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FoxNews says it's a. . .
"Simply fabulous natural anti-aging skin care recipe ebook. . ."
"Love The Way You Look Again!"
The Naturally Skinsational Recipe eBook Will Show You How.
Is there a person on the face of the earth that doesn't want to get rid of their wrinkles, age spots and sagging skin?
The Naturally Skinsational eBook shares the simple secrets that will teach you how to use the potent rejuvenating properties of common all natural ingredients to effectively rejuvenate your skin.
Well, do you know that these miraculous rejuvenating neutraceuticals are simply natural substances that have powerful anti-aging properties?
You can put the power of Mother Nature to work on your aging skin symptoms for just pennies.
Without question, it is 100% certain you will get much better results using the simple natural facial secrets revealed in this first of a kind anti-aging skin care recipe ebook than by using that fancy wrinkle cream that has been sitting around for months in that upscale department store.
Because the potency of natural ingredients decreases very rapidly even when chemical additives and stabilizers are used to prolong the shelf life.
Start treating those wrinkles, age spots and sagging skin for just a few cents a day with astonishingly simple and effective natural recipes that work amazingly well.
I'm Sue Dolan, the author of Naturally Skinsational.
I'm so excited to share the simple secrets of using the power of nature to help you effectively treat all your aging skin concerns.
People constantly ask me why is making your own natural skin care treatments so beneficial?
At 54 years young, I love the way natural anti-aging skin care recipes promotes beautiful, healthier, younger looking skin.
You can make effective, all natural rejuvenating treatments yourself for. . .
Using fresh, natural ingredients in skin care recipes is a quick and easy way to achieve wonderful results.
And you might not realize it, but you already have natural ingredients with powerful anti-aging properties waiting for you right on the shelves of your refrigerator and kitchen cabinets or in the vase of flowers on your dining table and even in the little fresh herb garden you started on your window sill.
You can easily put the rejuvenating power of these natural ingredients to work on treating your aging skin concerns right away.
Your skin will be amazingly younger, healthier and more vibrant!
The healing and nourishing properties of nature will bring your skin alive again with a vibrant and ageless look that most commercial products just can't hope achieve.
Give it a try and see for yourself!
Sue Dolan, M.Ed., is a researcher and instructor on anti-aging skin care and facial rejuvenation for the Skin Care Resource Center and an expert author on aging skin concerns.
Sue has been featured in Real Simple Magazine along with her anti-aging skin care strategies for "Inspiring Beauty".
"Inspiring Beauty" in. . .
Naturally Skinsational will teach you how. . .
"...provides consumers with an effective, reasonably-priced and natural alternative to treat the needs of aging skin in contrast to the often expensive retail products with commercial grade ingredients available on store shelves."
The Naturally Skinsational recipe ebook provides the perfect answer for all your aging skin care needs. . .
Gives your aging skin effective anti-aging treatments and defense against damage using the science of herbal lore to proactively address the symptoms of aging skin including fine lines, wrinkles, age spots and sagging skin.
Provides your skin with all-natural rejuvenating properties of herbs that best combats degeneration by stimulating healing, collagen production, and offer powerful antioxidant protection against further signs of aging, skin damage and deterioration.
Nourishes your skin with powerful natural antioxidants and nutrients that stimulate cell regeneration.
Saves you ridiculous amounts of money on store bought skin treatments.
Uses common ingredients found right in your own kitchen.
Quick and easy skin care recipes that use ingredients with proven natural anti-aging attributes.
Gives you piece of mind that your skin treatments are made with quality fresh ingredients.
Provides a deep sense of satisfaction that your homemade skin care products have maximized the potency of natural ingredients.
Effectively treats a wide range of aging skin care concerns.
Provides enjoyable, fun and creative home spa quality facial treatments.
You don't even need any special skills or know how to cook.
Get Naturally Skinsational today. . .
No doubt after examining the endless selection of skin products on store shelves you wonder if the one you choose will actually work at all to rejuvenate your skin.
You wonder if perhaps selecting a super antioxidant vitamin C infused cream would be the best one suited for your skin type.
How about squeezing an orange, grapefruit, lemon or lime instead?
After all they are fresh, rich in vitamin C, have powerful antioxidants that not only repair but protect the skin. All at the peak of their potency.
Well, it's quite true that vitamin C provides the skin with valuable antioxidants that not only help repair but to protect the skin from future damage. BUT, if the vitamin C is not at the peak of its potency it unfortunately will have little or no effect.
You see, vitamin C has a very short shelf life and rapidly loses its potency.
This book is an absolute treasure!
Sue Dolan's knowledge of ingredients to use for rejuvenating the skin is impressive and her recipes for everything from facial masks to moisturizers to facial cleansers with ingredients readily available to anyone is fascinating.
The recipe ebook is chock full of recipes and natural skin care tips. In addition, the book is charming and delightful to read and occasionally whimsical. A recipe for a facial mask for a special occasion, in this particular case Halloween, is entitled "Witches Brew," and, among other things, calls for "10 of your best dragon tears, (fresh cranberries can be substituted if necessary"!) LOL. . .
I find the recipes fun and easy to make and, more importantly, they save a great deal of money: instead of buying expensive products, I make them myself!
I'm in love with this natural anti-aging skin care recipe ebook!
Receive this free bonus Natural Skin Care eGuide with your purchase.
The Natural Skin Care eGuide is scheduled for its own release very soon so unfortunately it will be available for a limited time only!
The eGuide is a stand-alone guide that perfectly complements the Naturally Skinsational ~ Rejuvenating Skin Care Recipes eBook by focusing on helping those new to natural skin care learn the basics of beginning their own routine. . .
You'll quickly discover. . .
That you have all the solutions for all your aging skin concerns right at your finger tips. . .
Fresh organic ingredients, at the height of their potency, are ready and waiting for you to mix into a fabulous rejuvenating treatment right in your very own kitchen.
The Naturally Skinsational Recipe eBook combines these common ingredients into quick, simple to use anti-aging skin care natural recipes that produce great results for getting your skin to look younger and healthier.
There are countless common herbs, flowers, fruits and other natural ingredients full of potent vitamins, minerals and nutrients with powerful rejuvenating properties that benefit and successfully treat aging skin symptoms.
You'll be mixing up your own quick and easy natural anti-aging skin care treatments in no time, using natural ingredients you already have in your refrigerator and kitchen cupboards. . .
And saving a ton of money in the process!
Are you ready to look absolutely Skinsational?
When you take a look at some of the testimonials, you will find that the Naturally Skinsational Recipe ebook provides a wonderful and effective alternative to commercial facial rejuvenation products for both women and men.
In fact, I am so confident that you will love the effects of these natural recipes so much that I am inviting you try them out for yourself absolutely free.
you don't have to buy it!
Though, I know that you once you try the natural recipes you will be totally thrilled with your gorgeous, younger, skinsational appearance.
And you'll enjoy the satisfaction of successfully making your own natural recipes for effective anti-aging skin care treatments for just pennies a day.
For younger looking skin ~ naturally. . .
It has the perfect natural recipes for successful and effective skin rejuvenation.
If you're not sure about how to get started on your own natural skin care regime, I'd like to invite you to start you off with a FREE natural skin care e-course. It's like having your own personal skin care consultant giving you step-by-step lessons!
After you sign-up, you will receive six weekly instructional emails to help get you started on the basics.
Save yourself a ridiculous amount of money!
A huge bonus of making your own natural recipes and homemade facial rejuvenation treatments is the tremendous savings.
And Take a Look at These Lovely Recipe Cards. . .
Order your copy of the Naturally Skinsational recipe ebook today and receive this special gift designed exclusively for you ~ FREE!
This Recipe Card Starter Collection has twelve beautiful downloadable 4X6 recipe cards featuring even more all natural anti-aging skin care recipes.
It's a great added benefit that saves you even more money because you can use these recipe cards as special gifts!
Simply create a beautiful, elegant gift basket with the ingredients for your favorite facial recipe, use a recipe card as your gift tag, finish it with a lovely bow and Viola! You have just created the perfect gift for any occasion.
Using a small mixing bowl instead of a basket to present the ingredients for the facial treatment is a great alternative.
It's such a beautiful and special thoughtful gift yet only costs you just a few minutes of your time.
Beginning with natural skin care scrub recipes, toners, and facial steams to peels, wraps, under eye treatments and moisturizers there is simply no other anti-aging skin care recipe book that comprehensively addresses the rejuvenating needs of all skin types and aging skin care issues like "Naturally Skinsational" does.
Click the button to get Naturally Skinsational today. . .
Did you happen to notice the Chapter dedicated to Special Occasion recipes? What kind of natural recipes are those you might be wondering. . .
The Special Occasion skin care recipes are just another way to have fun rejuvenating your skin!
Think Spa Party or imagine yourself on Valentines Day with a bottle of champagne and a luxurious bath ready to be filled with bubbles surrounded by candle light.
Now all you need to do is prepare the "Love Scrub" or the "Passion Peel" recipe to start off your intimate spa night with your beloved. It will give your romantic evening a very special thoughtful touch and a night to remember!
And who wouldn't love the "Sparkling Irish Eyes", the "Pumpkin Patch", the "Birthday Bee Balm" and "Acne Independence Day" natural recipes?
Of course, you could invite the girls over for a very unique Halloween Spa Party and trick or treat them to a "Monster Mash Facial Mask" or a "Ghostly Vapors Facial Steam".
There is a special skin care recipe for just about anyone and any occasion!
Why not whip up some skinsational magic for your skin and for your friends?
Who would have thought that the key to youthful, ageless skin is waiting for you right in your fruit bowl?
You just gotta try it. . .
You'll fall in love with it.
I thought you might. . .
But if you don't happen to have milk then reach for the cream, yogurt, sour cream or buttermilk. They are excellent substitutes and they are all rich in lactic acid.
Many dairy products contain lactic acid which are gentle exfoliants with moisturizing properties. The perfect choice for sensitive and allergic skin types.
Combined with a few other natural anti-aging ingredients the skin will respond with that glowing radiance you'd normally see after a professional spa facial.
"Without question it's the most unique and exceptional natural anti-aging skin care recipe ebook on the market. . .
effectively address the symptoms of aging skin."
Holistic Day Spa says, "Naturally Skinsational is truly an exciting and totally unique natural skin care recipe ebook. . . We love it!"
You will quickly learn how to take advantage of the amazingly powerful rejuvenating properties of all natural, organic ingredients.
You will learn which herbs and natural ingredients have the best attributes to effectively treat your aging skin concerns.
You will be whipping up your own rejuvenating skin care treatments in just a few minutes and seeing wonderful results as your skin becomes younger looking, healthier, and more vibrant with each natural recipe.
The Naturally Skinsational recipe ebook will teach you how to best treat those fine lines, wrinkles, age spots, dark under eye circles, and firm sagging skin all with the natural ingredients that are waiting for you right in your very own refrigerator and cupboards.
You will save an astonishing amount of money on store bought moisturizers, toners, scrubs, facial spa treatments, and skin care products.
Given the fact that over 80% of current medications are derived from the healing properties of natural ingredients; it only makes sense to take advantage of the power of nature with natural recipes to help improve your aging skin.
Naturally Skinsational is a recipe ebook written for those who are interested in natural organic products and would like to learn, in the simplest and easiest way possible, how to make their own rejuvenating skin care treatments.
It isn't any big secret that the most popular cosmetic companies use natural ingredients in many of their formulations for anti-aging skin treatments. These companies take advantage of a wide range of natural ingredients such as rose petals.
You will learn how the high concentration of vitamin C, nutrients and skin softening properties of rose petals will improve your skin tone and address many your aging skin issues when you begin making your own natural recipes and skin treatments.
But, of course, your natural skin care treatments will much more effective because you are making the natural recipes with the freshest of ingredients at their height of potency while products that are purchased have been sitting on the store shelves for goodness knows how long!
What makes this recipe ebook very different from any other skin care recipe ebook?
"Each and every natural skin care recipe in this unique book is formulated using only those natural ingredients that have the most potent anti-aging attributes that work effectively to restore skin health, rejuvenate and treat aging skin symptoms ."
Just think about it for a moment. . .
Do you prefer natural organic products over those with chemicals, additives, and preservatives?
Are you interested in getting rid of age spots and wrinkles, firming sagging skin and looking years younger just by using natural ingredients found right in your very own kitchen?
Are you interested in saving hundreds of dollars every year?
Are you interested in effectively treating those puffy, dark under eye circles?
Are you interested in caring for your skin with high quality, natural organic ingredients that are best suited not only for your skin type but also will effectively treat a wide range of your aging skin concerns?
is just perfect for you!
And It's Such a Skinsational Deal!
Maybe you are wondering how will you know which natural ingredients actually WORK?
The natural recipes ebook includes an extensive natural skin care ingredient glossary which summarizes the properties and natural anti-aging attributes of each ingredient so that you can easily customize any recipe for your own aging skin concerns.
Whether your skin concerns are age spots, wrinkles, dryness, fine lines, sagging, toning or any combination of aging skin concerns; there are ingredients and natural recipes that will help treat your skin in an effective, natural way.
This wonderful new 130 page recipe ebook "Naturally Skinsational ~ Rejuvenating Skin Care Recipes" is jammed packed with anti-aging skin care recipes that effectively treat, prevent and help to reverse the signs of aging while making your skin look more healthy and vibrant than ever.
It provides an amazing collection of over 150 skin rejuvenating natural recipes that are not only simple but quick and easy to make.
Every featured anti-aging natural skin care recipe is made with common ingredients right from your own kitchen.
PLUS TWO MORE VERY SPECIAL FREEBIES. . .
When you order today you also receive the Starter Collection of twelve downloadable 4X6 Recipe Cards FREE!
AND, on the download page you are invited to sign-up for the FREE e-course on starting your natural skin care routine.
The Naturally Skinsational recipe ebook is just the ticket to complete a holistic approach to caring for yourself and your aging skin.
Imagine knowing exactly which natural ingredients work best to effectively address aging skin issues!
For example, natural herbs with astringent properties such as rosemary and dandelions are simply terrific for treating oily and acne prone skin. You will learn which herbs and combinations work best for your skin type and your skin's particular needs.
Not to mention that you will be saving hundreds of dollars every year just by making your own natural recipes and skin treatments that really work.
Younger looking skin truly is possible. . .
This recipe ebook teaches you how!
Have you happened to priced a spa facial treatment lately?
They begin at $100 and then the price skyrockets if you add on anything else such as a facial steam or peel.
You can easily make your own spa treatments using ingredients that are just as effective, if not more so, for under $1 right in your own home by doing-it-yourself.
You are going to look Naturally Skinsational!
"Why ever do people spend $20, $30, $40 or even upwards of hundreds of dollars on a small vial of vitamin C when they have a 15 cent orange right in the fruit bowl on their kitchen counter?
That orange is far more potent than the special opaque bottle that is supposed to preserve the "integrity" of that $100 plus vial of vitamin C!
P.S. I just love all the natural recipes by the way. . .
My favorite recipe so far is the "May Day Moisturizer", it is so simple to make but so wonderfully creamy and makes my skin feel delightful!"
The entire recipe ebook not only includes natural recipes galore but is also liberally sprinkled with all types of exciting "Skinsational Natural Skin Care Tips" too!
For example, did you know that rose petals are used commercially by the cosmetic industry as a skin softening agent in high end skin care products?
Well, why not can give yourself a boutique of beautiful roses to enjoy then use the petals to whip up a rejuvenating facial recipe.
How high end is that?
"What a fun, simple and straight-forward skin care recipe ebook! I love that none of the recipes are complicated or require some obscure ingredient.
I am really enjoying making my own spa quality skin treatments for myself.
Other natural recipe books only have a handful of recipes, this one is jammed pack with one recipe right after the other... more than 150!
It is a great recipe ebook for natural recipes for any skin type at any age! (It doesn't hurt to start taking care of your skin the right and natural way early on and reap the rewards later in life!)"
"And by the way, my skin looks just marvelous!"
There really aren't any hidden secrets or mysteries with the rejuvenating properties of natural ingredients used in skin care recipes.... just good old fashioned herbal lore that has proven to be effective for centuries formulated into homemade natural anti-aging skin care treatments!
It just doesn't get any better than that!
Using a mixer, whip the egg white until stiff peaks form then continue to whip while gradually sprinkling in the unflavored gelatin.
Finely mince the peppermint leaves, mash 1/2 of the grapefruit or passion fruit completely and add both ingredients gradually to the egg whites, whipping until thoroughly combined.
Apply to warm, freshly washed facial skin for 20 minutes. Rinse well with warm water.
Passion fruit is considered to be among one of the most powerful of the fruit acids with strong antioxidant, exfoliant, and antibacterial properties to heal and protect the skin.
Now it's your turn to enjoy whipping up your own rejuvenating skin care treatments to nourish your skin with all natural anti-aging treatments for gorgeous, younger, healthier looking skin.
"This is all new to me but I love the natural, organic lifestyle and this recipe ebook gives me an opportunity to extend my natural focus to my skin as well.
My skin just loves the pampering I've been giving it with these natural recipes.
My skin is more vibrant and healthy looking than it has been in years. With 50ish menopausal skin, battling dryness has been challenging but I've found that several of the moisturizing treatments have made an amazing difference.
What I have found extremely interesting are all the Skinsational Tips that are included in the recipe ebook.
Who knew or would have guessed that common herbs have such a long legacy of medicinal properties.
Naturally Skinsational is fabulous, absolutely fabulous!"
So how will you know which natural ingredients work the best?
The recipe ebook includes an extensive natural skin care ingredient glossary which summarizes the properties and natural attributes of each ingredient so that you can easily customize any recipe for your own aging skin concerns.
Whether your skin concerns are age spots, wrinkles, dryness, fine lines, sagging, toning or any combination of aging skin concerns; there are ingredients and recipes that will help treat your skin in an effective, natural way.
healthier your skin looks and feels, I guarantee it.
recipe ebook so I offer you a full 8 week guarantee!
money you've saved we'll give you a full 100% refund.
8 weeks for a full refund.
You just can't lose on a deal like this!
The Naturally Skinsational recipe ebook is a 130 page, approximately 1.03MB PDF file which is quick and easy to download to your computer.
ClickBank is used as a secure authorized billing agent for your safety. Your order is placed with ClickBank who validates your credit card, PayPal, or echeck.
Upon successful payment you will be returned to a special page on this site to download the PDF file of your Natural Recipe eBook to save to your computer.
Now you are all ready to. . .
Download now for a younger more vibrant Naturally Skinsational appearance. . .
The Natural Skin Care Recipe Cards. . . FREE!
The "How to Start Your Own Natural Skin Care Routine" eGuide- FREE!
You are just going to love making your own natural skin care treatments.
For the very best reason of all. . . natural skin care WORKS Great!
You will just love how much younger and beautiful your will skin look. Wishing you a lifetime of healthy, beautiful and youthful skin, naturally. Enjoy!
P.S. It really doesn't get any better than making your own rejuvenating skin care products.
I know that you will truly enjoy all the skinsational tips, learning how to best treat all the symptoms of aging skin with natural ingredients and making the easy yet effective rejuvenating natural recipes that promote healthier, younger looking skin. . .
All simply by making your own homemade anti-aging skin care treatments with ingredients that you already have right in your refrigerator and kitchen cabinets.
I wanted to add just one more unsolicited testimonial that I think you might like to read: Here's Talia's opinion of the Naturally Skinsational Recipe eBook. . .
What a Skinsational Recipe eBook! I work at an upscale holistic spa which uses only natural, certified organic ingredients for our treatments.
We know that most people can't get fresh coconut milk flown to them overnight so it is at the peak of freshness or special varieties of seaweed imported from around the world or even the special, dark rich cocoa powder that is so wonderfully nourishing for the skin but we do love that the Naturally Skinsational recipe ebook focuses on the rejuvenating properties of common and easy to get ingredients.
For those clients who want to continue an all natural anti-aging skin care regimen after their visit to our spa, we are happy to recommend such a well researched and well written book for them to learn how to prepare their own natural recipes for their own homemade natural skin care products.
We all wholeheartedly agree. . .
Naturally Skinsational is truly a skinsation!
P.S.S. Your skin deserves to be Naturally Skinsational too!
Be sure to order your copy today. . .
Your going to just LOVE it!
"The Naturally Skinsational ~ Rejuvenating Skin Care Recipe eBook Shows You How To Harness The Power Of Nature For Beautiful, Younger Looking Skin Simply By Using Common Ingredients Already In Your Refrigerator and Kitchen Cupboards. . ."
"Enjoy The Risk Free Satisfaction Of A Gorgeous, More Youthful, Ageless Appearance That Saves You Both Time and Money."
The Naturally Skinsational ~ Rejuvenating Skin Care Recipe eBook is written by Sue Dolan, the researcher and instructor for The Skin Care Resource Center's anti-aging skin care and facial rejuvenation website.
Sue is nationally recognized for her non-invasive, educational approach to the treatment of aging skin symptoms. She has been featured along with her anti-aging skin care strategies in Real Simple Magazine and on the FOXNEWS Morning Show.
As Featured on the FOXNEWS Morning Show and in. . .


text:
The Power of the Pen: Human Rights Ombudsmen and Personal Integrity Violations in Latin America, 1982-2006.
Erika Moreno, Richard C. Witmer
Recent scholarship has focused on the effects of institutional design and constitutional provisions on human rights protections. Democratic institutions, like other manifestations of credible commitment to human rights, seem to play a role in human rights provisions across the world. Yet, there is still a great deal that we do not know about domestic institutions like the human rights ombudsman, an institution created specifically to protect human rights, on human rights provisions. We conduct an examination of the effects of the human rights ombudsman (which may go by the name Defensor del Pueblo, Procurador de Derechos Humanos, or Comisionado Nacional de Derechos Humanos), on personal integrity violations across Latin America, 1982–2006. We find evidence that this understudied institution had significant and positive impacts on reducing such violations.
Human Rights Review
Moreno, E., & Witmer, R. C. (2016). The Power of the Pen: Human Rights Ombudsmen and Personal Integrity Violations in Latin America, 1982-2006. Human Rights Review, 17(2), 143-164. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12142-015-0391-1
The Power of the Pen : Human Rights Ombudsmen and Personal Integrity Violations in Latin America, 1982-2006. / Moreno, Erika; Witmer, Richard C.
In: Human Rights Review, Vol. 17, No. 2, 01.06.2016, p. 143-164.
Moreno, E & Witmer, RC 2016, 'The Power of the Pen: Human Rights Ombudsmen and Personal Integrity Violations in Latin America, 1982-2006.', Human Rights Review, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 143-164. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12142-015-0391-1
Moreno E, Witmer RC. The Power of the Pen: Human Rights Ombudsmen and Personal Integrity Violations in Latin America, 1982-2006. Human Rights Review. 2016 Jun 1;17(2):143-164. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12142-015-0391-1
Moreno, Erika ; Witmer, Richard C. / The Power of the Pen : Human Rights Ombudsmen and Personal Integrity Violations in Latin America, 1982-2006. In: Human Rights Review. 2016 ; Vol. 17, No. 2. pp. 143-164.
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title = "The Power of the Pen: Human Rights Ombudsmen and Personal Integrity Violations in Latin America, 1982-2006.",
abstract = "Recent scholarship has focused on the effects of institutional design and constitutional provisions on human rights protections. Democratic institutions, like other manifestations of credible commitment to human rights, seem to play a role in human rights provisions across the world. Yet, there is still a great deal that we do not know about domestic institutions like the human rights ombudsman, an institution created specifically to protect human rights, on human rights provisions. We conduct an examination of the effects of the human rights ombudsman (which may go by the name Defensor del Pueblo, Procurador de Derechos Humanos, or Comisionado Nacional de Derechos Humanos), on personal integrity violations across Latin America, 1982–2006. We find evidence that this understudied institution had significant and positive impacts on reducing such violations.",
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Nanao Castle was a castle, which once existed in current Nanao City, Ishikawa Prefecture. The remains of the castle were designated as a historical site by the Japanese government.
It was often regarded as one of Japanese five major hill castles, along with Kasugayama Castle (refer to #622), Gassantoda Castle (refer to #623), Kannon-ji Castle (refer to #624), and Odani Castle.


One of the biggest complaints that local entrepreneurs have with Los Angeles has been a dearth of local sources of venture capital. However, the recent surge in startup activity has attracted a lot more capital into the area, including a significant amount of capital from LA's latest fund: Karlin Ventures (www.karlinvc.com). We sat down with TX Zhuo, who is heading up the firm's venture investments, about the fund and his path here after a recent stint at Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors fund in Palo Alto.
TX Zhuo: Karlin Ventures is an early stage venture fund based in LA. We are going to focus most of our investments in LA. We do mostly seed and Series A, and the occasional series B round, especially if we get into the company in seed or Series A level. We invest anywhere from $100,000 to $1 million per company, and the maximum we'd invest in any company would be $2.5 million. We focus on a lot of sectors, but the geography is more important to us than the industry. Specifically, we look at digital media, healthcare IT, e-commerce, education technology and financial services. We have four investments so far, two of which are public. One is a voice analytics company called Saygent, the other is Wallaby Financial, which is just out of Mucker Labs. We are looking to make ten to twelve new investments per year. We also do follow on rounds for our existing portfolio companies. Hopefully, we'll grow our portfolio to around 50 companies.
How long have you been looking at this market?
TX Zhuo: I started my own business out of college, an e-commerce company. I sold it off for a really modest single digit exit. I then went on to work for McKinsey for a couple of years, then got involved in Eric Schmidt's seed fund, Innovation Endeavors up in Palo Alto. I have been doing seed stage stuff for a while. I also served as CFO for a startup called Lit Motors, which finished second at the recent TechCrunch Disrupt event.
TX Zhuo: I moved down here four months ago. We're a very new fund, but are aggressive and like to hustle. I'm glad to meet everyone. Over the past few months I've been building my network, and we've done about a deal a month so far.
What's the ideal kind of company for you to invest in?
TX Zhuo: I consider us a late seed investor. We definitely do post proof-of-concept, and would prefer post-revenue companies. We don't need for you to be breakeven company, but a business with paying customers is great validation in itself. I tend to invest in seasoned entrepreneurs or those who have the right experience in the particular industry they are in.
Experience is a big thing for you?
TX Zhuo: I think, at the seed level, experience is really important. I think the right team and network are very important, as is traction, validated by customers. It is a great trait if a person has experienced both successes and failures before.
Do you like to lead, and how do you work with others?
TX Zhuo: We try to syndicate and act as friendly allies to the other VCs here. We tend to coinvest, and have looked at a couple of deals even with funds like Founders Fund in the Bay. How we try to differentiate ourselves is we act fast, stay committed to our portfolio companies and work in their best interest.
How does Southern California versus Silicon Valley compare so far?
TX Zhuo: I like the LA community a lot. Among investors, everyone is friendly, and more willing to co-invest. For lack of a better description, people in Silicon Valley have sharper elbows. They're pretty competitive about deals. Valuations here are much more attractive too. I think we're ready to see a whole new wave of startup sucesses come through. As you probably know, most of the accelerators here have only been around for a year but have found amazing talent. For example, MuckerLab, had 100 percent of their companies funded out of their most recent class. The time is ripe for the LA scene to grow with the right seeds in place. What we need to do as investors is support these companies so they don't have to go up north. The other thing I notice is that here in Los Angeles, people do not know of the LA success stories like how they idolize them in Silicon Valley. If you walk down the hallways of UCLA or USC, and ask them for the successful startups here, they can't name anyone. That's something we need to change.
What's the best way to approach you as an entrepreneur?


Michael agrees to help a client rescue his kidnapped sister, but Michael gets more than he bargained for when he realizes the entire case was a ruse set up by an old enemy, Natalie (Season 3 Episode 8). Natalie tells Michael she was doing business with some South American revolutionaries and discovered they were in possession of a chemical weapon. Natalie may be a thief, but she isn't a mass murderer. She wants Michael's help to get the weapon away from the dangerous revolutionaries before they can use it to kill innocent people.
Michael and the team must also track down Justin Walsh, the man in possession of the list that can take down Vaughn and his organization. Michael learns that Walsh is planning on auctioning the list to the highest bidder, and the only way to stop Walsh is for Michael to get in on the auction himself.


Sen. John McCain's decisive "no" vote early Friday marked a major turning point in the GOP's seven-year war to destroy Obamacare. McCain, who had returned to Capitol Hill Tuesday just days after his brain cancer diagnosis and surgery, did so with a "refreshed appreciation for the protocols and customs" of the Senate.
In anticipation of the Senate's "skinny repeal" vote on Friday, McCain remained largely silent, advising reporters to "watch the show," when questioned on his vote. But just before 2am, the Arizona Republican's fateful "no" vote became a stunning blow to the Trump agenda.
The vote, as well as his return Tuesday, was a surprise to most, including the president.
"So great that John McCain is coming back to vote. Brave – American hero! Thank you John," Trump tweeted.
Even though I *love* the dramatic, and public way John McCain gave Trump the middle finger, we still have to give credit to others like Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski, especially after the way Trump tried to bully them, I noticed the bullying didn't work on the Maverick either.
I just saw that a female Senator from Hawaii flew back to DC for the vote, she has Stage 4 liver cancer.
Good to see you my friend, and you're right again, Mazie Hirono, and what a great and moving speech she gave to no avail trying to change the bigoted minds of the other Senators.


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Trump aims to 'even playing field' for faith-based groups seeking grants
Overcome racism that clouds hearts, archbishop urges nation
Much success, more to do in protecting trafficking victims
President Trump sets rules on prayer in public schools
'9 Days for Life' prayer, action campaign set for Jan. 21-29
Mass supports individuals, families suffering through drug addiction
By John Franko • Catholic News Service • Posted February 22, 2018
PITTSBURGH (CNS) — He paused for a moment, then looked out at the congregation in St. Paul Cathedral.
"Hi, my name is Mike and I'm an alcoholic," he said. "Hi Mike," many in the audience responded.
For the next few minutes Mike — known to many as Father Michael Decewicz, pastor of St. Juan Diego Parish in Sharpsburg — delivered a stirring homily in which he described his fight against addiction. Since his "terrifying" experience of expressing it publicly for the first time 13 years ago, he noted, he has witnessed the highs and lows that come with recovery.
He spoke during a Mass of remembrance and healing in Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood. Several hundred joined Pittsburgh Bishop David A. Zubik for the liturgy that prayed for people currently battling drug addiction and remembered those who have died from it.
The Feb. 11 Mass also sought healing for families who have lost a loved one to the epidemic.
"We the church really want to embrace you," the bishop said, noting that the congregation also included those struggling with addiction, those recovering from it, those who have relapsed, are in denial or those who just don't know where to turn.
"You are not alone," he said. "We love you and want to support you as you get better." But he added that they can't make the journey by themselves. They need God's help. As the bishop spoke, some family members put their arms around one another.
In referencing the Gospel of the day, in which Jesus was compassionate toward the leper, Father Decewicz likened an addict to a leper. We're often afraid of them. We ostracize them and we judge them. But just as Jesus met them, not with a sense of condemnation but with love, we must do the same.
"Our mission as a church is to love, not to condemn," he said.
Father Decewicz described addiction as an epidemic that affects all segments of society. It is a disease that can be treated, but not cured. It is why, he noted, addicts are perpetually in recovery, and not recovered. It is something that must be addressed or it will eventually kill.
An addict is "stuck in the mud," he continued. They want to give up, but something inside makes them keep trying. "You can't make it to the top," he said. "That's the addict's world. Stuck in the muck."
But with God's help and the support of others, Father Decewicz noted, they can begin to find their way out of the well of hopeless agony and desperation. The church is challenged to embrace addicts in their brokenness and walk with them on the long journey of recovery. But, he pointed out, those offering support must be prepared to offer it, not in a beautiful setting but "in the muck."
He closed by reciting the Serenity Prayer.
In his remarks at the close of the liturgy, Bishop Zubik said that the emotional impact of the day was evident in the eyes of the people as they came up to receive the Eucharist. Many were filled with tears, and yet they also reflected a sense of hope and consolation.
To Father Decewicz, he said: "It takes an awful lot of courage to open your story up."
He recognized the public officials in attendance. They included Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich, Police Chief Cameron McLay, two City Council members and the Allegheny County district attorney.
Bishop Zubik told them that the addiction crisis is one that demands that all facets of the community work together against it. He pledged the support of the diocese in addressing the issue.
Franko is a staff writer at the Pittsburgh Catholic, newspaper of the Diocese of Pittsburgh.
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Q: How do I combine two foldr/ foldl functions for this output? (Racket/Scheme) I am quite new to racket, and I wondered if there is a way to combine two foldr` functions:
'(foldr + 0 (list 1 2 3 4))
 ;; output = 10 -> (4+(3+(2+(1+0))))

 (foldr  * 1  (list 1 2 3 4))
 ;; output = 24 -> (4*(3*(2*(1*0))))'

I want to receive this output : output = 64 -> (4+4∗(3+3∗(2+2∗(1+1∗0))))

A: #|
(4*(3*(2*(1*0)))) -> 0 (not 24)
(4+(3+(2+(1+0)))) -> 10

(foldr + 0 (list 1 2 3 4))
->
(+ 1 (+ 2 (+ 3 (+ 4 0))))
->
10

(foldr * 1 (list 1 2 3 4))
->
(* 1 (* 2 (* 3 (* 4 1))))
->
24

if you want this
(4+4∗(3+3∗(2+2∗(1+1∗0))))
->
64
|#
(foldr (lambda (x y) (+ (* x y) x)) 0 '(4 3 2 1))

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Member News - August 2015
Thoughts on the New Photonics Institute
Market Report on Photonics for Driver Assistance
In Memoriam: Arpad Bergh, Founder of OIDA, 1930-2015
Industry Programming at Advanced Solid State Lasers Conference and Exhibition (ASSL)
Biophotonics Challenges & Opportunities: Participate in OIDA's New Town Hall Forum
Registration is Open for the OIDA State of the Art Integrated Photonics Workshop
OSA Reception in Nagoya, Japan — 15 September 2015
New Applied Optics Engineering and Laboratory Notes Now Online
Participate in Capitol Hill Day — September 10, 2015
Recognize Your Colleagues — Submit a Nomination for an OSA Award
11th Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Pacific Rim (CLEO Pacific Rim)
Sponsor the OSA Centennial Celebration & Connect with 220,000 Industry Leaders All Year Long!
Want to get even more insight and access to great discussions about optics and photonics?
Take advantage of your OSA Industry Development Associates Member Benefits
By now everyone's heard that the New York team won the new integrated photonics institute, called AIM Photonics for the American Institute for Manufacturing Photonics, (see video here). While we can't share some of the details, this is a good moment to share some thoughts.
1. The institute will be a lot of things, but most importantly it has to deliver results in the TRL4-7 phases--the infamous "valley of death." The U.S. Department of Defense will be watching closely to make sure that it doesn't degenerate into a basic research program. It is not--repeat not--about basic research. There will be a lot of emphasis on assembly and test and everything else that goes into the final product. We call this the "ecosystem", because it all has to fit together.
Vice President Joe Biden announcing the award, and the
White House's support of the photonics industry.
2. That said, the Albany facility will offer the domestic multi-project wafer (MPW) service in integrated photonics that many in the U.S. have been asking for. The SUNY NanoTech fab is one that photonics companies can usually only dream of, with tools capable of processing 12-inch wafers and EUV lithography.
3. Now that New York is identified as the winner, cynics who cannot be team players need not come asking for money. New York's proposal detailed a lot of the structure necessary to get the job done. Now it has to ramp up at start-up speed to meet the 5-year goals. The opportunities to formally join and contribute will be coming soon. We hope to see many of the partners from the other teams join the new institute.
4. Let's thank all the teams that spent countless hours preparing their proposals, particularly the three finalists: the New York, USC-ISI, and Florida teams. Each team brought its own strengths, making the decision difficult for the government team judging them.
5. Let's also thank the government team for its earnest and professional evaluation process. It's normal for politicians to grandstand about their favorite programs, and for many of us to sneer at the pomp and circumstance, but the government's proposal evaluation team ran a squeaky-clean process all the way through, led by DOD's ManTech program. We're expecting the government oversight to continue to be top-notch and relentless. No one wants even the smallest slip-up on their watch.
OSA Industry Development Committee
• Jean-Michel Pelaprat,
Figulus, Chair
• Allan Ashmead,
• Henrik Skov
Andersen,
Ibsen Photonics
• Simin Cai,
Go!Foton
• John Dexheimer,
Lightwave Advisors
• James Fisher,
• Alex Fong,
Gooch & Housego
• Steve Grubb,
Infinera
• Fred Leonberger,
EOvation
Technologies, LLC
• Claudio Mazzali,
Corning, Inc.
• Mike Mielke,
• Jerry Rawls,
• Martin Seifert,
Nufern
• Costel Subran,
Opton Laser
• Christoph Harder,
Harder and Partner,
Liasison
Executive Director of the Rochester Regional Photonics Cluster Tom Battley, Representative Tom Reed (R-NY), Liz Rogan, Chief Executive Officer, OSA, and Laura Kolton, Deputy Senior Director, Government Relations at OSA are all smiles at the exciting launch event. 6. Finally, there were also countless supporters who showed the government partners that there was a community behind this. Many of us—including a self-congratulatory pat to ourselves at OSA here—offered documentation and negotiated behind the scenes to advance substantive consensus on both sides: among a multitude of government agencies as well as among competing commercial suppliers that had never cooperated before. Recent OIDA efforts spanned 2011 to late 2014, but earlier OIDA efforts date to those by Michael Lebby and others at OIDA to establish a domestic PIC foundry 10 years ago. Going back nearly 30 years ago, a 1988 National Academies report called out integrated photonics--we called it OEICs then--as an important technology of the future. Thanks to all of you, and to all of us.
Last month we made available a market report on photonics for use in Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). This application is one of the set of applications for vehicles, including conventional and heads-up displays, plastic optical fiber communication systems, LED lighting, LED and laser headlamps, night vision, and so forth.
The report surveys the photonics technologies that enable ADAS in automobiles, and the market opportunities for photonics as these systems gain more traction in transportation. The report is authored by the market research firm Tematys, based in Paris, in collaboration with EPIC, the European Photonics Industry Consortium, based in Brussels.
The figure shows Tematys's forecast of revenue for photonics in ADAS, as reported in electrooptics.com and with segment detail in the report made available last month.
Through a special arrangement with EPIC, we have permission to share this EPIC report with current OIDA members. We are pleased to furnish this report at no extra charge as part of your membership benefits.
Arpad Albert Bergh, OSA fellow and founder and president of Optoelectronics Industry Development Association (OIDA) passed away on 30 April 2015. He was 85 years old. Dr. Bergh was awarded the OSA Robert E. Hopkins Leadership Award in 2007 for his leadership role in establishing and leading OIDA and making it the primary advocate for the optoelectronics industry in the U.S.
Dr. Bergh was born on 26 April 1930 in Szeged, Hungary. He married Maria Nagy on 4 November 1956. They married and left the country for the U.S. during the Hungarian uprising. They later had four children.
He received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1959 in Physical Chemistry. From 1959-1966 he was with Bell Laboratories in Allentown, Pennsylvania, where he worked on the development of semiconductor devices and MOS technology. In 1966 he was transferred to Murray Hill, New Jersey to supervise the development of GaP electroluminescent devices. Two years later he became a department head, responsible for lasers, LEDs, photodetectors and microwave devices.
Dr. Bergh moved to Bellcore at its formation in 1983, from the prestigious Bell Labs, helping to establish the legitimacy of the new Bellcore organization. He became Division Manager, conducting research in photonic devices, gallium-arsenide high-speed circuits, and display devices. He retired from Bellcore in 1994.
In 1991, Dr. Bergh founded OIDA, serving as president. He established OIDA's permanent office in Washington DC, and continued to lead OIDA as full-time president from 1994 to his retirement in 2006. He established connections with other trade organizations worldwide that persist today. OIDA continues to operate within OSA as the OSA Industry Development Associates.
Dr. Bergh held 11 patents and authored over 20 papers on semiconductor materials and devices. He co-authored the book Light-emitting Diodes (Electrical & Electronic Engineering Monographs) published by Oxford Press in 1976. Dr. Bergh was a fellow of OSA and the IEEE, and member of the Electrochemical Society, Society for Information Display, New York Academy of Sciences, and the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals.
Industry Programming at Advanced Solid State Lasers Conference
and Exhibition (ASSL)
04 - 09 October 2015, Berlin, Germany
Join us for two complimentary sessions at ASSL this year:
Keynote Presentation: The History of Disk Lasers from the Perspective of a Contemporary Witness
Friedrich Dausinger, CEO, Dausinger + Giesen GmbH, Germany
7 October 2015; 10:30 — 11:30
Industry Panel: What are the Limitations of Technology?
6 October 2015, 11:30 — 12:30
These sessions are presented by OSA Industry Development Associates.
Exhibit space for ASSL is still available. For more information on exhibiting contact the OSA Business Development Group, Kari Jacobson Smith, +1 202.416.1988, exhibitsales@osa.org. Be sure to ask about the special discount for OSA Industry Development Associates members.
Biophotonics Challenges & Opportunities: Participate in OIDA's New
Town Hall Forum
Wednesday, 21 October 2015, 18:00 - 20:00, San Jose, CA, USA (Held in Conjunction with FiO)
Please join us for an open town-hall meeting, where thought leaders will join in a dynamic debate and share perspectives that are critical to understanding the rapidly expanding biophotonics market.
Questions to be discussed include:
What is the enabling technology that has the most market traction?
Where is the funded research going?
What are the bottlenecks or "showstoppers" among photonics technologies today?
What are the solutions?
The Forum will include a discussion aimed at distilling and prioritizing key findings, for future use by the photonics community. This event is complimentary—light refreshments will be served.
Learn more about the event.
To submit your questions and topics for discussion email Tom Hausken, Senior Industry Advisor, OSA, at thausken@osa.org.
Registration is Open for OIDA State of the Art Integrated Photonics Workshop
3 November, OSA's Office in Washington D.C., USA
Learn more about the Panel discussions and speakers:
Update on the Photonics Integration Market and Initiatives
Customer Perspectives and Overview
Perspectives from the Supply Chain
100G Technology Panel
Wrap-up Discussion
OIDA Members save $150 on registrations received by 6 October. Register today. Learn more.
OSA President, Philip Russell will host an evening reception on Tuesday, 15 September at the Gajouen Restaurant in Nagoya, Japan. Please respond via email RSVPOSAevent@osa.org by 21 August if you plan to attend the reception. This event is held in conjunction with the Japan Society of Applied Physics Autumn Meeting which will take place 13 - 16 September 2015 at the Nagoya Congress Center. An OSA/JSAP Joint English-language Symposia will take place during the conference.
Applied Optics now publishes articles called Engineering and Laboratory Notes (E&L Notes). These articles are intended to give engineers and technicians a venue to highlight laboratory techniques and hands-on skills required for the design, analysis, fabrication, integration, alignment, and measurement of optical components and systems.
Check out these recently published E&L Notes:
Novel time-of-flight fiber dispersion measurement technique using supercontinuum light sources and acousto-optical tunable filters by Niels Göran Blume and Steven Wagner
Numerical wave propagation in Image by Pablo Piedrahita-Quintero, Raul Castañeda, and Jorge Garcia-Sucerquia
Creating optical filters with angular-selective light transmission by Rustam Zakirullin
Heat-stop structure design with high cooling efficiency for large ground-based solar telescope by Yangyi Liu, Naiting Gu, Changhui Rao, and Cheng Li
Metal crack propagation monitoring by photoluminescence enhancement of quantum dots by Ziming Zhao, Weiling Luan, Shaofeng Yin, and Juergen J. Brandner
Error analysis of aspheric surface with reference datum by Yanglin Peng, Yifan Dai, Shanyong Chen, Ci Song, and Feng Shi
Want to publish an E&L Note? Submit your manuscript today! If you aren't yet ready to submit, read this editorial by the E&L Notes Editor Brian Monacelli to learn more.
The Optical Society (OSA), along with its National Photonics Initiative (NPI) partners, are organizing a Capitol Hill Day taking place in Washington, DC, on September 10, 2015.
With so many new members of Congress, this is a great opportunity to establish a relationship with your Congressional offices and to educate your members of Congress on the importance of optics and photonics. Last year, OSA and the NPI had several legislative successes all thanks to the advocacy efforts by OSA and NPI members communicating with their members of Congress. The more members we have participate in these efforts, the better chance of success.
Each participant will be placed on a combined society team based on your geographic region. There will be training on the evening of Wednesday, September 9, in Washington, DC, focusing on the NPI, how to have an effective meeting, and details on what to discuss with the Congressional offices. On September 10, you and your team will visit your Congressional representatives. Society staff will schedule your appointments, coordinate your day, and will escort you to all of your meetings.
If you are interested in participating in the September Capitol Hill Day, please sign up on the NPI CVD webpage.
Recognize Your Colleagues - Submit a Nomination for an OSA Award
OSA recognizes distinguished achievement in the field of optics and photonics through the presentation of awards and honors Members are encouraged to submit nominations for these recognitions. The deadline for most nominations is 1 October.
24 - 28 August 2015, BEXCO, Busan, Korea
Special International Year of Light program featuring lectures from OSA Vice-President, Eric Mazur, Harvard University; 2014 Nobel Physics Laureate, Hiroshi Amano, Nagoya University; and David Payne, University of Southampton as well as industry focused lectures from Yeong Mun Yu, Pukyong National University and Kyu Dong Sung, EO TECHNICS. Learn More.
The Optical Society is celebrating its 100th Anniversary in 2016, and we are inviting your company to be part of our festivities. Choose one of our three Centennial Sponsorship options and your company will be highlighted in a year-long calendar of special events and programs that will provide you with high visibility in the optics and photonics market. To learn more contact Regan Pickett, rpickett@osa.org or 202.416.1474. A sponsorship opportunity like this happens only once every 100 years!
Join 3,000 of your colleagues in our Optics & Photonics Industry Network LinkedIn Group. This one-of-a-kind Forum for Industry lets you participate in discussions about cutting-edge issues. Extend your professional network. Exchange information about problems, ideas and solutions. Collaborate with experts in your field. Now is the perfect time to build a relationship with fellow optics and photonics professionals!
We are committed to ensuring the value of your OSA Industry Development Associates Membership, so please email OSA if you have any suggestions for new programs or comments on your membership.


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text:
Blog 86 (November-December 2021)
Astronomer suggests IRAS May Have Detected Planet X in 1983
A British astronomer has reviewed the IRAS data from way back in 1983 and come up with a possible location for Planet X - around RA 319 Dec 60. While Planet Nine hunters have a candidate target to point their telescopes towards, let's examine how this new evidence came to light:
There haven't been too many sky surveys conducted in infra-red. It's problematic doing them from Earth, even in the coldest climates, because the heat in the environment creates an infra-red fog to peer through into space. Better then to use space-based telescopes, even if they have a relatively limited lifespan.
The most effective to date has been WISE. During its tour of duty it appears to have failed to detect Planet X, despite covering a lot of the sky. However, its lifetime was quite short so it may have missed a slow-moving object that would have become more apparent over an extended period of time. After all, it's the variation in position against background stars that makes solar system objects stand out from the crowd. The further away they are, the more difficult they are to spot both in terms of position and reflected luminosity.
It's helpful, then, to consult other sky surveys at other times, to get a clearer picture of how candidate objects may have shifted ground, however marginally. there has been a lot of debate in the Planet X community about whether the 1983 sky survey by IRAS picked out Planet X.
The excitement generated among IRAS astronomers about some mysterious infrared objects (1) were widely reported at the time (2), then sank without trace. In response to the understandable interest in the apparent discovery of a brown dwarf in the solar system back in 1983 (in the constellation Orion), more recent analysis of these articles in the astronomy press have poured cold water over the possible candidate objects.
"...most of the IRAS observations in the 1984 paper were distant, ultra-luminous young galaxies and one was a filamentary structure known as "infrared cirrus" floating in intergalactic space." (3)
However, no actual explanation has ever been forthcoming about what the actual object in Orion was - just that the brown dwarf/massive planet speculation was one among a number of possibilities scientists were considering - at least early on in their deliberations.
Although the above Washington Post article was the most famous of the IRAS anomalies, I've always found the Sagittarius 'sighting' more intriguing, not least because of the way this was reported in the science press in the UK at the time:
"The object's infrared emission shows that it has a temperature of around 230K. This is too cool for a star yet to (sic) hot for a dust cloud. It could be a distant gaseous planet, several times heavier than Jupiter and giving off heat as its own gravity causes it to shrink in size. Whatever it is, say the British astronomers, the Americans have been keeping very quiet about it in recent weeks." (3)
More about this in my books 'Dark Star' (2005) and 'Darker Stars' (2018). Suffice it to say, the position of the candidate object in the sky is also a possible reason why this object has been so difficult to pin down: Sagittarius is the constellation featuring the centre of the Milky Way, which offers a highly luminous and complex backdrop within which to hunt for a distant world. If Planet X is hiding in there, then it's little wonder it's so hard to detect!
Despite the scepticism shown by some scientists about the IRAS data and its possible connection to Planet X (3), other scientists consider it worthwhile to revisit the issue. The result of recent analysis of the IRAS data has provided what could be exciting new evidence:
"Astronomer Michael Rowan-Robinson of Imperial College London in the UK conducted an analysis of data collected by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) in 1983, and found a trio of point sources that just might be Planet Nine. This, Rowan-Robinson concludes in his preprint paper, is actually fairly unlikely to be a real detection, but the possibility does mean that it could be used to model where the planet might be now in order to conduct a more targeted search, in the quest to confirm or rule out its existence." (5)
The scientific paper which Rowan-Robinson has written sets out more detail about his analysis, and rules out most possible anomalies to leave just one candidate (314.83499+64.21527) which could fulfil the criteria for Planet Nine, as it is currently envisaged within the scientific community:
"For a lower mass planet (< 5 earth masses) in the distance range 200-400 AU, we expect a pair or triplet of single HCONs with separations 2-35 arcmin. Several hundred candidate associations are found and have been examined with Scanpi. A single candidate for Planet 9 survives which satisfies the requirements for detected and non-detected HCON passes. A fitted orbit suggest a distance of 225+-15 AU and a mass of 3-5 earth masses." (6)
Rowan-Robinson then plots out the possible path of the elusive planet across the sky in the last 40 years or so, and gently urges astronomers to take a fresh look at this area of sky to see if it's hiding within that zone of interest (~RA 319 Dec 60). Fingers crossed...
Written by Andy Lloyd, 26th November 2021
1) Houck, J. R. et al "Unidentified point sources in the IRAS minisurvey." Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 278, p. L63-L66 (1984)
2) Thomas O'Toole "Possibly as Large as Jupiter" 30 December 1983
Washington Post article
3) Cesar Grossmann "Did The Washington Post confirm Nibiru's existence?" 2017
Quora article
4) Martin Redfern and Nigel Henbest "Has IRAS found a tenth planet?" New Scientist 10 November 1983 Vol. 100:1383, p400
New Scientist article
5) Michelle Starr "Mysterious Object Glimpsed Decades Ago Might Have Actually Been Planet Nine" 16 November 2021 with thanks to John
Science Alert article
6) Michael Rowan-Robinson "A search for Planet 9 in the IRAS data" 11 Nov 2021 Accepted for publication in MNRAS
arxiv.org/pdf/2111.03831.pdf
The Lunar Bombardment
A new isotopic study of lunar rocks has indicated that the cratering of the Moon's surface occurred by debris left over from the Earth's formation. In a paper that seems to tear up a lot of what is currently thought to have happened in the early solar system, a research team from WWU Münster argue that the lunar bombardment did not take place 3.9 billion years ago as generally thought (1).
Instead, the impacts occurred much earlier, in the immediate aftermath of the early cataclysms that marked the formation of the Earth/Moon system (2).
""Our research shows that the bombardment of the Moon was by the same bodies that formed the Earth and Moon," explains planetologist and lead author of the study Dr. Emily Worsham. The impact craters on the Moon, therefore, are due to a continuous bombardment of leftover asteroids from the main phase of the Earth's formation. This also allows scientists to rule out a sudden increase in the impact rate due to bombardment with bodies from the outer solar system." (1)
The Late Heavy Bombardment was a cluster of massive bombardments that occurred over a long period of time around 3.9 billion years ago. It is thought to have affected all of the planets and moons in the inner solar system, including Earth. This devastating and sustained bombardment is a mystery because it occurred long after the planets formed 4.5-4.6 billion years ago.
Why did this cluster happen after the solar system had essentially settled down for half a billion years? Many ideas have been put forward, largely to do with a significant migration of the gas giants (an essential component of the Nice model of solar system formation). This new isotopic study of lunar rocks shows that the Moon's impactors did not originate from the outer solar system (the isotopic signatures of ruthenium and molybdenum would have differed significantly if they had). Which means, the scientists argue, that the migratory tussle of the gas giants must have happened very early on. This fits with the Nice model's concept of gravitational interaction with the remnants of the Sun's ptotoplanetary disk.
Citing a 1977 article (3), the authors of this new paper pick up the argument that the previously studied lunar rocks (that suggested that dating of the LHB) came mostly from a single impact basin on the north-central Earth-facing side of the moon named the Mare Imbrium (1). This localised sampling then led to a skewing of the dating statistics. To further support this argument, they point out that earlier impact dates have been determined for other lunar craters (4).
However, evidence for the Late Heavy Bombardment is widespread across the solar system. Although the Münster press release seems to tear up the LBH, in the paper itself the authors recognise that it is a reality:
"Nevertheless, the general agreement among the 40Ar-39Ar age frequency distributions of Apollo samples, lunar meteorites, howardite-eucrite-diogenite meteorites (thought to derive from asteroid 4 Vesta), and H chondrites indicates that an LHB occurred and affected the entire inner solar system. Hence, there is no doubt that an LHB occurred, but its origin remains elusive." (2)
So this argument is more about what happened to the Moon in particular, rather than about the more generalised - and mysterious - bombardment that occurred around 3.9 billion years ago.
The central issue here continues to be the need for a trigger event to kick the late bombardment off:
"A cataclysmic LHB would require a dynamic impetus that led to a sudden increase in impact rate." (2)
Absolutely. So, if scientists are ruling out a late migratory event, how could this possibly have happened?
Time to think outside the box. What is rarely - if ever - considered is that the Earth/Moon system might have itself migrated inwards at the start of that bombardment event. As I have written about in my 2019 book 'Darker Stars', some asteroids in the outer main belt also have Earth/Moon isotopic signatures, suggestive of a common origin (5). I have argued that the LBH followed a serious impact and localised gravitational tussle (i.e. with Nibiru and its moons, as suggested by the late Zecharia Sitchin (6)). The resultant debris stream would then account for the subsequent cluster of impacts with objects with Earth/Moon composition.
The intervention of a usurper Planet X object makes a lot more sense than the rather confused arguments that astrophysicists are currently tussling with.
1) WWU Münster Press Release "Late bombardment of the Moon revealed" 29 October 2021 with thank to Lee
uni-muenster.de news
phys.org news
2) Emily Worsham and Thorsten Kleine "Late accretionary history of Earth and Moon preserved in lunar impactites". Science Advances, 7; doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abh2837, 2021
science.org article
3) G. A. Schaeffer and O. A. Schaeffer "39Ar/40Ar ages of lunar rocks", in Proc. Lunar Sci. Conf. 8th, 2253–2300 (1977).
4) M. D. Norman and A. A. Nemchin "A 4.2 billion year old impact basin on the Moon: U-Pb dating of zirconolite and apatite in lunar melt rock 67955" Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 388, 387–398 (2014)
5) Andy Lloyd 'Darker Stars' Timeless Voyager Press 2019
6) Zecharia Sitchin "The Twelfth Planet" Avon Books 1976
Emerging from the Water World
We have long taken for granted the land masses on Earth. Perhaps less so now as our oceans begin their slow ascent due to anthropogenic global warming. Especially for those living along decaying coastlines or in sea-facing cities. however, scientists have known for some time that the landmasses weren't always there: Very early on in Earth's 4.6 billion year history, the planet transformed from convulsing molten rock to water world. For a long time, the surface of the early Earth was just water. At some point later, land masses began to rise above the planet's global water line. These first continents are known as 'cratons' by scientists.
New research suggests that these cratons emerged much earlier than previously thought. The consensus scientific opinion placed the emergence of landmasses to around 2.5 billion years ago. Now that timeline might be extended back to as early as 3.4 billion years.
"...scientists have found sedimentary rocks — which form from the broken-up bits of other rocks that have undergone erosion and weathering — that date back to that era. Such sedimentary rocks could only form once land broke through the surface of early Earth's oceans." (1)
This new timeline is now much closer to the Late, Heavy Bombardment (LHB) 3.9 billion years ago. Around the time of this extended bombardment the Earth was entirely covered in water. During the bombardment, asteroids/meteorites striking the Earth would have plunged into deep oceans, therefore leaving no surface cratering (not so on the Moon, of course, which still shows the monumental impact of this period of bombardment).
According to Zecharia Sitchin's interpretations of ancient Mesopotamian myth, Babylonian cosmology included a watery planet known as Tiamat (2). This watery planet was rendered asunder by the usurper planet Marduk (associated with a Planet X body often called Nibiru) and its moons. Sitchin asserts that the early, watery Earth was Tiamat; whilst Marduk has disappeared from view.
I've often argued that the LHB was the time of this great Cosmic Battle (3). So it's interesting that Earth's first landmasses arose sometime after the LHB. If Sitchin's account is correct, the early Earth lost a very significant amount of water during its encounter with Marduk (which involved a collision with a small moon described by the Babylonians as the 'North Wind', and an orbital shift inwards). The encounter resulted in vaporised oceans and a spillage of precious water into space. Less water, more likelihood of emerging landmasses...
1) Nicoletta Lanese "Earth's 1st continents arose hundreds of millions of years earlier than thought" 8 November 2021 with thanks to Lee
livescience.com article
3) Andy Lloyd 'Dark Star' Timeless Voyager Press 2005
Water from the Sun?
As with science more generally, the Dark Star website has been debating the origin of Earth's water for a long time (1). What's unusual here is that the anomalies thrown up by the Earth's abundant oceans form part of an argument about the origin of the planet itself. Put simply, the Earth is too close to the Sun to have so much water remaining on it. The water should have been blasted away long ago by heat and the action of the solar wind.
Scientists have long answered this using the 'late veneer' hypothesis whereby water is deposited during the impact of water-rich asteroids and comets. It's a complex offering, with a competing but allied concept of 'late accretion' to consider (2). Either way, the chemical composition of water here on Earth - and among the asteroids and comets most likely to have caused this water-dump - don't match (3). Instead, Earth's water more closely matches asteroids located in the outer asteroid belt.
Picking up on Zecharia Sitchin's notion of a migrating Earth - following a collision during an encounter with a rogue Planet X body and its moons (4) - the whole mystery could be resolved in an Occam's Razor sort of way by assuming that Earth formed where the asteroid belt currently is. Indeed, the belt itself may be debris from the cosmic encounter with the rogue planet, containing chunks of our own planet. The concept of migrating planets is hardly new. Indeed, much of our current cosmology rest upon it (e.g. the Nice model). Earth's formation in this zone would likely require Jupiter to have formed a bit further out, but this is hardly beyond the realm of possibility either.
Image Credit: Curtin University
Recent scientific work may offer an alternative explanation - at least partly. Instead of comets and asteroids being the vectors for water delivery, how about the solar wind? Space dust is prevalent throughout the solar system (seen in the so-called zodiacal light'). The action of the solar wind can ionise hydrogen into protons, allowing chemical reactions on the surface of dust grains which can lead to the production of water. This concept has been used to account for anomalously high water content distributed within the dusty regolith on the Moon's surface
""We think of water as this special, magical compound," said William M. Farrell, a plasma physicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center ... "But here's what's amazing: every rock has the potential to make water, especially after being irradiated by the solar wind."" (5)
That chemical activity also appears to be happening on asteroids. Scientists examining samples from Japan's Hayabusa spacecraft mission, which brought part of the asteroid Itokawa to Earth in 2010, have determined that the isotope ratio of water has been unexpectedly skewed (6). They consider this to be a result of the action of the Solar Wind providing an 'additional isotopically light reservoir' of proton-rich hydrogen ions, and thus water:
"We used atom probe tomography to directly observe an average ~1 mol% enrichment in water and hydroxyls in the solar-wind-irradiated rim of an olivine grain from the S-type asteroid Itokawa. We also experimentally confirm that H+ irradiation of silicate mineral surfaces produces water molecules. These results suggest that the Itokawa regolith could contain ~20 L m−3 of solar-wind-derived water and that such water reservoirs are probably ubiquitous on airless worlds throughout our Galaxy." (7)
It's a big jump from this finding to water generation on a planet wrapped with a significant atmosphere, like Earth. After all, the chemical reactions take place on the rock which, on Earth, is shielded from proton bombardment. Further, water created during the primordial Earth phases would be subject to drying activities by the Sun. This abundant delivery system should also have profound repercussions for water on Mars, surely?
At the moment it seems reasonable to conclude that Earth's weird water remains an anomaly.
Written by Andy Lloyd, 7th December 2021
1) Andy Lloyd 'The Great Water Conundrum' 2nd April 2002
darkstar1.co.uk/water.html
2) Alessandro Morbidelli & Bernard Wood "Late Accretion and the Late Veneer" 17 Nov 2014
arxiv.org/pdf/1411.4563.pdf
3) M. Drake & K. Righter "Determining the composition of the Earth" Nature, 416 (7th March) 2002
5) Lonnie Shekhtman "How Ingredients for Water Could Be Made on the Surface of Moon" 20 February 2019
6) Ellen Phiddian "Did Earth get its water from… the Sun?" 30 November 2021 with thanks to Lee
Cosmos Magazine article
7) Luke Daly et al "Solar wind contributions to Earth's oceans" Nat Astron, 29 November 2021
nature.com article
A Myriad of Rogue Planets
Spotting exoplanets orbiting other stars has become so commonplace an activity that new additions to the cast of thousands are barely mentioned anymore. Indeed, the emphasis has shifted more towards whether we'll be able to detect telltale signs of life on them. Once fully operational, the recently launched James Webb space telescope will likely provide some incredibly tantalising data about many of these distant worlds.
The growing back-catalogue of exoplanets is mostly comprised of worlds that orbit stars. Indeed, their proximity to their parent suns has enabled their detection in many cases. Minute but regular star wobbles, tiny routine dips in light, and sometimes even a reflective glimmer in young star's dust disk. However, there is a whole category of stars which remain in the shadows - rogue planets. These cold, isolated worlds drift through the vast desert of interstellar space between the stars, most likely ejected from their home stars when they were but pups. Discovering them is difficult, but has been accomplished in the past. A new study by ESO teams working at several observatories has revealed between 70 and 170 new free-floating planets, depending on the age assumed for the explored region ( a patch of sky taking in upper Scorpius and Ophiucus) (1)
Image Credit: ESO/N. Risinger
Previously, forensic examination using complex computer simulations of other star clusters has led astrophysicists to predict how many rogue planets might be floating around unseen within the herd. Such forays have led to figures like 50 billion free-floating planets out there in the Milky Way (2). But coming up with a number for the galactic population is tricky, with many question marks remaining. That's why it so helpful to actually spot the blighters out there in the darkness, particularly when they're young and relatively bright.
""There could be several billions of these free-floating giant planets roaming freely in the Milky Way without a host star," [Hervé] Bouy [an astronomer at the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux] explains. By studying the newly found rogue planets, astronomers may find clues to how these mysterious objects form. Some scientists believe rogue planets can form from the collapse of a gas cloud that is too small to lead to the formation of a star, or that they could have been kicked out from their parent system. But which mechanism is more likely remains unknown." (1)
Many of the new rogue planets observed by ESO fall into the category of brown dwarfs - sub-stellar objects which have masses between 13 and 80 Jupiter masses. There are at least 70 of these new objects in this patch of sky. However, the age of the region is uncertain, which complicates matters. If the study region is (relatively) old, then the 70 objects is a considerable under-estimate (3). This is because many sub-brown dwarfs will have cooled down sufficiently to become invisible to us - the objects below 13 Mj are now dark, and so won't have been spotted in this search. Interestingly, the implicit conclusion here is that there are likely to be many more objects between, say, 3Mj and 13Mj (the objects I call 'Dark Stars') than between 13Mj and 80Mj. This has been argued recently elsewhere (4).
Image credit: ESO/L. Calçada/P. Delorme/Nick Risinger/R. Saito/VVV Consortium
So, here's the thing. There is an abundance of massive planets floating around in interstellar space. Fact. Interstellar space is mind-wrenchingly vast, so the chance of one of these worlds making a close flyby of a star is low, but not negligibly low. The more Dark Stars there are out there, the more likely they make such flybys, particularly within early, chaotic star-birthing regions (5). As a result, any examination of our own Sun's early history should include a non-zero potential for such an event to have occurred - with potentially important repercussions.
Written by Andy Lloyd, 26th December 2021
1) European Southern Observatory "ESO telescopes help uncover largest group of rogue planets yet" 22 December 2021
eso.org news/eso2120/
2) Paul Scott Anderson "There may be 50 billion free-floating planets in our galaxy" 10 March 2019
earthsky.org article
3) Nuria Miret-Roig et al. " A rich population of free-floating planets in the Upper Scorpius young stellar association"
eso.org sciencepaper
4) Wittenmyer, R. A. et al. "Cool Jupiters greatly outnumber their toasty siblings: occurrence rates from the Anglo-Australian Planet Search", Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 492(1): 377–383, February 2020
oup.com mnras article
5) Long Wang et al. "Close encounters involving free-floating planets in star clusters", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 449(4): 3543–3558, June 2015
Quest for the Humanzee - The Anunnaki Connection
As well as bringing this blog up into the mobile age, I've been overhauling my original Dark Star website darkstar1.co.uk. As part of that effort, I've substantially updated one of my essays from 2005. It's good to breathe some new life into what was such a popular website. The updated article is about human-ape hybridisation, and you can read more here:
https://www.darkstar1.co.uk/apes.html
Timeless Sitchin
A rare 1990 radio interview with Zecharia Sitchin has been made available free online.
In this interview, circa 1990, Bruce Stephen Holms - host of Timeless Voyager Radio - asks Zecharia Sitchin many questions about the Sumerian's record of the Anunnaki. Holms's interviewing style makes it easy to listen to the dialogue which investigates the "pre-history" of humans. According to Sitchin, who is one of a handful of people who can read and translate the Sumerian language believes that these "historical" records are not mythology but rather a long history of pre-human existence on our planet by extraterrestrials.
Zecharia Sitchin author of a number of books proposing an explanation for human origins involving ancient astronauts. Sitchin attributed the creation of the ancient Sumerian culture to the Anunnaki, which he stated was a race of extraterrestrials from a planet beyond Neptune called Nibiru. He asserts that Sumerian mythology suggests that this planet Nibiru has an elongated, 3,600-year-long elliptical orbit around the sun. Sitchin says that the Annunaki lived on Earth for 300,000 years before they (the Anunnaki) genetically created mankind.
player.captivate.fm episode


text:
Charity, refugees
Meet the entrepreneurs using fintech to help refugees
August 21, 2020 sndden
Lucia Gallardo, CEO of Emerge, in Tijuana, Mexico in 2018. Photo provided by Lucia Gallardo
ROME, – Berat Kjamili has vivid memories of queuing for days outside a government building in Turkey for papers that would allow him – an 18-year-old refugee from North Macedonia – to legally reside and study in the country.
"There were 1,000 people there and I couldn't get in. The next day I went at 6 a.m. and still I couldn't get my papers. The third day, I slept on the street that night (to beat the queue)," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.
The experience led him to build a website where refugees can apply for residency permits. It is now operated by the Turkish government.
Kjamili, 27, is part of a generation of refugees who have set up fintech firms to help other refugees and migrants send money, access paperwork and share information about housing and jobs.
Often working in shops, cafes and factories, refugees have been harder hit by coronavirus-triggered job cuts than citizens in their host countries, U.S. development groups said on Wednesday.
Businesses like Kjamili's could play a key role in helping refugees to integrate amid a global pandemic that, according to the United Nations, has increased xenophobia and led to a surge in evictions.
LOCKED OUT
Among the world's 30 million refugees and asylum seekers are many who lack bank accounts and have only intermittent access to Internet and mobile phones.
More than 1 billion people worldwide lack government-issued credentials to prove their identity, which can result in "social, economic, and political exclusion", UNHCR said in a recent report.
Refugees given ID cards by the United Nations on arrival in a new country have limited ways to partake in the economy, said Hanna Mattinen, a senior officer in the agency's cash aid team.
"In the vast majority of cases, with this ID… they can't open bank account, they don't have access to SIM cards," she said.
As businesses go cashless and require card payments – a drive hastened by COVID-19 – refugees and migrants could be left "locked out of the system", said Marta Zaccagnini, Program Manager Europe for Village Capital, an organisation supporting impact-driven start-ups.
A NEW BANK
Roham Soleimani, an Iranian refugee in Berlin, is hoping his company BankeNu – Nu means new in Persian – could help. The 28-year-old is working on a blockchain-based service that would allow people to transfer money from anywhere.
"It's a big opportunity to help people like us. To give opportunity to people who suffer sanctions, the un-banked, the migrant communities… and offer the services with low fees," he said.
Soleimani set up a marketing agency that helped secure European wages for Iranian freelance designers back home.
https://news.trust.org/item/20200709093832-5q87i/
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I have mentioned before that Tian Tian Seafood Restaurant's a must-eat *Cze Char place for us whenever we come home (Singapore) during school vacations when we were living in Melbourne. Now being rainy season in Singapore, eating steamboat is like having a pie-in-the-sky!
Our appointment was to meet at 239 Outram Road around 7.30pm but the sudden downpour changed our dinner plans. It would be difficult to get a cab on a rainy day for one thing, and with the other being that Tian Tian's alfresco dining has no awning and sheltered seating area is quite limited. I told the girls via our group chat that it would be ridiculous to insist on having din-din at Tian Tian's on a Saturday night.
Whilst scratching my head, I remembered Danny (from Koka Wanton Noodle post) telling me about a kopitiam with 24-hour Prawn Mee (mee = noodle) stall as well as another stall selling tasty Cze Char.
The restaurant is in this Kopitiam, which is diagonally opposite Sim Lim Tower near Little India.
Nai Bai Cai 乃白菜 – S$10.
Stir-fried and garnished with crispy fried haebee (dried shrimps).
The not-so-oily vegetables were crunchy with no bitter aftertaste.
The crisp dried shrimps weren't overly salty.
Good texture and taste combination.
Crispy Vermicelli 烧焦米粉 – S$6 (small).
Nicknamed as Chao Ta Bee Hoon which translates to Burnt Rice Vermicelli.
The rice stick noodle patty isn't burnt but pan-fried till very crisp on one side.
The fluffy vermicelli on the underside made this dish special.
There were seafood as secondary ingredients in them, too.
Valerie did the ordering so I wasn't exactly sure what to expect.
I thought it was an omelet when this dish arrived. I was expecting blackened look.
Fish Cake Slices, Pork, Shrimps and Squid were secondary ingredients that went into the carbo dish.
Preserved Beancurd Pork Belly 南乳炸花肉 – S$10 (small).
Came with a sweet and savoury brown dipping sauce.
A tad on the dry side but perhaps that's the nature of this deep-fried dish.
I would prefer a juicier inside even though the meat was tender.
One consolation was the pork didn't have offensive gamey smell or taste.
Salted Egg Prawn 咸蛋大虾 – S$25.
We requested for the prawns to be deshelled.
Nice but Uncle Leong's better.
Deep-fried Cod 油浸鳕鱼 – S$25 (small).
4 generous-sized pieces of cod deep-fried till crisp garnished with spring onions and loads of golden-fried ginger julienne.
I found it a little to dry (luckily they were cod so more fatty and managed to retain some moist) but the children loved this.
Ryan liked the sauce which was oyster-flavoured.
Chilli Crabs 辣椒炒蟹 – S$27.50.
The crustacean wasn't Sri Lankan Crab so it was not very meaty.
However, the flesh was firm (good) and the egg ribboned sauce was spicy and sweet in the right proportion.
Ryan loves crab and I asked him how he would rate this dish.
He said it was one of the better tasting ones he'd had so far.
I also found the sauce to be tastier than Red House Seafood Restaurant's.
Deep-fried Mantou 馒头 – S$3 (for 6 that's the smallest offering).
A last minute order to mop up the gravy of Chilli Crab and the Salted Egg Yolk Sauce from the Prawn dish.
A mantou is a mantou! So long as the buns weren't overly scorched, they will taste good.
After all, its function is to mop gravies.
While waiting for the cze char dishes, we had the Prawn Noodles and some Yakitori from 2 other stalls which I will post later.
Our bill came to a total of S$111.50 (inclusive of 5 rice and 7% GST) for 5 people.
Yong Kee Seafood Restaurant is situated inside Shing Boon Hwa Food Centre (Kopitiam is opposite Sim Lim Tower).


While planning our food stops for Chicago, I knew I wanted to hit up a local Ice Cream place. After posting on Chowhound, I was finding not too much about what the locals like. I guess those Chicago Folk are not like my common Cincinnati Folk. Ohh well…there loss. Finally, I was able to get some recommendations for a place called Oberweis Dairy. While I'm sure I have been pronouncing it wrong the entire time, they looked pretty legit. Ice cream made in the area, known for their milk, and a location close to the hotel – sounded like a winner to me. On our last night in Chicago, I informed everyone we would be having ice cream after dinner – it was not optional. After our great burger meal, we headed over to Get Oberweised.
We walked into the Dairy and found the interior to be pretty huge. Besides the large counter area, there was a lot of tables and an entire dairy section. I grabbed myself a chocolate milk and then headed to the counter to order. I decided to go with my staple – Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream with Hot Fudge & Peanut Butter Sauce served up in a Waffle Bowl. We made our way to our table and awaited our items. All of the staff working at Oberweis were extremely pleasant. They really aim for you to be able to spend some time here and enjoy every second of it.
While waiting for my Ice Cream, I downed the Chocolate Milk. I found the Milk to be good but, nothing out of the ordinary. It was just good chocolate milk…I can't really say too much else about it. The flavor wasn't overpowering and the consistency was smooth. After a few minutes, our ice cream was served to us – in real bowls. Pretty different from the usual paper bowls. Mine of course was in a Waffle Bowl but both Mommy and Taylor received glass bowls. That's one fancy cat.
The look of my ice cream was good. While I didn't see any peanut butter pieces within the ice cream, I saw plenty of peanut butter sauce on the top of it. I dug right in and found it to be good ice cream. The ice cream was much more chocolate than it was peanut butter. The consistency was very, very smooth – similar to the chocolate milk. While the flavor of the chocolate was the dominating flavor, I could also taste hints of peanut butter. The peanut butter sauce on top was able to provide the extra kick I so desired. Not only was the peanut butter sauce purely peanut butter heaven, it was also warmed to the perfect temperature & incredibly smooth. I could have eaten just a bowl worth of this sauce. And let's not forget about the hot fudge – it was pretty killer too. extremely dark in flavor, the hot fudge was hot, thick and oh-so-gooey. Every single bite of the ice cream I received, with both peanut butter and hot fudge, was a pure party in my mouth. Oh. My. Gosh. Amazing.
I did indeed enjoy the ice cream & toppings from Oberweis, as I did the waffle bowl. The waffle bowl was fresh, sweet, crispy and held up containing my ice cream. I ate most of the bowl after I had finished the ice cream and I did not run into any strange flavors or textures throughout the bowl. This ice cream is certainly not Graeter's – nothing can compare – but, it is good. Besides the fact of the good ice cream, the friendly service & inviting atmosphere, would be certain reason to return. And be sure when you get a chance to visit, you try that peanut butter sauce and hot fudge. I promise this will provide a pure party in your mouth and you not only get schooled, but also, Get Oberweised.


Collaboration after collaboration, the public may soon grow weary…but not just yet. Anticipation of the Jason Wu for Target collection is well-hyped and consumers are not-so-patiently waiting for the launch date of Feb. 5.
Last September, Target's collaboration with Missoni raised the bar after it literally shut-down the department store on the launch date. The website had as much trouble handling the traffic as the brick and mortar stores due to people trying to get their hands on at least one of the 400+ pieces.
The Jason Wu for Target collection will include apparel, handbags and scarves with prices ranging from $19.99-$59.99. The gorgeous pieces have a laid-back, prim & proper feel but stay true to Jason Wu's youthful and sophisticated aesthetic. Check out the collection below. One more thing, the collection is obviously limited and will only be available until March 6.