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Friday, June 24, 2011

The wild wild west

I swear, just when I think I have Noah figured out, he turns the tables on me!

For the past few weeks, he's been giving us a 4-5 hour stretch from his dream feed to his first feed, and then another 3 hours until wakeup.  It means he's waking a lot earlier (between 6-7am) but I'm getting more uninterrupted sleep so I don't mind.

Last night he fed every 3 hours, plus woke up another 2 times for his soother and once to be reswaddled (hubby needs to learn the art of tying him up tight!).  Both of us are pretty tired today.  He's napping right now, hopefully for a good stretch so he'll be in a good mood today.

I've been tracking his eating and napping patterns for the last few days to identify patterns that will help me get him to sleep longer (yes I know I'm delusional to think I can "control" his routine, but I have to try, right?).  I noticed he ate 4oz less yesterday than the last few days, which is basically an entire meal.

I'm praying this is a blip and he'll go back to his "new" routine soon.  Wish us luck!

1 comment:

  1. Hey Sheri, I just read your last 5 posts.sorry I'm so behind. Noah is 3 months old now, maybe you're experiencing a growth spurt with him right now. Vanessa was the same around 3 months I had her on a pretty good routine and was getting a good 4-5 hour post dream feed stretch as well, then all of a sudden she started to wake at 2 am again. I was confused, but the book seemed to hint that a growth spurt was most likely the culprit. So I had to just roll with the punches for a week then I got her back on routine. When a growth spurt happens, just feed him on demand night and day. You'll see he'll naturally go back to doing his 4-5 hour stretch again. It can last a few days or so, and I found that it took me a week before I had her back on track. My rule of thumb is to not go in for 10-15 mins when she cries at night so I can try and see if she's hungry or just woke up and will fall back asleep. When she's hungry she keeps waking and eventually is screaming. It's funny because in a few weeks you'll need to start moving Noah onto the 4/4 routine so it's all going to change again...but I promise it will be for the better. Vanessa is 6 months now, has a dream feed at 11pm and wakes between 6-7am most days but I don't go in unless she's crying non-stop. BW explains that all babies will naturally wake anywhere between 4-6 am but that doesn't mean they are ready to start their day. Just leave them play and they will more often then not fall back asleep. I've been doing this since I got her on the 4/4 routine and I'd say 9 times out of 10 she is able to either play until just about 7am (if she wakes after 6am, or able to fall back asleep (if she wakes 4-6am) It takes practice for you both but eventually it falls into place. You'll see a big difference in the length of naps Noah will take once you introduce the 4/4 routine. They way you know he's ready for 4/4 is when you start to see his morning and afternoon naps turn from nice long 1/5-2hr naps into 30-40 mins or less. Once you move him to 4/4 he'll have more fuel to do proper naps again, and will have more fuel to get through his nights completely. Vanessa had definitely dropped her 2am feed by 3 months (until the ugly growth spurt came) then she dropped her 4am sometime after I started the 4/4 routine. 4 am lingered longer I think because I was misreading her cry at 4am for food when in fact it was just her natural wake up that the BW talked about. All I needed to do was go in and calm her by shush patting and she was back to sleep. still until this day she wakes and cries for about 60 seconds around 4am but I never go in as she always falls back asleep on her own. Accept for last night because her 4am 60 second cry turned into waking every ten minutes then by 5am she was screaming! Then a light bulb went off in my head...6 month growth spurt. so I fed her and she went right back to sleep and has been a happy camper all day. We'll see what tonight has in store but I'm sure it was just a growth spurt, I'm not sure how long it will last, but I know it's just a minor blip and she will settle back to her proper routine when this passes. Good luck, and please let me know if you have any questions! Keep up the good work, you're doing great Sheri.

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06 November 2009

Avatar SMS ( free download )

Publisher's description of Avatar SMS
Create your unique avatar from millions of combinations with the S60 Application “Nokia Avatar SMS”! Turn your avatar into expressive animated icons, and text them to your friends – at the same cost of sending an ordinary SMS! Or set your avatar up as the handset wallpaper or MSN profile picture with just a few clicks. The latest version of Avatar SMS gets even better with downloadable plugins to add trendiest wear and accessories to your avatar!
The new version is also compatible with the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic touch handset, and supports English, traditional and simplified Chinese, so you can get in touch with avatar fans round the nation! Download now to get into the fun! Don’t forget you can share the application with your friends via Bluetooth, and recruit them to the Avatar fever!

Download now 1.70 MB

Key features for "Avatar SMS "
• all graphics are sent as plain text SMS
• millions of possible avatar combinations
• synchronized with Nokia S40 emoticons
• provide 10 avatar animated icons and 40 commonly used animated icons
• save received avatar as image in Contacts
• share application via BlueTooth
Avatar SMS Limitations
For Nokia Hong Kong users ONLY

Mirrors 1.70 MB

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29 March 2010

Connect Yahoo Contacts to Facebook.

Yahoo’s move with Facebook shows that the company has given up on leveraging the existing social connections among Yahoo email, address book and messenger users, and thus, weakens its ability to monetize this social graph.
Yahoo Contacts Gets Facebook Connect
Last December, Yahoo announced that it would be rolling out a deep integration of its products with Facebook Connect, essentially outsourcing all things social to the world’s most popular social network. Today marks one of the initial demonstrations of this partnership, with Yahoo Contacts now connected to Facebook.
Now Yahoo allows you to add your Facebook friends’ email addresses to your Yahoo Contacts via Facebook Connect. In the Import Contact landing page of your Yahoo account, you’ll be able to select Facebook (importing from Gmail and Hotmail already exists). Once you authorize the connection with your Facebook credentials, your friends’ email addresses from their Facebook profiles will be added to your Yahoo Contacts. Yahoo will scan the imports and delete any duplicates.

Yahoo’s move with Facebook shows that the company has given up on leveraging the existing social connections among Yahoo email, address book and messenger users, and thus, weakens its ability to monetize this social graph. And Yahoo also just added Twitter integration to its products as well. While Google’s Buzz may have its problems, at least Google is making an effort to try to develop technologies that use its communications products to build a social graph. Perhaps Yahoo CEO shouldn’t bite the hand that feeds her.

Created by Leena Rao

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Dallas, Welcome Back Your Relatives

by Jerome Weeks 29 Feb 2012

The celebrations for the new Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge start Friday. Closing Saturday’s festivities will be a band most North Texans have never heard. But KERA’s Jerome Weeks reports they’ve been hailed in New York, France, Australia. And now they’re back home, playing in West Dallas after 30 years.

[“Walking On” instrumental intro continues under]

Twelve years ago, Mike Buck of Austin’s Antone’s Records handed Noel Waggener an old cracked 45 rpm record. Waggener is an Austin DJ, and he runs the Heavy Light record label with Charisse Kelly. He’s had an interest in out-of-the-way soul groups, Texas funk obscurities — and here was an old treasure like nothing else.

Noel Waggener: “I was just, I was floored. A gospel record? That sounds like early Funkadelic or Sly and the Family Stone?”

A gospel record – by an unknown group Waggener would spend years tracking down. They were the Relatives. They were formed by two brothers from West Dallas: the Reverend Gean West and the Reverend Tommie West

gean 2

Gean West (above) got into music early, hitting the road in 1959, singing gospel with such groups as the Mighty Golden Voices and later, the long-established Southernaires.

Gean West: “It was seven of us in a ’52 Cadillac. Believe it or not, we left with a tank of gas and six dollars between all of us.”

At the time, black touring artists couldn’t stay in most hotels. Tommie West says the family’s West Dallas home became a layover for performers like The Mighty Clouds of Joy. Sam Cooke…

Tommie West: “Aretha Franklin, Shirley Caesar. And, what’s this girl’s name? Tina Turner! She even visited my mama’s house.”

Gean West: “And that’s how we learned a lot about singing. We was hooked up with all the traveling groups.”

Back in West Dallas in 1970, the Wests formed the Relatives with five other musicians. They recorded three singles with a feverish fusion of funk rhythms, acid-rock guitar, gospel fervor and raspy James Brown-like vocals. That mix was intentional — a way to reach beyond the usual churchy audience.

The Relatives

Tommie West

Tommie West: “We wanted to give the younger generation something, you know, put a little funk behind it. And we came up with that beat. And it worked out.”

Except on radio. The Relatives’ music didn’t fit gospel or pop station playlists. So the Relatives were stuck playing apartments and the occasional church. In fact, they were fearful of playing churches because of the possibly angry reception, so they slipped a few gospel standards into their repertoire — “something to fall back on,” Gean West says. The group’s biggest event was playing outdoors for 5,000 in a public park for the West Dallas Community Cleanup Campaign in the early ’80s. That got them Dallas nightclub bookings — for the first time. But without airplay or record-label support, the group soon disbanded.

End of story. Until, that is, Noel Waggener heard that cracked old 45. By then, the Wests were ministers of their own small churches: Gean West with God’s Anointed Community Church of God in Christ in West Dallas, Tommie West with the No Walls Ministry in South Dallas. That’s how Waggener finally tracked them down – through a fellow minister. When Gean West told fellow band members like Earnest Tarkington (below), their original drummer, about the contact –

ernestGean West: [laughing] “They didn’t believe me.”

Tarkington: “Really. Me and Tommy.”

Gean West: “Him and Tommie thought I’d just gotten old.”

The second happy surprise came when looking around for more recorded material, they learned veteran Dallas sound engineer and producer Phil York still had session tapes from 1974 — with five more unreleased songs by the band. In 2009, Waggener put out the Relatives’ first album, Don’t Let Me Fall.

With the addition of younger members, including Gean’s son, Cedric, the Relatives rocked the South by Southwest conference in Austin that year. They’ve played on Austin City Limits and have toured (and recorded) with Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears (they’ve dubbed their collaboration on ‘You Been Lyin’ ‘gospel punk.’) They’ve played major festivals in France and Australia. They’ve toured to Houston and New Orleans, performed outdoors at Lincoln Center in New York with gospel legend Mavis Staples. And in two weeks, they’re scheduled to head back into the studio — to record a second album, this time with Spoon’s Jim Eno as producer (who also did the honors on the Honeybears’ new CD, Scandalous).

After all that, the Relatives are still pretty much unknown in their hometown. Their Bridge-O-Rama concert Saturday is the group’s first outdoor event in West Dallas in 30 years — the first, in fact, since that West Dallas Cleanup Campaign (their first area nightclub gig was at the Loft last year). Yet after all these years, the band isn’t really an oldies act. They never made it big, never had a hit to sit easy and coast on. Which may be why they feel utterly classic, yet utterly fresh.

The original Relatives are in their 60s and 70s. (“What amazes me,” says Tarkington. “I’m the youngest original, and I’m 65.”) Yet onstage, they have an open-hearted energy — with the shouts and hand claps, the soul-group glides and spins, their evident joy in singing, passing the leads and harmonies back and forth. When it comes to onstage energy, Waggener even compares them to Iggy Pop’s early punk group.

Noel Waggener: “When they book the Relatives, I think a lot of times, people think they’re going to be getting the Blind Boys. And they end up getting the Stooges.”

One secret to their fountain of youth is clear on a Sunday morning at the Reverend Tommie West’s No Walls Ministry tucked behind a concrete bunker of a shopping strip on South Lancaster. West (in orange shirt, left, blessing a church member) preaches and sings, and members testify for two-and-a-half hours.  It’s already been a workout — West has taken off his suit jacket — but then he says the spirit’s moving him to run and he zips off, jogging. About a dozen church members follow as he lopes around the congregation three times. Then they start back to singing and praying, non-stop. Like many preachers, the reverend will do it all over again for another service this evening.

Before and after any show in a nightclub or on a concert stage, the Relatives can be seen praying together.  Tommie West says that’s because there’s no difference between this service and the Relatives’ nightclub shows. It’s all a part of getting outside the walls of the church, trying to appeal to younger people. It’s a form of  electrifying ministry.

Tommie West: “God said take the Word into all the world. Even though it’s a nightclub, everybody in there is still God’s peoples.”

When the church music wraps up in West’s church, he announces: “You may be seated – if you can!”

With Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears at South by Southwest, 2011:

The Relatives at the Ponderosa in New Orleans, 2010:

Teaching the French how to groove in Cognac’s Blues Passion festival, 2011

Playing Outdoors at Lincoln Center, 2011:


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Above and Beyond: A Trip to Space, This Week on “Frame of Mind”

by Nataly Keomoungkhoun 25 Nov 2015

“Frame of Mind” launches into orbit.

20 years ago, director Mike Woolf moved to Austin to work in advertising. For six to seven years, Woolf wrote many TV commercials, including one for Southwest Airlines in the ’90s. After realizing that he wanted to direct commercials and documentaries, Woolf left the advertising industry and found a path to directing and filmmaking. Today, he lives in Austin with his family and is the director of Beef & Pie Productions.

Watch “Frame of Mind” Thursday at 11 p.m. on KERA TV

“Man on a Mission: Richard Garriott’s Road to the Stars” documents entrepreneur Richard Garriott’s journey to space exploration. Starting as a game developer, Garriott delves into the idea of spaceflight and works towards his goal of being a second generational astronaut in his family. The film teaches viewers about Garriott’s love of space, and also about the space we inhabit here on Earth and learning to make the best of it.

Richard Garriott in "Man on a MIssion."

Richard Garriott in “Man on a Mission: Richard Garriott’s Road to the Stars.”

On how he began filming…
I met Andrew Yates, the photographer, and Karen Yates, his producer, and we started Beef & Pie Productions. It was pretty different at the time because most production companies are from L.A. and New York, so if you wanted someone to direct a commercial, you left town, there were very few options in Austin. We never wanted to pursue leaving Austin, we decided to stay here and produce — I’d like to think — very high quality, low budget productions for people.

On watching Garriott’s footage from outer space…
Watching the footage was amazing! We went through it and logged it all, it was all awesome and it was so cool to have him give different shoutouts to everyone that helped him get up there. It was amazing. The funniest thing was that months later after we’d gone through this footage and he came over and said, “This is some footage I shot on my little Canon ELPH during the re-entry [into the atmosphere].” We were kind of like, “Wait, you shot the re-entry? Like, the thing we’ve never seen? We actually get to be inside a capsule that’s going through re-entry?” He hands us the little card, we put it in the computer and we watch what’s basically the ending of the film. That was the most exciting piece of footage he showed us.

On the highlights of making the film…
Filming a rocket launch — that was incredible. There’s the behind the scenes stuff, like getting to Kazakhstan. We were there for four days

Director Mike Woolf, Director of Photography Andrew Yates and Producer Brady Dial

Director Mike Woolf, Director of Photography Andrew Yates and Producer Brady Dial

before the launch. You really get immersed in the culture of this little teeny space town. Then there’s the logistics of physically getting to Kazakhstan and then of course, you don’t want to miss [the launch]. There are no second takes on something like that. Finally, when the launch took place, it was incredible. You can get really close — we were a kilometer away — so when that thing starts taking off, your chest is rattling and everyone around you goes silent. It’s intense. You can feel how powerful this rocket must be. The other thing you start realizing is that once it starts taking off, you’re overwhelmed with all of these feelings; you don’t want anything to go wrong. You hope everything goes right. This is the moment where if everything’s going to go south then it goes south. Once you’re caught up in that, then there’s this really strange feeling of loss. We were as close to Richard as anyone during those 8 months. We went to NASA with him, we went to Moscow with him, we hung out with him — and all of a sudden, the separation has happened. He’s going to continue on and go to space and we’re sort of like, “All right, let’s get a sandwich and head back to Austin” [laughs]. It was a definitely a powerful and emotional moment.

On if he would personally go into space himself…
Maybe! It’s a lot of work. Let’s wait five or 10 years. I’d like to go to space with my family, that’d be really fun. It’s a very lonely, self-centered enterprise. It’s basically a year where you’re removed from your family, your life and your job — and that isn’t very pleasant. I think that as all of these space enterprises are emerging, I can see it being much more affordable. I do think it would be much more fun to go with my family, though.


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Apple iPad 4

Troubleshoot problems with basic functions and settings

I can't turn on my tablet
The touch screen on my tablet isn't responding
My tablet is slow
My tablet's battery life is short

Troubleshoot problems with SMS, MMS and email

I can't send and receive email

Troubleshoot problems with multimedia, apps and internet

I can't use GPS navigation

Before you start this troubleshooting guide you need to check one important thing:

Can you access the internet?

Yes No

You need an internet connection for some of the functions when using GPS navigation. It's important to find out if you can access the internet by loading a website in the browser on your tablet. If you can't access the internet, you need to solve this problem. By solving this problem you'll most likely solve your problem with using GPS navigation.

I can't access the internet
I can't take pictures using the camera
I can't play music
I can't install an app
I can't use one of my apps

Troubleshoot problems with connectivity

I can't use my tablet as a Wi-Fi Hotspot
I can't use tethering on my tablet
I can't connect to another Bluetooth device
Another Bluetooth device can't establish a connection to my tablet
I can't use Wi-Fi


text:
Showing posts from July 19, 2010

A quick update

Well, I guess I'm starting on those goals I listed a while back in a post. I have decided to try to do at least 3 arts and crafts shows this fall. Today, (after many hours and days of research on-line and via the phone to pick out ones I liked), I've found 4 or 5, applied to 3 of them and sent in 2 applications today. This took all day. One app. was quite long, plus they wanted photos of my work, my booth and me creating stuff! So I had to make some quick photos, ran out to get them developed, came home and realized that I needed more photos, so out again to the store! I can't believe how long it takes me to do stuff sometimes!
I have a number of new pieces of jewelry made, but have not yet priced or photographed them, so I guess that will wait for another day!


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Magic strings are string values that are specified directly within application code that have an impact on the application’s behavior. Frequently, such strings will end up being duplicated within the system, and since they cannot automatically be updated using refactoring tools, they become a common source of bugs when changes are made to some strings but not others. Alternately, the string may be associated with some form of external infrastructure or dependency, such as a configuration filename, a web URL, or a setting string. In each of these cases, if the location of the external resource or how it is accessed changes, any magic strings referring to these resources would need to be updated.

Consider the following example, which uses a magic string several times to represent the key to a cache/dictionary resource:

In order to follow the DRY principle, strings within an application should be specified in a single location. References to the value represented by the string should be made through some kind of strongly typed value, such as a constant, or alternately a factory method that is able to create the correct string given some parameters (for instance, a method that can create the correct path to a file).

In the case of the above example, a simple approach, assuming the cache key isn’t used outside of the method shown, would be to assign the key value to a local variable before using it:

A common practice is to allow the use of magic strings the first time a value is needed, and only address the code smell created by the magic string when it is needed elsewhere in the system. In this way, YAGNI can be followed and no additional abstraction is added to the system until it is required.

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Green Credentials

When converting this beautiful building for use as holiday lets we did not wish to spoil the natural environment.  Much thought has been put into the impact of the project on the surroundings and we have strived to exceed the current build regulation requirements in all aspect of the build.

Key environmental features:

Coated & Argon Filled Double Glazing throughout.
Very high insulation values, (surpassing legislative requirements and very little heating required).
Solid Fuel heating, (wood) sourced from local, ('Nethercott' Farms) sustainable woodland.  This gives effective carbon neutral heating requirement from a renewable source.  Additionally most wood is windfall as opposed to felled trees.
Wherever possible materials sourced locally.
The barn conversion employs multiple Thermal Storage tanks to balance heat supply from Solid Fuel supply characteristics.
N.B. solid fuel stoves are fuelled by ourselves so guests can enjoy and relax while we do the work.
Low energy/Led lighting throughout with automated activation.
Power Saving LED TV’s in all bedrooms.

The Arches Holiday Accommodation Mid Devon Copyright 2017 - All Rights Reserved.Website - The Websitemen


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Christmas 2010

Christmas 2010

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Scrubbing Bubbles Shower Cleaner....Day 1

So, on I joined the Scrubby Bubbles Shower Cleaner Campaign. Today, my box showed up! Should have taken a picture but didn't. Oh well....

Thoughts on it? Well I figure I would start with a dirty shower. They say you can start w/ a clean or dirty one and since I TRULY do not want to clean my bathroom right now, that is how it will start.

So, on to opening the box and hmm interesting. Coupons to hand out, (yay coupons!), the agent guide, how to do this and that, actual product. Now onto opening THAT box and setting it up.

Make sure you have 4 AA batteries! You will need them. It says so on the box but as a normal person, did not read the box. Though on the instructions, they tell you a ton of times they are not included.

It is NOISY! naturally after setting it up, I pressed the button. Who wouldn't? Well, it beeps for 15 seconds as a warning to get away and close the door/curtain quick! Then when it does is noisy! I am definitely not a fan of the noisy button. Also, I think it should sit higher up and not half way down the wall. I had to move the hose to our shower head up and hope it stays out of the way when it does spray.

We shall see how this works out.

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If You Want Your Art Back, Be Mindful of the Statute of Limitations

Tuesday, October 19, 2010
The First Circuit Court of Appeals decided the case of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston v. Seger-Thomschitz on October 14, 2010. Claudia Seger-Thomschitz, the heir of art collector Oskar Reichel, contacted the Museum of Fine Arts to reclaim Two Nudes by Oskar Kokoschka. Seger-Thomschitz argued that the painting left the hands Reichel because of Nazi coercion.

The Museum of Fine Arts spent 18 months researching the issue and concluded that Reichel sold the painting voluntarily. The Boston Globe published criticisms of this view in a May 2008 article. Nevertheless, the MFA sought an order from federal district court declaring that the museum legitimately owned the painting. The lower court ruled that the MFA rightfully owned the painting, and the court of appeals has now affirmed this decision.

The basis of the court of appeal's opinion is threefold. First, the district court's grant of a favorable judgment for the museum was proper on statute of limitations grounds because Seger-Thomschitz did not make a demand on the MFA within the three years statute of limitations under Massachusetts law. Second, the appeals court rejected Seger-Thomschitz's weak claim that the statute of limitations should bend in the wake of the non-profit section of the federal Internal Revenue Code [501(c)(3)]. Third, the court rejected her argument that the Massachusetts statute of limitations conflicted with America's foreign policy as expressed through the Holocaust Victims Redress Act of 1998, the Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art, the Vilnius Forum Declaration, and the Terezín Declaration on Holocaust Era Assets and Related Issues. These proclamations are aspirational and not law, the court essentially declared.

The message in this case is clear: Where a party believes that art is improperly in the hands of another, the claimant must be conscious of the statute of limitations clock and perform the necessary due diligence to start a cause of action.

Two Nudes can be seen at http://www.mfa.org/collections/search_art.asp?recview=true&id=34173&coll_keywords=&coll_accession=&coll_name=two+nudes&coll_artist=Kokoschka&coll_place=&coll_medium=&coll_culture=&coll_classification=&coll_credit=&coll_provenance=&coll_location=&coll_has_images=&coll_on_view=&coll_sort=2&coll_sort_order=0&coll_view=0&coll_package=0&coll_start=1

"Holocaust Historians Blast MFA Stance in Legal Dispute," The Boston Globe, May 28, 2008 at http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2008/05/28/holocaust_historians_blast_mfa_stance_in_legal_dispute/


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Saturday, July 20, 2013

Warning - BEE!

We had a problem with our pear tree to discuss with the Master Gardeners so we visited their fabulous garden a couple of weeks after our late May visit.  The bees were abundant and going quickly about their business.  Fortunately there were a lot of blossoms for them to choose from and we know they are a really important part of nature's process.  It made for another good, unique photo opportunity.

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Tags Posts tagged with "rent road bike"

rent road bike

I believe that the best way to explore a new city is by bike. It’s healthy, usually easier and it’s a great way to find hidden gems. A few months ago I flew to Boise, Idaho sans my trusty bike. Being one who hates wasting money on cabs and Uber (they are great when you have to use them though), I began to research ways to rent a bike for the long weekend. After ruling out a couple bike shops and the local University, a friend of mine told me about Spinlister.

I located a couple cruisers in the area and was nearly about to request when I was gratefully offered up free bikes from the house we were staying at. But, if you don’t get that lucky, here’s a quick spin down of Spinlister – I know I’ll be using it in the future.

Spinlister was founded in 2012 by Will Dennis and Jeffrey Noh out of California. The idea behind the concept is simple yet genius. Dennis and Noh aimed to provide local bikes, by people actually living in the cities you’re visiting, for a low price. Dennis was quoted as saying, “There’s something pretty cool about going to a site and being able to rent a bike from someone in Australia, Romania, Paris, or Austin, Texas.”

And I 100% agree – it is cool.

Bikes are available for rent in most big cities around the world and slowly migrating to smaller ones. The type of bike available varies from city to city as well. Everything from high-performance road bikes to vintage cruisers are listed – ranging in cost from as little as $4 a day to $50 plus.

Bikes aren’t the only thing Spinlister has for rent though. Snowboards, skis, surfboards and SUP boards are also available in some cities.

Those looking to make some cash by renting out their bike/other equipment can do so with ease by using the Spinlister mobile app or desktop site. As an added piece of mind, Spinlister insures all damages to bikes up to $10,000. How’s that for a trusted business plan?

The next time you’re heading to a new city, I highly encourage you to check out renting a bike from Spinlister.

Or rent a SUP board – I hear it’s what’s up this summer.

Have you tried out Spinlister?

visiting wales

Wales is often overlooked when planning a trip to the UK, but it shouldn’t be!


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Tuesday, July 5, 2011

DIY Cupcake Stands Part 6

Today’s amazing cupcake stands are a little different from those we’ve been seeing all over craft world – they don’t involve any glass or ceramic - no candlesticks or plates here.

1. Susie Harris gives instructions on how to make this beautiful stand.  Love the ribbon trim!

2. That’s my letter created this circular wood treat tower.  She included drilled holes under those colorful circles to hold cake pops!

3. Martha shares templates for these great towers – constructed from round boxes!

Have you made your own cupcake stand or cake stand?  We’d love to hear!  Please share in the comments!

Queen of Quitealot said...

I made this one (http://www.flickr.com/photos/58193924@N06/5458885339/) using cardboard cake boards, styrofoam floral cubes, and tissue paper, with some ribbon for the edges. The whole project took two hours and cost about $12!

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Monday, October 24, 2011

Creepy and Spooky Halloween Cupcakes: Guest Post from Pure Joy Events

Hello, this is Christine from Pure Joy Events. I'm a full-time working mom of two with a passion for crafting, as well as designing and styling parties for children. It's such a pleasure to be guest blogging over at Did Someone Say Party today. Halloween has to be one of my favorite holidays. Come on, when else can you get away with serving brain with blood clot cupcakes or bloody rat cupcakes at the dessert table? So with Halloween just around the corner, I thought it would be fun to share some deliciously creepy and spooky cupcake ideas for your upcoming party.
1. Eeek! This bloody rat cupcake from 6 Bittersweets screams Halloween. The strawberry jam "blood" and red eyes made from candy-coated sunflower seeds bring chills up my spine.

2. I vwant to take a bite of this bloody good red velvet cupcake from The Novice Chef, which was inspired by the television series, True Blood.

3. These brain with blood clot cupcakes from Annie's Eats are oozing with so much grossness, you gotta love it!

4. Lily Vanilli's book, A Zombie Ate My Cupcake!, shows readers how to make "25 deliciously weird cupcake recipes", including these creepy zombie hands.

5. Beware of these mutant spider cupcakes from Martha Stewart.

6. Trust me, these graveyard cupcakes from 6 Bittersweets are to die for. The complete tutorial, along with free gravestone printable toppers from Chickabug can be found here on my blog.
Wishing everyone a very creepy and spooky Halloween!

~ Christine

Thanks, Christine! These are some fantastically creepy treats! Happy Halloween, everyone!!

Karl said...

I love the idea of making spooky cupcakes for the halloween. I don't think I can eat them though because they're kind of creepy.

nyc catering

Allie said...

Thank you so much for sharing those resources. You have a good eye for things kids will enjoy! If you do decide to put up a business, you should get restaurant insurance to protect all your investments.

Bella @ MomsToday said...

I remember this New York catering service I encountered in a party. Their food especially the desserts are crazy-tasty.

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June 26, 2014

4,000-year old chariot burial from Georgia

This would make it roughly contemporaneous to the chariot burials of the Sintashta-Petrovka culture of the European steppe.

4,000-Year-Old Burial with Chariots Discovered in South Caucasus
An ancient burial containing chariots, gold artifacts and possible human sacrifices has been discovered by archaeologists in the country of Georgia, in the south Caucasus.

The burial site, which would've been intended for a chief, dates back over 4,000 years to a time archaeologists call the Early Bronze Age, said Zurab Makharadze, head of the Centre of Archaeology at the Georgian National Museum.

Archaeologists discoveredthe timber burial chamber within a 39-foot-high (12 meters) mound called a kurgan. When the archaeologists reached the chamber they found an assortment of treasures, including two chariots, each with four wooden wheels. [See Images of the Burial Chamber & Chariots]

The burial dates back to a time before domesticated horses appeared in the area, Makharadze said. While no animals were found buried with the chariots, he said, oxen would have pulled them.

Neandertals ate their veggies

PLoS ONE 9(6): e101045. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0101045

The Neanderthal Meal: A New Perspective Using Faecal Biomarkers

Ainara Sistiaga et al.

Neanderthal dietary reconstructions have, to date, been based on indirect evidence and may underestimate the significance of plants as a food source. While zooarchaeological and stable isotope data have conveyed an image of Neanderthals as largely carnivorous, studies on dental calculus and scattered palaeobotanical evidence suggest some degree of contribution of plants to their diet. However, both views remain plausible and there is no categorical indication of an omnivorous diet. Here we present direct evidence of Neanderthal diet using faecal biomarkers, a valuable analytical tool for identifying dietary provenance. Our gas chromatography-mass spectrometry results from El Salt (Spain), a Middle Palaeolithic site dating to ca. 50,000 yr. BP, represents the oldest positive identification of human faecal matter. We show that Neanderthals, like anatomically modern humans, have a high rate of conversion of cholesterol to coprostanol related to the presence of required bacteria in their guts. Analysis of five sediment samples from different occupation floors suggests that Neanderthals predominantly consumed meat, as indicated by high coprostanol proportions, but also had significant plant intake, as shown by the presence of 5β-stigmastanol. This study highlights the applicability of the biomarker approach in Pleistocene contexts as a provider of direct palaeodietary information and supports the opportunity for further research into cholesterol metabolism throughout human evolution.

June 21, 2014

Nonmetric dental traits and the origin of East Asians

AJPA DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22537

Demographic transitions and migration in prehistoric East/Southeast Asiathrough the lens of nonmetric dental traits

Hirofumi Matsumura1,and Marc F. Oxenham

The aim of this study is to examine and assess the nonmetric dental trait evidence for the population history of East and Southeast Asia and, more specifically, to test the two-layer hypothesis for the peopling of Southeast Asia. Using a battery of 21 nonmetric dental traits we examine 7,247 individuals representing 58 samples drawn from East and Southeast Asian populations inhabiting the region from the late Pleistocene, through the Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, and into the historic and modern periods. The chief data reduction technique is a neighbor-joining tree generated from the triangular matrix of mean measure of divergence values. Principal findings indicated a major dichotomization of the dataset into (1) an early Southeast Asian sample with close affinities to modern Australian and Melanesian populations and (2) a very distinct grouping of ancient and modern Northeast Asians. Distinct patterns of clinal variation among Neolithic and post-Neolithic Mainland Southeast Asian samples suggest a center to periphery spread of genes into the region from Northeast Asia. This pattern is consistent with archaeological and linguistic evidence for demic diffusion that accompanied agriculturally driven population expansion in the Neolithic. Later Metal Age affinities between Island and Mainland coastal populations with Northeast Asian series is likely a consequence of a South China Sea interaction sphere operating from at least 500 BCE, if not from the Neolithic. Such results provide extensive support for the two-layer hypothesis to account for the population history of the region. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Sima de los Huesos hominins: ~430 thousand years old and on the Neandertal lineage

Science 20 June 2014: Vol. 344 no. 6190 pp. 1358-1363 DOI: 10.1126/science.1253958

Neandertal roots: Cranial and chronological evidence from Sima de los Huesos

J. L. Arsuaga et al.

Seventeen Middle Pleistocene crania from the Sima de los Huesos site (Atapuerca, Spain) are analyzed, including seven new specimens. This sample makes it possible to thoroughly characterize a Middle Pleistocene hominin paleodeme and to address hypotheses about the origin and evolution of the Neandertals. Using a variety of techniques, the hominin-bearing layer could be reassigned to a period around 430,000 years ago. The sample shows a consistent morphological pattern with derived Neandertal features present in the face and anterior vault, many of which are related to the masticatory apparatus. This suggests that facial modification was the first step in the evolution of the Neandertal lineage, pointing to a mosaic pattern of evolution, with different anatomical and functional modules evolving at different rates.

June 15, 2014

Chimp mutation rate is equal to human mutation rate but driven more by males

This is important because (a) it shows evidence for the "slow" mutation rate in a species related to humans, (b) it shows that chimp and human mutation rates are equal and so using the human mutation rate in studies of divergence with chimps is justified, and (c) it is driven differently by males/females than in humans.

Science 13 June 2014: Vol. 344 no. 6189 pp. 1272-1275
DOI: 10.1126/science.344.6189.1272

Strong male bias drives germline mutation in chimpanzees

Oliver Venn

Germline mutation determines rates of molecular evolution, genetic diversity, and fitness load. In humans, the average point mutation rate is 1.2 × 10−8 per base pair per generation, with every additional year of father’s age contributing two mutations across the genome and males contributing three to four times as many mutations as females. To assess whether such patterns are shared with our closest living relatives, we sequenced the genomes of a nine-member pedigree of Western chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes verus. Our results indicate a mutation rate of 1.2 × 10−8 per base pair per generation, but a male contribution seven to eight times that of females and a paternal age effect of three mutations per year of father’s age. Thus, mutation rates and patterns differ between closely related species.

Genetic structure of Mexico

This article is free to read with registration.

Science 13 June 2014:
Vol. 344 no. 6189 pp. 1280-1285

The genetics of Mexico recapitulates Native American substructure and affects biomedical traits

Andrés Moreno-Estrada

Mexico harbors great cultural and ethnic diversity, yet fine-scale patterns of human genome-wide variation from this region remain largely uncharacterized. We studied genomic variation within Mexico from over 1000 individuals representing 20 indigenous and 11 mestizo populations. We found striking genetic stratification among indigenous populations within Mexico at varying degrees of geographic isolation. Some groups were as differentiated as Europeans are from East Asians. Pre-Columbian genetic substructure is recapitulated in the indigenous ancestry of admixed mestizo individuals across the country. Furthermore, two independently phenotyped cohorts of Mexicans and Mexican Americans showed a significant association between subcontinental ancestry and lung function. Thus, accounting for fine-scale ancestry patterns is critical for medical and population genetic studies within Mexico, in Mexican-descent populations, and likely in many other populations worldwide.

June 13, 2014

An older layer of Eurasian admixture in Eastern Africa

The authors propose that a genetic component found in Horn of Africa populations back-migrated to Africa from Eurasia ~23 thousand years ago. I did not read this carefully yet, but it seems reasonably plausible. The migration uncovered by Pagani et al. and Pickrell et al. (~3kya) is probably not the whole story of Eurasian back-migration into Africa; that episode probably involved only Semitic speakers (it's hard to imagine any other language being carried from the Middle East at that time frame). But the Eurasian affiliation of East Africans extends well beyond Semitic speakers. In North Africa this is even clearer as the native (pre-Arab) population is definitely broadly West Eurasian and this must have come about by back-migration.

The back-migration of M1 and U6 into Africa seems to be at a similar time depth as the one proposed by these authors (post-initial UP, but pre-Neolithic). I have proposed that haplogroup E may represent an even earlier layer of Eurasian back-migration, while the signals identified by Pagani et al. and Pickrell et al. in East Africa, Pickrell et al. for Southern Africa, and the limited (but present) Neandertal ancestry in Yoruba and Pygmies documented by Pruefer et al. represent later events. The arrival of Arabs and Europeans are later events still.

For a time, there was a taboo against imagining back-migration into Africa; in a sense this was reasonable on parsimony grounds: Africans have most autosomal genetic diversity and the basal clades of mtDNA and Y-chromosomes; a model with Out-of-Africa is simpler than one with both Out-of and Into-Africa. However, we now know that pretty much all Africans have Eurasian ancestry, ranging from at least traces in theYoruba and Pygmies (to account for the Neandertal admixture) to intermediate values in East Africans, to quite  a lot in North Africans.

Eurasian admixture in Africa seems to be general, variable, and to have occurred at different time scales. It's still the best hypothesis that modern humans originated in Africa initially and migrated into Eurasia. However, it is no longer clear that Africa was always the pump and never the destination of human migrations.

PLoS Genet 10(6): e1004393. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1004393

Early Back-to-Africa Migration into the Horn of Africa

Jason A. Hodgson

Genetic studies have identified substantial non-African admixture in the Horn of Africa (HOA). In the most recent genomic studies, this non-African ancestry has been attributed to admixture with Middle Eastern populations during the last few thousand years. However, mitochondrial and Y chromosome data are suggestive of earlier episodes of admixture. To investigate this further, we generated new genome-wide SNP data for a Yemeni population sample and merged these new data with published genome-wide genetic data from the HOA and a broad selection of surrounding populations. We used multidimensional scaling and ADMIXTURE methods in an exploratory data analysis to develop hypotheses on admixture and population structure in HOA populations. These analyses suggested that there might be distinct, differentiated African and non-African ancestries in the HOA. After partitioning the SNP data into African and non-African origin chromosome segments, we found support for a distinct African (Ethiopic) ancestry and a distinct non-African (Ethio-Somali) ancestry in HOA populations. The African Ethiopic ancestry is tightly restricted to HOA populations and likely represents an autochthonous HOA population. The non-African ancestry in the HOA, which is primarily attributed to a novel Ethio-Somali inferred ancestry component, is significantly differentiated from all neighboring non-African ancestries in North Africa, the Levant, and Arabia. The Ethio-Somali ancestry is found in all admixed HOA ethnic groups, shows little inter-individual variance within these ethnic groups, is estimated to have diverged from all other non-African ancestries by at least 23 ka, and does not carry the unique Arabian lactase persistence allele that arose about 4 ka. Taking into account published mitochondrial, Y chromosome, paleoclimate, and archaeological data, we find that the time of the Ethio-Somali back-to-Africa migration is most likely pre-agricultural.

June 11, 2014

Craniometric discontinuity at the Last Glacial Maximum in Europe

The paper includes a craniometric dataset on 10 variables in the supplementary material.

Nature Communications 5, Article number: 4094 doi:10.1038/ncomms5094

Craniometric analysis of European Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic samples supports discontinuity at the Last Glacial Maximum

Ciaraán Brewster et al.

The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) represents the most significant climatic event since the emergence of anatomically modern humans (AMH). In Europe, the LGM may have played a role in changing morphological features as a result of adaptive and stochastic processes. We use craniometric data to examine morphological diversity in pre- and post-LGM specimens. Craniometric variation is assessed across four periods—pre-LGM, late glacial, Early Holocene and Middle Holocene—using a large, well-dated, data set. Our results show significant differences across the four periods, using a MANOVA on size-adjusted cranial measurements. A discriminant function analysis shows separation between pre-LGM and later groups. Analyses repeated on a subsample, controlled for time and location, yield similar results. The results are largely influenced by facial measurements and are most consistent with neutral demographic processes. These findings suggest that the LGM had a major impact on AMH populations in Europe prior to the Neolithic.

Neandertal origin of MC1R haplotypes related to skin color

Mol Biol Evol (2014) doi: 10.1093/molbev/msu180

Neanderthal Origin of the Haplotypes Carrying the Functional Variant Val92Met in the MC1R in Modern Humans

Qiliang Ding et al.

Skin color is one of the most visible and important phenotypes of modern humans. Melanocyte-stimulating hormone and its receptor played an important role in regulating skin color. In this paper, we present evidence of Neanderthal introgression encompassing the melanocyte-stimulating hormone receptor gene MC1R. The haplotypes from Neanderthal introgression diverged with the Altai Neanderthal 103.3 KYA, which postdates the anatomically modern human – Neanderthal divergence. We further discovered that all of the putative Neanderthal introgressive haplotypes carry the Val92Met variant, a loss-of-function variant in MC1R that is associated with multiple dermatological traits including skin color and photoaging. Frequency of this Neanderthal introgression is low in Europeans (~5%), moderate in continental East Asians (~30%), and high in Taiwanese aborigines (60-70%). Since the putative Neanderthal introgressive haplotypes carry a loss-of-function variant that could alter the function of MC1R and is associated with multiple traits related to skin color, we speculate that the Neanderthal introgression may have played an important role in the local adaptation of Eurasians to sunlight intensity.

June 10, 2014

The Mediterranean route into Europe (Paschou et al. 2014)

An interesting new (open access) paper in PNAS includes some new data from Crete, the Dodecanese, Cappadocia, and several other Greek (and a few non-Greek) populations, and proposes that the Neolithic followed an island-hopping migration into Europe. This is a study on modern populations that nicely complements the recent ancient mtDNA paper from PPNB which found an affinity to Neolithic Near Eastern populations among the modern inhabitants of Cyprus and Crete.

It is hard to imagine that there were ever any major impediments to gene flow between Anatolia and the Balkans as the Aegean islands and Hellespont are not formidable barriers to any culture with even rudimentary technology. Hopefully in the future it will become possible to look at ancient DNA from Greece and Anatolia and directly determine how the transfer of the Neolithic package into Europe took place and how much of the ancestry of modern populations stems from the Neolithic inhabitants vs. more recent shuffling of genes in either direction.

The authors also computed f3-statistics to see if populations were admixed, but found no significant evidence for it. If, for example, Dodecanesians were intermediate between mainland Greece and Anatolia they might have a negative f3(Dodecanesian; Cappadocia, Peloponnese) statistic. A negative statistic proves admixture but a positive one does not disprove it, but, in any case, there is no signal of admixture here so the results are compatible with the authors' model and probably incompatible with a recent admixture that would leave a significant negative signal (i.e., Dodecanesians/Cretans would have intermediate allele frequencies between Cappadocians and mainland Greeks).

PNAS doi: 10.1073/pnas.1320811111

Maritime route of colonization of Europe

Peristera Paschou et al.

The Neolithic populations, which colonized Europe approximately 9,000 y ago, presumably migrated from Near East to Anatolia and from there to Central Europe through Thrace and the Balkans. An alternative route would have been island hopping across the Southern European coast. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed genome-wide DNA polymorphisms on populations bordering the Mediterranean coast and from Anatolia and mainland Europe. We observe a striking structure correlating genes with geography around the Mediterranean Sea with characteristic east to west clines of gene flow. Using population network analysis, we also find that the gene flow from Anatolia to Europe was through Dodecanese, Crete, and the Southern European coast, compatible with the hypothesis that a maritime coastal route was mainly used for the migration of Neolithic farmers to Europe.

June 06, 2014

Ancient DNA from Bronze Age Altai

Two observations: it seems that West/East Eurasian Y chromosomes were sometimes associated with East/West mtDNA and vice versa, so these samples don't appear to be two disjoint West/East Eurasian populations, but some mixing took place. Also, the pigmentation estimates are mainly brown eyes (one blue-eyed individual) and black/dark brown hair (although both brown/dark blond were present).

The STRUCTURE results (which should be interpreted with great caution because of the small number of autosomal loci used) do suggest that this was a population that was more West than East Eurasian autosomally.

Forensic Science International: Genetics Received 2 January 2014; received in revised form 21 May 2014; accepted 25 May 2014. published online 04 June 2014.

Strong genetic admixture in the Altai at the Middle Bronze Age revealed by uniparental and ancestry informative markers

Clémence Hollard et al.

The Altai Mountains have been a long term boundary zone between the Eurasian Steppe populations and South and East Asian populations. To disentangle some of the historical population movements in this area, 14 ancient human specimens excavated in the westernmost part of the Mongolian Altai were studied. Thirteen of them were dated from the Middle to the End of the Bronze Age and one of them to the Eneolithic period. The environmental conditions encountered in this region led to the good preservation of DNA in the human remains. Therefore, a multi-markers approach was adopted for the genetic analysis of identity, ancestry and phenotype markers. Mitochondrial DNA analyses revealed that the ancient Altaians studied carried both Western (H, U, T) and Eastern (A, C, D) Eurasian lineages. In the same way, the patrilineal gene pool revealed the presence of different haplogroups (Q1a2a1-L54, R1a1a1b2-Z93 and C), probably marking different origins for the male paternal lineages. To go further in the search of the origin of these ancient specimens, phenotypical characters (ie: hair and eye colour) were determined. For this purpose, we adapted the HIrisPlex assay recently described to MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. In addition, some ancestry informative markers were analyzed with this assay. The results revealed mixed phenotypes among this group confirming the probable admixed ancestry of the studied Altaian population at the Middle Bronze Age. The good results obtained from ancient DNA samples suggest that this approach might be relevant for forensic casework too.

SMBE 2014 Ancient Genomics

Some interesting titles from the upcoming SMBE 2014 conference:

O-11Genotyping of 390,000 SNPs in more than forty 3,000-9,000 year old humans from the ancient Russian steppe
David Reich*1,2, Nadin Rohland1,2, Swapan Mallick1,2, Iosif Lazaridis1, Eadaoin Harney1, Susanne Nordenfelt1, Qiaomei Fu3, Matthias Meyer3, Dorcas Brown4, David Anthony4, Nick Patterson2
1Harvard Medical School, USA, 2Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, USA, 3Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany, 4Hartwick College, USA
O-12Statistical Inference of Archaic Introgression In Central African Pygmies
PingHsun Hsieh*1, Jeffrey Wall2, Joseph Lachance3, Sarah Tishkoff3, Ryan Gutenkunst1, Michael Hammer1
1University of Arizona, USA, 2University of California, USA, 3University of Pennsylvania, USA
O-13Patterns of ancient selection in modern humans around candidate sites
Fernando Racimo*1,2, Martin Kuhlwilm2, Montgomery Slatkin1
1University of California - Berkeley, USA, 2Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany
O-14Ancient maize from the American Southwest
Rute R da Fonseca*1, Bruce Smith2, Nathan Wales1, Enrico Cappellini1, Matteo Fumagalli3, Pontus Skoglund4, Anders Albrechtsen1, Jeff Ross-Ibarra5, Tom Gilbert1
1Copenhagen University, Denmark, 2Smithsonian Institution, USA, 3UC Berkeley, USA, 4Uppsala University, Sweden,5UC Davis, USA
O-15The complete genome sequence of a 45,000-year-oldmodern human from Eurasia
Qiaomei Fu*1,2, Bence Viola1,3, Heng Li5,6, Priya Moorjani6, Flora Jay4, Aximu Ayinuer-Petri1, Susan Keates8, Yaroslav V. Kuzmin7, Montgomery Slatkin4, David Reich5,6, Janet Kelso1, Svante Pääbo1
1Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany, 2Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, 3Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany, 4Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, USA, 5Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, USA, 6Department of Genetics,Harvard Medical School, USA, 7Institute of Geology & Mineralogy, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia,8University Village, USA

The whole program appears to be online, so feel free to point to any noteworthy abstracts in the comments.

Ancient mtDNA from pre-pottery Neolithic B

Figure on the left shows Fst values between the ancient PPNB population and modern populations.

PLOS Genetics DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1004401

Ancient DNA Analysis of 8000 B.C. Near Eastern Farmers Supports an Early Neolithic Pioneer Maritime Colonization of Mainland Europe through Cyprus and the Aegean Islands

Eva Fernández et al.

The genetic impact associated to the Neolithic spread in Europe has been widely debated over the last 20 years. Within this context, ancient DNA studies have provided a more reliable picture by directly analyzing the protagonist populations at different regions in Europe. However, the lack of available data from the original Near Eastern farmers has limited the achieved conclusions, preventing the formulation of continental models of Neolithic expansion. Here we address this issue by presenting mitochondrial DNA data of the original Near-Eastern Neolithic communities with the aim of providing the adequate background for the interpretation of Neolithic genetic data from European samples. Sixty-three skeletons from the Pre Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) sites of Tell Halula, Tell Ramad and Dja'de El Mughara dating between 8,700–6,600 cal. B.C. were analyzed, and 15 validated mitochondrial DNA profiles were recovered. In order to estimate the demographic contribution of the first farmers to both Central European and Western Mediterranean Neolithic cultures, haplotype and haplogroup diversities in the PPNB sample were compared using phylogeographic and population genetic analyses to available ancient DNA data from human remains belonging to the Linearbandkeramik-Alföldi Vonaldiszes Kerámia and Cardial/Epicardial cultures. We also searched for possible signatures of the original Neolithic expansion over the modern Near Eastern and South European genetic pools, and tried to infer possible routes of expansion by comparing the obtained results to a database of 60 modern populations from both regions. Comparisons performed among the 3 ancient datasets allowed us to identify K and N-derived mitochondrial DNA haplogroups as potential markers of the Neolithic expansion, whose genetic signature would have reached both the Iberian coasts and the Central European plain. Moreover, the observed genetic affinities between the PPNB samples and the modern populations of Cyprus and Crete seem to suggest that the Neolithic was first introduced into Europe through pioneer seafaring colonization.

June 05, 2014

Refined structure in haplogroup K-M526 (Karafet et al. 2014)

European Journal of Human Genetics , (4 June 2014) | doi:10.1038/ejhg.2014.106

Improved phylogenetic resolution and rapid diversification of Y-chromosome haplogroup K-M526 in Southeast Asia

Tatiana M Karafet, Fernando L Mendez, Herawati Sudoyo, J Stephen Lansing and Michael F Hammer

The highly structured distribution of Y-chromosome haplogroups suggests that current patterns of variation may be informative of past population processes. However, limited phylogenetic resolution, particularly of subclades within haplogroup K, has obscured the relationships of lineages that are common across Eurasia. Here we genotype 13 new highly informative single-nucleotide polymorphisms in a worldwide sample of 4413 males that carry the derived allele at M526, and reconstruct an NRY haplogroup tree with significantly higher resolution for the major clade within haplogroup K, K-M526. Although K-M526 was previously characterized by a single polytomy of eight major branches, the phylogenetic structure of haplogroup K-M526 is now resolved into four major subclades (K2a–d). The largest of these subclades, K2b, is divided into two clusters: K2b1 and K2b2. K2b1 combines the previously known haplogroups M, S, K-P60 and K-P79, whereas K2b2 comprises haplogroups P and its subhaplogroups Q and R. Interestingly, the monophyletic group formed by haplogroups R and Q, which make up the majority of paternal lineages in Europe, Central Asia and the Americas, represents the only subclade with K2b that is not geographically restricted to Southeast Asia and Oceania. Estimates of the interval times for the branching events between M9 and P295 point to an initial rapid diversification process of K-M526 that likely occurred in Southeast Asia, with subsequent westward expansions of the ancestors of haplogroups R and Q.

June 01, 2014

A molecular basis for classic blond hair (Guenther et al. 2014)

Nature Genetics (2014) doi:10.1038/ng.2991

A molecular basis for classic blond hair color in Europeans

Catherine A Guenther et al.

Hair color differences are among the most obvious examples of phenotypic variation in humans. Although genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have implicated multiple loci in human pigment variation, the causative base-pair changes are still largely unknown1. Here we dissect a regulatory region of the KITLG gene (encoding KIT ligand) that is significantly associated with common blond hair color in northern Europeans2. Functional tests demonstrate that the region contains a regulatory enhancer that drives expression in developing hair follicles. This enhancer contains a common SNP (rs12821256) that alters a binding site for the lymphoid enhancer-binding factor 1 (LEF1) transcription factor, reducing LEF1 responsiveness and enhancer activity in cultured human keratinocytes. Mice carrying ancestral or derived variants of the human KITLG enhancer exhibit significant differences in hair pigmentation, confirming that altered regulation of an essential growth factor contributes to the classic blond hair phenotype found in northern Europeans.


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Diest Haus home
Tour the Estate
tour > gardens & grounds

Seventy acres of fields and gardens surround Diest Haus. Sugar maples and apple trees dot the grounds, and gardens designed by three local master gardeners offer a variety of scents and colors to delight all the senses.

Lavender, herbal plants and lobelia flowers shipped from Holland nestle up to the stone house. A pond flanks the property as do two rivers and a forest.

Side Garden (click for larger image)

Side Garden

Garden with Trellis (click for larger image)

A true country wedding is waiting to congregate in this vibrant green corner of the Diest Haus estate.

 Nearby: Saunderkills Farms and Dutch Reform Church
5128 Route 209 · Accord, NY · 12404 phone: 845.626.4474


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Tuesday, January 11, 2011

I was reading blogs yesterday and saw a really neat idea on Judy's blog,  so I asked Stew to make me one too.
This is what Judy had:

It's a platform for your sewing machine... so you don't have to bend over so much to see as you sew! Stew made me a 'temporary' one last night to see how well it worked and it's FANTASTIC!
But I need a more heavy duty one as the wood he used was not quite heavy enough, and it caused a lovely wee vibration as I sewed....NOT!  ha ha

Talking of sewing, I am still working on UFO's... I would like to finish all of them over the summer so I can start 'fresh' by about March/April.

ABOVE: I have this really lovely set of blue fabrics put aside waiting to be made into a quilt... I am dying to get into it.... but I won't until the UFO's are all done!  Oh... anyone got a good idea for the pattern/type of quilt this fabric would look good as, I would love to hear from you!

ABOVE:  see, I wasn't kidding when I said he had chewed his lip eh!  It looks so much worse today... grrrrrrr.

UFO = Un Finished Object
PHD = Project Half Done..... both mean something you have started but not finished. (sometimes you can have a whole heap of them hidden in the bottom of the cupboard cos you just lost interest in them)  lol

Because we were worried, we took Griffin to the Doctor.  He gave him some  healing balm for the lip and some antibiotics JUST IN CASE it gets infected.  We don't have to use the antibiotics unless it gets infected.

Then we went and bought some solid wood for Stew to make the bigger/stronger sewing machine platform for me.

ABOVE:  one of the 'junk' jewellery shops was selling everything for half price, so I got all of the above for only $30!!!!  How could I resist I ask you?   Im-possible!

End of Day:  well it's been a rather nice day ... kids are getting restless and bored.  Sheesh, still ages until they go back to school.  Drat.* nite nite.

  1. What are UFO's?? Hate to sound dumb, but I don't have a clue. The blue fabrics are just BEAUTIFUL!!! I like the tilted gizmo yur hubby made! very cleaver!...debbie

  2. That IS a clever idea for your sewing machine! :)

    and yeah...um...what do you mean by UFO?!?!? haha!

  3. oh dear, that lip does look nasty! poor lad, hope it gets better soon! xxxx

  4. That picture of the lip looks like a magazine - very good!
    You always do take great pics.
    And the gizmo.... even better. How handy!

  5. I have just caught up after being away from the computer for a couple of weeks. It sounds like you had a lovely Christmas with almost all of your family there & a belated Happy Birthday to Stew.

    I guess next time Griffin is told not to chew his lip he will listen.

  6. Well done you on getting through the UFO and PHD and now with the elevated sewing machine you should breeze through them!!

    GOOD LORD that lip gee I hope Griffin doesn't get Staph or any other infection then he will be sorry!

  7. Anonymous12:15 PM

    eeww ew ew... poor thing.. that looks sore.....

    Ahh - back at work for me - yesterday was HORRIBLE but today has been a weenie bit better... still yuk though...

    Anyway - have a good day!

    Kate (kittie444@hotmail.com)

  8. Clever idea, the sewing machine platform. I'm feeling a little clever myself since I knew what a UFO was (even though it is probably because you have told us before).

  9. ooooh that lip looks so painful!!!

  10. Ooooohh, sparkly things! Yay for you!

  11. Ouch! that looks ouchy!

    I got a new machine today! SO excited! MIght have to get Mr M to make me a nice stand for it hey?

  12. That kid is so cute! I bet he's breaking hearts already! Hope he lays off that lip :o/

    That's a freakin awesome idea with the sewing machine too!

  13. Very cool sewing machine device. I like gizmos like that.
    Disgusting lip picture, I don't like that.
    Have a great week!

  14. Yikes! Griffin's lip certainly does look bad! Glad that you got it looked at - just in case.

    The sewing machine base looks interesting. I have never seen anything like it.

  15. Good god that lip looks bad. Have fun sewing up a storm.

  16. im very secure in my manhood knowing that i read what you wrote and i still dont have one damn clue what that thing does for a sewing machine...

  17. Owwww!!! Can't believe he chews on it so bad. :O Goodness. Seems like lately my kids have been getting hurt a lot. I feel bad for putting all tile in my house now. :(

  18. Great idea for the sewing machine!

    Oh my goodness, Griffin's lip looks like it's SO sore!! It's a good thing you took him to the doc.

  19. Ugh on the lip! Looks like one of those things that once you've started messing with it is going to take forever to stop.

Thanks if you leave a comment. All comments will be moderated, so you may have to wait to see your comment published. I will publish them as and when I can. Thanks.


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  --  FOR WITCHCRAFT--THE WOMEN OF AFRICA.   Table of Contents    Illustration

Smith, Amanda
An autobiograpy

- Illustration

General Sherman's House, Monrovia .

I suggested the propriety of having a stated meeting once a month, for the promotion of holiness, and for the benefit of those who were specially and definitely interested on the subject. And in order that the object of this meeting might be better understood, we thought it well to organize it into an association, to be called the "Clay-Ashland Holiness Association." It has the endorsement of the pastor of the church, Rev. James Cooper, and also has the benefit of his own personal experience of the blessing of entire sanctification.

It was decided that the pastor should appoint an assistant to Sister Martha Ricks, as she always had an assistant at her Friday afternoon prayer meeting; and then Sister Ricks might call anyone else to assist whom she might choose.

In order that we might help each other more, spiritually, we thought it advisable to suggest that we be very watchful, very prayerful, and devoted to God; and endeavor to lead a life of self-denial and fear of God, and, as much as lay within us, to live consistent lives, and by all means endeavor to avoid the appearance of evil; in praying for the blessing, be definite; in testimony after receiving, be definite and God will strengthen your heart, and strengthen your faith; stand together; and, with a firm faith in God, you may not fear; but trust ye in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. Amen.

I had prayed, and asked the Lord for guidance about going, and had been disappointed so often; then I had been down with a severe attack of fever, and was quite weak; but the opportunity came to go to Cape Mount, and I thought I would go. Mr. Sherman's boat was going up, and they told me I could go in it. As I opened my Bible, my eyes fell on these words, which I took as an assurance to start with: "I shall not die, but live, and declare the goodness of God."

After we had got started, about three o'clock in the afternoon, a storm came upon as about nine o'clock at night, and raged fearfully; it seemed every minute that the boat would be capsized; a strong head wind, and we were dreadfully sick; I was so sick I could hardly hold up my head.

But all the time, as the little boat dashed to and fro, and it seemed every moment as if it would go to pieces, the Lord kept my heart very calm by repeatedly bringing these words to my mind: "I shall not die, but live, and declare the goodness of God." And so it did come to pass. Hallelujah!

On the 3rd of June, 1889, I made another attempt to go to Cape Mount, just before leaving Liberia for America. This was my last opportunity, and as I had visited all the other towns in the republic, I felt I must see Cape Mount. As this was a very beautiful day, I went around to see if I could get some good sister to go with me. I asked several, but as it was not a very pleasant time of year to go, no one was able to go with me. I went to Mrs. Sherman and asked her if she could not suggest someone. She said she thought Amanda McCrumidy would go.

Amanda was a good friend of mine, and had a sister who lived in Cape Mount, and as she was in charge of Mrs. President Robert's house, in Monrovia, I thought probably she might be able to go; so I called and asked her, and at once she consented. She was not a very strong body, but very brave hearted; I could not have got anybody from Monrovia who was better suited for this trip, (for we had an open boat), than was Miss McCrumidy.

I went to Mr. Isaac Dixon, who was a large trader in Monrovia, and also had a business at Cape Mount, and asked him if he could send me up in one of his boats; of course I was to pay for it. He was very kind, and gave me a good boat and a crew of his best men. We were to start on Tuesday morning. Monday afternoon, about four o'clock, the clouds gathered black, and we were threatened with a dreadful storm. As I looked out and saw the clouds, my faith quivered just a little, but I looked up to the Lord, and in a moment all was calm. On Tuesday morning, June fourth, the Lord had confirmed the assurance in my heart that I was to go. At six A. M., the clouds were black and lowering, the thunder rolled, the winds blew, but my faith never wavered; that was my time to go. So about eight o'clock my friend, Amanda, came, and said: "Are you going?"

"Oh, yes, "I said. A few moments later Mrs. Dixon sent her little boy to say for me not to go: she was afraid we would have a great storm. But I said, "No, this is my time to go."

I found when I got down to the waterside that Mr. Dixon's heart had failed him; he was in hopes I would decide not to go. But they built a kind of booth over the boat to protect us a little from the sun and storm, and off we started for Cape Mount. We were out all day and all night and reached Cape Mount at seven o'clock next morning. We praised the Lord again and again.

Thursday, June 6th. Made several calls, and preached to a

full house at night, and the Lord gave me great liberty in speaking, and helped the people.

Friday, 7th. We arranged a hammock, and walked three miles to a new settlement to visit the emigrants; and of all the sad sights I ever saw, it was those poor people; how my heart ached for them; destitute, and sick, and ignorant; there was not a house among them, that I visited, that was anything like comfortable.

Saturday, 8th. I visited at Mrs. Briley's station, the Episcopal Mission. This lady was a white missionary, and has spent a number of years in Africa, and I suppose will be there the balance of her days. This used to be a very prosperous station; but from what I saw of it, it seemed to lack about everything, and need about everything.

Sunday, 9th. I preached twice, and addressed the Sabbath School.

Monday, 10th. Six A. M. We are off to our open boats again to Monrovia. Out all night. Oh, how good the Lord is. A storm overtakes us and threatens us heavily. As I looked up to my Father, God, and called on Him to help us, He answered me speedily, and in a little while the wind seemed to subside, and the clouds passed away.

Tuesday, 11th. Still in the boat, and sick: but the morning is lovely. Praise the Lord. We get to Monrovia about eleven o'clock.

I am often asked, "What is the religion of Africa?" Well, where I was they had no real form of religion. They were what we would call devil worshipers. They say God is good; He don't make any humbug for them; so there is no need of praying to Him. But they pray, and dance, and cook large dishes of rice and fish, and set it out of a night so that the Devil can have a good meal. They think if they feed him well, and keep on good terms with him, he will give them good crops and good luck, and keep away sickness. If smallpox, or any sickness of that kind comes to their town, they say it is because somebody has made the Devil mad.

While at Baraka with Bishop Taylor, I had my first experience of their laws and customs. Sister Betty Tubman, Aunt Julia Fletcher, and I, went, in company with the Bishop, to open a station at Baraka. It is a large, native town, and years ago the Methodist Church had a flourishing station right near this same town.

As Bishop Taylor had come to Africa to help my people by establishing missions and schools, I felt it was my duty to do all I could to help, and stand by the Bishop, and do what I could by looking after the little necessities.

I had a large canteen, as they call them in Africa; we would say lunch box here; so I would fill it with food, the best I could get; I would bake a large pone of bread, and get some tinned meats, and a ham, when I could. Five dollars was about the cheapest a ham could be got for at Cape Palmas, but even at that they didn't have to hang on the hands of the merchants; for when it comes to food, the Liberians are not stingy, and ham is not a rarity, though they don't have them every day; but generally manage when they want them specially. They can often get things of this kind, that are expensive, in trade, with coffee or palm oil. But, of course, I had nothing of this kind, and had always to pay cash for what I got at the stores.

Then I had a little kerosene stove that I took with me, and cocoa, and coffee, and a tin of condensed milk, and biscuits, or hardtack, for bread don't last very long; if you attempt to keep it, it will sour or mould; so we generally use it up while it is fresh, and fall back on hardtack.

The Lord was so good that I generally had a little cash by me. But often it was not a question of cash, and you couldn't get the things you needed; they were not to be had. But it was wonderful how I learned to manage and get on. It is said that necessity is the mother of invention; and Africa is certainly the place where it can be developed.

We used to get up in the morning early; I would boil some water and make the Bishop a cup of cocoa or coffee, and so give him an early breakfast.

The natives were always kind and hospitable; they would have their meal about nine or ten o'clock; but we would be very faint by that time, not being used to it; and, as the Bishop was a very early riser, I knew it was best for him to have something to eat before that time. And then I always took at least a cup of tea, or something before it was late in the day.

The natives would bring in, perhaps, a chicken. They didn't scald them and pick them as we do; they would kill them and swing them over a fire; and, of course, all the feathers they didn't get off, we would have to take off ourselves; then they would bring

great calabashes of rice, and pepper, for they use everything very hot with pepper; that was one of the things I never could get used to, the hot pepper. But the dear old Bishop would help himself to the rice and fowl, and goat, for they would often kill a goat in the morning and cook it for breakfast.

We would set a box in the middle of the floor, and I would spread a cloth over it, and they would set these calabashes on, and we would sit down. Sometimes they would bring in three or four calabashes; we would have to eat some out of each one; they wouldn't feel pleasant at all if we sent one back without eating out of it; so we generally had plenty, if we could only eat it; one often has to acquire the taste before he can really like it. I was in Africa a whole year before I really enjoyed or relished my food. Everything seems to taste different; but some get used to it very quickly, and others take some time. I always had plenty to eat in Africa. I never saw a day but what I had plenty, though it was not always what my appetite relished.

I thought when we got to Baraka that we would make a fire outside, and we would have a real picnic time. We would cook everything the way we wanted to cook it, just as they do at picnics; for Aunt Julia and Betty, were both good cooks, and on that line I was expecting just to show the Bishop how nicely we could treat him.

But, lo, when we got there we were not allowed to make a fire outside at all; whatever cooking was done, must be done in the native house we occupied. No fire was allowed outside, except a kind of kiln, where they burned their pottery--all sorts of vessels made of clay, which are put in the fire and burned.

It is wonderful how clever they are in those things; they make all their cooking utensils; we would call it earthen ware; some of them are very pretty; they are strong and well made, and of all sizes; jars that will hold one, two, three and five gallons of water; then there are smaller utensils.

We stayed in the king's best house; a large, native house; mud floor, but dry; no windows, no chimney; there was a space in the floor where we made the fire, and did the cooking, and the smoke would ascend and go all through the thatch. I don't know how I stood it, but I got on beautifully. When the wood was wet and would smoke a good deal, I would suffer with smoke in my eyes; but, somehow, I have an idea that smoke was healthy in Africa!

The custom was that every house in the town in the evening had a little fire outside in front of the door, and many times a piece of tobacco and a pipe would be laid by it; that was for any of their friends who were dead, or the Devil could come and light his pipe; (of course they suppose the Devil smokes); they thought it was a good thing, and would please him. This was why they would not allow us to build a fire outside. I thought it was nonsense; but they told me I had better not persist. So, when I sent word to the king, and he said, no, we could not make a fire outside, and when I took a walk myself all through the town, just about dusk, and saw, sure enough, by every hut a little bunch of wood that had been burned and was ready to light again, I just did as I was told, and did my cooking in my own native house.

While we were there the old king's head wife, who was the queen wife, was tried and condemned as a witch. That meant that she was to due by drinking sassy wood.

One of the other wives of the king accused the head wife of bewitching her child. The child was a girl about fourteen years old, and while in the casava farm digging casava she was bitten by what is called the casava snake, which is as poisonous as the cobra of India. When this child died they said it was because the head wife had bewitched her; and when any one is accused of being a witch she must die.

This poor woman ran away and was gone three months, to her people. And being the king's head wife it was what they called a great "shame palaver;" anything to happen to the king's wife--that was very bad indeed.

As the king's wife was of a very high family, they all came together, and it took them three months before they could settle it. But it was settle and she had decided to drink the sassy wood.

She had two sons, splendid young men; they were tall and graceful, just like their father, the king; they were very bright young men, and one of them could speak good English. So they told us on Friday that the mother was to drink sassy wood on Saturday again; she had to drink it twice. So we asked them to come and tell us when the time came, and they said they would.

The mother stopped at another little native town about a half mile away from this big town. So on Saturday morning about eight o'clock the young man came and told us. Aunt Julia had

gone out to look for some wood; so Betty and I went with the young man. Betty Tubman could understand the native language and talk it very well.

Just as we got to this little town we found the men and the woman going to the place of execution. The town was enclosed by a stick fence. The old woman walked through the gate into the open space just outside.

She was a woman not very tall, but very black, beautiful limbs, beautifully built, small feet, as a lady would have, and beautiful hands and arms; her head was shaved and something black rubbed over it; and she had a little grass hip cloth like a little skirt just around her loins.

As we passed through the gate I thought of the Lord Jesus, who had told us to go forth bearing his reproach. Outside the gate there was a kind of a grove, and an open space just beyond this grove. When they got to the place they stopped. There were four or five old men, and two young men.

The old men stood as witnesses. They set down a mortar. One had a calabash, and another carried the sassy wood, which is a liquid decoction. I don't know as any one has ever found what the composition of this sassy wood really is; but I am told it is a mixture of certain barks. There is a tree there which grows very tall, called the sassy wood tree; but there is something mixed with this which is very difficult to find out, and the natives do not tell what it is. They say that it is one of their medicines that they use to carry out their law for punishing witches; so you cannot find out what it is.

Though it was so warm, I felt myself get cold as I looked at the scene. My heart seemed to stop beating. Oh, how I prayed to God to save that woman. We couldn't do anything to help her; her husband couldn't help her; her sons couldn't help her; her people couldn't help her. No, she was accused of being a witch, and she must pay the penalty; and the penalty was to drink the sassy wood. If she throws it up she has gained the case.

Sometimes they do throw it up, and then they stand very high; they are raised to a higher state of dignity than ever they held before. So I prayed for the poor, dear woman, that God would make her throw it up.

I thought once I could not bear to see it; but then I held on. I remember how I clutched the limb of a tree near by when

she was about to take it; and I held on and prayed. Her son stood with us and looked at his mother drink the first dose; and then ran away. The two young men dipped this decoction out of the mortar into the calabash, and set it on the ground, and then she had to pick it up and drink it.

When they had filled the basin she stood and looked at it; and then picked up three pebbles, and said something like a little prayer; then she struck on the side of the basin. I could understand when she said "Niswa, Oh, Niswa," which was to say "Oh, God." I didn't know what else she said. But she struck one of the stones on the side of the dish, threw the other in it, and the other one she threw away. Then she drank the sassy wood. She had two gallons to drink.

I turned to Betty and said: "What does she say, Betty?" And she told me the part that I could not understand. The whole prayer was this: "Oh, Niswa, if I have made witch, and this child has died, when I drink this sassy wood I must not throw it up. But if I have not made witch so that this child has died, then I must throw up the sassy wood."

So that was what she said all the time she was drinking the sassy wood. After she had swallowed the first dose they dipped out another basinful. Oh, I trembled. I said, "Lord, do make her throw it up." And just as she was going to stoop down to lift up the second basinful, I saw her give her shoulders a little twitch, and open her mouth, and if you ever saw a water plug in the street throw out water--she threw up that sassy wood, in a perfect stream!

Well, I could have shouted. I said, "Thank God." But I didn't say it very loud, for those fellows looked vengeance, and I was afraid they would drive us away.

Then she drank the second basinful, and then the third, and threw it up, and she was victor. My! didn't I come home out of that place jumping? I cannot describe how I felt.

The next morning was Sunday morning; and about eight o'clock we heard such singing and playing and beating of drums, and we wondered what in the world was up. We looked out, and here came through the town all the women, and this same woman, the king's wife, with two escorts on either side, and beautifully dressed; she had a handsome country cloth, with all sorts of colors, like Joseph's coat, wrapped about her; she was bathed and

greased; she had rings in her ears, and bracelets on her wrists; her fingers were covered with rings, and rings on her toes and ankles. She looked beautiful!

They have some kind of grass they dye black, and it looks very much like hair; and she had on a head dress of this, beautifully curled, and she looked as beautiful as she could be. Then she had a great, big umbrella, red, and blue, and green and yellow striped. Oh, but she was a swell! And they took her through the town; they danced and sang; children, little boys and girls, and women.

The next day, on Monday, the men burned powder, as they called it. About five o'clock in the morning we heard a great gun firing. We didn't know but war had begun. But it was the men's day for their jollification over the victory the king's wife had gained.

I shall never forget how the poor old king came to me and wanted me to drink wine.

"No, king," I said to him, "you know I am a temperance woman. I no drink wine."

He seemed to be quite indignant. He said, "What is the matter? When my woman no die you can't drink wine a little bit with me when my heart is glad 'cause my woman no die?"

"Well," I said, "king, I am very glad, and I did pray, and believe God helped your woman so she no die. But myself I no drink wine."

Then as he went to turn away, almost with disgust, I said to him, "I tell you, king, I give you cup cocoa. I make it for you. So you drink cocoa with me."

"Yes," he said, then he smiled.

So I went to work and made a nice bowl of cocoa, and put sugar and condensed milk in it, and gave him a hardtack and some meat, which pleased him greatly. So we were friends.

The poor woman of Africa, like those of India, have a hard time. As a rule, they have all the hard work to do. They have to cut and carry all the wood, carry all the water on their heads, and plant all the rice. The men and boys cut and burn the bush, with the help of the women; but sowing the rice, and planting the casava, the women have to do.

You will often see a great, big man walking ahead, with nothing in his hand but a cutlass (as they always carry that or a

spear), and a woman, his wife, coming on behind, with a great big child on her back, and a load on her head.

No matter how tired she is, her lord would not think of bringing her a jar of water, to cook his supper with, or of beating the rice; no, she must do that. A great big boy would not bring water for his mother; he would say:

"Boy no tote water; that be woman's work."

If they live with missionaries, or Liberians, or anyone outside of their own native people, then they will do such things; but not for one another.

The moment a girl child is born, she belongs to somebody. The father, who has a son, makes it the highest aim of his life to see that his son has a wife; so he settles, and begins to pay a dowry for a girl for his son. Sometimes they are but a few months old, when you will see them with their betrothal jewels on.

If the fellow who buys the girl is well off, she will have about her little waist a thick roll of beads; sometimes five or six strings together; or she will have bracelets on her little wrists, sometimes of brass, sometimes only made of common iron by the native blacksmith; she will have the same on her ankles, with a little tinkle in it, like a bell, so it makes a noise when she walks.

As they grow up, they have their tastes, and their likes and dislikes. The marriageable age is from thirteen to fourteen, and sometimes younger. All these years the boy's father, or the man himself, is paying on the girl. That is why it is hard to get the girls. It is the girls that bring big money; so the more girls a father has, that much richer he is.

Girls who are bought with a bullock are high toned; that is about the highest grade. Then the next is brass kettles, and cloth and beads. The third is more ordinary; tobacco, cloth, powder, and a little gin is not objectionable. To all of these he can put as much more as he likes; but what I have named are the principal things used in buying a native girl for a wife.

Poor things, they are not consulted; they have no choice in the matter. If they don't like the man, they are obliged to go with him anyway, no matter how illy he may treat them; and sometimes they are cruelly treated. But their own father could not protect them. The laws in this are very strict. A man's wife is his wife, and no one dare interfere.

One morning at Sinoe, about six o'clock--I generally got up

  --  FOR WITCHCRAFT--THE WOMEN OF AFRICA.   Table of Contents    Illustration


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Sunday, October 18, 2009

DWDW Pro: Week 6 Edition

Dirty Wudders Degenerate Wagering is a feature of this blog where the three contributors embarrass themselves picking the college and pro games of the week. Here are our picks for Sunday's games.

Namesake's Picks:
Eagles @ Oakland Line: PHI (-14)
Another preseason game for the Birds this week. So far I am thoroughly bored with this season. Only two more games until the Giants. Birds win this one in a blowout.
Pick: Birds giving the 14

Baltimore @ Brett Favre Line: Minny (-3)
Baltimore has been struggling lately and needs to win this game. I just don't see it happening this week on the road in Minny.
Pick: Vikings
Carolina @ Tampa Bay Line: Carolina (-3)
Tampa sucks. Carolina sucks. I have a feeling Carolina sucks a little less, though.
Pick: Carolina

Doc's Picks:
Houston @ Cincinnati Line: Cincy (-4)
Pick: Houston getting the points

Kansas City @ Washington Line: Wash (-6)
Pick: KC getting the points

Chicago @ Atlanta Line: ATL (-3.5)
Pick: Atlanta giving the points

Namesake, 4-4
DW, 4-4
doc, 4-6
Sec202, 2-3

  1. The Vikings almost gave the game away yesterday. The should have lost, if that kicker didnt blow that last FG.