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The following small databases were recently added to the Family Tree Connection database:

ALABAMA

Alabama’s White Regiments during the Spanish-American War – Southern Martyrs. A History of Alabama’s White Regiments during the Spanish-American War, Touching Incidentally on the Experiences of The Entire First Division of the Seventh Army Corps. By Seargeant M. Koenigsberg.

Birmingham High Schools 1923 Graduation – Birmingham High Schools, Thursday, May Thirty-first, Nineteen Hundred Twenty-three, Birmingham, Alabama. Central High School, Thiry-ninth Annual Commencement. Ensley High School, Twenty-frst Annual Commencement. Woodlawn High School, First Annual Commencement.

CALIFORNIA

San Francisco Businessmen Lists 1895 – Extracted from Pioneers of Prosperity by David H. Walker, San Francisco, 1895. Includes the Traffic Association of California members, San Francisco and San Joaquin Valley Railway Co. stockholders, North American Navigation Company stockholders and California League of Progress officers.

Pacific-Union Club 1906 – Pacific-Union Club, San Francisco, Cal., Cable Address “Puc”, Constitution and By-Laws with House Rules and List of Members, December, 1906. Temporary Club Rooms, 1882 Washington Street. The Pacific-Union Club is a consolidation of the Pacific and the Union Clubs, which took place in February, 1889.

Pasdena Opportunity Club 1897-1920 – Opportunity Club, Pasadena – California. Organized 1897.

GEORGIA

Atlanta University 1882-83 Catalogue – Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Atlanta University, (Incorporated 1867, Opened 1869), Atlanta, Georgia, with a Statement of the Courses of Study, Expenses, Etc., 1882-83.

IOWA

Elliott’s Business College 1905-1906 Catalogue – Twenty-Seventh Annual Catalogue of Elliott’s Business College and Elliot’s School of Shorthand, Nos. 401, 403 and 405 Jefferson Street, Burlington, Iowa, 1905-1906.

Pioneer Lodge No. 2 A. O. U. W. Deaths (April 1886) – Assessment No. 4, Pioneer Lodge, No. 2, Ancient Order of United Workmen, Davenport, Iowa, April 7, 1886. Details include Age, State, Date and Cause of Death.

Cedar Rapids Choral Union 1913 Program – Official Program, Third Annual, May Festival of the Cedar Rapids Choral Union, to be held in City Auditorium, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, May 22, 23, 24, 1913.

El-Kahir Temple A.A.O.N.M.S. 1918 Roster – El-Kahir Temple, Roster, By-Laws, Jurisdiction and Other Matters of Interest, A. A. O. N. M. S., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, January 1918.

KANSAS

Cherokee County High School 1928-30 Catalogue – Catalogue of the Cherokee County Community High School, June 1928. Published Biennially. Columbus, Kansas. Includes a complete listing of Alumni, 1901-1928.

Council Grove Lodge, A. F. & A. M. 1915 Saint John’s Day – Saint John’s Day, Council Grove Lodge, No. 36, A. F. & A. M., Thursday, June twenty-fourth, nineteen hundred and fifteen, Council Grove, Kansas.

KENTUCKY

American Ticket Brokers Association 1896 Members – American Ticket Brokers Association, Official List of Members, October, 1896. General Offices: Columbia Building, Rooms 601 and 602, Louisville, KY.

American Ticket Brokers Association 1895 Members – American Ticket Brokers Association, Official List of Members, April, 1895. General Offices: Columbia Building, Rooms 601 and 602, Louisville, KY.

LOUISIANA

Grand Consistory of Louisiana A. A. S. R. 1928 Spring Reunion – Spring Reunion of the Scottish Rite Bodies under the Grand Consistory of Louisiana, 32 [degree], A. A. S. R. M., New Orleans, March 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 1928, Scottish Rite Cathedral.

Grand Consistory of Louisiana A. A. S. R. 1927 Mid-Summer Reunion – Mid-Summer Reunion of the Scottish Rite Bodies under the Grand Consistory of Louisiana, 32 [degree], A. A. S. R. M., New Orleans, July 28th, 29th, 30th, 1927, Scottish Rite Cathedral.

Grand Consistory of Louisiana A. A. S. R. 1925 Mid-Summer Reunion – Mid-Summer Reunion of the Scottish Rite Bodies under the Grand Consistory of Louisiana, 32 [degree], A. A. S. R. M., New Orleans, July 24th, 25th, 26th, 1925, Scottish Rite Cathedral.

MARYLAND

Mt. Moriah Evangelical Lutheran Church 1921 Dedication Program – Dedication of Mt. Moriah Evangelical Lutheran Church, Foxville, MD., May 8th, 1921.

B & O Women’s Music Club 1928 Concert Program – The Baltimore and Ohio Women’s Music Club, Concert, Maryland Casualty Clubhouse, Tuesday Evening, June the Fifth, Half after Eight, Nineteen Hundred Twenty-eight.

Jerusalem Lutheran Brotherhood 1924 Membership – First Annual Minstrel, Presented by the Jerusalem Lutheran Brotherhood, Herrman’s Hall, Wednesday and Thursday, October 22nd and 23rd, Nineteen hundred and twenty-four. Baltimore, Md. To lead men into fellowshup with Christ and the Church.

MASSACHUSETTS

Boston Gentlemen’s Driving Club 1906 Membership – Gentlemen’s Driving Club of Boston, By-Laws, Rules and List of Members, 1906. This association have for its purpose the encouragement of driving and other athletic exercises, the raising of choice breeds of horses, and the establishment and maintenance of places for social meetings.

MICHIGAN

Detroit Bar Association 1906 Membership – Articles of Association, By-Laws and List of Members of The Detroit Bar Association, Organized 1836, Incorporated 1881.

MINNESOTA

First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry 1897 Roster of Survivors – Roster of Survivors of the First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, 1897.

Masonic Mutual Aid Association 1887/1888 Assessments – Masonic Mutual Aid Association, Secretary’s Office, Minneapolis, Minn. Various assessments, includes details of recent member deaths.

Minnesota Masonic Relief Association 1879-1890 Assessments – Minnesota Masonic Relief Association, Various Assessments, listing recent member deaths with details.

St. Paul Ancient Landmark Lodge, No. 5, F. & A. M.1890 Roster – By-Laws of Ancient Landmark Lodge, No. 4, A. F. & A. M., together with an Historical Sketch and List of Officers and Register of Members from date of organization. Published April 1, 1890. Explanation: a-adjoined, s-stricken from roll, w-withdrawn, d-died, r-restored, *-expelled, **-suspended.

MISSISSIPPI

Mississippi Commands in the War of 1812 – Rolls of Mississippi Commands in the War of 1812, extracted from Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society, Volume IV. Edited by Dunbar Rowland.

NEBRASKA

Eagle High School 1909 Commencement – Ninth Annual Commencement of the Eagle High School at the M. E. Church, Wednesday, May 26, 1909, 8:30 P. M. [No geographic location listed. Determined to be Tipton, Nebraska based on 1910 U. S. Census Records]

Alma P. E. O. Chapter B J 1924-1925 Calendar – 1924-1925, Alma, Nebraska, Chapter B J, P.E.O. (Philanthropic Educational Organization). Meetings 3:00 o’clock First and Third Tuesdays. Organized March 31, 1914.

NEW JERSEY

Jersey City Home for Aged Women 1929-1931 Report – Report of the Board of Managers of the Home for Aged Women of Jersey City, 657 Bergen Avenue, Corner of Fairview, 1929-1931. Jersey City, N. J.

Princeton Theological Seminary 1834 Catalogue – Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Princeton Theological Seminary, at Princeton, New Jersey, 1833-1834.

Pluckemin Presbyterian Church 1926 Directory – Directory, 75th Anniversary Number, Pluckamin [sic] Presbyterian Church, Pluckemin, N. J., Rev. E. Stanley Chedister, Pastor, June 1926.

Senior Mirror 1925 – Published and Circulated by the Senior Class Book Committee, Paterson Girls’ High School, Paterson, New Jersey. June, 1925.

Senior Mirror 1924 – Published and Circulated by the Senior Class Book Committee, Paterson Girls’ High School, Paterson, New Jersey. January, 1924.

NEW MEXICO

Las Cruces First Presbyterian Church 1907 Program – The First Presbyterian Church, Northwest of Public School Building, Las Cruces, New Mexico, Program for Morning Service, July 7, 1907. Geo. W. Dunlap, Pastor, Resident Adjoining the Church.

OKLAHOMA

Cherokee Baptist Academy 1903 Catalogue – The Eighteenth Annual Catalogue of the Officers, Teachers and Students of Cherokee Baptist Academy, Tahlequah, Indian Territory. For the Year Ending May 31, 1903, With Announcements for 1903-1904.

Cherokee National Male Seminary 1896 Catalogue – Catalogue of the Cherokee National Male Seminary, 1896 and Announcements for 1897, 1898. [Title page missing]

PENNSYLVANIA

Jefferson Medical College 1896-97 Announcement – 72d Annual Announcement of the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia and its Hospital. Register of Students for 1895-96. Session of 1896-97.

TENNESSEE

Friendsville Academy 1893-94 Catalogue – Thirty-eighth Annual Catalogue of Officers and Pupils of Friendsville Academy, Friendsville, Tennessee, 1893-1894, with Announcements for 1894-1895.

Jordonia High School 1928 Commencement – Sixth Annual Commencement, Jordonia High School, Friday Evening, May 11, 1928. Jordonia, Tenn.

TEXAS

Texas Bar Association 1917 Proceedings – Texas Bar Association, Proceedings of the Thirty-sixth Annual Session held at Houston, July 3, 4, and 5, 1917, and Constitution and By-Laws of the Association, List of Members, Officers and Committees.

UTAH

The Eastonia 1925 – The Eastonia, Nineteen Hundred Twenty-five, Being the Annual of the Salt Lake High School East, Salt Lake City, Utah. Published in May by the Senior Class.

VERMONT

Bradford Academy and Grade School 1911-12 Catalogue – Catalogue of Bradford Academy and Grade School, Bradford, Vermont, 1911-12.

Bennington Second Congregational Church 1896 Year Book – Year Book. Second Congregational Church, Bennington, Vermont. May, 1896. Includes the Sunday School, members deceased, children baptized, members received and dismissed.

Royalton Academy 1834 Catalogue – Catalogue of the Trustees, Teacher and Students, connected with Royalton Academy, During the Year Ending August 16, 1834. Royalton, Vermont.

St. Johnsbury Academy 1899 Catalogue – Catalogue of St. Johnsbury Academy, St. Johnsbury, Vermont. Fifty-Sixth Year. June, 1899.

WASHINGTON

The Tamarack 1924 – Senior Supplement, North Central News, June, 1924. North Central High School, Spokane, Washington.

WEST VIRGINIA

West Virginia University 1928 Choir Program – West Virginia University, University Choir, Louis Black, Director, Commencement Hall, Morgantown, West Virginia, Monday, April 2, 1928, at 9:00 o’clock.

WISCONSIN

Nowata Church of God Sabbath School 1925-1931 Cradle Roll Record Book – The Cradle Roll of the Nowata Church of God Sabbath School, Oct. 18, 1925. [Handwritten, Cradle Roll Birthday and Record Book, Blank Book: Copyright 1907, Hammond Publishing Company, Milwaukee, Wis., Location of Church not listed, Confirmed as Nowata, Oklahoma through the 1930 U.S. Federal Census]

Westford Mutual Fire Insurance Co. 1912 Report – 35th Annual Report of the Westford Mutual Fire Insurance Co., Fox Lake, Wis., Jan. 2, 1912. Includes listing of Expenditures (with losses).

Oakfield Town Mutual Fire Insurance Company Assessment (Feb. 1909) – Oakfield Town Mutual Fire Insurance Company, Oakfield, Wis., Feb. 17, 1909, Notice of Assessment No. 7. Includes listing of Losses.

MULTIPLE STATES

The Metropolitan, Volume XXI, No. 8 – Published by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (Incorporated) of New York, Home Office, No. 7 Madison Avenue, New York City. Includes Recent Death Claims in our Industrial Paid in the State of Illinois, Ed. 22, 9-1-00. Also includes Partial List of Recent Death Claims in our Ordinary Department, including Intermediate Branch paid in the following states: Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, District of Columbia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Minnesota, Louisiana, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Georgia, Alabama, Iowa, Tennessee, Missouri, Kansas, and Dominion of Canada.

MANITOBA, CANADA

The Linking Ring, Vol. V, No. V, January Number – The Linking Ring, Official Organ of the International Brotherhood of Magicians (IBM). January, 1927. Publication Office, 156 Edmonton St., Winnipeg, Canada. Publication Staff, 12 Irving St., Hartford, Conn. Includes list of New Members. Cover Missing. [It is unclear if names listed are stage or birth names]

NEW BRUNSWICK, CANADA

University of Saint Joseph’s College 1899-1900 Catalogue – Universite du College St-Joseph, Saint-Joseph, N. B., 1899-1900. University of Saint Joseph’s College, St. Joseph, New Brunswick, Canada.

ONTARIO, CANADA

Ontario Dahlia Society 1929 Officers – Bulletin of the Ontario Dahlia Society, Vol. 1, No. 2, Mimico Beach, Ont., Jan. 1929. Membership fee, $2.00 per year.

UNKNOWN PLACE

Pi Alpha Chi 1916 Composite Photograph – Composite Photograph of Pi Alpha Chi members, 1916. [No geographic location stated]

The Boomerang 1922 – The Boomerang 1922, Avon Community High School, Volume II.

This Sony Alpha A330 DSLR camera is lightweight, and pleasing to the eye what with it’s copper-and-black finish. This one hits 10 megapixels, and sits nicely in the space between uber-cameras for the pros and the dead-simple point and shoots. The Sony Alpha A330 boasts a 2.7-inch pullout LCD display that is posable (great for working with difficult angles,) and the image stabilization and autofocus are there to help with getting the perfect shot. Even cooler? You can get short tutorials of the different settings and effects right on the screen itself. A camera that teaches you, so you can learn as you go. The Sony Alpha A300 with 18-55mm lens sells for $599, but Amazon has it for just $549, a nice $50 discount.

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Every week we bring you our favorite good eating from our friends at Serious Eats. This week we were enamored of this broccoli salad. It just looks so good! More about that below, along with frog stir-fry, how to make perfect little tuiles, and kimchi quesadillas.

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Filed under: Sedan, Performance, Chevrolet

Still mourning the death of Chevrolet‘s pint-sized pocket rocket, the Cobalt SS? According to a report from Motor Authority, you’re not alone, and a number of those fellow fans come from right inside Chevrolet’s own hallways. This begs the question: With the Cruze set to replace the aging Cobalt for the 2011 model year, is there any chance that General Motors will revive the SS nomenclature for a high performance version? Could be, though we’re certainly not holding our breathe.

The powerplant for the supposed Cruze SS is ripe for the picking in the form of the excellent 260-horsepower turbocharged and direct injected 2.0-liter four-cylinder called Ecotec and six-speed manual gearbox as seen in the defunct Cobalt SS and still-available HHR SS, including the very cool Launch Control and No-Lift Shift technology. Of course, the Cruze’s rear torsion bar suspenders may limit the car’s handling prowess a bit, but a wholesale redesign would cost way too much for a low-volume SS model.

In any case, if the car ever does come to market – and, like we said, we’re not holding our breathe – it won’t appear right away, perhaps instead for the car’s planned mid-cycle refresh in 2014.

[Source: Motor Authority]

REPORT: Chevrolet Cruze SS being pushed for hard by company insiders originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Many parents barely see their own children during the school week, then when they do they have to have their nose stuck in the book until bedtime or way past it. So, what should be done about this? Some may say get a routine, others may state you need to get it done as soon as you get home, but there are some that no none of these could possibly happen.

Here’s an example:
4:05-4:10pm child arrives home
5:00-6:00pm sporting event (sometimes it takes 30 minutes to get them to the location, especially since they need to change over)
7:00pm dinner
8:00pm dinner

Course during all this time you notice I don’t have homework, bath, spending time with parents. Normally, at least in many families the spending time part is done at the dinner table or driving through a fast food place and chatting on the way home about the day. It is sad but this is how the sporting life goes.  Today, the school raising the children and instead of a few hours after school with them we are running them around to do activities or sports, later homework from teachers. So does it surprise you that some parents in Calgary want their children to have a NO HOMEWORK Contract?
I’m not at all surprised, in fact there have been times I felt like banning homework or just ignoring. Shelly and Tom Milley thought there kids were spending way too much time on unnecessary subjects and not enough of the real ones they need to worry about. Hmm, sounds familiar, I’ve had the same argument when I complained mine weren’t learning history. I got to hear there isn’t enough time.  Tom admits that his kids would have hours worth of homework and after much struggling with explaining and doing homework with his two kids he’d begin shouting out the answers, this would be around 10pm.

Tom took this to the school and asked them not to have homework, however the school agreed and in the meantime the kids are doing home studying and work at home with dad. Now if other students/parents want to do this they have to go in and negotiate a contract. In the meantime his kids can now focus harder on the areas they are weak in.

What do you think of this?

Post from: Blisstree

No Homework Contracts for Schools

The Windows Mobile powered Terrestar Genus has just passed through the FCC, and now appears ready for an early 2010 launch on the A&T network terrestrially and of course satellite service when that is not available.

The smartphone joins another string of Windows Mobile firsts, such as the first WIMAX smartphone running of course Windows Mobile.

Read more about the device at the FCC here.

Via Engadget.com

 

Filed under: Concept Cars, LA Auto Show, Convertible, Coupe, Performance, Mini, Luxury

Mini brought its birthday presents to itself out to the LA Auto Show for their North American debut today. The Cambden and Mayfair were there, but we spent a lot more time ogling the Coupe and Roadster. As you may recall, Mini created these two sports cars to celebrate its 50th anniversary and showed them off alongside the two special edition Coopers at the Frankfurt Motor Show. The changes are slightly less obvious on the open-top roadster, but you can definitely see that there’s no back seat and the windshield is laid back a claimed 16 degrees over the standard Cooper. The backwards baseball cap on the coupe is a bit odd looking in pics and the real world view doesn’t do much to change that impression.

None of the display vehicles sported any detail changes but it was still fun to see all of them packed into a booth the size of Toyota’s Venza section. Ian Robertson of BMW did share a few more details about the future of MINI, with the “R60” 4-door-4-liter-4wd about to get a real name and even more models in the works. For now we have the Coopers and Clubmen and the coupe and roadster to keep us happy. Check out the gallery below.

[Source: MINI]

LA 2009: MINI Coupe & Roadster Concepts are so LA originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We still don’t understand why AT&T called so much more attention to Verizon’s ads that highlight AT&T’s weak 3G network coverage by suing over the ads. Things were made worse when a judge refused to block the ads from airing. Perhaps finally realizing that all this was doing was creating free advertising for Verizon — and more attention on the quality of AT&T’s network — the company has decided to drop the lawsuit. Apparently, instead, it’s going to focus on its own misleading ad campaign.

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Potsdam, Germany | Instruments of Science

Einsteinturm, or the Einstein Tower, is an astrophysical observatory in the Albert Einstein Science Park of Potsdam, Germany. Built from 1920 to 1921, the observatory’s intended purpose was to provide supporting or refuting evidence of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, published a decade earlier.

One of the consequences of Einstein’s theory stated that light originating from a massive body, such as the sun, is shifted in frequency and wavelength. It was this “gravitational redshift” that Potsdam scientists sought to observe. The researchers soon found, however, that atmospheric turbulence on the solar surface interfered with their measurements. Thus, it was not until the 1950s, when these disturbances could be accounted for, that the gravitational redshift was confirmed.

The observatory’s primary feature is a coelostat, a solar telescope which tracks the sun through the sky using movable mirrors. This instrument directs a fixed-orientation image of the sun down through the tower to the basement where the light then enters various instruments for measurement.

Conceived by Erich Mendelsohn in 1917, the observatory is considered the most famous example of Expressionist architecture. The building’s fluid and dynamic form was regarded as progressive at the time, much like Einstein’s theory that led to its construction. Discussing his inspiration, Mendelsohn said the design arose from “the mystique around Einstein’s universe.”

Einstein, however, was apparently unimpressed with the design. After receiving a tour from Mendelsohn, the physicist reportedly whispered his terse judgment into the architect’s ear: organic. Mendelsohn never built in the Expressionist style again, though that is likely due to difficulties he encountered with the use of poured concrete rather than Einstein’s verdict.

In addition to the scientific instruments, the tower houses a bronze bust of Einstein that almost perished under the Nazi regime. During the infamous dictatorship, the observatory lost its independent status and all depictions of and references to Einstein (including the tower’s name) were eliminated. The bust, however, survived thanks to preservation-minded staff members, who hid it behind laboratory crates.

Einsteinturm is also the home to another notable sculpture, titled “3 SEC Bronze Brain – Admonition to the Now – Monument to the Continuous Present.” Created by Berlin artist Volker März, the fist-sized brain is a reference to the work of Ernst Pöppel, the German neuroscientist. Pöppel asserts the experience of temporal continuity is based on an illusion, which rests upon the reconstruction of discrete three-second intervals of consciousness.

Today, the observatory is operated by the Astrophysical Institute Potsdam and solar research continues. The characteristics and behavior of the sun’s magnetic field is the primary research focus.

Goodbye neon lights, hello wine country! Top Chef moved to Napa for the first of two finale episodes, just in time for harvest season. And a crush party!

Note: We reveal the winner and losers below.

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Filed under: Concept Cars, LA Auto Show, Hybrid, Honda, Electric

Turns out that the Honda P-NUT is not some sort of twist on the UX-3 unicycle thing we saw in Tokyo recently. Instead, the concept vehicle is a three-seat thing enclosed in lots of glass and angular lines. Honda says the P-NUT is ready for one of three possible powertrains: an efficient gas engine, a gas-electric hybrid, or a pure electric set up. There’s not a whole lot of room for any of these powerplants up front because the driver’s leg room extends almost all the way to the front of the concept. Good thing the power source is intended to be mounted in the rear.

Let’s be clear, this is a pure concept car. There are no side mirrors (but there is a back-up camera). Bumpers? Bah, Honda barely put headlights on this thing. Still, the Honda ‘Personal-Neo Urban Transport’ could make for a pretty sweet ride through a city, with lots of sight lines for the three inhabitants (a driver in the front middle, two passengers arranged behind and to either side) to see out of. The P-NUT does succeed in Honda’s stated goal to get the most space out of a small footprint, and we wouldn’t mind some sort of production version BEV someday. Chances are, though, that this is the last we’ll ever see of it.

Live photos copyright (C)2009 Sebastian Blanco / Weblogs, Inc.

Continue reading LA 2009: Honda P-NUT concept gets cracked open

LA 2009: Honda P-NUT concept gets cracked open originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Texas, US | Architectural Oddities

Originally built as a relaxing escape from the urban environment surrounding it, the Fort Worth Water Gardens experienced a tragic event when a child fell into the ‘active pool’ which has a 38 foot series of terraces and steps which water cascades down collecting in a small pool at the bottom. Recent heavy rains and a malfunctioning recirculating pump led to a deeper than intended pool and in trying to rescue the child, two other children and an adult perished in the abnormally swollen pool. On June 16, 2004 the park was closed to the public.

Designed by the architect Philip Johnson of New York, the urban park was completed in 1974. After extensive renovation of the park and modification to the main pool, the water gardens were reopened in the Spring of 2007. Located on 4.3 acres, just south of downtown Fort Worth, the park consists of three separate pools, each providing a unique ambiance.

The quiet, or meditation, pool is completely surround by trees and is a large, tranquil body of water. The entire area around the quiet pool is designed to make one feel small and humbled, as there are no human sized objects. The aeration pool consists of 40 nozzles spraying 871 gallons of water every minute. The mist from the nozzles creates the illusion of a water bridge connecting one side of the walkway to the other. The pool, however, is 40 feet deep, and attempting to cross the misty bridge would not be advisable. The water of the active pool cascades down a series of steps and platforms, to the pool below. Since the park’s modification, it has been made safer to descend the walkway of the active pool, as the main body of water has been reduced to 2 ft from the previous 9 ft.

The Fort Worth Water Gardens have been utilized in the film adaptations of two science-fiction novels. Released in 1976, Logan’s Run features shots of the active pool. In 1979, PBS produced a film based on Ursula Le Guinn’s ‘The Lathe of Heaven’, which also uses shots of the water gardens.

You can slap a holiday wreath on your front door and say you’re done decorating it for the holidays, but there are so many fun things that you can do with a door that it is sort of a shame to stop there. It takes me a few days to decorate each door, but I think it is worthwhile because even the mailperson (mailwoman?) gets to enjoy these decorations.

Here are a few great ways to decorate a door for Christmas:

• Use snow spray to create a winter scene. I used stencils, but didn’t like the effect. I got a wet paper towel, wiped it all off and started all over with a reverse stencil. (A reverse stencil is the part inside of the stencil that was cut away to form it. It is like having a donut hole instead of a donut. I make my own freehand designs, but you can find holiday clip art that will make a good reverse stencil.)
• Put a swag, a basket, an empty stocking, or something else a bit less traditional on the door.
• Wrap the door like a giant rectangular present.
• Put a giant tree cutout on the door and decorate it with paper ornaments.

Do you like to get creative with your holiday door decorations?

Photo: K Thomas

Post from: Blisstree

Decorating the Door for the Holidays

Filed under: LA Auto Show, Coupe, Performance, Ford

You would think that with all of the new powertrain improvements to the 2011 Mustang V6 that Ford would be making a big deal about the car here at the LA Auto Show. Not so. While the Fiesta display took up nearly a third of the West hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center, a sole V6-powered Mustang sat alone on the show floor. We can understand why Ford would want to turn the spotlight on its new B-segment small car, but thought that its legendary pony car deserved a little more love.

What’s the big deal, you ask? For starters, the new 3.7-liter V6 is putting out 305 horsepower and 280 lb-ft torque, a significant improvement over the aging 4.0-liter engine that it replaces. As a bonus, the new engine will net an expected 30 mpg on the highway thanks in part to new 6-speed transmissions, available in both manual or automatic. The updates were a long time coming, and we fully expect them to put the Mustang back in the lead of the pony car sales war.

Hit the jump for full details about the 2011 Ford Mustang V6, or check out both official and live photos in the high-res galleries below.

Live photos copyright (C)2009 Drew Phillips / Weblogs, Inc.

Continue reading LA 2009: 2011 Ford Mustang V6 on show floor with little fanfare

LA 2009: 2011 Ford Mustang V6 on show floor with little fanfare originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I don’t know about you, but my life is so hectic around the holidays. When you realize you don’t have any idea of what to cook for dinner, it is really easy to just order take out or grab unhealthy fast food meals as you rush from one errand to another. Making freezer meals can help you avoid falling into that unhealthy eating pattern.

 

Freezer meals are meals that have all the prep work done. Everything, from rolls to toppings, is frozen into one big bag or container. People often do the prep work during a once a month cooking session, where they put together a lot of meals at the same time.

For those who live in an urban area, businesses like Let’s Dish or Suddenly Suppers allow people to come into the store and prepare their freezer meals there. The stores have all ingredients and instructions set up at different stations and encourage groups of people to come in together and have a once a month cooking party.

In more rural areas, people just get together to hold their own once a month cooking sessions. If you hold one in the next few days, don’t forget about cookie dough, breakfast bread mixes and that Christmas breakfast egg and hash brown casserole.

Photo: SXC/Thomas Rola

Post from: Blisstree

Prepare Freezer Meals for the Holidays

Okay guys, as much as we like our Mophie Juice Packs for keeping the iPhone juiced on the go, it’d be downright irresponsible of us not to bring this fantastic iPhone backup batery from Monoprice to your attention. The same company that brings you stupid-cheap HDMI cables is now selling a 2200mAh iPhone and iPod battery that’ll recharge your iPhone almost twice from near death, and the cost is only $15.23 – and it’s even less if you buy more than one. Sure, it’s fugly and nowhere near as sleek as a Mophie Juice Pack or Juice Pack Air, but it’s cheap! Sometimes that’s all that matters.

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Filed under: LA Auto Show, Budget, Hatchback, Ford

We’ve been hearing about the 2011 Ford Fiesta for so long that it’s hard to imagine that the U.S. version of the car was just officially unveiled today. We gave you all of the official details and photos late last night, but we can now give you our first live impressions of the North American-spec version. Ford’s own Mark Fields officially introduced the car along with numerous Fiesta agents on hand who helped pull the sheets off the various Fiestas on the show floor.

Although just 60 percent of the parts on the U.S.-spec Fiesta are common with the European version, it seems that most of the charm of the car remains. Up front the grille has been revised to include the three-bar design (at least on the sedan), and the fog lights have been replaced by LED light strips surrounded by chrome. The interior design is relatively the same as well, although it’s been tweaked to conform with U.S. crash standards and features soft touch materials, a four-inch LCD display, and available SYNC, auto climate control, leather seats, moon roof and more. Power comes from a 1.6-liter four-cylinder putting out a respectable 119 horsepower and 109 lb-ft torque. A 5-speed manual or new 6-speed PowerShift electronic dual clutch automatic will be the transmissions of choice, though the automatic goes without any manual controls.

There’s plenty of more details in the multitude of press releases after the jump, and we’ve included all of our live shots of the 2011 Fiesta in the high-res gallery below.

Live photos copyright (C)2009 Drew Phillips / Weblogs, Inc.

Continue reading LA 2009: 2011 Ford Fiesta unveiled by agents of the Movement

LA 2009: 2011 Ford Fiesta unveiled by agents of the Movement originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember how AOL first became “famous”? It cluttered the world (and our garbage dumps) with millions upon millions of CD-ROMs offering “try AOL for free!” It seems that pollution is in AOL’s genes, and it just can’t get away from it. How else to explain AOL’s new plan to rebuild its brand: to flood the internet with poorly written, but quickly written, content based on whatever search terms are hot. Danny Sullivan points out the amusing fact that AOL is looking to leverage search engines for more traffic this way, at the very same time as others, such as Rupert Murdoch, are claiming that Google is “stealing” from him in sending traffic, and he’s considering opting-out.

But, of course, that doesn’t make AOL’s strategy very well conceived either. Farhad Manjoo makes the case for why this is a dumb plan, and there’s plenty to agree with:

The trouble with AOL’s plan, then, isn’t that it’s based on data-mining. Instead, it’s what the company will likely do with search data–publish quick, vapid posts that do little to advance any hot story and instead feed readers a collection of factoids gathered from other places. How do we know this will happen? Because AOL’s model is strikingly similar to that of Demand Media and Associated Content, two start-ups that also use search data and user contributions to build Web content. Indeed, AOL’s Armstrong–who was an advertising executive at Google until earlier this year–is reportedly an investor in Associated Content, whose CEO is also a former Googler.

Associated Content stands as a cautionary tale for anyone looking to do news by the numbers. It is a wasteland of bad writing, uninformed commentary, and the sort of comically dull recitation of the news you’d get from a second grader.

Effectively, it’s a plan based on adding crap into the system to trick search engines. It’s pollution and web spam as a business model. But as folks like Umair Haque are fond of pointing out, business models based on tricking people and not adding any real value aren’t business models that will last. They’re short-term scams. Manjoo, in his writeup, helps explain why:

Will this plan do wonders for AOL’s bottom line? It very well might, at least in the short run. If AOL can replicate the success of Associated Content across its network of sites, it will surely see huge gains in traffic and renewed interest from advertisers. But this plan hinges on something that can’t be guaranteed for long–a weakness in search engines. By any measure, stories like those found on AC don’t deserve top billing in search results. If you search for “Tiger Woods mistress pictures,” you should get pictures of Tiger Woods’ alleged mistress, not a story that repeats that phrase a dozen times. Google and other search engines constantly battle search engine spam, and over time they’re sure to steer people away from sites that rely on such trickery to get visitors. Then what? Associated Content gets 90 percent of its traffic from search engines. Once Google and co. wise up to AC’s schemes, its business model is toast.

A short-term strategy based on polluting the internet with bad content may be a last-gasp effort to revive a dead brand, but it’s difficult to see how that’s any sort of long-term strategy to survive.

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Filed under: LA Auto Show, Convertible, Performance, Porsche

Porsche rolled out the 2010 Boxster Spyder, the third model in the Boxster lineup, for its world debut at the LA Auto Show, with an entirely new look and – we are led to believe – a driving personality nearly on par with the 911 GT3 RS.

Hidden deep and low in the belly of the Spyder is a tuned version of Porsche’s 3.4-liter flat-six, rated at 320 hp (ten more than the Boxster S). While the added horses are welcome, it’s the 176 pounds of mass lost that really raises our interest. To achieve these savings, Porsche has fitted the Spyder with a lightweight carbon fiber-ribbed soft top, unique rear decklid, low side windows, aluminum door skins and interior door panels with straps swapped from the 911 GT3 RS. Air conditioning, cupholders and an audio system have been left back on the factory floor (don’t worry, Porsche will let you add them back for a price). With a curb weight of just 2,811 pounds, it is the lightest model in Porsche’s lineup. With a power-to-weight ratio rivaling the Carrera S, the Boxster Spyder with a dual-clutch PDK transmission will now rip to 60 mph in 4.6 seconds.

However, that’s only part of the enthusiast-oriented story. Porsche replaced the dampers with an all-new sport suspension, riding 20 mm lower than the other models, to drop the center of gravity and improve handling over the standard Porsche Boxster and Boxster S. Fitted with a standard limited-slip differential and lightweight wheels, the package looks just fine to us. As expected, the pure driving enjoyment of the Porsche Boxster Spyder won’t come cheap – base pricing starts at $61,200 when it arrives in February 2010.

[Source: Porsche]

Continue reading LA 2009: Porsche debuts lightweight 2011 Boxster Spyder

LA 2009: Porsche debuts lightweight 2011 Boxster Spyder originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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