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April Challenge :: Something Blue

*Are you a winner from the March Challenge? Click here to find out!!*

Welcome to the April Kit and Clowder challenge! We had another amazing turn out in March - 91 challenge entries! Hopefully we get to 100 this month :) This month the challenge theme is Something Blue. I would like to see anything on your project blue - it doesn't need to be the coloured image but why not challenge yourself? The DT has even provided some inspiration for Blue colour combos. Entries can be a coloured image either by itself or part of a finished project.

We have an AMAZING sponsor this month and it is one of the sponsors you may have come across in the classes on the website! Please welcome....Whimsy Stamps!

Store | Facebook | Blog

One random winner will take home a $15 Whimsy Stamps gift certificate! 3 people will also be showcased as a feature on the main page!

Ready to be inspired? Here are the amazing cards from the Kit and Clowder Design Team

Blues Used: (Copics) B000, B00, B01, B02, B04, B12, B14, B16

Blues Used: (Copics) B91, B93, B95, B97, B99, Eyes B05, B12

Blues Used: (Copics) Umbrella: B32, B34, B37 & B39 Hat/Boots: B23, B24, B28 and a little B37 Sky: B0000

Blues Used: (Distress Inks) Blue Colors are Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean from Distress Reinkers

Blues Used: (Copics) Jeans B91, B93, B95, B97, B99 Sky: BG0000, BG000 and BG01

Blues Used: (Distress Inks) Weathered Wood

Blues Used: (Copics) B00, B02, B04, B06 and B09

Quick rules: Enter as many times as you like and in as many other challenges as you like! Must be new project. Challenge closes first Saturday of each month and winners drawn at the same time.

Looking for more inspiration? Don't forget to check out the Kit and Clowder classes!

Thanks for playing along this month! :)

You need to be a member of Kit and Clowder Class Rooms to add comments!

Join Kit and Clowder Class Rooms

  • Wow! you gals have made awesome cards. They are all so different and beautiful. Amanda, I adore that blue colour on her dress and the ribbon to match. Tracy, what a gorgeous job you have done with the distress inks. weathered wood is a fab colour. Eulanda, Oh my! your card is beautiful. I love how you put that gorgeous blue around your image. Elise, another stunning card using distress inks. the softness you achieve is gorgeous. Andrea, How adorable is this image. I love how you did the blades of grass in front with the lady bug. so bright and beautiful. Faye, Outstanding colouring. I love the neatness of your cards. Also love those denim blues too. Rita your 3D card is awesome. What child wouldn't want this (or adult for that matter). Fabulous DT.
    I don't know how to do Shabby Chic but I am going to have a go.
    • Thank you so much, Maz! You're so kind! xxx
    • Thanks Maz your kind words make me smile from ear to ear :)
  • Oh my gosh, the DT has created such lovely creations this month (as always)...I'm so glad to be a part of this Kit and Clowder community and the FB group too. There's so much talent and inspiration. Thank you to all the DT members and to Alyce too! I'm sooo inspired.
    • Thank you so much, Lynn! I'm so happy about our community and group too, love seeing everyone's creation so much!
    • I'm so glad to be part of this fun and creative community as well :) Thanks you for your kind words and I'm so happy you are being inspired :)
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Welcome to the Kit and Clowder Crafting Community! All colouring mediums and crafting styles are welcome here. Come here for your Online Copic Classes, Copic Tutorials, Promarker Class and Tutorial, Spectrum Noir Class and Tutorial, Polychromos Class and Tutorial, Prismacolor Class and Tutorial, Distress Ink Class and Tutorial. Live and Online Classes; Australia, United States USA, England, Europe, and more! Learn how to colour your favourite stamp brands such as Magnolia, Saturated Canary, Little Darlings, Tiddlyinks, La La Land, The Greeting Farm and more! Card making classes and card tutorials, mixed media class and tutorials, and copic colouring classes are now available under the Classes tab.


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Day 15 – Rome

Friday 23rd September

This morning we woke up to gorgeous sunshine for our full day exploring Rome. We met up with Ellie and caught the metro to the Colosseum. We met up with our tour guide for the Colosseum and Roman Forum tour and were given our little headpieces so that we could hear her.

The tour of the Colosseum we did was a special one that apparently isn’t usually offered on Contiki – we got to walk through the gladiator gate and on to the arena floor.

The view from the arena floor was spectacular! Photos of the Colosseum just don’t compare to actually seeing it in person, it was pretty awe-inspiring. Especially when you think about how it was built 2000 years ago. The Colosseum was quite busy but we were one of the first tour groups into the Colosseum on the arena floor so we had uninterrupted views.

After spending some time inside the Colosseum, we headed across to the Roman Forum. On the way, we got some nice views of the Colosseum from the outside.

The sun was shining bright and it was so hot – I definitely couldn’t visit Rome in summer and try and sight-see. I mentioned this to the tour guide, and even she said it’s almost unbearable in summer – much more crowded and hot and sticky. It made me very glad I decided to visit in September!

The Forum was really interesting – lots of ruins of ancient government buildings and temples. Some of the arches and buildings I had studied in Classics at school, so it was pretty awesome to see them in person.

I kind of zoned out during the tour and didn’t really listen to the tour guide – she had a thick Italian accent so was hard to understand sometimes! But I still recommend the tour to anyone on this trip. As you can see in the photo below, none of us was really listening to the guide! We were all hot and getting tired!

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After we finished in the Forum, we met up with Ellie and she took us on a walking tour of Rome. We saw the ‘Wedding Cake’ building (actually called Altare della Patria) then we headed to the Trevi Fountain. Of course, the fountain was ridiculously crowded – people everywhere!

I got split up from the rest of the group, so was by myself when I threw my three coins into the fountain – one for love, one for luck and one for a safe return to Rome. It was fun but I wish someone was there to capture a photo of it! I had to settle for selfies in front of the fountain instead.

IMG_1435 After taking some photos, I got gelato from a store nearby that Ellie had recommended – it was so crowded in the store but the gelato was worth it! I met up with the rest of the group and we headed to our last stop on the walking tour – the Pantheon. The Pantheon is amazing – another building that’s 2000 years old and still standing.

We went inside to look at the huge dome – it was really impressive! Another building that you have to see in real life because the photos just don’t do it justice!

We were pretty hungry by now, so we found a little restaurant to have lunch it – I had carbonara – it was yuck! So disappointing to have bad pasta in Rome! After lunch, we walked around for a bit – I bought some nice paintings and a necklace with my name on it from a man that made it in front of me! Then we headed back to the hostel – we got a bit lost and ended up walking all the way back to the Colosseum and catching the metro from there. I got back to my room and was so exhausted, but there wasn’t much time to chill! I had to shower and get ready to go back out for the night’s optional that I had signed up for – pasta making lesson & dinner.

A lot of people didn’t sign up to this, but I actually loved it, and think it’s well worth the price. We had to catch the metro again then walk for about half an hour (no one was happy with this!) but it was all forgotten once we reached the pasta making class. It was so much fun – we made three kinds of pasta from scratch – fettuccine, ravioli and cavatelli. Making fettuccine was the most fun- we had the pasta stretched around the whole room with all of us holding it!

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After making the pasta, we sat down with some wine while a chef cooked the pasta we had made- we had a three course meal and it was the best Italian food I’d eaten so far and the dishes they made with our pasta were delicious. This optional was well worth the price and I highly recommend it!

After dinner, we had to walk all the way back to the metro, which wasn’t fun! Then back at the hostel, there was a farewell party going on with those that were leaving the tour in Rome. I was absolutely exhausted, so I went down to say goodbye (which was surprisingly sad!) and then I went back up to the room to go to bed.

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Knight Center
Knight Center

Topic “ISOJ2018”

Journalists using tools from the future –like blockchain or augmented reality– to enhance, optimize and protect their stories

New technologies such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence and machine learning will be important for journalism in the future, and some news organizations are already using them, according to the members of the panel “What’s Next: Artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain, augmented reality and other tech trends that will impact journalism” from the 2018 International Symposium of Online Journalism (ISOJ). Read more »

Latin American innovators talk comic journalism, interactive graphics, transnational collaboration & diversifying revenue models

By Teresa Mioli and César López Linares

Latin American innovators talk comic journalism, interactive graphics, transnational collaboration and diversifying revenue models

Innovators in Latin American journalism joined the Knight Center for the 11th Iberian American Colloquium on Digital Journalism on April 15, sharing lessons on new storytelling formats, ways to expand reach of a site’s content and revenue models that offer hope for attaining financial sustainability. Read more »

Registration is closed for ISOJ 2018

We’ve reached capacity for the 19th International Symposium on Online Journalism (ISOJ) and registration is now closed. Read more »

ISOJ panel to discuss different ways journalism is embracing audio to engage readers

More than a century after Guglielmo Marconi demonstrated the commercial potential of radio telegraph signals, audio is now seen as the latest platform that could improve engagement between news organizations and audiences, a topic to be tackled by a Saturday afternoon panel at the International Symposium on Online Journalism. Read more »

ISOJ will offer simultanous translation to Spanish thanks to Univision News

The 2018 International Symposium on Online Journalism (ISOJ), which will host prominent panelists from the media industry and academia to discuss the current trends in digital journalism around the world, will again have simultaneous translation to Spanish thanks to conference sponsor Univision News. Read more »

Check out the program for ISOJ 2018 and register now to participate in this unique global conference on online journalism

The program for 19th International Symposium on Online Journalism is now available. ISOJ 2018 features more than 60 speakers from around the world who will explain and explore the latest innovations and trends in digital journalism.

“We made it again!” said professor Rosental Alves, who has been organizing this unique global conference at the University of Texas at Austin Moody College of Communication School of Journalism since 1999. Read more »

Keynote panel to discuss & debate the question: Are newspapers in a post-advertising era?

This year’s ISOJ will kick off on Friday, April 13, with a keynote panel that will explore the question: Are we entering a post-advertising era in media? Read more »

Meredith Artley, Ben Smith & Marty Baron to serve as keynotes at this year’s ISOJ

At the 19th annual ISOJ we’ll hear from keynote speakers who are leading some of the country’s top news organizations. Read more »

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Kopitiam Bot

News · Lifestyle · Tech

Apple will reportedly launch a credit card with Goldman Sachs

(Source: www.theverge.com)

Apple is preparing to release a credit card in partnership with investment bank Goldman Sachs, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal. The new credit card — which marks the end of Apple’s credit card partnership with Barclays — would use the Apple Pay branding, and it’s expected to be released early next year. Goldman Sachs will also offer in-store loans to Apple customers, according to the report.

The move comes just months after Goldman Sachs acquired the team behind Final, a credit card startup, a signal that it was ready to become a serious player in the credit card industry. Goldman Sachs has had a partnership with American Express and its Platinum card for years, offering a variation of the premium credit card to its account holders, but this will be its first foray into consumer credit cards that will expand beyond its own customer base.

As for Apple, the move seems to be a move to increase user adoption of Apple Pay, but it’s unclear how the card will work relative to how the service currently operates or what kind of benefits the company will offer to entice users to sign up for it.

More Info: www.theverge.com


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Kopitiam Bot

News · Lifestyle · Tech

MOE to work with ‘popular schools’ to ensure they don’t become ‘closed circles’: PM Lee

(Source: sg.news.yahoo.com)

The Ministry of Education (MOE) will work with Raffles Institution (RI) and other “popular schools” to ensure they do not become “self-perpetuating closed circles”, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in Parliament on Wednesday (16 May).

Recounting an anecdote that Education Minister Ong Ye Kung recently shared with him, Lee said that RI’s historically strong tradition of accepting students from diverse backgrounds has eroded in “recent years”.

The PM noted that during the RI principal’s visits to different primary schools, some parents told the principal that they were not keen on having their children apply to the school – not because their children could not make the cut, but out of fear that they would not fit in with the well-off students there.

While he noted that such fears are “unfounded” – citing the availability of bursaries and subsidies and the fact that RI students do come from “varied backgrounds” – he added that the existence of such perceptions is “not good” for both the school and Singapore if it prevents promising students from applying to RI.

Earlier in his speech, Lee acknowledged a “further obstacle” to social mobility in Singapore: elite groups that become closed social circles, which prevent outsiders from entering.

“Every society has its elite. They occupy the key leadership positions in society, in government, in academia, in business, in professions, in politics…

“They may be alumni of the same schools, they may have done business with one other, they may have worked in the same profession,” said Lee.

While such networks are “natural structures” in society and an important part of our social capital, Lee noted that they must not close up or form glass ceilings.

“If this happens, not only will social mobility be frustrated. But soon the elite group would start to only look after only its own interests and fail in their duty to lead and care for the rest of society and that would be disastrous for Singapore,” said the 66-year-old premier.

Lee also stressed that while the Singapore government is “doing many things to improve social mobility”, there are no easy solutions and “no magic bullets”.

The most successful models for social mobility, he said, are perhaps “the Scandinavian countries… but even they have seen social ineuqality”.

Lee noted that Singapore’s strategy has been “more successful than most” when it came to universal education and home ownership.

“We’ve made meritocracy work… (but) we must work harder to keep the pathways (for social mobility) open,” he said, adding that, “In the end, the government must focus on practical, effective policies.”

More Info: sg.news.yahoo.com


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Impression: RWBY

The Discussion about what exactly Anime is has always been something that has been talked about a lot, as there are several opinions, that Anime can be defined as. This discussion has recently been heated up again, with the release of the highly Anime influenced web-show RWBY, directed by Monty Oum, known for his amazing choreography in the fights that are included in his show and produced by Rooster Teeth. So far 7 episodes have been released, with almost every single one having the length of 5 minutes, the plot didn’t really get that far. From what has been shown so far, it seems that the world RWBY is presented in is rather complex and that there are a lot of points, where many details are added. At this point in time though, the only thing that we know actually is that there are weird monsters in this world are getting hunted down by people called Hunters/Huntresses. Also something exists called “Dust”, that can basically be summed up as magic in a materialized way. There are a lot of points that I don’t necessarily love about this show, like the 3D-Animation that at some points in times just looks really cringeworthy, which is the same with the Voiceacting, the VAs only being people from Rooster Teeth. It did get a lot better though from episode to episode and it kinda feels like they’re learning a lot out of this. The characters and the plot so far, even though we haven’t seen a lot of it yet, seems a lot like a typical shounen right now, but all this is honestly not a real bother for me. If people are talking about RWBY, they normally want to compare it to other great Anime and I personally think that that is nothing you should do, as this is something that has been done with a tiny Budget and it only had around 2 actual Anime episodes to build it’s plot. This is something fanmade and nothing that is supposed to be really professional and it’s not even that it is all bad! The fighting scenes look freaking good in here, as this is what Monty Oum is really good at!

In the end, RWBY is compared to actual Anime rather mediocre, but as it stands, this is not an Anime and as such not comparable to them. I think it is doing a quite good job for what it is and am looking forward to seeing more of it.


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28 December 2014

Workspace Inspo

Yesterday was spent unwrapping and stashing away leftover Christmas presents.  There's still a few more to go through.  At the same time it calls for reorganizing closet spaces.  Don't know about you, but it doesn't seem to end in this house.

Minor frustration aside, the workspace corner continues to get ideas.  Remember I resulted to doing an affordable, krisp IKEA solution -- shown here.  My dream solution for a desk is really made of classic Scandinavian brand String.  But again, perhaps that budget will be met in the future digs.  At the moment perhaps stick to IKEA for a more budget-friendly outcome.  Besides, ALGOT can still imitate the String aesthetic for now.  So the inspo continues.

26 December 2014

Post Christmas; Budget Trending Hunt

What a wonderful Christmas holiday!  I hope you enjoyed yours to the fullest!  I don't remember receiving this many presents in the last few years.  Among the many, I got my dream turntable, some boots, and an Ann Demeulemeester bible-- just impressive!  I was blown away.  Needless to say, I spent Christmas day playing 30 year old records dug up from storage.  I was in heaven.

Back to reality, once the holiday hype tones down, it is time to renew and refresh some areas of the home.  Ah yes, the office corner with its out-of-control wires and stacks of paper…  Not sure how it happened, but it is beyond fixable and needs to get back into shape.  Looking into visiting IKEA for endless organization ideas!  Good ole ALGOT is currently 20% off, and coming in early 2015 is the new VALJE.

24 December 2014

20 December 2014

NY Kitchen Love

This Greenwich village brownstone got me thinking of what my dream kitchen really would look like.  Often I'd think it's all white.  Or is it all black?  Would it be minimalist? Or would I have industrial touches?  I normally like a combination of both open and closed storage, usually gravitating to a very clean Scandi style. Rustic textures a must!

Looking at these photos, I'd probably have matte black cabinets, white Carrara marble tops, long white 4" x 15" subway tiles, same open shelving statement using weathered rustic wood, all white and black crockery.  Large matte and solid dark floor tiles and black window trimming.  Tolix stools a definite yes.  I'd also add some Tom Dixon pendants above the island.

19 December 2014

Christmas Styling via IKEA Livet Hemma

Last call for Christmas styling, last call!  It's your last weekend to make it work.

Don't you just love it when styling heroes, interior designers, and your favorite photographers participate in IKEA's projects??  I'm ecstatic and swept away! Pella Hedeby does it again.  She captures IKEA in a very unique way.  Her Christmas styling its just one of many prime examples.

Styling Pella Hedeby
Photography Sara Danielsson
Livet Hemma

17 December 2014

Italian villa, a Chateau, or historical Scandi Castle

I got caught in the Christmas shopping frenzy!  Spent a week going through my list, and looking for heavily inspired and unique homes as well to share with you...

Perusing the web I kept running into the home of stylist Marie Olsson Nylander located in Skane, Sweden.  Needless to mention, I was immediately floored!  What a romantic, aristocratic space!  The eclectic mix is so tasteful.  The rough textures, vintage patina, but in modern compositions.  Is it an Italian villa?  A French chateau?  Or some ancestral, historical Scandi castle? You decide.  Whatever it is, we can all agree it's a dream.

07 December 2014

More of White Christmas

I admire artists who explore old objects in their home "stash" to create something new.  A simple thing can create visual impact.  Daniella Witte's simple white and green approach communicates yuletide greetings without getting too fussy.  Also, IKEA's GRUNDTAL rail can do so much!  Don't you just love it?!

As you know Danille Witte is one of my Scandinavian heroes, as I've blogged about her in the past. She was also featured here and here.

06 December 2014

Black + White Xmas

Can't help but love those that can do black + white Christmas theme so well!  As I peruse the web for ideas I came across this amazing DIY project.  I'm sure if you're very good with your hands this can be easily achieved!

Find instructions on My Dubio.

05 December 2014

'COS We Celebrate

Pardon the pun, but I haven't been this excited about a store opening in years!  It's good enough reason to celebrate!  COS is finally opening its doors in Soho here in New York City.  Just in time for the holidays.

04 December 2014

Nordic Christmas inspires me...

Each year I am mostly inspired by the Nordic style of winter holiday decorating.  I seem to gravitate to the same rustic look.   Goes all the way back to the days when I adored Martha Stewart table settings (it's true!) and farm tables set up in her stables.

This renovated school outside of Leksand, Sweden is the perfect holiday setting!    I can't wait to decorate my branches again!


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Canoche: A Night With Robinson Cano And Friends To Benefit RC22 Foundation

Source: Mat Hayward / Getty

Jay Z has 99 problems and now a lawsuit from Prince‘s record label is one.

Hov was in the running to take control of the late singer’s unreleased tracks, but the record label declined the $40 million offer due to other problems they have with the rapper. According to reports, Prince’s NPG Records is suing Roc Nation for overstepping an agreement Prince signed with them before his death. The documents state that Prince made a deal for Roc Nation to stream, through TIDAL, the last album he released before his death, but Roc Nation decided to stream almost all of Prince’s catalog as of June 7, 2016.

NPG is now suing Roc Nation for copyright infringement, claiming that none of that streaming was authorized. Although documents don’t mention the amount the label is suing for, TIDAL is still streaming some of Prince’s greatest hits (including “I Wanna Be Your Lover,” “1999,” and “Little Red Corvette), which could cost Roc Nation a pretty penny.

99 Problems: Prince’s Record Label Files A Lawsuit Against Jay Z was originally published on globalgrind.com

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Massa Jetts

Ebstorfer-stich2Yeah, it sounds like one of those low budget airlines where not only do you have to pay extra for a seat and food with your flight (that’s first class. Coach has you packed in oil), and they are so low budget that they can’t afford to crash.  The massa referring to the fact that the Jets run on slave labour.

Seiously, the term actually comes from a mediæval mappa mundi, the Ebstorf Mappa (right).  Massa jetts are monstrous children that eat their parents and seem to only be found in this map.  This seems related to a previous post, or the events in that post which have me thinking about these monsters.

By the way, the plural of mappa mundi is mappae mundi.  I’m wondering if map of the worlds would be mappa mundorum and maps of the worlds would be mappae mundorum.

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Have a quote idea that we DON'T have on our site? Email me at with your suggestion
and let my creative mind whip up something amazing for you!

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Cannot be combined with any other sales and promotions including Groupons.

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He Who Dies With The Most Tools Wins
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Landmark Education and the Landmark Forum

May 28, 2013

Landmark and Lululemon

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , — landmarkeducationinaustralia @ 6:55 pm

Many people know that Lululemon Athletica is one of those companies that sends its employees to The Landmark Forum for training and development (Panda Express is another one). I’ve read this in a few publications, which usually have some snide things to say about both Landmark and Lululemon – I’m not sure whether they’re using Landmark to insult Lululemon or the other way around.

Lululemon and Landmark seem to attract the same fans and the same haters, which besides their business connection, seems like it’s because both are cult brands that people often love or hate.

Personally, I think it has a lot to do with responsibility. Both Landmark and Lululemon promote responsibility over making excuses and blaming others for one’s failings. While this seems like a common sense approach to life, it seems like it annoys some people. I think many people are attached to their reasons and blame of others, and don’t know what they’d do without them.

Also, some people seem to equate the idea that if one is responsible, one is somehow to blame for the stupid things other people do. Being responsible, to me, is a view one takes to give oneself power, not some evaluation on the state of the world, and it doesn’t mean stupid things others do are your fault.

Chip Wilson, Lululemon’s founder, has some interesting things to say about this in this old article about Landmark and Lululemon.

July 2, 2010

Integrity and Having your Life Work

Filed under: inspiration — Tags: , , — landmarkeducationinaustralia @ 8:32 pm

I’ve written about integrity, and the Landmark Education definition of it, a few times before, but I think it’s worth reviewing the issue as relates to personal effectiveness and performance. I’ve been reading bits of a good book titled ‘The Economics of Integrity’ which shows how our entire economy is built on trust, and when it disappears, the economic consequences can be devastating. It also discusses the recent global financial crisis, where it’s pretty obvious that a lack of integrity demonstrated by many people in the financial industry has had a huge impact on all of us.

All of this is fairly obvious to most people, and yet we are very remiss in applying the principle to ourselves. Said in a slightly different way, when it’s so clear that a lack of integrity can make the economy and society unworkable, why do we think we can get a way with a lack of integrity in our lives? Why do we think we can lack integrity in our lives and have them still be workable?

People that know me and know Landmark Education know the idea that we’re not talking about integrity as a moral issue, but as an issue of workability – being late for a meeting doesn’t make you a bad person, but it makes the meeting less workable, to give a simple example.

Generally, we think that a lack of integrity in society is bad for society, and a lack of integrity on our own part might speak bad of us, but we don’t really think that it will make our lives work less effectively.

One of my favorite blogs, Solid Gold Creativity, has written an excellent post that makes the point very well (and also links to a document created by one of Landmark’s founders, check it out). It points out how every broken promise (even to yourself) or lie or not doing what you know to do adds up and has a huge impact on your life. It affects the view others have of view, the view you have of yourself, your view of what’s possible in life, and it affects what results it’s possible for you to produce.

I know personally that the seemingly little things, like paying a bill late or not exercising when I’ve told myself to do it, or not returning a phone call subtly add up to a mountain – collectively those things can destroy the ‘blank canvas’ for my life, my view that today is a new day and I can accomplish anything. Instead they leave me feeling mediocre and resigned.

So lately I’ve started a bit of an experiment: integrity for its own sake. Not because it makes me a good person, or that it will immediately lead to some great result, but just to see what becomes possible when I honour my word. We’ll see what happens!

October 31, 2008

Grandson of Inspiring Quotes

Filed under: inspiration — Tags: , , — landmarkeducationinaustralia @ 12:37 am

It’s back! By popular demand (well, not really) I have come out with another batch of inspiring quotes…

“It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.”

“Because I don’t live in either my past or my future. I’m interested only in the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man. …. Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we’re living right now.”

–from “The Alchemist,” by Paulo Coelho

Happiness is when what you think, what you say,
and what you do are in harmony.
–Mahatma Gandhi
This is my simple religion.
There is no need for temples;
no need for complicated philosophy.
Our own brain, our own heart is our temple;
the philosophy is kindness.
— Dalai Lama
The drop of water can carve the Rock
The glacier can carve the Mountain
Thusly do consistency and perseverance
Overcome all obstacles
— Jon Peniel

“The ultimate Truth is beyond words. Doctrines are words. They’re not the Way.”

May 30, 2008

Son of Inspiring Quotes

Filed under: inspiration — Tags: , , — landmarkeducationinaustralia @ 9:41 pm

“The best way to find yourself, is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

“Believe, when you are most unhappy, that there is something for you to do in the world.”

–Helen Keller

“Every man goes down to his death bearing in his hands only that which he has given away.”

–Persian Proverb

“Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”

–Theodore Roosevelt

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”

–Albert Einstein

“Never lose an opportunity to see anything that is beautiful. It is God’s handwriting – a wayside sacrament. Welcome it in every fair face, every fair sky, every fair flower.”

–Ralph Waldo Emerson

“We either make ourselves happy or miserable. The amount of work is the same.”

–Carlos Casteneda

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Wednesday’s Book Review: “Flying Man: Hugo Junkers and the Dream of Aviation”

flying-manFlying Man: Hugo Junkers and the Dream of Aviation. By Richard Byers. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2016.

There is no doubt but that Hugo Junkers is a major figure in the history of aviation in the first third of the twentieth century. He pioneered much of the efforts in Germany before World War II in the construction of all-metal, single-wing airplanes. His ideas found expression in the firm he founded, Junkers Flugzeug-und Motorenwerke AG, and he served as a counterbalance to such ideas as those of Count von Zeppelin who advocated light-than-air aviation. The Junkers trimotor passenger and freight airliners helped to advance air transportation with Lufthansa through Europe. Never a Nazi, he was ousted from leadership of his firm by Hitler’s henchmen in 1934 and died the next year.

Notwithstanding his significance, there is not much serious historical work in English concerning Junkers and his company. Accordingly, this new book by Richard Byers is a most welcome corrective to that dearth of knowledge. The author notes that his objective is to advance understanding beyond the specialists of early twentieth century Germany of Jugo Junkers’s life and work. For those of us who specialize in in aerospace history, what we know about Junkers is filtered through a few translated works, basic journalistic accounts of aviation, and nothing that might be characterized as scholarship. Byers has researched deeply in German sources, and presents here a fine analysis that is well-written, easy to comprehend, and sophisticated in analysis.

The author does a good job of placing Junkers in the context of other works in the field—none of them compete with this study—and this is a useful expansion of what was previously known about Hugo Junkers and his aviation company. Byer’s does much to rescue his protagonist from obscurity in the English-speaking world. It does for Junkers what Marc Dierikx did for Antony Fokker in Fokker: A Transatlantic Biography (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997).

This book is a fine addition to historical literature and a welcome study of an important but little-known topic.

This entry was posted in aeronautics, aviation, History and tagged , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

One Response to Wednesday’s Book Review: “Flying Man: Hugo Junkers and the Dream of Aviation”

  1. Richard Byers says:

    Hi Roger,

    Many thanks for your kind review of my work. I hope I have made a small contribution to our field’s global development in the twentieth century.

    All the Best
    Richard Byers
    University of North Georgia
    Dahlonega, Georgia

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Judge Finds Oklahoma Bomb Plot Suspect Mentally Competent | Law & Crime

Judge Finds Oklahoma Bomb Plot Suspect Mentally Competent

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A man accused of trying to detonate what he believed was an explosives-laden van outside an Oklahoma City bank in August has been found mentally competent to face trial.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Shon T. Erwin said Tuesday that Jerry Drake Varnell, 23, isn’t suffering from a mental disease and can assist in his defense. The judge said his ruling was based on results of a psychological evaluation conducted earlier this month.

Varnell’s mental state has been at the forefront of the case after his family noted his history of schizophrenia, The Oklahoman reported. His family said Varnell has been in numerous mental hospitals since he was 16 years old.

A federal complaint alleges that the FBI learned in December that Varnell wanted to blow up a building and an undercover FBI agent posed as someone who could help. Investigators said Varnell initially wanted to blow up the Federal Reserve Building in Washington with a device similar to one used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

Varnell has pleaded not guilty to one count of malicious attempted destruction of property used in and affecting interstate commerce. If convicted, he could face a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison and $250,000 fine.

Varnell remains in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. His trial is set to begin in January.

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Picture post!

This is the only photo of the four of us taken in the last three years. Sad, huh?

The Lawvers, all in the same pic!

I guess one of us is usually behind the camera.\
Three years earlier we had this taken. Too bad it’s in black and white:

black and white portrait of us, taken in November, 2004.

I want to get a real family photo, but I am obsessively paralyzed about finding clothes for the four of us that will coordinate. It’s really hard! I feel a whole new level of empathy for boy bands now.


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Tuning in to the live tweets last week from the opening of the Association of Continuing Legal Education conference in New York City (it may sound dull, but they are a hard partying group!), there was much talk at the plenary session about  the allegedly irrevocable changes occurring in the legal profession because of the fallout from the Great Recession. Familiar themes: hourly billing is evil, the leveraged-associate model is on its way out, law firms will never be the same, etc. This has been the drumbeat of blawggers, consultants, and plenary speakers for at least two years now. I think they get a kick out of seeing the color drain from lawyers’ faces.

Fortunately, the old French saying remains true: The more things change, the more they stay the same. Seemingly huge upheavals often have less long-term impact than we expect.  After 9/11, many people thought we would all be singing Kumbayah for at least a generation. Ten years later, the music has faded.

According to statistics published by the ABA, there are about 1.2 million lawyers in the country, about 74% of whom are in private practice. Of those 900,000 or so lawyers, 76% practice in firms of fewer than 20 lawyers, and the vast majority of those lawyers are in firms of five or fewer lawyers.

In what areas do most solo and small firm lawyers practice? By my own estimates: Family, criminal, personal injury, workers compensation, insurance defense, estate planning and probate, plaintiffs’ employment law, consumer, bankruptcy, and small business litigation and consulting. In other words, predominately individuals and small businesses.

The issues that large firms are facing—large corporate clients wising up to the abuses of the billable hour, competition from international mega-firms—are not likely to affect the vast majority of solo and small firm practitioners. For lawyers representing individuals, the law is local. Family and criminal law attorneys, for example, face little competition from lawyers outside their geographical area. Individuals in need of legal services tend to seek out lawyers in small firms that are close to their homes or businesses, where the cost structure is lower and where they get personal attention. That is not likely to change.

Regarding legal billing structures, personal injury and plaintiffs’ employment lawyers have had an “alternative” fee structure for decades: contingent fees. That is not likely to change. Criminal, bankruptcy, and many estate planning lawyers have been using flat fee billing for years. The concept is nothing new to them.  It seems unlikely that their practices are headed for a revolution.

As for the solo and small firm attorneys charging on an hourly fee basis, particularly the litigators, their practices are unlikely to change either. Moving from an hourly fee to a flat fee billing structure requires a lawyer to take on risk. Family law clients  often make their own problems and are unpredictable once a custody battle or other dispute gets underway. Even when the client is an angel, the opposing party or their counsel can unexpectedly drive up the costs of the matter. Why would lawyers want to assume the risk for their clients’ issues? My guess is most lawyers take on enough risk already when they agree to represent a client and will not offer to take a financial stake in the client’s problems.

The clients of solo and small firms also tend to be less subject to the abuses of the billable hour and therefore less likely to seek alternative fee arrangements. Many solo and small lawyers routinely write off the time for short phone calls and e-mails, discount travel time, and reduce bills for unproductive or administrative work. Smart lawyers include all that written-off time on their bills; the clients can see that they are paying for value (a common refrain by flat fee advocates), not to line the lawyer’s pockets. Associates in small firms are more often employed to help get the work done, often at a lower hourly rate, rather than to pad the bill.

There are other entrenched practices in the legal profession that will weigh against changes in the fee model for litigators. There is a substantial body of case law that requires attorney fee awards pursuant to statutes or fee shifting agreements in contracts to be calculated based on an hourly fee. Attorneys liens are typically determined on a quantum meruit (read: hourly) basis. The Rules of Professional Conduct identify the time spent on a matter as an important factor in assessing the reasonableness of a fee. Insurance companies often hire and reimburse lawyers for representing insureds based on hourly fees, except perhaps for the most routine matters. Some areas of practice have clearly changed—many corporations that hire outside lawyers for immigration and intellectual property matters have shifted to small firms and are requiring flat fees. But these tend to be project-based assignments with predictable time requirements and outcomes.

It is healthy to have a debate about the best practices for any industry. Some change in the legal industry will occur over time. But if you are sitting at a CLE plenary session about the practice of law and feel your head spinning, excuse yourself and go splash some water on your face. You need not worry that you will be out of a job by the time you get back to the session.

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Is your law firm structured to succeed in the future?

The practice of law is changing. You need to understand whether your firm is positioned for success in the coming years. Our free Small Firm Scorecard will identify your firm’s strengths and weaknesses in just a few minutes.

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3 New Affiliate Programs for These Unique Products

Affiliate Programs

Designs by Planner Perfect for 10% Commissions

Do you love to plan? Planner Perfect makes homemade planners, plan books, journals and notebooks. Founder Jenny Penton uses only the best paper, hand sews the bindings with vibrant red thread and uses beautiful artwork on the covers.

Since opening in June 2016, she’s sold more than 10,000 plan books, planners and journals. Most customers are repeat customers, buying between $50 and $125 per order.

You’ll earn 10% affiliate commissions on all sales you refer.

Click here to join Planner Perfect’s affiliate program.

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Get paid per click, lead AND purchase with Juicerville’s generous affiliate program!

Juicerville sells an array of appliances to support your raw food lifestyle, including blenders, juicers, mixers and mills. Promote any product from more than 20 of the industry’s leading brands, including Vitamix, KitchenAid and more.

And you’ll earn affiliate commissions for each click you send! You’ll make $0.25 per click, $1 per lead and a generous percentage of profit on each sale.
Click here to join Juicerville’s affiliate program.

 Unique Products

10% Commissions on the World’s Most Powerful Flashlight
Fenix Outfitters sells the world’s toughest, brightest and most reliable flashlights and headlamps. Perfect for adventurers, outdoors enthusiasts, security professionals and military personnel. Free shipping on products within the US. And you’ll earn 10% affiliate commissions on sales you refer.


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Auto Travel Made Easy

Auto Travel Made Easy

During his work in the travel industry in Montenegro, our founder Kirill Antoshin became increasingly aware of the rise in the number of tourists looking to rent a car. He was called on to assist many people in working their way through this process and noticed the lack of sufficient resources for auto travel. He decided to remedy this problem, and in 2010 he established Auto Travel Company.

Our business operates with the goal of assisting the auto tourist in his travels through Montenegro. Besides providing extensive information and advice about local auto travel, we operate as a nerve center for car rental. Our website compiles the rental offerings of numerous companies. These companies list their cars at the usual prices with no addition of agent’s commission or fees, so you have the combined benefits of convenience and economy.

Auto Travel Made Easy

Our service stands head and shoulders above our competitors. As we seek to serve our clients, we try to streamline and personalize the car rental process. We are the only service which offers three features that resolve commonly heard complaints from travelers:

  • The ability to choose a specific car rather than merely a “class” of car.
  • The finalization of a reservation immediately rather than after hours of delay.
  • The payment of only part (15-20%) of the total charge when booking, rather than paying in full.

Our goal is to relieve the stress of renting a car so that you can keep your mind on your trip and not on the problem of transportation.

We also try to make the procedure of picking up your car as simple and straightforward as possible. This begins when we bring your car to you. Your rental manager will meet you at the airport or another predetermined location and take you to your car. Together, you will carefully inspect the car and record any flaws in the condition. After signing the rental agreement, you will pay the remainder of your fee, and then you are free to explore the glories of Montenegro.

As an auto traveler, you will find our website to be an invaluable resource. We provide extensive information about the practical details of road travel, such as what you need to know about the traffic laws of Montenegro as well as about the police, the traffic fines, and the details of crossing the border. We suggest various destinations and routes, tell you about the use of cell phones, and discuss how to access the internet. We even give you detailed information about all the aspects of traveling in Montenegro with children.

If you plan to travel around Montenegro by car, there is a lot you will need to prepare. We will help you to get started on your holiday with ease and comfort. Our goal is to ensure you get the most out of your trip, and we believe this begins with being well equipped and well informed. is a resource no car traveler in Montenegro should do without.

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RSS feed for Michael

Favorite films

Recent activity

Recent reviews

  • The Karate Kid

    The Karate Kid

    Very entertaining piece of pure formula with many memorable moments. Total pop culture time capsule of 1984 too (with one particular romantic montage being the most 1984 thing ever).

  • Goodbye Pork Pie

    Goodbye Pork Pie

    Anarchic, nonsensical and a lot.of fun. Great to see the NZ perspective on the road trip chase movie with the sensibility and topography of the Kiwis

Popular reviews

  • Star Trek Beyond

    Star Trek Beyond

    Like all the Bad Robot Treks, it comes from the gut, not the heart or the head, and the aesthetic is somewhat un-ambitious, but Beyond is enjoyable in its unpretentious simplicity and delivers on the possibility offered by the 2009 film. In a lot of ways it feels a lot like a throwback to films like The Last Starfighter and (ironically) Galaxy Quest, and the problem solving chemistry  of the cast goes a long way. A moment about twenty minutes from the end may make some eyes roll, but I punched the air.

  • Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

    Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

    Interesting view of the Star Wars universe stripped of its moral certainty as well as its fairy tale/Campbellian mythology, replaced with viscera and grit. Slips in a couple of spots but sticks the landing and crucially proves that the darker corners of this galaxy are places worth looking into on future 'non-saga' instalments. Very, very good.


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Library Leadership

Felton Thomas Director of the Cleveland Public Library

There are some leaders who are able to share their journey in such a way that it makes all of us want to come along for the ride. Felton Thomas is just such a leader. As Director of the Cleveland Public Library and past-President of the Public Library Association, his visionary style and pay-it-forward attitude have made a huge impact on the profession. Climb on board as we listen to what brought him to where he is today, the leader of a 5-star rated library known as the “People’s University” a place where everyone can seek out knowledge in ways that are beneficial to themselves, their community, and the world.

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Library Conversations: White House Budget Cuts
Jim Neal President of the American Library Association

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Things to do in Singapore

Singapore, the Lion City, has a little something for everyone. Here’s my list of the must-dos in the city –

1. Visit Sands Skypark Observation Deck

In my opinion, this is the first thing that you should do in the city. The Sands Skypark Observation Deck, situated on top of the Marina Bay Sands Tower 3, offers a splendid view of the city. And the deck also has information about all the significant places you can see from different view points.
The ticket to the observation deck costs $23 SGD, which is cheaper than the Singapore flyer. This is also be better than any half-day city tours you might be planning.

Fun Fact: You can also see the Batam and Pulau Bintan islands of Indonesia from the observation deck

2. See the laser show at the Marina Bay Sands Event Plaza

There is a free laser show at the Event Plaza in front of the Marina Bay Sands. It’s a beautiful show with a captivating story-line, and you must definitely watch it at least once.

3. Visit Gardens by the Bay

If gardens are your thing, Gardens by the Bay are a must-visit! There are two greenhouses in the garden, as you can see from the image above (taken from the Sands Skypark OD); The Cloud Forest and The Flower Dome. The gardens are also home to the magnificent and futuristic Supertrees.
The Cloud Forest replicates the temperatures of the tropical mountains, thanks to the astounding waterfall, the cooling jet vapors and the regulated air conditioner. Due to the temperature, it hosts a wide range of tropical flowers and plants. The waterfall in the center of the dome is quite magnificent and will have you reaching for your jacket. So be sure to carry one!
The Flower Dome houses a wide variety of plants from all over, and is a dream come true for every garden-lover.
If you’re on a tight budget, feel free to just walk through the rest of the garden and enjoy the view. However, I do recommend that you accommodate at least The Cloud Forest into your schedule. The walk inside the dome is absolutely breath-taking and worth every penny.

4. Visit Universal Studios

This obviously goes without saying. You cannot leave Singapore without visiting Universal Studios.  From the high thrill Mummy and Transformers rides, to the nostalgic Madagascar river ride, and the Shrek 4D adventure, you’re going to absolutely love this magical place!

5. Visit Night Safari, River Safari, Singapore Zoo and Jurong Bird Park

Yes, you must visit all 4! And try to catch as many special shows as you can. They are absolutely astounding. The main highlight of the river safari though, were the Red pandas and the giant pandas. So if you have no interest in them, you can skip this park. But I highly recommend visiting all the other 3.

6. Visit the S.E.A. Aquarium in Sentosa

This magnificent aquarium is home to more than 100,000 species of marine life, and it provides a breathtaking experience. It’s difficult to take in all the beauty in the place, and once you’re in, you won’t feel like leaving. We spent a good 3-4 hours in the aquarium and still couldn’t get enough of it.
The aquarium has feeding sessions in lots of exhibits, so if you want to see it, be sure to check the timings beforehand.

7. Visit the Southernmost Point of Continental Asia

This bridge leads to the southernmost point of Continental Asia. It has two towers which you can climb to see the ships sailing on the strait, towards, what I assume, was the Indian Ocean. It’s place you can proudly claim to have visited!

8. Take a walk down Orchard Street

We visited Singapore around Christmas, and Orchard street was covered in beautiful lights all over. It was a wonderful sight around Christmas, but I hear it is equally beautiful all year round. So when you want to take a break, put on shoes and take a refreshing stroll down Orchard Street.

9. Try the Milo Dinosaur at Newton Food Centre

Of course trying a famous local drink also counts as a thing to do! You can’t go to Singapore and not try the delicious Milo Dinosaur. Yes, it is made from Milo, the chocolate malt powder. The ice cold beverage also has a topping of the malt powder on top of the drink, and if you love to eat malt, it is definitely your kind of beverage.

Signing off, with my Sinagpore travel adventure, urging you to go and make one for yourself 🙂

He spoke of a God unseen,
A messenger of his desires.
Underneath that mask,
Lay a soul, black as coal.
His shadow, an epidemic.
It encroached all around him,
The fire, bringing a deeper darkness.
And as the light left their eyes,
They looked for solace,
To the God unseen.
The unseen, who sees nothing.
The ashes left behind,
The crimson of innocence,
As we slaughter our own,
In the name of love.
Yet, again I hope,
That the lights keep burning,
Just a little bit longer.
Maybe this time,
I’ll find a reason to believe.

The night on the rooftop

The night today, is as dark as can be
Not a sound to be heard
Not a shadow to be seen

Just silence, as we sit on the rooftop
And you draw back into your shell
A shell, that wouldn’t be
If you could see what I see
Oh, the world is a cruel place
But you, you make it beautiful
Magic, that’s what you are
A scintillating spark of madness

Your eyes paint a world, that knows no pain
And your voice, a symphony of words
In your heart, you hold a light
That the dark fears to touch
And that snaggle toothed smile
That smile of yours, stops time

So break that shell, step out now
As life grabs you by the hand
And plummets you down
Brush it off, and face the climb
And in your stride, take it all
Just one step at a time

And in your palms, you will hold
Your dreams, that were too big
As you rise, and stumble and fall
And brush it off and start again

In silence
We sit on the rooftop
And in silence I wait
As you break down your walls

The night today, is beautiful as can be
Not a sound to be heard
Not a shadow to be seen

The Beautiful and Terrible World – Slam Poetry

This is my first poetry for which many people deserve credit. It was a group effort, which turned out beautifully! Written by me and Elaine (do visit her blog here!), scrutinized and modified by Niharika, and all the moral support provided by Stuti, here’s another addition to our overflowing Flatmate Goals!

Another beautiful day!                                                                                Another terrible day!

What’s so beautiful about
Wars and blood baths?

Wars are also waged for good
For change, and everyday
Is better than the last!

Good? The world has locked away
All the good it once knew
And the demons that they created
Are right in front of you!
Everywhere I see is anguish,
Pain, sorrow and despair!
Nothing ever seems fair!

What is not fair?
You see those little kids
Filled with hopes and dreams?
They have so much
To offer to the world!

They? They grow up!
And all their hope is leeched
Right out of them
And their dreams are crumbled
Into a million pieces!

Yes! They grow up.
To fight for what is right,
To remove traces of sorrow,
To strive for peace,
To abolish evil.
They speak!

And they are shot
Right in the head!
Their throats cut through.
Their voices silenced forever.

Their voices made a difference
It’s their acts of kindness and sacrifice
Which ignites a spark in us
A positive action,
A chain reaction,
Till the whole world is alight!

And where was this light?
When she screamed for help!
No one dared to move a muscle
Nor spoke for her. Well,
She died of course!
Where was this kindness
When she was killed in the womb?
When she was left beside a garbage can!
When she was looked down upon!

But now she fights!
So, no-one suffers her fate.
She is a phoenix of justice
Reborn from the ashes
Shining brightly, smiling gently!
What’s not beautiful?
And amongst all this cynicism
People still fall madly in love.
Slowly driving the darkness away.

Love? Love is brutally murdered!
It is hunted, till slaughtered!
All in the name of religion and caste.
Love is reviled…

Yet love is alive
Why don’t you ask the ones?
Who loved and survived!
Whose hope was revived
Because their families fought for them
The world stood with them
This world has taught us
To open our arms and
Welcome love, peace and prosperity.
It has taught us that
Little girls can be warriors.
And little boys, sometimes

Just need someone
To wipe the tears off their face.

It has indeed!
Taught us that humans are humans.
The diminishing characters they are
Surpassing even the greatest demons.

No! It has taught us that
All humans are not monsters.
The nurturing goodness they have
Can uproot any evil from within!

What a terrible world!

It’s a beautiful world!

If I Could Meet Me – Slam Poetry

If I could get on a time machine
I would meet the little girl
Who was still taking life, one day at a time
Who still had her heart filled with wonder
And I would tell her to never lose that spark in her eyes
I would tell her that her hands have the power to move rocks
And that her feet were made to walk miles and climb mountains
And if she ever feels burdened
All she has to do is let go of the weights
I would tell her not everyone will stay in her life forever
And that’s okay
I would tell her not to worry if life seems bleak
Because ten years down the line, the pieces will fit together
I would tell her not to stress so much over her future
Because ten years down the line, she still won’t have the answer
But her uncertain life in her imperfect little world
Will make perfect sense to her
I would tell her never to be ashamed
To let out the child within her heart
I would tell her that she’d never be old enough for cartoons
And that her little bed, crowded with her favorite stuffed toys
Will still always have enough place for her and her big dreams
I would tell her never to lose the spark of hope in her heart
And when the world forces cynicism and defeat down her throat
Quenching her thirst to make a difference
I would tell her that a little girl with big dreams and sparkly eyes
Will be waiting for her right here

Cardboard and Kids

There are few things that give you immense satisfaction. I recently had a wonderful experience with little kids from a government school in Hyderabad running around with a Google cardboard stuck to their eyes, reveling in the joy of virtual reality for the first time in their lives.

Some of us might never understand what they felt when they were transported to a different world. For a privileged few among us, virtual reality is a means of entertainment in our free time. But for those kids, it was an experience they’ll remember all their life. They learnt about the human body by travelling through it, as a cell. And it was a sight to see them zooming around the classroom, driving their rover on the moon. And the fact that I was instrumental in providing this memorable experience to them fills my heart with unbound joy.

Children do find everything in nothing, and make you wonder why you haven’t been paying enough attention to marvel at that nothingness. As adults, what we learnt in that classroom was very different. It was everything that we knew as kids, but had pushed it somewhere in the dark corners of our mind as we grew up.

The experience had as much impact on me as it did on the kids. And I hope I carry the learning with me throughout my life, just like I hope they will.

Goodbye, dear father

When I saw you today,
When I saw you, lifeless
I thought back to fonder days

When you held my hand
And taught me how to walk
When you carried me around
Proudly, on your shoulders
When you hugged me
Every time you came home from work
When you taught me all
You thought I should know

As time took its toll
We did grow apart
But the fondness in my heart
Never went away

And today, you left
Without a goodbye
And all we have left
Are memories
But every time we think of you,
Dear father, we’ll think of you
Only with love

As you lie there, lifeless
I fight back tears
I have to be strong now
For mother, for myself

But don’t you worry
This too, shall pass
And I’ll be the brave little boy
You raised me up to be

So goodbye, dear father
Don’t you worry now
We have each other
And you, in our hearts

Goodbye, dear father
Rest in peace, now

Two of my friends recently lost their fathers. This poem is dedicated to both of them. I’m sure this poem didn’t do justice to how you must have felt, and I apologize for that.

I can’t even begin to comprehend what you would have gone through. But all I can do is assure you, that this too shall pass.


text:
attitude · change · fear · life · micro poetry · Motivation · Poems · positive attitude · positivity · writing

क्यूँ डरते हो?

Wrote an impromptu poem long time back while editing this picture I clicked: क्यूँ डरते हो जलने से? क्यूँ बुझने देते हो अपनी लौ 'लोग क्या कहेंगे?' की फूंक से? लोग तो कुदरत में भी कमी निकालते हैं, तो क्या सूरज ने जलना छोड़ दिया? क्या बारिश ने बरसना छोड़ दिया? क्या हवाओं ने बहना… Continue reading क्यूँ डरते हो?

attitude · blogging · Ego · life · people · positive attitude · positivity · writing

“Not everything is about you”

I'm no expert but this is something that I've learned in Yoga and would like to share.  Ego is one of the most inescapable trait. No matter how much you deny having it, you still possess it.  When mine starts inflating, the sentence in the title can deflate it in a fraction of a second. There… Continue reading “Not everything is about you”

blogging · blogpost · faith · life · Quora · Ten Word Stories · Words · writing

Life In Ten Words

Sometimes you don't need to speak a lot, you just have to speak right.  Last year I wrote a few 10 word stories as an answer on Quora and I just felt like sharing them here: All she wanted was love. All he gave was scars. “He’ll become a successful doctor!” Another artist died that day. She… Continue reading Life In Ten Words


text:
24 hours in Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur was probably great once. It might be great again one day, but for now it’s just a network of building sites connected by a web of dirty, smelly alleyways. For some reason, we thought it was a good idea to spend 4 nights in KL. This was far too long. Luckily we had an awesome Couchsurfing host, so we didn’t pay for accommodation. If you find yourself in the city for a day, here’s a suggested tour to help you enjoy your 24 hours.

Top tip: Download Uber before you arrive. We usually like to walk around cities, but it’s often impossible in KL. The public transport system is poorly planned and badly connected, so even if you get the LRT or Monorail as close as possible to where you want to go, you will usually find a 40ft concrete wall or a dual carriageway between you and your destination.

8:00 – Start at Old Town White Coffee for breakfast – This is where locals eat their breakfast if they fancy something other than chicken rice. They serve great coffee and offer a sumptuous selection of baked goods – a great way to start the day!  Try some traditional Kaya toast or go for the French toast if you’re feeling continental . There are loads of these around the city, so it’s easy to find one near wherever you’re staying. Sure, it’s a chain, but trust us, it’s way better than Starbucks.

Old Town White Coffee.jpg

9:00 – LRT to Batu Caves – For once the LRT actually drops you off near your intended destination, although the Port Klang line that goes to Batu Caves only runs one train every 45 minutes at off-peak times. It’s best to go early in the day before it gets too hot because you have to climb 272 steps to get to the top. That, and you might be cajoled into a bit of manual labour along the way. Nick had to carry 2 heavy buckets of rocks all the way to the top and no one explained why.

The 140ft tall gold Murugan statue that guards the caves is surely impressive when it isn’t surrounded by scaffolding, and the 400 million year old caves must be spectacular when they’re not covered in discarded building materials and rubbish. On the plus side, a lot of monkeys hang out in the caves, so that’s pretty cool. Just hold on to your sunglasses!

12:00 – Central Market for lunch – Get the LRT to Pasar Seni, take the exit where the open sewer flows into the river and walk to Central Market. There are some lovely souvenirs on offer here and a food court where you can grab some reasonably priced nasi goreng or Thai chicken. It’s not the best food court we’ve ever been to (KL’s got nothing on Singapore), but the food is fairly tasty, served quickly and you can get fresh fruit juices and cheapish bottles of Skol lager – inexplicably the lowest priced beer in most Malaysian restaurants. There’s also a 3D illusion art museum on the second floor, if you like that kind of thing.

Top tip: If you go to the museum and then pretend to change your mind about visiting, they’ll give you a discount coupon.

14:00 – Menara KL / KL Tower – The viewing platform here is 100m higher than the Petronas Towers Sky Bridge and costs less. Get the free, but usually packed, GOKL bus from Pasar Seni to KL Tower, then get the free shuttle bus from the bottom of the hill on Jalan Punchak to the base of the tower. There are 2 different viewing platforms, but we recommend just paying for the first one because it’s half the price and almost as high as the second one. The view is pretty impressive too, despite what they tell you at the ticket counter!

16:30 – Amusement Square at Berjaya – Take the Monorail from Bukit Nanas to Bukit Bintang and walk to Berjaya Times Square. On the 6th floor you’ll find Amusement Square – probably the best arcade we’ve ever been to. Battle it out on Time Crisis 4, speed your way to victory on Mario Cart and try not to pee in your pants while playing Dark Escape 4D. We were lucky enough to visit on their 30th Anniversary, so we paid RM50 for both of us and had unlimited plays on all of the games. Nick thought he’d died and gone to heaven! Keep an eye out for special promotions like this on the Times Square website.

19:00 – Wong Ah Wah for dinner – Walk to Jalan Alor (otherwise known as food street) and at the far end you will find Wong Ah Wah. Famous for its BBQ chicken wings, it is a sprawling restaurant with tables and chairs all over the ‘road’. The servers carry walkie talkies and bark your order at the relevant hawker chef from your table – it’s a slick operation. We can recommend the satay and the sambal prawns!

21:00 – Grab a drink at the Heli Lounge Bar – you can walk here from Wong Ah Wah in about 15 minutes, or get an Uber for about RM3. We didn’t actually go there because they wouldn’t let us in with our cut-offs and flip-flops, but we’ve heard great things from fellow travellers. We did see it from KL Tower and thought it looked pretty cool, so if we ever have to go back to KL this will definitely be on our list. Heli pad by day, bar by night, the Heli Lounge Bar is on the roof of Menara KH and has no fence or safety rails to stop you from plummeting to your death. It’s probably best not to drink too much here, but drinking is generally frowned upon in KL anyway.

Photograph stolen from the Heli Lounge Bar Facebook page

22:00 – View the Petronas Towers at night – get the monorail from Raja Chukan to Bukit Nanas, then change to the Kelana Jaya line and get the LRT to KLCC. You can exit the station right at the foot of the Petronas Towers, then walk around the KLCC Park to get a great view of them lit up. We think the twin towers look much more impressive from the outside than the inside, plus it’s free to look at them from the park.

Our ‘24 hours’ ends here because, if like us, you didn’t want to pay for accommodation, it’s probably time to head back to your Couchsurfer host and pass out with exhaustion.

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text:
My Teeth Are Getting More Crooked by the Hour

Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Braces

When I was ten, the family dentist and my parents made a secret plan to make my teeth straight. It didn’t involve braces. Instead, it involved pulling out five of my permanent teeth.

When Teeth Fly

I remember several visits to the dentist wherein he grabbed a tooth with his pliers and pulled with all his might until my tooth would finally be uprooted and go flying across the room and hit the wall.

He seemed to think this was a perfectly normal occurrence (which I’m sure in his case it was) and, since I didn’t have anything to compare it to — I thought so too. That is until I had my wisdom teeth removed years later and guess what? Nothing went flying anywhere.

Look Ma! No Braces!

Anyway, getting five of my permanent teeth extracted did the trick. My teeth were tolerably straight for a good portion of my life.

The Minute My Mouth is Closed

Then suddenly one morning, one of my front teeth began to stick out farther than the rest. At first, it was hardly noticeable. That’s because this rebel tooth did all its traveling when I wasn’t looking.

If I were to smile into a mirror at any given moment, this tooth would freeze and stay in that exact position until I closed my mouth and then it would continue on it’s mission which, obviously, was to become a Hillbilly Tooth.

The Miraculous Transformation

Over the years, slowly but surely this hillbilly tooth wannabe has made a miraculous migration from sitting straight-in-a-row with all the other front teeth — content to be an all-around team player — to Class Clown of the Mouth. So that today, this tooth has positioned itself in such a way as to stick out way beyond all the others making it appear as if I just have the one.

Surgery for the Problem Child

A couple of years ago I decided I would do something about my problem child tooth. I looked into getting cosmetic dental surgery. The dentist made a mould of my mouth, and we went into the conference room to discuss what could be done.

The Dentist Who Cared Too Much (and had absolutely no sense of humor)

It didn’t help any that the dentist had tears in his eyes when he set the mould of my wayward teeth in front of me. This is the consultation that followed and to quote Dave Barry, I am not making this up.

To lighten up the mood, I remarked, “Those are my teeth? Gee, they’re pretty crooked. In fact, I’ve seen straighter teeth on the 20,000-year-old skulls they’ve excavated on the Discovery Channel.”

To which the dentist replied solemnly, “I know.”

“Well is there anything you can do about it?”

“Not really . . . unless you want to get braces.”

“Braces! But I’m 55 years old!” (although I was wearing my hair in a ponytail that day so maybe he thought I was younger . . . emotionally anyway.)

“There are a lot of OLD PEOPLE LIKE YOU who get braces,” he assured me. “In fact, I had a patient in here the other day who just got his braces off and his teeth looked great!”

“How old was he?”

Paying for Invisiline Braces with Invisible Money

So I went to an orthodontist. He informed me that I can get Invisiline braces, (the removable, see-through kind) for somewhere between $5,000 to $7000 dollars.

Hmmm. . After Giving the Matter a Lot of Thought . . .

I’ve decided to wait because who knows? Maybe my hillbilly tooth will come into fashion one of these days. And if that doesn’t happen?

There’s always mouth modeling for the Discovery Channel.

Until next time, I love you . . .

Surefire Conversation Starters for Your Next Chamber of Commerce Mixer

We’ve all felt a little awkward when trying to think of topics for discussion when networking at the Chamber of Commerce. That’s why I have compiled these sure-fire conversation starters designed to make new friends and influence people while simultaneously impressing them big time.

“Hey there! I can tell by the sweat accumulating around your hairline that it is, indeed, hot enough for you.”

Starting up a conversation by talking about the weather is always a congenial way to break the ice.

“I’d offer you one of my dog biscuits, but I left them at home.”

This isn’t necessarily a good conversation starter, as such, but it will buy you time to think up another topic while the person is wondering whether it is safe to be standing next to you.

“So what business are you mixed up in, monkey face?”

This is a sure-fire conversation starter, especially for people whose name tag actually says “monkey face”.

“Hey Lookee!  I’ve got more hair on my arms than you have on your entire head!”

Try to avoid using this observation on women. If you can’t tell whether the bald person is a man or a woman just take a wild guess.

“I ran over two cats on the way here. How about you?”

This conversation starter is guaranteed to get attention. To avoid any misunderstandings, be sure to stress that they were your own cats you ran over and not theirs.

“Look around!  I think it’s safe to say you are the fattest person here by a long shot!”

Even though it might seem counter-intuitive, this is actually a great way to strike up a conversation because everyone enjoys having something that lends them an air of distinction.

“Don’t we know each other from AA?”

This quickly and easily establishes that the Chamber of Commerce isn’t the only organization to which you belong.

“Remember me?  I’m the one you blocked on Facebook!”

It never hurts to let people know that you “get around” and that you run in lots of different circles.

“Think you or think you not the book of Who’s Who in America should, instead, be entitled Who’s WHOM in America?”

Starting a conversation this way will impress the heck out of anyone, I don’t care who they are.

“Guess What? I have a tattoo next to my bellybutton that says, “Do Not Pierce!”

Only say this if it’s true however; otherwise, you could come off as being disingenuous should they ask to see it.

It’s uncanny!  I can’t get over how much you look like my baby daddy!

This demonstrates your excellent memory for faces.

If these conversation starters don’t catapult you to success, I don’t know what will.

Until next time . . . I love you

Go to the Light Little Grease Spots!

Me and My Grease Spots

I can put on a clean pair of white pants in the bedroom and by the time I get out into the living room, they’ve got a grease spot on them.

It’s the same story with practically every piece of clothing I own and I don’t get it? Where is all this grease coming from and why is it making a beeline for my clothes?

I mean, sure if I were nibbling fries from the fryer baskets at McDonald’s or using my blouse to cradle a pile of Pringles, I could understand it, but I never do stuff like that . . . well, hardly ever.

Grease Just Finds Me Wherever I Am, Especially If I’m Eating Out

Once a grease spot has mysteriously appeared on my clothing, no matter who I happen to be dining with, the conversation always goes something like this:

“Oh Darn”

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh I spilled grease on my shirt.”

“But you’re eating a banana.”

“I know.”

“Well, why don’t you apply some cold water to it. It will come out if you get it right away.”

Notice that the advice giver always uses the same phrases:

“apply cold water” and “if you get it right away”.

What I want to know is who thought up this method for getting out grease stains and then plastered it all over the internet thereby making it a darn-near scientific fact– when it has NEVER worked for me — not even once!

Once a Sucker Always a Sucker

And even though I know it doesn’t work, I’ll still dutifully apply cold water to the spot. This only makes the area all around the grease spot wet, thus highlighting it for all to see as I am leaving the restaurant.

Eventually the water dries and guess what? My new best friend, Mr. Grease Spot, is still there– uglying up my blouse and patting itself on its oily little back for uncommon tenacity and stick-to-itiveness.

Go To the Light, Little Grease Spot!

I remember my mother telling me that when she was a little girl, and some distant relative died, her family would say “he(or she) is just a grease spot now.”

If that’s true I’ve got a lot of distant relatives living in my closet.

All I can say is “Go to the Light” distant relatives! And if that doesn’t work, apply cold water and THEN go to the light!

Until Next time . . . I love you

What Came in the Mail

 Item 1

I got a letter from the cable company today and these words were emblazoned across the envelope:

“Look Inside to See What’s Waiting for You”

I don’t know about you, but I’d prefer not to have anything “waiting for me inside.”  Maybe it’s going to jump out and scare me.

And besides, what if it’s not waiting anymore. What if it got tired of waiting . . . and now it’s LURKING . . . I don’t want to look inside if something is lurking in there for me.

Then again, it could just be that the cable company wants me to look inside to see what’s waiting for me because they think I’m expecting them to send me an empty envelope. Perhaps they imagine the following scenario :

“We got another envelope from the cable company today. What should I do?”

“Hmmm. . . that’s a tough one. Does it say ‘look inside to see what’s waiting for you?”

“Then don’t look inside, just throw it away.”

Item 2

Our Auto Insurance Coverage Summary finally arrived. (And here you were about to give up. Oh ye of little faith.) Inside “waiting/lurking” was the “Declarations Page.”

They would have called it the Declaration’s Page with an apostrophe, but apostrophes are so expensive nowadays and using one would have caused our auto insurance rates to skyrocket. The “Declarations Page” goes on to declare that:

“Our policy has changed effective May 15 2011.”

Shhh. . . don’t mention that it’s a little late for this news. The Declarations Page takes itself very seriously and you’ll only cause a fight.

Item 3

An offer for a Nokia phone came in.

Hello Linda Vernon,

(Note the use of the comma instead of a colon which means they consider me a friend; in fact, they might even be falling in love.)

It goes on to say:

You’ve been such a great customer; you deserve something special from us.

(Ok, flattery will get you everywhere. What is it?)

Get your free  phone with free delivery!

(Ah shucks, you shouldn’t have.)

It’s yours free after a $50 mail-in rebate debit card with a two-year service agreement.

(Ok, now I’m tearing up.)

It has the largest digital voice and data network in American covering 273 million people and it’s growing all the time!

(You had me at hello.)

Until next time . . . I love you

Slaving Over a Hot Keypad

I Got Nothin’

Yesterday was a frustrating day. I sat down to write a post for this blog but my brain, Peanuts, just wasn’t cooperating.

I kept fiddling around with the same group of lousy little words for hours — arranging and rearranging — trying to get them to come together in some sort of pleasing way — but they absolutely refused to cooperate.

Hither and Yon

I just couldn’t seem to get my words and my ideas synchronized. It was all very discombobulating.  I was running out of steam and no matter how hard I tried I JUST COULD NOT GET THINGS TO COMBOBULATE.

At 1:30 in the afternoon, I finally threw the bums out and started over.

When Life Hands You Lemons, Start Over

My second attempt was even worse! It wasn’t the fault of the words or the ideas, as such. Individually, they were all fine, upstanding words and ideas. It was the order in which I laid them out on the page that really stunk on ice.

But I refused to admit defeat. I was determined to cobble together a decent essay; even if it meant using every single tool my writer’s toolbox including the sledgehammer.

If at First You Don’t Succeed, Step Up Your Punctuation

It soon became obvious the second essay was turning out even more disappointing than the first; but still I forged ahead determined to make it work utilizing some little known writer’s tricks I had up my sleeve.   Such as inserting peppy punctuation like three exclamation marks in a row at the end of every sentence — and giving a humorous word like “DYN-O-MITE” a paragraph of its very own.

Exasperatingly Exhausted

I typed and typed and typed until my fingers were blue in the face. I was at the end of my rope and so desperate, I even tried sticking in some humorous kitty images in an attempt to cover up my mediocrity:

Funny, but not hilarious
 Slightly funny, but certainly not funny enough to offset lousy writing

Ok, this one’s just making things worse

Oh Forget It!

At Four Frigin’ Thirty in the afternoon, I finally admitted defeat.

My husband, 37, got home from work, and found me slumped on the couch frazzled and flummoxed. So he suggested we eat out, bless his ever-lovin’ 37 heart!!!

By the time I finished my Panda Express Kung Pao Chicken and Chow Mein, I was practically my old self — until I opened my fortune cookie which read:

What are you trying to do Panda Express?  Kill me?

Until next time . . .  I love you


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Spring Has Sprung for Charlie

Although we are enjoying a little bit of winter (27 inches!) in spring-time today, for Charlie spring has sprung!  Charlie has been doing very well.  Thanks to the trach he is now oxygenating well.  He is happy, growing, smiling, and healing.  Now that he is weaning off of meds and able to enjoy being a baby we get to see more of “Charlie.”  The therapists that stop in each day are very pleased with all that he is doing and they are helping us to get him stronger.  Sarah enjoyed her snuggle time with her little brother on Friday…

We are so thankful for all the grandma’s, uncles, aunts, cousins, and friends that take the time to visit Charlie and snuggle with him when I am at home.  Charlie doesn’t lack for LOVE!  Thanks to Uncle Brian (Charles) and Karsen for loving on our boy today.

Please pray that Charlie would progress quickly so that we can get our boy HOME!

-wean meds quickly and successfully

-lungs would mature and heal (alveoli would expand and function well)

Thank you so much for praying for little Charlie!

4 thoughts on “Spring Has Sprung for Charlie

  1. So happy to see Charlie is progressing . We pray constantly for Gods will and speedy healing for all of you.We are so deeply humbled by your faith and dedication. It has helped us so much with our own. Xox. 🙏

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text:
[Bug 374150] [NEW] Please sync xkbsel (0.13-15) from Debian unstable

Launchpad Bug Tracker 374150 at bugs.launchpad.net
Sat May 9 19:21:12 BST 2009

You have been subscribed to a public bug by James Westby (james-w):

Binary package hint: xkbsel

Please sync xkbsel (0.13-15) from Debian unstable, all Ubuntu changes was merged on Debian :
- Configure was changed to replace /usr/X11R6/bin/xkbcomp by /usr/bin/xkbcomp
- New homepage is now http://www.meduna.org/sw_xkbsel_en.html
- Build-depends changed from libungif4-dev to libgif-dev

It build fine with a karmic pbuilder.
Md5sum for both orig.tar.gz are the same : d49e538542be9634fef59460261064c4

Last Debian changelog entries:

xkbsel (0.13-15) unstable; urgency=low

  * QA upload.
  * Include empty var/lib dirs for compiled db. (Closes: #524454).
    + Regression from previous upload.
    + Still complains about symbols files but seems to be in old version too.

 -- Barry deFreese <bdefreese at debian.org>  Fri, 08 May 2009 14:06:02

xkbsel (0.13-14) unstable; urgency=low

  * QA upload.
    + Set maintainer to Debian QA Group <packages at qa.debian.org>.
  * Acknowledge NMUs. (Closes: #374864).
  * Move homepage from package description to source stanza.
    + Update URL in control and copyright. (Closes: #347515).
  * configure.ac: Change XKBCOMP from /usr/X11R6/bin/xkbcomp to
    /usr/bin/xkbcomp. (Closes: #362515).
    + Autoreconf after change.
    + Severely hacked up the build system.
  * Replace xbase-clients depends with x11-xkb-utils. (Closes: #475392).
  * Remove orbit from build-depends.
  * Version debhelper build-depends and set to >= 5.0.0.
    + Add debian/compat and set to 5.
  * Replace libungif4-dev build-depends with libgif-dev.
  * Remove build-dependency on -1 revision of libdb-dev.
  * Add ${misc:Depends} for debhelper package.
  * Remove full stop from package short description.
  * Move libxkbsel-dev from Section: devel to libdevel.
  * Remove full path from xkbseldb in postinst.
  * Replace pwd with $(CURDIR) in rules.
  * Remove unnecessary debian/xkbsel.conffiles file.
  * Bump Standards Version to 3.8.1.
    + Menu policy transition.

 -- Barry deFreese <bdefreese at debian.org>  Sun, 12 Apr 2009 08:39:23

Last Ubuntu changelog entries:
xkbsel (0.13-13.3ubuntu3) hardy; urgency=low

  * debian/control:
    + Remove duplicate XSBC-Original-Maintainer line.

 -- Michael Bienia <geser at ubuntu.com>  Sun, 02 Mar 2008 01:54:29 +0100

xkbsel (0.13-13.3ubuntu2) hardy; urgency=low

  * libungif -> libgif transition: (LP: #174252)
    - debian/control:
      + Changed libungif4-dev to libgif-dev
  * Updated Maintainer field

 -- Stephan Hermann <sh at sourcecode.de>  Sat, 12 Jan 2008 22:55:07 +0100

xkbsel (0.13-13.3ubuntu1) hardy; urgency=low

  * Merge from Debian unstable (LP: #157542). Remaining Ubuntu changes:
    - Run /usr/bin/xkbcomp instead of /usr/X11R6/bin/xkbcomp
    - New homepage http://www.meduna.org/sw_xkbsel_en.html
    - Update maintainer field in debian/control

 -- Luca Falavigna <dktrkranz at ubuntu.com>  Sun, 21 Oct 2007 21:41:38

** Affects: xkbsel (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Wishlist
         Status: Confirmed

Please sync xkbsel (0.13-15) from Debian unstable
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Package Archive Administrators, which is a direct subscriber.

More information about the ubuntu-archive mailing list


text:
Ache of Return: Very Early Demo and Work in Progress

27 05 2010
Enthroned Within

Enthroned Within: Click to view new logo

New preview to a song in progress from Enthroned Within entitled Ache of Return. This song does not feature vocals and is subject to a LOT of changes

Give it a play, please 😀

Please note that the 28 days later similarity was coincidental.  This is going to be changed with collaboration ;-D. There’s some funky distortion popping which I quite like, but they might be taken out.

I throws me back to my love of Curve and Slowdive. Lyrics are being summoned up at present, from the ether!

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text:
Oil prices remain near two-month lows as investors bet on weaker prices
Tue Jul 12 2016
Jim Andrews (450 articles)

Oil prices remain near two-month lows as investors bet on weaker prices

SINGAPORE : Oil prices remained near two-month lows from the previous trading session on Tuesday as financial traders lost confidence in a recent price rally, switching positions in anticipation of lower prices.

International Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 were trading at $ 46.13 per barrel at 0027 GMT, down 12 cents from their last close and near to the $ 45.90 two-month lows reached the previous day. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 was down 13 cents at $ 44.63 a barrel.

Analysts said that prices were being pulled down by the financial players who were switching positions from betting on price rises, or long positions, to positions that would benefit from price falls, known as shorts.

Hedge funds and other money managers cut their bullish bets on crude oil by 22 million barrels over the seven days ending on July 5.

This means that these financial players have cut their net long positions in crude futures and options by almost a quarter, from 633 million barrels to 485 million, over the last four weeks.

“Oil prices continued their period of weakness as investors remained concerned that increasing exploration activity in the U.S. would see U.S. production and inventories remain high. Signs of an end to several supply disruptions and a stronger U.S.-dollar also played their part in keeping sentiment bearish,” ANZ bank said on Tuesday.

Physical markets were also weak, with Asian oil refiners processing less crude as they grapple with margins that plunged to five-year lows after the region was flooded with supply of refined products and as slowing economic growth hits demand for fuels.

Copyright (2016) © LiveIndex.org

Jim Andrews

Jim Andrews

Jim Andrews is Desk Correspondent for Global Stock, Currencies, Commodities & Bonds Market . He has been reporting about Global Markets for last 5+ years. He is based in New York