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Welcome to Florida Everyone Forgot! This website is all about stuff in the state of Florida that was forgotten, little known, strange, or just plain cool that most people don't know about. That's everything from natural springs pumping out millions of gallons of water each day to abandoned amusement parks.

Navigate your way through Florida Everyone Forgot using the menu above. Civilization is all about the places in Florida made by humans. Nature is all about Florida's natural features. The Blog page is about stuff in Florida that is worth seeing, but doesn't necessarly have enough content to warrant it's own page. In the Forum, you can discuss Florida with other readers, and be sure to check out the Links page for other websites that you should probably visit.

Enjoy Florida Everyone Forgot!

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Dungeon Defenders Review

James Powell

Reviewed by:
On October 24, 2011
Last modified:November 10, 2013

Dungeon Defenders is a game that you can't go wrong with. It literally screams “play me with your friends.”

Dungeon Defenders is a game that has brought a tear to my eye. Not only do I have a game I can play with my family, but I also have a game that is fun to play with my family. Put simply, it’s a game that can be played with anyone and everyone, and an enjoyable one at that.

It’s quite rare for a game to come out that has its eyes set on being a co-op experience. It’s even rarer for that vision to be well executed. Where most games will make people play on one screen (this is relatively unacceptable unless I’m playing Mario Party or Super Smash Bros), Dungeon Defenders splits the screen. Imagine that, a game that splits the screen so that players aren’t trapped in single screen-stretch hell.

I would also like to applaud the game for not forcing me to own four Xbox 360s before I could play co-op. In fact, I’m going to go ahead and give Dungeon Defenders the “Least Likely To Be A Dumb-Ass” award for being a couch co-op game. Before it came out, I was beginning to wonder why I even had four controllers anymore.

Now that the introduction is out of the way, let’s look at how the game performs.

For lack of better descriptors, Dungeon Defenders is simply beautiful. It’s a game which seemingly won’t age. Why won’t Dungeon Defenders age? Because it’s done in a way similar to Team Fortress 2 -that being cartoon over realism. The characters aren’t designed to look as realistic as graphics can offer at the time. Doing so would be suicide for anything trying to retain longevity. Rather, the graphics are an abstract art-style, taking on a smooth appearance, rather than a serious attempt at realism. Because of this, they will look a lot better in ten years than the shiniest thing that came out at the time.

Following the graphics comes the sound. To be honest, it’s nothing special. Really, it’s not great, but it gets the job done. Nothing stands out, but it’s not one of those games that blasts the same one track so many times that players end up wanting to fill their ears with cotton and gum-drops to block out the sound. Besides, I doubt half the gamers out there actually listen to the original score anymore. Most of them are probably too busy blasting Blutengel from their Xbox’s hard-drive to realize a game has a background score.

Next up, the controls.

I originally played Dungeon Defenders on the PC and found the controls to run quite smoothly. This scared me as literally anything that’s come out on PC with decent controls has failed horribly on the consoles (this logic can and usually does apply when a console game ends up on the PC too. Shooters are the only exception). Oddly enough, I soon discovered that they worked well in both versions of the game. Regardless of whether I was playing it on the Xbox 360 or the PC, I found the controls to be accessible and easy to get a hold of. There also wasn’t any “Easy to learn, hard to master” crap with the controls either. Once you knew what you were doing, everything flowed smoothly.

Perhaps the thing that makes this game shine like a beacon of awesome among the fool’s gold idols of other multiplayer games is the accessibility it comes with. Originally, I got this game for PC and didn’t necessarily feel a large urge to throw 15 dollars at XBLA. Instead, I plugged an HDMI cable into my PC, hooked it to my TV, plugged three USB Xbox controllers into it and played it that way. I seriously don’t know if I was supposed to be able to do it, but it was awesome.

Put simply, this game wants you to play with other people, and for good reason. Every character is designed to compliment the others in one way or another. An example of this is a combination I found during game-play. What my team and myself would do is set up an intricate line of towers. I would use the mage to set up a tower that would damage enemies. My friend, the knight, would then stack a defensive structure to absorb damage for the tower. Finally, our monk would drop a slow aura that would put enemies at a crawl so that my tower could break them to pieces. It was a beautiful thing to watch.

Dungeon Defenders is a game people just can’t go wrong playing. It’s on any console that doesn’t have a phallic name and literally screams “play me with your friends.” It’s also easy enough for people who are new games to get a nice impression while being challenging enough to keep hardcore gamers enthralled. If you have fifteen dollars to spare then I suggest you go buy this game. I personally guarantee that this game won’t disappoint you. I’m so sure of how amazing it is, that I will make a deal with our readers. Anyone who feels like this game isn’t a great co-op game should tell me. For every complaint I get, I will personally kick my editor in the nuts as my way of apologizing.

This review is based on a PC copy of the game which we received for review purposes.

Dungeon Defenders Review
Top Honors

Dungeon Defenders is a game that you can't go wrong with. It literally screams “play me with your friends.”

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Mr. and Mrs. Kevin Ray

October 31, 2010
Weirton Daily Times

WELLSBURG - Kevin and Jody Ray of Wellsburg celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary on Oct. 11 with a trip to the Historical Granville Inn. They were married Oct. 11, 1985, at the Christian Church in Wellsburg.

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Fri November 22, 2013
Kentucky Arts and Culture

Kennedy Assassination Images That Shape American Society

Credit Aaron Skolnick / Institute 193

As the most photographed murder in history, images of the Kennedy Assassination shaped our society.    Those images and their impacts are the focus of an art exhibit in Lexington.  With a preview of it, and this weekend’s other events is arts reporter Rich Copley of the Lexington Herald Leader.  Rich spoke with WEKU’s Charles Compton.


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Revision of <none> from August 20, 2012 - 11:12am

The Friends of the West Caldwell Public Library are a group of local citizens brought together by a love of libraries. All persons interested in the services provided by the Friends of the West Caldwell Public Library are eligible for membership in the Friends. Membership is obtained by the payment of annual dues, renewable each year.

What do the Friends of the West Caldwell Public Library do?

Publicity - The Friends publish the quarterly newsletter InfoBytes which describes new and current services at the Library as well as upcoming events. Additional post card mailings are also sent as necessary to publicize events.

Fundraising - The Friends raise money from membership dues and fundraising events.

Provide Funding for Library Equipment - We provide supplies and equipment for the library as needed such as puppets for the Youth Services Department, display easels and new CD cases.

Provide Funding for Programs - The Friends regularly underwrite the costs of adult and youth programs at the Library and co-sponsor historical programs with the Historical Society of West Caldwell.

Volunteer Activities -The Friends volunteer regularly to help out in the Library.

President Arlene Berkowitz
Vice President Polly Payne
Treasurer Laverne Nelson
Corresponding Secretary Jane Berisso
Recording Secretary Sandy Grossman
Member-at-Large Lila Rubin
Member-at-Large Ralph Franzese
Member-at-Large Renee Reiser
Member-at-Large Elaine Stout
Member-at-Large MaryLynn Ventola
Immediate Past President Ron Day
Library Director April L. Judge
Committee Chairman Membership Chairman Audrey Ott


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Our Mission

Westerfeld Enterprises ShopAt Westerfeld Enterprises we strive to offer racing innovation that meets and further exceeds the boundaries of available technology.

Every customer will be given the personal attention they need and the respect they deserve. Every engine built, or service performed at Westerfeld Enterprises will be given the same care and attention to detail that goes into our own personal engines and equipment used by our racing team.

About Westerfeld Enterprises

In the mid 1970's, Bill Westerfeld, was heavily involved in off road racing as both a competitor and innovator. Bill worked as head mechanic of the Off Road Center located in Cincinnati, Ohio, building high performance VW engines and transmissions. In June of 1988, Bill founded Westerfeld Enterprises (WE) in Harrison, Ohio. Westerfeld Enterprises was built upon the reputation earned from his career as a racer and experienced gained as head mechanic at Off Road Center. The business initially thrived off of quality VW engines and transmissions as well as custom suspension and chassis fabrication... Read the entire history of WE >>


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Ancillary perks are the main issue. An employee may accept 10 percent to 20 percent less pay for personalized benefits.

“By working half-day Fridays and wearing jeans, employers put golden handcuffs on us,” Healy explained. “We can’t leave and go to the competitor and demand those things. You can offer those and we will stay. We know the grass is not always greener on the other side.”

As Gen Y looks for employment, the job seeker determines how the company fits Gen Y’s lifestyle and social calendar. If a company does not have a Facebook account, Gen Y assumes the company cannot relate with them and will look for employment elsewhere. About one-third of the time spent by Gen Y on the Internet is on Facebook.

A second area is development. Healy says some Gen Y employees lack business skills. “Assume we know nothing when we show up on your doorstep,” Healy said.

Gen Y’s assumption is they are smarter than previous generations because they can perform some tasks faster.

“Our assumption is I can pick up a smart phone and access information quickly which means I know more than you. That is not the case,” Healy explained. “Younger employees over value their knowledge because they can more quickly access information on a smart phone and computer.”

Healy says Gen Y often lacks loyalty to a company. The employee’s loyalty lies with the immediate supervisor. If the valued supervisor leaves the company to work for a competitor, the Gen Y employee likely will follow. On average, Gen Y employees stay with a company 1.3 years.

“Gone are the days of a company man,” Healy said.

Gen Y needs daily verbal strokes from supervisors noting their excellent work performance. Gone are the days of annual or even quarterly job reviews, Healy says. Gen Y thrives, for example, on receiving an ‘attaboy’ text message from the supervisor at 7 o’clock in the evening.

“As we were raised, we were told daily we’re special, great, and wonderful for 21 years,” Healy explained. “If we don’t hear it from you (the employer) for a week we assume we’re not doing a good job. Complimenting us three times a week makes a huge difference.”

Healy encourages supervisors to get to know the personal side of Gen Y employees. If an employee is in physical training for a marathon, ask the employee how they are progressing toward their goal.

“Incorporating our personal and professional goals into one plan means you have a better chance of us staying with your organization.”

Gen Y wants to innovate and make changes in a company quickly. Access to the company’s CEO or key executive is a priority. One route to achieve this is to set up a black board where employees can offer solutions and a company leader reviews the ideas.

Gen Y is not afraid to quit a job without another position lined up. About two thirds of Gen Y are financially supported by their parents. “It’s no big deal if they quit — many are already living at home (with their parents).”

The job interview process is extremely important when considering Gen Y talent. Healy suggests employers challenge prospects harder in the interview, ask great questions, consider outside job testing of candidates, and provide a job shadow opportunity.


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Most lawmakers are headed home for the winter holidays after finalizing funding for the federal government through September.

The spending bill, which was passed by the House on Friday and the Senate on Saturday, is being called a “megabus” because it combines most but not all of the 12 regular appropriations bills, totaling more than $900 billion.

It was the last piece of work Congress was required to finish before breaking for the year, with a continuing resolution funding the government expiring last Friday.

Shortly before press time, it appeared the leadership of both Congressional chambers and President Barack Obama had also coalesced around a plan to extend expiring payroll tax holiday provisions for two months pending a longer-term extension after the first of the year. This had been a major point of contention that kept some House Members in town until late in the week.

Despite this dispute, passage of a long-term spending bill is encouraging ahead of a year expected to be heavy on both priorities and politicking before the 2012 elections.

Of note to the agriculture community, the megabus bill included $1.17 billion allocated for food security and agricultural development work through the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), some of which should go to international wheat and maize research organization CIMMYT. The World Bank’s Global Agriculture and Food Security Program was funded at $135 million. Both of these are particular achievements in the current budget environment for important international work.

Related to trade policy, the bill did not include a proposed rider that would have reversed recent policy changes for Cuba travel, which at one point was a major roadblock for the measure’s passage.

However, the bill also did not include language from H.R. 872 or another legislative fix for new and duplicative pesticide permitting requirements that emanate from a 2009 Sixth Circuit Court ruling. Work will continue to resolve this issue as quickly as possible in the new year.

Funding for USDA programs was not a part of the megabus bill, having been approved in November as part of a smaller appropriations and continuing resolution measure.

That bill funded USDA agencies and programs at $136.6 billion, a reduction of $4.6 billion from the Obama Administration’s request. Discretionary spending made up $19.8 billion of the total, $350 million below last year’s level and $2.5 billion below the Administration’s request.

Agricultural research programs took a hit in the bill, though conferees avoided the draconian cuts included the House-passed appropriations measure.

The agriculture appropriations measure provided $2.297 billion for the National Institute on Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), which is approximately $12 million below the Senate level and $282 million above the House.

The Senate’s number for ARS prevailed, with the bill ultimately providing $1.095 billion, down from $1.133 billion in FY2011. The House had proposed a funding level of $995.3 million, which would have represented a cut of more than 12 percent.

That bill’s conference committee largely rejected House-level cuts to conservation programs and fully funded both the Market Access Program (MAP) and the Foreign Market Development (FMD) program, which are key to the wheat industry’s marketing work around the world.


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Niechoj, Torsten and Onaran, Özlem and Stockhammer, Engelbert and Truger, Achim and van Treeck, Till, eds. (2011) Stabilising an unequal economy?: Public debt, financial regulation, and income distribution. Metropolis, Marburg. ISBN 9783895188787

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James Shapiro: 1599 and Essex’s Irish Rebellion

James Shapiro is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University and author of Prize-winning 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare. His talk explores the Essex Rebellion in Ireland and its link to Henry V.

Admission: Free

Event begins at 6:00PM

Categories: Lecture, Free, Discussion

Event Venue

Folger Shakespeare Library

201 East Capitol Street SE
Washington, DC 20003

For more information:

  • Friday, January 25, 2013

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Nikon MB D10 multi power battery pack

vertical grip d700 d300/300s

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#1 jcdovala

    Moray Eel

  • Member
  • PipPip
  • 89 posts

Posted 18 July 2012 - 12:40 PM

Use this grip to extend operation of D700, 300, 300s and significantly pick up shooting speed. This battery pack comes with all components, has rarely been used, and is in mint condition. Original packaging, manual.

Sells for 249.95 at B&H, will let it go for 150.00 plus shipping. Email Joe jcdovala@verzion.net

Also tagged with one or more of these keywords: vertical grip, d700, d300/300s


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Pirates vs San Diego Padres 8/10 & 8/11 PNC Park

The Padres are terrible at BP and horrible at Petco Park but going into the series had the Pirates number and would of course take two of three.

Just when you mix these two teams, you get an ugh BP. For those who don’t know, ugh is mediocre or terrible in this sense.

Ball #1 would come when Mark Strittmatter tossed me a baseball. He literally was talking to ballhawk Erik and a couple of minutes later looked at me and had his a-ha moment and tossed me one. Thanks as always Mark. It stinks that I don’t get to see him much during BP and seldom at the bullpen anymore.

Ball #2 wouldn’t come until Padres BP when once again I was on the first base line. A foul ball was hit and I just got to the scrum first. I immediately gave the ball to the other guy who tried going for the ball.

Ball #3 came from Euclides Rojas by the bullpen.

Pirates lose

I actually missed BP and based on what I have heard, I could have had five or six baseballs. Why did I miss BP? I went to Scally’s with Colston and played 18 holes. I also will be the beat writer once school starts for Point Park Volleyball, so I wanted to support them and get the ball rolling early, in fact I will be at their practice later today so I can get writing and start open lines of communication.

That to me was much more important than any BP, as I have told many people that I intend on making this my last season of full fledged ballhawking. I want to focus on my interests in the future and do something journalistically.

I would get one ball in this game from Euclides Rojas, who is the best.

Padres win.

Now my review of Skyblast:

Styx- My dad got me into Styx and I have to say they were better the last time. They sang greatest hits of course and it was a very similar set list to the last concert. They again started with “Blue Collar Man” and ended with “Renegade”. It was predictable but still enjoyable.

Fireworks- Same old same old, but went off no problem.

PNC Music- Fail. Skyblasts always have fireworks which play with random music of the same genre. The sound system was spotty during the second set of fireworks and at one point completely went out leading to bare fireworks and confusion. To boot, Tommy Shaw, the most known member of Styx was trying to say something to the fans and we could only hear the second half of what he said. They had two full songs to fix it and no luck.

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Rosenberg, John Karl

WGIL Newsroom 138

Rosenberg, JohnMr. John Karl Rosenberg, 65, passed away quietly at Peoria Methodist Hospital at 12:40 PM on Thursday, April 2, 2015. He had been a resident of Galesburg all of his life since his birth in 1950. He is survived by his loving wife Tammy, sons Sean (Lenka) Rosenberg of Naperville, Illinois and Joshua Rosenberg of Galesburg, step children John Patch, Crystal Smith (Joey Richardson) and Phillip Smith (Arin Miller), seven grandchildren; Natalie and Lizzy Rosenberg, Tyler and Kaylee Richardson, Kadyn and Owen Smith, and Lexi Miller, as well as a sister, Judy (Lou) Prevost all of whom will miss him greatly. He was preceded in death by his parents, Charles and Winona Varner Rosenberg, his stepfather A.J. Henig, and by his former wife, Patricia Ferguson, and father in law Bob Lindberg.


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5/24 New York Public Library Event: Venue Change!

The following note just landed, from the New York Public Library, regarding the “Speculating on Fiction” event on May 24, featuring me, Lev Grossman, Scott Westerfeld and Cat Valente:

Due to overwhelming popular response, the event has been moved from the Mid-Manhattan Library to the Stephen A Schwarzman Building, located at Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street. Please enter through the Fifth Avenue doors and proceed downstairs to the South Court Auditorium. The event will take place from 6 pm until 7:30 pm. Thanks very much for accomodating this change of venue and change of time.

Overwhelming popular response, people. I could plotz. Thanks, folks.

Here’s the new NYPL page about the event. It does appear that at this time they are allowing new registrations for the event (it’s free, but you need to register), so if you wanted to go but weren’t able to register, now’s your chance. Hurry!

10 Comments on “5/24 New York Public Library Event: Venue Change!

  1. Hey John, et al.

    I’ve been down to that auditorium for an event in the past, and it really is awfully new, shiny and purdy :) Hope nobody gets in trouble for jumping the gun on the announcement.

  2. You’re coming to the Bookrageous party afterwards, yes? Because I want to meet you and say thanks to Mr. Westerfeld for the nice blurb for my book. So I want to make sure you’re still coming.

  3. Ok, what exactly does “plotz” mean? How does one plotz? It’s a word I’ve been hearing and reading all my life, but what is it?

  4. I was wondering if you could somehow gently abduct Cat Valente and bring her to the Phoenix Con with you?

    Much appreciated, Thanks.

  5. @#4, Plotz is a yiddish expression that has little direct analog in English; I always understood it to mean so surprised that you’d burst (poop), but apparently surprised into a faint is a more commonly accepted definition.

  6. Yep, I got this in my inbox today as well. My first thought: There goes Scalzi again, starting trouble. :)

    But hey, it gets us all into the newer, shinier space. So, FTW! Can’t wait to see you there!

  7. Hi John, is there any possibility of getting a book signed? Would it help to know I’m coming all the way from Australia for this? (Well, technically not *just* for this, but you know it shot right to the top of my list as soon as I heard about it!)

  8. Aaakkk! PBPPPTHHH! I am on the wrong side of the world.

  9. Wish I was going. You and Scott Westerfeld in the same place? Total Win!


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What is SCE2? What Opens a SCE2? File Format List from WhatIs.com

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What's New

February 7, 2014

Romance in the Revolutionary City

By Claire Weaver

Even in revolutionary times, St. Valentine’s Day still meant crushes and flowers. Find out more about colonial courtship.

is for LOVE LETTERS from colonial suitors’ love letters. These were so important for wooing girls that some hopeful paramours bought instruction manuals to help them perfect their sappy notes.

is for a gentry girl’s ONLY job: finding a husband.

is for a clever young swain’s acrostical VALENTINES. They put today’s Hallmark cards to shame.

 is for the proper ETIQUETTE a colonial suitor had master to impress his crush. Eighteenth-century had standards!

Claire Weaver, a student at the College of William & Mary, is a Colonial Williamsburg Foundation intern.

More about Valentine’s Day:

Find an unusual gift for your Valentine

Valentine’s Day dining

From the Journal: Courtship, sex and the single colonist

Comments are closed.


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January 24, 2013 6:46 AM

One of our political parties is insane. Guess which one it is?

“I think my role is to uphold support and defend our Constitution,” he said. “…The Constitution I uphold and defend is the one I carry in my pocket all the time, the U.S. Constitution. I don’t know what Constitution that other members of Congress uphold, but it’s not this one. I think the only Constitution that Barack Obama upholds is the Soviet constitution, not this one. He has no concept of this one, though he claimed to be a constitutional lawyer.”

I try to give people the benefit of the doubt. I understand that some people don’t think as I do. I get that some people live in a world that…well, bears absolutely NO relation to the one I inhabit. That those folks tend to be overwhelmingly Republican should come as a surprise to no one, especially given that today’s Republicans seem addicted to self-parody.

I know what you’re thinking: “Come on, Jack; aren’t you being just a WEE bit hyper-partisan and looking to dump on Republicans?” Well, the answer to that question may very often be “YES!!”, but in this case it’s nothing of the sort, not when I can provide examples of Republicans hoisting themselves on their own metaphorical petard.

When you’ve lost an election and you have NO idea how to stem the tide flowing against you, you can always fall back on “The era of Liberalism is back.” Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has decided to wield the “L” word as if he describing a horrific social disease. While not having a viable alternative in mind himself, McConnell wants to be sure to plant the “Liberals are BAD!!” seed…perhaps because he knows that there’s a significant segment of the American sheeple who’ve been conditioned to believe that. McConnell probably thinks he’s just reinforcing the dominant narrative. After all, you can bet that Fox Noise Channel has his back.

“OMG!!! Barack HUSSEIN Obama’s a LIBRUL with a LIBRUL agenda!!” Except that that the President really isn’t a traditional Liberal, nor should his 2nd-term agenda be seen as Liberal. Left of center, certainly, but if he was truly pushing a Liberal agenda, the weeping and gnashing of teeth would be EPIC. And music to my ears.

I never cease to marvel at the sort of phenomenally ignorant and baseless accusations Republicans toss at the President, as if things like “proof” and “evidence” are Liberal plots. Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA), for instance, is trying to convince us that the only constitution Barack Obama upholds and defends is “the Soviet Constitution.”. The Soviet Union went out of business at the end of the ’80s, and if Obama had been President then Broun might actually have a bit more historical context to lean on. He still would have been way wrong, of course, but at least he could pretend that he knew what he was talking about.

Broun offers no evidence to buttress his claim, nor does he acknowledge his astonishing absence of historical knowledge. Then again, “evidence” and “proof” are for losers and Liberals, right? It’s not about what you can prove, it’s what you can get the American sheeple to believe. Given that a significant proportion of Republicans still refuse to believe that the President was born in the US…well, the bar’s set pretty low, knowhutimean??

[T]o keep the sales tax from being too high, Jindal also hopes to impose steep spending cuts so the state would need less revenue. What kind of cuts does the far-right governor have in mind? Jamelle Bouie reported yesterday that Jindal intends to eliminate the state’s hospice program for Medicaid recipients….

Local hospice officials in Louisiana expressed dismay at the “throw grandma off the bus” attitude of the Jindal administration.

After the 2012 elections, Jindal tried to position himself as someone who could help lead his party in a smarter direction, lamenting “dumbed-down conservatism.” He neglected to mention he hopes to replace it with “callous and cruel conservatism.”

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, memorable mostly for being to principled leadership what Howdy Doody was to children’s entertainment, has decided that in order to balance his state’s budget, compassion is no longer an option. Rather than look for ways to collect additional revenue (Hmm…d’ya think corporations paying their fair share of taxes might work?), Gov. Jindal intends to eliminate Louisiana’s hospice program for Medicare recipients.

Jindal’s plan is actually very much in line with today’s GOP philosophy, which, simply put, is “every man for himself.” To your average Republican, social programs are overhead, handouts for those too shiftless and lazy to do for themselves, and so they’ve become dependent on government to do for them. The concept of the social contract is simply a Liberal justification for providing handouts to those wholly undeserving of them. The idea of being able to die with dignity, which should be basic to any humane health care policy, seems to be lost on Jindal.

Not surprisingly, Jindal’s plan has generated tremendous outrage, which has forced him to back down, if only a bit. His plan originally called for the hospice program to end next week. Because of the protests, Jindal’s announced that he’ll allow the program to continue through June 30th, the end of Louisiana’s fiscal year…when he’ll no doubt try to kill the program quietly.

Memo to Republicans: compassion is NOT a sign of weakness. It’s a sign that you possess a degree of humanity.

And then there’s Rep. James Lankford (R-OK), a darling of the Tea Party willing engage in all manner of conspiracy theories about how the Obama Administration is pushing the “Homosexual Agenda.” Once again, what the “Homosexual Agenda” actually is is anyone’s guess.

Now he’s advocating for the “power of humiliation” as a way to get the LGBT community to see the error of their ways and make the “right” choice about their sexuality. Yeah, so how’s that “small government” thing working out for y’all?

That Lankford’s from Oklahoma is about all you really need to know about his dismissive and intolerant attitude regarding LGBT issues. I suppose that’s easy to do when you don’t view homosexuals as actual people with hopes and dreams and feelings. There’s a large segment of the GOP, of which Lankford is one of the most strident voices, that would quite happily turn homosexuals into second-class citizens…or worse. You might have figured out by now that compassion and tolerance aren’t planks in the GOP platform. Few Republicans personify that prejudice and hatred more strongly that Lankford.

Given the tremendous amount of fear and loathing directed at the LGBT community, one might reasonably wonder if Lankford and his fellow Republicans aren’t secretly afraid of and/or insecure about their own sexuality. Why else focus so much energy on denying others the right to live and love as they choose? What is it y’all are so afraid of?

No list of Republican crazies would be complete without mentioning Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), for whom the word “loon” appears to have been invented. Seizing on the opportunity to grill Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Paul launched into a soliloquy on not only what he perceived as her shortcomings, but also a conspiracy theory involving moving arms from Libya to Syrian rebels. The fact that this sort of thing isn’t the State Department’s bailiwick (or germane to the Benghazi attack) seemed beside the point. The junior senator from Kentucky had a forum, and damned if he wasn’t going to make the most of it.

Paul, never one to pass up an opportunity to pontificate in front of a camera, helped to turn the hearing into a circus…not that this bothered any of the Republicans on the panel. It was an opportunity to embarrass Sec. Clinton in the guise of looking for answers, and Sen. Paul seemed perfectly willing to embarrass himself as well. After all, it’s not like Republicans could pass on an opportunity to damage Clinton perceived prospects of being the presumptive 2016 Democratic Presidential nominee.

And speaking of the Benghazi hearing, it gets worse. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), with a straight face, accused Sec. Clinton of engaging in “theatrics” in order to avoid answering tough questions about the attack in Benghazi. Clearly, as a woman Sec. Clinton is prone to hysterics, right? That Sen. Johnson would play the “emotional female” card is as reprehensible and sexist as it is predictable and unoriginal. Never mind that it has absolutely nothing to do with how Sec. Clinton handled events leading up to and after Benghazi.

Johnson speculated that “she didn’t want to answer questions so she makes a big show of it.” Hillary Clinton has a sense of responsibility, courage, and resolve Johnson couldn’t hope to approach. Her balls (metaphorically speaking, of course) make Johnson’s look like grains of sand. Johnson revealed himself to be little more than a moral midget who cares far less about what happened in Benghazi than in taking cheap shots at a strong, capable woman.

Last, and very probably least, is Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant, who seems to be channeling Mitt Romney these days when it comes to health care. What do you mean that America doesn’t have universal health care? Bryant argues that of course all Americans have access to health care. The poor and uninsured may have to get their health care at an emergency room, but that means they have access to health care, right?

Technically, Bryant is right, but to speak of Obamacare as an unnecessary and massive program is as inhuman as it is fiscally irresponsible. Health care provided by emergency rooms is horrifically expensive and inefficient. Such care is rarely preventative and is normally reactive, provided long after a health issue might have been easily (and relatively inexpensively) prevented.

I suppose one could dismiss my musings as merely a Liberal attempt to ridicule proudly patriotic Republicans, but all I’ve done is point out the silliness. The Republicans I’ve spotlighted have satirized themselves without outside assistance.

And then they wonder why they have so much difficulty being perceived as statesmen? Come on; I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried. If Republicans want to be seen as serious people with serious things to say, then they should conduct themselves in a serious manner befitting their position and responsibility. That they can see their way clear to acting like clowns only serves to prove my point.

One of our political parties is insane and, even worse, beholden to insane people. That’s not exactly a recipe for effective leadership or problem solving, is it?

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on January 24, 2013 6:46 AM.

So you're wondering what makes Portland such a special place? was the previous entry in this blog.

I got nothin' left...so here's a picture of a cat losing an argument with a snowball is the next entry in this blog.

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Tuesday, January 19, 2010

When My Soup Didn't Come Alive

Recently, I failed at making chaaru.

Like I had failed with this staple many times in the past, even with ready-to-cook packets and powders that ensured I didn't have to do anything much.

I don't even attempt the varieties made back home, except for tomato chaaru (rasam), and that's mostly only when the several shrivelling tomatoes inside the fridge loudly call out to be pressure-cooked into rasam. Now, tomato chaaru, that sure gets me drooling - it was what I ate as a nine-year-old recovering from jaundice, mixed with rice and some minced lamb on the side, and if I remember right now, that was my staple diet for the next few days. But more on that later, perhaps.

I am fond of the rasam that has some daal in it - the black-brown, plain rasam of the tamarind alone doesn't enthuse me. So when we recently had guests for two days and I had to churn out some decent and tried-and-tested stuff to eat, I attempted chaaru because I thought they would expect it. To satisfy my own self, I decided to add some daal to it.

I asked the lady who helps me at home to instruct me and first off, she told me that the tamarind extract I had was just too much.

What I needed, she said, was to soak a lime-sized ball of tamarind in about half a cup of water, and dilute that with a litre of water.

Then, she said, coarsely grind some pepper, cumin and a couple of red chillis and add it to the mix.

Add a few curry leaves and some coriander.

Squash a tomato, throw it in.

Add about a ladle of cooked-to-a-mush toor daal (split pigeon peas).

Set to boil and turn off the fire the moment it comes to a rolling boil, she said.
Oh, and some salt and turmeric.

So I did (but not without taking pictures of it for this. I never imagined it would make it to this blog, much less to an event.) Switched it off, and it tasted raw. It's not all right, I said. No, switch it off and cover it, she said, threatening bitterness. I did so, thinking that probably it would cook some more in its own heat and the flavours would meld.

Come lunchtime and I had every single eater reassuring me that the rasam was fine.

All I needed to do was add some more salt.

All I needed to do was boil it a little more.

All I needed to do was add some more daal.

But it's nice, they said.

Come dinnertime, I rescued it by adding two more ladles of daal and some more salt.

It was much improved, good, even.

Much better now, the diners said.

All I had needed to do was add some more salt.

All I had needed to do was boil it a little more.

All I had needed to do was add some more daal.

But it had been nice, they said.

But wasn't a tempering needed? I didn't remember that until now, when I wrote this post, so considering it was so nice, finally, probably it wasn't.

I fail at making quite a few staples - rice cooked to such softness that you can't discern the grains, so good with rasam and pickle and curds; sambar, idlis and chapatis(I do not know how nor will I learn to grind or knead) and rasam (well, hopefully I've got it right now).

What are the ordinary, everyday dishes that defy you?

This post is off to EC who is hosting MLLA for Susan this month.

  1. That was interesting. Btw, your rasam/chaaru looks good. It has the authentic rasam look and sure to taste well too. Enjoyed every bit of the making of rasam :):)

  2. I love rasom with rice. The thought makes me drool, but i hardly make them home.
    Last time rasom was made in this house was when my sis was here.

  3. Rasam... it is really the simplest.

    My method is to pressure cook some dal the cooker or pressure pan directly... and then add chopped tomatoes, rasam powder, hing, salt, tamarind paste and boil, boil and boil. (If I use lime juice instead of tamarind... I add it at the end... after all the boiling)

    I heat some ghee and pop some mustard, add curry leaves and add to the rasam.

    What everyday dish defies me? Nothing really... if it does not turn out the way I intend it to, I tell myself I have invented a new dish! :)

  4. enjoyed readin ur post,.,.i guess i ahve to still master the art of makin perfect rotis,.;-0

  5. Kitchen mishaps again..... Does happen.... Why don't you send this to Malar's Kitchen Mishaps..... Interesting it is!!!! Just check...

  6. Till now i make maps with roti's...sometimes it is fully burt and sometimes not at all in the edges...rasam is my favouite.....love this version and will try this soon...

  7. LOL! Great post.

    Good morning (it is here!)miss sra. Chaaru/saaru looks yum. I too prefer Rasam with dal always. Your's sounds great to me, may be little short of salt? Haha!

    Got to temper with garlic and ghee! Slurp!! :))

    I make Menasina saaru/pepper-tamarind rasam only when I have cold and blocked up nose which is great for it.

    Reading this making me crave for some, may be I will make some today, thanks to you.

  8. It happens everyday Sra, to everybody but we just don't acknowledge it that's all :)

    Have not had rasam in a while, was planning on paruppu for lunch, rasam will get added in too now that you tempted me enough. I give a short shrift to rasam because it tends to the rice intake but today no worries.

  9. Never made rasam but the mix packets of soup I am not very fond of. However, I sucked at making yogurt initially till a friend had to come down to my house and show it to me. I have recently learnt to make soft idlis and dosas get made with the left over batter.
    Love your helping lady's threatening bitterness. :)

  10. Ha ha, all the time Sra, most of the time to say the least ;-)

    But that writing was really very funny. That is how many children's books are you know, like the first part with the 4-5 sentences and then the changes made to some situation and next 5

  11. My mother found out this easy method for preparing charu while she was in a hurry one day. In a small bowl (which will fit inside a pressure cooker) she puts everything that is required for preparing charu. Chopped tomatoes, little tamarind paste, salt, rasam powder, salt, turmeric, hing powder and even tuvar dal and little water. She cooks rice in one vessel and the rasam vessel goes to the bottom and leaves it for 3 whistles. So both the rice and rasam is done at one shot.

    Depending upon the quality of the tuvar dal it either gets cooked fully or sometimes its bit hard. When it is hard like that run the entire chaaru contents in the mixie. In the same bowl in which the rasam was cooked add the charru and lots of water (or as required depending upon the quantity of charu you want) and leave it to a rolling boil. Do the tempering in ghee (mustard and cumin). The charu tastes so divine. I never had to grind the charu because I think the tuvar dal we get here cooks/mashes completely. But my mother has mentioned that sometimes the tuvar dal does not cook in India.

  12. Hmmm... I'd love to taste it for myself. ;-)

  13. LOL, It happened with me but I will try to make up before it hit the table!
    Rasam is always in my fridge! We all love the tangy watery soup! I rarely add dhal because I cannot keep for long.....

  14. kitchen mishaps occur to only those who venture into the kitchen wilderness. so i say there are no mishaps, only changes to be made...more salt, less....:))

  15. I must have made rasam, 2 or maybe 3 times in my life. By the time I'm done making sambar and poriyal, I so want to leave the kitchen that wanting to make rasam has never crossed my mind.

    The one everyday dish that defies me is Idli. And I love idlis :(

  16. Rasam looks good, very photogenic :D

    Half the time, hubby comes to the table with table salt at our place..yet I still make it the same way :)

  17. I love rasam..but have never tried making it at home, though would love to soon..urs does look good...almost all everyday dishes have me in a quandary!!!

  18. Hey Sra, thats the diet I used to eat whenever I fall sick! O dear, what a coincidence :) And the rasam that always plays trick. I started my cooking venture by making rasam and I should thats the one I had made the max no. of times in my life. The trick is to add the cumin+pepper powder once the liquid starts frothing and after adding, count till 20 and switch off the stove and cover it immediately. I think u go overhadn with the tamarind. That might make the rasam taste raw. And I used to start with the tadka ;)

  19. Sra - rasam was pretty hard for me to grasp when I started cooking...so what I did was to make it twice a week for 6 months till i got the hang of it - ditto for chapatis - one everyday till I got it.

    Rasam - I use the dal water which you get when you cook dal - that way the rasam is light and doesn't have too much of the thick stuff which gets left behind...

    1 tomato cut into 4 pieces. Rasam powder 1 tsp as well as about a tbsp of cumin seeds, pepper crushed coarsely. salt. 2 cups of diluted tamarind extract - boil everything together for 10 minutes (ignore all the advice about switching it off at first boil, didnt work for me!).Temper and garnish with coriander leaves.

  20. LOl, sra..next time maybe I will ask for the rasam at your place..:))..loved reading the post and as I said you should consider a occupation at writing kids books..well even for adults if you know I enjoy reading your writing!..maybe you can make it more spicy too..:)

  21. Ms Chitchat, That was the uncooked version :-D
    Happy, yeah, I guess your other family members won't really miss it. Make it for yourself, though!'
    Raaga, thanks for the recipe. Even I like a ghee talimpu once in a while. Thinking that we've made up another dish is okay, but if the taste isn't good ...
    Notyet, I never even began to make Jayashree, thanks :-)
    Ash, will do, tks for letting me know.
    Lubna, be careful, don't expect too much.
    Asha, the pepper tamarind one is a staple at home, but I like the daal one better.
    Indo, some households have to have rasam and sambar everyday. It was like that in our hostel too.
    Jaya, I make good curds - the trick is to boil the milk down, let it reach 'lukewarm' and then set it. It should be alittle hotter in the winters and you should use a little more curd - guess it's a much bigger deal in the US with its weather.

    Bong Mom, maybe I'll aim for kid's writer, can't think up a plot for adults anyway!
    Madhuram, that's an interesting recipe. I find that toor dal doesn't cook fully when set to cook with tamarind and sometimes even turmeric. Just my experience ... even with pre-soaked daal. We use tamarind in daal with greens too, so I almost always add the tamarind extract later. But I'm going to try this one-shot rasam at least once - why do I say at least once, because putting it through the grinder is too much for lazy me.

    Paz, come over, or I'll make it for you if I'm there.
    Cham, Sambar is what I really suck at. Whatever I do.
    Mallugirl, hmm ...I oversalted the brinjal today, then I squeezed lime, no use, stayed salty!
    Mamatha, either is enough sambar or rasam - not both, aargh!
    Ruchika cooks, that's the uncooked version, LOL! Maybe he eats more salt as a matter of course ;)
    S, so you understand! Even our traditional daal used to fox me but I've gotten better at it.
    Ni, Ok, will remember that tip.
    Miri, I never could believe it either, but even boiling it vigorously did not help the taste in the past ... Will try your recipe as well.
    Valli, you should have a rasam mela next, seriously! Thanks.

  22. Haha....that does happen quite often!! I never know how much rasam to make.... it's always less!

  23. I don't know, Sra - this rasam looks pretty lively to me.

    Tell me: why such ritual for the right dilution of tamarind? Couldn't you have soaked the ball directed in the litre of water?

    The recipes that usually give most grief are deep-fried ones. I know exactly the necessity of constant high temp (and an oil w/ a high flashpoint), but my fear factor of a kitchen fire tames good technique. My recent rice-paper spring rolls were soggy, burnt, and hideous. Had I the luxury of an outdoor stove, I know I could pull it off each time.

  24. Jyothsna, yeah, that's another associated problem - I make too much.

    Susan, I soaked a fist-sized lump in water and was told it was too much. so I took about 1/4 cup of the extract and then diluted it on the advice of the lady.

    I never, ever know the principle behind the quantity of tamarind - nor how much to dilute it with, nor the amount of dal that's proportionate to the intended result - thick soup or thin.

    I'm no expert on frying but what we're usually told is that we should heat the oil on a high flame and then turn it down to medium so that the food to be fried is cooked through and not just on the surface.

  25. Sra,
    ok to me it looks good and rasam is a diluted form of sambhar , right? perhaps not!! eh! whatever...liked reading it a lot and that is the most important part..and i have been looking your couscous payasam post to read it again and to linkback ,but search is not working :(...
    hugs and smiles

  26. Enjoy Avatar today. 3D? We didn't go for that, glasses and all is such a hassle.Movie is very good but I wouldn't dare sit almost 3hrs there to watch that again! :D

    Make Flax seeds chutney pd next time you get it.It's supposed to have plenty of Omega 3 which we "mostly vegetarians" do need, since we don't eat much Fish at home here. I love it with Parathas, tastes so good.

    Will try that book, I read Reader's digest y'day on Kindle. In India,I checked out of curiosity, Kindle 2 costs Rs.20000!! WOW!!

  27. in the first few months of my pregnancy all I could ate was rice and tomato Rasam.I always prepare it according to the recipe given in the rasam powder packet. it always looks nice.you tempted me wnough to make a fresh batch for tonight's dinner.

  28. sra, checked out David Sedaris today. The guy is from Raleigh, NC!! YAY! Which book are you reading? He has so many, might buy one at Amazon onto Kindle.

  29. Jaya, it's lighter, but diluting sambar doesn't get you rasam - it gets you just diluted, bad sambar!
    Here's the link to it - http://whenmysoupcamealive.blogspot.com/2009/03/attaining-my-sugar-high.html - you couldn't find it because of my crazy titles.
    Asha, it was experience more than enjoyment. And no point seeing it without the glasses, quite blurry and you don't get to notice the depth. I didn't like it ultimately but I didn't get bored.
    Sayantani, really? Did you make it then?

  30. Rasam is best with rice.I don't add dal but never miss tempering the rasam.
    Seemingly ordinary khichdi sometimes turns out challenging for me,especially if the water proportions go wrong.

  31. I cannot make a good puzhi kachal. Asked my sis to mail it to me..

  32. oh sra...i need to visit this space more often..i forgot that you are such a good writer. i read the whole thing with a biiiig smile on my face :)...thanks

  33. Even I love tomato rasam..thanks for the entry


text:
Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Christmas Countdown

It's less than two months until Christmas. I haven't started my Christmas shopping and I have NO idea what to buy my kiddos. I have a zillion things to do between now and the end of the year.

But none of this stops me from being super excited about the upcoming Christmas decorating. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Christmas decorating. I may be known for going a teeny bit over the top, but that's my issue, okay?

Now you also know I love fabric, right? So you would think I would love Christmas fabrics. Actually, not so much. It's a little like the Mocha thing - I love coffee and chocolate, but not mocha. Go figure.

To be perfectly honest, I don't really love buying fabrics that I can only use for one time of year. Totally my personal opinion here. But this doesn't mean I don't love Christmas sewing. I just like making fabric from my stash double duty as Christmas fabrics.

So I've signed up to be part of the Sew Seasonal Blog Hop, featuring the designs of the fabulously talented Kristy of Quiet Play and Alyce of Blossom Heart Quilts. And I'll be taking one of Alyce's gorgeous designs and showing you how to use non-seasonal fabrics in a Christmas-cheery way.

I'm helping get the party started this very Friday, which means I'd better get sewing! If you'd like to see what I turn this very-festive-but-not-Christmas-fabric selection into, be sure to pop back.

And don't forget to visit the other blog hoppers!

1st November: Kristy from Quiet Play & Alyce from Blossom Heart Quilts
2nd November: Marieka from Bespoke Bites & Jane from Where Jane Creates
3rd November: Susan from Patchwork N Play & Kelsey from Kelsey Sews
4th November: Janice from Better Off Thread & Erin from Missy Mac Creations
5th November: Lucy from Charm About You & Rebecca from Making Rebecca Lynn
6th November: Charlotte from Lawson and Lotti & Amy from Amy's Crafty Shenanigans
7th November: Jess from the Elven Garden & Cindy from Live a Colorful Life
8th November: Elaine from Dashasel Sews & Kelly from Jeliquilts
9th November: Beth from Plum and June & Fiona from Finding Fifth
10th November: Juliet from Tartan Kiwi & Fiona from Celtic Thistle Stitches
11th November: Taryn from Pixels to Patchwork & Anorina from Samelia's Mum
12th November: Megan from Jaffa Quilts & Jane from QuiltJane
13th November: Gemma from Pretty Bobbins

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

WIP Wednesday - Happy Harry

I have started my Harry Potter bookshelf quilt!

And I really would like to say that I wish every aspect of quilting was THIS MUCH FUN. I mean, I love quilting, but some bits of the process are a bit tedious and production line-ish....

Not this project, each block is a delight. I am having the best time with this project. I spend my days looking forward to getting home to the sewing machine.

I love digging through my scrap bins searching for just the right fabrics for each block.

I love paper piecing intricate blocks and watching them all come together.

I love my kids coming in each morning to see if there are any more Harry blocks on the design wall.

I have discovered the alphabet stitch on my machine. I mean, I knew it was there, but in five years of having this machine, I never bothered with it. But I was looking at the Harry Potter book list that is included in the quilt pattern - not the list of the novels, but the list of textbooks they use at Hogwarts - and I thought it would be a nice touch to embroider some titles on the books. But no way was I hand embroidering... which was enough motivation to learn how to do it on the machine. It's so fun!

I have done nine of the 30 blocks, so nearly two rows. I am sewing together as I go for greater sense of achievement. Some of the blocks are fiddly, but none of them are too hard. And because it tends to alternate a tricky block with a simple book block, you can get one or two done in one sewing session. I like it when things come together relatively quickly.

The free patterns for this quilt, which was originally a 30 week mystery project, can be found here

I am in love!

Linking up with WIP Wednesday.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Sunday Stash

There's nothing new for me to report on the Sunday Stash front this week, so I'm going to elaborate on some fabric I got recently.

A while ago I shared that I was given some old fabric at quilt group. And by old fabric, I mean 90s calicos and the like. One of the ladies had been given a big box of fabric and offered it to us all, and who can say no to free fabric? We all went fabric diving and came up with some goodies.

Seriously, I know that fabric has come a long way since the 90s, but there are some nice pieces in the mix.  I found quite a few lovely prints, as did the other girls. I scored quite a few solids, and some nice prints that will work well in my stash. I like to look at every piece of fabric on its own merit, disregarding how 'old' or 'dated' it might be.

I got these solids - you can never have too many solids. Small pieces, but I do a lot of scrappy stuff so they're perfect.

And these prints, there are some nice blenders in there.

I have a thing for butterflies, so I liked these.

Some low-volumy stuff for backgrounds etc.

I thought this print was cool, a bit watermarky.

Some of my favourite prints. There is some pretty here!

And this is the Harry collection. I also have plans to make a paper pieced Harry Potter quilt and I was a bit worried about where I'd find suitable fabrics to make all those Hogwarty bits. But once we started looking for suitable pieces in the box with that project in mind, we came up with some real gems. The girls were literally throwing fabric at me for capes, bricks, beards, wands... I ended up with quite a good collection for that project - woody bits, grassy bits, the perfect grey for Dumbledore's beard, some capey pieces. I've stashed those bits away in their own bag for when I start that particular quilt.

As usual, linking up with Sunday Stash

Friday, October 12, 2012

100 Day Hustle - Day 20 Update

Eeek, another 10 days have gone by on the 100 Day Hustle, only 80 to go now!

It's been a pretty productive few days (especially considering I've been back at work for 5 of them) so I'm pleased. I'm pretty well maintaining my focus.

1. Keep sewing space tidy: relatively successful - I have a few fabrics to put away

2. No new fabric bought: Nothing new has entered this house. I have however destashed a ton of vintage sheet FQs!

3. No new projects: Success! (Though I did pin a ton of Christmas ideas on my Pinterest board.)

4. Finish fabric storage boxes: Not yet, but I did finish cutting the vintage sheets that I intend to use the scraps on for this, so no more excuses to procrastinate on this).

5. Finish Phoebe's bed quilt: No progress.

6. Finish piecing at least 5 current tops: I am working on my red/black/white chevron quilt. It's tedious and I'm not feeling the love, but I am persisting.

Don't mind the filthy ironing board, it's from a love affair with spray starch.
And yes, it says 'ironing bored' all over it :).
 I also did my polaroid blocks for a swap which will turn into a fundraiser quilt.

7. Finish quilting and binding at least 5 quilts: I basted and began quilting my 1930s Improved Nine Patch. I'm probably 1/4 way through the quilting.

8. Empty mending/refashioning basket: No progress. Are you sure this won't just go away on its own?

9: Keep on top of swap blocks and BOMs: One swap block to do for October, still heaps of time.

10. Finish smaller craft projects: No progress.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

WIP Wednesday - the quality control team

Every quilter needs a quality control team. Diligent testers who will monitor the process from the purchase of fabric right through to the ongoing suitability of the quilt for its intended purpose.

These boys are my sewing room quality control team - Flash and Bolt. No fabric is left unfurred. All finished quilts are laid upon on a regular basis.

And while I am quilting my latest project - which is actually not from lately at all, but rather an unfinished quilt top from about 9 years ago. It's an Improved Nine Patch in 1930s reproductions from an Aunt Grace anniversary collection.

I'm not sure why I held off on this project so long. At first I thought I wanted it hand quilted, then I realised I just don't get time to hand quilt these days. I decided to stipple it because with all those curves the piecing isn't perfect so I wanted a forgiving pattern. I am a little nervous about the scalloped binding... maybe that's why I've been putting it off.

The boys are carefully checking it's suitable for fighting on, washing on and ignoring each other on.

Bolt is also inspecting my quilting progress and ensuring it stays where I leave it between quilting sessions.

Do you have any little helpers in your sewing room?
Linking up with WIP Wednesday.

Friday, October 5, 2012

A Tetris TGIFF

Call me old school, but I loved Tetris back in the day. Such a great, simple game. So of course, when I saw this Tetris quilt along with Melissa at Happy Quilting, I had to play along.

It was serendipitous as I'd just participated in a rainbow charm square swap and I knew I was about to get back four sets of rainbow charms, the absolute perfect number for this quilt. I don't normally work with charms, but I was very pleased with how quickly it came together.

For the first few weeks I didn't have the fabric, so I just played along with my coloured pencils, designing as I went. Then I got my fabric and got mostly caught up. But then pesky life got in the way and this quilt sat on the backburner for a little while. I managed to finish piecing it a few weeks ago and last weekend I sat down and quilted it.

I opted for straight line quilting around each 'piece' to accentuate the tetris shapes. I also opted for a simple black border and backing, and for the first time ever I bound it using the backing fabric - easy peasy lemon squeezy!

My first quilt crossed off the 100 Day Hustle list!

This quilt is destined for the spare bed cat's day bed in our study - an apt place for a computer themed quilt, I think.

Linking up with TGIFF

And Finish it up Friday at  Crazy Mom Quilts

Thursday, October 4, 2012

WIP Wednesday - The BOM Bonanza

I am excited that I'm almost totally caught up with block of the month quilts. I've been doing the Blogger BOM and the Craftsy BOM and both of them finish with the block making side this month. I was a couple of months behind, so this week I've made three Blogger blocks and five Craftsy blocks (still have one to go).

Blogger BOM, in cool scraps.

Craftsy BOM in Hoopla by Moda
This means that when the setting/ quilt top construction details come up next month, I'll be ready to go! Yay!
I'm not sure how I feel about BOM quilts, I have learnt a lot doing these, but I don't really like having projects on the go for so long with fabric in reserve for them. Maybe I'll feel differently when I get my WIPs under control.

I am feeling a little better about the epic WIP list (thanks for the reassuring comments, good to know I'm not alone!), and I just plan on taking it one baby step at a time. What more can I do, right? I might start laundry listing them in future WIP Wednesdays, if that's not too scary!

I recently signed up for a polaroid block swap, totally a 'all the other girls are doing it' moment, because I need another I-Spy quilt like a hole in the head, but the blocks are sooooo darn cute! I've decided to make a little wallhanging when I get the blocks back and donate it to the preschool where I work as a raffle quilt.It's good to have a potential home for that one.

And I've been working on a rainbow/low volume scrap quilt for a while now with no particular purpose in mind, but I'm desperate for a quilted chair in my sewing room (because everyone needs one of them, right?)  and I have the perfect chair for the job... sounds like a match made in heaven!

Linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

I Don't Want To Be That Girl Anymore

I am a non-finisher. I am easily distracted. I have way too many UFOs and WIPs. And I don't want to play like that anymore!

I might joke about having Quilter's ADHD, but to be honest, I really wouldn't be surprised if I had some level of honest-to-God ADHD. I know I've always struggled with procrastinating and finishing things, because I have the letter my 5th grade teacher sent my mum on the subject.

So I've been having a super productive few days - I finished quilting and binding a quilt, I got 10 bee and BOM blocks done, I sorted some more scraps.... and then I look at my project list to move the finished quilt and I realise I still have an immense number of half finished projects in progress. I stared at that list and wondered where the heck I even start. It wasn't fun.

I have to say, I am really glad I am being motivated by the 100-Day Hustle. We're at day 10 today and I'm doing alright. I can tick off one of the five quilts I wanted to have quilted and bound, at least. I added keeping up with bee blocks to my hustle list and I am happy to say I am mostly caught up. While I have added my mum's quilt to the list, I am very easily resisting any quiltalongs or new projects I am seeing online.

One thing about machine quilting is that it gives you plenty of thinking time. While I was quilting, I was pondering my creative goals for the next year. I know I want to get everything that's hanging over my head finished ASAP, and then start fresh, one or two projects at a time. I don't want to be the girl with a million WIPs. I have to-do lists in every other aspect of my life, I don't want it for my creative outlet.

I did start (and finish!) a quick little project today before I started block sewing - a new heat pack. I saw this cute one over at Pomegranate Quilts and thought she was just genius to make a heat pack you could tie on - certainly easier than trying to balance it when you get off the couch to raid the fridge for chocolate. It was a very quick project, and since I woke up with quite a headache this morning I have put it to good use already today.

I really want to free up my sewing time so I can make more useful little things like this without feeling guilty I'm not tackling that to-do list.

Do you ever get like this with your WIPs? Does your creative life ever become a chore when the to do list gets too much?

Jane xx


text:
Flash flood watch in effect through Saturday night
Check WHNT News 19’s Interactive Radar

Huntsville City Schools Goes Paperless with Student Registration

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) – One of the biggest tasks for parents each year is a mound of paperwork required for student registration.  Huntsville City Schools has launched a new automated online registration system to solve that problem.

“Parents and administrators have wanted for a very long time to switch over to a paperless system,” says Huntsville City Schools IT Manager Sandra Simmons. “So we listened to what the parents have said and have investigated different software packages.”

The system, called “InfoSnap,” allows parents or guardians to add, update or edit their child’s information each year without having to complete entire paper registration forms.

newstudent“You can come into the school at many schools and they are opening up labs throughout the city, or you can sit at home, use your student’s computer and register your student from home,” Simmons explains.

The new system will be used to verify student demographic, emergency and medical information, and is replacing all of the hard copy forms that a child brings home on the first day of school.  The system will also allow parents / guardians to electronically sign and submit the data to the district.

“Plus, it provides health information to the nurses that is not currently in our student information system,” Simmons adds, “So that information will be at the fingertips of the nurses in the schools.”

New student registration and returning student registration are now open.  Huntsville City Schools is asking everyone to complete the electronic registration by Friday, May 2, 2014, which will help the district in planning for the 2014- 2015 school year.

For more information and links to the registration page, visit the Huntsville City Schools website.  Parents who do not have internet access and need additional help may contact their child’s school to find out about assistance.

  • concernedparent

    If all the forms are filled out online, then how are parents held accountable for the zone they live in? If they aren’t required to submit hard copies of their mortgage/lease and utility bill to the school, then it will be a lot easier for people to lie about their address so they can put their child in whatever school zone they want. This problem is already bad enough when hard copies are required.

    Please, WHNT, find out how there will be accountability. Also, I would love to know how children who live in New Market (with both parents) are allowed to pay money to attend their choice of Huntsville City Schools. Seems like the taxpayers in the city should be able to pay to send their child to their desired school.

  • concernedparent

    This is my FIRST comment ever on WHNT. You don’t know me or my career. In fact, I don’t disagree with the online registration. I actually think it is a smart way to save paper and man hours. I just want to know how proof of residence will be monitored, especially since the school board is working so hard to redraw the lines and get us out from under the desegregation order. Jerk.

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Wednesday, 11 August 2010

Twisted Goodness

I think The Queen of Clean dreads me going to a local dump as I am known to bring back these little projects for him to transform.

How could I resist those barley twist table legs though?  And just imagine the books stacking opportunities on the little shelf below.

And all for the princely sum of £0

It shall (eventually) be painted cream and take pride of place next to my fireplace.  Perhaps by Christmas.

  1. Oooh, love a good tip trip. Did you see the dresser I found for the boys there? Can't wait to see the finished work. Although if you're like us projects start and then take ages to finish. I have a new one starting too, but haven't had a chance to blog about it yet. I shall try today.

  2. Can't wait to see what you do with that! How wonderful. Really impressed with all the organising you've been doing too! Fancy coming round to mine to help me.....

    PS. Thanks for your lovely comment on mine about the bike photo xx

  3. That table has some potential! I'm glad you saved it!

Related Posts with Thumbnails


text:
Midday Interviews

Midday Interviews 11/4/14
2:45 pm
Tue November 4, 2014

Midday Interview: Kim Williams and Charles Evans on the Long Bay Symphony

Today's guests are from the Long Bay Symphony, a professional organization based in Myrtle Beach, SC. New Executive Director Kim Williams and continuing Artistic Director Charles Evans told us about the orchestra, its chamber music group, its educational outreach programs, and their next concert. On Sunday at 4 pm at Myrtle Beach High School, the Long Bay Symphony will hold their next concert. The program is Tchaikovsky and the Romantic Spirit, featuring the music of Brahms, Victor Herbert and Tchaikovsky.

Read more
Midday Interviews - 10/31/14
11:50 am
Mon November 3, 2014

Midday Interview: Sandy Apple and Mimi Cunningham on "A Lunch with Carolina Authors"

Sandy Apple and Mimi Cunningham invite us to Lunch with Carolina Authors on November 8 at UNCW's Warwick Center. This is a program created by the AAUW - American Association of University Women -  as a way to raise funds for scholarships for women planning to attend UNCW. This year's featured authors are Elaine Orr, Anne Clinard Barnhill, and May-lee Chai. For details please call 910. 313. 1573.

Read more
Midday Interviews 10/30/14
2:42 pm
Thu October 30, 2014

Midday Interview: The 5th Annual Womanless Beauty Pageant

Today's guests were from Opera House Theatre Company, here to discuss their upcoming fabulous fundraiser, The 5th Annual Womanless Beauty Pageant. There is only one performance, this Saturday, November 1 at 8pm. The show will be performed at Thalian Hall's Main Stage, located at 310 Chestnut Street in downtown Wilmington. For tickets please go to the Center Box Office at Thalian Hall, call 910.632.2285, or visit thalianhall.org. *

*There is no audio for this interview.

Midday Interviews - 10/29/14
2:03 pm
Thu October 30, 2014

Midday Interview: Holly Bullard and Meade Van Pelt on The Ministering Circle

Alexa Doran

Meet sisters Holly Bullard and Meade Van Pelt of The Ministering Circle - a non-profit, nondenominational organization that supports health care projects and scholarships in Wilmington. The group, founded in 1888, holds its annual Gourmet Sale of specialty foods, main dishes, baked goods, relishes and pickles made by all 50 women. Items will be on sale for 2 hours only, this Saturday from 10 am to noon at the Elks Club on Oleander. Call 910.762.4060 if you have any questions.

Read more
Midday Interviews - 10/8/2014
11:56 am
Tue October 14, 2014

Midday Interview: Sheila Webster Boneham on "Catwalk"

**There is no audio for this edition

Sheila Webster Boneham is the author if 17 non-fiction books about animal training, rescue and adoption. Her third animal companion - inspired novel Catwalk is just being released. For more details visit: sheilaboneham.blogspot.com.

Midday Interviews -10/10/14
3:19 pm
Fri October 10, 2014

Midday Interview: Rebecca Petruck "Steering Toward Normal"

Jemila and Rebecca
Alexa Doran

Today's guest was UNCW MFA graduate Rebecca Petruck. Her thesis became a book called 'Steering Toward Normal' - a wonderful story of 8th grade boys who unexpectedly turn out to be half brothers. Much of the book concerns what they go through in 4-H club, andraising a steer for the Minnesota State Fair. For details visit RebeccaPetruck.com

Read more
Midday Interviews - 10/8/14
3:48 pm
Wed October 8, 2014

Midday Interview: Angie Carl and Bill Walker on "Fire in the Pines" Festival

  Angie Carl is Coastal Fire and Restoration Manager for The Nature Conservancy. Bill Walker is the Area Ranger for the North Carolina Forest Service.  They came to talk about a festival that will be held this Saturday from 11am-3pm in Halyburton Park called Fire in the Pines. it includes a controlled burn demonstration, plus bluegrass music, food, live music, children's activities and more.

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Midday Interviews 10/3/14
1:48 pm
Mon October 6, 2014

Midday Interview: Tony Rivenbark

Tony Rivenbark is the Executive Director of Thalian Hall Center for the Performing Arts. He was recently honored with the creation of a Roman bust now on display in the lobby, in recognition to his 35 years of service to the hall. Rivenbark tells us about the Main Attraction Series that just launched a new season. Details at ThalianHall.org

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Midday Interviews - 10/2/14
12:41 pm
Mon October 6, 2014

Midday Interview: Lynn Seldon on "Virginia's Ring"

Travel and food writer Lynn Seldon, a 1983 graduate of Virginia Military Institute, has written his first novel- based on his experiences at VMI.  Called "Virginia's Ring," it is a moving story that spans two generations. One of the South's most respected authors, Pat Conroy, befriended Lynn and encouraged him to write a book about VMI after Lynn expressed his admiration for Pat's book "Lords of Discipline." "Lords of Discipline" is about another military academy, The Citadel in South Carolina. For more information visit LynnSeldon.com

Read more
Midday Interviews - 9/30/14
11:01 am
Wed October 1, 2014

Midday Interview: Dr. Anne Berkeley and Dr. Charles Grimes on "The Doctor in Spite of Himself"

Dr. Charles Grimes and Dr. Anne Berkeley
Alexa Doran

Today's guests were Director Dr. Anne Berkeley and Dramaturge Dr. Charles Grime on their current performance of the play "The Doctor In Spite of Himself" originally by Moliere and translated by Anre Zaslove. The show opened last week and continues this Thursday - Saturday at 8pm and this Sunday at 2pm. Performances are held at the Mainstage Theatre in the Cultural Arts Center. For tickets call the Kenan Auditorium Box office at 910. 962. 3500. For more information visit uncw.edu.**


text:
Car drives into Star Lake, person taken to hospital

MGN Online
MGN Online

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — According to Captain Jim Coker with the Hoover Police Department, a woman drove her car into Star Lake on Friday evening.

She was transported to UAB Hospital, and the extent of her injuries are unknown at this.

Crews are on the scene pulling the car out of the lake.

Copyright 2013 WIAT-TV CBS 42

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text:
Get the latest news about PS4 at and Xbox One at!

Wii U available for pre-order in Australia

Wii U Australia
When it comes to pre-orders of new and anticipated consoles, only the sky is the limit, and EB Games of Australia knows just that. They’ve become the first retailer to offer pre-orders on the Wii U, which they are selling for a staggering $600. On top of that, you can pre-order Wii U games at $100 a pop. Last time we saw pre-orders go that high, even in Australia, was back in 2005 with the PlayStation 3, which went from $800 to $1000 at certain retailers.

The Wii U is slated for release in late 2012, at a price far lower than $600 — most expect it to retail for $399. If you’re based in Australia and wish to pre-order, you can do so at EB Games here.

Continue reading:

  • WiiUhyper

    Eh what?

    • Master Awesomeness

      I don’t think that is correct. I thought it was JB Hi-Fi who first started.


text:
Get the latest news about PS4 at and Xbox One at!

Wii U Daily wishes you a happy Independence Day! » banjo-kazooie-fourth

  • Waluigi

    I’m better than these two

    • Arthur Jarret

      Sure you are! [pats waluigi on the nose]

  • Madmagican

    Damn I miss those two

    • Dallas Gooch

      Imagine if Nintendo somehow re-acquired Rare, with the direction Nintendo has been taking their games I could see a very badass Banjo Three finally coming out and redeeming Rare for that catastrophe they called “Nuts and Bolts”…


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July 2007 Board reports (see ReportingSchedule).

CLOSED -- these reports were due to the Incubator PMC by 11 July 2007

Project graduation continues, with Ode, ServiceMix, STDCXX and QPID looking to receive TLP status now or shortly. We also have new proposals, such as the Java Resource Simulator.

By the same token, we're actively putting projects into a dormant status when they are, in fact, dormant. JuICE is likely the next such project, with the vote is currently pending. On the flip side, we've been asked to bring log4php out of its dormant status, as there is a new community wanting to work on it.

CXF and Tuscany have been doing releases. CXF should probably be starting to push for graduation, too, except for diversity being a concern (Tuscany seems to have the same issue).

Work continues steadily on improving Incubator Documentation. Craig Russell and Robert Burrell Donkin deserve much credit for shepherding the issues.

iPMC Reviewers: jukka, jim

Project name - Apache CXF

Description - SOA enabling framework, web services toolkit

Date of entry - August, 2006

Top three items to resolve

  1. Diversity - Active commiters are mostly IONA people(and IONA aquiring LogicBlaze didn't help). However, we do have more than three indepentent organizations represented.

  2. Growth of community - related to diversity. The traffic on both the users and dev lists is growing with new people jumping in. The 2.0 release has started to generate much more traffic. With a full "none RC" release, we've started getting traffic from people migrating from other products. The CXF community is excited to see this and hope we can rise to the challenge of supporting these new users.
  3. Mentor status - recent discussion on general@i.a.o suggested we really need three active mentors. We currently only have 2 active mentors (Jim and James). That said, we successfully released 2.0 and voted in new committers with votes from those two and others on the IPMC. Thanks to the other IPMC folks for taking the time.

Community aspects:

  • Voted in Jeff Genender as a committer due to his excellent work on JAX-WS compliancy fixes.
  • Voted in Tomasz Sztelak from XFire community. He's been contributing to a Maven archetype as well as some docs and other XFire migration things.
  • Released 2.0-incubator
  • Apache Geronimo has been certified J2EE compliant using CXF as their JAX-WS and JWS implementation.
  • A lot of documentation has been added to our Wiki specifically targetting users and people migrating from XFire. We hope this helps attract more users (and thus a create a larger community)

Code aspects:

  • Released 2.0-incubator - this release is JAX-WS Compliant and passed the TCK which was a major milestone for the project.
  • Working on bug fixes for a 2.0.1 hopefully to be released in a few more weeks to address issues found in 2.0.
  • Also planning features for 2.1 including JAX-WS 2.1

iPMC questions / comments:

  • jukka: Please update the status file, otherwise looks fine.
  • jukka: Generally, any good ideas what we could do to help projects in need of more mentors?

iPMC Reviewers: jukka, jim

Project name - Apache FtpServer

Description - Java based FtpServer

Date of entry - March, 2003

Progress since last report

  • Voted in a new commiter, Clint Foster. He is currently in progress of setting up his account and get going with the practical details.
  • Code and documentation improvments has been continously ongoing. Code is mature enough for a milestone release but we're still missing a group of active commiters.
  • Activity on the mailing list has increased, more and more people seems to be using FtpServer.

Top three items to resolve

  1. Growth of community - we need more active commiters.
  2. Mentor status - FtpServer mentors are no longer active in the project, we should be looking for new.

  3. Getting a build server in place so that we can generate snapshots, they have been requested by several people.

iPMC questions / comments:

  • jukka: Please update the status file.
  • * Will do
  • jukka: About snapshots, are people asking for continuous nightlies (for testing, etc.) or would a formal release be more appropriate?
  • * Both are being asked for, due to problem with a formal release (due to low number of commiters) we're aiming for snapshots first
  • jukka: What's the version currently at http://incubator.apache.org/ftpserver/downloads.html?

  • * A very old one, link has been removed.

The Graffito project was retired.

iPMC Reviewers: jim

Project name - Ivy

Description - Ivy is a dependencies management tool mostly used in combination with Apache Ant

Date of entry - October 23rd, 2006

Remaining item to resolve:

  1. Trademark checking - it's still difficult to know if Apache Ivy is a good name according to trademark rules

The top three items to resolve in last report have seen very good progress:

  1. Growth of commiters - We are now 3 commiters from 3 different companies and background
  2. Release - We have made our first release approved by the incubator PMC, and are currently preparing a second one
  3. Growth of community - The Ivy community is growing, we see more and more contributions in many forms: feedback on the mailing lists, documentation and code patches, articles, ...

Community aspects:

  • Gilles Scokart has join the team of commiters
  • Xavier gave talk at ApacheConEU, which was a good opportunity to discuss with several Apache commiters and members, including especially people from Ant and Maven
  • Ivy is seen in the press more often (see http://wiki.apache.org/ivy/IvyArticles)

  • We have had discussion on our dev mailing list about our road map for upcoming releases
  • Discussion about remaining steps before graduation, one of the last remaining points seems to be trademark checking, which we have started investigating, including by asking questions to the general@i.a.o and legal-discuss@a.o lists.

  • We have agreed on targetting Ant subproject for graduation
  • We have reviewed our site to make it indexable by google (our previous version was making use of a lot of javascript preventing web crawlers to work as expected), checked and fixed all broken links, and isolated site from documentation to be able to provide online documentation history

Code aspects:

  • First release done, a second one is currently in preparation
  • Our development efforts focus on the integration with maven repository, and bug fixing
  • We have agreed to use Sun standard Java coding style, and have started to clean the code base to adhere to this coding style consistent with other Apache projects like Apache Ant

iPMC questions / comments:

  • jim: Maybe engage PRC about trademark question

iPMC Reviewers: jukka, jim

RCF is a rich component set (ajax-style) for JSF. A JIRA instance has been requested (created INFRA-1291). Also sent mail to root@ to create the accounts of the three RCF committers, that don't have an Apache account yet. Created patch to include RCF on the Incubator page (INCUBATOR-68) and added the first raw version of the status file, of this project (also inside of INCUBATOR-68). We are waiting for an import of a current code drop into the repository.

Incubating since: May 2007

iPMC Reviewers: jim

Project name - Lucene.Net

Description - Lucene.Net is a source code, class-per-class, API-per-API and algorithmatic port of the Java Lucene search engine to the C# and .NET platform utilizing Microsoft .NET Framework.

Date of entry - April, 2006

Top item(s) to resolve - Increase the development community and participation. Since the incubation of Lucene.Net, there has been only one active committer, George Aroush, who has done 99% of the port work. This has slowed the port effort such that we are now over 3 months behind with out 2.1 release. Currently, I have tried to re-energies this effort and emphasized that without developers, Lucene.Net will suffer and never graduate. I have gotten several mails offering to help, I will work on those and try to build the development community.

Community aspects - There is a good followers, with good user base. A lot of questions get asked and answered on the user list.

Code aspects - Released version 2.0 "final" on April 2007. Released version 2.1 "alpha" on May 2007

iPMC Reviewers: jim

The Apache Qpid Project provides an open and interoperable, multiple language implementations of the Advanced Messaged Queuing Protocol (AMQP) specification

Date of entry to the Incubator : 2006-09

Top three items to resolve before graduation

None at present, however the project is going to complete the release of M2 before seeking / evaluating graduation readiness

1. Understanding the details between JCP and announce compliance...

  • Resolution: We don't believe that there is going to be any outcome soon on this issue given the ongoing issues with Apache / JCP. As we pass all the tests in the TCK, the project has concluded to just state that we pass all the tests but not claim compliance until JCP / Apache issues have been resolved.

2. Our STATUS file needs to be updated wrt this report and the addition of our new committers.

  • Resolution: Done.

3. Making sure we are comfortable with the working relationship between Qpid and the AMQP Working Group.

  • Resolution: A discussion thread has been had on the Qpid dev list to identify any concerns. Some issues where identified with accessing some of the pages of the Working group, no issues where raised about obtaining information / interacting with the WG. These resources incorrectly posted where highlighted to the working group and have been fixed or are being fixed. We the Qpid project will re-check for concerns on the dev list, and make sure all resources required are accessible by all qpid committers on a periodic basis.

* Any legal, cross-project or personal issues that still need to be addressed?

The whole project has not gone through release review and the license files and notices need to be checked for all languages and components.

  • This is being done as post of M2, and should be complete in the next few days, M2 took longer than expected to close. The following comments thus carried from last board report

  • Brett: is it 'has now gone through release review', or 'has not' as stated? How was M1 released if license files and notices have not been checked, or has that only been done for Java?
  • Response by Martin(Qpid PPMC): The M1 release only included the Java code base as a result only the license/notice files for Java were checked. The other language variants are being checked to ensure the correct files are in place for when they are ready to release.

* Latest developments.

  • Since entering into incubation we have had one release of the java code base (M1).
  • We have stabilized our M2 release, and will be closing that shortly
  • We have migrated our java build system from ant to maven.
  • Development has been moving forward. with improvements in memory footprint management passing the JMS TCK in with the java broker.
  • Addition of .NET client
  • Successfully voted to give 7+ new committers access rights
  • Successfully voted to give a new member contributor rights to cwiki.
  • The creation of the Web site
  • General progress on all code bases
  • Created python test suite
  • Added Ruby language support

* Plans and expectations for the next period?

During the next period we plan on improving the stability of all language variants. Clustering, DTX, 0-10 AMQP for C++, and 0-8 & 0-10 AMQP client support for Java will most likely be the focus of the next period.

iPMC questions / comments

iPMC Reviewers: jim

Tika is a toolkit for detecting and extracting metadata and structured text content from various document formats using existing parser libraries. Tika entered incubation on March 22nd, 2007.

  • The Tika mailing list has seen increased activity in the last weeks, with some new people showing interest for Tika's goals.
  • Grant Ingersoll brought the Aperture framework to our attention (http://aperture.sourceforge.net/), which has similar goals to Tika. We will look at possible synergies.

  • No code has been committed since our last report, but some initial code is ready in JIRA and should be committed soon.

Issues before graduation:

  • No changes since our last report: the Tika project is still at an early stage of incubation. We need to continue bringing in the initial codebases and probably target for an initial incubating release later this year. We also need to work on growing the community and figuring out how to best interact with external parser projects.

iPMC Reviewers: jim

UIMA is a component framework for the analysis of unstructured content such as text, audio and video. UIMA entered incubation on October 3, 2006.

Some recent activity:

  • Some new features were added to UIMA enabling the framework to support components running with different Java class paths
  • A new release (2.2) is being prepared and should be out within a month
  • The C++ version of the framework is in the final testing stages and should be out within a month

Items to complete before graduation:

  • Attract new committers

  • Traffic on the uima-user list has started to pick up since our release. We hope to be able to eventually attract some Apache UIMA users to become committers.
  • uima-dev list has a good amount of traffic, mostly from the original committers, but now starting to get some activity from users around the globe.
  • Jörn Kottman continues to work on the tool he contributed, with a fair amount of activity after a few quiet weeks.
  • The Documentation preparation system, based on the Apache Velocity project Docbook system, was considerably upgraded, and now is using Apache FOP 0.93 release for producing printable PDF files.

A workshop on UIMA took place at the GLDV 2007 spring conference in Tübingen/Germany, April 11-13, 2007. It was the first workshop of its kind and drew a large and diverse audience from across Europe. Information about this workshop with links to some of the papers was posted on the Apache UIMA website ( http://incubator.apache.org/uima/gldv07.html ).

An announcement of funding for work on UIMA related projects and activities for University Faculty was announced on the Apache Community mailing list. This announcement drew both some criticism (of the form: is this an appropriate use of that mailing list), as well as support (yes, it is an appropriate use of that mailing list).

July2007 (last edited 2009-09-20 23:06:20 by localhost)