Sleep now, little one

Sorry I've not posted anything lately. We are back from a week in Spain and I'm now on my own decorating our new place while my better half is at our old place running the business and earning enough to pay for all this.

This was a large public artwork on a building in Seville (Sevilla), Spain. I loved it - especially the style and the scale.

I know nothing about the artist - but I'd be happy to learn.

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sevilla

spain

espana

travel

viajar

graffiti

painting

art

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wall

large

big

colossal

scale

face

sleeping

calm

rest

doze

child

baby

great

excellent

public

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Steve Richard

image

photo

Spain, public artwork

Flickr.com

LSU defensive tackle Bennie Logan wraps up Alabama running back Trent Richardson in the second half of their SEC game this season. (Butch Dill / Associated Press / November 5, 2011)

Reporting from New Orleans — The malaise plaguing a football-viewing nation outside the four upcoming quarters near the French Quarter has been diagnosed as "SEC fatigue."

The Southeastern Conference on Monday is guaranteed its sixth straight national title, and to lose its first, because the league is hoarding both spots of this year's Bowl Championship Series game.

Chris Dufresne

E-mail | Recent columns

Also

LSU vs. Alabama in BCS title game: Setting the scene

Q&A: College football analyst Kirk Herbstreit goes 'bowling'

Alabama's leading man: Trent Richardson

LSU's Jordan Jefferson is counting his blessings

For LSU and Alabama, quarterbacks are secondary

LSU punter Brad Wing could be star in BCS title game

See more stories »

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Jordan Jefferson, Jarrett Lee could both see action in title game

No.1 Louisiana State seeks its third BCS crown since 2002 against a No. 2 Alabama squad that hasn't won it all since, um, 2009.

This is such an inside job that Nick Saban, coaching Alabama now, led LSU to the BCS title in 2003.

The SEC will win its eighth title of the 14-year BCS era. The SEC has had five different school champions: LSU, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee and Auburn.

"What makes our league very, very good is that there's a lot of good teams and a lot of good competition," Saban said Sunday at his final pregame news conference.

The SEC has been, inarguably, college football's best conference for a long time.

Why?

"We do more to be good than other teams," LSU center P.J. Longeran offered.

Has the SEC produced any of the greatest teams of the modern era?

Well, no.

You could not reasonably rank the best BCS champion from the SEC ahead of Miami of 2001, USC of 2004 or Florida State of 1999.

Alabama's title team of 2009, arguably the best SEC team of the era, might not rank ahead of Texas' 2005 team.

This year's LSU squad, if it wins, would be in the conversation based on its top-tier performance and a killer non-conference schedule.

"The only team I've told them not to schedule was the Green Bay Packers," LSU Coach Les Miles quipped.

Mostly, though, the SEC has just been consistently better than everyone else.

Part of it is caring more and paying more.

"The high school football is at a higher level," Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart said. "Coaches are paid more. So the more you pay the coaches, the better quality players you get, the better quality programs you get."

Consider the caliber of SEC coaches who have won national titles: Steve Spurrier (pre-BCS), Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, Les Miles. Think of the coach who has averaged 10 wins a year, Georgia's Mark Richt, but hasn't won.

SEC, Alabama, Trent Richardson, Nick Saban, Nick Saban, LSU, BCS title game, Butch Dill, Kirk Herbstreit

Latimes.com

Mount Field National Park

Taken at Mount Falls National Park, just on top of the falls themselves.

Exif: ISO 100, /22, 6 secs.

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landscape

water

falls

creek

river

rainforest

mount

national park

Mount Falls National Park, Mount Field National ParkTaken

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january skies

the sunsets of winter can really be spectacular.

Friday, January 6, 2012
Three Oaks Recreation Area
Crystal Lake, Illinois

Lumix DMC-GH1
Lumix DMW-MA1 4/3 lens adapter
Olympus 9-18mm f/4-5.6 ED wide-angle zoom

ISO 200 -- 12mm -- f/4.3 -- 1/125

CI-2012-01-06-GH1-CL-272

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3x4

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2012

2012-01-06

America

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blue

CI-2012-01-06-GH1-CL

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cloudy

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Contemplative Imaging

Crystal Lake

day

digital

dramatic

evening

Friday

horizon

IL

ILL

Illinois

image

images

imaging

January

Lippold Park

LUM-GH1

marsh

McHenry County

midwest

midwestern

natural

nature

orange

park

photo

photography

photos

Ron Zack

sky

skyscape

suburb

suburban

sunny

sunset

town

twilight

USA

warm

winter

yellow

violet
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January 5th - 2012

The rain finally stopped yesterday and I was downtown and happen to have my camera. the light was nice last night. I set the WB on cloudy to give some warmth to the photo.

Vancouver, BC
grant mattice photo

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nikon

flickr

grant mattice images

falsecreek harbour

january 2012
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Juliet

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juliet

daughter

water

blue

florida

2011
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ann-marie calilhanna-nye celebration@ mca rooftop_173

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photographer: Ann-Marie Calihanna
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PARIS—French consumer confidence remains at recession-time lows, data showed Thursday, just as President Nicolas Sarkozy plans to push through an increase in sales tax ahead of elections in the spring.

Statistics agency Insee recorded consumer confidence at 80 in December. Confidence among households in the euro zone's second-largest economy hasn't been this low since October 2008, at the height of the financial crisis just after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, and in the middle of a deep recession in France.

Consumer spending, which accounts for well over half of the French economy, is also weak. It fell 0.1% in November, Insee said Wednesday. And the statistics agency now expects France to have entered another recession spanning the last quarter of 2011 and the first three months of this year.

The crumbling in consumer confidence couldn't come at a worse time for Mr. Sarkozy, who is trailing Socialist candidate François Hollande in polls ahead of elections in less than four months' time. With the county's triple-A rating threatened with a two-notch downgrade by Standard & Poor's Investors Service, Mr. Sarkozy has little-to-no room to spend his way out of recession and reverse the rise in unemployment.

The French president, who is widely expected to stand for re-election, is trying to turn things around with a last-minute reform to cut fixed levies paid by employers and employees and plug the revenue gap with a VAT increase.

The government hopes this will help protect jobs, stem the flow of cheap, imported goods into France, and boost the competitiveness of home-grown production.

But with consumer confidence so low, Mr. Sarkozy risks further angering voters. He has already increased the reduced level of VAT in the latest round of austerity. The Socialists are firmly against the idea of a 'social-VAT,' which they describe as antisocial, saying it helps business owners while hurting consumers.

And a majority of French people are opposed to VAT increases to fund cuts in charges paid by employers. According to a survey of 1,011 French people carried out Jan. 3 and 4 by polling institute CSA, 64% of French people are against the idea and only 8% are completely in favor.

Write to William Horobin at William.Horobin@dowjones.com
Online.wsj.com

Harbor

Dubrovnik, Croatia

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Croatia

spring

2011

dubrovnik

harbor

boat

maya

bella

maya bella

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photography

canon eos 450d
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Sunset at Big Sur

A beautiful sunset at Big Sur, just off of Highway 1.

Best viewed on black, press L

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sunset

big sur

plant

silhoutte

california

usa

nikon

d90

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pacific highway
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