I grew up with one – a narcissist mother who never was satisfied with anything and expected the impossible from everyone. The holiday season that was supposed to be filled with family get-together's and love instead turns into a competition over who bought the best gift or who had the nicest Christmas decorations. The narcissist mother who pretended to love both of her children when her family was around for the holidays or paint herself as a victim to anyone who would listen.
I believe my mother loved the holidays, but for all of the wrong reasons. She decorated her house from top to bottom and took great pride in how carefully she placed all of her Christmas knickknacks and how beautifully she adorned her tree year after year. It was the only time of the year she opened our home to other people; neighbors and my stepfather's co-workers would walk around our home and "ooh" and "aah" at my mother's Christmas decorations and tell her what a great job she did as they munched on her homemade gingerbread cookies and sipped on her special hot cocoa.
Mom loved giving gifts, but not because she enjoyed watching the happiness on the people's faces she loved. What Mom loved was the credit she would almost demand once a gift was opened.
Gift opening on Christmas morning became a show for everyone who was around Mom and fake smiles were aplenty as we opened up the gifts Mom got for us. If we didn't do cartwheels and squeal at the top of our lungs each time a gift was opened, Mom would pout. She would sit back on the couch, cross her arms, and stick out her lower lip like a five year old until we praised her for her "unique" gift giving skills.
But no one could ever get Mom anything she ever wanted; ever. No matter how much time anyone spent on trying to find a gift that would make Mom happy, nothing was ever good enough. It was either the wrong color, the wrong size, or the wrong brand and she made it very clear that we didn't try hard enough to find something special for her.
"Why in the world would you waste your money on something like that?
Seeing family on Christmas Day was a nightmare in itself with my narcissist mother. She acted envious of everyone being together, she scowled during family photos, and would always cause some scene either before or after dinner so that the entire room would stop and pay attention to what was going on with her. Mom would manufacture some sort of drama every single holiday with the family and I remember too many Christmas's where Mom grabbed my sister and I up and stormed out of her sister's house in a rage.
It's draining to deal with someone like this day after day, but even more draining to deal with them on a day that is supposed to be about giving, love, and family. As a child, I and many others had no choice but to grin and bear it and play the games the narcissist wanted us to play in order to keep the peace. All we wanted was to open our presents and play with our toys like normal children, but we ended up catering to the childish needs of our narcissistic parents all day.
As an adult, we can choose to not spend our special holiday season with our narcissist parent. We can choose to remove ourselves from the drama that our parents create and make our own happy memories with our family and friends. As adults, we can choose to let our narcissist parent to sit and dwell on their own drama rather than allowing them to bring their drama to our front doorstep and ruin our holidays. Go out, be with your family and friends, celebrate to your hearts content and don't allow the narcissist's self-pity and need for attention ruin one of the best times of the year.


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Rhea Chakraborty moves court again to seek bail
September 9, 2020 September 9, 2020 admin	0 Comments
Mumbai, September 9 dmanewsdesk: Actress Rhea Chakraborty, arrested by the NCB in a drugs case linked to her boyfriend and actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death, on Wednesday moved a bail plea before a sessions court in Mumbai.
This is her second attempt to seek release after a magistrate court on Tuesday refused to grant her bail.
In the fresh plea, filed by her lawyer Satish Maneshinde, the 28-year-old actress claimed to be "innocent".
"She has not committed any crime whatsoever and has been falsely implicated in the case," said the plea.
The court will hear the bail application on Thursday.
Chakraborty was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Tuesday after three days of questioning by the agency. Shortly after her arrest, she was sent in judicial custody till September 22 by a local court.
On Wednesday, she was shifted from the anti-drug agency's office in south Mumbai to the Byculla jail here.
Meanwhile the other accused arrested by the NCB, including the actress's brother Showik Chakraborty, Rajput's house manager Samuel Miranda, his personal staff member Dipesh Sawant, and suspected drug peddlers Zaid Vilatra and Abdel Basit Parihar, were sent in 14-day judicial custody by the sessions court, special public prosecutor Atul Sarpande said.
Showik Chakraborty and Sawant have applied for bail and their pleas will also be heard on Thursday, he said.
The NCB on Tuesday said it did not want Rhea Chakraborty's custody as it had already questioned her for three days.
After producing her before the additional chief judicial magistrate through video link on Tuesday, the NCB told the court that she was confronted with all other accused, including Showik Chakraborty, during her interrogation and facts in their statements were verified.
The agency claimed that the actress disclosed her involvement in procurement of drugs for Rajput and related financial transactions and also her instructions to co-accused Miranda, Sawant and Showik Chakraborty.
"Therefore, it is clear from her statement that Rhea is an active member of the drug syndicate connected with drug supplies," the agency said.
The sections of the NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) Act invoked against her include 8(c) (sale, possession or manufacture of banned drugs) and 20 (b)(ii) (possession or use of small quantity of banned drugs), as per her lawyers.
Rajput (34) was found hanging in his flat in suburban Bandra on June 14.
Various angles surrounding his death are being probed by the NCB, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The NCB is probing the drug angle in the case under criminal sections of the NDPS Act, after the ED shared with it a report following the cloning of two mobile phones of Rhea Chakraborty.
The actress was recently interrogated by a CBI probe team her as she is the main accused in the abetment of suicide case filed by Rajput's father, and also questioned by the ED in a money laundering case.
She has denied all the allegations.
← ED attaches assets worth Rs 60 crore in Bengaluru
Gold rises by Rs 251, silver jumps Rs 261 →
Discussions on global growth cannot happen among few, table must be bigger: PM
MBBS interns in Raj, UP protest, seek hike in stipend
First COVID-19 lab inaugurated in Nagaland on Thursday

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


I hope you all have lots of fun this weekend.
Hydrangeas and daisies...my favorites. What a sweet lady to show you around!
Happy weekend wishes to you, Coty!
Oh Coty, finally I've gotten back to my blog (moved into a new home & have never been so busy)...the hydrangea is my absolute favorite.
Such lovely flowers and a beautiful garden!
Me too me too.....I love hydrangeas! Those, sunflowers and tulips are my very fave!
I want to be in Moss Vale right now!
The hydrangeas don't even look real!
seen ones that big in California!
I don't know.....are you sure you didn't.
secretly style every inch of Moss Vale?
XoXo to you. Miss you.
Happy Pink Saturday, Coty. I am so glad you joined us and shared these gorgeous hydrangea blooms. I am ready for the growing season to arrive where we live. I like winter, but my favorite season is spring.


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PatreCon 2018
Chad Ellis went along to PatreCon 2018 to learn more about monetizing and gaining financial independence through your art.
By Chad Ellis
So two weeks ago I was at PatreCon 2018 in Los Angeles, and as the name suggests this is a conference hosted by Patreon. It first kicked off back in 2016, with the aim of bringing creators together in a collaborative and educational way, to help everyone grow and build creative and financial independence for their projects.
The 3-day, invite-only conference was a relaxed mixture of lectures and workshops that ran from the 1st to the 3rd of November. Aimed at giving you the skills, tools, and mindset to take your creative business to the next level. To build alternative monetization streams, hiring and support for your workforce, and much more, all through the lens of industry experts and peers who have walked the walk.
With almost fifty speakers, a mix of Patreon staff and creative peers such as Amanda McLoughlin, Broke-Ass Stuart, Bryanda Law, Jackson Bird, Steven Ray Morris, Lauren Shippen, and Zach Valenti to mention just a few, you can imagine not only did we get some great insight into raising up our products, but had great fun at the same time.
PatreCon was as inspiring as it was unexpected for me. I first heard of it from some guests at my Halloween party, and after an entire articles worth of serendipity, dive bars and roof top haunts I had an invitation from Julia Schifini of the Multitude collective. I arrived with the intention of capping off a wild week by hanging out with some podcast friends, and I walked away with a fundamentally changed viewpoint of the relationship between creator and fan.
How do you get paid as a creator?
It's a difficult concept for a lot of us to wrap our head around. There's impostor syndrome (why would somebody want to pay for something I made?), there's over politeness (I can't ask people for money), there's self limitation (I'm already making $100 a month, it can't go higher than that!) It's difficult to value our work when we've grown up in a culture that only values art that's already successful. One minute we're tripping over ourselves to get a picture with a celebrity, the next we're asking the person who says they're trying to make it as an actor what their day job is, as if they are defined by the thing that pays the bills.
Let me set the scene. You enter one of the most Blade Runner looking buildings in Los Angeles holding a box of donuts. The donuts are important. You pass couples pushing strollers and rocking baby bjorns, turns out there's a New Parent convention going on in the upper levels. You're directed down a staircase to the basement. What could easily be a sterile, windowless environment is lit up in gentle reds and blues.
You almost collide with a familiar face. Parasocially familiar. It's the star of that one YouTube series your best friend is a fan of. They comment on the donuts. You walk by a wall covered in the stages of the creative journey. You see a list of events. They say things like "Building Community" and "Navigating Financial Independence". You take in the event space, the perfect amount of room for just over 300 people. Their badges all read the same thing. "Creator".
This is PatreCon. A place for established creators to speak honestly and intimately about every aspect of existing as a Capitol P Person on the internet, and getting paid while doing it.
I found my people in the corner, other figures in the Audio Drama world. Creators, writers and actors of shows like Ars Paradoxica, The Far Meridian, Tides, Bright Sessions and Wolf 359. I exchanged hugs and set down the donuts. They had so much to tell me. There was a guy who made a suit that plays music based on your movement. There was a woman who's making a podcast reviewing all of English apocalyptic fiction in chronological order. Zach Valenti is typing notes on this wild retro-future keyboard.
The donuts start to work their magic. A stranger eyes them. You gesture to the open box. They come over and introduce themselves, followed by the go to question of the weekend. "What do you create?" This happens again and again. Ice broken. You're ready to dig in to the Con.
Between panels, workshops, and talking with other creators there was a lot to take in over the weekend, so I'd like to share my biggest takeaways with you, and after that, there's a link at the bottom to Patreon's YouTube channel that has over seven hours of video content from the conference.
"Your 1,000 most hardcore fans".
A popular topic of conversation from a panel the day before. The idea is that in a world of several billion people there are 1,000 fans who would pay you $100 a year to create what you wanted to create; you just need to find them.
For people who don't want to do the math, that will net you $100,000 a year, a seemingly unattainable amount of money… until you start breaking it down.
On an individual level $100 a year is just over $8 a month. And most creators don't need $100,000 a year. Could you find 500 of your biggest fans? 250? I've always assumed I'd need to reach a small countries worth of people to make any kind of creative living. Now I'm focusing on reaching that one fan at a time and providing them with attractive Patreon perks to stick around.
"Let people give you money. Don't limit yourselves."
Hanging out with other creators doing completely different work and reaching completely different fan bases definitely stretched my idea of support potential. It's not up to you to decide what other people spend their money on. And if they want to give some of that money to you? You should let them. Patrons were giving one guy I met $5,000 to write a daily fiction story online. A YouTuber I met makes 2-3 no frills videos a month and has thousands of Patrons. I'm not saying that you'll make a solid living off of Patreon. I am saying that there are no rules, and there might be a lot more people out there who will happily throw you a few bucks a month if they like what your doing. Let them.
"Be true to yourself. Niche is good."
Sounds a bit cliche but it's the best thing you can do to build a dedicated fan base. I follow my favorite creators works no matter what they're making. A book? I'll read it. A video? I'll watch it. A podcast? I'm already listening. You're not going to get that kind of following if you're constantly chasing what you think will be successful instead of making the thing that you really want to make. The creators I met at PatreCon were passionate about the often very niche thing they were making. Your values come through in all of your work, your fans will identify with those values and the hardcore fans will follow your lead.
"Pay attention to the cost/benefit of what you're offering"
Creating a thing is a lot of work. Adding more to that thing could lead to burn out, and it might not even be helping you that much. Are your Patreon rewards sustainable? Do they get in the way of making your main thing? Are they attracting new Patrons?
What about merchandise? I really want to make enamel pins for my show, but the minimum order costs hundreds of dollars. Am I reliably going to sell all of those pins and make my money back? I have a great idea for a shirt but that art for it will cost me $90. Am I confident that I will be able to sell enough shirts to cover the costs of making them?
Some people like paying for signal boosts on platforms like Instagram or Facebook. How many people are you reaching with that boost? How many of those people are likely to turn in to fans? Is there a better way you can spend that money?
One size does not fit all, an effective strategy for you will likely differ from your peers. It's good to check in every few months to make sure you and your Patrons are getting the most out of your relationship.
"You have value. Your work has value."
My musician friends are often baffled by the kind of support people can pull independently via something like Patreon. In the words of my roommate, you grow up thinking that you don't have any value until a Label picks you up and decides you're worth investing in. It took attending PatreCon to shake him out of this mindset. And it's a difficult thing to shake. Later on in the Con he commiserate with Jack Conte, a musician and the founder of Patreon. Jack shook his head and said "Yeah. I hate that".
A screenwriter doesn't need to wait for a show to pick them up. An actor doesn't need to wait for a Director to cast them. And a musician doesn't need to wait for a label. We're living in a time where you can build a direct relationship with your audience and where that audience can support you. It's not easy, but the power is yours. You just need to figure out how to reach them.
The convention ended with a great big party, the perfect way to spend time with the people we had met over the weekend. The question of "what do you create?" persisted at the open bar and between sessions at the photo booth, but now the conversation went beyond that: how are we going to apply what we've learned? So while creators piled into the Karaoke room to belt Bohemian Rhapsody, I walked away with a lot of changes in mind for my own Patreon.
I hope that this overview has given you some food for thought for your project, and if you need some more convincing, or just want to watch some really insightful and motivating video, then check out their video contributions of the conference on YouTube!
Author chadmanicPosted on November 16, 2018 December 4, 2018 Categories Audio Drama, News, PodcastingTags Chad Ellis, conference, featured, financial independence, monetizing, News, PatreCon, Patreon, Podcasting, Podcasting 101Leave a comment on PatreCon 2018
In Ink #1
Welcome to the first issue of 'In Ink', a supplement to Podern Times. Here we will be taking a look at some of the posts that have been published by podcasters, or about podcasting in general.
In Ink
'Inhale' is the beautiful tale of reluctant superhero Tammy Tracer, a ten part stand alone audio drama series from writer and creator Rick Coste. (Behemoth, Pixie, Bryar Lane to name a few.)
Just over a year later, we now have the pleasure of an ongoing fictional journal from Tammy. I would suggest listening to the audio drama podcast first however, we wouldn't want you to trip over any spoilers now would we. If you've already had the pleasure of listening to it then please feel free to breathe in this inspiring new creation.
I had the pleasure of catching up with Rick and asked him about this new direction.
"It actually stems from the need to continue writing. Over the last few months I've focused my attention on finishing some long held book ideas I've had. A couple are now in the hands of my agent and, while they are being reviewed and shopped around, I felt it was a good time to try something new."
"I really wanted to continue Tammy Tracer's story but I also wanted to do so outside of the audio drama medium."
If that wasn't amazing enough, Rick has also released another fictional journal, this time for a completely new character, Kira. 'Kira's Journey' follows the thoughts of an AI (Accidental Intelligence as Rick puts it) from the moment of consciousness, through her escape, and into the exploration of the larger world. Could we be looking at the inception of a new audio drama?
"I just want to see where her story takes her as she explores what it means to 'not' be human. There's quite a few directions I could go with it but my main desire is for her to be able to do so in her own way."
You can find all of Rick's wonderful tales over at modernaudiodrama.com
Elsewhere on Planet Pod
A review of Sarah Werner's sci-fi epic 'Girl In Space' from The Fantasy Inn.
The latest Bello articles tell us to take a break from listening to podcasts, and then recommend ten shows to listen to.
Do you have a companion blog for your podcast? Do you write about podcasting? Would you like to reach new readers through this publication? Just email us a link to your latest blog post and we'll share it here.
Author DōhaiPosted on October 7, 2018 October 26, 2018 Categories Audio Drama, In Ink, News, PodcastingTags Audio Drama, creative writing, In Ink, Inhale, News, Podcasting, Rick Coste, writingLeave a comment on In Ink #1
News Desk #2
w/e Sept. 23rd 2018.
This Weeks Playlist
With the first season of What's the Frequency? coming to a close last week I decided it was time to venture down this rabbit hole. I listened to episode one back last year when it was first released, and quickly realized this wasn't going to be your average thoroughfare. I was hooked! But with episodes being released once a month I decided to sit back and wait for season 1 to end, and then go on a binge. What a wait! And what a show! Review coming soon. If I can just find the words… the words… the… words…
1994 is the brand new from Thoreau Smiley the creator of Attention Hellmart Shoppers! As expected this is a laugh a minute road trip/ coming-of-age extravaganza that doesn't disappoint. I highly recommend subbing to this show! Again as above, we bump into James Oliva. At this point, I wouldn't be shocked if he appears in our next pod.
Serial season three. So yes it's back and I listened… Finally! Hailing from England I had been up waiting, like all day, and then two turn up at the same time. So that's what you guys call justice?! Wow! Words just fail me. Impartiality much? Rather than just one off reports and stories, I hope that this season will, as it progresses, shine a bright light on the system and somehow kick start a reformation. Though I'm not holding my breath 'Merica.
I've not really been interested in the docurama genre, but I must admit I enjoyed this and I'm looking forward to more. Now subscribed and deciding to explore the genre a little more. I found this little listicle over at Discover Pods that I thought might be of interest. While we wait for episode 3, What are your favorite shows? Let me know down below.
So the big movers and shakers of the industry are still at it, getting rid of unwanted podcast production that is. Last week it was Panoply, this week it's Buzzfeed. On Wednesday they announced they were cutting back to focus on video.
This week Apple released a 'best practice' toolkit for marketing your podcast, which to be perfectly honest is not really that helpful to anyone but the greenest of the green. All it gives is a handful of info bites of things to consider such as creating a brief, and making sure your website is designed for mobile. All important things of course but where is the follow up content? Nothing… zero… zip… well there are a couple of links to completely unrelated shows The Nod and Anna Faris Is Unqualified.
Podtrac release the top 20 podcasts in the US for August. NYT The Daily, This American Life and Joe Rogan have the top three slots.
Hollywood Seeking Foothold in Podcast Industry
EU approves controversial Copyright Directive, including internet 'link tax' and 'upload filter'
From Podcast To Broadcast–New Podetize Platform Makes It Easy To Shine
This weekend sees the release of Who Killed Julie? (Sunday 23rd.) This docudrama style show differs from the likes of Serial in one small way. It's contemporary fiction. I had the opportunity last week to listen to the entire series and you can read what I thought about it here.
Want to join a Podcast Brunch Club? It's like a book club but for podcasts.
Earbuds Podcast Collective Halloween Spooks suggested playlist.
Do you write blog posts about podcasting? Maybe you're a podcaster that would like to promote your latest blog post/ newsletter/ transcript for the latest episode. Well here at Podern Times we would love to share your work and help grow your audience. Just email me a link.
If you are enjoying our content then please consider supporting it with a coffee, (it will stop me falling asleep at the keyboard at least). Click the image below to make a donation now.
Author DōhaiPosted on September 24, 2018 October 18, 2018 Categories NewsTags 1994 podcast, Apple, Attention Hellmart Shoppers!, Buzzfeed, Copyright Directive, Dohai, Earbuds Podcast Collective, Hollywood, Ko-Fi, News, Panoply, Podcast Brunch Club, podern times, Podetize, Podtrac, serial, What's The Frequency?, Who Killed Julie
w/e Sept. 16 2018
This week saw the launch of Mirrors, a brand new audio drama podcast from Zoom Doom Stories, creator of Spines. Starring Lucy Pearce (Passage), Sarah Hemmi, and Jamie Killen (author/ producer), with a special guest appearance from Sarah Rhea Werner (Girl In Space).
Mirrors is the story of one haunting told by three different people, over three different centuries, and will be released fortnightly so be sure to subscribe.
I remember when I was a child my father brought home an Atari VCS. Almost every kid on my street came by to check out this new alien thing, and we'd play Space Invaders and Pac-Man all day. Then at school they started new classes called "Computer Studies" where we learned to program in Basic and Ceefax. I remember the launch of Windows (yes, I'm old lol) and floppy discs when they were floppy!
Since then things have moved on in leaps and bounds, to the point we are now talking about Internet 3.0 and how technology will shape the future. Now you can get your geek on with this amazing new podcast from Zac Valenti and Blockstack. Here you can find some great interviews with the movers and shakers that are shaping our technological future.
I've also had the distinct pleasure of listening to the as yet unreleased audio drama podcast 'Who Killed Julie?' in its entirety. I sent the critical feedback to the creators this week, so you can expect a review to grace these pages in the next couple of weeks.
If you have a new podcast that you want some feedback on, then please don't hesitate to get in touch.
Panoply to stop creating new podcasts
The big news this week has to be Panoply's decision to stop developing new podcasts, and get rid of their editorial staff. Now the company will be focusing solely(?) on its hosting platform Megaphone.
This news came hand-in-hand with the news that Jacob Weisberg, chairman and editor in chief of Slate Group (owners of Panoply), has decided to leave the company.
"After 22 years, there's no good moment to leave, but you start to feel like it's now or never if you're ever going to"
The podcast world was notably confused, seeing as Panoply had just last week announced a slate of new podcasts at IAB Podcast Up Front.
Have you updated your website's Stitcher logo yet?
What about the app on your iOS? (Don't worry Android users, the app will soon be updated there.)
"Stitcher has a new look and feel. A bit more modern, a bit bolder. Representative of the continuing evolution of podcasting, yet still harkening back to our roots."
Here are the Press releases from Stitcher and Midroll, their sister company.
Women are driving podcast growth
New research released this week suggests growth in podcast listening for women has increased by 20 percent to 5.5 hours a week [per unit if available?]. Car entertainment systems and smart speakers also see significant rises in podcast listening.
Guardian to release new Daily News podcast
Twitter launch an audio only Periscope
iHeartMedia buys Stuff Media
This week's articles
This week I asked Jamie Killen of Spines and Mirrors audio dramas to paint me a picture using just 1000 words.
Author DōhaiPosted on September 15, 2018 September 28, 2018 Categories Audio Drama, News, PodcastingTags Blockstack, Girl in Space, Guardian, iHeartMedia, Jacob Weisberg, Ko-Fi, Mirrors, News, Panoply, Passage, Periscope, Slate, spines, Stitcher, Stuff Media, The Internet 3.0, Who Killed Julie
Welcome To Podern Times
It feels very strange that I'm here again, especially as this is the first ever post from Podern Times, and yet it feels remarkably familiar. Like that favorite jumper you love to wear on those cold winter nights, curled up in front of the television watching Groundhog Day over and over and over, until you finally realise that you haven't been watching Bill Murray repeat the same day ad nauseum, but you've actually been watching Ghostbusters. Then you realise your favorite jumper is actually a dalmatian onesie, and your owner is yelling at you to get down off the couch you "bad doggy!"
Okay, I'm starting again!
Are You Sure? Is the latest episode from Welcome To Night Vale (133), and since its launch on the weekend (September 1st) I've downloaded and listened to it so much it has driven me mad!
"Why?" I hear you ask, if you are not one of their regular listeners. "I know it's good, but why would you download the same episode multiple times?" you will also say. Well it's all due to 'dynamic insertion', you know, the way they put advertising on podcasts these days. It turns out those crazy cats at Night Vale have used this technology to give the episode three different endings… or have they?
These endings are added purely at random, so unfortunately I've had to listen to this episode all week, but to date I have only heard two different endings. This has turned me into a cold hollow shell shivering in the corner, pleading with my family to give me back my favorite jumper so that I can curl up and watch a rerun of Bill Murray as Garfield. Apparently I'm not allowed to watch this either because I "bark at the cat on the TV all night long!" And why do they not take me to the dog park anymore???
If you have listened to all three, please let me know. Please… my nerves are shot!
My condolences go out to the family and friends of Rachel Bland, host of 'You, Me and the Big C' who died age 40 on Wednesday.
Rachel was diagnosed with breast cancer in November of 2016, and had since worked tirelessly to raise awareness, and remove the stigma attached to cancer. She began with her blog 'Big C. Little Me.' documenting her journey through treatment, and then on to co-host the podcast with Deborah James and Lauren Mahon.
A tweet on her official account was posted on Wednesday morning saying: "Our beautiful, courageous Rachael died peacefully this morning surrounded by her close family. We are crushed but she would want me to thank everyone who took an interest in her story or sent messages of support. You'll never know how much they meant to her. Steve and Freddie".
The podcast deals with all the big questions you would expect, mental health, chemotherapy, alternative and complementary therapies, doctors, money, family, and death, in a frank and funny way. If you haven't listened already, then download this amazing show now, and recommend it to everyone; especially those people who will say 'what's a podcast?'
After two and a half years Serial returns for season three on the 20th of September. They take a look at the criminal justice system and the litany of charges thrown at it by reformers. Where season one looked at one extraordinary case, season three spends a year in one courtroom, Cleveland Ohio, looking at many ordinary cases, and the problems they faced.
Check out the link above to hear the trailer, or follow this link for an interview with Sarah Koenig and Emmanuel Dzotsi over at Clevescene.
It's that time of year again peeps! The Audio Verse Awards are taking your nominations now! All eligible productions that have "aired" between October 1st, 2017 and September 30th, 2018 are up for consideration.
The Audio Verse Awards are an annual awards show dedicated to celebrating the best in free audio drama around the world. It started as a thread on Audio Drama Talk, ballooned to a Facebook group, then shrunk to a dedicated group who sat down and helped make the Audio Verse Awards a reality in 2013.
On Wednesday (September 5th), Turner Podcast Network announced that they would be launching their entire portfolio of over 60 shows on Spotify. This comes only a month after the Swedish music streaming giant announced a deal with the BBC for users in the UK. I have heard however that BBC podcasts have been appearing on Spotify in the US and other countries outside the UK.
This is hot off the back of them teaming up with NPR back in May, so it's safe to say that Spotify are serious about taking the scalp of iTunes. Let's hope they now take a more serious approach with the indie podcast world than they have in the past.
Lime Link posts a video highlighting how the iTunes podcast chart is being manipulated.
Brands are set to double their spending on podcast advertising.
Science proves what we already knew, that audio is more emotionally engaging than film.
Well that's it for now. If you enjoyed it please share it with your friends, if you didn't then share it with your enemies.
If you have any podcast news you would like to share with the community, then give us a shout, or maybe send an email, (probably the better option).
Are you a podcast blogger? Would you like to be? We are looking to create a small team of full/part time writers. We are always looking to take on guest writers and feature the work of those in the industry. If you would like to contribute, drop us a line, we are more than happy to chat about the best way we can promote you and your work.
Author DōhaiPosted on September 9, 2018 September 27, 2018 Categories Audio Drama, News, PodcastingTags Audio Drama, audio verse awards, News, Podcasting, podern times, serial, spotify, welcome to night vale, you me and the big c


Last week we reported on a 5 year old who was interrogated, without the presence of a legal guardian, for over 2 hours by school officials (according to initial reports) until the boy peed his pants out of stress/fear. The boy brought an orange tipped, toy cap gun on the bus, which sparked the interrogations.
The boy was then suspended from school for 10 days which would have meant he would have missed the remainder of his kindergarten school year and missed graduation.
Now, on appeal, the suspension was reduced to 3 days, already served, so the boy was allowed to resume classes today according to the Washington Post.
The mother is glad her son can resume classes, but is still upset about how the incident was handled. According to school officials the incident was handled properly and that the actual "questioning" of the boy lasted no more than 7 minutes.
If true, we're not sure what they were doing with the boy for the other 1hr 57minutes until his parents were called.


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Wisconsin creating jobs, harnessing wind power
by jboullion | Jul 22, 2010 | Uncategorized
From a news release issued by the Department of Workforce Development:
TOWN of MENASHA – Department of Workforce Development Secretary Roberta Gassman said today Governor Doyle's investments in Wisconsin's clean energy future are showing gains in manufacturing, job opportunities, a cleaner environment, and a more energy independent Wisconsin.
"Under Governor Doyle's leadership, Wisconsin is harnessing the wind to power economic growth, creating clean energy jobs," Secretary Gassman said. "As the economy improves from a deep national recession, the steps Wisconsin has taken to encourage efficiency and renewable energy will continue to pay dividends in the long term."
Secretary Gassman highlighted Governor Doyle's successful clean energy efforts during a visit to SCA Tissue. At SCA's Service Excellence Center in the Town of Menasha, she joined the global manufacturer of tissue and paper products in dedicating four wind turbines, the first commercial units built by Renewegy, LLC. The Renewegy turbines will generate 100 to 125 megawatt-hours per year to help power SCA Tissue's operations. The turbine-generated electricity will complement other energy-saving steps at the company, including heat recovery systems, energy-saving light bulbs, auto lighting systems and low-energy computer screens.
In operation for two years, Renewegy received a $525,000 grant from Governor Doyle last December to purchase manufacturing equipment and create 40 new jobs. The grant was funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Renewegy is one of more than 300 companies in Wisconsin that provide products and services to the wind industry, employing thousands of people.


text:
Javorie může být:

 Javorie (pohoří) – sopečné pohoří na Slovensku
 Javorie (Javorie) (1044 m) – vrch v pohoří Javorie (pohoří)
 Javorie (Považský Inovec) (729 m) – vrch v Považském Inovci na Slovensku
 Javorie (sedlo) (1487 m) – horské sedlo v Nízkých Tatrách na Slovensku

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: Python ctypes Passing a Pointer and getting null pointer access I'm using Python and ctypes to use a .dll supplied by a company for the use with a load cell amplifier. I manage to get a reading with their software, but I can't get my Python code to work.
The company is ME-MessSysteme, and the amplifier is the GSV-2 (Manual Here).
The company's description of the function:

C: int GSVread ( int no, double *ad )

Taken from here, page 44. Sorry, but the guide is in German.
I'm getting a response from the amplifier after the activate function, but when I use the GSVread function, I can't get the result. I tried to pass a pointer to a double variable as I understand it returns the value to it. When I try to access the contents I get a "ValueError: NULL pointer access".
import ctypes
ret = ctypes.POINTER(ctypes.c_double)()
print(ret)
gsv = ctypes.cdll.LoadLibrary("DLLs_SENSOLYTICS/MEGSV.dll")
print(gsv.GSVactivate(7))
print(gsv.GSVstartTransmit(7))
print(gsv.GSVread(7, ret))
print(ret.contents)

7 indicating the COM port number.
Thank you all in advance!
****UPDATE*****
Following on Dan's answer, the code that works is below:
    d = ctypes.c_double()
    ret = ctypes.byref(d)

    gsv = ctypes.cdll.LoadLibrary("DLLs_SENSOLYTICS/MEGSV.dll")
    print(gsv.GSVactivate(7, ctypes.c_long(256)))
    gsv.GSVflushBuffer(7)
    print(gsv.GSVstartTransmit(7))
    time.sleep(1)
    gsv.GSVread(7, ret)
    print(d)

A: You need to create two objects one the double and the other the pointer to the double:
>>> d = ctypes.c_double()
>>> ret = ctypes.pointer(d)
>>> ret.contents
c_double(0.0)

This can also be written as:
ret = ctypes.pointer(ctypes.c_double())

Which is oddly similar to:
ret = ctypes.POINTER(ctypes.c_double)()

The documentation states that ctypes.byref is a faster ctypes.pointer that doesn't actually allocate a real ctypes.pointer object so it can only be used to be be passed to a reference as an argument to a C function.
To use it one has to keep a direct reference to the double to be able to access the result as ctypes.byref objects do not have a contents property.
d = ctypes.c_double()
ret = ctypes.byref(d)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


IMAGINE you're 30 and trying to figure out how much to save for retirement. You consult a Web site that can show you what you will most likely look like at 65 — and that shows the more you save now, the happier you will look then.
Behavioral-finance researchers are already testing and thinking about such online tools, hoping they will become available in the next few years. Their goal is to help people make better decisions about both accumulating retirement assets and then drawing on them — a process they call decumulation.
Until relatively recently, most retirees drew their retirement from a combination of employer-provided pensions and government-provided Social Security. But increasingly over the last two decades, employers have shifted away from defined-benefit plans — which spell out how much you will receive in retirement — to defined-contribution plans like 401(k)'s, where you know what you contribute, but don't know how well your investments will perform and what your account will be worth when you need it.
Now, as the first holders of defined-contribution plans start to retire, the uncertainty of retirement income is compounded by other issues: people continue to live longer, rely on their children less in old age and face ever-higher medical expenses. So researchers are increasingly trying to come up with effective approaches for retirees to turn their accumulated savings into retirement income.
The government is also focusing on the issue. The Labor and Treasury Departments are reviewing retirement plan rules to determine if retirees would be more secure if they had access to options like annuities, which provide a lifetime stream of retirement income. This year, the agencies requested comments on the topic and received close to 800, and this week they held hearings on lifetime income options for retirement plans.
"Our goal is to start a national dialogue on these critically important issues," Phyllis C. Borzi, assistant secretary of the Employee Benefits Security Administration, part of the Labor Department, wrote in a blog post on the department's site last week.
Behavioral-finance researchers try to first understand how people behave and then create principles to guide behavior. They also are working with financial services companies to help them develop products to offer to the public.
After two decades of focusing on the accumulation of assets — when they established that people would save more for retirement if they set up a payment schedule in advance — the focus now is on decumulation.
Without the right approach to decumulation, a crisis may develop as more baby boomers with 401(k) accounts start retiring, possibly make the wrong payout decisions and run out of money, said Shlomo Benartzi, a professor specializing in behavioral finance at the University of California, Los Angeles, and chief behavioral economist for Allianz Global Investors.
But setting rules of thumb for decumulation is more complicated than for accumulation, researchers say, because with accumulation, the goal of saving more is known and financial advisers just have to figure out the best approach for reaching it.
Another complicating factor for retirees is that it is much harder for them to increase their savings, if the need arises, than it is for people who still work. Other uncertainties include the possibility that retirees will, at some point, have declining cognitive abilities, and that future medical expenses and longevity are unknown.
So what are some of the new ideas and approaches being explored? Here's a look at some of the most creative thinking from behavioral-finance experts.
From a traditional economist's point of view, annuities would seem to be an attractive and rational option for retirees trying to hedge the risks of living a long time in retirement and possibly experiencing cognitive decline that would curtail the ability to make financial decisions.
When you buy an annuity, you are generally guaranteed a certain monthly income over the remainder of your life. But annuities haven't proved to be all that popular among retirees. One explanation is that for many retirees, the pain of giving up money to buy the annuity trumped the pleasure of ensuring a stream of future income, said Eric Johnson, a professor of marketing at Columbia Business School.
Researchers have already shown that investors experience the pain of financial loss more than the pleasure of financial gain. In 2007, research conducted with AARP and focused on a limited range of ages among retirees, Professor Johnson found respondents were particularly loss averse, and the more loss averse they were, the less likely they were to buy an annuity.
"I could not have designed a product from a behavioral economics perspective that would have been a harder sell than current annuities," he said.
Professor Johnson said he was studying data from a broader range of ages to confirm his findings and also analyzing whether older people viewed future money differently than other age groups. Eventually, he said, he hoped to determine whether loss aversion was connected to cognitive decline.
In one possible solution, some companies are selling annuities that can be paid for over time, rather than all at once, he said, hoping to address retirees' uneasiness.
Alessandro Previtero, an assistant professor of finance at the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, found that new retirees were much more likely to buy an annuity after a period of poor stock market returns and more likely to opt for lump-sum distribution after a positive trend.
"The main explanation of this relationship between past stock market returns and annuitization is people think the past will continue into the future," he said.
Professor Previtero examined a database of information of about 100,000 retirees who, from 2002 to 2008, had to choose between receiving defined-benefit funds as a guaranteed lifetime income or a lump-sum distribution. "The most important determinant in economic terms of this decision seems to be past stock market returns" of the last six months to a year, he said.
The relationship between stock market returns and annuities grows stronger with age, he said, which is consistent with the notion that the elderly tend to rely on rules of thumb more for complicated decisions as they age.
Professor Previtero said he could envision potentially more successful annuity products that might allow retirees to experience some of the upside of the stock market or might be easier to enroll in because they were more readily available within retirement plans.
Half of people in their 80s suffer from either dementia or significant cognitive impairment that prevents them from making sound financial decisions, Professor Laibson of Harvard and fellow researchers concluded in a 2009 paper. They also found that cognitive decline happened rapidly as people passed age 65, with the prevalence of dementia doubling every five years.
This suggests that any solution that requires older adults to make complicated financial decisions needs to address the fact that "about half the people in their 80s are not up to that challenge," he said. Possible solutions, he said, include creating new fiduciary standards for retirees' savings, forcing some sort of annuitization, and having more regulatory oversight of financial products for retirees.
That people tend to divide their money into separate mental accounts for various purposes (travel or dining out, for example) and that earmarking savings to specific goals (college savings, for instance) tends to increase saving rates has long been known.
Some researchers have suggested using this concept to help people with decumulation. For instance, George Loewenstein, a professor of economics and psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, recently suggested that retirees keep separate accounts for various purposes and use different investment strategies with different levels of risk for each.
Since some might find it especially painful to spend money from a nest egg, "we might encourage retirees to put some of their money into an annuity and then invest the rest in a more risky fashion and give themselves license to spend the riskier fund," he said.
Think of separate "pay the rent" and "spoil the grandchildren" accounts, with the rent fund in some kind of guaranteed annuity and the other invested more aggressively. His ideas were included in Allianz Global Investors' response to the government's request for comments on future retirement products.
Can seeing a representation of what you'll look like later in life persuade you to save more for retirement? Some recent studies say yes.
Hal Ersner-Hershfield of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and fellow researchers created images of college-age participants that showed how they looked as they aged.
They then put the participants in a virtual reality environment, showed them either an image of what they looked like now or of what they might look like as they aged, then asked them questions about retirement allocation. Participants who saw the aged image of themselves allocated twice as much to retirement as people who saw their current appearance, the researchers found.
"Our hunch is that exposure to one's future self is creating somewhat of an empathic response," similar to the feelings of protectiveness one might feel when seeing an aged parent, said Professor Ersner-Hershfield.


text:
Sunday Services at 9:15 AM via Facebook Live.
Services will be conducted via Facebook LIVE
St. Paul's United
An Open and Affirming
Congregation.
Opening and Affirming
History of St Paul's
United Church of Christ Story
Time and Talent Sheet
New Hope Ministries
Gather The Spirit
St Paul's On A Mission (SPOM)
Ecumenical Food Pantry
Lector Sign Up
Altar Flower Delivery Sign Up
Altar Flower Sponsorship 2021
Child Sponsorship 2021
Our Church Life
Called To Care (CTC)
Extended Ministry
Stewardship Ministry
Worship Message Archive
Monthly Epistle (Newsletter)
Safe Church Policy
Church and Property Use Agreements
Links To Various UCC (and Other) Sites
The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a distinct and diverse community of Christians that come together as one church to join faith and action. With over 5,000 churches and nearly one million members across the U.S., the UCC serves God in the co-creation of a just and sustainable world. The UCC is a church of firsts, a church of extravagant welcome, and a church where "…they may all be one" (John 17:21).
Church of Firsts
Since 1957, the United Church of Christ has been the church of firsts, weaving God's message of hope and extravagant welcome with action for justice and peace. Together, we live out our faith in ways that effect change in our communities. The UCC's many "firsts" mean that we have inherited a tradition of acting upon the demands of our faith. When we read in Galatians: "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus"—a demand is made upon us. And so we were the first historically white denomination to ordain an African-American, the first to ordain a woman, the first to ordain an openly gay man, and the first Christian church to affirm the right of same-gender couples to marry. We were in the forefront of the anti-slavery movement and the Civil Rights movement. Our response to the demands of our faith is woven into the history of our country.


text:
Capital begins hourly updates on air pollution
By Zheng Xin (China Daily)
BEIJING – The Chinese capital began releasing hourly air pollution data on Thursday to address growing public concern over air quality.
The Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center will publish readings for the levels of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and PM 10 – particulate matter smaller than 10 micrograms – detected by its 27 air quality monitoring stations.
The data, released hourly on the center's website and micro blog, "is provided to better serve the residents of the capital", said Zhao Yue, deputy director of the center.
Residents generally hailed the move, but some said more needs to be done.
"It is undoubtedly a step forward," said Wang Bao, 27, a physical education teacher at a primary school in northern Beijing's Changping district.
However, Wang said he cared more about how the government works to curb the pollution.
Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, a non-government organization, said hourly figures help improve the transparency of the environment watchdogs. "The move respects citizens' right to know."
Readings for more pollutants will be announced after stricter air quality standards are adopted in the future, Zhao said.
She did not elaborate, but the new readings might include the level of PM 2.5 – particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrograms.
These particles could be comparatively more hazardous to people's health, causing breathing problems. They are also believed to be the cause of smog.
According to the center, Beijing will set up more than two dozen monitoring stations to detect the density of PM 2.5 before Spring Festival, which falls on Jan 23. That will be ahead of the national schedule of 2016.
Beijing residents have long been dissatisfied with the official air quality figures, saying they fail to reflect how residents feel.
People urged the government to adopt PM 2.5 testing because it insisted that the air was "slightly polluted" – a conclusion based on PM 10 figures – although heavy smog has shrouded Beijing continually since October.
Residents also complained that authorities failed to explain why air quality differs significantly between southern and northern Beijing.
When severe smog grounded more than 100 flights on Tuesday, the highest density of inhalable particles in the southern and central city was between 300 and 560 micrograms a cubic meter, while the figure in the north was between 30 and 80.
The city's environmental protection bureau said it hasn't worked out a comparison of the northern and southern part of the city.
But Ma said the northern part is home to many universities and hospitals, and hence is less polluted by industrial waste and vehicular exhaust.
Copyright By chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved
Posted in: Air Pollution, China.
← Molecule could help cut pollution Burning rubbish not the answer →


I cannot believe that I am actually "writing it out loud", but it's true I am skipping Aldi shopping this week. I know I will be regretting it, once I run out of milk, bread and OJ, but we will simply have to make do with what we have.
I always buy most of my fruits at Aldi, and we sure go through a lot of it. This week I did not find any produce sales that really said jackpot, and our big mango tree in the backyard has reached its harvest time. We now have beautiful bowl of mangoes on the table every day.
On top of that I bought a watermelon at Aldi last week, and I usually leave it out for a few days to really become perfect. Well, I just cut into it yesterday, which means we have no room in the fridge, and it will last us another week. I can by the way highly recommend Aldi's seedless watermelons. This one I bought last week for $2.99, but I have been buying a watermelon every week for the past many weeks, and not one of them has been bad. I just make sure to leave them out for a few days, and they turn out to be perfectly sweet once we cut into them.
What will you be picking up at Aldi this week?
I would love to hear about your Aldi trip.


text:
Credit card scammer flees Indian jail, nabbed in Bangladesh
Prime Minister Hasina calls for holding back honour
Bangladesh-Bhutan route will be used to expand trade
Dhaka, March 24: Bangladesh and Bhutan have agreed to operate navigable routes between the two countries to expand trade. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Bhutanese counterpart Lotay Tshering agreed at a meeting at the Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday (March 24th).
Bangladesh-Bhutan route will be used to expand trade Wed, Mar 24 2021


Vets say they're impressed with John McCain's visits to the Middle East.
Jessica McDermott, who served in Iraq as a medical officer, was in Pennsylvania last week, participating in "Choose or Lose Presents: Clinton & Obama Answer Young Veterans," when she first heard about Senator Hillary Clinton's "misspoken" description of arriving under sniper fire at the Tuzla Air Base in Bosnia in 1996, which in recent days has become a black eye for the presidential candidate.
"As a combat veteran," McDermott said, "I feel that it is insulting that a politician would use their one- or two-day trip to a combat zone to relate to veterans."
So it should come as no surprise that McDermott, along with several other young Iraqi veterans who were participating in the forum with her, were even more insulted by Clinton's subsequent claims that she misspoke after video footage surfaced this week showing the senator's entourage exiting the rear of their cargo plane and walking calmly across the tarmac in Bosnia.
"I wasn't impressed," said Chris Weimer, 26, a Marine Corps sergeant who received a Purple Heart for wounds received while fighting in Iraq. "It seemed like a play to make herself seem like something she isn't: an American with the courage to risk the ultimate sacrifice for his or her country. She wanted to make it seem like she knew what it was like living in the same danger our troops face every day in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.
"That angered me, because there is no way anyone can understand what it's like to live in a place where your life is at risk every second of every day unless you actually take the same risks your combat troops do."
Other veterans who participated in the forum share his feelings. "The speech was merely a [sensationalized] attempt at gaining legitimacy," said Ryan Groves, 27, a Marine who lost his left leg in combat. "I don't blame Hillary for trying to play that card, for she is a woman who is attempting to be the first female commander in chief of the world's most powerful military in the history of the world."
The young vets had largely positive comments regarding their interaction with Clinton during MTV's forum.
The reactions of these young veterans demonstrate the slippery slope that politicians walk when they use combat-zone trips to earn respect from those who might otherwise be skeptical of their experience in military matters. "Candidates obviously need to make a strong position on understanding what it means to serve in the military and, more importantly, serve the military in a time of war," Weimer said. "However, making false statements about being under sniper fire is definitely not convincing anyone that she has either the credibility or appreciation for what it is America's military lives with every day they are in a combat zone."
And with the next major Democratic primary in Pennsylvania less than a month away, young veterans are one group that Clinton is having trouble winning over in the battle for credibility on military matters. In town-hall speeches and televised commercials, the senator has tried to paint herself as having the foreign-policy experience to be a strong leader on the world stage. But whether or not she misspoke, the senator's Bosnia remarks are being viewed as an attempt to trump up her experience abroad as first lady in contrast to her rival for the Democratic nomination, Senator Barack Obama.
So how should politicians show their support for the troops without diminishing the experiences of those who are actually fighting in combat? The vets we spoke with point to John McCain, who visited the Shorja market in Baghdad last April as part of a congressional delegation that was heavily protected by U.S. soldiers and helicopters.
"I was impressed by Senator McCain's trip to Baghdad," said McDermott. "First of all, he is a combat veteran, so it is not surprising that he was out of the Green Zone. And he was in his 'battle rattle,' which showed that he was conscious of the dangers around him, and which served as a good role model for soldiers." McDermott added that VIPs frequently travel to combat zones at night, when it is safer. So even though McCain wore body armor and was heavily protected, he still showed his solidarity with the troops. "I was just glad to hear that he was walking around in the daytime," she said, "security detail or not."
Weimer cited Senator McCain's recent trip to the Middle East as further evidence of his ability to win the kind of support of troops and veterans that has eluded Senator Clinton. "John McCain has proven in the past that he has been to [Iraq's] ground zero, and now has reminded us that he is not afraid to go back."
After watching "Choose or Lose Presents Clinton & Obama Answer Young Veterans,"head here for additional material, including profiles of the Iraq veterans featured in the show.
Get informed! Head to Choose or Lose for nonstop coverage of the 2008 presidential election, including everything from the latest news on the candidates to on-the-ground multimedia reports from our 51 citizen journalists, MTV and MySpace's Presidential Dialogues, and much more.


This research investigated the effects of electron damage on single walled carbon nanotube (CNT) thin films. CNT thin films were irradiated by electrons with energies of 500 keV and 1 MeV to determine what damage was created in the CNT thin film structure, how it affected conductivity, and what changes were evident in the Raman spectra.
Best, Jeremy S., "Electron Damage Effects on Carbon Nanotube Thin Films" (2013). Theses and Dissertations. 916.


text:
Lysandra striata är en fjärilsart som beskrevs av Tutt 1896. Lysandra striata ingår i släktet Lysandra och familjen juvelvingar. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Juvelvingar
striata


text:
Sára Ryggshamar Nysted (born 19 January 2001) is a Faroese swimmer. She competed in the women's 200 and 400 metre individual medley event at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships.

References

2001 births
Living people
Faroese female swimmers
Place of birth missing (living people)
Female medley swimmers


We were contacted about a lost injured 17 year old on Dent Fell. Whilst we were gathering information they were found by a police patrol at Wath Brow.
Incident started at 00:03 and ended at 00:30 making 0.5 hrs in total.


text:
Taiwan fishing industry out of control: Greenpeace
http://str.sg/4kbk
Taipei (AFP) - Environment advocacy group Greenpeace on Thursday (April 14) said Taiwan's fishing industry was "out of control", with shark finning still rampant as well as labour and human rights abuses.
Taiwan has one of the world's biggest tuna fishing fleets and the new Greenpeace investigation is just the latest criticism of its practices.
The European Commission warned Taiwan last October that it would face economic sanctions if it did not tackle illegal fishing within six months.
The Greenpeace report comes as that time period is running out.
"These investigations paint a comprehensive picture of an industry in crisis," Yen Ning, campaigner at Greenpeace East Asia, said.
"Despite talking the talk, Taiwan's Fisheries Agency appears incapable of monitoring the out-of-control tuna industry," Yen said.
"Our investigations reveal devastating impacts on marine life and people's lives." The report is a result of a year-long probe into Taiwan's distant water tuna fisheries.
Crew on Taiwanese vessels - which include as many as 160,000 migrant workers - endure "horrendous" working conditions and physical abuse, the report found, as well as withheld payments and exploitation by recruitment agents.
And despite warnings against illegal shark fishing, Greenpeace said its investigation discovered 16 cases of shark finning in just one Taiwanese port over a three-month period.
The Fisheries Agency - the government division overseeing the industry - did not have an immediate response to Greenpeace's allegations.
Legislation passed in 2012 requires fishermen to ship back entire shark carcasses, preventing them from just slicing off the fin - a delicacy in Chinese cuisine.
But Greenpeace said in September it had discovered a haul of illegal shark fins onboard a Taiwanese ship near Papua New Guinea.
At that time the Fisheries Agency rebuked Greenpeace for boarding a Taiwanese vessel without permission from the government, but promised it would investigate claims the ship was fishing illegally.
FISHERIES SECTOR


text:
New York State of Mind: Education Reform in New York Makes This State Well Ahead of All Others
By Marianne Lombardo
The National Center for Education Statistics released a report last week comparing state proficiency standards with National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scale scores. NAEP frameworks and benchmarks are established by the National Assessment Governing Board and are based on the collaborative input of a wide range of experts and participants in the United States government, education, business, and public sectors.
This excellent infographic by Alissa Scheller for The Huffington Post maps how each state's standards align with the rigor of the national assessments:
Additionally, we charted change over the years:
Most states set standards equivalent to the "Basic" range in the national assessment. However, 4th grade reading is most often set in the "Below Basic" range.
New York is the only state to have standards at a proficient level across all four assessment levels.
Wisconsin and North Carolina are next best for having proficient-level standards in two of four assessment levels.
Very slow progress has been made on improving state academic standards.
Although a greater number of states are proficient, and fewer states are below basic, the increases and decreases are very small.
Students that move from state to state, including the 2,000,000 military-connected children, continue to have to adjust to vastly different learning standards.
What does this tell us?
Since many states are still in process of implementing Common Core standards, 2013 data may not adequately reflect where states currently are. However, the Common Core backlash threatens efforts to improve and align standards.
An interesting research undertaking would be to examine if students from states with higher standards score better on other types of national assessments – ACT/SAT tests, AP exams, ASVAB (military entrance exam), for example.
And, we need to consider how we're preparing students for global competitiveness. Gary Phillips, of American Institute for Research, statistically linked state NAEP scores to TIMMS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) scores and found that states with higher standards tend to score higher on international assessments. Data from 2007 found:
By combining these two sets of results, we know that even the best-performing American states do not score nearly as high as Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) or Korea, that the average-performing American states are about on par with England, the Russian Federation, and Lithuania, and that the District of Columbia's performance is more comparable to those of Thailand and Turkey.
High-performing OECD countries nearly all have national standards, a national curriculum, a grade-by-grade curriculum framework, and high-stakes national exams given to students at key gateways, like exiting secondary school. If states are to have the freedom to set their own standards, they must also have the responsibility to set those standards in a way that is honest and fair to their students and prepares them adequately for the economic realities they will face.
DFER Statement on Scott Walker Announcement


The meeting continued the biannual conference series Differentialgeometrie im Großen at the MFO which was established in the 60's by Klingenberg and Chern. Global Riemannian geometry with its connections to geometric analysis, topology and geometric group theory is the guiding theme of the conference. Special emphasis was given to geometric structures on manifolds, the geometry of singular spaces, geometric evolution equations and the collapse of Riemannian manifolds.


text:
package org.hsqldb.test;

import java.util.Map;
import java.util.HashMap;

/**
 * Single-use synchronization object.
 *
 * Design would be more scalable if there were a separate collection class,
 * instead of the static Waiter.map.  The limitation is acceptable since
 * there's no use case for running multiple Test Runners simultaneously
 * from a single JVM (one Test runner can handle multiple test scripts
 * simultaneously or synchronously).
 *
 * (It would be much work to make the collection non-static, because that
 * would require a refactor of TestUtil with proper OOD).
 */
public class Waiter {
    /*
    static private HashMap<String, Waiter> map =
            new HashMap<String, Waiter>();
    Java 5 */
    static private Map map = new HashMap();
    private String key;
    private boolean notified = false; // resume() method has been called
    private boolean waiting = false;  // a client is waiting (in waitFor()).
    private boolean abort = false;  // Make fail if partner failed

    public boolean isNotified() { return notified; }
    public boolean isWaiting() { return waiting; }

    private Waiter(String key) {
        this.key = key;
        map.put(key, this);
    }

    /**
     * @param enforceSequence  Fail if waitFor() called before resume()
     */
    public synchronized void waitFor(boolean enforceSequence) {
        if (abort)
            throw new RuntimeException("Notifier side failed previously");
        if (notified) {
            if (enforceSequence)
                throw new RuntimeException(
                        "Request to wait on '" + key
                        + "', but this object has already been notified");
            return;
        }
        waiting = true;
        try {
            wait();
        } catch (InterruptedException ie) {
            throw new RuntimeException(
                    "Unexpected interrupted while waiting for '"
                    + key + "'", ie);
        } finally {
            waiting = false;
        }
        map.remove(this);
        if (!notified)
            throw new RuntimeException(
                    "Exiting waitFor() on '" + key
                    + "' even though not 'notified'");
    }

    /**
     * @param enforceSequence  Fail if waitFor() called before resume()
     */
    public synchronized void resume(boolean enforceSequence) {
        if (enforceSequence && !waiting) {
            abort = true;
            throw new RuntimeException("Requested to resume on '"
                    + key + " ', but nothing is waiting for it");
        }
        notified = true;
        notify();
    }

    /**
     * It doesn't matter if the waiter or the waitee runs getWaiter()
     * first.  Whoever requests it first will instantiate it.
     *
     * @return A Waiter instance.  Never returns nul.
     */
    synchronized static public Waiter getWaiter(String key) {
        Waiter waiter = (Waiter) map.get(key);
        if (waiter == null) waiter = new Waiter(key);
        return waiter;
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
using System;
using Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting;
using Tests.Utils;
using ReactiveProperties;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;

namespace Tests.Core
{
    [TestClass]
    public class PropertySourceLinqTests
    {
        [TestMethod]
        public void DistinctNotifiesOnceAtRawSubscription()
        {
            var property = new TestPropertySource<string>(null);
            int calls = 0;
            Action observer = () => calls++;

            using (var subs = property.Distinct().RawSubscribe(observer))
            {
                Assert.AreEqual(calls, 1);
            }
        }

        [TestMethod]
        public void DistinctUsesComparerWhenChangesFirst()
        {
            var property = new TestPropertySource<string>(null);
            int calls = 0;
            Action observer = () => calls++;

            using (var subs = property.Distinct(StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase).RawSubscribe(observer))
            {
                property.Value = "abc";
                property.Notify();
                Assert.AreEqual(2, calls);

                property.Value = "ABC";
                property.Notify();
                Assert.AreEqual(2, calls);

                property.Value = "xyz";
                property.Notify();
                Assert.AreEqual(3, calls);
            }
        }

        [TestMethod]
        public void DistinctUsesComparerWhenDoesNotChangeFirst()
        {
            var property = new TestPropertySource<string>("abc");
            int calls = 0;
            Action observer = () => calls++;

            using (var subs = property.Distinct(StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase).RawSubscribe(observer))
            {
                property.Value = "abc";
                property.Notify();
                Assert.AreEqual(1, calls);

                property.Value = "xyz";
                property.Notify();
                Assert.AreEqual(2, calls);

                property.Value = "XYZ";
                property.Notify();
                Assert.AreEqual(2, calls);
            }
        }

        [TestMethod]
        public void EagerNotifiesAtRawSubscription()
        {
            var property = new TestPropertySource<int>(0);
            int calls = 0;
            Action observer = () => calls++;

            using (var subs = property.Lazy().Eager().RawSubscribe(observer))
            {
                Assert.AreEqual(1, calls);
            }
        }

        [TestMethod]
        public void LazyDoesNotNotifyAtRawSubscription()
        {
            var property = new TestPropertySource<int>(0);
            int calls = 0;
            Action observer = () => calls++;

            using (var subs = property.Eager().Lazy().RawSubscribe(observer))
            {
                Assert.AreEqual(0, calls);
            }
        }

        [TestMethod]
        public void SelectManyGetsTheValueReturnedBySelector()
        {
            var property = new TestPropertySource<int>(0);
            var source = property.SelectMany(v => new TestPropertySource<string>("hello"));
            Assert.AreEqual("hello", source.Value);
        }

        [TestMethod]
        public void SelectManyFiresOnLeftChange()
        {
            var property = new TestPropertySource<int>(0);
            var source = property.SelectMany(v => new TestPropertySource<string>("hello"));
            bool called;
            Action observer = () => called = true;

            using (var subs = source.RawSubscribe(observer))
            {
                called = false;
                property.Value = 10;
                property.Notify();
                Assert.AreEqual(true, called);
            }
        }

        [TestMethod]
        public void SelectManyFiresOnRightChange()
        {
            var left = new TestPropertySource<int>(0);
            var right = new TestPropertySource<string>("hello");
            var source = left.SelectMany(v => right);
            bool called;
            Action observer = () => called = true;

            using (var subs = source.RawSubscribe(observer))
            {
                called = false;
                right.Value = "abc";
                right.Notify();
                Assert.AreEqual(true, called);
            }
        }

        [TestMethod]
        public void SelectManyPassesLeftValueToSelector()
        {
            var left = new TestPropertySource<int>(10);
            var oldRight = new TestPropertySource<string>("old");
            var newRight = new TestPropertySource<string>("new");
            var source = left.SelectMany(i => i == 20 ? newRight : oldRight);
            left.Value = 20;
            Assert.AreEqual("new", source.Value);
        }

        [TestMethod]
        public void SelectManyUpdatesRightSubscription()
        {
            var left = new TestPropertySource<bool>(false);
            var oldRight = new TestPropertySource<string>("old");
            var newRight = new TestPropertySource<string>("new");
            var source = left.SelectMany(b => b ? newRight : oldRight);
            bool called;
            Action observer = () => called = true;

            using (var subs = source.RawSubscribe(observer))
            {
                called = false;
                oldRight.SetAndNotify("old 2");
                Assert.AreEqual(true, called);

                Assert.IsNull(newRight.Notify);

                left.SetAndNotify(true);

                Assert.IsNull(oldRight.Notify);

                newRight.SetAndNotify("new 2");
                Assert.AreEqual(true, called);
            }
        }

        [TestMethod]
        public void SelectManyFlattensNested()
        {
            var nested = new TestPropertySource<TestPropertySource<string>>(null);
            nested.Value = new TestPropertySource<string>("one");
            var source = PropertySource.SelectMany(nested, a => a);
            bool called;
            Action observer = () => called = true;

            using (var subs = source.RawSubscribe(observer))
            {
                called = false;
                nested.Value.SetAndNotify("two");
                Assert.AreEqual(true, called);
                Assert.AreEqual("two", source.Value);

                called = false;
                nested.SetAndNotify(new TestPropertySource<string>("three"));
                Assert.AreEqual(true, called);
                Assert.AreEqual("three", source.Value);

                called = false;
                nested.Value.SetAndNotify("four");
                Assert.AreEqual(true, called);
                Assert.AreEqual("four", source.Value);
            }
        }

        [TestMethod]
        public void SelectMany2Works()
        {
            var nested = new TestPropertySource<Tuple<int, TestPropertySource<string>>>(null);
            nested.Value = Tuple.Create(1, new TestPropertySource<string>("one"));
            var source = PropertySource.SelectMany(nested, a => a.Item2, (tuple, text) => tuple.Item1.ToString() + ":" + text);
            string value = null;
            Action<string> observer = str => value = str;

            Assert.AreEqual("1:one", source.Value);

            using (var subs = source.Subscribe(observer))
            {
                nested.SetAndNotify(Tuple.Create(2, new TestPropertySource<string>("two")));
                Assert.AreEqual("2:two", value);
                nested.Value.Item2.SetAndNotify("TWO");
                Assert.AreEqual("2:TWO", value);
            }
        }

        [TestMethod]
        public void SelectWorks()
        {
            var left = new TestPropertySource<int>(10);
            var source = PropertySource.Select(left, a => a + 2);
            int value = 0;
            Action<int> observer = val => value = val;

            using (var subs = source.Subscribe(observer))
            {
                Assert.AreEqual(12, value);
                left.SetAndNotify(20);
                Assert.AreEqual(22, value);
            }
        }

        [TestMethod]
        public void MergeWorks()
        {
            var left = new TestPropertySource<string>("a");
            var right = new TestPropertySource<string>("b");
            var merged = PropertySource.Merge(left, right, (l, r) => l + ":" + r);
            string value = null;
            Action<string> observer = val => value = val;

            using (var subs = merged.Subscribe(observer))
            {
                Assert.AreEqual("a:b", value);
                left.SetAndNotify("A");
                Assert.AreEqual("A:b", value);
                right.SetAndNotify("B");
                Assert.AreEqual("A:B", value);
            }
        }

        [TestMethod]
        public void Merge3Works()
        {
            var left = new TestPropertySource<string>("a");
            var middle = new TestPropertySource<string>("b");
            var right = new TestPropertySource<string>("c");
            var merged = PropertySource.Merge(left, middle, right, (l, m, r) => l + ":" + m + ":" + r);
            string value = null;
            Action<string> observer = val => value = val;

            using (var subs = merged.Subscribe(observer))
            {
                Assert.AreEqual("a:b:c", value);
                left.SetAndNotify("A");
                Assert.AreEqual("A:b:c", value);
                middle.SetAndNotify("B");
                Assert.AreEqual("A:B:c", value);
                right.SetAndNotify("C");
                Assert.AreEqual("A:B:C", value);
            }
        }
    }
}


text:
Thai Beauty Pageant Investigated after Coronavirus Cluster
Jul 12, 2021 | BEAUTY, HEALTH, NEWS, Thailand
Photos on the event's Facebook page show finalists in gowns and sashes, not wearing masks and not socially distancing
Thai beauty queens who took part in a pageant last month could face criminal charges for not wearing masks, police warned Sunday, after a cluster of 22 infections emerged from the event.
Thirteen contestants and nine others associated with the Miss Grand Samut Sakhon pageant, which was held at a Bangkok venue late June, have tested positive for the virus, officers said.
Thailand is grappling with a deadly third wave of infections with 9,539 new cases announced Saturday and 86 deaths.
"There are likely to be many people involved in the pageant including contestants who violated rules and regulations," Piya Tawichai, deputy commissioner of the metropolitan police told reporters in Bangkok on Sunday.
Organizers had got permission to hold the event, but had to comply with 20 specific rules, including mask wearing, police said.
"People who attended the pageant and did not wear masks also (breached) the emergency decree and diseases control laws," Piya said.
Organizers and participants in the province-level pageant were being investigated and could face possible criminal charges, the force added.
Photos on the event's Facebook page show finalists in gowns and sashes, not wearing masks and not socially distancing.
Comment has been sought from pageant organisers.
Late last week, the Thai government announced a curfew across Bangkok and nine other hotspot provinces, which comes into effect on Monday, barring people from venturing out between 9 pm and 4 am.
Thailand has registered a total of 336,371 cases and 2,711 fatalities. Most of the infections have occurred since April.
The country is fast running out of hospital beds and the Thai government is facing heat over a slow vaccine roll-out and limited testing.
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Water treatment is probably the most useful and effective methods for dealing with equipment issues including scaling and equipment fouling. Cool crystal clear water is the life force that establishes the actual smooth running of pieces of equipment. Water when contaminated with dirt and other contaminants can easily damage the machine resulting in corrosion of equipment, raise the demand of flow rate, reduced thermal capacity and block smooth operation. The standard of the products currently being made also can get affected by this. In such a case, installing an industrial water filter becomes vital.
A good commercial water filter is actually of critical significance as each and every industry possesses its very own specific as well as individual water treatment needs. The cardinal principle in the direction of picking a highly effective water filter is always to design and style your system so that it has a minimum of 10% additional filtering makecarbonatedwater.com capability. Whilst installing an industrial water filter it is best to take the help of the manufacturer in designing the device. The companies sometimes even perform water tests in order to determine the size of the filter best suited to your requirements.
Amongst the most common industrial water filter would be the Automatic Screen Filter. You can easily set up, is actually very low maintenance with fast, higher efficiency flush and reduced flush water volume. Its biggest benefit is that it can also be set up in new and also existing systems. The fully automatic cycle will not disrupt the system flow in the flush cycle.
Gravity Coanda Effect Screen filters are very easy to install. These are an affordable option and servicing is easy. However, they might require frequent routine cleaning along with a large footprint and have modest effectiveness. They can't be used above 200 microns or even in pressure systems.
Centrifugal Filters appear at a low cost but tend to be flow sensitive. Additionally, they can't filter algae or even particles under approximately 1. 1specific gravity. Nevertheless, their effectiveness is higher and they can easily run continually or in batches.
Tangential Screen Filters are once again low cost and can possibly be adapted towards automated operations. Its main disadvantage is its low efficiency flush, regular screen removal as well as labor intensive pressure wash washing.
Before you decide to make a filtration system selection, it is important that you perform your own ground work to see to the numerous costs involved. This may vary from equipment as well as installing expense, working cost, maintenance cost, wastewater replacement to the precise level of filtration needed.


Hotel Stay at Four Seasons Hotel, Tianjin.
I recently visited The Four Seasons Hotel in TIanjin to try their Taste of Artistry Culinary journey. It was only appropriate that I should spend the night.
The hotel is very conveniently located. Arriving by subway, after my 34 minute bullet train ride from Beijing, it was a mere two minute walk once I had left the station. Walking in to the hotel, I was immediately intoxicated by Chinese culture. Bamboo is a typical piece of Chinese iconography as it represents so many aspects of Chinese life, whether it is its symbol of strength and ruggedness or aesthetic appeal in Chinese paintings and it forms an essential part of the hotel lobby. However, it is the finishing that made an impression on me. Steel bamboo and water lillies, the latter another recognizable cultural elements in China, dominate the lobby.
The Taste of Artistry - a Four Seasons concept at Four Seasons Hotel, Tianjin.


I'm working on the Mug Rug Swap, the Doll Quilt Swap, and a few last LATE Christmas gifts!
Right now I am playing with half square triangles and I make 45 pinwheel blocks last night. This morning I lay in bed pondering different ways to set them.
Lovely, Lollipop, It's a Hoot, Giddy, Fresh Flowers, Hoopla, Max & Whiskers...how can I choose a favorite? Impossible! Ok, I'll pick Makin' New Friends!
I think my favorite bundle is Chrysalis by Sanae. I love those colors!
Shop Newsletter signup - check!
I am working on the Postage stamp quilt a long with PS I quilt!!
Love the fresh flowers fat quarter bundle!! Had daisies as my wedding bouquet. Will defineatly be making something with Fresh flowers!!
I am working on a quilt with Castle Peeps for a friend that is expecting a baby a the end of this month.
No project I am working on right now.
I follow Green Fairy Quilts already. Love her!
I just signed up for her shop newsletter.
I am already a follower on Judi's Blog. Love her quilting, it is stunning!
I'm a follower at Green Fairy!
I now follow her blog as Heather M.
I like the Oasis or the Bliss FQ bundles the best.
What a fantastic blog. I'm a follower now. Gorgeous quilting, I'm in awe!
If I can favorite a bundle that isn't out yet, then it's Sherbet Pips. I grow weak in the knees thinking about getting my hands on some Pips. Otherwise, I love the colors in Hoopla and Giddy and Dilly Dally. All gorgeous.
Ma favorite Fat Quarter Bundles is Origins bye Moda !
Hi, I'm finishing 2 table runners from the great,Be Mine Blog Tour. It nwas great I really enjoyed it.Thanks for the chance:) I don't know if I'm set to no-reply, so my e-mail is tpott@optonline.net Thanks again!!!
Entry #1: I am working on 3 projects right now - a Pay It Forward for Facebook, January blocks for the Block Lotto quilt, and a comfort quilt for a co-worker's middle school age daughter who suffered a pretty serious injury to her foot in December that required surgery and several months of recovery.
Entry #2 - I've signed up to be a follower on Green Fairy Quilts blog.
OK did steps one to five. My current project is binding a hexagonal block quilt. I love Chrysalis by Sanae. Keeping my fingers crossed.
I'm starting a Dresden Plate quilt for my wedding next year!
Entry #3: My favorite fat quarter bundle is the Max & Whiskers line. It's really cute fabric!
I'm already a follower at Green Fairy Quilts!
Entry #4: I've signed up for the newsletter!
My favorite bundle is between the Bliss flannels and Fresh Flowers.
I just signed up for your newsletter. I'm so glad I found your website, so much to see!
Entry #5 - I've blogged about the giveaway!
I already follow Green Fairy quilts blog!
My favorite bundle at the moment is Hoopla - a lot of great fabrics in it, especially the Ombre style dots!
I receive the GF newsletter - great selection and deals!
My favorite bundle is Max and Whiskers, too cute!
I get the newsletter already too!
I am working on some cushions to finish! Great give away!
I'm piecing a quilt for a lady with cancer right now - I hope to finish the top today!
I think today my favorite fat quarter bundle is Chrysalis - those oranges and blues are really speaking to me!
I've been a follower of Green Fairy Quilts for quite a while now - I love looking at her quilting!
I am already a follower of the Green Fairy Quilts blog!
And I've been getting their newsletter for a while, too!
I am a Green Fairy Blog Follower already!
I am working on a bunch of flickr swaps and a halloween quilt that has been in my UFO pile for nearly a year! Yay for finishing UFOs! Thanks for the fun contest!
I just started the 5$ block of the month with my local shop. I am working on a basket block!!
And I did sign up for the newsletter! Thanks again!
and I now follow Green Fairy Quilts!
I am working on wonky letters and valentines mini quilts.
I just finished a quilt and will be starting on a quilt for our quilt guild's challenge!
I like the Holly Taylor Classic collection- I have been looking for fabric for my littel boys quilt and this would grreat!
I'm working on a camping quilt for us to take out this spring!
My favorite of the fat quarter bundles is probably Bliss!
I became a follower of Green Fairy!!
I would love to be able to pick up a FQ bundle of Lily and Will or Oasis right now! Those are just gorgeous and I am in the mood for something beautiful, not funky!
I am working on a quilt on a stick right now for my guild. Really not a fan of it, but have plans to start some other quilts soon!
I signed up to get her newsletter, as well!
I made sure your giveaway was poste on my FB!!
Right now I've got two projects on the go. We're ditching the paper wrapping paper so I'm sewing a variety of sizes and styles of gift bags.
And the second project I started two days ago when I read an appeal for quilt blocks for making quilts to be given to the victims of the terrible flooding in Australia. The lady organizing it is asking for quilt-as-you-go blocks. And I have to say these are so much fun and it's using up lots of strips and bits and pieces leftover from other projects.
Love that shop. Am having quite the addiction with precuts lately.
Am working currently on a moda bake shop recipe with charlevoix !!!!
I am working on a small quilt to giveaway as part of the diaper raffle at my baby shower in February!
I'm working on a fun quilt from "Layer Cake, Jelly Roll and Charm Quilts", called Jitterbug. I'm using some fun Mary Engelbreit fabrics. Just wanted to do something easy and bright to lift the winter blahs.
Right now, I have about three projects in various stages of non-completion, but my favorite and #1 to finish is the "Salt, Pepper and a Dash of Spice." It is in black & white fabrics with a splash of red. Love it!
PRESENT PROJECT IS A CHRISTMAS TABLE TOPPER-RED-CREAM-OLIVE-ALMOST DONE!
I'm a follower of Green Fairy, it's a cute blog! I only happened to see it a couple of days ago for the first time.
New follower here - wow! She is so amazing! How DOES she do it all?
FAVORITE FQB IS 'DILLY DALLY'!
THANKS FOR SHARING SUCH A NEAT GIVEAWAY!
I am a Green Fairy Quilts follower! I love her quilting projects. I'm always SO impressed!
And I signed up for Green Fairy's newsletter today. Looks like she's gonna have tons of new traffic, good!!!
I am working on the Amy Butler Sunshine Quilt using left over daisy chain, midwest modern, and some new soul blossoms fabric.
Dilly Dally is definitely my favorite! How could I resist my FAVORITE bright colors - Hot pink, Lime Green, Turquoise & Blue???!!!
I receive Judi's newsletter and it cost me money (*wink, wink*)!! She has some great sales on her pre-cuts and I just couldn't resist last week!!
I am trying to create some linen personalized bib and burp sets for some friends who just had babies.
I am working on a quilt for my husband. That is as soon as I clean the craft room so that I can get to my sewing machine again.
I love Green Fairy quilts and have been a follower for quite some time! Her quilting is amazing and I check quite frequently hoping that she has posted pictures of her latest finished quilt!
I am following Green Fairy Quilts blog via google friends.
Bliss Flannel Bundle is my favorite....I LOVE IT!
I love Green Fairy and I get their newsletter!
I am currently working on several projects: a fallish tablerunner for my grandma, a st. patrick's day tablerunner for me, and the birdie stitches BOM quilt and pillow set.
I'm working on a scrap quilt using 2 1/2" squares. The fabric looks wonderful.
Right now I am working to finish a Santa Faces quilt that I started several years ago. I finished piecing it right before Thanksgiving but didn't get it quilted. The pattern is from a book by Nancy Halvorsen.
I just visited Judi's blog and was blown away by her quilting talent.
Beautiful bundles - how to pick one as a favorite??
Dilly Dally and Fresh Flowers are gorgeous, but so are Clermont Farms and Kansas Troubles! Which one, which one?
I guess I'll have to say . . . er, well, um . . . can I cheat and say any of the above???
I am currently working on making Potato bags and a silver and red zig zag quilt for my 2nd daughter.
I am working on finishing all my quilts that are going in the upcoming local show--hanging sleeves and labels, mostly!
I also signed up for her email list!
I am starting back at my quilt class tonight. I am a beginner...have only made one quilt and I believe I will be starting on a Friendship Star Pattern tonight. Would love to win this bundle!!
Oh, there are lots to choose from, but my favorite fat quarter packs are bliss and it's a hoot.
I am now a follower of the Green Fairy Quilts blog.
I posted it on my facebook page!
I like the "Max and Whiskers" bundle! How adorable!
My favorite bundle is Giddy by Moda. I saw the fabric in a local quilt shop over the weekend and fell in love with it!
I have several projects going on :) as usual. But I have a quilt going for my daughter's 14th bday in April!
#1 I just finished a Three Little Pigs quilt top for the newest baby Harmon. Waiting to see if boy or girl before choosing backing.
WV: xestic: how I'll feel if I win this FQ bundle.
I got all xestic when I heard that I'd one!
It is so hard to pick my favorite bundle. It is a tossup between "Dilly Dally", Remembrance", and "Giddy".
I'm working on FMQing a great pink and orange quilt - now that I have a new spool of thread I should be able to finish it this week - yay! Thank you for the giveaway!
Favorite bundles are Max and Whiskers and Origins by Basic Grey soooo CUTE!
Im working on this months block for the Let's Bee together and a present for my sisters birthday.
I do subscribe to the shops' newsletter.
I love the Max & Whiskers FQ bundle! Great selection!
#2 I tweeted about the giveaway.
WV: smelethe: Old spelling for "smell."
I think I smelethe dirty feet.
im working on a swap for our modern quilt guild Feb meeting !
I have subscribed to the blog - love having a new crafty blog to follow!
Its a Hoot, Punctuatin, and Haunted Mansion and it would probably be easier to just list the ones I dont like. LOL!
Right now I am working on cutting out 2 1/2 inch strips for PS I quilt's Postage stamp quilt along.
I'm using up stash in pinks and oranges.
and I am working on a wedding quilt for my nephew right now. It is king sized and will be hand quilted, so I hope I manage to get it done in time!
Oooo - that Dilly Dally is so FUN! I am between projects right now - technically my current 'project' is cleaning up and organizing the craft room! My next sewing project will be a Charming Stars quilt (from the Moda Bake Shop).
I already follow the Green Fairy blog on my Google Reader.
My favorite FQ pack in that store right now is the Bliss Flannel - AND i already bought it from there! It is waiting patiently for a baby quilt project later this year.
i am a follower of the wonderful Green Fairy blog !
#3 I just signed up for your newsletter!
WV: rehealis - ripping out stitches for the second time on the same seam because you sewed it the wrong way. Twice.
This needs to be rehealised because I made the same dumb mistake twice.
I get the Green Fairy newsletter in my email!
I have to pick just one fat quarter bundle?? That's hard.
I love Giddy. Love it.
One of many is our quilter bees bom from 2010. I'm adding the borders today. Lovin' the fat quarters.
ANNNNDDd....I just signed up for the newsletter!
Beautiful bundle! One of the projects I am working on is a queen size quilt for the guest bedroom...Meadow Sweet 2 fabric.
#4 My favorite bundle is Hoopla by Moda, but love the Dilly Dally, too!
Tomorrow, I may valect to start a new sewing project.
the newsletter is on the way !
I'm already a Green Fairy Quilts Follower!
#5 I follow the blog!
And I get her newsletter via email!
Delightful blog...so glad you showed this to us! I love Kate Spain's Central Park bundle!
Just one thing I'm working on? LOL. The most recent is Simple City by Miss Rosie, and a quilt in Pure for my husband.
The FQ pack favorite is tough - I'd say Origins by Basic Grey.
I'm working on some little baby blankets for a baby shower gift.
Right now I have no projects on the go! I'm waiting for my copy of Camille's book so I can get started on something new!