Propolis in our cutting board oil...


Bee Propolis is a very interesting substance. Also known as bee glue, propolis
is produced by bees during hive construction to fill structural gaps.
It has approximately 50 constituents, primarily resins and vegetable balsams (50%),
waxes (30%), essential and aromatic oils (10%), and pollen (5%). Since ancient times,
this agent has also been incorporated into numerous medical and cosmetic products
since it is believed to be a potent antiseptic and anti-inflammatory substance,
local anesthetic, astringent, and antioxidant. Moreover propolis is presently found
in toothpaste, mouthwash preparations, facial creams, chewing gum, polishes, and varnishes.

We specifically chose propolis as a main ingredient in our cutting board oil for the following benefits:
It is a natural varnish
It is anti-viral
It is anti-bacterial
It is anti-fungal &
It is edible

Some Propolis Facts:
It is effective against E. coli and salmonella.

Used with alcohol, propolis has removed molds and fungi more efficiently and for a longer period of time than standard remedies.

It is reported that the renowned Stradivarius (1644-1737 AD) handmixed his own propolis varnish to polish his handcrafted instruments. Having made only 1,116 stringed instruments, no one has ever been able to duplicate his workmanship or his recipe for this varnish.

Propolis. Another reason we can not live without the bees...
For more information on bee propolis: click here
READ MORE » Propolis in our cutting board oil...

Insane Demand Causes Google to Shut Down Invite Process for Google+

Google+Just a single day after Google unveiled Google+, the company's brand new social networking service, Google decided it would be a good idea to open up the invitation process late Wednesday afternoon to all those fortunate enough to have already been invited to participate in the service.

Before, the keys to Google+ were only given to those very select few who were fortunate enough to be allowed in at launch. So naturally an invite was a precious and prized commodity. Google has stressed that Google+ is in its very early stages though whatever it was that Google was aiming for with its field trial must have been pretty darn successful. The reason I say that is because every single person that was invited to the service is now able to invite other people in as well.

But that wasn't all, the people who were invited by the initial users were able to invite friends of their own too. Even better was the fact that people writing about the decision to open up the invitation process were suddenly struck with a lot of popularity amongst readers. MG Siegler from TechCrunch wrote on his Google+ page on his own story that, "I'm not sure any TechCrunch post has gotten comments at such a fast rate."

This amount of attention seems like it must have been a bit more than Google had asked for. After nearly six hours, Google shut the invitation process down over what Senior Vice President of Engineering at Google Vic Gundotra called "insane demand". Gundotra posted on his Google+ page late on Wednesday night, "We need to do this carefully and in a controlled way." Gundotra did not specify when the invite functionality would be back up and running.

Source: PC World - Google+ Invite Process Shut Down Amid 'Insane Demand'


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Boards & Oil

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Sandman

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Design*Sponge - Make it yours

Design*Sponge - Make it yours
thank you to design*sponge! it's an
honor to be included again :-)
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Canopy




inspiration in our backyard...
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Follow us on Twitter too!

is now on TWITTER
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Turn, Turn, Turn

new, sweet gum, drum shape vessel roughed
out & ready for seasoning.

turns out - sweet gum is a very interesting wood...
we can't wait to see what the finish will look like!
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Tags

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Breath of Hope


(emerson with her older sister reese in the NICU in 2008 & sharing an ice cream in 2011)

Emerson Rose was born at 37 weeks on December 3, 2007.

She was diagnosed with a mass in her chest and a chance for chromosome problems, at 13 weeks gestation (found out during a first trimester screening). After some further testing, it was determined there were no chromosome problems however, the mass in her chest and her heart being shifted to the right side were still problems. Emerson was officially diagnosed with CDH, "Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia", a defect that occurs when the diaphragm doesn’t close, creating an opening that allows abdominal organs to migrate into the chest and restrict lung development—an opening that needs surgical repair. Infants with CDH are remarkably fragile and can suffer multiple complications. Emerson had been given a 25% chance of life...BUT, she was born with a will to live and to beat the odds! Emerson is a true example of "never give up" and everything is possible.

We have learned many important life lessons from our 3 1/2 year old niece, Miss Emerson Rose, who I am happy to report is doing great!

Over the next six months (July 1st though January 1st) we will be devoting a percentage of profits from our small products to Breath of Hope an organization & cause close to our hearts.

To learn more about CDH and Emerson's story please visit:

READ MORE » Breath of Hope

Now Stocked...

We are very happy to announce that
Eden Marketplace in South Orange, NJ
is now stocking our cutting board oil!

Eden Marketplace
1 South Orange Avenue
South Orange, NJ 07079
P. 973.862.5200
READ MORE » Now Stocked...

Japan Creates World's Fastest Supercomputer

Japan K ComputerWhen it comes to the most powerful supercomputers in the world, I don't think it is to anybody's great surprise that the most powerful one is located in Japan. This new Japanese supercomputer has just recently earned the top spot among all the supercomputers in the world with a performance that makes other supercomputers look like a TI-82.

Known as the "K Computer", this device is three times faster than its closest rival from China, which previously held the number one spot, according to Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University Tennessee at Knoxville Jack Dongarra. Dongarra also keeps the official rankings of computer performance.

The K Computer, which was created by Fujitsu and is located at the Riken Advanced Institute for Computational Science in Kobe, Japan, represents an incredible step forward in the realm of speed. This computer will also, more than likely, become a great sense of national pride for Japan, especially for computer scientists, who take the race to have the fastest computer in the world very seriously.

According to Dongarra, "It's a very impressive machine. It's a lot more powerful than the other computers." The latest ranking of the top 500 computers is determined with a simple mathematical equation. The computer who gets to take the top spot is able to make 8.2 quadrillion calculations per second which also calculates to 8.2 petaflops per second. The performance of the K Computer is the same as linking around 1 million desktops.

Supercomputers have many uses including earthquake simulations, climate modeling, nuclear research and weapons development and testing. Businesses also use supercomputers for oil exploration as well as rapid stock trading. However, building a supercomputer isn't cheap and it usually involves connecting thousands of small computers in a data center.

The K Computer is made up of 672 cabinets filled with system boards. The K Computer is considered to be energy-efficient even though it uses enough electricity to power around 10,000 homes at an estimated cost of $10 million annually. I'd hate to see the statistics for the non-energy-efficient ones. The lab that the K Computer calls home is planning on increasing the size of the computer to 800 cabinets which is predicted to raise the speed of the supercomputer that is already faster then its five closest competitors.

The K Computer received its name from the Japanese word "Kei" which translates to 10 quadrillion, the overall goal for the number of calculations the supercomputer should be able to perform. The previously leading supercomputer was China's Tianhe-1A which was located at the National Supercomputing Center in Tianjin, China. The Tianhe-1A was the first Chinese supercomputer to hit the top spot which acted as a beacon of the country's growing technological prowess.

The fastest supercomputer in the United States is located at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. It placed third behind the K Computer and the Tianhe-1A. Countries in Asia have made sizable investments in supercomputing and currently dominate the upper echelon of the field. Japan and China alone hold four out of the top five spots.

However, when it comes to the top 10, the United States is still the leader, holding five of the top 10 spots. Japan's top supercomputer ranking marks the country's first since 2004. The United States and China were previously the only countries to hold that title. These rankings, issued every six months, are frequently changed and reflect just how fast computer power is advancing.

Source: The New York Times - Japanese 'K' Computer Is Ranked Most Powerful

Power Point Projectors
Most business class projectors will do a good job displaying your PowerPoint presentation. If you have a small presentation group, a 2000 lumen LCD projector will be able to produce a nice and clear picture. For larger audiences you should consider a 5000 lumen LCD projector.
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Facebook Creating an App for the iPad

Facebook iPad AppFacebook is planning on releasing an app for the iPad in the next couple of weeks that is said to feature a "slick design" as well as new Facebook Chat and Groups functionality. In addition to that, the app is also said to feature an "amazing" photo and video experience.

This news comes right after another report that Facebook was preparing an HTML 5 web app for iOS devices. In addition to that, Facebook is supposedly working on a new website optimized for the iPad. However, Facebook's refreshed site is only meant to be a "supplement" to the iOS apps from Facebook, not a replacement.

With the high popularity of the iPhone's Facebook app, it is surprising that Facebook hasn't created one for the iPad. To make up for the lack of an app, iPad users have been forced to turn to third party apps like Friendly, MyPad and Facely HD or just go with Facebook's actual website.

However, that could all change if the latest round of rumors turns out to be true. It has been said that the proposed iPad app has been in development for over a year. It has been said that CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg is heavily involved in the design of the app as well as its features. Photos and videos will be displayed full size at full resolution and the app is also expected to be free, just like all of Facebook's mobile apps.

Source: PC Mag - Facebook Crafts an iPad App


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Call us toll free 877-422-1907 between 8am EST and 5pm PST M-F. Talk to an expert about your serious security camera needs.

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Now Stocked...


We are very excited to announce that
North of Sixty Books is now stocking our oil!

North of Sixty Books
Box 1050, 66 Portage Avenue
Fort Smith, NT X0E 0P0
Canada
P. 867.872.2606
READ MORE » Now Stocked...

JV Limited Edition Works In Progress


jv limited edition KNOT PUZZLES in progress.
maple wood, 16''x16''x16'' - three available.


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Now Stocked...


we are happy to announce that HIP SQUARE is now stocking
our cutting board oil.

HIP SQUARE
Hanamizuki Street
1-2-16 Minami Damachi Toyama City
P. 076-481-8633
READ MORE » Now Stocked...

Boards on the rack.

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Rye & Rivet - Spotlight

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JV Walnut Turning


medium, double enclosed, vessel 10’’diameter by 10’’tall
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Samsung's New 30nm DDR3 DRAM

Samsung has just recently introduced 30-nanometer-class1 DDR3 synchronous dynamic random access memory (DRAM) modules designed for upgrading your PC. This new generation of faster, energy efficient DRAM modules is going to be available via consumer retail channels this summer.

According to Samsung Electronics America's Senior Vice President of Mobile Entertainment Marketing Reid Sullivan, "Replacing your DRAM can be one of the easiest, most cost-effective ways to upgrade your PC's performance, and these new products offer the most energy-efficient option currently available to consumers. Samsung is committed to bringing performance-enhanced computing to consumers, and our 30nm-class process technology offers an outstanding combination of advanced low-power DDR3 technology, with blazing speed up to 1,600 megabytes per second."

You can get this new DRAM from Samsung in either a 2GB or 4GB model and both are available in very low profile unbuffered dual in-line memory module configurations for desktop PCs and small outline DIMM configurations for notebook PCs. They are also backwards compatible with systems designed for previous DDR3 and DDR2 memory and can be purchased in single or dual pack quantities.

These memory sticks are also more energy efficient, using up to two-thirds less energy than those manufactured with industry standard 60nm class technology. What is great about that is that this boost in energy efficiency does not come at the cost of performance. The new modules transfer data at up to 1,600 Mbps which is 20% faster than the current 40nm-class generation of DDR3 DRAM from Samsung.

The new 30nm-class DDR3 DRAM modules will be available from Samsung this summer with single pack modules costing less than $30 to less than $55 and dual pack modules ranging from less than $55 to less than $110.

Source: Engadget - Samsung's 30nm DDR3 DRAM boosts speeds, cuts power consumption

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Rani Blue Quilts, Books and Friendship

Rani Blue Queen Size Quilts
A few weeks ago we received a new shipment of our Bungalow Quilts. Some styles have sold out already!  This one is my current favourite - Rani Blue queen size, I just love it and the reverse stripe is absolutely gorgeous.  Our hand block printed quilts are so soft, perfect for snuggling up on a Winter's afternoon with a cup of tea and a great book.

Contact us for stockists www.thebrowntradingco.com.au

Speaking of great books, I received my copy of Holly Becker's divine book Decorate a few weeks ago.  If you don't already have your copy you need to buy one, Holly's wonderful design book has even made it to the New York Times Bestseller list - what a star!

Decorate by Holly Becker.  Neem Yellow Tea Towel

Sunshine print from the fabulous Annechovie

The 'Sunshine' quote print from Annechovie was given to me as a gift from my beautiful and amazing friend Amanda.  It sits in my dining room and is a constant reminder of how precious our friendship is.  It makes my heart sing.

Hope you are having a wonderful week.

Keren
xx
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Black Creek

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Summer 2011 - Layer it up!


Hop Sing joyfully presents Summer 2011 with a statement of feminine keynotes and organic, romantic qualities. A fashionable air of tranquility, suitable for almost all shapes and sizes.



Style blossoms quietly with a natural, neutral approach to mixing fabrics and color. Folk-inspired shapes, subtle, embellished, from white on white embroidery to tassled silk fringe dancing upon lighter then a breeze fabrics.



French laces, cool voile, luxurious silk and combinations of unexpected layers! This high-country romantic style also includes soft summer weight linen, and ultra-thin knitted garments.



The colors remind you a lot of the sky at dawn. Pale shades with elements of lilac, peach and vanilla. There is lightness to this seasons choices that will appeal to everyone and makes it really easy to mix and match.



Layering your clothing can be a way of disguising imperfections and creating your very own unique style of dressing. There's a great quote by Coco Chanel that goes something like this: "Fashion fades away, only style remains the same."



Styling is my passion, the art of making any lady of any age and size look and feel wonderful in their clothing. Creating layers which capture the beauty of the shape of the body. We are all very different shapes and sizes, the basic terminology includes pear shaped, apple shaped etc.

Coming up on our next blog post... Sheer Layers, here's a tease...


How cute is Stormy in this new Hard Tail look!!! Note... No imperfections!
(The skirt would look fantastic with any of the new layering pieces featured in this post as well...)

"There's only us, there's only this. Forget regret, or life is yours to miss. No other road, no other way; no day but today!" Unknown
READ MORE » Summer 2011 - Layer it up!

Internet Access Shut Down In Most of Syria


According to Renesys, a service that focuses on monitoring Internet connectivity, due to the civil unrest that is going on in Syria, most of the country’s Internet services have been shut down.

According to a blog post that was posted by Renesys on Friday, June 3 at approximately 6:35 a.m. local time, close to two-thirds of the entire country’s networks were disabled. The company said that “over the course of roughly half an hour, the routes to 40 of 59 networks were withdrawn from the global routing table."

Unfortunately for Syrians, most of their Internet access is brought to them by a company called SyriaTel, which is state-owned. "They buy most of their Internet transit from Turk Telekom and Deutsche Telekom, with some contribution from PCCW, Tata, and Telecom Italia," Renesys said. "Connectivity has historically come in over submarine cable from Cyprus; activation of new terrestrial fiber connections to Turkey have been delayed by this year's political unrest."

Well, what about the other third of the networks, some might ask? Unfortunately, Renesys said that all of those connections belong to the Syrian government. Of course the country’s Oil Ministry Web site is still online, as is Syrian Telecom’s official page, but government sites like the Ministry of Education, the Damascus city government page and the Syrian Customs site are all down.

Although Renesys had lots of great information, they did not have any evidence of what specific regions or cities were affected by the outages or how the massive outage was coordinated; however, they did say that "if Egypt and Libya's Internet outages are any guide, one might conclude that events on the streets in Syria are reaching a tipping point."

Google confirmed the outages in Syria via its Twitter account, tweeting on Friday afternoon: "Google services currently blocked in Syria."

For months the citizens of Syria of have been protesting against the conditions of their country, but according the Washington Post, the real turning point for everything was this past Wednesday. The Post reports that more than 300 opponents of the current Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, held a meeting at a hotel in Turkey to discuss what their next move should be. According to the Post, "It was significant that the government's opponents were finally coming together to try to present a united front to a world that remains skeptical about the Syrian protest movement."

Just this past February, there were reports that the Syrian government was planning to lift the then current bans on YouTube and Facebook. These bans had been present for over four years and were supposed to be lifted due to the “popular upheaval” about the situation.

In the past year, there has been plenty of civil unrest around the globe. Protest and violence exploded in the Middle East in Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Syria. In January Internet services went down in Egypt for a couple days, due to the protests concerning the country’s governmental issues, including the nearly 30-year rule of its “President” Hosni Mubarak. In March Internet services were also disabled in Libya due to similar issues and protests.

The outages in Syria, however, ironically occurred on the same day that the United Nations released its Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression. Frank La Rue’s report discussed the recent increase of governmental restriction on the flow of online information. He noted that this was mostly due to the Internet’s ability to unite individuals together in protest of something; however, in his report he encouraged governments to not restrict their country’s citizens' Web usage. He instead asked them to work on developing a plan that would make the Internet widely available, accessible and affordable to all.

"There should be as little restriction as possible to the flow of information via the Internet, except in a few, very exceptional, and limited circumstances prescribed by international human rights law," La Rue said in a statement.

"The report by the Special Rapporteur raises concerns about justifying broad surveillance powers under the name of national security or counter-terrorism," said the U.S.-based Electronic Frontier Foundation in a statement. "La Rue should be commended for questioning the ostensible motives for online surveillance."

"As Rapporteur La Rue affirms, the Internet's unique ability to provide ample space for individual free expression can lead to the strengthening of other human rights, including political, economic and social rights," said Cynthia Wong, the Director of the Center for Democracy and Technology’s Project on Global Internet Freedom. "In order for these rights to be realized, governments, civil society and industry must all continue to build on the work begun by the Special Rapporteur."



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Article in ACM - Shop till we drop


definitely worth reading...
[resource - American Craft Magazine]
READ MORE » Article in ACM - Shop till we drop