How to Develop a Strong Bond with Your Mate: Ten Tips for Couples
<Date: 2010-01-03> <Category: My Diary> No commentChristian encouragement for men — an evangelical perspective on current events, Scripture, and coming up the husband and father learning curve. Boldness without gentleness is tyranny; gentleness without boldness is not Christlike. Jesus was both tough and tender.
You can reach Glenn Brooke at beboldgentle@yahoo.com
CHICAGO (AP) — With all the screening technology at U.S. airports, the last line of defense is still the human hand: the pat-down search.
But aviation experts say the pat-down is often ineffective, in part because of government rules covering where screeners can put their hands and how frequently they can frisk passengers. As a result, even if the man accused of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound U.S. jetliner on Christmas Day got an airport pat-down, it probably wouldn't have found the explosives authorities say were hidden in his crotch.
“To have people hold up their arms and just pat them — like I'm really going to carry a bomb there,” said industry analyst Michael Boyd, arguing that pat-downs were often of little value. “You know where you're going to put it, and no one's going to go there.”
Most travelers at U.S. airports never get a pat-down when they pass through security. A metal detector must be set off first and then screeners would need to find out what triggered the alarm. That often amounts to screeners just lightly tapping on a passenger's arms, legs and clothes.
But even if they go ahead with a pat-down, it likely would not turn up something nonmetallic, small and well-hidden.
Unlike the frisking of suspects conducted by police — which involves officers running their hands firmly up and down the body, including sensitive areas like the groin, buttocks and breasts — the pat-downs at airports usually involve, well, patting down.
A flood of complaints by women prompted the Transportation Security Administration in 2004 to list 'dos' and 'don'ts' on pat-downs, including barring screeners from touching female passengers between their breasts. The TSA hasn't publicly released that list.
But a report by the Government Accountability Office, which said federal investigators were able to smuggle liquid explosives and detonators past security at U.S. airports, appeared to prompt some changes last year in pat-down policies.
In one instance cited in the report, an investigator placed coins in his pockets to ensure he'd receive a secondary screening. But after a pat-down and use of a hand-held metal detector, the screener didn't catch the prohibited items the investigator brought through a checkpoint.
The TSA last year decided to permit what it describes as “enhanced pat-downs” that include breast and groin searches. But these could be done only under limited circumstances and only after the use of metal detectors, less invasive pat-downs and all other tools had been exhausted.
Still, even in those cases, screeners must use the back of their hands when touching the groin area and breasts, according to the TSA.
“This new procedure will affect a very small percentage of travelers, but it is a critical element in ensuring the safety of the flying public,” the agency said in a statement on its Web site.
Since the Dec. 25 incident, some have been calling for more pat-downs at airports. But sensitivities on all sides mean any push for more frequent, thorough pat-downs would likely meet fierce resistance.
For many couples, life seems to sap away the bond that they once felt for one another. Rather than feeling closer and most intimately connected, couples begin to feel as if they are merely roommates sharing a house, and maybe some kids. It doesn't have to be that though. There are things you can do to strengthen the bonds that tie you together. Below are ten tips for couples on how to develop a strong bond with your mate.
1 – Share experiences. In order for a bond to exist, there must be experiences that are shared in the first place. Whether it's something as simple and sharing a meal, or as complicated as buying a house, sharing experiences is what brings people closer together. To keep that bond, or to deepen it, there must be a stream of new and continuous shared experiences.
2 – Help one another. One of the things that keep people from becoming closer is the lack of help offered to each other. This is an important thing, because if it isn't offered, then that feeling of giving to someone you love doesn't mature. Help one another without being asked. And, don't ask. Let the other offer their assistance. This will allow them to give to you without feeling as if they have no choice.
3 – Be there. It's critical that you be there for your mate; for the important things, and the not so important things. For almost everything. To build a bond, people have to be there, with one another, sharing whatever is going on, dealing with whatever my come, rejoicing in victories and crying together in despair. These are what form strong bonds between people.
4 – Set aside time for doing nothing together. With all there is to do in life these days, watch tv, play video games, go out, work on the computer, etc. it becomes very easy to forget to just spend time with the one you love, doing nothing. This allows for intimate easy feelings, and quiet talking or reminiscing. It allows for bonding.
5 – Be affectionate. It's difficult to bond with someone who shows little or no affection to you. So, if you want to build a strong bond with your mate, then hold their hand, touch their face, hold them or hug them. Be affectionate.
6 – Back each other up. One of the things that helps foster strong bonds between people is the element of trust that develops when people always back one another up, or to put it another way, to always be on their side; no matter what. Of course this doesn't mean you always have to agree with whatever your husband or wife, boy or girl friend says or does, but it does mean supporting them, especially when others are around or involved.
7 – Talk to each other. There is a huge difference between arranging your daily schedules, commenting on things that occur around you and grunting in response to questions, and conversations that meander, that convey aspirations, or offer a glimpse of your hopes, fears and desires. If you want to build and maintain a strong bond with someone, you need to do the later. Often.
8 – Do unexpected things for one another. There is nothing like a little unexpected card or letter, or gift, to remind someone how much they are liked and cared about. People that want to build ever stronger bonds do these things for one another on a routine basis.
9 – Relive past experiences. Another thing you can do to foster strong bonds, is relive the experiences you've shared in the past. Doing so reminds you both of the things you've done together, certainly, but it also allows you to see and feel how past experiences effected the other. This is important because people that find themselves having linked emotional responses to past shared events, find their bonds growing stronger right before their eyes.
10 – Give of yourselves. Finally, one of the things virtually all couples do that have built a strong bond between them, is to give of yourselves. Give of your time, your attention. Give your love and the best of you there is to offer. Give freely, often and generously, as if you are giving to the most important person in the world. Because, you are, right?
These ten tips for couples on how to develop a strong bond with your mate, are for any two people in any sort of intimate relationship that are serious about strengthening the bonds that tie them together. If you are a person in such a relationship, I hope these tips help you and your loved one grow stronger together, forever. Good luck.
Permalink: How to Develop a Strong Bond with Your Mate: Ten Tips for Couples
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The Crusades has always been a tricky and elusive subject for filmmakers. Sure, it's a fascinating story. It's got the potential for epic spectacle and grandeur but there's that pesky religious angle that could potentially offend people and thereby rendering it box-office poison.
This is the very reason people are waiting with bated breath for veteran director Ridley Scott's tackling of this rather risky (especially at this day and age of violent tensions among religious groups in certain parts of the world) subject matter. After having had three straight critical and/or commercial successes early this millennium with Gladiator, Hannibal, Black Hawk Down and Matchstick Men many people are left wondering whether he can still continue his winning streak with this latest in the long line of historical epics.
Kingdom of Heaven tells the mostly true story of Balian of Ibelin (Orlando Bloom) a recently widowed blacksmith who after murdering a priest (Michael Sheen) out of rage, joins his alleged biological father Godfrey (Liam Neeson) and a renegade priest Hospitaler (David Thewlis) on his journey to Jerusalem to fight for King Baldwin, the Leper King (Edward Norton, his performance hidden behind a mask and his name hidden in the end credits). After Godfrey dies while protecting him from an attack, he arrives at Jerusalem and experiences a series of spectacular action sequences and a love scene just like any historical hero of his day.
Few will deny Ridley Scott is a gifted visual artist so it comes to no surprise that the action sequences and fight scenes in this film are indeed visually engaging and are spectacles to behold. From the snowy blue-tinged attack on Godfrey to the nighttime fireball siege by the Moslems up until the climactic battle sequences that look like Lord of the Rings without the orcs, Ridley Scott never fails to deliver the goods. He has since perfected what I like to call “gory gloss” (or “glossy gore) since no one can make blood shed and splatter in such a stylish way quite like Sir Ridley. Other technical aspects of the film are top-notch.
If only the surface spectacles and gloss would match the substance to be found underneath. Truth be told, there isn't much. This could have been a thought-provoking, cautionary tale on the value of religious tolerance and understanding or an allegory on the current real-life turmoil going on in that part of the world right now. Though there are ample attempts in the film to address these issues, they all come off as superficial at best laughable at worst.
Efforts to keep this film historically accurate without offending any members of the major religions involved are admirable but at times, I felt, comes at the expense of not addressing with the issues more head on. They are after all, mere distractions to all the cool fight sequences.
As for the actors, Orlando Bloom may have been a wonderful supporting Elf in Lord of the Rings but as a leading man, he is merely adequate. Though he is not that bad, his performance lacks the gravitas and charisma Russell Crowe brought to a somewhat similar role in Gladiator. His performance in that Ridley Scott flick actually elevated his material. Eva Green does what she could with a character that is just a little more than a token love interest role. The rest of the stellar supporting cast is superb but too bad most of them appear only sporadically.
All in all, the film does not do that bad a job of entertaining you throughout its two and a half hour running time. Surely, people who love the glossy gore coupled with sword and sandal action will get their fix on this film. Those looking for something a little more will have to go look somewhere else. It is not anti-Muslim. It is not anti-Christian. The film is too busy with staging actions to be anti-of anything.
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Permalink: Kingdom of Heaven
A Note to All My AC Friends, Fans, Followers, and Favorites
<Date: 2009-12-23> <Category: My Diary> No commentAll major indexes gained less than 1 percent Tuesday, with the Standard & Poor's 500 index and the Nasdaq composite index closing at new highs for the year. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 50 points, bringing its three-day point gain to 156.
Stocks got off to a positive start after a report from the National Association of Realtors said home resales jumped 7.4 percent in November. That was much more than the 2.5 percent increase analysts expected. The government's tax breaks have spurred sales to their highest level in nearly three years.
The report added to a recent string of encouraging news on the economy, including upbeat earnings and forecasts from technology companies and more corporate dealmaking.
"It's just another rung in the recovery ladder," said Brett D'Arcy, chief investment officer at CBIZ Wealth Management Group.
There were other signs that investors were feeling more confident. Bond prices fell further, pushing yields sharply higher. The gap between yields on short- and long-term bonds has widened to record levels, indicating that investors see the economy growing.
Meanwhile, the dollar rose against the euro as investors bet that the U.S. will recover quicker than economies in Europe. And a gauge of the market's volatility dropped to its lowest point since May 2008. The Chicago Board Options Exchange's Volatility Index, known as the market's fear index, fell 4.6 percent to 19.54, after earlier falling as low as 16.26. It hit a record 89.5 last October during the height of the financial crisis.
D'Arcy said he expects the positive outlook on the economy to build on itself and to continue to propel the market forward through the end of the year.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 50.79, or 0.5 percent, to 10,464.93. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 3.97, or 0.4 percent, to 1,118.02, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 15.01, or 0.7 percent, to 2,252.67. Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are at their highest levels since last October.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to its highest level since August, climbing to 3.76 percent from 3.68 percent late Monday.
The yield on the three-month T-bill rose to 0.06 percent from 0.05 percent. Short-term rates have remained low, staying in line with the Federal Reserve's benchmark interest rate, which has been kept at a record level of near zero this year.
However, long-term yields have been on the rise, an indication to some that investors have become more sure of the economy's strength and see an increasing potential for inflation. Inflation is bad for bonds because it eats into their fixed returns. Some analysts say the sharp rise in rates is more technical, coming after months of very low long-term bond yields.
“What's in a name?”
Shakespeare's famous phrase rings true for many things, but not when it comes to “Cash for Caulkers.” This nickname has become adopted by the mainstream media and the blogosphere to refer to a planned residential efficiency program called Home Star. Now that the President's Economic Recovery Board has unanimously voted in favor of this plan to weatherize America's homes, there will be much more attention paid to the plan.
Relating Home Star to “Cash for Clunkers” is an easy way to convey the general concept. Both programs are based on a similar “incentive” model. But equating the details could lead to misunderstandings about a program designed to help give America and American homeowners the economic boost they so desperately need.
Home Star cash is not just for caulkers. The workforce that will benefit from its incentives includes a wide range of skilled workers. These include insulators, air sealing technicians, heating and cooling technicians, electricians and many more. These workers are part of an industry that brings these various skills and trades together to install measures than can lower energy costs for consumers. Depending on the amount of work being done, homeowners will be able to save anywhere up to 30 to 35 percent of their energy costs, making their house more comfortable and affordable.
Home Star was brought to the attention of the White House by venture capitalist John Doerr in November. Matt Golden of RECURVE and I were heavily involved in drafting this plan for the past several months on behalf of the energy efficiency industry that is represented by the organization, Efficiency First. We fine-tuned it to maximize economic and environmental returns, streamline the process and ensure that quality assurance mechanisms were built in.
Home Star is not designed for the do-it-yourself market, but rather the trained residential energy efficiency technician. Because retrofitting by skilled and certified private contractors is costly, Home Star will help cash strapped homeowners defray expenses through a federal tax credit or a rebate of up to 50 percent of the total cost. Extra incentives to package multiple measures will be combined into a whole house retrofit plan. Under the current tax structure, only some equipment upgrades and materials are covered. Home Star would add rebates on both equipment and installation costs for a range of measures to make the home more energy efficient, including high efficiency heating and cooling systems, insulation, air and duct sealing and appliances. Home Star also has a quality assurance component, to ensure that work is performed to standards established in the proposed legislation.
As if new jobs, energy savings and healthy incentives weren't enough, Home Star will benefit the environment. According to the October 2009 study, “Recovery through Retrofit” from the White House, homes are a significant contributor to global climate change. The report states:
There are almost 130 million homes in this country. Combined, they generate more than 20 percent of our nation's carbon dioxide emissions which is twice what automobiles emit. Existing techniques and technologies in energy efficiency retrofitting can reduce home energy use by 30 percent per home and lower associated greenhouse gas emissions significantly. Furthermore, these home energy efficiency retrofits have the potential to reduce home energy bills by $21 billion annually, paying for themselves over time.
Home Star is welcome news for the building industry, the one that has been hardest hit by job losses. According to data released this month by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment in the sector hit 19.4 percent in November. During the previous month, 62,000 construction workers lost their jobs, followed by another 27,000 in November.
Many of these workers are certified and accredited by groups like the Building Performance Institute, the Residential Energy Services Network or state approved programs which enforce standards of excellence in the home performance marketplace. Programs will be set up to re-train workers in the most up-to-date practices and technologies.
With the passage of Home Star, America's economy will be revitalized with hundreds of thousands of new jobs by skilled and trained home efficiency technicians. These jobs will start right now and use American products installed by local workers.
So remember Home Star – creating jobs for an industry (not just for caulkers), is what this name is all about.
Stephen L. Cowell is chairman and chief executive officer of Conservation Services Group, based in Westborough, Mass. Mr. Cowell also co-founded Efficiency First and serves as president of the Northeast Energy Efficiency Council.
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Just a short note to let everyone here know that I am going to take a reading break for a little bit. My daughter will be having a wedding in January, and moving far, far away to be with her new hubby in Fort Bragg in North Carolina. So for right now I want to spend as much time as possible with her. I will be posting more product reviews for a little more Christmas money, and maybe I'll pop in with a poem or article or two if I have the time.
I figure I will need something to do to take my mind off missing our daughter, so I will keep tucking all your writing away for now, and when she has moved, I will start catching up. So don't be surprised if you get a comment on an November piece in the middle of February!
Just wanted you to know you aren't forgotten and that I will be back to reading all your great writing as soon as I can.
Till then, keep it coming!
Tina
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Permalink: A Note to All My AC Friends, Fans, Followers, and Favorites
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In all, 19 states added jobs in November, down from 28 in October. Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia suffered a net loss of jobs.
Labor said there were statistically important employment changes in four states. All four showed job losses. They are Michigan, Nevada, Mississippi and Hawaii.
The states that reported the largest jobs gains were Texas, Ohio, Georgia, Arizona and Iowa. Those shifts were not considered statistically important as a proportion of those states' large work forces.
Signs emerged in some states of people rejoining the work force to seek jobs as the economy slowly improves. Of the eight states where unemployment rose, five added jobs. All but one saw their work forces grow, indicating more people were looking for work.
The states that saw their labor forces grow faster than they could add jobs were Ohio, South Carolina, Georgia and Idaho.
The figures for jobs and unemployment don't always match because they come from separate reports. The unemployment rate is calculated from a survey of households. The jobs count reflects a survey of businesses.
Similarly, unemployment rates can drop when people give up looking for jobs. Of the seven states with statistically important drops in unemployment rates, five saw their labor forces shrink. They were Connecticut, Kansas, Kentucky, New York and Pennsylvania.
In Nebraska and Texas, unemployment fell even while people entered the labor force, a sign of relatively robust job markets.
In Texas, hiring was even across many sectors, including finance, professional and business services, education and health, hospitality and government. The only areas to lose jobs were construction; manufacturing; and trade, transportation and utilities.
Nebraska saw job growth in every sector except finance and hospitality, which declined slightly.
Florida was the only state whose unemployment rate rose significantly, to 11.5 percent from 11.3 percent.
Since November 2008, all 50 states have seen a net loss of jobs and a rise in their unemployment rates.
November's jobs picture is bleaker than October's, in part because last month's gains were driven by a rise in temporary employment, economists said. Temporary hiring often is a sign that employers are gearing up to add full-time jobs.
But economists cautioned that October's gains might not be sustainable. They were driven by temporary demand in the auto sector to replace inventories depleted by the Cash for Clunkers rebate program.
Still, the U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 10 percent November from 10.2 percent in October. It was the first unemployment decline since July. Economists called it a hopeful sign that the economy is on the mend, however slowly.
'Nine' doesn't add up
Comments: 12
Looks: 3, music: 2, script: 1
Last Updated:
7:44 AM, December 19, 2009
Posted:
1:06 AM, December 18, 2009
The musical “Nine” is ostensibly based on Federico Fellini’s autobiographical masterpiece “8 1/2.” But in the clumsy hands of director Rob Marshall, this tacky, all-star botch more closely resembles a video catalog for Victoria’s Secret.
Penelope Cruz wriggling around in her underwear — the heavily edited result cannot quite be called dancing — in the best number, “A Call From the Vatican,” is about as good as it’s going to get in this faux-Fosse eyesore.
Maury Yeston’s mediocre, imitation-Kander-and-Ebb 1982 Broadway musical has been further edited and updated to suit the vocal limitations of its Weinstein-gerrymandered cast.
PHOTOS: WHO DRESSED THE BEST AT THE 'NINE' PREMIERE?
Or, in the case of Kate Hudson as a journalist for American Vogue who vaguely tries to seduce our hero, the character and her awful number “Cinema Italiano” (in badly lit black-and-white) are interpolations that could be cut without changing the movie one whit.
Unfortunately, unlike in Marshall’s overrated “Chicago,” none of the numbers in “Nine” really advance the story but rather merely announce what's already been stated in dialogue — such as “I Can't Make This Movie.”
Not that any of the magic survives from Fellini's classic in this patchy adaptation of Arthur Kopit's Broadway book, credited to Michael Tolkin (“The Player”) and the late Anthony Minghella.
Daniel Day-Lewis is fatally miscast as Fellini's alter ego Guido Contini, who is having trouble coming up with a story for his about-to-shoot movie in a weakly evoked 1965 Rome, which bears approximately the same relation to the real thing that Chef Boyardee does to fettuccine Alfredo.
One of our best actors, Day-Lewis unfortunately lacks the charm of stage predecessors Raul Julia and Antonio Banderas, so it is difficult to care at all about Guido's anguish over his career and his very complicated love life.
When he sings “I have nothing to say,” he could very well be talking about “Nine.”
Guido is married to the long- suffering Luisa (Marion Cotillard), his former leading lady, but carrying on a messy affair with the married Carla (Cruz) — and quite possibly his current leading lady/muse, Claudia (the barely seen, frozen-faced Nicole Kidman).
Our hero also is haunted by ugly black-and-white flashbacks to his youth, where his involvement with a whore (Fergie, not bad) meets the disapproval of his mother (Sophia Loren, who sadly resembles a slightly melted exhibit from Madame Tussauds).
Each of these ladies — except for Luisa, who gets two — has a musical number, as does Judi Dench as Guido's costume designer and confidante, who gamely offers up the incongruous “Folies Bergere.”
All of the numbers for some inexplicable reason (budget?) take place on the same massive soundstage.
It doesn't exactly make for gripping cinema, and neither does the choppy editing required to splice together a series of star turns that simply don't flow as a movie.
The jaw-droppingly awful “Nine” is the worst Broadway-to- Hollywood transfer since “The Producers” — the cinematic equivalent of that movie's show “Springtime for Hitler.”
lou.lumenick@nypost.com
Gold Mining Process for Narrow Tabular Ore Bodies
<Date: 2009-12-16> <Category: Petroleum Oil> No comment Nervous about your money? Want to avoid 40% drops? Steer clear of junior Gold Mining stocks…
FOR MANY YEARS, gold bugs like Doug Casey and his team have been saying that once gold takes off to stratospheric heights, it will take the Gold Mining stocks with it, writes Jeff Clark of Casey Research.
It's called the "Mania phase" of the commodity bull market. Has this time arrived now?
If it hasn't, it sure does a good look-a-like job. In the last weeks, the Gold Price has reached new records almost daily – the latest intraday high being $1,226.50 an ounce. The Chinese government has been encouraging its 1.3 billion citizens to buy physical gold and silver. And serially successful fund managers are beginning to load up on gold and Gold Mining shares.
BlackRock is a global commodities investment fund with a total of $1.4 trillion under management and serves as manager and adviser to the US Federal Reserve. Not only did BlackRock state last month that "Central banks will be net buyers of gold this year as they diversify away from the US Dollar, marking a reversal of a decades-old trend" – the fund itself has a total of $4.655 billion invested in gold shares.
Comparing the size of the gold stock market to the size of their portfolio, the 0.3% of their assets said to be invested in gold shares comes to something like 1 to 2% of the gold share market.
Financial website Minyanville also claims that "The smart money is already piled into gold," listing high net worth investors like George Soros and Jim Rogers, and well-known fund managers like Kyle Bass of Hayman Capital, Donald Coxe of Coxe Advisors, and David Tice of the Prudent Bear Fund.
The proof is in the pudding: On December 1, the Canadian TSX stock exchange posted its highest close in 14 months, and since the end of September, the S&P/TSX gold index was up 13%.
"There are really only four sectors in Canada – mining, energy, financials and everything else," Colin Cieszynski, market analyst, CMC Markets Canada, told the Vancouver Sun.
"For the most part, the seniors in the energy group have been flat for awhile and the banks have been flat for three months. One of the only areas that has been moving with a sizable weight on the index has been the mining sector. Since (gold) is one of the only areas moving, it's being noticed."
So, should you jump into gold stocks with both feet?
Louis James, senior editor of Casey's International Speculator, one of the world's most respected Gold Mining stock advisories, warns of throwing caution to the wind. In a recent interview with The Gold Report, James stated, "Gold stocks are…highly, highly speculative. Most gold companies don't have any gold; they are exploring for gold or developing projects that they hope will be economic. Only a few actually produce gold, and even the biggest producers are highly volatile, because the price of their product fluctuates constantly and strongly."
"If [the juniors] do make a discovery, they go from having literally nothing but a geologist's dream to having something of measurable value. The difference in valuation can be huge; this is how it's possible to get 10-baggers or even 50 times your money on one of these stocks."
Discerning the potential multi-baggers from the barren holes in the ground, though, is not an easy feat – but the market, says James, has done part of the work for investors.
"In 2007 and 2008, before the jitters, the market was overvaluing a lot of companies, practically anything with 'gold' in its name. Some of these companies didn't even have any assay holes drilled into their prospects; all they had were theories and hopes, and they were trading for tens of millions of Dollars. Since last fall's crash, there's been quite a separation of wheat from chaff, and many of the companies that had nothing but theories or hopes have not recovered significantly."
Still, James and his colleagues at Casey Research are expecting another market correction before gold – and by extension, gold shares – begin their trip to the moon: "If you're psychologically predisposed to being nervous about your investment, and you know you'd have a hard time dealing with a drop of 30%, 40% in a month or two, maybe this is not a good time to be buying speculative gold stocks.
"That having been said, if you stick to quality companies, buy an initial slice of your ideal position now, and fill out the rest of your position at a lower average price if it fluctuates downward, you preclude the possibility of missing out on a stock that takes off. But you have to believe in your picks strongly enough to see a sell-off as a buying opportunity.
"Our general recommendation right now is to focus on the best of the best. Everything in the International Speculator portfolio has resources drilled off that can be defined by one of the regulation-complaint categories or another. And it's all gold and silver right now."
Want Physical Gold rather than speculative mining stocks? Make gold secure, simple and cost-efficient like nothing else at BullionVault…
Jeff Clark, editor for Casey Research, analyzes the current trends in gold, and how investors can benefit from the ‘Mania Phase’ of a commodity’s bull market.
Jeff Clark (Casey Research):
For years, gold bugs like Doug Casey and his team have been saying that once gold takes off to stratospheric heights, it will take the gold mining stocks with it. It’s called the “Mania phase” of the commodity bull market.
Has this time arrived now?
If it hasn’t, it sure does a good look-a-like job. In the last weeks, the gold price has reached new records almost daily – the latest intraday high being $1,226.50/oz. The Chinese government has been urging its 1.3 billion citizens to buy physical gold and silver. And serially successful fund managers are beginning to load up on gold and gold shares.
BlackRock is a global commodities investment fund with a total of $1.4 trillion under management and serves as manager and adviser to the U.S. Federal Reserve. Not only did BlackRock state last month that “Central banks will be net buyers of gold this year as they diversify away from the U.S. dollar, marking a reversal of a decades-old trend” – the fund itself has a total of $4.655 billion invested in gold shares. Comparing the size of the gold stock market to the size of their portfolio, the 0.3% of their assets said to be invested in gold shares comes to something like 1 to 2% of the gold share market.
Financial website Minyanville agrees that “The smart money is already piled into gold,” listing high net worth investors like George Soros and Jim Rogers, and well-known fund managers like Bill Gross and Kyle Bass of Hayman Capital, Donald Coxe of Coxe Advisors, and David Tice of the Prudent Bear Fund.
The proof is in the pudding: On December 1, the Canadian TSX stock exchange posted its highest close in 14 months, and since the end of September, the S&P/TSX gold index was up 13%.
“There are really only four sectors in Canada — mining, energy, financials and everything else,” Colin Cieszynski, market analyst, CMC Markets Canada, told the Vancouver Sun.
“For the most part, the seniors in the energy group have been flat for awhile and the banks have been flat for three months. One of the only areas that has been moving with a sizable weight on the index has been the mining sector. Since (gold) is one of the only areas moving, it’s being noticed.”
So, should you jump into gold stocks with both feet?
Louis James, senior editor of Casey’s International Speculator, one of the world’s most respected gold mining stock advisories, warns of throwing caution to the wind. In a recent interview with The Gold Report, James stated, “Gold stocks are . . . highly, highly speculative. Most gold companies don’t have any gold; they are exploring for gold or developing projects that they hope will be economic. Only a few actually produce gold, and even the biggest producers are highly volatile, because the price of their product fluctuates constantly and strongly.”
“If [the juniors] do make a discovery, they go from having literally nothing but a geologist’s dream to having something of measurable value. The difference in valuation can be huge; this is how it’s possible to get 10-baggers or even 50 times your money on one of these stocks.”
Discerning the potential multi-baggers from the barren holes in the ground, though, is not an easy feat – but the market, says James, has done part of the work for investors.
”In 2007 and 2008, before the jitters, the market was overvaluing a lot of companies, practically anything with ‘gold’ in its name. Some of these companies didn’t even have any assay holes drilled into their prospects; all they had were theories and hopes, and they were trading for tens of millions of dollars. Since last fall’s crash, there’s been quite a separation of wheat from chaff, and many of the companies that had nothing but theories or hopes have not recovered significantly.”
Still, James and his colleagues at Casey Research are expecting another market correction before gold – and by extension, gold shares – begin their trip to the moon: “If you’re psychologically predisposed to being nervous about your investment, and you know you’d have a hard time dealing with a drop of 30%, 40% in a month or two, maybe this is not a good time to be buying speculative gold stocks.
“That having been said, if you stick to quality companies, buy an initial slice of your ideal position now, and fill out the rest of your position at a lower average price if it fluctuates downward, you preclude the possibility of missing out on a stock that takes off. But you have to believe in your picks strongly enough to see a sell-off as a buying opportunity.
“Our general recommendation right now is to focus on the best of the best. Everything in the International Speculator portfolio has resources drilled off that can be defined by one of the regulation-complaint categories or another. And it’s all gold and silver right now.”
Finding the best of the best is, you could say, a house specialty of Casey’s International Speculator, with a nearly 30-year history one of the most reputable advisories of its kind. And for a very limited time, you can get it for a fraction of the normal retail price.
Until December 18, we offer a 40% discount on a one-year subscription. Try International Speculator risk-free for 3 months – with full money-back guarantee. Plus, receive a free holiday gift if you sign up today. Click here to learn more.
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Introduction to the Gold Mining Process for Tabular Ore Bodies
There are a number of different methodologies used to conduct mining operations. One of these methods are discussed in this article.
The gold bearing ore is in situ in the reef band where it was deposited millions of years ago. It requiers drilled and blasted to free it from the country rock. According to Nell (1984:95) this process is called stoping. He defines stoping as:
the actual mining of ore by means of breaking ground in stopes to a size suitable for handling and processing for the recovery of the mineral content.
The breaking of the country rock includes drilling blast holes and blasting it. This is followed by cleaning, supporting and the providing of the infrastructure to the stope faces.
The provision of infrastructure includes the maintenance and managing of:
• in stope water and air services that is necessary for the drilling and dust allaying process
• travelling ways to and from the stope necessary for creating access ways for people and material
• scatter walls to contain the blast rock in a conveniently concentrated muck pile for the cleaning crew,
• material and people handling appliances including monorail, mono rope and chairlift devises
• double drum winches and scraper scoops for the moving of blasted rock
• pumping and pump installations to ensure sufficient water pressure and or clear out the accumulation of excess water from low lying areas.
• rail tracks for the locomotives and trains that transports workers, material and broken rock pover long horizontal distances underground.
• Safety devices that include tips and grizzlies to prevent inadvertent access of people down these near vertical excavations.
• Blasting equipment that includes remote blasting system cables and ventilation sensor equipment in the intake and return air passages.
• Ventilation systems that consists of various sizes of columns, temporary and permanent ventilation brattices, -walls, -holings and fans.
• Electricity and electric equipment required for the use during the mining process.
With reference to figure 1 a three dimensional mining layout of a typical gold mine can be viewed here. The figuredepicts the basic components, in three dimensions, used to explain the mining layout of a typical gold mine.
The broken ore is typically scraped on dip, down a 30 meter stope face into a strike gully, by means of a double drum winch and scraper scoop once it is blasted from the country rock.
Another double drum winch and scraper scoop is used to scrape the broken rock on strike to an orepass or boxhole, situated in the original raise. This boxhole can be situated up to 90 meters from the face where the blasting took place. The broken rock now cascades down this steeply inclined excavation (boxhole or orepass) to a crosscut on a lower level.
In the crosscut a train, normally with ten eight ton hoppers are used to transport the broken rock to the shaft. The shaft can be kilometres away from the point of mining. At the shaft the train tips it's cargo down the shaft orepass system, where it again cascades down to the shaft loading station near the bottom of the shaft. The broken rock are hoisted up a 2000 meter vertical shaft in rock skips with a typical capacity of 12 tons by means of a rock hoist to surface, in the case of a surface shaft, or to just above the loading station of the surface shaft in the case of a sub – shaft.
On surface the broken ore is transported to the metallurgy plant by means of a conveyor belt. In the metallurgy plant the ore is milled, screened, and chemically treated in order to allow separation of the gold from the gold bearing ore. The slime residue is pumped to a tailing dam and the gold concentrate is further treated. The gold concentrate is smelted and the 89% pure gold is poured into gold bars weighing about 31 kilograms each.
These gold bars are then transported to a Refinery where the silver is removed and the gold refined to 99.99% purity. It is this pure gold that is sold on the world gold markets.
© 2009 Carl Marx
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Permalink: Gold Mining Process for Narrow Tabular Ore Bodies
If the 2010 season began today, Melky Cabrera would be the Yankees starting left fielder. From an offensive standpoint, that’s not ideal. While Melky improved in 2009 after below average 2007 and 2008 seasons, he was just a league average hitter. Of all American League outfielders with at least 500 plate appearances, Melky’s wOBA ranked above just four: Ryan Sweeney, Vernon Wells, B.J. Upton, and Alex Rios. His defense, average in center field, might add a few runs in left, but it’s doubtful that would bridge the gap. The Yankees need to remain focused on adding a left fielder.
Johnny Damon appears the team’s top target, but recent stories indicate that the two parties remain far apart. In fact, Damon says that the team hasn’t made an offer yet and he hasn’t made his desires known to them. That hasn’t stopped Scott Boras, of course, from making outrageous demands on behalf of his client. If the Yankees don’t offer at least three years at at least $13 million, he says, they shouldn’t even bother making one. That leaves the Yankees still searching for left fielders. While I think the two parties will reconcile soon enough, it’s always fun to explore other options.
We’ve been over most of the free agent options, but on Saturday night we got a new wave. Teams decided to not tender contracts to some of their arbitration-eligible players, making them free agents. Among the new crop is Kelly Johnson, former Braves second baseman and left fielder. One of the Braves weaknesses last year was their outfield, so it seems odd to consider one of their players who could have filled that slot. Still, teams do make mistakes. Perhaps Johnson could slide back to left and help the Yankees.
Any team that signs Johnson gambles that he’ll return to his 2007 form, when he hit .276/.375/.457 with 16 home runs. Those numbers would play well in left field for almost any team, but there’s no guarantee that Johnson reaches that mark. His numbers have declined for the past two years, his OBP dipping to .349 in 2008 and then .303 in 2009. In 2009 this was due to a sharply declining walk rate. In 2009 he picked up the walk rate a little, but his BABIP and batting average took a huge hit, dropping to a .224 average as he hit .249 on balls in play.
As with Curtis Granderson, it appears that Johnson’s BABIP numbers in 2009 were mostly due to an increased fly ball percentage, 43.1 percent, up from 36.5 percent in 2008. That came at the expense of line drives. 24.7 percent in 2008 and17.9 percent in 2009. The increased fly balls and decreased line drives, combined with a little bad luck, can easily lead to a terrible season. The question for the Yankees is of whether Johnson can recover.
Another issue which held Johnson back in 2009 was his right wrist. After missing time with bilateral leg cramps in late June, he hit the DL in early July with wrist tendinitis. He returned on July 23, and for the rest of the season hit .261/.358/.493, though it was in just 83 plate appearances. By then he’d lost his starting job, and the whispers of a non-tender began to circle. The right wrist for a lefty is the power wrist, and a resurgence of power, even in a short sample, is good news for Johnson.
The Braves’ payroll situation further complicates the matter. They’ve hovered around $90 to $100 million over the past few years, and are over $80 million now before their arbitration players and any other additions. Johnson earned nearly $3 million in 2009, and that certainly factored into the team’s decision to non-tender him. They can’t afford to pay a player $3 to $4 million if he’s going to produce like Johnson did in 2009. In other words, they can’t afford to take the gamble, but another team could, especially because they won’t have to pay him anything close to his 2009 salary.
Chances are the Yankees won’t show much interest in Johnson. He’s a second baseman who has limited experience in left field, and who also had Tommy John surgery in 2006. If he rebounds to his 2008 level, he’s hardly an upgrade over Melky Cabrera. Only if he recovers to his 2007 form will he provide a team value in left field. Unless other teams aren’t interested and he’s forced to sign a minor league deal, I don’t think the Yankees move on Johnson. Still, his circumstances make him an intriguing option. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a team grab him to play second base and get rewarded with an .800 OPS season.
My associate, the embedded Guerrilla videographer known as mkdevo is back from fall tour and is pumping out his personal brand of high quality, audio synced HD vids.
As the holiday's come and go, I've been reflecting on what a great year it's been cultivating friendships across the country, most of which have revolved around the phish. In a stunning display of collective consciousness, mkdevo just released a series of knoxville 6-10-09, which happens to be the first show that many of us came together at this year (not to mention THE FIRST show for some). To all of you, it's been a year like none other; I'll see you in Miami.
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THE BARD SCHOOL OF THOUGHT
Jack and the Bard's Talk
The Forging of Utopian Thought…
Utopia; Every Human's dream of a perfect society where everyone finds contentment and freedom from worry and from the things that go bump in the night!
What kick starts this thought process and what kind of mind seeks this mental direction?
Firstly:
It is in my opinion; apathy, that kick starts the mental search for a utopian society. Civilian populations that seek this ordered structure of society, do so through their reluctance to take responsibility for their actions, always looking to governments or fantasised hero's to do the things they are incapable of doing for themselves which is inevitably to pick up the pieces of lawlessness that comes from a breakdown and degenerate pattern of behaviour that ensues within a population who's evolutionary direction is flawed and unbalanced by their reluctance to act for the betterment of themselves.
This then, I feel it is, from whence the tyrant mind is born. For the mind will always seek to find a balance within the great universal picture of things, like it or not! 'Reaping what we sow' is always the outcome of that which is just, in terms of karmic balance. It is a natural process that we need to accept and understand if we are to evolve into a worth while species of intelligent Human beings.
Do not say that the tyrant is abhorrent, or that his action is unjust, for his, is a mind that you have evolved from you action and non action! His is a mind that looks around at what we have become and is sickened by the level of mentality present on the Earth and from you, does he take the freedom given to you at birth and bends it to his will in order that he may control your behaviour and force you out of your apathy and into an evolutionary state of the mind from which you have no control, for to him, have you fallen behind in the evolutionary stakes and are not worthy to be apart of this thing called life.
The tyrant is the one who will not allow the transgressions of man to delay his path and keep him trapped here in a World full of crippled minds, diseased flesh and ignorance! His is not compassion for the like such as these, his is reason gone wrong! His mind has become mechanical, logical, following a path laid down by mathematical instruction, a pattern, a matrix formed to control a thing gone out of control. Yet in his action to forge his own utopian society, reason is bartered for Power and in so doing does he become the thing he hates the most. Crippled!
Secondly:
In my experience of life, love and liberty in the twenty first century, I find that people are reluctant to face basic truths about themselves and about their society's; opting always to put the blame for their transgressions on their fellow man rather than to take responsibility for their own actions and decisions. They become like sheep, always bleating for their shepherd to come and lead them home to safety when things go wrong. Always looking for the Christ when the anti Christ raises his ugly head and shouts “THIS IS THE TRUTH! WHERE IS YOUR GOD NOW?!” To then face the fact that this is of their own doing; an apparent impossibility!
Thirdly:
Compassion: A word that means one thing to one mind and something else to another!
In the Western mind we delude ourselves through our vanity, that we 'love our neighbour'! We don't! We love those who agree with us! It makes us feel good to know that our hypocrisy is shared by 'the group! We love to be centre of attraction! We love to believe of ourselves that if a person with aids was to collapse on the street, that we would run to help that person and give them mouth to mouth resuscitation. We wouldn't! We would all wait for the martyr to do it, all the while and in public, praising the courage and compassion of that person, yet to the group, scorning the idiot that would do such a stupid thing! Ah yes! TRUTH…. Abhorrent.
Enter the tyrant whose compassion is abhorred by your inability to admit to the truth of the situation. Whose compassionate state of mind reads differently, for, to him, the most compassionate thing to do to a sick animal is to put it down and it is this line of thought that leads to genocide!
Genocide! The purifying of the Human gene pool. A point in the Human evolutionary pattern of thought where we all meet our maker and get to face the truth of what we have become, which is far from any utopian society that we may imagine for ourselves.
Fourthly:
Reason, balance, harmony. Taking from where there is too much and applying it to where there is too little…
Ignorance, imbalance, discord. Taking from where there is too little and applying it to where there is already too much.
Justice, stability, evolution. Doing the right thing at the right time for all the right reasons! The last of these being the platform from which we all fall short, including the tyrant whose mind has become over run with the thoughts of power and control.
Truth… That which cannot be denied!
The Bard…..
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Permalink: THE BARD SCHOOL of THOUGHT
MTA's 'doomsday' service cuts expected to pass
Comments: 12
2010 service cuts include elimination of student and disabled door-to-door fares
Last Updated:
1:22 PM, December 14, 2009
Posted:
11:22 AM, December 14, 2009
Straphangers came one terrifying step closer to what has been billed as a “worse than Doomsday” package of service cuts that will reach as far as students and disabled riders.
The MTA's finance committee voted 7 to 1 send the plan to the full board for Wednesday. It is expected to gain approval there.
The cuts are needed to close a projected $383 million gap in 2010, brought on by state-projected tax revenue shortfalls, union raise payouts, and Gov. Paterson's budget cuts.
“This is a failure of government,” said board member Andrew Albert. “These cuts are going to change the New York way of life.”
Board member Norman Seabrook – who doesn't vote with the finance committee – called the cuts “insane” and lashed out at state lawmakers.
“Albany keeps saying we got you covered we got you covered – they're full of s—,” Seabrook said.
The service cuts include:
-Eliminating the W and Z lines, longer subway waits, and eliminating and slashing service on dozens of bus routes: $62 million savings.
-Eliminating free student MetroCards for 500,000 students: $31 million savings.
-Cutting door-to-door rides for thousands of riders who are disabled, bringing them to accessible subway and bus stops instead: $40 million savings.
“Riders have every reason to be mad as hell,” said Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign.
About 700 transit workers would be laid off, and other positions won't be filled to meet the savings, MTA officials said.
MTA management will also take a 10 percent reduction in pay – about $49 million – however that cut will be returned if transit officials find ways to reduce other costs that are not service-related.
MTA finance chief Gary Dellaverson pointed out that managers got no raise this year and are scheduled for 2010 pay cuts while rank-and-file transit workers were recently handed 11 percent raises over three years by an arbitrator and state supreme court justice.
The subway and bus service cuts will begin around July, and paratransit reductions will be in place as soon as possible, MTA officials said.
The student fares will be eliminated in September.
Riders will get their chance to sound off, though: the MTA will hold public hearings early in 2010 on the service cuts.
“Many of these cuts I personally believe are unacceptable,” said board member Allan Cappelli, who voted against the cuts.
Board member Jeff Kay criticized the amount of subway, bus, and paratransit.
It seems like “80 percent of the money is in New York City Transit and I have a very very serious problem with that,” he said.
Board member Doreen Frasca suggested using federal stimulus money to close the gap – which MTA managers are against – or asking the state to increase the gas tax “by pennies.”
Perry's Cave Family Fun Center at Put-in-Bay, Ohio, Has a Lot to See
<Date: 2009-12-14> <Category: My Diary> No commentWell I never thought it would happen and I thought all those people who got banned acually were botting or buying gold at some point but tonight my account was stripped of its gear and I got an email saying I bought gold…. I have not bought any gold or any items **** I didnt even have that much gold… I really hope they look into this and fix it like ive seen in other peoples threads but honestly how do they make these screw ups? Are they randomly picking accounts that are active and just throwing out bans for random reasons? This is seriously getting stupid and now that im a victim I kinda believe some of these people when they come here saying they got banned for botting or RMT and have not done either…. Anyways ill keep you updated I hope these morons fix this **** or I wont be playing the game anymore. Can they really afford to have more people leave their game on THEIR screw ups? They need to hire some GM's with their heads out of their asses.
You’ve heard it before, but life is a lot like a game of snakes and ladders.
Roll the dice: you plod along, one step at a time. Roll the dice again: you jump up a few levels, thanks to that helpful ladder. Roll the dice a third time: just when you think you’ve made it, you land on a snake and drop back down to the bottom of the board.
Most of us who played this game as children determined, pretty quickly, that the trick was to avoid the snakes. But then, who were we kidding? Where is the skill in that? I mean, in the end, it’s just a game of dice, isn’t it? It’s all about probability, statistics and chance.
Like life itself. And there are some pretty big snakes out there.
Now is it just me, or do we all have our top five – those numbers we desperately want to avoid?
1. Loss of a child, 2. Loss of a partner, 3. Debilitating accident, 4. Cancer, 5. Mental illness …
To number them in this way feels artificial. But the point is this: life’s a minefield and, even if you manage to negotiate your way successfully through the lower half of the board, the chances are, sooner or later, we are ‘gonna get got’ by one of these big guys.
Sooner or later.
And sadly, unlike other games, you can’t keep a ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card in your back pocket for when that moment arrives (despite what modern day preachers sometimes promise). Most of these venomous events in our lives pay no respect to who we are, how good we have been or what we have contributed to society along the way.
A highly respected friend of mine, Scott Alcott, published a book this week. He is just the kind of guy that, if anyone could, would know how to roll those dice in perfect combination and avoid the snakes. But his story is one I am quietly hoping that I will never have to tell.
For my 40th birthday, I got stage four cancer. A small lump under my cheek turned out to be a rare, high-grade sarcoma. The doctor said I would need immediate surgery and a year of heavy radiation and chemotherapy, assuming I made it that long. I was told to “make arrangements”.
From page one, I found myself gripped by this personal account of coping with and continuing to survive cancer. Page after page, I found myself to be a curious onlooker – intrigued by the details and moved by the emotion held within this well-told tale.
I read the entire book in almost one sitting, but would sometimes stop and wonder to myself: ‘But what if this was me? After all, the Scott I know is a man that appears to have it all – including the resilience to beat this thing. Would I have what it takes?’
Scott makes the same point, comparing his journey of recovery to the now legendary return of Lance Armstrong: a man who overcame all the odds to not only survive a deadly snake, but in effect turn the bugger into a ladder – going on to win the Tour de France seven consecutive times!
I guess that none of us feel we’re going to be strong enough until it is our turn.
To change the subject just a little: have you ever noticed how thoughts (and ideas) come to us in clusters?
It was only a couple of days ago that I found myself driving home from work – unaware, at the time, of Scott’s book – reflecting on the fact that I will turn 40 next birthday; thinking how lucky I am to have avoided major illness or tragedy in my life so far; wondering whether that means I am due for some pain any time soon.
Of course, life doesn’t work like that, does it? Some people have all the luck, whilst others just keep hitting those snakes. It’s all about chance.
Yes, everything is random, but nevertheless sometimes coincidences occur.
Scott’s story is not a tale I ever want to have to tell. But if I do end up making it my own, I pray to God that I’ll approach it with something like the same resolve.
That’s all I can hope for right now as I continue to play the game and roll into the upper half of the board.
I’m Not Lance! A Cancer Experience and Survival Guide for Mere Mortals by Scott Alcott is available for purchase here.
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If you ever take a vacation in the area of Lake Erie and want to see something different, you might enjoy Perry's Cave Family Fun Center at Put-in-Bay, Ohio. You can visit a cave that is 52 feet below South Bass Island at Lake Erie, see an underground lake that once furnished water for a luxury hotel, and experience gemstone mining by finding real gems.
Perry's Cave Family Fun Center at Put-in-Bay has more than just a cave and mining, however. At the new Butterfly House you can view hundreds of butterflies that are both colorful and exotic. You will see the flying creatures dance all around you in the 4000-foot greenhouse. The butterflies will fly among beautiful flowers, plants, and bushes. During your visit you will also hear beautiful, enchanting background music as you take your tour.
If you want more to do, you can play miniature golf on the War of 18-Holes Mini-golf course. If you like adventure or want exercise, you can climb the 25-foot Rock Climbing Wall. If you like cars, you will be sure to enjoy the Antique Car Museum-another attraction that has been added in the last three years.
Perry's Cave Family Fun Center at Put-in-Bay, Ohio, can accommodate school groups, corporate meetings, scout groups, or other kinds of meetings. A concession diner was scheduled to be added.
The cave itself is registered as an Ohio landmark. The natural limestone cave has historical tradition. It is 52 feet below South Bass Island at Lake Erie. It is 208 feet long and 165 feet wide. Calcium carbonate encrusts the walls, ceiling, and floors of the cave. The temperature in the cave constantly stays at about 50 degrees.
The underground lake at Perry's Cave Family Fun Center at Put-in-Bay, Ohio, in the cave rises and falls with Lake Erie. History shows that when the lake was found by Commodore Perry in 1913, and the explorers became ill, they drank from the cold water of the lake. Water from the lake also met the needs of guests at the luxurious Victory Hotel, once the largest hotel in the world, before it burned down in 1919. The ruins of the hotel can still be seen at South Bass Island State park.
Tours of the cave are taken at frequent intervals and take about 20 minutes.
A regular tour of the cave is $7 each, but a Lantern Tour, in which the only light would be the lantern you would carry, is $25 each. The Lantern Tours are private, guided after-hours tours. With that type of tour, you will get to experience the total darkness of the cave.
If you want to mine for gemstones, you can purchase a bag of rough mix for $4-$9 each. As the water washes over the sand, you will find real gems, such as quartz, rubies, topaz, amethyst, emeralds, and others. You can spend 10 minutes to one hour sifting for the gems.
Perry's Cave Family Fun Center on South Bass Island at Put-in-Bay, Ohio, is a half mile from the downtown area.
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Permalink: Perry's Cave Family Fun Center at Put-in-Bay, Ohio, Has a Lot to See
Learn How to Make Soy Candles in Just a Few Simple Steps
<Date: 2009-12-11> <Category: My Diary> No commentI've been doing this 30 years and I've never cleaned an MP's chimney – at least, not that I am aware of. I've done famous people, actors and the like, but it is always the same price.
For a two-floor domestic chimney, we charge £62, £70 if it's in London. For that, people know they are getting the job done properly by a professional who is not going to ruin their house.
Fewer people have got chimneys; business is going down gradually. We live in a push-button age and people haven't got the patience to make a fire.
Having a real fire shows someone appreciates the home life; a fire cheers a place up.
I wouldn't ask an MP if he was expensing the work. I think MPs charging the taxpayer for getting their chimney swept is ridiculous – it's just like that duck house again.
In the worst case a damning investigation found that hundreds of people may
have needlessly died at Basildon University Hospital because of appalling
standards of care.
The plans were announced as part of a wide-ranging ‘roadmap’ designed to guide
progress of the health service between now and 2015.
Just a day after Alistair Darling announced a cap on public sector pay rises
from 2011, the document also floats the possibility of offering guarantees
of employment to NHS staff in exchange for future wage “restraint”.
Mr Burnham said that the proposal would be discussed with trade unions but
could involve staff who are made redundant being offered jobs in other part
of the NHS.
The blueprint also suggests that hospitals could face tough economic
conditions.
They will receive no increase in the amount of money they are paid per
procedures over the next four years, in effect a real-terms cut.
It also reiterates recommendations that GPs and hospital consultants should
receive no pay rise next year.
And it suggests that patients with critical long-term conditions such as
cancer could be given dedicated one-on-one carers to help them manage their
health problems.
Mr Burnham said that he wanted to change the health service to become more
patient-centred and preventative.
He said: “This is a symbolic shift towards the patient-centred service that we
want to see.
“A service that at all times thinks about how things look through the eyes of
the patient or their family.”
“Poor or unsafe care will not be tolerated,” he added.
The NHS already carries out a number of patient surveys but these will be
bolstered and involve every organisation in the health service, Mr Burnham
said.
Hospitals will not stand to gain extra funds under the proposals, which will
begin in 2011, but they could be penalised and lose cash if they score
badly.
The proportion of a hospital's income which is linked to patient satisfaction
will be gradually increased, but ministers have not set a timeframe for when
they could like it to reach 10 per cent.
Linking the budgets of NHS organisation’s to the satisfaction levels of their
patients was suggested by Lord Darzi’s report into the future of the NHS
last year.
At that stage NHS bosses suggested that around four per cent of the total
budget could be affected.
The latest document also reiterates ministers' commitment to abolishing GP
practice boundaries, increasing the number of personal health budgets – to
give patients more control over their treatment – and to consider whether
patients near the end of their life should have a right to die at home.
Andrew Lansley, the Shadow Health Secretary, said: “Andy Burnham's
announcement falls badly short in providing the vision, reform and new ideas
that the NHS needs.
“He talks about giving hospitals more freedom and patients more choice but we
know these are both getting worse under Labour.
“And he talks about focussing on the results patients want to see, but we've
heard that promise many times before. Sadly, we are still more likely to die
of cancer, a heart attack or lung disease in the UK than in most other parts
of Europe.
“The NHS needs real reform so that we bring outcomes for patients up to the
best in the world. That's why Conservatives have promised to free up the NHS
from Labour's waste and bureaucracy, put power in the hands of patients and
protect NHS spending, with real terms increases every year.”
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Soy candles can be used as one of the main attraction to your show cases and parties. There are a few simple steps by which you can make your beautiful soy candle. Each step is to be followed carefully if you really care about the quality of your outcome.
Before starting the procedure, one has to decide what type of soy candle they want to make.
The initial step in making soy candle is to measure the soy wax according to the size and type of soy candle you wish to make. In this article I am concentrating on votive candle. This needs 2 ounces of soy wax for each candle. For easy calculation, it is better to make an even number of candles, so when 4 soy candles are needed 8 ounces of soy wax is used.
The second step is the melting of soy wax. You can either use a wax meter or a double boiler for this purpose. Both wax meters and double boilers are easily available in the market.
The third step is adding colour to the soy wax. This can be done by adding dye to the soy wax and stirring with a wire whisk. A candle dye is used for this purpose. Other dyes such as food dyes will damage the consistency of the final product.
The fourth step is to add fragrance to the soy wax which makes the final soy candle more attractive. One and a half ounce of fragrance material is added and stirred for 2 minutes for the proper blending of fragrance material with the soy wax. The temperature should be maintained at 170 degree Celsius, or else the fragrance will not be mixed properly with the wax.
In the next step, the temperature of the wax is reduced to 150-155 degrees Celsius. The temperature of the mould is also increased to a little above room temperature by keeping in an oven. This improves the smooth finish of the final soy candle.
After cooling the soy wax into appropriate temperature, the wax is poured into the moulds carefully by using a pouring pot or a Pyrex measuring cup. The soy wax should be filled up to the top of the mould. Once the wax is cooled and a thin layer of skin is formed at the top of the mould, wick is placed. Wick is made of thick cotton threads.. Hold the wick at the top centre of the mould that is filled with wax and press it down straight to the bottom. Check if the wick is at the centre and is straight.
The final step is to correct the imperfections over the soy candle made. The depression formed at the top of the candle while pushing the wick can be made proper by slightly remelting the wax over that area. This can be done easily by holding a lightened candle over the top of the soy candle. It is to be done carefully by not damaging the wick.
Allow the candle to set by cooling it for 5 minutes. Once the candle is cooled properly, gently pull out the candle form the mould.
Now your soy candle is ready. Enjoy it!
References:
http://www.soya.be/soy-candle-making.php
http://www.ehow.com/how_2042985_make-soy-candles.html
Permalink: Learn How to Make Soy Candles in Just a Few Simple Steps
By felicity, December 10 at 5:37 pm #
I once asked a Catholic priest friend of mine to ‘explain’ the just war theory to me. He replied that because the theory was right-off-the-bat an oxymoron, it couldn’t be explained. Where is Obama’s ‘morality’ or ‘justice’ in the killing of hundreds of thousands of innocents, numbers which always statistically far surpass military deaths. (Oh, I forgot, they’re merely collateral damage so when a mother holds her dead child in her arms she is comforted in knowing that he is not her child, he is collateral damage.) If the people were ever to wake up to the fact that without their bodies to fight the wars, which further the careers of politician, make the merchants of death far wealthier, and slaughter innocents, wars would not, could not be waged.
We also spent part of one holiday season weighing the uneaten popcorn left behind (or thrown away) after the upbeat movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and compared it with the popcorn left after the gloomy “intellectual” film Solaris. Our garbology director showed that the average buckets of popcorn left behind in Solaris had 29 percent less popcorn in them than those left behind in the happy movie.
(from Brian Wansink, Mindless Eating, p144-145)
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Alternative therapies have become more popular in the last 20 years and is growing. Over the past couple of decades, new studies are showing that 90% of Americans believe that alternative medicine may help a wide variety of health conditions. With three key ingredients, eating right, exercise and plenty of non-related stress activities.
Trends indicated that vitamins and herbs were by far the most common form of alternative therapy used, with over 40% reporting this was their therapy of choice. Massage was indicated by 29% of those polled as
the second most common therapy, followed by aromatherapy, yoga, and homeopathic products.
About 74% of women and 57% of men take vitamins on a daily basis. Women were also more likely to try alternative therapies in general than men were — with 68% of women saying they would do so as compared with
50% of men. These numbers have grown each year and do not show any type of decline in recent months.
The majority of customers who buy the products were women but this doesn't necessarily mean they are the majority of people who use them. Children and commercials play a large role in some of these dynamic surveys.
These ongoing studies included more than 1,000 telephone interviews of Americans over the age of 18. Of those who said alternative therapy could help health conditions, 74% said the therapies could provide stress relief and 67% said they could combat low energy.
Joint pain and arthritis, weight gain or loss, psychological and emotional disorders, muscle building and skin, nail and hair conditions were other conditions people felt could benefit from alternative therapies.
A unique trend is taking place on the television screen with pharmaceutical companies toting the latest pill to pop. Consumers are getting wiser and would really like other options to finding certain health conditions cures which they or a loved one has.
Geographic location also had an impact on an individual's willingness to use alternative therapies. About 65% of those in the western US said they would try alternative therapy, as did 61% in the Northeast followed by 59% in the South and 54% in the Midwest.
“When people buy with their dollars it is an obvious vote towards a product., or is it? Are the massive amount of commercials that effective? Or are they starting to backfire?
Right now there is a battle on the “Hill” to make vitamin companies fall under the same guidelines as pharmaceutical companies. That would be like making grandma list all of her ingredients at the dinner table before serving her chicken soup. What is wrong with this picture?
We as a family have always lived by these three ingredients without a single thought to if they were trendy or not. The option to use the medical profession has not been ignored nor will it ever be, we as a family just feel that if there is a natural way to achieve a cure then that is always our first option. The funny thing is this not only worked for our parents and grandparents etc but we are starting to see the children take on this approach with our grandchildren.