Have you ever experienced that moment when you’re faced with an empty page, pen poised, ideas swirling in your mind but refusing to materialize into words? I can totally relate. It’s like standing on the edge of a cliff, captivated by the scenery yet hesitant to take that initial leap. But imagine if I shared ... Read more

The post Mind, Body, Soul: 30 Journal Prompts to Nurture Every Aspect of Your Life appeared first on LifeHack.

Everyone goes through moments of doubt. Moments when the question of “what am I doing with my life?” feels more like a heavy weight than a fleeting thought. These times, often called existential crises, are not just about feeling lost or confused—they can be pivotal moments for personal growth. For example, a common existential crisis ... Read more

The post How to Navigate an Existential Crisis and Find Meaning in Life appeared first on LifeHack.

You can add this cheese to pasta, pizza, or charcuterie boards. READ MORE...

They’re “so pretty,” one shopper wrote. READ MORE...

This evaluation report is based on feedback from people living with dementia and carers who received an Individual Award from the Life Changes Trust. The Individual Awards Pilot Scheme was run in Argyll & Bute and Edinburgh in 2014-15 and aimed to provide a small amount of additional financial empowerment to a number of individuals whose lives have been affected by dementia, to help improve their well-being and quality of life. A secondary aim of the pilot scheme was to find out what people would spend the Award on when given relatively broad choice, and what benefit that might bring in the short and medium terms.

If you’re looking to spice up your evenings with some of the most captivating live gay entertainment online, CamSoda.com is your go-to spot to find the hottest gay twink cams around. Known for its diverse array of live cam performances, CamSoda specializes in delivering exactly what you’re looking for: fresh, vibrant, and full of energy.... View Article

The post Find Hot Twinks on CamSoda.com appeared first on QueerClick.

By Brian VanHooker Published: November 11th, 2024

By Keegan Kelly Published: November 11th, 2024

Hazel Mitchell has helped create more than twenty children's books, including her award-winning picture book Toby (Candlewick Press). Her illustrations appear in books by Cynthia Lord, JaNay Brown-Wood (Imani's Moon was mentioned on the Stephen Colbert show!), Lynn Parrish Sutton, Liza Gardner Walsh and others. You can find out more about Hazel and her work at HazelMitchell.com, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Synopsis of SWEET PEA SUMMER (Candlewick):

During her mother’s absence, a young girl discovers the joys of gardening—and the rewards of persistence and a sharp eye—in a sweet intergenerational story. With warm, child-friendly illustrations and a simple narration, Hazel Mitchell tells a timeless story about holding on to hope in hard times and finding the strength and determination to see it through. A brief author’s note at the end offers a bit of history and a few details about sweet peas for aspiring gardeners.

Q. What inspired you to write Sweet Pea Summer?

My inspiration for the book were memories I have from staying with my grandparents when I was little (4-6 years old). They lived in a row of mill cottages in a Yorkshire town called Huddersfield. The town was born out of the wool trade and had many factories and tall towers, but was surrounded by beautiful countryside. I started to sketch my memories of staying with them - the cottage, the garden, the countryside with the moors and mill chimneys, the cats that were always scampering around, the long road that stretched away up a sloping hill to the town itself.

My granddad was an excellent gardener. I suspect this came from the war years in Britain when everyone grew their own food as much as possible. In my memory the garden was so, so long with a little greenhouse and was stuffed with veggies and flowers. Of course, my memory exaggerated everything. I was seeing through a small child's eyes. I even googled the road on Google Streetview and the cottage and the garden are still there, just much smaller than I recalled.

I decided there was a story in these sketches and my rememberings. I find that I'm often inspired by childhood memories, places and real life things, like my own dog who is the main character in the book 'Toby', also from Candlewick Press. I've even been known to use my house in books, or feature the landscape of Maine, where I live, and sometimes I draw objects from my home. it gives authenticity I think.

Q. What was the writing and illustration process like?

After some note making, more doodles and musing I decided on the main character of a girl. She's not exactly me. My sister also went to stay with my grandparents when my mother was ill and that was really the nugget that set me rolling. The girl is sad and missing her mother, so Grandpa invites her to help in the garden and, in particular, to look after the sweet peas. (My own grandfather grew chrysanthemums, but I decided children would relate more to sweet peas. Plus it is easier to say!).

The grandparents do not look like my grandparents and even though the child is not really me, I guess she shares some of my personality characteristics and DO I love gardening! (Although I always fail with sweet peas, which is ironic). I found I had all the inspiration I needed to get started on roughing out a story.

Writing and illustrating Sweet Pea Summer was a long process, as most books tend to me. There are a lot of images in the book, which is kind of graphic novelish in a way, with multiple images on some pages that follow a grid layout. Although I did preliminary character and setting sketches, I then spent time writing scene progressions and story boarding before I was ready to do the first full dummy.

I've found this saves me time in the long run, when I finally start to sketch I can be pretty certain I have the rudimentary story arc and length of book down. We had 2-3 edits and rehashes before my editors, art director and myself were all happy to go to finals. Finals are always the very long and arduous stage of the book for me. The first spark of story and hashing it out is the inspirational bit.

I did all the art for Sweet Pea in pencil and watercolor (usually I colour an under painting digitally), but I felt this book needed a traditional watercolour feel. It was a longer process for sure! Along the way I did a good amount of picture research especially on the landscapes and the flowers - plus the process of growing them, which features in the story. The parallel between the illness of the m/c's mom and the flowers failing to open was important to me. didn't want it to be too obvious to the reader.

My editor, Liz Bicknell at Candlewick Press, was very helpful, as always, keeping the story on track. Pam Consolazio was my art director, and her nickname was Sweet Pea as a child! it is lovely when you find unexpected connections. I scan my own artwork, which gives me the luxury of making any tweaks to the final art. I think the whole book took about 2 years, including edits etc.

It's wonderful when your book finally arrives in your mailbox! (Just like any birth, the pain recedes!) It was especially concerning in this time of the pandemic, but everything went well and the books arrived in time for publication.

Q. What advice do you have for young writers and illustrators?

My advice to young writers and illustrators is always work on stories that you love and feel an emotional response to whether, happy, sad, funny or just that you just love and know the subject. It will always show in your work!

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For more insights from book creators, see my Inkygirl interview archives.

 

As the year draws to a close, the holiday season is upon us once again. Although we still have two months until Christmas, studies have shown decorating early is actually good for your mood. The vibrant colors and twinkling lights simply trigger the release feel-good dopamine, which in turn, boosts happiness and energy. I must admit, Christmas decor makes me grin like a kid with ice-cream, until I look at the price tag of tinsel and garlands and baubles. Yikes! […]

The post Deck Your Halls for Less: 14 Christmas Decor Ideas Using IKEA Finds appeared first on IKEA Hackers.

Susan says: "Hey, how do I chase cars and birds from inside!?"

Doggies have been asking this question for years. Let us know if you find the answer widdle guy.

-Sally Squeeps

Do you have a squee pet that you want to share with the world? Send us your pet pictures and stories, and they could end up on Daily Squee!

Me: “I’ve looked at the brief and it’ll cost [total].”

Client: “I thought you were a freelancer.”

Me: “I am.”

Client: “No, you’re not. You’re a chargelancer!”

As our awareness of how our actions impact the environment grows, it becomes increasingly important to integrate sustainability into all aspects of our lives. This includes the materials we choose for yoga gear. Yoga Design Lab offers a range of products that not only enhance the yoga experience, but also prioritize eco-friendly materials.[...]

Electrical grids in cities and countries are overburdened all over the country. Load reduction is no longer an idea, it's a necessity. Phuis is a nonprofit organization that is creating healthier buildings that are better for the planet and the people on it. They use passive building techniques and innovative design ideas to create energy-efficient homes, offices and public buildings. This breathtaking New York Forever House by Christina Griffin is an example of how Phuis is using its retrofit program to make homes from any era more eco-friendly for the modern homeowner.[...]

How do you find clean makeup when you have allergies? Truth is, cleaning your makeup routine can be pretty hit or miss. This is because a lot of people aren't aware of what their allergies are until they run into a problem. [...]

Vacations are an integral part of every person’s life. Following long seasons of hard work, it is well deserved to get away from busy schedules and enjoy nature. The tourism industry is fully built around the need for vacations. While tourism is good, it has its dark side. The entire industry thrives on the existence of nature, yet it tends to erode away what is left of natural resources.[...]

When 3D printing first took off, it was difficult to imagine how diverse the field would grow. Nowadays, the realm of additive manufacturing is growing daily. In particular, five sectors are advancing rapidly as a result of developments in additive manufacturing. These are healthcare, food, fashion, motorsports and aerospace. Based on estimates, it is believed that soon these industries will incorporate 3D printing as a key component of their operations.[...]

Humans living in harmony with nature and with each other is really the goal of sustainable, environmentally-friendly design. And it is hardly a hip and modern idea, not unless you think the Stone Age is trendy. Long ago, people banded together in groups to live and work together as one community, rather than as individuals. Now, Castlepoint Numa is bringing this ancient idea into the modern era with an innovative design.[...]

An Amish Kindle.

In this episode of the Arsenal Women Arsecast, Tim is joined by ESPN’s Emily Keogh to compare notes on Arsenal Women’s tour of Washington DC. Emily and Tim were the only two UK based journalists to travel and they compare notes on the tour, the commercial and media benefits of it and Emily talks a little about interviews she conducted with Jonas Eidevall and Clare Wheatley in DC.

Get extra bonus content and help support Arseblog by becoming an Arseblog Member on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/arseblog

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Show notes for Episode #2: Subscribe to the Internet Musician Podcast with iTunes: In this episode, I present “Music Tools for the Indie Artist”, a topic that I recently presented to a local songwriting group.  Specifically, I present the tools and process I use to capture and preserve those moments of musical inspiration–no matter whether they strike […]

Show notes for Episode #3: Subscribe to the Internet Musician Podcast with iTunes: Also in this episode, I discuss the five things you must believe cultivate your DIY music attitude, including: 1. The business has been lying to you. Major label artists are not getting rich off of record sales. Radio is fake. Don’t belive […]

Show Notes for Episode 6: Following my recent appearance on the Film and TV Music Licensing Panel at the MidAtlantic Music Conference here in Charlotte, NC, I definitely have music licensing on my mind.  It’s always been a passion of mind…one of those areas of music marketing that I’ve researched exhaustively for years.  It’s also […]

Google said it discovered a zero-day vulnerability in the SQLite open-source database engine using its large language model (LLM) assisted framework called Big Sleep (formerly Project Naptime). The tech giant described the development as the "first real-world vulnerability" uncovered using the artificial intelligence (AI) agent. "We believe this is the first public example of an AI agent finding

As the holiday season approaches, retail businesses are gearing up for their annual surge in online (and in-store) traffic. Unfortunately, this increase in activity also attracts cybercriminals looking to exploit vulnerabilities for their gain.  Imperva, a Thales company, recently published its annual holiday shopping cybersecurity guide. Data from the Imperva Threat Research team’s

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has sought assistance from the public in connection with an investigation involving the breach of edge devices and computer networks belonging to companies and government entities. "An Advanced Persistent Threat group allegedly created and deployed malware (CVE-2020-12271) as part of a widespread series of indiscriminate computer intrusions designed

Cisco has released security updates to address a maximum severity security flaw impacting Ultra-Reliable Wireless Backhaul (URWB) Access Points that could permit unauthenticated, remote attackers to run commands with elevated privileges. Tracked as CVE-2024-20418 (CVS score: 10.0), the vulnerability has been described as stemming from a lack of input validation to the web-based management

Cybersecurity researchers have flagged a new malware campaign that infects Windows systems with a Linux virtual instance containing a backdoor capable of establishing remote access to the compromised hosts. The "intriguing" campaign, codenamed CRON#TRAP, starts with a malicious Windows shortcut (LNK) file likely distributed in the form of a ZIP archive via a phishing email. "What makes the CRON#

High-profile entities in India have become the target of malicious campaigns orchestrated by the Pakistan-based Transparent Tribe threat actor and a previously unknown China-nexus cyber espionage group dubbed IcePeony. The intrusions linked to Transparent Tribe involve the use of a malware called ElizaRAT and a new stealer payload dubbed ApoloStealer on specific victims of interest, Check Point

Work 2021 at work started in a fairly typical way. Over the course of the christmas break our…

1. Wir produzieren keine Eiscreme (journalist.de, Jacob Goldmann (Pseudonym)) In seinem Essay “Wir produzieren keine Eiscreme” beschreibt Jacob Goldmann, ein Pseudonym eines Lokaljournalisten, wie wirtschaftliche Interessen zunehmend redaktionelle Entscheidungen beeinflussen. Als ein Beispiel nennt er die Berichterstattung über die Nosferatu-Spinne, die aufgrund der hohen Klickzahlen zu einer Überflutung des Nachrichtenangebots geführt habe. Goldmann argumentiert, dass […]

The hepatitis E virus protein ORF1 contains a region that scientists have struggled to characterize, making the structure and function of this region the subject of much debate. Now, Princeton scientists show that this region of the protein does not behave as a protease, as has been previously suggested, but instead serves as a molecular scaffold to stabilize the rest of the ORF1 protein.

Two NASA telescopes helped an international team of astrophysicists peer far enough back in time to gain new insight on how black holes form.

The scientific feat is also "a breakthrough for practical applications because entangled molecules can be the building blocks for many future applications.” says physicist Lawrence Cheuk.

Craig B. Arnold has been named Princeton’s first University Innovation Officer and heads the new office.

The conference has been scheduled for Oct. 9-11, 2025. All Princeton alumni are invited back to campus for the gathering. 

This fabric is called Kékfestö in Hungarian, a word that roughly translates as blue-dyed or blue-dying. Producing these fabrics is a cottage industry in Hungary, which dates back several centuries. The dye is indigo; the cloth is cotton; and the long, arduous process results in a type of batik fabric. The photo above shows a small fold of each of the fabrics I bought at the blue-dyed studio shown below. (As always, please click on the photos if you'd like to see more detail.)

When in Hungary in October, 2016, my quilting/travel friend (Lunnette) and I, as guests of my Hungarian bead sister, Anna Fehér, had the very exciting experience of visiting the hand-dying studio of Miklós Kovács in the little village of Tiszakécske, SE of Budapest. The studio, located behind his home, includes two rooms, one for printing the raw cloth with a wax resist, and the second for dying the printed cloth with indigo. In front of the building, you can see rods above the deck, which are used for hanging the fabric to dry after it is dyed, and a wagon loaded with printed cloth ready to be dyed.

Meet Mr. Miklós Kovács, now in his 80s! Charming and animated, he is explaining his traditional, hand-dying process to Anna. Blue-dying has been the Kovács family's livelihood since 1878, each new generation being trained by the previous Master. It is strictly a family affair. Miklós, his wife, Margit, and their two daughters, Gabriella and Mária, currently produce about 10,000 meters of Kékfestö (blue-dyed) fabric every year. When Mr. and Mrs. Kovács retire, the business will pass to their daughters. This post shows how they turn plain white cloth into beautiful fabrics with white motifs on an indigo background.

First, they need thousands of meters of fine-quality, tightly-woven, raw cotton cloth, which is rinsed to remove impurities, then carefully ironed and rolled onto wooden rods which fit onto the printing machine. This pile of untreated cotton cloth, manufactured in Turkey, is the remainder of a big shipment purchased at the start of the year.

Next they need a print block or plate. These are made with wire pins of various diameters, which are pounded into blocks of dense wood. Here you see the many plate choices available in the Kovács studio, each yielding a different motif on the fabric. The length of each print block is the same as the width of the fabric; the width is the width of the pattern repeat, generally designed to be about 4.5 inches..

This is the end of one of the print blocks, showing how the design is formed by setting metal pins of different diameters into the wooden block.

And here is the fabric (after dying it with indigo, and removing the wax resist), which was printed with the block in the photo above it. Naturally, a half-meter of this one came home with me!

This is the machine which is used to print the motif on the raw cotton cloth with a wax resist. Mr. Kovács keeps his printing machine, built in Germany 120 years ago, in good running condition with machinist skills he learned alongside his father.

You can see the sprocket, lower right, which is adjusted to advance the fabric through the machine in increments exactly the length of the pattern repeat. For most motifs, the fabric advances 4 to 5 inches after each time the print block is applied to the fabric, thus revealing the next short stretch of un-printed cloth.

Here you can see many meters of raw cotton cloth, suspended on a metal rod at the back of the printing press. There is a leader of waste cloth stitched to the end of the roll which has been fed through the rollers of the machine to get the process started.

At the front of the printing machine, a worker swipes a tray with wax resist, which is tinted green so that it will be visible on the printed cloth. The printing block touches down on the waxed tray, picks up a coating of was, and then presses firmly against the fabric.

After being imprinted with wax resist, the fabric is wound up and down through a drying rack located behind the printing machine.

When it is dry, the printed fabric is folded and stacked until there is a sufficient quantity to begin the dying process. You can see that some of the raw cloth in this pile was pre-dyed pink, blue, or beige. After over-dying with indigo and removing the resist, the motif on these pieces will be pink, blue or beige with an indigo background, rather than the much more common white motif with an indigo background.

This close-up photo shows how the fabric looks after the wax resist (tinted green so that is shows on white cloth) is dry. This is the motif being printed while we were there. Liking the design a lot, I was very pleased to find finished fabric in this pattern available to purchase.

And this is how the cloth will look after it is dyed with indigo, the wax resist removed, and the fabric washed and ironed. As you might have already guessed, a half-meter of this one came home with me!

As we watch the cloth passing slowly through the rollers of the printing machine, Lunnette holds a scrap of dyed fabric which was tied to the machine, indicating the motif currently being printed.

At last, we get to the dye pot!  Here on the burner, a concentrated indigo dye formula is being readied to pour into the dye vat.

Don't forget to wear those heavy rubber gloves, or the skin on your hands will be tinged with blue for a long time.
Mr. Kovács gave a long, animated talk (all in Hungarian, which I only slightly comprehend) about the whole process of blue dying. You've already seen how the cloth is printed with wax resist. The next step is to dye the background.

The cloth is dyed in a vat with the indigo dye-bath at 85 degrees C., then washed to remove the wax and rinsed to remove the excess dye. After rinsing, the cloth is looped over racks to dry outdoors, which completes the dying process. Sadly, he did no dying while we were there, so I don't have pictures or first-hand experience with precisely how it is done to share with you.

However the fabric is not yet ready to use. It must be starched, dried, and then pressed using both steam and steel rollers with heavy pressure, in order to create the traditionally desirable shiny finish on the cloth. Finally, the fabric is folded onto bolts for distribution to shops and end-users.

We learned how they hand-print motifs on cloth using a template, such that after dying, the fabric can be cut out and hemmed as a finished table cloth. You can see the templates hanging on the wall. The desired template is placed over the fabric, and a pencil used to mark the registration points for lining up the printing block. Fabrics which have already been printed are stacked in front of the templates. After being dyed, this fabric will be made into table cloths and runners of various sizes.

This is a section of cloth which as been marked with a template, and hand-stamped with wax resist. After dying with indigo and removing the wax, it will be made into a rectangular table cloth with a lovely double border all the way around.

Mrs. Kovács demonstrates for us how she lines up the print block with the penciled registration marks, and then lowers it onto the fabric. With the stamp resting on the cloth, she lightly pounds it with her fist to set the wax into the fabric. It was obvious to us that carefully making each wax impression all the way around the cloth takes a lot of time and concentration. As you an see below, the results of her hand-printing are stunning!.

Here is an example of a hand-stamped, indigo-dyed fabric made into a round table cloth. Obviously, it came home with me, and is perfect for my kitchen table!  This fabric is quite wide, and takes a great deal of space and time to print. Yet, the prices were very reasonable!

After spending several hours in the studio, we were invited to the house for a shopping bonanza! Fortunately, hoping ahead of time that we would be visiting a Kékfestö studio when we got to Hungary, we had saved our allowances for some months, and were prepared to shop for future quilting and sewing projects. The prices, ranging $10 to $15 per meter depending on the width, seemed very reasonable considering the quality of the fabric, and the extreme amount of work that goes into producing it.

In addition to yardage, both of us bought a table cloth and an apron. Mine is shown above.

What a totally delightful experience we had! Mr. and Mrs. Kovács are as friendly and nice as can be!  If you ever get to Hungary, you can find their fabrics and finished products in the picturesque town of Szentendre, just a short drive or train ride north of Budapest on the Danube River. Here is a website link.

To end our visit at the Kovács studio, here is a tribute photo of the elder Mr. Kovács, who during his boyhood in the 1920's was immersed in the world of his family's blue-dying business, and who continued producing Kékfestö indigo-dyed fabrics for his entire life, while training his own son to continue the trade.

Like his father, the younger Mr. Kovács has trained his daughters to continue when he retires, although I'm sure he has many more years to go, probably well into his 90s..

My last two photos in this post are a little surprise for you. Before falling in love with beading and quilting, my main passion was Hungarian folk dancing. I danced in a performance group for 10 years (and later became one of the group's choreographers), performing at many events in the Seattle area, including Bumbershoot and the Folklife Festival. We also performed at the World's Fair when it was in Vancouver, British Columbia. I and several of the other dancers in the group made most of our costumes using Hungarian fabrics and original costumes as patterns.

It was folk music and dance that first called my heart and soul into Hungary, where I have since spent a cumulative total of well over a year of my life, spaced over 14 different visits so far.

So, here you go. This is me, wearing a costume I made with Kékfestö fabric for performing the dances of the Szatmár region, located in northeastern Hungary. This photo was taken in September, 1986 at the World's Fair in Vancouver, Canada, where we performed on two separate occasions.

And this is me on stage at a festival in Redmond, WA, happy as can be, Hungarian folk music, song and dance, filling me with joy!  Michael Kappleman and I are the second couple from the left.

So you see...  Kékfestö and I go back a long way. Next, I'll be quilting with it!

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My apologies to Hungarians for not using the correct accent mark for the last letter of the Hungarian word Kékfestö. I spent 4 hours trying to do it, but could not get Blogger to accept anything I tried.

Lisk taught biology at Princeton for 30 years before transferring to emeritus status in 1990.

Kindred Spirit Acapella Performance under Blair Arch in the midst of the beautiful New Jersey autumn! We invite you to come join us in worshipping the Lord through singing and fellowship! We know life at Princeton can be busy and stressful and we hope that our songs can bring you joy, peace, and hope. Most importantly, we pray that our performance may bring glory to a God who is worthy of all our praise :) Arches last about 20-30 minutes and often include a fun after-party!

Ever wanted to try a sound healing meditation? Come join GSG and CPS for a mindfulness hour, guided by a certified sound healer.

The SVC Board will be hosting an event about the "now what" after the election, trying to spread hope and get students involved in community resilience building.

Are you searching for a blend of tradition and innovation when it comes to your favorite alcoholic drink? When one thinks of wine-producing regions, India might not immediately come to mind. However, over the past few decades, the Indian wine industry has been steadily growing and carving out its place on the global wine map. ... Read more

The post From Vine to Glass: Exploring the Special Qualities of Indian Wine appeared first on Star Two.

Some things will never go out of fashion. That’s just how our world is. Some things are eternal. Just look at the Egyptian pyramids. We could say the same things about vinyl. Are you a fan of vinyl music? Yes, for some people we’re talking about a relic of the past here. But, is that ... Read more

The post What Kind of Music is Best to Listen to on Vinyl? appeared first on Star Two.