text:
Opinion	| January 6, 2019, 7:14 AM
"Green" Socialism is Still Socialism
By Thomas DiLorenzo
Upon taking control of the U.S. House of Representatives the first thing America's Marxist Party did was to propose a Soviet-style, communistic destruction of American capitalism labeled a "Green New Deal." The Party chose as its spokesperson for this totalitarian venture a young woman named Sandy Ocasio who grew up in one of the wealthiest enclaves in America, Westchester County, New York, but who decided to lie about this to get into politics by calling herself "Alex from the Bronx." Sandy sounds like a poorly-educated-but-well-indoctrinated young communist with a ninth-grade mentality. She proudly labels herself a "democratic socialist" but as Ludwig von Mises explained, there really is no difference between communism and socialism: they are both attacks on private property and economic freedom. She seems clueless about just about everything she talks about in public, whether it is the Constitution, especially the economy, the structure of government, history, etc. This is the person the American Marxist Party has chosen as its front person in its proposal to destroy American capitalism, prosperity, and the American dream forever—and to give itself totalitarian control over virtually all aspects of American life.
The first thing to understand about the proposed "Green New Deal" is that the first New Deal not only failed to end the Great Depression but made it more severe and longer-lasting. Its only "success" was in creating endless patronage opportunities and levers of political bribery and extortion for the Democratic Party, opportunities that the Republican Party happily embraced whenever it could to expand its own power and wealth in the succeeding decades. The proposed Green New Deal would do the same, only many orders of magnitude worse.
Failure of the First New Deal
At the outset of the Great Depression, 1929, the unemployment rate in America was 2.9% according to U.S. Dept. of Commerce statistics. Unemployment reached its peak in 1933 at 24.9%. There was a bit of a recovery as mal-investments were liquidated, but it only dropped the unemployment rate to 14.3% by 1939. It rose to 19.0% in 1938 and was still 14.6% in 1940, on the eve of American entry into World War II. Personal consumption expenditures were still lower in 1940 ($71.9 billion) than in 1929 ($78.9 billion). All of this despite eight years of unprecedented New Deal "stimulus spending," regulating, controlling, subsidizing, lending, inflating, price-controlling, and taxing. The New Deal was an utter failure to the American people. Economists Richard Vedder and Lowell Gallaway estimated in their book, Out of Work, that the unemployment rate was eight percentage points higher in 1940 than it otherwise would have been without New Deal minimum-wage and pro-union legislation alone.
Nor did World War II end the Great Depression. It ended high unemployment only because some 16 million men were sent overseas during the war. Sending a man to die in a foxhole in Germany is not the same as that man going to work in his own country and returning home to have dinner with his family every evening, contrary to Keynesian folklore about how the war supposedly "ended the Great Depression." The average American family back at home was even worse off because of the massive diversion of resources from the consumer and business side of the economy to the government's military infrastructure. The production of new automobiles and other products was made illegal, food was rationed, and everyone sacrificed even more.
The Great Depression did not really end until after the war was over and the army was demobilized, returning billions of dollars of resources to the private sector. Federal government expenditures fell from $98.4 billion in 1945 to $33 billion in 1948. As a result, the year 1946 was the most prosperous year in all of American history in terms of the growth of the private components of GDP: private consumption and investment spending increased by 30% in that one year; no other year has ever been remotely close to that growth rate. Keynesian economists predicted another Great Depression because of the two-thirds reduction in federal spending while the exact opposite happened. That should have discredited Keynesianism forever, but the Washington establishment just ignored or lied about this fact, as it does to this very day.
It took some seventy years, but the "mainstream" of the economics profession finally caught on to this truth, a truth that was recognized by Austrian School economists all along. In an August 2004 article in the prestigious Journal of Political Economy by Harold Cole and Lee Ohanian entitled "New Deal Policies and the Persistence of the Great Depression" the authors concluded that "New Deal . . . policies did not lift the economy out of the Depression . . . the abandonment of these policies coincided with the strong economic recovery of the 1940s" (emphasis added).
Nevertheless, the New Deal was a political power bonanza for FDR and his fellow Democrats. According to a 1938 Official Report of the U.S. Senate Committee on Campaign Expenditures it was routine for the Roosevelt administration to demand that recipients of government make-work jobs, of which there were millions, register and vote as Democrats. As Jim Couch and William Shughart wrote in The Political Economy of the New Deal, "The distribution of the billions of dollars appropriated by Congress to prime the economic pump was guided less by considerations of economic need than by the forces of ordinary politics." For example, the nation's number one economic problem was the South, but since the South was solidly Democratic it received relatively little New Deal spending compared to other regions where FDR needed the votes. And, "The states that gave Franklin Roosevelt larger percentages of the popular vote in 1932 were rewarded with significantly more federal aid than less-supportive constituencies." What else would anyone expect?
American socialists have always searched for deceptive euphemisms for socialism with which to disguise their totalitarian plans for the rest of us. "Liberal," "progressive," "economic democracy," "liberation theology," "social justice," and "industrial policy" are just a few examples. "Green New Deal" is the latest manifestation of this political con game.
What has been proposed is nothing less than the destruction of the fossil-fuel-based energy industries which have long been the lifeblood of capitalism. All houses and businesses are to be "upgraded" in terms of their energy use by thousands, or tens of thousands, of government bureaucrats who would presumably go door to door to enforce the state's energy-use mandates. There are vague promises of replacing the entire power grid with "renewable energy sources" such as windmills and solar panels. It all sounds very much like a middle-school paper assignment for an "environmental ethics" class. I would not be surprised to learn that Sandy Ocasio took such a class and wrote such a paper in the Westchester County public schools.
The entire U.S. economy would be "planned" by a fifteen-member congressional committee, Soviet style. There is no acknowledgment at all of the failures of socialist planning everywhere else in the world; of the well-known economic reasons for these inherent failures; or of the fact that all the countries of the world that touted "planning" in the twentieth century have abandoned it, and for good reason. It is a recipe for turning America into a Third World economic hellhole, in other words, to be completed "in ten years" according to the published plan. Free-lunch economics pervades the plan, promising everyone a job and a "living wage" and of course, an end to economic inequality through ever more income redistribution schemes. But not to worry, say the Marxist planners, it will all be paid for by the Fed, a new system of "government banks," and higher taxes. Simple.
Thomas J. DiLorenzo [send him mail] is professor of economics at Loyola University Maryland and the author of The Real Lincoln; How Capitalism Saved America; Lincoln Unmasked; Hamilton's Curse; Organized Crime: The Unvarnished Truth About Government; and most recently, The Problem With Socialism.
Author: Staff
JACKSON WEATHER
"Freedom" like life is fragile and delicate and can be ended without warning or fanfare or gradually like the sands of time. Frank Neudecker
St. Jude is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases.
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The Corporation Of The United States Of America Is It True? We Are Not Under Common Law?84
There is one constant pledge that we live by and it is that our American Government is founded on the concept of the individuality and the dignity of the human being. Underlying this concept is the belief that the human person is important because he was created by God and endowed by Him with certain unalienable rights which no civil authority may usurp. The inclusion of God in our pledge or our money or in our courts and buildings further acknowledge the dependence of our people and our Government upon the moral directions of the Creator, our Father, the Lord God Almighty. This is the principal of government and reporting that we stand by....
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Drug Free New Hampshire - Prescription Drugs: Get The Facts!
Prescription Drugs: Get The Facts!
Prescription drug abuse is more common than you think. In fact, prescription drug abuse is the fastest-growing drug problem in the United States. In New Hampshire 17% of teens have abused prescription drugs. And over the last ten years prescription drug abuse in New Hampshire has risen 200%. According to the NH Chief Medical Examiner's Office, in 2011 twice as many NH citizens died from drug overdoses (200) than from car accidents (90).
Here you will find the most up-to-date information on prescription drug abuse and easy steps you can take as a parent to help protect your teen from it.
Most of the prescription drugs abused by teens come from family medicine cabinets and from friends.
1 out of 6 teens have used prescription drugs without a prescription.
4 out of 10 teens believe that using prescription medications without a doctor's prescription is not dangerous.
How can I protect my teen?
Keep your prescription drugs in a locked or secure place, monitor your medicine cabinet and keep track of how many pills are in each of your prescription bottles.
Don't keep unneeded medications in your home. And properly dispose of your unused prescription drugs. Find out how to safely dispose of your unused prescription drugs.
If your children take prescription drugs, keep control of the bottles. Talk to your school nurse about monitoring and giving your teen their medication during the school day.
Educate your children about the dangers of abusing prescription drugs and tell them that sharing prescription drugs is illegal.
Be alert – Monitor Internet use in your home. There are many sites on the Internet where prescription drugs can be purchased without a prescription.
Communities throughout the state take part in annual drug take back days. See if any are happening nearby.
Physical and dangerous side effects can occur like, changes in breathing that can lead to death.
Repeated use can lead to addiction. The body adapts to the presence of the prescription drug and withdrawal symptoms can occur when use is reduced abruptly.
Severe symptoms when use is stopped include: restlessness, muscle and bone pain, insomnia, diarrhea, vomiting, cold flashes, and involuntary leg movements.
You will notice negative changes in your teen's social, emotional and family life.
Download "Watch your Medicine Cabinet!" a helpful fact sheet with additional tips on how you can protect your teens from prescription drug abuse.
How do I recognize prescription drug abuse?
Your teen has drugs (like pills) for unlikely reasons.
You notice prescription drugs are missing.
Your teen visits websites where he or she can purchase drugs or learn about drug use.
You notice changes in your teen's social behavior.
The most important step in prevention is keeping informed. There are a number of titles available to assist you to help protect your children from prescription drugs.
Additional titles on alcohol, tobacco and other drugs are available, free to all New Hampshire residents and may be requested by phone, fax or e-mail.
How can I dispose of prescription drugs?
Dispose extra, unwanted or expired prescription drugs at a local NH police department drop box or dispose of your unneeded medications by following these six steps.
Never flush medication down the toilet unless the product information says it is safe to do so.
Pour medicine into a sealable plastic bag.
If the medicine is a solid, add a small amount of water to dissolve it.
Add any undesirable substance (such as dirt, coffee grounds or kitty litter) to the liquid medicine in the plastic bag.
Seal the bag and immediately dispose of it in the trash for regular pick-up.
Visit, New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services for help or assistance with safely disposing of prescription medicines.


text:
wristband-leather42852.ampblogs.com
Historical Fiction Romance
May 22, 2019, 9:41 am / wristband-leather42852.ampblogs.com
Robert Ross was raised in La and attended the College of Southern California. Just after earning degrees in each Record and Small business, he started an promotion occupation Operating at important companies in San Francisco, New York and La. Over the years he designed campaigns for purchasers across a wide spectrum of industries and in all phases of media. His foray into other Artistic endeavors is an ongoing process. He has two textbooks to his credit — Crimson Hand: American by Blood and Journey Within: A Tale of Astral Journey — in addition to a small catalog of nation tunes.
I grew up in L. a. and, like all of us, studying and producing was a large Component of our training. I try to remember my very first endeavor at Imaginative producing was in high school and, without having an primary believed at time as it was a spontaneous exercise through the prof, I grabbed a plot line from the Tale we had all go through some months in advance of, and was instantly chastised by my classmates for performing these. My Trainer said as much later on, but did notify me I'd put the terms jointly perfectly, so I was encouraged. My earliest influences, meaning to me who I liked looking at earliest and preferred, were Hemingway, Salinger, Eugene Burdick, Kerouac.
I compose mainly because I choose to eat, at the very least try to eat fairly. I'm in essence discussing my advertising creating now, which I have completed for that previous 35+ years. I create publications since I benefit from the knowledge: developing a storyline, then observing the place it will require me and sticking with it. It's like jogging a marathon. It's not intending to go immediately, because there is a process. A writer must be committed with the period. But for the complete, the reward is there.
I had been a heritage key in higher education so that is certainly the place my passions lie. As for a brief summary from the contents, I'll now plagiarize within the again go over. Commencing during the 1870's, Pink Hand is a vivid and moving tale of a 50 % white, 50 % Sioux boy whose white father was killed when he was an toddler. It's only soon after he gets a younger guy that he resolves to go on the quest searching for his white heritage. His travels get him fifty percent way across the jap U.S. — to your penitentiary in Florida, the Bowery in The big apple, the Ohio valley and also spiritual journeys of introspection until finally his comfort is resolved, ultimately, a century afterwards.
To grow a tad about who specifically Red Hand is, I'd personally say he a seeker of information, spiritual in character, an individual of great integrity, toughness, empathy and forgiveness. A lot of all, it's possible, a survivor.
I feel just the subject matter alone. Historic fiction is fairly wide. If an individual likes that period of yank heritage from your 1870's for the 1970's, involving Native Individuals, sports, motion, adventure and a certain amount of romance below and there, this just will be read more the reserve for them.
Regardless of what I compose I do study together the best way using encyclopedias that happen to be chronological. For Crimson Hand, I even have a small selection of publications on Indigenous People and, from Individuals, got a sense for their spirituality and regard for nature.
In essence, the process doesn't get any less complicated. A writer has to take a position some time to accomplish what he/she established out to perform. Even so, as I discussed just before, the reward much more than justifies the method.
That may be a pleasing Predicament. My initial considered was Keanu Reeves. I believe his appears to be do effectively to aid the idea of a 50 percent white, 50 % Native American major character. But since Hollywood is so very good with make-up and CGI, Brad Pitt, Matthew McConaughey, Colin Farrell, etcetera. and so on. would get the job done.
I hope to possess a good total of people get their fingers on it. I feel they'll take pleasure in the study, then advocate it for their buddies. If, as being the prior concern asks, Hollywood usually takes an curiosity, that could be cake.
The Afghan by Frederick Forsyth.
A marketing flyer for any hand sanitizer identified as SkinWear that kills germs for up to 8 hours. Don't forget? Food stuff, my Buddy.
Golf, which teaches just one self-discipline and patience. Using a motorbike, which retains most of the cobwebs off the brain. Looking through, which allows encountering on occasion a phrase turned in a very original manner.
Wide Watch Bands
The Level Collection was founded upon the principle of finding elegant, stylish and yet a diversified wristbands for all age groups. We are located in one of the most diversified and fashion driven cities in the world, Las Vegas, where changes are seen every day.
Our store front is strictly an online store to keep your costs as low as possible, while simultaneously offering a very large section of products.
All of our leather products manufactured today are made in the United States, and all of our leather that we have manufactured is from genuine 100% cow-hide. We do not use harsh or abrasive chemicals found in many manufacturing plants overseas, that can potentially interact with skin. There are some clearance items that were formerly manufactured in India, but this is no longer the case with any of the new items.
All of the rings, pendants, and bands are made from a high-grade stainless steel that more info should not corrode or tarnish over time.
We strive for our customers to be satisfied with everything in our store from our selection, to our quick deliveries, to our very generous return policy.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Magento 2: UpgradeData duplicates static blocks when I try to update them My code looks like this:
/**
 * @var \Magento\Cms\Model\BlockFactory
 */
private $_blockFactory;

...

$this->_blockFactory
        ->setStoreId(0)
        ->load('some-identifier', 'identifier')
        ->setData([
            'title' => 'Some Title',
            'identifier' => 'some-identifier',
            'is_active' => 1,
            'stores' => [0],
            'content' => 'Some Content...',
        ])->save();

Everytime I run this code, it creates a new static block with the same identifier.
Any idea?

A: Don't use factory for existing blocks. You should use the repository:
\Magento\Cms\Api\BlockRepositoryInterface
<?php

use Magento\Framework\App\Bootstrap;
require './app/bootstrap.php';

$bootstrap = Bootstrap::create(BP, $_SERVER);

$obj = $bootstrap->getObjectManager();

$searchCriteriaBuilder = $obj->create('Magento\Framework\Api\SearchCriteriaBuilder');
/** @var \Magento\Cms\Api\BlockRepositoryInterface $blockRepository */
$blockRepository = $obj->create('Magento\Cms\Api\BlockRepositoryInterface');
$searchCriteria = $searchCriteriaBuilder->addFilter(
    'identifier',
    'home-page-block',
    'eq'
)->create();
/** @var \Magento\Cms\Model\Block $item */
$items = $blockRepository->getList($searchCriteria)->getItems();
reset($items);
$item = $items[key($items)];
echo $item->getTitle();
$item->setTitle($item->getTitle() . '_1');
$blockRepository->save($item);
echo $item->getTitle();

This works for me
UPDATE
In case if you need "insert or update if exists" use this code:
<?php

use Magento\Framework\App\Bootstrap;
require './app/bootstrap.php';

$bootstrap = Bootstrap::create(BP, $_SERVER);

$obj = $bootstrap->getObjectManager();

/** @var \Magento\Cms\Api\BlockRepositoryInterface $blockRepository */
$blockRepository = $obj->create(Magento\Cms\Api\BlockRepositoryInterface::class);
/** @var \Magento\Cms\Model\BlockFactory $blockFactory */
$blockFactory = $obj->create(Magento\Cms\Model\BlockFactory::class);
$searchCriteriaBuilder = $obj->create(Magento\Framework\Api\SearchCriteriaBuilder::class);

$searchCriteria = $searchCriteriaBuilder->addFilter(
    'identifier',
    'home-page-block',
    'eq'
)->create();
/** @var \Magento\Cms\Model\Block $item */
$items = $blockRepository->getList($searchCriteria)->getItems();
if (count($items)) {
    reset($items);
    $block = $items[key($items)];
} else {
    $block = $blockFactory->create();
}
$block->setTitle($item->getTitle() . '_1');
$blockRepository->save($item);

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Time and attendance monitoring is significant for companies to save the time spent on tedious administrative tasks as well ensure business's productivity. Effective Time and Attendance monitoring can help you cut your labour costs and boost up your revenue. Listed are few best practices organisation must adopt for effective Employee Time and Attendance process.
Manual Time Attendance system is inferior to automated system in many situations. Manual (Paper and excel based) system has lots of disadvantages like slower process, the risk of error, less accessible, hard to handle, lack of real-time data; ultimately, it drives to less productivity. Best practice to overcome these issues are installing a Web Based Time and Attendance Software which is proposed to streamlines your time attendance process and simplify your data access.
Install an employee time & attendance software system and make your reporting and administration process easy. A best attendance monitoring software will provide reports from terminals across the organization including remote locations. It will be user friendly, highly flexible, easy to manage and above all will comply with your organisation labour regulation acts/policies. By choosing a software with strong reporting capabilities streamline your attendance process and provide error-free reports for payroll processing.
The best Time and Attendance solution comprises of an application programming interface that facilitates data exchange with other applications; it can support hr managers to handle discrepancies if any, monitor employee attendance against the approved leaves & allocated shifts. Best practice is choosing software that has an option to share and integrate data with other applications.
It is more important to ensure that the vendor you choose can provide the data security. You must concentrate on things like defining organization level hierarchy like Company, Region, Branch, Department and setting privileges to let authorised user view department wise / employee wise reports.
By following the above discussed best practices you can streamline your organisations Time and Attendance process. Contact us to get a feature-rich Automated Time Attendance software.


Or that unidentified blob that floats around in a lava lamp.
We thought we were going to move this summer. Find a new adventure, have a new beginning somewhere else. But instead we stayed, and stayed. And we didn't plan a trip anywhere. To make our summer more memorable, and less blahhhh, we decided to quickly pack up our people and pug and go to Santa Barbara.
But because staying in hotels is for chumps, we stayed in an Airstream.
For those taking notes, it was called the Santa Barbara Auto Camp, and they have five redesigned and restored Airstreams. Ours was the most "original" with this birch wood cabinets and rose pink bathroom.
The bathroom looked just like my grandma's. But what really set it apart was the Airstream was stocked with Malin+Goetz toiletries, while grandma's just has Breck extra hold hairspray.
We stopped at Figueroa Mountain Brewery.
And then the beach again.
Here's our only photo with all of us, and hey, look at us, we're all wearing backpacks!
I'm pretty sure the kids had a good time.
Zoey had a good time.
Ha!! My grandma had a baby blue bathroom and Brecks extra hold hairspray. Looks like a great time.
As a mom, we all have to draw our line in the sand somewhere, a place you're not willing to go beyond. For me it's many things: I won't let my kids wear Crocs, I won't drive a mini van, and I won't let them have a Dora the Expolora backpack. I'm a meanie, right?
My 6 year old daughter is starting first grade in the fall and needed a proper backpack. Because her taste level cannot be trusted, I had to scour the internet for some non-princess choices to present to her.
We already have the Fjallraven and offered that to our daughter, but of course she snubbed her nose at, because I need something neuw mooomm! So finally she made a decision on the pink striped Herschel one from JCrew.
Done and done and no Dora.
I don't have a child, so maybe this is where the difference lies. I cannot see spending $55 on a kids backpack, when they would be happier with a $18 Dora one. No one will judge you based on your child's backpack… and if they do, they have a serious problem. I do agree that the choices offered to your daughter are significantly more pleasing to the eye than any Dora back pack I've seen. AND I suppose that if you have to look it and having hanging around your house for an entire school year, it might make a significant difference in what even i would allow. 🙂 Ok, FINE, I see from your perspective.
OMG. A watermelon backpack? So great!
When I was little I used to bite my fingernails. A disgusting habit that carried me well into my teen-years. I finally broke free of it when I started wearing acrylic nails. I'm embarrassed to even admit that I wore them. I would endure the layers upon layers of toxic chemicals and an hour every week in the nail salon just so I could point at things with a casual authority. Oh look, the directions say to go this way, and then my hand would manage to find my chin while I stroked my jaw line with all the awkward conviction of a child wearing an oversized glove. I'd strum my long thick fingernails on the table, just to really drive the point home that I paid for these pieces of plastic on the ends of my fingers, and I was going to draw as much attention to them as I possibly could.
I remember I got talked into wearing them on my wedding day, and every time I looked down at my hands that day, with new nails and a ringed finger, I kept thinking that they didn't belong to me. Those must be someone else's hands. They belonged to someone older, someone classier. We went to Paris on our honeymoon, and I pointed to something, a piece of art at the Pompidou maybe, and it all felt so foreign; the hand, the country, the marriage.
I've since come home, and my hands and marriage feel like my own, but I have started biting my nails again, along with the hardened pieces of skin around my nails that just beg to be gently torn off with my teeth.
I blame this on summer. Summer with it's promises of greatness, it's lazy cadence, and warm and carefree breezes have all catapulted me into a new type of crazy.
I think for me, summer has really convinced me that I am a mother to three children.
Well for me, it has finally sunk in. Three people call me mommy, and while I am in love with each of them, and and adore being a mommy, all three of them at once is really starting to cramp my style.
Lately the hardest part has been the constant arguing from my 6 and 3 year old.
At the beginning of summer when school had just got out, they relished in being near each other. They would play for hours upstairs building forts and dressing up, turning doll shoes and trucks into fake food, or they'd do a series of artistic renderings of my face on watercolor paper. And on a rare occasion they would pause and do something thoughtful for me: sweep the bathroom floor or feed the dog. I thought summer was for lovers, and I was in love.
Then slowly at first, there was a sea change. The hours of uninterrupted play time turned into 30 minutes tops before I heard shrieking, crying and the unmistakable hollow sound of a blow to the back.
I guess it was inevitable. I actually thought I had highly evolved children. Like somehow I was the exception, "Oh my children never fight. They are each other's best friends." Well the egg is now on my face. Turns out they are not highly evolved, but instead Hudson is a cry baby, and Berlyn is a tattletale.
So my nails get shorter. I munch them while waiting in line at Trader Joe's as I watch Hudson rearrange all the candy bars and Berlyn slap his hand and tell him not to. I tear off a large piece of skin while they violently argue over who gets to open the automatic door at Nordstrom. I'm out of things to do. We did VBS, we did the library, art projects, lemonade stands, nature hikes, beach, pool, water park, we did picnics, farmer's markets, zoo, lunch with friends and park dates. Now I'm out of activities, my kids are out of patience, and my fingers are out of nails.
The onion plant has a fan of hollow, bluish-green leaves and the bulb at the base of the plant begins to swell when a certain day-length is reached. In the autumn the foliage dies down and the outer layers of the bulb become dry and brittle. The crop is harvested and dried and the onions are ready for use or storage. The crop is prone to attack by a number of pests and diseases, particularly the onion fly, the onion eelworm and various fungi that cause rotting. Some varieties of A. cepa such as shallots and potato onions produce multiple bulbs.`*-..
I totally agree. We brought our kids to Sharm el Sheik (Egypt) for their summer hols (I'm in Dublin, Ireland). You wuold think that they would be grateful. NO. Our little darlings (aged 11, 10, and 7) fought the whole first week. So much so that I text my Dad and Mum and told them I was miserable and he called them and gave them what for on the phone. After that the 11 year old stepped back from her brothers and the 10 year old stepped back away from his brother a bit. I love them dearly but BRING ON THE SCHOOL TIME!
Things have been happening over here at the 'ol Brigade lately.
Like the ridiculousness of my face in the above photo.
I got an award from the Orange County Press Club for the cover story I wrote in the December issue of OC Family.
Which OH WOW, I was floored that I even got a nomination. It was an honor to be recognized and attend the Press Club event. Plus, I got to eat a fancy dinner with 5 forks, and perfect my golf clap as other writers were awarded too.
And I'm featured on the talented and always adorable Curly Girl's blog today!
Now I'm going to hibernate under a rock because this is all too much for me.
Holy cow. I am a die hard Curly Girl fan- even to the point of ditching Boston on our very first visit to go find her lovely shop in Belmont (about 30 minutes outside of the city). Once there I practically drooled over every single card/magnet/cutting board with her cute designs on them. (I may or may not have required a really large bag to carry all of the goodys I could not leave without…) Now to hear that you guys have teamed up? Mind blown. Congratulations! I look forward to reading your funny/inspirational/honest posts in 2 places rather than just one. Go girl!
Awesome Beckey! So proud of you!
SO proud of you/thrilled for you! You are my hero.
It's always the ones who don't pay attention in class who are the secret geniuses. Take that, Torrey Programers (unless you were secretly a part of them, too).
Curly Girl Design is how I found you!!! (Those flyers or post its on the side – whatever they call them). And I am so glad I did. Congratulations on your achievements. It was only a matter of time really. Don't cha think?
Open any cupboard in my house and you might find slim shiny magazines stacked underneath fitted sheets or stowed away behind glass vases. Yoga Journal, Fine Cooking, Dwell Magazine, are all dog-eared and reserved incase of accidental boredom, or a power outage, or the sudden urge to make a fire.
I even love sitting in doctors' waiting rooms so I can thumb through a fresh W Magazine or a copy of Self. I love them all. I think it's because of their laconic nature. Magazines aren't lengthy books that mock me from my nightstand, instead they are easy, and they have pictures! It's basically at a comfortable second-grade reading level, and that's just where I like it. And I always have time to leaf through a magazine. Sitting at the table with a bowl of raspberries and a cup of coffee just feels more relaxing while reading about tips on how to achieve the perfect rustic cherry tart or hidden camping getaways.
Two of my favorite magazines get delivered to my door each month, Sunset and Martha Stewart Living. I get so thrilled when they come, that I stop what I am doing, and slowly turn the pages, taking in all the beautiful pictures and delicious recipes.
But beyond the glossy comfort of a mass produced magazine, lives a captivating new subset of magazines that are heartier, more beautiful, and advertisement free.
Kinfolk is stunning with its clean style and thoughtful articles. It's smart, well written and makes me feel like I can throw together a dinner party using only the ingredients from my backyard.
Lucky Peach is a food magazine that doesn't take itself too seriously. The copy I have is about what to eat in case of apocalypse. Each issue is centered around a single subject and its thick matte pages are loaded with bold and in your face photography, coupled with satirical and smart prose.
Apartamento is an interiors magazine. The Barcelona based bi-annual comes into homes of creative types and takes photos and talks to them about their living spaces. It feels comfortable because it's not about high priced sofas and artwork set up in a cold studio, instead it's about real people living in real homes.
Wilder Quarterly is all about things that grow: gardening, flowers, nature, wearing long flowing hemp skirts and twirling on top of a grassy meadows. Flowers and floral prints cover this magazine's heavy pages, as do recipes, guides for growing veggies, and a general love for being outdoors.
Those are some of my favorite magazines, what are yours?
Because of my last few blog posts, I keep getting some worried questions from friends and relatives. Are you okay? You seem a little stressed? I have some Xanax in my purse. Thank you truly for your concern, and extra thanks for your drugs, but I think this is the normal progression of my life stage. It's hard, and I'm in the weeds. Things are a little dirty, a little frayed at the ends, and please don't' pull that loose thread or else the whole thing will come undone, but dammit, we're all alive, and that's something worth celebrating. SNO-CONES ALL AROUND! Actually no, that's gross, I hate sno-cones, all that fake food coloring…and syrupy sugar– barf. I'll take a cookie. Cookies are my happiness. And because they make me so happy, I thought I'd share them with you.
I think premium ingredients make them taste the best. Don't buy junky stuff. Buy organic if it's available. If you're going to eat it, it better taste good, that's what I think.
Speaking of ingredients, I buy my chocolate chips from Costco and they are from responsibly sourced cacao. So I already feel like a winner when I eat these cookies. Hi-five to myself.
First I like to start my mixer going with the butter and sugars for a looong time. See how many O's I used? That means like 5 minutes. I like them fluffy. While those ingredients are getting to know each other, get your flour and baking soda and salt combined. The kids like to help me out with this part. I give them a big bow and a whisk and they try not to cover my entire counter with flour.
Crack your eggs and add them to the party. I like to do this in a small dish, to make sure no yucky shell pieces get in those delicious cookies. Because my 3-year-old thinks he's Mario Batali, he does a mean one-handed egg crack, which means most of the time I'm fetching egg shards out of the bowl.
Things should be getting nice and fluffy. Fluf-fay.
Add in the vanilla. I throw caution to the wind, and just pour. Who needs fancy measuring spoons?
Wait. I do. I love them. I'm convinced they help me bake better.
Turn the mixer down and slowly add in the flour, baking soda, and salt. Don't over beat. Then throw in those chocolate chips and walnuts. I like to turn the mixer on for a few revolutions to get everything incorporated.
Then I stick my finger in the bowl and have a taste. You have to make sure it tastes good.
Bake them for 10-12 minutes alternating the baking sheets half way through, let cool and then EAT THEM!
I want these NOW. Gimme. I also want to lay out all my ingredients so pretty-like too.
OC Register Family chose one of my Instagram photos to be featured on the back page of their magazine this month!
Most of our weekends are sloppy amalgamations of birthday parties and obligations.
and respite gets overlooked. This photo was taken on a rare day where we had no plans.
Our morning was warm and lazy, and the afternoon slowly appeared.
"Let's go outside!" We laced up our shoes, and waked out our front door.
Our home sits in a perfectly manicured master planned community, but slightly beyond the permitter, there is space.
Houses disappear behind emerald green hills, and tall rag weed grows unattended.
The sounds of SUVs and school children gets muffled by the wind in the trees and our own thoughts.
We found our much needed respite. It was outside waiting for us all along.
To see the actual page in the magazine go here.
To follow me on Instagram go here.
Great shot! Life is too busy most of the time, I love those rare lazy days.
Lately, I am a pin watching a glossy 13 pound ball roll straight for me, and it knocks me over.
That giant 13 pound ball is my three-and-a-half-year-old. He's lazy with direction, careless with liquids, he's loud when I ask for quiet, he is a bulldozer in a field of daffodils. And lately he has stopped sleeping. I'm convinced he's an alien, or a robot who is surviving off of bananas and Triscuts. He is the first to wake up in the morning, has given up his afternoon nap, and at night, hours after we put him to bed, he finally gives in to sleep. Not sleeping is one thing, but the symptom of no sleep is ruining our relationship. He's tipsy with tiredness, he falls over and breaks into a million pieces. If I don't cut his apple just right the whole afternoon is destroyed.
Additionally, I have two other children, one of which is a tiny baby who wakes up in the middle of the night crying for milk. I feel run down, constantly tired, and I need a break.
My husband had to work late, so I called my mom, and she told me to come over. Into the car I threw all three kids, some of which were not properly clothed, and drove to her house for fast food with an ocean view. The kids plodded around the inside of her home, and I quietly retreated onto the deck to watch the trees bend under the weight of the heavy salted air.
I can't find large chunks of time for myself, so instead I need to uncover small respites.
After tangerine popsicles and sticky fingers they went into the bath, fresh jammies, and I drove them home.
The drive home was detoxifying. The children were uncharacteristically quiet and the music that was playing through the speakers elevated me; Old Jimmy Eat World, Table for Glasses. I rolled the windows down just enough for my kids not to scream at me, "MAAA! TOO MUCH WIND!" And I watched the hills turn gold from the reflexion of the sun setting. My fingertips curled over the glass of the window, they flexed and relaxed with the tempo while they flickered against the breeze. I was having a sort of transcendent moment. The crescendo of the song built up and hit our car with force, I was the drummer, biting my lip and hitting the air with my imaginary drumsticks, because the percussion made me do it, because no one was watching, because it was good. It all felt good.
The light was brilliant, golden and pink and shiny. If the sunset could request a song, this one would be it. Sparkly, soft, and brilliant.
Mmoomm! Git da window up!
Thus ending my transcendent experience.
Sometimes I get an email from a reader asking me a question.
And the question I hear the most is, "why is your blog named Hippo Brigade?" And the answer is, NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS. In all caps, like I'm shouting, and then I smack your burrito to the ground and run in the other direction.
Alright fine, I'll give you the real answer.
When Pat and I first got married, it was the name of our wireless internet.
For some reason, we take pride in naming our wireless internet. We find you positively dull and uncreative when we see that your internet is called Jones542, because your last name is Jones and your house number is 542. So a few beers and an entire package of Twizzlers later we were shoving words together like it was craft night with Aunt Mildred. Proverbially hot glueing words to pipe cleaner-wrapped popsicle sticks until we liked the combination.
Because it's better than Mr. Chang's Imagination.
So my doctor knows that my kids drive me crazy and I need a break. I don't need a stranger justifying my role as an overwhelmed stay-at-home mother of three, but somehow in that moment, when my doctor was tapping my foot and telling me my life was difficult, my eyes yielded tears and my voice got soggy.
Silas is now seven months old. He does all these fantastic tricks now. He sits for a wobbly minute or two before he tips over like a buoy in the ocean. He's opinionated, loud, and grabby. He's basically an old man: He looks like Mr. Magoo, loves boobies, hates loud noises, loves naps, hates when things go off schedule, loves reading the paper (or Pat the Bunny), doesn't have any teeth, talks to anyone who will listen to him, and has a hard time getting around. See? Old man. He has old man eyes too. Somehow when he looks at me, I feel like he understands more. More than just my face, and my nose, my eyebrows. He gets me. I think it's because he's already been through a lot. He has gained wisdom and perspective. … at 7 months old, he's a magi.
We want to sell our house, which makes my stomach flip and my head weak, and I can't feel my legs, and I'm scared. Scared because we don't know where to go yet. There's all this pressure we've heaped upon ourselves to find the dream home. But I want a modest life, and a simple house. Simple but beautiful with trees and a yard, maybe some chickens and a garden. I want a dutch door off my kitchen that opens to the outside where I can watch my kids run in the grass while I bake a cake, and wear an apron with cherries on it.
And then I get sentimental over this house that we live in, with it's walls and rooms and sounds and the way the sun comes through the shutters at dinnertime and blasts my face with it's shiny brightness.
I've been walking around my home lately, touching the walls and feeling the weight of what we created in the 3.5 years that we've been sleeping here and eating here and making babies here.
It's just a shell, I keep reminding myself. We're going to find a new shell. We are merely slugs, a family of slugs sliding around on the wet sidewalk looking for a new home.
can you come decorate my house?! my walls are SO BARE!! I love that all of your walls are so unique and special!
I have the same dreams as you. Right down to the dutch door and chickens. And with the house prices up right now, we could possibly make a nice chunk of change on our house. I'm so ready.


The project is in it's final stages the estimated launch, January 2012. While traveling and watching a movie on a tablet, I was able to easy share the audio with my wife without having to pack a separate adapter. 99, but if you shop around you can probably find online merchants giving out Zune deals or a Zune discount. If you are thinking about having Edinburgh facials performed, there are many techniques that you may want to know about.
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Regina Fringe Festival Review
Posted by Gregory Beatty | July 4, 2010 | Uncategorized
SHOW: BURLESQUE UNZIPPED
VENUE: ROYAL SASKATCHEWAN MUSEUM
SCHEDULE: JULY 4 at 4:45 p.m.; JULY 5 at 7:15 p.m. and JULY 5 at 9:15 p.m.
The dictionary has it right, even though the vast majority of people today might not agree. Ask them what burlesque is, as Sharon Nowlan observes in the introduction to her one-woman show Burlesque Unzipped, and they would almost certainly equate it with striptease. But if you consult a dictionary you'll see that burlesque is actually defined as "a literary or dramatic work that seeks to ridicule by means of grotesque exaggeration or comic imitation."
Performers identified by Nowlan as operating in the burlesque tradition include Mae West, the balcony-dwelling grumps Statler and Waldorf on The Muppets and Carol Burnett. If you remember Burnett's old CBS variety show, there was an animated bit at the start where Burnett was depicted as a grubby charwoman. Almost certainly as a nod to the show, that's how Nowlan first appears on stage, unpacking evening gloves and other swank accessories which she hangs carefully on a dressing screen.
During her performance, Nowlan traces the evolution of burlesque from its orgins in the early days of the Industrial Revolution when a newly urbanized work force sought out entertainment at night to help escape the drudgery of their assembly line jobs through the upheaval of France's 19th century transformation from a monarchy to a republic to the golden era of vaudeville in the United States.
For most of its history, Nowlan observes, burlesque was an avenue of empowerment for women, enabling them to confront restrictive social, religious and sexual mores. Grounded firmly in working class culture, it also served a means of critiquing the foibles of the moneyed elite and subverting their power.
Realizing the economic potential of burlesque, men slowly began to take over the industry. Once that happened, Nowlan notes, the show became more about displaying female bodies than female wit. That's when striptease started to take over. That, in turn, attracted the attention of reform-minded puritans in the U.S. and led to burlesque being banned in the late 1930s.
Today, of course, there's a thriving strip club industry (outside of the odd place like Saskatchewan where restrictive liquor laws render clubs economically unviable). But stripping in no way compares to traditional burlesque, which is apparently enjoying a revival.
Nowlan's show is evidence of that. Generously laced with humour, including one bit with a lecherous male puppet that was particularly effective, and including several set pieces with costumes, music and dialogue chosen to recreate different eras of burlesque, Nowlan offers an insightful and entertaining overview of the art form. The only real quibble I have is that as a dancer, Nowlan's technique needs some work. Otherwise, definitely worth seeing.
PreviousPick of the Day: RCMP Depot Division
NextFringe Review: Can You Say Saskatchewaaan?


The standard surface for a roller skate rink is concrete covered in a thin plastic layer because of the low costs of installation and maintenance. If your building is relatively small, invest your money in a wooden floor that will add an interesting twist to the traditional rink.... Roll-on® Skate Floor Finish The #1 selling skate floor coating in the world. Roll-on® provides a beautiful high gloss, long lasting skate floor coating while giving skaters the smooth roll and consistent grip they need to skate and to perform at all skill levels safely in your facility.
The first big step in becoming a roller skating rink owner or skating facility operator is to find the perfect location. You may even decide to try a new city or state to find a site that needs a rink…... The main attraction at every rink is the skating floor. Maple has been found to be the best skating surface because, in addition to its natural beauty, its durable, non-splintering, and closely-grained surface will withstand thousands of hours of happy skating.
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Skating facility managers trust Matéflex for two reasons. 1.) We've been around forever – we're America's oldest modular flooring manufacturer and it shows in the sophistication of our products and services. 2.) Our rink flooring provides the highest level of performance. Rink managers can enhance the game of their inline players by choosing to put our flooring under their wheels.


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U.S. Snowboarding has announced its team for the 2011 World Championships in La Molina, Spain, according to TransWorld Snowboarding. Leading the team of 21 athletes are three Olympians: Seth Wescott, Olympic gold medalist in 2006 and 2010 and World Champion in 2005; Lindsey Jacobellis, Olympic silver medalist in 2006 and two-time World Champion; and Nate Holland, six-time X Games gold medalist and bronze medalist at the 2007 World Championships.
The 2011 World Championships will run from January 15 through January 22. For more information and a calendar of events, check out the FIS Web site. The International Ski Federation (FIS) oversees Olympic and many non-Olympic ski sports and was founded in 1924 in Chamonix, France.
For a some sound advice from another Olympic snowboarder, check out Gretchen Bleiler's Top 10 Snowboarding Tips.


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News News News News News News News News News News News News News News News News News News News News News News News News News News News News News News
The DWL 2021 Customer Satisfaction survey results are in.
DWL Customer Survey 2021 Result.
The DWL 2021 Customer Satisfaction Survey results are in, and we are pleased to see the hard work of our team reflected in the data, with 100% of respondents satisfied with our quality, speed and service.
We are especially proud of this result because of the steady increase in translation work we handled last year and the growth we experienced.
DWL is lucky to have an outstanding team of project managers handling complex translation requirements for our life science customers. They work tirelessly to coordinate the work of hundreds of specialist medical translators.
Plan. Do. Check. Act.
The customer satisfaction survey also identifies areas in which we can improve our services. Continuous improvement is a key feature of the ISO 9001 standard to which we are audited.
Based on the feedback we receive over the course of the year, including from the customer satisfaction survey, we can formulate a strategy for turning happy customers into evangelists for our brand.
We look forward to addressing areas in which we would like to develop to maintain our position as preferred language service provider to many of the world's most important pharmaceutical and medical device companies.
We wish to give thanks to the customers who participated in our survey and agreed to give testimonials.
Our company is made up of translation and medical professionals – we love our work, and this positive feedback is welcome.


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Twin Sisters Once Ashamed of Their Natural Hair Are Now Famous Because of It
Twin sisters, Cipriana and TK Quann, used to hate their natural textured curls and felt like they always had to straighten it because of the bullying they experienced before. But after developing the confidence to proudly wear their hair natural, they are now getting paid for it! In fact, they have found huge success by being true to themselves, and they're now inspiring others to do so as well!
"I was beginning to actually hate my hair and seeing it as a huge obstacle," Cipriana said in an interview with Cosmopolitan.
Cipriana and TK said they have heard several derogatory comments about their textured hair. Thus, they tried to fit into the so-called standard of beauty by applying different chemical straighteners and relaxers on their hair. Still, they are struggling and unhappy with what they are doing.
Not until they decided to embrace their gorgeous natural tresses. Aside from becoming famous for their trademark hair, they also felt great because they are more comfortable being themselves.
Born in Baltimore, the identical twins are now based in the fashion capital of the world, New York. They have been featured in several fashion magazines including Essence, Glamour, Vogue, Elle, and Harper's Bazaar and collaborated with multiple fashion brands such as Gap, Rebecca Minkoff, and Carol's Daughter.
The twins also inspire others to be themselves through their Instagram as well as the lifestyle website Urban Bush Babes. Cipriana co-founded the site with Nikisha Brunson, who is also an African-American influencer, with the aim to support and encourage women of color to embrace their natural beauty. TK, who is also a musician who goes by TK Wonder, also contributes to the blogs for the site.
Cipriana and TK could be two different people but they are one in working to promote diversity and inclusivity in the world of fashion and beauty. It's just an extra that their passion is also their work.
For more information about Cipriana and TK Quann, visit www.urbanbushbabes.com or follow them on Instagram @urbanbushbabes


Overland 230 | Me fail? I fly!
This entry was posted in Books and tagged Alison Croggon, Brigid Magner, Evelyn Araluen, Georgina Woods, Giovanni Tiso, Jacinda Woodhead, Jennifer Mills, journals, Laura Elvery, Nicole Curby, Tony Birch. Bookmark the permalink.
There's an argument that's becoming more valid now that people (unwittingly or otherwise) tailor their own news vis Facebook, that it's important to hear/read the views of people you disagree with otherwise you're operating in an echo chamber.
Me too. I remember in particular an essay singing the praisss of lying on Twitter as an organising method!


Celeste called us and let us know that she been approved for a Level 2 Home Care Package but had not yet been assigned it. She was waiting on the national queue but needed help soon. Her daughter, who helped her regularly, had to relocate interstate due to her husband's job.
We set up an appointment for Celeste to develop a personalised care plan that would provide the support she needed. Services started the following week. Celeste now has a package and continues to see Andrea who she has the relationship with.
Private care should be considered if you are waiting for a Home Care Package. It can greatly improve an individual's wellbeing and allow them to maintain or improve their standard of living at home.
The time to takes from being approved for a Home Care Package to being assigned the funding can be a long wait.


Wearing contact lenses is something that a lot of people have been doing in the modern day and age, whether they're doing it for the fashion or it is something that was suggested by the doctors. Not to forget, these contact lenses are actually great alternatives to traditional glasses as well, so if you're someone who doesn't like to wear glasses, this is a nicer idea to go for.
You can check out Alliance optical supplies in order to get some more information about them, but for now, we're strictly focusing on the mistakes that you should avoid with your contact lenses. We're not saying that you're going to make the mistakes, but it it's the first time, then you may end up making one or two.
So, let's not waste time, and have a look at the mistakes that need to be avoided, shall we?
You need to know that you can actually ruin the contact lenses just by handling them without washing your hand. Mainly because these lenses can get covered in dust, and should that happen, it can be a huge hassle, and we'd always advise you to avoid that in the first place. Make sure you always wash your hand.
Another mistake you need to avoid when you're going for contact lenses is making sure that you don't sleep with them. This is perhaps one of the most dangerous of the bunch because a contact lens can get stuck in the eye, and be incredibly difficult to remove.
So, make sure that you don't sleep with contact lenses, especially if you don't want to invite any sort of trouble your way. This is the best way to make sure that you avoid it in the first place.
As summer rolls around all the local and community pools are opening back up for the general public. To make sure that these pools are running properly, the communities or the associations running them usually assemble a team for the pool management that is made up of either adults, who are volunteering and trying to make sure that their community pools run properly, or high school students or college students who are visiting their home towns and need a summer job. These guys are then in charge of pool cleaning, pool maintenance, and life guard duties. While this might seem like a good and easy way, as well as a cheap way, of making sure that the pool runs properly, it is not necessarily the best way of running the local pools.
While the volunteers and students will be able to do the basic work they do not have any proper training or experience running the pool and often do not understand proper pool cleaning or pool maintenance techniques. There is also going to be a problem of availability of these volunteers and students and many might not be able to come in every single day. The irregularities can be a huge problem especially with regards to the life guard duties and pool cleaning duties as these are important things that need to be done on a daily basis. For proper pool management, the owners of the pool or the community the pool belongs to might be better off hiring a proper pool management company that can do the work.
A pool management company will be able to provide trained life guards who can be on duty every single day along with a cleaning and maintenance team that will be present to take care of any issue or problem that pops up.
The mining business has a lot of money in it, which is why many of us who like making big investments are starting to look for land that can be mined. You can mine property with valuable mineral reserves yourself by setting up a mining company of your own or you could outsource your lands to such companies for mining. Either ways, there is a ton of profit in the mining business.
In order for you to get into this business, you'll need to partner up with a mining tenement management firm. These firms will walk you through the steps necessary in the process of you holding a title over property that can be mined. Here are a few services in mining tenement by Austwide.
Lands that can be mined are rare to happen upon and in the older days, you'd have to be very lucky to find yourself sitting on land that can be mined. Mining tenement management companies such as Austwide keep track of these kinds of lands all across the country so they can find opportunities for their clients to acquire titles for such land.
Once you've acquired the title for a certain property, you must protect your title. There's a lot of documentation and paperwork involved that protects your interests and your claim to what is mined from your land. A mining tenement management company will guide you through all the necessary documentation.
Your mining tenement management company doesn't leave you to your own devices after they've helped you get your land; they stay in touch with you to inform you of opportunities that may come your way later on and will provide you counsel.
Cannabidiol oil, more commonly known as CBD oil, is used for various health positive benefits but the implementation and usage of it has seen much more controversy. The problem persists from the confusion that lasts about exactly what it is and what it can do. Many people curious as to where to buy CBD oil should first learn what it is capable of and how you can avoid using it for the wrong reasons which is best learnt by understanding the principle of what this oil consists of and how the chemicals present can affect you and your body.
Cannabidiol may be present with health positive effects but also come with their own respective share of risk. CBD is one of the two major chemicals present in the cannabis plant and recently many researchers have taken an interest into the therapeutic effects that CBD can offer and its potential. Oils containing a concentration of cannabidiol are known as CBD oils but the actual composition and concentrations of these oils can vary from each other. The other major chemical that can be present in these oils is called tetrahydrocannabinol, more well-known as THC, and it is this chemical that causes the major controversy of the effects of these oils.
THC induces a mind-altering psychedelic effect into its users and has been subjugated to overly recreational use. There is a lot of concern about the potential abuse of these substances which is what has made it illegal in many states. But the other chemical, CBD, can help to reduce anxiety, stress and various other symptoms that many people that suffer from mental illnesses are accustomed to. The cannabis plant has seen medical purposes for as long as people have been growing it which has spanned over thousands of years.
It doesn't matter if you are just going for a residential use, commercial, or even an industrial use. If you have to deal with a lot of waste on a daily basis, then we'd suggest you hire skip bins. In case you are wondering, these bins are pretty large as compared to your standard dust bins, and are able to hold up a lot of stuff in them quite easily.
There are several companies that allow people to actually hire these bins, and use them however they way, you can even go for skip bins in Perth by West Bin should you want to. Keeping that in mind, there are numerous reasons to hire skip bin services, and it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.
As for the article at hand, we are going to be looking at the advantages of skip bins. So, without further ado, let's begin.
The best thing about skip bins is that they provide the users to have a way out by giving easy waste management. Whether you're going for a bigger size, or a smaller one, they have enough space, and even if you run out, you can always request for more. That's the simplicity of these bins, allowing people to get the job done.
Another reason why you may want to hire skip bins is because they are not actually expensive at a ll. As a matter of fact, in our surveys, we realized that majority of skip bins are relatively in expensive, and are being offered by great companies. This has allowed us to conclude that these bins are something that can approached by everyone around us, making things so much easier than before. This is a great thing for people who are on a budget.
If you find yourself struggling for a good restaurant to look at, don't worry, we have all been here. This is mainly because the market is filled with so many different restaurants, it kind of becomes a lot difficult for us to find a good restaurant to eat out at. Sure, you may have a favorite places to eat at, but keep in mind that we always want to have food at someplace different.
If you find yourself struggling to find a good restaurant, we would like to suggest http://gramercybarandkitchen.com.au/. They are one of the best places where you can eat, and considering how it's a bar and a restaurant combined, you're going to have a good time with your friends.
Keeping that in mind, we are going to take a look at some of the tips that you can use to find the best restaurant possible. Let's have a look.
One really important thing that you need to keep in mind when finding a restaurant is the ambiance, not all restaurants have the same ambiance. It all depends on your mood, if you're in a good mood, you'll be okay with whatever ambiance is given, however, if you want something very specific, then the options will be available to you as well.
Another important thing that you definitely need to look out for is the type of food that is served by the restaurants, obviously, it's rather simple to tell that not all restaurants are known for serving the same food. Now if you are a picky eater, it may get confusing for you to pick the restaurant that you want. So, always make sure that you check the menus beforehand in order to tell what restaurant you want to go for.
Slurry is a highly abrasive material that almost every modern mining facility produces, this material consists of mined waste, useful materials and water mixed together and needs to be transported to filtration plants where everything is separated. A common way to transport slurry is through slurry pipelines which often stretch across long distances, these pipelines need to be made of durable materials and need to have high quality valves which are easy to operate in order to keep a check on the material's flow. Dual Valves is a veteran OEM and marketer of slurry valves and slurry pipelines couplings that has over 50 years of combined experience in its field and has a name for providing quality at great value.
The company is affiliated with Dual and Hydrocore, both manufacturers known as some of the best producers of slurry valves and couplings, Dual Valves stocks a large range of slurry valves including slurry control valves, isolating and safety control valves and anti-abrasive valves. Every item that they have to offer is of the highest quality and is incredibly easy to operate, the company even provides custom made valves for clients with existing systems.
Dual Valves also has a large variety of slurry sampling valves, slurry samplers by Dual Valves are manufactured by EDART, another reputable manufacturer of specialized mining equipment and are of great quality. These valves are often used to take samples of slurry for chemical and material testing and need to be designed to withstand high pressures without breaking down quickly. You can find out more about Dual Valve and the many different types of valves and couplings they have to offer on their website, the company operates from Western Australia to all across Asia and New Zealand, providing people with some of the best valves available.
If you have a date you are going to be worried about making a good first impression. There are a lot of different things that you would be trying to handle, such as getting a nice set of clothes that you can wear, updating your song collection in order to impress your date and making sure that you are using the perfect blend of perfumes. However, in all of this planning and plotting you might have forgotten one very important thing, and that is the fact that your teeth need to look nice before you go on your date.
The thing about teeth is that they play an important role in the first impression your date is going to get. You are obviously going to smile when you see the person that you are about to go on a date with, and unless you are one of the minority that smiles with their mouth shut your date is going to get a look at your teeth. If your teeth are clean this would reflect very well on you, but if they are not this can turn your date off and make it far less likely that you would be able to go on a second date.
There are a number of different dental procedures that you should go through before a first date. Get your teeth scaled to remove tartar and plaque, and get your teeth whitened so that you have a nice, bright smile to show off to your date. Doing this can really improve your chances of turning a casual date into something a little more serious! You should learn as much as you can about the various dental procedures mentioned here as well as others you can opt for by clicking here: www.harmonyorthodontics.com.au.
Pocket knives may be one category of knives but it sure as hell is a big one. Even though these knives are small, there are a lot of aspects and features of these babies that people view very differently. For some people, one thing may matter less and for some people, it may be the deciding factor for buying that particular knife. It is all very subjective and it all comes down to your needs and wants.
Unlike the common notion of "size matters", some people love their pocket knives short. These people have girls in majority as girls' pocket sizes are comparatively smaller. Guys tend to be invested in bigger knives as they usually use it more rough and tough and even in things that do not seem like they can be cut with pocket knives.
We can all agree that grip is an important factor of a pocket knife. However, some people may feel like the best pocket knife should have a thick handle if their hands are bigger, to grip it better. While some lefties may prefer to buy a knife with friction but no particular design as most of them are designed for righties.
Believe it or not but color is a big issue… even in knives! Some people may be attracted to dull colored black or dark grey knives in order to have more stealth at night. Other people may prefer a camouflage colored handle for forest hunting. Some of them might even like rainbow colored knives, whatever goes with their fashion. We are no one to judge.
All in all, even amongst the top, you may have a different definition of the best pocket knife.
Limestone. This is exactly the kind of material that you would want used in the construction of your home. The kind of décor it adds is one of quite high quality, garnering respect from many. Limestone is a well-known rock that is often used in the construction of grand structures. Even landmarks have chosen to use limestone simply for the sound structural integrity that it applies to your building. Incredibly dense and strong material, it falls under the category of being one of the most favoured types of natural stone flooring. The sheer durability of it is splendid and when it comes to building something to last for years, limestone is proficient.
It isn't as if limestone can't come in different eye-appeasing colours. You could be building a house from scratch, you could be renovating an older one, limestone flooring can be applied to give the exterior of your building a lasting impression. Getting the entranceway embedded with limestone offers a profound ambience that is sure to leave a long-lasting impression on the many visits from your friends and families alike. They'll be talking about your house for years to come!
It boosts the overall value of your house and when you couple it alongside an enthusiastic home builder and an experienced craftsman of limestone, you'll make wonders of a piece of real estate. Living in Perth makes it no different, why not try getting your home a new outfit of limestone? Fluid limestone offers specialized concrete instalments at a decently affordable rate as well. You can click here to check out their previous splendidly accomplished works of art. Having a seasons expert of limestone construction at the ready is hitting the nail on the head. You are definitely going to be impressed with what you will soon get to call your home and so will everyone else be.
The Westminster city is a great place to visit if you are planning a vacation this summer. Kimberly Truong tutoring Orange County can guide you throughout. She is smart and most importantly amazing at what she does. The Westminster city is also called The American Dream.
You must be wondering why. Well, there are a lot of immigrants who have settled in this area and they have worked day and night to restart their lives and settle in this part of the world. Everyone is different around here yet so particular and have maintained their cultures and values.
It seems like a salad if you are someone new here. You will find all kinds of people here. The city is multi-cultural. Most importantly, at the end of the day, the city integrates into American culture.
Little Saigon is a little town in Westminster city which is growing immensely day by day. If you are someone who wishes to witness the multi-cultures around here then Little Saigon is where you want to be. There are no borders, you can visit anytime. It is where immigrants have settled and have considered America their very own but not to forget they have brought their cultures with them and also do not forget where they come from.
The food in this area is outstanding as many immigrants have infused different tastes from their cultures. Your taste buds will want more even after you are full. Most of the flavors come from Vietnamese food. The most shocking fact about them is that the country itself is divided into three portions and so the variety is vast.
You can ask Kimberly Truong for her help as she takes a keen interest in helping people who are interested in this part of the Westminster city.
If you are new to taking care of your hearing aid batteries and are not sure which are the basic steps that you should begin at, this article can be very useful to you or any of your friends or family who need help regarding this same issue.
First and foremost, you should be aware of how to properly store the hearing aid batteries that you have already bought. And if you have not yet and not sure where to buy from, visit the website here at https://www.hearingaidbatteries.com.au/.
To start off, contrary to what some people say, you should store your hearing aid batteries at room temperature instead of very low temperatures. If you have read up anywhere that you should keep your hearing aid batteries in the fridge then please discard that piece of information.
Whenever you are about to change your hearing aid batteries, always remember to wash your hands beforehand, no pun intended. Hearing aid batteries are quite sensitive and so are the hearing aid devices. A little bit of any insulating material that your hands might transfer onto the batteries might interrupt with the operation of the device or worse, can even damage it.
What To Do With The Dead Ones?
If your batteries seem to be weak enough to crawling towards their graves, it is highly recommended that you change your batteries. Never keep the dead batteries inside your hearing implants. Always immediately replace them.
If your hearing aids seem to have caught water, leave the battery compartment open overnight in order to dry it out before replacing with new or reentering the old batteries inside. For more information on hearing aid batteries and the purchase of it, visit the website here.


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Christmas Gift Guides Back
The best philanthropic Christmas gifts
1 - Belvedere Red Belvedere Red
Christmas is the time for giving and, what with being wrapped up in trying to figure out what the top gifts for explorers are or which drinks to stock your superyacht bar with, it can be easy to forget that not everyone will be having such a festive season. This year make every present count with our edit of the best philanthropic and charitable Christmas gifts. (Belvedere) Red vodka, £38, Belvedere at Clos19 50% of proceeds donated to Global Fund to help fight AIDS/HIV in Africa
Christmas is the time for giving and, what with being wrapped up in trying to figure out what the top gifts for explorers are or which drinks to stock your superyacht bar with, it can be easy to forget that not everyone will be having such a festive season. This year make every present count with our edit of the best philanthropic and charitable Christmas gifts.
(Belvedere) Red vodka, £38, Belvedere at Clos19
50% of proceeds donated to Global Fund to help fight AIDS/HIV in Africa
2 - Bvlgari jewellery Bvlgari jewellery
Sterling silver and ceramic bracelet, $580, ring, $560, and necklace, $620, Bvlgari A portion of proceeds from the sale of each item is donated to fund Save the Children's projects helping society's most vulnerable young people
Sterling silver and ceramic bracelet, $580, ring, $560, and necklace, $620, Bvlgari
A portion of proceeds from the sale of each item is donated to fund Save the Children's projects helping society's most vulnerable young people
3 - Beulah T-shirt Beulah T-shirt
Freedom For All organic T-shirt, £40, Beulah All profits will be donated to Every Child Protected Against Trafficking to support young people in the UK who have been victims of human trafficking
Freedom For All organic T-shirt, £40, Beulah
All profits will be donated to Every Child Protected Against Trafficking to support young people in the UK who have been victims of human trafficking
4 - Marni Ark Marni Ark
Ark sculpture animals, POA, Marni (available from December) A portion of proceeds will be donated to Piccolo Principe S.C.S Onlus' La casa sull'albero project supporting adoption and foster care programmes in Milan
Ark sculpture animals, POA, Marni (available from December)
A portion of proceeds will be donated to Piccolo Principe S.C.S Onlus' La casa sull'albero project supporting adoption and foster care programmes in Milan
5 - Tessa Packard bracelet Tessa Packard bracelet
Alphabet bracelet in 18ct gold vermeil and mother-of-pearl, £150, Tessa Packard 20% of the proceeds from each sale will be donated to the National Osteoporosis Society
Alphabet bracelet in 18ct gold vermeil and mother-of-pearl, £150, Tessa Packard
20% of the proceeds from each sale will be donated to the National Osteoporosis Society
6 - Golden Hour sunglasses Golden Hour sunglasses
Capri Emerald sunglasses, £179, Golden Hour at Seekers of Design 10% of all profits are donated to Mercy Ships to support projects providing sight-saving surgery, eye protection and training for doctors and nurses in Madagascar, Cameroon and Benin.
Capri Emerald sunglasses, £179, Golden Hour at Seekers of Design
10% of all profits are donated to Mercy Ships to support projects providing sight-saving surgery, eye protection and training for doctors and nurses in Madagascar, Cameroon and Benin.
7 - Art Partners Art Partners
Art Partners annual membership, £2,500, Art Fund All proceeds from Art Partner membership goes towards supporting museums and galleries throughout the UK. In return members are granted special access to private views, are able to meet artists in their studios and are invited to a host of other exclusive events.
Art Partners annual membership, £2,500, Art Fund
All proceeds from Art Partner membership goes towards supporting museums and galleries throughout the UK. In return members are granted special access to private views, are able to meet artists in their studios and are invited to a host of other exclusive events.
8 - Anabela Chan x The Sorority ring Anabela Chan x The Sorority ring
Tourmaline Soror ring in 18 carat yellow gold, £1,490, Anabela Chan x The Sorority 20% of proceeds donated to Women for Women International to provide practical and moral support for female survivors of war
Tourmaline Soror ring in 18 carat yellow gold, £1,490, Anabela Chan x The Sorority
20% of proceeds donated to Women for Women International to provide practical and moral support for female survivors of war
9 - Grey Goose Martini Set Grey Goose Martini Set
Hannah Martin Grand Explorer martini set, £695, Grey Goose at Selfridges Contains: Wooden coffret, 70cl Grey Goose vodka, martini glasses, mixing glass, stirrer, olive picks, instruction book. £400 from each sale is donated to the Les Visionnaires Scholarship Fund to support art students at Central Saint Martin's, London.
Hannah Martin Grand Explorer martini set, £695, Grey Goose at Selfridges
Contains: Wooden coffret, 70cl Grey Goose vodka, martini glasses, mixing glass, stirrer, olive picks, instruction book. £400 from each sale is donated to the Les Visionnaires Scholarship Fund to support art students at Central Saint Martin's, London.
10 - SHE-Y SHE-Y
Body cream, £80, and body scrub, £75, SHE-Y A percentage of all profits is donated to the Menaye Charity Organisation to help build schools in Ghana and create jobs for disadvantaged mothers
Body cream, £80, and body scrub, £75, SHE-Y
A percentage of all profits is donated to the Menaye Charity Organisation to help build schools in Ghana and create jobs for disadvantaged mothers
11 - Blancpain Ocean Commitment II watch Blancpain Ocean Commitment II watch
Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Flyback Chronograph Ocean Commitment II, POA, Blancpain €1,000 from the sale of each watch will be donated to support oceanic environmental causes and every purchaser will become part of the Blancpain Ocean Commitment Circle
Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Flyback Chronograph Ocean Commitment II, POA, Blancpain
€1,000 from the sale of each watch will be donated to support oceanic environmental causes and every purchaser will become part of the Blancpain Ocean Commitment Circle
12 - Sundried leggings Sundried leggings
Roteck 2.0 men's training tights, £40, and Ruinette 2.0 women's leggings, £50, both Sundried A portion of proceeds form every Sundried purchase is donated to Water for Kids and Surfers Against Sewage
Roteck 2.0 men's training tights, £40, and Ruinette 2.0 women's leggings, £50, both Sundried
A portion of proceeds form every Sundried purchase is donated to Water for Kids and Surfers Against Sewage
13 - Chantecaille eye palette Chantecaille eye palette
Save the Forest eye palette, £76, Chantecaille at Net-A-Porter A portion of all proceeds is donated to the Rainforest Alliance
Save the Forest eye palette, £76, Chantecaille at Net-A-Porter
A portion of all proceeds is donated to the Rainforest Alliance
14 - Elephant gin Elephant gin
London dry gin and sloe gin, from £30.90 each, Elephant Gin 15% of profits donated to Big Life Foundation, the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and Space for Elephants to prevent poaching and help restore Africa's natural migratory routes for elephants
London dry gin and sloe gin, from £30.90 each, Elephant Gin
15% of profits donated to Big Life Foundation, the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and Space for Elephants to prevent poaching and help restore Africa's natural migratory routes for elephants
Belvedere Red
VIEW AS GALLERY
Christmas gift guide: The best men's fine watches
Christmas gifts guide
The best sea-inspired Christmas gifts
Bvlgari jewellery
Beulah T-shirt


Upgrade your accessory collection by adding this tote handbag presented to you by Elliza Donatein. It has been crafted from synthetic leather, which makes it easy to maintain. Moreover, it features one main compartment with a slip zip separator that promises to keep your belongings in an orderly way.
Be the style icon among your friends by opting for this exquisite tote handbag for any casual occasion. It will look good with a wide range of outfits.


This plugin allows you to install Joomla extensions by AJAX, on the same website where this plugin is installed.
You must call this plugin by this URL: index.php?option=com_ajax&plugin=digiinstaller&format=json, sending needed data by POST method.
Extension Name variable should contain the system name of the extension to install (for example "mod_digi_showcase").
Extension URL variable should contain the URL where to download the extension to install.
Below an example code to make the AJAX call using jQuery.
MY_BUTTON should be replaced with the identifier of the element to trigger the function.
EXTENSION_NAME should be replaced with the system name of the extension.
EXTENSION_URL should be replaced with the URL where to download the extension to install.


Is your story in good shape?
I am planning on joining a gym as part of my early morning routine (long term) and a needed change in lifestyle when I move to Essex in September. Most of us appreciate the importance of being in good shape. One of the hopes is to stay fit, healthy and I guess we hope for longevity. Right?
So can this be applied to our writing? Can you think the same way about your stories?
What stories stand the test of time and live beyond our mortal physicality?
I have talked about the story arc before but sometimes it helps to recap.
There are variations but this is the one I tend to use and send to clients if their story needs a little 'gym' action.
I would never suggest the arc is used as a blueprint as you write or the writing is likely to become formulaic. This is why understanding story, a lot of this being gained from reading, is so important. When I call the arc into action for clients is when something about a story isn't working and in that case I see the arc as more prescriptive.
Are you building enough tension into the writing?
Do you have enough crises to keep the reader hooked?
Is what the protagonist wants and therefore the motivation for action defined enough?
Does the climax lead to a satisfactory resolution and is the key question/conflict/dilemma solved?
Has your character been changed enough by the story — change being a function of plot?
Story analysis is one of the key considerations when examining your own work. While we have to look at devices and your use of words, phrasing etc. that is all great but if what you have isn't a story it's just a nice piece of prose. But if you want something to work properly you have to pay close attention to the SHAPE of your story.
My advice for first drafts (novel or short story) is just to get the story down (although I have written so many now I do a lot of editing and polishing as I go, but it's whatever works best for you). Once you have the draft now begins the fun part. And this is where you might feel something is missing, overdone, and the shape needs consideration.
If the story appears to fall flat in the middle or the climax feels like its missing or ill-defined and the ending isn't as satisfactory as you want it to be, you probably have a story in need of a little body sculpture and the questions above could prove useful.
To get into the practice (especially for the newer writers) of looking at this, try thinking about these questions and the story arc in the book you're currently reading and the short stories you've read. Step out of yourself and apply this to films, TV series, plays even West end musicals. Can you tease apart the key elements? Can you think of ways you might have improved this in something you've read?
Once you understand these basic principles of story telling, you have access to something that will no doubt improve your plotting and story telling.
Have a great day! Some plotting of my own to do!


sfgirlbybay: Ode My Deco Files: Art Filled Rooms.
Ode My Deco Files: Art Filled Rooms.
Hanging artwork can be tricky...too much, too little, too high, too low...it's all very subjective, but you know when it looks just right. This is lucky number thirteen in my Ode to Domino's My Deco series, and a reader asked if I might dig up some inspiration to share with you in regards to hanging artwork in Domino's My Deco Files. There was plenty to inspire and it was hard to stop. I like so many looks, from the kind of random look of pasting a patchwork of Polaroids to a wall, to an organized gallery of fine art, it all appeals to me in different ways. I tend to hang my art at eye level, and I'm short, so maybe it's too low for some, but I like it that way...where I can see and appreciate it up close. Here's a look at some varied ideas from Domino's Deco Files for eclectic and eye-catching collections.
Oh breathtaking! Merci beaucoup Victoria.
these are so lovely! i love filling a space with art!
i am an art collector obsessive who is also quite fearful to make the commitment of framing and hanging. thus...many boxes filled with perfectly lovely, but never seen, artwork.
hopefully this will quell my fears and motivate me to decorate my walls!
Very cool victoria; a couple are your humble abode, right?
thanks for the inspiration. I did an open frame vignette in my studio. I'll have to share that soon.
I love looking at these and seeing how many of the same inspirational pictures I have in my style file.
Thanks for giving me even more!
I am trying to put together a wall of art right now ... this was such a great bunch of inspiration!
Nice to see this post. I have a lot of artwork and photos that I need to hang and I wasn't quite sure of how I wanted to do it.
This must have taken a long time to put together; thanks!
Oh, they're all wonderful! Very, very inspiring! Time to plaster my walls with art!
what great timing...i'm trying to figure out what the heck to do with my bare walls!
the dog gets my vote!
Amazing!!! there is nothing like well hung art on walls.... so inspiring.
I so enjoy this post!!! There are a million ideas!!
These all look so nice. I really like the black & white or the old fashioned ones. The ones with the gold frames are pretty nice too. Thanks for sharing this!
i very much enjoyed this post. you really hit something here. so inspired now. seriously and i was just beginning to feel the inspiration sort of numbed away- i chalked it up to too many design blogs, too many ideas, no clear direction- but this post had a theme. i did a similar one on stacks of dishes and my love for them and it struck me as one of my all time favorites that i had posted. i think this may be the reason. a focus. thanks a bunch! i nicked a few for my blog for future inspired posts (with focus from now on!!).
Gosh! I needed this inspiration. Even as an artist, I get so confused about hanging art. I have so many pieces I adore that I want to display, although too many pieces, are way too visually stimulating for me...I like to mix nonframed things into the mix and somehow it all becomes overwhelming and most things wind up not getting hung at all....these were all lovely arrangements...and not overdone.
Oh! These are fantastic, thank you so much for all of the inspiration....always a great topic to revisit!
btw, you seem to move around your framed artworks a lot. how do you hang them? i live in a rental and can't use hooks or nails - any ideas? thanks.
i'm so glad you all felt some inspiration!
I Absolutely Adore this post and all of the inspirations in it! Your home looks so lovely.
These are beautiful and remind me of what I've been meaning to ask you. How do you put up your frames and artwork? By using nail and hammer or duct tape? I've always been curious.
Kristen - I usually use nails - and if I move something, I just spackle and touch up the paint. But a stylist was here with some 3M velcro adhesive strips that worked great for smaller pieces.
WOW. You have officially inspired me to create an art wall. I love that one with the framed eyes, and basically every single one you featured.
This is going into my bookmarked pages pronto. Thank youuuu!