text:
Bea Pantoja
Finding Maggie
Flash Fictionary
Eating My Words: The Solitaire Mystery Sticky Bun
by bea
Earlier this week I read The Solitaire Mystery by Jostein Gaarder (also the author of Sophie's World). In the book, a young Norwegian boy named Hans Thomas travels across Europe with his alcoholic father to find his mother, who left for Greece several years before. Somewhere in the Swiss Alps, he meets a dwarf who gives him a magnifying glass and an old baker who gives him a bag full of sticky buns. The baker warns him to save the largest for when he is alone. The boy discovers that largest sticky bun contains a tiny book, which can only be read with the magnifying glass. From there, the book weaves between Hans' story and the story in the "sticky bun book", though of course the worlds begin to intersect in ways that the boy never expected.
Like the tiny book tucked inside a sticky bun, The Solitaire Mystery is a philosophical exercise tucked inside a modern fairy tale. I first read the book sometime in middle or early high school. I remember loving the story and feeling rattled at its philosophical themes, which totally blew my young and untested mind. Twelve or thirteen years on, though, I couldn't remember anything except for a vague memory of playing cards. I had no recollection of Dad's drinking, which is glaringly obvious in the book, or even that the mother was part of the plot at all (but I'm pinning that one on Gaarder).
And I certainly didn't remember the sticky buns. Had I cared about the sticky buns as much as I did now? Had I known back then that the sticky buns sounded so…delicious? So appetizing? So frequently mentioned?
If in my teens I walked away from the book with a deep, yearning desire to question my world, in my late twenties I walked away with a deep, yearning desire to eat sticky buns. To have them. To hold then. To mash them in my craw.
I have no idea why. The sticky buns are in themselves bit players. Hans Thomas devours them in about two paragraphs. The sticky bun book, however, tells a different story. It's Hans Thomas' constant companion. It's a marquee role. The words "sticky bun" recur, big and bold on the page, as the rest of story whizzes by in the background. Since I read TSM over the course of two days, the words dinned into my brain more insistently with every hour. Sticky bun. Stick-y bun. Sti-cky bu-n. Two sharp syllables followed by a deep reverberation from the back of the throat. Bunnnnn. The adjective, sticky: not quite onomatopoeic, but evocative of the bun's texture, the elastic snap of dough in your mouth. Briefly putting aside the question of taste, "sticky bun" is also a really a fun thing to say. Angry and resentful people cannot say "sticky bun" without immediately becoming happy and gracious people. It's a fact.
Say it with me: sticky bun.
"Punch a-your buns, I will punch a-your buns!"
But what is a sticky bun?
My desire to eat a sticky bun became all-consuming. First, I had to find out what a sticky bun was. The book doesn't mention anything about its appearance, taste, or flavor, which is actually kind of incredible given the severity of my craving. I was running on pure imagination. I didn't know what I wanted, but I knew I wanted it bad.
A Google search for "sticky bun" produced image upon image of cinnamon rolls, drenched in shiny golden syrup and piled high with pecans. Some rolls were studded with raisins and currants—others smothered in pale cream or a frosted glaze. They definitely looked sticky, if not quite so bun-ey. They also seemed like a terrible hiding place for a tiny book.
Photo by Stacy Spensley / CC BY
Slipping deeper into the cinnamon roll k-hole, I discovered that there were differences between American-style cinnamon rolls and Nordic* cinnamon rolls. The glossy, drenched rolls shown by Google, suggestive of a potent, near-weaponized sweetness, seemed more suggestive of the American variety. Nordic rolls are less sweet, the bread not as dense, the filling often additionally spiced with warming cardamom. Instead of a rich syrup or creamy frosting a la Cinnabon, Nordic rolls are lightly glazed, if at all, showered with great big rocks of pearl sugar. Sometimes they are topped with cardamom as well (raisins are hotly debated, as with any bread in which they are not absolutely vital).
Cinnamon rolls are very, very popular; in fact, they are considered "a Scandinavian obsession." Of course, within the world of Nordic rolls exist regional variations, from the Finnish korvapuusti to the Swedish kanelbullar and the Norwegian skillingsboller—or is it the Kanelboller? Norwegians claim they are the same thing perhaps the way that a roll, a bun, and a bap are more or less the same in the UK. I claim no further insight into the regional differences, but I'm sure each country would defend the superiority of its cinnamon roll to the death.
And yet my dilemma remained. I wanted so badly to eat a sticky bun—not just any sticky bun, goddammit, but the sticky bun of the book. Yet, I still wasn't sure what it was. The Solitaire Mystery was originally published in Norwegian, so I decided to browse for clues in case something had been lost in translation. A scan of the plot synopsis of Kabalmysteriet reveals that, in Norwegian, the sticky buns are called "boller" and the sticky bun book is the "Bolleboka." Which roughly translate to…wait for it…"buns" and "bun book."
Where did the sticky buns go? Or, more specifically, where did they come from? How did we get from the generic-sounding "boller" to the more specific-but-still-frustratingly-vague "sticky bun"?
Boller look and taste like normal round buns, perhaps a touch sweeter than the average dinner roll. They are purportedly treasured in Norway. "To a Norwegian the bolle is a way of life," this blog declares, explaining that boller are readily available; in fact, they're among the cheapest item to be found at grocery stores. I suppose it's like the Filipino pandesal, a soft and pillowy roll and the closest thing we have to daily bread. Pandesal is inexpensive and widely available, but fucking transcendent in every possible way.
Norwegian boller. Photo by cyclonebill / CC BY
Though not as sexy as cinnamon rolls, the bolle seems a more fitting hiding place for a tiny book than a rolled-up cinnamon bun. (I can't explain why the plausability of a tiny book fitting into any pastry whatsoever matters to me so much, except that even fantasy novels can only suspend belief so far. For example, would you hide a book in a Bavarian doughnut?). The bolle's lack of sweetness also explains why Hans Thomas was able to eat three of them and calmly go to bed without losing it on a sugar high. While there are bolle variations, such as boller stuffed with custard or raisins or whipped cream, I couldn't find any variations that seemed easily translatable to "sticky bun."
Perhaps the original Norwegian text, which I haven't read for obvious reasons, mentions a specific type of bun, like the skillingsboler. Or perhaps Norwegian readers inherently understand the type of sweet bun Gaarder is referring to when he uses "bolle," in the same way that an American audience knows that "ribs" almost always refers to barbecue pork ribs. The translator would have known this cultural reference and used "sticky bun" for the benefit of the English readers.
Admittedly, that one's kind of a reach.
Or perhaps the use of sticky bun is an invention just for us non-Norwegians, for whom the bun is simply a bun. Our minds cannot possibly comprehend such an important plot device being hidden in such a bland thing as a BUN. I can almost imagine the heated debates that Bungate might have produced; the tense exchanges between translator, editor, and publisher; the disemboweled remains of rejected alternative pastries strewn across the boardroom table. Perhaps the stressed-out marketing director had a go at the editor while ripping out tufts of his hair: "We can't have our children thinking there are tiny books in dinner rolls! It doesn't make any SENSE!"
And yet, plot events like an island that keeps growing as one walks into it, or a magical soda that one can taste in their toes make perfect sense. Maybe it is precisely because a magical soda one can taste in their toes exists in the book that the simple, unadorned bolle proved insufficient.
I haven't even touched on the fact that the bakery where Hans Thomas finds the sticky buns is in a Swiss village. Swiss cross buns, anyone? To further complicate things: the baker Hans Thomas meets is neither Swiss nor Norwegian.
Shit's getting crazy, yo.
To summarize where we're at so far, 'sticky bun' could possibly equal:
American-style cinnamon roll
Nordic cinnamon roll
Norwegian cinnamon roll
Norwegian bun
Imaginary concoction because we English readers can't handle the truth
In any case, I can't find any references to link The Solitaire Mystery's sticky bun to a cinnamon roll, Nordic or otherwise, though a Guardian article establishes a clear link between sticky buns and Nordic rolls in general. However, in the Amazon UK blurb for the English edition of TSM, the bun is referred to simply as a "bread roll." This makes a case that for Norwegian readers, boller is as boller does. But before it could meet its English audience, the plain bun had to undergo a makeover. It swelled and flaked and grew a deeper, crisper crust. Its flesh plumped up with butter and cinnamon; its swirls glistened with sugar, gleaming like glass.
Photo by Roberto Verzo / CC BY
We know that in fairy tales, children and sugar have a sacred and often dangerous connection. Hansel and Gretel don't eat the bread they're given—they drop crumbs of it on the ground until they find something better: a house made of sugar. Bread is the food of everyday; sugar is the unexpected treat, the gateway into fantasy. We might suspect malnourishment if Hans Thomas scarfs down three rolls, but we find it perfectly logical that Hans Thomas would eat three sticky buns, one after the other, and find something magical in the last. Of course; for children in books, it's only natural.
Just like Edmund Pevensie and his Turkish Delight in The Chronicles of Narnia, Hans Thomas loses himself in the world within the sticky bun. His understanding of what is real and what is fantasy blurs. However, Edmund completely loses himself and his values in the confection; he regains himself only by severing the connection. Hans Thomas undergoes a similar test with the sticky bun book, but by the end of its tale discovers something that makes him stronger.
The search for a perfect sticky bun
Despite what the Norwegians say about boller=life, I realized that the sticky bun had already shaped itself in my mind into a cinnamon roll, and wasn't about to budge. While the American-style cinnamon roll seemed to be the most faithful interpretation of 'sticky bun,' the Nordic-style rolls, with their slightly more unusual spice and crunch of pearl sugar, seemed to better capture the distinctly European spirit of The Solitaire Mystery. Besides, I had never tried a Nordic-style cinnamon roll, but now I felt certain that it was the only thing that could stop my craving.
I realized that London has quite a few Nordic bakeries; one being, in fact, Nordic Bakery, which actually calls itself a Scandinavian cafe, despite the founders being Finnish, but who am I to split hairs. Nordic Bakery is purportedly famous for its cinnamon rolls, which receive second billing on the cafe's glass windows (after DARK RYE BREAD and before COFFEE). The swirls of their rolls stick out on the sides rather than the top and bottoms, giving them the appearance of snug little snails. Nordic Bakery's Soho branch isn't far, but for the purposes of satisfying a craving it was just enough out of the way to rule it out.
The boundaries of my laziness were so restrictive that tantalizing options such as Monocle Cafe in Marylebone, Brick House in East Dulwich, HEJ in Bermondsey, and Violet Bakery in Hackney were automatically disqualified for the sheer effort to get there. Well, disqualified is a harsh word—saved for later, when I had more time and even more comfortable shoes.
Finnish-style cinnamon rolls from Nordic Bakery. Photo from nordicbakery.com
I settled on Fabrique Bakery, with branches in both Hoxton and Covent Garden (and Notting Hill, but West London may as well be Wales to me). Fabrique is Swedish, and their cinnamon rolls have that knotted twisty shape that makes them utterly mesmerizing. Each roll contains a generous scattering of pearl sugar. Some rolls are crusted at their bottoms with sugar glaze that has dripped down from the top. I picked one that had visible bits of crusty glaze and paid £2.50. Even before I'd gotten my receipt, butter from the roll began to seep through the paper bag.
Once I found a place to sit, I pulled the cinnamon roll from the bag. My fingers pressed into the dough, melting into the glaze as though it were only natural they should be there, a natural extension of dough. It took more effort to peel them away again—sticky bun indeed. I licked cinnamon and cardamom off my fingertips. I tore off a chunk and chewed. The knotted edges were crisp and sugary, but the inside of the roll was soft with a slight springiness. Butter, cinnamon and a spicy, earthy sweetness filled my mouth. Now both of my hands were sticky. Everything I touched became sticky. I told myself to stop touching things, especially myself, then promptly brushed the hair out of my mouth, smearing sugar glaze across my cheek. I licked sugar from the corner of my mouth, wiped what I couldn't reach on the back of my hand. I searched the world for a sticky bun and discovered the sticky bun was me.
I should have had an epiphany or something, having thought so damn hard about these sticky buns for three days. I should have connected it to the meaning of life the way Hans Thomas had done. Instead, I savored the experience as best as I could while trying not to become a sticky bun myself. I tried to wash it down with coffee, as they say you should do, but the coffee seemed bitter and slimy in comparison. I set it aside for later. I ate around the cluster of pearl sugars, piled up on the top like treasure, saving that plump middle bit for last, then downed it in three satisfying crunches.
Once more, with feeling.
With that, the roar of my belly subsided, finally appeased by 900 calories of butter, sugar, and flour. I still wasn't certain whether the cinnamon roll I'd just eaten was the same sticky bun of the book, but I was certain that it was what I'd imagined all along. And isn't that what good stories do best: act as fuel for our imagination? I couldn't taste Rainbow Fizz or cross the Adriatic Sea by ship as Hans Thomas had, but I could eat a sticky bun and contemplate the universe (even if I only did one of those things, heh).
I wish I could wrap this up with one big, profound revelation, but the most profound discovery so far has been that I've managed to write 2500 words about eating a sticky bun. Sometimes good books make demands of you, from the great to the insignificant. They may challenge your worldview or reinforce a shaky belief. They may summon emotions or leave you bereft of them. And sometimes they may appeal to your most basic urges: to eat, to drink, to have sex.
And sometimes, perhaps without even intending it, they make you want to try something new. Even if that something new is just a goddamn sticky bun.
Which was delicious, by the way.
*The distinction between "Nordic" and "Scandanavian" confuses me, but my understanding is that Nordic encompasses Finland along with Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, while Scandanavian does not.
Filed under Essays
Tagged books, eating my words, fairy tale, food, young adult
Impressions: Under the Sugar Sun by Jennifer Hallock
I was made aware of this book's existence by Mina V. Esguerra, who featured the book in her blog post about books that she wished existed. I hadn't even finished her blog post before racing to Amazon to buy Under the Sugar Sun by Jennifer Hallock. Historical romance set in the early 20th century…in the Philippines? A handsome sugar baron as leading man? Oh God, yes. Two pages in and I was utterly hooked. I sensed the voice of a confident writer and spied the shorelines of a diligently-researched world. I finished it this weekend, hungry for more.
The book is a historical romance set in the Philippines at the turn of the 20th century. Georgina Potter, a young woman from Boston, is summoned by her American fiance to the small town of Bais in Visayas to work as a teacher. Secretly, she has another mission: to find her brother, last seen fighting in troubled Samar. Both of these pursuits are promptly derailed by her encounter(s) with Javier Altarejos, a handsome and opinionated sugar baron with secrets of his own. Javier, in turn, is trying to keep his struggling hacienda and sugar plantation afloat. The last thing he needs is a distraction–especially one in the form of a headstrong American woman. Their secrets eventually collide, as they must, with devastating consequences.
Under the Sugar Sun Impressions
This isn't a book review so much as it is a summary of my general thoughts and opinions–a stance I've adopted from Mina, and which she shares in her own post. I want to do my part in helping to share books I've enjoyed, rather than analyze the book's merits as a literary work. However, my feelings meter has been glitchy for years, so this might be less about the squee-factor and more about how it just works for me. (Super technical, I know).
I really enjoyed the book primarily because of its setting. I know very little about this time and place in Philippine history. With a steady hand, Hallock successfully immerses the reader into this busy, fractured, cultural melting pot of a world. The measured pace of the book might read as sluggish to some, but to me it felt like the perfect speed with which to establish all the characters and how they fit into this world. Every detail served a narrative purpose–at no point did the explanations feel like showmanship.
On Facebook, Hallock describes the process of (loosely) modeling Javier after a Regency romance hero. Her post made me realize how appropriate the Regency model seemed when applied to turn-of-the-century Philippines (quite a grand statement, considering I know little about either subject!). Georgina, Javier, and the other characters fit within an ordered hierarchy, one defined by race and class and wealth and family. Interactions between characters are established not by forthright dialogue, but by a skillful dance around the topic at hand (sound familiar, fellow Pinoys?). Some of these dances are more delicate and graceful than others: witness the many scenes of careful bartering (of small and not-small things) versus Georgie's and Javier's verbal sparring. Misunderstandings are rife; wit is generously deployed.
Georgina and Javier read like characters of their time who are simultaneously ahead of their time. The book is told through their alternating POVs. I was slightly more entertained by Javier's story, only because barely holding on to this side of propriety = sexy. I love that he served a purpose that was bigger than the romance, and that we were able to see his struggles in a way the other characters couldn't. However, I really enjoyed following Georgie's growth through the book, and to see her stubbornness either rewarded or reproached. She's a plucky young heroine whose pluckiness is not always a good thing–while some might say this makes her unlikable at times, I think this makes her nuanced and complex.
Anyway! Every scene in which they interact is a delight to read, which is a really prude way of saying: holy hell, the sexual tension between them. No doubt the release–once it comes, pardon the pun–is worth the wait *fans self*. I also loved the nod to Catholic guilt after one memorable scene, perhaps because I can relate too well.
Things do get a tiny bit frustrating around two-thirds of the way into the book, when one of the character's missions takes over and sends Georgie and Javier into chaos. It's there that the story loses some of its levity, and I start yelling at characters–one in particular–who make really crappy choices. Which is fine, though I tend to like it more when characters who do crappy things go through a redemption phase of similar value. The book ends on a happy note, of course, but to me there wasn't enough of a "redemption arc" for this character for me to be 100% pleased with the outcome.
Don't get me wrong–I'm still like 95% pleased. I so love the world and characters Hallock created–especially Padre Andres, Allegra and the schoolgirls. She just got it so right — the tone, the style, the attention to detail, the culturally-specific undercurrents, the wit. Oh yeah, and the romance (I'm just so enamored by everything else, really, but yes the romance was good). I trusted her completely with the story from the very first page, and I can't wait to read more of her work.
Book Cover Source
Filed under Book Impressions
Tagged books, reading
Americanah
By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Highly recommended. (Thanks again Gabe!)
Filed under Journal
Tagged books, good words
I'm a writer and MA student currently living in London. Right now I'm working on short stories and narrative nonfiction, but hope to one day finish a novel. I'm also interested in digital publishing.
Feel free to reach me via bea.pan [at] gmail [dot] com, or on Twitter.
A real nice tuesday
The Sunday Currently Vol. 08
Favorites: TinyLetters by Writers
World Stationery Day: Current Favorite Notebooks
Book Impressions
Creative Challenges
© 2023 Bea Pantoja.


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CNN Political Research Director Robert Yoon, CNN Poltical Editor Mark Preston
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Below is a list of money raised by the candidates, according to figures provided by their campaigns:
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-New York, $26 million
Former Sen. John Edwards, D-North Carolina, $14 million
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, $6 million
Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, $4 million
Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, $1-2 million
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, $21 million
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, $14 million
Arizona Sen. John McCain, $12.5 million
Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, $1.3 million
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, $500,000
Note: Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, has yet to release his fundraising totals.
Romney excels, McCain lags in fundraising
CNN Political Research Director Robert Yoon, CNN's Political Editor Mark Preston
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney flexed his political fund-raising muscles Monday by announcing that he had raised more than $20 million in the first three months of 2007, the largest amount declared so far by a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.
But Romney and all other presidential hopefuls trail Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in the "fund-raising primary" as the New York Democrat collected $26 million in contributions to add to an additional $10 million she transferred from a Senate account to her presidential committee, her committee reported.
Clinton's fund-raising prowess can be attributed to a fine-tuned political machine and national fund-raising network honed during her husband's years in the White House and broadened during her first term in the Senate.
On the Democratic side, according to their campaigns, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards raised $14 million; New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson raised $6 million; Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd raised $4 million; and Sen. Joe Biden, raised between $1 million and $2 million.
For the Republicans, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani raised $14 million; Sen. John McCain has raised $12.5 million; Sen. Sam Brownback has raised $1.3 million; and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee raised $500,000, according to their campaigns.
The initial fund-raising deadlines are generally considered to be an early indicator of a candidate's viability. But given the fund-raising options available to the candidates - such as raising money for both the primary and general elections - it is difficult to compare these figures until the campaigns file detailed financial reports to the Federal Election Commission. The campaigns have released rough estimates of their fundraising, but the complete reports are not due until April 15.
Romney raises $20.63 million in first quarter
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney raised more than $20 million for his bid for the GOP presidential nomination, the largest number posted by a Republican so far in the first quarter of 2007, his campaign announced Monday.
Romney raised $20.63 million in primary contributions, and he also loaned his campaign $2.35 million, while transferring an additional $20,000 from his 1994 Senate account. In total, Romney's campaign posted $23 million for the quarter. Unlike some presidential candidates, Romney chose to only raise money for the primary.
Ex-publisher of National Enquirer set to meet with prosecutors investigating Trump

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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The purely analog design of the PM-KI Ruby contributes to its noise-reduction structure and clean build. Rather than build the DAC into the amplifier, which would add noise within the chassis, Marantz built the PM-KI Ruby without one and then implemented the DAC in the SA-KI Ruby Super Audio CD Player. This eliminated interference with the delicate analog signals passing through the amp, maintaining an analog environment that's as pure and clean as possible.
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Cinch input "[CD][PHONO]:Thick nickel plated independent terminals Others: Gold plated"


text:
Malayalm
Prophethood
Fate & Destiny
Worship in Hinduism
Wisdom behind Islamic Rulings
Social Sphere
Ethics and Values
Status of Women
Islam & Hinduism
Guided Hindus
Fasting in Islam
May 18, 2020 0 Muhammad
By: Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi
O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous.
The Arabic word for fasting is "Sawm" as mentioned in the Glorious Qur'an. The word Sawm literally means "abstaining". The Surah of Maryam says that Maryam (Virgin Mary), the mother of Jesus, said
Indeed, I have vowed to the Most Merciful abstention, so I will not speak today to [any] man. (Maryam 19:26)
According to Shari`ah, the word Sawm means to abstain from all those things that are forbidden during fasting, from the break of dawn to the sunset, and to do so with the intention of fasting.
The Purpose of Fasting
The Glorious Qur'an says:
O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous. (Al-Baqarah 2:183)
Taqwa is a very important spiritual and ethical term of the Glorious Qur'an. It is the sum total of all Islamic spirituality and ethics. It is a quality in a believer's life that keeps him or her aware of Allah all the time. A person who has Taqwa loves to do good and avoid evil, for the sake of Allah. Taqwa is piety, righteousness and consciousness of Allah. Taqwa requires patience and perseverance. Fasting teaches patience, and with patience one can rise to the high position of Taqwa.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said that fasting is a shield. It protects a person from sin and lustful desires.
Imam Ibn Al Qayyim, viewed fasting as a means of releasing the human spirit from the clutches of desire, thus allowing moderation to prevail in the carnal self. Imam Shah Waliullah Dahlawi viewed fasting as a means of weakening the bestial and reinforcing the angelic elements in human beings. Mawlana Mawdudi emphasized that fasting for a full month every year trains a person individually and the Muslim community as a whole, in piety and self restraint.
The Obligation of Fasting
In the second year of Hijrah, Muslims were commanded to fast in the month of Ramadan every year as mentioned in Surah Al-Baqarah 2:183. The Glorious Qur'an further says:
The month of Ramadhan [is that] in which was revealed the Qur'an, a guidance for the people and clear proofs of guidance and criterion. So whoever sights [the new moon of] the month, let him fast it. (Al-Baqarah 2:184)
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) explained this further in a number of his statements reported in the books of Hadith. It is reported by Imam Al-Bukhari and Imam Muslim on the authority of Ibn `Umar that the Messenger of Allah said: "Islam is built upon five pillars: testifying that there is no one worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, performing Prayer, paying the Zakah, making the pilgrimage to the Sacred House, and fasting during the month of Ramadan."
The entire Muslim world is unanimous in the principal of fasting in the month of Ramadan and considers it obligatory upon every person who is physically capable.
Rulings of Fasting
A) Who must fast?
Fasting in the month of Ramadan is obligatory upon every adult Muslim, male or female, who has reached puberty, is sane and who is not sick or traveling.
Sickness could be a temporary sickness from which a person expects to be cured soon. Such a person should not fast during the days of his or her sickness, but he or she must fast later after Ramadan to complete the missed days. Those who are sick with incurable illness and expect no better health are also allowed not to fast but they must pay the fidyah, which is giving a day's meals for each fast missed to a needy person. Instead of food for one day one can also give equivalent amount of money to a needy person.
Women in their menses and post-natal bleeding are not allowed to fast, but they must make up for the missed days of fasting later after Ramadan. Pregnant women and mothers who are nursing babies can also postpone their fasting to a later time when they are able to fast.
According to the Shari`ah, the rulings of travelling is applicable to any journey that takes you away from your city of residence, a minimum of 48 miles or 80 kilometers. The journey must be for a good cause. One must avoid frivolous travel during Ramadan which causes a person to miss fasting. If possible, one should try to change their travel plans during Ramadan to be able to fast and should not travel unless it is necessary. The traveler who misses the fasts of Ramadan must make up for those missed days later as soon as possible after Ramadan.
B) Sunnan of Fasting
It is recommendable to do the following:
1- Taking Sahur (pre-dawn meal). It is Sunnah, and there is a great reward and blessing in taking Sahur. The best time for Sahur is the last half hour before the time of Fajr prayer.
2- Taking Iftar (break-fast) immediately after sunset.
3- During the fast, abstain from all false talks and deeds. Do not quarrel, dispute and do not indulge in arguments, do not use bad words, do not commit anything that is forbidden. You should try to discipline yourself morally and ethically, besides gaining physical training and discipline. You should also not make a show of your fasting by talking too much about it, or by showing dry lips and a hungry stomach, or by showing a bad temper. The fasting person must be a pleasant person with good spirits and good cheer.
4- During the fast, do acts of charity and goodness to others and increase your worship and reading of the Glorious Qur'an. Every one should try to read the whole Glorious Qur'an at least once during the month of Ramadan.
C) Things That Invalidate the Fast
You must avoid doing anything that may render your fast invalid. Things that invalidate the fast and require Qada' (making up for these days) are the following:
1- Eating, drinking or smoking deliberately, including taking any non-nourishing items by mouth or nose.
2- Deliberately causing oneself to vomit.
3- The beginning of menstrual or post-childbirth bleeding even in the last moment before sunset.
4- Sexual intercourse, or masturbation that results in ejaculation (for men) or vaginal secretions (orgasm) for women.
5- Eating, drinking, smoking or having sexual intercourse after Fajr (dawn) on the mistaken assumption that it is not Fajr time yet. Similarly, engaging in these acts before Maghrib (sunset) on the mistaken assumption that it is already Maghrib time.
Sexual intercourse during fasting is forbidden. Those who engage in it must make both Qada' (make up the fasts) and Kaffarah (expiation by fasting for 60 days after Ramadan or by feeding 60 poor people for each day of fast broken in this way). According to Imam Abu Hanifah, eating and/or drinking deliberately during fast also entail the same qadaa' and kaffarah.
D) Things That Do Not Invalidate Fasting
During fast, the following things are permissible:
1- Taking a bath or shower. If water is swallowed involuntarily it will not invalidate the fast. According to most of the jurists, swimming is also allowed in fasting, but one should avoid diving, because that may cause the water to go from the mouth or nose into the stomach.
2- Using perfumes, wearing contact lenses or using eye drops.
3- Taking injections or having a blood test.
4- Using Miswak (tooth-stick) or toothbrush (even with tooth paste) and rinsing the mouth or nostrils with water, provided it is not overdone (so as to avoid swallowing water).
5- Eating, drinking or smoking unintentionally, i.e., forgetting that one was fasting. But one must stop as soon as one remembers and should continue his fast.
6- Sleeping during the daytime and having a wet-dream does not break one's fast. Also, if one has intercourse during the night and was not able to make Ghusl (bathe) before dawn, he or she can begin fast and make Ghusl later. Women whose menstruation stops during the night may begin fasting even if they have not made Ghusl yet. In all these cases, bathing (Ghusl) is necessary but fast is valid even without bathing.
7- Kissing between husband and wife is allowed in fasting, but one should try to avoid it so that one may not do anything further that is forbidden during the fast.
E) Requirements for the Validity of Fasting
There are basically two main components of fasting:
1- The intention (Niyyah) for fasting. One should make a sincere intention to fast for the sake of Allah every day before dawn. The intention does not need to be in words, but must be with the sincerity of the heart and mind. Some jurists are of the opinion that the intention can be made once only for the whole month and does not have to be repeated every day. It is; however, better to make intention every day to take full reward of fasting.
2- Abstaining from dawn to dusk from everything that invalidates fasting as was mentioned above.
Source: Taken from www.islamicity.com with modifications.
What Is Hajj?
Fasting Fights Cancer
Zakah (Obligatory Charity) in Islam
Significance of Zakah
A Hindu Loves the Fasting of Ramadan
Revert to Islam
Quran Radio
Hindi Articles/ हिंदी लेख
Prophet Muhammad in Hindu Scriptures
रोज़े से संबंधित अहकाम एंव फतावे
मुहम्मद बिन सालेह अल-उसैमीन
हज्ज और उम्रा का तरीक़ा
यूसुफ बिन अब्दुल्लाह अल-अहमद
ग़लतफ़हमियों का निवारण (इस्लाम के बारे में ग़ैर मुस्लिमों के सामान्य प्रश्नों के उत्तर)
ज़ाकिर नायिक
मात्र एक संदेश!
नाजी इब्राहीम अल-अरफज
सौभाग्य जीवन के लाभदायक उपाय
अब्दुर्रहमान बिन नासिर अस-सअदी
हज्ज का संक्षिप्त तरीका (A Brief Guide to Hajj in Hindi)
इस्लाम धर्म के मूल सिद्धांत
अताउर्रहमान ज़ियाउल्लाह
प्रिय पैग़म्बर सल्लल्लाहु अलैहि व सल्लम की संगत में 40 सभाएँ
आदिल बिन अली अश्शद्दी
सच्चा धर्म
बिलाल फिलीप्स
इस्लाम में औरतों के अधिकार


Reminding us that shoe customization has been around for decades, adidas is re-releasing the adicolor LO (originally from 1983) in a kit that includes the original plain white shoes, paints, brushes and a wooden palette. The box will also include sealant to keep your painted shoes looking great, though the fact of the matter is people who are able to get their hands on one of these are most likely going to keep everything in tact on a shelf behind glass.
adicolor is a huge push from adidas this Spring including the release of 36 pre-customized pairs that extend the concept beyond the original adicolor style to include Superstars, Centuries and Stan Smiths. All the pairs will feauture limited editions and the release will be staggered. Hypebeast has pictures and a release schedule.


We can help companies and individuals seeking to register intellectual property rights, and protect their corporate identity or ideas. We can register trademarks and patents across the European Union, as well as in the United Kingdom.
We are also specialists in obtaining injunctions to protect against infringements of existing trademarks or patents. We can also bring "passing-off" actions, for companies and firms that have not formally registered their corporate identity but find that it is being copied.


As meals go, breakfast is something of a celebrity. It is one of the most studied, analyzed, parsed, discussed, and advised-about subjects of nutritional science. Never more so than today, as doctors, and nutritionists, and countless articles and academic papers prescribe breakfast as both prophylactic and cure-all: The morning meal is said to stoke metabolism, stop late-night grazing, thwart obesity, reduce diabetes risk, improve nutritional intake, sharpen concentration—even increase longevity. In March, a new study more conclusively linked breakfast with body-mass index, with weight increasing as the frequency of breakfast consumption decreased. Breakfast, it seems, is highly influential: the power broker of repasts.
Yet despite all the fussing over and fetishizing of breakfast, most of us have only the vaguest notion of what we should be ingesting. Each new study of breakfast seems to contradict the last. Are eggs advisable, or will they raise one's cholesterol? Is a meal of toast anemic or adequate? What is a whole grain, anyway? And most important, are we really making ourselves fatter, hungrier, dumber, shorter-lived, slow metabolizers by not eating a so-called proper breakfast? As the experts continue to debate, most of us shrug and make choices not out of any real knowledge but for lack of time. If we don't slurp down a bowl of cereal at home, or succumb to the buxom muffin beckoning from the glass case at the deli, then an enormous caffeinated drink with a hyphenated name becomes our de facto morning meal.
The multifarious reasons people cite for dumping breakfast shed some light on the psychology of the meal. Some simply don't like to eat in the morning; a handful of friends, none of them pregnant, tell me that even the smell of food before eleven makes them nauseated. Chronic dieters pass on breakfast with an eye toward shaving a few hundred calories off their day. Others can't seem to squeeze in a meal amid the chaos of their morning: the dog to walk, the children to dress, the in-box fires to extinguish, the enervating commute. Still others, and I count myself among this crowd, sometimes abstain because the received wisdom about breakfast seems possibly spurious—one of those persistent nutrition myths, like the notion that you need eight to ten glasses of water per day or that celery has negative calories: If breakfast is supposed to curb your appetite, then why, shortly after partaking, am I ravenous, unable to focus on anything but foraging for more food, hungrier than when I don't eat anything?
But since so many researchers argue that breakfast does matter, I began to investigate. How, exactly, are we harming ourselves by failing to eat breakfast? The simplified answer is that it depends on how young you are. Even Nestle concedes that there is strong evidence that children who skip breakfast do not fare as well academically or physically as those who eat it. A study conducted by researchers at Tufts University found that children who consumed a breakfast of Quaker instant oatmeal displayed better spatial memory and an increased ability to stay on task (what the study called "vigilance attention") when performing a battery of cognitive tests than children who ate Cap'n Crunch, and, perhaps surprisingly, those who ate the sweetened cereal performed better than those who ate nothing. Another study, this one by researchers at the University of Reading, found that adolescents fed a sugary drink in the morning will subsequently display all the mental agility of a 70-year-old. It's not much of a leap to assume that an adult who skips breakfast will have the same difficulty concentrating at work as a kid sitting in a classroom—hunger is distracting whatever your age—but distracted office workers have not been a major concern for breakfast researchers.
Researchers are interested in breakfast because they are interested in obesity, and they suspect that skipping the former plays a role in fostering the latter. "The frequency of eating breakfast has declined over the past several decades, during which time the obesity epidemic has also unfolded," write researchers Maureen T. Timlin and Mark A. Pereira in an excellent meta-analysis of all the scientific literature on breakfast to date, published in the June 2007 issue of Nutrition Reviews. Timlin and Pereira—the pair appear to be the Boswells of breakfast—also conducted the study about breakfast and body-mass index (BMI) published in Pediatrics in March. They tracked 2,216 Minnesota adolescents for five years, and found that subjects who skipped breakfast were consistently heavier than those who did not.
The relationship appears to hold for adults as well. A 2003 study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology concluded that subjects who habitually skipped breakfast (at least 75 percent of the time) had a four and a half times higher risk of obesity than those who habitually consumed it. (Those who missed breakfast even once during the study had an increased risk of obesity.) And of the 5,000-plus members of the National Weight Control Registry—registrants have lost an average of 66 pounds and have kept it off for more than five years—78 percent claim to be regular breakfast eaters.
But breakfast-eating and weight-management may not be connected in the way that we think: Despite what women's magazines, and pop health magazines, and legions of mothers say, the mere act of consuming breakfast does not miraculously speed up one's metabolism. In fact, it's hard to pinpoint exactly why eating breakfast tends to coincide with healthier weight. It may be that eating breakfast simply creates a feeling of satiety, which prevents trips to the vending machine or the drive-through in the afternoon or evening. (Eating at regular intervals maintains insulin and blood-sugar levels, preventing the peaks and valleys that cause voracity.) The American Journal of Epidemiology study found that adults consumed more calories on the days they eschewed a morning meal.
Are we making ourselves hungrier, dumber, shorter-lived, slow metabolizers by not eating a proper breakfast?
The real problem, from a researcher's point of view, is that breakfast consumption is a habit that tends to occur along with a constellation of other healthy behaviors—like exercising, not smoking, and maintaining a healthy diet—that may confound or influence the effect of breakfast on obesity. (Unhealthy behaviors, too, tend to stick together: Fewer than 5 percent of smokers eat breakfast daily.) In at least one study, when confounding variables were accounted for, the relationship between breakfast and body-mass index was not significant. The eating of breakfast was only an ancillary factor, one salubrious practice among several that contributed to slimness. Breakfasting and forgoing the gym will probably do little to reduce or control one's weight. In the Pediatrics study, for example, it seemed surprising that the breakfast eaters often had a higher daily caloric intake and yet also a lower BMI than their breakfast-skipping peers, but when I asked Pereira what explained this finding—had eating a morning meal somehow increased the subjects' metabolism?—he emphasized that the eaters were exercisers as well.
This is all to say that it is not yet clear to researchers whether the relationship between breakfast and obesity is causal (i.e., breakfast consumption directly influences weight) or merely associational. Breakfast may play a supporting role in weight management, rather than a starring one. Few prospective studies (in which breakfast-eating subjects are followed over a period of time) or clinical trials (in which breakfast eating is tested as an interventional therapy, as a drug might be) have been done. This is why the Pediatrics study, conducted prospectively over the course of five years, was a significant contribution to the field of breakfast studies: We can observe the correlation between breakfast consumption and BMI over time, which approximates cause and effect.
If mere consumption is not itself transformative, the question remains: What are we to eat? People have been fretting about what constitutes an ideal breakfast since at least the 1800s. Sylvester Graham, of cracker fame, promoted his high-fiber, additive-free wheat flour as a remedy for the dyspepsia epidemic of the time, which he felt was caused by the meat-centric, multicourse American breakfast: an extravaganza of pancakes, biscuits, eggs, bacon, fried ham, salt pork, and potatoes. (Such hearty fare had been fuel for the farmer but was fattening to the more sedentary industrialist.) As Scott Bruce and Bill Crawford write in Cerealizing America, the ascetic Graham believed that "meat eating inflamed the 'baser properties,' " leading to masturbation—what he called "the vice"—and that "tea drinking led to delirium tremens." Sixty years later, John Harvey Kellogg, who breakfasted on graham crackers and apples himself, also peddled grains, in the form of the first flake cereal, as a vegetarian cure for digestive trouble. You might say that breakfast has a long history of having the fun drained out of it.
The warring of the diet factions continues today in a slightly more scientific fashion. A 2003 paper published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition claimed that individuals who consumed ready-to-eat cereal, cooked cereal, or, oddly, "quick breads"—waffles, pancakes, pastries, and the like—had lower BMIs than those who ate meat and eggs or abstained from breakfast entirely. But a 2007 study found the opposite: Obese women who ate two eggs for breakfast daily for eight weeks lost 65 percent more weight than their bagel-fed counterparts. Like most prescriptive studies, however, these two must be taken with a grain of salt (or, in the case of the cereal study, a few granules of sugar): Kellogg funded the former; the American Egg Board funded the latter. Among those in the field of nutrition research, it is widely acknowledged that, for a variety of reasons ranging from flawed study design to buried negative results, industry-funded studies tend to find industry-favorable results. For instance: The Tufts study that found that Quaker instant oatmeal (and, to a lesser degree, Cap'n Crunch) improved cognitive performance was funded by Quaker, the maker of both products.
The studies and advice grow ever more specific and contradictory: If your aim is to optimize attention span and memory—especially in children—then, according to one study, the best breakfast is ham and hard cheese on whole-grain bread. If you want to prevent heart disease (and who doesn't?), try whole-grain cereal; one bowl per day is associated with a 28 percent lower risk of heart failure. If you're a woman hoping to conceive a boy, then, according to a recent study from the University of Exeter, you should increase your breakfast consumption by approximately 400 calories daily. (Women with the highest caloric intake had boys 56 percent of the time, compared with 45 percent with the lowest caloric intake.) It's enough to make one feel inclined to take refuge in Vonnegut's breakfast of champions: a morning martini.
And yet, even as they disagree on the specifics, the majority of researchers seem to agree that what we put into our bodies in the morning is a critical decision. Because it occurs after eight, ten, or even twelve hours of sleep, the breakfasting moment is physiologically unique. "The nature of the food we eat affects hormones in profound ways for many hours after a meal, and that's more important after breakfast," said Dr. David Ludwig, associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and author of Ending the Food Fight. "We've been fasting and stress hormones are elevated and we're insulin-resistant, so we can use the properties of food at this time to our benefit or our detriment." A fasting body is particularly sensitive to, say, a sugary, refined-starch, low-fiber muffin; blood sugar will soar and then plummet, leaving you famished once again.
What's preferable, according to Ludwig, is to choose breakfast foods with a low glycemic index (GI). The term refers to the rate at which glucose is absorbed from carbohydrates—or, put another way, how rapidly carbohydrates affect blood sugar. This is important because controlling insulin and blood-glucose levels in turn controls appetite and, ultimately, weight. In a 1999 study led by Ludwig, twelve obese teenage boys were fed at various occasions high-GI ("instant oatmeal"), medium-GI ("steel-cut oats"), and low-GI ("a vegetable omelette and fruit") breakfasts and lunches, and then were allowed to consume all the food they wanted for the rest of the day. The high-GI cohort, in a state of crashing blood sugar and surging adrenaline induced by the instant oatmeal, devoured 500 to 600 extra calories. (This phenomenon likely explains that postprandial ravenousness I often experience—my morning mainstays, toaster waffles and quick-cooking oats, rank fairly high on the GI list.) Low-glycemic foods may even help breakfasters achieve that dietary holy grail: speeding up metabolism. In another study, subjects kept on such a diet saw their metabolic rate shift slightly to burn approximately 80 more calories per day—not a lot, but every little bit helps.
How to tell if a food has a low glycemic index? A quick rule of thumb: The more processed the food, the higher its GI; the higher a food's fiber content, the lower its GI. Breakfast, in other words, should be a high-fiber affair. This means vegetables and fruits (but not juices—the fiber is in the pulp and skin) and whole grains. For the record, a whole grain is an intact, unrefined grain that retains the bran and germ, its nutrient- and fiber-rich components.
Eggs too may help to control blood sugar (protein stimulates the release of glucagon, a hormone that counterbalances insulin), but don't defect to the Atkins camp just yet. Eggs are also high in cholesterol. Many doctors, noting that sensitivity to dietary cholesterol varies, advise limiting eggs to several per week.
So what, then, to eat? The path of bread crumbs—or cereal flakes—through the thicket of breakfast suggestions is this: Breakfast is not dessert. Most muffins and bagels are out, as are those breakfast bars with the creepy strip of ersatz milk, and the many cereals that claim to be "whole grain" but are in fact sugary and fiberless. Out too are my beloved toaster waffles, unless I find a version containing the recommended five grams of fiber per serving. What remains are the foods that we probably should have been eating all along: unprocessed, low-GI, fiber-rich foods like fruits, vegetables (in omelettes if nowhere else), oatmeal (slow-cooking or steel-cut rather than instant), whole-grain breads and cereals (that are also high in fiber and low in sugar), protein in the form of low-fat dairy, and eggs in moderation. Nothing too exciting, but then, breakfast is all business. If you're looking for thrills, try dinner.


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The Good and the Bad Results of the Redesign of NOLA's School System
Image Credit: Gilbert Mercier, New-Orleans post Katrina 2006
August 3, 2015; Salon
It's been ten years since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast and left much of New Orleans underwater, its population displaced and its institutions devastated. The need to rebuild a school system from the ground up allowed "school reformers" to put their marketplace, performance-based theories into practice on a scale and at a pace unmatched in any other American city. Ten years in, observers are beginning to be able to measure how this experiment has played out and to see if it is a model other locales should emulate.
Douglas Harris, professor of economics at Tulane University and founder and director of the Education Research Alliance for New Orleans, described the scope of the changes that were implemented in Education Next:
"Within the span of one year, all public-school employees were fired, the teacher contract expired and was not replaced, and most attendance zones were eliminated. The state took control of almost all public schools and began holding them to relatively strict standards of academic achievement. Over time, the state turned all the schools under its authority over to charter management organizations (CMOs) that, in turn, dramatically reshaped the teacher workforce. […] New Orleans essentially erased its traditional school district and started over. In the process, the city has provided the first direct test of an alternative to the system that has dominated American public education for more than a century."
Harris and his colleagues at Tulane have just released findings from research they had been conducting on New Orleans's schools. On the basic level of academic achievement, there seems to be some good news: New Orleans children are learning better than their peers in other parts of the state and better than they were before Katrina stuck.
"For New Orleans, the news on average student outcomes is quite positive by just about any measure. The reforms seem to have moved the average student up by 0.2 to 0.4 standard deviations and boosted rates of high school graduation and college entry. We are not aware of any other districts that have made such large improvements in such a short time.
"The effects are also large compared with other completely different strategies for school improvement, such as class-size reduction and intensive preschool. This seems true even after we account for the higher costs. While it might seem hard to compare such different strategies, the heart of the larger school-reform debate is between systemic reforms like the portfolio model and resource-oriented strategies."
But this level of student improvement has not been without cost. Not only has the financial investment in rebuilding New Orleans's schools been exceptionally large in terms of both public and private investment, there has also been a cost in creating a corporate management system for a public school system.
Blogger Jennifer C. Berkshire, known as EduShyster, took a look at this side of the NOLA education story in a recent Salon article. Andre Perry, former CEO of the Capital One/UNO charter network, told her, "The test scores are up, but let's be honest about what we had to do to get there. Don't lie to people and say 'it's all good.'"
One of Perry's concerns is that in a city that is 65 percent black, the leadership of the reform effort and many of the schools within it are almost entirely white. In Perry's view, "We can't have a white-led reform movement in New Orleans where all of the decisions are made by three or four power brokers."
Christy Rosales-Fajardo, an organizer for VAYLA, a group of students and young leaders from both the Vietnamese and Latino communities, is convinced that parents actually have less power in New Orleans today than they did under the prior school system. She argues that eliminating neighborhood schools has also eliminated the power of parents to come together as part of a community: "Parents are fighting individual battles with these schools and they're all petrified of what will happen to their kids," she says. Meanwhile, principals in the new autonomous landscape are more powerful than ever, functioning more like CEOs who report to handpicked nonprofit boards.
"That's the power shift," Fajardo says.
Berkshire also found that a large number of children and teens have dropped out of the public school system entirely, and their lost education is not reflected in the data set:
"There are the huge number of young people in New Orleans between the ages of 16 and 24 who are neither in school or working. The recent Measure of America study, conducted by the Social Science Research Council, found that the greater New Orleans/Metairie region is home to more than 26,000 so-called 'opportunity youth'…the number of students who've dropped out of the New Orleans' schools begins to creep up uncomfortably close to the 43,000 students who are still in them."
In a recent blog post, Michael Stone, CEO of New Schools for New Orleans summed up the challenges still to be faced in New Orleans and in every urban school district looking for direction:
"An encouraging decade of academic growth hasn't erased the pervasive sense that reform was done 'to' the city, rather than via collective action by citizens, veteran educators, and African American families in New Orleans. And our city's progress hasn't cured the social ills that young people here face: poverty, violence and trauma, sky-high incarceration rates, fractured mental health services. That is a daunting list."
And Professor Harris also thinks that what has happened positively in New Orleans should be taken with a large grain of salt by educational leaders looking for answers in their own school districts. "Unfortunately, the effects of even the most successful programs are often not replicated when tried elsewhere, and there are good reasons to think the conditions were especially ripe for success in New Orleans."—Marty Levine
More about: education reform public schoolsCase StudiesNonprofit NewsPolicy


Put any group of people together 40 hours a week and you're likely to have a few problems. Whether your company is a small one or a huge corporation, you've surely run into an employee who gets on others's nerves. It might be easy to ignore the situation and hope it goes away, but all too often these office jerks disrupt productivity and cause serious morale issues.
Incompetent,erratic and unreliable the messy one can tank productivity and energy for the whole team.Nobody like to see someone struggling, but constant appeals for help and an over-reliance on other people to clean up or correct mistakes can quickly bring projects to a crawl and cause frustration.
Offer extra training,support and frequent check-ins to this type of coworkers.
He explodes whenever things don't go the way he thinks they should. He screams at meetings, yells into the telephone, and gets in your face. While he might apologize later, the whole team ends up perpetually walking on eggshells.
Raise your own intensity (or you won't be heard), and then refuse to put up with unprofessional behavior. If necessary, leave the room until he's cooled down.
It can be difficult to avoid backstabbers, since they can exist at every level of an organization. There are bosses who steal ideas and claim them as their own and coworkers who rush to undermine their colleagues at the first opportunity.
You'll need to tread carefully with backstabbers. Document your work and make sure you build strong working relationships with others in the office.
Unfortunately, the only solution here is a little good old-fashioned micromanagement. Lay out frequent (even daily) milestones, and create consequences for missing one — or for failing to report that he missed it.
In any group of people, bullying or gossiping can be a problem. It easily creates a hostile work environment. It's important to avoid participating in this type of activity but if you find yourself the target of such negativity, there are a few things you can do to keep it at a minimum.
Make sure you remain professional at all times and the gossips will often be the ones who look bad.
He automatically turns absolutely everything into a hissy fit, replete with pique, umbrage, and a host of other French emotions. He seems to draw energy from the drama, while draining energy from everyone else.
Set up boundaries for the behavior that you won't tolerate. Eject him from any meeting where his behavior becomes obstructive.
Next story Want to Get Smarter Without Even Trying? Science Says Do This 1 Thing!


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Q: Select the Nth item from a jQuery array or object list of elements
Possible Duplicate:
How to get nth jQuery element
Get an element by index in jquery

What is the jQuery equivalent of the square brackets [ ] indexing notation for selecting the Nth item from an array?
Say you have 10 paragraphs and want to get the contents of the 7th one. Using square bracket notation works, but not if you want to keep using jQuery:
$("p")[6];        //returns DOM object: [object HTMLParagraphElement]
$("p")[6].html(); //returns error: (Chrome:) Uncaught TypeError: Object #<HTMLParagraphElement> has no method 'html' (Firefox:) TypeError: $("p")[6].html is not a function (IE8+:) TypeError: Object doesn't support this property or method (IE7:) [object Error]

(jsfiddle example)

A: Square bracket [n] index notation works but you get the native Javascript DOM object, not something that jQuery can work with. Use jQuery's .eq() method  or the :eq() selector to get a jQuery object.
$("p").eq(6).html();
$("p:eq(6)").html();

(jsfiddle example)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
698 F.3d 1128 (9th Cir. 2012), 09-16233, Tsao v. Desert Palace, Inc.
Document Cited authorities 70 Cited in 636 Precedent Map Related
Docket Nº: 09-16233, 09-17535.
Citation: 698 F.3d 1128
Opinion Judge: BERZON, Circuit Judge:
Party Name: Laurie TSAO, AKA Laurie Chang, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. DESERT PALACE, INC.; T. Crumrine, Defendants-Appellees. Laurie Tsao, AKA Laurie Chang, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Desert Palace, Inc.; T. Crumrine, Defendants-Appellees.
Attorney: Robert A. Nersesian of Nersesian and Sankiewicz, Las Vegas, NV, for plaintiff-appellant Laurie Tsao. Thomas D. Dillard, Philip S. Gerson, and David M. Jones of Olson, Cannon, Gormley & Desruisseaux, Las Vegas, NV, for defendant-appellee Desert Palace, Inc. Micah S. Echols and Craig R. Anderson of...
Judge Panel: Before: ALEX KOZINSKI, Chief Judge,[*]STEPHEN REINHARDT and MARSHA S. BERZON, Circuit Judges.
Case Date: October 23, 2012
Court: United States Courts of Appeals, Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
698 F.3d 1128 (9th Cir. 2012)
Laurie TSAO, AKA Laurie Chang, Plaintiff-Appellant,
DESERT PALACE, INC.; T. Crumrine, Defendants-Appellees.
Nos. 09-16233, 09-17535.
United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.
Argued and Submitted Oct. 7, 2010.
Submission Vacated May 24, 2012.
Argued and Submitted June 21, 2012.
[Copyrighted Material Omitted]
Robert A. Nersesian of Nersesian and Sankiewicz, Las Vegas, NV, for plaintiff-appellant Laurie Tsao.
Thomas D. Dillard, Philip S. Gerson, and David M. Jones of Olson, Cannon, Gormley & Desruisseaux, Las Vegas, NV, for defendant-appellee Desert Palace, Inc.
Micah S. Echols and Craig R. Anderson of Marquis & Aurbach, Las Vegas, NV, for defendant-appellee Travis Crumrine.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Nevada, Robert Clive Jones, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. 2:08-cv-00713-RCJ-GWF.
Before: ALEX KOZINSKI, Chief Judge,[*]STEPHEN REINHARDT and MARSHA S. BERZON, Circuit Judges.
BERZON, Circuit Judge:
Plaintiff-Appellant Laurie Tsao is a so-called " advantage" gambler— a professional gambler who uses legal techniques, such as card counting, to win at casino table games, especially blackjack.1 She was arrested
at Caesars Palace (a casino owned by the Defendant-Appellee Desert Palace) for trespassing and obstructing the duties of a police officer, and now challenges that arrest as unconstitutional and as constituting various common law torts. The District Court held that the casino's security guard (non-party Clint Makeley) had probable cause to make a citizen's arrest of Tsao for criminal trespassing; that Las Vegas Metro Police Officer Travis Crumrine, a Defendant-Appellee, had probable cause to arrest Tsao for obstructing the duties of a police officer; and that the probable cause determinations barred Tsao's various claims for relief against Crumrine and Desert Palace. Tsao appeals those holdings and also the District Court's grant of attorneys' fees to Crumrine, as well as the award of certain costs to both defendants.
I. BACKGROUND2
A. Casinos & " advantage" players
This case grows out of the high-stakes cat-and-mouse game played between advantage gamblers and Desert Palace (sometimes referred to as " the casino" ), which operates a number of gambling venues, including Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Desert Palace attempts to identify advantage players and " trespass" them— that is, tell them to leave and not return— from the casino's property. Under Nevada's trespass statute, Nevada Revised Statute (" NRS" ) § 207.200, returning to a location from which one has been told not to return by a property owner or its agent, or remaining after having been asked to leave, is a misdemeanor. To avoid being trespassed, or, once trespassed, to avoid being charged with misdemeanor trespassing, advantage players apparently take a number of steps to evade detection, including wearing disguises, obtaining player's cards in false names, and gambling with the player's cards of friends and family.3
B. Desert Palace Security and the Summons in Lieu of Arrest Program
Once a Desert Palace casino has identified a patron as an advantage player, it typically instructs its security guards to escort that individual from the premises and warn her against returning. Desert Palace also directs its security to identify individuals who have returned despite having received a trespass warning. Pursuant to the policies in effect at Caesars Palace at all times relevant to this suit, if a previously trespassed individual returned to the casino, the security supervisor had the discretion to escort the individual from the casino with a second warning; to effect a citizen's arrest for trespassing; 4 or to issue a citation to appear in court to answer for the crime of misdemeanor trespassing.
Private security guards, of course, typically do not have the ability to issue citations for criminal offenses. Some of the security guards at Caesars Palace, however, have the authority to issue a summons 5 in lieu of arrest (" SILA" ). To obtain this authority, private casino security guards must take a training course given by the Las Vegas Metro Police Department (" LVMPD" ). During his deposition, Officer Crumrine explained that the LVMPD invites the security personnel of the city's casinos and department stores to take part in the SILA program " [t]o alleviate some of the manpower concerns of the police" by relieving local law enforcement of the obligation to respond to calls regarding relatively minor crimes.
After being trained, the security guards can issue summonses for criminal trespassing,6 so long as the suspect is positively identified; not under the influence of intoxicating substances; cooperative; and free of outstanding arrest warrants. The guards verify that a particular individual does not have outstanding warrants by calling the records department of the LVMPD. A citation issued by a Caesars Palace security guard looks no different from one given by an LVMPD officer: it commands the suspect's appearance in court on a specified date and time, and states, accurately, that the failure to appear constitutes a separate offense. See NRS § 171.17785(1) (" It is unlawful for a person to violate a written promise to appear given to a peace officer upon the issuance of a misdemeanor citation...." ); Las Vegas Municipal Code (" LVMC" ) § 1.20.060 (2009) (" When an accused signs a citation promising to appear at the time and place specified in the citation and fails to appear as promised, the Court shall issue and have delivered for execution a warrant for his arrest." ).
After the SILA officer has issued the citation, Nevada law requires that it be filed " with a court having jurisdiction over the alleged offense." NRS § 171.1776(1). The Justice Courts have jurisdiction over all misdemeanors, including the offenses for which the SILA officers may issue citations. See NRS § 4.370(3); Parsons v. Fifth Jud. Dist. Ct. of Nev., In & For Cnty. of Nye [" Parsons I " ], 110 Nev. 1239, 885 P.2d 1316, 1319 (1994), overruled on other grounds by Parsons v. State [" Parsons II " ], 116 Nev. 928, 10 P.3d 836 (2000) (en banc). Once properly filed, the citation is " deemed to be a lawful complaint for the purpose of prosecution." NRS § 171.1778. While Nevada law requires many public offenses to be prosecuted by indictment or information, there is an exception for offenses tried in Justice Courts, which are prosecuted by complaint. NRS § 172.015. Taken together, these features of Nevada law mean that a misdemeanor citation issued by a SILA officer not only initiates the formal criminal justice process by informing the court of the alleged criminal
violation and commanding the defendant's presence, but also serves as the state's own charging document. See NRS §§ 4.370(3), 171.1776(1), 171.1778, 172.015; Parsons I, 885 P.2d at 1319-20.
In sum, SILA officers have the authority to issue citations that compel individuals to appear in a particular Nevada Justice Court at a specified date and time, thereby performing a law enforcement function. See Flagg Bros., Inc. v. Brooks, 436 U.S. 149, 163-64, 163 n. 14, 98 S.Ct. 1729, 56 L.Ed.2d 185 (1978). When they do appear in the Justice Courts, the accused must defend against the criminal charges levied by the officer who issued the citation; in this respect, the SILA officers also perform a prosecutorial or quasi-prosecutorial function. See Robertson v. United States ex rel. Watson, ---U.S. ----, 130 S.Ct. 2184, 2185-87, 176 L.Ed.2d 1024 (2010) (per curiam) (Roberts, C.J., dissenting from the dismissal of the writ of certiorari as improvidently granted) (suggesting that criminal prosecutions may only be brought " in the name and pursuant to the power of the [state]" ).
C. Tsao's arrest by Desert Palace
Laurie Tsao is a professional gambler, apparently quite a good one. Tsao has received several trespass warnings. Prior to her arrest at Caesars Palace, she had been " trespassed" from Desert Palace properties on at least five occasions under four different names: Cao Hong, Laurie Cao, Laurie Tsao, and Shuyu Deng. On each occasion, she was told that she was not welcome on any of the casino's properties, including Caesars Palace, and was warned that she could be arrested for trespassing if she returned. The last of these warnings was given by Clint Makeley, the night shift supervisor of Caesars Palace security, on September 23, 2007.
Following that warning, but before Tsao was arrested on March 19, 2008, Desert Palace mailed her at least three promotional offers. The offers were sent to Tsao's home address and were directed to " Laurie Tsao." The first offer, valid from December 1, 2007 through February 29, 2008, offered a free four-night stay at one of seven Las Vegas casino hotels (including Caesars Palace) owned by Desert Palace. The second (labeled an " invitation" ) was valid from March 19 through March 24, 2008, and offered a three-night stay at one of the same seven hotels, as well as entry to a " VIP Viewing Area" to watch college basketball and " VIP access to Race and Sports Book wagering area." The third, valid from March 1 through May 31, 2008, included six different offers, including one for a free four-night stay at one of Desert Palace's casino hotels. Tsao's claims against Desert Palace turn in large part on whether these offers can reasonably be viewed as " invitations" for Tsao to play blackjack at Caesars Palace.
Tsao returned to Caesars Palace around 2:00 a.m. on March 19, 2008, along with her friend and fellow advantage player Nelson Fu. Tsao was using a player's card for someone named " Monica Lieu,"...


I absolutely love fabrics, they have such an amazing impact in rooms. Here are some of my beloved fabric sources online and in store. I should warn you this might end up being a long post, but get ready for some pretty prints.
As you know I love buying fabric from Calico Corners, I made lumbar pillows, recovered a bench and more with their fabric. I also love that they ship all their fabric for free and and also sell and small quality of fabric in store.
Fabric Sample # 4 - Neri Cream Faux Bois at its best great fabric for furniture, cushions etc.
My next fabric spot I love checking out almost daily is Fabric.com, they have a great selection of affordable fabric from modern to traditional. I've mentioned them before and many of you are fans of them.
Fabric Sample # 1 Emily Garden,drapes would be lovely made with this fabric.
Fabric Sample # 2 Ellis Turquoise, I adore this pretty so pretty!
Next I love looking for fabrics at BuyFabrics.com again the have an amazing selection of fabrics from Duralee to Robert Allen in prints you might not find elsewhere and if you do they may be less expensive on this site.
Fabric Sample # 1 - Thomas Paul Print Wouldn't this fabric add a bit of whimsy to any room?
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Looking for a modern fabric fix? Head no further than TonicLiving.com they also sell custom pillows and drapes.
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I recently discovered a few months back thanks this fabric store thanks to 6th Street Design School the sell thier fabrics both online and locally in Atlanta, GA. High Heeled Foot in the Door, recently posted about them on her blog and gave us a peek inside their store. For all you Altantans, please visit their store and check out their lovely fabrics in person.
Silly me got tired last night putting all these pretty samples together from their store (hence they are unnumbered) It was so hard to choose just four fabrics so showcase! I would love to sew some large pillows for a settee with the bird cage print or sew some drapes for French doors! Maybe one day.Just check out their site to view more fabrics.
Material type: Always read the information about the fabric: Is it light weight? Good for drapes and pillows? Or better suited for a craft project? or upholstery?
Prices: To find the best price on fabric, always try and find out who the manufacturer of the fabric is. For instance, is the Fabric made by Waverly or Duralee. That way you can Google the name of the manufacturer along with the fabric name and hopefully find the lowest price. I recently scored Thomas Paul fabric for $ 10.00 for 3/4 or a yard at Calico Corners, I saw the same fabric online for $ 50.00 per yard.
I'll be writing another post regarding 'Fabric Sources Dos' soon. Where are your go to fabric shopping sources? Scored any pretty prints recently? I'd love to hear!


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The tool has been abused, misused or improperly maintained. Alterations have been made to the tool. This does not affect your statutory rights. The item "Makita DC18RD Dual Port Charger with 2 x BL1850B 5.0ah Li-Ion Batteries Kit" is in sale since Wednesday, January 31, 2018. This item is in the category "Home, Furniture & DIY\DIY Tools\Power Tools\Batteries & Chargers". The seller is "ahcpowertools" and is located in Alloa.


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Japanese Field Cannons - EverGreene
Japanese Field Cannons
Golden Gate National Recreation Area, San Francisco, CA
We performed a condition assessment and treated two historic early twentieth century Japanese field guns located at the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in San Francisco, California.
The 70mm and 75mm field guns were removed from the site, crated in custom-made containers, and transported to us's conservation facility in District Heights, MD. The guns were thoroughly documented by written, schematic, and photographic means before, during, and after the conservation treatment. Both guns were completely disassembled down to their major subassemblies and all existing coatings were removed from the corroded metal components. The wooden wheels were so heavily deteriorated that they required complete rebuilding. Areas of heavy deterioration were repaired and the guns were repainted with a maintainable coating system. New mounting devices were fabricated to improve the guns' aesthetic appearances and to provide a more secure means of display. Once the conservation treatment was complete, the guns were crated and shipped back to the site for reinstallation in their original positions.
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text:
Navarredonda y San Mamés és un municipi del Nord-est de la Comunitat de Madrid.

Demografia

Referències

Municipis de la província de Madrid

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
EQUITIES & INDICES
Market Briefing: Nasdaq and Microsoft hit fresh record highs on TikTok's acquisition
The Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.5% on Monday, hitting a fresh record high, lifted by a surge in technology names such as Microsoft and Apple coupled with signs that the rate of new COVID-19 infection cases has started slowing in the US.
Global cases: More than 18.1 million
Global deaths: At least 691,738
Top five countries: United States (over 4.7 million), Brazil (more than 2.7 million), India (over 1.8 million), Russia (at least 854,641), South Africa (at least 516,862).
Market Reaction:
Dow Jones index gained 0.9% on Monday while the S&P 500 index added 0.72%, climbing to its highest level since Feb. 21, recovering almost all the pandemic-led losses.
Fig.01: Nasdaq Composite, Daily chart
However, it was the Nasdaq Composite that rallied the most by 1.5%, starting August with another record high near 11.000 points. The Technology sector has been by far the best-performing sector rising more than 23% since the start of 2020. The Tech sector grows faster than other sectors of the economy as it became less dependent on overall economic developments such as the pandemic outbreak and financial crisis.
Microsoft-TikTok:
The price of Microsoft hit an all-time high at $216.54 per share, rising 5.6% yesterday, boosted by reports that it's considering a potential acquisition of TikTok's operations in certain markets such as US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, in a move that would expand its consumer-facing business operations.
Fig.02: Microsoft stock price, Monthly chart
Conflict between US-China:
TikTok, is a popular video-sharing app owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance, and it's one of the Chinese software companies that Trump's administration has threatened to ban its US operations, accusing them of collecting data on American users and sending it to the Chinese government.
President Donald Trump said that buying only part of the app will be "complicated"— but he still gave Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella the go-ahead. Trump added that some "key money" would have to be paid to the U.S. Treasury Department for making the deal possible.
However, the recent developments with TikTok have angered the Chinese authorities calling the move as an "open robbery", labeling the US as a "rogue country" and Microsoft as a "theft", threatening retaliation.
Economic Calendar for August 04, 2020 (GMT+ 3:00):


Subject of Possible Rule Making: Skagit Valley College intends to permanently repeal its rule concerning sexual harassment, WAC 132D-305-005.
Reasons Why Rules on this Subject may be Needed and What They Might Accomplish: This rule change is needed because Skagit Valley College has already updated and clarified its sexual harassment policy in a revised policy/procedure for prevention of sexual harassment and discrimination. The college intends to permanently repeal WAC 132D-305-005 to implement the updated policy changes in line with the most recent guidance from the United States Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, Title IX guidance letters, Violence Against Women Act, and Campus SaVE.
Interested parties can participate in the decision to adopt the new rule and formulation of the proposed rule before publication by contacting Carolyn Tucker, 2405 East College Way, phone 360-416-7679, fax 360-416-7878, email carolyn.tucker@skagit.edu, web site www.skagit.edu.