast-drying Aquis towel, made of a Japanese microfiber that feels like terry but is five times as absorbent.
Coveting the antique corkscrews on view in many a winery?Richard Larson has a good supply at St. Helena Antiques (1231 Main St., St. Helena; 707/963-5878), along with Provençal pottery and other mostly French objets.
At her shop Tapioca Tiger (1224A Adams St., St. Helena; 707/967-0608), Jamie Graff sells charming kids' clothing, handcrafted furniture, bedding, and toys. Her two-year-old son Jackson's favorites are the sand table filled with objects that can be moved by magnets, and the rocking tiger.
Hikers, bikers, and climbers who forget to pack the right layers will be grateful to Sportago (1224 Adams St., St. Helena; 707/963-9042) for stocking the perfect Patagonia shells and Royal Robbins shorts.
For the pet who barks or mews, "What did you bring me?" there is Fideaux (1400 Oak Ave., St. Helena; 707/967-9935). Come home with a rubber animal that quacks or croaks, or a Fideaux futon, made exclusively for the store.
Michael Coon was with Williams-Sonoma for 2 1/2 years; now he's in charge of the Campus Store & Marketplace at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone (2555 Main St., St. Helena; 888/ 424-2433 or 707/967-2309), the place to go for the latest gadgets, the sharpest knives, and the best selection of cookbooks in wine country.
Buried among the drippy, extravagantly sculpted oddities at Hurd Beeswax (707/963-7211) are all sizes of simple beeswax tapers and pillars that can't be beat.


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I have now republished all the old blogs that were destroyed. See the introductory explanation "Why A New "Democratic Peace" Blog?". The list of all destroyed blogs is in the Universal Archive. Republished ones are in green and linked.
Dated blogs or those irrelevant to current events have not been republished. If you wish to see any of them here, please email me (Rummel at Hawaii.edu) with the title .
I also have another blog "A Freedomists View" that deals with the international and domestic perils to freedom.
I will add to this Democratic Peace Blog if I have something more to say about a democratic peace foreign policy and the progress of democracy in the world. Stay tuned.

subset: commoncrawl


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One very cold winter while living in China, a few friends and I decided to take a trip to Harbin (because we weren't already cold enough!), one of the largest cities in northeast China, near the Russian border. Harbin is known for its Russian history, bitterly cold winters from the wind blowing down from Siberia, and the lighted ice sculptures throughout the city for the winter Ice Festival.
With the constant below freezing temperatures, the sculptures are frozen all winter long. Interestingly, the city name comes from a word originally meaning "a place to dry fishing nets", which makes me think of somewhere warm and sunny, not cold and snowy, but Harbin does experience a warm summer as well.
Our hotel was so cold, that we ended up pushing our beds together and shared all the blankets just to try to stay warm at night! We also spied a few bugs in that room, but tried not to let it keep us awake. I've never worn so many layers of clothing at one time as what I wore there – 2-3 pairs of socks inside my boots, long underwear, then jeans, then another pair of pants, 7-8 shirts, not to mention a coat, multiple pairs of gloves, hat, and a scarf wrapped around every part of my face except my eyes. Every breath I took froze inside my scarf, leaving little ice crystals against my lips. We couldn't walk around outside for longer than a couple of hours at a time, before we had to find somewhere indoors to warm up. Just getting dressed to go outside was quite a production.
At the Ice Festival, we tried to climb an ice wall with a rope (impossible), slid down ice slides, went sledding down a massive hill, wandered through all the sculptures, ate skewers of frozen fruit and fried bread, and even rode a camel! He was very hairy and smelly, by the way, but at least he was a warm seat to sit on… We visited Saint Sophia Cathedral, a Russian orthodox church that was converted into a museum and walked the streets as much as we could tolerate the cold, to see as much of the unique blend of Russian, European and Chinese architecture as we could.
Besides the Ice Festival, Harbin is also home to the largest natural reserve for the endangered Siberian tigers, the Siberian Tiger Park. In addition to the tigers, there are also lions, which live peacefully with the tigers, lynx, leopards and pumas. It's a unique sort of zoo, with the animals roaming freely through the expanse of the land, while visitors can ride in armored vans through the park, and even pay to watch live animals fed to the tigers. Watching something like a live cow being fed to tigers was more than I would have been able to handle, so we opted for a chicken, and hoped it would be a quick and painless meal. One of the employees quickly tossed the chicken out the window and yanked his arm back inside, just as the tiger leaped up on top of the van to devour his snack, basically just a chicken McNugget to him!
To combat the bitter cold, we kept little mini bottles of vodka and Kahlua in our bags, taking little sips now and then to warm our insides. I've learned since then, though, that the initial warmth felt is misleading, and after it brings blood to the surface of the skin, making you initially feel warmer, it then can allow more cold to enter the body, so it's pretty counter-productive. Fun fact of the day! J
However, when it's cold and snowy outside, people seem more apt to want to add a splash of alcohol to just about everything, and I can't say I disagree with that, since I'm tempted to pour bourbon into every dish I make this time of year. I made pork chops for dinner the other night, glazed with a bourbon and soy sauce glaze, then topped with leftover cranberry orange compote, which was so full of holiday flavor.
Lately I've been dreaming of a rummy, chocolaty cake, ironically just when someone e-mailed me to ask if I had a recipe for rum cake, but I hadn't had a chance to make it yet.
When I wrote this recipe, I had originally intended to bake it in a bundt pan, then drizzle it with a cappuccino glaze, having actually adapted it from my pound cake recipe. I also had every intention of using Hershey's Special Dark cocoa, but forgot to buy any, so instead of calling it a "Midnight Mocha Rum Cake" I am calling it just "Mocha Rum Cake". I do think, though, that the dark cocoa would be incredible, since I'm a big fan of dark, bittersweet chocolate.
I don't really remember why I decided to bake it as a layer cake instead of a bundt, but that's what I did, and it was every bit as perfect. (And while I haven't actually tried this recipe in a bundt pan, I fully believe it would work beautifully.) It's not a light and airy cake, like my standard dark chocolate cake recipe, instead it's more dense like a pound cake, moist and almost fudgy in texture, which is why it should also bake well in a bundt pan.
I frosted the cake with a rich cappuccino buttercream, flavored with plenty of rum and one of my favorite ingredients, Espresso Powder, to give it an intense coffee flavor. I frosted the cake simply, leaving the sides open and just garnishing it with a few colored sprinkles on top.
After we sampled a few bites of the cake, I wrapped up the rest for us to take to work; midmorning, after I'd watched one of my own coworkers go back for his third piece, Jamie texted me that one of his coworkers fell in love with the cake – referring to it as "Espresso Cake" – so much so that he wanted one of these for Thanksgiving instead of pie! I only felt slightly panicked, not at the thought of going home and baking a cake that night, but because I had used up the last of my espresso powder the day before, and hadn't had the chance to buy more. I promised I would have the cake ready, though, and after work, made a beeline for Williams Sonoma, keeping my fingers crossed that they would have the powder in stock. I breathed a little sigh of relief at the sight of those glass jars on the shelf and bought two, as long as I was already there.
He requested a smaller cake, so I halved the recipe and baked it in three 6-inch pans, then frosted it generously with swirls of the coffee-colored buttercream. A simple chocolate curl on top was all the garnish I thought it needed.
The buttercream on its own is divine, and I keep thinking of other recipes, especially cupcakes, I would like to try it on. After swirling it over the cake, the heady aroma of coffee and rum filled the kitchen. Just breathing in the intoxicating scent of this cake will warm you up on even the coldest of nights.
Mocha Rum Cake
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup unsweetened Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder or Special Dark cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sour cream
- ¼ cup dark rum, preferably Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum (alcohol free version – substitute milk instead)
- 1 cup boiling water
- 2 tablespoons espresso powder
Frosting Options:
As a Glaze: (to pour over a bundt cake)
- ¼ cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon espresso powder
- 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
- 2 tablespoons dark rum
- 2-4 tablespoons warm milk, to achieve desired consistency
As a Buttercream: (to frost 3 cake layers – more needed for swirl technique as shown in pictures)
- 1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2-3 tablespoons espresso powder
- 6 tablespoons dark rum
- 3 cups powdered sugar
Preheat the oven to 350; spray a bundt or three 8-inch cake pans thoroughly with non-stick spray. If using cake pans, line the bottoms with parchment paper and spray the paper, too.
In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar for 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs, then the vanilla, scraping the bowl down and beating well to combine.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the sour cream and rum. With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the milk/sour cream, starting and ending with the dry, stirring just until moistened. Dissolve the espresso powder in the boiling water and gently stir into the batter.
Pour batter into the pan; bake for 50-60 minutes for a bundt pan or 25-30 minutes for cake layers, until a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack; cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel and cool completely.
To make Glaze for a Bundt Cake:
When the cake is cool, whisk together the ingredients until smooth, adding enough warm milk or more powdered sugar to achieve the desired consistency. Set the cake on a serving plate and pour the glaze over the cake, letting it run down the sides. The glaze will set in about 15 minutes.
To make Buttercream for a Layered Cake:
Combine buttercream ingredients on low speed, then whip on medium high speed with whisk attachment until very light and fluffy. Pipe or spread onto cooled cake.
Recipe from Curly Girl Kitchen


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City of Dana PointHome Menu
Headlands Nature Walk
- Date: 12/01/2018 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM
- Location: Dana Point Nature Interpretive Center
34558 Scenic Drive
Dana Point, California 92629
This walk focuses on the plants and the animals that can be found on the Dana Point Headlands. It is designed to introduce participants to our local plant communities, notably Coastal Sage Scrub, and to teach them about the wildlife that relies on it! Participants will learn specifically about our endemic (found only in southern California) rare and endangered plants and animals (notably Cliff Spurge, Pacific Pocket Mouse, and Coastal California Gnatcatcher).
The Headlands Nature Walk occurs on the first Saturday of each month and begins at the Nature Interpretive Center (34558 Scenic Drive, Dana Point, CA 92629) at 9 AM. The walk is approximately 1.5 to 2 hours long, covering about 1.5 miles.
Please RSVP to email@example.com or (949) 248-3527
Trails are open 7AM to Sunset daily
Nature Interpretive Center hours: Tuesday-Sunday 10AM to 4PM
If you have any other questions, please let us know!


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Book Direct with the Owner at Medlyn Australia with Accommodation Melbourne Agent in Medlyn, for all your Dining, Dancing and things to do.
Address: Greens La, Moonambel VIC 3478
Address: Raglan St, St Arnaud VIC 3478
Address: Napier St, St Arnaud VIC 3478
Address: Brooke, Moonambel VIC 3478
Address: Napier Street, St Arnaud VIC 3478
copyright © 2020 Accommodation Melbourne. All rights reserved.


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Grand Theft Auto Episodes From Liberty City PS3 (GTA Pre-owned) Description
Episodes from Liberty City is the brand new Grand Theft Auto, containing two complete games â The Ballad of Gay Tony and The Lost and Damned â together in one box.
The Ballad of Gay Tony:
The Ballad of Gay Tony injects Liberty City with an overdose of guns, glitz, and grime. As Luis Lopez, part-time hoodlum and full-time assistant to legendary nightclub impresario Tony Prince (aka âÂÂGay TonyâÂÂ), players will struggle with the competing loyalties of family and friends, and with the uncertainty about who is real and who is fake in a world in which everyone has a price.
Grand Theft Auto The Lost and Damned
Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned sees you playing as Johnny, a veteran member of The Lost, a notorious biker gang. Johnny has been creating business opportunities for The Lost in Liberty City, but his first loyalty must be to the patch he wears on his back and to Billy Grey, the club's President. However, when Billy returns from rehab hell-bent on bloodshed and debauchery, Johnny finds himself in the middle of a vicious turf war with rival gangs for control of a city torn apart by violence and corruption. Can the brotherhood survive?
Developed by series creator Rockstar North and set in Liberty City, Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned features a new main character, Johnny Klebitz, and plot that intersects with the storyline of Grand Theft Auto IV; new missions that offer an entirely fresh way to explore Liberty City with new multiplayer modes, weapons and vehicles. Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned also boasts a diverse soundtrack with additional music – all with the incredible production values that are the trademarks of Grand Theft Auto.
Grand Theft Auto The Lost and Damned Features:
- All-new missions: GTA IV: The Lost and Damned presents and all-new storyline that interweaves with the original story arc of Grand Theft Auto IV.
- Play as Johnny, a member of The Lost Motorcycle Club: Experience Liberty City in GTA IV: The Lost and Damned through the perspective and lifestyle of a member of a biker gang.
- Added range of weapons: Included in GTA IV: The Lost and Damned are the all-new grenade launcher and sawed-off shotgun. New weapons will be available for use in Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned single-player and in all new multiplayer modes.
- New GTA IV: The Lost and Damned vehicles: the Lost and Damned features a collection of bikes that include Johnny's own customised heavy-duty chopper.
- New and improved bike handling and physics: GTA IV: the Lost and Damned improves on the already lifelike handling of cars in Liberty City's virtual world.
- New action-packed multiplayer modes: GTA IV: The Lost and Damned will not only boast a whole new singleplayer story, but new modes for GTA Iv's multiplayer option as well!
- All-new in-game TV, internet and radio content: GTA IV: The Lost and Damned includes new radio shows and original music.
You must accept the license available online at rockstargames.com/eula. Non-transferable access to special features such as exclusive, unlockable, downloadable or online content, services, or functions may require single-use serial code, additional fee and/or online account registration (13+). Violation of EULA, Code of Conduct, or other policies may result in restriction or termination of access to game or online account. Access to special features may require internet connection, may not be available to all users, and may, upon 30 days notice, be terminated, modified, or offered under different terms. The content of this videogame is purely fictional, and is not intended to represent or depict any actual event, person, or entity. The makers and publishers of this videogame do not in any way endorse, condone or encourage engaging in any conduct depicted in this videogame. Unauthorized copying, reverse engineering, transmission, public performance, rental, pay for play, or circumvention of copy protection is strictly prohibited.
All our pre-owned games are quality tested & fully playable, but bonus content or codes for online play may have been redeemed. Game may not include original artwork and/or manual.
Pre-owned games may have minor scratches but are guaranteed to work.


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Find all the contact information for the LANXESS sites worldwidefind out more
Specialty chemicals company LANXESS successfully completed the acquisition of U.S. company Chemtura, one of the world's leading suppliers of flame retardant and lubricant additives on April 21, 2017. All required regulatory authorities cleared the transaction.
Flame retardant and lubricant additives were the main pillars of Chemtura's business and they now complement the current LANXESS portfolio combined in a new "Additives" business unit. With the closing of the transaction, these two business activities are integrated with LANXESS's "Rhein Chemie" business unit to form a new segment – "Specialty Additives".
The Organometallics business is integrated in the segment "Advanced Intermediates" and will become part of the "Advanced Industrial Intermediates" business unit.
Urethanes Systems forms a new business unit within the "Engineering Materials" segment.
With the acquisition of Chemtura, LANXESS is building on its own additives portfolio. The company becomes one of the world's major actors in this growing market.


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Drop in Cigarette Sales: That also means a drop in California tax revenues. [Sacramento Bee]
SF Tax Measures Pit Labor Against Business: The measures include three tax increases and a vehicle registration fee hike. [SF Gate]
Financial Aid Red Tape: Just getting through the verification process is a test for many students. [California Watch]
Debating About Debates: Jerry Brown Wants 10, Meg Whitman Wants 3. She says she'll attend debates at UC Davis, Cal State Fresno and Dominican University. [SF Gate]
Taxpayers Assoc. Files Lawsuit Over Green Measure: The lawsuit seeks to re-write the measure's ballot description. [Mercury News]
In Case You Were Wondering: The budget stalemate continues in Sacramento. [LA Times]


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Good morning crafters, it's the last day of November so today I have the final card from Sheri who's been our lovely Guest Designer this month
Sheri makes the most beautiful cards and projects, we've had lots of comments on them and I think you'll like this final piece too…
This an altered clock, what a brilliant idea. I like up cycling but this is something I certainly wouldn't have ever thought of, I love it
Sheri used one of my favourite of our Christmas stamps, this is Build A Snowman and a wavy sentiment from the Christmas Wishes set
You can find more of Sheri's incredible work on her own blog here
I'd like to thank Sheri and indeed all our fabulous Guest Designers over the last couple of years, sadly there aren't enough places on our DT for all the super talented crafters that are around but this has given us chance to showcase some amazing work and I know you've enjoyed seeing them
Just a couple of reminders for the last day of November…
It's your last chance to get hold of our discontinued stamps, we don't have many left and for the last few hours they are all reduced to just £3.00 each. With free postage on stamps it's a real bargain so do have a look and make sure you didn't miss any before they get taken off the website
Also, today is the final day to enter our last challenge, we'd like you to make us a Christmas card or project and as always there are prizes up for grabs. You can enter and find all the details on our Challenge Page at the top of the blog
Leave a comment for the candy draw and help me thank Sheri for joining us, I'm having a few days off so am going to be scheduling the next couple of posts, there will still be one each day at the same time so don't forget to pop by for your daily inspiration
I won't be around to announce the winners so instead of a small daily prize I'll draw a couple of names from the comments that have been left over the past few days when I get back, we'll send out some sample packs of our patterned papers to the lucky winners
Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone


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The Weinstein Company has scheduled seven films for release, including a couple that will almost surely be in play come the Oscars.
My Week With Marilyn - Nov. 4: Michelle Williams stars as Marilyn Monroe in this film about her difficult relationship with Sir Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh) on the set of "The Prince and the Showgirl."
The Bully Project - Nov. 11: A documentary that takes a look at the horrors of bullying across the country.
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
The Artist - Nov. 23: Jean Dujardin won Best Actor at Cannes this year for his performance as an againg silent film star and his romance with a young actress making it big in talkies. The trailer, above, is stunning. Safe bet for a Best Foreign Film nod.
Coriolanus - Dec. 2: The directorial debut from star Ralph Fiennes is a modern retelling of Shakespeare play about a banished ruler who joins forces with his former enemy to seek revenge.
The Iron Lady - Dec. 16: Meryl Streep's next Oscar nomination will be for playing Margaret Thatcher, who served as British Prime Minister from May 1979 to November 1990.
Scary Movie 5 - April 20, 2012: Really? A fifth one?
Halloween 3D - Oct. 26, 2012: Rob Zombie's third installment will be coming in glorious 3D.


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AnastasiaDate is a premium international dating service that facilitates exciting and romantic companionship online with beautiful and interesting women from all over the world. Over 1.5 million conversations are exchanged onsite daily. AnastasiaDate is committed to member safety, and customer satisfaction. AnastasiaDate users are also able to communicate across a variety of top-notch multimedia platforms, including video chat.
AnastasiaDate, today announced the launch of the company's first mobile apps for iTunes and Google Play, which are introduced as part of an on-going committment to provide technology and a direct line to finding love interests abroad.
The app is available as a free download on iTunes and a free download on Google Play. As with AnastasiaDate's online service, members can use the app to connect with interesting and intriguing women internationally who offer something new and exotic as an exciting alternative compared to the American dating pool.
AnastasiaDate members can now begin cross-cultural conversations - and possibly lifelong relationships, all from the convenience of their mobile device. Features of the app include the ability to browse profiles, photos and interviews, engage in live text chat, maintain a contact list with preferred matches, purchase credits, and receive VIP status notifications.
"As one of the world's most pre-eminent international online dating services, we wanted to meet our users' demand for a way to communicate with their love interest or to connect with a new one, no matter where they are or how busy their lifestyle," said Lawrence Cervantes, Chief Communications Officer at AnastasiaDate. "As we continue to grow, we're keeping in step with the proliferation of mobile devices so that AnastasiaDate can match the lifestyle of our users."
According to a new study of dating habits conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of AnastasiaDate - of people who have a preference for dating someone outside of North America, 68 percent of them said that they would prefer dating someone who lives in Eastern Europe (i.e. Russia, Ukraine).
In the same study, an astounding seventy-four percent of all respondents believe that technology has made dating much easier (i.e. meeting potential mates and setting up dates.) The survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of AnastasiaDate from February 4-6, 2013, among 2,090 adults age 18 and older.
Since January 2011, AnastasiaDate.com has seen a 47% increase in members accessing the site from mobile devices. As online dating continues to grow in popularity, AnastasiaDate's millions of users can download the app and use their current login details to access their account from Apple and Android devices. New users who are 17 years of age or older can use the app to create an account and start mingling with more than 20,000 women from across the globe.
"The launch of our app is the next step in our creation of a service where relationships have no borders," said Cervantes. "For 20 years we have leveraged technology so that women and men across the globe can connect and share fascinating aspects of their daily lives. In an era where technology is fast becoming a driving force behind all our relationships, we're committed to closing the dating gap between different cultures with better communications."
For more information and to access screenshots of the app, please visit here.


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Just found out last night that the Mainiac1957 hit 1100 caches yesterday. Congratulations Brad,,,way to go, an awesome achievement. Keep on trucking. Good to see you last night, had a good time, as always. "Dave and Gail"
Wow, I cannot imagine doing 1100 caches!! AMAZING!! CONGRATS!! I'll be happy when I get 50!! LOL
Roses are a gift! Glad you could harvest a few.......way to go.
Congrats Brad,I'll never catch yah now.
Just smile it won't crack your face
The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four persons is
suffering from some sort of mental illness. Think of your three best
friends -- if they're okay, then it's you.
Holy Toledo!! You are a caching fool - LOL Keep having fun!!!
~ Beach Comber ~
Congrats Brad,
I'm trying to catch up but when we cache togeather I never will close the gap
Geesh, I feel like I am standing still. Nice job!
Go Go Go! Congrats!
Those two little dogs give you the POWER!!! Cache on.


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Today is a wonderful day. Along with Last Front: Europe, Age of Tribes has dropped to FREE! Age of Tribes, a line-drawing adventure, is a ticklish blend of Lemmings and Flight Control which puts you in the role of a tribal leader who must lead your followers to safety against scary odds and dangerous terrain. At 199 pennies cheaper than its usual price, now is a great time to click the iTunes link:
Fancy Factory, Age of Tribes – Free
Get them now or check the official description after the gap.


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I believe that many people get confused about the term "Atheist." Is an Atheist just a person who doesn't believe in a supreme being or is there more to it? How does one become Atheist? What is it like be in a world that is dominated by religion? Please give me your feedback on this topic. Help me gain insight on the Atheist community so to speak.
Views: 685
We just answered all of these questions for a guy calling himself Stephen, who deleted all his comments and left with his tail between his legs.
Quite simply Keith, we are all born atheists until some of us are corrupted by superstitious adults.
Are you guys working in shifts?
Stephen self-destructed too? Not even a little pile of smouldering ashes? Tragic
I suspect he was Raptured, but let's keep it our secret --
Gen 5:24 "And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him."
For me, only the most fundamental definition is necessary. For me personally this seems to stem from a stronger need for truth.
OK, Ladies and Germs, I have a confession to make. It will likely get me kicked out of the Atheist's club, they will probably, effective today, change the secret handshake, strip me of my decoder ring, and if they could find where I've hidden it, take back my recipe for baby Bar-B-Que.
Let me preface my confession by saying that I do not believe in ANYthing supernatural, but I just watched a rerun of "The Santa Clause 2," with Tim Allen and Elizabeth Hamilton ("Juliette," from "Lost"), and I'll admit I laughed, and I cried.
I've also teared up at every episode of "Ghost Whisperer," for the very same reason.
I've come to the conclusion that - and don't ask me which evolutionary survival technique it involves - we Humans WANT to believe in things supernatural. We Atheists, of course, and rationally so, discount any possibility of magic, but the concept is so ingrained within our heritage, that, at least subconsciously, we bemoan our loss of innocence, an innocence that didn't depend on mathematical formulae or carbon dating - magic did it. The tooth fairy was real, and Santa, and the Easter Bunny, and yes, gnomes, and elves and fairies without any specific professional occupation.
This need of ours, and again, I have no empirical evidence, is responsible for all of the gods we Humans have ever worshiped. To lose the need, is to lose our collective childhoods, our collective innocence, and although we know, in our minds, that it's the logical thing to do, logic is not a thing that makes us laugh or cry.
And no one's getting my recipe --
The difference is that you can differentiate between fantasy and reality.
There is an evolutionary survival technique in imagination. With imagination, we can decide that we would not eat a mixture of fish, custard and crushed spider - even though we have never actually tasted it. Someone else will probably have a far better analogy, but with imagination we can make choices, because we can imagine several outcomes of different actions, etc. I'm sure you see what I mean.
Fantasy is simply a spin-off from imagination. We, as humans, entertain children and ourselves with magical stories, but even so, you will note that the underdog usually wins, and good triumphs over evil in an absolute way in these stories. So I can see that we might yearn for that to be as clear cut in life - which it isn't.
The films you watched were actually designed to have the emotional effect that they seem to be having on you. That is the precise outcome that makes people want to watch them. But tell me, do you really look around you and imagine you can see real ghosts, after watching the Ghost Whisperer? Of course you don't.
That is because you can differentiate between fantasy and reality. At some stage, you discovered that Santa and co were not real. I wonder if you would have been so certain of that discovery if all the adults around you were seriously certain he did exist. Eventually you might have worked it out anyway, but not necessarily immediately.
Religious folk have not managed to learn how to differentiate, because nobody in their surrounds has taught them how to tell the two apart.
Far be it from me to discount your analogy, but the only good spider is a crushed spider, whether you eat it or not --
I think there could be an error with the "..nobody in their surrounds has taught them how to tell the two apart."
I really think they know, but the social conditioning makes demands on their common sense, to always silence doubt, and replace it with constantly refluxing dogma. A little like an invasive thought, or a well composed piece of music that you just can't get out of your head!
I do have a few of these as part of my chemistry education, like 'Leo and his Ger', 'Leo= loses electrons oxidises', 'Ger= gains electrons reduces', and 'PI=3.141592657...'. Happily, I can control these just by making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or checking the statis of our junk food inventory...;p).
Freud and infants.
Sadly, for some, they wish to know how we got to 'here'.
Looking back, it feels that for some, it was an easy walk in the park. For others, a vast web of cruel moments, tortured trust, slamed doors, and love betrayed. And then others, a life time of study, moments of insight, and testing of boundaries. I wonder how many of us might consider our destination as an outcome similar to the lives of Old Testiment characters.
Job anyone?
The letter "A" means "non", the word "theist" means something different to every person who chooses to wear the "Theist" label.
I don't wear the "Atheist" label myself, I'm a self described "Realistic Absolutist" ie. That which is real is true, absolutely true unto itself.
There are no doGs, only doG lovers and they can't be trusted.
Hope that helps.


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LSD was a lucky strike of Dr. Albert Hoffmann who was incidentally looking for a circulatory and respiratory stimulant. However, no real benefits of the compound were identified and its study was discontinued. This was in 1938. In the 1940's, interest in the drug was revived because of its structural relationship to a chemical that is present in the brain. LSD was used as a research tool in studies of mental illness.
Sandoz Laboratories, the drug's sole producer, began marketing LSD in 1947 under the trade name "Delysid" and it was introduced into the United States a year later. It was the time when Cold War swept across the globe. The CIA found it as an unconventional weapon to discredit their perceived enemies. After a blunder and its ensuing scandal made the CIA discontinue from further researches in this drug.
Aldous Huxley, the author of Brave New World, in the 1950s became interested in psychedelic or mind-expanding drugs like mescaline and LSD, which he apparently took a dozen times over ten years. Sybille Bedford says he was looking for a drug that would allow an escape from the self and that if taken with caution would be physically and socially harmless.
He put his beliefs in such a drug and in sanity into several books. Two, based on his experiences taking mescaline under supervision, were nonfiction: Doors of Perception (1954) and Heaven and Hell (1956). Some readers have read those books as encouragements to experiment freely with drugs, but Huxley warned of the dangers of such experiments in an appendix he wrote to The Devils of Loudun (1952), a psychological study of an episode in French history.
In his book The Island he approved of the perfected version of LSD that the people of Island use in a religious way. (Ack: somaweb.org) The late Timothy Leary gave LSD its fame after being kicked out from Harvard University for using students and other volunteers to study the effects of LSD on the brain. He later became an advocate of the drug, promoting its "mind expanding qualities." An icon of 1960s counterculture, Leary is most famous as a proponent of the therapeutic and spiritual benefits of LSD. He coined and popularized the catch phrase "Turn on, tune in, drop out."
He was one Voice of the Hippie movement,- and there were many other voices and influences that fed the growing cynicism of the young. Drug culture of the sixties was amid the growing violence and unrest following escalation of US involvement in Vietnam and LSD that the very government had at first thought as an useful tool to repress the opposition, was just doing that: LSD had become a subversive tool to overthrow the society and their culture.
Dr. Albert Hoffmann was a scientist whose yeoman work in finding an useful drug created history and shall be noted for wrong reasons.


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The Rough Guide to the iPad (3rd edition)
- Description
- Author
- Info
- Reviews
Whatever you want to do, The Rough Guide to the iPad 3rd edition has it covered: from FaceTime video-calling to to iPhoto image editing to HD TV streaming. This book tells you everything you need to know about the 3rd generation iPad.
The Rough Guide to the iPad covers everything from buying advice, and the low-down on the features you get straight out of the box, to advanced tips and reviews of the most useful apps. This new edition covers all the latest software developments, including syncing via iCloud, iBooks 2, multitouch gestures, iTunes Music Match and advanced photo editing. And of course, all you need to know about the glorious new retina display.
If you are new to iPad or looking to upgrade to the latest model, this Rough Guide will show you how to make the most of the world's most iconic tablet.
Now available in ePub format.


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Kadarka: A Wine Well Outside My Comfort Zone
There are 1,368 varieties covered in Master of Wine Jancis Robinson's Wine Grapes. Bet you can't try them all.
Note from the author: There are 1,368 varieties covered in Wine Grapes by MW Jancis Robinson, MW Julia Harding, and Dr. Jose Vouillamoz. Bet you can't try them all.
Dear Daniel, Your challenge peeved me. I knew I'd have no trouble making a pot pie. The problem was, I had no wine to go with pot pie...
Dan was one of my kitchen-partners in crime when I lived in New York City once upon a time. To stay in touch when I moved to sunny California, we designated certain nights to cook "together": the same dish, on opposite coasts.
Pot pie is one of my very favorite foods. I make it when I need to feel better about life, because it conjures up feelings of comfort, safety and a calm reassurance that, at base, the world is simple and beautiful. And this is why I always pair it with white Burgundy. White Burgundy is Chardonnay from France's Burgundy region. It is also my favorite wine in the entire world, similarly safe, reassuring, and beautiful.
Which is why I found it quite troubling that, in the midst of my endeavor to try as many obscure grapes as possible, I found myself with no simple and perfect white Burgundy on hand.
Disgruntled, I rebelled as far out of my comfort zone as possible. From top to bottom, the unpronounceable words on the label read:
Nagyapám Szekszárdi Kadarka 2011 Eszterbauer Borászat Szekszárd
The back had a promising four-word statement: quality dry red wine. Oh, good.
I looked up each word in Wine Grapes until I found: Kadarka. Jancis, Julia and José write:
Statistically Kadarka has been in decline in Hungary in recent decades but it is still popular with consumers for its medium body, gentle tannins, fresh acidity, lightly spicy aromas and overall elegance, with some similarity to Pinot Noir.
I know Pinot Noir! And I know from experience that it's terrific with mushrooms. So I threw a ton of wild mushrooms into my pot pie, cracked into the bottle and anxiously hoped for the best.
The wine pours out like liquid rubies: vibrant, translucent, stunning. It's spot-on as Jancis and team said it would be, light and lithe, smelling brightly of wild cherries, jasmine, damp earth, cinnamon and cured meat. My mother would say it had a "bite," which is what she always politely comments when there's more acidity than plush, rich fruit.
I LOVE it. I love it even better after a cool few minutes in the refrigerator. And I love it best in between huge bites of wild mushroom pot pie, its faint scent of fresh potting soil playing off the earthiness of the mushrooms, while that friendly "bite" bites right through the rich gravy and buttery crust, giving me an excuse to happily finish off a second helping.
Though I'm not spending my night with white Burgundy, I appreciate the comforting, simple beauty Kadarka offers—along with the reminder that no reward comes without a little risk.
2011 Eszterbauer Nagyapám Kadarka (Szekszárd, Hungary)
The Grape: Kadarka
The Region: Szekszárd, Hungary
Retail Price: $17
The Importer: Blue Danube Wine Company
About the Author: Stevie Stacionis is a wine writer and Certified Sommelier based in San Francisco. She's currently drinking her way through the 1,368 varieties included in the new Wine Grapes tome. Follow her on Twitter @StevieStacionis and check out her snobbery-free wine videos at A Drinks With Friends TV.
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.


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Picture of the Day: Khloe Terae in her captain's hat
Here's the lovely Khloe Terae as she enjoys boating on a nice day in Florida.
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Just The Stopwatch - Our Story
Our goal at bodytronics.com is to provide both our wholesale and retail customers with the best possible products and customer service at the best price. Our company was founded as service-oriented, and despite our evolution, that focus has not been forgotten. We want our customers to know who they are doing business with and feel comfortable with their choice. More than just an "internet company" we are a privately held, fully staffed business with a purpose-built "brick and mortar" headquarters. Our street address, email addresses, and toll-free phone numbers are prominently displayed throughout our website, and there are real people on the other end waiting to answer your call, email, or fax. We are proud of our history as a service-first company, and would like to share our history with you.
Bodytronics is the trade name of TKO Enterprises, Inc., a privately held company founded in 1994. We began operation as a full service track-side stopwatch and timing vendor at Karting tracks in Georgia. We developed a low-cost self-timing system that enabled racers to time their own laps while on the track. This system was very popular locally, and after a few years of refinement we began marketing the timing system under the trade name of Kartspeed, and in 1998 began offering the system at www.kartspeed.com. This was our first e-commerce effort.
Despite little or no advertising, the power of the web was amazing, and we were soon flooded with requests to buy "just the stopwatch." The market quickly made us aware that there was not a source for high quality stopwatches. We responded, and in Oct. 1998 we registered the domain stopwatches.com where we offered a full line of stopwatches from all the major manufacturers. We grew very rapidly in 1998, and in 1999 started looking for ways to grow our business with complimentary product lines. In June of 1999, we launched Bodytronics, and the website bodytronics.com. The concept of Bodytronics was to offer a full line of personal fitness electronics, including pedometers, heart rate monitors, blood pressure monitoring, and body fat measurement. Bodytronics.com was immediately successful, and later in 1999 the stopwatches.com website and product line was integrated into bodytronics.com to facilitate a more concerted marketing effort for our two complimentary product lines. Early in 2000, we began offering our own line of Bodytronics products, including pedometers, stopwatches, conductive gel and more. These products enabled us to eliminate the middleman markups on our most popular selling products, which allowed us to offer a superior product at a very competitive price.
In 2001 the wholesale growth of the Bodytronics product line, especially pedometers, was incredible. By Late 2001, it became clear that we could no longer operate out of our rented office space. In the spring of 2002 we found and purchased the "perfect" space, 2000 square feet of office / warehouse. We quickly outgrew our "perfect" space, and in late 2002 we purchased 1.5 acres of land in an industrial park and began construction of a new headquarters. Currently 5000 square feet, expandable to over 10,000 square feet our current facility was built from the ground up with our business in mind. With 20' warehouse ceilings, we finally had the space to stock the huge quantities of product our wholesale customers demanded, and at the same time were able to stock every product offered to our retail customers, eliminating drop-shipping, and improving ship times and overall customer service. Our new headquarters features full power and data protection, with UPS and full automatic generator backup. The bottom line to the customer is very little can interrupt our business operation, ensuring the quality service you expect. Today Bodytronics is one of the largest distributors of personal fitness electronics in the United States, serving both retail and wholesale customers from it's Metro Atlanta, Georgia facility.
Contact Information
Phone: (9:30a - 5:30p EST, Mon-Fri): (678) 817-5789
Toll Free 24hr Fax: (877) 799-7928
Email: email@example.com
By Snailmail or UPS:
TKOZ Enterprises, Inc.
3020 NE 41st Terrace STE 427
Homestead, FL 33033


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Report: 2012 Memorial Day Snow Run at the Ahtanum State Forest
Memorial Day Snow Run at the Ahtanum State Forest
Report and photos by Clay Graham / Eastern Washington Adventures
Ahtanum State Forest - Photo by Clay Graham / Eastern Washington Adventures
Around 10 AM on Monday May 28th, 2012 Eastern Washington Adventures members meet up at the Ahtanum Winter Recreation Trailhead and aired down for the snow wheeling run. It was a nice warm day.
We waited around until 10:30 for others and then headed up the Mid Fork with Joker as the lead. We turned onto Whites Ridge Loop and then up the Whites Ridge 4x4 Trail. Not far past the McLaine Canyon Road we found some trees across the trail. Guido cut the down trees and we helped get them off the trail. We moved on to hit off camber snow not to far past where the trail merges with the closed road. BlindPilot took the lead about the point where I smashed up my XJ on the 2011 Memorial Day run. We pushed on up the off camber snow covered trail cutting more down trees out of the way as we went. We pulled off to the side to let some FJ40s go past us. They did not go to far before turning around. We pressed on until we lost the trail in the area the logged out.
We decided to go back down once the group was back together and Joker lead the way. We turned off the Whites Ridge 4x4 Trail and run McLaine Canyon Road down to the Mid Fork. Next we headed up the Mid Fork and stopped at Tree Phone to use the outhouse. Once business was done we head on up the Mid Fork. Not far from Eagle Nest we found two quad riders turning around. The flatter part of the snow drift above the road was getting narrow. We all decided to head back down.
On the way back down the Mid Fork "JK Lance" found a soft spot in the snow over the ditch and fell in. With a little winching he was out and we headed back down to the Ahtanum Winter Recreation Trailhead to air up for home.
This was a great run thanks to all who came. I special thanks to Joker for driving me around all day in his TJ.
See full report with 80 photos at: Memorial Day Snow Run at the Ahtanum State Forest - May 28 2012
Nice report, as usual.
Wonder how Makeout Point Hill got it's name :laugh:
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Entering MBA students raise the bar at the UH Manoa Shidler College of Business
Incoming full-time MBA students average 632 on the GMATUniversity of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Shidler College of Business
HONOLULU — The first, incoming full-time MBA class at the Shidler College of Business at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa is breaking school records for the highest average score on the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT: 632 out of 800), highest Grade Point Average (GPA: 3.4 out of 4.0) and the highest average years of professional work experience (5 years).
"The scores of this year's full-time MBA students are comparable to those listed in the U.S. News Top Graduate Business programs," says V. Vance Roley, dean of the Shidler College of Business, referring to the 2008 U.S.News & World Report survey of America's Best Graduate Schools released this past April. "Over the past two years, we have worked extremely hard to attract the best students from all over the world. Among the GMAT and GPA averages listed in the U.S. News Top Graduate Business Schools for 2008, the Shidler College of Business new Full-Time MBA students would be placed near the midpoint out of the 66 programs ranked."
The top graduate business program ranked by U.S.News is Stanford, listed at 720 for GMAT and 3.61 for GPA. The University of Utah rounds out the list with average GMAT scores of 605 and 3.4 for GPA. Only full-time MBA programs are considered in the Top Graduate Business School ranking by U.S.
News. The Shidler College of Business will be eligible in 2009.
The full-time Day MBA program consists of three MBA programs—Full-Time MBA, China International MBA, and Japan-Focused MBA (in partnership with JAIMS). The cohort style program drew students from a variety of backgrounds, both in geographical locations and career. Forty-four percent of the students are from Hawaiʻi, 30 percent from the continental U.S. and 26 percent are from foreign countries such as China, Germany, Nepal, India, Singapore, Japan, Bhutan, Thailand, Ecuador and Czech Republic.
Thirty-seven percent received degrees in business, 30 percent in humanities/social sciences, 7 percent each in computer/information system, 9 percent in economics, 17 percent each from science and engineering, making this entering class a truly international and diverse group.
Entering MBA student John Nordlander has worked as a project facilitator for a non-profit international development organization in China. He chose the China International MBA program as means to prepare for and pursue his dream of developing a for-profit, small-scale enterprise that will assist social efforts in China and Southeast Asia.
For James Knapp, he will use the Japan-Focused MBA program as a way to transition back into the business world while building upon his experiences in Japan. The once mechanical engineer turned English teacher in Japan, would like to work as a consultant and negotiator between U.S. and Japanese high-tech companies.
Ranked in the top 25 for international business by U.S.News & World Report, the Shidler MBA programs attract students interested in international business with an Asia-Pacific focus. Including the 46 students enrolled in the Full-Time MBA cohort, there are 455 graduate students enrolled at the Shidler College of Business. Other MBA programs include: Part-Time MBA, Executive MBA, U.S. International MBA, Executive Vietnam MBA, Joint JD/MBA, Joint MS in Nursing Administration/MBA, Neighbor Island MBA, Master of Accounting and Master of Human Resource Management.
About the Shidler College of Business at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa
Established in 1949 as the College of Business Administration, the College was named in 2006 after alumnus Jay H. Shidler, founder and managing partner of The Shidler Group. The Shidler College of Business is renowned for its expertise in international management education and is consistently ranked
among the nation's top 25 graduate schools for international business by U.S.News & World Report. Long recognized for its Asia-Pacific focus, the College is a professional school, offering a wide variety of degree, certificate and executive programs. The College places a strong emphasis on the development of management skills, entrepreneurship and the management of business information technology. The UH Shidler College of Business is the only graduate program in the State of Hawai'i accredited by AACSB International. For more information, visit www.shidler.hawaii.edu.
For more information, visit: http://www.shidler.hawaii.edu


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|Dicen que es la segunda competición más importante del planeta football
Brazil - The favourites, no doubt about it. Don't expect the flowing football of old though. This lot are bit more rough and ready like a night out in Stockton but they'll be hard to beat especially with Lou Ferrango in the team. Will the weight of expectancy prove too heavy a burden?? This country will not accept failure.
Croatia - Expect the usual mix of elegance and grit like Fer and Argie combined. Will the rarefied atmosphere be their undoing as it always has been for European teams? Will rely heavily on Mandzukic for goals but will be in the mix.
Mexico - Struggled to qualify and about as exciting as a $1 taco. Last time they had a decent squad Pancho Villa was president. Will be Mexican waving bye bye at the first stage.
Cameroon – This could be the youngest squad in the competition or the oldest who can tell? This isn't the team of previous World Cups though. They will struggle to make any real impact and we'll be left with memories of Roger Milla the oldest swinger in town.
Spain - Will the holders be able to reproduce the style that made them kings? Looks like a squad who may struggle to score despite a lot of possession. Nowadays Torres would lose a foot race with Fatty Arbuckle. They will progress from the group but like Barca they will be found out later in the competition.
Chile - I tip them to be the surprise package in this group. They will be fun to watch and tough to play against, just like the Boro. As an omen they have a player named after two Galician legends Arturo Vidal you can play the guitar like a god and like pies, probably...
Netherlands - Strolled through the qualifiers but usually flatter to deceive in the later stages. I'm not a fan of the Dutchies, always think they are better than they are. I predict a shock and they will fall at the first hurdle. Cocky bastards.
Australia - If they can get their squad of beach bums from spending all of their time eyeing up the totty on Copa Cobana they will be difficult to beat, but get beat they will. Stick to Aussie Rules lads.
Ivory Coast - Star studded team with not one but two Toure's and the old diver Drogba. They are all getting on a bit to be honest but they'll still make it out of the group stages.
Colombia - Bit of a mystery this lot but you can usually be guaranteed some entertainment on the way be it on the field or off with the fear of reprisals from the Drug Lords should they lose a game. They also beat Uruguay and Chile in qualifying. I still miss Carlos Valderrama's hair. He looked like he should have played bass in Earth, Wind and Fire.
Greece - Defence is as stable as a Greek Bank. These guys take austerity to new levels. All of their matches could end up 0-0 but it won't be enough to make them progress. Thank the Gods.
Japan – Makeweights in this group, they have some useful players but just not enough experience at this level. Defence is prone to committing Hare Kari so there will be no Rising Sun this time around.
Italy - Always well organised and used to progressing in World Cups but this is not a great Italy team. They lack any real superstars. Will qualify from a weak group but then it's Arrivaderci Azzuri.
Uruguay - It's all about Suarez it seems. Will we get the goal scoring genius who has set the Premier League alight or the arm bighting diver? I hope it's the former, except when they play England of course.
England - 1966 seems a long way away. We will continue to pay the price of too many exports in the Premier League and the skill gap will be in evidence. Most of these lad's couldn't trap a pig in a passage. Will Hodgson let the youngsters have their head and attack attack? Doubt it. It's not coming home. Get used to it.
Costa Rica - A bit of an unknown quantity this lot. They could cause an upset, though beating England wouldn't be an upset, but not strong enough to progress.
Switzerland - In my Panini stickers album most of these lads look like they should have been extra's in "The Last of the Mohicans" but they are a good side. They defend like the Spartans at Thermopylae and could be one fore the neutral, boom boom.
Ecuador - Talented attacking team but with no defence to speak of they will be like the Stags after a night on the beer. Start well but quickly degenerate into a shambling mob. At least they won't have the hangover to go with it.
France - A team still in transition. The Gallic flair and élan of the teams of Platini and Zidane seem a distant memory. I can see only failure here. More Bo Diddley than Baudelaire.
Honduras - Could be another surprise package. They are going where the weather suits their clothes and will be workmanlike rather than thrilla dilla but will be hard to beat.
Argentina - My favourites to win. Quality throughout the team and is this the time for Messi to finally set the world stage alight? I think so. See I have mentioned them without reference to the Hand of God – Oops sorry.
Bosnia-Herzegovina – Their first World Cup but I reckon they will make the last 16. They attack with the abandon of an alcoholic getting to the bar for last orders. Expect goals, goals at both ends when these lads play.
Nigeria – An ageing squad who could only draw with Scotland in a recent friendly. They must be shit. The Super Eagles look more like the crap budgies these days so an early exit expected.
Iran - Qualified in a very week group and the quality of the opposition will be too much for them. The moving finger writes, and having writ gives it a big middle digit and moves on.
Germany – I hate to say this but this is an excellent team that should be in contention right up to the closing stages. Excellent players in all positions but at least they haven't got Franz Beckenbauer strutting about like he'd just won a seat in the Reichstag. I just hope England don't have to play them.
Portugal - Qualified on the back of a remarkable Ronaldo performance. Will the presence of the preening ponce be enough to help them progress? Bet he wishes Gareth Bale was Portuguese.
Ghana – The African Nations Cup is usually a tedium fest of 0-0 and 1-0's. Like most of the African sides these boys will be skilful but you just can't see where the goals will come from.
USA – You still expect these lads to come up to the line of scrimmage after a goal. Just like the Porcos they don't seem to have a settled starting line up. As soon as they lose Jurgen Klinsman will look for a job in the English Premier League so I hope they make it to the final.
Belgium - This team is full of excellent players so could be one of the surprises. Well organised and with a potent front line they will be influential but can you be confident in a nation who put mayonnaise on their chips? I can't. Good choice for an after match beer though...
Russia - This team proves the adage: Money can't buy you love. Will get through the group but Vlad's lads will go no further and the free world with breathe a collective sigh of relief. Hope they get kicked in the oligarchs.
South Korea - Any mention of Korea brings back memories of the North Koreans at Ayresome Park in 1966. Everyone was worried about mass defections to the West but the ploy of basing them in Boro worked. It was so bleak and desolate they were happy to go back to Korea as will this lot.
Algeria - A few people fancy this squad to cause a few upsets but I'm not one of them. Will they sweep majestically through the competition like a desert wind? No they will disappear like a Camel's fart in a sandstorm.


text: The primary issue in discussing GEO versus VRV is that the same or better efficiencies can be acheived with air cooled condensers thus eliminating the upfront and maintenance cost associated with Geothermal. Daikin does have VRV systems that are working with geothermal condensing systems. The efficiencies of this system are very high. It then becomes a return on investment question. With standard WSHP versus geothermal there is enough of an energy savings to justify the additional cost of installing and maintaining a geothermal system. Can the cost of adding geothermal to a VRV system be justified? That all depends on the geographical location, the installation cost, and the energy cost. If you have low energy cost like we do in the St. Louis area $0.07/kwh it becomes more difficult to justify the cost differential. Other areas like California at $0.22/kwh would be easier to justify. Also using cooling ponds instead of wells will lower the cost. Also some customers want the most energy efficient product available and are willing to pay more for the system to reduce their impact on the environment.


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Mmmmm.... sleepy today, as a result of a late night last night and an early meeting this morning. It's probably too late for any of you to read this post at work today, but I've got the time to get it off my chest and leave time for links on Monday.
It's been ages since there were any book reviews around here -- anyone ever notice that the more involved one gets in the book industry the less time there seems to be to read? Actually, I think that's a fallacy, but I have seemed to be in the reading doldrums until recently. What I have had the time and energy to read has been fairly escapist fare, though not stupid by any stretch. I was tempted to describe my January books as "diet reading" -- a take on the "light reading" idea -- but really, it's more like candy reading, or junk food reading -- though it's not junk, just on the more fun side than the intellectual side -- oh, the whole food metaphor breaks down. Just read the reviews.
by Neil Gaiman
(William Morrow, October 2006)
I'm a fan of Neil Gaiman based on his great, great fantasy novels NEVERWHERE, AMERICAN GODS and its recent sequel (of sorts) ANANSI BOYS, though oddly I've never read his most famous work, the epic and groundbreaking SANDMAN graphic novels. I'd been saving this short story collection like a box of chocolates for my Christmas vacation reading, but it took me a little longer to get to it, and when I did I have to admit I was at first disappointed. Perhaps this is because I'm such a fan of Gaiman in the longer novel format, where there's time to develop the resonances of his mythical allusions, and the running gags are more effective. In any case, I thought this collection was a bit hit-and-miss. Gaiman sometimes styles himself a bit of a fantasy rock star (check out his author photos with the leather jacket and brooding expression), and sometimes it seems as though he's bought his fans' idea that he can do no wrong. In particular, the "poems" included in this collections were a little cringe-inducing, and the short pieces (including the liner notes he wrote for an actual "rock star") and several of the stories seemed to set up a spooky premise, then abandon it in despair. The introduction, while illuminating the circumstances of writing several of the pieces and acknowledging their allusions, were a bit too much about the awards and accolades each story had received. The collection started to seem like an overindulgent double album, and I began to be a bit annoyed.
But just as I was about to give up in despair myself, tossing the book aside with the impression that ol' Neil just hasn't got it anymore, a couple of the stories totally wowed me. The alternate history "A Study in Emerald" puts Holmes and Watson in the service of a British royalty far different from the one you remember; the language is completely Doyle-esque, and it takes a while to figure out the catch. "Sunbird," which was included in a great McSweeney's anthology, is a hilarious and delicious cautionary tale for foodies. "The Monarch of the Glen" picks up the story of Shadow, the hero of AMERICAN GODS, as he encounters another set of myths in a remoter corner of Scotland and tries to figure out who's side he's on; it's one of the longer pieces, and showcases Gaiman's skill at working ancient figures into the contemporary landscape.
But my favorite was probably the early story "Forbidden Brides ofthe Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire" -- how could you resist a title like that? Its hero is a writer of "realist" fiction who happens to live in a fantastical villa where epic, tragic, and supernatural events occur with monotonous regularity, who eventually embraces his desire to write "fantasy fiction" about relationships in suburban kitchens belonging to insurance adjusters. It's a cheeky answer to critics of "escapist" fiction, honoring the writer's right to invent worlds that he or she can love. At his best, Gaiman creates such worlds with incomparable skills and amazing creativity. Despite its flaws, this collection is worth reading for glimpses of those worlds.
by Jonathan Stroud
(Hyperion, 2004)
So there I am in Powell's City of Books, possibly the biggest independent bookstore in America, and what do I purchase? Two t-shirts and a Young Adult fantasy novel in remainder. I would be embarassed, except that 1) the t-shirts are supercute (look for a Fashion Issue of the blog soon), 2) any non-remaindered book I could get at my own bookstore and at a discount, so a remainder is really quite a logical purchase, and 3) this book was recommended to me in glowing terms by none other than Bookseller Chick. She tells me that she's actually sold it to far more adults than kids, and I've added it to my own pantheon of delectably smart and suspenseful fantasy that shouldn't be left entirely to the under-21 set.
You've probably heard of this writer and his trilogy: it's alternate England again, where magicians are the ruling class and perform feats of magic by carefully summoning demons, or djinni, from the Other Place. The djinni, of varying degrees of supernatural power, are either evil or just annoyed at being slaves, depending on whom you believe, and the magicians are constantly scheming against each for power and advantage, so it's a dangerous world. We're narrated through it primarily by Bartimaeus himself, an ancient djinn who's been called up by a precocious underage magician named Nathaniel who has revenge on his mind.
What I found interesting about this book is that while you're rooting for B. and N. to triumph (and there's lots of suspense about whether they will), neither are exactly morally admirable, and neither is anyone else. Nathaniel has a sense of fair play which is apparently quite unusual among magicians (no one's sure where he got it from), but he's primarily a punk kid hoping to punish his enemies, and he's also an insufferable classist snob about "commoners." (The class struggle is a theme I suspect continues to grow in the following books, and I thought magic as a metaphor for inherited class privilege was an interesting and effective one.) Bartimaeus, while bound by a series of spells to serve Nathaniel, is a ruthless and conniving old-world sort of creature, though leavened by a wit that makes him seem something like the Artful Dodger or Charlie Croeker from THE ITALIAN JOB (he could have invented the Self Preservation Society). I'm looking forward to reading the following volumes to find out whether these self-serving heroes go through some kind of moral maturation, or whether the amoral nature of their world means they are heroes simply by virtue of being the novel's protagonists (and not quite as bad as some other people).
In any case, Stroud's writing is clever and fast-paced (more in a Dickens sort of way than a Dan Brown sort of way), and he wisely never spends so much time explaining the practicalities of the magic that he forgets his characters. Much of the explication is told through Bartimaeus' slightly sneering footnotes, which makes it funnier and easier to absorb. I tore through this one in a couple of days, relieved to have something that truly made me look forward to the subway ride for a few minutes of reading time. It was followed by a couple of other winners, but I'll save them for next review post.
Question to the readership: how do YOU describe the opposite of heavy reading? Is there a kind of non-judgemental language about this kind of genre fiction? Or should we just admit that it's a guilty pleasure?
Book Collecting Resources
4 months ago


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What's the plan for implementing value comparison constraints? As an example from my CinemaBookings model, a booking for N seats must not allocate more than N seats. Using NORMA Pro, I can derive the number of seat allocations for a booking, but I need to enforce that to be less then or equal to the number of seats booked.
Also, I'd like to know how you plan to verbalise them. In CQL, they will look like this (this includes the allocated Count aggregate derivation):
for each Booking (in which some Person booked some Number of seats for some Showing),
count of Seat in (that Booking has some allocated Seat) <= that Number;
Hi Clifford,
Does "CinemaBookings model" refer to your diagram in this thread?
Or to something else? (e.g. an orm file that you posted somewhere)
Thanks Ken, yes, that's an earlier version of it. The uniqueness constraint on Showing should not span Film, and some other constraints are missing, but that's the basic idea.
The constraints I've added ensure that:
Thanks Terry. I wasn't sure whether NORMA Pro actually already had the ability to represent a value comparison constraint, but perhaps lacked the graphical representation and/or verbalisation.
In this specific example, the graphical representation would have to rely on the derived FT "seat allocation count"; it's hard to see how else any graphical representation could work. Of course, in any join constraint, there are implicitly derived fact types, but it concerns me that there might be a significant difference in the meta-representation for such a fact type being explicitly declared versus implied. I'd like to avoid such representational divergence; I think it would reflect a weakness or fault in the metamodel.


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Summer vegetable curry
Nutrition and extra info
- Freezable
- Vegetarian
- Healthy
Nutrition: per serving
- kcal207
- fat7g
- saturates4g
- carbs28g
- sugars12g
- fibre7g
- protein10g
- salt0.49g
- 1-2 tbsp red Thai curry paste (depending on taste)
Thai curry paste
Many Thai and Thai-inspired dishes start with a highly flavoured paste. These are made from a…
- 500ml low-sodium vegetable stock
- 2 onions, chopped
Onions are endlessly versatile and an essential ingredient in countless recipes. Native to Asia…
- 1 aubergine, diced
Although it's technically a fruit (a berry, to be exact), the aubergine is used as a…
- 75g red lentil
- 200ml can reduced-fat coconut milk
Coconut milkko-ko-nut mill-k
Coconut milk is not the slightly opaque liquid that flows from a freshly opened coconut –…
- 2 red or yellow peppers, deseeded and cut into wedges
- 140g frozen pea
- 100g bag baby spinach, roughly chopped
Used in almost every cuisine across the world, spinach is an enormously popular green vegetable…
- brown basmati rice and mango chutney, to serve
Heat the curry paste in a large non-stick saucepan with a splash of the stock. Add the onions and fry for 5 mins until starting to soften. Stir in the aubergine and cook for a further 5 mins – add a little more stock if starting to stick.
Add the lentils, coconut milk and the rest of the stock, and simmer for 15 mins or until the lentils are tender. Add the peppers and cook for 5-10 mins more. Stir through the peas and spinach and cook until spinach has just wilted. Serve the curry with rice and mango chutney.