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Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Al-Qaeda plotting

AL-QAEDA fanatics are plotting a deadly cyanide poison attack on the London Olympics, a Sun investigation has found.

Extremists on a website with links to the terror group have posted detailed instructions on how to cause carnage at this summer's Games.

The chilling online plot was uncovered as two convicted al-Qaeda terrorists were released early from jail and put back on the streets ahead of the Olympics.

And the specific nature of the "cyanide slaughter" web posts suggest they should be taken seriously by the security services.

An extremist who called himself Abu Hija Ansari said the poison should be mixed with a handcream that would enable it to be absorbed through the skin.

He wrote in Arabic: "Through skin: 1 — cyanide, 2 — skin cream. Mix the ingredients. The skin cream will open the pores in the skin and speed up the absorption and effectiveness of the poison."

He said plotters should wear "medical gloves" when producing the lethal mixture.

A second extremist said on the website: "It is a good idea and you need to plan well."

She added chillingly under a logo of the 2012 Games: "It's time to prepare for the event, as once again they are interfering with innocent Muslims."

Our investigator used a false identity to access the website which has 17,000 members worldwide and known links to six al—Qaeda terrorists.

He said: "There is a contingent using this site who want to strike at the Games. The explicit nature of what is being said would indicate more than just sabre-rattling but a wish to do real harm to the event and the people at it."

Tory MP Bernard Jenkin, chairman of the all-party homeland security group, said: "I hope the individuals are identified so action can be taken. Those who believe there is no terrorist threat are living in cloud cuckoo land."

Britain's security services are on high alert to counter any attack on the Olympics, which start on July 27 in the main stadium.

They will not be helped by the early release of fanatics Nabeel Hussain and Tariq al-Daour.

Hussain, 28, was given eight years in 2009 for being part of a plot to bomb 19 jets flying from Heathrow to America. Al-Daour, 26, got ten years after he was found guilty of inciting murder online in 2007. They have both been freed to London bail hostels.

Their release boosts to more than 100 the number of convicted terrorists likely to be on Britain's streets before the Olympics.

The Sun

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tirsdag den 17. februar 2015

Dreaming of California

Hi Everyone,

So it's been almost 6 years since I went to California and I've been wanting to go back every day since. I really want to rent a car and a house and stay for a few weeks, and then having the possibilites to drive to anywhere you wan to. I especially want to go to the desert and take nice pictures, I want to go to Venice Beach and Pennyboard, and I want to drive down Route 66 and enjoy the water right next to me. Oh how I love California and the sun and the ocean :)

3 kommentarer:

  1. I've never been to California, but it is also a big dream of mine. I am so jealous that you have already been there. :)

    1. It's an amazing place! Can't wait to go back one day :)

  2. Denne kommentar er fjernet af forfatteren.

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Tag Archive | Ryan Moran

New Coaching Course Freedom Formula 8 Helps Entrepreneurs Make a Realistic Income Tapping into th

West Palm Beach, FL – 21 January 2013 – Ryan Moran, a renowned Internet Entrepreneur and marketing coach, announces the release of his new coaching course “Freedom Formula 8.” The new course is designed to help Entrepreneurs finally master one of the many ways to make a realistic income online and to show them how to control their income so that they can control your life.

-This coaching course is for Entrepreneurs looking to improve on their online income results and build a sustainable income in just 8 days,- said Brian Owens, one of the coaches on this course. -It provides valuable proven insider information on how to pick a profitable niche online, turn the guaranteed traffic source into recurring customers in just 8 days.-

Highlights from this Freedom Formula 8 coaching course include:

-the 8 exact steps that Ryan uses to create his successful niche businesses online

-how to be in control of your financial health

-how to turn the cyber shopping mega trend into money in your pocket

-follow a proven roadmap with guaranteed results

-start to make money in a little over a week

Brian also says in his Freedom Formula 8 Reviews, -The best part of Ryan’s course is that even someone who has never tried to make money online could follow the instructions and have success. You don’t need to be an expert, so if you’re looking for something geared towards beginners, this is the course for you-.

The course is available at at just $47 and with your purchase you will get a special bonus report -Convenient Commissions- that shows you a live case study on how to build a website that generates thousands a month.

The coaching course is run by Ryan Moran and a selected group of mentors. Ryan Moran is a successful internet marketer.

About Brian Owens

For the last 5 years, Brian Owens of has been working with internet entrepreneurs teaching profitable marketing strategies online and is one of the coaches on this new coaching course, Freedom Formula 8.

Contact: Brian Owens
Company: Brian Owens Biz
Address: 2064 Pleasant Hill Road, West Palm Beach, FL 33409
Phone: 561-966-5983


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Friday, 14 May 2010

The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke

GENRE: short stories/fantasy

Faerie is never as far away as you think. Sometimes you find you have crossed an invisible line and must cope, as best you can, with petulant princesses, vengeful owls, ladies who pass their time embroidering terrible fates or with endless paths in deep, dark woods and houses that never appear the same way twice. The heroines and heroes bedevilled by such problems in these fairy tales include a conceited Regency clergyman, an eighteenth-century Jewish doctor and Mary, Queen of Scots, as well as two characters from Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell: Strange himself and the Raven King.

I learned about this collection of short stories from my Recommendations page on my Amazon account. I really liked the title of the book, the summary and the cover is not bad. I bought it on a whim and was not disappointed with my purchase.

This book contains short stories, or rather fairy-tales that are very English in nature. One reviewer was right: this collection truly is like an unholy alliance between Jane Austen and Angela Carter. The author uses the Regency lingo with great skill, and really weaves magic with words. The stories are very entertaining and witty, quite surprising and sometimes even a bit macabre. The basic idea is that magic still exists in the time of Regency England. I recognized some English and Scottish legends, and even some Grimm fairy-tales that are really cleverly included into the plots. The author based her stories on some of them, but made them her own, which is what I really like. You can read about Mary Queen of Scots. One of the stories is even set in the world from Neil Gaiman’s Stardust. The collection also features more serious moments, like the subject of a woman not having enough freedom, whether she be a Regency lady or a magical woman.

All in all, this collection was a very pleasurable read, often whimsical and always intriguing. If you like short stories and a bit of magic, I definitely recommend this collection to you.

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Sunday, 17 November 2013

It's probably something you've all realised, but home education is a natural extension of the family and day to day life.

It takes effort to pack one or more children off to the care (sometimes dubious) of schoolkeepers.

It's natural to flow through a day as if there is no curriculum, and, actually, in our house, there hasn't been one at all.

To me, curricula are forms of control. Someone somewhere has decided what all children will be taught and will (not necessarily) learn.

How do we choose what we want to learn, how do we choose how we want to learn?

Natural questions that rise up as we breast the waves of the day.

I would rather trust my children's instincts as to where they will spend their time (and it is their time) and their energy (and that energy can be stolen by society rules) than think that strangers - strangers, moreover, who have probably moved on from the education system - will be telling my children what to do every day.

And what to think.

I find it infuriating when outsiders try to say that children are indoctrinated by their home educating parents. It's rather two-faced to have a curriculum that denies choice to every schoolchild then complain that non-schoolers are being taught what parents want to teach.

The pot and kettle are both vying for the title of 'deepest shade of black'.

As a young person, when you leave school your day might well revert to your control so why do parents not allow children to control and manage their days as soon as they can?

Tuesday, 5 November 2013

I can genuinely say....

I can genuinely say, looking back on the past few years - is it seven or eight? - that we've been home educating that I have changed and been changed so much by the whole process.

Long ago, I accepted what newspapers told me, what the neighbourhood gossip conveyed to me, what the internet induced me to read. Anything and everybody had a naive listener in me.

What has changed?

Me, for one thing. Having the time and the ability to question, to advance my understanding, to dig a little more, to apply logic and theory, to consult those home educators who strode across the largely untrodden terrain of home educationland before me. The giants who have gone ahead.

I've delved into subjects I never even heard of at school. I've read about really difficult concepts and re-read the words until I thoroughly understood what was being said.

I have become sentient and aware. I have become ever more thoughtful and empathic.

I think I have started to see the fully actualised person, Danae, emerging from her shell of self-induced hypocritical beliefs and society-induced coma.

My eyes are open, and can use the sparkling new spectacles that I never knew existed.

My children have led the dance, and I've cavorted alongside them, and also alone along merry alleys and paused in colourful colonnaded courtyards.

I'm me, yet I'm different. Improved, I hope. Always ready for the next bout of incomprehension on my way to the aha! moment of comprehension.

I've learned that freedom isn't just a word, it's life's breath.

I've learned that nurturing yourself isn't selfish, it's society's saviour.

I've learned that home educating isn't just a thing to be done, it's everything and it's in everything.

And - ah, bliss - there's still more to come.


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Unleash the potential of a multigenerational workforce

Unleash the potential of a multigenerational workforce

It is common for today’s workplace to be filled with employees from different generations and backgrounds.The first thing that comes to a manager’s mind would probably be, “How am I going to cater to the varying needs and get them to work effectively together?” It is indeed a tough question to solve.

They possess different skill sets and may seem less relevant to one another. One generation may view their abilities as the key ingredient to success while the other might think otherwise. Can these skills come together and complement each other instead?

Assumptions are made all the time. It’s easy to hear comments such as, “he’s too young. He doesn’t know how to do it the right way” or “He’s so old school. He doesn’t keep up with times”. Is that really the truth or is it a mere misconception and trap that we often fall into?

The difference in generation is similar to a difference in culture.It simply means that people behave differently when facing a similar situation. There is no definite right or wrong, it’s just how we perceive and value things. Is your way more effective than mine? Maybe. But will that always be the case, maybe not. Perspectives provide the team with a more holistic view of tackling issues. It helps the team to pre-empt potential problems and devise alternative approaches. By harnessing the power of diversity, it provides teams with a powerful tool on hand to handle issues that are complicated and multi-faceted. After all, you only know what you know and will only be able to go beyond that limit if you learn from others.

How can we then harness the strengths of each generation and unleash the true potential to deliver great value to the organization?

1) Bridge the gap by promoting open communication platform

Have you faced a situation where you assumed something only to realize that wasn’t actually the case after understanding where the other party was coming from? Communication is a key tool when fostering greater understanding and bridging the gap between differences. There is a need to build open communication platforms such as open dialogues sessions and focus groups to provide opportunities for employees to engage one another and in turn, learn more about where the other party is coming from.Through such open and authentic exchange, staff will feel more connected and have a better shot at ironing out their differences.

2) Find a common link between the different groups and get them to work together

Despite the differences between generations, commonalities still exist whether it’s the type of work, certain interests or even a shared goal. Creating a common ground between them is key to bring everyone together with a shared focus. This way, the emphasis will not be on the differences that they have but rather, the different approaches that could be adopted to achieve a target that has been set for the team. This will form the backbone of the team whichblurs the generational line. This common thread is key to hold the team as one and sharpen their focus when heading towards the desired goal.

3) Value their respective strengths

Each generation of workers bring forth different valuei.e. they possess different strengths that can be tapped on. For example, a more seasoned veteran will likely have better knowledge of a product and knows what works and what doesn’t with his wealth of experience.On the other hand, a younger individual will likely be more in touch with the latest technological developments and trends that are crucial in helping the organization move ahead. It is thus key to appreciate and value the respective strengths that each individual can present. By leveraging on the respective strengths, the team will then reap the true benefit of a synergized effort derived from a combination of assets on hand.

4) Recognize contributions

With the fast changing environment, it means that the type of skill sets required changes as well. This may mean that certain individuals will appear less valuable than others due to the circumstance involved. However, it is important to recognize that it doesn’t always mean that such individuals are definitely made obsolete. It may just be a matter of timing or just mean that this is a less emphasized requirement at this moment. To help motivate the team and get them to continue contributing, managers need to recognize the contributions of all members regardless if it is in a small or big way. In particular for those who are contributing in a smaller way, let them know how their small contributions are part of the bigger picture and without which, the team will not be able to achieve what it has set out to do. It’s almost impossible to have equal contribution from every single member, let alone members with different skill sets from different generations. But what you can do, is to ensure their contributions are acknowledged and let them know that everyone is playing a part in the team’s success.

5) Understand that there is no one-size-fits-all solution: you need to tailor initiatives to help different groups thrive while serving an overarching objective

Before expecting each individual to thrive and contribute in their respective domain of work, managers need to do their part by ensuring that resources are provided and that the environment created is optimum to accommodate the diversity which the team holds. With that said, managers must first recognize that there is no simple way out by providing a one-size-fits-all solution and expecting everything to click from there. Setting the stage is an essential ingredient for managers to include into the work environment in order to maximize the potential of the team. Start by understanding what each member needs and then know how you can best engage them to maximize their individual potential.

Managing a multi-generational workforce may appear to be daunting task. However, the potential that could be tapped on far outweighs the challenges that have to be overcome. Recognizing and acknowledging that each generation of workers has their respective value and how they can contribute to the success of the team is critical. Bring people from different background and abilities together, harness them, and expect great things to happen.

Toastmasters Lessons for a HR Recruiter

Toastmasters Lessons for a HR Recruiter

Develop employees by helping them search within themselves

Develop employees by helping them search within themselves


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Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Divine Blood Races

The following races, all those included in the RPG supplement, represent less than half the population of non-humans on Earth leaving room for people to come up with their own minor races.  They include the most common non-humans as well as some stand-out rare species.

Chiang Shih

Chiang Shih are a species of biological vampires that descend from spiders. To humans they appear very corpse like and grotesque, but to them humans and many other species appear to be bloated and disgusting as well. They are all capable of web-production, but only a few are capable of production to a degree that would be useful in a crisis. They were scattered when Burma spread over much of South-East Asia and are now a dying race due to their disconnection from others of their kind.

Demons are one of the most ancient races and one of the few that predates humans. They possess the Understanding as a race and are part of either the Orochi or the Ashvattha collective mindscapes. For Demons, trust and self-determination are two of the most important virtues one can have. They
usually appear as human beings with a slender, athletic look and small fangs. Demons are born with an unlimited life-span, save those that were born as humans, of course. Most Demons reincarnate themselves every 400 years or so in order to keep mentally and spiritually healthy.

No one is born as a dryad. Dryads are the victims of a God-created parasite that cripples their psychic abilities and even inhibits their musculature to a degree. All dryads are female, whether they were before eating the fruit that carries the infection or not. Men who eat the dryad-fruit usually die and
those that don’t become female when the parasite takes over their nervous system. The dryads seem to have been created as part of a breeding experiment as their children are often very powerful or intelligent, though sometimes they are deformed or insane.

Dvergar range from five to eight feet in height and are very broad and stocky. They all appear to be extremely masculine but are actually hermaphroditic. In the ancient past they were thought to have been driven to extinction by the Purges, but some have been making an appearance recently showing they survive somehow. They were created by the Gods to be brilliant craftsmen. Many suffer from a genetic defect that results in the loss of an eye. This defect only rarely seems to affect both eyes.

Gargoyles are a species that left the Earth to settle in the cosmology. They evolved from bats and appear as large, grey-skinned creatures. They are tough to kill and in their shards outside Earth
maintain an advanced but rigidly controlled culture all their own. They maintain some anchors to Earth just in case and sometimes use spies transformed to appear human via shaping rituals. They guard the entrances to their dimensional shards jealously, resulting in such myths as the Jersey Devil.

The second of the Immortal races, the Gods predate humans but have begun to take the form of humans with blue facial marks and often bulky builds ranging from the seductively curvy and the heroic masculine to the healthily plump and even somewhat rotund. Gods hold duty and consideration to be the most important virtues to possess. They possess the Understanding as a whole race and possess an unlimited life-span. As with the Demons, they reincarnate every few hundred years to maintain their health. Also like the Demons, many Gods were born human.

Gorgons are a race of shapeshifters descended from humanity. In fact, gorgons are occasionally born to human parents. Some gorgons go their entire life without ever awakening their powers. However, once awakened, they can never quite appear human again. The appearance of the gorgon reflects their own state of mind. A happy and friendly gorgon will appear beautiful, if somewhat alien, while one that is angry or scared will appear frightening and ugly. They always appear reptilian, however. Their
powers are stronger in the throes of extreme emotions. Some are healers; others can actually turn people into stone.

A species distantly related to the chiang-shih, jurougumo have frequently married humans. Every generation, fewer jurougumo are born, though not because they are having fewer children. It
is assumed that eventually, the jurougumo will be simply the ancestors of a particular group of humans. They themselves are fine with this. Juruougumo look almost entirely human but
have two black spots over their eyes where most people have eyebrows. A close look reveals these spots as extra, compound eyes. A number of jurougumo have a poison touch, but most who do have trained to use it in ways that promote healing.

Kitsune are an enigma to most of the other races. They are a fox-like species of illusionists, though how fox-like they are seems to vary from Kitsune to Kitsune. Some appear like humans with fox ears and a tail while others appear to be bipedal foxes. They hide what they are from humans via their
illusions. All kitsune have at least one tail, and some few have as many nine. Those with nine are often very odd, mentally speaking, almost as if they were multiple people in one body. How a kitsune acquires more tails is not something they talk about much. Kitsune are almost universally bisexual.

Lemurians once upon time were known as Deep Ones. That was before Lovecraft targeted them with a campaign of prejudice generating propaganda. They eventually changed the name they called themselves and began to consider Deep One to be a slur. They still have a poor reputation among other supernaturals in the world.

Oreads are a result of the same parasitical plant that creates dryads. An oread is a person who ate a dryad fruit and managed to at least partially fight off the parasite. Instead of becoming a dryad, their body has become frozen at the age it was when the fruit was eaten. The parasite has entangled and replaced much of the person’s nervous system, but has not entirely reached a place where it can finish its job or cripple the victim. Other than their agelessness and an ability to “feed” the parasite in order to build up a reserve Life-Force, oreads remain the same species and gender they were before eating the fruit. Oreads have never successfully become a God or Demon.

The Ravens are the combination of several avian descended species into one whole. They have bird-like taloned feet as well as wide wings, though rarely are they capable of true flight. Ravens have no means to disguise what they are, but most groups have a close relationship with Psyche and the Community and exist sheltered by that relationship. Ravens are polyandric, meaning women usually take multiple husbands.

Seraphim are a genderless race that reproduces via what is known as a homonculus ritual wherein the genes of separate individuals are combined into a new life which is grown within specially enchanted psychic tools. They appear to be rather bland humans, and probably even descend from humans, having likely been created by the Gods. They are thought to be extinct in the Purges,
but there have been some who have seen them returned of late.

A race of deal-makers with a singularly disturbing perfection of appearance, the sidhe are the only known species that produces people capable of creating dreams. In the past they were a major power in the world, with a nation driven by their own perceived superiority over other species. In modern times, only a small number of sidhe remain allied to the old ways with most living among humans. Sidhe cannot breed with other sidhe and must seek out humans in order to have viable children, all of whom will be sidhe.

Succubi were originally created by Demons in the period between usurping their insane elders and uniting into a political whole. They are an entirely female race that reproduces via biokinesis, using sex only as a way to hype their ability. They are thought extinct; having been one of the races targeted by the Purges, but sightings are still reported now and again. In natural form, they are set apart from humans only their eyes, which have four-pointed pupils and lavender sclera, which would be white in a human.

They have illusions to conceal that and can also use an illusion of the more stereotypical demonic woman as a self-defense method. Succubi latch onto a feminine archetype early in life and subconsciously mold themselves to fit that archetype by using their empathic nature to find the ideals in the minds of those they grow up with and their biokinetic ability to alter their genetics accordingly. Like many supposedly extinct species, people have been claiming to meet succubi of late.

Succubi appear to age at a human rate and then slow down. However, they do not hit a true puberty until they are in their mid-twenties. Before that, they appear to be adult from a human standard, but still have a childish lack of sexuality. In their twenties, they start to become bisexual.

The single most successful non-human, mortal, race today. Therianthropes are shapeshifters descended from wolves. They are probably the most well known of werewolves in the psychic world. However, over time, many have learned to take other animal forms than those of wolves and many families have forgotten the wolf form. As such, therianthropes also include weretigers, weresharks, werebears and any of a number of other such people.

Trolls are an all male race created as warriors by the Demons ages ago. Like many of the races created by the Gods and Demons, they were targeted by the Purges. Unlike many, it is known that several bloodlines survived to the modern day. However, there seem to be more of them lately. Trolls are six to nine feet tall purple men appearing to have a primitive, almost neanderthal, appearance. They reproduce with the women of other species, the male children being trolls while daughters having a slight purplish tint to their skin and being somewhat stronger than normal, but otherwise of the mother species.

Vampyr are a rare species occasionally born to select human bloodlines. They fit the appearance of the stereotypical vampire, complete with fangs. They are biologically incapable of digesting most solid foods and most live on a specialized diet prescribed for them by a doctor. Most vampyr go through life without knowing what they are. The trait that determines the birth of a vampyr always seems to skip generations and even the children of two vampyr is rarely another vampyr. Vampyr also have troubles with bright light and some that don’t take precautions go blind early in life.

The wolfen are one of the only remaining sentient species that has nothing like a humanoid appearance. They appear as wolves for the most part, though recent generations have started to
be born with the Talent of shapeshifting into the appearance of other canines such as dogs. They have a telepathic ability which they use to communicate with and to control lesser animals to act as their hands. All wolfen seem capable of growing or shrinking as necessary to the situation as well.

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Gorgon Smuggler (Gorgon Gunslinger)

I have played a bit with the gorgon sorcerous heritage I came up but I haven't really played around with the race I made and put on to...

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Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Matsuo Sushi Restaurant

Matsuo has a different special set lunch everyday.
On Mondays and Fridays, you can order a chiraishi set for $20 which is pretty darn good value.

A colorful bowl filled with fresh seafood, what more can one ask for right?
The set lunch comes with miso soup and chawanmushi.

Matsuo Sushi Restaurant
1 Goldhill Plaza

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Delicious Cafe

Delicious cafe is a popular chain in KL, so of course I had to order Malay cuisine here.

I like the decor of the cafe, especially the use of teal accents, very bright and cheery.

Rendang Short ribs was huge! I could hardly finish half of it but it was good. Meat was tender and flavorful, rice soft fluffy and perfectly matched with the sambal and crackers. Too much though, I got really sick of the meat after awhile. A dish for 2 to share definitely.

The western dishes didnt fare so well, I say stick to Asian.

6 Scotts Road
Scotts Square

Teppei Japanese Restaurant

Teppei is a tiny tempura place located at Orchid Hotel.
Limited, counter only seating, we got to watch the chef cook every single piece of tempura. How fun!

Teppei serves set lunches for under $20, very value for money.

Starters included pickled vegetable and simmered lotus root/tofu/carrot. Very yummy and great way to start the meal.

I opted for the chirashi, a colorful bowl of tuna, roe and grated radish. Very fresh, healthy and tasty.

Will definitely come back for more.

Teppei Japanese Restaurant
1 Tras Link
#01-1863 Orchid Hotel

Friday, October 26, 2012

I am Cantonese so naturally, food in Macau/Hongkong suited me to a T. Dimsum, noodles, roasted meat. Awesome.

Beef brisket at the restaurant in the casinos. Food in casinos are awesome because you can use points to get discounts

Uni, salmon and swordfish(?), bowl of heaven I tell you. Japanese food in Hong kong is so much cheaper and of better quality, as compared to Singapore.

you can never leave this place without the ubiquitous bowl of roast pork and char siew. Nobody does it better.

Famous pork chop bun from Macau. The kind folks at Vatican Hotel persuaded the owner to open up a branch there so no more long queues. So darn good.

More roast meat. Cant get enough.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Revisiting Coastal Settlement

Another pop-by for Brunch, since I live pretty nearby and good cafes are practically non existent in the East, Coastal Settlement looks to be one of my regulars.

Tried the toasties this time, and it was HUGE.

Thick ham and gooey cheese sandwiches with a serving of potato salad. Carbs overload and a definite must-share. I ended up bringing back half my meal in a doggy bag.

Breakfast choices however are limited though, if you are craving for scrambled eggs/ eggs ben I would recommend you head to Lots instead.

The Coastal Settlement
200 Netheravon Road
6475 0200

Friday, October 19, 2012

Revisiting Ting Heng Steamboat

Ting Heng is still hands down, my favorite steamboat place in Singapore

Gorgeous, marbled, melt in your mouth beef

Paired with sweet soup, fresh fish and those yummy handmade meatballs.

Sure its pricey but at least here you know you are getting quality fresh stuff.

Ting Heng Seafood restaurant
Blk 82 Tiong Poh Road
6323 6093

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Many popular chain stores are making their way to Singapore, probably starting with Paul followed by Dean & Delucca and Paris Baguette. Hopefully the likes of Laduree and such will start moving to the little red dot too

Had the spinach quiche

And the sirloin

Both were ok, nothing much to shout about. Frankly I did think Paul's is a tad overhyped.
And if I wanted to indulge a good piece of pastry, I would rather head down to Tiong Bahru bakery any day.

391A Orchard Road
#03-16 Ngee Ann City Tower A

Friday, October 12, 2012

New Ubin Seafood

Nothing else to say other than New Ubin Seafood sells damm good tze char.
Located in the middle of nowhere, next to some car workshops, the crowd at New Ubin proves that the food is really worth traveling for.

The hokkien mee was full of seafood goodness and sinful lard.

Signature rib-eye with caramelized onions and wedges did not disappoint. Arriving on a wooden block in all its glory, the beef was tender and juicy. But the highlight of my meal was the amazing fried rice served after, cooked in beef fat. Utterly sinful and unhealthy but oh soooo good.
Must Try.

New Ubin Seafood
Blk 27 Sin Ming Road (Behind Blk 26)
#01-174 Sin Ming Industrial Estate Sector A
6466 9558
This place is pretty popular, reservations are a must.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Nolboo Hangari Galbi

Am glad that us Easties are seeing a greater variety of restaurants near us. I12 Katong (such a silly but catchy name) brings with it a whole slew of familiar restaurants, one of it being Nolboo Hangari.

Usual Korean side dishes (which wasnt refillable bah), variety wasnt great either

Fact: Soju only tastes good with lemon

Very amused by the woman at the bottom of our glasses

Food-wise, I think everything was a bit pedestrian. Not exactly value-for-money either since one could probably find cheaper and nicer Korean food in the Tanjong Pagar area.

Nolboo Hangari Galbi
i12 Katong
112 East Coast Road #03-06

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Restaurant Week : Table at 7

For a restaurant week diningcity starr restaurant, I was really disappointed with the menu at Table at 7
Portions were tiny and food was mediocre.

The steak was about half the size of Trattoria Lafiandra's, did not taste as good and cost $15++ more (similar 3 course meal too)

THere are some who avoid Restaurant Week because they believe that some restaurants make use of this opportunity to test new dishes which may or may not be well received. I think this was the case here. While I am not sure if a normal meal at Table at 7 will be of a similar quality, I am not eager to find out. I did go check out their menu for Restaurant Week this year and it looks much better - 5 course and truffles to boot.


WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: application/xhtml+xml

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United In Dance!

Friday, April 7, 2017 8:00PM
Wortham Center/Cullen Theater

United In Dance!
Tickets Currently Not On Sale.

With sharp theatricality at its forefront, United in Dance! illuminates the stage with unique narratives and compelling imagery. The program will feature a world premiere by Houston native Mario Zambrano, a METdance original commission by Princess Grace Award recipient Rosie Herrera, and reprisals of audience favorites The Broken Column by Andrea Shelley-Hering and Cinco Sin Nombre by Paolo Georgudis with lighting design by Jeremy Choate. METdance is proud to partner with the Institute of Hispanic Culture to bring this program, that celebrates works created and inspired by Latin artists, to life.

box office hours
Please note that all sales are final. No refunds or exchanges. Shipping, handling, and service fees are non-refundable, even if the event is cancelled. A maximum of 8 tickets may be purchased for any one performance online. For groups larger than 8, please call the box office at 832-487-7041.


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October 2017
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How to Become a Bounty Hunter

Suburban Mom Accused of Threatening FBI Mole on Facebook

Data securityBy Steve Neavling

A suburban Chicago mother of seven faces federal cyberstalking charges for allegedly urging Facebook followers to kill a gang member-turned-FBI mole for helping put behind bars an associate of hers accused of trying to sell semiautomatic rifles stolen from a freight train.

Iesha Stenciel, 38, also faces a gun charge after she was found carrying a bag containing an AR 15-type assault rifles stolen from a Chicago train in September 2016, the Associated Press reports

Brian Stafford was arrested in October 2016 for allegedly telling the informant that he was in possession of the stolen rifles. Following the arrest, Stenciel is accused of posting the Facebook threats.

“Snitches get stitches and found in ditches,” one posting allegedly said, followed by 11 handgun emojis.

Stenciel later claimed the postings were fantasies, not legitimate threats.

Facebook is “a cyber fantasy community where you can live out any fantasy with no real means or intent of carrying anything out,” she wrote to a federal judge in a letter in July.

The AP wrote:

Filings aren’t clear about whether Stafford or Stanciel, both of whom have previous criminal records, played a direct role in the 2016 theft. The guns had been loaded in Atlantic City, New Jersey, two days before the train stopped in Chicago. The thieves also made off with several TVs.

The filings describe Stanciel and Stafford as “associates” but don’t offer details. Stanciel, of Aurora, and Stafford, from the Chicago suburb of Bellwood, have both pleaded not guilty. Stafford faces gun possession charges.

The informant, working with the FBI, agreed to pay Stafford $4,000 for the three rifles, court filings said. The informant wore audio and video devices during the exchange of the money and guns at Stafford’s home on Oct. 23 last year, and Stafford was arrested later that day.

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Saturday, November 16, 2013

- Cover Re - reveal - Surrender my Love by Lisa Eugene

Patients are dying at Washington Memorial Hospital and no one knows why….

Nurse Chloe Bennett is a dedicated healer. Her job means everything to her, and she needs it to support her family. When she finds herself in the middle of yet another Code Blue, she questions the unexplained deaths.
Doctor Brad Markson is a world renowned cardiac surgeon. Brilliant, powerful, and sinfully sexy! He does not tolerate losing patients. When his patient mysteriously dies, he looks for answer.
The two work together to unravel the sinister events surrounding the deaths at Washington Memorial Hospital, and soon find themselves fighting for their lives in this fast paced, erotic thriller. When Chloe becomes the center of suspicion, she is surprised to find she has an ally in the gorgeous Dr. Markson.
Shy, sweet Chloe is unable to resist him with his sultry blue eyes and wickedly sexy smile. His passionate kisses ignite her body, and his mere touch induces shivering pleasure. She doesn't know if she’s ready to give away her heart after her traumatic past, and Brad is battling career demons of his own.
Can the two learn to trust each other? Will they live long enough to find love and happiness…or will there be two more deaths?

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Greg`s Tech blog

Amahi File Sharing Issues

Friday 06 of April, 2012
I run Amahi and use the samba file sharing feature to feed data to my WDTV Live. It works great - until this week. We couldn't get to any of the shares. I found a number of issues.

greyhole error
Can't find a vfs module [greyhole]

This was caused by an install problem with greyhole. The link to the greyhole library was missing from /usr/lib/samba/vfs. The fix was reinstalling greyhole. I run an un-official install from greyhole and used this to fix it:

rpm -Uvh --force http://www.greyhole.net/releases/rpm/i386/hda-greyhole-0.9.9-1.`uname -i`.rpm

Next a saw two issues with samba in /var/log/messages. They may have been related:
smbd_open_once_socket: open_socket_in: Address already in use

current master browser = UNKNOWN

The fix for this was to disable ipv6 by running:
sysctl net.ipv6.bindv6only=1

I also added this to rc.local so it takes effect at boot time.


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Sunday, 20 February 2011

YES IT IS by Howard Orson

YES IT IS by Howard Orson
Not sure that I should say that the title of this photograph is taken from the song of the same name by The Beatles in case I get sued by Sony or Tesco's or whoever owns their bloody songs now. Why on earth didn't Paul buy them from Lew Grade when he sold them years ago?

Needless to say, "Yes it is" is one of my favourite Beatles' songs. I adore the harmonies and John's rich voice which I can listen to all day if I had to and sometimes, I just have to.

Howard is a great mate and a brilliant photographer.
I have loads of Beatles' stuff, records, tapes, CDs, photographs, books, concert tickets, clippings, programmes, a flower from the George Harrison Memorial Concert etc, etc. So, Howard just poured it all over me and climbed up a ladder and took the picture.

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Wednesday, 1 July 2015

MR MERRYWEATHER QC by Justyna Neryng

MR MERRYWEATHER Q.C. by Justyna Neryng

I wanted to be an actor from a young age but, when I was about 18, Mrs Anderson, my English teacher and the wife of the headmaster at my secondary school, asked me what career I wanted to follow. I had just recently finished reading "We, the Accused" by Ernest Raymond which was a story about a man who kills his wife and is tried for her murder. There is a long sequence in the book covering the trial and I marvelled at the description of one of the barristers; he was handsome, quick witted, articulate and eloquent. I told Mrs Anderson that I wanted to be a barrister. "That won't do" she said and when I asked why, she said that all barristers were actors and she had seen no evidence that I could act. Admittedly, I had not really done any acting apart from a memorable playing of Buttercup in HMS Pinafore when I was 12 - memorable for the flatness of my voice - but I knew that I could act and set about proving it by performing in three plays one after the other at school and then ended up as a solicitor. Eventually, I did some acting and even acquired an agent at one point but I couldn't afford to give up my day job and so I had to squeeze it into my spare time. However, playing Mr Merryweather in my films means that my wish has been granted in some small way and, when Justyna and I got together to discuss our next collaboration, Mr Merryweather seemed the perfect choice especially given her execution of the beautiful Childhood Lost series.

Whenever I visit Justyna in her flat in Hove, it reminds me of our very first shoot in 2010, a year before we moved to Brighton. We clicked then and we click now. As usual, Toby Slater-Hunt assisted her and we shot a number of photographs in different poses but, when some weeks later, we went through them on her laptop together, this one leaped off the screen. It seemed to capture the character of Mr Merryweather in so many ways. His seriousness, his flamboyance and his romanticism. The picture itself has so much to commend it - the light which brushes the right side of his coat, the way in which Justyna has highlighted the richness of the colour of the coat and the contrast with the dazzling white of the wig and ruff as well as the blood red of the ribbon around the roll of papers containing his brief. The landscape format of the photograph places him on a stage rather than squeezed into a portrait.

As usual, Justyna has created a wonderful image capturing all the facets of Mr. Merryweather's character to bring him to life and I am proud to say that this is the third photograph of hers to be included in the project.

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Monday, June 24, 2013

Saved from the Supermoon

The New York Times said the moon races around the Earth in a sort of a circle, sometimes coming closer and sometimes farther away.
If they say so.

They called it the Supermoon because it was getting closer to the Earth.

The people in my building were skeptical about the moon. We were convinced the Supermoon was on a course to smash into the Earth, probably in Times Square.

The people in my building were right to be frightened.

New Yorkers have cause for concern.

 We have scientists and professors and retired doctors living in our building. We're smart, educated. We recycle.
We ain't dumb.

We took a keg to the roof and chanted and banged on pots and pans and drank the beer.
Not Gregorian chanting

There are no astronomers living in the building, but if there were I’m sure they would have agreed with us and joined us on the roof.
Mr. Sagan agreeing with me from an alternate reality

We chanted and banged and drank until the moon went back into its orbit and all danger passed.
We all deserve to feel safe.

We do not expect the people of Earth to thank us. Superheroes do not wait around for gratitude.
A donut and cup of coffee might be nice.

We just do what needs to be done, touch the brim of our ten gallon cowboy hat, and ride off into the East River, hi ho, Silver away.
You’re welcome.

Thank you for reading. Next time?

Find us on Google+

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Rejected Father’s Day Cards

My children passed up some great cards when selecting my Happy Father’s Day greeting. Thanks kids. I love you too. Let’s do lunch.

Here are the ones they didn't send me:

Dear Dad, Mom and I are sending Happy Father’s Day greetings even though I know you say you were nowhere near Poughkeepsie twelve years ago.

Dear Daddy, I am fine. I hope you are fine. I hope they show you my card when you wake up.

Happy Father’s Day. I mailed your card late. I hope it gets there before the injection.

Dear Dad, You mean so much to me and I want to follow in your footsteps, but you’ve covered your tracks so well I can’t find them. Please text me.

Hi Pops, Just want to let you know Mom and I have been fine since you left to get a newspaper and cigarettes. Happy Father’s Day wherever you are.

Yo, Daddio. Like, whassup, dude? It's Father's Day. Ain't that far out? Can you loan me twenty?

Dear Father. The judge says even if I look like the mailman, you have to pay.

Hey Pops, Remember how you always thought it was funny to say “Write when you get work?” Well, seriously, write when you get work. Mom and I can use the cash.

Dear Father, I don’t believe in the “pull my finger” trick any more. I found out you can fart whenever you want. Thanks for disillusionment.

Dearest Father, I hope to retain all the values you have passed on to me. In particular I like the value of the trust fund you set up last year. Will you be adding to it?

Dear Dad, I hope you are having a good time at the convention in Toledo. Please don’t bring me a T-shirt.

Thanks, kids, for tolerating your old man.

And thank you for reading. See you again?

Find us on Google+

Monday, June 10, 2013

I Was a Spy for the NSA

Facebook and Google are coming clean about cooperating with the NSA.
Not necessarily someone connected to this story. He went to Hong Kong. A long way to get Chinese food.

Before Bob Woodward or Walter Winchell tell you, it’s time you knew that for the past twenty-two years The Lunatic Assylum has thought of itself as a front for the NSA.
Not the real NSA office.

You would find out anyway.Some of the loonies at the Assylum go out in the rain and yell. Most of what they shriek is incomprehensible. But they can pronounce NSA. It rhymes with U.S.A! Which we all shout during Springsteen concerts.
I was born in the USA. I live in The Lunatic Assylum.

This confession won’t be in my book this fall. Only my relatives and kids will be reading my book. And they’ll only pretend to read it because I’ll give them one for Christmas and Chanukah.

The NSA was impressed when I said I’d spy for them. I voluntarily printed out all my emails and text messages and Internet posts from Facebook and Google+ and Twitter for the past 37 years (two reams of paper, four black ink cartridges and one color).

I went to the NSA office in Times Square. (Don’t look for it. It’s behind that big screen. ) And piled it on their desk.
The camera is in the button hole.

I had dropped the pile on the subway and the pages got mixed up. The dates weren’t in order. People helped me pick them up. A few papers ended up on the tracks with the rats. I said to hell with those. The NSA can go get them if they want them.

The woman at NSA said I should alphabetize them. I asked if they had interns to do that. They don't.
So if you’ve ever sent me an email or received one from me—or had any Internet or cell phone connection with me—I suggest you go to Times Square and turn yourself in. Take the 2/3 subway train to 42nd Street and walk a block. Stand in the center of the triangle. (It’s not really square—that’s a spy way to throw people off their trail.)

Stand in the street and yell, “I’m mad as a March Hare, and I’m not going to bake it anymore.” Someone in a uniform is sure to show up.
Be patient.

It’s better than waiting for Fox News or CNN to report it. O'Reilly won't be gentle. The cover-up is always the worst part.
It feels good to get that off my chest. Now the loonies and I can get on with our Monopoly game.
And I can get my Chinese food in Brooklyn instead of Hong Kong.

Thanks for reading. See you next time?

Timothy Hurley

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April 19, 2012

Niki Jones

Fill your home with stories

- What a lovely message, found on Niki Jones' website.

Niki Jones' UK web shop offers a wide range of unique handcrafted homewares, e.g. cushion covers, baskets and lanterns from the Tine K Home Collection.

Click here to check out the Niki Jones online store

If you didn't feel springlike before this,
you will for sure be in mood for spring now:

  1. Everything is so wonderful - each of the pictures! I love the pillows with the beautiful designs & colours! Hugs, Barbara

  2. Love the photos and pillows together with Tine K brand....;)

  3. Akkuret den gulfarven vi mangler jenter!!Superfint! Masse klemmer fra AC

We would love to hear from you


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Saturday, July 31, 2010

Shelves in wardrobes

Many people are confronted with shelves that drop down in the wardrobe.
The weight on the shelves causes the wall to curve. As a consequence the pins that support the shelves lose contact with the shelves.

You can overcome the problem by fixing the selves to the wall bu putting a screw in from the outside.

When you make a hole first the wall won't split.

Related Posts with Thumbnails


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Friday, September 14, 2007

Lucia Lerner: Snapshots from a Passing Train

"Did I mention your site came up somewhere along the line after I put Lucia's name on Google in hopes of finding out if she was still around? And this was probably the first I had thought of her in several years."

That's what Will Nelson wrote in one of his first emails to me as he began relating the story of his early days at Stephens, Biond, DeCicco studios in Chicago in the 1950's.

"All of this brings back vivid memories of the studio and the wonderful experience it was."

"We occupied the top 7th floor on Ohio St. Just a block off Michigan Ave. Next door to the studio was a upstart publishing group with a new magazine called Playboy."

"Barry Stephens constantly sought new samples from all of us to show in New York. I was sent to New York for a couple of months to work on large toy project requiring extra hands. Getting work out of New York was considered a major accomplishment...and Lucia did do well."

"I think [Lucia] may have come from the same previous studio base as Reno (Biondi) and Frank (DeCicco). They had worked together prior to starting SBD."

"Lucia [moved] to the L.A. studio (SBD) when she left Chicago. Dan Toigo (he was featured a few years later in the American Artist magazine for his watercolors) went at the same time. I saw both of them a year or two later at SBD in L.A. while on a vacation trip. As I recall, Lucia was immediately in demand in the high end fashion market...I. Magnin, Bullocks, etc. I assume she fell back on her considerable fashion skills."

"I lost track of her after about 1960. I just don't know if she is still with us or not."

*All of today's images can be seen at full size in my Lucia Flickr set.

  1. Leif, this whole week has been an example of what, in my view, TI does best: you have resurrected a hardworking, talented illustrator who would otherwise be lost to history. You have pulled together a nice retrospective of her work in an online gallery that people will be able to consult forever. You collected the fading memories of the last people to know her, along with tearsheets from a few random files around the country, and glued it all together with an interesting narrative and a lot of love. In doing all this, you have really rescued Lucia from oblivion, and I'm sure she would have been flattered and pleased.

  2. I’m totally agreed with david words, you rescued the nice Lucia’s work from the past, and of course...thanks for showing her illustations and interesting history.
    Extended weekend here almost mini vacations, returning next thursday :)

  3. As usual, a wonderful series on an artist not known to the masses. Thank you!

  4. Through the late 50's and into the 60's, after finishing my illustration training and starting my illustration career, art directors wanted illustrations with ideal looking men, women or children... particularly for ads. Normally they did not want us to show earthy character studies of real people. We referred to these quintessential heads as "stock heads".

    Although Lucia's people are quite attractive and ideal in many respects, they are amazingly real... as though you have seen them somewhere before in your every day life. She bridges the gap between the "stock head" and a real person with real character. I attribute this to her excellent drawing skills and her keen insight of the people around her. This same insight is also apparent in the interesting and natural poses of each figure. This is not by accident or coincidental. I'm quite sure it was carefully thought out and developed through many preliminary figure studies for each illustration. These assignments are not easy, but Lucia made it look easy and natural.

    Will Nelson's recollections revealed some interesting insight into Lucia's character, and Leif revealed examples of her wonderful talent.

    Thanks again, for an informative and entertaining week, Leif.

    Tom Watson

  5. Thank you all for your encouraging comments! Its great to know you're enjoying the work and stories I post here. Hearing from you means a lot to me so... thanks again! :-)

  6. Hi Leif,
    David's description of what you have accomplished is spot-on. As animated as Lucia Lerner's art is, your efforts have breathed life into the person wielding the brush. I'm still hoping something else comes up and have been trying to track more on her down using all my bag of internet tricks and other resources, but as yet to no avail. Let's hope her daughter finds out about your posts!

  7. Thanks Jack! If any art detective could have found something I know it would have been you.

    I really do have my fingers crossed that her daughter... or perhaps some other relative... does contact us some day.

  8. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

  9. Posted with the permission of Barbara Bradley:

    Thank you, Leif , for running last week's series of Lucia's delightful and authoritative illustrations. My appreciation also goes to David Apatoff and Tom Watson's beautifully analytical appreciations of her work and it's charm. When starting out in New York, I remember seeing, appreciating, admiring and relating strongly to Lucia's work. How I looked up to the women who had made the editorial pages. You and your viewers have brought pleasure and satisfied curiosity by filling in so much of her career both before and after her move to Los Angeles. I knew almost nothing about her life but how I wished I had known her. Thank you again.

    A small aside, relating to attitudes towards women in the 50s and 60s. In one respect, women illustrators were generally more fortunate than those in many businesses. The contents of our portfolios spoke for us. I had heard that women in the 20s and earlier had received far less for comparable work than men but I personally was never aware of any discrimination in pricing of art. However, no matter what my income, I could not buy a car without my husband's signature, nor could I open a charge account without it. When I bought disability insurance, no company would provide permanent disability payments to a woman beyond five years, on the premise of actuaries that women were inclined to malinger. How times have changed!

  10. Wow , these are really nice , esp the Photographer one.

  11. Hi, as one of Lucia relatives, it is amazing the following that Lucia legacy has left. It is greatly appreciated that so many people appreciated her work. She was my grandmother's sister who would randomly visit talking about her work and life. I was talking to a local curator about a piece that has been passed down to me and found this blog showing her work. I think it is a wonderful collection that shows her style and originality of her work. I know that she would have been totally flattered and pleased. She was an outgoing, giving and wonderful person.

  12. Adam;

    Thanks SO much for leaving a comment. Lucia is sort of my 'Holy Grail' - an illustrator from the 50's whom i have admired for a very long time but have never yet been able to document properly. If you or some other family members would be willing to share some more details about her, I'd be most grateful.

    You can contact me at lpeng[at]cogeco[dot]ca or leifpeng[at]gmail[dot]com

    and thank you in advance!

    Best - Leif


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Saturday, January 9, 2010

Armed Forces Bowl...

For the second year in a row Houston played Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl on New Year's Eve morning. Houston quarterback Case Keenum graduated from Wylie High School in Abilene. And it's a lot closer to drive to Fort Worth than down to Houston. I shot this game last year and Keenum played a lot better. This year's game was - forgettable for the quarterback. He threw six interceptions, the same number he threw in the first 10 games. Of course I shot a lot more than just one player, that would make shooting the game pretty boring. The top photo pretty much told the story of Case;s day as well as the whole day for Houston. I've been watching the kid play since he was a sophomore in high school, and this may have been the worst. I'm sure he'll be fine playing during his senior year next year, and with some of the numbers he's put up, there's a good chance he could be a Heisman candidate.

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Thursday, November 05, 2009

Animating the Web(Kit)

After the landing of QGraphicsWebView implementation (in summary, a mimic of QWebView widget but for the QGraphicsView world) in WebKit trunk, your creativity is your guide :-)

A week ago, I tried to quickly exercise what it is up to, and inspired in Kent's flipin widget idea, I got some cool rotation effects on the Web content. See the (amateur) show off below:

Nice stuff thanks to Qt and its QGraphicsView and QStateMachine flexibility.

--Antonio Gomes

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Cool news on QtWebKit

Two months past the last time I wrote something here, I realized things like:

1) these (trendy) micro-blogging thing make some people (including me) extremely accommodated and too lazy to blog;
2) I need vacations.

Well, now apart from these irrelevant personal feelings, I'd say that a bunch has happened in that meanwhile, and I will try to (slowly) get my to-be-blogged list freed ...

For now I will be sharing a some cool stuff that have recently happened in the QtWebKit land, project I am mostly spending my time on:

  • Kenneth and I landed the QWebGraphicsItem (now called QGraphicsWebView) implementation. In summary class makes it possible in an easy and fast way to have native GraphicsItem based object for Web rendering. See bug 28862 ([Qt][API] Add a new QGraphicsWidget based version of the "QWebView"). It makes it possible to have all supported transformations to happen on Web content.
  • Among other follow-ups to the above, bug 30162 made the "animated flip" feature a nice show case to the Demo browser.
  • Girish has landed support for "windowless" plugin to QtWebKit. See progresses and details in bug 20081.
  • "Holger landed his rewrite of ImageDecoderQt that significantly improves the memory footprint", said Simon Hausman is his blog :).
  • Bug 27214 created a webkit-qt dedicated mailing list.
  • Ongoing text drawing improvements in bug 24468.
  • Bunch of API reviews, clean up and bug fixes toward Qt 4.6.
Some remarkable related stuff include:
Afonso Costa and I are working on some nice stuff embedding all the above for maemo ... so I'd say to keep tuned ..

Antônio Gomes
tonikitoo at gmail dot com

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

WebKit/EFL 0.1 released

The Browser team at INdT's OpenBossa Labs is proud to announce the 0.1 release of WebKit/EFL, a development milestone targeted the Enlightenment community.

We hope the release will give feedback about the overall usage of the web runtime and embedding API, as well as encouraging people in contributing to the port. Due to a change in focus, our team at INdT will have to minimize our envolvement somewhat, but we will still do maintenance and patch reviews.

Since the first announcement of the port during December last year, the code has been refactored in many of its crucial parts, resulting in good performance improvements. Now, six months later, we believe the project is mature enough to gain wider testing.

Quick start

1) About WebKit

WebKit is an open source web contents engine powering products such as Google Chrome and Android browser, Apple's Safari and iPhone browser, as well as Nokia's web runtime for S60.

2) About EFL

The Enlightenment Foundation Libraries (EFL for short) are a set of graphical libraries intended to provide easy-to-use resources for building rich user interfaces based applications. It is the core of the Enlightenment window environment. As mentioned in its official web site, "the libraries are meant to be portable and optimized to be functional even on devices such as mobile devices". Its core components are:
  • Evas: Highly optimized raster canvas
  • Edje: Declarative UI library
  • Ecore: Event loop and utility classes
  • Eina: Basic data types
  • Embryo: Scripting

3) About the port

WebKit was born to be toolkit independent: "WebKit's HTML and JavaScript code began as a branch of the KHTML and KJS libraries from KDE. As part of KDE framework KHTML was based on Qt but during their porting efforts Apple's engineers made WebKit toolkit independent". Currently there are browser components based on WebKit for the following toolkits (officially upstream only): Qt, Gtk+, wxWidgets, Windows, among others. This port is about adding EFL to the list of supported toolkits, providing an easy-to-embed browser component/widget into EFL based applications. As the developers also work on the Qt port, we try to keep the implementation as close as possible to that of QtWebKit. The build system was based on Gtk+'s though.

WebKit/EFL currently compiles and runs on Linux, and is not yet upstreamed, however tries to follow WebKit trunk as much as possible, though it might be a week or two behind.

Painting is performed using Cairo on an offscreen surface, thus all painting is double buffered. For this to work on 16 bit devices such as the Nokia Internet Tablet, some patches needs to be applied to the shipped Cairo version.

Networking is based on Libcurl, which is used elsewhere by EFL, and was thus a natural choice. Cookies are supported.

What is in this version ?
  • API for navigation browsing (back, forward, reload, stop), session and global history, zooming, among others. See API here.
  • Configurable flash plugin via the "--enable-glib-integration" configure option. Default: true.
  • Configurable Windows like panning support via the "--enable-pan-scrolling" configure option. Default: false.

In order to better demostrate its performance (which is just great on Desktop), we have ran it on an Linux embedded device (in our case, an n810 running manoma). Alecrim, also from INdT, has written some nice blogposts about it. Below are two of the videos he made showing WebKit/EFL running on a n810 with mamona.

Andre Pedralho is also updating EVE browser to work with this version.

Some highlights about the performance is the startup time: ~3 secs on cold launch and ~1 second on hot launch.

Known issues

  • Flash crash on GMail.
  • Flash content not zooming synced with page content zooming (This has been disabled due to Flash Player issue (FP-2140).

Building and Running WebKit/EFL (trunk)
  • git clone git:// webkit
  • cd webkit
  • git checkout origin/master
  • git checkout -b <> # e.g. webkit-efl
  • get all dependencies installed - run |configure| to get a list of needed packages
  • WebKitTools/Scripts/build-webkit --efl --makeargs=<-s -jXX> --no-video # OR ./ --with-port=efl --disable-video
  • WebKitTools/Scripts/run-launcher --efl
This 0.1 release has been tagged to "webkit-efl-0.1". Feel free to use it as well.

Where to get in touch

Join #webkit-efl channel on, send patches and emails ... Your contributions are be very welcome.

About the Development Team

  • Kenneth Christiansen (lead programmer) - kenneth dot christiansen at openbossa dot org
  • André Pedralho - andre dot pedralho at openbossa dot org
  • Antônio Gomes - antonio dot gomes at openbossa dot org
  • Diego Gonzalez - diego dot gonzalez at openbossa dot org
  • Afonso Costa - afonso dot costa at openbossa dot org
  • Marcelo Morais - marcelo dot morais at openbossa dot org

Monday, March 23, 2009

Running a text search engine in N810: CLucene

A search engine is, from a high level view, a computer program that comprises at least two tools: an indexer and a "searcher", both to work over some given content. Going deeper a bit on it, the indexer part would be the responsible to identify all of the terms in a document or corpus and builds a table (or whatever) that indicates where the terms are used. Basically it maps a term to documents it appears. On the other hand, the searcher is what makes it possible to perform quick queries over this indexed content.

Well, what about all this, on a maemo context ?

Lately, André Pedralho (a co-worker at INdT) and I got a demand for a product we are working on to benchmark a text-based search engine on an ARM platform having as final goal to find out a feasible candidate to be embedded into a web browser.

After some research for good, stable and open source search engines available, CLucene (a C++ port of popular Java Lucene) came to scene as promising option, and so we ran a couple of tests against it to check its feasibility as described below.

Environment and requirements:
  • scratchbox set up with rootstrap and compilers for building to maemo platforms, as described here.
  • a patch to be applied against CLucene (only some files in clucence/src/demo change), that makes it possible to perform some stress tests over it.
Benchmark (stress test)

To perform the tests, it was indexed a 16Mb textual base set (by using CLucene itself) resulting in a 18Mb index ready to use.

In the patched CLucene demo, there are 850 words to be used to query the indexed base against each of them programatically, and measure the time taken by complete the batch, as well as reliability, leakage and CPU and RAM memory usage of CLucene during this stress test.

Results: (from a N810 device w/ chinook)
  1. 850 queries were executed in around 45 seconds (so it took in avarage 0.05 seconds per query). It is also interesting to mention that it was on ARM 5 seconds slower than my Desktop machine, with dual core processor, 4Gb of RAM and so and so ...
  2. Out of 850 queries, 80 failed (for some reason) and 770 succeeded.
  3. No crash observed.
  4. Minor leaks (a few k's) observed in valgrind during the tests.
  5. Acceptable memory and CPU usage (given the amount of queries performed in so short period) as shown in the figures below
Although CLucene has been shown itseft as a promising option and others (i.e. the mozilla-based browser Flock) have successfully embedded it as a content search engine, it is pretty much early to say something more concrete as a conclusion about CLucene. A next round of tests will be performed soon these days, including a measure of how fast it updates its index on-the-go, as well as how good its concurrency handling is, and all it running over a bigger indexed content.

Please comment if any idea comes.

--Antonio Gomes
tonikitoo at gmail dot com


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Docosahexaenoic acid supplementation and cognitive decline in Alzheimer disease: a randomized trial

Quinn, Joseph F., Raman, Rema, Thomas, Ronald G., Yurko-Mauro, Karin, Nelson, Edward B., van Dyck, Christopher, Galvin, James E., Emond, Jennifer, Jack, Clifford R., Jr., Weiner, Michael, Shinto, Lynne, Aisen, Paul S

JAMA, Volume: 304, No.: 17, Pages.: 1903-1911

Year of Publication

Context: Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is the most abundant long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid in the brain. Epidemiological studies suggest that consumption of DHA is associated with a reduced incidence of Alzheimer disease. Animal studies demonstrate that oral intake of DHA reduces Alzheimer-like brain pathology.; Objective: To determine if supplementation with DHA slows cognitive and functional decline in individuals with Alzheimer disease.; Design, Setting, and Patients: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of DHA supplementation in individuals with mild to moderate Alzheimer disease (Mini-Mental State Examination scores, 14-26) was conducted between November 2007 and May 2009 at 51 US clinical research sites of the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study.; Intervention: Participants were randomly assigned to algal DHA at a dose of 2 g/d or to identical placebo (60% were assigned to DHA and 40% were assigned to placebo). Duration of treatment was 18 months.; Main Outcome Measures: Change in the cognitive subscale of the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale (ADAS-cog) and change in the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) sum of boxes. Rate of brain atrophy was also determined by volumetric magnetic resonance imaging in a subsample of participants (n = 102).; Results: A total of 402 individuals were randomized and a total of 295 participants completed the trial while taking study medication (DHA: 171; placebo: 124). Supplementation with DHA had no beneficial effect on rate of change on ADAS-cog score, which increased by a mean of 7.98 points (95% confidence interval [CI], 6.51-9.45 points) for the DHA group during 18 months vs 8.27 points (95% CI, 6.72-9.82 points) for the placebo group (linear mixed-effects model: P = .41). The CDR sum of boxes score increased by 2.87 points (95% CI, 2.44-3.30 points) for the DHA group during 18 months compared with 2.93 points (95% CI, 2.44-3.42 points) for the placebo group (linear mixed-effects model: P = .68). In the subpopulation of participants (DHA: 53; placebo: 49), the rate of brain atrophy was not affected by treatment with DHA. Individuals in the DHA group had a mean decline in total brain volume of 24.7 cm(3) (95% CI, 21.4-28.0 cm(3)) during 18 months and a 1.32% (95% CI, 1.14%-1.50%) volume decline per year compared with 24.0 cm(3) (95% CI, 20-28 cm(3)) for the placebo group during 18 months and a 1.29% (95% CI, 1.07%-1.51%) volume decline per year (P = .79).; Conclusion: Supplementation with DHA compared with placebo did not slow the rate of cognitive and functional decline in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer disease.; Trial Registration: Identifier: NCT00440050.;

Bibtex Citation

@article{Quinn_2010, doi = {10.1001/jama.2010.1510}, url = {}, year = 2010, month = {nov}, publisher = {American Medical Association ({AMA})}, volume = {304}, number = {17}, pages = {1903}, author = {Joseph F. Quinn and Rema Raman and Ronald G. Thomas and Karin Yurko-Mauro and Edward B. Nelson and Christopher Van Dyck and James E. Galvin and Jennifer Emond and Clifford R. Jack and Michael Weiner and Lynne Shinto and Paul S. Aisen}, title = {Docosahexaenoic Acid Supplementation and Cognitive Decline in Alzheimer Disease}, journal = {{JAMA}} }

acid, aged, aged, 80 and over, alzheimer disease, apolipoprotein e4, atrophy, brain, cognition disorders, complications, dietary supplements, disease progression, docosahexaenoic, docosahexaenoic acids, double-blind method, drug therapy, etiology, female, genetics, humans, magnetic resonance imaging, male, pathology, therapeutic use, treatment outcome

Countries of Study

Types of Dementia

Alzheimer’s Disease

Types of Study

Randomised Controlled Trial

Type of Outcomes

Type of Interventions

Pharmaceutical Interventions

Pharmaceutical Interventions


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Mark Parbus

Training a client dog great manners Posted with permission from Mark Parbus

Mark Parbus

Mark volunteered for years with Best Friends Pet Adoptions by evaluating incoming dogs for temperament assessment and implementing training programs to increase adoptability. He also volunteered at the Wake County Shelter, evaluating the dogs for behavior issues and helping minimize the shelter effects on their temperament through training programs. He was on the founding Board of Triangle Cares whose mission was to eliminate the killing of companion animals through the power of a coalition comprised of rescue groups, shelters, and state and local government.

Mark trained and certified in the training and evaluation of shelter dogs before joining Sylvie’s team at K9 Solutions and certifying through the K9 Solutions Academy program. His current passion includes aggression of all types.

Fun Facts About Mark:

  • Mark is a serious dude when he write profiles (Sylvie wrote that).
  • One of his best moments with his Border Collie, Phoenix, was watching her herd sheep.
  • He combines his love of coffee and dogs with great socialization outings for canines.

We needed some behavior modification help for our 2 dogs. Sylvie was immediately responsive to our inquiry and easy to work with. Mark came to our home to work with us and after just 1 visit our dogs responded immediately. We needed help with visitor management, fence patrol, trying to lead on the leash and barking. He gave us simple solutions that we have to work on to make our dogs compliant. This was incredibly useful!! -R. Harris with Bailey and Brody, Private Training

We are so happy with Oliver now! We were thinking we had made a mistake getting him but now we are so in love with him. Generally, he is a pleasure to be with now. – Lynne Goodman, Private Training

It went excellent! Mark is great-I know you’ve heard this before but he has really helped us so much! We are working on what he taught us. As the lesson developed, he really got to know Penny and modified things based on what he learned about her. He proactively said he was coming back as his job was not done when it came to walking Penny & the lunging at other dogs. I can’t wait for that! -J. Mullen, Private Training

Mark “Dog” was fantastic; much better than I could’ve wished.  I feel very comforted now that he was here.  It was ironic that we also worked with my older dog & her front door meet & greet manners because 15-20 minutes after he left, a solicitor knocked at my front door.  I assumed it was Mark testing us, but it wasn’t.  Implemented Mark’s process, and it worked!  She’s 11.5 years old, proving you can teach an old dog new tricks! -D. Spencer, Private Training

Mark was fabulous!!! He was easy to connect with and definitely had the right information for me.  I described my concerns with Cheyenne and he easily got her to demonstrate what I was saying and then he showed me how to handle it. His follow-up written information was very helpful in describing everything he had said and enabled me to remember it!! I enjoyed his humor and perspective on dog communication it really helped shift my thinking! I am very optimistic about our training and relieved to think Cheyenne can be a very good fit with our family! I am very thankful for K9 Solutions’ services and how quickly someone was able to come out! -Shari Preece, Private Training

Thanks to Mark, here is our proof that it is possible for Luna to calmly be near another dog! Instead of dreading if we will encounter a dog on our walks, I am actually almost looking forward to seeing one so we can both practice our new training skills. Thank you so much for all your time and help!! -Amy McClung, Private Training


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Saturday, 14 February 2015

Shocking Revelation: What Kate Henshaw Did to Me... Joke Silva

Veteran Nollywood actress, Joke Silva, has recently disclosed that with her wealth of experience, she had so many times considered quitting the entertainment industry.
The actress citing an example said she got discouraged after she and her husband had put up a show with lots of investors at the National Theatre only to perform to just two audience which was discouraging but the show had to go on.

Speaking about her ageless looks,the actress revealed that it is because she is surrounded by so many young people who are fun loving and that keeps her happy all the time.
She said, “I have so many young people around me. My younger colleagues and kids refuse to allow me grow old. I remember Kate Henshaw insisted I must join instagram. Now I am on instagram all because of Kate Henshaw. They keep me young.”


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Tagged:  Star Trek 3 Beyond 2016 download free

By Movies Torrents 10 Action, Sci-Fi

Star Trek Beyond is an upcoming American science fiction action film directed by Justin Lin from a screenplay by Simon Pegg and Doug Jung, based on the series of the same name created by Gene Roddenberry. It is the thirteenth… Read More »


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Tagged:  The Jungle Book 2016 download torrent

By Movies Torrents 11 Adventure, Fantasy

The Jungle Book is a 2016 American fantasy adventure film directed by Jon Favreau who co-produced with Brigham Taylor, written by Justin Marks and produced by Walt Disney Pictures. Based on Rudyard Kipling’s eponymous collective works and inspired by Walt… Read More »


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Total Drek

Or, the thoughts of several frustrated intellectuals on Sociology, Gaming, Science, Politics, Science Fiction, Religion, and whatever the hell else strikes their fancy. There is absolutely no reason why you should read this blog. None. Seriously. Go hit your back button. It's up in the upper left-hand corner of your browser... it says "Back." Don't say we didn't warn you.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Insert tab A into slot B...

Before we talk today, I think you'll find it instructive to view the following video, which gives clear, easy to follow instructions for converting atheists from their false religion. More specifically, the lady below is going to answer the following question, "How do I communicate with someone, who is an atheist, about the reality of God?"

There are several things that should be pointed out here. First, it's interesting that her argument explicitly hangs on manipulating the target- I mean, everyone says that they're a "seeker of truth" and "open-minded," right? As such, she's not really trying to advance a positive argument for god as she is trying to undermine the atheist's confidence in his or her own beliefs.

Second, it's important to note that "open-minded" is not the same thing as "indecisive". I've covered this before, but in short- to be open-minded is to be willing to evaluate all evidence fairly in reaching a decision, but it is not the same as being unwilling to reach a decision. If it were, then an open-minded person would never reach a conclusion about anything. Obama versus McCain? I dunno, I'm open-minded. Join a gym or run outside? Gosh, I can't decide, I'm too open-minded. Chocolate versus vanilla? Damn, I don't know, I just have such an open mind! So, basically, it's perfectly consistent to say, "Yes, I have an open mind," and yet still to assert, "But, I've made a decision about this and it will require a considerable amount of evidence to change my mind".

Third, her whole "isn't it possible that" logic works just as well either way. For example:

Drek: So you're a seeker of truth?

Crazy Lady: Yes.

Drek: And you have an open mind, don't you?

Crazy Lady: Oh, yes.

Drek: Okay. Well, on this paper, why don't you draw a regular polygon that represents all human knowledge.

Crazy Lady: ...?

Drek: *sigh* A circle will be fine.

Crazy Lady: *draws circle*

Drek: Now, why don't you color in the portion of the circle that you, personally, understand.

Crazy Lady: *Shades a speck.*

Drek: Now, you think that god is in the shaded area, right?

Crazy Lady: Oh, I know he is!

Drek: Right, right. But, is it possible that you just think he is, but that really, there's something outside the circle that's making it seem that way?

Crazy Lady: Oh, no, I've felt god!

Drek: Oh, really? But I thought you had an open mind?

Crazy Lady: I do!

Drek: But you're not even willing to consider the possibility that what you think feels like god might be something else? A speck of mustard, perhaps?

Crazy Lady: You're going to hell. You know that, right?

Drek: It's come up before.

Fourth, why does the circle just contain all human knowledge? Why not all things that are known and ever can be known? Because it seems to me that the stronger case can be made by suggesting the staggering amount that we as humans have yet to understand, rather than playing up all the stuff we already do. But, hey, if I thought all wisdom came from one single book, I guess I might be afraid of the unknown too.

Fifth, it's interesting to me that using her admittedly half-assed logic she gets as far as "so you're really an agnostic, then" and is then unable to come up with any compelling way to get us from agnostic to theist. Sure, she has that whole, "shouldn't you find out why other people believe" thing, but that presupposes the atheist doesn't know already. Likewise, that's not an argument in favor of belief, it's an argument in favor of social science.

Last, and most critically, however, note how what should be a serious and heartfelt discussion with someone is reduced to a series of talking points. Because, really, when trying to discuss deeply important issues of personal philosophy, your strategy really should be something that reduces to "insert tab A into slot B".

People have occasionally claimed that as an atheist, I don't take arguments in favor of religion seriously. Me, I think I take them at least as seriously as the theists do.

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OpenID sassafrasjunction said...

You, good sir, are being used in class tomorrow. Circle-drawing for all! BWAHAHAHHA!

Wednesday, November 10, 2010 5:14:00 PM
Anonymous Timo said...

Of course by that logic she should concede that anything is just as likely to exist outside her circle of knowledge. Allah, Zeus, Pixies, Vampires, Fairies and Talking Gnomes are all equally likely to exist as her God. After all she is open-minded about it, right?

Friday, November 12, 2010 4:06:00 PM
Blogger Marf said...

Is it possible that outside of your knowledge there exists a square circle?

No? Why not? Because it is a contradiction of terms. I do not need to have absolute knowledge of the universe to say some things do not exist.

That's how I'd respond to the crazy lady. I'm sure I'd have a hard time convincing her that every description of God I've ever heard contradicts itself. But at that point she's no longer worth my time and I'll just smile and wish her a good day.

Friday, November 26, 2010 3:30:00 PM

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Saturday, July 21, 2012

Tutorial - How to Make a Quilted Tote

Versatile Tote for many uses

Quilted Tote Tutorial at Pieced Brain Blog

"I needed a quick project to work on this weekend, and turned it into a tutorial - be prepared as I am posting many pictures to help you. This one is quick, and the possibilities for embellishment are endless. In my case, since I chose a busy pattern, I did not add any other decorations.  Using free-motion quilting, I outlined the flowers and used stippling on the brown background, but you can just as easily use straight lines".... Read more

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Thursday, April 16, 2009

Big win for Quebecor! Multi Year Contract with CVS

CVS is one of the strong players in retail pharmacy. Baby boomers will need lots of pharmacy. CVS has 6,900 retail locations. I wonder who is doing Rite Aid?

A retail pharmacy is a VAR. They combine various products from OPM and present the right stuff in the right form at the right time to the right people.

Printing is a OPM that supplies stuff to VARs to make it easier, faster, cheaper for a VAR to make money. On Wall Street that goes into the business service bin.

A user network economy has three elements, OEM, OPM and VARs.
"Quebecor World's unmatched coast-to-coast network and dual process capabilities allow for flexible and market responsive solutions for CVS Caremark and other leading retail marketers' insert programs . ."
In the jargon of communication ecology, it would be
Quebecor is articulating their OPM printernet to better integrate with the CVS VAR network.
Quebecor, when they emerge from the cleansing bankruptcy process, is going to be a very efficient OPM. Given the continuing explosion of VARs I'm willing to bet they will do just fine. Besides, how wrong can I go when it's .08 a share? If CVS signed the deal, I figure the chances of them going out of business is very small. And the only way to go from .08/share is up.

Added after original post:
Oops! Just read
Montréal, Canada – Quebecor World Inc. today announces that it has received a written request from the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) that trading in all of Quebecor World's outstanding classes and series of securities currently listed on the TSX be suspended.
Thank you, WTT. I guess I'll just have to wait until they finish the bankruptcy thing.
Quebecor World Awarded Multi-Year Extension by CVS Caremark
"Montreal, Canada – Quebecor World Inc. announced today a multi-year extension of its relationship with CVS Caremark Corporation. CVS Caremark is the world's largest provider of prescription medication offerings and the leading retail pharmacy with over 6,900 stores nationwide. This extension assures Quebecor World will continue to produce 100% of the CVS retail insert program as well as incremental volume from CVS Caremark's recent acquisition of Long's Drug Stores."

Meanwhile on March 3, there is this press release:
Montréal, Canada – Quebecor World Inc. has further expanded its co-mail offering with the addition of two new 30-pocket machines in the recently opened Somerset, New Jersey consolidation facility. This new capacity allows more publishers and catalogers to take advantage of the benefits of co-mail. This additional co-mail capacity comes on line several months before the USPS price increase giving our customers an opportunity to mitigate the impact of the additional postage costs during these challenging economic times.

1 comment:

  1. over managed by a bunch of under achiever non qualified managers.there is so many managers sucking the profits off the workers backs.p.s fuck you ron lockey/lockout.Brad Taylor


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Interlude: Toy Stores

I was 14 years old before I ever set foot into a Toys R Us. Before then, the closest I ever came was passing the multi-colored sign on the expressway on the way to Kennedy Airport.

Now, that's not to say I was never taken to a toy store. There were a few mom and pop independent toy stores in Queens back in the 1980's that I distinctly remember going to during the holiday season, or during the summer for bicycle purposes. But nothing in the scale of a Toys R Us.

Geoffrey used to lure me with his siren song on Saturday mornings, with the promise of staying young forever if only I would be a Toys R Us kid. I so wanted to be one.

The other children on my block would tell the fantastical tales of venturing into the den of all that was holy to a child. Toys stacked from floor to ceiling! Every toy imaginable was there, even stuff that was never advertised on TV. This sort of place could not really exist, could it?

But it had to. I had first hand eye witness accounts. I myself had seen the very building that housed this wonderful place from the dirty backseat window of my dad's Ford Maverick.

At times, I would ask to go there, just to see it with my own eyes, however the answer was always no. There was no reason to go there according to my parents.

Alexander's had a small toy section, and we could go *there* if I wanted, since that would allow my mom to buy my dad some pants. Or I could go with my dad to Tru Value and look at their toys while he bought a hammer or something. Maybe if I was lucky, we could go to Odd Lots, home of the Isle of Misfit toys, where not only I could look,  I might be able to go home with something... if there was money left over after my mom bought me my school supplies.

There was never a reason to go to Toys R Us.

I still never grew up, despite I never being a Toys R Us Kid.

Cabbage Patch fear

Like every child in 1980's, I had a Cabbage Patch Kid, courtesy of my Uncle Joe.

The interesting thing about this fact is, I never really wanted one. Sure, it seemed like every girl in America wanted, needed, and had one or two... But I never really cared much for them.

I didn't like playing house. I never enjoyed playing "mommy & baby." I preferred action figures, or even dolls that you could project unto, like Barbie or Strawberry Shortcake. Baby dolls did nothing for me.

However, I did enjoy having Cabbage Patch Kid as a playground status symbol. Owning one made you fit in, and I wanted to fit in with the girls in my class so desperately. So I played with it in public. At home, it just sat on my vanity and stared at me.

It was a little disconcerting, to say the least. However, it went from weird to downright horrifying not soon after.

Now, something you must know about my mother, she loved reading trashy tabloids. The weirder the headline, the better. So it was not unusual to find the latest copy of the National Enquirer or Weekly World News in our shopping cart at the local Key Food.

On one such trip, I found myself at the checkout with my mother as she glanced over the latest "Newspapers." A blurb on the cover of the National Enquirer mentioned a Cabbage Patch Kids collector. I found that interesting and picked it up to check out the article while we waited.

I wish I hadn't.

The article went on to describe an obviously looney woman who could not have kids of her own, who had taken to "adopting" a slew of Cabbage Patch Kids and turning a room in her house into a nursery for them. She went so far as to purchase a baby monitor and schedule "feedings." She insisted they weren't really dolls, but real children that pretended to be dolls when people were in the room, but she could hear them laugh and play through the baby monitor.

That's about as far as I got before we had to leave, so I put the rag back on the shelf, but my 8 year old brain kept churning that information. When you don't watch them they come to life!

Later that day I sat in my room watching my little 13" black and white TV, avoiding eye contact with the doll. It seemed like every time I'd turn my head, I would swear the thing moved. Any tiny noise was blamed on THAT doll, as I began to call it in my head. I would lower the volume on my TV and strain my ears and swear I could hear it breathe!

That night as I lay in my bed, I was overcome. I couldn't sleep. If I slept THAT doll would come to life and kill me. I was certain.

So I got up and did the only thing I could thing of to do. I grabbed the doll and snuck into my parent's bedroom and stuck the doll in my baby sister's crib.

My rationale? If it wanted to taste blood, it could start with my sister. That would give me a head-start.

I never told my parents that, though.

In the morning when they found the coveted Cabbage Patch Kid in my sister's drooling mitts, I said I was giving it to her as a gift. My parents thought I was being a generous and loving big sister. I smiled and accepted the praise when in reality, I was nothing more than a coward, afraid of a doll, willing to sacrifice my sister to save my own hide.

And the funny thing is, I'm still creeped out by Cabbage Patch Kids, to this very day.


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Massood's Last Day

First suspicion, then the flames as legendary anti-Taliban leader dead within minutes

September 9, 2002

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) _ The night before he died, the legendary Afghan commander Ahmed Shah Massood stayed up until 4 a.m. talking politics and poetry _ and of how he planned to outwit an impending Taliban offensive.

Eight hours later, Massood was dead, fatally injured by suicide bombers believed sent by Osama bin Laden. Three months later, his troops were masters of the land _ thanks to the United States.

On Monday, an Afghanistan controlled by Massood's lieutenants commemorated the anniversary of his assassination on Sept. 9, 2001 _ just two days before the devastating attacks that brought America into the Afghan war.

Amid heavy security, several thousand people gathered at a mosque in northern Afghanistan's biggest city to mark the anniversary. Admirers in Mazar-e-Sharif carried portraits of the bearded fighter and wore T-shirts bearing his image. They praised him for fighting both the Soviet Red Army and the Taliban.

"We'll never forget the black day that he died. It's written in the history of Afghanistan," said Zaher Wahdat, an ethnic Hazara leader.

Only a few people were with Massood when two Arabs in casual Western clothes prepared to interview him at his headquarters in the northern town of Khodja Bahauddin that day.

One of those trusted aides was Massood Khalili, a close friend who served as a political adviser for two decades. Khalili, interviewed by The Associated Press on Sunday, said Massood had agreed to be interviewed by the Arabs _ both of North African origin and traveling with false Belgian passports.

Massood apologized for delaying them for several days, Khalili recalled. The northern alliance commander had been preoccupied with pondering how to block an expected attack by the Taliban and their al-Qaida allies.

"The whole night we were up talking until four o'clock," Khalili said of Massood's last night.

"First about military things _ he was talking about the offensive. He was showing me on a map how they wanted to encircle us. Then we talked about political things, then we talked poetry."

As the Arabs were preparing for the interview, Massood asked them about life in the 90 percent of the country under Taliban control. They told him that Afghans in Taliban areas "think you're not a good Muslim, that you are helped by infidels," Khalili recalled.

Taken aback, Khalili asked the pair whom they worked for.

One of them responded: "We are not journalists. We belong to Islamic centers based in Paris and London, Islamic centers all over the world.'" Khalili said. Khalili leaned over and whispered into Massood's ear.

"I told the commander very slowly and softly, 'They belong to the other side.' I thought they were very close to the Taliban. They were against us. But the commander said, 'Let them ask their questions. Maybe they want to know more about Afghanistan.'"

The Arab cameraman was eager to begin and started to ready his camera. But Massood stopped him, asking what questions they planned to ask. Khalili translated 15 questions _ half concerned bin Laden.

Massood seemed annoyed but said nothing, simply lowering his chin toward his chest as he always did when something was bothering him, Khalili said. Massood then signaled for the interview to begin.

The curly haired cameraman immediately moved a coffee table out of the way to move his tripod closer. Khalili joked that the Arab seemed more like a wrestler than a cameraman. The camera was black and large, with an oversized lens.

"He put the camera down on the tripod, then took a few steps back," Khalili recalled. "I will always remember when I looked at him and said, 'Ready?' ... He had this really nasty smile."

The interviewer, sitting just inches from Massood, asked his first question: "What is the situation in Afghanistan?"

Khalili leaned toward Massood to translate. He had uttered only one word when the bomb _ possibly hidden inside the camera _ exploded.

"I saw this thick blue fire rushing toward us. I thought maybe a rocket had been fired from outside. And then I realized. I pinpointed this man, that man. It clicked. And I felt the commander's very weak hand on my chest."

Khalili saw body parts all over the room. The interviewer himself was blown in two. The cameraman survived the blast but was shot to death by Massood's bodyguards. Khalili said.

Massood died 10 to 15 minutes after the attack, Khalili said. However, the northern alliance, fearing that Massood's death would spell the end of their resistance, claimed he was alive until a successor, current Defense Minister Mohammed Fahim, could be chosen. The alliance announced Massood died late on the morning of Sept. 15.

"I remember my last glance (at Massood)," said Khalili, who was blinded in one eye and is still recovering from his painful injuries. "His hair was different. There was blood I think. His eyes were closed."

As word of the bombing spread, Khalili said 10,000 to 15,000 Taliban fighters backed by Pakistani and Arab volunteers, launched the attack that Massood had expected.

"It would have been difficult to resist for very long without Commander Massood," he said. "Maybe we would have lasted a month or two."

In less than a month, however, American warplanes were flying over Afghanistan, pulverizing Taliban and al-Qaida positions. U.S. and allied ground forces entered the country in pursuit of bin Laden and his followers.

Massood's enemies crumbled, and the northern alliance rolled into Kabul and other cities.

Copyright 2002 By The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.