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East meets West on love's risky cyberhighway

Alevtina Ivanova and other Russian bachelorettes like her are looking for a few good men  abroad.

"Unfortunately, in our collapsed economy, very few men are able to support a family properly,'' she says.

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"Russian men lack confidence, they become fatalistic, they drink, they die young. It's not surprising that Russian women pin their hopes elsewhere.''

Ms. Ivanova, a veteran of half-a-dozen serious cyberrelationships with European and American men, is among thousands of Russian women turning to the Internet to meet Westerners. The potential suitors are equally frustrated with the dating prospects in their home countries.

"American women are too independent, too demanding, too critical,'' says Chris, a middle-aged US businessman visiting Moscow to meet "several very nice ladies'' he contacted over the Web. The visitor, who asked that his last name not be used, cites a joke often repeated here: "A Russian wife wants to keep house for you. An American wife wants to get rid of you, and keep the house."

Dozens of Web-based agencies are busy playing match- maker, for fees paid by both the women, who send in their pictures and bios for posting on international websites, and the men, who can obtain contact information for the women who pique their interest.

The agencies claim that romance is blossoming all over, and that thousands of happy Russian e-mail order brides head West every year.

''We get about 300 applicants every single day, mostly women,'' says Anna Kuznetsova, manager of Eye-2-Eye, a large, Moscow-based international dating agency. "The technology may be modern, but the process of men meeting women is as ancient as time."

Though there are no firm statistics, it is estimated that between 4,000 and 6,000 women from the former USSR marry US citizens each year. One agency currently lists 25,000 women from Russia and other former Soviet republics seeking Western mates; there are dozens more agencies, each offering thousands of would-be brides. Some agencies have branched into travel, translation and other services to profit from what they say is an exploding traffic.

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While some describe these international e-introductions as offering matches made in heaven, others see nightmares in cyberspace.

''People bring their illusions as well as their dreams to this market,'' says Tatiana Gurko, head of the independent Center for Gender Studies in Moscow. "Like any physical place, the Internet has predators lurking about, and sometimes they may be hard to spot.''

Western men increasingly report being ripped off by wily Russian women, who write sweet e-mails, send sexy digital photos, hit them up for cash, and then disappear.

On the other side, tales filtering back to Russia of Internet marriages gone sour  including the murder of a Russian mail-order bride in the US  have put women on their guard.

But Ivanova, who now works as an adviser to DiOritz, a large Moscow matchmaking agency, says that, although none of her cyber-relationships have led to marriage, she has had no regrettable experiences.

''You can find out everything you need to know about a man in five e-mails,'' she says breezily. "Men are fairly obvious, you just need to question them properly."

To her, the requirements on both sides are clear: "A woman need only be attractive and educated, but a man must have property, means, and a good job.''

Yelena Khronina, who plans to soon wed "a wonderful Norwegian man'' she met via the Internet, says her dream has come true.

"It's so hard to be a woman in Russia,'' Ms. Khronina sighs. "But then you visit this beautiful, orderly, prosperous country, and spend time with a man who treats you with kindness and respect. Why would anyone say no to that?''

The potential dangers of dabbling in cyberromance are dramatized in a recent film, Birthday Girl, in which Nicole Kidman plays a mail order bride from Moscow who brings a gang of Russian mafia thugs crashing into the life of her English bank-clerk beau. In real life, the sting is usually more mundane: An unsuspecting Western man falls in love after a few gushing e-mail exchanges with a false identity posted on a Web site  sometimes the photos are actually of a Russian actress or fashion model  and is persuaded to wire cash for a ticket to visit him, or to meet some personal emergency.

"A woman can string a man along, playing on his emotions and sympathy and, in doing so, trick him into giving her money or expensive items,'' says Paul O'Brien, a US Web designer who has temporarily given up his search for a Russian wife after being burned by two women who just wanted money from him.

Mr. O'Brien says he resorted to the Internet because of America's fast-paced, impersonal and workaholic culture. "A lot of guys I know work many, many hours and do not have time for a social life,'' he says. "So it seems particularly appealing to them when these agencies offer to help them make contact with beautiful and single women," he says, but warns: "Prospective suitors need to be very wary of the women out there who have no intention of developing a relationship with them.''

Most of the known scams are now listed on a special website supported by several matchmaking agencies,

Russian women insist it is they who face the greatest hazards. Many have heard about Anastasia Solovyova, a Russian from the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyztan, who was murdered by her American husband two years ago. She had been his second mail- order bride. Experts say there are many more tales of miserable, and sometimes tragic, mismatches.

"You come to a strange country, to meet a man you've only corresponded with by e-mail,'' says Ivanova. "There are issues of language, culture and personal morality. It takes a lot of trust, and for some women it goes badly wrong.''

After her many encounters, Ivanova says she now advises her clients not to consider men from the US at all. ''American men are not cultured, they work too much and think far too much about money,'' she says. ''Western European men are different. When they correspond with a prospective bride, they look upon it as forming a relationship. American men act as if they're buying a wife.''

In any case, the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, which brought the Russian and US governments closer together may, paradoxically, have put at least a temporary damper on the love fest.

Tamara Babkina, deputy director of Wedding Palace No. 4, which is the only office in Moscow where foreigners can legally marry, says that until last year, Americans were the largest group marrying Russian women. "We had 175 US-Russian weddings in 2001, but since Sept. 11 there has not been a single one," Ms. Babkina says.

While no one wants to go on the record criticizing love, some experts argue that the Westward outflow of Russian women must be viewed as a baneful social indicator.

"Russia has become the world's leading exporter of wives, and this is a tremendously profitable business,'' says Ms. Gurko.

"It may be a real supply-and-demand situation," she says, "but let's try to remember that this vast supply of terrific women is made up of individuals whose hopes have been crushed in Russia.

"It's so sad that, in order to seek a better life, a Russian woman has to leave."

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Internships: paid or not?

Richard Romer, an incoming senior at St. Mary's College of Maryland, took an unpaid internship with the State Superintendent of Schools in Baltimore this summer, an experience he feels is paying huge dividends in work experience and contacts.

Lindsey Johnson, a marketing major who will start her senior year at Santa Clara University this fall, turned down an unpaid internship with a cruise line in Seattle despite wanting experience in the travel industry. Her bottom line: She needs the cash she earns by answering phones this summer in the catalog department of Nordstrom.

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In different ways, Ms. Johnson and Mr. Romer are trying to negotiate a new fact of economic life: The bursting of the 1990s bubble has hit young workers hard. Both students have the same goal.

In a weakened economy with fewer jobs, competition from more experienced workers, and predictions of lower salaries, these students want to leave college with a competitive résumé and an ability to hit the ground running. An internship has increasingly been seen as an important tool for students about to move into the world of real work. But those same economic realities have led some to rethink an internship's worth.

For students like Romer, a political science and economics major who will receive college credits for his experience, a prestigious internship is worth the cost of a summer with no income.

"Most of my friends are ... focused on getting experience before entering a job market as tight as this one," says Romer, who was rewarded with a stipend through his college to pay for the credits he will earn. "And the connections I have made this summer? Priceless."

Johnson's decision to pass up an internship in a business that is suffering a slump was pragmatic. She needs money for her off-campus housing, and she's eyeing the college loans that will take up part of her budget after graduation.

"It was really frustrating," says Johnson of her search for a paid internship. Many of her friends who had paid internships last summer were told by firms that budget cuts mean fewer hires and no interns.

Paid internships do exist. David C. Kelzenberg, internship coordinator at the career center of the University of Iowa, reports that most of his students pursue paid internships, though he notes a dip in the number available this summer.

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"I can create a better pool of students when interns are paid," he says. "[Students] need to be making money."

"A lot of businesses have cut back on paid internships," says John Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray, and Christmas, Inc., an outplacement firm, who considers the decision to cut back shortsighted. While these firms consider internships a luxury they cannot afford, Mr. Challenger says that, at least in this case, a penny saved may not be a penny earned.

Internships, he says, can be just as important for employers as for students.

The relationship is often like an extended job interview, a chance for both to get to know each other. It can lead to full-time positions. "Microsoft is one of the firms that is not giving up, which is smart," notes Challenger. "They know they need to have the talent coming up through the ranks."

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Responsible Ads on Drinking

Television ads that promote "responsible" drinking and are produced by the alcoholic beverage industry are far less prevalent than ads for those products. In fact, the ratio was less than 1 to 200 during the year 2002, according to Georgetown University's Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth.

"Responsibility" ads carry important messages - such as warnings about drinking and driving and the need for drinkers to use a designated driver. But between 2001 and 2002, the number of those ads dropped by 46 percent, while the number of alcohol commercials went up a disappointing 39 percent.

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Further, the center reports that young people aged 12-20 were 400 times as likely to see an alcohol product ad as a message discouraging underage drinking. Even adults were 97 times as likely to see an alcohol ad as a responsibility ad.

Last year, the alcoholic beverage industry promised the Federal Trade Commission it would advertise its products only in media for which less than 30 percent of the audience is below the legal drinking age. (Even that was considered progress, since the previous level was 50 percent.)

Last fall, the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine recommended ways to reduce underage drinking. One finding: the need to create a national media campaign aimed at adults because increasing adult understanding of the problem should help offset the high incidence of alcohol use among young people.

The alcoholic beverage industry can help such a campaign by paying for more public service messages on responsible drinking.

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Emu on loose goes 'shopping'

Wal-Mart Inc. may claim to attract a diverse clientele, but the "customer" spied in the parking lot of its West Bend, Wis., store, doesn't qualify. Just how an emu named Myron wound up there recently is unclear, but Richard Takacs, owner of the large flightless Australian bird, thinks Myron and two other emus might have been chased off Takacs's farm by a coyote. Anyhow, the other two birds never got off the property and were corraled on the Meadowbrook Market and Pumpkin Farm. Myron, meanwhile, zipped about two miles down the road to the 24-hour Wal-Mart, perhaps using the 40 m.p.h. speed for which emus are known. Store employees cornered Myron by surrounding him with – what else – shopping carts, then fed him grapes and apples to keep him calm. After being returned home, Myron was placed in a pasture where he could relax and not have to worry about bolting down the street.

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Tax reform: The cases for going long-term, versus going prudent

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(Read caption) In this March 2010 file photo, Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich. gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill. Camp, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has said he prefers an aggressive rate cut off the bat, while others, including President Obama, have advocated for more incremental reforms.

View photo

Make no mistake, any attempt at tax reform will be a heavy lift. But an interesting behind-the-scenes debate is brewing among reformers over just how high to aim. And some Republicans insist that big, broad-based reform would be easier to accomplish than a more modest rewrite of the Revenue Code.

The go-long theory, favored by House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) and others, works like this: The way to break the logjam over reform is to propose an aggressive, attention-getting, block-buster rate cut. And you finance this ambitious goal by going after everybody’s tax preferences, not picking and choosing among the oxen to be gored.

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Such a strategy serves two purposes, they say.  First, a big rate reduction—say, bringing the top corporate and individual rates down to 25 percent from today’s 35 percent—would generate the sort of popular enthusiasm that a more modest effort cannot. Who, the Camp camp asks, is going to get excited about knocking the top rates down from 35 percent to, say, 32 percent? It’s a yawner, they argue.

The second benefit to this strategy, supporters say, is that it forces all special interests to take a haircut on their existing tax preferences.  There will still be winners and losers, for sure, but because nobody would avoid losing some targeted tax breaks, it would be tougher for lobbyists to protect their clients.

This model is much like the 1986 tax reform, which from its very beginnings was an attempt to knock individual rates down significantly (Ronald Reagan’s original reform would have cut the top rate, for example, from 50 percent to 35 percent). And it is similar to the strategy of the fiscal commission chaired by Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, which proposed taking the top rate down to 28 percent.

Of course, the go-prudent camp has different view:  It is naïve, at best, to think that a full rewrite of the Revenue Code is possible in the current political environment.  It would, they say, be something of a miracle if Congress can agree to any reform at all, much less mega-reform.

This view says take reform one step at a time. President Obama, for instance, has said that Congress should tackle corporate reform first. The more controversial individual provisions could be addressed later.

The cynics in the cautious camp have yet another argument. They say the go-long strategy is nothing more than justification for locking in big rate cuts that are both inappropriate and unsustainable in the current fiscal environment.

And, of course, there is perhaps the most likely option of all: Go home. As they have for decades now, policymakers will talk about tax reform even as they add more targeted tax breaks to the code.

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But let’s pretend Congress will enact some reform in 2013. What will it do? Today’s politics is so different from 1986 that I’m not sure how many lessons of that experience apply. And while I’d certainly like to believe that big, broad-based reform is doable, my head tells me it probably is not.

What do you think: Should tax reformers go long, or go prudent?

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Women's Puma Basket Future Minimal Casual Shoes
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    Details & Description

    Holding fast to the original groundbreaking kick, the Women's Puma Basket Future Minimal Casual Shoe adds fresh new details for a stylish sneaker that reigns supreme.

    The 1988 model gets a boost from redesigned angles, an ultra-lightweight bottom (it even steals tech features from PUMA running shoes) and a clean, minimal look. The leather upper ensures your feet stay as cool, calm and collected as you, while the grippy rubber outsole gives you traction. Signature PUMA details add unparalleled swag to your step.

    • UPPER: Leather and nubuck
    • MIDSOLE: Injected EVA
    • OUTSOLE: Grippy rubber

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Tile Spacer

Tile Spacer

Approx Price: Rs 37 / Piece
Product Details:
  • Minimum Order Quantity: 100 Piece
  • Brand/Make: Lovely
  • Model/Type: L 3201
  • Capacity: Ten Lakh Pieces

Product Description:

  • For Use With: Floor & Wall tiles
  • Type: Solid Tile Spacer
  • Material: High Density Polyethylene
  • Color: Natural White
  • For quick, easy and accurate tile alignment & create grout line
  • For use with square ceramic floor and wall tiles
  • Help to line-up tiles at the corner when installing ceramic floor & wall tile

How to use:

  • Simply place the spacer at each corner of the tile position the next tile a long side.
  • At edges and corner use “T” or “I” section by removing individual legs.
  • When the tile adhesive has set, the Spacers may be left in place and grouting over in specified gap.

Additional Information:
  • Item Code: L3201
  • Delivery Time: 2 Days
Looking for Tile Spacer ?
© Shree Krishna Engineering Co. (Lovely Fasteners)
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Border Patrol Statement on Alcaráz Ochoa Arrest

The statement we've been waiting for to be attributed to U.S. Customs and Border Protection on yesterday's arrest of Raul Alcaraz Ochoa:

On Feb. 17, Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents responded to a request for assistance by the Tucson Police Department. At the scene, a Mexican male, who is a Lawfully Admitted Permanent Resident, impeded law enforcement by lying beneath a Border Patrol vehicle after agents took several subjects into custody for being illegally present in the United States. The man was subsequently arrested by Border Patrol agents after failing to respond to repeated warnings and refusing to move from beneath the vehicle.

He has been released from Border Patrol custody.

The Tucson Police Department has yet to comment to the Range on yesterday's call and incident.

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Godfather 4L60E/4L65E

Level 3 4L60E/4L65E – Rated to hold up to 700HP

  • Replace Plastic Accumulators With Aluminum Accumulators
  • Reprogrammed Valve Body
  • Opened Relief Hole In Front Pump (Eliminates Blowing Out The Front Seal Which Is A Common Problem With The 700r4)
  • Hardened 4140 Pump Rings
  • Updated Pro-Series Kevlar Band
  • Eliminate Factory 320 Boost Valve And Replace With 500 Boost Valve (Longer Transmission Life)
  • New Force Motor
  • New Shift Solenoids
  • New 3/2 Downshift Solenoid
  • New TCC Solenoids
  • New Pressure Manifold and a Special Sonnax Valve that is Specifically made for the GM code 1870 (which is very common on these particular units)

All Mad Dog Transmissions are completely rebuilt and come with a Master Overhaul Kit which includes:

  • All New Lip Seals
  • All New Gaskets
  • All New Teflon Rings
  • New Filter
  • All New Steels
  • All New Bushings
  • All New Raybestos Clutch Discs
  • All New Sprags
  • New Band

This Level 1 transmission comes with a Mad Dog Reprogramming update kit and Mad Dog shift kit.

This transmission can also be setup for pulling and towing (no extra charge).

For external full manual box add an additional $395

If a Liftgate is needed at time of delivery a $25 fee will be billed to your credit card.  Core Charge is $175.

  • Free Converter and Shipping
  • Color choices available on checkout
  • Installation and extended warranties available on request
  • This is a factory rebuilt transmission with upgrades

NOTE: Let us know what type of shift you want. We can custom build each valve body for your application.

  • Stage 1: is a factory shift
  • Stage 2: has a nice crisp shift and at wide open throttle it will put you in your seat
  • Stage 3: is for that Saturday night special. Be warned stage 3 shift is very violent

Installations are available on all our transmissions. These transmissions are a direct replacement for your GM vehicle. No modifications or custom tuning necessary. The 700R4 is a true, 4-speed overdrive transmission and does not require a computer. Our units offer great performance and better gas mileage. If you are looking for an overdrive transmission for your old-school vehicle, we can do the complete installation or send you our conversion kit.


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Saturday, February 21, 2009

Alison Mercer at Llantarnum Grange Arts Centre, Cwmbran

Alison Mercer
Alison Mercer
Alison Mercer

The other day I got taken on a magical mystery tour by my friend Lucy, we ended up at Llantarnum Grange Arts Centre in Cwmbran, just a short hop over the bridge into Wales. We didn't really know what to expect, and my memories of taking a school trip to Cwmbran in the early 80s certainly didn't seem promising, but we were in for a treat. The Arts Centre is a small building housing a cafe, shop and a decent exhibition space divided into two parts.

Alison Mercer's work reminded me immediately of Karen's, and I really liked the thought that perhaps one day Karen and Alison could show their work together- Karen's wrapping cloths and these little 'Fecund Thoughts' would work so wonderfully with each other.

The exhibition runs until March 7th and is well worth a visit if you are remotely near the area- the gallery and parking is free, the cafe is lovely and the other work on show is similarly spectacular.

1 comment:

lisa s said...

beautiful work.
thanks for the introduction


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Inspector SpaceTime Wiki

Newer South Wales

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Newer South Wales
Newer South Wales
Type: Planet
Location: Milky Way
Native Species: Humans
First Appearance/Mention: Mathsville
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Newer South Wales was a 25th century Earth-colony, founded on a mixture of the cultures of frontier Texas and the Australian Outback. In the serial "Mathsville", it is proved to be the unsuspecting home to one of the gateways to the titular location, as well as coincidentally being the target of a Circuit-Chaps biological-collection scouting expedition.

  • The planet was created by BTV producers in order to introduce the Fifth Inspector Associate Veneziana, who in turn was an attempt to broaden the appeal of the show to both the American and Australian television markets.
  • The depiction of the Mathsville gateway used stock footage of the Uluru / Ayers Rock rock formation in Australia.

Ad blocker interference detected!

Wikia is a free-to-use site that makes money from advertising. We have a modified experience for viewers using ad blockers

Wikia is not accessible if you’ve made further modifications. Remove the custom ad blocker rule(s) and the page will load as expected.


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Iterative Usability: Get Results and Have Fun Doing It

I love a rapid iterative approach to usability testing because it boosts team communication and cohesion, pairs well with Lean and Agile project cycles, and, above all, is a fun way to make leaps and bounds towards a better product user experience.

The best part of the rapid iterative approach is that it sharpens the product team’s focus on cooperative and objective problem solving rooted in empathy for the user. This happens because the team shares the experience of witnessing real users encounter fixable difficulties and is then tasked with solving for those difficulties in a limited amount of time. Team members quickly empathize with the user, start prioritizing the biggest difficulties, learn to work together, and feel invested in implementing solutions.

There are many flavors of this concept depending on the approach taken. Whether you call it the RITE (Rapid Iterative Testing and Evaluation) Method, iterative usability, Agile UX, or any one of the other names floating around in the ether, the key elements are the same:

1. Start with a design (any interface is fair game)
2. Run a few (1-5) usability sessions with users with as much of the project team observing as possible
3. Come together as a team to quickly assess results and agree on solutions to observed issues
4. Redesign to implement solutions (spend no more than a day on team discussion and redesign)
5. Retest to see if solutions worked and to discover any additional issues
6. Repeat

The more subject matter experts and team members observing sessions, the richer the outcome; not only do you get the varied expertise and perspectives a more diverse audience brings, you waste little time bringing everyone up to speed so they can weigh in on solutions.

Because it is highly collaborative and necessitates tight turnaround, adding a rapid and iterative spin on the traditional sequence of design and user feedback results in less time and effort spent during the product development cycle.

By: Kasia Sinczak
Date Published: September 16, 2016

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Tue 5th Apr 2011 6:00amBen Currie's Casino Pier Surf Report

6ft Strong Cross-Shore wind
very windy right now and waves are very disorganized. wait for the front to pass by and should be good later in the day with offshore winds. but we all know how predictions go around here.
View the Casino Pier Surf Report and Forecast. Ben Currie's Reports have received a total of 4261 views.
This report has received 416 views since 5/4/11.
MSW Forecast
Grey Star
8secs 158°
28 56
SSW - Cross/offshore - 198° Rain 14c
About Ben Currie
Im 35 years old married with 1 kid. I love surfing and have been surfing for most of my life, well since I was a 11. While I still love surfing I recently discoverd that taken photos of waves and anything beach related is something that i love as much as surfing. I will continue to take surfing picture for the rest of my life and I plan on upgrading to the best lenses money can buy. Stay stoked.
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text: I cannot understand your patch. Please submit as a unified diff and make sure you are using the most recent version of APR. Thanks, Bill > > On Win2K, I was having a consistent problem with ab in the last N > iterations with concurrency N. For example, running "ab -n 20 -c 10 > http://example.com/foo" would consistently cause a poll error out > after 13 > or 15 requests. The message (errno == 9) was that poll was passed > something that is not a socket. > > Anyway, I tracked down the problem to the post-select handling. > It doesn't > quite match the pre-select handling. The attached patch makes it > so. This > patch is not platform-specific, but obviously only affects > platforms w/out > poll(). > > take it easy, > Charlie > > >


text:
Island Winter

Maine Public TV Air Times:
Thur., January 26 at 10:00 pm
Sat., January 28 at 11:00 am

Here is Winter, seen through the lives of those who live it each year on the island of Vinalhaven on Maine's Penobscot Bay.

For more information about this production visit Accompany Films.

Meet Filo Dyer and learn a thing or two about building a boat. Feel the community of a Vinalhaven bean supper and linger on the cold beauty of a Winter morning. Discover how the lobster industry keeps busy during the off season. Share in how artists John Wulp and Michele O'Keefe explore Winter in their paintings. There is ice boating, ice skating, and the warmth of life long friendships. Winter on an island, you will be surprised at what you find.


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Advanced Barcode and Label Technologies

Starting their business in their basement back in 1983, Betsy and Frank Woodward grew ABLT where it is now, the premier resource for providing custom labels to companies around the world. Their daughter, Liz, grew up in and around ABLT as the company expanded over the years.

In 2005, Liz took the reins from her parents. When Liz married Richard, he caught the passion for the business and has been leading the technical growth of the company with his vast knowledge of label regulations, adhesives and materials. Richard loves working with clients to sleuth out the perfect solution for unusual... (more)


text: Isightstand1Here’s another version of the DIY iSight tripod we posted earlier – Tguignar writes “I had a small metal adaptor made for me Friday afternoon at the shop we have at work – basically a small rectangle of some kind of iron magnets attach to with two holes in them, one of them threaded to fit the standard camera tripod screw. Sure enough, it works like a charm.” Link.


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Chocolate Fantasty Bars

chocolate fantasy bars

It’s Secret Recipe Club time!  I love this day of the month.  It’s so much fun finding new recipes to make and new blogs to follow!  This month I was assigned Mommy’s Menu.  Toni is a stay at home Mom to 7.  SEVEN!  I’m tired just thinking about it.  Her recipes are my kind of recipes.  They are “real” recipes (for lack of a better word.)  Recipes that real people make.  Not those recipes with a billion ingredients that you would find in a fancy French restaurant (and that kids wouldn’t even think about eating.)

It was tough to choose a recipe to make because there were so many I wanted to try.  But after seeing Toni’s Fantasy Bars, I knew this was the recipe that I was going to make.

chocolate fantasy bars

Toni made her bars in a 9×13 pan but I wasn’t sure how that would work.  When I put the dough in the pan, it only covered about 2/3 of it.  So I moved it to a 9×9 pan and that seemed to work a little better.

They were amazing!  The cookie was buttery and delicious and the chocolate layer was like creamy fudge!  Delish!

chocolate fantasy bars

Chocolate Fantasty Bars

  • 1 yellow cake mix
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips ?
  • 1 can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 tsp. vanilla

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Spray a 9x9 pan with non-stick cooking spray.
  3. Combine the dry cake mix, oil and egg in a bowl. Press about 2/3 of the mixture into prepared pan.
  4. In a double boiler or a microwave safe bowl, melt the chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla. Mix until smooth.
  5. Pour chocolate mixture over dough. Crumble the remaining dough over the top.
  6. Bake for 18 - 22 minutes.
  7. Cool completely before cutting.

It was hard not to cut into them the minute I took them out of the oven.

chocolate fantasy bars

I didn’t let them cool completely like directions say.  They were calling my name, what can I say.  The fudge filling was gooey and amazing!

chocolate fantasy bars

Do you need another look?

chocolate fantasy bars

I’ll definitely be making these bars again!  They were that good!

chocolate fantasy bars

We’re linking up to the parties located HERE.

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  1. Erin, loved having your blog this month, I can tell you are such a caring mom. Toni is great, isn’t she! These fantasy bars are giving me fantasies of eating them right now.

  2. Appears to be a pretty easy dessert to make, and looks like it has layers of flavor to enjoy 🙂

  3. I’ll take a dozen please 🙂

  4. My mom used to make something similar called Hello Dollies. These look so ooey-gooey and delicious!

  5. HI! I am new to group C and this is my first reveal day! AND YES please to these fantasy bars too, lovely photos and NAUGHTY treats! Karen

  6. These do look delicious!

  7. I am daydreaming of these bars. Oh, so yum!

  8. These look so easy to make and so divine! I must make these soon. Glad to be part of SRC group C with you.

  9. These bars are definitely my fantasy. Love how gooey the chocolate looks.

  10. Oh, wow, Erin! What a delicious choice!!!

  11. YUM!! Is not enough to describe these!!

  12. Great Bars! Hope you are having a fantastic weekend and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday!
    Miz Helen


text:
Saturday, September 5, 2009

The Old Way

There's a thread building up at one of my go-to-daily spots on the Net, www.cutterandtailor.com, that might interest pant makers that are interested in traditional and vintage tailoring techniques. It started a couple of days ago with some beautiful, clear scans of the trouser chapter from an early 20th-Century book on how to tailor, with lots of diagrams and plenty of arcane description (I'm not suggesting you should all go read it start to finish, just a scan will be interesting enough!) But then there's some responses so far that look like they might lead to more details on how current tailors make trousers, and on whether or not they bother with all the shaping and other intricate steps described in the text.

Part of my 1st comment was, "I'd love to somehow observe a fresh, new pair made as described here on the figure it was made for and demonstrating all the subtle points of shaping deemed essential by this text, compared to a modern garment that doesn't include them," and it looks like some folks might be willing to do just that, or something close.

So, I'm watching with interest. It's a fascinating forum all around, for those with a taste for pro talk about tailoring. By all means, check it out, if that sounds like you!


text:
Open Access

Flow cytometry for the evaluation of anti-plasmodial activity of drugs on Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes

  • Séverine Chevalley1, 2,
  • Agnès Coste1, 2,
  • Alexandrine Lopez1, 2,
  • Bernard Pipy3 and
  • Alexis Valentin1, 2Email author
Malaria Journal20109:49

DOI: 10.1186/1475-2875-9-49

Received: 16 September 2009

Accepted: 11 February 2010

Published: 11 February 2010

The activity of promising anti-malarial drugs against Plasmodium gametocytes is hard to evaluate even in vitro. This is because visual examination of stained smears, which is commonly used, is not totally convenient. In the current study, flow cytometry has been used to study the effect of established anti-malarial drugs against sexual stages obtained from W2 strain of Plasmodium falciparum. Gametocytes were treated for 48 h with different drug concentrations and the gametocytaemia was then determined by flow cytometry and compared with visual estimation by microscopy.

Results and conclusions

Initially gametocytaemia was evaluated either using light microscopy or flow cytometry. A direct correlation (r2 = 0.9986) was obtained. Two distinct peaks were observed on cytometry histograms and were attributed to gametocyte populations. The activities of established anti-malarial compounds were then measured by flow cytometry and the results were equivalent to those obtained using light microscopy. Primaquine and artemisinin had IC50 of 17.6 μM and 1.0 μM, respectively.

Gametocyte sex was apparently distinguishable by flow cytometry as evaluated after induction of exflagellation by xanthurenic acid. These data form the basis of further studies for developing new methods in drug discovery to decrease malaria transmission.

Many different approaches have been used to measure the susceptibility of asexual stages of Plasmodium falciparum to anti-malarial drugs in vitro. The most used methods are light microscopy, which enables visual quantification of parasitized red blood cells, and radioactive methods that evaluate the viability of parasites by tracking the incorporation of 3H-hypoxanthine into their nucleic acids. However, only the first method allows the quantification of gametocytes, since these cells do not multiply. Given that light microscopy is labour-intensive, subjective, and suffers from inter-operator variations, alternative methods for the counting of gametocytes are needed to increase the efficiency of drug-screening on this stage of the parasite's life-cycle.

In earlier studies, flow cytometry has been proposed to assess the viability of intra-erythrocytic stages of Plasmodium using DNA fluorescent stains [1, 2]. Many fluorescent stains have been used in flow cytometry studies: propidium iodide [3], acridine orange [4] and YOYO-1 [5] require fixation and permeabilization of the parasites before use. Other dyes need complete lysis of erythocytes, such as Hoechst 33258 [6, 7] and Picogreen® [8], while hydroethine (HE) does not require lysis or fixatives. Plasmodium takes up and metabolizes HE into ethidium, a nucleic acid-binding fluorochrome [9]. Some authors have also proposed to combine thiazole orange with HE [10] or with Hoechst 33342 [11] to stain nucleic acids in order to differentiate intra-erythrocytic stages of P. falciparum.

In the present study, the discrimination, by flow cytometry, of P. falciparum asexual and sexual forms stained with HE was performed in order to validate a method for the screening of gametocytocidal drugs. First, the relative distribution of fluorescence in parasite subpopulations according to their maturity and sex was analyzed and then the gametocytocidal activity of drugs was determined. Finally, particular gametocyte preparations were treated with xanthurenic acid to follow the exflagellation process.

Flow cytometry was demonstrated to be usable to evaluate the different stages of sexual and asexual parasite populations and to assess the in vitro gametocytocidal activities of potentially anti-plasmodial drugs. Moreover, this method enables to discriminate the male and female gametocyte subpopulations.

Red blood cells and human serum were obtained from EFS, Toulouse (France); PBS, RPMI and additives were from Lonza (Belgium). All other reagents were from Sigma-Aldrich, l'Isle d'Abeau (France).

Plasmodium falciparum in vitro culture

Parasites were cultured according to Trager and Jensen [12], and synchronized according to Lambros [13]. Briefly, parasites were routinely maintained in O+, human erythrocytes (parasitaemia: 0.5-4%, haematocrit: 4%) in RPMI 1640 with 25 mM HEPES, 2 mM L-glutamine and 7% human AB serum in a CO2 incubator.

Gametocyte cultures were initiated with W2-Indochina strain as described elsewhere [14], with modifications [15]. Cultures were treated with 50 mM N-acetyl-D-glucosamine for 4-5 days to remove most of the asexual stages. Old (stage IV-V, 11-13-days-old) gametocyte cultures were mostly used.

Visual counting of schizonts and gametocytes was carried out on Giemsa-stained smears before and after concentration. Images were digitally recorded with a digital camera (DS Camera Control Unit DS-U2, Nikon) mounted on an optical microscope (Nikon Eclipse 80i, Nikon).

Magnetic purification was carried out by using the haemozoin paramagnetic complex property. Prior to purification, MACS® (25LD columns, Miltenyi BioTec, Germany) columns were filled with warmed (37°C) RPMI. The experimentation was performed under sterile conditions [16, 17]. The tested blood from cultures was then loaded on the columns (typically, 4 mL at 25-50% haematocrit) and warm (37°C) culture medium was then added until the eluent was apparently free of red blood cells. At this point, the columns were removed from the magnetic support after addition of 10 mL more culture medium and the eluent was recovered. It was then centrifuged (800 g, 10 min) and supernatant was discarded. The pellet was used to prepare blood smears that were Giemsa-stained and it was also analysed by flow cytometry.

In vitro tests with gametocytes

Primaquine and artemisinin (the latter being kindly provided by Pierre Fabre Laboratories) were dissolved in DMSO, while chloroquine was dissolved in RPMI. Twelve day-old gametocyte cultures were transferred to 24-well or 96-well plates, and increasing dilutions of each drug were added. All experiments were performed in triplicate. After 48 h of incubation at 37°C, thin blood smears were prepared and stained with Giemsa. The number of gametocytes per 10,000 erythrocytes was visually estimated by optical microscopy. In parallel, parasitaemia was evaluated by flow cytometry.

Flow cytometry

Cultures were washed with PBS. Pellets were resuspended in hydroethidine solution (50 μg/mL) for 20 minutes at 37°C in the dark. After washing in PBS, 105 cells were analysed with a FACScalibur cytometer (Becton Dickinson®) using the CellQuestPro® program for data analysis.

Confocal microscopy

In order to obtain an homogenous film, glass cover-slips were coated overnight at room temperature with poly-L-lysine (1:100 in PBS). Parasite cultures were washed twice in PBS and the pellets were resuspended in 50 μg/mL hydroethidine (HE) for 20 minutes at 37°C in the dark. Samples were then washed twice in PBS and resuspended in 1 mL of PBS. Cells were distributed on the poly-L-lysine-coated cover-slips and incubated for 20 minutes at 37°C in the dark. After cell adhesion, the cover-slips were washed with PBS and analysed with a fluorescence microscope (ConfoCor, Zeiss LM510, Carl Zeiss).

In vitro exflagellation assay

The exflagellation of gametocytes was quantified according to Kawamoto et al [18]. Gametocytes were highly purified on MACS® columns and immediately resuspended at 5% final haematocrit in 100 μM xanthurenic acid (XA) for 20 min at room temperature [19, 20]. Prior to flow cytometry analysis, a visual counting of gametocytes with or without exflagellation was carried out on Giemsa-stained smears.

Results and Discussion

In vitro cultures were incubated with HE, which is converted to ethidium by metabolically active cells [9]. The interaction between ethidium and parasite nucleic acids resulted in a red fluorescence emission allowing discrimination between uninfected and infected erythrocytes independently of the parasitic stage (asexual stages: Figure 1; gametocytes: Figure 2). Histograms (left panels, Figures 1A, 1C and 2A) and dot plots (right panels, Figures 1B, 1D and 2B) show the distribution of HE fluorescence (x-axis, log scale). Plasmodium falciparum W2 strain cultures were synchronized by 5% D-sorbitol lysis to obtain ring-enriched cultures [13], and by the magnetic enrichment method [16] in order to purify schizonts (Figure 1E) or gametocytes (Figure 2). The labelled M1 peak corresponded to non-fluorescent events (mostly uninfected erythrocytes, damaged erythrocytes and those with dead parasites inside). The fluorescence intensity of the rings was addressed to M2 peak (Figure 1A). We observed one peak M3, corresponding to late trophozoites and mature schizonts (Figure 1C). Schizonts exhibited an increase in fluorescence intensity when compared to the other stages. These results were in line with those of Pace and Staalsoe [21, 22]. Flow cytometry analysis of enriched gametocytes showed two distinct peaks of fluorescence (M2 and M3) (Figure 2A). Similar results were reported in a study on Green Fluorescence Protein (GFP) fluorescence of transgenic A-SET/GFP murine Plasmodium berghei gametocytes [21].
Figure 1

Flow cytometry analysis of Plasmodium falciparum parasitized erythrocytes (W2 strain) stained with hydroethidine, asexual stages. A and B: ring-enriched population examined by flow cytometry. C and D: schizont-enriched population: schizonts were enriched by magnetic separation through a MACS column and examined by flow cytometry. E: Giemsa-stained thin smears. F, G: HE-stained parasites (magnification × 63 (F) and zoom 2.5 (G)).

Figure 2

Flow cytometry analysis of Plasmodium falciparum parasitized erythrocytes (W2 strain) stained with hydroethidine, gametocytes. Gametocytes were purified by magnetic separation through a MACS column and examined by flow cytometry (A and B). Giemsa-stained thin smears (D) and HE-stained enriched culture (magnification × 63 (E) and zoom 2.5 (F)). C: Giemsa-stained thin smears before gametocyte enrichment.

Enrichment of the W2 strain at a very high yield was obtained with magnetic columns [16] with an enrichment greater than 150-fold for the schizont enriched population. For example, in one experimentation, parasitaemia (mostly late trophozoites and mature schizonts) was 0.53% before purification with MACS® and 83.04% after (M3 population, Figure 1C). In another experimentation, gametocytaemia was 1.43% before and 13.7% after purification with MACS® (population, Figure 2A). These results were similar to those obtained by numeration on Giemsa stained thin smears (Figures 1E, 2C and 2D). Similar results were observed throughout six independent experiments (Table 1). A true direct correlation (r2 = 0.9805) was obtained between gametocytaemia determined by the two methods. More, the M2 population was, most of the times, lower than M3 (Table 1).
Table 1

Comparison between FCA (Flow cytometry analysis) an OM (Optical microscopy) for the determination of gametocytaemia.

Experiment number

M1 (%)

Female Gam

(%): M2

Male Gam

+ Sch (%): M3

Gam (%)

Sch (%)

Parasitaemias of in vitro P. falciparum gametocyte cultures (W2 strain) were evaluated by flow cytometry and optical microscopy (FCA: flow cytometry assay; OM: optical microscopy). These values correspond to the percentages of every population after gametocyte (Gam) enrichment by MACS.

M1: percentage corresponding to the first peak of the histogram in FCA, which corresponds to non-fluorescent events (uninfected erythrocytes).

M2: parasitaemia corresponding to the second peak of the histogram in FCA (erythrocytes infected by gametocytes).

M3: parasitaemia corresponding to the third peak of the histogram in FCA (erythrocytes infected by gametocytes and/or residual asexual stages (schizonts: Sch)).

The repartition of gametocytes in each population (M2 and M3) could be due to the sex of the gametocytes, which modifies their amount of DNA, and/or to their stage of maturation. To determine whether the M2 and M3 peaks corresponded to the difference between male and female gametocytes, we compared gametocyte cultures before and after male gametogenesis. Exflagellation has been achieved by decreasing drastically the culture temperature (from 37°C to 23°C) and submitting the gametocytes to xanthurenic acid (XA), a gametocyte-activating factor (GAF) [23, 24]. The sensitivity of P. falciparum microgametocytes to XA was determined in vitro [19] and the exflagellation response was expressed as a percentage of a 100 μM XA control. The effector concentration for half-maximal response (EC50) in cultured P. falciparum NF54 strain was 2 μM. In the current study, after enrichment by MACS®, a fraction of the purified gametocytes (strain W2) was treated with 100 μM XA, a concentration that triggers the highest stimulatory effect on in vitro exflagellation [19]. This XA-stimulated culture was compared with the non-stimulated gametocytes by flow cytometry. The data are presented in Figure 3. Firstly, a slight increase of gametocytaemia was observed in the M2 population. Secondly, the exflagellation by the addition of XA decreased the gametocytaemia only in the M3 peak. The large error observed (Figure 3) can be attributed to the variability in the parasitaemia levels observed in the three independent experiments represented. Altogether these data showed that the decrease in the M3 peak after XA corresponded to a decrease in male gametocytes and hence showed that in the M2 population mostly female ones were present, unlike M3 population that contained mature male gametocytes and residual schizonts (Table 1). On one hand, the observation that the M2 population was less fluorescent (one female gametocyte leads to a single gamete) than the M3 populations, including numerous male gametocytes which leads to the formation of eight gametes was in agreement with the study by Pace et al [21]. These authors demonstrated that GFP fluorescence of late female gametocytes, identified by the sex-specific antibody Pfg377, was less intense than the fluorescence generated by male gametocytes [21]. On the other hand, the percentage of female gametocytes was higher than the percentage of mature male ones (Figure 3). These results were in accordance with sex ratio studies in P. falciparum that have showed that female gametocytes were generally more numerous than males. Generally, one male was observed for four females, though large fluctuations in the gametocyte sex ratio have been observed [25].
Figure 3

Effect of xanthurenic acid (XA) on gametocytaemia evaluated by flow cytometry. Experiments were performed on MACS® enriched gametocyte culture. Percentages of each population (M2 and M3) of a gametocyte culture before or after exflagellation with 100 μM xanthurenic acid (XA) were evaluated by flow cytometry (mean data of three independent experiments ± SD, the parasitaemia level varied highly between these three experiments). As no decrease of gametocytaemia was observed in M2 population after XA treatment, this group represented potentially female gametocytes. The decrease observed in the M3 population after XA treatment corresponded to mature male gametocytes exflagellation. The residual M3 population after XA treatment was mostly immature gametocytes and schizonts.

To validate the use of flow cytometry in order to evaluate the in vitro gametocytocidal activity of drugs, the efficiency of primaquine, artemisinin and chloroquine against gametocytes were compared both by the classic optical microscopy (OM) method and by FCA. After 12 days of maturation and treatment with N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (5 days before testing) to remove most of asexual stages, gametocytes obtained from chloroquine-resistant W2 strain were exposed to these established anti-malarial compounds at increasing dilutions for 48 h. The results are summarized in Table 2. As expected, artemisinin and primaquine proved to be transmission-blocking drugs (artemisinin IC50 against gametocytes was 1,000 nM by FCA and 690 nM by OM). As expected, chloroquine was inactive (IC50 > 20,000 nM by FCA and by OM). Primaquine, which had an IC50 against gametocytes of 17,600 nM by FCA and 11,200 nM by OM could be compared with gametocytaemia evaluated by OM by Sall et al (namely 9600 μM [26]). Interestingly, the results obtained with the two methods (OM and FCA) were similar for the three anti-malarial compounds. Therefore, drug effects on gametocytaemia, which are usually analysed by conventional microscopy, could clearly be assessed by the flow cytometric method.
Table 2

Conventional drugs activity against P. falciparum gametocytes.

> 20

> 20

In vitro anti-malarial activity of primaquine, artemisinin and chloroquine against P. falciparum gametocytes (W2 strain) evaluated by flow cytometry and optical microscopy (FCA: flow cytometry assay; OM: optical microscopy) (means of the data of three experiments). Values are given in μM.

FCA, in combination with magnetic enrichment, has here been shown to be useful to estimate the inhibitory concentrations of known drugs against P. falciparum gametocytes and hence should be useful to evaluate promising anti-gametocyte drugs. Moreover, HE-labelled viable parasites, which were the only labelled cells, while Giemsa staining did not allow the differentiation between living and dead parasites. Although these results were obtained on P. falciparum, they are close to those of other authors [21, 27] who have quantified GFP expression during intraerythrocytic development of transgenic A-SET/GFP P. berghei. They showed that the fluorescence intensity of gametocytes was comparable to that of late trophozoites, as showed in the present report. Using flow cytometry, other researchers have identified P. falciparum gametocytes well before they were morphologically distinguishable from asexual stage parasites, thanks to the use of the chimeric Pfs 16-GFP [28]. This FACS based assay used one of the earliest known gametocyte proteins, the Pfs16 as a reporter. However, the present method can be used for non-genetically modified parasites.

The authors thank Nancy Voissiere for technical assistance and Antoine Berry and Françoise Benoit-Vical for fruitful discussions.

Authors’ Affiliations

LPSNPR (Laboratoire Pharmacochimie des Substances Naturelles et Pharmacophores Redox), Université de Toulouse-3
EA2405 UMR3 MD-UM-UPS, Université Paul Sabatier Toulouse III

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text:
My new single “Unfinished” was released today on all platforms. Click here to listen.

I’ve been thinking about the importance of the message in my latest song. I beat myself up … a lot. I would never talk to anyone the way I speak to myself sometimes. Ask me what my best qualities are and it would take me a long time to compile a list. But ask me what I don’t like about myself and buckle up, because I can rattle off that list in 3.5 seconds flat! I know I’m not alone in that harmful habit. I believe it is time for the children of God to stop wallowing in shame and regret, and start living lives of freedom, power, and authority. We do that by taking those destructive thoughts captive, and making them obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).

In Luke 4, Jesus was hounded by the devil in the wilderness. Rather than getting in a philosophical debate with Satan, each time Jesus was tempted, He simply spoke the Word of God and kept it moving.

But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone.’  Luke 4:4 NLT

Jesus replied, “The Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the LORD your God and serve only him.’  Luke 4:8 NLT

Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the LORD your God.’  Luke 4:12 NLT

If it worked for Jesus, it works for me! Now when I hear those negative thoughts in my head, I am learning to respond with the truth of God’s Word.

• When I sin and want to pull away from God in shame, after I repent, I’ll proclaim that, “I confess my sin and know that God is faithful to forgive and cleanse me. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those that belong to Christ Jesus, like me. I am more than a conqueror, and nothing can separate me from the love of God!” (1 John 1:9, Romans 8:1, 37-39)

• When I look in the mirror and don’t like what I see, I’ll declare that, “Because I look to God, I am radiant, and not covered in shame. I have a true beauty that goes beyond outward appearance, and shines from the inside out. My heart displays an unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.” (Psalm 34:5, 1 Samuel 16:7, 1 Peter 3:3-4)

• When I feel anxious and hopeless that I’ll ever overcome the struggles that I always seem to face, I’ll speak life by saying, “I celebrate the truth that God began a good work in me, and will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. I am not a mess. I am not a failure. I am not a mistake. I’m just unfinished.” (Philippians 1:6)

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  1. Danielle Walk says:

    Amen well said. I know what you mean I often beat myself up and often I’m my worst enemy. In my head I think I’m not good enough and that I don’t deserve Gods love. I have to keep stopping myself and reminding myself that none of us are perfect. We are all sinners and that I’m a a sinner saved by Gods grace. When Jesus died on the cross he knew I would be born a sinner but yet he still died on that cross for me.

    Your music lifts my spirit so much and reminds me always of Gods love for me. I love watching your videos on instagram and seeing your smiling face it always makes my day better. May God overflow you with blessings every day.

    Your sister in Christ
    Danielle Walk

  2. Owen Ivan says:

    Wow, thanks Mandisa, u always talk to my heart with all of your songs.#unfinished. What a song.

  3. Ann swindle says:

    Just thank you.

  4. Dana Finley says:

    Beautiful uplifting positive song u are awesome thank u for being a inspiration u are such a blessing I am excited for your new album 🙂 this song will b #1 and deserves #1

  5. Bri says:

    This song came out at just the right time for me!!! 🙂

  6. Iris Lovato says:

    Sweet sister, you spoke directly to my heart. Philippians 1:6 is one of my life verses. I have a water bottle that says, “I’m available work in progress” to help me remember God is still working on me, and I’m still in the oven. You Stay Blessed & lean into HIM.

  7. Emily says:

    Mandisa, you have always been so encouraging and I admire you so much! Every song you do, I relate to. You are a wonderful example of Christ! Keep doing what your doing. God bless!

  8. Janet says:

    You inspire so many everyday with your music and message. You are one of my favorite go to artists when I need picked up. Look in that mirror and see beautiful, read these messages and know you are a vessel of hope!

  9. Beverly ware says:

    Thank you for your devotion!! You have a God given talent in spreading God’s word in your music!!!

  10. Sonshine says:

    Thank you for your raw, open to the light honest testimonials!
    Abba Father help us all to live in the light where healing is, not just for ourselves but for those who hear You talking thru our lives.

  11. Stephanie says:

    Mandisa, God called you for such a time as this. Sister, I am beyond thankful for your music! May God be glorified and may His Spirit encourage hearts with this song. #Unfinushed

    1. Stephanie says:

  12. Gidget Browder says:

    Thank you for being genuine and honest in your words and in your music. I’m going to let my 12 year old daughter read this. She is going through all the doubts 12 year olds go through. She gets frustrated because she feels short and fat when she clearly isn’t. She has a beautiful singing voice, but is so critical of herself, she won’t sing for others. She just lost her father in September due to complications during heart surgery. They were very close, he was her biggest fan, he gave her strength. I’m just praying with all my heart that she will continue to look to her Heavenly Father for guidance and that God will give me strength to help fill this void in her life. Thank you again for the positive music you give our teenage girls. The very first song my daughter sang that I knew her voice was special was your song “Where You Begin”.

  13. Kristine Noland says:

    Beautiful! I am unfinished too!

  14. Nadine Archuleta says:

    Thank you Mandisa! I needed that! God Bless!

  15. Kamera says:

    Thank you for sharing..I love your music..it has helped me through some rough times in my life….thank you for continuing to bless the world with your music..so excited to see you at MSG next week!

  16. Lisa Harness says:

  17. Donna Slazinski says:

    This is amazing. See you in Pittsburgh

  18. Debbie says:

    Love your music, favorite is Overcomer can’t wait to hear Unfinished, God bless you for all you do.

  19. Marlene says:

    Read the book. If you could see as Jesus sees. Elizabeth oates

  20. Jill says:

    Thank you Mandisa. You always seem to say exactly what I am feeling. I so appreciate your perspective because it always comes from a place of love and hope. I, like you am very hard on myself and would have a very hard time telling you what’s good about me. But God knows what’s good and amazing and loved about us both and when the evil one makes us doubt, we just have to look to God’s word to know the truth. Xoxo

  21. Margaret Kempf says:

    One of the main reasons that I love your music is because you are real in who you are and what you are going through! Thank you for being humble and brave and sharing your struggles with us. It helps to know that we are not alone in those same struggles! I pray blessings over you and I know God is bringing you through the trials to victory!!

  22. Cynthia says:

    Amen!!!!!! Thank you for this meditation. It is like a personal pep rally. HE is not done with me. HE has not given up on me and HE never will. HE loves me just the way I am. Only HE loves me that way. WOW!!! Unfinished but being molded and changed every day to a be more like HIM.

  23. Nichole says:

    You are such an inspiration Mandisa. I’m thankful that you’re continuing to make music. We need your gifts.
    I’m dealing with some fear, and I’m going to write out some promises from the Word and put them on my fridge, so I will see them instead of letting thoughts of “what could happen” live in my mind.
    God Bless!

  24. Tammy hedlund says:

    This really hit home for me. Very true words thank you!

  25. Wendy says:

    Loved reading this today as I was reminded about this exact scripture this past week as I felt as if I was under a spiritual attack and looked to the example Jesus gave us in that same situation. So thankful our Savior already has this in hand – that He has written answers in His word that carries us even 2,000 years later! Thank you for being honest and open Mandisa!

    Excited to be a part of the worship experience this weekend in Rochester 🙂 See you there!!

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Wednesday, 25 November 2009

3 Phase installed

3 Phase power has been installed today, now we can get on and test the pump :), although we can only run it for a second or two, as we have no oil in the reservoir yet, only a bit left in the pump from the manufacturers test.


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Research Papers

Dynamic Error Characterization for Non-Contact Dimensional Inspection Systems

[+] Author and Article Information
Vijay Srivatsan, Reuven Katz, Debasish Dutta

Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, 2250 GGBL, 2350 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109

Bartosz Powałka

Institute of Manufacturing Engineering, Szczecin University of Technology, al. Jednosci Narodowej 22a, 70-453 Szczecin, Poland

J. Manuf. Sci. Eng 130(5), 051003 (Aug 14, 2008) (8 pages) doi:10.1115/1.2952820 History: Received July 09, 2007; Revised March 26, 2008; Published August 14, 2008

High-precision non-contact dimensional inspection systems typically utilize high-precision motion stages to manipulate the sensor. Such motion stages are susceptible to position errors, which need to be characterized. While geometric and thermal errors can be characterized and compensated, compensation of dynamic errors is a challenging task. This paper presents a method for dynamic error characterization that is significantly different from dynamic error characterization on contact-based systems. A mathematical model to translate the vibrations on the sensor to the measurement errors on the part is presented. Through experiments on a four-axis system, a relationship between sensor motion speed, sampling frequency, and measurement accuracy is derived. The results of the experiments are used to describe the selection of optimal operating parameters for best accuracy and least uncertainty.

Copyright © 2008 by American Society of Mechanical Engineers
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Figure 3

Definition of coordinate systems

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Figure 6

Schematic showing location of accelerometers on sensor

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Figure 7

Schematic for impact tests: front view (left) and side view (right)

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Figure 8

Comparison of FRFs for sensor rigidity test

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Figure 9

Δx, Δy, and Δz versus position along the x direction for speed of 50 mm/min

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Figure 10

FRF for impact along the x-axis (left) and the y-axis (right)

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Figure 11

Effect of dynamic errors on sampling interval

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Figure 12

Sensor sampling frequency, measurement error, and sensor speed

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Figure 1

Four-axis turbine blade inspection machine

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Figure 2

Sensor path for raster scan: x and y raster scan modes

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Figure 4

Vibration induced measurement errors

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Figure 5

Experimental setup for the measurement of sensor vibrations

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Legend "hoped United would sign" £29m Premier League Star

Legend “hoped United would sign” £29m Premier League Star

Manchester United’s season has so far been fairly underwhelming. Jose Mourinho’s debut campaign at Old Trafford has shown glimpses of positivity, however, the club still sit sixth in the table after 24 rounds of matches.

New signings Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Eric Bailly both hit the ground running, improving the spine of the United team, while Henrikh Mkhitaryan has started showing the Premier League his brilliance after being frozen out at the start of the season.

Nevertheless, despite the improvements new acquisitions have brought to the Red Devils, club legend Ryan Giggs believes there was one player available in the summer who could have made a significant difference.

The man in question? N’Golo Kante. The all-action French midfielder was the revelation of the summer in 2015/16 as his combative displays helped drive Leicester to the most unlikely title triumph in English history.

A club of more considerable ilk was the next port of call for the former Caen man and the 25-year-old ended up joining Chelsea while United resigned Paul Pogba in a world record £89m deal.

“All I can say is that last season I hoped United would sign Kante, and in the end his buy-out clause looked very good value at £29million,” Giggs wrote in his Telegraph column, as per Mirror.

“Kante hunts the ball down. He is so quick to cover space, get to the ball and make the tackle.

“I have played against that kind of opponent over the years. They are a nightmare – you cannot shake them off.”

Chelsea currently sit nine points clear at the top of the table, 14 clear of United in sixth, and Kante has been instrumental in Antonio Conte’s tactical revolution at the club, forging a reliable partnership with Nemanja Matic.

The Frenchman’s energy has galvanised what was a stale midfield last season and now the likes of Diego Costa, Eden Hazard and Pedro Rodriguez are flourishing further forward as a result.

As for United, Ander Herrera’s performances have gone some way to reviving the halcyon days of their monstrous midfield, but so far, it has not been enough. Kante could have been the missing piece for Mourinho and now Chelsea are taking full advantage of the Frenchman.


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Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Art exhibition at Kinokuniya

It's been a super busy month, running a bit behind on updates...
Here's some pics from the opening night for my first major art exhibition, on till the end of this month at Kinokuniya Sydney. Prints still available!
Thanks so much to all my friends, family and supporters!
(Check out my 3D print, with red, blue glasses!)

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...


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Recent Uploads

Articles & Press

On Thursday Macmillan Audio announced that Mark Ruffalo is joining Bernie Sanders in narrating the audiobook version of Sander’s memoir Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In.

The Avengers actor and social activist was a staunch supporter of the former democratic presidential candidate and rallied for his election during his campaign, making a promotional video in which he dubbed Sanders “the future of the Democratic Party.” In an interview with MSNBC, Ruffalo also said Sanders had an “authenticity about him and about his history and about his career as a politician that speaks to me.”

The Vermont Senator’s book details his experiences on the campaign trail and shares his vision for a better America, outlining his ideas on how to achieve a more economically, environmentally and socially progressive country that creates jobs, raises wages, protects the environment and provides health care for all.

Our Revolution is released Nov. 15, one week after Election Day.

GalleryMoviesView From The Top

The gallery has been updated with over 300 HD screencaptures from View From The Top, a movie from 2003 in which Mark played the role of Ted Stewart. Take a look!

A comedy about a young woman from meager beginnings, who has high hopes for the future. Donna (Gwyneth Paltrow) dreams of becoming a first-class international flight attendant and is willing to do whatever it takes to ensure that her dreams come true. The road to success, though, is rarely a smooth flight, and as she begins her trip she encounters more turbulence than even she bargained for.

GalleryPublic Appearance

Take a look in the gallery for new photos of Mark at yesterday’s National Geographic Channel ‘Before The Flood’ Screening. He looked really great!

GalleryPublic Appearance

A couple of weeks ago Mark attended the Special Screening for Before The Flood. Take a look to HQ photos that I’ve added to the gallery!

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Questioning in Fiction

After reading Pascal Mercier’s Night Train to Lisbon I began to think more seriously about how writers use questions in fiction. Mercier’s novel has an enormous number of questions woven into the narrative that echo both the nature of its story and characters. In part that is probably because Peter Bieri (Pascal Mercier is his pen name) also conducts research and teaches philosophy in Germany.

“How are we to be happy without curiosity, without questions, doubt and arguments? Without joy in thinking?” Pascal Mercier Night Train to Lisbon

J. M. Coetzee is another writer whose fictional characters are frequent question-askers. Coetzee’s abundant use of questions in Youth, for example, is not only rhetorical, it is meant to amuse and entertain the reader. At least, that’s the way I reacted to their frequent appearance in a novel that is one of my recent favorites. They literally cascade page after page from the unnamed character’s musings.

For example, in the first three chapters (all relatively short) there are 16, 16, and 19 questions respectively. Each one or each sequence generally takes the following form:

“What are his true thoughts anyway? Some days he feels happy, even privileged, to be living with a beautiful woman…Other days he feels differently. Is the truth the happiness, the unhappiness, or the average of the two?

Is that what one has to do to become a professor of English: read the established authors and write a lecture on each? How many years of one’s life does that eat up? What does it do to one’s spirit?

If one is to be an artist, must one love women indiscriminately? Does an artist’s life entail sleeping with anyone and everyone, in the name of life? If one is finicky about sex is one rejecting life?
” J. M. Coetzee Youth

While novels embedded with questions are bound to appeal to me, questioning is not a critical feature of those I like most. I may enjoy that style of writing and tend to think that way myself, but it probably plays little if any role in my reading preferences.

Henry Perowne, the central character in Ian McEwan’s Saturday, a novel that is among my recent favorites, is depicted as a deeply reflective man who spends a good part of that day at least, wondering about a wide range of topics. But his reflections are rarely formulated as questions.

“Questions, ordinary inquisitiveness did not suit her at all. She never insisted on the answer to a question. She might ask once, and if there was no reply, then she would match the silence. There was a pleasing depth to her silence.”
Ian McEwan The Child in Time

It would be interesting to compare writers on this dimension. Do some employ questioning more than others and if so, what might be responsible for their practice? Do they come from a particular tradition or are they, like Peter Bieri, involved in a discipline where questioning is a common practice? Regardless, it reflects a style of writing that is one of probing and wrestling with ideas.

“She communicates largely by asking questions, not personal questions about his life or past history but questions about his opinions on topics ranging from the weather to the state of the world.” Paul Auster Sunset Park


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NASA Ramping Up ‘Cliff-Bots’ To Explore Mars

While it may be some time before humans set foot on Mars, NASA’s near-term plans to explore the Red Planet are moving from the blackboards of the laboratory to the blackness of space. With a history of productive lander missions, two healthy spacecraft currently in Mars orbit and the unqualified success of the Mars Pathfinder mission, it would be easy for NASA to just continue with more of the same. Future Mars orbiters, landers and rovers are in development, but NASA is also working on the next generation of hardware and software solutions for more advanced unmanned exploration. NASA is currently investigating innovative designs such as Snakebots, which move across desert terrain like a sidewinder snake, and Frogbots, which can propel themselves with a hopping motion.


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 Since David Byrne is reuniting with producer Brian Eno (Talking heads). I'll highlight a cool Al green cover done by the peculiar group in 1982  Take me to the river...
Speaking of Earthquakes... - Thursday, July 31st 2008 8:21 PM
On August 15, 2007 Peru and surrounding ares were hit with a earthquake measuring 8.0 on the moment magnitude scale.Seventeen people died when a church in the city of Ica...
Afro Ninja has a movie coming out. - Thursday, July 31st 2008 10:23 AM
Ok, Forget about Batman. Ironman wont do. Here comes Afro Ninja! The You tube sensation is coming to the large screen. I will definitely download, I mean go see this flick....
Is he tryng to lose? - Wednesday, July 30th 2008 10:03 PM
John Mccain put this controversial Anti-Obama Ad out Tuesday. If you ask me, It's like throwing a Hail mary in the 1st Quarter.
"W" Trailer - Wednesday, July 30th 2008 11:39 AM
The new Oliver Stone film "W", about the life of George W. Bush has a trailer. I don't think this guy Josh Brolin looks anything like him. He looks ridiculous in that Yale...
Halle Berry wearing Barack Obama shirt - Wednesday, July 30th 2008 11:32 AM
Who knew
Judge Judy survives Quake of 08 - Wednesday, July 30th 2008 7:05 AM
Slam heard round the world - Tuesday, July 29th 2008 4:40 PM
Smoking gun
House of representatives just may pass bill to apologize for slavery - Tuesday, July 29th 2008 4:16 PM
The U.S house of representatives is poised to pass a bill to apologize for slavery. The House would also acknowledge the "injustice, cruelty, brutality and inhumanity of slavery...
NAS ON COLBERT REPORT - Friday, July 25th 2008 2:05 PM
Barack note left on Jerusalem’s Western wall - Friday, July 25th 2008 1:59 PM
it reads: "Lord—Protect my family and me, Forgive me my sins, and help me guard against pride and despair. Give me the wisdom to do what is right and just. And make me an...
FRIDAYS BLAST FROM THE PAST Arrested Development -Tennessee - Friday, July 25th 2008 1:50 PM
The year was 1992. I was a young clubbin' lad in the military. (i know just dated myself) but when this record came on there was no one sitting down. This was the JAM everyone...
NAS confronts Fox news - Wednesday, July 23rd 2008 8:08 PM
Nas along with Moveon.org gathered a petition of 600,000 signatures to protest against Fox news' attacks against Barack Obama and African Americans... And his new album is #1,...
Me Puggle Obama! - Tuesday, July 22nd 2008 9:38 PM
Obama or "bama" is a 3 1/2 month old Pug and beagle mix and is a little firecracker.
Barack leading in Polls - Wednesday, July 16th 2008 11:24 AM
New Reuters/Zogby national survey (July 9-13; 1,039 LV, MoE +/- 3.1%) shows Obama with a seven point lead over McCain, 47-40. That's a slight improvement from the five point...
Obama at NAACP convention - Wednesday, July 16th 2008 9:51 AM
Gentelman Swag - Wednesday, July 16th 2008 9:34 AM
The video for "Everybody" by Fonzworth Bently  featuring Kanye, Sa - Ra (i dunno either) and my dude Andre 3000. This joint has a suprising smooth funk groove that...
The Facebooker who friended Obama - Sunday, July 6th 2008 8:45 PM
Story with former co founder Chris Hugheswho now works for the Obama Campaign.
Barack Da Vote - Keith From Up Da Block - Tuesday, July 1st 2008 2:39 PM
Check out this B-boy spoof of the presidential race between the Republican Crew and the Democats. Kinda nice.
JAY-Z COVERS OASIS - Monday, June 30th 2008 10:15 AM
Glastonbury is predominately rock and Oasis didn't take it to lightly that they booked Jay-z because he is a hip-hop act..so he responded by DOING this song
UGLY REARS ITS HEAD IN ORLANDO - Monday, June 30th 2008 9:52 AM
Vandals spray painted hateful things about Obama on city cars in Orlando but spelled his name wrong.Who knew
Over the Weeekend...Al Green at the Rochester Jazz Festival - Monday, June 23rd 2008 3:13 PM
Dave Chappelle sighting. - Monday, June 23rd 2008 2:33 PM
In LA with Chris tucker. Thats got to be some funny s#$t there talkin about.Who knew
Snoop New Country Flick - Monday, June 16th 2008 10:20 AM


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10 Adobe Air Apps Worth A Look

Adobe AIR (short for "Adobe Integrated Runtime") is changing how we interact with certain parts of the web by bringing it directly to our desktops. There's a little bit of everything for everyone in the initial release of applications, so we've gathered together a sampling of 10 apps to give you a taste of what the service has to offer.

Be sure to check out our early selection of applications back in the day when AIR was still called Apollo.

    AOL Top 100 Videos

AOL Top 100 Videos - Watch the top 100 videos from AOL's music section, separated by genre or, if you prefer, simply by which ones have received the most plays.

Chorducopia - The perfect accessory to our 11 Resources For Learning Guitar On The Web list, look up guitar chords anytime in an easy list or carousel format. You can try a free demo, and a license for $34.99.

Color Browser - A handy tool for designers to set up color schemes for their various projects. Pick the colors, save them, go back to reference what you've one in the past and what you're currently working on.

Google Analytics - The popular Google web statistics tool comes to your desktop and allows for some things to be done a tad quicker than in the web interface, such as changing the dates of the range, and opening various reports in tabs.

Klok - Considering how many freelance designers, musicians and more we have that read this site, this seems like the perfect tool for a lot of our readers. You can keep your projects in a tree on the left, and just drag them to the calendar as you work on them, setting them in 15 minute increments. You can then generate reports of how much time was worked for each job.

MyStylez.com - An editor for your MySpace profile that lets you control all aspects of your page, and also allows you to edit while offline, save your work, and use it when your next online.

NetBook - A combination ebook/audio book reader that gives you access to the Project Gutenberg Library, and allows you to read or listen to them while off line.

StockQ - Get streaming stock prices delivered to your desktop with a refresh rate you can set for 1 second to 5 minutes, as well as manage multiple portfolios.

Twhirl - As we have said before around Mashable, we all love Twitter, but there is nothing more annoying then refreshing your friend's timeline every few minutes to see what's new. Twhirl delivers your latest tweets directly to your desktop, giving you a pop-up and sound to let you know you have new ones. It will also allow for multiple account sign-ons if you have more than one account.

WebKut - A web site capture tool that lets you open a web page and capture the entire page, the current view, or just a selection.


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DIY Mason Jar Bathroom Set

Enhance your bathroom décor with a quaint mason jar bathroom set that adds a hint of charm to the otherwise plain surroundings. Since the commercial ones are pricey, it would be the best option to go the DIY way for a lively bathroom space customized to fit your aesthetics. Add to it, the immense satisfaction you get after finishing a homemade project.

Mason Jar Bathroom Set

Mason Jar Bathroom Set

How to Make a Mason Jar Bathroom Set

Always being a firm believer in the great capacity of mason jars to boost home décor, I designed my mason jar bathroom set after chancing upon a wonderful post in WILD WHISPER.

What You Will Need

  • 2 pint size mason jars
  • 1 quart size mason jar
  • 1 small jelly jar
  • Mason jar rings to fit the above jars
  • 1 tube of matte top coat decoupage (choose a waterproof and dishwasher safe brand)
  • 1 tube of craft paint
  • 1 flat paintbrush
  • Some newspapers

First, clean all the jars with soap and water and let them dry completely before starting with the painting.

  1. Take the jars one by one and give them 1 coat of craft paint over the newspapers that have been spread on a table. Ensure that you always paint in a single direction.
Mason Jar Bathroom Set Picture 1

Mason Jar Bathroom Set Picture 1

  1. Set them aside for 10-15 minutes until they dry completely.
Mason Jar Bathroom Set Picture 2

Mason Jar Bathroom Set Picture 2

  1. Similarly, paint a second and a third coat allowing the drying interval as mentioned above.
  2. Pour a little of the top coat over the newspaper and start painting it on the jars. You should cover the entire painted area with it.
  3. After finishing with 1 layer on all the jars set them aside for drying that usually takes 2-3 hours.
  4. Repeat applying the top coat layer 2 more times allowing the necessary drying intervals.
  5. Once you are done, you need to let the jars sit for around 4-5 days before putting them in your bathroom.
  6. Screw the rims on the jars and you are ready.

I put artificial flowers in the biggest jar and used the pint-sized jars for the toothbrushes and makeup brushes. Q-tips suit the tiny jelly jar.

Mason Jar Bathroom Set Picture 3

Mason Jar Bathroom Set Picture 3

Some Other Fun Ideas to Try

You can use another pint-sized mason jar for storing liquid soap. In that case, arrange for a soap dispenser lid that fits the jar. For a bathroom caddy, choose the mason jar sizes accordingly.

If you happen to own a vintage mason jar, housing your tissue in it would be a cool idea. In fact, it would be good to take various sizes of mason jars and place them in decreasing order of their heights. Painting in bright red or blue gives an excellent pop of color that attracts sleepy kids to visit them first thing in the morning.

DIY Mason Jar Bathroom Set

DIY Mason Jar Bathroom Set

Have a great time with the easy steps of creating the bathroom set. Do let me know about your experience and the compliments you received. Well for me, whenever my in-laws or my friends come for a stay, they applaud me on my creativity on noticing this, always forgetting that they had already done so on their earlier visit.