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Contest archives
Top Sims Contest
[Round 14] JP - Lt. Commander Ethan Brice and Lt. Commander Karynn Bri
By Alleran Tan
July 11, 2011 in 2011
Alleran Tan
Ship: USS Gorkon
Duty Post: Sec/Tac
JP - Lt. Commander Ethan Brice and Lt. Commander Karynn Brice - BACKSIM - The Risk of Being Reasonable
((Brice Quarters, the night before arriving at DS17))
::Matthew was asleep. His Haliian step-mother stood staring out the window, watching the stars speed by as they headed back toward Deep Space 17. Her arms were folded over her chest, as she pondered the situation at hand... and the discussion she needed to have with her husband. If there was anything she had learned during their past few missions it was that life aboard a starship was dangerous. And the fact that the little boy had some idea just how much danger he had been in didn't sit well with her either. In her mind, Children should be innocent, living carefree lives as they grow up, and not be burdened with adult problems.::
::A small sigh escaped the Haliian's lips. She wasn't looking forward to this.::
::Walking out of their bedroom, Ethan ruffled his wet hair and cast his glance over the living room. He had to look hard for his wife, finding her nearly out of sight in the shadow cast by the large window. Through the last mission, it had felt as though Karynn had been a million miles away from him. The moments they had to spend together were so few and far between now that she had taken up the First Officer's position again and he knew that the decisions she made weighed heavy on her. He wanted to tell her that it never got any easier, but who was he to know? He hadn't tried to get that far.::
::He crunched his bare feet into the carpet as he moved up to her back and settled his arms around her waist, breaking her moment of solitude by the starlit window and kissed the side of her head gently. Almost as quickly, he felt her tense slightly, but that might have just been his imagination. When he spoke, his concern showed in the slight wobble of his vocal chords.::
Ethan: Is everything all right?
::Karynn turned and nuzzled her husband's cheek with her nose before gently kissing it. It was nice to have his arms wrapped around her. She felt supported, safe. For once she could let go of the feeling that the entire weight of the Prometheus-class starship was on her shoulders. She slipped her arm around his waist, leaning her head on his shoulder.::
K. Brice: At the moment, I suppose. ::she paused:: Do you think it's right to have kids on the ship?
::The question threw him off balance for a second as he tried to work out what she meant. She could be cryptic at the best of times but the query was so blatantly thrown out, there was no room for mistaking her intent. He frowned slightly.::
E. Brice: "Right" is a loaded term in this day and age. It seems the meaning is different to everyone we encounter. I suppose I'd...
::He stopped. He pulled back from her embrace slightly, not stepping away, but enough to cradle her in his arms and look into her green eyes questioningly. Surely she didn't mean... ::
E. Brice: Kids in general or our kid being on this ship?
::Karynn met his gaze for a moment but couldn't hold it. Breaking eye contact she looked past him, barely able to say what was really on her mind, much less look at him while she did it. Every once in a while she regretted saying something, finding herself wishing she could just take it all back. This was one of those times. But now that it was out, best to push ahead.::
K. Brice: ::quietly:: Both I guess. ::she paused:: He knew there was danger, Ethan... four year olds shouldn't have to deal with that. He needs to be a kid.
:: Ethan nodded and chewed on his bottom lip for a moment looking past her, through the starlit window. Thoughts tumbled around in his head like socks in a dryer until finally he held onto one long enough to get it down to his vocal chords and through his mouth.::
E. Brice: You don't think he's better off this way? With his father? With you? With parents he can... he can... rely on to take care of him and protect him?
::She looked out the window and took a breath, trying to keep her emotional temperature calm and quiet. When she did speak her voice was soft, only a little above a whisper.::
K. Brice: You're not... We're not his only option for staying with parents, Ethan.
::He dropped his arms from around her and held his hand over his mouth for a moment, concerned of what might come out if let loose. Instead, he pointed out of the window to the pitch black of space and the twinkling stars.::
E. Brice: I'd rather him be on this ship with us then out there, on one of those planets, having to cope with Rebecca's next onslaught of a boyfriend. She'll have him calling every one of them "dad" while she puppets the doting little boy with the absent father. I won't have my son... our son... in that predicament. I wouldn't leave a dog with her permanently for fear of the tricks she'd teach it.
::The Haliian glanced in the other direction, at the child's room. Taking a step back she folded her arms across her chest, an almost defensive gesture. She knew that Matthew's parents didn't exactly have the most amicable relationship, and she didn't exactly think highly of the former Starfleet officer herself. But that didn't change the fact that she was Matthew's biological mother and being alive with her was better than...::
K. Brice: I know. But even that would be preferable to ending up dead because we kept him here with us.
::In the back of his mind, he knew she was right. Unequivocally. He was putting Matthew in danger by keeping him on the vessel, by wanting him to be nearer to them and have at least some semblance of a stable home to grow up in. The Engineer ran a hand up through his hair.::
E. Brice: You didn't have to deal with your father disappearing on a starship all the time, never seeing him from one month to the next. I don't want that for our children, it's not fair.
::Karynn sighed. Absentmindedly her thumb rubbed the inside of her other elbow.::
K. Brice: You know the mortality rate as well as I do Ethan. And space, the Vaadwaur, the Reaper things, the next big enemy we face, they don't distinguish between officers and civilians, or between adults and children. A Reaper attacked Sidney's daughter. It could have gone after him.
::His fuse was shortening a lot more than the young man would have liked to admit. The fact that he knew she was right was niggling at the back of his head. He had put off sending Matthew back to Earth, saying goodbye to him again and seeing that tearful look in his eyes when he gave the hugs out, maybe thinking it would be the last time he'd ever see his father and indeed, his step-mother, alive again. Over the top, perhaps, but his train of thought took over.::
E. Brice: I don't *care* about Sidney's daughter!
::The remark was quick and loud and he immediately regretted it. He didn't mean that, at all. A child was a child and needed protecting. He sighed and rubbed his tired eyes with his index finger and thumb.::
E. Brice: Sidney's daughter is not my son; she isn't our child. I want my son near me so I can protect him, he's safest here with me where I know where he is.
::Her voice rose slightly, although she did her best to keep it under control. She didn't want to wake Matthew.::
K. Brice: The fact is we're not always around to protect him. I'm on the bridge, you're in engineering. And when things are at their worst, the last thing either one of us can do is take a break from our station saying "Oh sorry, I can't be here, I've got to protect my son."
::His eyes narrowed and he was half way between scoffing and laughing. He turned around, looking up at the ceiling as though some mystical force would come down and prove her wrong.::
E. Brice: I... I can't believe how callous you're being about this... Its dangerous, hell it's space we don't even know about yet, but we're not a war vessel, Karynn! We are scientists, explorers and diplomats! If I can't keep my son on a diplomatic vessel out in the nether reaches of space, where can I put him? On Earth? A million light years from me? ::he mimicked her voice:: "Oh, sorry, my ex is having a bit of boyfriend trouble so I've just got to nip back to the home planet to pick the nipper up." Sounds so much better, doesn't it?
K. Brice: We serve on the flagship in a dangerous region, Ethan. It's hazardous out here and I just don't think this is the safest place for him to be. I'm not trying to be callous - I love that little boy. I'm just trying to be reasonable about the risks.
E. Brice: Reasonable be [...]ed! Tell me, First Officer. Tell me to send my son back to Earth to live with his mother then go in there ::he pointed to his bedroom door:: and tell that to him. Tell him its not that we don't want him, it's that he's not safe here so instead he can go and live with his mother on a planet he barely knows with family who hardly know him.
::She clenched her jaw, fighting back the bit of damp in her eyes. She didn't want to appear weak on this one. She knew on some level that she was right. She wasn't being callous - she was just trying to protect both of the men who were important to her. She kept her voice low, trying to keep the quiver out of it, and for the most part succeeding.::
K. Brice: I can't Ethan... I won't. I won't tell you what to do. The policy on the ship is what it is, and this decision is yours. But think of this... could you ever forgive me if I were in charge, if I gave an order and he died as a result? Because given what just happened on the last mission that seems like a bigger possibility every single day.
::That was it. The nail in the coffin. He tongued his cheek and turned around, zipping up the collar of his uniform and went for the doorway.::
E. Brice: Then I guess its true what they say. Command Officers shouldn't have kids.
:: And walked out into the corridor, letting the door shut behind him.::
::The dampness that had been building in her eye slid out and down her cheek as the door slid shut. Another hot tear followed closely behind. She turned and looked back out the window, watching the galaxy fly past. Brushing them away with her fingers she sighed. All she wanted to do was protect the two men she cared about most - and she had just ended up hurting one of them. But she was right. She knew she was right. Because as much as this hurt now... losing Matthew would hurt him even more.::
::Turning, she headed toward the bedroom. Chasing after him wasn't exactly a good option at the moment. Sleep was probably best...::
Lt. Cmdr. Ethan Brice
R&D Engineering Officer
USS Independence-A
Lt. Cmdr. Karynn Brice


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Hard time software: Why these prisoners learn computer coding
A novel code-writing program at San Quentin prison in California seeks to prepare inmates for life on the 'outside' and reduce the nation's repeat offender rate.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
Chris Schuhmacher, who is serving time at San Quentin prison, is learning how to write computer code as part of a program to help inmates when they get out.
By Ann Scott Tyson Contributor
San Quentin, Calif.
Wearing a blue prison uniform, Chris Schuhmacher sits in a gutted factory building surrounded by the concrete and steel walls of California's oldest penitentiary, San Quentin. Mr. Schuhmacher stares intently at the computer screen in front of him, then types a line of multicolored code. The windowless room is quiet except for the clacking of keyboards and the occasional squeaking of swivel chairs.
This is Schuhmacher's day job at the prison – not stamping out license plates or making furniture, but devising complex computer calculations for one of the fastest-growing start-up companies in the United States. It's a slice of Silicon Valley behind the razor wire of the institution with the largest number of death row inmates in the country.
It's good work for Schuhmacher, who has spent the past 16 years in prison for killing a fellow drug dealer in Los Angeles. It pays well, $16.77 an hour, compared with the usual prison wages of less than $1. And he likes it – back in his cell at night he roughs out answers to coding problems with pen and paper. But most important is what the work will offer Schuhmacher once he gets out: a sense of purpose and the possibility of starting a new life.
Inmates at San Quentin learn how to write computer code as part of The Last Mile program.
"I know my crime was super violent, but I've used my time in prison to my advantage," says Schuhmacher, a tall, thin man with searing blue eyes and close-cropped hair graying around the temples. He graduated from college while behind bars in 2011 with a 3.9 GPA and was chosen as valedictorian. Then he took computer coding classes. Now awaiting a parole board hearing later this year, he is using his wages to pay court-ordered compensation to his victim's family. "It feels great to have a chance to pay the restitution," he says.
Schuhmacher is one of the first employees of a new and unprecedented technology joint venture that began operations in September inside San Quentin. His coding work is destined – via a project manager who acts as a bridge to outside clients – for companies such as Airbnb, a booming San Francisco-based start-up that runs a global website for room and house rentals. The joint venture, The Last Mile Works, is giving these inmates job skills that are in high demand across the US, particularly in nearby San Francisco and Silicon Valley. The venture is a small but cutting-edge experiment in a much broader, nationwide movement aimed at reducing the number of Americans behind bars by lowering the repeat offender rate among freed inmates.
The US has the world's highest rate of incarceration, with 2.3 million adults – about 700 per 100,000 of the population – in federal and state prisons or local jails. That population has grown from 500,000 in 1980, largely as a result of harsh sentencing laws and the war on drugs. Moreover, US prisons have revolving iron doors: About two-thirds of former prisoners are rearrested within three years of their release, and roughly half are reincarcerated over the same time period, studies show.
Chris Redlitz, cofounder of The Last Mile, which helps inmates find jobs.
Yet Schuhmacher and his co-workers at San Quentin are demonstrating that another path is possible – one that leads through education, training, treatment, and introspection to a productive and law-abiding life.
Tapping away at a screen nearby is Harry Hemphill, a college-
educated engineer from Cleveland who landed in San Quentin for assault. Mr. Hemphill, who, like the other inmates, isn't allowed access to the internet inside the prison, is also excited to work for the joint venture. "We are full-stack developers now," he says, rattling off the computer languages he's learned. "We can do [both] everything you can see on the screen and all the brains behind it." When released about three years from now, "I will be marketable," says Hemphill. "The greatest challenge will be getting society to see past me and what I've done to who I am today."
The venture is helping build a community of current and former inmates who share not only a unique opportunity but the determination to establish a better future for themselves, and those who follow, outside prison walls – a hope they say is already spreading in San Quentin's yard.
That enthusiasm is embodied in David Monroe, a soft-spoken man with a steady gaze and ready smile, who helped start the computer coding program at San Quentin. After a childhood in Stockton, Calif., surrounded by poverty, abuse, drugs, and death, Mr. Monroe joined a gang at age 12. "Violence was very natural for me," he says. He was only 15 when he killed a rival gang member – who threatened and disrespected him, he then believed. "I was caught red-handed on the way to drop the gun off," says Monroe. He was tried as an adult by a judge who called him a "cold-blooded murderer" and gave him a sentence of 15 years to life. He has been haunted ever since by the scream of his mother, sitting behind him in the courtroom.
Nearly 20 years later, Monroe feels nothing but shame and regret for taking an innocent life, emotions that have propelled him to spend nearly a decade mentoring at-risk youth who are brought in and exposed to prison life to discourage them from making bad choices. At San Quentin, he earned a college degree and became a certified sheet metal worker. Expecting to be released in December, he will go on parole and live in transitional housing that provides meals and health care. He also has a job waiting at the San Francisco firm RocketSpace, which runs a technology campus for start-ups.
"After 19 years of prison, I'm prepared for anything," he says. "I'm not at all nervous. I have no fears. I'm just ready."
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The explosion of the U.S. prison population has spurred a national conversation on the problem of large-scale incarceration, as advocates on both ends of the political spectrum seek solutions to America's prison crisis.
Conservatives alarmed by the cost of prisons – estimated to total $80 billion a year – and the fiscal pressure on federal, state, and local budgets, want to reduce the prison population to cut taxpayer burdens.
With the expense of imprisoning one inmate running from $30,000 to $40,000 a year, or more than $80 a day, "a lot of states are realizing they can't afford to incarcerate people," says Lauren-Brooke Eisen, senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan institute at the New York University School of Law. In contrast, supervising someone in the community, including with mandatory training or treatment, costs about $3.42 a day, Ms. Eisen says.
Liberals argue that the high rate of incarceration reflects harsh sentencing, disproportionately affects minorities, is inhumane, and causes major "collateral" social and economic damage, such as unpaid child support.
"Our incarceration rates are off the charts compared to any other nations'," says Marc Mauer, executive director of The Sentencing Project, a Washington-based nonprofit. "We have a far more punitive approach to public safety than any other country."
Governments, meanwhile, have imposed "a host of barriers with little connection to public safety that make it more difficult for people [with felony convictions] to reintegrate," by restricting public housing options, access to welfare and food stamps, as well as the right to vote, he says.
A growing body of research has exposed flaws in a heavily punitive approach. "Study after study has shown that punishment can backfire, and recidivism can increase when people spend lengthy time behind bars," says Eisen. "Providing treatment, programming, and job training is much more effective in many cases."
Inmates exercise in the yard at San Quentin prison, long one of the nation's most notorious prisons, which has now become known for its many rehabilitation programs, from Shakespeare classes to an inmate-run TV channel.
Public support for change is gaining momentum. A poll in September showed that nearly 70 percent of US voters – including majorities of both Democrats and Republicans – agree that the main goal of the justice system is rehabilitating prisoners and making them less likely to commit another crime upon release. The poll by the Coalition for Public Safety, a bipartisan organization for justice reform, also found strong bipartisan support for replacing mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent offenders with case-by-case sentencing.
For their part, inmates say they struggle to turn their lives around while navigating the violence and gang activity common behind prison walls. "You have to let go of your humanity to survive prison," says Aly Tamboura, a divorced father of three, reflecting on his more than 12 years at San Quentin a few days before his recent release.
Wearing black-rimmed glasses and the hint of a goatee, the well-spoken inmate sounds more like a middle-aged academic than a man serving time for threatening his wife with a gun after accusing her of having an affair. Indeed, Mr. Tamboura, formerly an engineer who ran his own geotechnical business, has been a model prisoner. He writes for San Quentin's prisoner-run newspaper, won an entrepreneurship award for a company he designed, and didn't have a single day added to his sentence for bad behavior.
"That was incredibly difficult," he says, explaining how it's impossible to just walk away from adversaries. "Most conflict in prison is solved by violence."
Having grown accustomed to being unable to cry or show weakness, Tamboura says he fears he won't be able to express feelings of warmth and intimacy upon returning to his family. He recalls having to hide his grief when he learned an aunt who helped raised him had died. "I had nowhere to go. I laid on my bunk and turned toward the wall and stayed there all day," he says.
Soon after arriving at San Quentin, Tamboura was walking in the prison yard when a man staggered toward him, a hand over his bleeding stomach. Tamboura, trained as a first responder, moved instinctively to help the man, but another inmate stopped him. "Get away! If the guards think you stabbed him, you could be shot!" he warned.
"That was a turning point for me," Tamboura says. "They put you in prison to become better, but prison life demands you give up some humanity."
Aly Tamboura, who was recently released after more than 12 years in San Quentin.
Chris Redlitz walks through San Quentin's arched brick entry into what resembles the gatehouse of a medieval castle. The slim, white-haired entrepreneur passes a building labeled in gothic calligraphy as the "Adjustment Center," where the most hardened criminals are housed. He pauses at the original stone dungeon of the prison, completed in 1854.
San Quentin has a notorious history, and it still houses the most people on death row in the US, more than 740 men. But in recent years the prison has earned a reputation among authorities and inmates alike as one of the nation's more progressive correctional facilities. Thousands of volunteers like Mr. Redlitz from San Francisco and Marin County work with some 3,800 inmates in dozens of programs, from Shakespeare and yoga classes; to an award-winning, privately funded prison university; to an in-house TV and radio channel.
Dressed entirely in black as required to set him apart from inmates, Redlitz stops a short distance from the prison yard, a dirt and gravel expanse with a baseball diamond and tennis courts, pull-up bars, and punching bags. The yard is surrounded by walls topped with concertina wire and towers where armed guards keep a watchful eye.
"A marathon is 105 laps around the track," Redlitz says. "The best time is about 3 hours, 20 minutes."
Groups of inmates are playing sports and milling around talking. What at first glance appears to be a scene of spontaneous recreation is in fact one of clearly defined turf, with the men self-segregated by race and ethnicity.
"The group in front is the Mexicans, and the ones by the fence are white," Redlitz observes. "The blacks are in the basketball court and the Asians around the tennis court."
Six years ago, Redlitz, manager of Transmedia Capital, a Silicon Valley technology venture fund, first visited San Quentin to give a talk about entrepreneurship. What he encountered surprised him.
"I didn't think it would have any resonance, but these guys had done their homework. The conversation was far deeper than I expected," he recalls. Soon he was the one doing homework – on the causes of overflowing prisons in the US and the fiscal burden they've created. "A light went off for me," he says. "I thought, I have some tools. I know a lot of people running companies. I can fix this."
Week after week, Redlitz and his business partner and wife, Beverly Parenti, returned to San Quentin to build a rapport with inmates. "It took us a year just to get to the point where they trusted us," Redlitz says. "I'm an old white guy from Silicon Valley who is now dealing with young black guys who grew up in gangs."
The early meetings with a handful of inmates took place in a tiny room they called the "mop closet." State corrections authorities were initially skeptical of his plans. Redlitz created a curriculum, recruited teachers, and slowly won backing from the state government.
By 2012, Redlitz and Ms. Parenti founded The Last Mile, a nonprofit devoted to breaking the cycle of mass incarceration in America by providing inmates with career training and help finding jobs after their release.
There are plenty of people who need such help. Even though the US prison population has been declining modestly since its peak in 2009, some 600,000 inmates are still released in the US each year. Experts say it's vital to address the shortage of prison education, job training, and mental health programs to increase their chances of successful reintegration.
Inmates who take education courses are 43 percent less likely than those who don't to return to prison within three years, according to a 2014 study by the RAND Corp. They are also 13 percent more likely to get jobs. "Education in prison is a win-win," says Fred Patrick, director of sentencing and corrections for the Vera Institute of Justice in New York. "For every dollar invested in education in prison, there is a $4 to $5 savings from the reduced recidivism rate."
Job training has also been shown to reduce the number of repeat offenders. In California, for example, inmates who work in joint ventures have a recidivism rate of 9 percent, compared with 45 percent for the general population, according to Chuck Pattillo, general manager of the California Prison Industry Authority (CALPIA).
For this reason, even many critics of recent moves in California to reform harsh sentencing laws support programs like The Last Mile.
"They are few and far between," says Harriet Salarno, chairman of the board and cofounder of Crime Victims United of California, an Auburn, Calif., victims' rights group. "We are not against these programs; it's just not enough."
The Last Mile, which so far has trained 80 inmates in entrepreneurship and computer coding skills, sets stringent standards both to prevent inmates from reoffending – inside or outside prison – and to produce high-caliber employees. Inmates can only apply to the program if they have not violated any prison rules for two years. They must have a GED diploma, take a written test and a logic test, and have a one-on-one interview. Only about 10 percent of those who apply are accepted. They each sign an oath pledging good behavior.
If they show up late for class or commit an offense, they are thrown out of the program. So far, no participant has reoffended. On the contrary, inmates have embraced the computer coding classes, and in some cases bonded over the challenge.
"Coding is a lot about collaboration," Redlitz says. "We have Crips and Bloods working together, blacks and Mexicans, Cambodians and Vietnamese."
Participants learn workplace skills. "In prison you don't shake hands, so we taught them how to shake hands and look people in the eye," he says. Graduates of the coding program are now candidates for paid jobs in The Last Mile Works, the new joint venture set up in September with CALPIA.
In coming years, the 22,000-square-foot facility is scheduled to house five classrooms and 96 joint venture employees. With the US facing a projected 1 million unfilled web development jobs by 2020, the San Quentin "tech incubator" will offer US companies an alternative to outsourcing projects to foreign countries. The goal is for joint venture profits to enable The Last Mile to become self-sustaining.
The program is currently expanding into five other California prisons, and has drawn interest from several other states, as well as Mexico and other countries.
Washington State is following suit. In June, a new Seattle-based organization called Unloop began partnering with local community colleges to offer computer coding classes in two state prisons. It wants to create a flow of former inmates into Seattle-area computer programming jobs, which pay as much as $120,000 a year.
"Learning how to code is not rocket science," says David Almeida, cofounder of Unloop, who worked on business strategy for Microsoft. "We believe anyone can learn the skill, and the demand creates a unique opportunity to get people in high-wage jobs without a bachelor's degree."
Unloop will help coding camp graduates get jobs by pairing them with professional mentors, who will advise them on how to interview and network as well as what to wear to tech "meetups."
"Getting a job in the tech industry is not about sending out 100 résumés; it's about who you know," says Lindsey Wilson, cofounder of Unloop.
Alamin McAdoo (l.) and Darnell Hill, who participated in The Last Mile program when they were inmates at San Quentin prison, sit at their new workplace, a distributor of natural products, in San Bruno, Calif.
The day Darnell Hill left San Quentin two years ago, after 24 years behind bars, he felt as though he were "walking into another planet." His eyes were open, but he could not see. All he could hear was a voice telling him: "You are home. You are home."
Everything was new. He had to learn about cellphones, the internet, Twitter, and blogs. On a deeper level, he had to manage all the complex emotions he was finally free to express. But amid the vulnerability and uncertainty of the moment, Mr. Hill did not have to worry about major necessities such as food, housing, and finding a job.
With the help of The Last Mile's business network, Hill quickly landed an interview at Grove Collaborative, a San Francisco-based distributor of natural products, from soy candles to sustainable skin care lotions. Within two months, his work ethic had earned him the keys to a million-dollar company, where he now manages the warehouse.
Then Hill did something unusual. He went back to San Quentin with a message to those inside: I have work for you when you get out. Early this year, Hill asked another former inmate, Alamin McAdoo, to try out for a job. Ninety days later, Mr. McAdoo had proved himself and was hired full time.
McAdoo lives in an eight-man apartment in a transitional facility with a nightly curfew. He reports to a harried parole officer once a month. But he takes pride in his warehouse job, where he packages products and conducts quality control. "It's a pretty big responsibility for me," says McAdoo.
"I can't speak highly enough about the character and attitude of the people who come out of that program," says Stuart Landesberg, chief executive officer of Grove Collaborative. "Darnell knows he is not just working for himself, but for the company ... and all the guys in the program today and years into the future."
A similar dynamic exists in downtown San Francisco, where two other Last Mile graduates, Kenyatta Leal and Vinh Nguyen, now work closely together managing all the campus services for RocketSpace. A third graduate, Monroe, is expected to join their team upon his release from San Quentin at the end of the year. It is the first real job for Mr. Nguyen and Monroe, both convicted of murder as teenagers.
One of the vital intangibles of The Last Mile is its tight-knit community of current and former inmates. As they confront myriad risks and challenges adjusting to an unfamiliar world – the stigma of their past, the pull of old habits, and above all their own lack of confidence – they can rely on each other.
Indeed, for many, helping others avoid or overcome mistakes has become a passion. Mr. Leal, a tall, affable man, thought he would die in prison serving a life sentence until California voters approved a referendum in 2012 that eased the three strikes rule and brought him freedom almost overnight.
He credits the hopeful mind-set he mustered inside San Quentin for buoying him today. His dream is to work full time for The Last Mile to expand its mission in California and globally.
"Every day I saw defeated men. Like zombies they walked to the yard, the chow hall, the cell block, and did nothing to try to free their mind," he recalls. "If you free this first – that's where it's at," he says, tapping his head with both hands.
"It's about the glass being half full, not half empty. Yeah, I am in prison, but I am not in Pelican Bay, [a prison for the most serious offenders] where they really are stabbing each other every day," he says. "I am in San Quentin and I can go to this program. Then I saw someone going home, and I thought, if they can do it – I can do it," he says.
"The only way out – is in."
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


There comes a point in January, when the post Christmas catch ups are had, that latest trip home seems like a million years ago and the typical desert expat starts wishing the year away. I don't mean it's unbearable, a slog or there is pure desperation to get out, but there is a definite moment when the planning heads go on and we start to have markers in the calendar. We haven't even finished January and I bet that most have up to September all planned out! So as Hubs and I are joining this bandwagon and trying to pin down our plans, I ask myself it this really necessary or just a desert thing?
I soon realise that the further away from home you get, the more mindful of your plans you need to become. It's not just pressure from my own crazy inner voice, but from friends and family all wanting to know the next time you would be swooping into their lives for the annual reunion. This is immense pressure, as whilst you love seeing them, you also have to weigh up the financial aspect and what else you could do with that money and time. Harsh? But its true, if the shoe was on the other foot would you spend a £1000 on a flight home or go somewhere fabulous?
Life in Kuwait, seems to have some definitive markers, moments when you are almost expected to leave with the masses. February is national and liberation days, which I can honestly say 90% of the expats I know, never stay for, taking advantage of some early 2019 R&R and leaving the locals to celebrate, with road blocks, street parties, water flights and all night festivities. So like so many, we always plan a trip in the first 7 weeks of the year and it's decided before the previous one has ended!
Ramadan of course plays a huge part in our life in the desert. With the holy month shifting a few weeks every year, it ultimately pushes schedules into huge changes. When it falls at the start of the summer break, the obvious mass exodus will occur, but as the two become out of line, the summer break plans seem to be more important. Eid follows Ramadan and is usually a three-day public holiday (depending on where is falls) which many expats take advantage of. But as everyone has the same idea, supply and demand increases, flight & hotel availability lessens and its seems like my whole Expat circle end up in Dubai.
There we have it, already half way through the year and the dreaded summer break encroaches. I say dreaded as it seems to be the largest debate amongst us desert girls. The ones with kids, want to escape the extreme summer heat and fill the kids days with outdoor activities. The ones sans the little monkeys, debate when is the best time to go, bearing in mind NO ONE is here in August. Then there's me, I don't have anywhere really to go. We have no house in our home country to escape to, no holiday home in the European sunshine, no kids moaning they're bored for 9 weeks and who actually don't really want to go anywhere. The issue I have is that socially June to September are deadly quiet. I can honestly say there is barely a soul left in Kuwait and the soaring summer temperatures mean you are isolated to air con induced activity, so my usual plan is to head back to my sunny island haven.
Whilst this is lovely, and wow last summers weather was incredible, and I get to spend lovely quality time with my family, it was 4 weeks away from Hubs. Something neither of us relish and here lies the problem. This is a universal problem for those that choose to spend the whole 9 week break out of Kuwait. The husbands will catch up with the family for maybe 2 of those 9 but ultimately, the desert is filled with sad looking men, who live on noodles, Talabat (Desert takeaway app) and endless hours in the gym. So what do you do? As each summer approaches there is a general consensus that less and less of us are spending it back with the family in our home countries. The endless weeks of sofa surfing, driving around from house to house, trying to shoe horn into established family routines, has become less appealing. The longer you are away, the more at home you feel in your host country and the place you feel more in tune with.
Just like that, Christmas will be on people's minds and with it those most expensive flights of the year. It will need to be booked fast (if they haven't already over the summer months). There will be a handful of those that will stay put, husbands having to take "their turn" to work and wives will bustle around making sure that it's as perfect as it can be. For those escaping, the Kuwait London flight becomes like a Jersey London flight, everyone knows everyone, everyone has a similar plan and most will be returning at the last possible moment for school term. At this point. Christmas is the only thing Hubs and I have planned! Not surprisingly that one half of this couple is Christmas obsessed and it was my only condition of moving to Kuwait, was I would get Christmas out of the desert, so come January 2nd discussions are already being had, much to his dismay.
Are we wishing the year away? I don't feel like I am, but as I write this it does become very apparent that once you have plotted these markers out, the year does seem incredibly short and I know it will fly by. The fact of the matter is, that I don't think I could do it any other way. Being aware of peaks in expat travel, means that prices do rise, so planning ends up being crucial. The balance of vacation time and family time needs to be struck, they need to understand that coming back to visit and running around seeing everyone isn't always a vacation and whilst to the. it seems like we're on "permanent vacation" its not that simple.
My passing comment to you dear readers is…..To those who are eagerly awaiting your expat family member to book their flight to see you, perhaps anticipate the hard decisions they are trying to make and don't take it personally, if perhaps this time, they do something different. To my fellow expats that are weighing up what is the best scenario, remember that you made this move for you and no one else. Moving away doesn't always mean that you have to fulfil the same role you have always had back home. Plan the year that will give you the best experiences, build the best memories and cause you the least stress. It's only 12 months, lets not waste them, expat or not.
Sounds like a lot of serious talking and planning goes on in january every year. Exciting to book breaks and holidays though, lots to look forward to I guess.
You always have a few trips to look forward to which must be great.
Great thoughts! We have only been expatting for a few months, so this was a great preview of the full calendar cycle that goes along with it. And we too have thought much about traveling to new places while here or prioritizing trips to see family-a tough balance indeed. What's been your favorite holiday destination since you've been in Kuwait?


E&K Automation is specialized in automatization of material flow and storage solutions by manufacturing innovative and flexible AGVs (Automated Guided Vehicles), so called transport robots. The company configures intelligent and efficient solutions for highly diverse transport tasks, and that even for outdoor applications. The clients of EK benefit enormously from the constant production chain by operating with outdoor AGVs in order to connect two production buildings and, at least, they benefit from the permanent track-n-tracing of their material flow.
While industrial AGVs normally drive indoor on clean concrete, even ground floors – that mostly are the best floor conditions for AGVs – applications in outdoor areas always present new challenges such as crossing rail tracks or the integration into in-house traffic regulations. In addition, the vehicle technology and the transport goods must be protected against rain, snow, cold or heat. For a constant outdoor operation and to protect the goods from bad weather days, the vehicles are completely covered and equipped with roller doors.
The transport robotic concepts for outdoor applications can also be realised with fully automated serial fork lift trucks. For this purpose, the automated EK SERIES SMART MOVE will be equipped with weather proofed and safety devices. Thanks to their robust design, the use of proven navigation systems, the long-lasting drives and state-of-the-art personal safety devices, EK transport robots are very reliable automated solutions and designed for a continuous 24/7 operation.


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Two more Pankisi youth leave Georgia to join IS in Syria
(Interpressnews.)
TBILISI, DFWatch–Two Georgian boys, one 18 and the other younger, have allegedly left the country to become fighers for Islamic State in Syria, acording to locals.
The two were attending tenth and eleventh grade at a school in the village Omalo, in Pankisi Gorge. They have now been missing for two days.
Locals think they may have left for Syria, and this was later confirmed by the Interior Ministry. Nino Giorgobiani, spokesperson for the Interior Ministry, on Saturday informed that general inspection will study how 16-year-old illegally crossed the border.
The two will now likely be in Turkey heading to Syria. Giorgobiani says Georgia notified Turkish party to provide information about them.
In the end of February, Information Center of Kakheti (ICK) wrote that more young people from Pankisi have joined the war in Syria.
There has been pressure on the government to stop Pankisi youth from being recruited for Islamic State. In December, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said the Pankisi youth are no longer going to Syria. Parliament is working to establish stricter punishment for those who go abroad to fight with terrorist organizations.
Beslan Margoshvilli, 18, was also missing from mid-January and is also likely to be in Syria with IS.
The most well-known IS fighter from Pankisi is Tarkhan Batirashvili, 29, also known as Omar Al-Shishani.
By DFWatch staff| 2015-04-05T16:36:34+04:00 April 5th, 2015|Categories: In brief|Tags: ISIS, Pankisi, Pankisi youth joining Islamic State|0 Comments
Georgia makes it mandatory for schools and kindergartens to display national symbols
Ex-President Saakashvili says Russia is also planning to attack Georgia, along with Ukraine
"We won convincingly": Georgian Dream chairman sums up last year
US reaffirms support for Georgia as tensions between West and Russia grow
PACE co-rapporteurs to make monitoring visit to Georgia


I was working with the 60-day trial license until it expired a couple of weeks ago for both FE and BE. Therefore, last week I generated a code for FE and it worked perfectly. However, today I generated a code for BE but it did not work. I decided to reinstall BE from scratch, hoping to be able to work for another 60 day on trail version, however it did not let me do this and requested me to get a key. I requested a new key but still VEDA BE does not activate, when I pick use evaluation version a box says that my license has expired.
Would you be kind enough to give me any insights on how to proceed?


Check Bajra for impurities and clean. Add some water to soak it. Now put Bajra in a mortar and beat it till all the hay is separated from it. Check and clean the Bajra from hay. Clean, pretty Bajra grains are ready to make Bajra rice. Most of the hard work and time is put into preparing the Bajra grains.
Pour water in a cooker and heat. Also put Ghee and stir, close the cooker's lid. Let 1 whistle go off then cook Bajra rice on a low flame for 8 minutes. Turn off the gas.
Once all of the pressure is released from the cooker, open its lid. Your Bajra rice is ready and the smells heavenly.
Take out Bajra rice in a bowl. Serve hot Bajra rice with Kadi Pakore, curd or Arhar dal and enjoy your dish.


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Collectric Ltd helps bring Sweeney Todd into 21st Century
You are here: Home » Latest News » Collectric Ltd helps bring Sweeney Todd into 21st Century
Arguably the best barber in Victorian London, Sweeney Todd infamously uses his cut throat razors to seek revenge on those with whom he bears a grudge.
Fast forward over 100 years and professional barbers today prefer a bloodless method when it comes to shaving their clients.
For those opting to stay true to their roots using traditional bladed razors, instead of electric shavers, one innovative Liverpool company is helping these shaving professionals to maintain their perfectly sharp and pristine razor blades in a novel way.
BOST are pleased to be collaborating with Collectric Ltd, distributors of the iHead Sphynx ShaveStation, to raise awareness of the unique sensor-based device, which maintains the peak condition of razors to allow smooth shaving.
Dave Hellier, Owner of Collectric Ltd said: "I was really impressed with BOST's performance of 'Oliver!' last year at the Royal Court theatre.
"When I heard that they were performing 'Sweeney Todd' next, I was keen to get involved as a number of my business activities link in with the musical thriller."
Collectric Ltd, who are based in Sensor City, will be showcasing one of the iHead Sphynx ShaveStation machines in the Royal Court theatre during the week of the show.
The ShaveStation razor blade cleaning appliance which is used by barbers, hairdressers and body hair specialists has a self contained water supply and portable structure which allows for a shorter preparation time, reduced water usage and a reduced risk of cross infection.
Live demonstrations of the unit in action will take place ahead of each performance in the Circle's bar area of the theatre. Other Sphynx appliances, tools and products dedicated to razor head shaving will also be on display.
For more information, visit Collectric's website.


The Finnish Literature Society (SKS) and ITEM – Institut des textes & manuscrits modernes will organise an international and interdisciplinary conference GENESIS – HELSINKI 2017: Creative Processes and Archives in Arts and Humanities in Helsinki, 7th – 9th June 2017.
GENESIS – Helsinki 2017 will be the first broad conference on Genetic Criticism in the Nordic countries. Genetic Criticism (critique génétique) is a discipline that explores writing processes and other creative work. Its central research corpora comprise various archival sources from writer's notes to drafts, and other types of manuscripts.
Genetic research can reveal, for instance, how a writer has outlined, developed and revised a literary work regarding its structures, topics, themes, symbols and style. Thus, genetic research can enrich interpretations of literature. In addition to writing, genetic critics have been interested in other creative processes such as cinema and architecture.
GENESIS – HELSINKI 2017 will provide an international and interdisciplinary forum for the theory and practice of Genetic Criticism from various angles.
Some of the keynotes and plenary panel papers are available online.
The conference fee is 35 €. To register for the conference, please complete the registration form.
Participants are kindly invited to the reception at the Embassy of France (Itäinen Puistotie 13) on Wednesday evening, 7th of June at 6:00 p.m. The option to sign up for the reception will be offered on the online registration form. Due to limited capacity of the reception, early registration is recommended.
The Conference Dinner will take place on Thursday evening, 8th of June, in Restaurant Savu (in Tervasaari, Helsinki). If you wish to attend the conference dinner (45 € per person), please fill the required fields on the registration form.
All conference venues are within walking distance of the Finnish Literature Society (Map).
For restaurants near the conference venues, please see Restaurants Map.
The conference is organised by the Finnish Literature Society – SKS (www.finlit.fi/en) and ITEM (www.item.ens.fr) in cooperation with several institutional partners: Ambassade de France en Finlande; Cardiff University; Centre for Manuscript Genetics, Antwerp; Finnish National Agency for Education; Huygens ING, Amsterdam; Jean Sibelius Works, Helsinki; Loughborough University; The National Library of Finland; The Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland; Université Paris 3; University of Helsinki (Finnish Literature / Department of Finnish, Finno-Ugrian and Scandinavian Studies; French Philology / Department of Modern Languages), and University of Turku – School of Languages and Translation Studies.
The conference has been supported by The Federation of Finnish Learned Societies and Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation.
Hanna Karhu (University of Helsinki / Finnish Literature Society – SKS / ITEM), Sakari Katajamäki (Finnish Literature Society – SKS / Edith – Critical Editions of Finnish Literature), Christophe Leblay (University of Turku / ITEM), Veijo Pulkkinen (University of Helsinki), and Sakari Ylivuori (Jean Sibelius Works).


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CEHP
Interviews - Press
Public Ηealth
The Centre for Research & Education in Public Health, Health Policy & Primary Health Care [CEPH] will support independent critical research and education in a broad range of disciplines relevant to health.
Guided by the view that health is a social right, it will highlight through scientific research, the adverse effects of austerity and privatisation on healthcare and social welfare, and the widen inequalities that result and will focus its research on the advantages and scope for the development of publicly funded and collectively planned provided health care in the post Covid 19 era
The Center will encourage interdisciplinary collaboration drawing upon perspectives and techniques from philosophy, sociology, anthropology, political economy, health services research, and social epidemiology. Its purview will encompass research on International Health, Migration and Ecology, in addition to attention to Greek health and social policy. In addition to carrying out research, it will actively publicise and disseminate research findings.
Feride Aksu-Tanik, Professor of Public Health, Turkey
Thanasis Alexiou, Professor of Sociology, Greece
Fram Baum, Professor of Public Health, Australia
Hans-Ulrich Deppe, Professor of Medical Sociology, Germany
Miran Epstein, Reader in Medical Ethics, UK
David Himmelstain, Professor of Public Health and Health Policy, USA
Elias Kondilis, Associate Professor of Primary Health Care and Health Policy, Greece
Colin Leys, Emeritus Professor of Political Economy, UK
Kayhan Pala, Professor of Public Health, Turkey
Christos Papatheodorou, Professor of Social Policy, Greece
Maria Pempetzoglou, Associate Professor of Public Economics, Greece
Maria Petmesidou, Emeritus Professor of Social Policy, Greece
Howard Waitzkin, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Social Medicine, USA
Steffie Woolhandler, Professor of Public Health, USA
Coordinator: Alexis Benos, Professor of Hygiene, Social Medicine and Primary Health Care, Greece
© 2020 Centre for Research & Education in Public Health, Health Policy & Primary Health Care
For all enquiries please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Top Cities to Work in Tech in 2018 | MATRIX Resources, Inc.
SmartAsset examined nearly 200 metro areas across the U.S. using metrics like average salary, average cost of living, tech employment concentration, unemployment rate and ratio of average pay-to-tech pay to determine the best cities for tech workers.
One of the biggest takeaways is to avoid the Northeast; the only city from this region that made the top 30 is Wilmington, DE. Iowa shines with two cities in the top five: Des Moines and Cedar Rapids. Coming in at third is Dallas, TX, where nearly 1 in every 20 workers is in the tech industry (BLS). Texas cities Dallas, San Antonio and Houston all beat out Austin when all factors were considered.


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The secret parts of Truro Cathedral you're not allowed to see
'There are a lot of secret bits to Truro Cathedral that visitors don't know exist'
Olivier VergnaultSenior Reporter
Truro Cathedral may tower over the city like a beacon, its clean lines and minimalist aesthetics attracting the eye, like a landmark for all.
Many will have gone inside to pray, seek solace and comfort, shelter even, or enjoy the choir music for which it has become famous or simply as tourists interested in the history and architecture of the place.
But very few can say they have gone behind the scenes and explored the cathedral's nooks and crannies, gone up and down the 228 steps leading to the top of Victoria Tower to take in the ultimate view of Cornwall's capital city.
Cornwall Live was given exclusive access to join a group of cathedral tour guides who wished to explore the cathedral's secret spaces so they too can share their knowledge with visitors.
Taking in the architecture wonder that is Truro Cathedral (Image: Greg Martin / Cornwall Live)
You will need to be relatively fit and healthy to access all areas at the cathedral. Not only are there hundreds of claustrophobic poorly lit stairs to go up to reach the upper parts of the building, it is 244ft high and very much vertigo inducing. Going behind the scenes at Truro Cathedral is not for the faint hearted.
Meet the man in Cornwall trying to make God relevant to the Facebook generation
Truro Cathedral is the first Anglican cathedral built in England since the Reformation. While most visitors assume it dates back to the Middle Ages, at 109-year-old it is a baby.
There are parish churches dotted all over Cornwall which are older than that.
A feat of Victorian engineering and a testament to Cornwall's craftsmanship and will to build the Duchy's first cathedral, it is full of quirks and kinks.
Inside Truro Cathedral choir looking back towards the nave (Image: Greg Martin / Cornwall Live)
The cathedral, built in a Gothic Revival design by John Loughborough Pearson whose statue holding a model of the cathedral adorns the frontispiece above the main entrance door, is asymmetric for it incorporates the medieval parish church of St Mary's into its design.
Even more subtle than that, its nave is not straight.
Inside the haunted Truro church which has been abandoned for years
What may appear as a trick of the light as you deambulate round the aisle and transepts, gazing at the intricate stone carving work of the reredos behind the altar or the finely carved Burmese teak choir stalls, or again at the red porphyry marble baptismal font supported by serpentine stone pillars from The Lizard, is in fact a purpose-built oddity.
A first flight of stairs leads to the gallery and its commanding view of the central nave, crossing and altar. When the cathedral holds concerts and events it is one of the best views in the house.
The central nave of Truro Cathedral as seen from inside Victoria Tower (Image: Greg Martin / Cornwall Live)
This is where the cathedral's wonky design truly becomes obvious. When the cathedral was being built (it started in 1880 and was fully completed in 1910), the project ran out of money and stopped for 10 years until more funds could be gathered to complete the edifice.
When the builders moved back on site and the project's backers refused to compromise on their vision they realised they would have to pull down houses and shops to complete the second half. Instead, they built a nave that does not fully line up with the rest of the building.
Had the cathedral been completed in a straight line, the frontispiece would have been in the middle of where the road is now.
Behind the scenes at Truro Cathedral
Once you see the kink in the nave you won't be able to unsee it.
Something else which betrays the cathedral's Anglican Victorian origins is the lack of crypt and interred nobles and famous people.
There is no relic or body of any saint hidden in a stone chamber underneath the altar, there is no noble lord's sarcophagus or any great and famous laid to rest inside the building.
Look up next time you visit Truro Cathedral (Image: Greg Martin / Cornwall Live)
"There is no dead body in the cathedral," joked Alan Bashforth, the cathedral's canon chancellor as he led the party of guides on our behind-the-scenes tour.
The 300ft long vessel of stone reaching to the heavens with its 244ft tall Victoria tower may have been built where the churchyard of St Mary's parish church once stood (all the bodies were moved to another church in the city), but you won't find a single dead person on site.
Past the bell-ringing platform we reach roof space. There you can see the solid oak timber frame that supports the roof and the rough hewed mortar work that holds the ceiling of the nave below.
Ruth Whitford has worked as a cleaner at Truro Cathedral for many years (Image: Greg Martin / Cornwall Live)
A wooden gangway, which dates back to the 1990s allows for better access to the roof space.
Once you have climbed the claustrophobic vertigo-inducing stone staircases and earned the right to walk along the gangway and breathe in the dust of ages past, you will realise how intricate the workmanship is up here and how quiet the space is too.
Inside the home of Cornwall's human skull collector
"This is my favourite space in the cathedral," Dan Beacham admitted. As one of five vergers - or caretakers - working for Truro Cathedral, he knows the building intimately and literally inside and out for he has worked all the way into the roof space and church tower both inside and out as well as down on the ground inside the vast nave.
A carpenter and joiner by trade he hails from a family of methodist ministers but never thought of joining the clergy.
Inside the roof space that is not accessible to the public at Truro Cathedral (Image: Greg Martin / Cornwall Live)
"I've been brought up in church really. Both my parents were ministers. I wanted to use my skills with the church but didn't want to go down the clergy route. For me the roof space is the most amazing space in the cathedral.
"There are so many hidden parts and the gangway is one of them. You can see and appreciate the other side of the cathedral and how it was built and the skills involved to do that. Back then they didn't have scaffolding like we have today or power tools.
Inside the abandoned Cornwall factory untouched for 12 years
"It was all done by hand. As a carpenter I can appreciate how difficult it would have been and the craftsmanship involved.
"Truro cathedral is an amazing building but there are a lot of secret bits to it that most visitors don't know exist."
From the organ below designed by Father Willis, the most revered organ maker of the Victorian age and its 2,400 pipes, to the tower design, everything you see is a feat of Cornish engineering.
Inside the roof space of Truro Cathedral - one of the areas not accessible to the general public (Image: Greg Martin / Cornwall Live)
But the cathedral needs all our help. Chinks of light peer through parts of the slate roof. "You're standing under the £2m new roof," Alan Bashforth said as we took in the sight.
"Where light comes through and we don't want to see too much of that, it's where there's another £1.8m worth of work to go."
Lowest tide in years reveals strange object with remarkable story
It takes £1.3m a year to operate and maintain Truro Cathedral yet it only receives £400,000 from the Church of England Commissioners every year. The rest is from donations and events.
In the loft space, bright red extinguishers stick out in alcoves - out of place and incongruous. There is a worrying sign above one of the gangway doors warning against asbestos but all it reflects is how the cathedral is a living space where modern day insulation and repair work have been carried out over the years.
A pigeon nesting on the windowsill of Truro Cathedral great rosace window as seen from inside the roof space of the building (Image: Greg Martin / Cornwall Live)
Pigeons roost on the window sill of the great rosace window above the Victorian stain glass masterpiece.
Unseen by the world but for the vergers and guides who are given rare access to the hidden and secret cathedral like we were that day.
For the guides the idea is that when visitors ask 'what's up there?' they can answer.
Inside abandoned haunted house that no one has lived in for 50 years
While unseen by all, the glass pieces in the rosace are not plain or betray poor workmanship. Pale blues and soft shades of green jostle for position among the translucent and discreet yellow pieces, secret sparkles in the dim light.
It is an amazing space indeed.
Two thirds of the way up Victoria Tower, inside Truro Cathedral, is this empty space with louvres through which the wind howls and blows. It helps reduce the pressure on the outside of the building and reduces the risks of seeing the tower fall down (Image: Greg Martin / Cornwall Live)
"If we can cover all the health and safety bases," Alan said. "We'd love to be able to take fee paying visitors up here and show what an incredible space the cathedral is even behind the scenes."
Matt Roberts, has only been a verger for over two months and has been up the tower once before. For him it is the view of the city that does it.
"Up here you have a completely different view and feel of the city below. You get the wind and the noise. It's amazing."
Exploring the abandoned Cornwall quarry that is a secret wild swimming retreat
Further up the 228 claustrophobic steps that lead up the tower, we stand 100ft up above street level into a space where louvres alleviate the air pressure by letting the wind do its thing through the structure so pressure does not build up and the tower topples down.
Behind the scenes at Truro Cathedral, in areas that are not accessible to members of the public (Image: Greg Martin / Cornwall Live)
You can hear the hum of the city below. We are blind but for slits into the masonry walls.
"There is a clock tower," Dan explained. "But there is no clock. Not on the outside anyway. It's one of the quirks of the cathedral that makes this space so different and unique.
The derelict beauty of abandoned Cornwall - in stunning pictures
"We have a clock but it is inside and it is reverse. The mechanism goes anti clockwise. There used to be a clock on the outside but what's left is its mirror image. The mechanism goes anti clockwise but it still gives the right time though."
One of the towers of Truro Cathedral as seen from the top of Victoria Tower (Image: Greg Martin / Cornwall Live)
As we reach the top of the tower and walk around the spire to take the view, disrupting roosting pigeons that flap away in anger, it is indeed breathtaking.
From Boscawen Park and the Truro river at one end to the wind turbines bordering the A30 on the other side and the viaduct, we take it all in. From those lofty heights, Cornwall's little city looks so beautiful.
*A special thank you to the dean of the cathedral, the Right Reverend Roger Bush and Canon Alan Bashforth for making this behind the scenes visit happen.
Builders have unearthed a lost Victorian street in Cornwall
Inside Cornish 'Mary Celeste' home left untouched for more than 20 years


This weekend, during the 84th Annual Academy Awards, fans will have the chance to join comedians in a 'digital dais,' tweeting their best jokes and tracking comments about the broadcast.
William Shatner, Pamela Anderson, Bob Saget–for Hollywood celebrities, being the subject of a raunchy, offensive, uncensored Comedy Central Roast is often a rite of passage. For viewers, celebrity roasts are a chance to watch comedians and others in the entertainment business tee off on their favorite stars.
The roast of Charlie Sheen drew 6.4 million viewers, almost twice the audience of previous roasts of Donald Trump and former Baywatch star David Hasselhoff. Now the folks behind TweetRoast, a social media-based platform delivering Tweet-based Roasts, are hoping to allow fans to become part of the dais.
This weekend, during the 84th Annual Academy Awards, fans will have the chance to join comedians in a 'digital dais,' tweeting their best jokes and tracking comments about the broadcast using the hashtag #TweetRoast. Of particular interest to any aspiring comedians out there, the amateur roaster with the funniest Tweets of the night will be asked to join the official dais during the next event.
Tweet Roast is the brainchild of Pittsburgh-based technology and marketing agency Fireman Creative, in conjunction with a New York-based film and television production company. Two of the biggest stand-up comedy websites, The Laugh Button and LaughSpin will sponsor the launch of the inaugural event.
"We really want to give fans the chance to interact with celebrities and video programming in new and different ways. First and foremost, we hope Tweet Roast is a hit for our users" said Paul Fireman, founder of Fireman Creative. "We're also hoping the platform may prove to be a launching pad for new talent, as one lucky fan will be invited to serve as a guest roaster on the next Tweet Roast" Fireman added.
With traditional broadcast television viewership taking a hit from the rise in popularity and availability of on-demand streaming video, new offerings such as Tweet Roast just might be the way to keep their audience engaged.
Find Shawn at shawngraham.me or connect with him on Twitter.


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University of London, Royal Holloway College, School of Management
Surrey, Egham TW20 8DG
Employment Relations at the Workplace Level in China: Two Contrasting Cases
Royal Holloway, University of London, School of Management Working Paper No. 1001
Yu and Chris Smith
University of London, Royal Holloway College, School of Management and University of London, Royal Holloway College, School of Management
Employment relations, dual-pressure, relative autonomy, Multinational Corporation, China


On February 14, the bike racing season in Singapore will be kick off for 2016, as we dive into a series of events rescheduled from 2015 due to the Haze. I remember the first time I raced last year, all too clearly. The event was riddled with small mistakes I'll be sure to avoid in the coming months. Back then, I didn't really know anyone in the racing scene, so I went into it very 'green'.
While I am certain no guru on the topic. I have pulled together some tips that would have been a huge help for me last year.
A few weeks before the race, you should already be training with the event or race in mind. "Base training is when you lay the foundation for your aerobic efficiency on the bike," says James Spragg, a British road racing cyclist. This will help you get in shape, ready your body and your mind for the upcoming event. It would also help a lot if you train with someone who's experienced with races. A mentor will guide you to the right path, and ease any of those worries you have.
Remember to not overdo yourself, though. Keep your training steady and let your body rest.
"A lot of people train too hard, especially early in the year, and they're putting in too much fatigue at an early level, so by the time they hit the start of the season they're already plateauing because their fatigue levels are too high and they can't improve without having a rest," Spragg adds.
Before the race, make sure your bike maintenance is complete and don't leave anything untested. Have all your water bottles filled, your energy foods organized and your equipment laid out. Get absolutely everything ready the night before so that you're not stressing about it on race day.
different that you'd usually eat the day before a ride. Loading yourself up with carbs when your body isn't use to it will only slow you down instead of energizing you. Remember to also keep yourself hydrated before and during the race.
Lastly, immerse yourself in your first experience. Do not stress out too much on being first: it is your first time, there is a huge chance you won't be on top. But that's okay. Your first race should be your stepping stone to that winning race of your life. It is your way to learn what works and what doesn't work for you. Savor this moment.
I'll be racing at Cycosport's Nongsa Challenge on February 14th. Hope to see you all there, Register Here.
What about you? How did your first race go? Are there any tips you'd like to share?


text:
Doctor, 2 consultants found guilty of 21 count of fraud in LIRR disability scam
An orthopedist and two retiree consultants were convicted Tuesday of scheming to help Long Island Rail Road employees receive disability payments by exaggerating or making up ailments.
Dr. Peter Lesniewski and consultants Marie Baran and Joseph Rutigliano made more than $1 million by orchestrating phony claims for hundreds of workers with LIRR, one of the nation's largest commuter railroads, authorities said. Sentencing was set for Dec. 13.
The defendants "stand convicted of participating in the massive LIRR disability fraud that turned a safety net for the truly disabled into a gravy train for the corrupt," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.
The three "served as engines of this fraud that led to a staggering 79 percent of LIRR retirees from 1998 to 2011 receiving federal disability benefits, costing the government hundreds of millions of dollars," the prosecutor said.
Outside U.S. District Court in Manhattan after the verdict, Lesniewsky nodded as his attorney, Thomas Durkin, said they were "disappointed but we're not shocked" at the outcome. Durkin promised an appeal.
Federal prosecutors called Lesniewski the "go-to" doctor for diagnosing fake ailments that he never treated. They alleged that Baran had made hundreds of thousands of dollars by filling out "cookie cutter" disability applications containing false information. Jurors heard evidence that Rutigliano had collected $409,000 in benefits by claiming it was difficult for him to grip a pen. Prosecutors said he became a regular golfer in retirement.
"We don't believe the doctor is one of the gatekeepers of the system" the government had described in court, Durkin said.
The Chicago lawyer said he was outraged that the government sought the detention of Baran and an increase in bail for the other defendants immediately after the convictions. He called it vindictive and an attempt to intimidate anyone who might seek a trial rather than plead guilty. The defendants were the first to go to trial among more than 30 doctors, retirees and so-called "facilitators" charged in the fraud investigation. Most have pleaded guilty.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin S. Weddle said the government wanted Baran detained because she lied on the witness stand and because sentencing guidelines will call for all three defendants to be imprisoned for more than 15 years.
Defense lawyer Joshua Dratel said the government was flawed in its calculations of potential sentences, in part because it was attributing wrongdoing to the defendants that was the work of others.
U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero said the government can make its bail arguments before a magistrate judge next week. Meanwhile, the defendants were freed under the conditions that existed during the trial.
At trial, the defense accused prosecutors of criminalizing complex issues involving union contracts and the disability system that go back 80 years.
Earlier this year, another doctor was sentenced to eight years in prison for falsely recommending that hundreds of LIRR employees receive disability benefits. He also was ordered to pay $116.5 million in restitution.
Bill Clinton says he and Hillary won't get within 'a hundr...


University of Alabama Catholic faculty and staff, St. Francis University Parish is looking for you!
Would you like to get to know other Catholic faculty and staff members?
Do you want to be more involved in the campus Catholic community?
Would you like to help Catholic students?
We will be starting new programs especially for faculty and staff, and we would like to know who you are! Please fill out our short questionnaire here and share the link with others.


Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. plans to close up to 200 of its weaker-performing stores around the country, targeting locations that had average sales of $600,000 in the last year, compared with stronger stores that had about $1.1 million in sales, the L.A. Times reports.
No specific store closures were announced, but the downsizing puts locations in the Town Center in Burbank and Glendale Galleria at some measure of risk.
A retail analyst told the Los Angeles Times that PacSun's mix of private-label and third-party surf brands — such as Roxy and Billabong — hasn't attracted trend-hungry youngsters who are eager for up-and-coming designers. As a result, many have flocked to rivals such as action-sports chain Zumiez Inc., which has been more conscious of offering exclusive merchandise.


Purchase this Toner Cartridge Compatible with Xerox 006R01222, 6R1222 for a fraction of the price from TonerParts.com. This Toner Cartridge is compatible with the following printer models: Xerox DocuColor 240, Xerox DocuColor 242, Xerox DocuColor 250, Xerox DocuColor 252, Xerox WorkCentre 7655, Xerox WorkCentre 7665, Xerox WorkCentre 7755, Xerox WorkCentre 7765. At Toner Parts, we focus on providing you with the lowest prices and the highest quality of products and service.


Thought I would resurrect this thread as I would like to know where to get one of these Corbeau lumbar support with manual pump. Found that after driving nearly 300 miles to the Richard Burns memorial ended up with a bad back.
i drove to Scotland and back in a weekend,never had back pain after that trip,and i do suffer with a bad back!!!!
Never had any problems with the rex seats, drove my old sti all round cornwall a few yrs ago and was bloody great.
Thanks, funny enough, i've drove to Peterhead and back in one day and never got a bad back, but i think its because my clutch pedal has moved a few milimeters higher and im not brave enough to adjust it myself as the car suffers from clutch judder as it is, but its only when i've been along country roads. So I had to adjust my seat.


Spectacular converted perfume factory in the heart of ultra cool Zona Tortona.
Enjoying a fine location in central Milan, Magna Pars Suites Milano is housed in a spectacularly converted former perfume factory. Combining the old with the new, glass and original walls are juxtaposed, exposing brick corridors, wooden walls, and steel banisters.
This hotel is situated in the ultra cool Tortona area of Milan, just around the corner from the historic Porta Genova station and the lively Navigli area with its bars and restaurants. All the main attractions of the city, including the Duomo, the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuelle II and the Castello Sforzesco are a short metro ride away.
Magna Pars Suites Milano has 39 exclusive suites, all decorated in a bright, airy style and featuring furniture and fittings in natural leather, hand-made by local craftsmen. The suites are themed after shrubs and trees relating to the perfume industry, and are equipped with an immense range of high-tech amenities. The en-suite bathrooms come with luxurious robes and slippers and complimentary toiletries.
Magna Pars Suites Milano is also home to an excellent restaurant, the Da Noi In, specialising in contemporary Italian cuisine. Two fireplaces in the dining room create the perfect cosy atmosphere for the cold winter evenings . In finer months guests can enjoy the enchanting outdoor garden.
The hotel also has a spectacular rooftop terrace, and there are a number of conference rooms for business meetings, events and presentations. Guests can also take advantage of the gym and spa centre, featuring a range of fitness machines.
The entire hotel overlooks two magnificent courtyard gardens with their almost magical atmosphere full of light, silence and peacefulness that is unique in Milan.


I mentioned to a friend who has difficulty sleeping that when I wake up in the middle of the night I pray! aAnd when I don't get back to sleep, then I put on my CD and pray more! This works 98% of the time.
One week later, I read in Nancy Van Domelen's newest book, The Higher Dimensions - Our Next Home, how there is a spiritual significance to insomnia. This is a channeled book from a group called the Lightbringers. If you are interested, read below what they have to say about insomnia.
"Another way to restore planetary balance can be found in an area seldom considered by those living on the Earth plane. It consists of communing with spirit in the hours just before dawn. At the end of the day, the spiritual energies start to accumulate and increase throughout the dark of the night. Because of this phenomenon, it has always been recognized as auspicious to set aside a time within this period to open up to the realm of spirit. Monks, nuns and others who have taken vows within a religious order commonly pray and meditate in the middle of the night. They have known that the spiritual energies are the most powerful during these hours.
Why is this so? The answer is very simple. The Earth exists on a plane of duality or opposites. Whenever the forces of light are the most prominent, there is an attraction for the forces of darkness. Correspondingly, when darkness is predominant, the vibratory powers of light are activated to establish balance. You ask then why does is not become light during the nighttime hours? It is because the law of duality keeps the light forces in check so as to honor the natural laws of this realm.
What is important to remember here is that the vibratory energies of light are very close during the dark of the night. In these hours, major connections can be made to the realm of spirit if one is awake, quiets the mind and enters into a receptive state. At the present time, the frantic pace of life and barrage from the energies of modern technology cause many individual to have problems sleeping. All kinds of medications have come into existence to assist one in getting to sleep.
The irony in this situation is that what the individual really needs is to be awake and attentive to the realm of spirit, which is close and available. Sleep is not what the person requires. Since the western world has moved so deeply into materialist ways, there is no period set-aside during the day to stop and prayerfully honor the Divine Creator. Because this act is a basic human need, the spirit within interrupts nighttime sleep so that the person can attune to the higher realms during the peace and quiet of these hours.
Therefore, we ask those of you who awaken in the night or cannot sleep to look at what is happening with a very different view. Recognize your human need for connection to the creative forces of the universe. Quiet yourselves and sink into deep communion with the Divine Creator in whatever manner is appropriate to your belief system. Use slow, rhythmic breathing as your method of entering a prayerful state. Then just be, floating in the arms of Universal Love.
The amount of sleep that you miss will be offset by the higher vibratory energies entering and radiating throughout your body. You will awaken in the morning refreshed and energized – ready for the day in a far better fashion than if you took a sleeping pill. Sleeplessness is a modern problem of astounding proportions. It is no more than a reflection of the lack of meaningful time during the day to perform a basic human act – that of attuning to and honoring the source of our existence.
So. We ask that you attend to our words and trust the import of what we say. Try our suggestion. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. What a different place the earth would be if everyone worldwide would set aside time in a twenty-four hour period to connect with the realm of spirit, directly and with intent. Visualize the energy of vibratory light that would encircle the planet, healing and uplifting all those who live on this plane! We would have a new Heaven and a new Earth, would we not? And, secondarily, we would solve our sleeping problems within the wind of an eye.


text:
Q: Django ORM unique_together not working I'm working with django 1.6 and postgressql. I'm trying to set up a composite unique key made up of name and addresses fields. My Model:
class MU2(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField(max_length=200,default="",unique=True)
    addresses = models.CharField(max_length=200,default="")
    ......

class Meta:
   unique_together = ("name", "addresses")

in My view:
for practice in practices:
    p =MU2(**practice)
    try:
        p.save()
    except ValidationError:
       pass

The composite key is not working and I am getting duplicated records on both name and addresses fields.
what am I doing wrong?

A: There are at least three things you are "doing wrong":

*

*your class Meta statement is badly indented - it should be at the same level as the fields declarations

*unique_together expects a tuple of tuples, not a single tuple

*your 'pass' except clause prevents you from getting any useful debugging information if something goes wrong. Not that it would solve your current problem but it's still wrong...
Also, an address is not a 2600 characters long "kitchen sink" bit bucket (it's usually a structured datatype with two or thre address lines, a zip code, a city name etc - in a relational model it could / should be a table on it's own), and few SQL databases will deal with 2600 characters long varchar field anyway, and let's not talk about using it as part of a composite index...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The MB QUART team is excited to kick off a great sounding 2018. We are looking forward to seeing all our partners in Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show in January.
Below are some details for dealers and distributors to contact their Maxxsonics representative to reserve their meeting time. The hotel suite at the Westgate is going to be busier than ever before with all the new products announced at SEMA and shipping right after CES.
MB QUART IS "MUSIC. DEFINED.
Click here to email the team and reserve your appointment now.
For those that are unable or not certified to attend CES, make sure to watch the MB Quart Social Media feed for plenty of "behind the scenes" information coming direct from Las Vegas. Here are the links for Facebook and Instagram.


text:
Microsoft demos Windows 8.1: here's what you need to know
By Ali Kamran
Windows 8.1 has been in the talks for quite a while, majorly due to the return of the 'Start' button on the desktop. Today, Microsoft talked about the changes coming to Windows 8.1 at Build 2013 including key updates regarding the Interface, Search and Windows Apps. This is going to be the biggest Windows update released by Microsoft for any operating system.
Introducing Window 8.1 Preview at Build 2013
Microsoft showcased many enhancements for developers in San Francisco at their Build 2013 event. Along with the introduction and demo of Windows 8.1 Preview, the company also revealed a couple of Windows 8 devices including the newly released Samsung ATIV Book 9. A new version of Visual Studio is also announced with the support to integrate Microsoft's cloud service to any mobile app. Lastly, the company also revealed a few changes in Windows phones along with some new models by HTC and Samsung were also spotted at the event.
Lets start with the changes made to the interface in Windows 8.1. Most of the changes are noticeable right from the start, Microsoft has made your Start Screen much more customizable than before. Users can adjust the size of the live titles, make them bigger to display more information or decrease their size in order to make the Start screen look more sleek and clean. Live Wallpapers and user Background options have been added to the Start screen as well which allows users to put their own touch to it.
Microsoft has embedded an option to boot directly to Desktop without the interference of the Start Screen. Additional features have been added to the Lock screen as well, such as accessing the Camera App directly, accepting a Skype Call or run a slideshow of images which can be accessed through SkyDrive or Local Drives.
The 'Start' button is back
Ever since the release of Windows 8, users have always complained about the missing 'Start' button numerous times. Microsoft has made a habit of listening to its customer and is bringing back the 'Start' button in Windows 8.1. Although, its back but its function is not much influential as it always in earlier versions of Windows. Users can add Restart and Shutdown options in the 'Start' menu but clicking on the button does take you to the 'Start' screen.
Better side-by-side app support
Microsoft enabled users to put two apps on screen in metro mode with Windows 8. However, the implementation was rather limited as you could put only two apps on the screen at one time and that too in an odd 25 to 75 ratio. With Windows 8.1, Microsoft has advanced largely in this matter. You can now put more than two apps on a single screen and you can you also adjust their ratio.
Search has gotten considerably better
Microsoft has vastly improved how the search works in Windows 8.1. With the new version, you can start writing your query on the start screen and it'll begin showing up related apps, settings, recent queries and results from the web. Bing is now being used under the hood to power the search function.
Furthermore, if you write a popular term like a singer's name then the search function will take you to a new page with a lot of information about that singer like pictures, music videos, Wikipedia page and more.
Better apps
Along with all the OS level changes, Microsoft has also improved their stock apps like Mail, Internet Explorer, Xbox music and others. Most of the UIs have been redesigned to make them more interactive and production.
All in all, the Windows 8.1 is a solid upgrade over the last year Windows 8. The preview of Windows 8.1 can be now downloaded for free from Microsoft's website.
Source: The Verge
Related Items:Microsoft, operating system, windows 8, Windows 8.1
Microsoft launches Surface Book 2: new 15-inch size, dedicated NVIDIA GPU & 17 hours battery
Here's how you can free up to 20GB of space after Windows 10 Anniversary Update
Windows 10 Anniversary Update is now available


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Palm Tree (Borassus flabellifer): The National Tree of Cambodia
The palm tree is a kind of plant that has been widely grown in Cambodia for a long time ago. The palm tree, commonly known as Borassus flabellifer in scientific name and in Khmer called "Tnaot", is native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, including Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Lao, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
It is a robust tree and can reach a height of 30 meters. The trunk is grey, robust, and ringed with leaf scars; old leaves remain attached to the trunk for several years before falling cleanly. The leaves are fan-shaped and 3 m long, with robust black teeth on the petiole margins. It is dioecious with male and female flowers on separate plants. The male flowers are less than 1 cm long and form semi-circular clusters, which are hidden beneath scale-like bracts within the catkin-like inflorescences. In contrast, the female flowers are golf ball-sized and solitary, sitting upon the surface of the inflorescence axis. After pollination, these blooms develop into fleshy fruits 15–25 cm wide, each containing 1-3 seeds. The fruits are black to brown with sweet, fibrous pulp and each seed is enclosed within a woody endocarp. Young Palmyra seedlings grow slowly, producing only a few leaves each year (establishment phase), but at an as yet undetermined time, they grow rapidly, producing a substantial stem.
Cambodians considered palm trees as a national identity because it shows the extent of Khmer territory from ancient times till today, and it is thought to be their home. In 2003, His Majesty King of the Kingdom of Cambodia requested the government to conserve the palm tree. Palm trees grow in lowland areas because the palm trees do not shade and cannot live long enough to make the water. In Cambodia, the province that has a lot of palm trees is Kompong Speu. Palm trees are strong and provide many benefits to all Cambodians from root to top as we can use them for processing as needed such as materials used, Khmer cake, and foods. For these benefits include:
Unripe fruit: they can be eaten (The fruit measures 10 cm (3.9 in) to 18 cm (7.1 in) in diameter, has a black husk, and is borne in clusters. The top portion of the fruit must be cut off to reveal the sweet jelly seed sockets, translucent pale-white, similar to that of the lychee but with a milder flavor and no pit. The sweet jelly seed sockets occur in combinations of two, three, or four seeds inside the fruit. The jelly part of the fruit is covered with a thin, yellowish-brown skin. These are known to contain watery fluid inside the fleshy white body), because they are delicious and also served as dessert and food vegetables, like Bobor Tnaot, Sam Lor Korko Tnaot (Palm fruit Soup).
Ripe fruit: when ripe can be used as a dessert or cake such as Num Akor Tnaot and Num Ansorm Tnaot.
Palm Juice: the juice is taken from its flowers by taking a wooden pipe to bind to its flower and cut its flowers in order to make the juice flow into the pipe till full. Then, we can take it down from the tree. There are two types of palm juice such as sweet palm juice and sour palm juice. Sour palm juice can be used as alcohol and can be used as needed, especially for parties. While sweet palm juice, can be produced as sugar palm for cooking and selling, its sweet juice can be used to quench thirst and fill our energy. It has a sweet and delicious taste.
Palm Leaves: Palm leaves are used for various purposes like mats, hats, thatching, fans, baskets, umbrellas, walls, used for religious ceremonies, wrapping and packing food, and writing material (palm-leaf manuscript), and souvenir things. The stem of the leaves can be peeled off and used as rope and also used to weave into cots.
Trunk: its trunk is very strong and large in size, therefore Cambodians prefer to take it as a boat, a wall, fences, cordage, and brushes (its wiry fiber is suitable for cordage and brushes). The black timber is hard, heavy, and durable and is highly valued for construction. In Cambodia, the trunks are also used to make canoes and furniture such as tables, chairs, beds, etc.
If we compare the palm tree to humans, we see that it is the kind of people who provide more benefits to society and can resist the enemy in all situations, with patience, and is an invaluable resource. Thanks to these benefits, the palm tree is well-known in Cambodia and it can help to improve the lives of the Khmer people. All Cambodians know this plant very well, on one doesn't know. The palm is deeply injected into the hearts of Cambodians.
National Symbol
Kouprey (Wild Ox): The National Mammal of Cambodia
Koupreys measure 2.1 m to 2.3 m along the head and body, not including a 1m tail, and stan [...]
Giant Mekong Barb: The National Fish of Cambodia
Giant Barb is defined as the national fish of Cambodia. Giant barb is a freshwater fish. I [...]
Cambodia's
Classical Dance
Festival and Event
Popular dance
Theatre of Cambodia
Tourist Spot
Buy Kampot pepper from Amazon
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Supported by Intocambodia.com
Pchum Ben Day or Ancestor Day
Kampong Thom Province
Siem Reap Province


I remember as a bratty teenager, my Dad trying to get this pudding just perfect to his taste. He made LOTS of rice pudding that day, and I remember how excited he was when he finally got it the way he liked it. To this day, I feel guilty for not trying to help him perfect it. What I wouldn't give to go back to that day and spend some one on one time with him cooking in the kitchen. My dad is one awesome cook. From his ham flied lice to his rice pudding! :o) So here's his recipe and i'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as I did. Reminds me of home.
1/2 c. sugar, and a little more if you like it sweeter. This isn't too sweet.
Bake for 20-30 minutes testing to see the tenderness of the rice.
So glad I have this recipe in my collection. I don't think my Dad knows this, but I do and it's in his writing so it means even more! :o) Enjoy!!!
So cute. Thanks for sharing. I think my true love for pudding comes from pops. I'm making this soon! Makes my mouth water.
Have you had your baby?? I haven't seen you at church for awhile......just wondering...:) If you need anything, let me know, I am always home and would love to help out!
I just barely tried out Bountiful Baskets a few weeks ago, and YES, I LOVE IT!! I am excited to get another basket this week! It is fun to make your cooking menu around all the yummy veggies and fruits that come with it!
My hubby loves rice pudding. Will be trying this soon!
Mmmmmmm. So worth 1 and a half hours. I did add cinnamon and a bit more sugar. Deeeeelish!


BethelBiz is proud to support Bethel Connect. The Office of Alumni and Parent Relations, in partnership with Bethel Alums Susan Corcoran '04, Mark Hanson '06, Judson McCormick '07, and Kelly Cole '08, cordially invite you to our first Bethel Connect lunch at UnitedHealth Group.
This will be an awesome opportunity for you to network with other Bethel alums working at UHG. We will not only provide lunch, but will be bringing some Bethel branded gifts for each attendee and will do a drawing for a BU swag bag!
Come for lunch, get some updates about Bethel, meet new friends, or reconnect with old ones. This is an event you will not want to miss.
Questions? Contact the Office of Alumni and Parent Relations at 651.638.6462 or alumni@bethel.edu.