Here's how she cooks food that's inspired by the rich cultural heritage and amazing produce of Los Angeles.
"My first job was on the same street 16 years ago," Nyesha Arrington says while sitting in her restaurant Native, craning her head as if trying to look down Santa Monica Boulevard toward her old gig. Cooking at the dearly departed restaurant Jiraffe, she kick-started a decade-and-a-half culinary journey that eventually sent her away from Los Angeles, only to have the gravitational pull of her hometown bring her back.
Now, not only is she cooking where she grew up, at Native she's creating what she calls "Angeleno cuisine," a delicious reflection of a changing city and food scene.
Getting her start in cooking at the Art Institute in Santa Monica, Arrington began her career during a transitional time in the city's culinary culture. Los Angeles had its stalwarts—it's the town that gave us Wolfgang Puck, after all—but it was far from becoming the culinary boomtown it is today. The culture in the kitchen was quite different back then, too.
The intervening years would see her working at other restaurants around Santa Monica as well as on Joël Robuchon's kitchen brigade in Las Vegas and in a resort in the Virgin Islands, where she had a stint running a restaurant. She even spent a season competing on Top Chef. Still, her heart and culinary style remained firmly rooted in her hometown.
A few years ago, the native Angeleno opened her first restaurant, Leona, in Venice. "I called it 'progressive California cuisine,'" she says. "It's a mix of savory and sweet. It's light and bright, and our cooking is seasonal and produce-driven." Accolades poured in, including winning chef of the year from Eater L.A. in 2015. But 18 months after opening, she left after irreconcilable differences with her partners, and even now sitting inside of her new restaurant, the sting of the divorce is still present.
Her mood quickly turned ebullient again when she began discussing Native. There, she's taken what she loved most about Leona and focuses it even more on telling the story of Los Angeles through food.
That philosophy expresses itself in dishes such as duck breast influenced by her love of Reuben sandwiches from Langer's Deli, a twist on a French tartare that has Maui onions and a Korean mustard, and something even more personal—an outstanding short-rib dumpling inspired by first falling in love with cooking beside her Korean grandmother.


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Searching your data? Recollect is making backup and browsing beautiful
Eliza Kern Nov 5, 2012 (Jun 9, 2020) -- Blog Post
When it's time to create a full backup of all of your data on the internet, it might seem like the digital equivalent of eating your vegetables: We know it's good for us, but it probably isn't a whole lot of fun. But the founders of Recollect, a new San Francisco-based startup from a group of ex-Yahoo Flickr employees, want to combine the "surprise and delight" element of memento services (like TimeHop or Facebook timeline) with the functionality of backup services that let you search and archive. And they want you to pay for it.
"We felt that the underlying reasons we're using all these places is we wanted to keep records of what we were doing. So we had this deeper feeling that one day we wanted to go back and do something with all this information. We wanted to put it together in a form where we could look through it," said co-founder Chris Martin.
Recollect, which launched about a week ago, offers three different plans with graduated prices, but they all offer a similar service. Users can back up their Foursquare check-ins, tweets, and photos from Instagram and Flickr as well as the corresponding conversation around those items, including comments and likes. Users can also search that content and download all of their data whenever they want, and the service sells no advertising. The cheapest option is $6 a month for 5,000 archived photos, monthly downloads, and one account per website. The founders said this covers the needs of the majority of users, but those who want to bump up photo storage could get get 25,000 photos for $12 or 50,000 photos for $24 per month.
"I think that slowly people are starting to realize that they are the product on a lot of these services," Martin said. "And as much as those services want to work in the user's best interest, they're somewhat beholden to the people who pay the bills. At Recollect one of the core features is it is a paid product. We're trying to make it as cheap as possible, and we want it to have a good value."
The founders, who said they're bootstrapping the project entirely themselves and are keeping the pricing as close to the cost as possible, said it was certainly a leap of faith to charge people for the service when so many of their peers are providing services for free. But Martin said they're cautiously optimistic that the gamble will work out, and are taking the long view of things, assuming people will appreciate the product and be willing to pay.
"To get to a million users on our service is going to be a long process," he said. "It's going to be a million people who really want it who wil pay for it."
The trio of co-founders of Martin, Bertrand Fan, and Timoni West, all worked at Flickr, and Martin said their expertise in building systems for holding and storing data.
"We want to build this as like, a personal Wikipedia," Martin said. "Where you can go into one place and come out with everything you're looking for. The way we think about it is an intelligent archive."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Sydney Film Festival: one for the gleaners
The Werckmeister Harmonies
French filmmaker and theorist Agnes Varda is now in her 60s. In her lithe documentary, The Gleaners and I, she explores the often hidden worlds of people who salvage objects that others leave behind: a tonne of potatoes dumped because they're misshapen, heart shaped, green vegetable leaves under crates at a Parisian market, grapes and apples left to rot, oysters left stranded after a storm. Varda gleans in her own way too, holding a camera rather than a sickle, sifting through digital images rather than metal by the roadside. Scrap crap. Shit bits. Fossicked through and spat out. She buys a clock with no hands and displays it proudly on the mantle. In France, gleaners have a certain nobility, are able to articulate their rights, protected by law. A chef in Burgundy roams the local hills looking for wild herbs. An artist makes "sentences from things." People glean to survive, for art, by compulsion, or just for fun. Meanwhile, Agnes looks at her elderly hands, her thinning hair, trying to find the same empathy for her aging body that she shares with others she talks to: "I am an animal I don't know." Film festival goers become gleaners too, sifting through the rubble for those elusive odds and sods that can be shaped into lasting impressions. It's harder than ever to get the full picture now that subscriptions only cover films at the State Theatre. It's like watching the event with one eye covered. So here goes a "sheltered view.
Innocent bystanders
The Werckmeister Harmonies is the masterpiece of the festival, an overpowering look into the belly of the beast, or in this case the eye of a whale. What do you see? Good or evil? There's the mysterious Prince who incites the members of a Hungarian village to rampage, riot and destroy. But does he exist or is he just a fiction created to justify others' actions? A witness moves through this cold village. An innocent. He sees all, like the whale he loves to visit, stranded in a corrugated iron truck, tail piercing the village square, the night, like angel's wings. In one of the most memorable beginnings in cinema, he pushes drunks at the bar into physical revolution, an embodied eclipse, where they play sparkling sun and moon and earth and twinkle twinkle little stars with their fingertips, spiralling and lurching around each other. He is a guardian angel unable to help, bleaker than Wenders', watching and stepping with care. The monochrome and relentless cold and György Kovàcs' exquisite music build a feeling of undefinable dread. It settles in your stomach, unnameable. It streams into the empty streets. Then the mob appears and starts to move, quiet except for footsteps. They ransack a hospital, destroying the equipment, beating the patients out of bed. No screams or cries of anguish, just a systematic, ruthless, unstoppable force, the fear heightened by the quiet.
Director Bela Tarr's style is distinctive in contemporary cinema in that he rarely edits. The camera floats, smooth as a ghost, a dead man walking amongst hardened faces. Each scene is unforgettable: a policeman dances with his lover with a gun pointed triumphantly in the air. Loaded. His kids tear up and blow down the house, drumming with sticks, screaming "I'll be hard on you, I'll be hard on you", each word a response to an inherited legacy of brutality, They control the world. Right now. While a dead whale lies in the village square, exposed, in streets that are burning.
How much profit is enough?
Bob Connolly, giving the Ian McPherson Memorial Lecture, says the best place to see documentary is in a "darkened hall surrounded by as many people as possible" and his methodology of narrative verité, being "prepared to film indefinitely", results in high drama comic-tragedies/provocations like Rats in the Ranks and Facing the Music (which won most popular documentary at the festival). Anne Boyd is a good subject—frail, increasingly politicised, energetic, courageous, irritating, contradictory—and her love of music, along with the students' exquisite soundtrack, infuses the film. It focuses on the gradual deterioration in teaching and resource standards of the Department of Music at the University of Sydney, due to the budget constraints meted out under university management and the federal government. The psychological damage on teachers aiming high within these environments is devastating. Staff start working unpaid. In the end, Boyd retires to concentrate on composing and second-in-charge Winsome Evans ("I can't use the computer…I wouldn't go to meetings") has a heart attack. This is good drama but so much more. In a crucial scene, Boyd calls the Commonwealth Bank to try and muster some funding for a scholarship after spending hours composing on the computer—her ever-expanding duties as Head of Department now including sponsorship manager. It's painful watching her negotiations, seeing her invest so much in her words, because you know that every charity is writing that same letter, every organisation coming up with its own buzz words, trying to entice the corporates to bite. This doco is a must see for every group on the fringes—artists, charities, academics, teachers, students—and anyone who believes, as Boyd quotes Beethoven, that "it is they who should give way to us."
In August 1999, industrial giant BHP closed its doors in Newcastle. Steel City revisits the site, workers, management and community in the final stages. 2,500 workers are in a state of paralysis, having grown up expecting "a job for life" and feeling unskilled to tackle looking for work in a region as depressed as the Hunter. The documentary lovingly cares for these men and women, the men seen as vulnerable, described in feminine language—suckling on breasts—unable to defend themselves. Sometimes Kris McQuade's voiceover verges on wartime-like propaganda, gearing into the sentimental—"this is where they lived"—as the camera traces the empty streets. Where the film is most successful is in the juxtaposition of management and workers. The marketing manager keen to get a media spin at all costs—he knows where his next pay cheque is coming from—staging a mock event of the last pouring of steel, inviting old timers to be involved: "it's good business." Front page news or bloated rhetoric? While Jack, who worked from age 14-51 at BHP, has no trade or qualifications but is learning to trust himself. And the others, who've never been for an interview, who don't have "much literacy/numeracy skills", get training from a service provider who says they need to "look outside the box." The same workers who were told by BHP that "you're not here to think, you're here to do as you're told." The strangely moving image of a fiery process coming to an end.
Killing off the family
Made for the Hybrid Life series currently screening on SBS (see RT43 p14), The Last Pecheniuk is an unusual documentary in that it focuses on the negative aspects of being the child of immigrants in Australia. No soft-centred reminiscences packed up in a suitcase here. Instead, a tale of disaffection, a woman (the filmmaker Ness Alexandra), who changes her name to avoid the obligations of her Russian heritage, the pressures of being "the last Pecheniuk." It's a stylishly made film, Run Lola Run funky, complexly layered. Ness writes to an aunt who also ran away: "you were the big mystery…I imagined I was you." The weight of expectation is heavy but there is love too. She sees her family as paranoid and isolated, her identity in Australia as trapped, bound and controlled as the Bonsai plants her grandmother so carefully tends.
Under the Sand is also about disappearance and reconstruction. Curiously resonant because of our cultural focus on the beach and the Harold Holt drowning saga, it's about a middle-aged couple who visits a holiday house and head to the sand. While Marie (Charlotte Rampling in a memorable performance) is sleeping her husband enters the surf and when she wakes he is gone. That's it. It's disturbing because of its intangibility; there's nothing for her or us to grab hold of. Is he just missing? Is he dead? Director Francois Ozon concentrates on Marie's state of mind immediately after the disappearance and this is the film's strange strength. It's not quite grief. It's not quite sanity either. She can't miss him because he isn't really gone. Yet. There are shifting surfaces, and sometimes it's easier not to know the truth. When she finally relents and takes another lover, she laughs in the middle of making love and says, "you're so light." He's not quite her husband. Rampling embodies in a very physical performance that sense of unreality when someone who touches you every day is no longer there.
Little boy dreams
David Stratton introduces The Apu Trilogy, Satyajit Ray's classic black and white films tracing the life of a village boy, with a great story. When he was director of the Sydney Film Festival in 1968, he was approached by Ray to obtain a copy of Peter Sellers' The Party for a private screening. Ray had just been offered a funding deal with Columbia, based on his script The Alien—an alien is befriended by a peasant—conditional on the agreement that Sellers played the part of the peasant. Stratton was forced to spend an excruciating few hours in Ray's presence watching Sellers play an Indian After this, Ray withdrew from the deal.
The 3 films of the trilogy—Pather Panchali, Aparajito and The World of Apu—are quite different in tone and style. Pather is beautifully filmed and performed by a group of non-actors. Like Edward Yang's Yi Yi (A One and A Two) the focus is on a small boy who sees everything but understands only pieces, oblivious to an adult world in which we become implicated. In Taiwan, a small boy takes photographs of the backs of people's heads to help them see what they are missing. In India, Apu runs to his mother—he runs everywhere—with a letter from a long-gone father, evading his mother's desperate hands. In Aparajito, it is the father who moves incessantly, in and out of the streets that wind down to the steps of the sacred Ganges, to be cleansed in water that is more diseased than he can know. Like Marie in Under the Sand, Apu becomes defined by absence, the deaths of sister, father, loved wife and an ambivalent relationship with his mother—which comes to haunt him in The World of Apu, when he takes on the role of absent father. Full circle.
There's a woman who sits in the same seat every session at the State whom I dub 'Voice of the People.' After each film she announces loudly to the elderly women behind her a score out of 5. In Silent Partner, David Field and Syd Brisbane give headstrong, occasionally brutal, performances in a 2-hander that is about childish faith eternally unfulfilled. These men are close as family, prefer to buy cigarettes and alcohol than food, and completely naïve in their undertakings with the big boss. Based on a Daniel Keene play, the writing is understandably tough, unrelenting but sympathetic. Shot in 7 days on location at the greyhound races (where people just ignored the camera) and in various actors' kitchens and bathrooms, it's very low budget with a gorgeous sustained rhythm. The Voice of the People gives it 1 star out of 5. She says, "why would you bother making a film about 2 absolute losers" and then pauses, reflectively, "but Paul Byrnes seemed to like it." I give the festival 2.5 stars—I have gleaned a bit but my bucket is half full.
Steel City, writer-director Catherine Marciniak; The Last Pecheniuk, writer-director Ness Alexandra, Dendy Awards, State Theatre, June 8; Facing the Music, writer/directors Bob Connolly, Robin Anderson, distributor Ronin Films, Australia; The Gleaners and I, writer-director Agnes Varda, France; A One and A Two, writer-director Edward Yang, Taiwan/Japan; Silent Partner, writer Daniel Keene, director Alkinos Tsilimidos, distributor Palace Films, Australia; Under the Sand, writer-director Francois Ozon, France; The Werckmeister Harmonies, director Bela Tarr, script based on book Melancholy of Resistance by Laszlo Krasznahorkai, Hungary/France/Germany; The Apu Trilogy, writer-director Satyajit Ray, India, Sydney Film Festival, June 8-22
RealTime issue #44 Aug-Sept 2001 pg. 20
© Kirsten Krauth; for permission to reproduce apply to realtime@realtimearts.net


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Movies That Suck: The Punsiher
*Warning: Contains Spoilers*
This weekend, against my better judgment, I decided to watch the 2004 motion picture adaptation of The Punisher starring Thomas Jane, John Travolta and Rebecca Romijn. Admittedly, I was never a huge fan of the comic book character as his only "superpower" was minimal body-fat and insatiable anger, and while this framework may not have appealed to me in a comic book setting, it was a perfectly adequate basis on which to stage a violent action film.
Like all revenge films, the protagonist must experience the violent death of an immediate family member(s) at the hands of an unredeemable villain. This act of violence serves two purposes: it untethers them from societal norms and rationalizes their callous disregard for human life. In this adaptation, director Jonathan Hensleigh (best known for directing Armageddon) takes the bar a little higher. Instead of the standard home invasion or drive-by, he stages a military assault on Frank Castle's (played by Thomas Jane) annual family reunion killing all thirty members of his immediate and extended family using machine guns and explosives. As if this was not insulting enough the thugs proceed to beat him like a piñata, shoot him three times, then light him on fire before leaving him to drown in the ocean.
Castle, understandably dismayed at this turn of events, finds the criminal justice system too convoluted to properly administer his particular brand of justice. After being discovered in the water by a local who nurses him back to health, Castle returns to the city in order to announce his miraculous survival to the news media. He then rents a room in what appears to be a crack-den (presumably to lay low) and outlines his plans for retribution while befriending his neighbors. What follows is indeed punishment.
My biggest issue was the setup. I am onboard for senseless violence as a plot device, but are we expected to believe someone can mow down thirty American citizens in broad daylight without some kind of repercussion? Was it that necessary to ensure that every single attendee died? I really doubt that leaving a nephew or two breathing would have affected the story one way or the other. Quite frankly, I am surprised they didn't have Travolta's character put out a hit on Castle's 3rd grade art teacher just to make sure he knew this was personal.
Even more ridiculous was the idea that a solitary local fisherman was able to nurse Frank Castle back to health. Setting aside the years of physical therapy normally required after being shot / beaten / burned / and drowned, this guy had Frank walking under his own power in six weeks. If an uneducated fisherman with no access to a hospital can produce these kinds of results, we need to reexamine how we approach healing in this country. Just think what this guy could do with an entire healthcare infrastructure at his command. Also, he did not charge Frank for his medical services so he may very well be a threat to the American way of life in general.
In addition to arming himself with guns, knives, and grenades; Frank is also packing clichéd one-liners that would make Michael Bay wince. For example, as Castle is leaving the care of his fisherman friend he is told to "Go with God." His steely gaze piercing the horizon, Frank retorts "God's gonna sit this one out." Having sat through the next ninety minutes of the film, I cannot disagree.
Of course, what revenge vehicle would be complete without the villain getting his comeuppance? After shooting, stabbing, or maiming the obligatory disposable henchmen, The Punisher finds himself face to face with John Travolta. After a merciful few seconds of cringe-worthy dialogue, Castle shoots Travolta, ties him to the bumper of a slow moving car, and then sets off a series of car bombs that resembles a skull from an aerial vantage point. Once this is completed, Travolta's character is lit on fire. I was somewhat disappointed when Thomas Jane's character did not spit on Travolta's burning corpse just for good measure. He could have even thrown in a clichéd, "See you in Hell".
Thomas Jane reportedly turned down several sequels because the scripts were not of the "quality" he expected. After seeing this film, I shudder to think of a screenplay that gives Thomas Jane pause. I can only speculate as to what would further anger a man who already had his entire family-tree whacked. Did someone change his federal income tax withholding so that he had to pay in? Did a new villain exhume the bodies of his family, defecate on the corpses, and then reinter them in his Jacuzzi? Alas, the world may never know….
This film has been rated "R" for genealogical-themed homicide and a scene of implied socialized healthcare.
The Hamster Incident
At the beginning of the school year wife decided to obtain a class pet for her elementary classroom. The purpose was twofold, it would teach the students personal responsibility while being used as a form of positive reinforcement for acceptable behavior. The hamster was christened "Max" by the children and brought laughter and merriment to all he encountered.
Several weeks ago Max became afflicted with an unknown ailment and after checking with area veterinarians we discover that treatment would be $50-$75. If he was left untreated, the disease could prove to be fatal and he was in terrible shape. Respecting the deep sentimental bond the children had formed with the creature, we had only one choice: buy a similar replacement hamster for $13.95 and lie to the kids' faces.
I was placed in charge of this task and entered a local pet store armed with a cell phone video of Max and the knowledge that I was looking for a Chinese-dwarf hamster. Upon entering the store I encounter a young woman working the front register who asked if she could be of assistance. I briefly explained my quest and when she asked what had become of the original pet I leaned in conspiratorially and said, "Let's just say he fell in the shower…"
Upon hearing this, she inhales dramatically, places her hands on her chest and in a volume much louder than necessary responds "Why did you have a hamster in the shower!?" Sensing the judgmental eyes of several shoppers upon me, I decided to continue to the hamster section unaided. I was able to locate the Chinese-dwarf hamsters without a problem, and while they did resemble our beloved Max, they all seemed to have a disproportionately large set of testicles. This was going to be problematic since I doubted the children were going to miss the fact that Max had dropped a set of danglers over the weekend.
I inquired if perhaps they had a female model since Max did not come with such prominent reproductive accessories. After engaging two other employees, they assured me that they do not sell female Chinese-dwarf hamsters. Equally emphatic, I assured them that the animal my wife procured from their establishment was not "ridin' dirty" and therefore must have been either a female or a male with a birth defect. Remembering the cell phone video, I asked them if them if they could tell by looking at an image of one. Two of them agreed to try and I found myself huddled around my cell phone with two complete strangers while they said things like "Can you pause it and zoom in on the gonads?" I just prayed no one I knew was shopping there.
Eventually, we engaged the store manager who suggested a different course of action. Apparently, when my wife acquired Max she had to sign a release (indicating that we would not sue if Max was carrying Bosnian elbow syndrome or some other exotic pathogen) and those forms were kept on file for a year. After several minutes of searching, she discovered the discrepancy. My wife had not purchased a Chinese-dwarf hamster as she believed, rather Max had been a Russian hamster. While he apparently was a male, the Russian variety is equipped with much smaller accoutrements than their Chinese counterpart.
We then walked over to the holding cells and after comparing the floor models with the video of Max we found one who was similar. They placed him in a carryout container and I proceeded to the register to complete the transaction. While standing in line, a woman behind me tapped me on the shoulder and asked, "What's in the box?" When I replied that it was a Russian hamster, she looked perplexed for a moment and then asked me what separated a Russian hamster from other hamsters. I told her my understanding was that all hamsters were separated by their ideological views on socialism and that I was unable to locate a capitalistic-sympathizer version.
The conversation continued until I had explained to her why I, as a grown man, had spent a solid hour locating a specific breed of hamster. Once it was my turn to check-out, I was asked if I had any questions and I told the employee that I needed to spray paint the animal to better match his processor and was not sure if he needed a primer coat first. When this was met with dramatic gasps from shoppers behind me, I assured all of them that I fully intended to cover his tiny little nose during the process and he would be just fine.
It's Poop Again!
Earlier this year Trudy Grafton, principle of an Indiana Elementary School, called an assembly to address the third, fourth, and fifth grade students. Unlike previous assemblies, this one was not accompanied by a plea to stay off drugs or a sales pitch by the local Jostens rep concerning 5th grade class rings. Instead Principle Grafton informed the student body that someone had seen fit to smear large amounts of fecal matter on the walls of the restroom.
During her address, she referred to said excrement as "sh*t" which ignited a firestorm amongst the parents. In short order, the school board issued a statement assuring the public that the incident was being dealt with and Grafton penned an open letter apologizing for "using the explicative term for excrement." For now it appears that the board will allow the principle to retain her job and although she has several years of administrative experience this is her first year as principle at that particular school.
Personally, I believe that firing this woman would be a tragedy. Just imagine it is your first year running a new school and on top of the endless parade of behavior issues and staff conflicts you now have to deal with poo hieroglyphics in the 4th grade boy's bathroom. While I cannot condone a principle cursing at a school assembly, I can certainly sympathize. Unless she makes this into a tradition, let the woman do her job.
What the board should really be concerned with is that a student on the cusp of middle school completed a bowel movement, looked at their own feces, and thought "I should smear this on every non-porous surface I can find." While artistic turd redistribution is not unheard of in certain situations (prison, the DMV, chemical toilets at Ozzfest) it has traditionally been implemented as a sign of derision, often in protest of inhuman conditions. With that in mind, I suppose we cannot rule out the possibility that Timmy was simply making a political statement about the bureaucratic process suffocating our nation's public school system.
This story reminds me of an incident that occurred near our office about a year ago. A portable outdoor toilet had been placed in a nearby alley, presumably to service the work crews renovating a nearby building. After several months, a few employees walking down the alley encountered what could only be described as a gastrointestinal crime scene. There, abandoned in the alleyway just feet from the chemical john, was a pair of men's pants complete with soiled underwear.
It appeared that the garment's owner had misjudged the severity of his situation and had become the victim of a premature deployment. Faced with the prospect of either putting his compromised trousers back into action or wandering the street half-naked, he apparently chose the latter. So there they sat for several months as a memorial to whatever it was he ingested the day before. Eventually Waste Management collected them or he decided that they were salvageable because they eventually disappeared.
Now far be it from me to pass judgment on someone in such dire straits, but as a veteran of several intestinal emergencies I am proud to say that I have never left a man behind. What does your diet consist of that you can be within ten feet of salvation and still be unable to go the distance? I cannot imagine the disappointment. It must be akin to falling on the last twenty-five feet of a full marathon…..and then pooping your pants.
When Whitney Houston passed away on February 11 at the age of 48, the world lost an undeniably- talented vocalist. As is the custom with American celebrities, she was found in a rented room surrounded by large amounts of prescription medication. The scene has become so commonplace I am beginning to suspect it is a package offered by the hotel itself. I can just imagine Keith Richards checking into an Embassy Suites and the concierge asking whether he preferred to have the maid surround his corpse with Xanax or Lortab before alerting TMZ.
While the circumstances of Whitney's death might have been unremarkable, the media coverage was anything but. For three solid days, there was nothing else on television and they were scrounging up every warm body that could conceivable called an acquaintance of the fallen starlet. I believe that at one point I ran across Dr. Drew interviewing a lady who once participated in a church bake sale with Whitney's dental hygienist. These insights were punctuated by footage of ex-husband Bobby Brown performing impromptu tributes during several stops of his "Have I Managed to Play Ever Native-American Gaming Facility Yet?" tour.
The public's sudden fascination with Mrs. Houston has even impacted my personal finances. A few days ago, I was standing in line at the bank waiting for my turn to make a deposit. The woman in front of me had requested cash from her account and presented her driver's license as proof of identity. When the teller glanced down at the woman's ID, she gasped sharply and exclaimed "You look just like Whitney!"
The woman, obviously flattered, coyly deflected the observation and revealed that she was "emotionally unable" to continue watching the news coverage because of its profound effect on her psyche. At this point, the teller abandoned any semblance of productivity and proceeded to reminisce about catching The Bodyguard on Lifetime a few weeks ago and how it had given her a renewed sense of Whitney's prodigious talent. Bobby Brown was not mentioned.
Later that same week, New Jersey Governor Chris Chrisite ordered all flags to be flown at half-staff to mourn Mrs. Houston and recognize that she was "a great source of pride for the people of the state." Her memorial service will be for close friends and family, but they have chosen to broadcast it online so that the masses can enjoy.
I will admit a certain ignorance when it comes to the rules of half-masting the stars and stripes, but I was always under the impression this ceremony was performed when presidents were assassinated or a space shuttle exploded, I did not realize that state governors could order it done at will. Are there no parameters? If Jersey natives Ice-T or Meryl Streep kick the bucket is he going to drop the flag again? If something happens to Kevin Spacey they might declare martial law and ration seedless-fruit.
If I was to become governor, discretionary flag-dropping is definitely one power that I would abuse. The building managers would have rope-burn every time The McRib goes into hiding or my DVR cuts off the two minutes of my show. On some occasions, I may even authorize three-quarter mast flag height if I am still unsure how I feel about an event (like the most recent Van Halen album or retro soda cans).
I am also unsure how I feel about webcasting a funeral. I suppose such things are inevitable in the modern era, and perhaps there is a business opportunity in such things. Just imagine, a site where you could pay your respects without having to engage in the awkward small-talk that usually accompanies a memorial service. Your virtual grieving would be interrupted by a few banner ads and a Tide commercial or two, but it still beats flying to Denver in order to hear things like, "She looks so peaceful."
Pajama Probation
As Seen on TV ! (Part 2)
Super Bowl Digits
His Needs, Her Needs


Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, together with Enterprise Partners and the Association of Ethiopian Microfinance Institutions (AEMFI) have signed a letter of intent to develop an international certification scheme to train, mentor and certify Technical Service Providers (TSPs) for microfinance in Ethiopia.
The partnership aims to create a pool of locally qualified TSPs that could provide high quality and affordable technical assistance to Microfinance ensuring that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are better equipped in creating more job opportunities, in particular for women and the youth. The trainings will include various thematic courses such as risk management, strategy & business modeling, product development, customer service and relationship management as well as training of trainers.
Furthermore, Frankfurt School will provide direct assistance to AEMFI with set standards geared towards institutionalising and ensuring the sustainability of TSP trainings and certification programmes in the country. The first training session will begin in November 2018.


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


ETICS: Water tightness is achieved by placing a thin waterproof barrier over a continuous thermal insulation fixed to the support element on its external side.
CLADDED: Water tightness is achieved by placing a barrier of water tight semi-finished products with overlapped joints over the support element on its external side. The entity of this new layer makes us distinguish it from a simple finishing.
Both solutions include facades with a heavy support element and facades with a light support element. As it happens with the rain screen solution, from the functional point of view, the most relevant differences between these two variants are: - the lack of mass that affects acoustics and thermal inertia; - the possible air leaking when using dry construction.


text:
Maricopa Arizona Police Officer Victor Valenzuela Fired After On Duty Sex With Another Man's Wife
MARICOPA, ARIZONA – A city of Maricopa police officer is out of a job for something he did on the job in December.
"I don't think any officer should be able to stay on the force if they've been caught having an affair with somebody else's wife while they're on duty," Perry Edwards said.
Back in March, Edwards showed 3TV sex texts between his wife and a city of Maricopa police officer.
Edwards suspected his wife was having sex with an officer while the cop was on duty.
Edwards' sister, Roberta Schneider, was so disgusted she asked the police department to investigate.
"He is supposed to be serving our community, not making booty calls in the back of his car," Schneider said.
3TV got a hold of the department's investigative report.
Edwards got his wish.
Officer Victor Valenzuela was fired from the department in March.
"He showed remorse, he was embarrassed and he wishes to go on with life and hopes that this goes away," said police Chief Steve Stahl.
Stahl said Valenzuela admitted to having sex with a married woman while he was working.
"It's sad. There's no doubt about it," Stahl said. "I want to ensure the residents as soon as we found out about the conduct it was investigated very quickly and it was handled very quickly."
According to the report, Valenzuela also admitted to wearing his uniform and driving his patrol car to the Edwards' home.
Valenzuela also told the investigator the sexual encounter happened just once, for a half-hour, and afterward he signed up for a 12-step sex addiction program.
The officer didn't have to repay the department for the half-hour spent at the Edwards' home.
"He risked his career in this behavior and the behavior in and of itself and the penalty in and of itself of losing your career as a law enforcement officer is a pretty heavy penalty to pay," Stahl said.
According to the state, Valenzuela's certification is suspended until September.
As for the Edwards, they're in the middle of divorce proceedings.
3TV tried getting in contact with Valenzuela but was unable to locate the former police officer.
Leave a Comment »	| Arizona	| Tagged: Adultery, Dumbass, Sex	| Permalink
Widening Sex Scandal Rocks Lackland Air Force Base In Texas
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – From a chapel pulpit on Lackland Air Force Base, where every American airman reports for basic training, Col. Glenn Palmer delivered his first order to nearly 600 recruits seated in the pews: If you're sexually harassed or assaulted, tell someone.
"My job is to give you a safe, effective training environment," Palmer said firmly.
What the colonel did not mention directly in his recent address was a widening sex scandal that has rocked the base, one of the nation's busiest military training centers. Allegations that male instructors had sex with, and in one case raped, female trainees have led to criminal charges against four men. Charges against others are possible.
The most serious accusations surround an Air Force staff sergeant scheduled to face a court-martial in July on charges that include rape and multiple counts of aggravated sexual assault. The other three defendants were charged with lesser crimes ranging from sexual misconduct to adultery. All of the defendants were assigned to turn raw recruits into airmen in eight weeks of basic training.
A two-star general is now investigating alongside a separate criminal probe, which military prosecutors say could sweep up more airmen. Advocates for female service members and members of Congress have started taking notice.
"It's a pretty big scandal the Air Force is having to deal with at this point," said Greg Jacob, a former Marine infantry officer and policy director of the Service Women's Action Network. "It's pretty substantial in its scope."
Yet there are signs the Air Force still doesn't have a handle on the full depth of the problem. Staff Sgt. Peter Vega-Maldonado pleaded guilty earlier this month to having sex with a female trainee and struck a plea deal for 90 days' confinement. Then he acknowledged being involved with a total of 10 trainees – a number previously unknown to investigators.
On Friday, after months of embarrassing disclosures, the head of the Air Force's training command ordered Maj. Gen. Margaret H. Woodward to lead an independent investigation. That same day, the Air Force gave reporters rare access to Lackland's instructional headquarters in an effort to show there was nothing to hide.
The headquarters facility is where Lackland trains the people who train recruits. Inside one small classroom, three women and two men were lectured on the importance of having a moral compass while watching a slide presentation titled "Integrity First."
Lackland has about 475 instructors for the nearly 36,000 airmen who will graduate this year. That's about 85 percent of what Lackland would consider a full roster of instructors, a demanding job that requires airmen to work longer hours than most for four years, at the expense of family and personal time. The Air Force recently launched a smartphone app to help recruit instructors. Topping a page of frequently asked questions is whether the divorce rate for instructors really is higher. (The Air Force says no.)
Palmer said that a slight shortage in instructors has not lowered the standards for applicants. In response to the allegations, he said instructor training is being revamped and that he was accountable for problems within the training wing.
Leaders of the instructor program, however, said the responsibility falls on the accused.
"A person sitting in that seat, they're going to do what they're going to do when no one is watching," said Master Sgt. Greg Pendleton, who oversees the training. "That's across the board. That's just them. When we're outside this door or outside these walls, there are individuals that have their own personal values."
So widespread is the fallout that Lackland halted operations for an entire day in March to survey about 5,900 trainees about whether they had seen or been a victim of sexual misconduct.
It was a highly unusual move for a vast 15-square-mile base that runs with relentless efficiency. A new class of airmen graduates every Friday for 50 of the 52 weeks in the year. At first, Palmer, commander of the 737th training wing, said he wasn't sure that halting training was even possible.
Airman Andrea Madison, a new graduate who was in basic training at the height of the investigation at Lackland, said she never felt uncomfortable with her instructors.
"They want to make sure no foul play is happening, no one is taking advantage of us," said Madison, of Columbus, Ohio.
Last week, one commander of a Lackland training squadron caught up in the sex scandal was dismissed after the Air Force lost confidence in his leadership. Col. Polly Kenny, 2nd Air Force Staff, said the dismissal was not directly related to the sexual misconduct investigation.
Nearly three dozen instructors at Lackland have also been removed in the past year, but the Air Force will not say how many lost their jobs as a result of the investigation that began last fall, only that the majority of dismissals were unrelated.
The first sexual misconduct allegations at Lackland surfaced a year ago against Staff Sgt. Luis Walker, who is charged with 28 counts.
Walker, the only instructor who has been accused of sexually assaulting another airman, faces life in prison if convicted. His civilian attorney, Joseph Esparza, has declined to speak with reporters and did not return multiple calls for comment.
Sexual assault victims are reassigned and can apply for a "humanitarian discharge" from the military, but Lackland civilian spokeswoman Collen McGhee said she did not know whether those affected by this case had done so.
Leave a Comment »	| Texas	| Tagged: Adultery, Rape, Sex, Sexual Assault, Sexual Misconduct	| Permalink


1978: Care Plus NJ, Inc. was established as Mid-Bergen Community Mental Health Center to provide "high quality, low cost" mental health services.
1978-81: Became a National Institute of Mental Health grantee to deliver high quality service to those with serious and persistent mental illness.
1988: Developed the Psychiatric Emergency Screening Program for Bergen County, which provides 24/7 crisis intervention and screening services.
1990-1995: Began specialized programming for dually diagnosed individuals suffering from substance abuse and mental illness.
2001: Services for children and youth grew significantly with the addition of the statewide Adoption House program and the designation as the Children's Mobile Response and Stabilization System in Bergen County.
2006-2008: A new social enterprise, Care Plus Workforce Solutions, was created to employ individuals with mental and physical disabilities.
2009: CPNJ was one of 13 organizations selected nationally by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) as part of the first cohort to receive four year funding for Integrated Primary and Behavioral Health Care Services.
2015: Designated New Jersey's first certified Behavioral Health Home to ensure primary, behavioral health, and social service needs were met for adults with Medicaid.
2016: Played an integral role in the Bergen County accomplishments of ending Veteran homelessness and chronic homelessness, in conjunction with the Bergen County Housing, Health and Human Services Center.
2017: The newly created entity, Care Plus Bergen, was awarded operational management of the former Bergen Regional Medical Center, with partnership from Integrity House and Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.
2017: Became one of seven designated Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHC) in the state to provide integrated, holistic care through existing programs.
2018: Opened Paradigm Therapeutic Day School, a New Jersey Department of Education-approved private school for students ages 12-21.
2018: Selected as a recipient of the CCBHC Expansion grant from SAMHSA, totaling $4M dollars over two years.
2018: Selected as a recipient for a grant from SAMHSA to fund the Bergen County Community Treatment and Services Center" project, totaling $2M over five years.


The question being bantered about lately is whether luxury brands need a history to indeed have a future. The concept has many focussing on legacy whether they themselves have one or not. There are those merely alluding to a suggested fictional past and then there are those who can actually lay claim to true heritage. Lalique is clearly the latter.
A name that has always been associated with creative luxury, Lalique has been gradually updating its august image and reestablishing itself as a significant player in the field. With archives filled with inspiration, Lalique is finding exciting ways to reinvent its classics for a new generation.
Although perhaps better known now for his sculpted crystal creations, René Lalique's talent originally manifested itself in his Art Nouveau and Deco jewelry designs. Influenced by the majesty of nature in all its forms, he blended symbolism and naturalism, incorporating many materials not normally associated then with fine jewelry. Horn, glass, enamel and ivory in addition to gems were used as vehicles to enhance the value of the piece as an artistic entity. This innovative approach was a novel concept and by the turn of the century (1900), Lalique was considered one of the greatest jewelers of his time.
Lalique recently launched its first fine jewelry collection in over a century, reinterpreting its founder's vision. Based on the four elements of the natural world – water, air, earth and fire, the initial introduction was Eau Sensuelle, inspired by the sensual qualities of water in all its forms. The mythological story of the water nymph Aréthuse who was transformed into a fountain by Artémis to fool Alpheus, her suitor, was Lalique's inspiration for his famous "masque de femme," whose image is included in the pieces above.
Another star of the collection is Pétillante (sparkling) translated into these elegant yet modern rings, whose cabochon amber crystals and champagne pavé diamonds suggest dew drops and light on water.
I recently paid a visit to the Lalique offices where I had the opportunity to meet the company's talented new jewelry designer Quentin Obadia and see some of the pieces in the latest collection, l'Odyssée du Feu Sacré (The Sacred Fire Odyssey). These pieces represent a journey, an odyssey in which, like the Phoenix, the creations of the master have risen from the ashes (or archives) and are reborn in a modern incarnation.
The muse of the collection is Vesta, guardian of the perpetual fire, representing the passion of love and home. The amazing centerpiece of the haute joaillerie collection started as the sketch above, resulting in the spectacular one of a kind creation below. Staying true to the legacy of Lalique, the necklace mixes crystal with precious and non precious jewels – mother of pearl of the wings, fire opal and diamonds with a 3 carat pear-shaped stone in the center of the bottom plume, detachable as a pendant. The piece is articulated and adaptable to be worn in four different ways. The tiny crystal body, made in the Lalique factory, was a challenge for the workers used to creating larger works, but Obadia wanted to have the continuity and same level of craftsmanship entrusted to the rest of the label.
Within the collection are also "the Songs of the Sacred Fire Odyssey," groupings of wearable contemporary pieces, representing Lalique's "poetic recreation of the world." This is a world, like the original collection, in which nature, nymphs, goddesses, fairies, flora and fauna are transformed into exquisite handcrafted jewelry in the firm's Paris studios. The beautiful Ardente grouping, entitled a Form of Fire, incorporates Lalique's original graceful arabesques. The graceful symbol of eternity is so modern in its elegant simplicity.
The comb pictured is part of the 1888 collection, dubbed Ornaments of Fire. Combs were an integral part of Lalique's oeuvre and eight original designs from 1888 are reinterpreted for contemporary collectors. Below, two more beautiful Ardente combs.
As with all the combs, the Phoenix (shown with its coordinating pendant) is detachable to wear as a brooch.
I loved this Diamond Dragonfly ring, part of the Fauna of Fire group. Cleverly designed, it sits comfortably between the second and third fingers.
In white gold with pavé diamonds, it is both delicate and significant, a modern concept incorporating old world craftsmanship, a bridge between the roots of the legacy and a contemporary lifestyle.
In another more colorful incarnation, this Dragonfly ring is equally arresting.
As is a gorgeous pendant in white gold and sapphires.
This is a collection about emotion and poetry, about a love of nature, mythology and the female spirit. With an innovative mix of materials and timeless craftsmanship, a new future is forged for this legendary label. More jewelry collections will be introduced later this year and you can anticipate more unique pieces, many at approachable price points, inspired by the past with an eye to the future. Do come back tomorrow when we look at how Lalique is rejuvenating itself in other venues as well.
This entry posted in design, gifts, interior design, jewelry. Entry Tags: Crystal, fashion, Heritage, Jewelry, Lalique, Luxury, New Lalique Jewelry Collection Bookmark the permalink.
Wow, these are all so beautiful!! I love that dragonfly ring, in the emeralds and the diamonds!! What I wouldn't give to have one!! Lalique has stunning products!!
I have a mouth full of adjectives and none seem right.
I would love to see these pieces in peson, each a work of art. The ring absolutely looks like a face under water, amazing.
This line of jewelry, just as their beautiful collection of crystal pieces, is stunning. A piece of Lalique crystal is truly a prized piece of art, and this new jewelry collection will also be an addition to ones heirloom pieces.
What a fun visit and loving those rings!
Such beautiful piecces and I love the ornaments of fire earrings. The dragonfly double ring is amazing! Absolutely gorgeous pieces!
Just amazing, what gorgeous pieces! Especially those combs and rings. Thanks for shedding some light on the history of this company and what they are currently doing.
What a stunning collection of beauties and I'd snap up that dragonfly pendant before it flew off! We were once asked to pour one of our bouquets into a Lalique vase and had to refuse – why interfere with such perfection!
White gold – you're singing to me! The ring and dragonfly necklace – love!
Beautiful review! Lalique c'est magnifique. I know its hard for you to look at jewelry :). You've out done yourself in writing. I'm envious. Hope you are doing well. After nine days looking after my 90 year old parents who were in a nosedive, I've been exhausted, not to mention injured from having to lift my 6'4″ Father out of the car. So far everyone is hanging in there!
Poetic artistry for sure. Lalique is creating more than jewelry…..but a legacy for future generations.
Obadia's work is amazing! The l'Odyssée du Feu Sacré necklace is so intricately divine, incredible! What a terrific post about true heritage. I think the Pétillante rings are a must-have!!!
Couldn't agree with you more regarding Lalique's unique heritage. I haven't' seen the Ardente combs – they're stunning!
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