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Ascent of Diamond Peak on 2007-08-04
Dennis Poulin
Others in Party:
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Ascent Type:
Successful Summit Attained
Diamond Peak
12197 ft / 3717 m
Ascent Trip Report
August 2007, time for a ROAD TRIP !! I started Wednesday afternoon August 1st driving from home in Medford, Oregon, heading east. I took my usual route, Hwy 140 to Lakeview, Hwy 395 to Burns, Hwy 20 to Ontario, and then I-84 east… The only problem is that it takes me 8+ hours just to get out of Oregon. I was tired and stopped before I got to Burns and crawled into my mobile motel for the night that I call the Tacoma Hilton.
Early the next morning, I was on the road again because I needed to meet SP'er Dean in Jefferson County that afternoon. We had a whole week of county highpointing planned and wanted to tag the Jefferson County highpoint that afternoon. Jefferson County is in Eastern Idaho and the highpoint is east of Idaho Falls. When I got cell reception a few miles west of Ontario, I called Dean to see if he was on the road yet from Kennewick, Washington. Surprisingly, he answered his phone and he was just pulling into Ontario also. Our timing couldn't have been better even if we planned it. We met at Denny's next to I-84 in Ontario and had breakfast.
After breakfast we headed east on I-84 all the way across Idaho to Idaho Falls and then east on Highway 26. We didn't have any problem finding the Kelly Canyon ski area where the county highpoint is located. It felt good to get out of the truck after driving 900+ miles and stretching my legs to tag this easy summit. It isn't really a summit. It is a highpoint on a ridge. Some of these county highpoints aren't real exciting and this was one of them.
After, Kelly Mountain, we returned to Idaho Falls for dinner and then we headed north to Clark County and Scott Peak/Webber Peak. It was dark now and there was a torrential thunderstorm overhead. We slowed down, but kept going. By the time we got to our turn-off for the trailhead, the roads were awash in runoff. We have 4WD, so we kept going. It is about 10 miles of gravel/dirt roads to the trailhead for Scott Peak and the further we went the more water and mud bogs we plowed through. It was exciting watching the lightning and trying not to get stuck in these massive mud holes. As we made our way up the last mile to the trailhead the rain finally stopped and we were able to locate a flat parking spot to car camp for the night. We were both tired and we crawled into our truck bunks to try to get some rest.
Early the next morning we got up to perfectly clear skies and a beautiful day for hiking. We had all day to hike Scott Peak and then get over to our main objective, Diamond Peak. We took our time, tagged Scott Peak, Webber Peak and the Clark County Highpoint before returning to the trailhead about 9 hours later. Thunderstorms were forming again and about the time we got back to the paved road, it was pouring rain on us again. We drove slowly for a couple of miles before the thunderstorm passed and then we continued a few more miles before turning off on another dirt road that goes to Diamond Peak.
The road to Diamond Peak passed through a couple of barbwire gates as it progressed across the valley towards the trailhead. We were supposed to meet SP'er rfbolton and fellow Ultra Prominence Baggers Duane and Grant (all from western Washington) at the Diamond Peak Trailhead. Diamond Peak is one of the 57 Ultra (5,000 ft) Prominence Peaks> in the Contiguous 48 States. This was to be Bob and Duane's 55th Ultra Prominence Peak.
Dean and I surmised that Bob, Duane, and Grant wouldn't get to the trailhead for several hours yet, so we would just go there and get set up in the best spots. The road to the trailhead is somewhat circuitous and then when you get close you have to switch to 4WD and descend through a dry creek bed before ascending the last half mile to the trailhead. Just as we were driving down to the dry creek bed, there was Duane's explorer ahead with Bob and Grant moving rocks off the road to keep from damaging the Explorer. We all gave a big wave and yell as we met. Another perfect timing for arriving at a trailhead. We couldn't have planned it better.
Shortly, we managed to get all our trucks up to the trailhead on the east side of Diamond Peak and we were all busy trying to level our traveling motels so as not to create any hardships for sleeping. There is plenty of room here, so we were able to spread out a little to keep from hearing each other snore. Grant didn't have a vehicle to sleep in, so he pitched his two man tent down the trail a ways on a flat spot.
It was still only late afternoon, so we took our time socializing and telling tales about our adventures. We had a great group and we all took our turns looking at Diamond Peak and sizing up the hike for the next day. It wasn't far to the summit, but it sure is steep!!!
We all had some kind of dinner and then one by one we turned in and tried to get some sleep. In the morning, Dean begged out of the hike claiming he was spent from the effort on Scott Peak the day before, and him being the senior citizen of the group we understood fully that he just didn't want to hike with a bunch inexperienced amateurs like ourselves. After dispensing enough grief on Dean to make a grown man cry, we headed off towards Diamond Peak. Dean took the chastising well as he crawled back in his sleeping bag and went back to sleep. He needs his beauty sleep.
The trail to Diamond Peak disappears shortly, but the terrain is very open and you can see where you need to be going. Bob took the lead since he and Duane had been here a year earlier. They had been stormed off the upper ridge. They knew the way and Grant and myself were just tagging along trying to keep up. It was another beautiful day with a few high clouds and we made good progress from the trailhead at 8,000 ft to a little saddle at about 9,400 ft. Up to now it was all good footing following cow trails. At 9,400 ft we had to start climbing a scree/talus steep slope up to a ridgeline at 10,200 ft. We all kind of split up and took slightly different parallel routes up this section trying not to kick rocks down on each other. That is a tough little climb and coming down it wasn't any easier. On the way down most of us wound up on our butt at one time or another because of the loose footing.
Once at the ridge, the fun started for the climb. We first traversed to our right over to the east ridge and then up the ridge to about 10,700 ft before we encountered the beginning of the Class 3 climbing. From here to the summit there are several areas of Class 3 climbing interspersed with Class 2 stuff. It is probably only about 30% Class 3. The Class 3 rock is good and solid for the most part, but you have to look around carefully to find the easiest route. It looks like climber's have tried many different paths around some of the obstacles, so if one doesn't work for you, then try another. We didn't necessarily follow in each other's footsteps and usually 2 of us took one path and the other 2 took a different path. In the end it rally didn't matter because we all came together again further up the hill.
We took our time and still got to the summit early on a beautiful clear warm summer day. We stayed on the summit for at least an hour, ate lunch, took lots of pictures, and congratulated each other heartily. We could see to our north Bell Mountain had a few thunder clouds forming, but over Diamond Peak it was perfectly clear.
When we were sufficiently pleased with our accomplishment, we reluctantly headed down the same way we came up. We took our time going down because we wanted to be safe. At the bottom of the Class 3 section we met 4 other hikers who were heading up. They seemed to be ill prepared and were more interested in looking at the mountain goats far off to the north. As we were bidding them good luck, we saw a bit of a cloud forming behind Diamond Peak. It looked like it may develop into a thunderstorm, so I took the lead and headed down at a good pace.
In about 30 minutes, just as we got to the bottom of the scree slope, we met Dean who had wandered up the hill after his beauty sleep and having a big breakfast. He was feeling better and his beauty sleep did him wonders. Then, it started raining and so we hurried a little faster now that we were on solid footing. Within a few minutes, lightning was striking high up on Diamond Peak and it started hailing on us. We tried to hurry faster, but there is only so fast this old guy can hurry. Hail was really coming down now and the wind was really blowing, so we found a bit a shelter in a clump of trees and put on our rain gear. We needed protection from this hail. A few of us put our rock helmets back on. Lightning was flashing overhead and the thunder was deafening. There was no place to hide, so we continued down towards the trailhead. In about another 10 minutes, the hail stopped, the rain stopped, and the lightning was moving further east.
We could finally relax and took our time going down the last half mile to our campsite. Grant's tent had been flattened by the wind. A pole was broken and the tent fabric torn. We all changed out of our wet climbing clothes and made ready to break camp and move on to our next objective. The weather continued to clear and within an hour it was a beautiful clear blue sky again. While we were packing our stuff, one of the climber's we had passed on their way up, came back to camp. He said he turned around when his hair was standing on end because of the electricity in the air. His companions had hunkered down in the rocks to wait out the storm.
The climb only took us about 7 hours, but it was exciting. This is a great climb with lots of diversity in a beautiful area. Now our group split up with Dean and I heading to Mount Baird in Bonnevile County, and Bob, Duane, and Grant going north to Montana with their eyes focused on Snowshoe Peak.
Summary Total Data
Total Elevation Gain:
4364 ft / 1330 m
Total Elevation Loss:
4364 ft / 1330 m
Round-Trip Distance:
6.1 mi / 9.8 km
Route Conditions:
Unmaintained Trail, Open Country, Scramble, Exposed Scramble, Rock Climb
Ascent Statistics
Gain on way in:
4364 ft / 1330 m
3 mi / 4.9 km
East Ridge
Start Trailhead:
7833 ft / 2387 m
Descent Statistics
Loss on way out:
4364 ft / 1330 m
3 mi / 4.9 km
End Trailhead:
7833 ft / 2387 m
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|System: Xbox 360, PS3
|Dev: Namco Bandai Games
|Pub: Namco Bandai Games
|Release: November 23rd, 2010
|Players: 1
|Screen Resolution: 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
|Intense Violence, Blood and Gore, Nudity, Sexual Themes and Strong Language
by James Trujillo
As one of the first truly great horror games of its day, Splatterhouse is finally getting the updated remake fans have been craving. Originally an arcade release in Japan in November of 1988, it struck a chord with audiences both good and bad. The game was acclaimed and berated by critics for its excessive amount of violence and satanic imagery.
Once it hit American shores a year later, it was quickly banned from arcades across the country. However, due to its overwhelming success in the Japanese market, developer Namco (now Namco Bandai) created a toned down port of the game to be released on the TurboGrafx-16 console with the first ever parental advisory disclaimer to be printed on a game box. Needless to say, it almost instantly became a cult-classic.
This new 2010 revamp of the franchise promises gore like never before and will remain close to home with a retelling of its classic story, with a few new twists of course. Putting you once again in the shoes of college student Rick Taylor, you will be tasked with trying to rescue your girlfriend, Jennifer, who has gone missing after an unfortunate visit to the legendary West Mansion. She is taken away by creatures known only as the Corrupted,, and Rick is left on the verge of death. Before he meets his grisly end, he finds the powerful Terror Mask beside him as his only hope for redemption. Once he becomes bound with the mask, he is transformed into a hulking, rage-filled beast bent on destruction and revenge.
Visually, the game looks great. Everything shown off during the demo we saw confirmed there would indeed be copious amounts of bloodshed. Not to mention a sharp, cel-shaded art style to give it a visceral comic book feel. It helps considering the story is being penned by none other than Gordon Rennie, author of the critically acclaimed Necronauts series and numerous Judge Dredd storylines. There was also a moment where the main character unleashed a brutal power surge that morphed the screen into a black, white, and red scenario like something out of the neo-noir epic Sin City. The development team calls this the Berserker Mode, which is largely a part of their Splatterkill System.
This system lets you unload some cool, yet efficient, killing methods during combat. Its all based around the principle that the more blood you collect from your downed enemies, the more power you have to fill your Brutal Gauge. Its essentially your health and combo meter rolled into one, and once your gauge is completely filled, you can unleash some devastating attacks while in your Berserk phase. There is also a bit of strategy to consider, however, before recklessly delving into a blood-filled rampage.
Since it is also directly connected to your health in the game, they advise players to think before you kill. Rick takes damage in real-time so any limbs that may get lopped off in the process will slowly drain his health until he dies. Thats why it may be wise to consider repurposing his collected blood energy into regenerating lost appendages on occasion. It seems like a smart move on the part of the developer to keep the balance of combat right where it should be.
In case you werent paying attention, yes, there is plenty of dismemberment in Splatterhouse. Seeing as how melee combat is a huge focus of the game, fallen limbs from yourself and others can be used as weapons to make the mayhem even more gruesome. It was certainly entertaining to watch a one-armed Rick slowly getting woozy while taking swipes at enemies with his own arm. Thats the kind of humor theyre referencing when they mentioned their influence from Peter Jackson and his early work in the splatstick horror genre.
They didnt show off any major boss battles in the demo, which have been a major staple in the franchise, but they did say fans wouldnt be disappointed with their re-imagining of these iconic characters. Namco Bandai Games have been taking the development of the game seriously and made sure to reference the originals to stay focused on what the fans really wanted. They even included all three pioneering games as unlockable components to give fans old and new a complete Splatterhouse experience.
It definitely seems admirers will have plenty to look forward to with this new rendition of the game. The presentation is great. The violence is present and accounted for. Theyve even thrown in some side-scrolling levels and platforming elements to keep the nostalgia factor high. However, for people who have never played a Splatterhouse game before, you may want to proceed with caution. The release window of Fall 2010 is just around the corner and they havent really shown off much that may typically garner excitement from a new crowd. So until we can get an actual playthrough of the game ourselves, its looking like it has wait-and-see written all over it.
James Trujillo
CCC Freelance Writer
Game Features:

subset: commoncrawl


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Bangla, Bangladeshi, Bengali Recipes and Food from Bangladesh are great in taste and are fun to cook. Khana Pakana is the source for authentic Bangla, Bangladeshi, Bengali Recipes, Bangla, Bangladeshi, Bengali Food, and Cooking Techniques from Bangladesh. Urdu Recipes are available, as well as Recipes In English. Check out Meal, Diet Plans, Nutrition News and lots of tips and tricks.
Looking for Lamb Recipes then you have come to the right section. The iron found in lamb meat is in a form that is easily absorbed by the body. Lamb is an especially good source of easily absorbed zinc and iron. The Seven Nutritional Benefits of Lamb. Lamb is an excellent source of high quality protein. Lamb is an ideal source of iron. Lamb provides forty-five percent of the daily requirement of zinc, essential for growth, healing and a healthy immune system. Lamb is a great source of B vitamins, essential for metabolic reactions in the body. Lamb also contains trace elements such as copper, manganese and selenium. As a result of improved breeding practices, feeding practices, and butchery and trimming methods, the fat in lamb has been greatly reduced over the past twenty years. Half of the fat in lamb is unsaturated, which is good for you. KhanaPakana.com contains hundreds of free, trusted, authentic and KP community tested recipes and cooking videos that contain LAMB as main ingredient, all categorized into easy-to-navigate recipe collections.
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So I went back to treasure island in the San Francisco Bay recently! This marks my third trip out to try to fish. Only this time, there weren't 3 people blocking off the entire pier by casting all over hell. Thanks guys, but please just learn to cast straight…
Anyways! Went out on a Sunday recently. I was originally aiming to get there around 6:50am with the sunrise:
As you can see, there was a low tide about an hour before sunrise. Figured I'd beat the crowd and get there first and fish the tide as it came in. Also the wind was supposed to pick up later in the day, so I thought that was going to be my only opportunity.
Turns out I snoozed out and woke up around 12pm instead d= I later went outside to get something from my car and found it was caaallllmmm outside, barely any wind! What the heck forecast! So I packed up real quick, and headed out. Wound up arriving around 5:45 PM. Was surprised as I walked up to find not a single person fishing the old pier.
Happily I hopped down on the right side of the pier to try my luck with gulp camo sandworms (surf fishermen report these things working wonders for perch).
Didn't even get a nibble. Not even a NIBBLE. You gotta be kidding me. I used to poke pole with these things and caught rock cod, monkeyface eels, heck even an undersized ling or two with them.
At first I was thinking well maybe its just a bad day. It wasn't flat water, swells were kinda big… But then I thought, no, that can't be right. Perch live and eat in the beach swells, they couldn't be happier for this kind of weather since it kicks up food and what not.
So I tried switching up baits to mussels and instantly started getting bites. Seriously the perch on Treasure island are so spoiled…But I didn't wind up landing anything on the right side. Decided to try my luck on the left side of the pier:
And it was! Finally started hooking into fish over here:


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Beryl Korot describes the impetus behind the innovative 1970s publication Radical Software, elucidating the history of video in art and the impact of mass media on society. Emerging from an independent video community that included media visionaries such as Marshall McLuhan and groups such as Televisionaries, Videofreex, People's Video Theater, and Global Village, the first issue of Radical Software debuted in Spring of 1970 as a publication by the Raindance Corporation. Beryl Korot and Phyllis Segura (Gershuny) acted as Editors, while Michael Shamburg served as Publisher with Ira Schneider as co-Originator. Early contributors included Nam June Paik, Buckminster Fuller, Ant Farm, Frank Gillette, and Paul Ryan, among others. After eleven issues, Radical Software ceased publication in the Spring of 1974 and is now an invaluable time capsule of an era. This video is published on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the first issue.
Rhizome at No Soul for Sale and David Horvitz's Mail Nothing to the Tate Modern
Rhizome will be participating in this year's No Soul For Sale: A Festival of Independents at the Tate Modern. From May 14-16th, more than 70 independent arts organizations from all over the world will present films, performances, exhibitions, and more within the Turbine Hall. If you live in London or happen to be there during that weekend, please drop by and say hello.
For the festival, Rhizome has teamed up with artist David Horvitz to present "Mail Nothing to the Tate Modern. This project invites anyone to track and mail empty packages to the Tate Modern, where they will be displayed unopened in the Rhizome space. The website for Mail Nothing to the Tate Modern will display the movement of all these packages, creating a "mental picture of the vast global infrastructure of shipping." Visit the website Mail Nothing to the Tate Modern for instructions about participating in this exhibition -- all packages must be received by May 10th or 11th.
NOWHERE (2005-2006) - Ralf Baecker
Nowhere is a three-dimensional milling machine that carves a landscape relief on a 70x70x10cm large block of hard foam. The machine receives a stream of live search requests from the german search engines metager and metager2 (www.metager.de) via the internet. The users search movements erode rivers and canyons on the surface. Search requests that shoot through the internet just for a fraction of a second and generate an answer on the searchers screen, cause the machine to write a constant growing sculpture into the space. The continuous stream of changing search requests defines form and rhythm of this process.
#14 (2005) - Peter Baldes
From Peter Baldes's longrunning series of 'Hypertemporality Animations'. Definitely worth spending some time with.
The supreme discipline of art - oil painting - is back. It has been 13 days since a BP oil and gas exploration well blew out, setting fire to the drilling rig, which sank, killing 11 people. Ever since, crude oil has been leaking into the Gulf of Mexico, raising the prospects of a historic environmental disaster. Winds from the southeast have nudged the slick northward, where it floated Saturday near the coasts of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi and has begun to paint the coastlines.
Finally oil painting has evolved into generative bio-art, a dynamic process the world audience can watch live via mass media. Never before has this art form been as relevant and visible as today - only 9-11 was nearly as perfect, but in the genre of performance art. An oil painting on a 80.000 square miles ocean canvas with 32 million liters of oil - a unique piece of art.
We exclusively use aerial images from the oil spill. The files are ready-mades but we waived our right to use them "as is" and decided to use a special digital technique to produce a statement about the disconnection of form and color and about contemporary and futuristic imaging procedures. We use a compressor (sorenso codec) and consumer video editing-software and manually loop 2 frames, the image becomes liquid, transforms and deforms. These visualisations represent the "Verkuenstlichung" of nature and the "Vernatuerlichung" of art. Unedited oil-paintings of the event can be found via search-engines, on boston.com or on the NASA Earth Observatory website.
Immaterial Incoherence
If we consider Internet art to be a distinct category of art making that uses the Internet as its primary medium or platform, we necessarily distinguish it from other forms in which the Internet does not play a primary role. The objects of Internet art are necessarily immaterial, and it is this immaterial quality that makes them so notoriously difficult to exhibit and archive. For some artists this has led to a kind of hybridization of Internet aesthetics and real world objects, such that they might be purchased or viewed in a real-world setting such as a museum or gallery space. For others it becomes a matter of the careful curation of digital images and documentation in an effort to brand oneself and build cultural capital where there is little possibility for financial compensation. After all, how do you monetize an object whose natural setting is a networked space that encourages many-to-many distribution practices? How do you sell a website, a .jpeg? These are responses to a crisis in image making and distribution in which older curatorial models that rely on the limitations of physical space and the exchange of physical objects are increasingly undermined by distanced, virtual, and distributed viewership online.
For art collective JOGGING - artists Brad Troemel and Lauren Christiansen - this crisis is not limited to Internet art, but has instead become the normative condition under which art is produced and viewed today.
The Simpson Verdict (2002) - Kota Ezawa
The reading of the verdict in the trial of OJ Simpson. Using sound from the actual TV footage - only one camera was allowed in the courtroom - and reducing movement to a minimum of changes in facial expression, Ezawa's animation heightens the racial implications of the trial and the cynicism of the verdict.
Ezawa meticulously recreates, frame-by-frame, animated sequences from television, cinema, and art history using basic digital drawing and animation software. His aesthetic is a highly stylized mixture of Pop Art, Alex Katz, and paint-by-numbers pictures, to name but a few of his stylistic antecedents. This painstaking process creates an in intriguing facsimile of the source material, which include the Kennedy assassination, the O.J. Simpson trial, and clips from the film Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf? (1966) .
Electric Dress (1956) - Atsuko Tanaka
Enamel paint on light bulbs, electric cords, and control console
Born in Osaka, Japan, in 1932, Tanaka was a member of the Gutai Art Association, the major experimental postwar Japanese art movement founded by a group of young artists in Ashiya in 1954. She was best known for sculptural installations made from non-art materials, such as Electric Dress (1956), a wearable sculpture made of flickering light bulbs painted red, blue, green, and yellow. When originally worn, the sculpture both made the body the center of artistic activity and masked it in a mass of light and color.


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My NES Arcade machine
Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 9:23 pm
I wanted to build an arcade machine, but rather than a MAME, which made me feel guilty about owning all my cartridges and not playing them, I decided to retrofit an NES into a homemade cabinet and control panel. I'll probably add some decals on the sides one of these days, but for now, this baby is finished. It has 2 joysticks and buttons layouts, 2 NES controller ports, which are switchable by the pushbuttons above them to toggle between the port and the sticks (in case I'm playing a light gun game, or a turbo pad, etc.) There's storage below in the slotted shelving, enough for 56 games. There's also a pullout drawer for extra controllers, game genie, light guns, etc. The speakers are a subwoofer in the center with two mid-high range speakers to the left and right. There's a mini control panel on the upper right that allows me to turn the monitor on and off, adjust the volume, and a headphone jack. The control panel overlay and marquee were my own design, but were made by Scott at MAMEMarquees.com The control panel is keyed, so my kids can't get into the guts of the thing.


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Freeway 3.5
Freeway is "Real DTP for the Web." It includes Grids, guides, high-end typographical control and familiar keyboard shortcuts.
Freeway has fully featured Dynamic HTML, CSS, frames, tables, built-in FTP and plug-in support. You can specify lay out in the same way as QXpress. The similarity also counts for the short cuts, which are built on QXpress and very easy and convenient to use. This concept might sound un-HTML, but it is actually very convenient. When creating a piece of text you can choose to be in graphic format (GIF, JPG etc) or in HTML format, with or without style sheets. You can do everything in one program and you can also add external resources from other programs as well.
For more detailed information, including on updates, please read the documentation or visit the home page.


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SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A former San Antonio teacher accused of directing students to hit a schoolmate for being a bully has been convicted of official oppression.
Cynthia Ambrose, 44, was accused of telling her students at Salinas Elementary School to line up and hit a 6-year-old boy so he knows "how it feels to be bullied." She faces up to a year in jail after jurors convicted her Thursday, the San Antonio Express-News reported.
The May 2012 incident occurred when the boy was brought to Ambrose by his teacher, Barbara Ramirez, after he hit another student. The boy, now 7, told the jury this week he remembers getting hit by students and later telling his brothers, but they didn't believe him.
"It started out as a pat," Ramirez said. "Then she told the class, 'Come on, hit him harder.'"
Ramirez was granted immunity in exchange for her testimony. She said she reported the incident to the school principal two weeks later.
"I've never heard of anything like this in my 30 years," Salinas Elementary School Principal Jeffrey Large said. "I've heard of teachers using excessive force, but never putting students against other students."
Prosecutor Patrick Ballantyne said in court Thursday that the incident was "so far outside the bounds of classroom discipline to where it becomes criminal."
Ambrose's lawyer, James Scott Sullivan, questioned Ramirez's statements during closing arguments, saying her testimony was dubious.
Ambrose is scheduled to be sentenced July 29.
Sullivan said he will pursue probation for Ambrose, who said she was already "convicted" by the media when the episode first came to light.


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SENIOR POWER: Welcome Jonathan Torres
Following its opening in 1979 in its own new building on the corner of Hearst and MLK, the North Berkeley Senior Center (NBSC) became well known as innovative and active. Attendance and the number of volunteers and donors increased dramatically. The many accomplishments included The Nugget newsletter, Japanese Seniors Program, Portable Meals, and minibus service. Special programs included local authors and musicians, intergenerational activities, the Nutrition Program, assistance and advisory groups, monthly birthday celebrations, entertainments as well as topical discussions, and the Center's own up-to-date Resource Guide. Gray Panthers and Save Section 8 began meeting at the NBSC. A relationship with the Berkeley Adult School brought onsite free classes taught by credentialed instructors. A diverse and accessible staff was on hand. As senior citizens and elders (and later, boomers) entered, they were welcomed, often in their own language.
I devoted the August 17, 2010 Senior Power column to "A Conversation with Two Old-Timers" who were retiring. One was NBSC director Suzanne Ryan. In the interim, concern for Berkeley's aged citizenry has bounced around among City departments and divisions while three or four persons tried to fill her shoes. My attempts to arrange interviews were unsuccessful.
That was then, and this is now. On June 17, 2014 Jonathan Torres assumed the leadership role of NBSC Director. Recently, I had an opportunity to chat with him. As I was ushered through closed doors to his office, I was impressed with how organized everything looked. As always, the Center was busy… the phone rang constantly. That same day a senior had experienced a health crisis.
Torres reports to Leah Talley of the Aging Services Division, part of the Housing and Community Services Department. I learned that he recognizes the importance of the Center's successful functioning of the advisory council and volunteers in general. He says that the NBSC is now fully staffed, including a "case manager" three-days a week. ("Case management" is the city's Social Services [Unit], which provides consultation and referral in areas of concern to Berkeley residents over age 55.) The Nugget newsletter is being redeveloped, and WiFi workshops scheduled at both North and South Berkeley Senior Centers.
Thirty-two year old Torres comes to us from Pinole, where he was employed in city government that included senior services. He and his family live in Emeryville, and he drives to work. In 2005 he received his B.A. degree from San Francisco State University, with a major in recreation and Leisure Studies. His interest in embarking on a UCB Master's degree in public policy is on hold while family life and the NBSC fully occupy his life.
* * *
Independence at Home is a program part of Obamacare, said to provide incentives for selected primary-care providers who are able to save money by making time-consuming home visits to medically complex, Philadelphia patients. In other words, it's an experiment in one big city. House calls were once the main patient-doctor point of contact, but physicians have been encouraged to maintain high-volume offices, mainly by low reimbursement rates. (Doc Martin's writers apparently haven't been informed.)
In August 2013m the U.S. Justice Department announced an agreement with the City of Fort Morgan, Colorado to improve access to civic life for people with disabilities. Reached under Project Civic Access (PCA), the Justice Department's initiative ensures that cities, towns and counties throughout the country comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The settlement agreement with the City of Fort Morgan can be accessed at the ADA website.
On August 28, 2013 PBS Newshour identified the top U.S. cities for "successful aging" (none in California) and "8 Things Your City Should Be Doing to Help Seniors, According to Age-Friendly New York City." They include advocate for improvements in public transportation. People over age 65 make up 54% of the national average of those who use public transit. Work toward affordable, supportive housing solutions. Welcome HUD Section 202 housing. Check out Creating an Age-friendly NYC, One Neighborhood at a Time, a toolkit for creating age-friendly neighborhoods.
Of 59 nations that promote gender equality in the workplace, Israel ranks 21st. Women's pension benefits in Israel average NIS 2,000 lower than men's, according to the Annual Statistic Report on the Elderly released by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee in Israel - Eshel-JDC. (1 Israeli New Sheqel = 0.28 US Dollar.) According to the data, women's pensions stand today at an average of NIS 4,197 compared to NIS 6,192 for men. Tsk Israel. The employment rate among women aged 65+ has been rising steadily over the last decade, from 4.1% in 2000 to 7.4 % in 2011.
* * *
In September:The National Council on Aging, Inc. has announced Senior Center Month.
Sunday, Sept. 8, 2013: National Grandparents Day.
Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2013: PBS Frontline will present an encore of its November 2012 program,"The Suicide Plan."
Monday, Sept. 16, 2013: Grantmakers in Aging is hosting "Senior housing plus services," a webinar linking affordable housing with services for seniors. Jennifer Ho of the Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) will discuss partnerships to improve health and housing stability for residents of HUD-assisted housing. Register online with the NCOA. (The term webinar is a combination of web and seminar, meaning a presentation, lecture or workshop that is transmitted over the Web.)
Sunday, Sept. 22, 2013: Falls Prevention Awareness Day: Help spread the word about falls prevention, on the first day of Fall. http://waystohelp.ncoa.org/
In October:Wednesday-Friday, October 2-4, 2013: "Senior Centers 2013: Where Do We Grow from Here?" Join the National Institute of Senior Centers and the Massachusetts Association of Councils on Aging for a national senior center conference. Sturbridge MA.


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What is a real carrot? About a week ago, I was speaking to a mum and the topic of shopping in supermarkets came up. It was a wide-ranging conversation and the benefits and concerns she expressed about shopping were similar to what other mums have talked about. In summary, supermarkets are convenient, good value and […]
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What is a real carrot?
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Guilloteau is THE specialist in « ultrafiltrated » soft-ripened cheeses, to be sold per piece or to be cut from the counter, and made from cow, sheep as well as goat-milk.
The Fromager d'Affinois is today Interval's best seller in the States , with other varieties (Garlic & Herbs, Pepper).
Product selection ...
The Fromager d'Affinois plain
The Fromager d'Affinois garlic & herbs
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Find all the range on


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In 2002 the Bentley Continental GT concept was released at the Paris Motor Show, which has obviously been a big staple to their lineup ever since. This year, though, once again in Paris, Bentley has released a Continental-based GT3 racecar, being developed by a dedicated motorsport team at the company's factory in Crewe.
Why does this matter? Because Bentley hasn't gone racing since its history sixth Le Mans victory in 2003.
Dr Wolfgang Schreiber, Bentley's Chairman and Chief Executive, comments: "The clear message from our customers is that Bentley belongs on the racetrack, and the Continental GT3 is the realization of a dream we've had ever since the launch of the Continental GT. The new GT Speed is the perfect car for us to develop into a racer, and our work so far has shown huge potential. The Continental GT3 is set to show the world what the Continental GT is capable of in its most extreme form, and establishes a solid foundation for Bentley's long-term motorsport plans."
While the Continental GT Speed is no doubt a badass, refined, luxury grand tourer, the Continental GT3 concept is way further down the wild end of the spectrum. Ditching the all-wheel drive for a rear-wheel drive chassis in accordance with regulations of GT racing, with the addition of an obligatory aero package and state-of-the-art motorsport hardware.
Even better is the Continental GT3 concept has gotten the full support of the FIA, meaning Bentley will be racing again toward the end of 2013 with a true GT racecar, capable of dominating the field.
Of course the GT3 concept is built for speed, but it is meant to master endurance as well, being eligible for a range of race series and events, including our favorites, the ones that last for 24 hours!


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Setting Social Media Limits for Children (Family Coach)
Catherine Pearlman is a social worker who also works as an assistant professor at the College of New Rochelle. She's the founder of The Family Coach, a business that specializes in helping families resolve everyday problems. She blogs on parenting at www.thefamilycoach.com, and Tweets at @thefamilycoach. She gets letters, tweets and emails all the time from people looking for answers to family issues. In this column, she answers her mail. The letters have been edited.


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Mental Health Ambassadors
What is the Mental Health Ambassador Program?
(The following is the presentation given by Dr. Wei-Chien Lee at the 2009 ACPA Annual Conference, in which the MHA program received the 2009 ACPA Thomas Magoon Excellence in Counseling Award)
A Counseling and Psychological Center must be a social justice agent. It has ethical
responsibilities of reducing inequalities in education outcomes, decreasing health
disparities, providing multiculturally responsive services, and creating social change.
The Mental Health Ambassadors program was created to help San José State University Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) to further actualize its social justice missions
My students inspired this program. Many of them need to work full time to support their family and be a full time student, do not have equal access to resources, have been mistreated or discriminated against -- even by the current psychological and educational theories and practices. My students reminded me that culturally responsive services must be created and provided to help ensure social justice.
I kept asking myself, what can we do, how to create a win-win solution for students,
CAPS, and the university? In Fall 2006, the light bulb went on, a grant was written,
and after a hundred cups of coffee and several cakes, the Mental Health Ambassadors
program obtained supports and officially started in Fall 2007.
Each semester, we interview and select students to become Mental Health Ambassadors. We cultivate them to be the official diplomats of the SJSU CAPS by the following mandatory and structured activities: Pre-semester one-day training, weekly training, 4 official CAPS activities (e.g., tabling, presentation), one final scholarly project, the "Positive Impacts" log, one educational consultation meeting, and four individual mentoring meetings. In addition, the Ambassadors are encouraged to actively identify themselves to the campus community. A 46-page "Mental Health Ambassador Handbook" was developed as the training manual and reference for the Ambassadors.
The Ambassadors have exercised their Ambassadorship creatively. For example: In a class, a professor said, "I think we might have a Counseling Services" Two of the Ambassadors raised their hands, identified themselves, and provided their class and the professor information.
- Students made their first counseling appointment with Ambassador's accompanying them.
- Ambassadors "reminded" department heads about addressing mental health needs and encouraging students to use CAPS.
- Provided multi-language outreach (most ambassadors are bi-lingual and bicultural).
- Chalk-writing the workshops on the boards of classrooms.
The numbers of student contacts made by Ambassadors have been stunning. Last semester, the five Ambassadors made more than 400 student contacts and 10 class presentations. All Ambassadors have been invited back to the next semester to give presentations to more classes by professors. Our students seem to prefer to talk to the Ambassadors during outreach activities, I was often left alone, while students flooded the Ambassadors.
No words can capture the positive influence of this program. However, seeing the Ambassadors grow and knowing how much they are proud of and enjoy what they do are most rewarding. This year, two Ambassadors will present their final projects at the California Psychological Association Annual Conference. They will be among the handful of undergraduate students presenting in that conference. I asked them, "are you nervous?" They both replied, "actually, mostly exciting."
As a past forest ranger, I know that all seeds need water, sun, soil, and air to grow. I believe that, in many ways, social justice is also about giving each person proper and responsive environment for them to grow, and I know that the Mental Health Ambassador program provides us a great nursery for our students.
Who Are the Mental Health Ambassadors?
Mental Health Ambassadors (MHAs) are the ambassadors, official envoys, representatives, and messengers of the San José State University CAPS. They have the knowledge, skills, and attitude to be an Ambassador and to accomplish the Mental Health Ambassadors' mission. They also are liaisons between the SJSU community and the SJSU CAPS.
What Is the Mental Health Ambassadors' Mission?
To improve the psychological wellbeing of the SJSU students and SJSU community through
- Promoting SJSU CAPS.
- Increasing mental health literacy.
- Reducing stigma associated with mental health disorders and problems.
- Fostering a supportive and informative campus culture for issues related to mental health problems and mental disorders.
What Are the Mental Health Ambassadors' Objectives?
1. Increase SJSU students' knowledge and awareness about:
- Mental health problems and disorders.
- Mental Health literacy.
2. Reduce the stigma associated with mental health disorders and problems.
What Are the Main Requirements of Mental Health Ambassadors?
1. Open to challenges and excited about learning.
2. A positive attitude related to mental health disorders and problems.
3. A strong desire to improve the health of students and the SJSU community.
4. A cumulative GPA of 2.0 or better.
5. Complete the Ambassador Training, attend weekly meetings, actively participate in four CAPS activities (for example, tabling, presentation, outreach, etc.), and complete a final project related to mental health issues.
What Makes an Ambassador?
Having the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that enable them to achieve their mission and objectives.
1. The desire to learn, to help, and to promote a positive and accurate attitude about mental health issues (Being perky, extroverted, or outgoing is NOT required.)
2. Professionalism
3. Willingness to challenge self.
4. Willingness to apply the MHA knowledge and skills to take care of and improve self.
How Is MHA Different from Peer Counselors?
The MHAs are similar to Peer Counselors in having positive attitudes toward mental health, good communication skills, and skills and knowledge to help students to be healthy and successful. However, MHAs are different from Peer Counselors in:
- Primary goal: MHAs' primary goal is making systematic change -- changing the culture and attitudes as well as reducing the stigma related to mental health issues for SJSU students and community. Peer counselors primary goal is to provide support to their peers and produce individual changes.
- Main activities: MHAs are encouraged to create and engage in diverse programs and activities to help them to achieve their mission (e.g., presentation, tabling, designing handouts, participating in student organization meetings, talking to professors), while peer counselors mainly provide individual peer counseling.
I Am Interested, How Can I Find More About the MHA Program and How Do I apply?
- You may want to read the Ambassador Handbook by clicking here, talk with a current Ambassador, or talk with Dr. Lee.
- Please Contact CAPS or E-mail Dr. Lee ( firstname.lastname@example.com).
- MHA Application Information
- We will be uploading the MHA application form on 10/26/2016
- We will start accepting 2017 Spring MHA application on 10/26/2016.
- We will start interviews in April 2017.
- The 2017 MHA Training will start in Fall 2017.


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So, sadly our grandmother passed away on Thursday. The sisters will be reuniting in Minneapolis, MN. Then there will be a 3.5 hour drive down to Dumont, MN. I made a trip to Target tonight to get some essential car riding/Minnesota survival supplies. This is going to be an extra taxing trip because since Monika's last time in the MN/ND area, she has gone vegan. If you're not familiar with the meal options in this area, I can assure you that there are not a lot of things for vegans to consume.
|Wine boxes, dark chocolate and face powder that's supposed to make you, "happy."
|Princess fleece throw to survive the car trip and because today is princess day.
|Bink was sniffing this blanket hard.
I also bought granola bars and wheat goldfish crackers. I'm going to make sure I have a craft project to work on while I'm there.


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Awesome 2 page spread covers the boxset & Yello History including how the Racket the 3 guys made in the early days led to Carlos getting evicted! Philistine landlords!
There is a great photo of Boris in his studio circa late seventies/early eighties. I'd love to know what year it's from, I can't see the fairlight so it's early.....
Can't wait for the postie to try to cram that boxset thru my letter box!
Anyone seen Dieter tonight (in London)?
Richard Shepherd
Boris in UK Mix Mag September Issue, on shelves now!
Latest news of new music, albums, remixes and YELLO projects
2 posts • Page 1 of 1
Re: Boris in UK Mix Mag September Issue, on shelves now!
Thank you for the heads up. I ordered that issue.
2 posts • Page 1 of 1


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Questions to Frank De Winne from within TOCC: "Students of today are the scientists and researchers of tomorrow"
On 6 November six students who are participating in the SUCCESS 2002 contest got to talk to Belgian ESA astronaut Frank De Winne on board the International Space Station via an audio link-up. The students from universities in Scotland, Italy and The Netherlands spoke to Frank De Winne from within ESA's Taxi Flight Operations Coordination Centre (TOCC) at ESTEC in The Netherlands.
The TOCC is where ESA's Odissea operations team is located - here they provide all essential coordination and decision making functions for the mission, and interfaces to all partner control centres. The TOCC reacts to any changes throughout the mission - coordinating decisions and prioritising changes in the schedule to any of the European experiments. They liase with the mission control teams in Russia and America.
The SUCCESS 2002 contest offers European students the prize of a one-year internship with the European Space Agency, and the chance to see their experiment fly on board the International Space Station (ISS). As the connection lasted longer than was originally anticipated the students were able to ask a second round of questions.
The questions were ask by Joost Elstak who is studying Aerospace Engineering at Delft University, The Netherlands, and by Simona Lodato, Maria Rosaria Rusciano and Diana Pignalosa from Napels, Italy and Roberto Araújo and Maria-Joao Carneiro from Aberdeen University, Scotland.
If, in about 10 to 20 years, we would look back at the ISS-project, what do you think mankind will have learned from this gigantic project and in what way do you hope it will change society as we know it now?
[Frank's answer was partially inaudible] …it is so impressive how people of different backgrounds, different cultures, speaking different languages can work together and achieve something so incredible.
What do you do with your free time during space missions?
Mostly I look through the window at the beautiful view below and communicate with my family at home.
Would you want to work hand in hand with students for the ISS?
I would be delighted to. When I was working at ESTEC I had the opportunity to work with students from the Technical University in Delft and enjoyed it very much. It is always exciting working with students, they always look at problems with fresh ideas. The students of today are the scientists and astronauts of tomorrow, the sooner they can get in contact with the ISS, the better.
Why are you landing at night?
It is indeed unusual that we are undocking at night. After undocking we make 2 or 3 orbits before landing in Kazakhstan where it will already be early morning. If we wanted to land later in the day we would have to stay at the Station for longer, but because there is a Shuttle arriving soon after we leave this is not possible.
What is the greatest hazard for long-term interplanetary missions?
There are many challenges for such a mission, but one of the big issues is that human beings will have to travel for 2 to 3 years to get to another planet, we have to know more about how people can live together in this environment and for so long, and how do they cope with knowing that there is maybe no way back to Earth? The ISS crew has an emergency lifeboat - they can use the Soyuz to return to Earth if they need to. Another big issue is the amount food that is needed on such a mission.
Do you have any difficulties in performing biological experiments in the ISS since you are not a scientist?
I only have to carry out the instructions that the scientists have given; I don't have to be a specialist in science to be a good operator!
At the close of the call, Frank said how much he had enjoyed talking to the students and hoped that he would soon get the opportunity to share his experiences with them in person. Frank also expressed his gratitude to the many people involved supporting the Odissea mission on the ground behind the scenes and for "supporting this great flight".


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And we're back for another exhilarating edition of Points of Impact. Like I wrote last night on Twitter, this week's haul was quite impressive: close to a dozen books! No wonder I took the entire evening to read through it all so I could have something enlightening to tell you today!
A now customary caveat: these aren't reviews; they're more like pointers to interesting tricks and devices that a beginning comics writer could find useful. Hence even a book that many would consider "bad" can still have something to teach us about writing – even if it's by a bad example. To further drive that point in, I'm beginning this week to add a closing statement to each part called Lesson Learned. If you feel like just skimming the blog post, those are the parts for which you want your eyes to slow down. At the end of every month, I'll be doing a digest of all of the month's bits o'wisdom in a single post I'll probably title Lessons Learned. Yeah, that's my great imagination at work, folks – buy my comics!
I loved…
The dialogue in Brian K. Vaughan's SAGA #1 – Before I start catching too much flak for praising writers for not writing dialogue, this week I'm going in reverse. No, I won't be talking about writing a lot of dialogue (sorry, Mr. Bendis!), but rather about writing the dialogue that was exactly required.
But first a confession: I've never read Y: THE LAST MAN and only the $1 sampler of EX MACHINA. That means my familiarity with Vaughan's work could be considered sorely lacking. However, it also means that my expectations were at an ideal point, that is completely neutral.
Despite hitting me right off the bat with a splash page of a woman wondering if she's defecating or not, this comic contains some of the best dialogue I've read in a long while. This is saying a lot considering that it's part space opera, part high fantasy – two genres I absolutely loathe. Indeed the dialogue elevates the whole experience above the simple context of the story, far beyond the winged guardsmen, unicorn ladies and robots doing it like they do on the Discovery Channel.
I'm not making any of this up by the way.
But the heart of the matter is that Vaughan succeeds in creating dialogue that not only advances the story and serves as a great introduction for his world and his characters; he also makes us care deeply about these characters. It's thanks to dialogue so perfectly on-target – especially in highly dramatic moments where it would be easy to fall back into whine and cheese – that we can almost lose sight of the funny aliens and intergalactic wars and see this story for what it truly is: a universal tale about two people in love nurturing the life they created together.
My very own personal favorite line in the entire comic? As Alana and Marko, our two protagonists, are caught in a crossfire between enemy troops and will surely die, Marko utters a sentence that is very simple yet so powerful at that moment:
That use of the past tense, as if they were already dead, it hits you like a pack of gunpowder in a mouth full of fire.
Lesson learned: Writing dialogue is a precarious balancing act between moving the story forward and establishing characterization. Too much of the former and you get a plot-driven story peopled by interchangeable robots. Too much of the latter and you get quirky talking heads show that goes nowhere. Good dialogue keeps the balance between the two; GREAT dialogue pushes both to the limit. That way, you can maybe reach out to people who would have no interest in your story in the first place.
I liked…
The amount of research done by Nathan Edmondson for THE ACTIVITY #4 – This is the second time that THE ACTIVITY makes the list as the "liked" item. Will it ever attain the coveted "loved" spot? Only time will tell but it's racking up a pretty good track record in the meantime. (2012-03-16 UPDATE: I checked and it did get "loved" already. Sorry for the lapse in memory!)
Once again, this is not about shutting up. This week, I'm all about the talky bits! Here, I'm amazed by the load of research Edmondson no doubt had to get through to incorporate so much authenticity in his plot and his lines. We're talking about:
- Diplomatic relations
- Military operating procedures
- The military structure and chain of command
- Bleeding edge covert ops technology
- Military lingo
And this isn't flavor text peppered all over the dialogue just to make it sound real. These notions are also integral part of the plot. This is one of the elements that make THE ACTIVITY such a good book: it's done its work and it shows!
Of interest too is the fact that these characters not only talk like soldiers, they also act like soldiers. They're solid and reliable professionals who do their job without angst nor exaggerated relish. Hence you won't find among them the usual characterization shortcuts, the stereotypes like the hard-assed drill sergeant, the young hot impulsive hotshot, the contemplative wisdom-sputtering mentor, the PTSD victim teetering along the edge – you know them because you've seen them all in the other comics and at the movies.
Lesson learned: If you're going to write about anything that steps outside the bounds of your everyday life, do your research. Don't half-ass it either. We're living in the information age so it's easy for anyone to look it up and second-guess your "facts".
I was disappointed by…
The main character's lack of presence in Mike Mignola and John Arcudi's LOBSTER JOHNSON: THE BURNING HAND #3 of 5 – Just to drive the point home even further, this week's disappointment stems from actually not saying enough. Specifically, it deals with the authors opting to keep their main character mostly silent, absent and/or ineffective for three straight issues, an irritating habit that reaches its low point in issue 3.
Throughout this installment, Lobster Johnson appears on only 6 pages, and on these pages he has no more than 13 speech balloons, a little more than 2 speaking lines per page on average. None of these are particularly meaty character-wise. Apart from one admittedly cheesy opening line, all of his dialogue refers to the plain situation at hand, no insight, quips or flavor at all.
That bothers me.
First there's no way for the reader to get inside the hero's head and thus identify with him. We're irremediably stuck outside this character, getting the story told to us instead of having the slim opportunity to live it through Lobster Johnson. Even worse, since the main villain gets both more face time and more substantial dialogue, it's actually easier to identify with him instead, thus making for a strangely skewed reading experience.
Then there's the fact that Lobster Johnson seems like he's guest-starring in his own comic, like Wolverine visiting a Spider-Man title in the 90s (he used to do it at least twice a month). The same way his appearance proves completely extraneous to the plot – he accomplished nothing and affected no one in any way – the reverse is also true: the plot leaves absolutely no trace on him. Issue 3 leaves us with a "hero" that's left curiously unaffected, having learned about as much about himself as we already knew about him: nothing.
Talk about a classic mystery man!
Lesson learned: If you want your readers to like a character, introduce him properly. That doesn't mean info-dumping his whole resume, but keeping a steady diet of characterization through interactions with other characters. Also, in order to really become "heroes", characters have to be challenged by events and be transformed by them in order to bring a satisfying close to their journey. A character that passes through a story without change is not a hero but an extra.
Honorable mentions this week
- The quirky scenes ("bring this horse to the race" and sex with a view to David Hasselhoff (please don't ask me to explain; I already had to do it with my girlfriend who happened to pass by and see this over my shoulder)) in Andrew Osborne's BLUE ESTATE #10
- A 14-page fight scene that's still an interesting read in Brian Wood's CONAN THE BARBARIAN #2
- An intricate plan that would actually work in the real world in Kurtis J. Wiebe's PETER PANZERFAUST #2
- The sniping scene and the fact that the Punisher actually sounds like someone with a background in the military instead of a goon with a gun in Greg Rucka's THE PUNISHER #9
- Examples of decompression that works in Nick Spencer's THIEF OF THIEVES #2
Dishonorable mention
J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman's BATWOMAN #7 is still a sorry mess and came in close to being this week's disappointment. Normally, I'd leave it at honorable mentions and keep mum about everything else that didn't particularly wow me but I thought this particular case warranted a special treatment.
I think I've expounded enough on this title's problem last month and this issue gives us more of that same problem. However, one thing that stands out and underlines this book's slow descent into meh-ness is the fact that the authors seem to have completely forgotten what made Batwoman special in the first place. Gone is the fiery fierceness, gone is the unflinching pride, and gone is the barely held-back grief behind the façade of the soldier. Batwoman's characterization has been completely pushed aside in favor of an intricate plot structure that honestly fails at the most basic level: it can't properly tell us what is actually happening.
Remember the first five issues: each scene was leading into the other almost seamlessly, all of them driven by the clashing of strong characters like Chase, Maggie and Batwoman. Heck, the comparison is even less flattering if you go further back to the BATWOMAN: ELEGY days, when Greg Rucka reinvented the character in the pages of DETECTIVE COMICS. That was when characters were driving the plot. Now it's the plot – hindered by a gimmicky device – that leads the characters.
Here's a fun thing to do while reading BATWOMAN #7: replace Batwoman with Nightwing in every panel in which she appears and see how much it changes the story or even just her lines. Not much, right? That's a good litmus test right there for knowing if your characterization is strong enough to carry a plot.