Minicar Owner vs. the IIHS

As the so-far happy owner of a 2009 Honda Fit, I read the results of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's minicar crash tests with some dismay — as in, oh joy, there goes my already not-super-cheap car insurance premium. That's despite the headline being purely Dog Bites Man, as in we all know small cars will end up on the short end of head-on crashes with much larger cars. If anything, the whole exercise begs the question of why IIHS didn't just face the Fit, Yaris, and ForTwo off against the Honda Pilot, Toyota Sequoia, and Mercedes GL-class, respectively. Surely minicar drivers are impressively fucked in front-offset collisions with 2-1/2-ton SUVs.IIHS's prescription is that minicar intenders opt instead for high-MPG midsize cars. That's not totally objectionable (*), though in listing as alternatives the Camry and Ford Fusion hybrids plus the VW Jetta diesel IIHS effectively exhausts the current U.S. market in such vehicles. At least it makes them look more reasonable than if they had followed their logic to its conclusion that if we really wanted to be safe, we should all drive the largest possible vehicles. In fact, it's just as easy to interpret the IIHS results as favoring a shift to more light, small, slow cars with advanced safety features like my dear little Fit.This is a story of externalities (of course), and in a world that's stupidly been populated with oversized cars and light trucks, the minicar driver sacrifices his or her lower extremeties in a severe crash so that drivers of legacy vehicles can be more lightly injured. Stick us in a high-MPG tanks instead, and there's a good chance that the aggregate damage from crashes will be increased — which on its face is socially undesirable if not obviously so from the insurance industry's perspective. Were small vehicles much more prevalent than they are now in the U.S., then the public could rely on the good performance of the better-engineered small cars on the usual crash tests (including IIHS's main efforts) in judging their safety.AIG scandal aside, I've long assumed that my insurance company (if not insurance companies in general) does a terrible job of disentangling vehicle and driver effects. When I gave up my 1998 BMW M3 for a 2001 Honda Prelude with 45 fewer horsepower and barely 55% of the sticker price, my insurance premiums increased — not unlikely because Preludes were favored among fast-driving youth whereas the venerable E36 M3 was (a few trust-fund babies aside) actually favored among low-risk guys going early-middle-age-crazy (like me). So I was not dinged when I traded-in the 'Lude on an E46 330Ci, and I found that the subsequent Lexus was treated as if I were the little old lady from Pasadena; the Fit, on the other hand, is taken to be a greater risk despite its comparative dirt-cheapness. It may not help that the insurance company calls the car a 2-door notwithstanding that there's no such thing as a 2-door Fit.So: insurance companies are stupid and their trade association doesn't know what's good for them. It perhaps goes without saying that some of the other statistics they deploy — high accident and fatality rates in minicars relative to the general automotive population — aren't worth a bucket of spit unless they've carefully controlled for driver effects (cheap cars are driven by the relatively young) and usage patterns (minicars are citycars and used in collision-rich environments). Screw them and I suppose I'll take my medicine in 5 months when the car insurance renewal comes in.-------------------(*) IIHS correctly observes that the minicars' mileage, at least with U.S.-spec drivetrains, is good but not spectacular. The Fit's main virtue is in the efficiency with which it encloses space given its exterior dimensions and its lack of the small SUV's excess poundage and middle finger waved in the face of aerodynamics.

April County Council Report

-Submitted by Kay H.Dear 4-H Members,At this past County Council meeting, officer elections were held. The final decisions were made as follows:President: Mary BVice President: Amber YSecretary/Community Service chairperson: Tori BTreasurer/Fundraising chairperson: Tiffany BReporter/Publicity chairpersons: Jeffrey K and Kay HHistorian: Sophie PRecreation: Laura MDistrict V Delegates: Tori B, Kay H, Jeffrey K, and Mary BFormal officer installations will be held at the 4-H Awards Program on May 3rd, 6:00 pm, at Living Faith Fellowship. 4-H has some other exciting events coming up! Quickly approaching is 4-H County Events Day this weekend, on April 19th, 8:30 am. It will be held at Creekside Community Church, and 4-H members from around the county will be giving speeches, demonstrations, and illustrated talks in their various project areas. There will also be a talent show and a fashion revue. A concession stand will be available, and he proceeds will go to the Heifer International project. Don’t forget to bring your spare change, as this is the last opportunity to donate to the cow banks and support this worthwhile service project. Hope to see you there!Also coming up is Jr. Congress, which will be held May 9-10 at Mid. Florida Baptist Assembly. Jr. Congress is an event where 4-H members aged 8-13 years old can attend workshops in various areas, and have fun learning new things. This will give you a taste of what overnight camping is like! The cost is $30.00, and the Registration Deadline is May 2nd. For a brochure, please email Mr. Terry at eterry@ufl.eduWe are looking for Youth Fair non-livestock committee members. If you would like to be involved in making Youth Fair decisions and planning for next year‘s fair, then feel free to join. Youth members and adults are welcome. Contact Mr. Terry for more information.Please be aware that the Standards of Excellence paperwork deadline is April 25th.Our next County Council meeting will be held on May 20th, immediately following the 4-H Volunteer Dinner. Please join us to learn more about County Council and how you can become involved!

Smith's Edge Knife Giveaway

I've had a love-hate relationship with my knives. I don't like to think about them but I use them all the time which tends to have disastrous results.Because I've never taken the time to sharpen my knives except maybe three times over the course of my marriage I have a history of lopping off fingers here and there with my dull and poorly functioning blades. Drives Andrew crazy I tell you.Well I was sent some knife sharpeners from Smith's Edge, a company that specializes in sharpening all kinds of things and you know what? They worked great.They sent me one of their diamond sharpening steels but I haven't really found a time to use it--plus having to worry about getting the angle just right always makes me nervous.But they also sent me the free-standing knife and scissors sharpener you see above and a ceramic pull-through sharpener. I used them both and was surprised how easily they sharpened (who knew kitchen safety was so attainable??)If you're looking for a knife sharpener here are a few things to keep in mind:Look for a sharpener that has both a coarse and a fine grit. "Arkansas Stones" are considered some of the finest sharpeners and are known for sharpening tools while taking off the least amount of material.Carbide materials are much more thorough, take away more material and sharpen in three or four strokes.A flat stone is good for flat tools but a round stone or rod is necessary for serrated edges.Anyway, I liked the tall sharpener because it easily handled scissors and I happily went around sharpening all my scissors in the house. However, I liked the smaller tool too because it fit nicely in my kitchen drawer--convenient for storage. Both put good edges on my knives and both were easy to use.Courtesy of Smith's Edge one winner this weekend will get to choose their own sharpener of the three I've mentioned here--you can decide which of these three fill your own personal knife sharpening needs the best.Here's how to win:Before 12 am Monday morning click here to reach the giveaway entry form then enter your name and email. I will pick one of the names at random, contact the winner via their email and publish the winner's first name and home town in next Tuesday's post. See the bottom of the entry form for more details.This giveaway is open to all readers so good luck!

who take care of you atter you give birth to a baby?

Well i give birth to my daughter through ceasarian section, its more painful than having a normal delivery. My hubby was the one who accompanied me while i was in the hospital. Its just takes 3-4 days then we go our home. I am very thankful to my hubby because he was working abroad and he decided to go back here in our place to see me and our daughter. Now our daughter was 19 months already.

Using forensic linguistics in the criminal justice system

As you know, the Crimepsych blog is on something of a hiatus until later this year. To keep you going, Im delighted to bring you a guest post from John Olsson of the Forensic Linguistics Institute. John is one of the UKs most experienced forensic linguists, with over 300 criminal cases in his portfolio. He kindly agreed to answer a few questions about how forensic linguistics contributes to solving crimes. You can find out more about John and his work over at his comprehensive website. Tell us about some of your cases I mostly get asked to give an opinion on the authorship of a text, which can be a book, a set of mobile phone texts, letters, emails and so on. I also do plagiarism analysis. For example, about four years ago I was approached by Lew Perdue, the novelist, who claimed that his book had been plagiarised by Dan Browns Da Vinci Code. This was a very big case and it went all the way to the US Supreme Court. Most of my work is criminal work. I did the authorship analysis in the case of Garry Weddell, the police inspector accused of murdering his wife. He was released on bail and later shot his mother in law and then himself. I also did the linguistics in the case of Julie Turner, the woman whose body was found in an oil barrel in Yorkshire. What other kinds of cases do you get involved in? I often get asked by coroners to look at suicide notes, or other texts surrounding incidents of suspicious death. I also do a lot of hate mail work and Ive done quite a number of product contamination cases. I also do a lot of insurance and other security work in fraud and forgery cases. Mobile phone text authorship is also a key area in forensic linguistics. How would you describe Forensic Linguistics? There are two parts to forensic linguistics: language as evidence and the language of the law. Language as evidence involves the linguist being asked to give an expert opinion on the authorship, or possibly meaning, of a text. This involves making an analysis, writing a report and going to court to give evidence. How do you find the experience of giving evidence in court? I enjoy it and I also believe its right that we should be made to defend our views. Lawyers should not hesitate to be as probing as possible when it comes to experts. When was forensic linguistics first used? Forensic linguistics was first used in an analysis of a suspect statement in 1968 by a Swedish linguist by the name of Jan Svartvik. However, it did not make its first appearance in court in any serious way until the 1990s. How long have you been practising as a forensic linguist? I have been practising since about 1995, working with police forces all over the UK and the US, and with lawyers in the UK and abroad. I have prepared over 300 reports for court and have given evidence many times, mostly for prosecution. Do you think forensic linguistics has been beneficial for the justice system? I believe forensic linguistics has had a major impact on the justice system in that it has helped courts to clarify the linguistic evidence either in favour of or against suspects. How should police officers and lawyers brief forensic linguists? Its important that lawyers and police officers brief experts carefully. In a few cases people have overbriefed experts, giving them information which is not only unnecessary, but which the expert should not know. Another important factor is when to approach the expert. I suggest the earlier the better - even if it is just to get an opinion on the viability of a particular piece of evidence. How can Forensic Linguistics be used in a criminal investigation? To identify the author of a text, such as a ransom demand or suicide note, or series of hate mail letters, mobile phone texts or emails. To clarify the meaning of a word or phrase. For example, in one case I was asked the meaning of a slang word in a murder trial and to evaluate the word in context and assess its meaning within the scope of the crime that had been committed. What should investigators, solicitors or private clients consider when requesting help from Forensic Linguists? The primary issue is whether the expert is appropriate for the task. Even forensic linguistics is becoming more and more specialised. Most linguists will be happy to tell the client if there is someone else who is better qualified or more current in the particular area under examination. How long does a Forensic Linguist need to analyse a piece of evidence? It very much depends on the evidence. In cases where there are many texts (whether emails, letters, mobile phone texts, etc) it can take several months. However, where there are only a few texts to analyse, the work can be completed within a week or ten days. Most linguists will give a preliminary opinion at little or no cost. Is the science behind it robust enough to use in a trial as evidence? Forensic Linguistics has been used successfully in courts many times, both in the UK and abroad. I believe linguistic evidence stands up as well as any other kind of forensic evidence in court. Behind every case is a considerable body of research: we base our conclusions on linguistic principles, on evidence from language databases, on previous experience and findings. In fact, just like any other forensic scientist, we use all the tools available to us. What difficulties have you come across when analysing a piece of evidence? All evidence is difficult to analyse: you can never underestimate the task. Perhaps the most difficult task is estimating the contribution of a particular piece of evidence to the overall case. Does it tend to support an identification of a suspect? Does it tend to support the identification of someone other than the suspect? It is important not to overstate an opinion or cause problems for courts by being over-confident. All forensic scientists have these issues. Where do you see the future of Forensic Linguistics? The only future that matters is that the justice system is well served and that investigators and lawyers are given useful, honest, impartial advice and evidence. I believe forensic linguistics can do this, and so will remain a good servant of the justice system. It is the integrity of the justice system that counts - nothing else matters. Find out more: Crimepsych posts on forensic linguistics The Forensic Linguistics Institute (Johns website) Centre for Forensic Linguistics at Aston University Forensic Linguistics Discussion Group Two books by John Olsson: Wordcrime: Solving Crime Through Forensic Linguistics Forensic Linguistics: Second Edition

Kmart For Christmas

Well Christmas is soon approaching and all the sites are getting ready for their great deals. What about the layaway program provided by these people. This layaway program is exclusive one for the upcoming christmas. Kmart Lay-Away enables the customers of kmart to reserve those ‘hot’ items early, pay over time and pick them up before Christmas. So you don't need to wait for your deal until you get the money. Well for me the best deal which I like in this site is the Lenovo laptop for $999. Well I am actually a fan of lenovo if you can see my earlier laptop which I brough with the help of the money from this blog.Well if you are planning to buy any, just look at this site deals.

The Ultra Modern Bikini Sofa from Ferlea

Geometry seems to play a part in the "Bikini" sofa design from Enzo Berti that features a squared pouf that transforms into a backrest. Manufacturer Ferlea enhances the strong visuals of this ultra modern sofa with sharp contrasting solid and striped fabrics that really add to the bold angles. Ferlea has made a strong presence in the Italian furniture market since 1959 and has worked with notable designers including Rodolfo Dordoni, Aldo Cibic, and Alberto Livore to name a few. See the entire collection of modern furniture designed by Enzo Berti from Ferlea here. Post from The Ultra Modern Bikini Sofa from Ferlea

Paris

Before we walk away entirely from the ill-fated Cuban affair, I must share a highlight.Date 1: We took a walk along the waterfront with Senor Suave. The Willamette River has a great pedestrian walk that continues along both sides with special walking paths across the many bridges. Hot Cuban Boyfriend (HCF) is smart, funny, and hot (key boyfriend ingredients), and we were just learning that as we walked. It was a great date.About 20 minutes into the walk, he asked me for a second date: Paris. France, not Texas. (You may pause to seethe with envy) We went to Texas on a different date, but the second date was Paris, France. HCF picked me up in a stretch limo, flew us first class to Paris, where we stayed at the Hotel Du Louvre, and ate at the Tour Eiffel. That’s right. The Louvre has a hotel. F-a-a-a-n-c-y. And, the Eiffel Tower has a restaurant. Actually, it has two restaurants, but only one is fancy. We ate there. It was his birthday, and he'd footed the bill to bring me to France, so I decided to be magnanimous an take him to the Eiffel Tower for dinner.As a fancy French restaurant, my menu didn't come with prices. Uh-oh. And, being France, the numbers weren't all that advantageous to the dollar to begin with. It was all worth it. HCF felt pampered. But, the bill roughly matched my rent for my glamorous Portland apartment.I'm not complaining. I'm just saying.Anyway, Hot Cuban Boyfriend had to work during the day, so I entertained myself. Here's how:

Lasagna - Sunny Does It Her Way

Cooking For Real with Sunny AndersonRecipes are Made to BrokenLatin LasagnaSpring Goddess SaladPomegranate Margaritas Sunny seems like one of those gal pals you always like to stop by and see and on whom you can always count for good eats.Today, she’s doing classics that break the rules, but not “the laws of flavor”. She’s starting with a Latin Lasagna. Interesting.She adds 2 pounds of Roma tomatoes to the food processor with half a red onion and one seeded and ribbed jalapeño pepper and one poblano pepper. She adds some fresh lime juice (to add some Latin flavor) and some oil. She’s using precooked lasagna noodles and reminds us that we’ll need some extra moisture.I would say half the time I use precooked noodles and the other time I use regular ones. I do think the result is always slightly better with the conventional pasta. But there’s not enough difference to ignore the convenience of the precooked ones.Sunny seasons the mixture (heavily) and pulses it until coarsely chopped. Sunny adds oil to a pan and a bit of butter. Ooh, she has one of those cool glass-doored refrigerators. What kind IS that?Moving on to her spicy cocktail, she tells us she loves to infuse her simple syrups with something. She’s funny, she says why not make something complicated out of something simple? I have certainly been known to follow that rule in my kitchen.She adds water and sugar to a saucepan. She pokes holes in a habanero pepper, adds that to the saucepan and puts it on the heat. The habanero is so hot that you don’t need to slice it to get its flavor.That’s very clever. I don’t know why you couldn’t that in a tomato sauce or even with a salsa too. Just poke a few holes in the habanero, cook it in the tomato sauce or let it sit in the salsa and then remove it before serving. I’m going to try that.Into her oil and butter, she adds ground pork to brown. Using pork, instead of beef, “latinizes” her lasagna. She reminds us that the tomato sauce she’s making is really a salsa. She adds lots of sliced mushrooms to the pork with cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. She stirs quickly and sets it aside.I like her riff on why she’s not cooking the mushrooms for long. Because she’s using precooked noodles, she WANTS the mushrooms to give off some of their liquid as they cook…to soften up those lasagna sheets.Sunny’s quite right about that. Have you ever been a bit lackadaisical about spreading the ricotta to the bitter end of each precooked noodle and maybe not having the sauce cover ever inch? Those little bits never get soft and they taste dry and brittle, so I’m glad she’s emphasizing the juicing up of those noodles.She squeezes out thawed frozen spinach really, really well and gathers up her other ingredients. She mixes the spinach with one egg and ½ cup of already grated parmesan. (I’m definitely not with her on that. I’d rather use a cheaper pecorino romano and grate it myself.) Sunny does say it’s okay to buy it grated, because she’s going to use it right away. She squeezes in a tub of ricotta and adds cumin, salt and pepper. She loves cumin as much as I do. She mixes that altogether. It looks yummy.I would do one thing a little differently. Just to pump up the flavor a tad more, I always soften an onion in oil (for this recipe I would then add the cumin, cook it on low heat for 2 minutes) and add the spinach to cook for a couple of minutes to get rid of any moisture. After cooling it slightly, I add that to the ricotta and other ingredients.Sunny doesn’t grease her 9 by 13 dish (I would) and she spreads 1/3 of the tomato mixture from the food processor on the bottom. She places over 4 lasagna par-cooked noodles, overlapping them. I never do and then I end up having to break the 4th one up to fit in the dish. I will try that next time. (I just looked at my box of precooked noodles and it says, in tiny print, that you SHOULD overlap your noodles. How did I not know that? Thank you, Sunny, for alerting me to proper noodle handling.)To assemble the lasagna, Sunny spreads over half the ricotta cheese and spinach mixture. She spoons over the pork and mushrooms and covers that with thick slices of mozzarella and another 1/3 of the salsa; then more noodles, the rest of the ricotta mixture and the rest of the meat mixture. More noodles, more tomato sauce and mozzarella slices and finally some extra Parmesan goes on top with a drizzle of olive oil.Sunny covers the lasagna with foil and cooks it at 350°F for 30 to 40 minutes. She’ll uncover it to finish the cooking. I’m thinking Sunny covers it to aid in the production of steam, but I don’t like to. It takes way too long to heat up. I’d rather it got too brown too fast and THEN cover it.One other thing I would add. I am incapable of making a lasagna, WHICHEVER recipe I'm using, without a béchamel sauce. Even if I think I can live without it, as I’m about to put the top layers of stuff on, I quickly whip up a two cup quantity of white sauce. I spread it over the top layer of noodles and then cover the top with cheese and bake as usual.Sunny warned us that her lasagna suffered from “drippage”, so she put a sheet pan underneath, If you add an extra layer of béchamel, that may well happen, so be sure you secure the battlements with a sheet pan to catch any juices getting loose.There’s a commercial for the new season Dinner Impossible with the once disgraced Robert Irvine. Frankly, I’m not bothered about the whole thing…anymore. Apparently, I WAS when I first wrote about it, but time and distance have softened me. He was superb on the show and his amplifying his resume was a dumb mistake, but had no bearing whatsoever on his qualifications for producing a great meal in the most extreme of circumstances.Sunny gets started on her salad. She washes romaine and breaks it up into little pieces. She’s making a Green Goddess salad dressing. She adds ½ cup mayonnaise, ½ cup sour cream, 1 anchovy, cilantro (THAT’S is a different spin) and ¼ of a cucumber WITH skin. Hmmm, interesting. She says that's what makes this a SPRING Goddess dressing. Sunny finishes the dressing with a little clove of garlic, a splash of red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. She says it’s also good as a vegetable dip. She processes it until it’s smooth.She takes out the lasagna after 40 minutes and uncovers it. She turns the oven up to 425°F for 15 to 20 minutes and returns it to the oven until the top is brown and crunchy.Sunny slices a red onion to add to the romaine lettuce. (I might add a bit of cucumber in there to mirror the dressing as well.)For the Pomegranate Margarita, Sunny adds lime juice to a shaker with ice and a splash of triple sec and then tequila and pomegranate juice. She adds the spicy infused simple syrup and shakes it all up and pours it into a lowball glass, ice and all. She loves it.Sunny pours the dressing over the lettuce and red onion. She tosses it together.She spoons some salad on to her plate with a beautiful piece of lasagna. Sunny reminds us to let it sit for a bit before serving, so it comes out in a nice slice. She tastes it and raves and has a bit more margarita. She’s even happier now. “You get to break the rules without breaking the flow of the flavor.” Good show, good recipes, great host.

Shopping mall

MSN QnA Beta is closing on May 21st

This blog post contains the following sections: QnA Beta site is closing Stay connected with your QnA friends via Windows Live MSN message boards Goodbye from the QnA team QnA Beta site is closing We are ending the QnA beta test and are closing the QnA site on May 21, 2009. First and foremost, we want to thank you for your participation. Since we introduced QnA, we’ve learned a lot about this new way of communicating and creating valuable content. At this time, we are closing the QnA site, but the experience of running QnA and gathering all of the great feedback you’ve shared with us will certainly influence future product direction. When QnA moved from the Live Search organization into MSN we announced that we'd be looking for new ways to share questions and answers across MSN and provide new opportunities for you to engage with each other and share your opinions, ideas, and knowledge. That mission has not changed. Questions and answers are still important to MSN and your feedback has been very valuable for our future product strategy. You’ll see more ways of how MSN will empower people to connect and communicate over the coming months. In the meantime, you can continue to get great information from Live Search and connect with others through Windows Live. You can ask questions, get answers, and have discussions on a variety of topics in the message boards throughout MSN (see bottom of this post for links to the MSN message boards). Windows 7 Beta and RC users, you can now ask your questions on Microsoft Answers. Stay connected with your QnA friends via Windows Live Before the QnA site closes you may want to connect with your QnA friends through Windows Live. That way, even after the QnA site is gone, you can stay in touch with the community members you’ve come to know and enjoy. Here's a quick tutorial from David-QnA: Scenario: David-QnA wants to add T to his Windows Live network. Step 1: Sign in to QnA Step 2: Navigate to T's QnA profile page and click "View Windows Live profile" Step 3: A new browser window opens showing T's Windows Live profile. On that page, click the link "Add to your network." (If you weren't signed in to QnA, you may be asked to sign in to Windows Live.) Step 4: On the "What's your name?" pop-up (which you'll get if you haven't previously done this) verify your First and Last names and either leave the box checked or un-check it next to "Allow everyone to see my last name so people on Windows Live can connect with me." Step 5: On the next pop-up write a message to T (optional), and either leave the boxes checked or un-check them next to "Show this person on my profile page" and "Add this person to Windows Live Messenger." Click the "Send invitation" button. Step 6: You will get a confirmation saying that the invitation has been sent. Click the "Close" button. Scenario: QnA member T wants to see if anybody has invited her to be a part of their Windows Live network. Step 1: Sign in to QnA Step 2: Click on "Your QnA" to get to your QnA profile page and click on the link "View your Windows Live profile." Step 3: Click the link "View invitations." Step 4: You will see any pending invitations. Either keep the boxes checked or un-check them next to "Appear in each other's profiles" and "Add me as a Messenger contact so we can chat online," and click the "Accept" button. Step 5: You will get a confirmation that the person has been added to your network. You will also have the option to add this person to different categories (example: Friends). And that's how you can stay connected with your QnA friends through Windows Live! For more details on using your Windows Live profile, please see Windows Live Help for your profile.

Rock a Bye Baby!

The blog candy is closed. Winner announced here.Today I have a fun interactive card using a So Sketchy Sketch of Allison's (which I tweaked a bit!), and my first video upload! When I first saw the half circle sketch I was a bit stumped what I should do with it, but I guess I've just had babies on the brain lately (wink!) and am really excited about what the sketch inspired!Simply add a punched or die cut circle to the top with a scalloped circle behind it for a bonnet and you have a little baby peeking out! I used Blush Blossom CS and pale peach Copic to make some cheeks and a little upturned nose, then a pen to make simple eyes, mouth and curl. The shimmery coral paper you see is Paper Temptress Rocket Red Pearlescent CS. I used the lid of a pitcher to trace a half circle the size I wanted on the paper since all my dies were too small, the diameter of the circle is 5 inches, so 2.5" tall when folded. With the addition of the head, it still fits in an A2 card. :) I added a bit of Gable Green punched with the Threading Water Punch to the top and a little Cuttlebugged strip to the front. I substituted some tied ribbon for the butterfly, tried to make it resemble one with the bow as best I could. DP is Basic Grey Porcelain (thank you, Cammie!)The sentiment is from my "Wee Tees". You'll see how appropriate that is here in my first video upload (fingers crossed I did it right!), go easy on me with the quality, I just wanted to capture the motion for you (I decided to spare you me singing a lullaby) My baby rocks!!!! If you try making this fun card, please link this post if you share it and also let me know so I can come check yours out! :) Now for the candy! Patricia the Paper Temptress has a pack of ALL her assorted metallic colors up for grabs! (The mica/metallic line 25% off this month!) To enter, please leave a comment on this post with a request for a project you'd like to see here on this blog (or request for something using a particular stamp set or technique), I will randomly draw a winner and post the lucky person's name this weekend! Looking forward to reading your comments! :)Be sure to check out the new videos today on StampTV, too!PS If I can score a tripod, you just might see more videos in action here, would you like that??

Sweet treat!

Quickie post, I am stamping up a storm to get ready for a baby shower tonight, but here is a simple cupcake topper I made with "Wee Tees" and a safety pin! I stamped the polka dot background from Gina's "Bold Flowers" in pink onto my Basic Grey paper (onesie is stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa) and added the little cupcake image from my "A Charmed Life" set (omitting the jump ring part of the image), isn't that fun? (betcha wine isn't the first thing that comes to mind when you think of onesies LOL!) I inked up just part of "sweetest" from the Wee Tees set to make "sweet" underneath. Ribbon is from Hobby Lobby. I attached the safety pin with a glue dot, and the tied ribbon with a glue dot on top of that. TIP: Use a doublesided DP for these so they look just as pretty from the back as from the front (I figured that out AFTER I made this mock up LOL! it's all good, the 13 new ones I made are!) ;) This style of cupcake topper coudl be so easily adapted using the "Little Tees" for a girly slumber party or "Just So Sporty" for an after-game celebration! (substitute toothpicks for the pins) I'll be back from the shower with stamped gifts and decor ideas I used ( think stamped onesies, a centerpiece, framed art, and embellies on the table! I think it's going to be so cute! Can't wait! :)PS Do you have a shopping list for your Gina K coupon code yet?? Hurry, it expires soon!!

May 4 cultural programming submission deadline.

A meeting of the Bexley Public Radio community programming advisory committee is scheduled for 4:30 p.m., Monday May 4, 2009.The meeting will be conducted at the Bexley Public Radio office, 2700 E. Main St., Suite 208, Columbus, OH 43209.The sole agenda item for the meeting is to accept hand-delivered submissions for cultural programming. The deadline for cultural programming submissions is 5:00 p.m. Monday May 4, 2009.As an alternative to hand delivery, submissions may be mailed to the Bexley Public Radio office. Submissions that are mailed must be delivered to the office prior to the 5:00 p.m. April 6, 2009 deadline. There is no admission fee charged for the May 4, 2009 meeting as there will be no discussion of programming matters. There is a $200 fee for each cultural programming submission. Submissions will be reviewed by officers of Bexley Public Radio. Thereafter, the officers may make comments and recommendations about the submissions to the community programming advisory committee. Cultural programming submissions shall include a description of the proposed program, a production budget, identification of funding sources for the production, identification of funding sources for broadcast and how the production will provide training for students. The submission shall also include a description of why the program will be of interest to Bexley audiences and Bexley area audiences.Letters of recommendation from three individuals shall be included as part of the submission. The letters of recommendation shall include original signatures. At least one of the letters of recommendation shall be from a resident of Bexley who currently resides in Bexley and has resided in Bexley for at least fifteen years. As an alternative to fifteen years of residence, a letter of recommendation may be provided by a person conducting business or a professional practice in Bexley for at least five years.At least one of the other letters of recommendation shall be from an individual residing in neighborhoods contiguous to Bexley for a period of at least five years.A person submitting a cultural programming proposal may request waiver of these residence requirements. A request for such a waiver includes an explanation of why a residence requirement is not appropriate for considering the submission.A submission fee of $200.00 shall be included with the submission. Payment of the fee shall be by check or money order payable to Bexley Public Radio.A submission shall include a budget for the programming proposal and a plan for financing the programming.Submissions shall be in accordance with the committee meeting schedule. Ten (10) paper copies shall be delivered to the station business office by the deadline for submissions. The paper copies shall be made on recycled paper.A submission shall include a written transfer to BPRF of all intellectual property rights in the submission.2009 submission fee: $200.00 per program concept.

Did I Hear RR Correctly?

I don’t want to ruin anyone’s lunch, but I must share this truly awful sounding recipe that Rachael made this morning. It was a SAUCE for a browned-potato-in-the-oven-type thing, which frankly I didn’t even know NEEDED a sauce.I do feel a bit bad, though, because RR said this was a recipe of her mother’s. I DO think a mother’s recipes must be given respect, but I just can’t hold my tongue on this one. (Listen, none of us is immune from horrible family recipes. Take my mother’s Jello Mold with Vegetables! PLEASE! Yes, I did say vegetables. I don’t remember it too clearly because I’ve blocked it from my memory, but I think CELERY was involved.)I could have sworn RR said the sauce for the potatoes was made from Horseradish Sauce, Applesauce and Crumbs, which sounds so ghastly I thought it was a first, even for her. Yet, on her website, she has a perfectly benign sauce made from mustard and sour cream (but with crumbs, as well). I didn’t record it and I wonder if I was dreaming, but I don’t think I could have made up the horseradish and applesauce combination. Here's the recipe on the website...with THE MOST UNATTRACTIVE PHOTO I’VE EVER SEEN. Maybe I DID hear her wrong, but my ears usually perk up when something so awful is about to be cooked. NOTE:One of my favorite readers, Deb, sent me this picture from her mother's recipe box - a Jello mold with CELERY! I'm so glad I wasn't making it up! (Deb had the lovely idea to gather together her mother's recipe cards and scan them and make a book for family members. She also included some old photographs. What a great way to remember one's mother

Bull Shark

One small task short of perfection

or maybe two. The dishwasher didn't use up all the stuff on the bench first time round. And as it doesn't have a Cat in the Hat type side arm, I need to be involved in the cleaning of the bench. At 9.30pm.The one small missing task was actually, bloody dishes notwithstanding, that Favourite Handyman fell asleep with the children tonight instead of uploading all the garden photographs which I took this morning. Today was going to be a blog-with-pictures-day. Now it will probably be next month and everything will look out of date and I will sigh and not use it. And you won't get to see what happened when we cleared lots of scrubby trees and put horse poo and pea straw down and then let the sun, the annual weed seeds, the pumpkins, the blackberry, the sunflowers and the rampant perennial weeds do all of their many growing things. Last month when I wasn't looking, another adult and his Dad put a small gate and some chickenwire there as well, which adds to the rampantness of it all. A gate doth not keep out ivy/blackberry/nasturtium/convulvulus - but it does provide a frame for the glory of these imports.So the perfection of the day part. All of our firewood is now stacked. Much of it is stacked under our new lean-to, a sunny space with a transparent roof where there is still room for winter pots of blueberries and lemons and silverbeet and maybe just maybe some ginger. The chooks had some time out in the temporary shelter while I made alterations to their palace. They don't like being grabbed by children much, and Brighid and Fionn are alternately frustrated and enraged by this.Favourite Handyman mowed the lawn. Brighid and I are going to rake up the long clippings tomorrow.I went to the dump. We filled the boot of our station wagon right to the ceiling with beer bottles, broken crockery, endless broken plastic pots and bits of tarpaulin and just junkety junk. I am going again soon. The look of simplicity that I want, the calm almost emptiness, is a way off yet.After more than 12 months of gentle cajoling, stroppiness and just plain endless persistence, FH has agreed to me gifting two of our lounge chairs to the Salvation Army. So we now have no wallpaper, vastly fewer items of clothing and possibly no more bank statements from 1996 in our lounge and there is going to be more space yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Two fewer chairs on which to pile nappies and socks and underwear and then all the much bigger things on top so it is really difficult to find the little things just before work and then they fall down the back and. well and and and and and. If you don't recognise this, then you should say a prayer of thankfulness for your skills of not being hopeless. Or maybe you should go and open your smelly cupboard and do some washing. At least my lounge laundry mess is clean.We have been eating from our garden. So have the caterpillars. When the chooks eat my garden, I eat their eggs. When the caterpillars eat my garden, I do not eat their butterflies. Yesterday I made clever food. Clever food is when I haven't made it before. Clever cheapo special food is when it grows wild in my garden and I haven't made it before. Yesterday was my debut effort with nasturtium leaves. I made pesto with the remaining pine nuts from that week when I went mad and spent $23 just on pine nuts. (Supposedly to save money by making my own pesto. Supposedly.) Not content with just nearly burnt and then whizzed pine nuts, I added garlic (from my garden of cooooooooooourse), parsley, nasturtium leaves and mint leaves (allllllllll alllllllllll allllllllllll from my garden) and some olive oil. Then I folded in some parmesan cheese and then I mixed it into some mashed potato and made it all green speckled and then I cooked up onions, carrots, broccoli (er, yes actually the broccoli is from our garden, as were the caterpillars which I fished off just before cooking), thyme and fish in a oven-proof and element-proof dish and then I plonked the green speckled mash on top and put it in the oven and everybody ate it. It tasted nice, but it looked pretty homely rather than dinner party fare.Oh how could I forget? I ate our blackberry harvest.One blackberry.It was very yummy and yet - and yet - I do look forward to an improved yield next year.

CATS!

Daylight See the dew on the sunflower And a rose that is fading Roses whither away Like the sunflower I yearn to turn my face to the dawn I am waiting for the day . . . Midnight Not a sound from the pavement Has the moon lost her memory? She is smiling alone In the lamplight The withered leaves collect at my feet And the wind begins to moan Memory All alone in the moonlight I can smile at the old days I was beautiful then I remember the time I knew what happiness was Let the memory live again Every streetlamp Seems to beat a fatalistic warning Someone mutters And the streetlamp gutters And soon it will be morning Daylight I must wait for the sunrise I must think of a new life And I musn't give in When the dawn comes Tonight will be a memory too And a new day will begin Burnt out ends of smoky days The stale cold smell of morning The streetlamp dies, another night is over Another day is dawning Touch me It's so easy to leave me All alone with the memory Of my days in the sun If you touch me You'll understand what happiness is Look A new day has begun~ "Memories" from CatsFinally I went to watch this musical last night! There is no basis of comparison since I have not had a chance to watch it before. There were some minor trials and I thought I would not have the chance to watch it again. The first ticket I bought was for opening day, and I was in Phuket then. The second ticket I bought was on the day of the retreat. In the end, a friend kindly offered to buy me the tickets and I got to watch it in the end.The performance is great! Nice music, with even nicer dance choreography! Nice makeup too, although there are supposed to be cats of all breeds. Cats from the gutter, cats on ships, main cats characters in the moonlight. And the song "Memories" - beautiful, haunting and touching! How I wish there can be another run then I can watch it again!

A new video

This is a shot I took of Lisa and our audiologist Rachel. She's the voice you hear in the videos, but do not see much. Rachel has been such a blessing to us. We're so thankful to be working with her...Lisa is in for a new visit. This happened Wed Oct 15th. This time I videoed the software a bit so you can see how it works. Also Lisa is given a test for her to try out the new settings. Again, this is the first test, and Lisa misses a lot of words. But I found this interesting because it reveals the areas she has trouble hearing right now...http://www.youtube.com/v/mkhafhJJEKEThis next video is from the first day that Lisa had her cochlear implant activated. She's talking to Tom's parents in Florida. Our audiologist warned that we may be discouraged trying the phone so soon. So our hopes weren't too high... The video is kind of funny, though.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bfJNUHb1mcI was encouraged to post these videos because so many people said they enjoyed the other one.Thanks for praying,and thanks for stopping by today.Tom & Lisa Seward

When online publications erase writers' careersFelix Salmon

Back in March, I wondered why the NYT was breaking the web, yet was hopeful that it was some temporary snafu, and that it would be fixed sharpish. But no — it's still insanely broken, and Thomas Crampton is only one of hundreds of journalists who have seen their careers thoughtlessly erased by an idiotic marketing stunt. This hits home for me, because, between now and then, my name was summarily erased from more than 4,000 blog entries at Portfolio.com, when the site hired Ryan Avent to replace me. Now, everything I wrote has Ryan's name on it instead of mine. You could call it erasing my career, I suppose. It can be fixed quite easily — if Portfolio.com stays up, which it's far from obvious that it will — but I'm told there are no staff available to fix it. In general, web publishers care much, much less about preserving their archives and honoring incoming links than you'd ever believe possible. I'm not sure why that is, but it's those of us who are paid by media companies to write things online who tend to bear the brunt of those actions. Maybe we should start insisting on adding clauses to our contracts, whereby we're automatically given our archives and full rights to republish them wherever we want, the minute that incoming links get broken or the site goes down. Such clauses shouldn't be necessary, but sadly I think they probably are.

Dealing with the DMV

As a relatively new resident to the state of Maryland, last week I had the less-than-enjoyable task of getting a new driver's license and changing the registration on my car. The whole process started back in March when I started researching what exactly was required to get a new license and registration. It's different in each state, but in Maryland, I found out I would need a state safety inspection, proof of ownership of the car, proof of insurance and a standard application form to get Maryland license plates. To get a Maryland license, the Web site said I would need my birth certificate, another form of identification (such as a passport) and two examples of proof that I lived at the address I was claiming was my home.I started rounding up documents, had my mom mail me my birth certificate, asked the leasing office for a copy of my lease, scrounged around for a piece of mail from a government agency. So far I hadn't spent a dime.Then I took my car for inspection.Turns out my baby needed two new tires and the rear cylinders replaced to the tune of $530-ish. Ouch.But once that was done, I had everything I needed to go to the MVA last week. I was secretly dreading this trip, fearing that I would be stuck waiting forever and that I'd be told I was missing something even though I did my research.Long story short, the actual MVA process went pretty smoothly. I probably only waited about 15 or 20 minutes even though the place was packed. And now I can say I'm the owner of a new license with a pretty decent picture (much better than my passport!) and my car's sporting new plates.Do you have any DMV success or horror stories? Feel free to share your experiences in the comments! As a relatively new resident to the state of Maryland, last week I had the less-than-enjoyable task of getting a new driver's license and changing the registration on my car. The whole process started back in March when I started researching what exactly was required to get a new license and registration. It's different in each state, but in Maryland, I found out I would need a state safety inspection, proof of ownership of the car, proof of insurance and a standard application form to get Maryland license plates. To get a Maryland license, the Web site said I would need my birth certificate, another form of identification (such as a passport) and two examples of proof that I lived at the address I was claiming was my home.I started rounding up documents, had my mom mail me my birth certificate, asked the leasing office for a copy of my lease, scrounged around for a piece of mail from a government agency. So far I hadn't spent a dime.Then I took my car for inspection.Turns out my baby needed two new tires and the rear cylinders replaced to the tune of $530-ish. Ouch.But once that was done, I had everything I needed to go to the MVA last week. I was secretly dreading this trip, fearing that I would be stuck waiting forever and that I'd be told I was missing something even though I did my research.Long story short, the actual MVA process went pretty smoothly. I probably only waited about 15 or 20 minutes even though the place was packed. And now I can say I'm the owner of a new license with a pretty decent picture (much better than my passport!) and my car's sporting new plates.Do you have any DMV success or horror stories? Feel free to share your experiences in the comments!