IWs Babe of the Week...The Jaymom!!

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">IWS Radio will be LIVE today from Noon-2 PM ET on Blog Talk Radio with our Palm Funday Show, but in addition to talking about Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey and getting spanked with palm fronds, we will have a boatload of Birthday shout-outs to um...shout-out.<br /><br />And, our friends...there will be no bigger shout-out than to a loud, proud, and sassy southern woman who celebrates her Birthday TODAY.<br /><br />That's right folks....You know her; you love her, and she is the bestest mom in the entire world...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE6odw08ziYFIQnF7-tVdA_-lFBF7UR09r6-h1TCLDIyqXCHVarGzkgaNZoWk_VzgAUL34oUVnS7yrF0FZHHBttcRPY9dqboM6dLgoMjHpF2-ytvuXx7_MBRUkQjwBi-Mo6vaJiabsRCo/s1600/Jaymom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE6odw08ziYFIQnF7-tVdA_-lFBF7UR09r6-h1TCLDIyqXCHVarGzkgaNZoWk_VzgAUL34oUVnS7yrF0FZHHBttcRPY9dqboM6dLgoMjHpF2-ytvuXx7_MBRUkQjwBi-Mo6vaJiabsRCo/s400/Jaymom.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />The Jayyyyyyyyyyymom!!<br /><br />And she is our IWS Babe of the Week.<br /><br />So, join us from Noon-2 PM ET on Blog Talk Radio today, as we talk Jesus, Jaymom, John, Joshua and a host of other things.<br /><br />To catch us LIVE today at Noon ET click<a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/im-with-stupid/2013/03/24/palm-funday"> <i><span style="color: blue;">HERE.</span></i></a><br /><br />It's going to be a Palm Funday that you will soon not forget!!<br /><br /></div>

IWs Babe of the Week...The Jaymom!!

IWS Radio will be LIVE today from Noon-2 PM ET on Blog Talk Radio with our Palm Funday Show, but in addition to talking about Jesus riding i...

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Suddenly, They're All Gone - NYTimes.com

<div><div class="w480"><span class="credit">Lauri Rotko/Getty Images</span> <span class="caption"></span></div><p>Caring for the old is just like parenting an infant, only on really bad acid. It's all there: the head-spinning exhaustion, the fractured brain, the demands and smells. Only this time with the knowledge that it won't get better. </p><p>That was my life for five years. First came my mother-in-law, then my father-in-law, then my childless aunt, then my mother — all needing different kinds of help as they weakened and started going downhill, all the care overlapping, and almost all of the work to be done despite distance. </p><p>You're so good, friends would murmur, but I wasn't — there were plenty of days I muttered, "Can't do this anymore," and nights when I threw back too many drinks, feeling how badly I needed for it to be over.</p><p>Now, though, it is done for real, everyone is dead, and the surprise is that instead of being relieved, I feel worse. </p><p>More than a year after the last funeral, I still have all the numbers on speed dial: my in-laws' neighbors in Texas and my aunt's in upstate New York; the security guard at my mother's gated San Diego community; doctors, hospitals and emergency rooms in three states; two home health agencies; the 24-hour hospice nurse. I still sleep with the phone on and stashed on my night table, where I can grab it fast. It's over, but I can't let go. No, it's worse than that: I don't want to. </p><p>Maybe there is nothing new to say about the nightmare of shepherding the old through the time that is the prelude to death but not active dying. I knew it would be bad, but you don't really understand until you're there, any more than the childless can grasp why a new mother goes three months without shaving her legs. </p><div>"Drowning" was the word that came to my mind as the endless crises unspooled. My terminal mother-in-law, abandoning the 50-year pretense that she could stand her husband to demand: "Put him in a nursing home! Get him out of here!" My father-in-law, newly widowed and alone in an early Alzheimer's haze, barricading himself in the house against caregivers. My aunt, her lungs destroyed by a three-pack-a-day cigarette habit and reeling from one hospitalization after another, begging me to send morphine so she could end it all.<span id="more-14730"></span></div><p>Alerts peppered every hour. Do something! Your father-in-law's behind the wheel again. Your aunt's in the hospital with pneumonia; she's recovering; no, she's failing, come quickly; no, she's been yanked back from death into a life of oxygen concentrators and cognitive crash; find a nursing home — wait, are you in New York? Because your mother's in the hospital in San Diego and it could be serious, can you get on a plane? </p><p>Frantic was my new normal and normal the new never, because when someone is old, especially if dementia is involved, nothing is routine. Even the answer to a straightforward question, like "What day is it?," vanishes on the wind; every patched-together arrangement works only until it doesn't. </p><p>"Drowning" — also buried, shredded, torn apart. Helping my daughter prep for the SAT, cooking family dinners and maintaining a professional life, while also paying three sets of bills, running three houses in three cities, either planning a trip to see how things were going or recovering from that trip, and never living in just one place. </p><p>I started keeping my cellphone on my desk, then leaving it on all night, and finally didn't even risk putting it down because the one time I did, to watch my child in a high school soccer game, there were five frantic caregiver messages by halftime: Where are you, what should I do, she can't breathe! </p><p>And yet: Parenting on bad acid is still parenting. I wasn't one of those women who went all dewy-eyed the second she gave birth. "I don't feel anything," I remember thinking in dull panic as I looked at my squash-faced, just-born daughter. "How can I love her? She's a stranger." Within two weeks, though, I was transformed, flattened by a passion I had never even dreamed existed, and it was the grunt work of motherhood that did it to me, the holding, touching, watching, feeding, smelling — the getting to know the specifics of this little creature in a way that went down to my bones. </p><p>I had always imagined that you put up with the job of caring for a baby because you loved her, but for me it was the unfathomable, slightly terrifying intimacy of caregiving that brought the love. </p><p>And with my old people, it was the same. The fried-brain resentment that gets you drinking at night fades when you are with someone in the living room or kitchen. Just as it is with a baby, your job is tending, and the comfort you bring is simple and physical. You sit for hours, the heat always cranked up high, doling out pills and pouring water, changing the nitro patch, combing hair. You fix lunch, rub in skin cream. </p><p>You come to know the precise texture of thin, dry skin, the kind of touch that pleases, the small things that bring a smile. My father-in-law had to have vanilla ice cream every day, but only Blue Bell brand and in a waffle cone. Even with her thinking garbled, my aunt needed the New York Times crossword puzzle and endless games of gin rummy. My techno-challenged mother wanted written computer instructions to consult the next time the infernal machine swallowed her text. </p><p>More than anything else, when you're with the old, you listen. My Greatest Generation/Army veteran father-in-law, whose interest in the world essentially ended in the late 1950s, talked in endless circles about his small-town childhood and the World War II campaigns of Italy and North Africa. My aunt, obese and isolated for years in a small upstate town, had spent her 30s and 40s single, teaching history in New York City public schools for nine months a year, then buying elegant clothes and setting out for Europe and Africa. </p><p><em>The giraffes came down to the water hole every night, right in front of where I stayed…. One night, in Turkey, in a cafe next to the sea, we danced in the moonlight….</em></p><p>When the present is unbearable and there is no future, the past comes rushing back: family history, secrets and buried memories rising out of the ether. My relentlessly forward-thinking mother never dwelled on sorrow or regret, but my Aunt Belle committed suicide by jumping in front of a subway train, she told me one night as we sat among the empty cups and crumbs at the dinner table. </p><p><em>I was home alone when someone called. I had to tell my father that his sister was dead. I'd never seen him cry before.</em></p><p>I could see it all: my father-in-law's bungalow in Crandall, Tex., whose open front door proved irresistible to a contrary billy goat one day in the 1920s. The 10-cents-an-hour wage my aunt earned tending a booth on the Coney Island boardwalk during the Depression — <em>I was saving to buy myself a new pair of shoes, but my mother took the money and I still can't forgive her for it.</em> My mother's quiet, wild joy during her first winter in Ithaca, N.Y., when a Cornell scholarship let her escape the dirt and smudge of Queens to a snowfall that stayed white. </p><p>All the years I was young, the center of life's drama, I barely saw these people. Now they were simultaneously disappearing and becoming unbearably real to me, heartbreakingly diminished and yet still powerful, deeply rooted trees that against all reason would not let go. </p><p>There was my 98-pound mother, befriending the immigrant podiatrist who tried to relieve her painful, bunion-crippled feet; limping to her desk and squinting her one good eye at that maddening computer, so she could finish an article for her community newspaper. There was my wheezing, demented aunt, frowning at the sign "Don't Toutch" that her caregiver had placed above a complicated new hallway thermostat, and pushing her walker to it so she could correct the spelling. </p><p>Their singularity dazzled me. Their selves, revealed in all their layered complexity, could never be replaced. I came to know them — and I fell in love. </p><p>When you care for the old, life can go on unchanged for years. Then suddenly, without much warning, everything shifts. Six months after her cancer diagnosis, my mother-in-law died; 18 months later, my father-in-law fell, had a small stroke, fell again and lasted only two months in the Alzheimer's unit of a nursing home. </p><p>Two years after she survived near-death by respiratory failure, my aunt's breathing got so bad she couldn't even make it to the bathroom; she wanted only to sleep, to talk to her long-dead sister, who she insisted she heard on the stairs. <em>You'd better come quick.</em> Minutes after my plane landed at Kennedy Airport I got the call saying she was gone. </p><p>Not long after my mother, radiant in a sun-colored jacket and pearls, celebrated her 90th birthday with a huge party, she said her stomach hurt. A week later, I was in a hospital room sobbing against her cold, still shoulder. </p><p>I have my life back now, but that fact is less simple than it was before. When I look at the mementos I've inherited, the crumbling photo albums, cookbooks that smell of cigarette smoke, '50s furniture and cut glass, I also see where they used to sit, in other places and rooms. I miss the quiet afternoons, the houses that eventually came to feel like home, in cities I'll never again have reason to visit. I miss it all. I miss them. </p><p>Sometimes, when I'm out, I catch a glimpse of a short, gray-haired man in a baseball cap or a skinny old woman in a tailored bright jacket and my heart stops. I see my old people everywhere, which only reminds me that I'll never see them again. </p><p>When you have a baby, it's as if your whole self shifts, reshaping itself around a presence that later you can't even remember living without. You reach down and take a small hand, and joined, you hurtle toward the future. Death just offers stasis, absence, dissolving shadows.</p><p>None of that was a surprise, but it's still a shock. While you're caring for the old, you can't believe what you're called on to do and where you find yourself, can't believe that your time with them will ever end. Then one day, it just does. </p> <hr><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div class="shortbio"><em><p>Carol Mithers is a Los Angeles-based journalist and the co-author, with the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Leymah Gbowee, of "Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War."</p></em></div></div><div><br></div> <a href="http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/22/suddenly-theyre-all-gone/?hpw">http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/22/suddenly-theyre-all-gone/?hpw</a>

Suddenly, They're All Gone - NYTimes.com

Lauri Rotko/Getty Images Caring for the old is just like parenting an infant, only on really bad acid. It's all there: the head-spinn...

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NYC by Cameraphone

After my <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-high-line-for-all-seasons.html">High Line tour</a> today I came across a couple buildings that I wanted to photograph, but finding myself without my camera I used my old-school phone and its lo-fi camera. So pardon the quality of the photos of the buildings, one just completed and one under construction.<br /><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_rp6eWn8oYgeWetNwiKgyxviac1aV1rgrEIoblROJgYVcfIfOgb8gCwFFOMas6eE8aKVv1Zsmu5N14sG_ZuL-6PUVlbKFyXf3EaVmaR5mmqRddVkYxmbw2-30dQZ6MzZqP3Cw0gdO8nh_/s1600/Photo091.jpg" /><br /><br />First is the new <a href="http://www.davidzwirner.com/">David Zwirner Gallery</a> on West 20th Street in Chelsea, which opened just last month. This is the gallery's second building in the area and is designed by <a href="http://www.selldorf.com/projects/featured/david-zwirner-20th-street/">Selldorf Architects</a>.<br /><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgALEMrIaFeJXaqSOOrAYXupvuX95O0MFDReg92Qw7Y69FrESII5Dl_Kn1R0GEOR23K6xnd-q7CQQl_B5VAZZYTMSdgCN9vro_Dpg4uBWeCZ9v4XK2PmZbGsQdReqAF3mqsbnwc7yP5cHxn/s1600/Photo097.jpg" /><br /><br />I first noticed the building while traversing the High Line on the tour, wondering about the concrete building in the distance. Returning there after the tour I got a closer look at and inside the five-story building of concrete, wood, and glass.<br /><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWojcdwLcFRAJzHYXKaIsJpBdwQoMoxyZL0pkDUW1nFX4XIYxMWxmUgil_qpJ2uA1vVr1-CmlMvnHpcAomOV4hxmbV0kLWzd2YkTvUhEFmkc8AU0go0VlVBXi6Re3HE8mZVPV4PRAa-i_F/s1600/Photo098.jpg" /><br /><br />My first thought on seeing the building from across the street: "It's a Swiss building dropped into Chelsea." The combination of materials, the simplicity of the details, and so much exposed concrete; it may not be as executed as well as a Swiss concrete building (could any building in NYC compare in that regard?), but the planar yet textured concrete exterior works pretty well in this context. <br /><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Tsoe1W19aQ7yKlO3AK-bIugDgLquQ2oQojslWT2ZGa-G9ck2csGRpTUln9-8DJEJKsEpjGWeQhRuPtPzRelOo4Xg5PrgCDXILajKw2K7pnPmo0dGkoBhqcT4fJwsRrf2-eyRGNIKNYmf/s1600/Photo099.jpg" /><br /><br />Not surprisingly, the galleries are white boxes, some of them with windows and the large one on the ground floor with skylights. Concrete extends inside to define the lobby and the circulation spaces beyond; the skylit stair is especially nice.  <br /><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPiHAmpEB_DqSDI1v8ENQPQhUtEzBN45sHCKZVIBhmWe9ufyTIHcMDiFx_LGzKxKnPkyVrSArBlr8W_EfPlmEnIJ4-qiPY0cFC604JYrjCYVTkOzVToGSCKlKCCYFEq7U5xguM4JI-BXL0/s1600/Photo095.jpg" /><br /><br />On my way to the subway I checked out the construction progress on The New School's <a href="http://www.newschool.edu/university-center/">University Center</a>, designed by <a href="https://www.som.com/project/new-school-university-center">SOM</a> and located at Fifth Avenue and 14th Street.<br /><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAX7ZY-anB33uZMl-1Rli_ayCi_ofuA5LrpNCkcnVwUf8XBnChGstCgxc6IFnHC57Xi4yQBOzwJj3ltQmOlYyKNNYZ_hkXtf__dmEyjKDeE0lHJgedCqsd2M4dYvkbVIOIdBVVnSjjd2Jv/s1600/Photo101.jpg" /><br /><br />The 16-story building is an unrelenting wrapper of horizontal bands of metal and reflective glass broken up by clear-glass cuts that rise and fall across the three facades of its base. <br /><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgekncIJycWiPg-0EeuOzX4JbwGjD6N31zPaJoL3oTEc5wm7fzVLmXx_I_A23N8X09G0jBkWOC-_dqk-QZOPsOGUz4V5RXPcp36Vb-rM4_-S-GE4Il9R2-ciYftKTZ7t-eG4N2I8b7vqosN/s1600/Photo103.jpg" /><br /><br />Behind these diagonals are the "the three central staircases that will weave their way through the building," per the building's own website. The faceting of the facade at the stairs reminds me of another SOM building (and one I also captured with my crappy cameraphone), the <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2012/01/wrapping-diamond.html">International Gem Tower</a> also under construction in Midtown.<br /><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4CysSZe1NLGS-McX6lio7mzGr3LnJDvnIBcw5YLQS4bqF-IF5FGKKq0UStFbo_Y2bkeUD6LAd7v7y2CrZyYTyZh-jiABqFUHUqHdYslBXsKP9X1QLVcDXww5mhD4VjM3KTqkXuj90Tqwh/s1600/Photo104.jpg" />

NYC by Cameraphone

After my High Line tour today I came across a couple buildings that I wanted to photograph, but finding myself without my camera I used my ...

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Kona Kase Review

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4I1cPTHr4N2Mj1iu_C7CeKr-FenQi6KIdvITmnc2yX6lz_pcp-i1_pnS7tFge75882rHQ_jrDAi3ptAJJbDSu20B9ijXUHD1XDnHvGEXpJFNRe1TR_Z9_lyxebP-UhsHNfrCTJA48tnM/s1600/kona+kase+has+arrived!.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4I1cPTHr4N2Mj1iu_C7CeKr-FenQi6KIdvITmnc2yX6lz_pcp-i1_pnS7tFge75882rHQ_jrDAi3ptAJJbDSu20B9ijXUHD1XDnHvGEXpJFNRe1TR_Z9_lyxebP-UhsHNfrCTJA48tnM/s320/kona+kase+has+arrived!.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Since losing weight I need to have good foods around the house to keep myself in check so I won't over eat especially foods that are no good for me.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What better way to stay healthy than receiving delicious </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">snacks straight to you're door?</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I came across <a href="http://www.konakase.com/">Kona Kase</a> and saw that they offer all natural hand picked snacks that are healthy I just knew I had to contact them for review.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was psyched when I heard a knock at my door the other morning and Kona Kase arrived!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I couldn't wait to see what I was going to be reviewing!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was so excited when I saw some of the products I've seen before so I knew I was going to love this box!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In my box I received:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lentil's Chips</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">SanFranola Granola</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">FRS Chews</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Barre</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pacific Health Labs- 2nd Surge Energy Gel</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pocket Fuel</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Vitalyte</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Kind Bar</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I will be telling you about each product in detail.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>SanFranola Granola:</u></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">fresh roasted granola!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">High in protein and higher in fiber as well.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Less sugar than your average granola's.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Single serve packets for on the go!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Add some to your yogurt, ice cream or on top of a smoothie for a light crunch!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You will always have a healthy snack at hand whether your going on a hike, going to the beach, or even working out.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You will be pleased with this subscription box of healthy snacks for you and you can even send them to someone as a gift!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Kind Bar:</span></u></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Of course I didn't take a photo before I ate it, ugh cravings!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Any who I received the Almond, Walnut and Macadamia nut bar and it is so delicious, super nutty and sweet too!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Packed with protein and makes a great snack and nut lovers will love it!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Enjoy Life Plentil Chips:</span></u></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am absolutely in love with these Lentil Chips that I received in my Kona Kase Box!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They taste sort of like Muncho's Chips with a robust garlic and Parmesan flavor. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am a big fan of chips that have a certain flavor such as these wonderful crispy tasty chips.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They are also good for you and gluten free!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9PdaqbqnWulxMcNSGFiiaTZsKl-Q5OdejsN0PH_PjfbK-f0q4tEg3D4a-nAen_mHC8x1vn-faRSuI7LubC2R7L6x6vQDWYijCABaNjJR01U5S3ycCAr-BPiTzIIenx_a9JlDKl59xCV8/s1600/garlic+and+parmesan+kona+kase.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9PdaqbqnWulxMcNSGFiiaTZsKl-Q5OdejsN0PH_PjfbK-f0q4tEg3D4a-nAen_mHC8x1vn-faRSuI7LubC2R7L6x6vQDWYijCABaNjJR01U5S3ycCAr-BPiTzIIenx_a9JlDKl59xCV8/s320/garlic+and+parmesan+kona+kase.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pocket Fuel:</span></u></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpOxYDLiIKHsZG60WoxhwsK_IYQh7X49SlDo7_eXpIWTPKOgFRuI8ICgjhBDN7SJFJ4NcVwEUIjZA-2InIhQtsokVaQVECBZ7xW9hFSsQDnTkONhV8WqEuaHjjGL8lTGpHnGolSX9SQrs/s1600/pocket+fuel+kona+kase.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpOxYDLiIKHsZG60WoxhwsK_IYQh7X49SlDo7_eXpIWTPKOgFRuI8ICgjhBDN7SJFJ4NcVwEUIjZA-2InIhQtsokVaQVECBZ7xW9hFSsQDnTkONhV8WqEuaHjjGL8lTGpHnGolSX9SQrs/s320/pocket+fuel+kona+kase.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Almond Butter with a kick!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's portable and you can bring it anywhere with you.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Packed with seeds,nuts and fruits to give you a boost of sustained energy from an intense workout and perfect recovery snack.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can squirt it on apples, add to a smoothie, or even spread it on rice cakes!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Vitalyte Chia Surge:</u></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCxSCrFVloqhw0Kxo94QPCRYiLh7_yV4maEdXtE7GrFRTJ6usjfiMAjkl4fWKbn_QmBvfZLnUnZmovlptoZG-QdppIe4yovOR9_H1Lb50gKIvAScVluZZusbfFoL02cpWT2uCbdjrVwH0/s1600/Chia+Surge+Kona+Kase.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCxSCrFVloqhw0Kxo94QPCRYiLh7_yV4maEdXtE7GrFRTJ6usjfiMAjkl4fWKbn_QmBvfZLnUnZmovlptoZG-QdppIe4yovOR9_H1Lb50gKIvAScVluZZusbfFoL02cpWT2uCbdjrVwH0/s320/Chia+Surge+Kona+Kase.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Chia seeds in gel form, gives you're body what it needs to kill any workout or even competition. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Pacific Health Labs 2nd Surge Energy Gel:</u></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOcynN7G27pLr3wHUi3pTV6yls2LNsYg7LvoPTiiV7o2YoL6UGpS8_Gp1Lw0FmrXPxDPe4ROPhe4wwj1PJgCAIdtjLhq4xktkFYWR-niAfE6pXoAANaOFGQz9vZM6FyOebRsQYwFz0Dd4/s1600/2nd+surge+kona+kase.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOcynN7G27pLr3wHUi3pTV6yls2LNsYg7LvoPTiiV7o2YoL6UGpS8_Gp1Lw0FmrXPxDPe4ROPhe4wwj1PJgCAIdtjLhq4xktkFYWR-niAfE6pXoAANaOFGQz9vZM6FyOebRsQYwFz0Dd4/s320/2nd+surge+kona+kase.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Proven to deliver nutrients during your workouts, you can use it before or after exercise.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>FRS Chews:</u></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Feeling like you just want to give up in the middle of a long intense run?</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pop in an FRS energy chew and you will feel energized in no time.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Just take the recommend amount of 2 chews twice daily and within 3-4 days you will feel energized! </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Barre:</u></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijZZgzKjb_OAo_PI8DKxQUz02weQ2jGs5I4ewidtoeKW3gxULpI8wGwdHi810E8SPbCBtCnx2qiX6si68Gdoas1xyTQyhgwqS0-NEAhQ_WnD1O2CDWV_vTy0ii5Yld5eu8_NNwABoq9oU/s1600/barre.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijZZgzKjb_OAo_PI8DKxQUz02weQ2jGs5I4ewidtoeKW3gxULpI8wGwdHi810E8SPbCBtCnx2qiX6si68Gdoas1xyTQyhgwqS0-NEAhQ_WnD1O2CDWV_vTy0ii5Yld5eu8_NNwABoq9oU/s320/barre.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A nutrition bar developed by dancers and for everyone to enjoy!</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Free of refined sugars and provides balanced nutrition.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Be sure to check them out online here:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.konakase.com/">http://www.konakase.com/</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Like them on Face Book </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kona-Kase/144635405674991">https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kona-Kase/144635405674991</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Follow Them Via Twitter:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/konakase">https://twitter.com/konakase</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Due to FCC guidelines:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Kona Kase sent me healthy snacks in exchange for a product review. However, All the opinions expressed here are my own.</span><br /><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></div></div>

Kona Kase Review

Since losing weight I need to have good foods around the house to keep myself in check so I won't over eat especially foods that are no ...

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Michigan Clinic: How to Break a Press

I really can't believe it's been 19 years since Michigan reached a Sweet Sixteen. They have either been out of the tournament completely, or eliminated in the first weekend, for <i>nineteen years.</i><br /><br />"Havoc" is what they call Virginia Commonwealth's defense, but to me it looked a lot like a high-intense 3/4 press. And I've learned, ever since grade school basketball, that the best way to break a press is to pass.<br /><br />And boy, I sure saw some great passing by Michigan!<br /><br />It was clear that head coach John Beilein prepared this team for what it was going to face today against VCU. They ran up and down the court, spreading out the floor and finding the open man when VCU tried to trap.<br /><br />It didn't help that VCU shot less than 40% from the floor for the game. More important than that, Mitch McGary was out of his mind today, scoring a career high 21 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. The Michigan offense had to prevent turnovers from VCU, and they "only" gave up the ball 12 times. But, considering teams that lost to VCU this season gave up the ball an average of 21 times, 12 isn't that bad.<br /><br />I was impressed. I hope that Beilein can get Michigan ready for whatever Jayhawk-Tar Heel attack they'll face on Friday...<i>away </i>from Michigan.

Michigan Clinic: How to Break a Press

I really can't believe it's been 19 years since Michigan reached a Sweet Sixteen. They have either been out of the tournament comple...

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Steak time!

This is what we ate for dinner. Fillet steak, chips & pepper sauce. So simple, so good! <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk8cIFby5IqMGjYY2UqDGAsOiku6-rswCkcRBi6OchnzDpIA2p_OGlp2vfXt1Tlls4HsT1MCbHIF904FxSp8AZ_F-0hUgvqSGKZPXfebH2CSsltZ3cvtg8ldrPFfijQ2WhUBST-cOchGPL/s640/blogger-image-1276835189.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk8cIFby5IqMGjYY2UqDGAsOiku6-rswCkcRBi6OchnzDpIA2p_OGlp2vfXt1Tlls4HsT1MCbHIF904FxSp8AZ_F-0hUgvqSGKZPXfebH2CSsltZ3cvtg8ldrPFfijQ2WhUBST-cOchGPL/s640/blogger-image-1276835189.jpg" /></a></div>

Steak time!

This is what we ate for dinner. Fillet steak, chips & pepper sauce. So simple, so good!

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Sun Cups Review

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikyjiSbJbwJuyiBUHQ_Y3HWxLXAH5R40WQ8ZdxLCsuhPpFsj7F_epQKlqo-sTJJToDbwInlzan5y8gljj6KH-kWxanBr72dmRpXD1ve_S9ULPC7KAh8THstTjHZMKdPSHsTAaHEV5lraw/s1600/sun+cups.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="111" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikyjiSbJbwJuyiBUHQ_Y3HWxLXAH5R40WQ8ZdxLCsuhPpFsj7F_epQKlqo-sTJJToDbwInlzan5y8gljj6KH-kWxanBr72dmRpXD1ve_S9ULPC7KAh8THstTjHZMKdPSHsTAaHEV5lraw/s320/sun+cups.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Created for peanut allergies <a href="http://suncups.com/">Sun Cups</a> came up with a sweet and creamy alternative to peanut butter with sunflower butter.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They then took the jar of Sun Flower butter and chocolate and that's when Sun Cups were born!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am a huge fan of sweets whether it's caramel, peanut butter you name it I love it!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I've never tried sunflower butter before, so when I came across Sun Cups I just knew I had to give them a try.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was sent their cups of mint, caramel and sunflower butter for review. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4qnXlfod1Xo-Onz4xZv-BWGHeLGZB1OHeVT03xn5WjcNeb3-GfJ3RLKDVo56bWxgecFovDfO9mzapSd-EelgGbbtTzqHhzQ77ZaGEBig-zq_G0P7sQmikzIPkKOqdAC9oz8nM7YT7hIA/s1600/sun+cups+display.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4qnXlfod1Xo-Onz4xZv-BWGHeLGZB1OHeVT03xn5WjcNeb3-GfJ3RLKDVo56bWxgecFovDfO9mzapSd-EelgGbbtTzqHhzQ77ZaGEBig-zq_G0P7sQmikzIPkKOqdAC9oz8nM7YT7hIA/s320/sun+cups+display.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I absolutely love the packaging on these tasty little treats.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With a name like Sun Cups it's sure to make you happy by just looking at the colorful and detailed packaging.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For a treat this afternoon mom and I dished out some ice cream and put a caramel cup on top and it was pure deliciousness. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The taste of the sweet milk chocolate and the luscious caramel along with the creamy vanilla ice cream was amazing.</span> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjijhoB9qDl1YVfLjHcqDc-65PPwD42BoDDwu544uExxewExfJWjO8K9bJLJhyphenhyphenjibDdLSofs14dktHsZDsqaypM0NX9xdvsxpklZwy8zbLTXIAPYPdmvUHOChdP9mv05gpjGReuvLtzywc/s1600/caramel+sun+cup+with+vanilla+bean+ice+cream.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjijhoB9qDl1YVfLjHcqDc-65PPwD42BoDDwu544uExxewExfJWjO8K9bJLJhyphenhyphenjibDdLSofs14dktHsZDsqaypM0NX9xdvsxpklZwy8zbLTXIAPYPdmvUHOChdP9mv05gpjGReuvLtzywc/s320/caramel+sun+cup+with+vanilla+bean+ice+cream.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Sunny Facts:</u></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Gluten Free</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nut Free</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Certified Organic</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Be sure to check them out:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Website:</u></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://suncups.com/">http://suncups.com/</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><u><br /></u></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Like Them On Face Book : </u></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/suncups?fref=ts">https://www.facebook.com/suncups?fref=ts</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Follow them Via Twitter: </u></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/suncups">https://twitter.com/suncups</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Check out their Pinterest Board:</u></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://pinterest.com/suncups/">http://pinterest.com/suncups/</a></span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Due to FCC guidelines:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sun Cups sent me their chocolate cups in exchange for a product review. However, All the opinions expressed here are my own.</span><br /><div><br /></div></div>

Sun Cups Review

Created for peanut allergies Sun Cups  came up with a sweet and creamy alternative to peanut butter with sunflower butter. They then took th...

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Alo Drink Review

<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have never felt so refreshed and hydrated in my life, and I owe it all to <a href="http://alodrink.com/">Alo Drinks</a>.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I know what your thinking isn't aloe a plant?</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yes, but they make it straight from the leaf itself and add in natural good for you flavors!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have to say I was sort of skeptical at first to try but have heard great rumors about their products and when I came across them I had to try them out for myself.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I work out a lot whether it's in the gym, at home to my work out tapes or taking a walk so I need something to hydrate me.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So I got to reading about their products and here's what I found out about them.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">*Made with all natural flavors</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">*Made from aloe leaves</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">*full of vitamins and minerals</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">*refreshing</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">*healthy</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTNuOJRGA9i56iGfoOfcA0VyuN_P3FlStTfcUeipFiP5ert23myd-xO0RfZgXs3o10omefNMduLCow_Ag5w7F5q80LGgYT6izegoaf1vbUCQ1d-SOjsuLWa39MlJl0xaDSYa5OLXw7pno/s1600/Alo+drinks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTNuOJRGA9i56iGfoOfcA0VyuN_P3FlStTfcUeipFiP5ert23myd-xO0RfZgXs3o10omefNMduLCow_Ag5w7F5q80LGgYT6izegoaf1vbUCQ1d-SOjsuLWa39MlJl0xaDSYa5OLXw7pno/s320/Alo+drinks.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was so excited when I found out I was going to do a review on these drinks, especially because they are flavored!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am a sucker for flavored waters, they are not only healthy but they have delicious flavors that satisfy and hydrate you!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I couldn't wait to open this box when I saw it yesterday, I just had to see what was inside.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So I opened the box and saw many flavors of their Alo original line of drinks!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I couldn't believe how many they sent!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am beyond excited to be doing this review to share with you all.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><u style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Alo Original:</u></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Aloe Watermelon Peach</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Aloe Honey</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Aloe Vera Pineapple Guava Seabuckthorn Berry </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Aloe Wheat Grass</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Aloe Vera Cranberry Pomegranate</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Aloe Vera Pomelo Pink Grapefruit lemon</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Aloe Vera Twelve Fruits and Vegetables</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Aloe Vera Mangosteen Mango</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Aloe Vera Olive Leaf Tea</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The drink I chose to try first was the Alo Watermelon Peach.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What do I have to say about it?</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I took a drink and was surprised at how delicious and full of flavor this drink really was!</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was refreshing and kept me hydrated the rest of the day!</span><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Best of all they contain no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I can't wait to try the other flavors that they sent me!</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggmaI8zlg6eZmeMTBccHBRscDEk-RkE48dZrQYkTco1mthb31FmfbWu2xNaH0hhlAUzTNSIVhLz-3FY3LPooGxxOhy7quyH0lhpyM4WNdtF6Gyt-MJFXXvXKRkcgtfta5OMwMDXF3uzQI/s1600/coco+exposed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggmaI8zlg6eZmeMTBccHBRscDEk-RkE48dZrQYkTco1mthb31FmfbWu2xNaH0hhlAUzTNSIVhLz-3FY3LPooGxxOhy7quyH0lhpyM4WNdtF6Gyt-MJFXXvXKRkcgtfta5OMwMDXF3uzQI/s1600/coco+exposed.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I would love to try their Coco Exposed line as well since I love all things coconut, drinks especially!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Don't forget to check them out:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Website:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://alodrink.com/" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://alodrink.com/</a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Like them on Face Book: </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ALOdrink">https://www.facebook.com/ALOdrink</a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Follow them via Twitter : </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/ALOdrink">https://twitter.com/ALOdrink</a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can find them at these local retailers:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Whole Foods</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Food For Thought</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Vitamin Shoppe</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Wegman's </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">and more!</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Due to FCC guidelines:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Alo Drinks sent me a case of their drinks in exchange for a product review. However, All the opinions expressed here are my own.</span><br /><div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div>

Alo Drink Review

I have never felt so refreshed and hydrated in my life, and I owe it all to  Alo Drinks . I know what your thinking isn't aloe a plant? ...

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Bringing home the silver!

Ciaran just came in the door and handed me a silver plate. He came 2nd in the Over 40 Irish Squash Open. I'm delighted for him! <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVrEMhgs37ZJJfJQ4hfjVeKIgki5BC-BoHt8GdyeBJDtnqWc668NAV6DaRGHvCzeHkmneCTiPAL0ocFRwivLV1yeeswQeRrn4jITU3dUAV8ehBfOszdCBLL46UxsaOP_YiCEb1rr1MvE18/s640/blogger-image--1759201283.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVrEMhgs37ZJJfJQ4hfjVeKIgki5BC-BoHt8GdyeBJDtnqWc668NAV6DaRGHvCzeHkmneCTiPAL0ocFRwivLV1yeeswQeRrn4jITU3dUAV8ehBfOszdCBLL46UxsaOP_YiCEb1rr1MvE18/s640/blogger-image--1759201283.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipcI6bI3cOkr9esJi93Jfgox0wdbPDRRVq6EsofAe2y0kgQFvC7m5qSt5jOY1FKfQoAaSJXucXWftnMcJ8rAaa3JxYP-BFRPG86oXa6OJdZD2jsEh6tLDu9SlHI5qaR0k1Et707huTTnUK/s640/blogger-image-267698679.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipcI6bI3cOkr9esJi93Jfgox0wdbPDRRVq6EsofAe2y0kgQFvC7m5qSt5jOY1FKfQoAaSJXucXWftnMcJ8rAaa3JxYP-BFRPG86oXa6OJdZD2jsEh6tLDu9SlHI5qaR0k1Et707huTTnUK/s640/blogger-image-267698679.jpg" /></a></div>

Bringing home the silver!

Ciaran just came in the door and handed me a silver plate. He came 2nd in the Over 40 Irish Squash Open. I'm delighted for him!

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CYPRUS’S GOLD RESERVES

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font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style><![endif]--> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5DCFwb3_0mc3V0R2GPa1ZfTEGY_SjKJoiwuMoRydw2-H8hCwCB91U-CsYKhhsFaqGVYKlEVVgpy-IUGVwRze5uurJ2hsD5TAf_ngSCt9sKDDwUOsSh_VAtIUl5YzcVCU1_gMwvw6VyIIg/s1600/precious-metals.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5DCFwb3_0mc3V0R2GPa1ZfTEGY_SjKJoiwuMoRydw2-H8hCwCB91U-CsYKhhsFaqGVYKlEVVgpy-IUGVwRze5uurJ2hsD5TAf_ngSCt9sKDDwUOsSh_VAtIUl5YzcVCU1_gMwvw6VyIIg/s400/precious-metals.gif" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <br /> <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>COULD CYPRUS’S GOLD RESERVES PLAY A PART IN THE CRISIS? </b></span></span></div><br /> The CYPRUS bailout proposal made by the Eurogroup is both economically and politically absurd. But what if the real reason behind the whole CYPRUS crisis is the desire to confiscate the country’s gold?<br /> The EUROPEAN Union, the IMF and the ECB are pushing CYPRUS into bankruptcy while risking a contagion effect that could lead to the meltdown of the EUROZONE. EUROPEAN leaders have already bailed out GREECE, PORTUGAL, SPAIN and ITALY. Why is the CYPRUS bailout so special? Why do the EUROPEAN leaders prefer to push the country into bankruptcy and raid the CYPRIOT bank accounts instead of saving it?<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic8zRSZUen4vV4E47WY2F68sfkRkwArArSLC9BSBbAu-QhyI2d0aKfvD4KZCwj6aGxQ_gAXoLmfvH80karnOVsFFACC70AaaRO0um00Y1-PutcfzoSrBjoFHbueXpQJW5sLagmOc1o_jIg/s1600/Gold_Reserves.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic8zRSZUen4vV4E47WY2F68sfkRkwArArSLC9BSBbAu-QhyI2d0aKfvD4KZCwj6aGxQ_gAXoLmfvH80karnOVsFFACC70AaaRO0um00Y1-PutcfzoSrBjoFHbueXpQJW5sLagmOc1o_jIg/s640/Gold_Reserves.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="description">Gold reserves per capita</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /> <span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">LEADERS OF THE TROIKA HAVE MADE A MISTAKE WITH APPALLING CONSEQUENCES, OR ……..???</b></span><br /><br /> There are several possible reasons for such a behavior. Either the leaders of the Troika have made a mistake with terrible consequences or they have a plan which is not obvious to outside observers. If the bailout package, combined with a “solidarity levy” on the bank accounts is a bona fide mistake, why aren’t they willing to correct it? The EUROPEAN negotiators insist that CYPRUS must provide 5.86 billion euros, knowing that the CYPRIOT government doesn’t have the money. So far, it looks like the Troika acts within a well established plan. What are they trying to achieve?<br /><br /> <span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">THE GOLD MARKET, PRICE SUPPRESSION SCHEME</b></span><br /><br /> <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6896989063397229776" name="p_30"></a>Let’s take a look at the gold market. It has been known for several years, that the central banks of the developed world are operating a huge price suppression scheme in the gold and silver markets. The mainstream media is ignoring this fact, but several whistleblowers, like the former Goldman Sachs trader Andrew Maguire, have come up with facts and figures, supporting the hypothesis of a wide conspiracy to suppress the prices of gold and silver. For several years, traders and investors have been trying to draw the press’ attention to this problem. According to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>latest calculations, it is likely that the US Federal Reserve has almost no physical gold available, so its ability to continue suppressing the gold prices is diminished. If this is true, the CYPRUS crisis is a boon to the market manipulators.<br /><br /> <span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">CYPRUS TO SELL ITS PHYSICAL GOLD RESERVES WHICH STAND AT 13.9 TONS?</b></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOEgry8o1oP5zyzEJMQJePbId02UyA2Gz0UmcE5ch-BPVab7XoCjFtUeey3Y69nQlhxVrsdMjKQQyzL4c2tITAbcx4oz4fXfBY5ujEcFbcXibqkB37GGhpmVRLfWVlDf2YqJq64R2dMdRr/s1600/gold-market_image004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOEgry8o1oP5zyzEJMQJePbId02UyA2Gz0UmcE5ch-BPVab7XoCjFtUeey3Y69nQlhxVrsdMjKQQyzL4c2tITAbcx4oz4fXfBY5ujEcFbcXibqkB37GGhpmVRLfWVlDf2YqJq64R2dMdRr/s400/gold-market_image004.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /> Under the current plan that is being discussed by the CYPRIOT parliament, the Central Bank of CYPRUS will sell its gold reserves in order to cover a part of the 5.86 billion euros demanded by the Eurogroup. Other sources of financing the country’s “contribution” include such outrageous measures as a special levy on bank accounts and the expropriation of the money held by the CYPRIOT pension system, so everyone’s attention is diverted from the sale of gold. Gold reserves of CYPRUS stand at 13.9 tons. While not a big amount in itself, these reserves represent “physical gold” not “paper gold” which makes it very valuable from a market manipulation perspective. If the central banks and financial institutions that are suppressing the gold prices are running short on “physical gold”, then each ounce of real, assailed, not rehypothecated gold is priceless. Time has shown that the gold market manipulators are extremely powerful and will go to any lengths to keep the gold and silver prices down. If they have to force a country into bankruptcy in order to get 13.9 tons of physical gold and use it to suppress the prices, they’ll do it. If they have to create a distraction for the media, like a “special levy on bank accounts”, they’ll do it. If they are successful, it is very likely that ITALIAN or SPANISH gold reserves will be targeted next.<br /> <div class="MsoNormal"><span class="description"><br /></span></div>

CYPRUS’S GOLD RESERVES

COULD CYPRUS’S GOLD RESERVES PLAY A PART IN THE CRISIS?  The CYPRUS bailout proposal made by the Eurogroup is both economically and p...

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EURO BEWARE: THE REAL THREAT MAY BE BITCOIN, THE ONLINE “CRYPTO CURRENCY”

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mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style><![endif]--> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_wtHXKsx8gY288nK0Lm6kMLUZX6KNR7U5qCPEepeGn74Z4-OUKccOchB5YoKLpPYrSzy79-KhnPqSkVcJsx32gDwYKKp78RKir2BLQP-ty8E30ikyEOhGw-oCI8Moqa2pBAp41L6Lm1c0/s1600/bitcoin530.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_wtHXKsx8gY288nK0Lm6kMLUZX6KNR7U5qCPEepeGn74Z4-OUKccOchB5YoKLpPYrSzy79-KhnPqSkVcJsx32gDwYKKp78RKir2BLQP-ty8E30ikyEOhGw-oCI8Moqa2pBAp41L6Lm1c0/s1600/bitcoin530.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-no-proof: yes;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;">BANKS ARE MISUSING THE MONEY MONOPOLY THEY HAVE, USING MONEY FOR POLITICAL PURPOSES</span></span><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-no-proof: yes;">Via stratrisk</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">With all its other problems, the euro is also getting unexpected — and “underground” — competition from a new virtual currency. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s called the <i>bitcoin, </i>and in case you haven’t heard, it is the most ambitious (and to-date, successful) attempt to create a new online currency, generated by the calculations of thousands of computers. Some say it amounts to a kind of anarchic money.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This week, as the euro crisis has reached CYPRUS, the bitcoin (BTC) marked a record high on the largest online exchange, bitcoin.de. The exchange rate has approached 50 EUR, more than doubling the value of the virtual currency within four weeks.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The latest run on bitcoins was caused by reports of a bitcoin fund being launched by MALTA-based hedge fund called Exante. The Bitcoin Fund has an initial minimum subscription of $100,000 and a 0.5% upfront subscription fee. Current assets under management in the Bitcoin Fund are $3.2 million.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6896989063397229776" name="rdb-footnote-link-6">Investors demand </a>is rising quickly,” says Oliver Flaskämper, who drives bitcoin.de: “Many investors realize that the present market cap of around $520 million leaves a lot of room.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">INCREASING NUMBER OF PLACES ACCEPT THE ALTERNATIVE CURRENCY</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">EUROPEANS alone have more than 5 trillion euros in their wallet files and accounts. Everyone can use bitcoins as long as they have a wallet app installed on a PC or a smartphone. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What makes bitcoins particularly attractive is that users can use them for payment at an increasing number of places. Over 2,000 companies and organizations now accept the alternative <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6896989063397229776" name="rdb-footnote-link-8">currency</a>, including pizza delivery outfits, but also gambling sites of dubious repute.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9BQaSmWnlLe9FAeZAeNrPqOLXzAFZlJCj8iJy06qG57Hb-wi1Pe5SXleKi5FusR3s1IeQ2mPAUpUCHhvz4FQ-pHmc_3Nh9mhB1sLNYrKFIVvDdZcOihorJ7vRm6glYInjEWtyPpXo2CD_/s1600/bitcoin_accepted_sign1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9BQaSmWnlLe9FAeZAeNrPqOLXzAFZlJCj8iJy06qG57Hb-wi1Pe5SXleKi5FusR3s1IeQ2mPAUpUCHhvz4FQ-pHmc_3Nh9mhB1sLNYrKFIVvDdZcOihorJ7vRm6glYInjEWtyPpXo2CD_/s1600/bitcoin_accepted_sign1.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It has also been said that bitcoins are used in drug transactions. Unlike credit cards or online payment services like Paypal, bitcoin transactions are essentially anonymous which has aroused the suspicions of bankers and politicians alike. Bitcoin fans argue that cash was and remains the primary means of paying for drugs– and that nobody has aired the idea that cash should be abolished.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The history of the bitcoin has so far been marked by ups and downs. The virtual currency was introduced in 2009 by Japanese programmer Satoshi Nakamoto, who wanted to create counterfeit-proof money for the web. It now appears however that the name is a pseudonym, and that nobody really knows who is behind the bitcoin idea.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="266" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yYTqvYqXRbY?feature=player_embedded" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="320"></iframe><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b>BITCOIN SYSTEM BEARS RESEMBLANCE TO THE GOLD STANDARD</b></span></div><span style="color: #990000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hype developed around the crypto-currency relatively quickly. In 2011 the first speculation bubble – that had driven the exchange rate to $30 – burst. Then came a hacker attack on the major bitcoin exchanges. Users lost virtual coins worth several hundred thousand euros and confidence – and prices – collapsed.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Despite fluctuations, bitcoins remain an extremely interesting concept. They are created by highly complex calculations running on thousands of computers. Approximately every 10 minutes, 25 new bitcoins are created. The algorithm takes into account that at some point a maximum number of virtual coins will be reached – ostensibly around 2140, and from 2033 on no large quantities of new bitcoins will be made.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In that sense the bitcoin system bears resemblance to the gold standard. Unlike euros or dollars the amount of bitcoins cannot be increased at will. The virtual coins are interesting for investors betting on the inflation of paper money..</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Bitcoins might even presage a whole new era. “Money is being re-invented,” Thorsten Polleit, chief economist at Degussa Bank, believes. He sees a future where different kinds of money will be competing with each other. “The banks are misusing the money monopoly they have, using money for political purposes. In the long run that will lead to devaluation” – and the demand for private mediums of exchange will increase, he says.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUb3JHrjRbxPD_HReIM_fn6K-CskLtypL6ZpwJP2ztH2PwZf4BcDczql5dKB8WgKMz-IwEEFMZatH6t3USnfudTumtJw-qFM6LuLAhjXhNxmcd5uVq3HJvXURXblhuq6wZAdncLRIjsWE7/s1600/BitcoinQR5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUb3JHrjRbxPD_HReIM_fn6K-CskLtypL6ZpwJP2ztH2PwZf4BcDczql5dKB8WgKMz-IwEEFMZatH6t3USnfudTumtJw-qFM6LuLAhjXhNxmcd5uVq3HJvXURXblhuq6wZAdncLRIjsWE7/s1600/BitcoinQR5.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">BITCOIN, THE NEW ALTERNATIVE?</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"> </span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></b><b><span lang="ES-AR" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">BITCOIN, LA  NUEVA MONEDA ALTERNATIVA?</span></b></span><span lang="ES-AR" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span lang="ES-AR" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: ES-AR; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />En Argentina, donde la población tiene que hacer frente aconstricciones económicas  "home made"  impuestas por las autoridades locales, BITCOIN, una moneda alternativa en línea está experimentando una popularidad creciente.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span lang="ES-AR" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: ES-AR; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />El nuevo sistema de pago está descentralizada en una red peer-to-peer - al igual que el sistema de descargas BITORRENT. Los argentinos están luchando actualmente con alta inflación, la moneda extranjera - las soluciones para frenar la inflación, es difícil de conseguir en estos días. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span lang="ES-AR" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: ES-AR; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Así los argentinos empresariales han comenzado a utilizar BITCOIN con el fin de enviar dinero fuera del país,  obtener dólares  o euros. Todas las transacciones son anónimas. Las autoridades no tienen ninguna posibilidad de controlar esas transacciones.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">BITCOIN, THE NEW ALTERNATIVE CURRENCY ?</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Argentina, where the population has to cope with “home made” economic constrictions imposed by local authorities, BITCOIN, an alternative online currency is experiencing increasing popularity.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The new payment system is decentralized in a peer-to-peer network – just like the download system BITORRENT. Argentineans are currently struggling with high inflation, foreign currency - the solutions to curb in inflation, is hard to get these days. Thus entrepreneurial Argentineans have started to use BITCOIN in order to get money out of the country or purchase Dollars or Euros. All transactions are anonymous. Authorities have no chance to control such transactions.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">BITCOINS, THE ONLINE-ONLY CURRENCY</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">. </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Created in 2009 by a mysterious programmer named Satoshi Nakamoto, bitcoins behave a lot like any currency. Their value is determined by demand, and they can be used to buy stuff. Bitcoin transactions are encrypted and handled by a decentralized global network of tens of thousands of personal computers. Merchants around the world accept the currency, from a bakery in San Francisco to a dentist in Finland. Individuals who own bitcoins and wish to exchange them for physical currencies like euros or dollars can use exchange sites such as localbitcoins.com, a Finland-based site founded by Jeremias Kangas. “I believe that bitcoin is, or will be in the future, a very effective tool for individuals who want to avoid sanctions, currency restrictions, and high inflation in countries such as Iran,” Kangas wrote in an e-mail. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><b>THE ADVANTAGE FOR COUNTRIES WITH RESTRICTIVE FOREIGN CURRENCY POLICIES IS THAT BITCOINS CAN BE SWAPPED FOR DOLLARS THAT CAN THEN BE KEPT OUTSIDE THE COUNTRY</b>. </span><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Another plus: Regulators can’t easily track the transactions, since bitcoins aren’t issued from a central server. Bitcoin users can conduct business on virtual private networks, which hide customers’ identities.<br />Many entrepreneurs and visionaries wish the culture of using digital money will spread all over the world, because it does not have any dependency on anything like politics.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 259.5pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">HOW IT WORKS</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The project was started in 2009 by an enigmatic programmer known as Satoshi Nakamoto. He always communicated electronically, never answered personal questions, and disappeared from online forums in December. The conspiracy-minded speculate that Nakamoto was actually a group of people, or a government cryptographer, or a pseudonym for Gavin Andresen, the Amherst (Mass.) programmer who took over the project after Nakamoto vanished. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="266" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Um63OQz3bjo?feature=player_embedded" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="320"></iframe></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Digital transactions normally require a trusted intermediary such as PayPal to credit and debit accounts properly and prevent cheating</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">. With BITCOINS, "there is no middleman, says Andresen or," more accurately, there's a distributed middleman. Individual transactions are encrypted, logged by a decentralized network running on thousands of home computers, and recorded in a public ledger. The system works similarly to peer-to-peer music-sharing networks in that files are shared among swarms of users, rather than downloaded from a central server. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Suppose you're in the market for alpaca socks, one of the few consumer items you can buy with BITCOINS. Step one: Get some BTC—that's the symbol—at a currency exchange site such as Mt.Gox. Then download a desktop app from bitcoin.org, which will store your lucre (some use an online service such as Instawallet.org instead) and connect you to the decentralized BITCOIN network. Next, find the alpaca farms BITCOIN address, a string of characters also known as a public key. Click the send coins button. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">THE BITCOIN NETWORK HAS HANDLED AS MANY AS 87 QUADRILLION CALCULATIONS PER SECOND, 35 TIMES MORE THAN THE TOP SUPERCOMPUTER. </span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The purchase is unconfirmed until a miner certifies it. Miners are power users who crunch numbers on behalf of the network, and some have racks of computers dedicated to the task. They're called miners because, just as gold miners increase the supply of gold, they create new BITCOINS, at an algorithmically controlled rate. The greater their computing power, the more they generate for themselves. Once a miner's computer has processed a transaction, the alpaca farm gets BITCOINS and you get socks. It's complex but fast: The BITCOIN network has handled as many as 87 quadrillion calculations per second, 35 times more than the top supercomputer. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">BITCOIN, ONLY FOR “MATURE” COUNTRIES? </span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">BITCOINS have all the advantages of cash—free to use, very hard to trace—as well as its disadvantages. That digital wallet is a file on a hard drive or online, and if it's lost or stolen there's no recourse. The currency is backed only by the faith and credit of its participants and outside the scope of any banker, politician, or the Federal Reserve. To a certain breed of libertarian nerd who grew up on cyberpunk, it's the Digital Rapture. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">BITCOIN also resonates with those who have something to hide. "Any anarchist cyberscheme like BITCOIN will rapidly attract the Four Horsemen of the Infocalypse: Mafia, drug dealers, terrorists, and child pornography," says author and futurist Bruce Sterling. The hacker group LulzSec, which has claimed credit for breaking into websites at Sony (<a href="http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?symbol=SNE">SNE</a>) and the U.S. Senate, says a donor recently sent in $7,000 worth of BITCOINS. Senators Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) urged federal law enforcement to shut down Silk Road, an online catalog for drugs, and spotlighted BITCOIN'S role as the only method of payment for these illegal purchases. Among the legit merchandise you can buy with BITCOIN: organic gardening services, a BITCOIN merit badge from NerdMeritBadge.com, and a smattering of tech products. </span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">BITCOIN: WILL THE ONLINE CURRENCY INFLUENCE GEOPOLITICS AND STRATEGIES?</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Merit badges and gardening are not the stuff revolutions are made of, but BITCOIN'S ascent has created a virtuous cycle: As early adopters see the value of their stakes rise, they have an incentive to entice new users and merchants. The number of people on the BITCOIN network at any given moment has climbed from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands since the start of the year, says Andresen. There are dedicated BITCOIN currency exchanges, escrow accounts, and smartphone apps. In the planning stages are options exchanges, cash registers, and high-frequency trading programs. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">IF THERE'S ONE INDUSTRY THAT TAKES THE MOST CREAM OFF THE TOP AND PROVIDES THE LEAST VALUE, ITS FINANCE!</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mark Suppes, a Web developer (who freelances for Bloomberg LP, parent of this magazine), bought a used ATM on EBay (<a href="http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?symbol=EBAY">EBAY</a>) for about $400. In a Brooklyn warehouse, he's reprogramming it to accept BITCOIN transfers from a smartphone and dispense U.S. dollars. Suppes is motivated by self-interest—"I own enough BITCOINS that I'll be set if this works out," he says—and a desire to stick it to what he considers economic parasites. "If there's one industry that takes the most cream off the top and provides the least value, its finance," he says. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Bankers needn't worry at this point. The most common reason to hold BITCOINS is as a speculative investment. "Any given day, it can move 20, 30, 40, even 50 percent," says Adam Cohen, a developer at startup Seatgeek who wrote a critical post about BITCOIN on the Q&A site Quora. "That's scary. I wouldn't want to have a lot of my wealth tied up in it right now." Sterling calls BITCOINS "a cousin project to WikiLeaks." For a glimpse of its future, he says, "find the half-dozen zealots who were core activists of WikiLeaks and ask them how their plan for massive planetary liberation has been going." </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The skeptics are why Andresen evangelizes. After his last haircut, he persuaded his barber to accept payment in BITCOIN. "I had to promise I would buy it back from him if it dropped in value," he says. "I insured his downside risk." </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The bottom line:</span></i></b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> BITCOINS, a two-year-old virtual currency, have exploded in value since December as tech-minded speculators snap them up.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>

EURO BEWARE: THE REAL THREAT MAY BE BITCOIN, THE ONLINE “CRYPTO CURRENCY”

BANKS ARE MISUSING THE MONEY MONOPOLY THEY HAVE, USING MONEY FOR POLITICAL PURPOSES Via stratrisk With all its other problems, the euro is ...

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