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Welcome to mimulusevolution.org
This website provides access to genomic resources in the monkeyflower genus Mimulus (Phrymaceae), a popular model for the study of plant evolution. These resources include Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs), Bacterial Artifical Chromosome (BAC) clones and libraries, seeds from wild populations and permanent mapping populations, genetic markers, and integrated genetic and physical maps.
This website is open for comments. Please email: help --at-- mimulusevolution [dot] org
What's New
25 February 2010
• The Mimulus guttatus genome is now available at Phytozome. You can browse or BLAST the genome, as well as download the assembly and annotation.
31 August 2009
• Replaced ESTWise graphic with user friendly text on Marker Results Page.
06 June 2009
• Added Mimulus guttatus build 7 (JGI Consensus Sequence) to the database.
• Added Email Request Tracking System to keep track of user comments and help requests.
11 May 2009
• Mimulus lewisii STS markers and unigenes have been added for querying and blasting.
01 May 2009
• Added multiple genetic maps viewable by CMap. Access via the "Maps and Markers" tab. Download the latest genetic maps via the "Downloads" tab.
• Updated Downloads directory.
28 May 2008
• If you start noticing the site getting better and more enriched, it's because I'm working hard on updating it, making necessary changes and integrating a Chado version of our Mimulus data. Keep the suggestions pouring in! Email me, I'm Jason, [japhill email unc edu]
24 Apr 2008
• Download Mimulus Data. This is mimulus data in a raw format. Follow this link to public data and within there you can go to our password protected folders to access even more data. Read the readmes and you will find maps, annotations, scaffolds, BACs, BAC ends...etc. Click Here!
8 Nov 2006
• SNP positions:
SNP positions can now be viewed after searching by marker name
• Phytome unigene link:
Unigenes are now linked to Phytome (Plant Comparative Genomics Resource)
19 June 2006
First public release of data.
• Gene sequences:
8026 unigenes (build 6, 17-Nov-2005) based on 12511 floral ESTs, which can be browsed, searched using BLAST, and downloaded
• Markers:
859 gene-based markers for genetic and physical mapping, including primer &
overgo sequences for each, and a subset containing sequence polymorphism
data 155 AFLP and 15 SSR legacy markers
• Maps:
M. guttatus IM62 x M. nasutus SF F2N1 genetic linkage map, which contains 310 markers.
CUGI M. guttatus FPC map (release 3, 22 May 2006), including 4442 HICF contigs for 56624 BACs


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Week 52 of 52 (We done!)
820 NW 85th St
(between N 8th Ave & N Dibble Ave)
Seattle, WA 98117
(206) 782-9690
Monday-Sunday: 11:00am — 2:00am
Special Nights: Wed. is trivia night; Thursday is taco night (3 tacos for $2)
Rank: 3.5/5 (bonus for wow factor)
Type of Establishment: The definition of bar. A great little neighborhood spot, complete with iffy food, lots of can beer, pool tables and arcade games.
Visit: A forced night of new bar visitation — to complete the 52 Weeks collection. It was a Wednesday, and we followed this up with visits to local icons, Crown Hill Pub, Goofy's and the T-Bird Tavern.
Beers on Tap (at time of visit):
All I can say is "What the F&*%?!" They are pouring Deschutes The Abyss and New Belgium La Folie! Read more below:
Deschutes The Abyss (Imperial Stout)
New Belgium La Folie (Sour Flemish Red)
Rogue Dead Guy
Bud Light
and a mess of other microbrews that I cannot remember because I was in awe of the Abyss……
Bottle List:
They have a lot of beer in cans and a few in the bottle. Think of the NW regulars: PBR, Ranier Ale, Olympia, Miller High Life and add Guiness, Strongbow, Bud Light, Bud, Stella and Pacifico. Nothing exciting.
Food Options:
Its an inviting, yet expected menu. Lou's is sporting a number of sandwiches and BBQ options. Check out the menu by visiting this link.
We opted to explore their wings, which are reasonably priced at $4.50 per 6 (I opted for the $9 dozen, with both sauces), the reuben and the pile of nachos.
We won't lie — none of it was great. In fact, the reuben got an incredibly bad response. The wings were too small to be considered actual chicken wings. I believe they were taken from a cornish hen. Not enough meat to soak up what was an otherwise yummy sauce. The nachos were ok, i guess. But who the hell can mess up nachos.
Luckily its cheap enough to not bother you. From 4-6 PM, they sport a $4 happy hour that features wings, quesadillas and mini-burgers. That might be the way to go.
Bar Opinion:
This article is all about random opportunity. Its the story of 3 unsuspecting men coming along to find the deal of a century.
Sweet Lou's is a little bar on the crosshairs of Crown Hill, Greenwood and Northgate. Its the former location of the Sundowner, a frightening abyss of drunken madness that scared many a patron away. Now, its been taken over by former industry folks who turned it into a welcoming, yet still dark, bar with an inviting menu and beer selection.
Sweet Lou's is decorated with the photos of many famous Lous of lore. Think Lou Reed, Lou Pinella, and Lou Gehrig. They offer about 10 taps and a menu of your typical pub offerings. You can eat crappy food and drink crappy beer — sounds like a dive.
But, I'm not going to be too hard on Lou's. In fact, I loved our visit. Excluding the food, the aura and layout is great. They have billiards and a few arcades, a lot of space, sufficient bar seating and outdoor patio space. During our visit, they also had some trivia. Though a group of 12 year olds might have dominated the game (really easy), its still good entertainment for your Wednesday.
But why were we in love? The Abyss. Its funny that I called Sundowners an "abyss." Because today, our minds were blown by the fact that Sweet Lou's found a way to have the Abyss on tap. Beyond that they served it in a pint glass (holy shit) and charged us $4.25! If anyone at Brouwers, Uber, Collins or Naked City is reading this — I am serious. I would expect to never get more than a 10oz pour of this beer. For that 10oz, I would pay somewhere between $6-$8. That is not to be debated. So, I think you can all see why our minds were blown — and why we had several.
On top of the Abyss, they were also pouring New Belgium's delicious La Folie. Same rules apply to this amazing beer — 16oz pours are available.
While you might not get any of the perks that we encountered, Sweet Lou's is worth a visit for the shock factor. Who knows what you might find next? Sweet Lou's has an excellent connection with beer distributors that makes the chance of finding a special beer less a risk.
Stop by and check it out. Be cautious when you order. Keep the expectations low and you will have a blast!
Filed under: 52 Weeks: 52 new places, in the 52 weeks of 2010., Seattle, US, The Grog Spot Tagged: greenwood bar, La Folie, Seattle beer bar, seattle dive bar, Sweet Lou's, the abyss

subset: commoncrawl


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PinWall Responsive tempalate is a simple, clean and professional template suitable for any business or portfolio. Appearance is based on the service pinterest. PinWall tempalate is created by using the latest HTML5 and CSS3 techniques. With a responsive design it great work with any device (desktops, tablets, smartphones, etc).
Main Features:
- Responsive HTML5 and CSS3 tableless design
- Pinterest style
- Facebook Open Graph ready
- Contact Form in Header
- jQuery enhanced:
- Slider
- Portfolio filtering
- jCarousel
- Support for custom HTML5 media
- Easy to use Google Maps (gMap v3)
- Fancybox (jQuery Lightbox clone)
- Widgets
- Latest tweets
- Latest Flickr images
- Ajax Contact form
- CSS -based dropdown navigation
- Page Templates:
- Home
- About
- Categories
- Single Post
- Project View
- Portfolio (multiple versions)
- Single Project
- Contact
- All files are well commented
- Crossbrowser compatible
- Tested on iPhone & iPad
- A/B Tested
- Google Maps API V3 (CC BY-SA 3.0)
- Isotope (Commercial License)
- Fancybox (Multi Domain License)
- Wilto Carousel (MIT License)
- Flexslider (GPLv2 License)


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Many changes could be on the horizon for president.
Obama's regulators arrived in January 2009 with a laundry list of priorities they have largely achieved—a version of network neutrality called the "Open Internet" rule; more spectrum for wireless broadband networks; subsidies for those who don't yet have broadband access; and limits on how much telecom companies can charge for access to high-speed lines.
The second term will fill in the few blanks left by the first term, probably with new leadership at the Federal Communications Commission. At the same time, industry leaders and regulators want to ease the transition from the current hybrid analog-digital telecom system to a digital Internet Protocol-based system run on fiber-optic lines. "What FCC will do next is try to figure out how to have a rational IP transition, just as we had a digital television transition," says Blair Levin, a former FCC official whose name has been mentioned as a possible chairman.
This transition could update the 1996 Telecom Act, which would give legislators a chance to contest the FCC's Open Internet plan. Already, courts are poised to rule that the administration cannot impose network neutrality by fiat. So Democrats in Congress (urged on by the alliance of consumer watchdog groups and Internet companies that fended off the copyright legislation known as SOPA and PIPA) will try to enshrine neutrality into law. Standing alone, the effort would probably fail in the House. But GOP members might agree to net neutrality for the sake of broader deregulation. They don't want broadband regulated under existing telecom laws; if they're exempted, the big providers will have a freer hand in building and managing fiber networks.
Meanwhile, the 2011 American Invents Act, a patent law, needs a raft of technical corrections that could reignite issues that the measure was meant to settle. One correction would tighten rules for challenging patent grants, and would make life more difficult for companies that amass patent portfolios for the sake of suing infringers. These nonpracticing entities, sometimes called "patent trolls," will look to avoid corrections that frustrate their business practices. Regulators frustrated by this trend have begun to see antitrust problems in the intellectual-property arena. The Federal Trade Commission, for instance, is planning to sue Google (probably this year) for restricting access to key smartphone patents. Another antitrust suit (moving more slowly through the system) could charge Google with hurting competitors by favoring its own search results.
Democrats and Republicans in Congress have also failed to agree on cybersecurity. Should they enforce minimum security standards on critical digital networks owned by private firms—or permit companies to create their own cybersecurity guidelines? Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has pledged to bring up the issue in the lame-duck session, but if nothing happens, the administration will likely issue an executive order late this year or early next.


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STAMFORD, Conn. — Beetle Bailey was known to be a lazy Army private, but the creator of the popular comic strip is getting accolades from top military brass and others as he celebrates his 90th birthday.
Mort Walker is receiving good wishes from Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Dolly Parton and even Prince Albert II of Monaco.
Walker's birthday is Sept. 3. He lives in Stamford, Conn.
He told The Associated Press in 2010 as the comic strip marked its 60th anniversary that he would continue with his creation until he's no longer able.
The comic strip featuring Beetle Bailey, Sarge and his dog, Otto, Gen. Amos Halftrack and Miss Buxley has more than 200 million readers in 52 countries.


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Google Sidewiki will close effective 5 December 2011 and all content will be deleted. Sidewiki was a web annotation experiment of sorts, allowing anyone with access to the internet to comment on any web page, in an ad hoc sort of way.
Demise of another Google Labs project
Google Sidewiki seemed to have a relatively small cadre of regular users. It was initially received with anticipation, and from some surprising sources. According to pharma industry analyst Dominic Tyer, in his coverage of the closure:
Sidewiki was briefly a big deal for pharma…it caused at least one over enthusiastic pharma commentator to declare it a "game changer" at launch two years ago.
Google Sidewiki was plagued by spam and extraneous content from the beginning. Google itself did not seem to stand behind the project as much as with other Labs, as the Google Sidewiki Twitter account and Google Buzz feed were not updated after July 2010, despite remaining online. Google+ is much more closely aligned with the direction Google seems to be taking for social and collaborative web interaction lately.
How to export your Sidewiki contributions
You can do this as follows:
- Sign in to your Google account
- Go to All my entries to see all Sidewiki content that you have created
- Save the page to your computer. It will be in a *.zip file format.
- Check that the saved page is readable
There is also a Google Toolbar Help Center article about removing Sidewiki for those who don't use Chrome browser, but it hasn't been updated since September 2011.
Chrome Extension for Sidewiki
If you use the Sidewiki Chrome extension, see these Help Center instructions which are up-to-date, about how to remove it.
In order to keep your Sidewiki contributions you must export them before 5 December 2011.


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(A short sabbatical is in order - So, for the next few weeks, we'll take a look back at some older posts: This one is from 2011 on grave-witching.)
|18th Century Dowser
Regardless of what you call it, divining, witching, dowsing or rhabdomancy - the interest in this ancient art is growing.
Grave dowsing has caught the attention of genealogists around the world as a way to locate the unmarked graves of ancestors. It can also be utilized to help locate lost burial grounds, find pioneer cemeteries, and uncover the burial grounds of Native Americans.
|Y Branch
Witching, divining or dowsing has been used for centuries to locate water, oil, caves, precious metals, artifacts and treasure. Cave paintings depicting dowsing have been found in France, Spain and the Middle East.
Pharaohs were buried with dowsing tools and etchings on how the tools were used have been found on the walls of their tombs. Dowsing is mentioned in the Old Testament. The Greek poet Homer referred to dowsing as Rhabdomancy – meaning divining rod in Greek. Dowsing with a pendulum was popular in ancient Greece. In the 1700 and 1800's. Europeans used forked branches to locate water and ore deposits. The U.S. military used dowsers in the Viet Nam War to locate land mines and hidden tunnels. The British military had dowsers on the Falkland Islands to help locate unexploded ordnances.
|De Vinci
There were times in history when dowsers were considered to be witches, or evil. The Catholic Church assisted in this rumor by declaring that the devil was involved, giving dowsers 'special powers.' Dowsing fell from favor and went underground during the 1500's and 1600's. Victorians revived an awareness of it with their interest in the mystical and spiritual. Many well-known people were dowsers including Leonardo De Vinci, Robert Boyle, Otto Edler von Graeve and Albert Einstein.
|L Rods
The actual skill of dowsing is not hard to learn. L rods are easy to use and to explain. You can make your own from wire coat hangers. Simple cut off the hook and straighten out the wire. Make a bend about 4 inches in on the wire to create an L shape. The smaller part of the L will be the handle. Create another and you have two L rods.
|L rods held out
Stand normally, hands at your side. Raise your arms to bend naturally at your elbows, with your forearms parallel to the ground. Hold each rod straight out. The rods should be held lightly in your hands. Do not place your thumbs over the bend in the rods. Now begin walking slowly and calmly toward the area you wish to test. When you step on a grave the rods should cross or swing apart. When you step off the grave, the rods should uncross or swing back to their former positions. Before you attempt to go into uncharted territory to divine graves, get your feet wet. Take your rods to a cemetery and practice the art of dowsing there.
Many dowsing books and articles mention that cemeteries in the U.S. are usually laid out with heads pointing west and feet pointing east. Supposedly this will aid you in identifying the gender of the body. I have been in countless cemeteries where this is not the case. While it may have begun in that manner, through the centuries, especially in large cemeteries, the bodies have been buried with the lay of the land. Regardless, working your way from north to south will help you create an organized search route and may be able to determine the width of the cemetery.
|Counting Steps
Once you get familiar with the rods, you may want to try to identify age and gender. Age can be guessed at by the length of the body. Count your steps lengthwise along the body. A general rule of thumb is 1 or 2 steps for an infant, 3 or 4 steps for a child, 5, 6 or 7 steps for an adult.
|...indicates a female.
For gender, there are several methods. An easy one is to push one rod in the ground at the center of a grave. Step back away from the grave and reapproach the grave with the remaining rod in one hand, out in front of you. A swing to the left indicates a female; to the right is a male. You can attempt to verify by approaching the grave from the other end and see if the verdict is the same. (This is why practicing in a cemetery is useful – The stones will verify what you've found out. Try different methods in order to discover what really works for you.) Also remember, dowsing rods can also pick up on cremated bodies and animal remains
|Dowsing Forms
|Albert Einstein
Be skeptical, if you like. After all, many consider this to be based on folklore, superstition, placing dowsers in the same category as charlatans and with doctors. Albert Einstein explained dowsing as a way of using the human senses to perceive something that is "unknown to us at this time." And since he had a good grasp on things being 'relative,' I can buy that!
To learn more about dowsing visit these web sites:
International Society of Dowsers http://www.dowsingworks.com/
American Society of Dowsers http://www.dowsers.org/
Appalachian Dowsers http://www.wncdowsers.org/
British Dowsers http://www.britishdowsers.org/
Canadian Society of Dowsers http://www.canadiandowsers.org/
~ Joy


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11-Year-Old Zachary Maxwell's Hidden Camera Documentary Exposes School Lunch
It's the documentary that audiences and film critics are eating up.
In a covert six-month mission to expose the inside world of school lunches, 11-year-old Zachary Maxwell made "Yuck: A 4th Grader's Documentary About School Lunch" when he was a fourth-grader at a New York City public school.
Armed with hidden cameras, the precocious filmmaker went undercover to document dozens of lunches he was served at school.
During Zachary's investigation, he compared descriptions of lunch items on the school-provided menu with secretly recorded video of what he was actually being served.
"It sounded like it was coming from the finest restaurant, but what we were actually getting served, it wasn't too good," Zachary told ABC News.
His 19-minute movie has already been featured at film festivals this year, and will be shown in the Manhattan Film Festival June 21, something the now fifth-grader is quite proud of.
"I think it's a lot cooler than just watching it on a little TV screen," Zachary said on "Good Morning America" this morning in response to how it feels having his documentary become so successful. "And also watching with an audience on a big screen is really cool. Because when they laugh when they're supposed to laugh, it's the best feeling ever."
The New York City Department of Education visited Zachary's school after his film began circulating and says officials, "Provide students with healthy and delicious school meals that are low in fat, sodium and calories and we currently have more than 1,000 salad bars in our schools to provide more healthful options to students."
Zachary's father, CJ Maxwell, who helped the budding filmmaker put this documentary together, says he couldn't be prouder of his son, a student at Public School 130 in the Little Italy section of Manhattan.
"I think that he showed a lot of little spunk and spirit and we encouraged him to keep at it," Maxwell said.
Zachary admits while he was working on his undercover documentary, he was worried he'd get in trouble.
"Every day I was nervous I'd get in trouble, or worse, get suspended," he said.
But that hasn't stopped Zachary from continuing his behind-the-camera efforts. He's now working on a personal project about his fifth-grade class, he says, "Because we're all going to middle school our separate ways, so we have the memory of each other."
After he gets to middle school, Zachary said, he also has future plans for a documentary about "adolescence, puberty, and what middle school girls think about guys with braces."
"When I grow up," he said, laughing, "I want to be a big-shot filmmaker."


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PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (AP) – A military firefighting plane from Colorado will help battle wildfires burning in the Pacific Northwest.
A C-130 cargo plane from Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs was sent to Boise, Idaho on Wednesday. It will replace a C-130 from the North Carolina Air National Guard that's returning home.
Another C-130 from the Wyoming Air National Guard has also been fighting fires in the Northwest and will remain in Boise.
The military has a total of eight C-130s in four states that are equipped with a large device called the Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System, or MAFFS. They can drop 3,000 gallons of water or fire retardant in less than five seconds. They can only be used when all other contracted firefighting aircraft are busy.
Wildfire Resources
– Visit CBSDenver.com's Wildfire Resources section.
– Read recent Wildfire stories.
Wildfire Photo Galleries
– See images from the most destructive wildfires (Black Forest, Waldo Canyon, High Park and Fourmile) and largest wildfire (Hayman) in Colorado history.
(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)


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AAA(redirected from aneurysm)
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.
Related to aneurysm: stroke, aortic aneurysm, abdominal aortic aneurysm, Brain Aneurysm
The highest bond rating by S&P and Fitch. A rating of AAA is considered to carry virtually no risk; U.S. Treasury securities, for example, always receive the AAA rating. A bond with an AA is investment-grade, meaning that banks are allowed to hold them. AA bonds are low risk and low return. The rating is equivalent of an Aaa rating by Moody's.
The highest grade assigned to a debt obligation by a rating agency. It indicates an unusually strong capacity to pay interest and repay principal. Also called triple A.


text: DescriptionFrom GPS navigation to music, our smartphones are packed with some pretty handy features for the road, but driving with one in your hand is downright dangerous. Designed with six powerful magnets, this car air vent mount keeps your phone secure while your hands stay on the wheel. Just stick the included metal plates on your phone or its case, and it's ready to safely attach to the mount. The mount is rated to fit most air vents and a wide range of smartphones, and it can rotate up to 360°, giving you the perfect viewing angle.


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Hot Springs, Marshall and Mars Hill
Scenic mountain towns in Madison County that soothe and exciteBy Karen Olson House
Hot Springs
Stretching from Georgia through Maine, the Appalachian Trail is no place for sissies. Boot soles peel off, backpack straps break, cooking stoves leak gas. Wanderlust turns into "wonder lust" as you search in vain for the trail. Not to mention those prickly encounters with porcupines or black bear.
Even without these surprises, trail life is challenging. Blisters rub, backs ache and legs burn at the mere sight of yet another switchback. Fantasies of hot baths torture and stomachs growl for impractical treats. It's no wonder A.T. hikers visibly relax when they walk into Hot Springs. The trail goes right through the town's main thoroughfare, not that A.T. hikers would miss the opportunity to enjoy a trail town as well-liked and counted upon as this one.
Scenic Hot Springs has long soothed those seeking comfort and pleasure. Its carbonated spring water is famous for its mineral content and healing properties, and starting in 1832, a succession of fancy resort hotels catered to the wealthy here. Fortunately for those with lighter purse strings, the town today offers restaurants and lodging that cover rich and poor.
Eatin' and shoppin'
As befitting a trail town, you can easily walk to nearly everything. The Smoky Mountain Diner is the place to score a hot, sit-down breakfast — it's revered for its generous portions and berry cobblers. Folks also like Spring Creek Tavern's hamburgers, craft beers and live music. Eat on its porch, if possible, and take the time to swing the old-time dangle successfully onto the hook out there. Sweet Imaginations serves tempting deli sandwiches, frozen yogurt, brownie sundaes and other ice cream treats. Dinner is open to the public at Mountain Magnolia Inn, and like the inn, the Ironhorse Station Restaurant serves fresh, organic fare in a hospitable atmosphere.
For outdoor gear and tips on local trails, go to Bluff Mountain Outfitters (152 Bridge St.). Ironhorse Station's complex includes ArtiSun Gallery and Marketplace (50 S. Andrews St.), a warm, pleasing space with a wine shop, coffee bar and artisan jewelry, fiber art, photography, wood working and pottery. Then stroll over to Harvest Moon Gallery & Gift Shop (81 Bridge St.), which sells a mix of art, antiques, vintage goods, records and tie-dyed clothing, and Hazelwood House Gift Shop (50 S. Spring St.), where you can browse more traditional arts and crafts such as teddy bears, dolls and rocking chairs.
The springs
Hot Springs Resort and Spa has modern, secluded Jacuzzi-style hot tubs in wooden outdoor decks along Spring Creek and French Broad River. It pipes the springs' mineral water into the tubs, which are sanitized and drained after each use. Prices start at $13 per hour, depending on tub, time and person-count. Open daily into late evening. For tub reservations, call (828) 622-7676.
The resort is located on 100 acres. In addition to luxury suites it has eight primitive camping cabins, RV sites and more than a 100 tent sites. Other town accommodations include $15 a night hostels (Laughing Heart Lodge), inn rooms and cottage and cabin rentals. For more information, visit hotspringsnc.org.
Annual Events
Trailfest, Friday-Sunday, April 19–21
It celebrates hiking in particular but also bicycling, skateboarding and river rafting. Festivities kick off with an inexpensive spaghetti dinner, and end with pancakes, a float trip, and family soccer. Other activities: music, a 5k run, chili cookoff, bonfire, talent contest, nature craft demo, Hula Hoop workshop, duck race and morning yoga. (828) 622-9575 or www.hsclc.org/newsevents/trailfest.html
French Broad River Festival, Friday-Sunday, May 3–5
Live music, mountain bike and whitewater raft racing. Arts and crafts and kids' village with facepainting, games and storytelling. www.frenchbroadriverfestival.com
Quaint, historic Marshall (pop. around 870) is perched over the wide French Broad River. Despite the surrounding green topography, it can feel like an old western town. Townfolk hold spirited community events, including dancing and cakewalks, along with country, bluegrass and mountain music, in its restored train depot. Step inside there and ask the oldtimers what's next on tap, then relax on its back deck overlooking the river. Also on Main Street: the Madison County Courthouse; Good Stuff, a combination music venue/beer hall/wine bar/restaurant; Lapland Bookshop, which sells gently used and new books and handcrafts from its storybook cottage; artsy Zuma's Coffee; and (of all things) a tattoo museum that features extraordinary photographs, artifacts and books. On French Broad Fridays, downtown businesses stay open late, with festivities and special restaurant menus, for kids of all ages.
Annual Events
They include a mermaid parade (June 7), "Bike-A-Licious" (July 12), and "Dog Daze" (August 9).
Mars Hill
Mars Hill is the home of Mars Hill College, founded originally as the French Broad Baptist Institute in 1856. The name became Mars Hill College, inspired by Acts 17:22 in the Bible (King James Version) that said "Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill and said, 'Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious." Visitors like its charming campus, which features beautiful stone buildings and artful landscaping. The Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre holds performances at Owen Theatre there. SART's six-show season begins in June and runs through August (828-689-1384 or www.sartplays.org).
Other worthy stops: Main Street Deli, Papa Nick's Pizza (15 College Street) and Fiddlestix, which sells antiques, locally built furniture and other crafts (37 Library St.).
Annual events
Madison County Heritage Festival, Saturday, Oct. 5
Crafts, live music and food, held on Main Street, College Street and the college's quad.
Outdoor fun
This area is a mecca for outdoor enthusiasts, offering awe-inspiring hiking, river rafting (several businesses in Hot Springs and Marshall), horseback riding (Sandy Bottom Trail Rides in Marshall), guided llama treks (Marshall), disc golf (at Mars Hill College's campus and at Blanahassett Island, a park in Marshall). If you fish, opportunities abound in active fishing streams, creeks and rivers. Wild trout fishing is open all year and hatchery supported streams open in April. StreamSide Experience (Hot Springs) schedules half and full-day guided fly fishing trips.


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Monroe College's Bronx campus is an ideal urban campus located in the bustling Fordham section.
Located in downtown New Rochelle, the Monroe College New Rochelle campus is nestled in a diverse, thriving suburban community in Westchester County.
Located on the Vide Boutielle Highway, Monroe College's St. Lucia campus offers a practical education designed to give students a competitive edge in the workplace.
2019-2020 Active Military Tuition and Fees


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Apparently a business plan consists of more than forecast figures we've plucked out our bottoms, and some high level grand ideas about organising guided walks and afternoon teas. Unsurprising really, and more than naive of us to assume that was all commercial lenders would need. We've been wittering on about our enthusiasm, passion and general bonhomie but you might question (and someone has) if that alone is going to deliver a return on investment.
Now this isn't high finance, it's not even a small start-up, however it IS a business, and we cannot defend our position when friends accuse us of retiring if we are approaching this the same way a retired couple might. Nor can we moan about lenders not funding us based on our overall determination and passion, when we have provided them with little evidence (bar figures that we've found in aforementioned parts of our anatomy) that we can pay them back the money we are asking to borrow.
We can, by the way, I'm sure of it…. but I'm beginning to understand how it might look otherwise. Now we know that Porthminster View is in an enviable location, with phenomenal views, and lots of potential, we just need to show the lenders that.
This weekend Danny is off to the Big Chill festival… and while he is dancing in a field I will be ordering take away and getting down and dirty with the SWOT analysis and cash flow forecasts. Am I secretly looking forward to it? Yes, I think I am, for a couple of reasons (1) this is something I really really want, and if that means spending a weekend writing a business plan so be it (2) we need to know if we can pull this thing off. Maybe, just maybe, this is why guesthouses are being repossessed up and down the country? Not because the industry is bottoming out (soaring UK tourism statistics would suggest otherwise), but because people forget that this really is a business, as nice as it is it's still real money, and real banks, with real consequences.
It's surprisingly easy to talk about £hundreds of thousands without ever really grasping what this means; even if I think of it as my annual salary x 7 it still doesn't really hit home. It's money we'll never see, loaned out by people we'll never meet, and paid back by banks we'll never visit. For us however it's not just a business, it's a lifestyle, it's a massive change, it's an opportunity to build a life together. However, while that might be all we need and all we want, I doubt that's a good enough argument to make it past the Dragon's Den panel of lenders.
So… I like to think that this blog follows the very good advice provided by a friend – it is positive, yet realistic. We'll see what happens on Saturday, you may yet find me on http://www.callthisabusinessplan.com.


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LOS ANGELES — I CAN'T help it. Every few weeks, my wife mentions the latest book her book club is reading, and no matter what it is, whether I've read it or not, I offer an opinion of the work, based entirely on ... what, exactly? Often, these are books I've not even read a review or essay about, yet I freely hold forth on the grandiosity of Cheryl Strayed or the restrained sentimentality of Edwidge Danticat. These data motes are gleaned, apparently, from the ether — or, more realistically, from various social media feeds.
What was Solange Knowles's elevator attack on Jay-Z about? I didn't watch the security-camera video on TMZ — it would have taken too long — but I scrolled through enough chatter to know that Solange had scrubbed her Instagram feed of photos of her sister, Beyoncé. How about this season of "Game of Thrones" and that nonconsensual intercourse in the crypt? I don't watch the show, but I've scanned the recaps on Vulture.com, and I am prepared to argue that this was deeply offensive. Is Pope Francis a postmodern pontiff? I've never listened to one of his homilies nor watched his recent "60 Minutes" appearance, but I've seen plenty of his @Pontifex tweets retweeted, so I'm ready to say his position on inequality and social justice is remarkably progressive.
It's never been so easy to pretend to know so much without actually knowing anything. We pick topical, relevant bits from Facebook, Twitter or emailed news alerts, and then regurgitate them. Instead of watching "Mad Men" or the Super Bowl or the Oscars or a presidential debate, you can simply scroll through someone else's live-tweeting of it, or read the recaps the next day. Our cultural canon is becoming determined by whatever gets the most clicks.
In his 1987 book "Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know," E. D. Hirsch Jr. listed 5,000 essential concepts and names — 1066, Babbitt, Pickwickian — that educated people should be familiar with. (Or at least that's what I believe he wrote, not having actually read the book.) Mr. Hirsch's book, along with its contemporary "The Closing of the American Mind" by Allan Bloom, made the point that cultural literacy — Mr. Bloom's canon — was the bedrock of our agreed-upon values.
What we all feel now is the constant pressure to know enough, at all times, lest we be revealed as culturally illiterate. So that we can survive an elevator pitch, a business meeting, a visit to the office kitchenette, a cocktail party, so that we can post, tweet, chat, comment, text as if we have seen, read, watched, listened. What matters to us, awash in petabytes of data, is not necessarily having actually consumed this content firsthand but simply knowing that it exists — and having a position on it, being able to engage in the chatter about it. We come perilously close to performing a pastiche of knowledgeability that is really a new model of know-nothingness.
NPR's April Fools' Day web story "Why Doesn't America Read Anymore?" went viral on Facebook, where pranksters in on the joke linked to the piece and others then argued that they do too read and indignantly shared the link with exhortations to "read the story!" without actually clicking on it themselves to see that the only content was the revelation that the whole thing was a prank: "We sometimes get the sense that some people are commenting on NPR stories that they haven't actually read. If you are reading this, please like this post and do not comment on it. Then let's see what people have to say about this 'story.' "
According to a recent survey by the American Press Institute, nearly six in 10 Americans acknowledge that they do nothing more than read news headlines — and I know this only because I skimmed a Washington Post headline about the survey. After we've skimmed, we share. Commenters frequently start their posts with TL;DR — short for Too Long; Didn't Read — and then proceed to offer an opinion on the subject at hand anyway. As Tony Haile, the chief executive of the web traffic analytics company Chartbeat, recently put it, "We've found effectively no correlation between social shares and people actually reading." (He tweeted that.)
It's not lying, exactly, when we nod knowingly at a cocktail party or over drinks when a colleague mentions a movie or book that we have not actually seen or read, nor even read a review of. There is a very good chance that our conversational partner may herself be simply repeating the mordant observations of someone in her timeline or feed. The entire in-person exchange is built from a few factoids netted in the course of a day's scanning of iPhone apps. Who wants to be the Luddite who slows everything down by admitting he has never actually read a Malcolm Gladwell book and maybe doesn't exactly understand what is meant by the term "Gladwellian" — though he occasionally uses it himself?
Whenever anyone, anywhere, mentions anything, we must pretend to know about it. Data has become our currency. (And in the case of Bitcoin, a classic example of something that we all talk about but nobody actually seems to understand, I mean that literally.)
Those of us in the business of gathering, dispensing and otherwise trafficking in information may be among the worst offenders. Recently I was on the phone with an editor who mentioned a piece by a prominent author. I claimed I had read the story. It was only later in the conversation that it became clear to me that the article had not yet been published and I could not possibly have read it. By then we had moved on to discussing a possible article on a California politician caught in a rather complicated scandal. Neither of us could come up with his first name. Did that prevent us from talking pseudo-knowledgably about the pros and cons of the potential story? Absolutely not.
It's understandable that one party or even both parties in a conversation may have only the faintest idea of what is being talked about. We're all very busy — busier, if I believe the harried responses (when there are any at all) to most emails I send, than any previous generation. And because we spend so much time staring at our phones and screens, texting and tweeting about how busy we are, we no longer have the time to consume any primary material. We rely instead on the casual observations of our "friends" or the people we "follow" or, well, who, actually?
Who decides what we know, what opinions we see, what ideas we are repurposing as our own observations? Algorithms, apparently, as Google, Facebook, Twitter and the rest of the social media postindustrial complex rely on these complicated mathematical tools to determine what we are actually reading and seeing and buying.
We have outsourced our opinions to this loop of data that will allow us to hold steady at a dinner party, though while you and I are ostensibly talking about "The Grand Budapest Hotel," what we are actually doing, since neither of us has seen it, is comparing social media feeds. Does anyone anywhere ever admit that he or she is completely lost in the conversation? No. We nod and say, "I've heard the name," or "It sounds very familiar," which usually means we are totally unfamiliar with the subject at hand.
THERE was a time when we knew where we were getting our ideas. In my eighth grade English class, we were assigned "A Tale of Two Cities," and lest we enjoy the novel, we were instructed to read Charles Dickens's classic with an eye toward tracking the symbolism in the text. One afternoon while I was in the library, struggling to find symbols, I ran into a few of my classmates, who removed from their pockets folded yellow and black pamphlets that read "Cliffs Notes" and beneath that the title of Dickens's novel in block letters. That "study guide" was a revelation.
Here were the plot, the characters, even the symbols, all laid out in paragraphs and bullet points. I read the Cliffs Notes in one night, and wrote my B paper without finishing the novel. The lesson was not to immerse and get lost in the actual cultural document itself but to mine it for any valuable ore and minerals — data, factoids, what you need to know — and then trade them on the open market.
With the advent of each new technology — movable type, radio, television, the Internet — there have been laments that the end is nigh for illuminated manuscripts, for books, magazines and newspapers. What is different now is the ubiquity of the technology that is replacing every old medium.
The information is everywhere, a constant feed in our hands, in our pockets, on our desktops, our cars, even in the cloud. The data stream can't be shut off. It pours into our lives a rising tide of words, facts, jokes, GIFs, gossip and commentary that threatens to drown us. Perhaps it is this fear of submersion that is behind this insistence that we've seen, we've read, we know. It's a none-too-convincing assertion that we are still afloat. So here we are, desperately paddling, making observations about pop culture memes, because to admit that we've fallen behind, that we don't know what anyone is talking about, that we have nothing to say about each passing blip on the screen, is to be dead.


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Question Management Vision
|1. The documented form of an imagined thought or concept that represents some desired end state related to the Discipline known as Question Management and which is intended to result from planned and controlled work or change.
Read More
|1) The Semantic Root Noun for this term is: Question
2) Semantically Related Terms: The "Question Management Glossary"
3) The Question Management Home Page covers much more about other related terms and concepts associated with this term or phrase.


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Daniel Fernandez and Joe Losada would normally show up at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building on NW Twelfth Street to testify against the criminals they routinely put behind bars.
But on the morning of February 14, the Miami-Dade County Police detectives found themselves on the flipside of criminal court. They were now defendants confronted with an undercover investigator's incredible testimony.
The Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office accuses 58-year-old Fernandez and 33-year-old Losada of planting evidence, falsifying an arrest affidavit, stealing money, and physically threatening a drug dealer, who, unbeknownst to the pair, was cooperating with internal affairs this past January 12.
Crime Suppression Team
At the time, Fernandez and Losada were assigned to the Northside crime suppression team (CST), an eight-member squad sweeping the streets of Liberty City and other crime-infested neighborhoods for dope holes, drug dealers, and street hustlers. In the hood, the team was known as "jump-out boys" because they employed the elements of surveillance and surprise to capture their criminal prey.
State prosecutors have charged both Fernandez and Losada on felony counts of armed kidnapping, armed burglary, aggravated assault with a firearm, grand theft, and official misconduct. They were also hit with individual criminal mischief misdemeanors. Fernandez and Losada have denied any wrongdoing. "These guys are decorated police officers, not Latin Kings," hisses Fernandez's defense lawyer, Douglas Hartman.
The pair's arrest has battered the criminal justice system, including the prosecution of the man who nearly took Fernandez's life. On February 22, a jury acquitted 48-year-old Rory Durden of shooting Fernandez in the back November 27, 2002. Durden was allegedly protecting a dope hole when he capped Fernandez.
The veteran officer survived, the bullet just missing his spine. The injury won Fernandez Officer of the Year honors and a Purple Heart. But prosecutors were forced to keep the detective off the witness stand as a result of his own indictment. And Durden is not the only character getting a free ride thanks to Fernandez and Losada.
The State Attorney's Office has dropped more than two dozen cases in which Fernandez or Losada was the arresting officer. The U.S. Attorney's Office dismissed an indictment against two alleged drug dealers who were each facing more than 40 years in prison. The Miami-Dade County Public Defender's Office is reviewing closed cases that relied on the testimony of the two decorated cops.
The Miami-Dade Police Department is conducting its own internal review of Fernandez's and Losada's busts during the two years they were on the CST.
The two detectives have been relieved of duty without pay, while the other squad members have been reassigned to desk jobs and uniform patrol pending the outcome of the state attorney's ongoing investigation. State prosecutors and internal affairs detectives are trying to verify unsubstantiated allegations that Fernandez and Losada stole money and planted evidence on other occasions prior to their arrests.
This past Valentine's Day, the duo's bond hearing was a standing-room-only event. Judge Ronald Dresnick's courtroom was packed with family members, friends, and fellow cops there to support the disgraced officers. Television crews from CBS 4 and NBC 6 recorded the proceeding for the evening newscast.
Dominican-born Fernandez was dressed in a gray tweed jacket, navy blue polo, and khaki slacks. Losada, a Hialeah native, sported a navy blue two-piece suit. Fernandez entered the chamber with his wife and three children. Losada was accompanied by his mother and girlfriend. They took their place behind the defendants' table, flanked by their lawyers.
Assistant State Attorney William Altfield called on internal affairs lead Det. Roberto Trujillo, who testified that the police department's professional compliance bureau opened an investigation into the CST after receiving a complaint from 34-year-old Pedro Soler and 41-year-old Rafael Rodriguez that the team had falsely arrested them and stolen their money this past September. Soler, an admitted drug dealer; and Rodriguez, a landlord who owns a known crack house, had agreed to help Trujillo nab the CST.
Internal affairs set up a fake dope hole at one of the rental properties owned by Rodriguez and placed Soler at the scene. Trujillo planted $970 in marked bills inside the house. Hidden cameras set up by internal affairs capture Fernandez confiscating the marked money after the team arrested Soler on the afternoon of January 12. When they arrived back at their station, the two officers turned in only $570. Losada was apprehended with $160 of the marked money in his pocket. Another $200 was found in the visor of the county-issued unmarked truck driven by Losada's sometime partner Ivan Villalobos.
Fernandez and Losada also planted five rocks on Soler and made false statements on his arrest affidavit, Trujillo said.
Altfield implored Dresnick to revoke the detectives' bond. The prosecutor cautioned the judge that Fernandez and Losada were flight risks and that they could try to intimidate state witnesses if allowed to remain free. "Our people fear retaliation," Altfield said, adding that Fernandez and Losada exhibited a "gang mentality."
Douglas Hartman and Susy Ribero-Ayala, the attorneys representing Fernandez and Losada, respectively, took turns poking holes in Trujillo's investigation. They pointed out that internal affairs used hidden cameras but did not plant devices to audio-record the officers' conversation with Soler while he was in custody. Hartman and Ribero-Ayala were laying the groundwork of exposing a key weakness in the state's prosecution: the credibility of Soler and other witnesses with criminal records.
"That's just one of several problems with this case," Hartman opines during a recent interview at his Doral office. "You also have to wonder why Fernandez and Losada were the only team members arrested. I mean, didn't [investigators] find some of the money in Villalobos's truck?"
After nearly two hours of testimony and cross-examination, Dresnick denied Altfield's request to revoke the bond. But the judge didn't do the shamed cops any favors either. He set Fernandez's and Losada's bail at one million dollars apiece, made them surrender their passports, and ordered them to wear electronic ankle monitors.
"I would like a lot of eyes watching these people to prevent them from thinking they can go anywhere," Dresnick advised. "There are a lot of people in this courtroom. I'm sure they can get together and put up the money."
Fernandez and Losada were temporarily taken into custody until they posted bail approximately 24 hours later. However, the two cops had to endure the embarrassment of being led away in handcuffs in front of their family, friends, and peers, some of whom wept. "Keep your head up," shouted one undercover detective.
Since joining the Miami-Dade County Police Department on February 26, 1990, Daniel Fernandez had been assigned to Northside, where he worked his way up from patrol to become one of the district's top detectives. He began his tour with the crime suppression team November 2, 2003.
Fernandez and Det. Julio Benavides were the team's "eyeballs," the officers who would conduct surveillance on suspected drug dealers. The rest of the squad comprised Dets. Jorge de Armas, Juan Leon, Joe Losada, and Ivan Villalobos, who were responsible for jumping suspects once they received the take-down signal from either Benavides or Fernandez. (Det. Ana Bernal joined the squad late last year.)
Benavides, de Armas, Fernandez, Leon, and Villalobos had developed close friendships during their time together on the team. The detectives and their wives would go out on dinner dates and throw holiday parties at each others' houses. "You know, either Christmases and Thanksgivings we do as a squad," Leon shared with prosecutor Altfield during a deposition this past February 7.
A cop with an encyclopedic knowledge of the career criminals who call Northside home, Fernandez was always in the thick of the hunt. Around the hood, word traveled fast about sightings of the salt-and-pepper-haired-and-mustached Fernandez scaling rooftops and climbing trees on private property, where he could clandestinely observe drug dealers work their game. It wasn't unusual for Fernandez, clad in his favorite green camouflage jumpsuit, to lurk behind a bush or hang from a branch, tracking a perp using his Steiner binoculars.
According to a December 12, 2005 deposition of Donaldson Junior St. Plite, he, his brother Donald, and their friend Bobson Brutus were simply talking about music and joking around when Fernandez creeped up on them, gun drawn, on March 22, 2005. The siblings live in apartments next door to each other at 780 NE 78th St. "I hear a hiss at the door, but I look closer at the door," St. Plite told prosecutors, "and there's a gun pointing at me. I looked, you know. I realized that was Fernandez. He normally comes with the camouflage. I put it together in my mind that it's him.
"Fernandez is always arresting people by barging into their homes or apartments without permission," St. Plite said.
"The area that we live, it's a bad area, and we have corrupted cops in the neighborhood," Donaldson explained. "And he was a corrupted cop because he came to our house before. He snuck through a window. Yeah, Fernandez."
At the time of his testimony, St. Plite was trying to help out his 29-year-old brother Donald, whom Fernandez had arrested along with 47-year-old Ricky Barber, a convict with multiple felonies on his record, on cocaine trafficking charges.
On the arrest affidavit, Fernandez stated he watched Barber knock on Donald St. Plite's door and allegedly say, "Give me five." Fernandez saw Donald retrieve five rocks and hand them to Barber. He also observed Donald make eight drug deals and enter an abandoned Chevy Lumina, reach into the passenger-side-airbag compartment, and retrieve a piece of paper containing crack, Fernandez reported.
State prosecutors dropped their case against Donald St. Plite and Barber on January 25, thirteen days after Fernandez and Losada were busted. "My client was willing, ready, and able to testify against the individuals he arrested," Hartman says of Fernandez. "Why doesn't the state submit my client and these defendants to a polygraph to see who is telling the truth?"
Fernandez made many enemies because he was falsely arresting people and stealing their money, claim Joaquin Rodriguez and Jesus Maria Mesa, two older non-English-speaking Cubans who have been busted on more than one occasion by the camouflaged detective.
The 60-year-old Rodriguez lives in one of the efficiencies in the rear of a single-story apartment complex at NW 31st Avenue and 93rd Street. According to members of the CST, the building is a known crackhead hideout.
On a recent afternoon, while sipping Cuban coffee with 74-year-old neighbor Mesa, Rodriguez recalls his experiences with Fernandez. He accuses Fernandez of falsely arresting him three times after they had an argument. "I saw him one day in the breezeway and asked him what he was doing here," Joaquin says. "I didn't know he was a cop. We start jawing back and forth and he shows me the badge. Regardless, I told him he couldn't be in here without permission from the owner. He got so mad he told me I'd better move or he would make my life impossible."
On August 18, 2004, Fernandez arrested Rodriguez for cocaine possession with intent to sell. Rodriguez, a pot-bellied fellow with a handlebar mustache, claims Fernandez kicked down the front door of his apartment to arrest him. "He took $700," Rodriguez says, pointing to the heel marks he claims Fernandez made on the door. "On the affidavit, he claimed he caught me outside the fence and that he found me with three rocks."
Rodriguez says his first defense lawyer recommended he accept a withhold adjudication and avoid trial for the first offense. "It was my word against Fernandez," Rodriguez concedes.
In January of last year, Fernandez arrested Rodriguez a second time on coke possession with intent to sell. "He busts down the door again, gun drawn, asking me where the drugs were," Rodriguez says. "I didn't have anything. He turned over everything in my apartment and didn't find anything. But he still took me in. He said I had two bags of coke and four rocks."
Five months later, Fernandez popped Rodriguez a third time. He served ten months in the county stockade and received two years of probation for the latest offense. He was released in early March. "He knew by arresting me a third time I would serve time," Rodriguez accuses. "If I had gotten out before he was arrested, I'm sure Fernandez would have arrested me again."
Mesa a bald, shirtless gent with large eyeglasses was also raving mad about Fernandez. "One time he took my $280 for the rent," Mesa accuses. "Another time he took $340 from a check I had just cashed and the meds for my heart."
He says Fernandez used a propane gas tank to bust down his door and then threw all the food in his refrigerator to the floor. "He could have blown us all up!" Mesa screams. "El es un maricón!"
Hartman dismissed Rodriguez and Mesa as just another pair of convicted felons with an ax to grind against his client. "These people are just a bunch of opportunists who are jumping at the chance to win a free ride," Hartman says.
As the second-to-last addition and only unmarried member of the crime suppression team, Joe Losada was having a difficult time jelling socially with his coupled partners before he and Fernandez were arrested. According to sworn statements by squad members Benavides, de Armas, Leon, and Villalobos, Losada kept to himself and rarely attended team gatherings outside the station.
"He would tell us that, you know, he didn't really like kids, so he never really hung out with us," Benavides informed during his February 22 deposition. Villalobos, who at times partnered with Losada, told prosecutors he considered the young detective nothing more than a "co-worker."
De Armas, however, revealed he did not like working with Losada, a Saint Brendan Catholic School alumnus who wasn't afraid to use his menacing muscular figure to subdue subjects. De Armas didn't even like to lend his county-issued unmarked vehicle to him. "I hate the way he talks to people," de Armas said. "Some people, like, give you weird vibes. I just don't like riding with him."
Prior to his arrest, Losada was also accused of beating Derrel Burnett, a 32-year-old man the detective arrested April 24, 2004. Sometime after 9:00 that night, two undercover detectives observed Burnett receiving money from several people in exchange for narcotics, according to Losada.
After being confronted by authorities, Burnett allegedly ran down the street to 8464 NW Fifth Ct. Losada and Sgt. Alexander Ramirez caught up to Burnett in front of his mother's house at NW 85th Street and Sixth Avenue. Ramirez allegedly grabbed Burnett from behind and attempted to arrest him. However, Burnett pulled Ramirez's arm and flipped him over his shoulder, Losada wrote. Ramirez landed face first on the pavement. Burnett then began to choke Ramirez.
Losada stated he struck Burnett in the face with his police radio so he would let go of Ramirez. Two other officers had to help Losada pull Burnett off Ramirez. Burnett then allegedly began punching Losada in the face and chest. Eventually the cops were able to subdue him.
Burnett's relatives and friends disputed Losada's version. Aireus Johnson said her pal Burnett didn't do anything to provoke Losada, but that the officer grabbed her friend and slammed his head onto the hood of a car. Using his walkie-talkie as a weapon, Losada repeatedly hit Burnett in the face, Johnson charged.
"They did Chi Chi real bad," Johnson says of Burnett during a recent visit to her house. "His eye was swollen shut. There was blood all over. They even wanted to Taser him even though he kept telling them he had a bad heart."
Bernice Johnson, Aerius's mother, claims Losada and other officers on the scene kept ordering them to go inside their house. At one point, Losada drew his pistol and aimed it at her, her daughter, and several other people who questioned why they were manhandling Burnett, Bernice says. "They were chasing the people who were taking pictures with their camera phones," Bernice recalls. "They shined their flashlight into the lens of one boy who was trying to film everything. We couldn't even stand in our yard, couldn't stand on the porch."
Losada charged Burnett with two felony counts of battery on a law enforcement officer, two felony counts of resisting an officer with violence, and one felony count of cocaine possession with intent to sell.
One month before Fernandez and Losada were indicted, the State Attorney's Office dropped the charges against Burnett.
Cocaine dealer Pedro Soler reclines on the sofa of his one-bedroom crib at NW 29th Avenue and 93rd Street. The 34-year-old Cuban insists he is no chivatón, Spanish slang for snitch. "I went to internal affairs because these cops were harassing me," Soler explains. "You may think I'm a scumbag, but these guys are worse."
Soler, a heavy-set hustler whose personality is as large as his girth, was the main character in the internal affairs sting operation that nailed Fernandez and Losada. Soler's testimony is a key factor as to whether a jury will convict the disgraced detectives.
"Papo, everybody here in the hood and at the station knows what I do," Soler reveals.
Sometime in the early evening of September 7, 2005, from a secluded location, perhaps under the cover of an oak tree's canopy, Fernandez was eyeballing 41-year-old Rafael Rodriguez, a friend of Soler's, who was standing outside the doorway to his residence. Other CST members, who included Dets. Debra Bradford, Leon, Losada, and Villalobos, positioned themselves in nearby locations, awaiting Fernandez's takedown signal.
Around 8:00 p.m. Fernandez watched Soler pull up in a gray Mercury Cougar. After a brief conversation with his friend, Rodriguez went inside and re-emerged with a plastic bag containing smaller plastic baggies filled with white powder. Rodriguez handed the bag to Soler, who gave his buddy five U.S. bills, returned to his car, and drove off. Fernandez ordered Bradford, Leon, and Losada to pursue Soler.
The detectives pulled Soler over about half a block from his apartment. After placing Soler in custody, the cops found 6.5 grams of yeyo inside the center console of the Cougar. Losada arrested Soler on two felony cocaine trafficking charges.
The four detectives rejoined Fernandez and Villalobos in taking down Rodriguez, who was arrested inside his house, where the cops confiscated two handguns and $2060, but found no drugs. Fernandez charged Rodriguez with three felony drug counts for possessing and then selling 7.5 grams of cocaine to Soler.
Two days after bonding out of jail, Rodriguez and Soler went to the Miami-Dade Police Department's Internal Affairs with incredible allegations against Fernandez and his squad. The two amigos alleged the officers planted the drugs, falsified their arrest affidavits, and stole their money, power tools, and other personal belongings.
During a recent interview inside his living room, Rodriguez and his wife Lesbia Raudales recount the story they told internal affairs. A short, stout man, Rodriguez is wearing a white tee, blue jeans, and construction boots, all completely caked in dry paint and cement stains. In addition to being a landlord, Rodriguez says he remodels houses, pours concrete, drives trucks, and does other manual labor. He had just finished pouring concrete for a neighbor's driveway when he sat down to explain what happened when he first met the jump-out boys this past September.
Rodriguez claims Fernandez and Losada failed to report at least $5240 taken from his home. The money was the monthly rent payments Rodriguez and Raudales say they had collected from their tenants. The couple owns three rental properties in the neighborhood. About another $200 was removed from a piggy bank inside their baby son's room, Raudales adds. "They even took the offerings to the San Lazaro statue in our house!" she says. "I think that the cup had at least $100 in it."
The officers also absconded with some of his power tools, including a motorized jigsaw used to cut concrete, Rodriguez says. "It was like I was back in Cuba," he recalls. "They were taking all of my stuff, but they never told me what I was being charged with."
During the two-hour search of their home, Raudales claims Detective Leon pressured her into signing a form consenting to the search by threatening to remove her then-eight-month-old son and take him to the Department of Children and Families. "You have to live it to believe it," Raudales says. "These officers are professional delinquents."
In a sworn statement, Soler denied he purchased drugs from Rodriguez. Soler alleged Losada took $1300 that was in Soler's pants pocket, a red duffle bag, two polo shirts, a digital camera, boxes of bullet rounds, and a brand-new pair of bolt cutters. "He took all my shit and put it in the back of his car," Soler claims. "I never saw it again. He never impounded it."
Adding insult to injury, Soler grouses, his house was burglarized while he was in jail. Somebody jacked his DVD player, stereo, $545, and some power tools including a compressor, a chipping hammer, and five nail guns he had bought on the street from dope fiends. "They even took my personal home videos," Soler adds. "Losada left the door open so the same associates and crackheads I deal with in the neighborhood could come in and take everything I owned."
When he and his wife met with internal affairs, Rodriguez didn't think the detectives there would believe their allegations. "My defense lawyer thought it was the worst thing I could have done," Rodriguez recollects. "But internal affairs did an excellent job."
According to Rodriguez, lead investigator Roberto Trujillo informed him that there was no way they could prove Fernandez, Losada, or any members of the squad had stolen his money and his tools. "The only way was to catch them in the act," Rodriguez explains. "So they asked me if I would be willing to let them use one of my rental properties to set up the operation."
During the bond hearing, Trujillo said he set up hidden cameras January 12 inside and outside Rodriguez's house at NW 18th Avenue and 92nd Street. Internal affairs also outfitted cameras inside a burgundy Ford Crown Victoria that Soler was driving.
Trujillo placed $970 inked with his badge number inside a shoebox wrapped with a towel in the bedroom with the video recorders. Before the operation began, Trujillo checked the interior and exterior of Rodriguez's house and Soler's car for any narcotics or other contraband. He also frisked Soler, Rodriguez, and Raudales to make sure none was holding anything illegal.
Internal affairs set the bait by calling in a tip about possible narcotics sales at the residence; it also provided a description of Soler's car. Hidden cameras documented the scene as it unfolded:
Around 3:28 p.m. Fernandez parks his black Ford F-150 pickup near Rodriguez's house and begins surveillance.
About an hour later, Rodriguez pulls up to his residence in a Toyota van. Sitting on the front stoop, Soler gets up and opens the van's passenger-side door. Rodriguez gives Soler a plastic shopping bag, which he carries into the house. Rodriguez drives off.
"It was a lunch of rice, beans, and pork ribs," Rodriguez recalls recently. "Of course, I gave it to him inside a bag to create a little intrigue."
(Leon later told the IA detectives he had approached a black male whom Fernandez had seen speaking to Soler earlier in the day. Leon claims the unknown individual told him he and Soler were going to set up a crack whorehouse. "He told me that [Soler] had showed him his stash," Leon said, "and that he had a stash of powder and weed." But when the cops busted Soler, he didn't have any cocaine or marijuana. "I didn't find it," Leon said.)
About 5:15 p.m. Fernandez calls in the takedown. Fernandez reportedly observes Soler conduct at least two hand-to-hand drug transactions. "During his surveillance, Fernandez saw Soler go to the window and talk to someone inside," explains Hartman, Fernandez's lawyer. "So my client was under the impression someone else was in the house and that they had drugs."
Two Volvo sedans and a Dodge Ram pickup pull up to the residence. Detectives Villalobos and Losada exit the truck; de Armas and Leon step out of the Volvos. Soler walks from his yard to the street with his hands in the air and then places his palms on the roof of his Crown Victoria. The officers cuff him.
The cops take turns patting down Soler. Losada, dressed in a white tee, khaki shorts, and a dark baseball cap, suddenly grabs Soler by the back of the neck and then the throat. Losada takes out a pocket knife and slashes Soler's pants, which drop to his ankles. Leon and Losada force him to the ground, flat on his stomach. Losada draws his pistol and appears to point it at Soler's head. "He threatened to kill me," Soler recalls later. "They punched and kicked me."
Camera footage inside the house shows Fernandez entering the southeast bedroom. He finds the towel-wrapped shoebox, opens it, and takes the $970. Fernandez is seen fingering the money as he exits the camera frame.
Hartman argues his client had the money in his possession for less than 30 seconds before handing it to Losada. "He never counted it," Hartman says. "He sees the money being counted later at the station. When he was arrested, Fernandez didn't have any of the money either."
At 5:32 p.m. Losada and de Armas are in the house. They enter the closet in the room where Fernandez found the money. Losada slams his hammer into the wall for no apparent reason.
More video footage picks up Fernandez outside the house, slapping Soler on the head. The cops take turns checking the passenger-side wheel well of his car for drugs. De Armas emerges from the front yard, holding a brown paper bag containing five baggies of crack. De Armas later told IA he found the crack in some shrubs near the front porch.
The camera inside the Crown Victoria shows Fernandez ripping apart the front dashboard panel of Soler's car. He finds nothing.
At 6:17 p.m. Soler is taken into custody in a marked county squad car.
Once the CST boys left the scene, IA entered the residence to determine if anything else was taken.
Meanwhile one of the IA detectives went to the Northside station to verify what had been impounded, where he learned Losada had turned in five rocks and $570. During the bond hearing, Trujillo said he was surprised to learn about the crack because Soler had no drugs prior to the sting.
When they arrived at the station, Soler claims Losada told him: "I'm going to show you that the pen is mightier than the sword."
In Soler's arrest affidavit, Losada wrote that Fernandez had observed Soler conduct several drug deals from the east side of the Eighteenth Avenue residence. "These detectives attempted to stop several buyers, with negative results," Losada jotted.
Soler tried to flee and dropped a bag containing five rocks inside individual baggies, Losada alleged. The detective also accused Soler of screaming obscenities and threatening the squad. "The suspect began to yell, öYou some pussy-ass niggas! You motherfuckers!'" Losada described, adding that Soler said, "Better let me go or I will fucking kill you, your wife, and your family!"
Losada charged Soler on six felony counts, including cocaine possession with intent to sell, resisting arrest with violence, tampering with evidence, corruption by threatening a police officer, and burglary of an unoccupied dwelling.
At 6:59 p.m. IA detectives were filming the house's interior when they received a call from one of their lookouts that Fernandez was headed back to the residence. IA exited the house and observed Fernandez's truck pull up to the house. They watched Fernandez enter the property by breaking the window to the bedroom fitted with cameras. On Trujillo's police radio, IA overheard Fernandez telling Losada: "The place is cleaned out. There is nothing left for us."
Hartman contends that Soler informed Losada he had hidden drugs under the sink in a bathroom of the residence. "Losada asks my client to go back and check," Hartman says. "Fernandez returns and doesn't find anything and relays it to Losada."
After his shift was over, Losada was pulled over by IA detectives. They searched Losada and found $183 on him. Of that amount, $160 was marked bills. IA detectives also found $330 in the passenger's side visor of Villalobos's Dodge truck. Two hundred dollars of that money was marked with Trujillo's badge number. During his deposition this past February 1, Villalobos vehemently denied knowing how the money got there.
Losada was placed under arrest. Fernandez was already in custody.
The arrests of Fernandez and Losada sent the crime suppression team reeling. The squad was disbanded, and the members who were not arrested were reassigned to uniform patrol or desk duty. Some members have avoided speaking to Fernandez and Losada, much less discuss with anyone the events that transpired January 12.
During his February 7 sworn statement, Leon said he has not had any contact with Losada but had a brief exchange with Fernandez. "When he was walking out today, I shook his hand," Leon said. "That was it."
Villalobos, a six-year-veteran, told prosecutors he doesn't want to believe Losada placed the $200 in marked money inside his truck, but conceded no one else could have done it. Villalobos added that he was embarrassed by the Fernandez and Losada indictments.
Detective Benavides was off the day his partners were busted. He recalled being in a state of shock after learning about their downfall from his supervisor, Sgt. Joe Williams, according to his February 22 deposition. "This kind of blew me away," Benavides said. "I thought he was joking with me."
Benavides also admitted to speaking with both his mates since their arrests. "See how [Fernandez is] doing," Benavides said. "See how his wife is doing. And the same thing with Losada I've spoken to him several times also since this."
According to his February 23 statement, De Armas learned of the arrests by watching the television news. "When I got home, I still didn't know what was going on," de Armas recollected, adding he felt "disgusted" when he found out. He said he has since spoken with Fernandez twice. The first time, Fernandez told him he was going to be subpoenaed, de Armas said. During their second conversation, he and Fernandez talked only about their pensions, de Armas insisted.
Recalling the events of January 12, de Armas told prosecutors he believed internal affairs planted the paper bag containing the crack that he found on the scene. De Armas said he found it odd that the bag was in almost perfect shape and that it resembled the bags police officers use to impound evidence. "They must have put the bag there because, usually, like I said, it's all crumbled up or whatever," de Armas surmised. "That was one [clue], and then the guy was acting up, like, big time, like the sellers usually don't act up like that."
Standing outside a local convenience store near his pad, Soler scoffs at de Armas's theory. "Man, the only people planting shit were those jump-out boys," Soler says. "Internal affairs checked every inch of the house and my body before the sting. They didn't want to embarrass one of their own, especially if I had been holding dope."
Soler combs the streets, looking for other individuals who have been allegedly harassed by Fernandez and Losada. He approaches a lithe, spaced-out young lady wearing an off-the-shoulder blouse and blue jeans. "Now is the time to say your piece about what that man Fernandez did to you," Soler implores her. The girl nervously darts her eyes around the parking lot. She quietly declines. "See, bro?" Soler says dejectedly. "No wants to talk but me. People are scared."
Still, Soler is well aware his criminal record presents significant credibility issues. "I really don't want to do anything to mess up this case," he says. "It's not fair to have cops like Fernandez and Losada on the street. If they get off, you better believe they will continue to do what they were doing. Of course, they will probably have to be more careful in how they do it."
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The arrest of Daniel Fernandez and Joe Losada has prompted the U.S. Attorneys Office to dismiss charges in one major drug case and caused the Miami-Dade State Attorneys Office to drop charges against more than two dozen defendants.
Here are some of the cases that have been compromised:
February 16, 2005: Losada and Villalobos arrested 41-year-old Hector Calvin Evans for cocaine and marijuana possession and openly carrying a firearm. On January 24, state prosecutors dropped the two felonies and three misdemeanors against Evans.
February 17, 2005: On NW 57th Street and 22nd Avenue, 30-year-old Marcus Birts and 25-year-old Dwight Hudson were arrested on charges of cocaine possession with intent to sell. This past April, Birts was convicted on one felony count of cocaine possession with intent to sell. But state prosecutors dropped their case against Hudson February 22.
March 15, 2005: Fernandez and Losada arrested Carlyle St. Pruex and three-time convicted felon Armando Delgado. St. Pruex was charged with nine felony counts and faced up to 161 years in prison. Delgado was slapped with seven counts and was looking at 146 years in a federal pokey. On February 17, the U.S. Attorneys Office dropped its case against St. Pruex and Delgado.
May 12, 2005: The jump-out boys arrested 28-year-old John Richardson on three felony counts of cocaine possession with intent to sell. Richardsons case was dismissed January 25.
November 11, 2005: The squad arrested 40-year-old Howard Jenkins when Fernandez allegedly spotted him making seven drug transactions at 283 NW 53rd Street. The state dropped four cocaine trafficking felonies against Jenkins on January 24.
December 13, 2005: Kerrie Taylor, a 44-year-old heroin dealer, was arrested when the squad turned up 35 grams of crack and powder cocaine. The three felonies against Taylor were dropped January 26.
Francisco Alvarado


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Obama hosts Easter, Passover events
President Obama kept it short and sweet Monday in speaking to faith leaders at the White House.
"I will once again resist the temptation to preach to preachers," Obama joked at the start of the annual Easter Prayer Breakfast at the White House.
Yet Obama, like many of his predecessors, is very serious about reaching out to faith groups.
In the wake of the Easter prayer service on Monday, Obama hosts a now-annual Passover seder with family, aides and friends on Tuesday.
"We will enjoy the company of friends and loved ones, re-tell a timeless story, and give thanks for the freedom we are so blessed to enjoy," Obama said in a written statement Monday, referring to Passover.
Robert Schmuhl, professor of American studies at the University of Notre Dame, said that "basically, presidents want to recognize pluralism — religious — in America. This is the perfect week to do it."
In his comments at the Easter service, Obama extended prayers to the victims of Sunday's shooting at a Jewish community center and retirement home in Kansas. He said the the nation should "stand united" against this kind of violence.
"We have to keep coming together across faiths to combat the ignorance and intolerance, including anti-Semitism that can lead to hatred and to violence, because we're all children of God," Obama said.
Noting that synagogues and other facilities are increasing security amid the Easter and Passover seasons, Obama said that "nobody should have to worry about their security at a gathering with their fellow believers. No one should ever have to fear for their safety when they go to pray."
Obama discussed his recent meeting with Pope Francis, and their discussion about addressing poverty and income inequality.
He also thanked faith leaders for their good works, such as feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, promoting education, mentoring young people and "the marching you do for justice and dignity and inclusion."
Throughout American history, presidents have made public displays of faith, but the practice appears to have increased in recent decades.
During his successful 1976 campaign for the presidency, Jimmy Carter talked about his life as a born-again Christian. Four years later, Ronald Reagan's winning campaign welcomed the support of conservative Christians who were rapidly becoming a force in national politics.
Stephen Mansfield, author of The Faith of Barack Obama, said previous presidents have held Easter-related events, but "Obama took it to another level" with the annual prayer breakfast, mirroring the half-century-old National Prayer Breakfast held in February.
Obama is also believed to be the first president to hold a seder at the White House, and Tuesday will be his sixth.
Mansfield, who also wrote a book about George W. Bush's faith, said presidents seek opportunities to connect with different types of religious groups, and to "express their own faith."
Said Mansfield: "We have a society that's surprisingly more religious than we expected."
Just as he began Monday's Easter Prayer Service with a gentle joke, Obama also ended with one.
"I'll just recall that old prayer that I think more than one preacher has invoked at the pulpit," the president said. "'Lord, fill my mouth with worthwhile stuff, and nudge me when I've said enough.'"


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TERRELL, Texas (AP) - Police say five people have been killed in a Dallas-area city and a suspect has been arrested.
Terrell (TEHR'-ehl) police Chief Jody Lay says a 36-year-old man was arrested early Tuesday after police chased him into some woods.
Lay didn't specify charges against the suspect or speculate on a motive in the killings.
Police say a woman was found fatally shot Monday afternoon at a house in Terrell, about 30 miles east of Dallas. The body of another woman was found in a burning home nearby. Lay says a man and a woman were found shot to death Monday night at a third residence, and a male clerk was killed at a convenience store.
Police caught the suspect after he stole and wrecked a car, then ran into the woods.


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Maria Osawa
Here is Maria Ozawa in a house or other we like to call her Miyabi.
The source of the other names will come to know from this interview out of her first film released on September 2005.
Create hilarity for the AV industry av movie very much.
She is not the same as star general stars at the smart straight face. Out to the western zone, which does not mix.
Not to be rare. Her slender shape like a model breast waist hips is known that you like.
Good horses that are waiting for. The acquisition of good hockey, horse hidden in the very face allure.
This is your first performance in the film under AV S-1 under the interview in question may be. Straightforward little.
Good I will answer the point. This was the first time. In an interview. However, I decided to choose. To the AV stars that I had already intended.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Maria Osawa


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Master Naturalist Program Seeking Applicants
Dec. 6, 2012
ent--article_ _media__contact">Media Contact: Marsha May, 512-389-8062, email@example.com; Mike Cox, 512-389-8046, firstname.lastname@example.com
Note: This item is more than seven years old. Please take the publication date into consideration for any date references.
AUSTIN — Twelve chapters of the Texas Master Naturalist program are conducting 2013 winter/spring training classes for volunteers wanting to learn about natural resource and conservation management.
With 44 chapters located across the state, the Texas Master Naturalist program aims to develop a corps of well-informed citizen volunteers who educate their communities about the management of natural resources. The main qualification needed to become a Certified Texas Master Naturalist is an interest in learning and playing an active part in conservation.
Volunteers will receive a minimum of 40 hours training from educators and specialists associated with universities, natural resource agencies, nature centers and museums. Training topics include interpretation and management of natural resources, ecological concepts, eco-regions in Texas and natural systems management. Volunteers are expected to give 40 hours of service a year in community education, demonstration and habitat enhancement projects. They are also expected to pursue a minimum of eight hours of advance training in areas of personal interest.
Enrollment is limited in most chapters and some registration deadlines are fast approaching so contact a chapter near you to see if seating is still available. Chapters offering volunteer training this winter and spring are listed below with contact information.
- Bastrop—Lost Pines Chapter. Classes begin early spring and will meet at various locations in Bastrop and Caldwell counties, including Bluebonnet Electric Co-op Headquarters, Bastrop State Park, Lockhart State Park and Red Rock Community Center. Registration materials are currently posted online with applications due Jan. 16. Class will be limited to 32 participants. Classes will be Mondays from 6:30 p.m. till 9:30PM, with five Saturday morning field trips. For information, contact Louise Ridlon, email@example.com, 512 985-5064 (home), 909 262-3429 (cell). Chapter website: http://lostpinesmasternaturalist.org.
- Belton—Central Texas and Heart of Texas Chapters. Registration deadline is March 15. Registration form can be found on the website. Orientation will be March 26 from 7-8:30 p.m. at the Bell County Extension Office, 1605 N. Main, Belton. Classes begin April 6 and continued to June 8. No class limit. For information, contact Mary Ann Everett, 254-773-9576, firstname.lastname@example.com or Zoe Rascoe, 254-913-1013, firstname.lastname@example.com. Websites: http://txmn.org/centraltexas/join-ctmn/ and http://txmn.org/heartoftexas/
- Dallas—North Texas Chapter. Classes will be each Tuesday Feb. 12-April 30. Registration deadline is Jan. 25, 2013 with class size limited to 40. For information, contact Linda Ford, firstname.lastname@example.com, 214-343-0720. Chapter website: http://www.ntmn.org. Go to their website and click on "How to Join" on the left. The chapter will host an open house to answer questions and to give information on opportunities, requirements, field trips, and projects on from 7-8:30 p.m. on Jan. 15 at the Texas AgriLife Extension Service Office, 10056 Marsh Lane Suite B-101, Dallas, Texas 75229-6071.
- Galveston Bay area—Galveston Bay Area Chapter. Classes meet from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Tuesdays Feb. 28-May 16 and each Thursday from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. at different locations. Classes consist of morning lecture and afternoon sessions in the field and will focus on the birds, plants, fish, oysters, marshes, beaches and prairies of the Galveston Bay area. Participants trawl the bay, bird at Audubon's Bolivar Peninsula preserves, explore the Armand Bayou prairie and seine in the Gulf of Mexico. Class limit 20. To receive an application packet contact Julie Massey, Texas Cooperative Extension, Galveston County at 281-309-5063, or email@example.com. The program cost of $140 includes all materials and fees. Chapter website: http://www.gbamasternaturalist.org.
- Houston—Gulf Coast Chapter. Classes meet Monday mornings Feb. 4-May 20. Registration is due by the end of December. Class limit 20 For information contact Julia Trimble, email@example.com, 713-732-1547. Chapter website: http://www.txgcmn.org/
- Paris—Red River Chapter. This chapter will conduct training in the spring providing they have enough trainees. They usually have recruitment meetings in Paris and Clarksville in February, but dates not yet determined. Class dates and times will be posted on the chapter website, http://txmn.org/redriver/
- Round Top—Gideon Lincecum Chapter. Classes meet Jan. 28-April 29 at the Winedale Historical Complex near Round Top. The Chapter would like applications in before Christmas to help with class planning. Classes are limited to 25 and will meet from 6-9 p.m. Mondays. There will be a few Saturday field trips. For information, contact Judith Deaton, firstname.lastname@example.com. Chapter website: http://www.txmnorg/glc
- San Antonio—Alamo Area Chapter. Classes will be held at 3355 Cherry Ridge, Suite 208, San Antonio on 5-9 p.m. on Thursdays from Feb. 21- April 25. There will be four morning field trips. Application deadline is Feb. 3. Class limited to 45. Tuition is $200, cash or check only. For information contact Pamela Ball, firstname.lastname@example.com. Chapter website: http://txmn.org/Alamo
- San Marcos—Hays County Chapter. Classes Feb. 5-Oct. 15. Training will take place in San Marcos, Wimberley and Dripping Springs. Applications due Jan. 8. Class limit 30. Classes usually meet Tuesday evenings with two Saturday morning classes, plus three optional Saturday field trips. For information contact Bari Conley at Hays County AgriLife Extension, email@example.com, 512-393-2120. Chapter website: http://haysmn.org
- Wichita Falls—Rolling Plains Chapter. Classes March 19-May 4. Registration due by March 12. Classes will meet Tuesday and Thursday nights with Saturday field trips. For information contact Robert Mauk, 940-766-2383, firstname.lastname@example.com. Guests are welcome to attend the chapter's monthly meetings at 7 p.m. the first Tuesday of each month at River Bend Nature Center, 2200 Third Street, Wichita Falls, TX. Chapter website: http://txmn.org/rollingplains.
- The Woodlands—Heartwood Chapter. Classes begin March 16. Classes are generally at the Texas Forest Service classroom building on FM 1488, north of The Woodlands, but move around some during the session. There are typically two classes a month, all on Saturdays, through July. Final dates will be announced soon, along with availability of a 2013 registration application. Dues are $150 for the session. For more information contact Teri MacArthur, firstname.lastname@example.com, 281-364-4225. More information will be posted on the chapter website, http://www.heartwoodtmn.org before year's end.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and Texas AgriLife Extension co-sponsor the Texas Master Naturalist Program. For more information about existing chapters or forming a new chapter contact Michelle Haggerty, Texas Master Naturalist Program Coordinator, at 830-896-2504 or email@example.com. More information about the Texas Master Naturalist program is available at: http://txmn.org.


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Salmon & spinach with tartare cream
Ever-versatile salmon is as popular on our shopping lists as chicken. Make the most of it with this impressive recipe
Nutrition and extra info
- Easily doubled / halved
Nutrition: per serving
- kcal321
- fat20g
- saturates5g
- carbs3g
- sugars3g
- fibre3g
- protein32g
- salt0.77g
- 1 tsp sunflower or vegetable oil
- 2 skinless salmon fillets
- 250g bag spinach
Used in almost every cuisine across the world, spinach is an enormously popular green vegetable…
- 2 tbsp reduced-fat crème fraîche
- juice ½ lemon
Oval in shape with a pronouced bulge on one end, lemons are one of the most versatile…
- 1 tsp caper, drained
Capers are the small flower buds of the Capparis shrub that grows in the Mediterranean. As they…
- 2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- lemon wedges, to serve
Oval in shape with a pronouced bulge on one end, lemons are one of the most versatile…
Heat the oil in a pan, season the salmon on both sides, then fry for 4 mins each side until golden and the flesh flakes easily. Leave to rest on a plate while you cook the spinach.
Tip the leaves into the hot pan, season well, then cover and leave to wilt for 1 min, stirring once or twice. Spoon the spinach onto plates, then top with the salmon. Gently heat the crème fraîche in the pan with a squeeze of the lemon juice, the capers and parsley, then season to taste. Be careful not to let it boil. Spoon the sauce over the fish, then serve with lemon wedges.
Recipe Tip
Which salmon?So versatile – the possibilities for cooking it are endless. For a more environmentally friendly and often leaner fish, choose salmon farmed in open sea conditions (or even better, wild).
Recipe Tip
Know how - quick sauceFolding lemon juice, capers and chopped parsley through crème fraîche makes a quick sauce for salmon, trout and white fish.


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The colony of Merpeople who lived in the Great Lake were a tribe of Selkies. Led by Merchieftainess Murcus, they lived in a village in the centre of the lake.[1]
1994-1995 Triwizard Tournament
Pre-Second Task
During the Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament, the colony consented to hold the hostages that the Champions had to rescue in their village. As part of the agreement, their singing voices were used as part of a clue that the Champions would need to decipher. The Golden egg, which the Champions had to retrieve from a dragon in the First Task, contained a song that could only be heard when submerged underwater.[1]
The Second Task
During the Second Task, the Merpeople attempted to stop Harry Potter from rescuing more than one hostage. After Harry successfully rescued both Ron Weasley and Gabrielle Delacour, the Merchieftaness spoke to Albus Dumbledore about the incident, and recounted his determination to see all the hostages to safety.[1]
Dumbledore's funeral
Following the death of Albus Dumbledore in 1997, the Merpeople paid their respects to the Headmaster during his funeral, breaching the waves of the lake en masse and watching the proceedings.[2]
Behind the scenes
- In LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4, the merpeople actually attack, whereas in the film and book they only confronted Harry when he tried to take more than his own hostage, but even then they only threatened to attack.
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (First appearance)
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
- LEGO Harry Potter
- Harry Potter: The Creature Vault
Notes and references
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 26 (The Second Task)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 30 (The White Tomb)


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City of TorranceHome Menu
Calendar Month View
Bona-fide Torrance-based, non-profit groups may submit events to be included in the Torrance citywide calendar pending approval. The City of Torrance Citywide Calendar System Administrator (Office of Cable and Community Relations) is responsible for determining which events are appropriate for posting and then approving a calendar entry. The administrator also has the capability to submit the event to other calendars so that your event may be posted on more than one calendar if appropriate. Events must occur within Torrance city limits to be considered for inclusion and submitted within the categories already identified within the calendar. Upon submission, the following information should be included: How To Submit
Madrona Marsh Preserve Habitat Restoration
- Date: 07/04/2020 8:45 AM - 12:00 PM
- Location: Madrona Marsh Preserve
3201 Plaza del Amo
Torrance , California 90505
Would you like to help create and learn about different habitats? Help us remove non-native plants, replace them with locally grown native plants, and pick up trash left at the Preserve. Soon, the work you will have done will attract many birds, butterflies and other insects.
Open to all ages; participants 14 years and under must be accompanied by an adult and all participants 18 and under must have a waiver signed by a parent or legal guardian. Participants must arrive on time and wear close-toed shoes. Snacks and drinks provided at 10:30 a.m.
In the event of rain, this event will be canceled. For more information, call (310) 782-3989 or visit www.FriendsOfMadronaMarsh.com.