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Free Iced Coffee Day @ Dunkin Donuts

You wouldn’t know it from the weather outside, but technically today is the first day of spring.  To celebrate, Dunkin Donuts is giving away free 16oz cups of iced coffee, all day long (Weds. 3/21).  Unlike the McDonalds & Starbucks giveaways, this one I’ll actually wait in line for, because Dunkin Donuts iced coffee kicks ass (9 years in Boston gets you addicted to this stuff).  Check out this map of Midtown Locations…         [From Slashfood]

  • It’s sort of a mystery to me how some people insist that Dunkin Donuts’s coffee is so good. The only time I’ve had it is when I’ve been out in the boonies and nothing else was available, but I remember it being similar to McDonald’s coffee–I’ll just say it’s not my favorite. But though everyone has their own opinion on coffee, we can all agree that free stuff is good, right?

  • I’m totally with you, hashashin. Free = good. DD coffee = not so good. I used to do a reverse commute from Cambridge to Waltham, Mass every damn day and I suddenly found myself lining up in the mornings for a DD coffee fix. I’m ashamed to admit it. I tried to tell myself that it was the most convenient pit stop for coffee along my morning route but it was a lie. Can’t tell you what it was about their coffee but the prospect of having one actually got me going in the mornings. I’ll go shoot myself now…

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text:
Monday, May 02, 2005

My Saturday night was spent at the lovely home of Sheila Callaghan, seen here creating her soon to be patented "Bowl Of Mojitos":

It was a lovely evening, with some fantastic games and so much laughter that my sides hurt all Sunday. I'm also indebted to Deron for taking this picture, as I still haven't recovered by jacket, my camera or my dignity from that evening.


text:
The history and cultural life of inner city Melbourne is a continuing source of inspiration for Milieu. 109 Dight Street has a special resonance for us being a nearby neighbour of our Otter Street office in an area that offers daily interest and delight.

Dight is our fifth project in Collingwood, the third in the precinct south of Johnston and east of Wellington streets. One of the joys of working in our local area has been getting to know the textures and history of a once overlooked pocket of Melbourne, now quietly developing momentum as an inspiring place to live, work and enjoy life.

United by a common sense of discovery and innovation, Dight will be Milieu's second collaboration with Fieldwork, an innovative local architecture practice with a thoughtful approach to residential design. Our brief was to create 12 progressive apartments with a design underpinned by a considered response to inner city living, enriched by the influence of Japanese design principles.

Click here for information about upcoming projects.

Construction - Dec 17

Sales & Marketing — Aug 16

Sales & Marketing — Aug 16
Quino Holland, Fieldwork Architects (3mb)

Sales & Marketing — Aug 16

Sales & Marketing — Aug 16
Local Knowledge
Tristian Koenig, Tristian Koenig Gallery (2.9mb)

Please contact us for information
about upcoming projects

Register Here

Sales Enquiries

For all sales enquiries please contact:

Patrick Cooney
Phone: 0408 527 248

Please register to view


text:
Mother’s Day reflection

Kate Ball, Mother and Peace Negotiator Happy Mother’s Day to you all. To all the Dads walking round my local area this morning (with grumpy children dragged from their position in front of the TV to be out the house to give mums a break) you are wonderful. To the soft play that provided every […]

Managing on your own?

So my lovely husband is away on Tour, and will be for the next few weeks. I announced on day 1 morning 1 at pre-school that the team effort in the morning was over rated and “I could do this” Since then it’s gone steadily downhill. I’ve crashed the car (into a bollard that jumped […]


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Go To MetroGuide.NetworkMetroGuide.Community Home Page
Minneapolis - List of Hotels

List of Minneapolis - St. Paul Airport Hotels

Said By Readers...

“Request”Non-Member, Reader - “I stayed one night on May 31 at the Embassy Suites Airport, Bloomington MN Hote
Said about: Embassy Suites Hotel Minneapolis Airport

“Great Hotel”Private Member, Eagan - “This was an outstanding hotel - the lovely atrium has an amazing selection o
Said about: Embassy Suites Hotel Minneapolis Airport

Posted By Hotels...

“Consider Us Home! We Know What You Need.”“Extended-stay travelers play by different rules and need a hotel that understan
Posted by: Candlewood Suites

Welcome to HotelGuide.Network's Minneapolis - St. Paul Airport hotel list with links to authentic reader reviews. When available, a hotel's overall score is shown with smiley faces on a scale from one to five.

Below is a list of 12 Minneapolis - St. Paul Airport hotels. Click on the hotel's name to view a HotelGuide profile of the property. To return to the HotelGuide Minneapolis home page, where you can search for other profiles of hotels located in a different area, click on the "Minneapolis Hotels" link in the breadcrumbs at the top or bottom of the page.

You can earn rewards points for writing hotel reviews by joining the MetroGuide.Community. To become a member, click here.

AmericInn15000 Glazier Ave. · Minneapolis
612-431-3800 · 63 Rooms
Candlewood Suites351 W. 77th St. · Richfield
Courtyard by Marriott Twin Cities1352 Northland Dr. · Minneapolis
612-452-2000 · 146 Rooms · 12 Suites
Fairfield Inn by Marriott Minneapolis2401 E. 80th St. · Minneapolis
612-858-8475 · 134 Rooms
Motel 6 Minneapolis Airport Mall of America7640 Cedar Ave. S. · Richfield
Richfield Inn7745 Lyndale Ave. S. · Richfield
612-861-1000 · 146 Rooms
The Decathlon Hotel1700 E. 79th St. · Minneapolis
AmericInn Airport1200 E. 78th St. · Minneapolis
612-869-8600 · 56 Rooms
Comfort Inn Minneapolis Airport1321 E. 78th St. · Minneapolis
612-854-3400 · 281 Rooms
Embassy Suites Hotel Minneapolis AirportReader rating: 3.0 out of 5
7901 34th Ave. S. · Bloomington
952-854-1000 · 310 Suites
Hampton Inn and Suites Minneapolis St. Paul AirportReader rating: 3.0 out of 5
2860 Metro Dr. · Bloomington
952-854-7600 · 146 Rooms
Residence Inn by Marriott Minneapolis7850 Bloomington Ave. S. · Minneapolis
952-876-0900 · 128 Suites

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Boston Massacre An Anonymous Account Essay Research

Boston Massacre- An Anonymous Account Essay, Research Paper

It may be a proper introduction to this narrative, briefly to represent the state of things for some time previous to the said

Massacre; and this seems necessary in order to the forming a just idea of the causes of it.

At the end of the late [French and Indian] war, in which this province bore so distinguished a part, a happy union subsisted

between Great Britain and the colonies. This was unfortunately interrupted by the Stamp Act; but it was in some measure

restored by the repeal of it. It was again interrupted by other acts of parliament for taxing America; and by the appointment of

a Board of Commissioners, in pursuance of an act, which by the face of it was made for the relief and encouragement of

commerce, but which in its operation, it was apprehended, would have, and it has in fact had, a contrary effect. By the said

act the said Commissioners were “to be resident in some convenient part of his Majesty’s dominions in America.” This must

be understood to be in some part convenient for the whole. But it does not appear that, in fixing the place of their residence,

the convenience of the whole was at all consulted, for Boston, being very far from the centre of the colonies, could not be the

place most convenient for the whole. Judging by the act, it may seem this town was intended to be favored, by the

Commissioners being appointed to reside here; and that the consequence of that residence would be the relief and

encouragement of commerce; but the reverse has been the constant and uniform effect of it; so that the commerce of the town,

from the embarrassments in which it has been lately involved, is greatly reduced.

The residence of the Commissioners here has been detrimental, not only to the commerce, but to the political interests of the

town and province; and not only so, but we can trace from it the causes of the late horrid massacre. Soon after their arrival

here in November, 1767, instead of confining themselves to the proper business of their office, they became partizans of

Governor Bernard in his political schemes; and had the weakness and temerity to infringe upon one of the most essential

rights of the house of commons of this province-that of giving their votes with freedom, and not being accountable therefor

but to their constituents. One of the members of that house, Capt. Timothy Folgier, having voted in some affair contrary to

the mind of the said Commissioners, was for so doing dismissed from the office he held under them.

These proceedings of theirs, the difficulty of access to them on office-business, and a supercilious behavior, rendered them

disgustful to people in general, who in consequence thereof treated them with neglect. This probably stimulated them to

resent it; and to make their resentment felt, they and their coadjutor, Governor Bernard, made such representations to his

Majesty’s ministers as they thought best calculated to bring the displeasure of the nation upon the town and province; and in

order that those representations might have the more weight, they are said to have contrived and executed plans for exciting

disturbances and tumults, which otherwise would probably never have existed; and, when excited, to have transmitted to the

ministry the most exaggerated accounts of them.

Unfortunately for us, they have been too successful in their said representations, which, in conjunction with Governor

Bernard’s, have occasioned his Majesty’s faithful subjects of this town and province to be treated as enemies and rebels, by

an invasion of the town by sea and land; to which the approaches were made with all the circumspection usual where a

vigorous opposition is expected. While the town was surrounded by a considerable number of his Majesty’s ships of war,

two regiments landed and took possession of it; and to support these, two other regiments arrived some time after from

Ireland; one of which landed at Castle Island, and the other in the town.

Thus were we, in aggravation of our other embarrassments, embarrassed with troops, forced upon us contrary to our

inclination-contrary to the spirit of Magna Charta-contrary to the very letter of the Bill of Rights, in which it is declared, that

the raising or keeping a standing army within the kingdom in time of peace, unless it be with the consent of parliament, is

against law, and without the desire of the civil magistrates, to aid whom was the pretence for sending the troops hither; who

were quartered in the town in direct violation of an act of parliament for quartering troops in America; and all this in

consequence of the representations of the said Commissioners and the said Governor, as appears by their memorials and

letters lately published.

As they were the procuring cause of troops being sent hither, they must therefore be the remote and a blameable cause of all

the disturbances and bloodshed that have taken place in consequence of that measure.

We shall next attend to the conduct of the troops, and to some circumstances relative to them. Governor Bernard without

consulting the Council, having given up the State House to the troops at their landing, they took possession of the chambers,

where the representatives of the province and the courts of law held their meetings; and (except the council-chamber) of all

other parts of that house; in which they continued a considerable time, to the great annoyance of those courts while they sat,

and of the merchants and gentlemen of the town, who had always made the lower floor of it their exchange. They [the

merchants] had a right so to do, as the property of it was in the town; but they were deprived of that right by mere power.

The said Governor soon after, by every stratagem and by every method but a forcibly entry, endeavored to get possession of

the manufactory-house, to make a barrack of it for the troops; and for that purpose caused it to be besieged by the troops, and

the people in it to be used very cruelly;

The General Court, at the first session after the arrival of the troops, viewed it in this light, and applied to Governor Bernard

to cause such a nuisance to be removed; but to no purpose.

the challenging the inhabitants by sentinels posted in all parts of the town before the lodgings of officers, which (for about

six months, while it lasted), occasioned many quarrels and uneasiness.

Capt. Wilson, of the 59th, exciting the negroes of the town to take away their masters’ lives and property, and repair to the

army for protection, which was fully proved against him. The attack of a party of soldiers on some of the magistrates of the

town-the repeated rescues of soldiers from peace officers-the firing of a loaded musket in a public street, to the endangering a

great number of peaceable inhabitants-the frequent wounding of persons by their bayonets and cutlasses, and the numerous

instances of bad behavior in the soldiery, made us early sensible that the troops were not sent here for any benefit to the town

or province, and that we had no good to expect from such conservators of the peace.

It was not expected, however, that such an outrage and massacre, as happened here on the evening of the fifth instant, would

have been perpetrated. There were then killed and wounded, by a discharge of musketry, eleven of his Majesty’s subjects,

Mr. Samuel Gray, killed on the spot by a ball entering his head.

Crispus Attucks, a mulatto, killed on the spot, two balls entering his breast.

Mr. James Caldwell, killed on the spot, by two balls entering his back.

Mr. Samuel Maverick, a youth of seventeen years of age, mortally wounded; he died the next morning.

Mr. Patrick Carr mortally wounded; he died the 14th instant.

Christopher Monk and John Clark, youths about seventeen years of age, dangerously wounded. It is apprehended

they will die.

Mr. Edward Payne, merchant, standing at his door; wounded.

Messrs. John Green, Robert Patterson, and David Parker; all danger- ously wounded.

The actors in this dreadful tragedy were a party of soldiers commanded by Capt. Preston of the 29th regiment. This party,

including the Captain, consisted of eight, who are all committed to jail.

There are depositions in this affair which mention, that several guns were fired at the same time from the Custom-house;

before which this shocking scene was exhibited. Into this matter inquisition is now making. In the meantime it may be proper

to insert here the substance of some of those depositions.

Benjamin Frizell, on the evening of the 5th of March, having taken his station near the west corner of the Custom-house in

King street, before and at the time of the soldiers firing their guns, declares (among other things) that the first discharge was

only of one gun, the next of two guns, upon which he the deponent thinks he saw a man stumble; the third discharge was of

three guns, upon which he thinks he saw two men fall; and immediately after were discharged five guns, two of which were

by soldiers on his right hand; the other three, as appeared to the deponent, were discharged from the balcony, or the chamber

window of the Custom-house, the flashes appearing on the left hand, and higher than the right hand flashes appeared to be,

and of which the deponent was very sensible, although his eyes were much turned to the soldiers, who were all on his right

What gave occasion to the melancholy event of that evening seems to have been this. A difference having happened near Mr.

Grays ropewalk, between a soldier and a man belonging to it, the soldier challenged the ropemakers to a boxing match. The

challenge was accepted by one of them, and the soldier worsted. He ran to the barrack in the neighborhood, and returned

with several of his companions. The fray was renewed, and the soldiers were driven off. They soon returned with recruits

and were again worsted. This happened several times, till at length a considerable body of soldiers was collected, and they

also were driven off, the ropemakers having been joined by their brethren of the contiguous ropewalks. By this time Mr.

Gray being alarmed interposed, and with the assistance of some gentlemen prevented any further disturbance. To satisfy the

soldiers and punish the man who had been the occasion of the first difference, and as an example to the rest, he turned him

out of his service; and waited on Col. Dalrymple, the commanding officer of the troops, and with him concerted measures for

preventing further mischief. Though this affair ended thus, it made a strong impression on the minds of the soldiers in

general, who thought the honor of the regiment concerned to revenge those repeated repulses. For this purpose they seem to

have formed a combination to commit some outrage upon the inhabitants of the town indiscriminately; and this was to be

done on the evening of the 5th instant or soon after; as appears by the depositions of the following persons, viz.:

William Newhall declares, that on Thursday night the 1st of March instant, he met four soldiers of the 29th regiment, and that

he heard them say, “there were a great many that would eat their dinners on Monday next, that should not eat any on

Daniel Calfe declares, that on Saturday evening the 3d of March, a camp-woman, wife to James McDeed, a grenadier of the

29th, came into his father’s shop, and the people talking about the affrays at the ropewalks, and blaming the soldiers for the

part they had acted in it, the woman said, “the soldiers were in the right;” adding, “that before Tuesday or Wednesday night

they would wet their swords or bayonets in New England people’s blood.”

Samuel Drowne declares that, about nine o’clock of the evening of the fifth of March current, standing at his own door in

Cornhill, he saw about fourteen or fifteen soldiers of the 29th regiment, who came from Murray’s barracks, armed with

naked cutlasses, swords, &c., and came upon the inhabitants of the town, then standing or walking in Coruhffl, and abused

some, and violently assaulted others as they met them; most of whom were without so much as a stick in their hand to defend

themselves, as he very clearly could discern, it being moonlight, and himself being one of the assaulted persons. All or most

of the said soldiers he saw go into King street (some of them through Royal Exchange lane), and there followed them, and

soon discovered them to be quarrelling and fighting with the people whom they saw there, which he thinks were not more

than a dozen, when the soldiers came first, armed as aforesaid. Of those dozen people, the most of them were gentlemen,

standing together a little below the Town House, upon the Exchange. At the appearance of those soldiers so armed, the most

of the twelve persons went off, some of them being first assaulted.

The violent proceedings of this party, and their going into King street, “quarrelling and fighting with the people whom they

saw there” (mentioned in Mr. Drowne’s deposition), was immediately introductory to the grand catastrophe.

These assailants, who issued from Murray’s barracks (so called), after attacking and wounding divers persons in Cornhill, as

abovementioned, being armed, proceeded (most of them) up the Royal Exchange lane into King street; where, making a short

stop, and after assaulting and driving away the few they met there, they brandished their arms and cried out, “where are the

boogers! where are the cowards!” At this time there were very few persons in the street beside themselves. This party in

proceeding from Exchange lane into King street, must pass the sentry posted at the westerly corner of the Custom House,

which butts on that lane and fronts on that street. This is needful to be mentioned, as near that spot and in that street the

bloody tragedy was acted, and the street actors in it were stationed: their station being but a few feet from the front side of the

said Custom House. The outrageous behavior and the threats of the said party occasioned the ringing of the meeting-house

bell near the head of King street, which bell ringing quick, as for fire, it presently brought out a number of inhabitants, who

being soon sensible of the occasion of it, were naturally led to King street, where the said party had made a stop but a little

while before, and where their stopping had drawn together a number of boys, round the sentry at the Custom House.

whether the boys mistook the sentry for one of the said party, and thence took occasion to differ with him, or whether he first

affronted them, which is affirmed in several depositions,-however that may be, there was much foul language between them,

and some of them, in consequence of his pushing at them with his bayonet, threw snowballs at him, which occasioned him

to knock hastily at the door of the Custom House. From hence two persons thereupon proceeded immediately to the

main-guard, which was posted opposite to the State House, at a small distance, near the head of the said street. The officer

on guard was Capt. Preston, who with seven or eight soldiers, with fire-arms and charged bayonets, issued from the

guardhouse, and in great haste posted himself and his soldiers in front of the Custom House, near the corner aforesaid. In

passing to this station the soldiers pushed several persons with their bayonets, driving through the people in so rough a

manner that it appeared they intended to create a disturbance. This occasioned some snowballs to be thrown at them which

seems to have been the only provocation that was given. Mr. Knox (between whom and Capt. Preston there was some

conversation on the spot) declares, that while he was talking with Capt. Preston, the soldiers of his detachment had attacked

the people with their bayonets and that there was not the least provocation given to Capt. Preston of his party; the backs of

the people being toward them when the people were attacked. He also declares, that Capt. Preston seemed to be in great haste

and much agitated, and that, according to his opinion, there were not then present in King street above seventy or eighty

persons at the extent.

The said party was formed into a half circle; and within a short time after they had been posted at the Custom House, began

to fire upon the people.

Captain Preston is said to have ordered them to fire, and to have repeated that order. One gun was fired first; then others in

succession and with deliberation, till ten or a dozen guns were fired; or till that number of discharges were made from the

guns that were fired. By which means eleven persons were killed and wounded, as above represented.

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text:
Monday, August 17, 2009

Welcome to my blog, where I rant and occasionally rave about
various beauty and skin care products.
I have a mad obsession, join me, despise me, criticize me.... it's
all the same.

1 comment:

  1. Hi,

    Im Jacinta from the marketing team of Nature Republic (Singapore). I chanced upon your blog and saw many informative reviews you did for various brands of beauty products. I am keen to send you some of our samples to try and i would like to check with you if you are interested?

    Please do drop me an email at:

    thank you and i hope to hear from you soon..


text:
Friday, December 4, 2009

Tony Moly Man cream
Price: 13500won ($13.50)

This is a review of something you won’t see often here, or a Men’s moisturizer. Me not being a guy, and not particularly like ‘guy’ scents, Men focused products don’t interest me.
But my boyfriend was with me at Tony Moly, and I’ve been trying to convince him to do basic skin care. Ie. Wash with a cleanser, moisturizer and use sunscreen.
He’s not a Metrosexual sort of guy in the least. So it’s a bit of a stretch.
But who wants to look old before there time?
I’m not pushing though (trying to change people is self delusional), just showing him options.
And here in Korea there are tons of men skin care lines. So for a guy, it’s not as scary as it might be at home.

We picked up the Tony Moly moisturizer. They have a few different lines. But this was one of the higher priced ones.
I personally think he picked it because the bottle is nice.
It’s heavy glass. So if you were going to order it for a male friend, I would not recommend it!
There is no included dispenser. This drives me nuts, since its very difficult to get creams out of glass bottles!
The first thing I noticed about the product was the scent. It’s strong.
In fact my boyfriend said it was way too strong the first time he actually applied it all over his face.
But, since it’s been open for a bit now, the smell has really diminished, and its now much subtler.

The texture is very light. It absorbs really quickly, and it does moisturize well.

Stars  3/5
Re purchase  -  No. There are cheaper alternatives in more convenient bottles,  and the moisturizer isn’t amazing enough to compensate.

No comments:

Post a Comment


text:
Trinidad James – ‘Let’s Roll’ ft. Gucci Mane

Share This:

Trinidad James lets go of ‘Let’s Roll’ featuring Gucci.

Dedicated to one of my favorite artist of all time. We miss ya artistry and work ethic. If you cant see past a mans flaws you can never share his blessings. #FreeGucci

Listen below.

Will Gucci ever get out?


text:
NYE With Miss Tara

New Year Eve With Miss Tara
As the new year celebration kicked in, many people revelled and enjoyed themselves in various ways – parties, events and festivals all took place across the world in various formats and in India, after the fantastic Goa India Sunburn Festival that helped to mark the end of what was a magnificent year for many. Miss Tara performed a big show at SINQ Beach Club Held on December 31th, many great acts took part in this event to ensure that 2015 could end in the most fantastic manner possible and one of the main guests, though, was pristine and well-loved DJ Miss Tara.
Putting on one of her usual fantastic performances, Miss Tara made sure that this night was marked with the appropriate response. With so much work to be done in the year ahead, Miss Tara made it easy for people to have a night of true fun – Her performance went down as one of her finest in recent years! The quality of the music as much as anything else ensured that the entire atmosphere of the event was exciting to be around and intense.
Playing several tracks from her new double album, due for release in 2016, the crowd were treated to something fresh and exciting which changed the tone and the style of the whole event. Her new tunes are certainly going down well as people from all across the world catch up to the classy sounds and the stunning performances that Tara has put on.

She played one of her newest hits, Tara Rum Pum, which features the brilliant India superstar Sonu Nigam. This fine blend and mixture of styles and personalities combined together to make a truly memorable night that would be unforgettable!
Miss Tara introduction, though, was equally spectacular. With a unique introduction onto the stage using 3D animations that looks wonderful, the entire party atmosphere of the event was blown away by her enigmatic sounds and her unique, charismatic charm. The quality of the performance that she put forward was truly worth watching, creating a unique and exciting brand of music that would be hard to forget about!
A stylish and unique personality, there certainly aren’t too many DJs around with the style of Miss Tara! Her performance was a great way to sign off on 2015, with 2016 promising even more amazing nights spent with amazing music, great people, and unique opportunities…
Role on 2016!


text:
Friday, July 31, 2015

Am I crazy??
Mollie and I are really looking forward to this.

 I am sitting here with a bright red face and the ends of my hair are dripping , not to mention the sweat.
One hour, spent mostly in the shade doing a little watering
was all it took.

We are in our third day of  low 90's!!!
The dew points are up there as rain
Several years ago it was 104 !!
I thought a little snow might make me feel cooler.
Thank goodness for air conditioning.
I grew up without it...we dealt with it back then.
We didn't know any better.

Mollie would prefer a little white stuff as well..

"One more month of summer, Mollie."
Have a "cool" weekend....Happy August

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Behind my house is a thicket of Forsythia.
Somehow it missed getting whacked so far this year.

Early in the morning or at dusk
there been a lot of baby bunny activity.

These pictures are of three of them..
The last several days I have only seen one at a time.
I've seen a cat nosing around and then
there's the Hawk !!
I don't know how anything makes it around here...It's tough.

The grass was just mowed yesterday
so you can see how little they are.

Linking with Eileen and Saturdays Critters

Monday, July 27, 2015

We have had some pretty severe summer storms lately.
They didn't last long ..
maybe an inch and a half of rain in an hour.
I have one tree that doesn't hold up well to these.

When it is bare,
one can see several broken branches hanging here and there.

My daises are a bit battered as well.

I may be wishing for these storms soon...
No rain, temps in the 90's and Hi humidity are in our future.

Of course the rains bring out the worms...

Have you ever seen a Woodpecker at a bird feeder?

Have a pleasant week..

 Linking with Stewart at

Friday, July 24, 2015

 But what a strange place to nap..
He was just outside my front door.

Oops..I think I disturbed him but he didn't fly away.
I wonder if he has recently left the nest?
Do you suppose he sees  himself in the one way glass ?

He's more than welcome whatever the reason.

 It's time for supper (presentation isn't all it's cracked up to be).
This is one of the two tomatoes from my vine this year.
I could have sworn I bought a larger variety
but this actually works for waste..Yummy.
I borrowed some of Mollies chicken..

Linking with Eileen at Saturdays critters

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

My sister has some company coming and wanted me to show her the best route to include some of the local highlights..
So, with camera in hand..Off we went.
This is one of the four bridges over the Susquehanna River
in Harrisburg.

    There is a 5th but half of it was washed away years ago.

This is part of the Harrisburg side..the old water works on the left.

You can see part of the old, iron Walnut street Bridge in the background in this picture.
Another bridge spans an island in the center of the river.
These pictures were taken from that island.
 On the island (City Island), you will find the home of our
 Minor League Ball team.."The Senators", A stable that houses several horse and buggy outfits, various food concessions, a bath house and a small train that runs all the way around the island.

More Harrisburg skyline. I did not have the best vantage point.
After all, I wasn't there to take pictures..
You can just see the Capitol dome behind the tall building.

The bath house on the island.
 There is a polar bear plunge here in the early spring.
They also hold lots of walks and runs for charity on the island.

This is our Riverboat which tours up and down the river.
It's lovely at night and affords an excellent view
of our pretty skyline and can be rented out for private parties..
This is a good view of the Walnut Street Bridge.
The bridge has been pedestrian bridge since 1976 when hurricane Agnes destroyed the span from the island to the West shore.
The span to the East shore remains and is used as foot access to the island.

Pardon the bird poop!

The sign on the side of the stadium..

My  camera was put away as we drove through the city and explored a bit.
Have a wonderful day..

Monday, July 20, 2015

Could you do this while hanging from your toe nails??

It's much easier this way.

I guess he loves a challenge..

One thing I need to do for sure is wash this window.
I blame it on the birds.

Have a wonderful week.
 Linking with Eileen

Friday, July 17, 2015

These Doves hang out on this roof top a lot.
They need to watch out for Mr Hawk.

My perennials are taking shape
in spite of all the hard rains we've had lately.

I hadn't seen a Hawk for about a month and....
there he was doing his thing under my bird feeder..
He looks like a Juvenile?

This nest was found and relocated by the guys that were here pruning this week...I hope they make it.

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

I think this is a Golden Fronted Woodpecker ?

He's not at all camera shy...

It's always fun to see the Hummers..never two at a time.

I just took this feeder down..I haven't seen a Hummingbird in over a month..

Linking with Stuart at Wild Bird Wednesday


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Sunday, February 08, 2009

I Could've Thought This Over Better...

.:So I Started A Group On A Social Networking Site I'm At...:.

... and I named it "Magicians for Magicians".

When you shorten that, it's "M4M".

I dunno about you, but maybe I should've thought that one over a bit more...

No comments:


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Welcome to Mitcon Photographics

Here at Mitcon Photographics we specialise in wildlife photography, we have a large range of images here for you to view and enjoy. We will sell some of the images and costs vary depending on intended use or size/style/type of prints. If you need a wildlife photographer to take images for you we may also be able to help, for further information please feel free to contact us at info@mitconphotographics.com .

We are a husband & wife team who have a love for birds but even more so for raptors, though we are quite keen on all fauna and flora. We hope to include landscapes and other images of interest at a later point. We use the Canon EOS range for the most of what we do, with the odd exception. Our photography team is in Adelaide region of South Australia though our images come from all parts of this wonderful country.

Please feel free to browse our galleries and enjoy viewing the photos, but
DO NOT copy/link or use our images in any way without our permission. Click on the gallery below of interest to view the images.

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It's not just every day you meet up with a wild moose in Colorado, but, if and when you do, it's a good idea to know what to do. Here's a look at some proper moose etiquette.

While you're not going to meet up with a moose as you are driving down North Avenue, or walking the loop at Sherwood Park, but if you are snowmobiling, snowshoeing, or cross-country skiing on the Grand Mesa, it's actually very possible you could have a moose encounter.

Perhaps, you lay awake at night wondering exactly what you should do if you come to face-to-face with a moose. If that's the case, get ready for a good night's rest because I'm going to share with you some of the finer points of moose etiquette.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife tells us that moose are naturally curious so they may approach humans, but, that gesture should not be interpreted as a sign of friendliness. Female moose are very protective of their young, and male moose can be very aggressive, especially during the mating season.

  • How can you tell if a moose is irritated?Laid back ears, raised hairs on the neck, and licking of the snout are all signs that the moose is feeling a little grumpy.
  • You should avoid animals that are acting strangely.
  • If you have your dog with you, it's best to keep the dog at a distant because moose can be very aggressive with other animals.
  • If you are feeling threatened by a moose, don't take off running. Talk calmly, make your presence known, and slowly back away.
  • Should you find yourself being charged by a moose, by all means, run as fast as you can, and try to get a large object like a rock, tree, or car between you and the moose.

Apparently moose encounters with people are fairly common, and usually. there is no problem. But, a little moose etiquette could go a long way toward a happy ending.


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Empty Yesterday: Kansas City’s trade deadline day

Before we begin to talk about why Thursday felt like SUCH a disastrous day for the Kansas City Royals – and, possibly, your hometown team too — we should probably offer two qualifications. One, Major League trades are hard things to pull off. They sound so easy on talk radio and fantasy leagues. But in real life, a thousand things have to come together, enthusiasm has to be spread all over the teams, momentum has to drive forward. Any tiny blip can nix the whole thing. A thousand trades are talked about for every one pulled off … and that ratio goes up exponentially when talking about major trades. Teams may really, really try to pull off a trade and for any number of reasons it just doesn’t happen. So that’s one.

Two, the Royals might not have been able to change their fate no matter what they did. The Royals, it seems to me, are the very essence of an eh-not-bad team. The lineup is average-conscious and cannot score runs. The pitching staff is pretty good but bullpen heavy and it relies heavily on a No. 1 starter who, best anyone can tell, will not be around after this season. A move, even a bold one, might not alter that at all.

With those two caveats: The Royals just had an infuriating trade deadline day. Infuriating. Because – and here’s where the opinion begins – this was the time for the Royals to make a choice. They needed to be buyers. They needed to be sellers. They needed to be SOMETHING. And instead, like it has been for most of the last quarter century, they were nothing. And that is hard to take.

See, for those 25 or so years the Royals have been … so … impossibly … irrelevant. They have had one player voted All-Star Game starter – ONE BLEEPIN’ PLAYER VOTED ALL-STAR GAME STARTER – since 1991 (and Jermaine Dye was traded two years later). They have not hired an interesting manager in forever. They are never in on the biggest free agents. They are never talked about in the biggest trades. They are just one of those teams that don’t matter much. The Royals are an opponent. They are a placeholder.

The last couple of years it seemed that finally, finally, finally the Royals were not going to be background music any longer. I did not like their bold trade of big prospect Wil Myers for temporary ace James Shields – still don’t like it – but it WAS bold. It was a statement. “Win now!” general manager Dayton Moore was saying. The minor league system was being touted as one of the best ever. The Royals won 86 games last year. They jumped their payroll significantly to make this year even better.

These Royals were wallflowers no more! Act! Do! Win!

Except … well, they could not quite break a few of the bad old habits. They did raise payroll, but mostly to bring in those 30-something veterans like Nori Aoki and Omar Infante that almost never actually help the team (and neither has helped much). They fired another hitting coach but did nothing to really alter the way the team is run. Billy Butler fell off the age cliff. Eric Hosmer lost his mojo. Mike Moustakas reveals himself more and more to not be an everyday big league player. A few good things have happened too – the solid pitching of young Yordano Ventura and emergence of Danny Duffy has helped and the late innings have been clamped down by a dominant bullpen. Because of this, the Royals have hovered around .500 despite a dreadful record in one-run games. They’ve shown just enough to make the optimistic believe they are a better team.

Dayton Moore is one of those optimists. All year long he has talked about the Royals having the talent to be a much better team. Even though he seems to believe this, he also believes that manager Ned Yost and one of the 384 batting coaches he has hired the last three years are doing a great job. Those two thoughts don’t seem to correspond, but we move on.

This week, the Royals are on the brink of SOMETHING. They are just on the good side of .500, and they are not in playoff position. Their ace, James Shields, probably has two months left as a Royal. Their offense is lousy and out of tune with the modern game. Their bullpen is probably their strength and everyone in baseball knows that bullpens are fickle beasts. The Royals had to decide: Go for it now with a few pieces in place? Back off and recharge for next year’s fight? What?

The Royals boldly decided to do … nothing.

Nothing. According to the Kansas City Star’s Andy McCullough, the Royals did have discussions for David Price but decided they couldn’t afford the contract. They kicked the tires on a couple of more 30-something veterans and decided they too were too expensive. And … that’s it. They did nothing.

Shortly after doing nothing, they lost first baseman Eric Hosmer to an injury that could keep him out for six weeks – or, essentially, the rest of the season. That’s bad luck. But in my experience bad luck, for some reason, does tend to follow inactivity.

Nothing. Of course the American League teams that are pretty unanimously viewed as smarter than Kansas City – Detroit, Boston, Tampa Bay, Oakland – did something. They divided as buyers or sellers and made bold moves to either (A) Win a World Championship this year or (B) Build their talent base for next year. You might or might not like the moves, but there is no doubt that there’s an active plan in place. The Royals, meanwhile, just drifted in the ocean.

It’s hard to say exactly what is happening behind the scenes in Kansas City. I don’t know what the Glass family’s commitment level is – I suspect the Royals management would have liked to do more, a lot more, but ownership’s commitment level is probably at Defcon 4 already. I also believe that Royals management skews conservative; the Myers for Shields deal was about as wild and crazy as they get.

That said, I think often of the line from The Music Man: “Pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll find you’re collected a lot of empty yesterdays.” The Royals are world-renowned collectors of empty yesterdays.

And this empty yesterday leaves its mark. The Royals might get hot against a relatively weak schedule and win enough games to slip into October. But they probably won’t. The Tigers have David Price now, Oakland has Jon Lester, the Angels have finally gotten out of their own way, the Blue Jays and Orioles are probably better, the Yankees added a few pieces, even the Mariners did something. The Royals keep the faith that the meek will inherit the earth. Maybe that will happen. But the meek ain’t winning the American League.

Must-Click Link: Do the players even care about money anymore?

Getty Images

Yesterday I wrote about how the union has come to find itself in the extraordinarily weak position it’s in. The upshot: their leadership and their membership, happily wealthy by virtue of gains realized in the 1970s-1990s, has chosen to focus on small, day-to-day, quality of life issues rather than big-picture financial issues. As a result, ownership has cleaned their clock in the past few Collective Bargaining Agreements. If the union is to ever get back the considerable amount of ground it has lost over the past 15 years, it’ll require a ton of hard work and perhaps drastic measures.

A few hours later, Yahoo’s Jeff Passan dropped an absolute must-read that expands on that topic. Through weeks of interviews with league officials, agents and players, he explains why the free agent market is as bad as it is for players right now and why so many of them and so many fans seem not to understand just how bad a spot the players are in, business wise.

Passan keys on the media’s credulousness regarding teams’ stated rationales for not spending in free agency. About how, with even a little bit of scrutiny, the “[Team] wants to get below the luxury tax” argument makes no sense. About how the claim that this is a weak free agent class, however true that may be, does not explain why so few players are being signed.  About how so few teams seem interested in actually competing and how fans, somehow, seem totally OK with it.

Passan makes a compelling argument, backed by multiple sources, that, even if there is a lot of money flowing around, the fundamental financial model of the game is broken. The young players are the most valuable but are paid pennies while players with 6-10 years service time are the least valuable yet are the ones, theoretically anyway, positioned to make the most money. The owners have figured it out. The union has dropped the ball as it has worried about, well, whatever the heck it is worried about. The killer passage on all of this is damning in this regard:

During the negotiations leading to the 2016 basic agreement that governs baseball, officials at MLB left bargaining stupefied almost on a daily basis. Something had changed at the MLBPA, and the league couldn’t help but beam at its good fortune: The core principle that for decades guided the union no longer seemed a priority.

“It was like they didn’t care about money anymore,” one league official said.

Personally, I don’t believe that they don’t care about money anymore. I think the union has simply dropped the ball on educating its membership about the business structure of the game and the stakes involved with any given rule in the CBA. I think that they either so not understand the financial implications of that to which they have agreed or are indifferent to them because they do not understand their scope and long term impact.

It’s a union’s job to educate its membership about the big issues that may escape any one member’s notice — like the long term effects of a decision about the luxury tax or amateur and international salary caps — and convince them that it’s worth fighting for. Does the MLBPA do that? Does it even try? If it hasn’t tried for the past couple of cycles and it suddenly starts to now, will there be a player civil war, with some not caring to jeopardize their short term well-being for the long term gain of the players who follow them?

If you care at all about the business and financial aspects of the game, Passan’s article is essential.


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Tuesday, 20 December 2016

Christine Richard on the 'Herbalife (HLF) business' that isn't a business.

More than half a century of quantifiable evidence, proves beyond all reasonable doubt that what has become popularly known as 'Multi-Level Marketing' is nothing more than an absurd, cultic, economic pseudo-science, and that the impressive-sounding made-up term 'MLM,' is, therefore, part of an extensive, thought-stopping, non-traditional jargon which has been developed, and constantly-repeated, by the instigators, and associates, of various, copy-cat, major, and minor, ongoing organised crime groups (hiding behind labyrinths of legally-registered corporate structures) to shut-down the critical, and evaluative, faculties of victims, and of casual observers, in order to perpetrate, and dissimulate, a series of blame-the-victim closed-market swindles or pyramid scams (dressed up as 'legitimate direct selling income opportunites'), and related advance-fee frauds (dressed up as 'legitimate training and motivation, self-betterment, programs, recruitment leads, lead generation systems,' etc.).

David Brear (copyright 2016)

Are Investors Underestimating The Risks To Herbalife's International Business?

By Christine Richard

While investors seem complacent about the operation of Herbalife’s business outside of the US, we believe a pattern of sales into unopened markets creates undisclosed risks.
Our research found numerous instances of Herbalife distributors and third parties selling into supposedly unopened markets, among them Ecuador, where we saw evidence of 60,000 Ecuadorians registered as US distributors.
That raises uncertainties about Herbalife’s compliance with customs, tax and health regulations around the world and poses more questions about the deceptiveness of the business opportunity.
LifeVantage, a Utah-based MLM, recently concluded an investigation into its international sales practices – including sales in unopened markets – resulting in a crackdown and a drop in sales.
Nearly seven months ago, we wrote about US Customs data that indicated Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) had shipped the equivalent of 32 million canisters of Formula 1 to Lebanon in 2014. Herbalife told us the data should not be relied upon, yet, the third-party data remained uncorrected for months after it was brought it to Herbalife's attention. You can read about the issue here.
Since the article ran on May 26, Datamyne, which provides information on US exports by company, still has not received any information from Customs or Herbalife that would allow it to correct the Lebanon shipment information, according to a company representative. As a result, Datamyne's database continues to indicate that Herbalife made hundreds of shipments of its products from the US to Lebanon via the Netherlands. Lebanon remains, according to Datamyne, Herbalife's largest export market in 2014.
After the article ran, one person put forward a theory about where those Lebanon-designated shipments ended up, which we share below. We don't know if his explanation is correct, but it raises an important question for shareholders and one that we have been pondering since we began our research on the company: Does Herbalife have a smuggling problem?
John Hempton Makes a Suggestion
Two days after our Lebanon article ran, we received a possible explanation for the mysterious Lebanon shipments. It came in an email from Herbalife shareholder John Hempton, who seemed to suggest that we were missing an innocent explanation:
May 28
John Hempton
To: Ackman, me
I do you a favour by identifying the Lebanon issue.
a. The only Middle Eastern country in which Herbalife operates is Israel and I think Lebanon.
b. There are herbalife clubs throughout the middle east - mostly set up by migrant workers. I went to one in Doha (Qatar). The product was consumed happily and shipped the country by the workers who run the clubs.
c. The route for shipping used to be through Lebanon. Members ship it on there own.
d. A war in Syria closed that route off. It probably goes through the subcontinent now.
Just explaining for people who do not travel much in that part of the world.
We've seen evidence of that as well, and the problem here is that it's not as innocent as it might seem for Herbalife products to end up in markets in which Herbalife isn't officially registered. For starters, when a company is not formally doing business in a country, but its products are making their way across that country's borders, it raises the possibility that customs and taxes aren't being properly assessed and paid. Governments tend to take a dim view of that.
Mr. Hempton's explanation also seems to exclude Herbalife from any active role in the unauthorized business: Herbalife doesn't make the shipments into these unopened countries, but rather migrant workers do, he says. That narrative just doesn't hold up.
First, the Datamyne data show that Herbalife was the shipper on the Lebanon-designated transactions, so one can assume, under Hempton's scenario, that the company or its representatives were aware that Herbalife was sending an extraordinary number of shipments into the Middle East. If the shipments did indeed go to Lebanon, then it seems that either: 1) Lebanon had become a massive market for Herbalife products, good news which one would have expected the company to share with its investors, or 2) Lebanon had become a gateway into other markets.
As a multi-level marketing company, Herbalife must be more aware of who is buying its products and where they are located than your typical consumer products company. After all, Herbalife's products are attached to a business opportunity. It's not just the products that are smuggled into unopened markets, but the business opportunity as well.
In order to manage that business opportunity, Herbalife oversees a complex system that records sales and tracks wholesale commissions, royalty overrides and production bonuses owed to layers of upline distributors on every sale. If distributors are operating in unopened markets, Herbalife has to figure out how to classify, track and pay them. Our research indicates there is a well-established system for doing just that.
Herbalife's Early Opening Process
We've talked to numerous former Herbalife employees and distributors who have described a pattern of Herbalife products getting into markets before the official opening. This occurs even though recruiting in, selling in or even prepping a market through advertising prior to the official opening is forbidden under Herbalife rules.
Here's how former employees have explained the process to us: Top distributors recruit new distributors in a closed country, signing them up with Herbalife as residents of an open country, for example the US. These recruits place their orders and have products shipped to a freight forwarding company in the US, which then consolidates the orders and sends them into the closed country.
We have heard repeatedly over the course of our research that Herbalife pays distributors operating in unopened countries as if they were US residents. Herbalife withholds taxes on these payments as if it were paying US residents. Later, the distributors file forms with the IRS certifying that they are not running a business in the US and get the withheld amounts refunded.
This creates a hard-to-follow paper trail. If distributors are operating a business in a foreign country, they should owe taxes there. But how do local tax authorities know about this income? Herbalife's willingness to sign up distributors and pay them in the US, knowing that they don't actually operate a business there, makes it easier for the company's distributors to evade taxes in the countries in which they are actually operating.
Herbalife has never, to our knowledge, detailed the early market opening process for its investors. From the outside, it appears that Herbalife sets a date for a new country opening, gets its infrastructure and all necessary approvals and product registrations in place and then on "Opening Day" fires the starting gun, setting off a frenzied but fair scramble to recruit and sell in the new market. Yet we've stumbled upon, as Mr. Hempton did during his trip to Qatar, example after example of a different process.
Mongolia to Trinidad
At the very beginning of our research, back in 2011, we watched an online presentation by a top distributor in Mongolia. She told the audience how her Nutrition Club network in Mongolia had grown from six clubs at the end of 2008 to 65 by the end of 2009 and 100 as 2010 drew to a close. She didn't mention that the Mongolian market wasn't officially opened for business until 2011. In the upper corner of the documents she displayed, the name of her sponsor and fellow beneficiary of all this pre-opening activity, Herbalife Founder's Circle Member Leon Waisbein, was visible.
During a phone interview, a distributor in Trinidad & Tobago explained to us how distributors set up their businesses in that country in the years before the official opening, arranging for freight forwarders to bring products in through Jamaica. This distributor and his organization, which included 5,000 distributors and 240 Supervisors, received US-dollar checks by mail for any commissions or bonuses they were due from Herbalife and were treated as US distributors by the company, which withheld US taxes on those payments. The distributors later filed for and received refunds from the IRS by certifying that they did not live and work in the US.
When the Trinidad market officially opened, all the distributors operating in that country were converted from US distributors into Trinidad distributors, and Herbalife began withholding taxes on behalf of the Trinidad government rather than the US government. This mass conversion suggests Herbalife was aware that the distributors it had been sending checks to in Trinidad were actually working their businesses in Trinidad.
We attended a presentation in Ecuador at which a former airline hostess told the story of how her upline - the now-deceased Mexican Founder's Circle member Eduardo Salazar - sent distributors into just about every Latin American country before the opening to get a foothold and build a downline in those places.
A former employee described for us watching as country after country in Eastern Europe was opened through unofficial channels, leaving him and his fellow employees with questions about the compliance of the business under numerous local laws. Those who tried to bring the issue of early openings to the attention of Herbalife management found they were uninterested in fixing the problem, according to the employee.
We later viewed a document showing that Herbalife was aware that third-party logistics companies had created distribution networks in a number of these unopened countries. Kazakhstan, for example, had walk-in sales centers in 12 cities, according to the document, though it wasn't officially opened for business. The document also indicated that third parties conducted all sales in cash, refusing to take credit cards, as some of these third parties were not properly registered with local tax authorities and, as a result, sought to avoid interactions with the banking system.
In addition to tax and customs issues, the shipping of products across borders by distributors and others raises product registration issues. Obtaining approval to sell nutritional supplements in many countries is an expensive, years long process and not one an individual distributor would likely be able to orchestrate. A Venezuelan distributor who sold products in Guatemala prior to the official open told us that the company's protein shakes had to be brought across the border from Mexico for years because Guatemalan health authorities had not yet approved the products as safe for consumption.
Early Opening in Ecuador
Perhaps the most blatant example we encountered of products being sold in a country ahead of a market opening took place in Ecuador. Herbalife announced the official opening of the Ecuador market in 2008, yet interviews and internal documents we viewed show distributors exported millions of dollars of products from the U.S. into that country in the years before the official opening.
Herbalife not only permitted this activity; it tracked it, according to those documents, which show that, by the time the market officially opened, Herbalife already had 24,162 Ecuadorian distributors registered in its database and another 37,899 "desertions" or distributors who had signed up but stopped ordering.
Herbalife didn't ship directly to Ecuador during this period, but rather shipped huge amounts of products to a handful of addresses in Miami, New York and Illinois, where the products were consolidated by freight forwarding companies and sent on to Ecuador. Ecuadorean distributors were initially entered into Herbalife's tracking system as US residents. Later, after the market formally opened, Herbalife converted these "US distributors" to Ecuadorian distributors.
On the day the market officially opened for business, Ecuador already had nine President's Team members. Meanwhile, new recruits who signed up on the first official day of business, believing that they were getting in at the start of an opportunity, had already lost the race. This is another issue with early market openings - they disadvantage recruits and deceive them about their already slim chances of success.
The Middle East
Meanwhile, bolstering Mr. Hempton's view that Herbalife distributors are unofficially selling throughout the Middle East, we found a mention of Dubai, an unopened market, in divorce documents filed by Chairman's Club member Doran Andry's wife in California. She lists Andry's business in Dubai as supporting the couple's opulent lifestyle:
Respondent is very proud of the 10 cars (including a Mercedes Benz SUV, MBW, Tesla, Fisker, Ferrari, Maserati, 2 Bentleys and Rolls Royce) and 4 motorcycles we currently own. I believe we have business interests in no less than 18 different business entities, including Herbalife interests in Dubai, Japan, Korea and Vietnam."
We sent questions to Herbalife regarding the status of its business in Qatar and mentioned John Hempton's observation that Nutrition Clubs are operating across unopened markets in the Middle East. Herbalife told us it believed that John Hempton's observations were not accurate.
We also received some documents from Herbalife purporting to show that product had not been sent to Lebanon. These documents contained information about shipments with transaction numbers that matched the transactions Datamyne identified as bound for Lebanon. The documents stated that the final destination of the shipments was the Netherlands. We sent Herbalife some follow-up questions to try to determine how and why these documents differed from the ones used by Datamyne to create its database and whether the documents had been submitted to Customs but never got a response.
LifeVantage Investigation
The specifics of Herbalife's international business, in all those far-flung locations, may seem easy enough to ignore. But as investors in LifeVantage Corporation (NASDAQ:LFVN), a Utah-based MLM, learned last week, questionable practices, even when they happen beyond US borders, present a very real risk.
LifeVantage was forced to delay the release of its financial statements for several months and conduct an investigation after employees in its tax department raised concerns about how the company's products were purchased and sold in some international markets and the impact of those practices on taxes and tariffs associated with the sales.
"The type of activities reviewed included our products being purchased for personal consumption and being taken into markets where they had not been approved for resale," Gary Mauro, LifeVantage's Chairman of the Board, said during a December 13 conference call.
As a result of the investigation's findings, LifeVantage has cracked down on certain practices, affecting about 8% of sales, according to management. This, in turn, has led to a weakening of the company's sales.
LifeVantage's assessment that 8% of revenue or around $17 million in sales in fiscal 2016 were linked to questionable international sales practices is significant. That amount represents 100% of the company's revenue growth over the prior year. LifeVantage reported revenue of $207 million in 2016, up $17 million from $190 million in 2015.
The Problems with Unofficial Markets
Allowing distributors and third parties to pre-open markets and move products across international borders has likely lowered the cost of expanding Herbalife's business to nearly every corner of the world. That's because top distributors and others have established the business in unopened countries at their own expense and risk.
In exchange, these distributors operate at a competitive advantage by getting in before anyone else. They also have plenty of opportunity to evade customs and taxes because the business is operated through unaccountable channels. This tradeoff has profited Herbalife's management, shareholders and top distributors, but it also has created risks that investors, complacent about the international business, might want to consider:
· It's unfair and deceptive to allow top distributors to open markets early.
· It's illegal to sell products that haven't been approved by health authorities.
· It's fraudulent to evade taxes and custom duties.
· It's poor practice to routinely sign up distributors in countries in which they don't operate as that facilitates income tax evasion.
· It's unconscionable to put migrant workers in the position of violating laws, particularly in Middle Eastern countries where penalties for lawbreakers can be extraordinarily harsh.
· It's an omission of material facts not to share an expansion process and its risks with your investors when that process has been repeatedly employed to open market after market around the world.
But maybe it's not such a mystery why Herbalife doesn't want to talk more about that Lebanon data.

Christine Richard (copyright 2016)

Thursday, 15 December 2016

'MMM Mavrodi Mundial Moneybox' - A cultic racket collapsing in Nigeria.

BREAKING: Widespread Panic As MMM Freezes Operations In Nigeria

Many Nigerians were thrown into panic in the morning of Tuesday, December 13, 2016, as the popular pyramid scheme, Mavrodi Mundial Moneybox, MMM, shares confusing message on its website stating that it has frozen all confirmed Mavros, otherwise known as money due for withdrawal for one month.
The operators of the scheme said in a message sent to all subscribers that the measure was put in place because “in the New Year season the system is experiencing heavy workload.”
This means, all the accounts of members who are due to be paid after having ‘provided help’ (PH) to another person since the last month have been frozen and hence, have no access to request for payment, known as ‘Get Help’ (GH) until after one month.
All members woke up with the shock message displayed on the screen as soon as they logged into their accounts. Giving reasons for freezing the Mavros, the scheme said it is experiencing heavy workload and want to deal with the attacks coming from the country’s mass media.
It also said it wants to prevent hitches in the coming new year hence, the freezing of the access to requesting for payments even when such person is due for payment. mmm freezing notice mmm freezing notice The message read thus.
One-Month Freezing of Confirmed Mavros
Dear members!
As usual, in the New Year season the System is experiencing heavy workload.
Moreover, it has to deal with the constant frenzy provoked by the authorities in the mass media.
The things are still going well; the participants feel calm; everyone gets paid – as you can see, there haven’t been any payment delays or other problems yet – but!.. it is better to avoid taking risk.:-)) (Moreover, there are almost three weeks left to the New Year.)
Hence, on the basis of the above mentioned, from now on all confirmed Mavro will be frozen for a month.
The reason for this measure is evident. We need to prevent any problems during the New Year season, and then, when everything calms down, this measure will be cancelled. (Which we will definitely do.)
script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js">
“We hope for your understanding, Administration
Panic quarters and Lamentations
In a Whatsapp group, MMM Nexus Solution, members of the ponzi scheme, many who are guilders, have launched their displeasure over the new development.
Many have lamented that they don’t know how to communicate the development to their downliners – those they persuaded to stake their money in the ponzi scheme.
They also argued that this decision of the scheme’s management will trigger the downfall of the scheme. They said most people will hence, be skeptical in staking their money while a good number of them said such decision is selfish and would have been better if it was conveyed to members before now.
One of the members with the name, Rosy, said, “This rule is obnoxious, unscrupulous, provocative, insensitive….they did not advise them well, evil prophecy coming to pass.”
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have, at several times, warned Nigerians against participating in the scheme while the house of representatives also ordered an investigation into the operation of the scheme, in October.
A Familar Pattern
According to Wikipedia, МММ was a Russian company that perpetrated one of the world’s largest Ponzi schemes of all time, in the 1990s. By different estimates from 5 to 40 million people lost up to $10 billion. The exact figures are not known even to the founders.
MMM took its name from its founder, Mavrodi. He founded MMM in 1989 and the scheme was declared bankrupt three years later leading to the disappearance of Mavrodi until his arrest in 2003.
He was convicted in 2007 in his home country of defrauding 10,000 investors out of 110 million rubles, the equivalent of $4.3 million. MMM is not his first ‘wonder bank’ creation.
MMM collapsed in Zimbabwe in September 2016 leaving thousands of people, among them civil servants and vendors, with thousands of dollars trapped in the ponzi scheme.

Sergey Panteleevich Mavrodi, a Russian convicted criminal and a former member of the State Duma. He is the founder of MMM series of pyramid schemes. PHOTO | WIKIPEDIA
Sergey Panteleevich Mavrodi, a Russian convicted criminal and a former member of the State Duma. Millions of Nigerians risk losing huge amounts of money they put in the Mavrodi Mundial Moneybox (MMM) scheme.

By MOHAMMED MOMOH - Nation Correspondent in Abuja

Millions of Nigerians risk losing huge amounts of money they put in the Mavrodi Mundial Moneybox (MMM) scheme.
The Ponzi scheme is suspected to have crashed.
Barely 24 hours after its founder Sergey Mavrodi, wrote to the Nigeria government, criticising the latter’s constant attacks on the scheme, MMM deferred meeting its obligation to its clients.
The administrators of the scheme early Tuesday announced the freezing of the subscribers’ monies for one month.
Consequently, members of the Ponzi scheme who were due to withdraw both their capital and 30 per cent return on investment, will have to wait until sometime in January 2017.
A statement posted on the MMM website said: “As usual, in the New Year season, the System is experiencing heavy workload.
“Moreover, it has to deal with the constant frenzy provoked by the authorities in the mass media.
“Hence, on the basis of the above mentioned, from now on, all confirmed Mavro will be frozen for a month.”
Mavro is the general name used to describe participants’ money in the system. The statement added: “The reason for this measure is evident. We need to prevent any problems during the New Year season, and then, when everything calms down, this measure will be cancelled. (Which we will definitely do.’’)
Daily Nation (copyright 2016)

'MMM India,' another, unoriginal, contagious fantasy of Sergei Mavrodi.

About 15 years ago, I coined the common-sense phrase: 'premeditated, or dissimulated, closed-market swindle,' in order to deconstruct all Ponzi schemes, pyramid frauds, money circulation games, chain-letter scams, etc. However, although a few commentators have used my term (sometimes without attribution), a 'closed-market swindle' is not yet defined in law. That said, it is universally accepted that lying to, or withholding key-information from, people in order to take their money, is fraud which is a form of theft. Common-sense also reveals that, by 'passing any law, but failing to enforce it, has the effect of authorizing the very crime which you are trying to prohibit.'

The lie which is fundamental to all 'closed-market swindles' is that people can earn income by contributing their own money to participate in any alleged 'profitable commercial opportunity' which is secretly an economically-unviable fake, due to the fact that the alleged 'profitable commercial opportunity' has been rigged so that it generates no significant, or sustainable, revenue other than that deriving from its own participants. For more than 50 years, 'Multi-Level Marketing' racketeers have been allowed to dissimulate closed-market swindles by offering endless-chains of victims various banal, but grossly-over-priced, products, and/or services, in exchange for unlawful payments, on the pretext that 'MLM' products and/or services, can then be regularly re-sold for a profit in significant quantities. However, since no gang of 'MLM' racketeers has ever proved that 'MLM' wampum has actually been regularly re-sold to the general public for profit in significant quantities,'MLM' participants have, in fact, been peddled infinite shares of their own finite money.

In the final analysis, other than their ephemeral external presentations, internally there is no real difference between all closed-market swindles; for any alleged 'opportunity to make money,' wherein (when challenged, and/or rigorously investigated) the promoters are unable to provide independent quantifiable evidence to prove that their alleged 'viable commercial activity' has had any significant, and sustainable, source of revenue other than its own losing participants, is self-evidently a dissimulated closed-market swindle.

David Brear

Sergei Panteleevich Mavrodi
(Сергей Пантелеевич Мавроди b.1955)

If you search for Sergei Mavrodi on Wikipedia, you will find him initially described as a Russian 'businessman and financier.' However, the only truthful part of this exciting comic-book story is the fact that he was born in Russia; for, in reality, he is (without a shadow of a doubt) a megalomaniacal psychopath .

Sergei Panteleevich Mavrodi is suffering from a chronic mental disorder resulting in paranoid delusions of grandeur and self-righteousness, and the compulsion to pursue grandiose objectives.

Classically, Mavrodi believes himself not only to be a historically significant businessman and a financier, but also a morally, and intellectually, perfect Russian super hero who has been chosen to free humanity from the slavery of the evil world financial system. Indeed, if you watch the above video from 2011 (in which Mavrodi quite-openly admits that he is on a mission to destroy the pyramid scheme known as the world financial system and that his chosen weapon of mass-financial-destruction, is another, even more powerful, pyramid scheme), it beggars belief that he is not already locked up in a secure hospital.

In the aftermath of the unexpected fall of the Soviet regime (which left millions of ordinary Russians, particularly pensioners, facing destitution as the buying power of the once-protected rouble collapsed, and hyper-inflation took-hold) Mavrodi (an importer of office equipment) stepped-forward in the role of economic saviour and instigated what was soon to become one of the most-extensive closed-market swindles of all time, known as 'MMM.' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMM_(Ponzi_scheme) . It has been estimated that between 1992 and 1994, 30 millions ill-informed Russians were deceived into giving a total of several billions US dollars to Mavrodi and his criminal associates, in the deluded belief that they were all going to receive a future reward of 1000% (to be paid annually).

Typically, Mavrodi began to make the truth increasingly unthinkable, by using some of his ill-gotten gains to buy media advertising (including a series of humorous television commercials) as well as obtain public association with popular Russian sports, charities, celebrities and opinion-makers.

In 1994, Mavrodi's offices were raided and he was arrested for tax evasion, but although millions of angry victims were left out of pocket, he avoided being held to account by getting himself elected to the Russian parliament. During his election campaign Mavrodi steadfastly pretended that the Russian government was trying to destroy 'MMM' in order to steal the company's money, and that 'MMM' investors would only be paid out if he could influence the government from inside the political system. However, no pay-out was forthcoming, and Mavrodi's immunity from prosecution was cancelled in 1995. 'MMM' was finally declared bankrupt in 1997. Mavrodi then went of the run until he was arrested in 2003. During this time, he spread a rumour that he'd gone to USA. In reality, he'd probably never actually left Russia. Indeed, it is now believed that Mavrodi had been hiding in Moscow, protected by a well-rewarded gang of former Soviet intelligence agents/thugs/racketeers who had access to a labyrinth of safe-apartments.

With the help of a relative, Mavrodi instigated another closed-market swindle in 1998, this time known as 'Stock Generation.' His new scam was nothing less than an Internet-based counterfeit stock market. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_Generation, but it was dissimulated as a 'lawful gambling game' and was targeted at greedy Americans and W. Europeans. Largely because of its deliberately-incomprehensible linguistic, and mathematical, presentation, the essentially-simple closed-market swindle known as 'Stock Generation,' initially duped a United States District Court in Massachusetts, but it was closed-down by the United States Court of Appeals, when common-sense was finally applied in 2000. Few of Mavrodi's estimated 20 000 and 275 000 victims, complained even though they lost a estimated total of at least US$5.5 millions.

Following his arrest in Russia in 2003, Mavrodi was initially sentenced to 13 months prison for holding a false passport.  He was subsequently convicted of fraud and tax evasion, and was released from a penal colony in 2007.

Since 2011, Mavrodi has been running a closed-market swindle known as 'MMM 2011' or 'MMM India,' in which countless victims have been deceived into buying effectively-valueless pieces of paper printed to resemble an authentic, valuable currency, the so-called 'Mavro.'

There are even 'Mavro' coins.

Amazingly, Mavrodi openly-admits that 'MMM 2011/ India' is a pyramid scam. He is widely-quoted as saying : 'It is a naked scheme, nothing more ... People interact with each other and give each other money. For no reason!'However, since Mavrodi's 'MMM' organization has exhibited the universal identifying characteristics of a cult, his activities are neither original nor unique and, consequently, they cannot be fully-understood in isolation.

Erich Hermann Wilhelm Voegelin (1901-1985), was a gifted German academic, who, in the decade preceding WW II (working largely-alone), produced an insightful explanation of ‘Nazism’ as a form of perverted religion or cult. Sadly, during the 1930s, few people took much notice of Eric Voegelin.

Whilst teaching political theory and sociology at the University of Vienna, he published two books, ‘The Race Idea in Intellectual History’ and ‘Race and the State’. In these, he pointed out the elementary, mistakes which invalidated various, popular ‘racial theories’. In 1938, Voegelin (aged 37) tried to publish 'The Political Religions'. In this, he focused on contemporary totalitarian ideologies derived from the ‘racial theories’ which he’d previously criticised as absurd pseudo-science. He now pointed out the glaring structural similarities of these ideologies to religions. Courageously, Voegelin was comparing medieval pseudo-sciences and 'Gnostic' cults to the 'Völkish or ‘Pan-German’ movement and its terrifying post-WW I incarnation, the 'Nazi party'.

In 1938, the ‘Nazi’ leader, Adolf Hitler, had held absolute power in Germany for almost 5 years. He had just taken control of Austria. The self-gratifying ‘Aryan Master Race’ delusion was spreading like a virus. In essence, Hitler controlled his fanatical core-adherents with a  comic-book story in which he was a morally and intellectually perfect Aryan super hero, the 'führer,' on a mission to save his 'noble race' from the slavery of the world financial and political system which was controlled by an 'evil secret society of sub-human Jews, Freemasons,' etc.

The dozens of books, essays and reviews which Eric Voegelin published during his lifetime, are almost impossible for the average person to take in.

Eric Voegelin

To give readers some idea of the scale of his thinking, Voegelin’s Major work, ‘Order and History’, began to be published in the USA in 1956 when he was aged 54, but it remained unfinished when he died 31 years later. In simple terms, Voegelin was as a philosopher-historian who took an elevated, and broad, view. He observed that, throughout human history, there have been periods of mass-alienation... following wars, revolutions, plagues, natural disasters, economic depressions, etc. ... during these periods, dangerous manipulators (acting like ancient, Gnostic Prophets by pretending moral and intellectual authority and offering some form of Utopian existence in the here and now) who at other times might be dismissed as absurd crackpots and charlatans, have found it much easier to become accepted as authentic Messiahs and to acquire a mass-following.

Thus, Voegelin, not only described, but also predicted the arrival of the latest generation of economic alchemists,like Sergei Panteleevich Mavrodi.

David Brear (copyright 2016)


text:
How to Clean Baby Feeding Bottle

Here are some key points for baby moms to clean baby feeding bottle.

  1. Within 6 month

You have at least taken it in high temperature disinfection every 24 hours for the baby is still extremely weak to against the bacteria and virus. You have better done it again if you didn’t use the bottle in the past 24 hours.

  1. After 6 months

At this time, you can clean the bottle with boiled water, because the baby is stronger than before.

  1. Using cleaner frequently to wash the bottle is not a good ideal method. Sometimes we cannot avoid the residues which comes from it.
  2. Baby feeding bottle is consist of bottle and nipple. You had better to disassemble it and wash it with the brush.

The last but not at least, sometime it is necessary to replace the new one for you repeatedly put it in the high temperature disinfection.

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Tag: quotes

Break Up Quotes & Broken Coronary heart Quotes And Sayings

relationshipNarcissistic Relationships bring with them big dangers to the accomplice of the narcissist as a result of their habits is a manifestation of an extreme ego and self absorption at the cost of everybody around them. Use the information included right here to focus on gaining belief, in addition to avoiding a lifetime of relationship problems. I additionally agree that this article aggravated me. I’ve been in a protracted distance relationship for 2.5 years. In summation, women are inundated from early childhood that they have to be in a relationship. However if you happen to’ve got someone who suits several of the patterns these questions are getting at, then likelihood is you are coping with a Nice Man. Only thing I know for positive is one thing is unsuitable with our relationship and I’m feeling not sure about my future life with my husband, even I’m wondering if it’s the greatest solution to depart him. You do not have to lose your confidence, self image, hope and keenness for life since you are in a relationship with a narcissist. I’ve little doubt it would enhance our relationship and I am unable to wait to get my maccaroni and glitter artwork.

You sweep off any ideas of those different individuals and let everyone know you are taken, but what happens when the arguments begin in the relationship. My work has suffered, my relationship with other people has been effected and worst of all my relationship with my very own self has taken a beating. Anger is an emotion that may simply be triggered, everyone experiences anger but it’s how we channel that emotion that affects our relationship with others. We trust each other sufficient for us to have our personal lives however never forget that we still are in a relationship. A very powerful thing, should you do select to be in a relationship with someone, is that it ought to be a positive expertise. The more mature, clever, and self-assured men often desires a girl who DESIRES to be in a relationship.

It’s best to have a look at your personal relationship and ask yourself, Is it jealousy or envy that I am dealing with?” In case your reply is that you simply’re glad that your associate is being who they are and you are upset that you just’re not doing it too, then that is envy.

The purpose is to be with somebody who shares your similar values, wants the same issues for the relationship that you simply do, naturally agrees with you on methods to receive those issues, and last however not least have a mutual depth of love and desire for one another.

Even worse, it would happen that you just take the adverse emotions proper again into your renewed partnership, and that is something you certainly don’t need to do. Let’s instead aspire to win again your ex boyfriend and then lead a happy relationship.… Read More

Break Up Quotes & Broken Coronary heart Quotes And Sayings

relationshipDealing with the aftermath of a failed relationship is always a tough factor to beat, especially if it is a long-term” relationship. Many strive (sometimes efficiently, sometimes not) to keep away from relationship problems by setting boundaries, comparable to avoiding talks about work whereas at house and vice versa, or allocating work” rooms if your own home is also your joint workplace, or keep away from working over weekends.

It is very important maintain onto an appreciation of relationship as something everyday. You may also search for forums devoted to personality problems – communities the place one can ask for practical advice and shared info from individual views and private experiences. Disagreements in a relationship aren’t only normal but, if constructively resolved, really strengthen the relationship.

Being engaged means that you are prepared to simply accept bigger commitment in your relationship thus you might want to look inside yourself if taking an enormous leap in your relationship is one thing that you simply need to do. By doing so, it is possible for you to to find genuine happiness in your relationship and you will be able to avoid any mishaps that may befall in your relationship sooner or later.

The NC helps you to analyze the relationship in all angles it affords you to have a look at it. When you do not contact her you may be in a greater position to look keenly at the relationship. Be open, be trustworthy, be up front, be ready to boost your relationship abilities with the simple request and speak about what you want. A relationship can exist in a non-love class having all three components lacking.

Also if you happen to discover your accomplice unresponsive to all your efforts of bridging the communication gap, then maybe he or she is just not committed enough towards the relationship. In our time together we work by means of varied aspects of preparing for meaningful relationships and marriage starting with setting Godly relationship goals and rather more. No matter what sort of relationship you are in, it all takes patience and communication.… Read More


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The Official Website of
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Tales from the moe.Republic &
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Road Diary
on tour with moe.
by John Derhak

Winter Tour, Entry IV. Ann Arbor, Michigan,
February 9, 2013.
A Midwest Flurry
(or Adventures in Red Plaid, Part 2)

A week before December 21, 2012, I was in a Karaoke bar in South Florida. Why, I have no idea. I guess because it was in the way of me and having a beer, so I went in. A woman in her mid-twenties was standing on stage butchering a "Land Down Under." I think of my son, who is presently in Australia, and start to fret. I hope he's on high ground. Listening to that woman sing, I'm sure the Apocalypse really is upon us, and the great flood will follow.

As you know, fortunately, the end times didn't work out as planned, and moe. is on tour. The band is doing a swing through the upper Midwest this week. All the moe.rons coming to the shows tell me how happy they are that moe. is back in "town" again. The band's played in Michigan 3 times since September and Wisconsin twice since October, which has made these moe.rons ecstatic. It's nice to see. We're hitting Chicago and Lafayette, Indiana, too, and doing a radio show in Indianapolis, before going southeast.

On the road, you see all kind of things and meet many people. Every day is an adventure. In a coffee shop in Ann Arbor, the waitress, she calls herself a barista, is stern looking. Her hair is pulled back in a bun tightly, so tight the corners of her mouth appear creased in a permanent scowl. She kind of looks like the Joker working as a Librarian who hates her job. She's giving me the once over, or maybe she doesn't like my plaid coat. I smile. I'm not sure where she's coming from. At this stage of my life I've come to know this much about the world of work and labor: Sometimes people end up where they're at. Most times, people end up where they should.

I paid for the coffee and threw her a buck tip. I wasn't sure if she smiled or hissed, but I stepped back just in case. It may have been too much, I know, but once again I found myself overwhelmed by the feminine mystique. Moving to a table, I do what I often do, pull out my pocket notebook and jot down a few thoughts and observations.

I leave the coffee shop and head toward the stage door of the venue, The Ark, where moe. will be playing an "intimate" acoustic show that evening. I hear a voice behind me, a woman's, shouting. At first I think it's her, the Joker, but it's a woman with a camera. I noticed her inside taking pictures of pigeons on a magazine rack through the window, and rolled my eyes. Now she catches up to me and wants to take my picture. I'm guessing she likes her men in plaid. Red plaid. She said she has a website about humanism called the "Humanist," or something like that, in Ann Arbor, and photographs the local scene. She saw me writing inside and wondered what I did. She said it like she thought I was unemployed. I said I was a writer, and she sighed before I finished saying, "and I work for moe.," which meant nothing to her when I did. She took my picture with me holding my notebook near my face. By now, it's hanging like a mug shot in a police blotter, somewhere on a day-in-the-life blog about Ann Arbor.

I'm now near the front of the venue, when I hear someone else shout out. I turn. It's an old man with a crutch moving toward me like an Olympic sprinter. I'm beginning to think that red plaid is the new day-glow orange, or vice versa, because every stranger, everywhere I go, has something to say to me. "Can you help an old vet?" he asks. "I'm not a drunk. I need a dollar for a cup of coffee." The degrees of homelessness in America, and throughout the world differ from place to place, as do the angles for panhandling. In New York last weekend, there was a kid with a sign that read "Why kid? Need money for drugs." He was wearing Ray Bands, was dressed warmly, and compared to some of the human suffering and deprivation I'd seen along Broadway, he looked like a fool. The veteran in Ann Arbor repeated, "I'm not a drunk," and added, with his hand held out, "even fifty cents will do." A buck or fifty cents? This bum kept a tight budget. I'll give him that. I look down the street at the coffee shop, and wonder how he'd be received by the Joker. I give him the change in my pocket, then look for the stage door. If I don't get off the street, I'll never be ready for show time. So for now, adieu!


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Monday, August 23, 2010

summer of Mandy: 2010 (day 62)

I have a confession. Technically summer is officially over but I have been dreading these last few blog posts because that REALLY means that summer is over.

So with all that said, I give you day #62.

Shopping ALL day on Michigan Avenue.

I HEART Bloomingdales!

So I might have tried on a $61,000 ring at Tiffany's.

The original H & M in front of the H&M store!

Dinner at Buca di Beppo

1 comment:

chrisandginny said...

The H&M picture couldn't be cuter!! :)


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Pentailed Treeshrews Not Cheap Dates

A recent paper in PNAS documents the alcohol consumption patterns of pentailed treeshrews (Ptilocercus lowii) in Southeast Asian rainforests. These treeshrews consume fermented nectar on a daily basis from the flower buds of the bertam palm (Eugeissona tristis). The alcohol content of the fermented nectar averages 0.6% but gets as high as 3.8%. A proportionate amount of alcohol consumed by a human would be intoxicating but the treeshrews show no signs of intoxication.

Anesthetized Pentailed Treeshrew

The pentailed treeshrew resembles treeshrews that lived more than 55 million years ago and are believe to be ancestral to modern treeshrews and, more interestingly from an anthropocentric perspective, Primates. An interesting open question that remains from this work is how the treeshrews manage to not get blotto on rainforest palm wine.

Cool paper, but I’m still struggling to parse this beauty of a sentence:

Nonetheless, alcohol intake in a living model for ancestral primates speaks against the claim that the sensitivity of basic biochemical pathways of normal learning to ingested alcohol could only evolve in the absence of dietary alcohol.

Whatever that means…

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