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Aldous Huxley Essay

Custom Student Mr. Teacher ENG 1001-04 31 May 2016

Aldous Huxley

Aldous Huxley captures the effect of the application of scientific methods to procedures in the modern American society to a more substantial degree than ever, recognized by readers of his novel, Brave New World. This portrays a world centered around scientific progress and control. Huxley brings to light the extremity of influence given to Americans by revolutionary science.

In an effort to forever improve, society has conformed to many ways of fixing imperfections. From surgeries and medications for honest sicklings to injections for greedy, pretentious abusers, people as a whole have transformed from the good ole days to the fast-paced, materialistic world. While discoveries in science are often for the benefit of society, is it possible that these newfound treasures are actually a preface for rot and ruin?

Since most little girls could remember, the only way it seemed plausible to become successful was by living in the body of Cinderella or Barbie or Miss America. As they began to mature, nothing changed. The image remained as a beautiful bag of bones when media and celebrities were constantly thrown in their face. In the past, if they didn’t have “the look”, they were left hopeless and self-conscious. Thankfully, some idiot decided they would abuse the power of nature and science by providing these girls with an answer to their prayers.

Plastic Surgery! What they didn’t account for was the impact. Now, not only were the glamorous allowed to have the image, everyone was-again, reducing the confidence in the female population and encouraging a new friend, bullying. Moreover, it is affecting the mental health of children in this conceited society. Surveys and recent research show that “ Teens view plastic surgery as a way to fit in and look acceptable to friends and peers” (Plastic Surgery).

How is it that society has allowed this damage to take place? The original intentions of these different types of surgeries were honest. Science isn’t the one to be held responsible, rather the insecurities of certain

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art x Sublime Stitching

Do you know how textile pattern publishing began? Did you ever imagine that there were pattern booklets for inspiration and templates dating as far back as 16th century Europe? I didn't.

When The Metropolitan Museum of Art asked me to design an embroidery kit based on their significant collection of these very early pattern books (which would also include maxims on how to live a proper and good life), I was in heaven. The Met's significant collection of these books had not been publicly exhibited since 1938.

I am thrilled to announce that our embroidery kit, designed exclusively for their exhibition, Fashion and Virtue, is now available online!

FLORA, FAUNA & FANTASY • Designs from the Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Going through the archives, tasked with paring my choices down to just one sheet was no easy feat. so, I went with my very favorites: fantastical animals, mysterious flowers and beautiful borders.

The exhibition has now completed its run, but I urge you to read all about Fashion and Virtue here.

Get the patterns:

FLORA, FAUNA & FANTASY • Designs from the Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

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  • Netochka on

    I know i am late to the party, and i see the kits are sold out on the MET site, but any chance that you will be replicating these kits? If not, can you recall which floss sets were enclosed? They are truly lovely.

  • Edee Surrell on

    How absolutely thrilling! I am so happy for you!!

  • Jenny / Sublime Stitching on

    Thank you SO much Elizabeth! xo

  • Elizabeth on

    I was at the Met (and the Cloisters) last month and saw your kit – I just about fell over when I saw it! I’m so happy for your success!

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George Marcotte

Digital Go-to-Market Lead, UK & Ireland, Accenture

George co-leads Accenture’s digital practice for the UK and Ireland. He is an expert in linking strategy and operational execution through improved digital capabilities including interactive, analytics and mobility. George is deeply experienced at helping clients structure and deploy transformational digital programmes to improve business results. His thought leadership contributions include contributions to MIT Sloan Management Review. Originally from Boston he moved to London 4 years ago to take on his current role and outside of work enjoys finding new spots across Europe to visit.


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  1. On a computer signed into your account, go to your Video Manager.
  2. Find the video you want to add cards to and select Edit.
  3. In the tab bar at the top, select Cards.
  4. Select Add card and choose what type of card you want. Channel cards

    Link to a channel that you'd like to call out to your viewers. For example, you can use this type of card to thank the channel for their contribution to your video or for a general recommendation.

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    Creators in the United States who want to fundraise for a U.S. nonprofit organization can raise funds by putting YouTube donation cards on their videos.

    Follow these instructions to add donation cards on your videos so that viewers can make donations directly to a U.S. nonprofit organization of your choosing.

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Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee

Ninefox Gambit is one of the rare science fiction novels that feels like it takes place in the future – a feat that is both fascinating and frustrating for a reader. But unlike so many mind numbing tech-heavy reads in this genre, at heart this is a book about emotion: fear, loss, doubt, exultation, drive, and most especially empathy. It makes for a heady – if somewhat confusing – mix.

Story: Cheris is an officer who has made herself somewhat of an apostate in a ‘calendrical driven’ military society. Unsuited for her chosen caste, she makes a gamble: help her military defeat heretics who have taken over a military base to get back into good graces. To do so, she must take on the contained essence of a genius long-dead general; one whose insanity caused the deaths of millions of his people. In doing so, she will have to find a way to maintain her own mental stability, learn to sacrifice those who trust her, while also coming to understand some hard-to-accept truths about herself and her world.

The book is fairly lean – the writing tight and focused on character development rather than endless discussions of the world or technology. As a result, it is easy to become very confused until there are enough clues given to begin to figure things out. This approach authenticates the setting by not overexplaining it; yet it also drives home that this is a book about the characters and not the sci fi.

As to the accessibility of the book to non-dedicated hard sci fi fans, those daunted by speculative fiction may at first be frustrated. Certainly, Ninefox Gambit is more CJ Cherryh than it is Jack Campbell. In fact, had I not checked the author first, I would have definitely attributed it to Cherryh. But this is also leaner than one of her books and it all begins to make sense the more one progresses in the story. Keeping the page count low helps to make this enjoyable rather than a chore to read.

Most of the book is Cheris’ struggle with the disgraced General Jedao. The ending of the book will likely come as no surprise considering this is a trilogy and clearly things are never going to be as straightforward as they seem. But this first foray into a fascinating world so imaginatively drawn is an extremely accomplished effort. It’s a book deserving of any award in the genre. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

This entry was posted in Book Reviews, sci fi, sci-fi, science fiction. Bookmark the permalink.

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Our Wellesley Season & Bananas Foster

I lived near San Francisco for a couple of years and found the weather a bit disconcerting. As far as I could tell, there were no seasons. Every day was like a sunny day in May, not too hot and with no humidity to speak off. (My curly locks were remarkably well behaved.) My friend Julie is a California native. She insists that it takes a little time to adjust to her home State’s subtle seasonal changes. I admit I never gave it a chance. As soon as I could, I fled the west coast and headed home to New England. There is nothing subtle about New England’s seasons. (My curly locks agree and frequently misbehave).

We are now in what my mother used to call Our Wellesley Season. That’s what she called April and May when we were kids. It sounds a little fancy like we had one of those big rambling cottages in the country and an elegant mansion in the suburbs. In reality we had a little brown house in the New Hampshire woods and a nice but hardly Trump-like home in the suburbs of Boston.

Massachusetts was where we went to school and worked. New Hampshire was where we played. We spent as much time as we possibly could there. The end of the school year bell was still ringing when our station wagon hit the road and headed north to Pleasant Lake. When school started again in September we barely made it back for homeroom the first day. Throughout the fall and winter, all of our weekends and vacations were spent enjoying New Hampshire’s hills.

But here’s our guilty confession. As much as we all loved it, every spring we deserted the Granite State. Forget for better or worse. Fickle flatlanders, we kept our distance when April showers and melting snow turned the hills and fields into a muddy mess and the lake was cold and gray. It’s easy to love New Hampshire when it’s bright green, brilliant red and gold or sparkling white with snow. Even this year, when winter was remarkably short and mild, it’s clear why we stayed away. Spring is very slow in coming. Except for a few brave clumps of bright purple crocuses, everywhere you look, it’s a drab gray or brown.

That’s not to say that Boston’s suburbs were clear and sunny. April showers were commonplace but, unlike New Hampshire, April snowstorms were few and far between. I remember more than a few boring, rainy Saturday afternoons. However, there was a movie theatre in town, the television got more than one fuzzy station and the ice cream parlor was open year-round. Suburban roads were paved and our driveway was not lost in a sea of mud. Long before the snow banks melted in front of our little brown house in the woods, our garden in Wellesley was filled with cheery daffodils and tulips. Furthermore, marauding deer did not plow through those blooms like a pack of starving tourists at an all-you-can-eat Atlantic City buffet.

Now that I live in New Hampshire year-round, I have no Wellesley to escape to during Wellesley Season. (I did spend a few hours in Manchester yesterday but I don’t think that counts.) Truth be told, I don’t miss suburbia. However, a trip to the big city (any big city will do but preferably someplace warm) or a tropical island might be nice right about now!

Bon appétit!

Bananas Foster

If someplace warm isn’t in your travel plans this spring, a traditional New Orleans dessert will cheer you up after one too many gray days. Enjoy!
Serves 4
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 bananas, peeled and cut on the diagonal in 1/2-inch slices
1/4 cup dark rum
Vanilla ice cream
Chopped pecans, toasted

Melt the butter in a heavy skillet over low heat. Add the brown sugar, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and stir until the sugar dissolves. Raise the heat to medium-high and bring to a simmer. Add the bananas and cook for 2-3 minutes, carefully spooning the sauce over the bananas.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the rum. Ignite the rum, return the pan to the heat and continue cooking, swirling the sauce, until flame dies out and the sauce is syrupy, 1-3 minutes.

To serve: scoop vanilla cream into individual dessert bowls. Gently spoon the warm bananas and sauce over and around the ice cream, garnish with toasted pecans and serve immediately.

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One Year Ago – Tapenade
Two Year Ago – Lavender Infused White Chocolate Crème
Three Years Ago – Lemon Tart
Or Click Here! for a complete list of and links to all the recipes on this blog!

What do you do in early spring? Flee south or grin (or not) and bear it? I’d love to hear from you! Let’s get a conversation going. To make a comment, just click on Comments below. I’d be delighted to add you to the growing list of blog subscribers. To subscribe: just scroll back up, fill in your email address and click on the Sign Me Up button. You’ll get an email asking you to confirm your subscription … confirm and you will automatically receive a new story and recipe every week.

Want more? Click here for lots more to read, see & cook! In addition, I hope that you will take a minute to learn about my philanthropic project Eat Well-Do Good. © Susan W. Nye, 2012

4 thoughts on “Our Wellesley Season & Bananas Foster

  1. It amazes me how many people manage to perpetuate the myth that California has no seasons. First of all, there are many different climates in California, mountain, desert, coastal and valley climates. In the San Francisco Bay Area where I was born we have fog season (May, June, July and early August), Indian summer (late August, September through mid October), rainy season (typically late November through March). Spring starts in February. Summer is cold. Winter is wet, except in drought years. The best weather is in the fall. And only an East Coast person would think it is not humid here — when I go to a truly dry climate — like New Mexico — my wavy hair goes stick straight.

    • S. – My friend Julie definitely agrees with you! I lived south of San Francisco in Belmont. It was out of the fog and pretty temperate year round. Perhaps if I had stayed longer, I would have eventually got it! Thanks for tolerating this East Coast person’s sweeping statements. Take care – S.

  2. Good luck on the writing class! Am sure you’ll have them all charmed on the first day. After a beautiful, sunny morning where B rode his bike into the office in Geneva, it is now absolutely pouring down with rain, windy and cold and all of my tulips, daffodils and the tree blossoms are taking a real beating. Hmmph. So much for lovely Spring weather. But the water is welcome after the long dry winter (odd, but it was too cold to rain). And hopefully the lawn will have a chance to recover from the scarcifying job. At least we’re cozy in the house. Let me know how the course went today when you get a chance! xxoo J

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Book review White water and Colored water.

In both stories they did something they were not supposed to do.Setting : small town a water fountain .They both were in the past.They both were when segregation was going on . In both stories they try to drink water.

In the book white water there is a little boy wants to drink white water

in the book colored water 2 little white kids want to drink colored water.

Setting : in white water bus depot  A Tasted  of colored water city hall.

Theme: A taste of colored water the theme is its okay to be different and in the story white water the theme is don't give up.

By: Kennedy Steward and Meerub Amir Saverio

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Ancestral Lineage Tarot Spread

This is a spread I did on the last New Moon, coinciding with Samhain and also Day of the Dead. I considered this to be an auspicious time to honour my ancestors, but also to ask the cards for a message, or information, on my ancestral lineage.

There are many different ways of doing such a spread, and equally different ways of asking questions – these variables are up to each practitioner to choose and alter as they see fit. You might also want to think what the word “ancestor” means to you. When I did this spread, I wasn’t just thinking about family relatives I’ve known that have passed away – I was also thinking about those that I never met, such as great great grand-parents, and their parents before that, and their parents before that, and on and on along the karmic thread. Their names I’ll never know, yet collectively they hold a rich body of knowledge and wisdom that I wish to both honour and learn from.

Here is the 10 card spread below:

Cards 1, 2 and 3: What is my ancestral lineage?
Cards 4, 5 and 6: What gifts do my ancestors offer?
Cards 7, 8 and 9: What lessons do they need me to learn?
Card 10: What do they help me to develop and become in this lifetime?

dscn2114Naturally one may adapt this any way they see fit. When I asked the first question, What is my ancestral lineage, my intent was solely to distil the core essence of the main life lessons or karmic energy handed down over the bloodline. Here is what I received, using the Haindl Tarot:

Cards 1, 2 and 3: What is my ancestral lineage?

Strength – The Emperor – The Tower

Whoa, 3 majors, no big deal (deep breaths). The keywords here are strength, power, and breakthrough. Haindl’s version of the Strength card in particular is powerful and arresting: the woman in this card has strength over the snake, symbolic of one’s kundalini energy but also shamanic, transformative power. More than just having strength over it, to me she raises it as if to honour this power, and use it in a ritual.

Then there is the Emperor, speaking of authority. Both the woman in Strength, and the Emperor are naked: they are part of nature, not dominating it.

The Tower, the last card, is the only one in the trio showing a man-made structure falling apart. The Tower is freedom and illumination at the same time, breaking the rules and gaining insights, experiencing a release from that which imprisons us in our own, man-made world. So far, so good.

Cards 4, 5 and 6: What gifts do my ancestors offer?

2 of Cups (Love) – Isis (Princess of Swords) – 2 of Swords (Peace)

This was a lovely and supportive 3 card spread. I literally felt my ancestors say, we are here for you, with you. Call upon us when you need to feel loved, when you need peace. Number 2 showing up twice, symmetrically on either side of Isis, speaks of relationship: one – to – one.

Isis (the equivalent of Knight of Swords in the more traditional RWS deck) is associated with, among other things, the after-life, and in one way, this card stands for my ancestors, but in another way, it also stands for the gift of such knowledge offered by them, alongside that of wisdom and prophecy.

Cards 7, 8 and 9: What lessons do they need me to learn?

7 of Cups (Illusions of Success) – The Devil – 9 of Wands (Power)

Sheesh, they don’t mince their words, do they?! This was basically a warning to not take my power and misuse it, but also to not get caught up in the ego-driven quest for power and self-importance, particularly when working in the world of magic. Because it is so, so magnetic, and utterly irresistible at times, and it a world where, should one misuse their power, they can get lost and lose themselves eternally in the fog.

But equally, and paradoxically, it is also about knowing my own power, and my fears, and channelling that in a healthy way. Having the ability to separate what is real from what is not can be a challenge when working in the realm of magic, for, as someone noted, the universe speaks in a symbolic language, but not everything that happens is symbolic. Knowing the difference between the two is what separates the shaman from the insane.

Finally let me just say that having the Devil turn out in this line, made me smile just a little. For as I’ve written before, I am currently in a Devil year (ending in December), and as such I’ve been slowly learning a bit about this much misunderstood energy, for lack of a better word.

Card 10: What do they help me to develop and become in this lifetime?

Queen of Stones (Spider Woman)

Finally, here I am 🙂 I had a mixed reaction when I saw this card. Mainly, I was elated, for I felt it an honour to have such a strong shamanic woman as a model to develop and grow into. I also felt a tad intimidated, and the usual doubts crept up. On the whole though, out of all the mature (Queen) cards, I find her exceptionally magnetic, intensely powerful, and equally formidable. This is the equivalent of the Queen of Pentacles in the traditional RWS deck, and is thus contains a very pragmatic, down-to-earth energy. This is someone rooted in the real world, yet aware of the other dimensions symbolised in the labyrinth.

dscn2116It would be an understatement to say that this spread left me a little speechless, albeit in a good way.  There are many more layers in this spread than what I’ve written about in this short post, I feel. I am still processing it, I guess 🙂

I’d love to read if anyone else tries this and something similar, and what their experiences are. Many blessings and wishing everyone a magical week ahead,

Heart’s desire tarot spread

Firstly, I think I need to reconsider my blog’s title, given that coffee is the primary beverage of choice around here these days. A cup of tea is rarely seen, though the summer heat is partly to blame for this too.

So, a delectable cup of flat white by my side, I did a quick 3 card spread. This is a spread I do when I’m not sure about what I really want – which might not make sense, but sometimes, it is not clear; perhaps because of conflicting desires, or perhaps because there are too many choices; perhaps you are not sure what should take precedence. Anyhow, it happens.

Personally, this came about because I wanted to perform a magic ritual, yet had difficulty wording, expressing exactly what it was I wanted to create. So, out came the Halloween Tarot, and this is what I got:

Halloween Tarot 10 of Ghosts (Cups) – 9 of Ghosts (Cups) – The Hermit

I am a huge fan of this deck – it is so well executed and keeps things light hearted. I’ve used it often, though obviously closer to Halloween time might be a more suitable timing – however, it really works so well all the time that I keep using it throughout the year anyway.

So, in an instant, the answer is pretty clear really. The first card is all about family happiness and contentment. A card of good times, a card of emotional fulfilment – in our increasingly turbulent world, to have this is a real blessing. Something to acknowledge, and certainly not take for granted.

The third card, The Hermit, cracked me up: I just want oodles of time to myself so I can “tinker” in my tarot room – study, shuffle cards, design rituals, perform rituals, explore astrology charts and generally envelop myself in the craft of natural magic. There’s even a green frog in this card – got this too (though she sits on the outside of my window and croaks away at the most inappropriate times, like when I’m lighting the incense all ceremonial and focused)….

And the middle card? There I am, happy that my heart’s desires are, really, already present in my world. Well, I could do with a bit more personal time, but honestly, this is a card of wishes coming true. It’s a card that pretty much said to me, What more could you want?!

Over the next few blog posts I shall start writing about my journey through natural magic and what I am learning so far.

Wishing everyone a blessed weekend,

Using tarot for dream interpretation

The other night I had an odd dream. Now, a lot of dreams are odd and strange and sometimes there is no meaning behind them – you’re just wondering through a surreal landscape and everything is bizarre to say the least.

Othertimes, however, the dream has a meaning. You may be dreaming of a traumatic experience as a means to process what has happened, or it could just be haunting you until you resolve the situation – say by acceptance, or forgiveness, healing work, etc. Or it could be that the dream has a symbolic nature, a message from your subconscious, and you need to figure out what it’s really all about.

Salvador Dali, ‘Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening’

In cases where your dream is symbolic in nature, and you want to find out more about it, or you can’t even figure out where to start, tarot can be of great help.

Quite simply, you can draw just one card and ask any one of the following:
– What is this dream about?
– What is the meaning of this dream?
– What aspect of myself shows up in this dream?

etc etc. Really, it’s up to you – and also if you don’t think one card is enough, then draw 3 cards for your question, or alternatively, create a custom spread as I did further below.

So back to my odd dream. It goes something like this:

I am walking down the street, and someone starts shooting at me from an upper story window. I don’t recall anyone else being in my dream, other than me and the shooter. However, I cannot see who the shooter is. When I look up, I can see the window, it is open, it is dark inside the room, and I know someone is there, shooting at me. I dodge the bullets, and that’s as far as I got.

To find out a little bit more about this dream, I did a simple four card spread as follows:

  1. Who was the shooter?
  2. Why was he/she shooting at me?
  3. What was this dream about?
  4. What is the overall meaning of this dream?

This is the answer I received using the Sharman-Caselli deck:

Sharman-Caselli tarot deck
Sharman-Caselli tarot deck

1) Who was the shooter?

Queen of Pentacles
Sharman-Caselli tarot

Queen of Pentacles – someone with the qualities of this card, which has the element of Earth – thus someone fairly grounded, pragmatic, business savvy, financially secure; this does not necessarily mean a woman, for it could be a man with the qualities described above. It definitely indicates someone I know. Could this be me (as in, self-sabotage) – I don’t think so, as I relate with the Queen of Wands as an archetype.

2) Why was he/she shooting at me?

Knight of Swords
Sharman-Caselli tarot

Knight of Swords – clearly, this is a card of attack. This is the most volatile of all the Knights in tarot, and there’s no stopping him. This person was definitely angry at me and wanted me out.

3) What was this dream about?

The Tower Sharman-Caselli tarot
The Tower
Sharman-Caselli tarot

The Tower – whoa, ok so this is one card that depicts fairly well what it would feel like to have such an experience – the whole scene is unsettling, sudden and abrupt. Here we have two people falling out of their man-made tower – so it’s about the disintegration of a relationship/friendship, about breaking apart (at least, that’s how it feels to me).

4) What is the overall meaning of this dream?

5 of Swords
Sharman-Caselli tarot

5 of Swords – traditionally known as the card of ‘defeat’. I feel in this instance it is more than just that. It’s about someone having the upper hand, the vantage point (the shooter) and using this to try and undermine me. It is also a card where one person has won, but they have done so at any cost, often sacrificing their integrity in the process. This is a card of conflict, where the outcome is less than favourable – for all involved, even though one person looks like they are the winner, in reality it is a shallow victory that does not bring any satisfaction or rewards long-term.
The last card under the deck was the 8 of Swords, which supports the

Sharman-Caselli tarot

energy of the dream in which I had something happen to me, over which I had no control, and the only thing I could do is to run and seek shelter. The 8 of Swords appears in readings where things are happening to you that you cannot really control, and often you are limited (bound) by circumstances beyond your control.

Dancing with the Devil : Part 1

New Mythic Tarot
New Mythic Tarot

Ouch. The Devil has started to make an appearance, and I am not ready. I am not prepared for this, but he’s here, for the Devil is my birthday year card* for approximately the next 12 months.

*The birthday year card is obtained by adding up your birth day, month and the current year of your birthday, and reducing this down to a number between 0 and 21, corresponding to the Major Arcana. So if your birthday is say, 17 November 1950, your current birthday year card would be 1+7+1+1+2+0+1+5 = 18 = The Moon. This would apply from 17 November 2015 through to 16 November 2016, however I have read, and also found from personal experience, that the energy of this card can be felt a couple of months beforehand.

Along with Death, this is (unfortunately) one misunderstood and feared card – and I have to admit, despite all that I know about the Devil, I am yet to fully explore and be comfortable with this energy. So I decided to do a series of posts on this card, partly to share my experiences, partly for fun (which the Devil certainly likes), and partly to expand my own knowledge on this card.

To start with, I have done Rachel Pollack’s Devil Reading from her wonderful and substantial book, Tarot Wisdom.

Devil spread
Excerpt from Tarot Wisdom by Rachel Pollack

Using the MAAT tarot, I shuffled, cut, and proceeded:

. What have I lost? Queen of Cups

Queen of Cups from the MAAT Tarot by Julie Cuccia-Watts
Queen of Cups from the MAAT Tarot by Julie Cuccia-Watts

This Queen has a softer, gentler energy to her. She is actually a favourite of mine in this deck, largely due to the warm background and the overall calm energy I get from this card. This is the first time that I have noticed she appears to be holding onto her stomach the way pregnant women often do – and I regret not getting the book that accompanies this deck to check whether this is the case.

To be honest, when I saw this, my first gut reaction was that this is a part of myself that I have lost – in particular, before I became a mother. There is nothing wrong with this, of course, and while I am still, essentially me, at the same time, I am no longer who I was a year ago, or even 5 months ago.

2. What blocks me from returning? Ace of Swords

Ace of Swords MAAT Tarot
Ace of Swords
MAAT Tarot

The Ace of Swords: a new state of mind, a new beginning. There is something so finite and decisive about this Ace – the immovable, inflexible steel; the sharp edges. In any case, the blockage appears mental ( swords) rather than physical or emotional.

Even if I tried, I could not go back to the person I was before – mind-wise, body-wise, emotionally-wise.

3. What illusory chains hold me? The Sun

This is one of the most striking and alternative depictions of the Sun card that I have seen – the

The Sun  MAAT Tarot
The Sun
MAAT Tarot

moment of creation, both on a purely biological level, and yet simultaneously, on a magical level. Sure, science can explain it all ad infinitum, but really, trying to grasp the magnificence of the miracle taking place is at times beyond my human brain.

When I saw this card, I thought of both unity and separation. Now this, as I will write about later, is one of the core aspects of the Devil meaning, and this card reminds me that I can get caught up in such illusions as much as anyone else, and it takes sustained effort (via meditation, yoga, gardening, nature walks and anything that connects me to the greater whole) to not allow such illusions to permeate my life fully.

There is still another answer in this card – that of competition. The idea that we are all against each other and life is nothing but struggle is something that was imprinted on me from childhood. It is a false idea stemming from deeply rooted fears, unfortunately far too prevalent these days. Thankfully, I have learned this is not the case, but having this card come up reminds me of the insidious nature of such fears, and the possibility that they are still present within me. As the question states though, they are illusory, and there is no need to give them any weight or time. Competition surely has its place in this world, in a way that is healthy, rather than destructive and manipulative.

4. What reality holds me? Strength

Nice. In this deck, I see this card not just about personal strength, but also

Strength MAAT Tarot

about the ability to weave magic into my life. For magic – creating, playing, drawing down this energy – is as real to me as the sky, the stars, the earth.

I see that the creator has assigned this card the Full Moon Cycle of Gemini – interestingly, I was born on a Full Moon in Gemini, so there you go.

5. How can I free myself? The Fool

I love how Tarot can be so literal sometimes. For the Fool, first and

The Fool
The Fool – MAAT Tarot

foremost, is about freedom – the freedom to pursue one’s goals, instincts, intuitions and visions. It is also about not taking oneself too seriously, of course.
There is something else going on with this card, too: the man here looks to be involved in some form of shamanic work or ritual. Naturally, this is a path that I am drawn to and there is no denying it.

…also, can I say, love those horns on his head he he 😉

6. What will happen? Princess of Coins

Princess of Pentacles
MAAT Tarot

Oh my, how I love her. I love her bare feet. I love that wise smile. I love her white hair, the rich, fertile gardens surrounding her, the fruits of her labour, the simple, earthy energy of it all.

What’s that she’s holding in her hand? An apple half, showing the 5 point formation that apple seeds form inside – the shape of the pentagram. Now as I’ll explore in further posts, the pentagram was attributed to the Devil…

How interesting. This woman here has some secrets to tell, I think. I also think that those secrets are not really secrets at all – they are the timeless wisdom of being connected to the earth and nature, and the health and well-being that comes from doing so.

What I also find fascinating is that the Queen of Cups, which is a mature energy in a Tarot deck, is portrayed by a younger looking woman (and recall from above, this is what I have lost), while the Princess of Coins above, which is a younger energy in the traditional Tarot, is painted as an older and wiser woman in this deck. Fascinating.

I feel like this spread has so many answers and riddles in equal parts, and will be digesting this one for a while.

Until next time,

Student’s Tarot Spread

Here is a simple spread for anyone contemplating a course or a degree or vocational undertaking.

Of course, one doesn’t need Tarot to let them know whether doing a degree in the Arts, or an apprenticeship in woodworking, is the right path for them – most people have some inkling, or desire, of their chosen interests – proving the freedom to choose is there, naturally.

Still, it is good to get the Tarot opinion, I feel. Especially given the plethora of courses nowadays, from astrology, to herbal medicine, baking, glass work, psychology and so on.

I haven’t done a spread for myself since I won’t be embarking on a study anytime soon, but hope this is of interest to other Tarot enthusiasts out there (if you click on the picture you’ll see a larger size). Enjoy!

Student's tarot spread 2

Teacher’s Tarot Spread

As I mentioned previously, I am now teaching an introductory course in Tarot. I am running this over 8 weeks, with 2 hours per week. There are 5 students and myself, which makes for a close, intimate experience, and lots of practice time as well.

I wrote this spread up to help myself understand my new role as “teacher” and get some general guidance with this new path. Overall, I am pretty comfortable with teaching Tarot and speaking in front of others – but this is only in this context, i.e. that of Tarot. I guess this is mainly because I revere and love the subject (this is most important!), I understand it fairly well (but there’s nothing like trying to teach it to make me learn even more!), I’ve had excellent, surreal and atrocious experiences and a whole range in-between with reading cards, and I also know most of my students as we are friends outside of class.

Nonetheless, it is good to have some insight and guidance into my new teaching path, so I penned 5 questions, and shuffled a personal favourite – the Fey Tarot.

Fey Tarot: Queen of Swords – 2 of Chalices – The Tower – The Wisest – 8 of Chalices

1. What do I need to know about being a teacher?
Queen of Swords: the card leans towards the rationing/ thinking/ objective and also highly discriminating – these are the predominant qualities I do and/or should use, which makes sense, though she looks rather intense – it’s those penetrating eyes, I think. This Queen is a great role model for a teacher in general, because the element of air (swords) rules all forms of communication, which is what teaching is all about.

2. What do I do well as a teacher?
2 of Chalices: I interact well on a personal level with students – the 2 of Cups is about having a personal, deep bond with someone as well. It’s about exchange and connection on a one-to-one level, which I hope I do. With 5 students, I try and give everyone the opportunity to engage and communicate.

3. What do I need to improve upon?
DSCF7867 The Tower: I need to not be afraid of stepping outside conventional boundaries, and infuse my teaching with my own personal style. I think as a new-ish teacher I tend to err on the side of safety and limit myself to conventional approaches to teaching. Note that the fay in the card, while flying (aiming) high, is still within the confines of a brick tower, although the foundations are slowly coming apart brick by brick… I like that.

4. Advice for me on being a teacher
DSCF7865The Wisest: this corresponds to the Hierophant in traditional deck, which is a fantastic card to get as advice, for the Hierophant is the teacher of mysteries, occult etc. Also, see how the fey in this card is reading/ studying – this implies that, apart from teaching being a natural path for me (well, I am a Sagittarius after all!), I should always keep on learning and studying. This is something I naturally plan on doing, since I love being the eternal student, but it’s nice to get it as a guidance anyway.

5. What does the future hold for my Tarot teaching work?
DSCF78638 of Chalices: I wasn’t too sure about this one. I think it signals a new direction possibly, though I note how the fey keeps her eyes on that splendid chalice: I will always teach, I know that much. Where, how and when, are just details to be filled in 🙂

If you want to try this as a spread, keep in mind there are lots of other questions you can add – for example, “What is my teaching style?” etc.

Next time, I will do a Student’s Tarot Spread, although, since we are all students in life, I’ll keep it a bit more generic.

Wishing everyone a blessed week ahead,

Tarot reading : Study Paths in 2014

I shall start by saying that a Sagittarius Sun and Gemini Moon combination makes for a wide, wide selection of interests and pursuits. This, in turn, adds much variety and interest in my life, as well as making, at times, a superficial attempt at learning the many and varied topics that sail through my brain, often out of nowhere. Nonetheless, this combination guarantees one thing: learning and studying will never stop.

I am now at a point where I definitely feel the overwhelming need for decent, formal study, and have narrowed down my paths to the following four:

  • Herbal Medicine
  • Astrology
  • Yoga Therapy
  • Energy Healing

I note that all four are what I’d call “practical” paths. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love some art history, mysticism, women’s spirituality and more. I think that I cover these fairly well through books, blogs, and the like. What I am interested in, as a formal study, are the four paths listed above. I did not add Tarot, as there are no courses that interest me online, at least not enough to dedicate a good chunk of time towards them; and besides, I’m actually thinking about teaching Tarot myself, but that’s another story… Trouble is, time and money are limited, which brings me to today’s tarot spread: which study path shall I follow in 2014? The Haindl Tarot offered the following, with 3 cards for each of these:

I love that the last card under the deck is The Fool: an excellent undercurrent for new adventures in study.
I love that the last card under the deck is The Fool: an excellent undercurrent for new adventures in study.

Herbal medicine: Krishna (Prince of Wands), The Empress, Chief Seattle (Prince of Stones)
Astrology: The Sun, Ace of Wands, The Star
Yoga therapy: Spider Woman (Queen of Stones), 2 of Cups, 4 of Wands
Energy healing: 10 of Swords, The Wheel of Fortune, 3 of Swords

Herbal Medicine  Prince of Wands - The Empress - Prince of Stones
Herbal Medicine
Prince of Wands – The Empress – Prince of Stones

Herbal Medicine is a definite yes: two pages, court cards that imply study of any kind, on either side of the Empress. As it is, I’ve started making my own herbal salves, but I want to learn a lot more. I’ve been offered the opportunity to join a local whole foods cafe and offer my salves for sale. This brings about a thousand questions, not least those relating to licensing and regulations.

Astrology The Sun - Ace of Wands - The Star
The Sun – Ace of Wands – The Star

If Herbal Medicine was a definite yes, Astrology is even more so. Lovely to see a luminary in the spread, and such a good omen too: The Sun. I’ve already researched providers, and I’m interested in the Kepler College online courses.

Yoga therapy Queen of Stones - 2 of Cups - 4 of Wands
Yoga therapy
Queen of Stones – 2 of Cups – 4 of Wands

Geez, I can’t do everything!!! I got the impression that I may do a short course, maybe a weekend away or something like that. Mainly because this spread didn’t have any major arcana cards, but nonetheless it is a great trio. I think with yoga, I am ready to start teaching it formally, I just need to find a suitable studio or venue. The 2 of Cups made me think of some one-to-one learning, which would be nice, but again, I don’t see this as being a long course of study, rather some study to inform my teaching or something like it.

Energy healing 10 of Swords - The Wheel of Fortune - 3 of Swords
Energy healing
10 of Swords – The Wheel of Fortune – 3 of Swords

Finally, this is a definite no. The 10 or Swords (Ruin) and 3 of Swords (Mourning) tell me to not even go there. I guess it’s not the right time. So for me, the focus in 2014 will be astrology and herbal medicine, as study paths.

Note that I have my north node conjunct Mars conjunct Jupiter in Virgo: I need to be on a path where I show people practical how-to: how to align a yoga posture, how to heal lower back pain, how to make a tincture, how to work with a transit, etc etc. It’s not so much about talking about an issue, like counselling or psychology – which has huge merit, but it’s not exactly the fit for me as an exclusive vocational path.

If you have a similar conundrum about what study path to follow, drawing 3 cards on each of your paths of interest can be really helpful. I think deep inside, we know what this is anyway, but having the cards confirm it is really helpful: no more procrastinating and wondering left or right.

I wish you all a wonderful week ahead. Many blessings,


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Asking a Tarot question, Part 1: Relationships

This blog post has been sitting with me for a while, slowly brewing in the background. This is the first of 3 posts in this series, looking at what and how to ask a Tarot question, specifically those exploring the minefield territory that is a relationship. (Part 2 will look at the more pragmatic side of life such as work and business, and in Part 3 I’ll focus on the divinatory, or fortune-telling aspect – more to come later).

The High Priestess from the Bohemian Gothic Tarot

So here’s a hypothetical scenario:

You meet someone you rather fancy. Perhaps you really, really like them, though you are not quite sure how to proceed, or whether you should in the first instance. Perhaps past experiences have scarred you a little, and doubt and hesitation hold you back. Should you, shouldn’t you…. Or maybe, you are already in a relationship, but not really sure where it is heading.

At some point you decide to see a Tarot reader, and after explaining the scenario, you ask the question: Will this relationship work out? Sometimes, this gets rephrased as, Is he/she the one?

And this is where I have to pause and do a delicate dance around this question. It is not that I avoid the question – and I’ll look into the fortune telling aspect of readings in Part 3 of the series. I understand all too well that sometimes, there is a fated element to a relationship (or work, business, and life in general), and there is no avoiding this.

Two of Cups RWS
2 of Cups – Rider Waite Smith Tarot

However, my experience, as both a reader and a client, is that in most cases, these are not the right questions to ask. For starters, one is placing a tremendous amount of power in the hands of the Tarot reader – and equally, one is disempowering themselves by doing so. The repercussions of this are vast, but essentially can be summed up in one word: responsibility, or lack of should I say.

Taking responsibility for your own actions, rather than laying the blame somewhere else (our parents, society, or the Tarot reader), if one of the hallmarks of maturity and empowerment. So, you may wonder, what should one ask instead?

This largely depends on each person and what stage the relationship is at, and also on the ethics of the reader, however here are some suggestions:

  • What does he/she need from me?
  • What does he/she want from me?
  • If you are in an existing relationship, you can go a step further and ask, What does he/she need (or want) from me that I am not offering (or not able to offer)?
  • What do I need from a relationship?
  • What does he/she think of me?
  • What are his/her feelings for me?
  • How do we emotionally relate? Or mentally?
  • How sexually compatible are we?
  • What does he/she hope for in this relationship?
  • What are his/her fears in this relationship?
  • What is our relationship based on?
  • How do we communicate?
  • What are my strengths (weaknesses) in this relationship?
  • How does he/she deal with conflict?
  • What do we need to do in order to overcome this issue/obstacle?
  • What am I not able to see clearly about our relationship?
  • What are his/her intentions for our relationship?
  • What do I need to do in order to make this relationship work?
Two of Cups Haindl Tarot
2 of Cups – Haindl Tarot

The last one in particular is relevant to my earlier point about taking responsibility – for it’s really up to two people whether their relationship will work out or not, rather than the reader. Again, there are always exceptions to the rule, and I certainly do not mean to diminish or ignore the role that certain karmic energies play in our lives. This post, however, is more about the destiny we create when we actively and consciously work on our own issues, rather than lay the blame at the feet of some divine intervention or the Tarot reader.

If you are exploring the more psychological aspects and complexities in a relationship, here’s a good one: What was his relationship like with his mother? (or her relationship with her father?). Or, what am I projecting onto my partner? etc.

Finally, for those who are dealing with infidelity, a good question might be, what can my wife/husband be (or express) with the other person that they are not able to be with me (rather than, what do they see in the other person)

As you can see, the options are endless. In writing the above, I must articulate that I am not a counsellor or psychologist. I am a Tarot reader who shuffles the cards to help clients to the best of my ability, and that ability has largely been coloured by both life experience and experience as a reader.

In Part 2 I’ll be looking at questions pertaining to work, business, career, and the like.

Until next time,


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What Does A Post-UDID World Look Like For iPhone And iPad Developers?

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Maxim Minimized. Big Layoffs Hit Men’s Mag Web and Editor Staff

This past week has been a big wake-up call for the iOS developer community. The need to move away from UDIDs, or an ID scheme that many developers rely on to power advertising and store data about their users, took on extra urgency after Apple issued a few app rejections related to UDID use over the past week and a half.

Even though Apple told developers that it would deprecate UDIDs about six months ago, the community hadn’t yet converged on a good alternative.

There is a lot of misinformation right now. Because Apple often communicates policy changes through one-off app rejections instead of publishing a clear and transparent notice to everyone, developers get incredibly aggravated by rumors. While being super secretive stokes consumer appetite for Apple products, it’s a ridiculously awful way to operate a platform that 700,000 apps rely on.

Chartboost, which does direct advertising trades between developers, sent out an e-mail last night saying that the stories about UDID rejections are “completely fabricated.”

But another indie developer, TapBots, posted an actual copy of a rejection notice they received this morning (pictured below).

So what is going on?

So this morning, apps are still getting through the approval process even if they access UDIDs, according to conversations with some of the ad and install networks. The distinction is that they need to disclose this fact to users and ask for permission.

“There is literally not one developer’s app that we could find that had a rejection due to UDID alone,” said Peter Farago, who is vice president of marketing at Flurry, a mobile analytics company that serves more 160,000 apps.

But is the UDID still going away some day? Yes, but I don’t know the timeline. Amid media and Congressional scrutiny, Apple is moving away from letting developers access UDIDs or unique device identification numbers. UDIDs carry more privacy risks than cookies on the web, because they can’t be cleared or deleted and they’re tied to the most personal of devices — the phone we carry with us everywhere.

What can you use instead? Here are a bunch of competing methods for generating IDs. (Forgive me because I’m not technical. But this is my best understanding about the relative advantages and disadvantages of each method.) If you want to read an ad platform’s take on this, Jim Payne at MoPub has a survey of all the techniques as well.

Device Fingerprinting: This is a way of generating an ID number from a number of characteristics about a user, like what kind of mobile browser they have, the device they’re using or their location. You need many parameters to generate enough combinations so there aren’t duplicates.
Who’s doing it? Mobile App Tracking, a Seattle-based firm. The company behind it, Has Offers, counts LivingSocial and Zynga among its clientele. They charge 5 cents per install for 0 to 5,000 installs, 3 cents per install for between 5 and 25,000 installs and a penny an install once you get past 25,000 installs.
Pros: It probably won’t get rejected as it’s outside of Apple’s control.
Cons: It’s a probabilistic approach that carries the risk of generating duplicates. Mobile App Tracking says they minimize this by only generating a fingerprint at one point in time when the user initially opens the app. “Over a long period of time, fingerprinting can produce discrepancies. But the reason we’re seeing such a high percentage of accuracy is because we’re only fingerprinting for a short period of time,” says Micah Gantman, the director of mobile business at HasOffers, the company behind Mobile App Tracking.

Copy-and-Pasteboard Method:
This is roughly analogous to the way you might copy something from one application like Microsoft Word and paste it in Powerpoint. “The copy and paste buffer is really meant for copying and pasting from function to function,” says Craig Palli, a vice president of business development at Fiksu, a Charles River Ventures-backed company that helps mobile developers get users cheaply. “It was not intended to be used this way.”
Who’s doing it? Appsfire’s OpenUDID and Crashlytics’ SecureUDID, and there’s super drama between the two of them! MoPub, which operates a real-time bidding platform more mobile advertising and was founded by some early AdMob folks, is putting its weight behind OpenUDID.
Pros: Probably not getting rejected by Apple. Both OpenUDID and SecureUDID give consumers opt outs.
Cons: There are a couple of developers who have raised concerns around data leakage with OpenUDID, but Appsfire’s co-founder Ouriel Ohayon says those have been resolved. SecureUDID was created by one of the contributors to OpenUDID because they thought that Appsfire’s approach was flawed. It assigned a single identifier to each device. SecureUDID creates multiple identifiers per device and a developer would need a domain and a salt to access them. Ohayon says OpenUDID serves a totally different need than SecureUDID (read his comments below!)

HTML5 First Party Cookies:
This mimics what advertising networks have been doing for years on the desktop web to track users through cookies. If it were implemented in native mobile apps, you’d have to force the user to open a Safari browser window when they first open the app or click on an ad.
Who’s doing it? Don’t know, but it wouldn’t be surprising if companies behind web-based ad targeting companies eventually moved in to create solutions for mobile developers.
Pros: Probably won’t get rejected. “It’s really similar to what we’ve been doing over the last 15 years on the web,” Palli said.
Cons: It’s a bad user experience to make users open a web browser every time they install an app.

Wi-Fi MAC Address:
The MAC or media access control address is an identifier that’s assigned to networked devices (whether they’re smartphones or laptops). Like the UDID, it’s definitely unique to every device.
Who’s doing it? The ODIN, or open device identification number, is generating ID numbers from the MAC Address. InMobi, an advertising network that has raised about $216 million and is backed by Kleiner Perkins, has chosen ODIN.
Pros: It’s definitely unique to every single device, just like the UDID. So it would be an easy one-to-one replacement.
Cons: This probably won’t last very long and it’s our understanding that Apple will also eventually crack down on access to MAC addresses. The MAC Address has the same privacy flaws as the UDID because it’s unique to every device and is hard to erase or clear, unless you jailbreak your device and spoof it (which most people aren’t going to do). “The MAC Address is terrible,” Payne said. “Your phone is constantly broadcasting your MAC Address to find Wi-fi networks. It’s literally being broadcast while you walk around. So it’s got all the same problems at UDID, plus this other huge problem.”

Everyone does their own identifier:
Who’s doing it? Many companies are rolling their own ID schemes just in case.
Pros: It probably won’t get rejected by Apple.
Cons: It’s like the Tower of Babel. If everyone uses their own ID scheme, how will developers know which ad network performed the best for them? There would need to be some kind of complicated, centralized broker that could match IDs from one service against others while preserving user privacy. While mobile analytics service Kontagent didn’t create this to specifically address the UDID issue, the company launched something called the Mobile Acquisition Transparency Alliance today which is meant to standardize reporting from many different mobile advertising networks. It handles many identifiers and has a single API that developers can use to report performance from different campaigns they run.

This whole ordeal is part of a much broader debate among policy makers, platform providers like Apple, Facebook and Google and the public about how to best guard privacy amid an explosion of popular consumer web and mobile apps.

Because the nature of software distribution has changed so much over the last five years with the advent of the Facebook, iOS and Android platforms, it’s possible for a two-man band to wind up with millions of users in a matter of months and personal data on each and every one of them. In most cases, developers are well-meaning and they just want to create great products that people love. But some are unscrupulous.

On top of that, there is also the question of how much notice or control consumers should have around their data. The trend toward free apps has created a world in which consumers are implicitly bargaining their attention and personal data for these products. Like the saying goes: if you’re not paying for the product, you are the product!

Even if the Federal Trade Commission does end up setting certain rules and expectations around apps and privacy, enforcing them is very difficult. If the platforms run by the best technology companies in the world can’t do it right 100 percent of the time, what chance do government officials have?


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chrome extension
time zone clock

FIO Is A Simple, Attractive Time Zone Tracker

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Supahands Offers Multilingual Virtual Assistants For Clients In Asia

One of the things I love about working with people all around the world is that I feel like an international woman of mystery. Unfortunately, by “mystery” I mean time zones and my propensity for mixing them up, especially since I live in a country that does not participate in daylight saving time.

Missing phone appointments or calling people obscenely early in the morning is embarrassing, so I was happy to install FIO (an acronym for Figure It Out). The free Chrome extension lets you pick a 12-hour or 24-hour clock and up to five locations, including your own. It then arranges the time zones in order and assigns each of them a color that shifts throughout the day. Bright orange means afternoon, while indigo blue signifies the middle of the night.

But wait, you might be thinking, why not just use the iOS world clock (which includes a map on iPad) or one of the many similar websites out there?

The answer (at least for me) is simple. There are days when I talk to people in at least five time zones and if I have to stare at yet another row of clock faces or world map, I will go crazy. The impact on my sanity is incremental, but very real, and I thank FIO for saving a little piece of my brain. FIO’s colors and format can also help cut through the mire of jet lag if you frequently travel. I plan to use it alongside World Time Buddy, an easy-to-read time zone converter.

FIO’s developers plan to add features like winter and summer clocks, as well as clocks based on major time zones, like Greenwich Mean Time, and make the site fully responsive so it can be used on mobile devices, too.


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Disney’s Lab Builds Buttons That Work By Manipulating Soundwaves Rather Than Electricity

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Pitch Your Startup In The TechCrunch Radio Pitch-Off On Sirius XM

I’m a fan of Disney’s research labs. Meant largely to help Disney discover new ways to innovate in their parks and products, it’s a seemingly endless stream of crazy thinking.

Much of what they build and share is really, really cool, but hard to imagine being used by anyone outside of Disney. This crazy robot that draws massive pictures on the beach? It’s cool as heck, but unless you own a big stretch of beach to act as a canvas (as Disney does with its resorts), it’s not super practical.

Some things they come up with, though, are great because they’re just so different. So clever. Take, for example, this just released video on what Disney’s research hub is calling “Acoustruments.”

The video is a bit slow to start, so a primer: by manipulating soundwaves emitted by your smartphone’s speaker, they’re able to build buttons/knobs/sliders/etc. that can interact with your device without any power source or wired connection.

You launch an app that emits a tone through your phone’s speaker. When you push a button or twist a knob, the “acoustrument” modifies the tone much in the way your finger changes the tone of a flute when it blocks a hole. Push the button, the air pathway changes, the tone changes accordingly. Your phone’s microphone detects the tone change and reacts accordingly.

Why? Imagine an alarm clock that works with any phone, as long as it has a microphone/speaker on the bottom. Or, as demonstrated, a Google Cardboard-esque virtual reality headset with buttons that work with just about any phone, all without power/wires.

Like much of what comes out of Disney’s research labs, this was built in partnership with Carnegie Mellon.

Is it 100 percent practical in all cases? Is anyone going to throw out their soldering iron and go all-acoustic? Of course not. But it’s clever as all heck — and if you’re a builder/tinkerer, it’s definitely a trick to keep in your arsenal.


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Shir Joy Choir

Contact for
Shir Joy:

Cantor Allen Leider
(703) 532-2207

Shir Joy is our awesome choir for students in grades K-2!  Under the direction of Cantor Allen Leider, Director of Lifelong Learning, Shir Joy performs during the school year at TRS and in the community.  Shir Joy meets about twice a month during the break between early and late session Religious School from 10:40 am – 11:15 am.

Sign up for Shir Joy!

We’d love to have you sing with us this year!  Please use this online sign up if you did not sign your child up for a choir when you registered them for Religious School.

Rehearsal Instructions

Early Session Parents

Students who are in early session will be dismissed by their teachers (before the rest of the class) and sent upstairs to the Sanctuary.  Teachers will have a list of choir students in their class.  For dismissal, students will go outside to sit on the steps by the pickup lane.

Late Session Parents

Please be sure to have your child here so that s/he is in the Sanctuary by 10:40.  We really want to be able to start on time!  Following the rehearsal, students will be dismissed to their classes.

Rehearsal Schedule

Please consult the calendar below for dates and times of rehearsals.

Concert/Service Dress

Shir Joy members will wear our light blue Shir Joy polo shirts.  Choir members should also wear dark pants or slacks/long skirts when singing at services.  No jeans or sneakers please at services.

Special Shir Joy Past Performances

Jewish Children’s Choir Festival – view here


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The Octomom is now a musician

TMZ is reporting that the Octomom is now a musician. You can listen to her terrible song on their website.

Music is a joke. Are you the least bit famous? Maybe S someone’s D on camera once? Then guess what? You too can be a musician! Don’t play an instrument? Don’t sing? Don’t know how to program beats? Don’t worry about it! Look at this fucking thing:

Just whip out your tits or bang a famous actress and voila, music career. Fuck if I’d have known that I’d have never picked up a guitar, just unzipped my pants and had a go at someone famous.

Now I’d normally not give a shit about something as lame as that, but that Octomom person will get lots of attention for this (mostly bad). And we’re in an attention economy. I released a song last week and it rocks. Not the best song anyone’s ever written, but it’s better than the Octomom’s. And guess how many people will hear it? Waaaaaay less people than’ll hear her song.

Am I annoyed? Yes. But the world owes me nothing. The cool thing about my song is that the people who hear it are people who are paying attention to me because they (hopefully) like what I do. The Octomom will never be able to say that.

Conclusion 1: The only thing I know how to do is be a musician. However far I can take this will only be because of me and my music, nothing else. I didn’t blow a famous singer (like Kim K), get famous myself and then decide I’m a musician. While people like that might make zillions of dollars by selling perfume and shit, at least I can fucking say that everything I’ve ever gotten was because of my talent and not my dick.

Conclusion 2: The attention both those songs will get/got is mostly negative. Maybe it’s best that I don’t get that kind of attention at this early stage in the game. Rebecca Black is famous, but it’s not for a good reason.

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About Kevin Williams

Frontman of The Complete/Occasional Actor/Newfoundlander.

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FNO Reveals Their New Collection for 2012

Fashion’s Night Out has just recently revealed its collection for the upcoming 2012 event. For its fourth year, the designers have really stepped it up! They have without a doubt presented their best work to date (at least in my opinion). There are eight official items, two being tote bags, all of which are worthy of the approval of fashionistas everywhere. Take a look at the entire collection on the event’s website but for now, here are my favorites:

  • At first glance, it this just looks like a plain shirt with shapes going through it, but it says ‘FNO’ with the ‘F’ on the front and ‘NO’ on the back. This is a very creative take at a potentially basic design and for only $25 is going on my must-have list for the day of the event.

  • FNO’s tote takes classic to a whole ‘nother level by mixing fabrics (canvas and leather) with a multi-color design. It comes in two color schemes, but the pop of blue in this one makes the $50 tote hard to resist.
Posted in Fashion, Social Media | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Another Look at McQueen

Through some surfing on YouTube, I came across this video, originally produced by Net-a-Porter and thought it was too good to not share. Since we’re coming up on almost a year of the opening of Savage Beauty, the Alexander McQueen exhibit at the MET, I figured this was the perfect time to share with all of you. Even though this video was produced before his death, it perfectly captures the essence of who he was as a designer. It also captured many of the highlights of Savage Beauty including the iconic duel of two robot vs Shalom Harlow. Take a look for yourself . . .

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Simple Pleasures

I figured a good way to ease back into blogging would be to show some of the simple pleasures in my life. One of them being Instagram, the source of all my little pictures.

The Vanity in my room that I painstakingly organized one afternoon. Now all I see are pretty flowers and sweet candles.

A sunny "winter" day in West Long Branch. By far the best benefit of going to college near a beach.

Delicious truffle fries from D'Jeet at The Grove in Shrewsbury.

Sometimes the simplest of manicures look the nicest (and last the longest!). This is Gucci Mucci Pucci with a layer of High Maintenance over it (both by Essie).

A fresh pressed panini (that I made myself) along with some olives my Grandpa made. Delish!

The palm trees on the beaches of Isla Verde in Puerto Rico

Posted in Fashion, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Paris Fashion Week: Kanye’s First Collection

I’ve been waiting all month for Kanye’s SS12 and must say, me likey! I want to know more details about the design process though. Is he actually designing and picking out fabrics like The Row or as hands on as Victoria Beckham or is he just a ‘celebrity’ turned ‘designer’ like the Kardashians (if you can even call them designers)? For now I’m assuming he’ll be claiming the title of designer and creative director but I gotta know the real scoop. Onto more visually important things: the clothes.

Leather, fur and sex ruled the runway and with the exception of those fugly shoes, I loved almost every piece. Above are the first and third looks, both so different from one another but they both have great details. The raw edge on Anja’s skirt gives her a great sense of cool. And the coral on the pants of look 3 was a nice change, considering it was the only time the color was featured.

The fur was beyond, even though this is supposed to be a spring collection, the light use of fur is totally o.k. in my book. Now, I know I said these are my favorite looks and I mean it, I really do, but….come on ‘Ye the fit of this leather dress is awful. And it wasn’t just with this dress, most of the garments looked like they hadn’t even seen the models for a fitting before the show…onto the next. Izabel made this look. I love the white-on-white layering and the casual sensuality. Best look of the collection, hands down.

*all images via style.com

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Jil Sander Takes You To The Candy Shop

This show was one of the sharpest, architecturally speaking, shows of Milan Fashion Week. It was so clean cut: from the whimsical music, pulled back hair, to the tailored jackets, all the way down to the crisp shoes. With the passing of each new song though, the collection progressed to a new style, almost like a collection within a collection. Once we reached Picasso, around the 5 minute mark, 50 Cent somehow came into play. I couldn’t help but chuckle a bit and share this video with you, enjoy!

Posted in Fashion, Music | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

My First Eastern European Adventure

When trying to figure out where my mother and I were going to travel to for our annual birthday getaway we decided to try something different. Straying from our typical Roman holiday, we tossed around the idea of Northern Africa and South American countries but we ultimately decided on the Czech Republic. European friends of mine have always described Prague as the most beautiful city on the continent. After spending 11 glorious days there, I agree with their praise. Now, after going through thousands of photos I’ve narrowed things down to my top 10 favorites, let’s get started:

1. An aerial shot of Old Town Square from atop the city’s main tower.
 2. A section of the Lennon Peace Wall in Malá Strana. Before I left for vacation I wrote down a list of must-see attractions to visit, this of course being one of them. But when I got there I wasn’t sure if I was at the right place. It’s interesting because over the years the graffiti has changed so much that you have to really dig deep to still see John Lennon’s legacy under layers of paint.

3. We took a day trip to Český Krumlov, a village full of history and beauty in the south of the Czech Republic on the Austrian border. I love how these old cities keep themselves still feeling genuine by not changing the outer structure of buildings. I’ve heard people say that Prague and other cities in the country are considered the most “European” in the EU and for me the cobble stone and red roofs are what make them so genuine.

4. On one rainy day (there were several) I strayed from the pac and wandered into a museum and this was the first thing I saw. Although weapons are not my favorite, I do love the contrast of a modern gun installation in a cobble stoned courtyard. And the little boy adds some cuteness factor too, which doesn’t hurt.

5. Here we have St. Vitus Cathedral, one of the four churches on the property of Prague Castle. It looks like it could have been some gothic inspiration for a Harry Potter film, no? And I love how the eeriness is counteracted  by the beautiful purple sky.

6. The property that Prague Castle is on is just beautiful. No matter where you stood you had a great view of the landscape below. Even with a massive plant blocking the background of the shot, you can still see the Charles Bridge.

7. Here’s a wideshot of the cement stalactite wall in the Wallenstein Gardens. If you were to be up close to the wall you could almost see faces in the cement. Very creepy ala the ghost of Christmas yet to come in a Muppet Christmas Carol. Spoooooky!

8. When walking the streets and across the bridges around town, you sort of feel like you were in Paris (not that i’ve ever been, but I can dream) and this captures that feeling perfectly. The Vltava River was always filled with Boats and cute little ducks, in this case swans.

9. You can’t talk about Prague and leave out the Charles Bridge, the focal point of the city which connects Old Town and Little Town to one another. Here you see can see it from the top of the bridge’s watch tower on my sunniest day there.10. Lastly, here’s a gate filled with locks right near the Charles Bridge. I forget the story as to how this started but I think it has something to do with love but because it’s so full, no one else can add their locks to it, so, no more love?P.S. These are in random order people I love them all just the same

Posted in Travel | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Another Reason Why Coldplay is the Greatest Band Around

I’ve loved Coldplay since I was a mere middle schooler. Unlike other bands (cough Kings of Leon) they never seem to let me down. At a recent concert in LA they did a very touching tribute to Amy Winehouse. It starts off with a slow version of Rehab and goes into Fix You. When you associate the two songs together and blend in Amy’s legacy, it brings on a very touching/haunting new meaning. Because of my brief encounter with Amy one night in London several years ago I find that her passing is more than just a celebrity death to me. She was a real person with real problems and I truly hope that lights will guide her home…

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Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes To Produce ‘Zombies Vs. Robots’

Written by on February 22, 2011

Had enough of zombies? Fed up with the glut of giant robot movies? Well, why not pit the brain-guzzlers against the oil-guzzlers? That’s what Sony Pictures is doing, having acquired the rights to Zombies Vs. Robots, a comic series written by Chris Ryall, with art by Ashley Wood and published by IDW. [Deadline]

Several studios were reportedly interested in the material, but Sony nabbed it. The project – which is being adapted by screenwriter JT Petty (The Burrowers) as a spec script called (at the moment) Inherit the Earth – is a joint effort by Platinum Dunes, Circle of Confusion (which has solid zombie chops, having produced The Walking Dead) and IDW.

Michael Bay will be producing, along with Brad Fuller, Andrew Form, Dave Alpert and Rick Jacobs. The plot of the comics has something to do with a band of robots protecting the last girl on earth from flesh-starved zombies. I think we can leave it at that.

The comic series has a die-hard cult following, who will likely be up in arms over a tentpole treatment of this thing, but I say what the hell. If you were wondering why these big studio films are getting more and more ridiculously high-concept (Cowboys Vs. Aliens, Battleship, my own idea of turning Hungry Hungry Hippos into a tentpole flick), then let this eye-opening article on the globalization of Hollywood from The Economist satisfy your curiousity.

We’ve got more giant robots on the way (Transformers 3, Real Steel), and zombies are NEVER, EVER going away, for better or worse.

Are you a fan of the comic book Zombies Vs. Robots? Do you think the concept will be a fun movie?

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Last March, I took an unforgettable 40th birthday trip to Paris with my husband, Ted. I dreamed of traveling to the city ever since I started studying the French language in 7th grade. But, tant pis, life got in the way. It was hard to justify a European vacation during the rigors of graduate school, or when we moved to Maine from New Jersey, or after experiencing back-to-back pregnancies. However, as I approached 40, a trip to Paris made sense. What better way to celebrate, than to go on a trip I’d been wishing for since age 13?

We rented a studio apartment in the Marais—a stunning section of the city not unlike the Village in New York—with shops, restaurants, galleries, and fashionable young Parisians strolling the streets. We spent our days biking the city using the Velib rental service, which had a station right around the corner from our studio.

The view from our apartment - St-Gervais-et-St-Protais Church.

The view from our apartment – St-Gervais-et-St-Protais Church.

For parents of two young children, the trip was like une rêve. We enjoyed long, leisurely bistro lunches with bottles of Cotes du Rhone, sat in Le Jardin des Tuileries and people watched, experienced an avant-garde exhibit on dancing at The Pompidou, and browsed neighborhood shops—like the wonderful Mariage Freres tea emporium and Puyricard artisan chocolates—without rushing (a luxury for a mom if there ever was one). After reading My Life in France, I lived out my Julia Child fantasies and signed Ted and I up for an afternoon class at La Cuisine Paris, where we learned to make French tarts. The week made me feel as if I’d entered a time warp, before kids and school schedules became the focus of my days.

Ted puts the finishing touches on his Tarte au Citron.

Still, even with this gift of time, I found myself missing my children. Whenever I spotted a little one on the street, I’d think of L and W, and wonder what they were doing at home with their grandparents. While I snapped photos of the expected—the façade of Notre Dame, my husband posing near Pont Neuf, colorful flowers at the Marché Place Baudoyer Farmers’ market— I also found myself taking pictures of French children during our travels.

A young girl considers joining her friends as they gather around this trio of costumed ladies.

Mother and son listen to the Hurdy Gurdy during the farmers market.

I loved this little girl on a scooter at Luxembourg Gardens.

A little boy takes flight at the Eiffel Tower carousel.

Seeing these children at play made me long for my duo. While I was filled up with the sights and sounds of the city, I couldn’t wait to see L and W again. The thought of our happy reunion made leaving Paris a little easier…. that, and enjoying a gorgeous, Amorino gelato on our last full day.

There’s no turning back the clock when you go on vacation, but Paris certainly made this mom feel like a kid again!

To celebrate L’s 6th birthday, her grandmother decided to treat the family to lunch at the American Girl Café. If you have a little one over five, you can imagine the excitement surrounding this visit. However, I was apprehensive. Would the store be a tourist trap, and would a birthday celebration be worth the expense? One look at my daughter’s face when we arrived, I knew grandma made the right choice.

Outside American Girl Doll Place. L’s enthusiasm is contagious.

Like Disney, it’s hard not to feel like a kid again at American Girl Place. There are unique dolls, clothing, and cute accessories everywhere you look. On the second floor, we discovered a department featuring dolls from different eras, as well as McKenna, the 2012 American Girl Doll of the year. There’s also a section for shoes, which my daughter loved (hmm… I wonder who she takes after), plus a hair salon, sweet shop, and doll hospital.

L. discovers the shoe section.

We could have continued shopping, but it was time for L’s birthday lunch. The third floor café looks like something out of Eloise. The striped wallpaper is black and white, and the accents in the room are bright pink.

After a short wait, we were escorted to our table and L’s doll, Kit, was given a special chair. Once we were seated, the waitress delivered warm cinnamon rolls and a drink menu. L. ordered pink lemonade, and the adults indulged in peach Bellinis and strawberry Cosmos.

L. adjusts her birthday crown with Kit at her side.

Aunt C. toasts her niece (and shows off her drink).

Lunch was surprisingly good. L. chose a plain cheese pizza, but the rest of us enjoyed generous salads and sandwiches. Dessert was the most exciting part of our meal. L. was thrilled when the waitress presented her with a beautiful little birthday cake and ice cream.

A simple salad with grilled chicken, cherry tomatoes, and feta cheese.

The whole experience, from shopping American Girl Place to the delicious cafe lunch, was a treat for us all. Thank you, grandma!

American Girl Place
609 5th Avenue
New York

Traveling Hazards

It’s been a long while (10 months!) since I’ve posted here. I started Meet the Hazards to continue writing about life with little ones after my column at a local family magazine came to a close. Writing about my family, and gently poking fun at our highs and lows, helped me plow my way through young motherhood.

Life has changed since I started this blog in 2009. My children are in school full-time, I’m taking on more freelance assignments, and my other blog, Cute Potato, is thriving in a way I never imagined.

Wow, how these kids have grown!

Still, I have a soft spot for Meet the Hazards. It’s fun to go back and revisit these small moments in our lives. My hope is to keep up this blog, but in a whole new way. If you know my family, you know we like to visit new places. There’s rarely a month that goes by that we’re not traveling in some fashion. Sometimes we’re road tripping in our home state of Maine, or traveling to new places throughout the country. This year, T and I even flew to Paris to celebrate my 40th sans kiddos, but that’s another post.

If there’s anything I’ve learned about life with kids, changes are the norm. I hope you’ll join me for this new adventure!

Before children, I romanticized about choosing a family Christmas tree. I grew up in a house where my dad assembled an artificial tree every year. The idea of going to a Christmas tree farm, or even a local tree sale, delighted me. Little did I know that selecting a tree would be a low point in our holiday season.

Year 1 (2007): Lauren is 20 months old; Will is 5 months old. My husband and I are smart enough to realize that visiting a tree farm is too big an undertaking with two babies. But we think, “Hey! Wouldn’t this be a great time to take our Christmas card photo?” The kids were not up for a photo shoot, as evidenced here:

Hmm... maybe it's the oversize lobster claw mittens that upset Lauren?

Year 2 (2008): I’m fairly certain we were scarred from year one. Ted asked my mother-in-law to join us, so that someone could manage the children while we made our selection.

Year 3 (2009): Back to the original town sale. I stay in the car with the kids, who show no signs of interest. Ted chooses the tree, I give him the thumbs up, and we’re out of there. So much for a family experience.

Year 4 (2010): We get brave and decide to try visiting a Christmas tree farm with the kids. We visit post lunch when Will (age 3) gets tired. This is probably the most miserable Christmas tree shopping experience of my life. We end up leaving the boy in the van with his hat pulled over his eyes.

Lauren (age 4) doesn’t like the tree we’ve selected. She wants a Charlie Brown version, instead.

And here is my poor husband, trying his best to smile for the camera.

Year 5 (2011): Something happens. We return to the same tree farm, half-expecting one of our children to have a melt down, but no one does. The whole family is in a good mood and excited to find a tree. It’s a Christmas miracle 5 years in the making.

Twist and Pull

Yikes. I’ve been absent from this blog for a while, but for good reason. We’ve been celebrating some milestones in our house, especially Miss Lauren, who turned five this spring.

I didn’t realize that children could lose teeth at this age, until I noticed that one of Lauren’s classmates had developed a gap-toothed grin. How could this happen? Weren’t they mere babes?

A few days later at the dentist’s office, the hygienist noticed Lauren’s two front teeth were loose and an adult tooth was growing behind them. I wondered aloud how I couldn’t have noticed this development, since I help brush her teeth almost every night. Lauren’s baby teeth were rooted so deeply, they would not come out on their own. Instead she would need to have the teeth extracted.

I snapped this photo just before our visit to the dentist.

With this news, my dentist-phobic husband went a little crazy. Did I ask how the dentist would go about extracting Lauren’s teeth? Would she need Novocain? Would she be in pain? I hadn’t asked, which may seem odd, but Lauren’s dentist is so perky and jovial, she managed to erase any concerns.

Unlike her parents, our daughter manages medical situations with aplomb. Lauren was looking forward to the dentist visit and when we arrived, she skipped down the hallway. I could feel myself getting anxious. I should have listened to Ted. Maybe I should have asked more questions.

Lauren’s dentist knows how to manage the Pre-K set. When she applied the topical solution, she said, “This is a little paintbrush we’re going to use on your teeth. A dentist is kind of like an artist, don’t you think?” Lauren nodded. “I’ll let you hold this tiny sand timer. You tell me when the sand has reached the other side.” I was so glad I hadn’t let her watch the Wizard of Oz since the Wicked Witch threatens Dorothy’s life with an hourglass.

Be warned: don't watch this scene in the Wizard of Oz before taking your child to the dentist.

When it came time for the Novocain, the dentist continued, “Now I’m going to spray some water in your mouth.” I saw the giant needle, but Lauren didn’t thanks to the ladybug sunglasses the dentist had put on her earlier. The woman thinks of everything.

There is no delicate way to explain the extraction tool. The dentist simply said, “Okay, Lauren, we’re going to use this tool to twist and then pull.” Ugh. The first attempt didn’t go well. The metal tool slipped on the tooth and made an awful noise. Lauren squirmed in her seat. “What was that?” she wondered.

After the slip up, Lauren looked worried, but by then the teeth were gone. The dentist sent us home with a tiny treasure box with two baby teeth, some instructions and a lot of gauze. Poor Lauren was shaken. Even though the bleeding stopped, she refused to take the gauze out of her mouth until we reached Whole Foods (where I treated her to ice cream for bravery).

That evening, there was much to do about the placement of the teeth, so that Tina the Tooth Fairy would be able to find them. I told Lauren to place them in the special pillow her grandmother gave her, but she worried Tina might not find them there. Instead, she opted to keep her teeth inside the plastic treasure test the dentist provided, but with the lid open. “Tina’s really small, Mom,” she told me. “It might be too hard for her to open the box and fly at the same time.”

When she was safely asleep, my husband arrived in our room with the treasure box. I emptied its contents into my hand.  Lauren’s baby teeth were beautiful; small and delicate like two perfect pearls.

Anger Management

My 3-year old son Will is testing his yelling skills these days. Usually the hollering starts over something simple, like, how I put on his pants. He’ll fuss with the waistband, look at me disapprovingly and say, “I don’t want the pants this way! I want them this way!” And he’ll tug them a little to the left. To manage his frustrations, I offer the usual parenting advice—use your nice words, your inside voice, your manners, etc. But after awhile, the yelling, paired with a fingers-on-the-chalkboard whine, had me rattled. I fought the urge to shout back, then one day, something altogether surprising came out of my mouth:

“Spell it, don’t yell it.”

I could have shot flowers out of my nose. Will was remarkably silent.

“If you want to me to help you,” I said. “Please don’t yell at me. Spell pants instead.” Again, silence. Now don’t get me wrong, I know a preschooler can’t spell pants, unless he’s taken a crash course in Your Baby Can Read, but asking him to spell pants piqued his curiosity.

“Momma, can you spell it for me?” he asked.

He repeated the spelling back, smiled and returned to the floor to play with his Star Wars figures. I was beyond pleased.

Of course now, like anything that’s too good to be believed, Will is asking me to spell everything. New Jersey. Underwear. Pneumonia. The last of which tripped me up. Seriously. Try spelling pneumonia out loud.

But I’m not complaining. R-e-a-l-l-y. It’s a lot quieter in my house. And my son is learning, which is so much better than yelling.

Cleaning House

While reading about simple IKEA bookshelves on the family design site, Oh Dee Doh, I discovered a link to Becoming Minimalist. The blog details the life of a Vermont family of four and their quest to live more simply. Dad Joshua Becker writes quick, readable posts about his family’s goals and successes. After reading a few entries, I was ready to become a minimalist myself.

Why? After the holidays, new toys, knickknacks and assorted sundries make our modest, 3-bedroom cape feel overloaded. Our house is without a doubt, a minimalist’s worst nightmare. My intentions are good however. Prior to Christmas, I thought I’d make room by taking 3 loads of toys and books to our local kids’ consignment shop. The great unloading was freeing. We gained some shelf space and I felt like Martha Stewart on her best day.

But now I am back to square one, shelves covered in books and magazines, toys on the floor, craft supplies scattered on the kitchen counter. Madness! So you can imagine the relief I felt when I came across Becoming Minimalist. Becker recommends starting off small—clearing out a desk drawer, bookshelf or medicine cabinet—before managing big, overwhelming projects like the toy room, garage and basement. By doing so, he says, a person can enjoy small victories each time. I like the sound of that.

Today, I went through the kids’ giant box of dress-up clothes and put aside extra hats, outgrown ballerina outfits, bandanas, pirate swords and wands. I collected the bounty in a kitchen bag, posted the items on our town’s Trading Post and within the hour, the dress-ups were sold. Victory number one! The whole project—cleaning and posting the items—took about 15 minutes. I feel more organized already.

The kids' dress up closet rivals Vogue

More dress-ups... we could open a theater company

Can our family become true minimalists? We’ll see. I’m not sure we can accomplish object free shelves and floors, as described on this minimalist design guide, but I love the idea of pairing down and living simply. I’m hoping this small start will lead to some peace of mind.


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– Bart's blog

IBM i and PowerVM features and tools

Category Archives: External storage

Live Partition Mobility on IBM i – step by step

It’s pretty new feature on IBM i, for AIX its availably since 2007. In VMware world its called VMotion. In my opinion it is still not very popular. Software vendors must still adopt their software for seamless migrations. But IBM gave us a technology which works very well.

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IBM i with external storage – support matrix

If you wonder what external storage can be directly attached to an IBM i, please check a document at the bottom. Read more of this post

cloning i5/OS

Big shops from time to time have a demand to prepare multiple OS installation in very short amount of time. Or maybe you want to offer ‘a cloud’ with IBM i to your clients. We all know that scratch OS installation with patching the system afterwards may take several hours.

I want to describe a concept of cloning IBM i OS. Unfortunately it requires an external storage. (I’m not sure if the same functionality could not be achieved with an internal storage and Shared Storage Pools – waiting for your feedback).

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