This article, I hope, will be widely read by economists working on field experiments. And it comes with David Card’s name right on the title page; this is certainly not a name that one associates with structural modeling!Field experiments and randomized control trials are booming at the moment. Until the past decade, an average year saw a single field experiment published in any of the top five journals. Now, 8 to 10 a year are. The vast majority of these papers are atheoretical, though I have a small complaint about the definition of “theoretical” which I’ll leave for the final paragraph of this post. The same atheoretical nature is largely true of lab experiments; I generally am very receptive to field experiments and much less so to lab experiments, so I’ll leave out discussion of the lab for now.(That said, I’m curious for the lab types out there: are there any good examples of lab experiments which have overturned a key economic insight? By overturned, I mean the reversal was accepted as valid by many economists. I don’t mean “behavioral theory” like Kahneman-Tversky. I mean, an actual lab experiment in the style of the German School – we ought call it that at this point. It just seems to me like many of the “surprising” results just turn out not to be true once we move to economically relevant behavior in the market. The “gift reciprocity” paper by Fehr and coauthors is a great example, and Card, Dellavigna and Malmendier discuss it. In the lab, people “work” much harder when they get paid a surprisingly high wage. In field and natural experiments trying to replicate this, with Gneezy and List (2006) being the canonical example, there is no such economically relevant effect. I would love some counterexamples of this phenomenon, though: I’m trying my best to keep an open mind!)But back to field experiments. After noting the paucity of theory in most experimental papers, the authors give three examples of where theory could have played a role. In the gift reciprocity/wages literature mentioned above, there are many potential explanations for what is going on in the lab. Perhaps workers feel inequity aversion, and don’t want to “rip off” unprofitable employers. Perhaps they simple act under reciprocity – if you pay me a high wage, I’ll work hard even in a one-shot game. A properly designed field experiment can distinguish between the two. An even better example is charitable giving. List and Lucking-Reiley ran a famous 2002 field experiment where they examined whether giving to charity could be affected by, for example, claiming in the brochure that the goal of the fundraising drive was already almost reached. But can’t we learn much more about charity? Do people give because of warm glow? Or because of social pressure? Or some other reason? List, Dellavigna and Malmendier have a wonderful 2010 paper that writes down a basic structural model of gift-giving, and introduces just enough randomization into the experimental design to identify all of the parameters. They find that social pressure is important, and that door-to-door fundraising can actually lower total social welfare, even taking into account the gain from purchasing whatever public good charity is raising money for. And their results have a great link back to earlier theory and to future experiments along similar lines. Now that’s great work!The complaints against structural models always seemed hollow to me. As Card, Dellavigna and Malmendier note, when interpreting results, every paper, structural or not, is making implicit assumptions. Why not make them in a way that is both clear and is guided by the huge body of theoretical knowledge that social science has already developed? The authors note a turn away from structural models in experiments after the negative income tax papers of the 70s and 80s were thought to be failures in some sense due to the difficulty of interpreting their results. This argument was always a bit ridiculous: all social science results are hard to interpret, and there’s no way around this. Writing up research in a way that it seems more clearcut to a policy audience does not mean that the evidence actually is clearcut.I do have one quibble with this paper, though – and I think the authors will sympathize with this complaint given their case studies. The authors divide experimental papers into four groups: descriptive, single model, competing model and parameter estimation. Single model, to take one example, is defined as a paper that lays out a formal model and tests one or more implications thereof. Similar definitions are given for competing models and parameter estimations. Once we get over Friedman’s 1953 model of economic methodology, though, we’ve got to realize that “testing” models is far, far away from the only link between theory and data. Theory is useful to empirics because it can guide interesting and nonobvious questions to look for, because it can be used to justify nontestable econometric assumptions, because it allows for reasonable discussion of counterfactuals, because it allows empirical studies to be linked into a broader conception of knowledge, because it allows for results to be interpreted correctly, etc. I’d argue that checking whether papers “test” models is almost irrelevant for knowing whether empirical papers properly use theory. Let me give my favorite example, which I used in a presentation to empirical economists last year. Imagine you study government-mandated hospital report cards, and find that two years into the program, there is no evidence that hospitals or patients are changing behavior based on the ratings, but that 20% of patients were looking at the report cards at some point. An atheoretical paper might suggest that these report card programs are a waste of money. A theoretically-guided paper would note that game theorists have shown reputational equilibria often are discontinuous, and that perhaps if more patients were induced to look at the report cards (maybe by directly mailing them to each household once a year), hospitals would begin to react by giving better care. There is no testing of a theoretical model or anything similar, but there is certainly great use of theory! (Perhaps of interest: my two favorite job market papers of the last couple years, those of Ben Handel and Heidi Williams, both use theory in one of the ways above rather than in the direct “let’s use data to test a theoretical model” framework...)Similar comments apply to theorists’ use of empirical research, of course, but let’s save that for another day. (February 2011 working paper – forthcoming in the JEP)Hi, I’m a recent PhD graduate from a “behavioral economics” graduate program–just wanted to reply about your quip about lab experiments.First one funny story—Norbert Schwarz, a fairly famous social psychologist, was giving a talk at Harvard’s experimental/behavioral econ seminar about 2 years ago. He was presenting some findings on accessibility (e.g. that easy to pronounce stock market ticker names did better at IPO—how’s that for market relevance?) and received the standard econ question about incentives and whether that would change his observed lab experiment. Upon which he remarked, “have incentives ever really been shown to truly change a bias once it is demonstrated in the lab? can you take even one important bias and show that it goes away?” Apparently he’s not familiar with John List’s workI don’t believe anyone in the audience replied–Ed Glaeser didn’t come that day, else I’m sure he would have made a caustic retort.But to you I would direct a similar critique. There are numerous examples of biases that don’t change in the face of market incentives. Medical decision making is one place where it’s very difficult to square people’s choices with a rational model. I would check out some of Peter Ubel’s work in that vein. But to offer you a better example–how about this QJE paper of Ariely and Loewenstein on Coherent Arbitrariness. You have a lab study that essentially creates a market and shows that anchoring effects are not altered by market exchange. In general many of the canonical biases in Kahneman and Tversky don’t seem to change very much in the face of incentives–Holt and Laury’s paper on risk aversion comes to mind. So I think there are problems on both sides.(Not to mention the methodological issues with trusting studies in each camp–theres plenty of con in econometrics, and plenty of file drawer and other dirty secrets in social psych– the researcher degrees of freedom problem to me presents the most serious problem in trying tounderstand what papers have the most external validity)Coherent Arbitrariness:(though here’s one replication failure for more common market goods:I’ve run anchoring studies and found them to be pretty stable–friends as well)Risk Aversion:I’d be curious to know what you think...Oh yeah, one more obvious example comes to mind...all of Thaler’s stuff on default effects on retirement decisions. People have huge incentives to be rational there, but don’t seem to be...Thanks for the citations, Paul. I’ll definitely check them out. Concerning Thaler and retirement, though, I suppose I question the extent to which lab studies about anchoring “convinced” the profession rather than simple evidence of the choices people actually make with their retirement accounts. Two followups to that statement: first, I have nothing against “behavioral economics” per se – it’s clearly useful – but I’m less sold on the lab experimental method of behavioral social science. Second, you might wonder why I care about whether A or B is found convincing by the profession. I’ve written a few times here that I subscribe to a philosophy of science that puts a ton of weight on subjective judgment of quality of research by practitioners, so I actually think the question of credit is pretty important here.I’m with you that there certainly need be more conversations between different methodological schools, however. I’m sure Ed would have been caustic upon hearing Schwarz’ remark, and I recall a lecture here at NW by Ernst Fehr where that eminence grise was nearly driven out the room with pitchforks.


Scattered around writing blogs is the sage advice along the lines of “3 Ways of Writing a Killer First Line,” or “The Top 10 First Lines of a Novel” or “How to Hook Your Reader in the First Line.”I have a problem with this. I don’t read the first line of a new novel and stop, judging its worth and merit on a single sentence alone.I liken it to looking at a Van Gogh painting and focusing on a single brush stroke and missing the beauty and grandeur of the night sky.A great first line can hook you in. But it’s when you understand it within the context of the first paragraph, the first page, the first chapter through to the closing line of the novel that its true power and beauty is revealed.I read beyond the first line. I want to be caught up in the artistry of the writer, from the first line to the first paragraph to the first page to the first chapter to the closing line; to have the sentences form sedimentary layers over me as I delve into the artistry of the written word. Or like being covered in a large bucket of spaghetti, tangled in the complexity and power of words (you chose which simile works best for you).The first sentence encapsulates the power, breadth, beauty and depth of a novel. It retains its power because the remainder of the novel bears out the enormity and scope hinted at in the first line.But every sentence must work for the reader. Every sentence must be crafted as delicately and intricately as the first.Stand back and admire the beauty of the whole. Then step closer and examine the individual brush strokes to understand why it has captured your imagination.I used to write “clever” titles for blog posts and bizarre / “captivating” first paragraphs – I learned it really hindered technical writing LOL. I like opening gambits that make you want to sit in a corner and read the whole thing undisturbed. I notice however that some of the most innocuous opening sentences are the best. Cheap theatrics like ‘compelling’ first sentences have more to do with the way blog posts appear on a web page more than literature – and even less to do with the reality of the writing it often turns out.You know, it’s terrifying to comment on Adam’s posts because I become acutely aware my grammar and syntax may not pass scrutiny.It’s teh interwebz. No one cares about syntax or grammar, only trollingBlogging can have cheap theatricality, but I write from an essayist’s perspective (curse of being an English teacher)That was another excellent post today. Thanks so much for sharing. Keep up the fantastic job.Enjoy writing?Feel free to join our writing group – It’s worth getting into. They pay very well also.Join Today – Writers WantedI don’t stop reading after the first sentence either, unless it’s a really bad first sentence.I like to try and write good first lines but you’re right, they’re not the be-all and end-all. I think a good first few paragraphs are a more solid foundation, but I can’t help thinking that a coherent style, a solid structure and an interesting plot are more important. That said, I often write my first line last, after I know what is to come, so the first few lines can act as a better statement of intent.There is a lot of buzz about first lines right now and it’s interesting to look at them on their own, but you’re absolutely right, they are only as good as the sentence that follows. When choosing a new book, I’ll give it at least one page, but if I’m not pulled in by something, no matter how good the blurb is, I won’t buy it.


Credit TeamForest.- quarterly newsletter, The Forest Focus (PDF, 242k). This newsletter contains valuable information, newsworthy notes and educational items regarding the trends in the industry.If you're ready for a forward-thinking approach to the forest products industry, contact us or contact your local branch to talk to a Forest Products Credit Team loan officer in your area.


Under the leadership of UALR, the Little Rock School District, the City of Little Rock, Arkansas Children's Hospital, New Futures, and the Central Arkansas Library System will embark on a new joint project which targets the Central Little Rock Promise Neighborhood.Armed with $430,000 the group will begin planning a strategy to provide "cradle-to-college and career" services for families in this neighbhood.As City Director Ken Richardson noted at Tuesday's press conference, the services may already exsists, it is just often the service providers don't communicate with each other.All six partners are excited to move forward with the project and offer their area of expertise to the neighborhood. Dr. Joel Anderson, UALR Chancellor, noted this new start for the neighborhood, "A new season is beginning today."The Little Rock School District will work speficially with the schools that fall in the targeted Promise neighborhood, which include Franklin Elementary, Stephens Elementary, Bale Elementary, Forest Heights Middle, and Hall High. The emphasis will be to bring educational reform that results in a high quality education for these students from Pre-K to graduation. From this strong foundation these students will be able to attend college and embark on their dream profession.Dr. Sadie Mitchell, Associate Superintendent for Elementary Education, acknowledged the enormity of the project and the district's dedication to its success, "One block at a time....We will have a 'whatever it takes' attitude.The start-up grant will give UALR and its partners a year to prepare for the full-scale implementation of a program aimed at replicating the kind of private-public partnerships that made the Harlem Children’s Zone a model to provide children in the neighborhood “whatever it takes” to raise them up from babyhood to college..


Spencer & Hat Sept 2, 2012 16:58:46 GMT -5 Quote Select PostDeselect PostLink to PostMemberGive GiftBack to Top Post by irishnurse68 on Sept 2, 2012 16:58:46 GMT -5 This set is so pretty! The spencer is a nice, thick wool, and very well made. It does have a hefty feel at the shoulders, but looks appropriate when on. The bonnet is gorgeous. The traveling outfit with this spencer and bonnet is amazing!A+


Development of education and research sectors according to international standardsComputerization of library and archiving systemActivate research work to produce nutritional productsCreate new programs according to market demandsDear Student Welcome to the faculty of Agriculture page, where you can find useful information about the faculty and its academic and administrative features. For any further inquiries, please don’t hesitate to contact us. ...MorePublished on 13 May, 2013Published on 27 Mar, 2013


Series: Riordan, Rick. Kane chronicles, Book 1Adventure storiesDownloadable audiobooksOverDriveOverDrive -- Kids' World collectionLists can be used to compile collections of items that you may be interested in checking out at a later date. You may also create public lists and share your favorites with other AHML customers.


Small things with Great features : Black PepperSmall things with Great features : Black PepperPosted in by AICA PatrickWe get our black pepper from the pepper vine that can grow at least thirty feet tall in the stifling climates of the tropical parts of the world. The pepper vines actually bear fruit—small white flowers that turn into berries called peppercorns. Manufacturers take the peppercorns and collect them as whole berries or as ground black pepper.Research studies have shown that black pepper actually has healthful properties such as:· It is its ability to enhance the function of the digestive tract that makes it a good reason to put it in the dishes you cook.· Diminish the amount of gas in the intestinal tract. This leads to less flatulence and bloating and is believed to be another benefit of increasing hydrochloric acid in the stomach.· Has a great amount of antioxidant properties.· Benefits against bacterial growth, particularly in the intestinal tract.The good news is that all you need to do is put a little bit in your food every day.


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The fashionable Tokyo thoroughfare of Omotesando invariably bustles with hordes of young people, but turn away from its rows of Zelkova trees and head down one of its back streets, and peace and quiet prevail.This is where it all started for hairdresser Hideaki Iijima, 61.He is the founder of Soho, the second-largest chain of hair salons in Brazil. Soho has 28 locations in Sao Paulo, and serves more than 700,000 customers annually.On Jan. 10, during a brief trip to Japan, Iijima visited hair salon 'imaii,' where he learned his trade. It was the first time he had returned there in more than a decade. Despite dredging through his memories, he had a hard time remembering exactly where the place was. Suddenly, he came to a standstill in front of a leaning power pole, rubbing his hands as he spoke."This is it, right here. I was brought here several times a day to be scolded beside this power pole in front of the salon."Imaii, which has a floor space of only six tsubo (just under 20 square meters), is now located in a fashionable building that stands diagonally across from the power pole. Its proprietor, Hideo Imai, trained at the Vidal Sassoon salon in the United States in the 1970s, and is responsible for popularizing the innovative "Sassoon cut" in Japan.Before joining Imai's salon, Iijima had already worked at several other establishments and become a competent hair stylist, but was troubled by a lack of confidence in his skills. Then one day he saw a magazine article about Imai who had just returned to Japan, and wasted no time in asking him for a job."Mr. Imai was strict, but I acquired the kind of skills and theory that I could be satisfied with, and I gained confidence in my abilities," Iijima says.Before he knew it, he had become a popular hair stylist.There was no end to customers requesting Iijima's services, and in one month alone he cut the hair of 760 clients. His days off were spent traveling the country to give seminars for hairdressers, and magazines and industry shows eagerly sought his expertise. Eventually, his monthly wages topped 1 million yen ($12,000)."He brought us more business not only with his hairdressing talent, but also his cheerful conversational skills," Imai recalls.However, after about five years, Iijima called time out on his career as a "charismatic hairdresser." He accepted an invitation from one of his former trainees who was managing a hair salon in Brazil, and emigrated there with his wife, 4-year-old son, and infant daughter. He was 28."I had dreamed of moving overseas since I was little," he says. "If I had stayed where I was, I thought I'd most likely end up regretting it."* * *Adjusting to life in another country wasn't easy.He found himself at odds with his former trainee, and was fired after two years. The 10 million yen he had saved in Japan soon ran out. He borrowed three mirrors, and decided to test his mettle by working at a local salon.For him, it was like a battleground.The most senior hairdresser took the position closest to the salon's entrance, and newcomer Iijima was given the spot farthest back. Even if a customer came in without an appointment, they rarely made it into Iijima's chair. Names of non-existent clients were written in his column on the salon's appointment board, as well as other tricks intended to prevent him from gaining actual business. It was the underhanded work of his colleagues."I live off my daily income. I wish I had the stability of a fixed salary, like office workers do," Iijima lamented to his neighbor, Kenichi Shiomi, who worked for the local subsidiary of The Bank of Tokyo (currently Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ).Shiomi, now 64, remembers it so well because Iijima wasn't the type to feel sorry for himself. His oldest son, Dai, 37, agrees."At the time, my father didn't understand much Portuguese," Dai says. "I think he couldn't communicate well with his customers, which must have really bothered him."One day, Iijima came up with a plan. The shampoo sink was at the rear of the salon, so every customer had to pass by him. He carved his name into an eraser and made a stamp, then used it to add his name to the salon's business cards that he handed out to customers. Each time he would make a pitch for himself in broken Portuguese, saying, "I'm Iijima from overseas."In order to make himself stand out while cutting a client's hair, he deliberately exaggerated his movements, clicking his fingers and flattering customers by saying things like "Fantastic!" to put them in a good mood.To make allies of the salon's assistants and coffee-making staff, he gave them money on the sly. This used up a third of his wages.* * *When Iijima began to consider striking out on his own, he remembered a certain prophecy: "Your life will change when you turn 32."It had been told to him by a client who read his fortune soon after he came to Brazil. Believing it, he opened a hair salon in an office district on his 32nd birthday, which attracted a clientele of businessmen. He opened at 9 a.m., and stayed open for as long as he had customers. Some days he even worked until 1 a.m. Within seven months, he had paid back the $90,000 he had borrowed from his friends and was eventually able to expand to a chain of shops.Two days before his 40th birthday, in September 1990, Iijima awoke to discover that he had lost his sight. He had no idea why, and even wondered if he was about to die. After much agonizing, he came to accept that his fate was still his own, even if his luck had abandoned him.When he made the decision to retire from hairdressing and just manage his Soho shops, he regained his sight, but only in his right eye."Maybe it was because I'd taken a load off my mind," he says.Three years later, thieves broke into his home. A gun was pressed against his temple and his neck was slit with a knife. He barely escaped death by handing over his money and valuables.After this string of nightmarish incidents, Iijima came to regard his life beyond the age of 40 as a bonus.At the time, Brazil was wracked by inflation and the price of living escalated rapidly. The government froze savings accounts, which caused cash flow problems. While several of his rivals gradually went out of business, Iijima raised his prices almost every week and just managed to stay afloat.Training his 1,100 staff members also posed difficulties."Many Brazilians don't think ahead, so it was difficult for them to understand what I meant when I talked about having dreams," he says. "It was a near-impossible task to improve their skills on an ongoing basis."But Iijima himself has an awkward side and maneged to turn his complex into a driving force. He is aware of how others feel when they fail to accomplish something. Gradually, people began to flock to him."If you stay true to yourself and have a purpose, it gives you the courage to confront adversity," he says. "I'll keep doing things the Iijima way until I die."* * *Hideaki IijimaBorn in 1950 in Saitama Prefecture. Graduated from Kodama High School in Saitama, and gained his hairdressing license in 1970. Worked for several salons in metropolitan Tokyo before joining Hideo Imai's studio in Harajuku. Received acclaim for his hair-cutting techniques, becoming a popular stylist. Described as one of the first "charismatic hairdressers." Emigrated to Sao Paulo in 1979. Opened salon Soho in Sao Paulo in 1982, and turned it into Brazil's second-largest hair salon chain.Family: Iijima divorced six years ago, and is currently single. He lives with his eldest son, Dai, and his wife, to whom he handed over the management of his salon business five years ago. His eldest daughter, Ai, also lives in Sao Paulo. His two children were born when he was still living in Japan, but he had the intention of moving overseas one day, "so I gave them names that could be easily pronounced by non-Japanese."Motivation: Iijima's father ran a barbershop in Saitama that his eldest brother eventually took over, so he became a hairdresser to avoid becoming a commercial rival. He always used his favorite Japanese-made Tenyo scissors, which he sharpened himself.On weekdays from 4:30 a.m., for an hour and a half, Iijima helps clean a park near his home. He has never missed a day in the past 15 years.- « Prev- 1


Another Movie Guy?: "Funny People," "Burma VJ," misc.Posted: July 31st, 2009 | Filed under: Uncategorized | Comments OffWelcome to”Another Movie Guy?”! This week I wondered whether I’d be able to find a connection between two new releases, Funny People and Burma VJ. One is a documentary about journalists who expose the truth about a military junta, whereas the other is a comedy about ill-behaved comedians. After Funny People, I left the theater in a beleaguered state, and it dawned on me that both movies are about forty minutes too long. Moreover, I wanted to like them more than I did. Unfortunately, the respective directors had too much faith in weak material.Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to watch an open mic night. Several comedians performed, including one who embarrassingly bombed. At first the audience gave him the benefit of a doubt. Then he began a tedious bit about plastic surgery, and good will gave way to jeers and sarcastic laughter. The comedian’s only recourse was to discuss his insecurities and to insult the audience. Such a breakdown informed my thoughts on Funny People, Judd Apatow’s ambitious new comedy. It shrewdly examines a man who only knows how to be funny and mean, and what might happen if he’s forced to take stock of his life. The result is honest, yes, but not particularly rewarding. Short on laughs and long on running time, Apatow’s third directorial effort falters.Adam Sandler stars as George Simmons, a sellout comedic actor who gains massive wealth with high-concept Hollywood garbage (not unlike Sandler himself). Leaving his mansion for the doctor’s office, George gets bad news: he has a rare blood disease, and the experimental treatment he’s given only has an eight percent success rate. Without friends, Simmons wanders to a comedy club, a place where he can be honest and people might listen. There he meets Ira (Seth Rogen), a struggling comedian who is jealous of his successful roommates (Jonah Hill and Jason Schwartzman). Much to Ira’s surprise, he’s asked by George to write some jokes for an upcoming corporate event. Ira agrees, and quickly becomes George’s confidant/whipping boy. Abusing the younger comedian is not rewarding enough, so George turns to Laura (Leslie Mann), his One Who Got Away. She still has feelings for George, and the two even consider a future together. Too bad Laura’s Australian husband (Eric Bana) is in the way.Funny People is clearly more ambitious than Apatow’s prior movies, and here he overreaches. The problem is not with the actors. Rogen successfully plays a goofball who has trouble handling a serious situation. Sandler plays a character not unlike his roles from the mid-90s; like Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison, Simmons can be obnoxious and cruel, with little empathy for others. Unlike Sandler’s goofy characters, George’s bad behavior has real consequences, and he’s a believable jackass. Some moments, particularly as Ira and George get to know one another, Sandler notably juxtaposes humor and buried pain. Still, the problem is that Funny People lacks the warm emotional core found in The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up. Apatow’s characters are realistic and their drama is authentic, yet that does not engender an overwrought climax.The sequence in question is a long weekend at Laura’s home. Even if it gives Leslie Mann (Apatow’s wife) a chance to really act, the climax becomes tedious. Character choices are unclear, and too often these scenes announce emotion instead of showing it. The vulgar best friends, usually an Apatow highlight, are unfunny because they’re too selfish in such a dramatic universe (this is especially true during Ira’s romantic subplot, which never gains speed). Oh, and there are numerous cameos, from celebrities and up-and-comers alike, and their clever one-liners cannot save the exacerbating final scenes. Perhaps Apatow loves his movie too much to pare it down. Like the characters of Funny People, comedians are great company when they’re on point. When they’re not funny, their company can be almost unbearable, especially with a two and a half hour running time.With Burma VJ, director Anders Østergaard tries to accomplish a noble thing with meager material. Late in the summer of 2007, Burma saw the beginnings of an uprising, one that eventually escalated to violence. After the 1988 riots left hundreds dead, the Burmese were too afraid to speak out. Everyone considers the monks a legitimate political force, so when they protest nearly 20 years later, ordinary citizens take to the streets. Østergaard documents the uprising with the help of undercover journalists (like the recent Tehran protests, borders were closed to foreign press). Using the pseudonym Joshua, a journalist serves as narrator, and is never shown on camera. He describes how he and his colleagues would risk their lives for newsworthy images. Secret police scatter throughout the city, and Joshua can never be sure when they will spot him. As the conflict escalates, Joshua flatly notes that more deaths are the only way to stir global conscience.The principle weakness with Burma VJ is the quality of the smuggled footage. Joshua and others had to contend with military police and omnipresent fear, and it follows they could not always get the best shot. I realize the journalists were brave and did the best they could, yet they give Østergaard little to work with, and so his documentary lacks emotional power. At the height of the protests, for example, a journalist snags a shot of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi (recent Gandhi prize winner), who has been living under house arrest. It should be a climactic, stirring moment, one that inspires others to act. Joshua says the image is blurry and the woman is at a distance, yet is moved to tears. Audience members lack Joshua’s immediate investment in the struggle, and will not have a similar reaction. That is not to say, however, that all the footage is uninspiring. Journalists catch moments when ordinary Burmese proclaim their desire for martyrdom, and there is suspense as a journalist hides from gunfire. Some especially stirring shots capture the scope of the protests. Østergaard and Joshua have moving stuff, just not enough for a feature-length documentary.That’s it for this week’s “Another Movie Guy?”! Tune in next week when romantic comedy overload continues.


Like A Lion – Daniel Bashta (B)God Is Able – Hillsong (B)- The Same Love – Paul Baloche (B)Holy – Matt Redman (B)- Because Of Your Love – Phil Wickham (B)Click on the PDF icons to download the chords.Click the pdf icons above to download the song chords.A great Sunday at STORYCHURCH. We concluded our “Beyond Left & Right” series. If you missed any of these, the podcast is a great way to catch up.Being “Pastor Appreciation Month” we spent a little time at the end of the service to thank Jeremy and Kimi for everything they do.Click on song titles above for the chord charts.Listen to the sermon podcast here.What an awesome morning at STORYCHURCH today! I love this church!We continued our BEYOND LEFT AND RIGHT series and talked about “power over” vs “power under”. ”Power over” is when we try to use rules and regulations to enforce a particular culture or way of life.Continue Reading...One cliff stood to the north towards Michmash, the other to the south towards Geba. Jonathan said to his young armour-bearer, ‘Come, let’s go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised men. Perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.’ – 1 Sam 14:5-6!


Rapping sensation- P. Sanders blew the roof off and kept the Big Apple wide awake and full of energy when he performed at the Gramercy Theatre stage in NYC at the Pop Explosion concert on March 2, 2013. P. Sanders celebrated a very successful night that night with a rockin’ performance that had fans go wild; and even reached 100, 000 followers on Twitter! The hard-working rap-master P. Sanders has his very own EP, “Underrated” available on iTunes; and has a lot more thrilling, upcoming projects planned for his fans!Speaking of upcoming projects...I, Alexisjoyvipaccess caught up with P. Sanders since our last VIPAccessEXCLUSIVE interview over the summer in the Big Apple and I got the inside scoop on P. Sanders’s upcoming projects he’s working on, pre-show rituals, and more when I interviewed him backstage at the Pop Explosion NYC concert! In only a matter of a couple of months since our last interview, P. Sanders’s success has grown rapidly! Hear what the awesome and super talented P.Sanders had to say in our updated VIPAccessEXCLUSIVE interview below! Thanks for the excellent catch-up interview, P. Sanders!Catch P. Sanders and many more fantastic artists on the Pop Explosion Tour! Follow Pop Explosion Tour on Twitter: @PopExplosionTR to not miss out on when the Pop Explosion Tour comes to YOUR city!**Since the video may be a little difficult to hear, you can also read my VIPAccessEXCLUSIVE interview with the terrific P. Sanders below!Alexisjoyvipaccess: Can you tell us what are some pre-show rituals that you have?P. Sanders: I usually just put on my headphones and I walk around; and just blast my music and kinda zone out because it’s kind of like my world; so I gotta get into my world and my zone; and once I’m in my zone, then I own it!Alexisjoyvipaccess: Nice!! So can you tell us any upcoming projects you’re working on?P. Sanders: Yeah! I have a lot of big stuff coming, a tour is coming up- Pop Explosion Tour! But there’s a few other tours that I might be doing as well simultaneously; so it’s about to be really big, a lot of shows, a lot of places not even just in America but overseas as well, so can’t wait!!Alexisjoyvipaccess: Yay! We’re excited for that! So lastly, if you could bring out one message to your fans, what message would that be?P. Sanders: Never give up, ’cause honestly, your dreams may seem unreachable; but they are tangible things; so I would say, grab ‘em, own ‘em and live your life!!Alexisjoyvipaccess: Great! Thank you so much for catching up with me! P. Sanders: No problem! Alexisjoyvipaccess: And I look forward to seeing you perform tonight!Follow P. Sanders on Twitter: @TheRealPSanders/ “Like P. Sanders on Facebook: / Subscribe to P. Sanders on Youtube: / Check P. Sanders out on iTunes and buy his EP “Underrated”!<<


My name’s Alex, and I’m getting started with Game Design; specifically, I’m carving a niche as a technical game designer.About MeI’m a geek of all trades, and a master of some. I obviously love playing video games, but I also enjoy traditional games, comics, anime, science, and anything in the sci-fi or fantasy genres.I’ve played my fair share of Magic. I’ve DMed a few campaigns of D&D.My StoryI grew up playing Skate or Die on my brother’s Commodore 64 and Pitfall on his Atari. His hand-me-downs were an electronic legacy that got me thinking of games as early as four years old. The first time I even considered that I might be able to have a computer of my own, the first thought that entered my mind was that I would be able to make video games. My 10-year-old brain didn’t have the slightest clue what that would require, but the seed was planted.Later on in my early teens, I got into playing Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II on the MSN Gaming Zone. I quickly got wrapped up in the world of “cogs,” hacking game files to bend the game to your will. There was the additional challenge of keeping the hack from tripping a checksum error, so you could take your hacks into multiplayer games.In high school, I was a member of the school website team starting in my freshman year. That’s where my interest in web development grew. I pursued that interest in college, and enjoyed it for the most part. However, my passion for creation and game design wouldn’t go without a fight. I made great plans for using my programming skills with my friends help to make games. Those plans never came to fruition.A few years later, I decided I needed a game development booster shot. I went back to school for a dose of knowledge and networking, and now I’m ready to make waves in the industry.


- News- Sports- Arts & Culture- Opinion- Business- Advertising- Print Edition— 25 October 2012Related ArticlesAbout Author(0) Readers Comments- @ACPSk12 student leads charge for Alexandria's Relay for Life(about 1 day ago)(about 1 day ago)(about 1 dayHobie and Monk: Coping with a 6-year-old food criticMay 17, 2013Wheels come off Market Square food cart programMay 17,


Bert Schramm2823 Private Herbert Leslie SCHRAMM, a 22 year old Farmer from Whites River, South Australia. He enlisted on 17 February 1916; and at the conclusion of the war Returned to Australia, 10 July 1919.During part of the course of his military service with the AIF, Bert Schramm took many photographs of scenes he encountered during his service in Palestine and Syria. Bert was not a man of letters so these photographs gave a vivid description of his daily life. Bert made a promise to his sweetheart, Lucy Solley, that he would do so after he received camera from which these photographs were made. As a Brigade Scout since September 1918, he took a lead part in the September Offensive by the Allied forces in Palestine. Coupled with Bert's diary entries which are placed alongside those of the 9th Light Horse Regiment to which he belonged and to the 3rd Light Horse Brigade to which the 9th LHR was attached. On this basis we can follow Bert in the context of his formation and his photographs.The photographs are placed and titled in in the same order and manner as they appear in the album. Where possible, commentary and links are given to provide additional information.For a comprehensive listing of photographs in the album, see:Bert Schramm's Photo Album, ContentsShould any further details be sought, see Australian Light Horse Studies Centre


Charming, sun-soaked and obsessed with death. Tokyo's all-girl power trio Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re is irony personified.It's a hard-rock band with punk sensibilities, danceable beats and a sharp-toothed metal roar. (How that roar comes from the vocal cords of three petite women is beyond me.) Singer Mari's warm delivery masks the often racier themes of tragedy and sex. To non-Japanese speakers oblivious to the meaning of the lyrics, some of the contrast is lost. But then there are the violent fits thrown by the feisty guitar and thumping drums, which help drive home the band's contradictory aesthetics."And the speed of the cars is fast. Everything is fast!"The songs aren't always so heady or obscene. Sometimes they're just about food. In "Fish Cakes," each member plays a different ingredient in a hot pot, and in "No-Miso Shortcake" Mari invites us to eat her brain (all in Japanese, of course).Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re introduced itself to America in 2004, when it toured alongside several other Japanese acts. A year later, the band reached the ears of thousands of Yanks as the opening act for the Suicide Girls Live Burlesque Tour. In a collectively answered e-mail interview, Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re's love for America is explicit. The fact that its current tour is the band's seventh in the States is also a testament to its adoration for the red, white and blue. "You can be unrestrictive about your feelings in the United States," the group says. "And the speed of the cars is fast. Everything is fast!"The band's travels have been mostly glee-filled, but on one occasion, Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re found itself in a haunted hotel room. "We stayed at one place where a ghost seemed to be in the bathroom," the three band members say. "Everyone was afraid to go into the shower alone."Then there was the dive bar. "There was no door in the restroom stall."Just as Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re has come to lust for American life, so too have Americans come to adore the band. "The fans in the United States dance in a frenzy, even if they don't know us," Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re says. "In Japan the crowd is shy. Even if they love us, they won't dance alone."So who's coming out to Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re shows? It's a colorful, brainy bunch. "A young person and an elderly person can both love Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re," the band says. "A lot of clever persons are in the fan base, too. For instance, scientists and college professors."You don't need an advanced degree to see Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re in Albuquerque; you just have to be 21 or older. The band plays Burt's Tiki Lounge on Tuesday, Sept. 9. Static Static (L.A.) and Calico (here) are also on the bill. Entry is free as a bird.


I have been lucky enough to stay in Spokane for several days and my friend Cat calls it my "Northwest Basecamp." Max and I really enjoyed the company of Cat and her friends. During my stay, I was able to participate in many activities including going to the lake, concerts at the gas station, walking in the park, going on a merry-go-round, a trip to Idaho, eating a shrimp boil, herding cows at a working ranch, and many more fun things that I wouldn't have had the opportunity to participate in if I didn't make the trip.As with all good bye's, this was a sad one but I know I will be back. Now it's time for Max and I to get on the road and head East. I will talk about our adventure in the next few days of blogs. Thank you for reading and for being a part of it with us! Also, a big thank you to the WSU design team and Danna Snow for allowing me to come in and photograph you!1 comment:Friends,frolic,fun times...thanks for sharing.Life is speeding up it seems and this summer is no exception.Already the temp iscooling down by 30 degrees in some places.Looking forward to your fall series of pictures.


No sugar beets today!Instead I go outside to take my kid to school this morning and this is what we find. Ironically we had to drive 300 miles the day before for a family issue so it was 'good luck' that it didnt happen then.So there is no happy challah bread, half eaten.No happy easy eggs with avocado.No happy easy eggs with avocado and red chile.Only my car, and a tree knocked over by the 'weather' - fortunately it was the driver door mirror that was damaged, well that and my now deep seated psychological problems stemming from trees, weather, cars, and strange neighbors 'washing' it. (I dont know this guy)I fell behind on comment response since we were 300 miles away (well we were really only 160 miles away it was 320 round trip, I like to exaggerate to make my anguish more anguishy) and I did not take my laptop.34 comments:You are lucky that the damage was so minimal.And I love the kindness of fellow New Yorkers giving you a free car wash!What are the chances!stace: incredibly lucky (I guess) and yeah pretty funny - I didnt tell him it was my car I just snapped a few pictures and let him do what he wanted to do...Good thing it wasn't major damage, just before Christmas!I guess you have other things to use time and money on! Do you keep your camera in your pocket?anette: I do, I take my camera everywhere I go!New Yorkers are an interesting group of people...good thing he was using a water hose!I was on jds223's page with the hose!Gee who woulda thought that it was a tree you had to watch out for in the wilds of NYC?hey, my car needs washing:)the eggs n chile n avacado look wonderful..jds223: that IS a good thing!starrlife: yup, trees and mold and blinding fashion!snugs: bring it on over to my block, I am sure this guy will oblige...and those eggs and avocado and chile were damn good.Yep, lucky!!! I absolutely pissed myself laughing when I read that you dont know the guy with the hose!!! WHAT THE?????????Maybe hes blind and he used to water the tree so now hes watering your car>>>>>> ha ha ha haWell that car got busted deep! Is nature taking it's revenge? Or is nature trying to get your attention?Sorry about your ride dude. At least is wasn't a '57 Impala with chrome hubcaps and a chainlink steering wheel.mandi: I wanted to give him a bucket of soap....sofia: busted barely, actually, but nature is always the champion.Loose one sideview mirror and find another.francesco: how do you know I dont have a chrome chain link steering wheel?andres: if only life could be so simple...New Yorkers are NUTS!!! and I'm so glad that you weren't IN the car when this happened and it was only the mirror. I mean, who actually uses that particular mirror anyway, right?I wondered where you were....I hope everything is ok with your family. No drama, ya know? Drama sucks.no it was just sitting on the street like normal....and yeah we had drama...New Yorkers are NOT nuts - the rest of you goombas are nuts!Now you got firewood for those roof top bar-b-que's.Stuff like that drives me nuts! Just enough damage to inconvenience you during the holidays...micky-t- ok mister half full - thats a bright side except the wood is still green and it is a city tree -but I do like the positive twist.buff: EXACTLY!Eww, what DOES a city tree smell like when it burns. LOLLet it air dry on the roof for 3 months...it'll be good to go!Oh man--sorry about your car! Bad tree!Those eggs with chile and avocado look SLAMMING!Who cut up the tree? Was it this same stranger who is washing your car? I didn't think there were nice people like that anymore? Must be the holidays.One night in 1986, my husband and I parked our 1 year old Cadillacs side by side, mine backed in beside his, so he could get out his driver's door and open mine for me. There was a rainstorm that night; the next morning, the tree behind our cars had come down and crunched in the driver's sides of both cars. Homeowner's insurance paid for them, but it took a while. Relatively speaking, you were lucky. And you can send that neighbor to wash my cars in December, if you want!I have a chiminea ready for the wood...and I will make you one of my 'Happy' Egg Nog drinks and we will have a good laugh about what life throws at us! Glad you and your son are ok...Hope your weekend goes a little better! Glad the damage was only to the car.sheesh I hate it when that happens...man that bread looks good!!!You poor thing! You sounds like you're having a rough time!Why was that guy washing your car? Weird! My husband would have freaked.ouch! You're lucky the damage wasn't worse!Do we get an example of your deep seated psychological problems? An altar boy stories you can share?Okay, so you are the THIRD person I read that had damange done to their car, but at least you weren't driving it at the time like the other two were!And some random person was washing your car? Strange, but kinda nice too, huh?First off..the picture of your egg platter...priceless. You kill me with the colors.Secondly...I am totally loving that you took a picture of the guy washing your car without letting him know that you were the owner...awesome!OMG - I'm so happy the damage wasn't worse than what it was!Well, at least he wasn't peeing on your car. And who needs a driver's side mirror anyway! :-)"strange neighbors 'washing' it. (I dont know this guy)"you still crack me up. Happy Holidays.


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Carlton Books Ltd., Hard cover, £12.99, 384 pp. For your money, you received not only a book that looked good, but also one that actually told you something. When it comes to coffee table books, the two can never be taken for granted.Fourteen years on, the book is enjoying a renaissance. It was last updated in 2000 and has now been pored over again, the cobwebs blown away, and the facts and figures updated for a new era. But what you don’t get anymore are the pictures, which is a shame as this is a book crying out for illustration. Don’t get me wrong, Roger’s words are as clear and crisp as ever, drawing on his four decades of banging on brewery doors and seeking out beers of quality, but the book, in its new, compact, monochrome format, has a rather dry feel to it.The contents begin with the art and science of beer making, and the basics of brewing are explained extremely well, with more detail than is often found in catchall beer books. Then Roger describes his travels; zipping around the world, country-by-country, summing up the local beer scene, selecting the best exponents. Chapter Three takes us on a pub and bar tour of the world, with paragraphs on all of the best places to drink, before Chapter Four explores what it describes as “the culture of beer drinking”―anything from the origins of pub names to the latest licensing rules in the UK. Throughout, it’s clear that Roger knows his stuff; much of it gleaned firsthand through visits to the breweries and bars themselves.Producing a revised edition of a book this extensive and detailed is always going to be fraught with danger―danger that an odd fact may be overlooked, danger that new information is sidelined in favor of just updating the existing text. Being picky, I did find examples where the story is not quite up-to-date and also stumbled across some notable omissions. I also noted that the absence of web details makes the book seem somewhat dated. That all said, it’s a good, solid, informative work―nearly 400 packed pages of text from the world’s leading beer writer―that I will certainly consult on a regular basis.The lack of gloss and glamour in this new version can, of course, be a bonus. Think of the World Beer Guide as a solid primer―a fundamental, almost school textbook-like introduction to the world of beer, bars and brewing that cuts to the chase and leaves the frills for other titles. The added bonus, of course, is that you have a coffee table book, without the coffee table price.


Last we left the adventuring party, they were camping outside the Cave of Marsh. I anticipated dying to the wizards guarding the crown many times because of their paralytic touch and massive damage. Their attack on the mages can quickly take them out.I retrieved the crown and prepared for the battle coming next. Astos is the first real boss to face off with the party. Garland is too early to be much of a challenge, and the last two plot related fights (pirates and wizards) are more like mini-bosses. Astos has a spell, Rub, that has a good chance of instantly killing a party member. In fact, it's usually his first action followed by either Fire 2 or 3.Astos decided to focus his efforts on buffing himself instead, while Kili took MVP for the fight, basically killing him single-handedly (I'm not sure Tont's 2 HP of damage really pushed it over the edge). With the crown I was able to get the Crystal Eye, which the witch Matoya requests in exchange for some powerful herbs that revive the elf king who has a mystic key to unlock magic doors. Behind one of the doors are some explosives that a dwarf needs. This is the longest chain of fetch quests I've seen in the games for this blog.Beyond the TNT, I also uncover a lot of powerful equipment that I can't use. At least it gets me a lot of gold to help afford the costly spells. With the TNT, a dwarf blow up a land bridge that opens up the wider world . Now the main quest really begins and I can finally do something about these orbs. I've just reached the first town beyond, and the Earth Cave is awaiting my approach.Session Time: 1h30m (Total Time: 5h30m)Sorry for the lack of updates. Life has been really stressful and work is crazy. Still is, but I've spent too long away from this, so I'm trying to get back into it. Thank you all for stopping by again and checking it out. I'm definitely devoting more time to this project going forward.Welcome back! Life is always more important than video games, of course, but hopeful this is a de-stressor for you...It does help, but it also creates some stress at home when I play for long periods, so I'm trying to limit the longer sessions.Glad you're back! Sorry to hear about real-life stress, I hope things are better now!Not really, but I'm tired of waiting for them to get better.I've been following your blog for quite some time, but not commenting until now.Glad to see you're back! Have you considered trying one of the patches for Final Fantasy? I wound up having my Final Fantasy cartridge ROM reburned with a bugfix patch that really made the game a whole lot more fun to play.Vanilla NES Final Fantasy has a ton of bugs, notably that none of the "special" weapons that are supposed to deal extra damage to specific creatures (The Giant Sword for example) actually does any additional damage. There are spells that do the opposite of what is intended (I believe LOK actually reduces your To-Hit, rather than increasing) and a great deal of the elemental protection spells (AFIR, ALIT, etc) don't do anything at all.A little QA would have gone far.I was unaware of bugfix patches for my favorite FF game, though I knew about the bugs. I'll have to go search one out...I wish I remembered which patch I found, but it was compatible with the cartridge's ROM and the guy running nesreproductions.com burned it for me. Works great.I think I'd rather stick to unmodified versions, or at least officially released versions. The special weapons are really only a drawback for Gioz. I guess the light axe also is limited, but I don't remember many undead once it's found. The spell limitations and handicaps I can work around as well. I really don't like using buffs and debuffs much as I feel like they waste a turn in casting them, especially when the debuff just doesn't work.I actually bought the PS1 version recently. I could switch to that version... nah I'll just stick with the original for now. I've beaten it before.@archivis: Someone named AstralEsper made a great patch called Final Fantasy Restored. I highly recommend it. It fixes pretty much every bug; the only one still unfixed, I think, is the INT bug (i.e., higher INT is supposed to increase the power of Black Magic, but doesn't).I have noticed that Gioz's spells will sometimes out-power Kili's.Wow, I was reading that and I saw Garland and now I can't get that ancient webcomic, 8-bit theatre out of my head.I never heard of 8-bit Theater until now. Thanks for wasting the rest of my free time for today....I'll have to check out 8-bit theater and lose some more free time then.Don't worry, it goes downhill pretty quickly, I just kept reading it out of habit.Lies, Canageek, LIES! All those consecutive hours I lost watching the Youtube episodes and then continuing in the comics are proof of its OBJECTIVELY perpetual funniness!.... Seriously, though, I am sad it won't continue forever especially with 5 more sprite-based Final Fantasy's to draw from.... IMAGINE!PS: Glad to see you back,Zenic. I kinda dropped off my usual blog-reading spots (bet I have a few hundred hours of CRPG Addict back-logged,too), so I am sorry this greeting is more than a bit late :)Thanks, and good to see you back as well. Wizardry's been teaching me the true meaning of an unfair game. I'm hoping I've seen the worst of it and can move on soon. Strangely, I'm enjoying it more than Phantasy Star II. That could have to do with grinding while also playing Star Saga Two.Good to see you posting - and to see your exploits are continuing. :)Glad to be back. I hope I can get through the 1990s of gaming by the end of the summer at least. We'll see how quickly I can start ramping up my play time.I quite enjoyed this section of the game. Because I used the peninsula of power on my playthrough I kind of breezed through it. Really enjoyed the battle with the elf guy.I think the peninsula of power is a less powerful in this games. I remember easily grinding there in Dawn of Souls (the game used MP instead spell points per level). I suppose it's good before getting the mystic key, although at level 11 I was getting hit for nearly half my HP.The ever present mummies at the north castle are a constant source of experience. The giants in the Earth Cave are seem to be a good deal as well, but take some time to kill. I remember the eye in the ice cave being another good source, but he's hard to get to and can easily kill your party without the right equipment. Beyond that, I can't think of any particularly easy places to grind for levels.I hope you'll write up your thoughts when we get to the final posting on this game. It'll be interesting to read up on the differences between the versions.I'm catching up on older articles, so I'm fine with you being less frequent :DGlad to have a new reader. I'm eager to move forward though, so I hope I can get back to my goal of at least once a week.I'm glad to see you back, and glad to see Kili kicking ass and taking numbers!Kili is definitely one of the most powerful characters with his nukes.I think the animation you recall for the blowing up of the canal is from one of the myriad of remakes.Glad to see you back blogging!I did play through the GBA Dawn of Souls version, so maybe I'm remembering that. I also remember tent/cabin/house animation, but I'm pretty sure that's Final Fantasy II (SNES).Yes, the GBA version, as well as the superior PS1 and other remaks have these animations for blowing up the canal, and at other set points, as well as tent/cabin/house animations.


I’m not a big fan of amusement park rides: the kiddie train or a quick spin on the carousel horse is about my speed. On the day our son had his first anaphylactic reaction, I walked away from the emergency room in a daze. It seemed we had been given complimentary lifetime passes on the [...]Comparing Gluten-Free Cereal & Oatme [...]


Facebook Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg will do the Nasdaq honors Friday morning, marking his company’s initial public offering by ringing the stock exchange’s bell, meaning that he will sign a screen and press a button from the social network’s headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., according to reports.The news was first tweeted by CNBC and later confirmed by TechCrunch.Nasdaq.com will broadcast the event in real time. Watching is sure to be a nationwide spectator sport for a certain slice of the population, as the media frenzy leading up to the May 18 IPO has been rather feverish.It appears to be full-steam ahead amid earlier rumors of a possible delay in the IPO, as Facebook documents filed today confirm that the social network will appear on the Nasdaq exchange with the symbol FB. And Bloomberg reported earlier today that shares will only be available until the close of business tomorrow.Facebook’s share price will be announced Thursday, the day before the hugely anticipated IPO.Amendments to earlier estimates now give Facebook a value of some $77 billion, and its price-per-share is slated to be in the range of $28 to $35.TechCrunch predicted that Zuckerberg will give a speech Friday morning, but for Facebook employees only.Readers: Are you counting the hours until the hype ends and the trading begins?Image courtesy of Shutterstock.


My family really doesn’t take vacations to exotic or even genealogical places. We go where family is located – the places we called home at one time. However, along the way we have periodically stopped to see a historical site or be tourists for awhile.In the summer of 1994, I took a little over three weeks’ vacation back to my mom’s and a few days at my in-laws. Just me and four kids! On the way from Ohio back to Missouri, we stopped at Billie Creek Village located in Parke County, Indiana. If you enjoy stepping back into time and covered bridges, this is a wonderful place to see. Motoring on toward Missouri, we stopped in Hannibal (as we normally do to fill up with gas) and decided to see some Mark Twain historical sights. We toured the Haunted House on Hill Street Wax Museum, sort of. The Wax museum part of it was okay for four young children but as soon as we started into the Haunted area, with chains rattling and screams emanating from the dark, three of the four tore out of there. We walked down the street and took pictures of Samuel Clemens’ boyhood home and the Becky Thatcher House among others.Two years ago when we reached Hannibal, we stopped so the youngest daughter (not so young any more) could go through the Haunted House. During the Fourth of July Riverfest in Hannibal, the streets are packed with cars and the closest place to park would have been several blocks away. With a dog traveling with us, one person would have to stay behind with her. That’s when we stopped toturn around at a service station and noticed the Molly Brown Birthplace and Museum. (Molly Brown was a Titanic survivor.) Daughter decided that was just as good as the Haunted House. The home, as expected wasn’t much, but I learned a lot more than I ever thought I could learn about this woman. We spent at least twenty minutes lingering over all the news clippings, studying the furnishings and listening to the guide explain how the small rooms were used by the family.On the way from Missouri to Ohio recently, we passed through Springfield, Illinois. I mentioned to my husband that “sometime we’ll have to stop to see Lincoln’s home”. Then I began wondering where he was actually buried. As a Lincoln history buff, I would surely have remembered! So as we returned from Ohio retracing our path back to Missouri, as we got closer to Springfield, I asked my husband if we could just see how far the house was off the highway. So we detoured into Springfield through the old part, following the signs until we got there. Once again, we had the dog with us so our daughter volunteered to stay with her while the rest of us went into the Visitor’s Center to get the information we needed about walking through the house. It’s a free tour, but not self-guided. The tour didn’t start for 30 minutes, and I didn’t feel we should take that long with the daughter waiting on us. The parking is $2 (basically on the honor system) which is a deal when you consider so many historical sights now charge for tours. So we inquired about the tomb. It wasn’t that far away – however, it was closed for three days while they did some cement work. We were allowed to walk to the house, walk around the house, and see two other houses (inside too) that had been restored to their original condition. It appears that the historical society is restoring several of the surrounding homes and buildings in that area. You can go to Lincoln Home and Lincoln’s Tomb for more information.The moral of the story is . . . if you even think you might get to stop at a historic sight or even a courthouse or cemetery on your genealogical quest – call, write or email to make sure it is open when you will be there, if there are any fees for parking or tours, hours of operation, what type of parking you can expect, and if there are any other festivals happening at the same time.


Twitter +.Much easier to have a computer track this down for you — and then ask the computer to write up a story about it, too.That’s what Narrative Science, the start-up that specializes in robot-written stories, did earlier this week. The result isn’t elegant, but it gets the job done, in a brute force sort of way..No Pulitzer for that one, but that’s not the point. This is a work in progress that’s meant to illustrate an interesting project Narrative Science is working on: The Chicago-based company got its start by creating stories out of “structured” data sets, like baseball box scores. Now it is looking at “unstructured” data — like the thousands of messages that Twitter puts out each second — as story fodder, too.Stories about things people say on Twitter aren’t super compelling (though if you check Techmeme, you’ll see that my fellow typers and I sure make a lot of them). But if Narrative Science gets good at this, it could end up somewhere interesting.“This is a really basic story, but it’s fully automated,” says CEO Stuart Frankel. “No human touched it at all. You can see where this thing is going.”Meanwhile, Frankel says, Narrative Science’s core business is taking off. The company, which raised $6 million last year, now has 30 clients, many of whom use the company to produce stories and reports they use internally. But you can see public examples of it via publishers like Forbes, which is using the service to crank out automated earnings previews.Again, those previews aren’t made up of sterling prose, but they are very serviceable. Which means Forbes can either save the money it would have spent paying someone to mash that stuff out — or it can free up a writer to do the interesting kind of stories that only humans can do.And now I’ll save myself a few minutes of work by citing myself from last year, where I tried to assure myself that Narrative Science wasn’t going to put me out of business: “The trick for content makers like myself is to find work that only content makers like myself can do — work where human qualities like experience, judgment and creativity get rewarded. And if we can’t do that, we ought to be doing something else, anyway.”


Dried Sierra Nevada PondAlpine DispatchA resource for current photography, adventure trip reports, film, gear, book, pub, and restaurant recommendationsThursday, May 10, 2012Tuesday, May 8, 2012Skiing and Climbing Mt. ShastaWednesday, April 25, 2012Spring Skiing Squaw ValleySaturday, April 21, 2012Lake Tahoe Paddle BoardingThursday, April 19, 2012Lake Tahoe Spring Backcountry SkiingMonday, March 19, 2012Hiking Alpine MeadowsRewarding powder turns await those willing to hike along the ridges of Alpine Meadows.Tuesday, March 6, 2012East Shore Lake TahoeLake Tahoe's east shore offers some of the areas greatest scenery to be enjoyed from a boat or along the majestic rocky lake shore.


I went a little overboard with the basil this year. I have three pots of regular sweet basil and my last trip to the farmer’s market sent me home with lemon basil, purple basil, and Thai basil. Cripes! But seriously, basil is the best. Every summer I make Giada’s Italian Lemonade a few times and last week I made it for the first time this summer with four different kinds of basil. Slap my ass and call me fancy! I also used some of the purple basil when I made Creamy Basil Chicken last night for din-din and look how pretty!Fresh herbs make everything prettier don’t they? Even though my plants were on the wee side, I used some delicious fresh basil when I made homemade pizza last week too. Yummy!So basically this post is just an ode to basil. I love it so. Even my hand soap and dish soap are the Mrs. Meyer’s Basil scent. Next basil endeavor will be lemon basil ice cream. Stay tuned!7 thoughts on “Purple basil = new obsession, basil in general – the love continues”I must try the lemonade! Great post!I can’t wait for the ice cream!Couldn’t agree more!! Basil is wonderful. Now I need to try that lemonade!LOVE the ode to basil! thanks for sharingNow I’ll have to look for purple basil at the farmers market!Have you tried strawberry-basil ice cream?? I think it’s one of my favorite combo’s ever!I will let you have ALL of the basil...all of the colours, flavours and kinds...you can have it all. Basil is one of the ONLY foods that I absolutely despise and despite your photos looking enticing and scrumptious, they have been despoiled by that hideous green mass of aniseed. Oh, by the way...making it purple DIDN’T FOOL ME AT ALL!


First I have my younger students trace a simple fish template, however my older students usually feel more confident so I have them hand draw out a fish shape. Then they draw an eye and lips if they would like to. Also, students are to draw a "fin" in the corner using any kind of line they would like...straight, curving, wiggly, etc.Then the fun part... adding patterns. Students draw patterns using markers and/or crayons to fill their entire fish.The next class we first finish our patterns and make sure we don't forget to color our fin in the corner too! Students then cut out the fish and the fin. I help the younger ones with this next step.Students cut a curving line into the fish body to create a "gill". We need it to curve away from the mouth.Then take the front half of the cut body and slide it over the back to overlap. This "pops" out the body. I will staple for the younger kids, however older ones can glue with a dot. Then the fin receives a dot of glue and is slid into this Popped gill to dry.Lastly students glue the fish onto a piece of 9 x 12" construction paper in whatever color they would like. We just put a dot of glue on the dorsal fin, mouth, and tail. No need for it anywhere else. They can use crayons and markers to create an environment around their fish. As you can see my students can come up with some really awesome patterns. These examples are created by 3rd grade students.I love this project. Simple 3-d and my students are always so proud of their works. Because of storage space, students nearly always take this project home on the second week after completion. This was a fun way to begin our break.This project took 2 forty minute classes to complete. Our materials were the following:1. 9 x 12" white drawing paper2. 9 x 12" color construction paper3. Markers4. Crayons5. Scissors6. Glue7. Pencils and erasers8. Templates (if you so choose to)


*thanks for all the help yesterday, instagram buddies(past, not passed...haa haa!)This is my monthly intention for February. Now that the enchantment that comes with the first few weeks of a new year is fading, it has really started to sink in: I'm without him.After six years with Tomas, and a couple weeks since 'breaking up', I feel like we are broken up. That's actually the first time I've used that phrase. I haven't officially said we're broken up outloud. I guess I still haven't. Haa haa! (You see why I need this month for mourning?)I've never done this before, so excuse me if it's all coming out weird. I've crushed on guys, who didn't crush back, and sure, that hurt a bit. I've fallen for guys who sorta fell back, and when it didn't amount to a relationship, felt full-fledged heartbreak. I'm no stranger to heartbreak, but I've never been through this before.I've been with Tomas for six years, and he's been my constant. He's been my phone calls, my cuddle buddy, the one I share news with first, and...well...'the one' in general.He's been my one....and we didn't work out.Now what do I do?It's been hitting me really hard since my grandmother left. I'm just starting to wrap my head around it and I find myself going, "Am I single? I'm alone again, aren't I?" I am without an other.I miss him terribly. I love him very much, but it was me who ended it. ? ? ? Yeah. It was me who thought it wasn't fair to him for we to be 'us'. He's been wanting so much more from me for such a long time and I...can't. So, on top of feeling alone, I feel guilty, and it's placed me in a FUNK.I'm allowing myself to mourn this month.I'm going to grant myself the space, the time, and the silence to heal.I'm going through a break-up and it feels like a death, but I want to MAKE IT PAST THIS.Thanks for understanding.Happy love month!xOxO,


When I was pregnant with Piper, it was my first pregnancy. Other than the typical first timer fears of “OMG, is this pregnancy going to stick? Is everything all right?” I was okay. I waited the weeks until our first appointment, a little panicky but overall okay. After all, I had no reason to be suspicious. I peed on various tests, watching that test line gradually darken, knowing hormones were kicking in, thankful for the nausea and the boobs that were so freaking sore I couldn’t go without a tight bra.The second time I got pregnant, I was still nervous. I was excited but okay. Then my temp started dropping and I got a little scared. I stopped temping to avoid the stress. My tests didn’t get darker- at all. I had no nausea, no sore boobs, nothing to tell me everything was okay. Still, I made that appointment, hopeful everything was going to be okay. Then I saw brown on the tissue. I called the doctor, fearful but knowing brown spotting = old blood, and we all know old blood isn’t the kind to be scared of. “Watch for bright red blood and cramping, back pain. Even then, a little spotting isn’t bad, it’s normal.” Luckily, the spotting had ceased. The next morning I had to drop Piper off at school, Paul had to leave early. I was getting her ready and went to the bathroom. There was red on the tissue, and my heart stopped. Still, I had to suck it up, I was in charge of Piper. As I continued the morning routine, I repeatedly went to the bathroom, red, red. I was starting to cramp. I was scared, so scared. Before we left for school, I sent Paul a text saying, “It’s red blood now. I think I’m losing the baby.” I put on Piper’s music in the car and let her sing along while I was deep in thought. How we didn’t somehow die on that trip I’ll never know, my mind was not there at all. I remember walking up to the door, saying hello to the teacher. The whole time thinking, “I’m probably miscarrying and there is nothing we can do about it.” I kissed Piper goodbye and headed to the office. The spotting turned to bleeding. I called our nurse crying. It was the beginning of the end.“Next time”, I thought, “next time- it there IS a next time- I will go in early for betas. I will stop temping, I will do whatever I can.”There was a next time. It was a very, very unexpected next time. Still, I did everything right. I kept temping a few days, until it all went haywire and I freaked out and threw it into Paul’s nightstand. I kept taking my vites, I kept testing and seeing the line get darker and darker. Everything was moving as it should. I called my doctor to get my betas done- at 15dpo it was 258. Then, at 17 dpo, it was 817 or something equally high. Things were really good. There was no instance of spotting, not one speck of red or pink. My boobs were hurting, but that was it. I was worried, but not overly, as I had the betas done, right? I was scheduled for an early ultrasound at what should have been 6ish weeks or so. We saw two gestational sacs, one with a yolk sac. It was measuring a few days small, which isn’t a big deal- I have a tilted uterus. I went back, and it had grown but not that much. And well... you know how it turned out.I’m going over all this because I am not sure what I have left to do. We did the “wait and see” approach, and it didn’t help. We did the cautionary way, and nothing helped. Everything was looking great this last time. We had no reason to be suspicious. Now, we have no safety nets. I have nothing to turn to in order to ease my fears. Betas have proven nothing is concrete, and early scans are just a window to a chain of events that will break your heart.Where do you turn when you have no more options left to keep you sane? I have two options for the next time- if there is a next time, and I’m not sure there will be-, I can just be an outright fucking mess from that first positive test until I get to 14 weeks (or the baby is born, depending on what we determine the issue was) , or I can just let go and do whatever I can personally (baby aspirin and whatever else is an option) to ensure I will feel no guilt should something happen again, but otherwise just have faith.Gotta be honest, neither one of those plans sound particularly awesome. I’m trying so hard to be optimistic, and happy that it appears I am ovulating today or ovulated yesterday (based on cervical mucous and opks and ovulation pain), which means the hcg is low enough to ovulate. I’m working really hard at being hopeful that the next pregnancy will be the success and thus, the last. But right now I am being inundated with pregnancy news. Left and right people are announcing pregnancies, and I am foolishly taking joy in being happy that I have an appointment on Tuesday for a scan to make sure my body expelled the last of the baby I lost. It all seems so unfair when I look at it that way. They get to be happy knowing they have no reason to be afraid. I envy them. I wish so badly that I could get that feeling back, that feeling of being scared for the future, but knowing deep down the odds are great that all will be well. At least, for me, the odds didn’t make one spit of difference. I was still the odd loss out. I know no matter what, I am going to be absolutely terrified. I don’t know if I will be able to experience a pregnancy without fear now. I’m terrified right now, and there is no reason- no pregnancy to worry about.I don’t know what the future holds for us, but I’m trying so hard to not try to envision it as a total black hole of despair and fear. Very hard.February 4, 2013 at 4:26 pmHugs.


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Fr. Drew Christiansen, SJ, editor in chief of America, reports on his visit, along with a small group of Catholic press representatives, with President Obama this morning (Thurs., July 2) at the White House. (Fr. Christiansen is pictured in the photo at the far left of the table.) The quotes are taken from the official White House transcript.In a wide-ranging interview with Catholic editors and religion reporters in advance of his July 11 meeting with Pope Benedict XVI, President Barack Obama expressed his admiration for Catholic social teaching and the quality of its social action. He voiced particular gratitude to the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and the Catholic parishes of southside Chicago where he first worked as a community organizer in the 1980s.“Cardinal Bernardin was strongly pro-life,” the president reported, “never shrank from speaking about that issue, but was very consistent in taling about a seamless garment and a range of issues that were part and parcel of what he considered will meet with Pope Benedict following a meeting of G-8 leaders in L’Aquila, Italy, whose agenda with the G-20 last April. The U.S. has committed $100 billion to the IMF to cushion the effects of the global economic recession on the world’s poor. The president also plans to double the U.S. contribution to world food security and direct U.S. development aid to poor countries to agricultural development for the sake of food self-sufficiency. He also intends to press other wealthy nations for matching contributions to international food security as well.On his own current religious practice, President Obama allowed that he and the First Lady have still to settle on membership in a local church. He acknowledged rumors that they were very comfortable with the small congregation at Camp David, the president’s weekend retreat in Catoctin, Md., but that they are still looking for a local congregation in Washington. He confessed that the controversies over the Reverend Jeremiah Wright during last fall’s election campaign had taught them both that as public figures they could be too easily associated with the views of a particular pastor or congregation. In addition, they have learned that the security arrangements associated with a president’s movement anywhere creates a heavy burden on any congregation they attend. They hope to settle on a congregation this fall.In the meantime, the president leans on a group of pastors and religious advisors who provided pastoral support during his campaign for the presidency, including some Catholics, and he begins his day with reflection on a devotional sent to him each morning on his Blackberry by Rev. Joshua DuBois, the director of the White House Office for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnership.For more, see the July 20-27 print and online editions of America.Drew Christiansen, S.J.