Texas Filibusterer Wendy Davis Faces a Big Decision

As Rick Perry steps down, Texas Democrats are counting on the woman in pink sneakers

Bob Daemmrich / Corbis State Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Ft. Worth, late in the evening during her filibuster of abortion bills that descended into chaos as political drama unfolded at the Texas Capitol in the last hour of the 83rd Texas legislature's first called special session, June 26, 2013.

Correction appended: July 9, 2013

She is now simply Wendy. As the leader of a last-minute fight against a rigid antiabortion bill, the filibustering, pink-sneaker-shod, Harvard Law School–trained, hardscrabble Texas-raised State Senator Wendy Davis became a nationally celebrated champion of women’s rights. And for long-suffering Texas Democrats, her sudden stardom raises hopes that she could be the one to break Republican’s 14-year chokehold on statewide offices.

But politics is more drama than musical. As Governor Rick Perry announced his plans to step down after his term — freeing him to prepare for the 2016 presidential race — the Texas legislature moved like a Greek chorus this week to approve the abortion bill, which is expected to pass. And so, with an extended session leaving no chance that a filibuster would work, Wendy climbed aboard an orange bus emblazoned with the slogan “Stand with Texas women” and headed off on a four-city tour of Texas, organized by Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards, daughter of the state’s last great Democratic star, the late Governor Ann Richards.

(MORE: Can Anyone Stop Rick Perry in 2016?)

With her signature big, sassy platinum hairdo, Ann was the last Texas Democrat on a first-name basis with voters. Ann and Wendy both built their political foundations as popular local officeholders, but the state has seen tectonic shifts since Ann first ran for state treasurer in 1982. Back then, Texas politics was split between progressives and conservative Democrats. The shorthanded Republicans, so the joke went, met in a phone booth. Which is not to say that Democrats didn’t run to the right. When Ann ran for governor in 1990, all three Democratic candidates ran right, touting their capital punishment bona fides. “You’d have thought they were all running for state executioner,” wrote satirist Molly Ivins, a fan and friend of Ann’s. “Saturday Night Live did a satirical skit on the primary in which the candidates wore black hoods and carried axes.”

(MORE: Meet the Woman Behind the Texas Abortion Filibuster)

Texas has grown more conservative since, and current Democratic strategists have been keen to describe Wendy as “mainstream” and “centrist,” pointing out she has brought moderate Republicans to her side. Indeed, “Wendy Davis” signs shared the front lawns of many Fort Worth homes with those for Mitt Romney in 2012. But it is abortion rights that has propelled her forward, attracting some moderate Republican women, but that “is not a good issue for Democrats” aiming to energize Hispanic voters who are vital to a Democratic takeover, says Rice University political scientist Mark P. Jones. “She has revived a moribund party, given Democrats a sense of enthusiasm and optimism, but whether that can be transformed to success at the polls is another question.”

(MORE: Rick Perry Says Former Teen Mother Wendy Davis ‘Hasn’t Learned From Her Own Example’)

Perry’s decision insures a frantic game of political dominos, with Republicans scrambling for position and desperate Democrats eager to seize a sliver of opportunity. Cries of “Run, Wendy, run” echo through the crowds and from partisans beyond Texas, but veteran statehouse observers advise caution.

Wendy faces a crucial decision, says Sheri Greenberg, professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and former Democratic state legislator. Will she be a “sacrificial lamb” and run for governor or will she seek re-election in 2014 to her pivotal state senate seat? Turning Texas blue will take at least a decade, Greenberg says, and depends on effective grass-roots organizing and candidate bench building, internal disruption in the GOP and the demographic march toward a Hispanic-dominated state.

(MORE: Rick Perry Rules Out Fourth Term, Future Uncertain)

The latter puts Wendy in competition with another rising Democratic star, San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, widely viewed as a likely 2018 Democratic gubernatorial candidate. Should she opt to take one for her party in 2014, losing badly as recent Democratic hopefuls have, it may make it harder for Castro to raise enough money from dispirited Democratic donors in 2018, Jones says. No matter what she does, Wendy is assured of raising far more money and facing far greater scrutiny.

MORE: Wendy Davis’s Filibustering Mizuno Sneakers Getting Great Reviews on Amazon

Correction
The “Stand with Texas Women” bus is orange, not red.

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The Next Real Estate Bubble: Farmland

Daniel Acker / Bloomberg / Getty Images Corn is planted in a field outside in Henry, Ill., on May 14, 2013.

The American public is, for obvious reasons, a bit gun-shy when it comes to asset bubbles. Ever since the financial crisis, market watchers have worried about bubbles in the stock market, in high yield debt, and even the reinflation of the real estate bubble. The latest asset class to receive worried attention from policy makers? Farmland.

That’s right, according to The Financial Times prices on U.S. farmland have doubled over the past decade, and are on pace to rise more than 10% again this year, even in the face of weaker grain markets of late. The main force that has been driving the increases in farmland prices has been a steady bull market in agricultural commodity prices. But according to the FT report, lately “big investors” have been dipping their toes into the farmland market in an attempt to take advantage of high agriculture profits and as a hedge against inflation.

(MORE: The Accounting Trick Behind Thirty Years of Scandal)

This run up in prices, combined with the fact that interest rates are at historic lows, have some land owners and policy makers worried that this bull market could end in heartbreak for many of America’s farmers — especially in the Midwestern corn belt, where price increases have been most pronounced. The dynamic has gotten the attention of the Federal Advisory Council, a group which advises the Federal Reserve on monetary policy. According to Bloomberg, the council warned the Fed in February that, “Agricultural land prices are veering further from what makes sense . . Members believe the run-up in agriculture land prices is a bubble resulting from persistently low interest rates.”

The effect of a farmland bubble bursting, however, probably shouldn’t be of much concern to those of us not directly involved in agriculture. As real estate economist Robert Shiller wrote back in 2011, “farmland is much less important than other speculative assets. For example, U.S. farmland had a total value of $1.9 trillion in 2010, compared with $16.5 trillion for the U.S. stock market and $16.6 trillion for the U.S. housing market.”

Since the value of farmland is about 1/8th the size of the residential real estate bubble, and because ownership of farmland is much more concentrated than homeownership, it’s highly unlikely that the bursting of a farmland bubble would pose any systemic risks to the broader economy.

Price declines, however, do pose a risk to small farmers, especially those who are heavily indebted. Large debt loads exacerbated an agriculture crisis in the late 1970s and 1980s, as declining crop prices forced heavily indebted farmers to sell their land, creating a negative feedback loop similar to that which occurred in residential real estate in the 2000s. But according to The Financial Times report, debt is much less common on farms these days:

“Unlike the last bust of the 1980s, farmers’ debts are also low relative to their assets. Fertile land is not a crowded trade. Managers say they believe that less than 1 per cent is held by institutional investors, with cash-rich farmers bidding for the rest. In some states such as Iowa, institutional ownership is banned.”

That being said, critics of the Federal Reserve’s low-interest rate policies will surely use this most recent run up in farmland prices as a reason to petition for the central bank to wind down its stimulus programs. Despite recent news that some at the Federal Reserve are keen to start this process, it’s clear that the man in charge — Ben Bernanke — thinks an aggressive stance is the correct one, at least in the short term.

(MORE: How Dangerous Is America’s Debt?)

Christopher Matthews is a Writer and Reporter for TIME.

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Memorable People Who Never Lived

Hulton Archive / Getty Images

Trying to name someone who is the most or best at anything is hard—and harder still to resist ranking. That’s especially the case given the upcoming TIME book that takes a look at the 100 most influential people who never lived. With the top 100 already chosen, how could we not try to decide who’s Number 1?

You can vote on your pick over at our poll: who do you think is the most influential person who never lived?

We, of course, have our own ideas. We selected 13 fictional and folkloric figures who we think have most shaped our world—and we make our case for them right here.

Vote Now: The Most Memorable Fictional Characters of All Time

Next Robin Hood

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Egypt's New Transition Plan Draws Immediate Fire

Khalil Hamra / AP Egyptian soldiers guard the headquarters of the elite Republican Guard in Cairo, the site of deadly clashes with protesters, on July 9, 2013

Amid a political crisis where nothing important seems to happen before 10 p.m., the timing of interim Egyptian President Adly Mansour’s constitutional declaration — just past midnight early Tuesday morning — was par for the course. Also true to form in Egypt’s current divisive, overheated political climate: it immediately set off a firestorm of angry reactions from various camps and led to warnings of further unrest.

The 33-article declaration sets out a fresh transitional timeline starting with amending the 2012 constitution later this year, followed immediately by parliamentary and then presidential elections, the latter probably happening sometime in late spring 2014. The plan’s proponents claim this is a blueprint to right the listing ship of Egypt’s democratic revolution, which saw a major jolt last week with the ousting of elected President M0hamed Morsi and a swift crackdown on his Islamist allies in the Muslim Brotherhood.

Mansour, who also serves as head of the Supreme Constitutional Court, laid out a rapid series of transitional steps on what is likely to be an ambitious timeline. Within two weeks, a committee — one stacked with Egyptian judges — would be formed by Mansour to recommend amendments to the currently suspended constitution, a document derided by critics as one skewed in favor of an Islamist agenda. That committee would have 30 days to present recommendations to a 50-member drafting body, which would in turn have 60 days to present a finished proposal to Mansour. Within 30 days Mansour must put the proposed amendments to a national referendum; if approved it would lead to parliamentary elections within two months followed by a presidential vote next spring. Until the new parliament is elected, Mansour will hold both legislative and executive authority.

The sheer speed of the process is likely meant to assuage fears that the military — which ousted Morsi last Wednesday in response to mass protests against his administration — would somehow seek to linger or drag out the transition to full civilian rule.

Defense Minister Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, in a statement broadcast Tuesday on state television, said the new road map outlines “a specific timetable for every step of the rebuilding of the constitution in a way that will guarantee and achieve the will of the people.”

But Mansour’s road map has already raised concerns among constitutional scholars and analysts that some of the same mistakes from Egypt’s original transition toward democracy following the 2011 popular uprising against President Hosni Mubarak are being repeated now.

“The timeline is not realistic if you actually want a consensual process,” says Nathan Brown, a political-science professor and avid Egypt watcher at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Theoretically, he says, this kind of accelerated pace could work if you had “a remarkably virtuous and agreeable” set of stakeholders. But there is little in Egypt’s recent history to suggest that is the case. ‘There’s just so many different actors and so much animosity and distrust built up among them,” Brown says.

The embittered and deposed Muslim Brotherhood understandably has rejected the entire transition plan. Thousands of Brotherhood supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi continue to stage marches and open-ended sit-ins — pledging to persevere until what they deem a coup against democratic legitimacy is repealed and Morsi returns to his rightful office. The group’s profound sense of loss and betrayal was only deepened on Monday by bloody clashes with security forces that left more than 50 Morsi supporters dead and more than 300 wounded.

Senior Brotherhood official Essam El-Erian blasted the proposal as an attempt to subvert the democratically approved 2012 charter. “The people created their constitution with their votes,” El-Erian said in an online statement. He accused the military and its allies of targeting “not just the President but the nation’s identity, the rights and freedoms of the people and the democratic system enshrined in the constitution.”

Brown, author of the 2012 book on Islamist movements When Victory Is Not an Option, says the complete absence of the Brotherhood from the deliberations seems to be an unavoidable fact of the transition scenario. “Bottom line: you’ve got an important political actor that is just sitting there, sputtering with rage about this whole process,” he said.

The Brotherhood also denounced the Tuesday appointment of new Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawy — a prominent economist, former Finance Minister and one of the founders of the Social Democrat Party. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mohammed ElBaradei, whose own appointment as Prime Minister was abruptly derailed on Saturday, will be named interim Vice President for External Relations — essentially the de facto Foreign Minister.

In a likely harbinger of trouble to come, Mansour’s decree also provoked protests from inside the broad but tenuous political coalition that backed the military’s move and supports his presidency. The liberal Free Egyptians Party and the grass-roots Tamarod organization — which helped spark the anti-Morsi protests with a wildly successful no-confidence petition drive — both objected to the fact that they weren’t consulted and informed beforehand. The Free Egyptians also strongly objected to wording in Mansour’s decree that endorses the exact same Salafi-friendly interpretation of Shari‘a from the 2012 constitution that was so unpopular among non-Islamist parties when it was originally drafted last year.

Indeed the Salafis — particularly the ultra-conservative Nour Party — seem to be emerging as one of the big winners in these early post-Morsi days. Their presence in the transitional coalition remains vital in order to counter Brotherhood attempts that the current moves against them constitute a battle against political Islam, rather than a specific power play against the Muslim Brotherhood. Free Egyptians spokesperson Shehab Wageeh told reporters on Tuesday that the process of drafting a less-religiously-divisive constitution has already been undermined in order to “appease a political party [i.e. Nour] that has been trying to impose its vision on society.”

Likewise the military’s controlling stake in the process should enable them to preserve the army-friendly bits of the 2012 constitution — then a concession that had enraged many of the same protesters who later cheered the military’s intervention last week. Zaid al-Ali, an expert on constitution building for the intergovernmental International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, said the early winners from the current plan are “the Salafis, the military and the judges.”

Both al-Ali and Brown also point to the broad power and control afforded to Mansour — a veteran judge with very little public profile before last week. Egypt’s senior judiciary, most of whose judges were appointed by Mubarak, emerged over the past two years as an implacable enemy of the Brotherhood and Morsi’s policies.

“This all places a great deal of trust in a sort of ‘philosopher king’ in the form of Adly Mansour,” Brown says. Al-Ali adds that, given Mansour’s sweeping power and influence going forward, the next six crucial months of Egyptian history will amount to a large act of faith in a relatively unknown man.

“Maybe [Mansour] has some sort of master plan that’s going to blow us all away with how democratic it is,” he said. “But we’ll just have to wait and see.”

Khalil is a Cairo-based journalist and author of Liberation Square: Inside the Egyptian Revolution and the Rebirth of a Nation.

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LEGO Builds Biggest Star Wars Toy Ever

Hint: it took 18 months, 32 builders and more than five million LEGO bricks.

Amy Sussman / AP for LEGO Systems, Inc.

It’s a toy! It’s a plane! It’s…an X-Wing made entirely of LEGOs?

That’s right: almost 30 years to the date after the release of Return of the Jedi, LEGO is stoking Star Wars fans with a life-sized replica of the iconic aircraft, which just debuted in Times Square. Some 5.3 million LEGO bricks were used to build the 46,000-pound model, besting the Mecha Robot to become the largest LEGO creation in the world.

(MORE: WATCH: The World’s Longest Working LEGO Railway)

How’d they do it? “Very carefully,” quips Eric Varszegi, a LEGO “master builder” who consulted on the project. And yes, that’s his actual job title.

Planning began roughly 18 months ago, at a LEGO facility in the Czech Republic. Execs knew they wanted something big and Star Wars-y to promote their new toy-inspired animated miniseries (The Yoda Chronicles, premiering May 29 on Cartoon Network), and recreating a fan-favorite flier like the X-Wing “just seemed like a great thing to do,” says Varszegi.

(MORE: The 8 Best Lego Reenactments)

But this was no ordinary plaything. The official X-Wing prop planes—as LEGO learned from Lucasfilm—measure 42 feet from tip to tail, with a lengthy wingspan. They’re also 11 feet tall. Structurally, says Varszegi, there was no way a creation that big could rise from LEGO bricks alone, especially if it needed to weather earthquakes (a must when it moves to a Legoland theme park) and support kids in the cockpit (hello, photo-ops).

So the engineers started sketching. Their solution: a steel substructure, which would be wholly covered in real LEGO bricks to preserve the illusion of LEGO-ness. They also chose to keep the wings closed, because the open “X” formation would be tough to execute safely.

Once plans were set, 32 builders worked day and night to make them a reality, placing one tiny LEGO after another. “That first brick is always the biggest challenge,” Varszegi recalls. “If you put it in the wrong spot, it will throw everything off.”

Several months later, the finished X-Wing was shipped to the States—because, alas, it cannot fly. The model will stay in Times Square through Saturday, before trekking West to Legoland California, where it will join LEGO replicas of the Taj Mahal, the U.S. Capitol, and maybe, eventually, a Death Star?

“At life size?” says Varszegi, laughing. “There aren’t enough LEGO bricks in the world.”

(MORE: Behold: The LEGO Batcave of Your Dreams)

Dan Macsai is a senior editor at TIME, covering tech, pop culture, world news and more. In past lives, he's written for Fast Company, BusinessWeek and Entertainment Weekly, and been retweeted by Alyssa Milano.

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What Pakistan Must Learn After the bin Laden Raid

Akhtar Soomro / Reuters A young boy plays with a tennis ball in front of the compound where U.S. Navy SEAL commandos reportedly killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 5, 2011

In 1971, Pakistan suffered its worst military defeat to India. The war led to the creation of an independent Bangladesh — what had been East Pakistan, separated from the western wing by a thousand miles of Indian territory, and home to half the country’s population. In what remained of Pakistan, the humiliation prompted furious questions about the cruelties inflicted on the local Bengali-speaking population, the intelligence failures and the abuses of power that had plunged the young country to its lowest point.

To answer these questions, a high-powered commission was established. It was led by the Chief Justice of the time, Hamoodur Rahman, a distinguished Bengali jurist. He and his colleagues produced a searing report that recommended, among other things, trials for “those who indulged in these atrocities” and visited “acts of wanton cruelty” on the local population. But the report was suppressed. It only emerged in portions decades later, in 2000, in leaks to the local media. (The full report was declassified later that year.)

The Pakistani surrender at Dhaka was seen as the moment of the country’s greatest shame until the May 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Navy SEALs had successfully managed to penetrate Pakistani airspace, land in the garrisoned town of Abbottabad, kill the al-Qaeda leader and leave barely noticed. Pakistanis were angered by a violation of their sovereignty by an ally. And they were appalled that the world’s most wanted man had been living among them undetected for years.

(MORE: Pakistan’s bin Laden Report: What You Need to Know)

To find out what happened, Pakistan’s Parliament established another high-powered commission. It was partly inspired by the Hamoodur Rahman Commission that looked into the events of 1971. If it weren’t for a leak this week, their findings might also have remained suppressed for decades. On Monday, al-Jazeera published 336 pages of the “Abbottabad Commission” report. Like its predecessor, it is a searing document. Shortly after it was published, the news channel’s website was blocked in Pakistan.

There are some juicy details. Children, we learn, taunted bin Laden as the “poor uncle.” The al-Qaeda founder also decided to disguise himself by revealing more of his face. On one occasion, the police stopped a car that was carrying him in the Swat Valley — where 9/11 planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed visited bin Laden — only to fail to recognize “the tall clean-shaven Arab.” At other times, he dressed like the man who started the “war on terror” to get him, former U.S. President George W. Bush, by wearing a cowboy hat. Some of his associates were even unaware of who he was, until they saw him watching himself on al-Jazeera.

The pan-Arab channel was apparently a favorite. Unable to get it through his cable subscription, the report says, bin Laden set up a satellite dish in his Abbottabad home. The property also had separate supplies of electricity and gas. In 2005, when an earthquake struck the area, the boundary wall of the compound lay collapsed in rubble for months, and yet bin Laden somehow managed to remain unexposed.

As we find out, the property was bought through a fake identity card. The construction of a third story was illegal but went unchallenged. No tax was paid, and at one point, the heavily occupied house was even declared uninhabited. But it may have been more a case of serial snafus than sinister scheming, the report suggests. “Either OBL was extremely fortunate to not run into anyone committed to doing his job honestly,” the report notes, referring to bin Laden by his initials, “or there was a complete collapse of governance.”

This sorry tale of Pakistan’s crumbling institutions is also told vividly by the local police’s failures. When the raid was happening, the report reveals, the provincial police chief’s only response was to sit at home and watch television. At one point, the commission encountered a bumbling Abbottabad-based criminal investigator with a weakness for conspiracy theories. The man swore that he was “100% sure” that bin Laden wasn’t present in the property, and in the next breath he says bin Laden could have been brought there as part of a “CIA plot.”

(MORE: Can This Alliance Be Saved? Salvaging the U.S.-Pakistan Relationship)

The commission described the man as unprofessional and incompetent. But they also took pity on him, citing him as a product of the “degradation of the institution he represented.” Time and again, local security and administration officials said the Abbottabad area was known to be a sanctuary for militants and their families. And yet, there was no policy put in place to pursue them — or their leader, who had also traveled to nearby Haripur. “Their actual role in counterterrorism was at best marginal,” the report says, “and in the tracking of OBL it was precisely zero.”

Some of the police officers simply shrugged that it wasn’t their job. The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency took responsibility for security matters. In a rare inside look at how the military spies operate, the report details the police and other officials being constantly shunted aside. The work of the commission itself was being tracked. At an invitation-only meeting with local journalists, one spy managed to inveigle entry, before being spotted and asked to leave.

The report expresses deep concerns over the chance that rogue elements within the ISI abetted bin Laden during his stay in Pakistan. “The possibility of some such direct or indirect and ‘plausibly deniable’ support cannot be ruled out, at least, at some level outside formal structures of the intelligence establishment,” it reads. Elsewhere, it states: “In the premier intelligence institution, religiosity replaced accountability.”

The lack of a coordinated strategy is said to be one of the reasons behind the failure to catch bin Laden. The local ISI commander told the commission that he had been searching the area for two years, and had snatched Umar Patek, one of the Bali bombers, who later told Indonesian authorities he had gone there to visit bin Laden. Another ISI team had caught Abu Faraj al-Libbi, another high-profile al-Qaeda leader.

In one of its hardest-hitting passages, the report says: “It is a glaring testimony to the collective incompetence and negligence, at the very least, of the security and intelligence community in the Abbottabad area.” The ISI is chided for “closing the book” on bin Laden in 2005. The politicians fare little better. Some offer self-serving excuses for their failures; others, we are told, don’t even bother to read basic documents.

The report’s authors — a serving Supreme Court judge, a retired army corps commander, a former envoy to Washington and New Delhi, and a retired top cop — described their report as neither a “witch hunt nor a whitewash.” Indeed, it is an admirable attempt at collective scrutiny. And the self-examination is painful.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is now faced with two clear choices. He can forget about the report, and shelve it alongside Rahman’s inquiry into the 1971 war, and let the state slide further toward failure. Or he can absorb the report’s contents and heed the clarion call for massive institutional reform. Rather than worrying about the source of the leak — Islamabad’s initial response — the government should read the report and act on it.

MORE: Losing Pakistan: An Insider’s Look at How the U.S. Deals With Its Ally

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Why You Shouldn't Conceive a Baby in May

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It turns out that it does matter what time of year you’re born — at least when it comes to your health.

We’re not talking about in the Athena Starwoman horoscope way, but in actual measurable health data. And what’s important may not be the month you’re born in but more the month in which you were conceived (which, after all, does dictate when you’re born).

According to the study from Princeton University, there’s a 10% higher rate of prematurity among babies conceived in May. The authors, Janet Currie and Hannes Schwandt, conclude that this may be because the moms hit their third trimester around flu season, and flu is a known factor in early delivery. Prematurity can contribute to a higher risk of asthma, learning disabilities and other developmental problems later in life. The two researchers also found that babies conceived in summer months were almost a third of an ounce (8 g) heavier, which is a tiny amount, but when you only weigh a few pounds, every fraction of an ounce counts.

(MORE: What Does Your Birthday Have to Do With Immune Disorders?)

Currie and Schwandt, researchers at Center for Health and Wellbeing at Princeton University, who reported their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, compared more than 1.4 million siblings born to 647,050 mothers in New York City, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The seasonal difference in birth outcomes has been found in previous studies, but those analyses pointed to factors like the socioeconomic status of the mother since wealthy, educated and nonteenage mothers usually have access to better prenatal care. But because the scientists compared brothers and sisters with similar genetic and socioeconomic environments, these factors were somewhat neutralized. “A high[-socioeconomic-status] mother getting pregnant in an unfavorable month will, on average, experience similarly poor birth outcomes as the typical (lower socioeconomic status) mother conceiving in [an] unfavorable month,” the study authors write.

Why does the flu make mothers deliver early? It’s possible that inflammation, which increases in response to the flu and has been linked in other studies with early delivery (and in one recent study, with autism), may be behind the premature birth. But while the flu may explain the premature births for babies conceived in May, it’s less clear what causes the summer-conception weight gain. “Women gain almost 1 lb. more when they conceive in June, July, or August than when they conceive in January,” says the study, “suggesting that gains in birth weight are driven, in part, by higher maternal weight gain during pregnancy.” The authors surmise this has to do with seasonally available nutrition (more ice cream during the hot summer months, perhaps?). They also found that smoking or marital status didn’t seem to be contributing to their results.

(MORE: Why Pregnant Women Should Get Flu Shots)

More studies are documenting the potentially important role that birth month may play in health; one recent analysis found a link between birth month and immune disorders, but this study provides some added weight to the idea, since it studied kids from the same moms.

So is timing really everything? Perhaps. At the very least, it’s one of the many things worth considering if you’re thinking of starting a family.

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دانلود Funny Photo Maker 2.3.0 – نرم افزار طراحی تصاویر با مزه

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Produits préférés de Juin + Vidéos

GHD : ?

Mabbcrème : Tony Moly : Masque visage / Mask ? Kit smokey eye ? Gloss ? Iman : CCcrème N° SPF15 ?

Black up : Blushs ? BBcrème N° CC03 ?

Laura Sim’s : Masque / Mask ? Crème Lissante / Liss cream ?

Produits préférés de Juin Kiss

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Best impact at a low cost for your bathroom

If you’re looking for quick and affordable updates for your bathroom, designer Yanic Simard has you covered. With a few inspired ideas, you can bump up the style in your bathroom for very little money.

Yanic’s first suggestion is to think about creating a feature wall. This wall can either be painted a different colour or styled using wallpaper. If you’re thinking of going the wallpaper route, look for vinyl or waterproof wallpaper. Also, be sure to have a 3-4” back-splash behind your sink to protect the wallpaper.

“You know, it doesn’t take much,” Yanic notes. When accessorizing your vanity, there are many simple and budget-friendly accessories on the market. Alternately, look for accessories you already have in your home. Think about adding flowers, such as a classic orchid, to brighten up the space. If you want to create a relaxing, spa-like feel, add candles.

If you have a smaller space, it’s important for your vanity to not only be stylish but also functional. Yanic likes to keep his vanity decorated and functional by having a stylish tray that hosts his cologne bottles.

Lastly, think about changing up your mirror to update the look of your space. There are many lightweight and decorative mirrors available — just make sure you find one appropriate for a humid environment. Ta-dah! Quick and easy bathroom upgrade.

For more bathroom accessorizing advice from Yanic, watch the clip below.

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How to donate to Alberta flood relief

Our thoughts are with our friends in Alberta in the wake of these devastating floods.

Rogers and Fido cellphone customers wishing to help with flood relief can donate $5 to the Canadian Red Cross by sending a free text message with the word ABHELP to 4664. One hundred per cent of the proceeds will go to the Canadian Red Cross.

Rogers has also said it will donate $100,000 to the Canadian Red Cross to help flood-affected residents in Calgary and southern Alberta.

Click here to make a donation to the Canadian Red Cross.

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Rogers is the parent company of Cityline and Cityline.ca.

Image: Rescue workers pull a rubber boat as they walk in the flooded streets of Calgary on June 21, 2013.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

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How to take your workout outside

If it’s difficult to hit the gym during the winter, it’s even tougher in the summer when the weather is so beautiful! Why not take your workout outdoors and enjoy the warm weather while it lasts? There are a lot of benefits to exercising outside; you can blast away the calories on different terrain and it’s more budget-friendly than the gym! Here are 10 things to keep in mind when taking your workout outdoors.

Have the right equipment:
Depending on what activity you’re planning on doing, make sure you have the proper equipment. Good running shoes for running or hiking, a yoga mat for yoga in the park, or a protective helmet for biking are all must-have items.

Be aware of the weather:
Check the weather before you head outdoors. Is it going to be sunny? Better load up on the SPF! Is it raining? Probably not the best time to head out on the lake!

Know what’s going on:
Know what’s going on in your neighbourhood; talk to friends and neighbours to hear what they’re doing. There might be some fun outdoor exercise opportunities you would otherwise miss. Join the local outdoor bootcamp classes or a running group.

Try a variety:
The best thing about taking your workouts outside is that you’re no longer tied to an expensive gym and you can change up your workout routine all the time! Hit the beach for some calorie-melting stand-up paddleboarding, or head out on a trail for a long bike ride.

Sign up for a class:
The summer is the perfect time to get out of your comfort zone; why not sign up for a class? There are a variety of classes available for adults. Look for tennis lessons or give rowing a try.

Safety first:
Make sure you are in a safe environment for all of your activities, with the proper safety equipment and lots of water to keep hydrated. Don’t forget about sunscreen!

Get a workout buddy:
Having a workout buddy will keep you motivated and accountable, plus it’s fun to catch up and spend time with friends!

Have some fun with the kids:
Get out in the backyard or head to the park after work for a family game of soccer or Frisbee. You’ll be getting some exercise and some family fun, plus your kids will be active!

Set your own schedule:
Since you’re not bound to gym classes and hours, you can schedule your workouts whenever it is convenient for you! Knowing what works for your body is helpful when planning your workouts.

Join a league:
There are lots of women’s and men’s leagues out there for all types of sports. It’s a great way to make exercise fun again, and being a responsible team member means making exercising a priority. Get a group of pals together and join a league!

With these 10 things in mind, you will be enjoying the outdoors and staying fit all summer!

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Our latest Cityline Book Club pick: Born Weird by Andrew Kaufman

Since we’re a big group of book lovers here at Cityline, we’re inviting our viewers to read along with us! For our last book club pick, we read Saleema Nawaz’s Bone and Bread (House of Anansi) - did you read it, too? Be sure to watch the video of our book club meeting to see what we thought of the book, and to enter for your chance to win a book prize pack courtesy of House of Anansi!

For our latest book pick, we’re switching from the dramatic to the comedic (it is summertime, after all!) and we’ll be reading Born Weird by Andrew Kaufman (Random House of Canada). Once again, we hope you’ll read along with us! Here’s the book’s synopsis:

The Weirds have always been a little off, but not one of them ever suspected that they’d been cursed by their grandmother.

At the moment of the births of her five grandchildren Annie Weird gave each one a special power. Richard, the oldest, always keeps safe; Abba always has hope; Lucy is never lost and Kent can beat anyone in a fight. As for Angie, she always forgives, instantly. But over the years these so-called blessings ended up ruining their lives.

Now Annie is dying and she has one last task for Angie: gather her far-flung brothers and sisters and assemble them in her grandmother’s hospital room so that at the moment of her death, she can lift these blessings-turned-curses. And Angie has just two weeks to do it.

What follows is a quest like no other, tearing up highways and racing through airports, from a sketchy Winnipeg nursing home to the small island kingdom of Upliffta, from the family’s crumbling ancestral Toronto mansion to a motel called Love. And there is also the search for the answer to the greatest family mystery of all: what really happened to their father, whose maroon Maserati was fished out of a lake so many years ago?

We’re so excited to start reading this fun and quirky novel, and we hope you’ll read along with us! Want a copy? We have 5 copies to give away to some lucky readers, courtesy of Random House of Canada! To enter for your chance to win, tell us about your last great read in the comments below!

Over the next six weeks, we’ll be sharing tons of great features about the novel and the author, as well as a behind-the-scenes look at our office discussion of the book! So go out and grab your copy, and get reading! We can’t wait to discuss with you!

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Helpful tips for travelling with your kids

With the kids finally off school and summer officially kicked off, you might be preparing for a family vacation! While a family trip is a great bonding experience, it can also add a lot of stress to your family dynamics. “It starts with planning,” says parenting expert Kathy Buckworth. “If you plan enough, you can take a lot of the stress out of it.”

Before you jet off, Kathy says it’s important to start thinking about the basics, like making sure you have the right travel insurance. Next, look into vaccinations – even if you’re heading to Calgary or California where you don’t need a vaccination, be sure to check that your children won’t be missing a scheduled one while you’re away.

Kathy’s next tip is to have packing lists for your kids, especially if they want to pack their own bags. Kathy warns to be sure to check over their bags (without them knowing!) to make sure they haven’t forgotten anything. If you have younger kids who aren’t quite pros with reading yet, Kathy likes to make a visual packing list with pictures of items to pack.

Once you’re finally off and away, having activities to keep your kids occupied is key! Kathy loves washable and dry erase Crayola products to keep them entertained while keeping the mess to a minimum.

If you’re travelling by car, look for car games with pieces that are magnetic such as checkers or hangman. Another great organizational tool for road trips is a fold-up cooler and mini car organizer to keep things accessible.

If you’re travelling with a tween who wants to carry her own things, look for a small carry-on purse with lots of zippers and compartments to keep their things safe and organized.

For more travel advice from Kathy, check out the clip below!

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The protein bar debate

The great protein bar debate – are they good for you? Should you take them? What should I look for in a bar?

These are questions I get asked all the time. These nutrition bars can be extremely convenient for busy, active lifestyles, but the reality is, we have to be careful when it comes to which ones we are choosing. Eating too many low quality protein bars can quickly sabotage your efforts. There are many bars that are packed with hidden sugars and low-quality protein that contradict our “healthy” intentions.

It is important to note that just because the package or label has the word PROTEIN, does not necessarily mean it is good for you….or even YUMMY!

Now, this being said, I do have favourites that I rely on. These are bars that taste incredible and meet my expectations in terms of their nutritional profiles.

Personally my favorite brands for taste are Quest Bars, Myoplex 30 and OhYeah Victory Bars. These are examples that show it is possible to get all natural protein bars that taste incredible. Just make the right choice and choose the right brands!

I suggest you give those bars a try as a snack in between meals. Make sure they are around 200 calories or less, just like your snacks should be. Also, remember that a protein bar should have at least 15 grams of protein and be relatively low in carbs to avoid insulin spikes that will get in the way of your fat loss goals.

Talk to me! Do you have any fitness questions? Would love to hear from you @stefjoanne

Check out my site at http://www.stephaniejoanne.com/

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Skype Interview: Saleema Nawaz talks about her novel Bone and Bread

Are you reading Saleema Nawaz’s Bone and Bread along with the Cityline Book Club? Last week we chatted with Nawaz via Skype from her home in Montreal, and she graciously answered all of our book club’s questions about her stunning novel.

Watch the video below and find out all about Nawaz’s inspirations for the novel, her fascination with sisterhood and motherhood, and her love for Montreal.

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Are you enjoying Bone and Bread so far? Share your thoughts in the comments – we can’t wait to discuss it with you. Stay tuned for a list of our favourite novels set in Montreal, coming up right here in the Cityline Book Club next week!

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Getting started with yoga!

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When is comes to yoga, I have no doubt that many of us are quite confused, if not intimidated.

I sure know based on both my personal experience and those of my clients that the simple mention of yoga comes with some heavy stigma-type baggage to those who are not (yet!) open to the idea.

Hopefully, you can muster up the umph to just give it a try before you skip over this powerful practice that can not on improve your health, but change your life.

I am a ‘yogaliever!!!!’ Yoga-believer…get it?!?!

Quick guide to starting for those who have no idea what’s going on:

Step 1 – Relax! There is no need to worry about what you think everyone in the room will be able to do which you will not. Not everyone in there is a yogi who can wrap their legs around their heads twice over. Everyone is on his or her own individual journey. The more you can realize not only are people not to concern themselves with your journey; you also should not concern yourselves with others. This is very interesting. Challenge yourself to be in an environment where you shall not be judged and shall not do judging. It is a beautiful thing.

Step 2 – What to bring. Just wear something you are comfortable with. The clothing I wear for yoga and was wearing on the show is from www.sweatinstyleactivewear.com. If you have a mat, great! Bring it. If you do not have a mat, great! Rent one. Just bring yourself and a water bottle and show up 15 minutes before class. They will help you.

Step 3 – Once you find which studio to try, attend a Level One class. My recommendation is you start with a flow or Vinyasa class.

Step 4 – Give your practice some time. It takes time to “get out of your head.” Be patient with yourself. After all if it’s not for you, no problem. As your fitness gal, I urge you to give it a try.

My yoga confession: I really disliked yoga. I really did. It wasn’t for me. My impression was I do not have time for it. I have too much energy. When I do have time I wanted to run or lift weights. After 2 herniated discs, my doctors prescribed yoga to help my sciatica. After fighting a mental battle to surrender to my practice I started to realize how much I did indeed enjoy it. Today, it is a part of my life. I do not practice as much as Irina, Gillian or Jana…BUT…I enjoy it twice a week and it’s perfect. I’m not asking you to convert to anything or change your lifestyle; simply suggesting you should be open! Just a thought…

If you have given it a try and you’ve decided it’s not for you, could I ask you a tiny favour? Go try again! Another style, another class, another attitude. Will you do that? If this is you and you are not open to being a yoga believer….i’d love to hear from you @stefjoanne

Finally, a BIG thanks to my wonderful yoga friends. They are true advocates of healthy living and hopefully you get a chance to check them out!

JANA WEBB @JOGAWITHJANA

Jana created JOGA! Athletic Body, Athletic Mind. She works with high performance athletes and is passionate about movement and life. Check out her website for more about Joga and find her schedule here www.jogawithjana.com

GILLIAN B @THEREALGILLIANB & IRINA @IRINA_FIT

These ladies are from www.nyoodyoga.com and offer “pay as you like” classes in Trinity Bellwoods Park. Fees by donation. It is clear that Gillian and Irina simply want you to come out and try yoga…simple…authentic…fantastic. See you in the park!

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NAMASTE!

With love,

Stephane Joanne

Check out my site www.stephaniejoanne.com

For online training www.stephaniejoanneliving.com

Talk to me anytime on facebook or twitter

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8 great novels set in Montreal

One of our Cityline Book Club‘s favourite things about our current pick, Saleema Nawaz’s Bone and Bread, is how wonderfully she captures the city of Montreal in her writing. From language politics to bagel shops, Nawaz’s setting was so detailed and beautifully realized, that sometimes it felt like there were four main characters in the novel: Beena, Sadhana, Quinn, and Montreal. If reading Bone and Bread has inspired you to read more novels set in “La Belle Ville”, check out our list of 8 more fantastic books set in Montreal. (The starred picks were suggested by Nawaz herself!)

Mordecai Richler, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz: While all of Richler’s Montreal-set stories would be perfect picks for this list, we’re partial to his fourth novel, which takes place in Montreal during the 1940s and focuses on issues of race, religion, and class.

* Heather O’Neill, Lullabies for Little Criminals: Montreal is the backdrop for O’Neill’s hard-hitting tale about Baby, a 12-year-old girl who becomes a prostitute and heroin addict at a young age after the death of her mother and abandonment by her father.

Zoe Whittall, Bottle Rocket Hearts: Set in the months leading up to the 1995 Referendum in Montreal, this critically-acclaimed queer coming-of-age story features themes of self-discovery, the development of personal identity, and the craziness of being in love.

Gabrielle Roy, The Tin Flute: This Classic Canadian novel (originally published in French as Bonheur d’occasion) focuses on a poor family living in the Saint-Henri slums of Montreal in 1940, and is regarded as a key novel in laying the foundation for Quebec’s Quiet Revolution in the 1960s.

* Alice Zorn, Arrythmia: Set during the height of Y2K paranoia, this debut novel follows the intertwined lives of five Montrealers as they navigate the complex relationships in their lives.

* Rawi Hage, Cockroach: This critically-acclaimed dark comedy follows an immigrant man who moves to Montreal from the Middle East and struggles to accept the poverty he is forced into there.

Emily St. John Mandel, Last Night in Montreal: Love, amnesia, and the nature of obsession run throughout this gritty debut novel that is, naturally, set in the city named in its title.

*Gwethalyn Graham, Earth and High Heaven: This winner of the 1944 Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction is a story of human relationships, focusing on a couple who is confronted by racial intolerance.

Have you ever read a novel where the setting was so well described that you felt like you were right there, too? Tell us about them in the comments!

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How to ward off those pesky mosquitoes

As much as we love spending the long summer evenings outdoors on the patio, what we don’t love are mosquitoes and their bites. While it’s near impossible to avoid mosquitoes all the time, Frank Ferragine has some ideas to keep the bugs at bay.

Step one: avoid colognes and perfumes. “Any fragrances are really bad,” says Frankie. The sweetness and the smell attracts them, so if you’re thinking about an extra spritz of your favourite scent, you had better think twice!

While dark and calm conditions might sound like the recipe for a perfect lazy evening, watch out! Mosquitoes also love these conditions — luckily there are simple ways to build up your defences, such as the colour of your clothing. Mosquitoes prefer darker conditions, which means you should probably stay away from a black t-shirt.  Frankie recommends wearing light colours at night: “Light colours reflect the light so mosquitoes won’t be attracted.”

Another line of defence is certain vitamins: Frankie recommends B1 patches or the new mosquito-protecting pill called Mozi-Q .

Everyone has used bug spray before, but Frankie warns to stay away from aerosol to avoid ingesting the harsh chemicals. Instead, opt for a natural spray. There are also wearable mosquito-repelling devices that send out a frequency.

If you’re entertaining on your patio, try using a Stinger device that attracts mosquitoes to it and then zaps them away. A device like this will protect up to half an acre.

For more mosquito repelling tips, watch the clip below! 

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QUIZ: How well do you know Canada?

Design duo Colin & Justin create 2 rooms with items entirely from an office supply store, plus we show you unique and unusual wedding presents and personalized summer hostess gifts.

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Take a financial photograph to track your money health

Want to be on top of your finances? Bruce Sellery has advice on taking a “financial photograph”.

What is a financial photograph?

Photographs capture a moment in time – sometimes it’s a great moment and other times you might not love it. A “financial photograph” captures what is going on right now in your financial life – it gives you a sense for where you are.

Why would you want to know that?

There are two benefits to a financial photograph:

1. You know where you are: You can’t get where you want to go if you don’t know where you are! This is helpful for setting and achieving your financial goals.

2. It shows you what is happening in reality: Knowing the ins and outs of your finances can be an eye opening experience, “I thought I was making a $50,000 per year, but really I’m not.”

How do I take a financial photograph?

There are three things to consider when taking a financial photograph: net worth, cash flow, and strengths and weaknesses.

Net worth: Net worth is what you “own” minus what you “owe”. You can think of this as the financial equivalent to stepping on the scale. While your weight doesn’t tell you everything about your health, you can watch the results over time and that can tell you something.

Tip: Calculate net worth once a year to see how it is changing.

Cash flow: This relates to knowing where your money is going. Take your income and subtract your expenses over a 6-month period. It might surprise you to find out where you are spending all your money!

Tip: Choose 1 or 2 things to change that will make a difference.

Strengths and weaknesses: Think about what you do well and don’t do well when it comes to money. Are you a good spender or saver? Are you well organized? Evaluating your strengths and weaknesses is the best way to take steps towards improving your financial photograph.

Tip: Choose 1 or 2 weaknesses to address and commit to doing something different.

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To get in touch with Bruce, email ask@moneysense.ca and watch the clip below for more financial photograph advice!

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11 essential family-friendly movies

There will inevitably be a few rainy, summer afternoons this year, and what better way to spend the time than watching some great family-friendly movies? You can hit up your local theatre for a new summer release or rent an old favourite to entertain the kids! Here are 11 flicks — some new, some time-honoured classics — to watch with the whole family.

Monsters University (2013) – Hitting theatres this June, the much anticipated prequel to the family favourite, Monsters, Inc. (2001) is sure to be a summer blockbuster. Catch up with your favourite characters and the eye-catching animation. The positive reviews are pouring in and this is quickly becoming a must-see this summer! (Opens Friday, June 21)

Ratatouille (2007) – A favourite of the Cityline staff, Ratatouille tells the story of Remy, an ambitious rat who dreams of becoming a chef in a Parisian restaurant. This story has many lessons as well as laughs and is perfect for the whole family!

Spy Kids (2001) – Stepping away from animation, Spy Kids is an exciting action-adventure flick for older kids. When their secret-agent parents go missing, Carmen and Juni are called to duty to rescue them. This makes a great sleepover movie and kids will go crazy over the cool spy gadgets!

Despicable Me 2 (2013) – Despicable Me 2 is back for more Minion madness! The sequel to the much loved Despicable Me (2010) is hitting theatres this July. (Opens Wednesday, July 3)

Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993) –  Perfect for animal lovers, Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey tells the story of three pets as they try to find their way to their owners. Full of laughs and equally intense moments, kids in the 5-8 year age bracket will fall in love with the characters and the story about perseverance.

The Goonies (1985) – Following a group of misfit kids as they try to find hidden treasure to save their neighbourhood, The Goonies has been a family favourite for almost 30 years. With classic themes, a great cast and lots of laughs, you’ll be watching this movie over and over again.

The Lion King (1994) – The Lion King is one of the most popular animated Disney musicals ever made, and for good reason. With a poignant, coming-of-age story and catchy tunes, this film has stood the test of time and is a must-see for all kids.

Finding Nemo (2003) – Pixar created another hit with the underwater tale, Finding Nemo. It tells the heroic journey of a clownfish father and son duo. When Merlin’s son, Nemo goes missing, Merlin heads on a journey to find him and bring him home. With the just-announced sequel, Finding Dory, slated to hit theatres in 2015, Finding Nemo is a must-see for all families.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001) – The wonderful children’s story written by J.K. Rowling is brought to life in the first of seven Harry Potter films. Why not read along with your child and watch the movie together for an even more enriching family experience.

Up (2009) – Up  is one of those films that is a universal favourite; parents and kids alike will enjoy this film. With a touching story of friendship, this film will make you laugh and cry.

The Princess Bride (1987) - A classic story loaded with everything you’d ever want in fairy tale: a princess, villains, a Prince Charming, giants and tons of laughs, this is another favourite of the Cityline staff!

Do you love these movies? What are your favourite family-friendly flicks to watch on a grey afternoon? Enter your picks in the comments below!

Image: Scene from Monsters University, Copyright Pixar/Disney, 2012

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WATCH & WIN: Our Cityline Book Club discusses Bone and Bread by Saleema Nawaz

Have you been reading along with the Cityline Book Club? Our latest book pick, Bone and Bread by Saleema Nawaz, was a huge hit amongst our Cityline staffers. From the novel’s ever-engaging plot to Nawaz’s beautiful prose, we had so much to say about this debut novel…and we want to share our discussion with you! Watch our book club meeting below:

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If you read Bone and Bread along with us, we want to know what you thought of the novel! Post a comment below with your thoughts on the book, and you’ll be entered to win a book prize pack courtesy of House of Anansi!

For our next book club pick, we’ll be reading Born Weird by Andrew Kaufman (Random House of Canada), and once again, we want you to read along with us! For more information on our latest pick, and for your chance to win a copy, click here.

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Chat live with Dr. Joey Shulman!

Summer is officially here!

That means a lot more socializing, eating and drinking out, and tons of nutritional pitfalls. So how do you make sure you’re keeping on track with your diet? Dr. Joey Shulman is here to help!

Dr. Joey will be joining us for a live web chat on Wednesday, June 26 from 10am-11amET!

To take part, simply come back to this page starting at 9:45am Wednesday and submit your questions to Dr. Joey — Joey will answer as many as she can over the course of the hour-long chat. The theme is healthy summer eating.

Looking forward to chatting with all of you!

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Q&A: Saleema Nawaz shares her fave books and writing habits

We hope you’re reading along with the Cityline Book Club and enjoying Bone and Bread by Saleema Nawaz! Our crew here at Cityline is loving this novel so far, especially Tracy, who showed her appreciation for the novel on her Twitter account: “In awe over Saleema Nawaz”s incredible writing talent. Bone and Bread is an insightful novel. Thoroughly enjoyed it!” She even said later that it has helped inspired her to read more CanLit!

To help our book club get some additional insight into Nawaz as a writer, we asked her 10 questions about her writing habits and favourite books.

1. What was your favourite book as a child?

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett, and everything by Lucy Maud Montgomery.

2. What’s your current favourite book?

Anything I would call a favourite is a sentimental favourite from the past. I tend to live in a book while I’m reading it, but once it’s over, I have a hard time calling to mind exactly what it is I’ve been reading!  The last book that I loved in an evangelical sort of way was Come, Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant.

3. Was there a moment when you first knew you wanted to be a writer?

There might not have been a single crystallizing moment that I still remember.  I know I had already decided in Grade One, when I felt very impatient with the process of being asked to draw pictures for my stories.  I could tell my pictures were dragging down the whole enterprise!

4. What is your favourite music to write to?

I almost never write to music unless I’m out at a café, where sometimes the jumble of background sounds can be tuned out as a kind of white noise.  I can more easily ignore a television, but music is a huge distraction.  I really require silence in order to get anything done.

5. What author do you wish you could write like?

I wouldn’t want to sound exactly like anyone else, though there are lots of writers with styles I admire.  I did once have the experience of reading a Carol Shields novel and feeling an odd sense of recognition in the prose.

6. Where is your favourite place to write?

My favourite place to write is curled up on a corner of the couch, with my laptop on my lap.

7. What time of day do you do your best writing?

When my schedule allows for it (which isn’t often!), I like to write in the morning, starting around 8:30, before talking or eating or doing much of anything. Time seems more elastic then, and the inner editor who might try to keep stuff off the page isn’t entirely awake yet.

8. What was your last great read?

Midsummer Night in the Workhouse, a collection of short fiction by Diana Athill.  The stories are dark and funny and terrible in their perceptiveness.

9. What is the last book you gave as a gift?

Dear Life by Alice Munro.

10. What do you do when you’re not writing?

Besides writing (and reading, which is the other half of writing), my favourite activity is singing, and I sing soprano in a choir.  I’m also part of a knitting circle (though we’re not very much like the one I describe in Bone and Bread).

Are you enjoying Bone and Bread so far? Share your thoughts in the comments – we can’t wait to discuss it with you. Stay tuned for a video interview with Nawaz about the novel, coming up right here in the Cityline Book Club next week!

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What to say in difficult situations

Knowing what to say in difficult situations is always a challenge. Dr. Karyn Gordon has some suggestions on how to approach and handle these moments.

She warns against saying, “I know how you feel.” Even if you have gone through the same situation, everyone deals with things differently and it’s important to remember that.

Here are three situations and how Dr. Karyn proposes you approach them.

Someone is diagnosed with cancer:

1. Acknowledge it.

Be careful for when you bring it up – don’t bring it up in front of a large group of people, wait for some one-on-one time. When the time is right, ask “how are you feeling?”.

2. Be practical.

Ask “What are the next steps?” or “Talk to me about what this is going to look like for you?”.

3. Ask how you can help. 

It’s important to do what you can to help. Can you watch her kids? Take her out for lunch? These may seem like small things, but they will be a huge help.

A parent passes:

1. Acknowledge it.

Tell them, “I’m so sorry to hear of your loss.” Then, depending on your level of trust, you can go deeper with it.

2. Be empathetic but not sympathetic.

If you have a deep level of trust, you can say something like, “I know that this is painful and heart wrenching, but I know you’re going to get through this.”

Someone has gained or lost a lot of weight:

This is a very delicate topic! Dr. Karyn stresses that you only bring it up if you have a huge amount of trust in the relationship.

1. Don’t approach it directly.

Instead of cutting right to the chase, ask “How are you doing?” or “How are you feeling?” or “Are you stressed out?”. That will start a conversation and during that time they might bring it up themselves, and then you can talk about it more.

2. How can I help?

Talk about how you can help – do they want to start running with you or cooking meals together? Try to do something proactive that will help the situation.

For more great tips from Dr. Karyn Gordon watch the clip below!

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Road trip entertainment for kids of all ages

Whether you’re gearing up for a multi-day road trip or just a couple of hours up to the cottage, spending time in the car with your family will test your patience! Having toys and games to keep your kids entertained is the key for surviving the seemingly endless hours in the car. Here are some ideas to keep kids of all ages entertained.

Babies:

If your little one is still in a rear-facing car seat, look for toys that are made to attach to car seats. This will keep your little one entertained and not too fussy. Look for toys that are bright, colourful and that your baby can touch and grab.

Toddlers:

Toddlers love to be moving around, so spending hours in the car is challenging for this age group. Think about reading a favourite story – or if you’re driving, an audio book is a great option. For something a little more interactive, nursery rhymes and sing-a-long CDs are lots of fun. These are a fun activity for the whole family because older kids will remember the songs!

For some interactive and creative fun, sticker books, pipe cleaners and silly putty offer endless hours of creating and designing.

Kids: 

There are a lot more games and entertainment options for older kids. Look for travel-sized versions of board games – Scrabble and Battleship are two family favourites. A deck of cards is an old classic, but still a must-have for any road trip. One deck of cards offers hundreds of different games, and even magic tricks!

While in theory, it’s nice to unplug during a family vacation, sometimes a tablet or portable DVD player will be your best friend. If you need a couple hours of silence from the peanut gallery, put on a movie or TV show.

How do you stay sane during those long hours in the car? Give us your road trip survival secrets!

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Fun, affordable summer activities for your kids!

Have you heard the dreaded chorus of “I’m bored!” yet? The summer is a tough time to keep your kids entertained, especially on a budget! With these five creative ideas, your kids will be active and entertained for hours, plus your wallet will be thankful!

Have a water balloon fight

Is there anything better than a water balloon fight? Fill up lots of water balloons and surprise your kids with an impromptu water balloon fight. To keep clean-up to a minimum, keep the fun outside. Mom and Dad can even join in — find a good location, and prepare for battle!

Put on a play!

Give your kids the creative freedom to direct and write their own play! Get the neighbourhood kids together to design the set and costumes and then act out their own show. You can even film it so they can watch it after! For inspiration and some good lessons, check out the book Jillian Jiggs and the Secret Surprise by Phoebe Gilman.

Plant a veggie garden

This is a fun summer-long activity! Get your kids involved with their food by planting a vegetable garden. Let them help dig the holes and water the plants every night and soon enough you’ll be harvesting the vegetables! For a simple and successful vegetable, start with tomatoes. You might even get your kids eating more healthy veggies this way!

Lemonade stand

Pull out all the lemonade-making supplies and when your kids wake up in the morning, announce that today is the perfect day for a lemonade stand! Help them prepare the lemonade and watch them go. Be sure to tell your family members and neighbours so they can stop by for a glass and encourage your little entrepreneurs.

Have a neighbourhood dance show!

Kids love to dance and throwing a neighbourhood or family dance show will give them hours of fun. Set a date for the show and let them pick their own songs and costumes. Before you know it, they’ll be entertained for hours choreographing their dances.

For more family-friendly summer activity ideas, check out our Summer Fun section!

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The best places to watch Canada Day fireworks across the country

Is there a better way to close out a Canada Day celebration than by watching an extravagant fireworks display? We sure don’t think so! We’ve rounded up some of the top places to watch fireworks in major cities across the country – where will you be watching?

Victoria: A day filled with performances, family-friendly activities, and lots of food is capped off with a gorgeous fireworks display at Victoria’s Inner Harbour. Be sure to check out their full list of Canadian artists performing on their main stage throughout the event!

Vancouver: Following their annual Canada Day parade, the Burrard Inlet Fireworks Show lights up the sky with its unique two-barge simultaneous display. With one barge located in the Burrard Inlet and the other off the shore of Dundarave in West Vancouver, the show will be viewable from several locations and communities, including Coal Harbour, Stanley Park, West Vancouver, and North Vancouver.

Calgary: Wherever you are, look up! Around 10:45 p.m., the city of Calgary will be setting off fireworks from the Centre Street Bridge. This location will allow the show to be seen from various parts of the city, but any spot along the river will give you a great view.

Edmonton: The river valley is a stunning backdrop for the gorgeous fireworks show over the North Saskatchewan River. Some of the best viewing locations include Telus Field, the Alberta Legislature Grounds, Victoria Park, Ezio Faraone Park, Dantzer’s Hill, and Government House Park.

Regina: Head to Wascana Park for a day-long celebration of Canada, capped off by fireworks after dark. Although they’re set off from Willow Island, they can be seen throughout all of the park.

Winnipeg: The Forks is home to family-friendly activities all day long on July 1st, with local band Imaginary Dragons and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra joining forces to accompany the fireworks display at the end of the night.

Toronto: Whether you live in the north end of the city or down by the lake, there are tons of great Canada Day events in the city, and two amazing firework shows. At Mel Lastman Square in North York, the city’s official celebration includes a day filled with music and dance, capped off with a fireworks display at 10:15 p.m. Down by Lake Ontario, fireworks will light up the sky around 9:30 p.m. at Ashbridge’s Bay Park.

Ottawa: What better place to celebrate Canada Day than at the nation’s capital? The city’s biggest celebration is on Parliament Hill, with a day-long concert and a fireworks show over the Ottawa River. Just want to see the fireworks? Some of the best places to camp out include Jacques-Cartier Park, the Canadian Museum of Civilization, Major’s Hill Park, Victoria Island, or anywhere along the river.

Montreal: The Old Port hosts a variety of historic and cultural events throughout the day on July 1st, with a stunning fireworks display over the St. Lawrence River to close out the celebrations.

Fredericton: Canada Day fun kicks off at noon in Officer’s Square with kid-friendly activities, live entertainment, food vendors and a huge fireworks display over the St. John River at dusk.

Halifax: Parades, music, and family-friendly activities last all day long at Dartmouth Crossings, and the fireworks show at the Halifax Harbour at 10 p.m. is not to be missed!

St. John’s: A sunrise ceremony, cake, bouncy castles and musical performances all lead up to a fireworks display over Quidi Vidi Lake at Signal Hill.

We also asked our viewers to share their favourite fireworks-watching spots! Here are some of their top picks from our Facebook page:

Melissa Dundas-Paine said: On Lake Erie in Leamington, Ontario our hometown and just steps away from our front door!!!Helen Meyers said: Family Paradise Campground, Walton, ON. Where we have our RV parked, where we get together with friends and family.pinkfiredesigns said: Has to be my home town of Moose Jaw, SK!

Our Twitter followers were eager to share their picks, too! Here are some of their faves:

@CitylineCA the lovely sands of Parksville beach!

— Deborah (@DashofHound) June 7, 2013

@CitylineCA at Spencer Smith park over the lake in Burlington

— Sue Balaz (@suebalaz) June 7, 2013

@CitylineCA At the beautiful waterfront in #Barrie!

— Sammie (@sammieluna) June 7, 2013

Where will you be watching fireworks this year? Tell us about your favourite places in the comments! Happy Canada Day!

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Download μTorrent v3.3.1 Build 29834 - Software download torrent files

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Today net torrent file sharing networks have become one of the most powerful. You can use these networks to share large files across Hhan to share with others. To share and manage files and download torrent files require software µTorrent is the name. unable to download the installation file, share, manage and ... High-speed communication with the users of the operating systems Windows can not create the network BitTorrent. designing software µTorrent is such that a very small amount of memory, hard drive, RAM and CPU are occupied, while the effective potential many of its users as well.

Features µTorrent:
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Shockwave Player - Adobe Shockwave Player 12

type='html'>Download Shockwave Player

Adobe Shockwave Player 12

Software Adobe Shockwave Player, the Flash Player is required to run a lot of multimedia files. Banners, animations, online games, and animations, including most multimedia files that are used to manufacture the components Shockwave.

One could say the Shockwave Player Adobe Flash Player is the company's second most popular plug-ins. If you have a website Shockwave animations or effects is used, it is necessary to be able to see them Shockwave Player on Windows is installed on your browser. Otherwise, an error message when you install Shockwave plug-being.

However, many animations, Shockwave Flash Player can play, but to see some of the online files must Shockwave plug-in installed on your browser. The Shockwave player for online videos and music can also be used.

Adobe Shockwave Player software for free from Adobe Corporation has manufactured and provided to users. By installing the software, plug-ins that are installed automatically on your internet browser.

Recently, the latest version of Shockwave Player software, namely Adobe Shockwave Player 12 has been released. This version of Internet Explorer browser plug-ins required (Internet Explorer), Firefox (Firefox), Chromium (Chrome) and Opera (Opera) are installed.

This software is required in addition to installing the browser plugin, Shockwave and Flash to view files in the Windows environment provides.

New software versions Shockwave Player, Adobe Shockwave Player 12 Download:

Download size 15.9 MB

Installation Guide:

- Close all your browser windows.

- The content is downloaded, run the Setup file and install it.

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Download FaceFilter Studio v3.02.1720.1 - software for photo retouching and beautifying

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The pictures that are taken by digital cameras of the same high quality as people may have given many different details detracting from the beauty of your image, such as faults and an accurate representation of China and Chrv skin rashes, dark circles under the eye of , Red-eye color due to flash, flash reflections and light effects on the skin and ... To fix this bug, what do you picture? Return to software such as Photoshop image editing and Midnight go big? FaceFilter Studio name software product company Reallusion's own work and that you retouched, make-up and beautiful images in a professional environment, and particularly the offers. Various tools such as cosmetics (lipstick and pencil shading) and other beautification tools such as teeth whitening and ... Anti-Aging or as a means of lowering the age of removing wrinkles around the eyes and skin, reduce redness Jshm tools to adjust and improve skin tone, reduce the drop shadow on the face, skin discoloration (partially sunburn white or off), hide acne and facial blemishes, facial changes (eg frown into a smile to the lips) and ... The software can even make funny pictures with friends and give (the cartoon one)
This software is easy to operate with a 4-fold process of making changes on the images of the other features of this powerful product.

Recent changes in this version:
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A key feature of the software FaceFilter Studio:
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