Meaningful Mama: Day #298 - Paisley Baby Shower Cupcakes

I was asked to do cupcakes for a friend's baby shower. Of course I was willing. I love this new life, and I love making cupcakes. Good combo. You saw yesterday how you can make cupcake liners out of any paper you want, so click back for a printable to help you make your own. She is doing her baby's room in pink paisley, and the baby shower reflected that. Red velvet is also her favorite, so we made those flavored cupcakes as a family when we made the ones for Abby's class. Remember you can freeze cupcakes. We used the red velvet and cream cheese frosting recipes.

Making Chocolate Paisley Cupcake Toppers

I talked a few days ago about working with candy melts. That is exactly what I used to make these?paisleys.?

I made a printable for the paisleys if you want to use that one. You can use candy melts to create a variety of simple designs.
You lay down the printout of the shape you want onto a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. Then, lay parchment paper on top of it. Put the melted candy melts in the squeeze bottle. Again, look back at my tips for working with candy melts. Then, outline the shape with the chocolate and fill it in - all coming out of the squeeze bottle.
As this point, I let the chocolate sit in a hot water bath because I could only make one paisley at a time. While your chocolate is bathing, take a flat icing spatula and smooth the chocolate with one steady stroke. You may need to practice a bit to become better at this technique. This is the first time I did it, so there was definitely a learning curve. Working quickly, I added the?dragees (little silver balls...I'll add a link on the bottom) carefully around the edge. You can use tweezers if needed, but I used my fingers and a toothpick to help guide. I continued to be able to make an entire sheet of paisleys, and then I'd stick them in the freezer to harden while I started the next sheet.?
After swirling the cream cheese frosting up, I laid the paisleys on top to complete my design.

Source: http://www.meaningfulmama.com/2012/10/day-298-paisley-baby-shower-cupcakes.html

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Berlusconi confirms will not run in 2013 Italy election

ROME (Reuters) - Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi confirmed on Wednesday he would not lead his People of Freedom (PDL) party in next year's election, ending months of speculation about his political future.

The 76-year-old media magnate said this month he might not stand if withdrawing his candidacy could help centrist and center-right parties come together to form a "moderate" bloc.

But his statement on Wednesday went further, suggesting that a career in frontline politics that began in 1994 may be coming to an end.

"I will not stand for premier again but I remain at the side of younger people who can play and score goals," said the owner of AC Milan football club, who quit as prime minister in November last year during a mounting financial crisis.

"I still have good muscles and some good sense but my role will be to give advice."

The flamboyant Berlusconi, whose reported "bunga bunga" parties won worldwide notoriety, has taken a largely backseat role in politics since he was forced to step down, but he remains the dominant figure within the PDL.

However, his standing with the general public has fallen sharply after an array of sexual and political scandals and an opinion poll last month gave him just 18 percent support, well behind Angelino Alfano, the PDL's party secretary.

The former justice minister, who celebrates his 42nd birthday next week, is the favorite to take the center-right into the election, which must be held no later than April.

However Daniela Santanche, a Berlusconi loyalist from the right wing of the party, said she would also run in a primary ballot to select the candidate for prime minister, which Berlusconi suggested could be held on December 16.

Alfano, considered a moderate, has struggled to contain vicious factional infighting in the party. He faces an early test on Sunday with local elections in his home region of Sicily, which has flirted with bankruptcy this year.

His job has been complicated by corruption scandals which have hit center-right governments in the northern region of Lombardy and in the Lazio region around Rome and further damaged the already dismal image of Italy's political class.

"PLEASE RELAX"

Given Berlusconi's long record of surprises and turnarounds, his statement may still not be the final word, but it was widely welcomed by senior figures in the PDL.

"This move to stand down permits the Italian system as a whole, the government and the political parties, to move forward," former Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said after the statement.

Berlusconi's departure may also make it easier for the PDL to form an alliance with centrist forces which have been deeply suspicious of the former premier as well as others such as its estranged former partners in the pro-devolution Northern League.

The financial crisis facing Italy has eased in recent weeks but markets have been watching closely for signs of what government might emerge after technocrat Prime Minister Mario Monti stands down.

The political situation remains exceptionally confused, with the main parties unable to agree even on an electoral law that will govern next year's ballot, but opinion polls suggest the center-right will struggle.

A survey from the SWG institute last week put PDL support at 14.3 percent, behind the center-left Democratic Party (PD) on 25.9 and the anti-establishment 5 Star Movement of comic Beppe Grillo on 21.

Monti, a former European Commissioner often seen as a potential President of the Republic, sought to ease fears of instability after the election, saying Italy's partners should "please relax".

He said whichever government came after his own would have to respect the commitments Italy had made to the European Union.

Outside Italy Monti is widely perceived to have done a good job since taking over from Berlusconi, but the country remains in deep recession with the economy expected to contract 2.4 percent this year.

(Reporting By James Mackenzie; Editing by Robert Woodward and Andrew Osborn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/italys-berlusconi-confirms-not-run-2013-election-161649594.html

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Ex-Goldman exec given 2 years for inside trades

Former Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble Co. board member Rajat Gupta, center, arrives outside federal court in New York Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012. Gupta is to be sentenced after being found guilty insider trading by passing secrets between March 2007 and January 2009 to a billionaire hedge fund founder who used the information to make millions of dollars. At right is Gupta's attorney Gary Naftalis. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

Former Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble Co. board member Rajat Gupta, center, arrives outside federal court in New York Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012. Gupta is to be sentenced after being found guilty insider trading by passing secrets between March 2007 and January 2009 to a billionaire hedge fund founder who used the information to make millions of dollars. At right is Gupta's attorney Gary Naftalis. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

Former Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble Co. board member Rajat Gupta, left, arrives outside federal court in New York Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012. Gupta is to be sentenced after being found guilty insider trading by passing secrets between March 2007 and January 2009 to a billionaire hedge fund founder who used the information to make millions of dollars. At right is Gupta's attorney Gary Naftalis. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

Former Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble Co. board member Rajat Gupta, center, declines to answer a question from a reporter as he arrives outside federal court in New York Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012. Gupta is to be sentenced after being found guilty insider trading by passing secrets between March 2007 and January 2009 to a billionaire hedge fund founder who used the information to make millions of dollars. At right is Gupta's attorney Gary Naftalis. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

Former Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble Co. board member Rajat Gupta, right, arrives at court in New York Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012. Gupta is to be sentenced after being found guilty insider trading by passing secrets between March 2007 and January 2009 to a billionaire hedge fund founder who used the information to make millions of dollars. At left is Gupta's attorney Gary Naftalis. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

NEW YORK (AP) ? A former Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble Co. board member once widely respected worldwide for his business smarts was sentenced Wednesday to 2 years in prison for feeding inside information about board dealings with a billionaire hedge fund owner who was his friend.

Rajat Gupta, 63, of Westport, Conn., was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff, who also ordered him to pay a $5 million fine. The Harvard-educated businessman long respected on Wall Street was one of the biggest catches yet for the federal government in its five-year crackdown on insider trading that has so far resulted in 69 convictions.

Gupta was ordered to report to prison on Jan. 8.

Reading from a statement, he said: "The last 18 months have been the most challenging period of my life since I lost my parents as a teenager.

"I regret terribly the impact of this matter on my family, my friends and the institutions that are dear to me. I've lost my reputation I built for a lifetime. The verdict was devastating."

The dealings by Gupta that were highlighted at his spring trial stemmed from his relationship with Sri Lanka-born Raj Rajaratnam. The one-time billionaire hedge fund boss controlled up to $7 billion in accounts, giving him a firm footprint in the financial markets and influence that impressed someone as widely regarded as Gupta.

"His conduct has forever tarnished a once-sterling reputation that took years to cultivate," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said after sentencing. "We hope that others who might consider breaking the securities laws will take heed from this sad occasion and choose not to follow in Mr. Gupta's footsteps."

Prosecutors described how Gupta raced to telephone Rajaratnam with stock tips sometimes only seconds after getting them from board conference calls, allowing Rajaratnam to make more than $11 million in illegal profits for him and his investors. Rajaratnam is serving an 11-year prison sentence after his conviction at trial last year.

The narrower insider trading case against Rajaratnam and his co-conspirators resulted in 26 convictions and was described by Bharara as the biggest insider trading case in history, successful in part because of unprecedented use of wiretaps more familiar to juries at mob and drug trials.

Prosecutors say Rajaratnam earned up to $75 million illegally through his trades while Gupta's attorneys point out that their client earned no profits.

At trial, Gupta was convicted of three counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy, insider trading charges that prosecutors said should result in a prison sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

The judge said a prison sentence was necessary to send a message to insider traders that "when you get caught, you will go to jail."

Defense attorney Gary Naftalis immediately promised to appeal, telling Rakoff he wants Gupta free pending appealing. The judge did not immediately rule on the request.

Prosecutors accused Gupta, a former chief of the global consulting firm McKinsey & Co. and a onetime director of the huge consumer products company Procter & Gamble, of "above-the-law arrogance" in feeding Rajaratnam inside tips between March 2007 and January 2009.

Goldman Sachs chairman Lloyd Blankfein testified at trial that Gupta appeared to have violated the investment bank's confidentiality policies.

"Gupta's crimes are shocking," the government wrote. "Gupta's crimes are extraordinarily serious and damaging to the capital markets. ... It understandably fuels cynicism among the investing public that Wall Street is rigged and that Wall Street professionals unfairly exploit privileged access to information. This is particularly troubling at a time when there is widespread concern about corruption, greed and recklessness at the highest levels of the financial services industry."

In their presentencing brief, defense lawyers cited Gupta's many good deeds worldwide, saying they were unusual enough to warrant a sentence of probation with instructions to perform community service.

Naftalis told the judge that Gupta had "one of the best reputations on the planet. His loss of reputation is severely strong punishment."

The defense noted that the Rwandan government supported a program in which Gupta would work with rural districts to fight HIV, malaria and extreme poverty and to help provide food security. The lawyers said the Rwandan government would join with a U.S.-based organization already working in the country to ensure effective supervision of Gupta's service.

They also said prison would spoil the efforts by Gupta, who was born in Kolkata, India, to develop new initiatives, including the Urban Institute of India, meant to bring the private sector, academia and the Indian government together to address accelerating migration to India's cities. The more than 400 letters written to the judge on Gupta's behalf included documents signed by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

"The conduct for which he was convicted represents an isolated aberration and a stark departure from this personal history," the lawyers wrote.

At Gupta's trial, which began in May, the government highlighted a Sept. 23, 2008, phone call it said was made from Gupta to Rajaratnam only minutes after Gupta had learned during a confidential conference call about Warren Buffett's planned investment through Berkshire Hathaway of $5 billion in Goldman.

Moments after the phone call ended at 3:55 p.m., Rajaratnam purchased $40 million in Goldman stock ? an 11th hour trade that ended up making him nearly $1 million ? at the height of the financial crisis that had engulfed the country.

In another recorded phone call in 2008, Rajaratnam told one of his traders that he had got a tip "from someone who's on the board of Goldman Sachs" that Goldman was facing an unexpected quarterly loss.

Gupta, prosecutors said, was motivated to help Rajaratnam because he had a financial stake in some of the hedge fund manager's business ventures.

___

Associated Press Writer Tom Hays contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-10-24-Hedge%20Fund-Insider%20Trading/id-aa6f628d2ce1483d9e95dd393ba4dca7

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Biology-friendly robot programming language: Training your robot the PaR-PaR way

ScienceDaily (Oct. 23, 2012) ? Teaching a robot a new trick is a challenge. You can't reward it with treats and it doesn't respond to approval or disappointment in your voice. For researchers in the biological sciences, however, the future training of robots has been made much easier thanks to a new program called "PaR-PaR."

Nathan Hillson, a biochemist at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), led the development of PaR-PaR, which stands for Programming a Robot. PaR-PaR is a simple high-level, biology-friendly, robot-programming language that allows researchers to make better use of liquid-handling robots and thereby make possible experiments that otherwise might not have been considered.

"The syntax and compiler for PaR-PaR are based on computer science principles and a deep understanding of biological workflows," Hillson says. "After minimal training, a biologist should be able to independently write complicated protocols for a robot within an hour. With the adoption of PaR-PaR as a standard cross-platform language, hand-written or software-generated robotic protocols could easily be shared across laboratories."

Hillson, who directs JBEI's Synthetic Biology program and also holds an appointment with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab)'s Physical Biosciences Division, is the corresponding author of a paper describing PaR-PaR that appears in the American Chemical Society journal Synthetic Biology. The paper is titled "PaR-PaR Laboratory Automation Platform." Co-authors are Gregory Linshiz, Nina Stawski, Sean Poust, Changhao Bi and Jay Keasling.

Using robots to perform labor-intensive multi-step biological tasks, such as the construction and cloning of DNA molecules, can increase research productivity and lower costs by reducing experimental error rates and providing more reliable and reproducible experimental data. To date, however, automation companies have targeted the highly-repetitive industrial laboratory operations market while largely ignoring the development of flexible easy-to-use programming tools for dynamic non-repetitive research environments. As a consequence, researchers in the biological sciences have had to depend upon professional programmers or vendor-supplied graphical user interfaces with limited capabilities.

"Our vision was for a single protocol to be executable across different robotic platforms in different laboratories, just as a single computer software program is executable across multiple brands of computer hardware," Hillson says. "We also wanted robotics to be accessible to biologists, not just to robot specialist programmers, and for a laboratory that has a particular brand of robot to benefit from a wide variety of software and protocols."

Hillson, who earlier led the development of a unique software program called "j5" for identifying cost-effective DNA construction strategies, says that beyond enabling biologists to manually instruct robots in a time-effective manner, PaR-PaR can also amplify the utility of biological design automation software tools such as j5.

"Before PaR-PaR, j5 only outputted protocols for one single robot platform," Hillson says. "After PaR-PaR, the same protocol can now be executed on many different robot platforms."

The PaR-PaR language uses an object-oriented approach that represents physical laboratory objects -- including reagents, plastic consumables and laboratory devices -- as virtual objects. Each object has associated properties, such as a name and a physical location, and multiple objects can be grouped together to create a new composite object with its own properties.

Actions can be performed on objects and sequences of actions can be consolidated into procedures that in turn are issued as PaR-PaR commands. Collections of procedural definitions can be imported into PaR-PaR via external modules.

"A researcher, perhaps in conjunction with biological design automation software such as j5, composes a PaR-PaR script that is parsed and sent to a database," Hillson says. "The operational flow of the commands are optimized and adapted to the configuration of a specific robotic platform. Commands are then translated from the PaR-PaR meta-language into the robotic scripting language for execution."

Hillson and his colleagues have developed PaR-PaR as open-source software freely available through its web interface on the public PaR-PaR webserver http://parpar.jbei.org.

"Flexible and biology-friendly operation of robotic equipment is key to its successful integration in biological laboratories, and the efforts required to operate a robot must be much smaller than the alternative manual lab work," Hillson says. "PaR-PaR accomplishes all of these objectives and is intended to benefit a broad segment of the biological research community, including non-profits, government agencies and commercial companies."

This work was primarily supported by the DOE Office of Science.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Gregory Linshiz, Nina Stawski, Sean Poust, Changhao Bi, Jay D. Keasling, Nathan J. Hillson. PaR-PaR Laboratory Automation Platform. ACS Synthetic Biology, 2012; : 121009112212000 DOI: 10.1021/sb300075t

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/N4LIGjaJFgA/121023124532.htm

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The Mayor's Healthy Hometown Hike proved fun for all [Family ...

At Jefferson Memorial Forest on Saturday the 20th, families joined Mayor Fischer for the Mayor?s Healthy Hometown Hike.? The event was presented by Quest Outdoors and supported by Waste Management, Inc. and Cemex.

Kicking off the event Mayor Fischer said, ?This Fall Hike through our beautiful Jefferson Memorial Forest with leaves ablaze in color has become a yearly tradition for many people.?? And it has; one family has participated in the hike for 6 years.?

The first 500 participants received an event t-shirts.? Children decorated pumpkins, and made pinecone bird feeders.? Other activities included s?mores, archery, the children?s nature exploration area, hayrides, and hiking.? Forest staff helped people climb the 52 foot Alpine Tower.? Kayaking and canoeing on Tom Wallace Lake was provided by River City Canoe and Kayak.

The volunteer trail team and Forest staff led hikes at various skill levels and introduce visitors to the native plant gardens, bird blind, and animal exhibits.

At nearly 6,400 acres, the Forest offers many opportunities for individuals and families to enjoy and explore the outdoors. The Forest features more than 35 miles of marked hiking trails, primitive camping, fishing, and picnicking.

The hiking was through the Horine Section of the forest. Four of the Forest?s 13 trails were featured, providing a range of options for hikers of all abilities. The trails range in length from one-fifth of a mile up to five miles, and have terrain varying from relatively flat to rugged.

About the Jefferson Memorial Forest:?
Jefferson Memorial Forest is a woodland tribute to those Kentucky veterans who have served our nation during times of war. It offers a full range of recreational amenities, including weekend education and adventure programs, hiking trails, camping, fishing, horseback riding trails and picnic areas. For more information or to volunteer, go to?www.memorialforest.com.

Source: http://www.louisville.com/content/mayor%E2%80%99s-healthy-hometown-hike-proved-fun-all-family-parenting

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Emir of Qatar to be first head of state to visit Gaza

GAZA (Reuters) - The emir of pro-Western Qatar will become the first head of state to enter the blockaded Gaza Strip on Tuesday, in a high-profile visit breaking the isolation of the Iranian-backed Islamist movement Hamas that seized power in 2007.

Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani is officially visiting the Palestinian enclave to inaugurate reconstruction projects worth over $250 million, which an envoy of his oil-rich, conservative Arab emirate unveiled in Gaza last week.

But his trip will be loaded with political symbolism. The emir will be the first foreign leader to go to Gaza under the rule of Hamas, a militant movement that is outlawed by Israel and the West as a terrorist organization, but whose influence and aspirations in the Middle East conflict may be hard to ignore.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh issued a statement confirming the visit and urging "our people to express their good hospitality in welcoming the great visitor of Gaza".

Security was already being reinforced in places where the emir is expected to make a stop on the way from the Egyptian land border crossing at Rafah. Gaza, under partial blockade by Israel and Egypt, has no airport or seaport.

LOW-LEVEL WAR ZONE

Some Palestinians put up Qatari flags in the streets of Gaza city. Others attacked the visit on social networks, questioning Qatar's intentions. Some posted pictures on their Facebook pages of the emir side-by-side with Israeli President Shimon Peres.

Israel and Gaza are in a state of perpetual low-level conflict, marked by sporadic rocket attacks from Gaza by Islamic militant groups and air strikes by the Israeli forces. Hamas refuses to accept the existence of the Jewish state.

Israel admits tonnes of food aid, consumer goods and fuel into Gaza, but tightly restricts movements of people and anything that might be used for military purposes. However, Qatar's envoy last week indicated that Israel had agreed to permit the import of huge quantities of cement, steel and building machinery that will be need to build new roads and housing.

Gaza was badly damaged in a three-week onslaught by Israel in 2008-2009 to stop rockets being fired at southern Israeli communities. Over 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed in the brief conflict.

The Palestinian Wafa news agency said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose pro-Western Fatah movement was forcibly ejected from Gaza by Hamas in 2007, was told of the Qatari visit in a phone call from the emir in Doha.

Sheik al-Thani "told him of his desire to visit Gaza Strip to inaugurate some projects to reconstruct the strip", Wafa said in a report from the West Bank, where Abbas holds limited power, under Israeli occupation.

"The president welcomed the effort by Qatar to support Gaza Strip, stressing on the unity of Palestinian land and ending division," the agency added. It said Abbas urged Hamas to implement signed agreements for the reconciliation of the two rival movements.

But Gaza and West Bank analysts say reconciliation is not on the cards. Hamas is shifting its ties away from Shi'ite Muslim Iran and wooing Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, its true spiritual mentor, which now runs the country.

The Palestinian Islamist movement feels the wind in its sails and will use this major injection of Qatari aid and the visit of the emir to demonstrate that it has powerful friends, despite its isolation by the West, say analysts.

Abbas and Fatah, by contrast, have reached a dead end in efforts to revive peace talks with Israel that were suspended two years ago, and have been weakened politically.

The emir is due to fly to Egypt's eastern al-Arish airport and drive into Gaza. Details of his schedule and itinerary were not released.

(Writing by Douglas Hamilton; Editing by Eric Walsh)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/emir-qatar-first-head-state-visit-gaza-104117766.html

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Brian Austin Green?s $200K Lawsuit Against Ex Tossed Out By Judge

Brian Austin Green’s $200K Lawsuit Against Ex Tossed Out By Judge

Brian Austin Green’s lawsuit against his ex-girlfriend Vanessa Marcil was thrown out by a California judge. The former “Beverly Hills, 90210″ actor was suing the [...]

Brian Austin Green’s $200K Lawsuit Against Ex Tossed Out By Judge Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2012/10/brian-austin-greens-200k-lawsuit-against-ex-tossed-out-by-judge/

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