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Journal of Experimental Biology (2)
ORIGINS OF THE 'NEURONAL TOOL BOX' (2)
Timothy J. Jegla
Ether-à-go-go family voltage-gated K + channels evolved in an ancestral metazoan and functionally diversified in a cnidarian–bilaterian ancestor
Xiaofan Li, Alexandra S. Martinson, Michael J. Layden, Fortunay H. Diatta, Anna P. Sberna, David K. Simmons, Mark Q. Martindale, Timothy J. Jegla
We examined the evolutionary origins of the ether-à-go-go (EAG) family of voltage-gated K + channels, which have a strong influence on the excitability of neurons. The bilaterian EAG family comprises three gene subfamilies (Eag, Erg and Elk) distinguished by sequence conservation and functional properties. Searches of genome sequence indicate that EAG channels are metazoan specific, appearing first in ctenophores. However, phylogenetic analysis including two EAG family channels from the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi indicates that the diversification of the Eag, Erg and Elk gene subfamilies occurred in a cnidarian/bilaterian ancestor after divergence from ctenophores. Erg channel function is highly conserved between cnidarians and mammals. Here we show that Eag and Elk channels from the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis (NvEag and NvElk) also share high functional conservation with mammalian channels. NvEag, like bilaterian Eag channels, has rapid kinetics, whereas NvElk activates at extremely hyperpolarized voltages, which is characteristic of Elk channels. Potent inhibition of voltage activation by extracellular protons is conserved between mammalian and Nematostella EAG channels. However, characteristic inhibition of voltage activation by Mg 2+ in Eag channels and Ca 2+ in Erg channels is reduced in Nematostella because of mutation of a highly conserved aspartate residue in the voltage sensor. This mutation may preserve sub-threshold activation of Nematostella Eag and Erg channels in a high divalent cation environment. mRNA in situ hybridization of EAG channels in Nematostella suggests that they are differentially expressed in distinct cell types. Most notable is the expression of NvEag in cnidocytes, a cnidarian-specific stinging cell thought to be a neuronal subtype.
Neuronal polarity: an evolutionary perspective
Melissa M. Rolls, Timothy J. Jegla
Polarized distribution of signaling molecules to axons and dendrites facilitates directional information flow in complex vertebrate nervous systems. The topic we address here is when the key aspects of neuronal polarity evolved. All neurons have a central cell body with thin processes that extend from it to cover long distances, and they also all rely on voltage-gated ion channels to propagate signals along their length. The most familiar neurons, those in vertebrates, have additional cellular features that allow them to send directional signals efficiently. In these neurons, dendrites typically receive signals and axons send signals. It has been suggested that many of the distinct features of axons and dendrites, including the axon initial segment, are found only in vertebrates. However, it is now becoming clear that two key cytoskeletal features that underlie polarized sorting, a specialized region at the base of the axon and polarized microtubules, are found in invertebrate neurons as well. It thus seems likely that all bilaterians generate axons and dendrites in the same way. As a next step, it will be extremely interesting to determine whether the nerve nets of cnidarians and ctenophores also contain polarized neurons with true axons and dendrites, or whether polarity evolved in concert with the more centralized nervous systems found in bilaterians.


This is my last blog post from Asia, for now. In a few hours we´re going to get up and get a taxi to the Bangkok metro station (Phaya Thai) and from there – metro to the airport.
I must say that I don´t feel like we´re actually going back – been in Asia for so long now that it has become a habit, in a way, a good habit. A lot of lovely memories that contribute to life and fullness.
What have we been doing? Well, 29.11-02.12 we were in Chiang Mai, after that flew to Krabi, then took the boat to Railey, stayed there for 2 nights, then went to Phi Phi, stayed there for 3 nights and through Surat Thani came back to Bangkok where we stayed for 6 nights. Not many pictures – why? Well, you most likely have seen the pictures from previous posts, so no need to repeat.
I have really enjoyed this Asian trip, it has been very unique all together and I´m glad I have had the possibility to be apart of everything I´ve experienced.
Nothing much more to say really, tomorrow´s going to be a fun day for me – whole day of flying and airports (no joke). I like airports and will try to enjoy them as much as possible.


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Boston chef Jay Santos gets his own credit card
By Dan Adams Globe Correspondent,December 19, 2014, 12:00 a.m.
Jay Santos is the first celebrity chef to be featured by the California-based mobile banking startup, which hawks customized cards for brands from Care Bears to "Star Trek" characters.
Four years after making it to the finale of TV's "Hell's Kitchen" as a contestant, celebrity chef Jason "Jay" Santos is finding creative new ways to keep his face in front of the public.
The blue-haired owner of Abby Lane Boston and Back Bay Harry's has struck a licensing deal with Card.com to put his image on a prepaid MasterCard debit card. He's the first celebrity chef to be featured by the California-based mobile banking startup, which hawks customized cards for brands from Care Bears to "Star Trek" characters.
"We like to work with anyone who has a big following," said Card.com chief executive Ben Katz. "Also, our product is a very visual one, and he's an interesting-looking person with his hair, so that helps."
With his regular cooking segments on morning talk shows, successful restaurants, and occasional reappearances on "Hell's Kitchen," Santos has built a strong online following. Card.Com is betting his fans and other culinary-minded customers will snap up Santos cards.
Santos said the deal was a no-brainer.
"This card is going to be everywhere, and I don't really have to do anything but agree to it," he said. "Being a chef nowadays is all about exposure and building your brand. It should be all about the food, but it's not, so I'm trying my hardest to stay relevant and be out there."
A Glendale, Calif., licensing agency, C3 Entertainment Inc., scored the Card.com deal for Santos, who declined to detail its terms. Other cards sold on the site feature popular television shows, stock-art photos representing hobbies and sports, and cartoon characters such as Popeye and Garfield.
Card.com is set to issue a Santos credit card in February. Customers who pay with either card at his restaurants will probably get a free appetizer or dessert, Santos said.
Santos, who earned TV fame for his blue mane and relentlessly outgoing and upbeat demeanor, admitted it's strange seeing his face on a card. Still, he's having fun hyping it to employees and family members.
"I'm still trying to get my mom to order one," he said. "And I'm going to make the line cooks take me out to dinner and pay with it."
Dan Adams can be reached at dadams@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanielAdams86.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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The Fonts & Numbers tab of the QuickBooks 2013 Report window lets you change the font for selected pieces of report information. Use the Change Font For list box to select the bit of report information that you want to change.
After this selection, click the Change Font button to display a dialog box. The Column Labels dialog box appears, for example, when you indicate that you want to change the font for column labels.
Use the Font box to select the font for the column labels. Use the Font Style box to select the font style for the column labels. Use the Size box to select the point size for the column labels. Optionally, use the Effects check boxes to add or remove special effects.
Or, get really crazy and use the Color box to select the color for the piece of report data. When you're finished, verify that your font formatting choices look right by using the Sample box — and then click OK.
When you click OK to close the dialog box used to change a font, QuickBooks displays a message box, asking if you want to change all the related fonts. If you do want to change the fonts — and you probably do — click Yes. Note that if you make some change that later turns out to be wrong, you can click the Revert button, which also appears on the Fonts & Numbers tab, to return to the default formatting for fonts and numbers.
The Show Negative Numbers area provides radio buttons and a check box that you can use to instruct QuickBooks to provide special formatting for negative values. Typically, QuickBooks shows negative values with a minus sign in front of the value.
Alternatively, you can tell QuickBooks to place parentheses around the negative values (select the In Parentheses radio button) or to display them with a trailing minus sign (select the With a Trailing Minus radio button). You can also use color to flag negative numbers (select the In Bright Red check box).
The Show All Numbers area provides three check boxes that you can use to clean up and simplify your report. If your business is large enough that your report values are very large, select the Divided By 1,000 check box. In that case, QuickBooks divides all the report values by 1,000 to make them easier to read.
If you select the Except Zero Amounts check box, QuickBooks simplifies your report by not showing zero values. Finally, if you select the Without Cents check box, QuickBooks shows only dollars and not cents.
If you find yourself becoming overwhelmed with the amount of data being presented in a report, the Show All Numbers check boxes provide a handy way to get a somewhat clearer view of the big picture.


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Castro regime denies racism exists in Cuba at the United Nations, bars black Cubans from speaking there
The Castro regime says there is no racism in Cuba. Cubans of African descent say different, but are detained and prohibited from speaking out in an international forum.
CUBA DENIES EXISTENCE OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION TO THE UN CERD COMMITTEE
By Race and Equality
Washington. Sept 16. 2018. On August 16, Cuba categorically denied the existence of racial discrimination in Cuba to the group of independent experts of the United Nations (UN) that form the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) during the review of Cuba under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The purpose of the review is for Cuba to present information on how it has implemented action plans to combat racial discrimination.
Rodolfo Reyes Rodríguez, represented Cuba at the review and stressed during his presentation on behalf of the Cuban state that Cuba does not have a structural or institutional racism problem. He also emphasized that in Cuba, racial and ethnic minorities do not experience any difference in treatment legally, politically, or socially and that the concepts of "Afro-Cuban" or "Afro-descendant" do not exist in Cuba because this population is not regarded as any different from the rest of the population.
He stated that according to the results of the 2012 population census, 9.3% of the population identified as Afro-descendant because of the mixed heritage of the population. He explained that all citizens self-identify themselves as white, mixed or black just based on the color of their skin, but all are considered Cuban citizens with the same inherent rights and responsibilities. (You can read the full presentation of the Cuban representative here)
In response to the information presented, the CERD Committee issued its report of recommendations on August 31. In the report, the Committee finds that, contrary to the information presented by the Cuban state, the Afro-descendant population in Cuba continues to suffer from racism and structural discrimination as a result of the historical legacy of slavery. The report also concludes that this discrimination is demonstrated by and results in this population being unable to exercise economic, social, and cultural rights to the same extent as other Cubans. According to the report, the Committee is concerned about the challenges the Afro-descendant population faces in accessing the labor market; the low levels of of Afro-descendants in decision-making positions, both in the public and private sector; and the disproportionate levels of poverty affecting this population.
In its list of recommendations, the CERD Committee also expresses great concern that the methodology used in the census does not result in objective information that accurately presents the racial composition of the country. In this regard, the Committee calls on the Cuban State to review its methodology for collecting demographic data in the census in order to design questions and strategies with the input of the Afro-descendant population that will result in their self-identification and generate more accurate results.
The CERD Committee report calls on the Cuban State to include a clear and explicit definition of racial discrimination in its Constitution, which is currently being updated.
The Committee also recommends that the State include a gender focus in its policies and strategies to combat racial discrimination in order to address the many forms of discrimination affect women, particularly Afro-descendant women, who face greater obstacles in accessing the labor market. The Committee also stressed the need to create as opportunities for women to participate in politics and to hold decision-making roles.
The CERD Committee condemned allegations of harassment, intimidation, and hostility against those who defend the rights of Afro-descendants.
Specifically, the CERD Committee's Rapporteur for Cuba, Silvio Albuquerque, mentioned violations of the right to freedom of movement. Juan Antonio Madrazo, Coordinator of the Citizen's Committee for Racial Integration (Comité Ciudadano por la Integración Racial), was prevented from leaving Cuba to participate in the review, and Roberto Mesa, Coordinator of the Black Brotherhood (Cofradia de la Negritud) was arbitrarily detained a few days before he was scheduled to travel.
The representative for Cuba denied any acts of repression taking place against human rights defenders, instead asserting that these individuals pass themselves as human rights defenders but are mercenaries of the United States, paid to make false allegations of human rights violations. In its report, the CERD Committee laments the Cuban government's denial of these violations and their failure to take measures necessary to investigate them and prevent them from occurring.
Race and Equality observes the statements presented by the Cuban government to the UN CERD Committee with great concern. The lack of specific and conclusive information provided by the government as well as its flat denial of the discrimination and human rights violations suffered by Afro-Cubans is further evidence that discrimination and structural racism are alive and well in the country.
Race and Equality thanks the CERD Committee for the recommendations offered to the Cuban government, which are to be implemented into the laws and policies of the country in order to effectively guarantee the protection of the human rights of all Afro-descendants in Cuba.
Posted by John Suarez at 12:10 AM No comments:
Labels: CERD, Cuba, human rights, Race and Equality, racism, UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
Speaking truth to power: Cuban dissident and machete attack victim Sirley Avila Leon addresses the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva
"An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it. Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self sustained." - Mohandas Gandhi, Young India 1924-1926 (1927), p. 1285
Sirley Avila Leon in Geneva, Switzerland at the statue of Mohandas Gandhi.
The United Nations Human Rights Council has failed to hold the Castro regime accountable, and too often has legitimized the 59 year old dictatorship and its henchman. Lamentably, the Universal Periodic review has also been rendered impotent by the machinations of the despots in Havana, and the indifference of too many democracies around the world. Cubans are being beaten up, mutilated, and murdered by agents of the Cuban government for trying to exercise their human rights and the chief human rights body in the world says nothing about it.
Nevertheless, over the course of this past year Cuban pro-democracy activists journeyed or tried to journey to the UN Human Rights Council to speak truth to power. (Cuban democrats did the same in 2009 and again in 2013 during the first two cycles of the Universal Periodic Review of Cuba). They all spoke truth to power, and their testimony exposes the lies propagated by the Castro dictatorship.
Cuba told lies yesterday at the United Nations to its fellow Human Rights Council members. But something went wrong for them when UN Watch gave the floor to dissident Sirley Avila Leon who testified how regime agents brutally attacked her with a machete. Thank you, @johnjsuarez. pic.twitter.com/ky7bRFq03j
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) September 25, 2018
Earlier this week, on September 24, 2018 during Item 6 of the UN Human Rights Council on the general debate over the Universal Periodic Review, one of the victims of repression was able to address the Human Rights Council. Sirley Avila Leon addressed the Council about the May 24, 2015 machete attack orchestrated by Castro regime agents in Cuba. Below is a translation of the original Spanish statement to English:
Item 6: Universal Periodic Review
39th regular session of the Human Rights Council
Thank you, Mr. President,
My name is Sirley Avila Leon, I am Cuban and I will speak on behalf of UN Watch.
On May 24, 2015 living in Cuba I suffered an attack orchestrated by agents of the state, I was attacked with a machete to kill me cutting off my left hand and right shoulder while I covered my head with them, then cut my knees leaving me disabled for life.
This was not the first attack I suffered, I was previously attacked several times, physically and verbally by the political police in Cuba: they burned my bed, I suffered arbitrary arrests, death threats, economic damages. Only for demanding better living conditions for the peasants and their children in a rural area of Las Tunas.
My case is not isolated. In Cuba, the state continues to violate the human rights of Cubans, murders, imprisons and banishes those who demand rights and repress their families.
To save my life, in 2016 I escaped from Cuba, since then my son, Yoerlis Peña Avila, has been threatened with death and repressed on several occasions. At this moment I fear for his life.
Mr. President, as a direct victim of repression in Cuba, I ask: How can the Cuban government be a member of the Human Rights Council, committing so many crimes against humanity for 59 years?
Later that same day I also spoke before the UN Human Rights Council touching on pressing issues: the continuing unjust imprisonment of Eduardo Cardet; the August 9, 2018 extrajudicial killing of Alejandro Pupo Echemendia, and the threats, harassment and detention of witnesses, family members and rights defenders who spoke out; and finally addressed with great concern the plight of Tomás Núñez Magdariaga, a Cuban political prisoner on his 40th day on hunger strike this past Monday.
The life of Tomás Núñez Magdariaga continues to hang in the balance as he enters his 44th day on hunger strike on Friday.
Labels: Cuba, Geneva, Sirley Ávila León, UN Human Rights Council, UN Watch, universal periodic review, UPR
From the Archives: Former Cuban Political Prisoner Denounces Human Rights Violations at UN Council
José Gabriel Ramón Castillo (age 61) passed away on July 16, 2018 from a cirrhosis of the liver product of a hepatitis infection contracted while imprisoned in Cuba as a prisoner of conscience during the 2003 Black Cuban Spring. In 2009, shortly after his release from prison he addressed the UN Human Rights Council. Below is the statement and press release published in 2009 by the Cuban Democratic Directorate.
Geneva. June 10, 2009. Cuban Democratic Directorate. Former Cuban political prisoner José Gabriel Ramón Castillo addressed the 11th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council on Wednesday June 10, in order to denounce human rights violations on the Island.
"In the name of those thousands of Cubans who have been repressed and tortured, and whose fundamental rights are violated, I ask the Council to do justice for the Cuban people," concluded Ramón Castillo's remarks before the Council.
The statement, referred to as an intervention, took place during the open debate on the human rights situation on the Island, after the presentation of the final report on the Universal Periodic Review process carried out at the beginning of February, 2009
"The interventions by Ramón Castillo as well as by the representative for Human Rights Watch were critical and persuasive, despite the allegations against them before the Council made by the Havana regime's ambassador," stated John Suárez, director of International Relations for the Cuban Democratic Directorate (Directorio) who is attending the session in Geneva.
The activists were able to participate in this international forum thanks to the support of the Centrist Democrat International. The representatives of the cause for human rights in Cuba also held a press conference previous to the presentation in the Council chamber.
"It has been a marvelous experience to participate in this international dialogue where, once again, the regime resorted to rhetoric and its claims were laid bare thanks to the remarks we made and those by Human Rights Watch. It makes no sense for the regime to speak of human rights if it has not adhered to the covenants on civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights," stated former political prisoner José Gabriel Ramón Castillo by telephone to Directorio.
José Gabriel Ramón Castillo met President Havel in 2009
Below is the full text of José Gabriel Ramón Castillo's statement before the Council:
INTERVENTION AT THE 11th SESSION OF THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL,
Thank you, Mr. President:
My name is José Gabriel Ramón Castillo. I was declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, and I testify before this forum as a victim of repression in Cuba. I will refer concretely to two points contained in the Responses provided by Cuba on the recommendations listed under paragraph 131 of the report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review of Cuba (A/HRC/11/22) Adopted during the Fourth Session of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review.
The ratification of the International Covenants on Civil, Political, Social, Economic, and Cultural rights is still a pending matter. My question concerning this- Will it be possible to put a date on definitive adherence to these Covenants? As long as Cuba does not ratify these Covenants, the human rights situation will continue to depend on the political will of the Government, and there is no guarantee whatsoever that the current situation will change.
On page 2, the aforementioned document indicates that "Cuba is a State Party to the Convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatments or punishments (CAT) from May 17, 1995 assures respect for the physical and spiritual integrity of persons. In the country there are no existing practices of torture or of other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatments or punishments. Cuba has the effective national resources to ensure the rigorous application of the CAT."
The reality is that in Cuba there are hundreds of political prisoners recognized by Amnesty International. Many are ill and do not receive treatment. Human rights defenders enter prison healthy and in a short time suffer serious illnesses as in the cases of, among others, Víctor Rolando Arroyo Carmona, Librado Linares García, Normando Hernández González, and Ariel Sigler Amaya, who has been left an invalid. In Cuba, there is physical and psychological torture, and I am a direct victim of these practices.
On page 8, the aforementioned document speaks of the self-determination of peoples, and economic, social, and cultural rights are mentioned. Nevertheless, the self-determination of Cuban workers is not respected in Cuba. Workers lack the right to organizer labor unions independently of the state, and 5 Cubans are currently in prison for attempting to organize independent labor unions. This has been well documented by the relevant international institutions.
The Council of Human Rights Rapporteurs of Cuba has documented 21 deaths in prison in 2009 due to denial of medical attention and/or psychological harassment. There have been 500 cases of arbitrary arrests and 26 imprisonments of human rights activists. Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leiva, executive director of the Council, as well as Julio Romero Muñoz of the Free Expression Solidarity Movement, have been persecuted for sending reports to the Universal Periodic Review Committee.
Mr. President, in the name of those thousands of Cubans who have been repressed and tortured, and whose fundamental rights are violated, I ask the Council to do justice for the Cuban people.
Labels: 2009, Cuba, Cuban Democratic Directorate, José Gabriel Ramón Castillo, universal periodic review, UPR
The failure of the UN Human Rights Council with regards to assessing human rights in Cuba
Exhibit A and B
Exhibit B of the failure of the UN Human Rights system has been the failure of its mechanisms to provide an accurate assessment of the dismal human rights situation in the island. Nor is there any mention of the Cuban government's involvement in gross and systematic human rights violations in Venezuela and Nicaragua. The final outcome of the Universal Periodic Review of Cuba will be discussed and adopted on September 20, 2018 at the 39th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland. The next time that such an examination of the island nation will take place will be in 2023. This examination will not reflect the human rights situation in the island. The Cuban government has corrupted and abused the process turning it into a circus. The Cuban government has flooded the compilation of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with front groups celebrating the dictatorship's "human rights achievements" and drowned out the reports by legitimate NGOs.
The compilation provided by United Nations agencies is little better with organizations such as UNESCO providing praise for the dictatorship without taking a closer look at official claims on education and healthcare.
Finally the review itself is loaded up by the most repressive states in the world crowding out as much time with praise for the Cuban dictatorship in what amounts to a mutual protection society of the worse of the worse.
If one looks beyond the propaganda and diplomatic maneuvers to the facts then one finds that the government of Cuba has had and continues to have a terrible human rights record in the island.
Over the past four years that the Universal Periodic Review of Cuba carried out at the UN Human Rights Council should be reviewing that countries human rights record: students and professors have been expelled and fired for their political beliefs, non-violent dissidents have been imprisoned for exercising their freedom of expression or refusing to mourn the death of Fidel Castro, the Cuban human rights group, the Ladies in White, have been regularly harassed and physically abused for trying to exercise their right to freedom of association and other dissidents, including a blind dissident, have been victims of brutal violence, with the May 2015 machete attack of Sirley Avila Leon being one of the most dramatic. Not to mention that extrajudicial killings are still taking place.
Alejandro Pupo Echemendia beaten to death on August 9, 2018
Mr. Alejandro Pupo Echemendia was beaten to death by a government agent on August 9, 2018 while in police custody at the Placetas police station, in Las Villas Cuba. Family members were able to photograph the body of the victim at the General Hospital of Placetas "Dr. Daniel Codorniú Pruna". An eye-witness, human rights defenders, and family members have come forward to demand justice, and have been subjected to police harassment, threats, and arbitrary detentions by Cuban State Security to get them to change or withdraw their testimony.
Dr. Eduardo Cardet Concepción, successor to martyred founding leader of the Christian Liberation Movement, Oswaldo Paya, and unjustly jailed since November 30, 2016 was badly beaten, stabbed twice by three prisoners on December 19, 2017, and subjected to a political show trial, sentenced to three years in prison on March 20, 2017. The December attack with a sharp object was most probably engineered by Castro's State Security in order to permanently silence him. The seriousness of the attack was only learned on January 15, 2018 when his wife was finally able to visit him in prison and see the extent of his injuries. His health has been worsening and he had been refused religious assistance.
Dr. Eduardo Cardet and his wife Yaimaris Vecino
On May 26, 2018 the Cuban government suspended visits to prisoner of conscience Eduardo Cardet, and his wife Yaimaris Vecino protested at the time:
"Today, May 26, we went to the prison in Cuba Si, it was the visit that Eduardo's mother, his sister, my children and I scheduled, and they prevented us from seeing him, the prison authorities alleging that Eduardo has given "false information" that according to them, the family is spreading and in retaliation suspended visits for six months." Yaimaris went on to say that "this is a new arbitrariness against Eduardo and I seriously fear for his physical integrity."
Thanks to the intercession of the Bishop of Holguin, Eduardo Cardet's family was able to finally visit him on September 13, 2018. Four months without a visit and weeks without a phone call due to the Cuban government's efforts to silence Dr. Cardet's family's campaign for his release.
It is important to look back beyond the past four years and place them in context, and one should also look beyond the island.
This regime's bad actions extend to the international sphere at high profile venues such as the old United Nations Human Rights Commission and in the present United Nations Human Rights Council. The consequences of the regime's actions extend beyond Cuba and has had an impact on international human rights standards.
ARTICLE 19 and the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) condemned a resolution that passed on March 28, 2008 which amended the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, as per proposals from the Organisation of Islamic Congress (OIC) and the Cuban delegations eroding and undermining freedom of expression. Both NGOs condemned "the repeated misuse of the Human Rights Council (HRC) process to push for an agenda that has nothing to do with strengthening human rights and everything to do with protecting autocracies and political point scoring."
Consider how the Cuban government has dealt with dissenting voices. Frank Calzon, a Cuban national exiled in the United States, was Freedom House's Washington DC Representative at the UN Human Rights Commission from 1986 to 1997. The Cuban government slandered his good name accusing him repeatedly of being a CIA agent. This continued after Mr. Calzon left Freedom House.
In 2004 Freedom House denounced that "a Cuban delegate punched Mr. Calzon, knocking him unconscious. UN guards reportedly protected him from further assault by additional members of the Cuban delegation. The attack occurred shortly after the Commission passed a resolution critical of Cuba's human rights record." Other members of Freedom House had been subjected to threats and harassment at the UN Human Rights Commission.
If this is what Cuban diplomats do with the eyes of the world on them then what do you think they are doing to Cuban dissidents on the island away from the glare of the cameras?
Perhaps, one day when the current Human Rights High Commissioner is no longer occupying that post these realities will be taken into account instead of the $1,900 dollar donation that earned the dictatorship a positive plug on social media.
This will necessitate understanding how the idea of human rights transitioned from a call for individual liberty from despotic rule to an instrument to white wash tyrannical rule and oppressive regimes.
Labels: Cuba, human rights, Michelle Bachelet, UNHRC
International Day of Democracy: The Worst Form of Government
"Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…" - Winston Churchill, 11 November 1947
The International Day of Democracy has been celebrated by the United Nations every year since 2008 with today marking one decade of observing this day on September 15th. Democracy has been in retreat worldwide throughout these 10 years. Freedom House in its 2018 Freedom in the World Report subtitled it Democracy in Crisis, and the facts paint a somber picture.
"2017 was the 12th consecutive year of decline in global freedom. Seventy-one countries suffered net declines in political rights and civil liberties in 2017, with only 35 registering gains. Once-promising states such as Turkey, Venezuela, Poland, and Tunisia were among those experiencing declines in democratic standards. The recent democratic opening in Myanmar was permanently damaged by a shocking campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya minority."
Part of the crisis is due to the failure of democracies to distinguish between dictatorship and democracy. When the European Union describes the totalitarian communist dictatorship in Cuba as a "one party democracy" there is a big problem of fundamental understanding or a willful blindness to what is democracy. Cuba has a "parliament" that in practice is a rubber stamp of the Castro regime and not a deliberative or democratic body.
There is also a continuing romance with the lie that dictatorships can deliver better services to their population than democracies. For example, many cite the Castro regime's healthcare system but fail to mention that Canada, Costa Rica, Chile, and Colombia have better healthcare than Cuba and did not have to sacrifice their democracies to provide it to their citizens. Furthermore, unlike Cuba where there is no independent press, in these other countries their healthcare systems are scrutinized, criticized, and subject to more accountability than they are in the Castro dictatorship.
Western Democracies made the decision to heavily invest in Communist China over the past thirty years and today the same Chinese dictatorship that killed over 45 million of its own people in the 20th Century has achieved great economic growth while maintaining its despotic nature and modernizing it for the 21st century. Empowering a brutal dictatorship, history has shown, is never a good idea.
There is another inescapable reality, that among the 20 countries with the highest standards of living in the world: 19 of them are full fledged democracies. Churchill was right. Democracy is a terrible form of government except for all others. (The United States ranks down at 17th on this list with Canada in first place).
Democrats need to remember the important of institutions, accountability and a free press as bulwarks of democracy and a free society. At the same time Democrats also need to be more discerning when dealing with dictatorships.
Posted by John Suarez at 11:09 PM 2 comments:
Labels: democracy, human rights, standard of living, Winston Churchill
Ortega's hooded police wielding AK-47s arrest, hold incomunicado Amaya Coppens, a human rights defender and medical student in Nicaragua.
Family fears for her life.
Medical student Amaya Coppens arbitrarily detained in Nicaragua
Daniel Ortega's Sandinista regime in Nicaragua is murdering hundreds and is backed by the dictatorship of Cuba and Venezuela. Torture is widespread, and a high ranking perpetrator is being promoted and given new responsibilities. The numbers are overwhelming and numbing. This is why it is necessary to focus on individuals such as Amaya Coppens.
Amaya Coppens, a fifth year medicine student at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de León in Nicaragua has been arrested and accused of "terrorism."
Amaya stands accused of having set fire to the university facilities known as the CUUN, which occurred on April 20. They also hold her responsible for attacking National Police officers with firearms, as well as for the burning and destruction of the Germán Pomares Ordoñez complex, a building in León where a delegation of the Attorney General's Office operated, the intendancy of the property and a winery of the Fotestal Agricultural Ministry. She was detained on Monday night, September 10, along with Sergio Alberto Midence Delgadillo by hooded police that used violence to detain them, and take them away in a van.
This is a fabrication.
Her real "crime" is being outspoken against the violence visited on peaceful protesters and belonging to the University Coalition for Democracy along with the Justice (CUDJ) and the Civic Alliance and Social Movements Network. She is the eighth member of the CUDJ to be arbitrarily detained in what is a campaign of harassment and repression against a dozen university organizations working together at the national level for a free Nicaragua.
The charges against Amaya are a smoke screen to cover up the serious crimes against humanity committed by the Ortega regime against scores of Nicaraguans.
Amaya Evans Coppens is a human rights defender who is both Nicaraguan and Belgian. Friends and family are concerned because her whereabouts are unknown. A slogan in Spanish reads: "Viva se la llevaron, via la queremos!" - Alive you took her, alive we want her back! Sadly, since April 18, 2018 hundreds of Nicaraguans have been extrajudicially executed by Daniel Ortega's Sandinista regime, and thousands more mistreated and tortured.
This is another sign of the Cubanization of Nicaragua. The imprisonment of a medical student for her human rights activism is reminiscent of the case of medical doctor and family man, Eduardo Cardet jailed in a Cuban prison since November 30, 2016 for his support of a nonviolent democratic transition in Cuba and outspoken criticism of the legacy of Fidel Castro in that island nation. Dr. Cardet is an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience. Amnesty International should look into the plight of Amaya Evans Coppens and past the smoke screen erected by the Ortega regime.
Labels: Amaya Coppens, Daniel Ortega, medical student, Nicaragua, Sandinistas
Cuban opposition group releases statement on 30th anniversary of its founding
Today is the feast day of Our Lady of Charity and Patron of Cuba and the thirtieth anniversary of the founding of Cuba's Christian Liberation Movement (MCL). On Friday, September 7, 2018 Rosa Maria Rodríguez, member of the Coordinating Council of MCL, was interrogated and threatened for eight hours by the police because the Christian Liberation Movement had requested that a park in Havana be named after Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas. Last year at this time Hurricane Irma was pounding Cuba. Today the Castro regime continues its dictatorial rule over the island, but Cubans continue to fight for freedom. Below is the MCL statement on the thirtieth anniversary of their founding.
CHRISTIAN LIBERATION MOVEMENT:
30 YEARS FIGHTING FOR THE RIGHTS OF CUBANS
On September 8, 1988, a small but courageous handful of Cubans, composed of Oswaldo Payá, Ramón Antúnez, Dagoberto Capote, Santiago Cárdenas and Fernando Arvelo, inspired by their faith, the strength of their ideals and love for our country, founded the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL), to work for the recovery of popular sovereignty and national reconciliation.
"Liberation is our purpose, liberation carried out by the people, who will not be a spectator of the moment in which their destiny is decided. We do not call all against each other, but all for a new Cuba. We reject violence, offense, lies and destruction as means of struggle. We do not believe that the end justifies the means. Our goal is to achieve freedom, justice and this is achieved only moved by love. Freedom is true only if it emanates from love. "
Since then, many Cubans have joined the Christian Liberation Movement and have given their best for their Homeland. Some are no longer physically with us. Others have chosen different paths. Most of them have remained faithful to the principles and values on which the MCL is based.They have spent 30 years walking together with the people. 30 years working hard for freedom and the rights for all Cubans. 30 years suffering persecution, imprisonment, exile and even the murder of their leaders.
Members of the Christian Liberation Movement in Hialeah, FL
Today, like 30 years ago, the future of Cuba appears dark. The Cuban regime, in a great political marketing maneuver, playing with the longings of change of the Cuban society, tries to make believe to the Cubans themselves and to the international community, that in Cuba a process of changes has been initiated. But they only seek to institutionalize the fake-change so often denounced by the Christian Liberation Movement, which has already cost the lives of its founder Oswaldo Payá and the youth leader Harold Cepero, as well as the imprisonment of its current National Coordinator Eduardo Cardet.
We take this opportunity to call attention to the situation of Eduardo Cardet, who in 2014 was elected by the Coordinating Council of the MCL as Oswaldo Payá's successor to lead the Christian Liberation Movement. Cardet was detained 2 years ago with extreme violence in front of his wife and children, and once in the dungeon they continued to beat him while they kept him in handcuffs.
MCL: Regis Iglesias, Tony Díaz Sánchez, jailed leader Dr. Eduardo Cardet
In prison he has been attacked by common inmates, he was even the object of an assassination attempt encouraged by State Security itself. Eduardo is not given the medical attention he requires and he has also been banned from family visits for 6 months, as well as phone calls, for maintaining a firm position and not give up on his principles. In this way they also punish his family for reporting his situation. We also thank all the expressions of solidarity with Eduardo Cardet and his family received mainly from the international community.
The majority of the Cuban people know that the political-military-financial oligarchy that governs the destinies of Cuba only seeks to apply make up to the existing reality to perpetuate itself in power. That is why the only horizon that many visualize is to escape from Cuba, to any place, in any way. Cubans are tired of being asked for sacrifices, while they lead a life of millionaires. "We Cubans are simple and we only want a life of love and peace, but we can not, we do not know and we do not want to live without freedom."
No more "rectification of errors". No more "updating" of the socioeconomic system. No more "experiments." Cubans are not laboratory rats. We are human beings, and as such we deserve respect for our dignity. "We Cubans have a right to rights."
It is time for Cuban society to demand and make the changes it wants and needs. And changes mean, in the current context, freedom and all rights for all Cubans. "We do not believe the erroneous and fatal omen that there is no other way but to lead a false and unworthy life. Faced with the fatal conjuncture of Socialism or Death, we proclaim the alternative of Freedom and Life. "
We reaffirm that it is up to Cubans and only Cubans to define and decide freely and democratically the future of Cuba, as an independent and sovereign country, without interventions or foreign interference, neither from the North, nor from the South, nor from the East, nor from the West.
Founding member of MCL Ramon Antunez recognized.
We remind the international community, with respect but also firmly, that sovereignty resides in the people, not in the government; and that the rights are held by the citizens, not the rulers. And as Oswaldo Payá expressed before the European Parliament, on the occasion of receiving the Andrei Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Conscience 2002, "dictatorships are not left or right, they are simply dictatorships". If some countries or groups of countries prefer, by promoting their own interests or geopolitical positions, to align themselves with those who for 60 years have oppressed and discriminated against their own people; we, the Christian Liberation Movement, as proclaimed by our founders 30 years ago, "will fight for our freedom, even alone, as in 1868 and 1895, even with the world against us. We do not need anyone's license in this world to claim the freedom that God gave to man. "
Once again, as we did 30 years ago, "we proclaim before the world our determination to conquer the freedom and full dignity of man, the sovereignty for the people and to build a new nation for all."
"All Cubans, all brothers and now freedom!"
XXX Anniversary of the Christian Liberation Movement
Original Spanish text here.
Labels: Christian Liberation Movement, Cuba, Eduardo Cardet, Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, Rosa Maria Rodríguez
Cuban opposition organization, the Christian Liberation Movement, observes 30th anniversary
Cuba's liberation movement three decades later.
Thirty years ago on September 8, 1988 on the feast day of the Virgin of Charity in Cuba, a movement was born inspired by Christian teachings and the desire to be free.
The Christian Liberation Movement (MCL) will observe the 30th anniversary of its founding on Friday, September 7, 2018 at 7:00pm with a solemn mass in the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church located at 4497 W 1st Ave., Hialeah FL 33012. This is being done on the eve of the anniversary to avoid interfering in the celebration of the Virgin of Charity and Patron of Cuba the following day.
Regis Iglesias, the current MCL spokesperson abroad, joined the movement in its early days in 1989.
Some MCL members such as Jesus Mustafa Felipe have a long history of activism that predates the movement. Jesus Mustafa was initially a member of the Cuban Committee for Human Rights in the later 1980s and worked with Gustavo Arcos Bergnes, but after navigating through two other movements ended up in MCL in 1999, where he remains today.
Four years ago on September 8, 2014 Cuba's Christian Liberation Movement released a statement recalling their founding:
We were born there in the parish of the Cerro, one of the many neighborhoods of Havana. The background: The Circle of the Cerro. Then something more formal, The Circle of Cuban Christian Thought. This was banned and dissolved when it launched the first free Cuban publication, also prohibited, titled "People of God", proclaiming the source of liberation: when we said, "We must obey God before men", "Render to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's, "But if God gives you Freedom, who is Cesar to take it away? "All men and women are my brothers and sisters." "We will not act violently or submit to violence," "You are my brother, I do not hate you, but I am not afraid of you."
Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas described how the Christian Liberation Movement, a democratic opposition movement, came into existence and explained how it was related to the birth of his first child, Oswaldo José.
"When our first child was going to be born, we have three children, we said that our children cannot live in a country without liberty and we are not going to another country to seek freedom. Therefore we have to fight for our children to live free here in Cuba and everyone else's children and their parents too."
Oswaldo José was born on February 17, 1988 and the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL) was founded that same year.
Oswaldo Payá Antonio Diaz, and Regis Iglesias turn in petitions
On May 10, 2002, carrying 11,020 signed petitions in support of the Varela Project, Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, Antonio Diaz Sanchez, and Regis Iglesias Ramírez walked with the bulky card board boxes labeled Project Varela turning them into the Cuban National Assembly. The New York Times reported on this historic event:
"Two days before a historic visit to Cuba by the former President Jimmy Carter, human rights activists today delivered an extraordinary challenge to the Communist government of President Fidel Castro in the form of petitions signed by more than 11,000 people seeking greater freedom. The petition drive, known as the Varela Project, calls for a referendum under the terms of the Cuban Constitution on whether there should be more freedom of expression, an amnesty for political prisoners and a chance for ordinary citizens to own small businesses. The signed petitions were delivered this morning to the National Assembly, after supporters painstakingly verified each signature, in the most significant peaceful effort to bring reform to Cuba in four decades. ''All of these Cubans, who with great courage and sacrifice have signed Project Varela, are the social vanguard for peaceful change in Cuba,'' said Oswaldo Paya, who led the drive. He said changes in the rights of Cubans could only be achieved peacefully.
The three activists, members of the Christian Liberation Movement, would pay a high price, along with dozens of others, for advocating human rights reforms within the existing legal frame work in Cuba. In March of 2003 both Antonio Diaz Sanchez, and Regis Iglesias were arrested and subjected to political show trials and sentenced to long prison sentences. They would spend years in prison followed by forced exile.
Oswaldo Payá was killed on July 22, 2012 along with the movement's youth leader Harold Cepero in what appears to have been a state security operation.
Despite the killings, the movement re-organized and elected a new national coordinator, Eduardo Cardet MD. Dr. Cardet was arrested on November 30, 2016 and has suffered, beatings, a stabbing, and since May 2018 the denial of family visits for six months and more recently the denial of phone calls.
Labels: Christian Liberation Movement, Cuba, Jesus Mustafa Felipe, MCL, Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, Regis Iglesias Ramírez
Diplomats in Cuba with brain injuries most likely victims of microwave weapons
Update on the sonic attacks against diplomats in Havana.
Brain injuries attributed to microwave attacks.
Doctors, scientists are now reporting that the diplomats injured in Havana beginning in 2016 and continuing through May of 2018 were most likely the victims of microwave weapons that caused their brain injuries.
Since August of 2017 this website has been following the story of the mystery surrounding U.S. diplomats at the Embassy in Havana, Cuba suffering serious and lasting injuries, including brain damage, that have had no easy explanation. In October of 2017 the President of the United States held Cuba responsible for the health attacks against American diplomats. The attacks had begun towards the end of 2016 in the waning days of the Obama Administration. A Senate Subcommittee hearing was held on January 9, 2018 investigating these health attacks along with testimony from State Department officials. Beginning in February of 2017 over 40 Americans were evacuated from Cuba due to these attacks over the next two months. New attacks occurred in Cuba in May of 2018 and in China in June of 2018.
In early October 2017 fifteen Cuban diplomats were ordered to leave the United States in reciprocity to the reduction in American personnel at the Embassy in Havana.
U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba
Labels: Cuba, diplomats, microwaves, sonic attacks, State Department


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Selected Poems of Anghel Dumbraveanu in Romanian and English Love and Winter
Author: Sorkin, Adam
Pana, Irina
Dumbraveanu, Anghel
This dual-language volume is the first book-length presentation in the United States of the major works of this celebrated poet. Anghel Dumbraveanu has been one of his country's most important writers over the last three decades. Winner of numerous awards and author of twenty-five volumes of poetry, prose, and translations, he also edits a new literary and culture journal, The Timisoara Meridian, which he founded after the 1989 revolution.
"In their Selected Poems of Anghel Dumbraveanu, translators Sorkin and Pana add a highly attractive and useful text. . . . The best of them (e.g., "Horses of Time," "Heralds," "Invisible Frontiers, "Lines Promised to Winter") capture the ease and inevitability of the originals. . . . a welcome addition to Romanian translation efforts. The cultural silence in post-war Eastern Europe is wonderfully diminished by the music the translators have discovered in this poet's voice." -- Translation Review
"The bilingual text, an excellent brief presentation of Romanian contemporary poetry by the editor Adam Sorkin, and a dialogue between poet and editor in which Dumbraveanu communicates some of his thoughts on poetry and poetry writing make this a scholarly presentation and offer the reader the pleasure of discovering an unfamiliar language through its poetry." -- World Literature Today
"The quality of the present volume makes it an important contribution that should be appreciated by all those interested in Romanian culture. The volume contains a useful introduction by Adam Sorkin that is informative for both specialists and non-specialists, presenting the author and his work. . . . The translations of Adam Sorkin and Irina Grigorescu Pana are first rate, expressing both the style and spirit of the original texts. The fact that this is a bilingual edition is to be applauded for it gives readers of Romanian the opportunity to compare the original texts with the English versions, revealing the high quality of the translations." - Romanian Civilization
2010 - Serbian/english Facing-Page Translation of Contemporary Serbian Poet Bratislav R. Milanovic's doors in a Meadow
1997 - Romantic Hero and Contemporary Anti-Hero in Polish and Czech Literature Great Souls and Grey Men
2006 - Interpreting Nikolai Gogol Within Russian Orthodoxy


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Omar Sakr
Co-projects Coordinator
Omar is an Entrepreneur, CEO and founder of first private multidisciplinary research center in Egypt, dedicated to improve scientific research in the fields of natural and medical sciences. Omar is also a pharmaceutical formulation scientist, with a special interest in protein formulations, protein stability, polymeric drug delivery systems, applications of Layer By Layer (LbL) technology and biopharmaceutical studies. He holds a PhD in pharmaceutical technology from the University of Geneva and he is currently pursuing his MBA degree at HULT business school in London.
Omar's career involve over 10 years of experience in academia and industry. Believing in the role of young Arab scientists in the development of the whole Arab community, Omar joined the Arab Innovation Network (AIN) team and he is currently the AIN Projects Coordinator.


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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
Top Renovation and Design Tips for 2021
From creating a home office that inspires productivity to finding the perfect paint colour to boost your mood, local experts share their tips for optimizing your space.
With the onset of the pandemic, Calgarians are spending more time at home than ever before, which means it's easy to focus on those lingering home issues you've been meaning to fix with the perfect reno — but just haven't gotten to yet. If anything, the last year has proved that a kitchen table is a less-than-ideal office space, a too-small living room can cause conflict and beige and grey tones throughout the whole house aren't doing anything to lift spirits.
Here, local experts weigh in on the latest renovation and design trends for 2021, so you can create the home of your dreams.
The Year of the Perfect Home Office
The last year has led to a lot of lifestyle changes, including having to reconsider how our homes function; for many, homes are no longer just places to unwind and relax. Neil Bailey, visionary and owner of the renovation and design company LD&A, says many Calgarians are now rethinking how to elevate their homes to adapt to changing circumstances and become better multi-functional spaces.
"We help our clients optimize every inch of space. We help them see past how their home has always been and focus on how it could be," says Bailey.
In particular, as more Calgarians than ever are working from home, many are seeing the benefits of an improved home office. In fact, 2021 may just be the year of designing the perfect home office. Lindsey Tsang, design lead at LD&A, has noticed several design trends as more Calgarians create dedicated home offices that inspire productivity and focus. Coming off the heels of 2020, Tsang is seeing more homeowners incorporating bold colours.
"There's desire to add excitement through paint, wallpaper, furniture, or even cabinetry. For the past several years, colour trends went in the opposite direction: rooms were much more grey or neutral. Your home office isn't your living room or bedroom, so you can be a little bit fun with it," says Tsang, adding that now is the time to add pops of your favourite colour instead of opting for a taupe or beige.
Adding house plants to the home office is another popular office design trend this year.
"Incorporating plants into the office redesign — or even just adding inspiring items from travels or photographs — is a nice way to keep the space feeling really comfortable so that you can focus and work," Tsang says. "Don't be afraid to decorate your home workspace as you would your office away from home."
As well as building an office around windows and natural light where possible and focusing on adding warm task lighting, creating the perfect home office in 2021 also involves considering adaptability and flexibility. For Calgarians living in smaller spaces where a home office has to act as a multi-functional space, this is especially true. As such, Tsang suggests clearly dividing spaces for productivity.
"It is important that when you are done work, you can put it out of your mind. Having a partition that can slide in front of your workspace can be an interesting decorative element in a room and provide that visual break," says Tsang. "You can get creative with a metal trellis or even a piece of artwork."
Regardless of how much space your home has, Tsang says it's more than possible to design an office that is both a productive place to get work done and a comfortable spot to unwind.
More Space, Less Mess
As many of us are trying to work, home school and relax in the same space, finding a way to incorporate an extra room in your home, and gaining a little additional privacy, might be appealing. But renovating your home's interior to gain that extra space — and going through the noise and mess of that renovation — might not make sense right now.
Jason Fisher sees a creative solution as a 2021 design trend: adding an entirely new space outside the existing home's foundation.
Fisher is the founder and owner of Urban Shed, a Calgary-based business that builds, designs and installs stand-alone structures — most commonly used as home offices — in homeowners' backyards. Homeowners get additional square footage without the hassle or mess of an extensive renovation inside the home; Urban Shed gives homeowners an additional 100- to 200-square feet of living space on average and can be installed in less than two weeks.
"Your family will benefit by not having your home be the centre of an invasive, dusty and noisy construction project," says Fisher. He adds that popular design components for Urban Shed clients this year include transom windows, cedar accents and luxury flooring.
While backyard offices offer an easy commute and distraction-free workspace for the work-from-home professional, this isn't a pandemic-only design trend.
"An Urban Shed can be so much more [than a home office]," says Fisher. "When career plans change, these can be repurposed into art or fitness studios or hangouts for teenagers. Or they [build in a] Murphy bed, making it an auxiliary sleeping space for guests on the weekend. Everyone gets their own space, and everybody is happy."
Feel Good About Your Reno
Renovating your home to reflect your specific tastes and needs means feeling even more comfortable in your space. Brody Haugrud, business director at CDL Carpet & Floor Centre, says that taking the time to renovate thoughtfully is a form of self-care.
But feeling good about renovating goes beyond the planning and the personalizing; it also includes who you choose to work with. According to Haugrud, an ongoing trend he's seen is homeowners choosing to support local suppliers.
"When you choose to support a specialized local company, you're getting the assistance of someone who knows what they're talking about," says Haugrud. "You'll get a better understanding of what is trending when you visit local suppliers, and knowledgeable staff in specialized stores can tell you what will work better for certain spaces." Haugrud adds that specialized knowledge is how CDL can advise its customers that natural tones and organic floors with less stain are trending among Calgary homeowners this year.
Making sustainable choices is trending this year, too. And going green is something homeowners can feel good about.
"Buyers wanting to go the green route will consider how something is made and its effect on the environment," says Haugrud. "For flooring, hardwood is probably the most eco-friendly [choice], especially compared to a luxury vinyl. And there are hardwoods that are naturally finished with a mineral staining."
And a renovated home you love will never go out of style.
Function and Style at Your Kitchen's Core
With many Calgarians requiring more versatility from their homes, Caesarstone's quartz countertops help create beautiful, peaceful spaces built to take on everything thrown at them.
"Our countertops and our kitchens have become more of a focal point over this last year," says Elizabeth Margles, vice president of marketing for Caesarstone North America and Latin America. "You could be proofing your sourdough bread on the counter; you could be doing your homework, you could be working from home, you could be gaming, you could look over your shoulder and maybe see your toddler's licking up the ice cream they spilled on the countertop. Throughout it all, you can have peace of mind knowing Caesarstone countertops are super hygienic and can handle anything you throw at them."
Established in 1987, Caesarstone is the global pioneer of quartz countertops. It uses the strong mineral to create an array of finishes to suit any kitchen, washroom, laundry room or even outdoor space, all while maintaining a human touch and attention to detail that ensures the natural beauty of each countertop shines through.
Caesarstone continues to innovate year over year by introducing new collections that offer timeless design while also reflecting the state of the world.
Inspired by the changes the past year presented, 2021's Whitelight Collection aims to foster a bright and warm feel through serene neutrals. Margles explains that the collection taps into a sentiment of cleanliness. The bright finishes allow you to see what's on your counter and in your personal space, which is important for people committed to keeping their homes neat and tidy.
From the luxurious simplicity of "Vivid White," to the misty white base and subtle strokes of veining on "Aterra Blanca," to the elegant interlacing jade and copper veins in the marble-like "Arbetto", the collection of seven white-toned finishes creates a diverse, clean and bright feel.
"We wanted to 'Caesarstone it,'" explains Margles. "We didn't want colours to be clinical; we didn't want them to be sterile — people want to feel comfort in their homes, and they still want to have visual interest, and they still want it to be design forward."
Caesarstone's countertops are nonporous, meaning they never need to be sealed or resealed. They're also scratch-resistant and host no bacteria, mildew or mold. Cleaning is low maintenance because the surfaces are impervious to staining — wiping with water and soap or vinegar usually does the trick.
If counters end up with blemishes beyond fixing with a simple tidy, chances are the team at Caesarstone has seen the issue before and knows how to solve it. Plus, a lifetime warranty guarantees your countertops stay pristine.
If you're ready to reimagine your kitchen, Margles suggests using countertops as the jumping off point.
"Changing your countertop can completely change the vibe of your kitchen, the look of your kitchen and the mood of your kitchen," says Margles. "It can really serve as both the design star and the function star."
Renovations and redesigns enhance your space, but filling those renovated rooms with beautiful and functional objects is what turns a house into a welcoming home.
"After going through a huge renovation process, the final touches and the styling of the furniture are critical," says Jeff Goth, vice-president of Dekora, Canada's leading home staging company. "We all want to be comfortable and cozy. But often, after people spend time and money renovating, they bring in their old furniture, and it just doesn't make the cut."
Staging is the art of strategically placing furniture, art and other accessories to optimize a home's look, function and feel. In the past, Dekora primarily offered its home staging services to people selling their homes. But in recent years, the business has experienced a new demand: clients want its home staging services and goods to refresh their existing spaces. Clients love how inviting Dekora's staging makes for-sale homes look and are using that expertise to make their own newly renovated homes equally inviting.
"The finishing touches matter so much," Goth says, explaining the trend of working with a professional. "Understanding furniture layout and how to style a home are essential to getting the most out of your renovation."
Goth says Calgarians are gravitating toward home styling that is more relaxed than traditional interior design approaches.
"More layering, more stuff, a more eclectic feel and a relaxation of design 'rules' can go really poorly if it's not well-executed. I think people are responding positively to that warm, eclectic feel, but that's hard to do well without a professional," says Goth.
At the end of the day, Goth says getting help with the important finishing touches "is all about creating a lived-in, loved feel."
This content was produced in partnership with the advertiser by RedPoint Media for commercial purposes.


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Upcoming Houston Food Events: A One Year Wing-A-Versary and a Chance to Help Pack the...
Houston's 5 Best Weekend Food Bets: Score Half-Off Eats at the New Coreanos
Lean, Mean, On-the-Go Meals from Snap Kitchen
Christina Uticone
| Fast Times |
Christina Uticone | April 30, 2012 | 2:00pm
So I do this thing when my husband goes out of town where I become a slovenly, lazier version of myself. Cooking for two is challenge enough, but cooking for myself is a chore I do not relish, so I end up eating a lot of nachos and breakfasts-for-dinner. I was recently left to my own devices for four days, which quickly got out of hand, devolving into a revolving plate of nachos, French toast and leftover pizza. It wasn't pretty.
I decided to literally snap out of it with a trip to Snap Kitchen. I still didn't have to cook any meals for myself, but I was able to move back toward portion control and balanced nutritional content without touching a pot or a pan. I picked up three meals' worth -- two lunches and a breakfast -- along with a couple of Kickin' Kombucha teas for a grand total of $27. A lunch portion plus a small salad is a good dinner for me, which is why I went with two lunch portions rather than the larger SNAP dinners. What can I say? I like salad. Crazy.
I started things off with the Spaghetti & Turkey "Bolognese," which also happens to be gluten-free, though I have no problem with gluten. Bring on the gluten, I say. I was craving pasta so I went for it, though I can't say this particular dish really scratches the pasta itch. I suppose gluten-free pasta is bound to differ significantly from semolina or whole wheat, which is what I normally cook for myself. This pasta is brown rice pasta, and the texture was too soft and mushy for me. The sauce was a little bland, too -- the package is marked "lower sodium," but the tomatoes didn't offer up even a little acidity. An hour later and no agita? Weird. Paired with a small spinach salad, this 300-calorie portion of pasta was filling enough, but not something I would choose again.
The next morning, I crossed my fingers and popped a Snap Kitchen Chili & Eggs breakfast into the microwave. Ninety seconds later, I was digging into a much more satisfying meal than the one I had the night before. When I was in the Snap store, I hesitated over this dish -- I've been way more into cold cereal and fruit lately as the weather warms up -- but I liked the idea of chili and scrambled eggs. I have put many a sunny-side up egg on chili, but never tried scrambled. The scrambled egg whites were a pretty good consistency considering they came out of the microwave, much fluffier than I expected. The chili, made with turkey meat, kidney beans and red and green peppers, had a really nice kick. What a relief after the relatively bland "Bolognese" sauce the night before. I was really full after this breakfast -- I didn't even finish all of the eggs -- so I was pretty shocked when I noticed the total calories for the portion is 190. This tastes great and fills you right up for less than 200 calories? Big win, a definite "buy again." This meal is also gluten-free, lower in sodium and "diabetic friendly."
Last but not least was the Snap Vegetarian Lasagna. Let's face it -- this was not a beautiful-looking piece of lasagna. Luckily it tasted a lot better than it looked. I am a big fan of noodle-free, "mock" lasagna and I make it a lot; it's a great way to use up extra zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms, squash and roasted peppers, all of which are present in the Snap Kitchen version. On its own the sauce was a little thin and weak, but the layers of cheese and vegetables were well-seasoned with basil, garlic, salt and pepper, so taken as a whole, the flavors were fuller and more rounded out. There was enough ricotta cheese to stand out, and the top layer of broiled parmesan gave the whole thing that salty/toasty satisfaction we all expect from lasagna. Maybe there was not quite enough sauce at the end, and the result was a few last, dry-ish bites, but at 150 calories, the veggie lasagna is another winner.
I will say each dish needed slightly more time in the microwave than the instructions suggested. Adding two or three 15-second increments seemed to do the trick, without overcooking anything.
Do you have any Snap Kitchen favorites? Leave your suggestions in the comments section, because I'll be returning soon.
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The roots of Non-for Profit organizations can be traced back all the way to ancient Egypt and Rome. However, their presence is even more important today than in yesteryear. According to the National Center for Charitable Statistics, there are currently 1,514,821 tax-exempt organizations registered with the Internal Revenue Service in the United States. Nonprofit organizations pay a 4% annual excise tax on their annual investment income. All these organizations require funding to continue providing their services or supporting their constituents. Non-for-profit organizations are able to accomplish this in several ways: donations, cash infusions, grants from foundations, corporations, and private entities. However, in a time of economic downturn when individuals, families, and corporations are all suffering financially, generally the first areas where expenses are cut are at a charitable level. Thus, the time has come for Non-for Profit companies to be strategic and focus on less traditional styles of fundraising.
Nonprofit organizations are generating roughly $20.5 billion in business revenue in 2011, according to Lewis Lavine, president of the Nashville-based Center for Nonprofit Management (Merchant, 2013). Nonprofit organizations exist all over the place and are often undervalued. Education, art and culture, social service groups, environmental and conservation groups, health care services and hospitals, are all forms of a non-profit organizations that produce goods and services that raise the quality of life for the general public. Quality nonprofits generate assistance to the world by focusing on social problems, and nearly all the benefits that they create have some form of value whether it is monetary or economic. The main objective of nonprofit organizations is to offer its services to the public without making a profit; their expenses may impact the community's economics through direct, indirect, and induced properties.
Getting the word out about a nonprofit organization can be a challenging task, particularly since such organizations typically run on tight budgets and depend on donations to keep them afloat. But despite this, when marketing or advertising your organization the goal is to get the companies mission across to everyone you're trying to reach. There are various ways in which you can market and advertise the organization, you can have Billboard signs, mail out flyers to potential donors, pass out business cards, take out a magazine ad and use social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.


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Wine County fires devastate cannabis economy of Sonoma and Mendocino counties
David Downs
Oct. 12, 2017 Updated: Oct. 13, 2017 7:59 p.m.
1of2Mature marijuana plants are discovered singed at a home destroyed by fire on Tomki Road in Redwood Valley, Calif. on Tuesday Oct. 10, 2017. Authorities have reported at least three people have died and 50 residences have been destroyed by the Redwood Complex Fire.Paul Chinn/The ChronicleShow MoreShow Less
2of2Mendocino Co. Sheriff Tom Allman briefs state Sen. Mike McGuire on Monday morning's fire next to singed marijuana plants (left) that were growing at a home destroyed by fire on East Road in Redwood Valley, Calif. on Tuesday Oct. 10, 2017. Authorities have reported at least three people have died and 50 residences have been destroyed by the Redwood Complex Fire.Paul Chinn/The Chronicle 2017Show MoreShow Less
California's $21 billion cannabis economy is reeling from likely more than a billion dollars in crop losses related to the deadly wildfires sweeping through the cultivation heartlands of Mendocino, Sonoma and Napa counties this week.
Compounding the losses is the cannabis industry's legal status: Though sanctioned by California and other states, its product remains an illegal drug under federal law. Unlike wineries, cannabis farmers generally cannot obtain crop insurance. Those that do get insured pay high rates for skimpy coverage. Cannabis businesses are also not eligible for federal disaster relief.
Up to one-third of the annual outdoor cannabis crop in Mendocino and Sonoma counties could be destroyed or damaged as wildfires continue to burn in Northern California. Crops that survive the flames may be damaged by the smoke.
"We've been watching the community come apart at the seams," said Kevin Jodrey, who runs an annual cannabis competition called the Golden Tarp in Humboldt County. In conversations with wholesale cannabis buyers across the state, double-digit percentages of the annual outdoor harvest are assumed lost.
Tawnie Logan, chair of the Sonoma County Growers Alliance, saw a $2 million crop in a Santa Rosa greenhouse reduced to ash Sunday night. "There's no way for them to recover the millions in anticipated revenue they just lost," she said. "It's gone. It's ashes."
According to county surveys, the number of cannabis gardens in Sonoma County might be anywhere from 3,000 to 9,000. Revenue from cannabis is unknown but likely total in the hundreds of millions of dollars annually in the county, and Santa Rosa had emerged as the epicenter of the modern legal pot economy in California.
"I had one conversation today where the family was in tears, saying, 'We don't know how we're going to make it to January, let alone next planting season,'" said Hezekiah Allen, executive director of the California Growers Association.
He said the fires have resulted in "the worst year on record for California's growers."
Many farms also had all-cash savings on-site because of banking limitations on cannabis commerce, said Josh Drayton, communications director for the California Cannabis Industry Association. "I know we definitely have multiple members that have lost their homes and have lost their savings."
Ben Bradley, CCIA's operations director, said dozens of CCIA members have lost crops and homes in the marijuana commerce epicenters of Sonoma and Mendocino counties.
At least 21 CGA members have lost their entire farms in the blazes burning near Santa Rosa, Mendocino County's Redwood Valley and beyond. "This is going to leave a deep scar," Allen said.
The fires could not have come at a worse time for many producers, as the annual outdoor harvest season was in full swing and many farmers intended to pick their crops through the end of the month.
The rest of the cannabis supply chain has suffered, too. The fires have leveled seed sellers' properties, storage warehouses and oil extracting facilities.
Much of the industry in Sonoma and Mendocino counties was also in the process of seeking local and state licensing to enter the recreational-use market in 2018. Operators had been spending tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars for things like water permits and leasing warehouse space that is now rubble.
"It's going to be a fatal blow for quite a few of those people that went through all the trouble and challenge to be legitimized," said Tim Blake, who runs the Emerald Cup cannabis competition from Laytonville in Mendocino County. "They hadn't had a chance to sell their crops and now they're losing their home. Where do they even go?"
Although many operators are still in danger, relief efforts have begun across the state. The CGA is coordinating donations to Mendocino County relief, and the 140-employee CannaCraft marijuana processing plant in Santa Rosa is hosting and feeding 200 Red Cross staff for the next five weeks.
Losses are expected to climb as the fires continue to rage through the weekend. "This isn't going to stop until the rains come down," said Jodrey.
On Friday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast a 30 percent chance of rain in about five days. Meanwhile, new evacuations were being ordered in Santa Rosa, and Sonoma faced ongoing threats and evacuations as well.
"We have a lot of people who have lost their farms in the last 36 hours — and their homes," said Logan. "We've got about 30 percent of our farm still sitting out there —just covered. It's going to be tough. All of our product is covered in ash and soot and billows of smoke."
Smoke destroys the value of cannabis and makes it more susceptible to disease, leading to unhealthy levels of mold, mildew and fungus.
"Especially when it's ripe — I can tell you from personal experience, wildfire definitely will make your cannabis have a smoky flavor to it, just like (it would to) wine," Kristin Nevedal, executive director of the International Cannabis Farmers Association, based in the Humboldt County town of Garberville, said in an interview last month.
Leading San Francisco dispensary SPARC was preparing to harvest its outdoor crop Tuesday. Early Monday morning, SPARC's farm in Glen Ellen sustained major damage from the Nuns Fire, director Erich Pearson said. "The whole thing was on fire," he said.
Wednesday he said, "There's no fuel left. You see a stump burning and there's nothing around it, so we leave it," he said.
Further north in Mendocino County, the cultivation-rich Redwood Valley remained on fire Friday, with 34,000 acres burned and ten percent of the Redwood Complex Fire contained as of the afternoon. Redwood Valley is a hotbed of multi-generational, mom-and-pop craft cannabis cultivators. Thousands of them live and work gardens in the rugged, remote hills. The fire has downed communications systems and cut off residents from the outside world.
"So many people have their livelihoods where they live. Here, people lost everything — homes and livelihoods — in one fell swoop," said Amanda Reiman, a Redwood Valley resident who is the vice president of outreach for the cannabis company Flow Kana.
"Some of our neighbors up the road didn't make it out in time," reported Redwood Valley music group MendoDope on its Instagram page.
"A lot of people had crops in their barns and hadn't sold anything yet, because everything is selling so slow," Blake said. "This is beyond anything I've seen in my life."
A noted cannabis breeder and seed seller who goes by the name of Subcool reported Tuesday losing his home, seedstock and source plants used to make cuttings, called "mothers."
Subcool's colleague reported on Instagram that he refused to leave his farm. "With flames soaring in the air he yelled, 'Come get me. Here I am.'" Sheriffs reportedly had to escort him away.
Another farm, Sonoma County Cannabis Company, sustained major losses, according to multiple reports. "There are no words right now to describe the loss, the heartbreak and the trauma that our beloved home and community is going through," the company posted to its Instagram account. "We are trying to save what we can."
Major Santa Rosa cannabis manufacturer CannaCraft closed its 110-employee business Monday but reopened Tuesday with a skeleton crew working amid "awful" air quality, said spokeswoman Kial Long. All employees are accounted for, but losses have been felt companywide.
"We have no employees that were not impacted in some way or another," Long said. "A lot of family, a lot of friends and a few employees did lose their homes."
CannaCraft pledged to give $40,000 worth of medicine to affected patients and donate a portion of sales proceeds to benefit Red Cross relief efforts in the area.
The cannabis community has decades of experience taking care of its own, said Blake. "We're resilient. The thing about cannabis people is we've had our asses beat so many times. With the federal raids, robbers, crop failures — we've gone through so much of this. People will survive and go on and we will support each other and find a way to do that."
Even with the record crop losses, California as a whole promises to deliver a record cannabis harvest to consumers in 2017, Blake said. Humboldt County remains warm and sunny, with record harvests coming in. Monterey County and the southern California desert cities are also flooding the market with A-grade product.
California's cannabis economy is too vast and dispersed to be crippled, said Blake. The rest of the "Emerald Triangle" growing region of Mendocino, Humboldt and Trinity counties will make up for what's lost. "Redwood Valley is the sweet spot — it's prime growing area. But it's a small percentage of the Triangle. There is a bumper crop coming in that's bigger than anyone can even dream of."
David Downs is the San Francisco Chronicle cannabis editor. Email: ddowns@sfchronicle.com
For complete cannabis coverage from the San Francisco Chronicle, visit GreenState.com.
Reach David on
David Downs is the Cannabis Editor for the San Francisco Chronicle. He contributes stories across SFGate.com, the SFChronicle.com and in print. Additionally, he coordinates, assigns, contributes to and/or edits cannabis-related stories across The Chronicle's sections. Downs also develops new media products, services and events in the cannabis space.
Before joining The Chronicle, David was a freelancer with clips in Scientific American, and The New York Times. He was the Senior Editor of Cannabis Now magazine, syndicated columnist of Legalization Nation for the East Bay Express, co-founder of The Hash podcast at TheHash.org, and a cannabis reviewer for CULTURE magazine. Downs has a degree in English Literature from UC Santa Barbara, and was a Fellow at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism. He's the author, co-author, and contributing author, or editor of four marijuana books, including The Medical Marijuana Guidebook (Whitman, 2016).


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In Israel, at Shavuot time the children come to school dressed in white clothes. The little ones wear crowns of flowers and leaves. We decorate baskets with flowers and leaves and put in fruit as a symbol of the firstfruits that were brought to the Temple. We also fill the baskets with dairy foods like yogurt and cheese (sometimes homemade). At home, we eat meals that include dairy. On the kibbutzim, they celebrate Shavuot as an agricultural feast; they sing and dance and bring forth first fruits of the livestock and the harvest.
Stir all ingredients together in large bowl. Put several layers of cheesecloth in a large colander or strainer. Place the cheese mixture on the cheesecloth and put the strainer over a larger bowl, so that it rests over it. Refrigerate overnight.
The next day, remove yogurt cheese and place it in a clean bowl. You may stir in chopped olives, green onions, chopped dried tomatoes, a little olive oil—or you may leave the cheese as is. Serve spread on crackers or bread or as a dip with fresh vegetables or fruit.


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The Rock Close To Signing Deal For A WWE SmackDown Return
Precious Chukwurah
According to a respected wrestling podcast called Barnburner's Fired Up, and a few other sources, The Rock is reportedly close to signing a deal for a one-off appearance on the 1,000th episode of WWE Smackdown, a brand he helped build from the ground.
Joe Peisich, the wrestling insider who reported the news on the Fired Up podcast, said this in passing: "For the 1,000th SmackDown which happens on October 16th they are negotiating and very very close to a Rock appearance.
Of course it's The Rock's show naming it SmackDown after the SmackDown or whatever." Pardon me, the last bit is a little incoherent.
The belief is that Dwayne Johnson will make up for his absences in the past by taking time out of his busy schedule to film the episode.
The wrestler-turned-movie star is currently filming Disney's upcoming live-action film Jungle Cruise, filmed on location in Hawaii.
Dwayne previously missed out on WWE's Raw 25 celebration, although it should be noted, The Rock spend the majority on his screen-time on SmackDown programming and pay-per-view events.
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SS Red Oak Victory Tours
1337 Canal Blvd., Berth 5
Richmond Kaiser Shipyards,
TOURS EVERY SUNDAY!
Arrive Curious... Leave in Awe
THE LAST SURVIVOR... The 455' ft., SS RED OAK VICTORY is the last surviving vessel of 747 ships of all types built at the Richmond Kaiser Shipyards during World War II. She continues to serve today as a museum ship and as a monument to the thousands of men and women who worked hard to build these ships in a time of national crisis.
VISIT US! ADMISSION:
SS RED OAK VICTORY was re-opened to the public on Sunday, May 9, 2021. Now open to the public every Sunday 10 am to 4 pm with our usual tour options:
Admission and Self-Guided Tour $10
Docent-Guided Tours:
– Entire Ship Except Engine Room $15
– Entire Ship Plus Engine Room $20
Please note that Google Maps and most other map services do not show our correct location based on the mailing address. We are directly across from Riggers Loft Wine Company. For a Google Maps link to our correct location click here.
"Ask About Our Event Buyout"
About | History | Support | Shop
See NAVAL LEGENDS:
Red Oak Victory Video
https://redoakvictory.us/
info@redoakvictory.us
Local Dining Favorites Before & After This Event
Waterfront Fine Dining in Richmond
Sunday Brunch also Appetizers, Salads, Pizza, Burgers & Sandwiches, Pasta, Seafood, Steaks & Chops, Fine Desserts, Wines and a Full Bar. View of the Marina & Bay. Indoor & Outdoor Dining, 7 days a week 11 am - 8 pm. Call ahead for curbside & pickup orders.
Lara's Fine Dining
Richmond (510) 234-1860
Tasting Room, Wine Bar, Live Music, Located in the Richmond Shipyards
5,000 sq ft Cellar Room and Wine Bar. 7,200 sq.ft Outside Music & Seating Area. The Arlington catering company focuses on complementary and seasonal entrees, starters, sides, and desserts. Open Thursday 4-7pm / Friday 4-8pm; Saturday 1-8pm / Sunday 1-7pm. Check the website for the music schedule. (510) 233-2065
Riggers Loft Wine Company, Richmond
Get Lucky Tonight!
Play "No Limit" & $3-$6 Texas Hold'em 7 Days A Week.
2746 W. Tregallas Rd., Antioch


Hope you're getting to use that Spanish of yours???
I feel like the Lone Ranger's friend, Muy Tonto.
I can usually muster energy the first day just from sheer excitement of being somewhere new, but the second day, it often comes crashing down. We've had our share of bad "we just want something to eat" pizzas too.
Hi Janis, for us it was the exact opposite. Second day was great. I just need time and reliable Wi-Fi to do that post.
Thanks for the great post. Are you still doing this all on your iPhone? Amazing. I am now sadly back in Vancouver trying to find ways to get back to NZ. Some day … Rest now so you can have fun later!!
Thanks Nancy, Yep. Doing it on my iPhone. I have no idea how the formatting is working out. I'll see when I get home. Auto correct may have inserted some surprising substitutes.


Direct and private HARBOR FRONT views abound in this one of a kind home in the Cliffs neighborhood. Smell the ocean and listen to the sea gulls while enjoying a glass of wine, pool side and gazing out over the harbor. Cozy up near one of the many picture windows to enjoy the views inside and the warmth of one of the 3 fire places that are laid with the original bricks from the Beacon Hill sidewalks. The first floor master wing provides stunning views, full master bath, office and first floor laundry. An upgraded and open concept kitchen provides the perfect spot for entertaining with beamed ceiling, breakfast nook and views into the dining room overlooking the water. Upstairs boasts an additional 4 bedrooms and 2 full baths while the lower level offers an additional 1500 square feet of partially finished pool level living space. House can be purchased with an additional half acre of buildable harbor front land MLS #72449646.