Luxe Jewelry blog

If one must be stuck in a dark alley outside a Toronto nightclub while Chinese mobsters and government assassins hover in the shadows, it might as well be with Maggie Q. She is,necklaces, after all, an action star, though to look at her is to question her ass-kicking ability. She is unfathomably thin; her toned arms are marginally bigger around than a Canadian two-dollar coin. She also has the unintimidating habit of cracking herself up, loudly and with knee slaps.

We’re on a location shoot for her new show, Nikita, the third reinterpretation of Luc Besson’s 1990 film La Femme Nikita, about a young junkie and convicted murderer trained to be a killer by a nefarious organization. The CW’s version picks up three years after Nikita, played by Q, has gone rogue. She’s determined to bring down Divison, the agency that conscripted her, and to that end she must infiltrate this nightclub, decked out in theoretically unsuitable assassin-chic gear: black mesh, leather,watches, bra, and not much else.

The show’s executive producer, Craig Silverstein, says they cast her because–unlike the other equally beautiful and talented actresses they auditioned–when you put a gun in Q’s hand, "it didn’t all fall apart." It’s a risk, anchoring a TV show with a relative unknown–you’d get more Americans acknowledging Q as the hot Asian chick in Mission: Impossible III than by name–except that unknown is relative to where you are standing. In Asia, Maggie Q inspires Justin Bieber-like frenzy, give or take a couple million more fans and even crazier paparazzi. When I get into a Toronto cab with a driver who happens to be from Hong Kong, I ask if he’s ever heard of Maggie Q. "Oh, yes!" he says. "She is very famous in Hong Kong!" I tell him she’s living in Toronto. "Wow!" And that I met her. "Really? Wow! Is she tall? I think she’s maybe five seven." Almost. "She’s getting up there, isn’t she?" I guess, I say, if he considers 31 old. "Thirty-one?! No! Wow! I thought for sure she is 40. She’s been around a long, long time."

Margaret Denise Quigley was born and raised in Hawaii by a Polish-Irish father and a Vietnamese mother who met during the Vietnam War. She started modeling in Tokyo at age 17, eventually ending up in Taipei. Bad move: Q, whose mixed-race looks read "Asian" in America and "weird" in Asia,earrings, was summarily rejected. "At the time,tiffany, they wanted blonde hair and blue eyes. Or Asian celebrities,money clips," she says. After her daily round of rejections, she’d go to Taipei’s night market to buy "my dollar box of food, then go back to my danky hotel that was literally a love motel–I paid by the night–and cry and eat my dinner." A woman suggested she try Hong Kong. "They’ll probably get you there," she told Q, and they certainly did. Or, rather, Jackie Chan did. He recruited her as one of the next generation of Hong Kong action stars: In all, she did eleven films. "I had never done a day of martial arts in my life when I started in the business," she says. "I couldn’t even touch my toes."

Q finally left Hong Kong because she was feeling like a hunted animal, "like I was suffocating." Turns out celebrity weeklies in Asia far outnumber those here. That, coupled with fewer celebrities, means "you’re incredibly recognizable wherever you go," she says. "I could never have a boyfriend. I couldn’t grocery shop for myself. I got very depressed by it." So Toronto is a relative haven. Q does her own laundry, goes to the farmers’ market, and drives herself to work–which is why the first time I see her, she’s running, flustered and sweaty, her Chihuahua, Pedro, peering out of her bag. The car’s GPS directed her not to the downtown location but to a suburb off a freeway twelve miles away. She’s hustled into the makeup trailer, where the mirrors are lined with pictures of her dogs (she has three, all rescues). There are no fight scenes tonight, but Q’s covered in bruises from a scene earlier in the week with co-star Shane West (ER).

Jackie Chan’s intensive training stressed professionalism and a certain code: Q always does her own stunts. "I owe it to my audience. And I’m not 70, so I might as well while I can." Her moves might be faked, but that doesn’t mean she can’t take care of herself. She gave a six-foot-four dude a black eye while shooting the Nikita pilot. And Bruce Willis made the mistake of underestimating her strength during a Live Free or Die Hard fight scene. He told her to try her best move, and she put him in an armbar, which hyperextends the elbow. "He kept hitting my leg. I said, ‘What are you doing?’ And he goes, ‘Tap out! Tap out!’"

The closest Q has come to an offscreen fight was in L.A. Her dog startled a sleeping buck, which knocked it over on its belly then lowered its antlers to charge. "The only thing I could think to do to get in between the deer’s horns and my dog was to jump on the deer," she says. It threw her into a bush, splitting her leg and side open. Q was due, two days later, on the set of an "awful movie that hasn’t been released yet, thank God!" She showed up completely "mummified" in gauze. But she showed up.

Parents and guardians equipping their children for the upcoming school year say they look for deals on supplies to save extra money for new clothes.

With schools around the region opening their doors within the next few weeks, parents and children are hitting the stores and combing the shelves for the needed gear.

Students from elementary school through high school say new articles of clothing that meet current style standards are just as crucial as new pencils and paper. For parents, that means hundreds of dollars in additional spending this time of year.

"The clothes — that’s what kills you," said Kirsten Edler, a mother of four from Maryland visiting family in Portsmouth. She said that when one of her children wants a certain brand, anything else is inadequate.

On Sunday, she was at Walmart in Rochester with daughters Hannah, 17, and Isabella, 14, to pick up some school supplies. Edler also has two sons: Ian,earrings, a first-grader, and Nicholas, a 19-year-old college sophomore. Surprisingly, she said it is more expensive to supply an elementary school student with the needed gear than it is to buy what her other children need.

Once they are old enough to work,key rings, she expects them to buy most of their own new clothes. Her college-aged son is pretty much set with his Macbook, she said, but she has to buy for her younger son paper, pencils, markers, glue, a backpack, composition books and more.

To save money, she goes through newspaper advertisements to see what’s on sale each week. For a store like Walmart that she visits regularly, she said she can hold off on buying certain items until they go on sale. There was a $4 pack of colored pencils in the store Sunday, but she refused to buy them, knowing they will be on sale later on.

"I will wait for a week because it’s a store I frequent anyway," she said.

Sophomore Isabella said she is not picky about supplies and like other high school students likes to have a little fun with them. She purchased a folder with Toy Story characters on it, and said other girls in school like things with Disney princesses on them.

"I just like to play around a little," she said.

The girls said the "Indie" clothing style is fashionable — plaids, bright colors,pendants, retro graphic T-shirts and sun dresses.

At Journeys in Newington’s Fox Run Mall, store employee Chris Musk said Vans, Converse, Osiris and Sperry Top-Siders are the hot brands right now. The top-siders are boating shoes, while the others come in diverse colors and funky designs.

"Colors attract the younger crowd," Musk said, noting it is interesting the brands and styles from decades ago "are still relevant today."

Rachel Feniger, 16, from Hampton, was in the shoe store Sunday trying on gray Vans and pink Converse All-Stars. She could not decide between them and picked them both, saying she was not concerned with saving money.

"They’re shoes that match a lot of stuff," she said.

However, she passed on a pair of pink striped socks that glow in the dark.

At the Macy’s in Fox Run Mall, a mother and daughter from Portland, Maine, came down Sunday to find sales and escape Maine’s sales tax. Linda Olore and her 8-year-old daughter, Sophia, who is entering the third grade, found good deals on a gray dress, pink plaid skirt with matching knee-high socks and a neon green pair of shorts.

"My fashion sense is anything very bright, bold or unique that has its own personality," Sophia said.

Olore said she lets Sophia pick out what she wants to wear as long as it is appropriate. Concerning herself with her daughter’s style is not too important because "there’s bigger fish to fry," she said.

The Olores are fortunate in that Sophia’s school district does not send home a list of required supplies. Usually during the year, the district will ask for some donations, Olore said.

Like others interviewed, Olore said she will look in newspaper inserts for sales on school supplies at Walmart or Target.

At the Somersworth Walmart, Kaylie Sabo, 13,bangles, an incoming eighth-grader at Barrington Middle School, and her grandmother, Claire Sabo, looked to buy all the supplies Kaylie’s school district asked her to get.

Since Walmart carries notebooks, dividers, binders, pencil sharpeners, white out, calculators and pens and pencils at low prices, it is the most convenient place to shop for back-to-school, Sabo said. Any savings are a help since Kaylie estimated it cost hundreds to buy her new wardrobe as she likes the styles offered at retailers like Hollister and American Eagle.

"And I’m not done yet," she said.

A Clay County jury has recommended the death penalty for a registered sex offender who was convicted of stabbing his father’s girlfriend to death during an attempted sexual assault.

Leo L. Kaczmar III, 26, was charged with killing Maria E. Ruiz,earrings, 49, on Dec. 13, 2008. He was found guilty Thursday of first-degree murder, arson and attempted sexual battery. Friday, the jury deliberated for about a half-hour before voting 11-1 to recommend the death penalty.

The sentencing decision ultimately is up to Circuit Judge William A. Wilkes. Typically, judges tend to respect the opinion of juries. A hearing is scheduled for Sept. 3.

Investigators said Ruiz fought to her death. Jurors were shown autopsy photos depicting dozens of stab wounds all over her body.

A witness said Kaczmar had been smoking crack cocaine, acting paranoid and describing his desire to have sex with Ruiz the night she was killed.

Ruiz’s body was recovered in the Green Cove Springs home where she lived with Kaczmar. In an effort to cover up the crime,watches, Kaczmar started the house on fire, investigators said.

A La Crosse man is accused of threatening his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend by leaving a casket in his backyard.

The 26-year-old woman told police Daniel Geiwitz hauled the casket to her boyfriend’s house in the 1200 block of Green Bay Street Thursday evening,bangles, according to police reports. He then asked what the woman and her boyfriend wanted written on their headstones before driving away.

Police also found a smashed and severed snake that the woman said Geiwitz left on her car earlier this week, according to police reports.

Geiwitz, 28,Charm pendant, of 1120 S. Fourth St., No. 1, is facing charges of stalking, intimidation of a victim and disorderly conduct when he appears Monday in La Crosse County Circuit Court. He is jailed on a $2,500 cash bond.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (formerly the Health Care Financing Administration) issued the following news release:

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today issued the agreement that drug manufacturers will use to provide savings of about 50 percent on brand name drugs and biologics for people with Medicare Part D who hit the Part D drug benefit coverage gap, or "donut hole," in 2011.

"These agreements implement important provisions of the Affordable Care Act to close the donut hole over the next ten years that will result in significant savings to beneficiaries when they buy their drugs at their local pharmacies or through mail order," said Jonathan Blum, deputy administrator for CMS’ Center for Medicare.

Based on comments CMS received from manufacturers,Charm bracelet, advocates and Part D sponsors,tiffany, CMS revised the manufacturer agreement to provide additional time for quarterly invoice payments by manufacturers to plan sponsors within 38 days of receipt through the Third Party Administrator (TPA). This is consistent with the reimbursement schedule used in the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program. CMS is also providing manufacturers with claims level data necessary to validate invoices, without sharing private patient information. The final agreement ensures that beneficiary information will continue to be protected in the same manner as it’s protected now.

Drug manufacturers are required to sign these agreements by Sept. 1, 2010, to be able to continue to offer drugs under the Medicare Part D program. CMS will coordinate the manufacturers’ reimbursement to the Part D plan sponsor through Palmetto GBA,Beads necklace, LLC, the TPA contractor. Payment inconsistencies or conflicts raised by manufacturers will follow a dispute resolution and appeal process as outlined in the agreement. CMS will also perform extensive editing on payment data to ensure that beneficiaries and plans receive appropriate discounts and payments.

"CMS has carefully reviewed the comments we received on our draft agreement language. We believe our final language is responsive to the comments and we expect all brand name manufacturers to sign,earrings," Blum said.

Closing the coverage gap is an important part of the Affordable Care Act signed by President Obama earlier this year, beginning with a one-time check for $250 for Medicare beneficiaries who reach the coverage gap in 2010 but are not eligible for low-income assistance. In 2011, Medicare beneficiaries will see savings from the roughly 50 percent discount for brand-name drugs and biologics and coverage of generic drugs in the coverage gap. And beginning in 2011, the coverage gap will begin to decrease incrementally until it is eliminated by 2020.

A blood-splattered woman walked into Brockton police headquarters yesterday and announced "I just killed someone" — directing stunned cops to a Bridgewater condo where they found the body of a retired teacher,earrings, authorities said.

Lorraine Wachsman,necklaces, 62, was stabbed to death after a violent,pendants, bloody struggle in her condominium on Main Street in Bridgewater, Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz said.

Eunice Field, 54, of Brockton, was charged with Wachsman’s murder,Beads necklace, Cruz said.

She will be arraigned today in Brockton District Court.

Cruz said the two women "knew each other through a third party" and Field "recently became upset" with Wachsman.

Cruz declined to say what led to the spat. He said the two battled "in several locations" in the condo.

Cruz said a blood-drenched Field then went to a Brockton police station and told officers, "I just killed someone."

Brockton police, seeing she was "covered in blood," called Bridgewater police, who found Wachsman’s body. Bridgewater and Brockton police declined comment.

Wachsman retired as a Randolph middle school teacher in 2007.

"It’s a big shock," said Marybeth Nearen, chairwoman of the Randolph School Committee. Wachsman was Nearen’s own junior high English teacher. "You remember that one teacher you’ll never forget, and she was that one. She was special."

emason@bostonherald.com

Treating pain involves multiple modalities. From medications to physical therapy and acupuncture, the options are numerous and varied. However, despite physicians’ best efforts to provide pain relief, many patients continue to have pain. Increasingly, patients are trying unconventional treatments in place of traditional, evidence-based medical treatments. In fact, the interest in alternative medicine has grown considerably in recent years.1,2 A population-based survey3 indicated that 4 of 10 Americans used complementary and alternative medicine for chronic conditions in 1997 and made an estimated 629 million visits to practitioners of alternative medicine, far exceeding the 388 million visits that were made to primary care physicians during the same year. In addition, the total out-of-pocket expenditures related to the use of complementary and alternative medicine in 1997 were estimated at $27 billion, which is comparable to out-of-pocket expenditures for all physician services.3,4

Many methods used in alternative medicine are insufficiently tested or not tested at all.5 Despite the enormous interest of the general public in alternative medical treatments, little evidence-based research supports claims about the efficacy of such methods. The reasons include lack of interest by the academic community, lack of financial support by corporate sponsors to fund research because the medications are already available, and difficulties in applying current regulatory criteria to alternative medicine.1

One alternative method previously untested in the United States is the use of “ionized” wrist bracelets for pain relief. Promotional information from the manufacturer states that the ionized bracelet can “energize the whole body,” “relieve pain the natural way,” and balance “Yin & Yang (positive and negative ions).” According to the Yin– Yang theory, a relationship exists among acupuncture points, meridians, and the electric currents of the body. An electric current is generated by an interaction of positively and negatively charged ions. If the flow of energy called “chi” remains unimpeded and in balance, individuals are believed to remain physically and mentally balanced and therefore in peak health.6 According to the company’s promotional information, the bracelets were invented by Dr Manuel Polo in 1973 in Spain. The “natural series” bracelets used for this study were 85% copper and 15% zinc, and the cost was approximately $50 each. More expensive models (up to $179) are available from the manufacturer. The ionization process is a secret process not revealed by the manufacturer. A small study (50 patients) from China (not found in a review of the literature) reported benefit with use of the ionized bracelet for headache and for back, hip, leg, and hand pain over a 6-week periods Although numerous professional athletes such as golfers, basketball stars, weight lifters, and hockey players have given testimonials regarding the benefits, questions remain about the effectiveness of these bracelets in relieving pain. We performed a randomized double-blind trial to assess objectively the effects of these ionized wrist bracelets on musculoskeletal pain.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

Volunteers were recruited from advertisements posted at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla, in 2000 and 2001. Participants included 610 men and women, 18 years of age or older, who had self-reported pain at the beginning of the study in at least 1 of the following areas: neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hands, upper back, mid back, lower back, hips, knees, ankles, or feet.

Both ionized and placebo bracelets were provided by the manufacturer. The appearance of each bracelet was identical. The identity of each bracelet was blinded to the manufacturer, participants, and researchers until the study was completed. Specific instructions were given to each participant for correct placement of the bracelets according to the manufacturer’s recommendations. This study was approved by the Mayo Foundation Institutional Review Board, and participants gave informed consent.

Procedures

Participants were randomly assigned to receive either an ionized wrist bracelet (Q-Ray, QT, Inc, Elk Grove Village, Ill) (n=305) or a placebo wrist bracelet of identical appearance (n=305).

Demographic information, collected on all 610 participants in an initial questionnaire, included age, sex, ethnic background, whether the participant had ever seen or used an ionized bracelet, and whether the participant believed that such a bracelet would reduce joint or muscle pain. Participants were asked to indicate the area in which they had pain and whether they had had a serious injury at that site. For each location where pain was present, participants rated the intensity of the pain on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 indicating “very little pain” and 10 indicating “pain as bad as it could be.” A follow-up questionnaire was given to evaluate pain at these locations after participants wore the bracelets for 1, 3, 7, 14, 21, and 28 days. In this questionnaire, pain was rated on a scale from 0 to 10, with 0 indicating “no pain,” 1 indicating “very little pain,” and 10 indicating “pain as bad as it could be.”

Primary End Points

For each location where pain was present at baseline, changes in pain score were calculated by subtracting the baseline score from the follow-up score at each time point. The percentage of patients whose pain score had improved was also calculated for each time point.

Two primary end points were defined for evaluating efficacy. The first was the change at 4-week follow-up (day 28) in the pain score at the location with the highest baseline value (maximum pain score). The second was the change at 4-week follow-up in the sum of the pain scores for all locations.

Statistical Analysis

Comparisons between groups were based on rank sum tests for quantitative variables and chi^sup 2^ tests for dichotomous variables. Tests about whether the percentage of patients with improvement exceeded 50% within each group were conducted at each time point with the use of a normal approximation to the binomial distribution.

All tests for efficacy were 1-sided because they addressed a 1-sided question. All tiffany jewelry other tests were 2-sided.

Stepwise linear regression was then applied to determine whether group allocation would become significant after adjusting for other factors. The end points used were the 4-week changes in the following scores: maximum pain score, sum of pain scores for all locations, and pain scores for the individual locations where pain had been reported at baseline. The possible confounding variables considered were participants’ age, sex, racial origin, whether they had seen the bracelets before, whether they had used the bracelets before, whether they believed that the bracelets could reduce joint or muscle pain, whether they were taking medication for pain, and the magnitude of the baseline score. The significance level used as a criterion for entering and staying in the model was P<.10. “Group” was then added as a variable in the final model to determine whether there was a difference between those who wore the placebo bracelet and those who wore the ionized bracelet, after adjusting for all significant factors.

RESULTS

The mean age of the 609 participants who gave their age on the questionnaire was 48.27 years (SD, 13.46 years; range, 18-88 years). Of 608 participants who gave information on sex, 157 (25.8%) were male and 451 (74.2%) were female. Of 607 participants who gave information on racial origin, 533 (87.8%) were white and 74 (12.2%) were of other racial origin. Of 409 participants who answered the question about whether they believed the bracelets can reduce joint or muscle pain, 327 (80.0%) gave a positive and 82 (20.0%) a negative answer.

Comparisons at baseline between those who wore the placebo bracelet and those who wore the ionized wrist bracelet are summarized in Tables 1 through 3. The groups did not differ significantly from each other at baseline for any variable except elbow injury (Table 3). In view of the large number of statistical tests undertaken, some comparisons might have been expected to differ significantly by chance.

No significant differences were seen between groups for either of the primary end points, ie, change at 4-week follow-up in maximum pain score and in sum of pain scores for all locations. The groups did not differ in the magnitude of change in these variables at any time point during the study, although statistically significant decreases from baseline were observed within each group at all time points (Figures 1 and 2). Similarly, no significant differences were seen between groups in the mean change from baseline after 4 weeks at any site where pain had been pendants present at baseline, although significant decreases from baseline were observed within each group at each site (Table 4).

When the percentages of patients with improvement in maximum pain score or sum of pain scores for all locations were evaluated at each time point, we again saw no significant difference between groups, although within-group improvement rates were significantly greater than 50% in most instances (Table 5).

Analyses were also undertaken in which comparisons were made between groups after adjusting for other factors that may influence change in pain (eg, age). The results of regression analysis taking such factors into account are listed in Table 6. For each end point, the factors that were significantly (P<.10, see Subjects and Methods section) associated with change in pain scores were identified, and then treatment group was added to the regression model. In each case, no significant association with treatment was identified. This indicates that the failure to identify an effect from the ionized wrist bracelet beyond the effect available from placebo cannot be ascribed to other factors.

DISCUSSION

The results of this study suggest that the use of ionized bracelets for treating muscle and joint pain was no more effective for relieving musculoskeletal pain than was the use of placebo bracelets. However, both groups showed subjective improvement in pain scores.

Up to 30% to 40% of patients with a wide range of clinical conditions, such as pain, asthma, high blood pressure, and even myocardial infarction, have reported subjective improvement with the use of placebos. However, the effectiveness of placebos has been questioned recently. In an analysis of clinical trials comparing placebo with no treatment, Hrobjartsson and Gotzsche7 found little evidence that placebos had powerful clinical effects except for “possible small benefits in studies with continuous subjective outcomes and for the treatment of pain.” Additionally, earrings therapeutic patterns that heighten placebo effects are especially prominent in unconventional healing, and this form of healing may have “enhanced” placebo effects in particular conditions.8 Although the goal of our study was not to assess the effectiveness of placebos, our results supported the benefits of using placebos to treat pain. The participants in both the ionized and the placebo bracelet group showed a subjective improvement in pain scores. This study did not include participants who received no bracelet. Such a group would have allowed us to study pain in an untreated group during the same period and could have strengthened the results of this study. Accordingly, it is unclear whether pain would have improved in similar populations with observation alone. Further studies could help clarify this issue.

CONCLUSION

Alternative medical treatments are increasing in popularity. Although patients may perceive benefits from alternative medical therapies, there is little objective evidence to support the effectiveness of most alternative methods. Our finding that the subjective improvement in pain scores was similar for ionized and placebo bracelets questions the benefit of using an ionized bracelet. As practicing clinicians, we need continued research to test claims made by manufacturers of alternative medical products to ensure that our recommendations are adequately and sufficiently supported by objective, research– based evidence.

To see more of the Connecticut Post, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.connpost.com. Copyright

Jun. 21–Starting Sunday, Stop & Shop Supermarkets in Connecticut will sell red, white and blue wristbands in bins near the registers, with the proceeds going to veterans’ groups in the state to help soldiers injured in the “War on Terror.”

The Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes is giving the Quincy, Mass.-based grocery tiffany and co chain 492,000 bracelets, which the company will sell for $2 each at its Stop & Shop and Giant food stores in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware and Washington, D.C. Stores in New Jersey won’t carry the bracelets because there aren’t enough to go around, company spokeswoman Faith Weiner said.

“We thought that it would be a great patriotic symbol of support,” she said.

The partnership with the coalition came out of a dinner that Stop & Shop President and Chief Executive Marc Smith had with coalition founder Roger Chapin, Weiner said. Smith was had been looking for a way to help wounded veterans, she said.

“Marc felt that the public, and especially our customers — if they knew what these men and women needed would want to help,” she said.

The funds raised will help wounded veterans put their lives back together, she said. That earrings assistance could be financial or structural, such as building a ramp onto the house of a veteran who uses a wheelchair.

“We understand the government is helping them — [but] we know the government can never do it all,” she said.

The bracelets cost the coalition 41 cents each, and the coalition will recover that cost, Weiner said. The remaining $1.59 will go to local groups to help veterans, but Weiner on Monday did not have a list of how the money will be distributed or to which agencies or groups.

However, she said, the coalition won’t be able to use any of the money for its administrative costs, and “Stop & Shop isn’t making any money [on the sales].”

University of Southern Indiana issued the following news tiffany release:

A Christmas Carol is a timeless story that appeals to all ages. USI Theatre’s A Christmas Carol features a cast of 34 people ranging in age from seven years to 60-something. With 12 children from the surrounding Evansville area participating, USI Theatre is producing one of its largest productions.

Lenny Leibowitz, assistant professor of theatre and director of the production, said, “Working with so many people from different walks of life and of different ages is a real joy – we have a cast that encompasses USI students, children, siblings, and veteran performers in the community. I love that our production and our process will truly celebrate the spirit of Dickens’ timeless story.”

Theatre patrons who saw the USI Theatre production of Meet Me in St. Louis will recognize some of the young actors in A Christmas Carol. Hanna Van Winkle, a fifth-grader from Slaughters, Kentucky, is the Ghost of Christmas Past and Jessica Bailey, Henderson, is Young Fan and Belinda Cratchit.

Newcomers with USI connections are Nadia Scharf, daughter of Amy and Ed Scharf, earrings USI web developer, and Matlyn Macleod, granddaughter of Dr. Daniel Scavone, professor emeritus of history.

Another returning performer, Andi Conkright, said, “This show is so different from Meet Me in St. Louis because I am playing more than one character. I get to be the cute little sister, Sara, but I also get to play the scary character, Want.”

The children have been working for five weeks learning blocking, rehearsing lines, and discovering the “ins and outs” of theatre.

Several pairs of siblings are represented in the production. USI theatre majors Erica Becker and Becky Fortner are in the production with their younger siblings Nicholas Becker and Sara Fortner. Other young cast members are Jessica and Matthew Bailey and Taylor and Reece McDaniel.

Erica Becker said, “Even though I am from the Evansville area, my schedule gets crazy and it is hard to be home and to spend time with my family. Having the opportunity to work with Nicholas is so rewarding because I get to see him grow as an actor and hang out with my little brother.”

A Christmas Carol runs through November 22 at the Mallette Studio Theatre in the Liberal Arts Center. Tickets key rings are $12 with discounts for seniors, students, and children. For more information or to purchase tickets, call 812/465-1668.For more information please contact: Sarabjit Jagirdar, Email:- htsyndication@hindustantimes.com.

The 76-foot-tall Norway spruce that will be set up early Thursday morning in New York tiffany jewelry City’s Rockefeller Center has hometown roots.

The towering tree, which will be the centerpiece for the midtown Manhattan landmark’s Christmas festivities, was chopped down Wednesday on the North Park Avenue property of Maria Corti.

About 160 neighbors, relatives and the curious turned out for the tree-cutting operation, joined by dozens of staffers from Rockefeller Center, who were handing out green sweatshirts, red scarves and assorted breakfast treats. The activity turned usually placid North Park Avenue into a beehive of activity, with about 60 cars parked up and down the street and a detail of Easton police officers assigned to direct traffic.

“I called Rockefeller Center last spring, thinking that I had a possible tree for Christmas,” Corti said, adding that she moved into the ranch home only about a year ago. “They suggested that I send in a picture of the tree with someone in the picture for proportion. So, that’s what I did.”

Corti said that she figured she probably would never hear from Rockefeller Center again. “I thought: ‘That would be the end of that,’ so to speak, because I’m sure a lot of people write in thinking that they have a tree worthy enough for Rockefeller Center.”

Corti, a fifth-grade teacher at Cider Mill School in Wilton, said that within a few days she was pendants contacted by David Murbach, Rockefeller Center’s gardens

manager.

“Actually, it is a tough job,” Murbach said when asked about how he goes about finding the perfect tree. “It’s one in a million. You think that there are a lot of good trees around, but they’re not perfect like the ones that we need. We look for perfection.”

Murbach said that he goes aloft in a helicopter to find showcase trees. From the chopper, Murbach said that he spotted the Corti spruce from miles away.

“I was hoping that it was someone else’s tree, because then I’d have one for next year,” he said. “She turned out to be one of the sweetest people that we ever had to deal with.”

Corti’s tree has a “double trunk,” which provides it with greater branch density, makes it easier to mount the star and results in fewer broken branches when it’s moved, Murbach said. “We’ve been using double trunks for a number of years.”

It grew quickly because it was situated over the septic tank. Still, he said that his staff fertilized the earrings tree throughout the spring and summer to fill it out a little more.

About 10 a.m. Wednesday, the lumberjacks’ buzz saws fell silent and the tree, already supported by a huge crane, was lifted off its stump and lashed onto a 115-foot tractor-trailer flatbed for the trip to New York City.

A flock of grade school children immediately descended onto the stump to count the rings.

“Forty-three!” confidently announced Kate McKinnon, an 11-year-old student at West Rock Middle School in Norwalk. “I counted twice.” She was with her 6-year-old sister, Claire, and both said that they would be sure to see the tree after it’s decorated.

The tree-lighting ceremony will take place at 7 p.m. Dec. 2, and it will be broadcast live on WNBC-TV, Channel 4.

Meanwhile, Murbach said that his crew will restore Corti’s backyard “better than it was before.”

As for the giant spruce, he said that it will continue to serve the public after Christmas. Lumber from the tree will be used in homes to be built by Habitat for Humanity, he said, probably as window frames.

The tree is the second from the region in two years to be chosen as Rockefeller Center’s Christmas tree. In 2007, another Norway spruce — about 84 feet tall — from Shelton got the distinction.

Tree timeline Historical milestones for Rockefeller Center tree: 1931: Workmen on a muddy construction site put up the first Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. At the time of the Depression, the workmen placed the tree in the middle of a construction site. 1933: First formal Rockefeller Center tree-lighting ceremony takes place. Tree is decked with 700 lights in front of the 8-month-old RCA Building. 1936: Two trees, each 70 feet tall, were erected. For the first time, the lighting ceremony included a skating pageant on the newly opened Rockefeller Plaza key rings outdoor ice skating rink. 1942: Three trees were placed on Rockefeller Plaza, one decorated in red, one in white and the other in blue to show support for troops in World War II. 1949: Tree was painted silver to look like snow. 1951: The center’s tree lighted for the first time on national television on the Kate Smith Show. 1966: The first tree from outside the United States was erected. It was given by Canada, in honor of the centennial of its confederation. 1980: For 50th anniversary of tree lighting, a 70-foot-tall Norway spruce came from the grounds of the Immaculate Conception Seminary of Mahwah, N.J. Bob Hope participated in the lighting. 1999: The largest tree in Rockefeller Center history, 100 feet high, from Killingworth, Conn. 2007: For the first time, the tree is lit with 30,000 energy-efficient LEDs. Hundreds of solar panels atop one of the Rockefeller Center buildings help power the new LEDs.

Retailers’ third-quarter results this week came with cautious outlooks for the fourth quarter tiffany jewelry, as consumer spending remains weak and the ghost of Christmas past looms large.

Analysts’ holiday sales estimates vary from a 1% decline to a nearly 3% gain over last year. That uncertainty, coupled with the highest unemployment rate since 1983 and disappointing consumer sentiment, means retailers “don’t know how Black Friday is going to be. They don’t know how December will be,” said Walter Loeb, president of retail consultancy Loeb Associates Inc.

On Friday, J.C. Penney Co. posted a 78% drop in fiscal third-quarter profit and offered a mixed view of its fourth quarter. It provided a wide estimate of potential profit and forecast a revenue drop larger than Wall Street estimates. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Kohl’s Corp. and Macy’s Inc. also issued lower-than-expected guidance, citing the uncertain economy.

“Everybody is chastened by the experience of last year’s holiday debacle,” said pendants Craig Johnson, president of consultancy Customer Growth Partners.

Department store chains have been among the hardest-hit retailers, as budget-conscious shoppers traded down to discounters including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and TJX Cos.’ T.J. Maxx and Marshall’s. The sector as a whole has posted negative year-over-year sales every month for more than a year, according to Thomson Reuters.

The chains that posted results this week — including Penney, Macy’s, Nordstrom Inc. and Kohl’s — all managed to eke out gains in product-sales margins, aided by sharply lower inventories and operating costs.

On Friday, Penney reported its third-quarter margins had improved by 2.1 percentage points, benefiting from leaner inventories and fewer markdowns, even as overall sales fell. Although Penney’s stocks are in line with projected demand, Chief Executive Myron E. Ullman III sounded a cautious note in a Friday conference call. “Unemployment remains at high levels. Everybody is concerned about the equity value of their homes . . . and many consumers are seeing constriction and cancellation of their credit,” he said.

Suppliers also continue to voice caution. Eric Wiseman, chief executive of VF Corp., which earrings owns Wrangler, North Face and Vans, said while sales trends have improved over the past 90 days, “does it mean we’re in a recovery? I don’t think so. What happens over Christmas is unpredictable.”

For the quarter ended Oct. 31, Penney, of Plano, Texas, posted a profit of $27 million, or 11 cents a share, compared with $124 million, or 56 cents a share, a year earlier. The latest results included a pension expense of $73 million. Analysts were predicting 12 cents a share profit, according to Thomson Reuters.

Sales fell 3.2% to $4.12 billion while sales at stores open at least a year declined 4.6%.

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. on Friday also reported a decline in fiscal third-quarter earnings on key rings lower sales. It posted a profit of $38.8 million, or 44 cents a share, down from $63.9 million, or 72 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue decreased 15% to $765.4 million on a 22% drop in same-store sales.