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Copyright 2007-2019
Built with Indexhibit
is our office and project library. An information exchange for neighborhood residents and visitors alike serving as a gathering space for people, books, visual archives, and technology. Visitors to Jar House are invited to read, research and explore work in, by, and about the neighborhood as well as contemporary art practices revolving around social practice and community-engaged art work. Guest rooms are available upstairs for writers, curators, and visiting artists. Jar House hosts community meetings, book clubs, and artist gatherings by PHP and partner organizations.


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Kurojaki is the father of Tesshin and leader of Kōga Clan, making him mortal enemy of Iga Clan.
Kurojaki has a dark brown and white with spots. He has mohawk on his head.
He has a slashed right eye and he got it from impaling his eye on his sickle.
In anime, he has brown fur and two scars on his right eye and left ear.
Kurojaki is a cruel and nasty dog, always ready to kill and eat his opponents or even innocent dogs like Wilson's family. Like Akame, Kurojaki is skilled at using human objects like scythes.
However, he has certain honor as a ninja and he puts his mission above anything else. He pushes his soldiers to train and orders them to eat dog meat, believing that it will make them stronger.
Kurojaki's good side is seen as he cares about his young son Tesshin and gets furious when he thought that he died. However, he later abandons his son in the manga.
Kurojaki is somewhat cowardly, as he is seen running away from battle. Finally, he shows his true loyalty for his mission by jumping into the flames, as he never saw any other way of living than living the way he was raised.
Ginga: Nagareboshi Gin
Kurojaki is the leader of Kougas and very loyal for their ancient mission to steal the secret scrolls of the Iga clan. Kurojaki was long time ago captured by a human, explaining his collar (in the anime, the collar was omitted).
A month before his first appearance in the story, he attacked Wilson's family who came to the area along with the circus they were part of. He killed his son Londo and kidnapped his wife Lean and ate her with his fellow Kogas.
Kurojaki uses a scythe as a weapon to kill many Iga dogs with it before taking the bodies to be eaten.
Kurojaki first appeared when Ben and his group were chasing the Iga ninja dogs, saying that everything was going as planned. He later appeared during the raid on the Iga with three other Kougas with him. After the two Igas kill themselves (leaving only Kirikaze and Jinnai left), he is chased away by Gin. Later when Akame enters Kurojaki's territory, Kurojaki is notified of their plans from his minion, Maya. He and his Kogas surround Akame's group (Akame, Gin, Kirikaze and Jinnai).
He attacks Akame, mortally wounding him with his sickle. However, just as he's about to give Akame the killing blow, Gin charges in and throws him to the ground with such force, causing his sickle to turn upward, having the blade now pointed directly at his face. It is revealed that Gin had gotten Kurojaki's own weapon in the Koga leader's right eye.
Later on, just as he's about to inform his ninjas that it was time to attack the Iga fortress, John and Hyena show up. John attacks his followers, and Kurojaki is about to attack John himself when he sees something coming his way.
It is Akame's Igas, followed by a strange group of dogs he has never seen before. They had stronger numbers, therefore outnumbering Kurojaki and his Kogas. But to him it doesn't matter, and he orders them to attack them anyway, and the final battle between Koga and Iga begins (Not counting Ou). But Kurojaki decides to flee during the battle.
However Gin ends up chasing after him. Kurojaki seemed glad at that, and is about to attack Gin when Akame snags him by the neck and throws him to the ground. Shortly after Gin ends up fighting Kurojaki upon telling Akame he wanted to prove his worth. Kurojaki thought Gin wasn't that bad, for a kid.
Just as they're about to collide once more, they are interrupted by Ben's group, who seemed to be looking for them. Kurojaki again runs away, but he is stopped by a Collie on a cliff side.
It turned out that it was Wilson, the collie whose family had been slaughtered by him during his escape from the circus. But that's not all that troubling him. He is also carrying Kurojaki's pup in his mouth, and is going to smack him against the cliffside til he dies.
Shocked and enraged, Kurojaki knocks into Wilson after jumping up the cliff with one jump, but also causing his puppy to fall into the black abyss.
Angered even more he attacks Gin's group, but ends up leaving his guard down. Kurojaki runs to attack Gin, but Gin uses the spin-attack, wounding him badly, but not killing him. Cross shows up with Wilson, and his son, revealing that there was just a river below the cliff. The pup runs over to Kurojaki, licking his face.
When Gin tells Kurojaki he could go where ever he will, and that his son needed him for he was the one and only father to him in the world, Kurojaki for the final time runs away, but ends up leaving his son behind.
When Kurojaki finds out that the Iga house had been set ablaze by Akame, he mocks Akame, calling him a coward. Kurojaki, ignoring Akame's protests, jumps into the flaming manor to try to save the scrolls, killing himself in the process. He died like a true ninja, dying for his 'mission'.
Ginga Densetsu Weed Manga
In Ginga Densetsu Weed manga, Kurojaki only appears as a flashback character when Ken told the Ohu Soldiers the story about the war before entering into the ruined Koga territory.
Ginga: The Last Wars
During the fight against Monsoon, Tesshin mentions his father when he'll meet the same fate as him instead of having an honorable dead he'll die a horrible one.
As Tesshin gets carried away for treatment Gin asks Kurojaki if his son thinks about going to the other world, then don't let him.
- In the anime, Kurojaki is never seen during the attack on the Igas, but actually appears when Akame, Gin, Kirikaze and Jinnai arrive to take the medical herbs. In the manga, he appears as just a shadow on the cliff side, saying that they'll be back shortly to see how their plan is going.
- Kurojaki name means "black devil" or "black imp."
- Kurojaki wields a "Kama", a small scythe sometimes used in Ninjutsu.
- Kurojaki has appeared in several flashbacks throughout the series, including The Last Wars.

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The Archdiocese of Cincinnati Decree on Child Protection requires all volunteers over the age of 18 who work with children on a regular basis to complete a background check and attend a VIRTUS Training session. A regular volunteer is a person who works with children more than one hour a month.
Employees must attend a VIRTUS session, complete a background check, and be fingerprinted.
If you are planning to volunteer to work with children at St. Brigid Parish, please obtain selection.com online background check and attend a VIRTUS traing session as soon as possible.
To learn more about VIRTUS and to register for a training session near you, click on: www.virtusonline.com This is also the website to access Selection.com for the Fastrax background check. The parish is willing to pay for the background check if you are unable. Please contact Janell Klippel for a token to use as payment before you begin your background check.
These Archdiocesean policies will help protect our children from abuse and safeguard their well-being.
Fingerprinting for employees must be done at Selection.com offices. Please check the Selection.com website for the office locations and to see if there is a mobile unit near you. Fingerprinting must be paid for when the fingerprinting is done. If you are unable to pay for the fingerprinting ($30 or $32), the parish will pay, so please contact the Parish Office before you are fingerprinted if you need the parish to pay.
The Archdiocese of Cincinnati uses VIRTUS to train all its employees and volunteers who work with children.
If you or someone you know has been abused at any time by an agent of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati (priest, deacon, employee or volunteer), the Archdiocese urges you to contact Sandy Keiser, LISW, the Victims' Assistance Coordinator of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, at 513-263-6623 as well as to the victim's secular legal authorities.
A list of all St. Brigid Church individuals who are in compliance with the Archdiocese Decree on Child Protection is available at the Parish Office. Compliance means that the volunteer has successfully completed a background check and has attended a VIRTUS Training session and reading monthly bulletins. For employees, compliance means having successfully completed the background check, attended a VIRTUS training session, reading monthly bulletins and been fingerprinted.
For more information contact
Janell Klippel
937-372-3193 / Parish Office
Children are the hands by which we take hold of heaven.
— Henry Ward Beecher


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Advanced Portrait Retouching
Create Hair Highlights
Advanced Portrait Retouching
Create Hair Highlights
Lesson Info
Create Hair Highlights
Another thing I like to do with hair is I like to add contrast to the hair. What? I like to add some contrast or highlights to the hair. So this is, once again, a curve, 'cause you know I love curves. Channels and curves are the best thing in the whole world. All it is is a contrast move. I'm taking the highlights and I'm sliding them over. But I gotta get it into that hair, right? And we just talked about how hair can be a little challenging to draw. I'm gonna use channels to make a selection to do my hair. So I'm gonna show you how to do that. Alright, channels are your friends, yes they are. Alright, I tend to do this after I've done my drawing of the hair, which is a little ballsy, because what if the client doesn't like the hair drawing? Live a little, it's all right, you'll be all right. And the idea here is you go to your channels and you pick a channel that gives you a good contrast for the hair. Now, as we talked about the freckles in channels, you were looking for the separat...
ion of the dark freckles and the white skin, when you're looking at this channel, you're looking at hair highlights. So your needs are completely different, and it might be a different channel. The blue channel, I can see the highlights. They're separating from the hair, not bad. Green is about the same. Red's about the same. Well, how interesting is that, her hair is basically the same in all three 'cause it's kind of a neutral color, so cool, it doesn't really matter which one you pull. In old-school terms, the blue channel, if the green and the blue were the same, you never picked the blue channel 'cause all the noise of the file, all the grain was in the blue channel. It's old-school. So, I gotta tell you, I tried to pick the green channel, 'cause old habits die hard. Alright, you'll see I've got all these channels here, all these copies, I was using this for a variety of retouching needs, and I kinda wanted to show you, I have a gazillion channels. I use them all the time. I'm doing a contrast move, Lisa loves her some levels, Command-L. Often, when I'm doing a highlight move, I don't move the whites too too much, I really am pulling in the blacks. Now, when you're doing this move, you really wanna see, well what are you doing it for? You gotta stop, take a moment, and go where am I driving? I want hair highlights. So, don't look at her face, you don't care about her face, don't look at the background, just look at her hair. Yeah, I think that's pretty decent. Again, I'm just trying to get the highlights. So, what I'm gonna do is, I'm gonna turn that off, I'm gonna say great, I'm gonna say yes, and I already made the contrast move, do you remember that? I already made the contrast move? And this is how I do it. I make the contrast move first, I have a a black mask... Can't see it, can't see it, go to your channels that you just made, and you might wanna call it green channel for hair. So you can remember. Command-click on the icon for that channel, done this a bunch of times already today, you're well-versed at it, go back to your adjustment layer, make sure you are on the mask, not on the adjustment code, but on the mask, get a brush, and I know you're picking up what I'm putting down, you wanna have white as your foreground color. You're probably gonna wanna do Command-H to hide those marching ants, just so you can see what you're doing. Forget that tiny little hair brush, it's not gonna serve you now, you need a big, fat, beautiful, full-throttle brush. And you're gonna paint in... Some hair highlights. And this is how you bring photos to life. Make it look shiny, this is a L'Oreal, not L'Oreal, but, oh yeah, L'Oreal hair ad. There you go. You guys good with this? Yeah. Alright, how we doing on time, sweetie? We're good, we still have another fifteen minutes or so. Perfect. On the hair, so, on her hair color, there's that original contrast, 'cause of the highlights. But on somebody that's really blonde, would the technique variation be the same? Yeah, you'd actually be amazed, and that's a really good question, Bob, thank you for that. You'd be amazed how much detail is in there, and that might be one of those "uh-uh-uh" moments where you go back to the raw, and you pull out the texture with the raw. Yeah, you picking it up? Yeah, so, it's why I save the raw.
Class Description
Consistently make the people in your portraits shine by knowing exactly how and what to enhance or alter when retouching. Lisa Carney is back with the ultimate portrait retouching class. She will dive into working with a variety of skin tones, facial hair, body shaping, and clothing. No matter the person, lighting or portrait - this class will help show you how to enhance it in your post-processing. She'll explain how to:
- Prioritize your workflow
- Use the clone/heal tools
- Match skin tones
- Work with lighting/shadows and volume
Lisa is one of the best retouchers on the Hollywood scene and will be sharing her professional insight into how she approaches workflow and technique to create amazing portraits.
Software Used: Adobe Photoshop CC 2017
- Class Introduction
- Getting Started on the Image
- Mark Up Process
- Spotting & Cloning
- Gaussian Blur Smoothing Skin
- Surface Blur for Smoothing Skin
- Frequency Separation for Skin
- Create Skin Textures
- Color Correction for Skin
- Add Details to The Face
- Add Natural Looking Eyelashes
- Enhance the Eyebrows
- Brighten Whites of the Eyes
- Sharpen the Eye Details
- Replace Face Details with Masks
- Subtract Details: Freckles
- Add, Subtract & Paint Hair
- Create Hair Highlights
- Change the Hair Color
- Body Shaping: Overview
- Basic Body Shaping
- Body Shaping Through Masking
- Body Shaping: Liquify Tool
- Body Shaping: Puppet Warp Tool
- Retouch Wrinkled Skin
Kristine Pye
Thank you for taking the time to answer my question and take us through your "delivery" process, I found that extremely helpful. I have purchased two of Lisa's classes immediately after the live stream during Photoshop Week 2017 and was very excited to stream another set of lectures from Seattle. I will be purchasing the last two courses of Lisa's within the next 24 hours as I did just over a month ago. I find her classes to be absolutely brimming over with useful information--everything from the technique, her process, what other professionals in her work are doing, and **why** she chooses the methods she does in retouching. She is relatable and genuine, and her knowledge of the program and how to maximize efficiency while "skipping the actions" really reinforces the educational part of her courses. There are "easy way outs", but she emphasizes that you should understand the ways in which any adjustment effect the entire photo. These courses have helped me to move forward in my education, helping me to realize that with enough practice and good habit formation--such as naming every single layer every time-- that it is not irrational for me to make an effort in building a portfolio and a Master's degree with little-to-no- previous experience with the software. I am very appreciate. I hope to see more from Lisa in the future, but I have plenty to practice with for now! Thanks again, Kristine Pye firstname.lastname@example.com
Jeff Robinson
Lisa Carney is amazing! She has a depth of knowledge of Photoshop, retouching techniques, and compositing that she shares in a fast, but straightforward, easy to follow, step by step manner. No matter what your level of expertise, you'll find gems, shortcuts, and methods in her teaching that you can practice and put to use to make your work stronger, faster, and cleaner. And with the bonus materials she graciously provides, including workbooks with her detailed steps, practice files of the images she uses in class, and before and after comparisons, you'll be on your way to improving your skills immediately. She's an accomplished retoucher and gifted teacher. If you have the opportunity to take one of her classes, take advantage of it!
Anais Caldeorn
i Just want to say ..........Wow so worth it and she is so amazing at explaining ..... on top of she makes it fun to learn


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Maaars Bar
by Soop Dogg for £0.80
16th April 2006
Pages: 1 2
Step Four: Minor disaster here… a part of the join fractures under the stress of polishing, but with a cool head and a hot welding tool, a piece of bodywork from one of the off-cut sections is placed over
the gap and welded securely into place. Another session of more delicate polishing ensures a seam-free fix.
Step Five: Wheels in motion. Hand crafted sweet-based mag wheels are skilfully manufactured using Cadbury Buttons and silver confectionary balls for hub caps with a high chrome finish. The hub caps are then
mounted individually onto other buttons to complete the wheels.
Step Six: The wheels are fixed onto the chassis with skill level rarely seen outside of a Ferrari pit team. White chocolate 'halogen' headlamps are then added to complete the project.
Petro-choco-heads rejoice, this is high octane chocolate pimpery in motion. Let the cruisin' begin…


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ATTENTION CLASS OF 2020: Senior Portrait information
Current senior portrait dates are as follows:
September 11-13, 16
October 10-11
November 20-22
December 19-20
All dates are 2pm-8pm in the NHS Upper Library
January 21-24
2pm-8pm in the NHS Public Forum Room
THE SCHEDULING WEBSITE HAS CHANGED AS OF THE 2020 SCHOOL YEAR. ALL APPOINTMENTS WILL BE MADE AND MODIFIED ON www.prestigeportraits.com. Each student has been issued a unique Confirmation Code for the website, which was sent home via postcard and also emailed to me. I will be able to assist students with this process once school has started. Please have them stop by Room 214D. At any time, though, if your students need additional assistance, please have them call 800-426-9533, and follow the prompts to reschedule an appointment.
See Ms. Barone for the code or if there are any issues.
NHS Contact: Katherine Barone (214D)


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2nd National Conference for Teachers of English in Independent Prep Schools Downloads 2014
This year's conference was a great success. Please click on the links below to download presentations from the keynote speakers and workshop presenters.
"Well organised and informative. Thank you"
"Ros's keynote was inspiring, the concrete ideas that I can start using immediately in my teaching practice is fantastic!"
"The conference gave me a chance to see resources and to talk to other prep school teachers"
Keynote 1: 'The Power of Talk' - Ros Wilson
Keynote 2: 'It all starts here!' - Samantha Jaspal-Steed
Keynote 3: 'Engaging pupils to write' - Rob Smith
Workshops and handouts
|A. Embedding multimedia into English classrooms - Rob Smith, Literacy Shed
|B. Revitalising reading comprehension - Kerry Godsman, Adviser for Hertfordshire for Learning
|D. Challenge in the Pre-Prep - Samantha Jaspal-Steed, Headteacher, Berkhamsted Pre-Prep School
|E. Every child a young Sherlock super sleuth: how to make textual analysis exciting and effective - Judith McMullen & Mary Miller, English department, Beechwood Park School
|G. Bringing Ros Wilson into the independent school classroom - Carole Steele, Director of Studies, Solihull School
|H. The challenge of boys and writing! - Steve Lott, Head of English, Aldwickbury School
Click here for downloads
- Learning Works staff very welcoming and were willing and able to give us information and guide us into the right room at the right time.Able Gifted and Talented Conference
- The course was, as ever, fantastic! I have come back to school buzzing with ideas and one day in some are already being implemented.Annual SEND Residential Conference
- Fil shows such passion and enthusiasm for your subject. I felt today's presentation was wonderful. It was so relevant to our classroom.Dyscalculia & MLD Tour with Fil Came
- This is one of the best short courses I have attended in terms of meeting its stated aims and having material that accurately matches the course content.Teaching Children with SpLD
- I loved the course. Not a moment of it was wasted on me and I enjoyed the intensity.Managing the Role of the SENCo
- Excellent training which is tailored to the independent sector and the opportunity to meet colleagues doing the job of SENCo in different schools.Managing the Role of the SENCo
- I would have no hesitation in recommending the event to colleagues.Able Gifted and Talented Conference
- Glynis is an excellent lecturer. Her ability to convey the depth of her knowledge is superb.Teaching Children with SpLD
- I have never been on courses that are as well prepared and personalised to delegates needs as Fils. I am very impressed with Learning Works.SEN Policy Writing
- Truly inspirational - Tandi explains the maths topics so clearly and demonstrates everything with ease. Maths really does make sense when she teachesOvercoming Barriers to Learning in Maths
- It was really great to be given the time to actually discuss our assignments and be given immediate feedbackOvercoming Barriers to Learning in Maths
- I really enjoyed working with Learning Works - I've had six bookings from teachers at the event so I'm very happy! Brian Moses, Performance Poet at the 3rd English conferenceTeachers of English Conference
- It's good to be on the receiving end of learning something new for a changeNational Dyscalculia & MLD Conference
- I would highly recommend this conference. The positivity and enthusiasm of those presenting and other delegates was great. I can't wait to try out some of the new ideas with my students.National Dyscalculia & MLD Conference


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March 1, 2014
The New Topic
Story Utilities
Some unintended consequences from the credit crisis of 2008 and the regulations that followed have come to light. As former Aite Group analyst and current Traders columnist Robert Stowsky writes, big data has emerged as a major force for buyside firms. Fueled by the push for transparency and the need for better analytics, traders have more data at their fingertips than ever before. And this data is changing how they deal with the sellside.
In the past, the sellside provided research, trading and risk tools and other services the smaller buyside firms either had to buy or build for themselves. Everyone was happy with the arrangement, only if by "everyone" you mean the sellside. The buyside, it seems, was simmering and unsatisfied.
This vast data is not just for scoring the next big deal-buysiders are turning to big data and analytics to rate their brokers and their services, especially their research. Instead of just accepting the research and cutting a check each quarter, buyside firms are gathering their traders to rate the research and execution services from the sellside in relentlessly thorough scoring sessions. As one buysider told us, they don't hold back when rating the research for which they pay. If the quality slips, the buyside won't trade with that particular sellside firm maybe for the next few months until they get their research act together.
This is a total flip of the old sellside/buyside relationship. Now, with the commodification of electronic trading, trading technology and solid infrastructure, the buyside has taken the reins and this current arrangement isn't going away any time soon. In fact, the sellside is struggling to satisfy the buyside, as managing editor John D'Antona found out while reporting this month's cover story. John discovered that the buyside has a systematic method for analyzing the quality of the research and they are not scared to freeze out any sellside firms that do not meet their expectations and standards.
Also in this issue, Traders looks at the challenges of settling trades in the age of Dodd-Frank, Basel III and EMIR. Complex instruments like over-the-counter derivatives may still be a headache but the clearing houses have ideas on how to handle this call to action. And in this issue, Traders interviews the team behind J.P. Morgan's rebuilt electronic trading business. If anyone knows what's on the minds of the buyside, it's these guys. Finally, we also look at the new MAKE algo from Instinet and how FX traders are demanding better transactional cost analysis.
As we have reported in the past, the buyside is calling the shots and they expect their voices to be heard. You can find some of those demands here in the pages of Traders and online at www.tradersonline.com. Because this dialogue is far from over.
Phil Albinus
@philalbinus on Twitter
(c) 2014 Traders Magazine and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.tradersmagazine.com http://www.sourcemedia.com/


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Starting in Kyrgyzstan's bustling capital of Bishkek, this 16 day overland group tour also takes in the highlights of the country before ending in Uzbekistan. Discover the picturesque scenery of the Kyrgyz Fergana Valley, camp in a traditional yurt on the shore of Song Kol Lake and watch an eagle hunter demonstration in the Jeti Oguz Valley. Crossing into Uzbekistan you'll pass over the mountainous Kamchik Pass and end in Tashkent, the modern capital of Uzbekistan.
Trip Highlights
Not Included
Welcome to Bishkek
Welcome to Kyrgyzstan! On arrival there's a pre-departure Welcome Meeting and the rest of today is free to explore Bishkek, the hospitable and fascinating capital of Kyrgyzstan. Perhaps wander down to the vibrant Osh bazaar or head to the central Ala-Too Square.
Please note: The following itinerary is subject to change due to the unpredictable conditions in Kyrgyzstan. We have tried and tested alternatives in place to ensure your trip runs smoothly, please see the trip notes for details.
Overnight: Bishkek
Chong Kemin Valley
Bishkek - Chong Kemin. We climb aboard our overland truck for the first time today and head out of Bishkek. We may need to return to Bishkek to organise Uzbekistan visas for some of the group so the next couple of days need to be fairly flexible.
We will most likely spend the next two nights camping in the Ala Archa National Park and Chong Kemin Valley. There will be plenty of time for hiking in the stunning scenery and an optional white water rafting excursion will be offered.
Overnight: Chong Kemin | Breakfast x 2, Lunch x 2, Dinner x 2
Russian-style Karakol
Chong Kemin - Karakol. We drive to the northern shore of Lake Issyk Kol this morning, where we can admire the ancient petroglyphs at Cholpon Ata. After our visit here, we continue to the Russian-style town of Karakol, where the afternoon is free to explore. Perhaps pay a visit to the beautiful Russian Orthodox Holy Trinity Cathedral.
Overnight: Karakol | Breakfast
Jeti Oguz Valley
Karakol - Jeti Oguz. On day 5 we have a scenic drive up into the mountains of the Jeti Oguz region, dominated by towering red sandstone cliffs. The next day is free to explore this picturesque corner of Kyrgyzstan. Hike in the hills and mountains or opt for a horse-riding excursion with some local nomads. We'll camp in the area for these two nights.
Overnight: Jeti Oguz | Breakfast x 2, Lunch x 2, Dinner x 2
Jeti Oguz - Kochkor. Today we drive to the small village of Kochkor, stopping en route to watch a demonstration from a local eagle hunter, whose well-trained birds are used to catch wild animals for their skins and meat.
On arrival in Kochkor, we check in to our small, family-run guesthouses - this is a great experience and you'll get to know the local people. We also visit the village museum and a women's felt making cooperative which produces shyrdaks - the felt carpets that Kyrgyzstan is known for. There's also an optional outdoor folk concert and you can learn how to erect a yurt.
Overnight: Kochkor | Breakfast, Dinner
Song Kol Lake
Kochkor - Song Kol Lake. On day 8 we drive to shimmering Song Kol Lake, where we base ourselves for the next two nights. Song Kol is a remote and peaceful lake set in stunning scenery - Kyrgyzstan in all of its glory. We'll stay in traditional felt yurts and experience the life of rural Kyrgyz people. There's optional hiking and horse-riding in the area.
Please note: In the low season we will be unable to stay at Song Kol Lake due to the adverse weather. Instead we will likely stay in yurts on the southern shore of Lake Issyk Kol.
Overnight: Song Kol Lake | Breakfast x 2, Dinner x 2
Kyrgyz Fergana Valley
Song Kol Lake - Kyrgyz Fergana Valley. We spend the next three days overlanding through the Kyrgyz Fergana Valley towards Arslanbob. We'll make frequent stops to hike in the stunning mountain region and will camp in suitable spots on the route.
Please note: If the group prefers, we will spend an extra day in Arslanbob and depart for two days of overlanding in the valley on day 10. In cold weather we will be unable to camp and will stay in guesthouses along the route.
Overnight: Kyrgyz Fergana Valley | Breakfast x 3, Lunch x 3, Dinner x 3
Kyrgyz Fergana Valley - Arslanbob. Today we finally arrive in the picturesque village of Arslanbob. There's free time to relax after a long few days of overlanding. Perhaps take a stroll in the famous walnut forest, the largest walnut grove in the world.
Overnight: Arslanbob | Breakfast
Arslanbob - Fergana (Uzbekistan). We say goodbye to the mountainous country of Kyrgyzstan today, crossing the border into neighbouring Uzbekistan. Our drive today takes us to the city of Fergana, where the evening is at leisure.
Overnight: Fergana | Breakfast
Kokand, Kamchik Pass & Tashkent
Fergana - Kokand - Tashkent. Today we journey to Kokand, where we'll visit the Khudayar Khan's Palace and the Margilan Silk Factory. Traditional methods are still used here in the production of this famous textile.
After exploring Kokand, we cross over the mountainous Kamchik Pass to Tashkent, the Soviet-style capital of Uzbekistan. We must pass over the Kamchik Pass in local transport, as our truck must cross without passengers. We'll be reunited later today in Tashkent. Your final evening in Central Asia can be spent exploring Tashkent as you please.
Overnight: Tashkent | Breakfast
Our adventure ends today. If you wish, speak to our Sales Team about booking extra accommodation in Tashkent in order to fully explore the city.
Is This Trip Right For Me?
Overlanding is not a style of travel that will suit everyone so please carefully read the Trip Notes before selecting this tour and be realistic about your ability and desire to join such a trip. If you're the adventurous type who'd rather spend a night roughing it in the wilderness enjoying spectacular scenery, than luxuriating in a boutique hotel, then overlanding is for you. You just need the right attitude, an open mind, and a desire to participate fully in the trip.
Overland travelling can be demanding and challenging. The pace of the trip can be tiring at times and facilities can be basic. On your trip you'll travel in a purpose-built expedition vehicle on an off-the-beaten-track adventure along rugged roads, sometimes across vast distances and at altitude. You will find the drive times noted on the Trip Notes.
On an overland journey you are more than just a passenger, these are full participation trips and everyone gets involved and pitches in! You will also be expected to erect your own tent and help with camp chores including cooking meals for the group on a rota basis. Like all great adventures, the more you put in the more you'll get out!
The type, variety and standard of accommodation can vary greatly from very basic rooms without electricity or running water to comfortable hotels with good facilities. Generally in hotels most rooms will be twin-share, but some may be triple/quad-share. Hostels and yurts are nearly always multi-share and may be mixed sex. On the Trip Notes you will find more information about the accommodation each night.
The campsites we use range from basic to those with excellent facilities, including swimming pools, restaurants and a bar. On occasions we wild camp with no facilities, which means there are no toilets - just the vast expanse of the great outdoors and a shovel!
Our overland journeys are designed to offer freedom, and many of our routes have a large degree of flexibility rather than a strict hour-by-hour or even day-by-day itinerary. We intend to follow the planned route but exact night stops and inclusions cannot be guaranteed and it sometimes happens that we decide to make a change to our planned itinerary.
This is a particularly challenging trip, you will be travelling at high altitudes, through rough terrain and facilities can be very basic or non existent. There can be long drive days followed by wild camping which can be mentally and physically tough but there will be rest days and the scenery is spectacular!
Prices & Dates
Departure dates noted with a 'G' are guaranteed to operate. All other departure dates are guaranteed with a minimum of 4 persons. Prices shown are per person travelling.Read More
Local payment - $430pp, paid in USD
Please note that this is payable locally on day 1 of your trip in the currency specified.


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Legal highs will undergo a costly and lengthy testing process involving human clinical trials under a strict new regime that could see manufacturers jailed for up to eight years.
Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne today announced new regulations for psychoactive substances which would become law by next August.
It follows a temporary ban on some legal highs after mounting public concern over the health risks they pose.
Under the new regime, manufacturers would have to pay an application fee of about $180,000 plus testing costs of up to $2 million before any new product was deemed safe for sale - a process that could take up to two years.
The Ministry of Health would regulate the new testing regime, which was likely to include clinical trials on human subjects in New Zealand.
Regulators would look at toxicity, adverse effects and mental health impacts before any new products were approved.
The regime would also introduce tough new penalties, including up to eight years in prison for importing, manufacturing or supplying analogues of illegal drugs, and up to two years in prison for importing, manufacturing or supplying unapproved substances.
People caught with unapproved products could be fined $300, but it would not be a criminal offence so young people would not be penalised.
The rules would introduce a minimum purchase age of 18 and would restrict which outlets could sell the products, including a ban on dairy sales.
Products would face labelling and packaging restrictions and advertising would be banned except for at point of sale.
Legal highs on sale for at least six months before the new regime comes into effect could still be sold, but they would have to undergo testing within a transition period of six months.
Mr Dunne said the new rules would ensure products were safe for the people who wanted to use and enjoy them.
"But we are putting in place some pretty strict standards and restrictions to make sure that only the safest come through the net."
He expected there would be a drop in the number of products available, but denied it was a "back-door way" to ban all products.
"We haven't gone for a ban because we think there are some substances that may be perfectly safe for people to use - this is an issue that's driven by public safety, not by any other concerns."
Mr Dunne denied the rules would encourage a black market or push users towards illegal drugs like cannabis.
He estimated the legal high industry was worth tens of millions of dollars a year, and determined manufacturers would accept the compliance costs if they felt the return was worth it.
The legislation would be a world first, with countries like Australia and Britain looking to New Zealand's example as a practical solution to the problems they faced in their own countries.
Asked if he would use any of the approved products himself, Mr Dunne said: "Well, it's not really my scene."
The legislation would go before Parliament by the end of the year and become law by next August.
It would replace a temporary ban on 16 substances contained in more than 50 products that have already been removed from shelves.
* Manufacturers must pay an $180,000 application fee and up to $2 million in testing costs
* Ministry of Health regulators could take two years to test each new product
* Testing is likely to include human clinical trials in New Zealand
* Eight years in prison for importing, making or supplying banned substances
* Two years in prison for importing, making or supplying untested substances
* $300 fine for individuals possessing unapproved substances
* Minimum purchase age of 18
* Restrictions on labelling and packaging
* Ban on sales at dairies and no advertising except at point of sale


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For 2016 I decided to have a few international races in my calendar, and one of them was the Moscow Half Marathon. The idea for this race came from my girlfriend, to combine a weekend in Moscow together with a race. It would be the second race outside the Netherlands, after my Strong Viking adventure in Belgium in April.
The journey started on Friday 13th of May by taking my flight from Amsterdam via Paris to Moscow. Arriving in Moscow at the end of the afternoon marked my first visit to this mighty city. On Friday evening we visited Red Square before we went for some nice pasta at Jamie's Italian. For a 21,1k race you need some good carbs in your body.
On Saturday I picked up the race pack at the expo near the Luzhniki Stadium. The race number 1619 would be my lucky number for 2016. I had just recovered from an throat infection about a week before, and had to take in antibiotics for 7 days. I didn't have any trainings in the last 3 weeks, so my goal was just to finish the race and hopefully in a time close or slightly under 2 hours.
Race Day, ready or not?
Sunday, the race day. It is always an exciting feeling before a race, some adrenaline and anxiety in your body: am I ready, did I do enough training? In what manner shall I start, slow or fast? How will my body feel and react to this track?. You don't want to start too fast, as you want to keep some energy for the final kilometres, nor do you want to go too slow. How do you divide your energy and make sure you can finish bearing in mind that this is an unknown track, what can I expect? All these questions always strike my mind, every single race.
So I changed into my race outfit, put on my orange compression tubes for my calves, got a good luck kiss from my girlfriend, and headed to the starting area. And then it started. We ran away from the Luzhniki Stadium towards the Luzhniki embankment, making a left turn after 400m to run along the Moskva River. I made a careful start as we were running in a big group and I wanted to find the right pace. I did my first kilometre in 5:34, a bit too cautious, so I speeded up a little. While running alongside the Moskva River over the spacious Frunzenskaya embankment towards the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, you have a nice view on Peter the Great, a monument of enormous size.
Those kilometres I managed to speed up a little with an pace of 5:20/5:30 per km. The first 5k went good and I felt perfect, making it within 27:40. I felt comfortable to reach my goal. At the 6th and 7th kilometres we took a left turn towards Red Square, and then, right before it, turned left again to go over Bolshoy Moskovertskiy bridge, crossing the Moskva River to walk on the right side of it. This meant a little elevation gain on the bridge, and slowed my pace to 5:37 on this part. But when we passed the bridge, I gained my pace again and ran the next kilometres in 5:20 to 5:30. Running on the right side of the Moskva River on Raushkaya and Kosmodamianskaya embankments we passed the 10k mark at 55:22. After 10,7 kilometre we made a 180-degree turn to run back and headed back to where we had started. It gave me a good feeling as I knew how I could spread my energy over the rest of the course, with only a small elevation at the bridge again, but the rest of the course flat ground and music along the way.
The kilometres passed by, running still in the 5:20/5:30 per km up till kilometre 16. It became tougher and I felt like I used all my energy. The outside temperature was around 14 degrees, but the sun was shining. At the 16th kilometre I had to slow down a little bit, doing it in 6:09, but I gained my speed again for kilometre 17 making that in 5:39, before kilometre 18 became really hard and I had to slow down massively, taking this kilometre in 6:52. I saw my goal almost vanishing before my eyes, but I wasn't going to let it happen. But while I was approaching the 16th kilometre I saw my girlfriend standing alongside the track and cheering up for me. So knowing that she had to rush back to the finish line, I wasn't going to let her wait for me. I found my energy back and I finished the 19th kilometre in 5:37 and the 20th in 5:51, and took the final sprint on the 21st kilometre in 5:15.
I finished this marathon in 1:59:25, just under 2 hours achieving my goal and being the happiest guy to run into the arms of my girlfriend. The medal of the Moscow Half Marathon 2016 was not too big and heavy, but still it was an important one to add into my collection. It marked the end of a nice adventure and a great race, one of which I would definitely consider one of my favourite races, even that it was only my first in Russia ever.
Since I have never been in Russia before, and a running experience through super spacious streets of Moscow was my first, I decided to come back some day. So in 2017 I returned in Moscow and completed Half Marathon again! Better trained, I achieving a PR, as this track would be very suitable for that.
Are you interested in how I achieved a PR at this course? I will tell you about my 2017 adventure in Part 2!
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May 12, 2014 (ISN) – This weekend two Canadian women's teams cracked the top ten at the Puerto Vallarta Open in Mexico, and a Canadian men's team reached the podium at a NORCECA event in Antigua, Guatemala.
Ranked ninth in the main draw, the teams of Melissa Humana-Paredes of Toronto, Ont. and Taylor Pischke of Winnipeg, Man., and Kacie MacTavish and Caleigh Whitaker, of Sharon, Ont., both had a good showing at the Puerto Vallarta Open, part of the FIVB beach volleyball World Tour.
"Kacie and I are pleased with our result finishing in the top 10 as it is our best result thus far," said Whitaker. The pair lost their Round 2 match to Hughes and Engle of the U.S. 1-2 (21-17, 16-21, 7-15). "It was great to see so many Canadian teams competing well in the main draw. We want to give a huge thanks to the event organizers, our support staff and awesome fans in PV as they put on a great event."
It was also a best-ever FIVB finish for Humana-Paredes and Pischke. "It's bittersweet because we know we could have gone further (they lost their final match 22-24, 17-21 to Mexico), but we still had a great showing and I am happy with the result. We played strong, talented teams so a lot to learn from and to implement into our training," said Humana-Paredes.
Claudia Séguin of Saint-Pascal-Baylon, Ont. and Brandie Wilkerson of Toronto, Ont. ended up in 25th spot in the main draw in their FIVB debut. The Canadian men's team in the main draw, Sam Pedlow (Barrie, ON.), and Grant O'Gorman (Scarborough, ON), ended up ranked 17th in PV. The full results, rankings and photos can be found at www.fivb.org.
At the first Gatorade Antigua Guatemala BVB, the third stage of the NORCECA Tour, Michael Plantinga of Langley, BC, and Cam Wheelan of Barrie, ON, finished third overall.
"We are happy to get on the podium early this season," said Wheelan. "This event will be a building block for the rest of the year keeping our game at a high level, making us a constant medal team on the NORCECA Tour and evolving our game for the FIVB tour later in the year."
In the battle for the bronze medal Wheelan and Plantinga of CAN-B beat fellow Canadians Simon Fecteau-Boutin (Lévis, QC) James Battiston (Malton, ON) of CAN-A 2-0 (21-17, 21-14) on Sunday. Cubans Sergio Gonzalez and Nivaldo Diaz beat Roberto Rodriguez/Eric Haddock of Puerto Rico 2-0 (21-15, 21-13) to win their second consecutive NORCECA gold of the season.
The top Canadian women's team was fifth (Victoria Altomare/Julie Gordon). More at NORCECA.net


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The core team of ATLAS consists of senior experts with the highest qualification in the field of engineering, economics and management with 100+ years of cumulative experience working with industries, governments, academics, and international organizations at national, regional and international levels. Moreover, our experts are members of some of the leading regional and international scientific institutions and expert networks in their respective areas.
Desta Mebratu, Professor, Founder and CEO of ATLAS, Ethiopia
Desta Mebratu has more than 30 years of experience working for industries, government agencies, universities and international organizations. A chemical engineer by background, he has a PhD of engineering in Industrial Environmental Economics from Lund University, Sweden and an MBA in International Business from the American University of London. He worked for different United Nations Agencies including the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) where he worked for more than thirteen years and served, among others, as Head of the global Business and Industry programme (2008-11) and Deputy Regional Director for Africa (2011-2016). He has published more than 40 articles in peer-reviewed journals and Handbooks, including co-Editing a Handbook on Sustainable Development Policy and Administration published by Taylors and Francis in 2008. He is currently an Extraordinary Associate Professor at Centre for Complex Systems in Transition, Stellenbosch University. He is Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS), Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS) in South Africa and Pufendorf Institute for Advanced Studies in Sweden.
Salif Diop, Professor, University CAD of Dakar, Senegal
Salif Diop has been working at the United Nations, in particular at UNEP's Division of Early Warning and Assessment (DEWA) as a Senior Officer for nearly 16 years. He is a water specialist with extensive experience in various aspects of coastal oceanography, freshwater assessment, aquatic and marine issues, sustainable management and development. He holds a 3rd Cycle Doctorate he defended in 1978 and a State Doctorate he defended in 1986 from University Louis Pasteur/Strasbourg/France. He is a member of various expert and working groups, including numerous scientific and research institutions. He has more than 40 referred publications with 6 books as main author and co-author and has been awarded a Nobel Peace Prize Certificate – IPCC 2007. Other 140 publications can be added to his own list as technical documents, research work, monographs, thesis, abstracts, and book reviews. He is a University Professor, Vice-Chair of ILEC (International Lakes Environment Committee Foundation), since Nov. 2016, Member of the National Academy of Sciences and Techniques of Senegal since February 2006, Member of the African Academy of Sciences (ASS) and Member of The World Academy of Sciences for the Advancement of Sciences in the Developing Countries (TWAS).
Gulelat Kebede, New School, New York
Economist by training, Dr Gulelat Kebede has over 25 years of professional experience at local, national and global levels. His most recent experience includes coordinating UN-Habitat's global activities in urban economy and municipal finance, and prior to that in training and capacity building. During his long career with the UN, he authored or contributed to many publications and capacity development tools in the areas of urban economy, governance, finance, leadership, sustainable cities, climate change and green economy. His work in Africa includes coordinating and supporting urban projects on local economic development, environmental planning and management, housing and municipal finance and local leadership. Since 2016 he has been contributing to United Nations Economic Commission for Africa's (UNECA's) work on integrating urbanization into national development planning. He was the lead consultant for the Economic Report on Africa 2017, a flagship report on urbanization and industrialization. He was visiting scholar to Darmstadt Technical University (Germany), University of Rome, University of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh min, and University of Auckland and he is currently part time faculty at The New School, New York, and guest lecturer at School of University of British Columbia.
Toolseeram Ramjeawon, Professor, Environmental engineering, University of Mauritius
Toolseeram Ramjeawon holds a Diplome D'Ingenieur from the Ecole Polytechnique de Montpellier (France) and a PhD in Environmental Engineering from the University of Mauritius. Professor Ramjeawon has more than 28 years of experience working for academic institutions, government agencies, industries and international organizations and is currently a Professor of Environmental Engineering in the Department of Civil Engineering of the Faculty of Engineering, University of Mauritius. He held a number of senior management positions such as Head of Department of Civil Engineering, Dean of Faculty of Engineering and Acting Vice Chancellor of the University of Mauritius. He also acted as Technical Adviser on Environmental Management to the Ministry of Environment of the Government of Mauritius and served as International and Regional consultant to a number of international organizations including United Nations Agencies and African Development Bank. He has more than 25 publications in refereed international journals and more than 35 publications in refereed International Conference Proceedings. Professor Ramjeawon was a Fulbright visiting research scholar Virginia Tech, USA.
Getachew Assefa, Associate Professor, Environmental Design, University of Calgary, Canada
Getachew Assefa is an Associate Professor of Environmental Design at the University of Calgary with a focus on sustainable development and design. He is the former Athena Chair in Life Cycle Assessment at the Faculty of Environmental Design. He has a B.Sc. degree in Chemical Engineering from Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia, MSc in Environmental Engineering and Sustainable Infrastructure and a Ph.D. in Industrial Ecology from Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. His research particularly focuses on the design and development of technical systems including energy systems, biofuels and bioenergy, waste management system, and buildings. He teaches courses in life cycle assessment, industrial ecology and sustainable development. His research has been published in internationally recognized peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Cleaner Production, International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, Journal of Building and Environment, and Journal of Sustainable Cities and Society. He has active teaching and research collaboration with three universities in Ethiopia.
Yacob Mulugeta, Professor, Energy and development policy, University College London, UK
Yacob Mulugetta is a Professor of Energy and Development Policy at the University College London; and held an academic post at the Centre for Environmental Strategy, University of Surrey, UK. He is a founding member of the African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) at the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where he worked as Senior Climate & Energy Specialist (2010-2013). He has 25 years of research, teaching and advisory experience specialising on the links between energy infrastructure provision and human welfare. His research is focused on three interconnected areas: energy systems and development; energy systems and climate change; and political economy of low carbon development. He served as a Coordinating Lead Author of the Energy Systems chapter of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 5th Assessment Report (Working Group III on Mitigation), a member of the core writing team for the IPCC synthesis report, Steering Committee member of UNEP's Emissions Gap Reports (2015-2017), and lead author in the upcoming IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5oC. More recently, he served in the drafting team of the African Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI), and continues to provide technical support for the initiative. In 2017, Yacob Mulugetta was elected Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS).


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James Park, Emory University
Full manuscript: www.kon.org/urc/v15/park.html
Introduction: Most visible in Tourette's syndrome (TS) is the display of sudden, brief, nonrhythmic, stereotyped movements and vocalizations known as tics. These displays are highly variable, differing not only in type—motor or phonic—but also along several dimensions of severity. Tic type is perhaps a chief distinction as the presence of multiple motor tics and at least one phonic tic is required for TS diagnosis (APA, 2000). While differences in tic severity do not enter into diagnostic criteria, considerable effort has been made at its characterization as well. In particular, the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS)—a widely respected and employed index for assessing tic severity—highlights five dimensions of severity including complexity, number, intensity, frequency, and interference (Leckman et al., 1989).
Read the full manuscript: Extra-personal Schemas: In and out of Tourette's Syndrome


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Cleaning Out the Bookmark List Vol. 3
May 17th, 2010
Hey it's that time again, time to clear out ye olde bookmark list and share some cool odds and sods with you! So here we go –
- How important is a band name? The NY Times ran an article on this subject, and how even classical groups are getting creative with their names.
- If you want to check out a really cool graphic design project, check out Michael Deal's exploration of The Beatle's work through infographics. It's fascinating.
- Don't believe that you can get people to believe in a fake bands, albums or concerts? Guess again! Even the art community is getting involved – whether it's creating fake bands or record stores! So imagine it and they will come!
- Sleeveface rocks…it simply rocks. I dare you not to agree.
- Change the Thought is a great design blog, but I particularly liked this article on gig posters.
- 7 Deadly Sinners are 7 artists who among other things seem to like to create gig posters for fake bands!
- Nylvi's Best Vinyl Cover Art of 2009 is worth a look!
- frizbee pointed this Wired article out to me. A must read for Lost fans. BTW frizbee I'm still working on getting a hold of them…I'll keep you posted.
- Congratulations to our good friend John Coulthart (last year's guest Album Cover Design Contest judge) for winning the 2010 Spinetingler Best Book Cover Award.
- Michele Catalano wrote a great post for her Sound System column on True/Slant. She writes about "Albums I Forgot I Loved" and talks about how she created a fake band, Pond Scum, with her sister and a few friends. Unfortunately the band broke up over their fake direction, but it goes to show you how many people create fake bands based on their love for a real group.
That's it for now. Until next time…


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The June 2011 eNews, volume 5, number 6, has been published and emailed to members and friends. As always, the eNews features timely information about the California Genealogical Society and our upcoming events. Each edition also includes Suggested Links From the Blogosphere and a photo feature: California Ancestors.
This month we pay tribute to Lois Elling's family enjoying a gathering at the Robinson family home in 1916 Los Angeles.
Past issues of the eNews are available at the eNews archive.
The July 2011 issue will be emailed on June 30, 2011. To receive a copy, please join our mailing list.
Photograph by William Robinson, Jr., courtesy of Lois Elling.
Copyright © 2011 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library


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Mark grew up in Newton and spent his high school years at Belmont Hill School. After high school, Mark graduated from Tufts University where he majored in Economics and Spanish and captained the men's tennis team. Mark began his real estate career while a freshman at Tufts and has been the principal of Metro Realty since its inception in 1984.
Mark Pearlstein
President and Principal Broker
- O: 617-232-2255 ext. 203
- Fax: 617-731-4203
- email@example.com


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Preparedness Capabilities and Assessments
Local plans also needed for agroterrorism, agricultural disasters
Before submitting my 5 cents' worth to this "National Dialogue on Preparedness," I performed a content analysis: Among 150 posted ideas, an online word-search resulted in no hits – zero – for the following: agriculture, agricultural, farm, ranch, crops, cattle, and livestock. It didn't surprise me, either. Many planners in homeland security (HS) and emergency response simply don't think much, if at all, about agriculture. This is not a criticism; rather, it's about demographics. The majority of Americans are born and raised in urban or suburban areas. Food simply appears on supermarkets' shelves. Holstein cows, so loveable in their black and white, have achieved near-iconic status in national advertising and pop art (which I wouldn't have believed possible 40 years ago, shoveling their manure on a dairy farm in Oklahoma).
The "agriculture and food sector," as USDHS calls it, includes the processing, packaging, marketing, distribution, and wholesale and retail sales of agricultural products—but, it all starts down on the farm and the ranch. Even the most heavily urbanized states have local agricultural assets, whether family-owned or corporate. Agriculture is one of the most important of the critical infrastructures, yet emergency-response planning for natural disaster, man-caused disaster, and terrorism ( "agroterrorism") generally is left to federal agencies (primarily USDA, FDA, CDC, and DHS) and states' agricultural agencies. Local (read: county or parish and municipal) elected leaders and public-safety staffs are closest to these farms and ranches, but they probably do not have much of a role—and maybe, no role—in the ag-response plans of these primacy agencies. So, when federal and state responders and subject-matter experts are dealing with something really scary, like a possible outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD), they predictably might be reluctant to let anybody else into their incident command post. It doesn't have to be that way.
Local-level planning for agroterrorism and other animal/agriculture disasters can be done and does not require a great deal of money. With the buy-in and input of federal and state primacy agencies, such plans can help ensure local governments' subordinate cooperation and support in the multi-agency response to something like a suspected FMD outbreak in cattle and sheep or avian-flu outbreak in poultry. In fact, such plans already exist in the San Antonio, Texas, area. Since 2007, USDHS grant money has funded two locally written, operational plans: Animal-Agriculture Disaster Response Plan for Wilson County, Texas, and its derivative, (Template) Local Animal-Agriculture Disaster Response Plan for the Alamo-Area Counties. That totals 12 counties, out of 254, in the nation's #2 state for farm and ranch produce. I was the project manager at the corporate consultant hired for both of these plans. Each was written with due diligence toward NIMS and ICS. A related article appears via this hyperlink: http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/HomelandSecurityToday/October2009/ , then "Frontlines," page 7.
The goal here is to plant a seed: If we can do local-level response planning down around San Antonio, then other HS planners in their jurisdictions across the United States can do it, too. The federal government (through USDHS) set that precedent.


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Tagged: Houston Astros
9-7-11 PNC Park
Batting practice was rained out on both Monday and Tuesday, so today was my first baseball game in 15 days. Today was special, as I brought Olivia and Amy to the ballpark:
She was a perfect angel and didn't cry or fuss at all the whole time we were at PNC Park.
As for batting practice, my first ball was a ground rule double hit by an unidentified Pirate and snagged here:
That's the only ball I snagged in the first half hour.
There were a handful of balls that landed in the seats, but it seems like any more that this is all we do:
At 5:30, I found a ball in foul territory hidden under a seat.
Ushers had combed through the rows a few minutes prior and picked up a couple more.
Back over in left field, I made a nice place on a ground rule double as I picked it from the first row as it was bouncing over the wall.
I got my fourth ball of the day in foul territory, as an Astros player hit a slow roller that settled about 6 feet out from the low wall past third base. I ran over and tossed my glove out to nudge the ball closer so I could grab it. In the meantime, Coach Suba was prowling around looking for baseballs and was walking over to retrieve the ball when I snagged it. He said, "I don't come into your yard and take your lawnmower." I didn't want to argue so I just offered him the ball back. "No, you can keep it, I just wish I would've known you were going to get it so I didn't have to walk the whole way over here," he said.
In the meantime, Wilton Lopez stormed over looking real pissed that I had taken a ball off the warning track and demanded that I give the ball back. I threw him the ball back and he stormed off for a moment and acted like he was going to throw the ball back to the infield, but then broke into a huge smile and threw me the ball back. He was just messing with me. Although I snagged the ball two different times, by two different means, I'm only going to count it once. I've seen some shady stat keeping by ballhawks where they'd count the ball as two, but whatever. I'm counting it as a device ball in my stats.
Here's Suba and Lopez a few seconds after all that happened:
My fifth ball was a home run that landed in section 134 that I was able to snag before another guy, who ended up losing his balance. He was fine. I supported him as he lost his balance.
And, my last ball of the day was tossed to me by a groundkeeper who happened by as I was about to glove trick a ball by section 101.
I wasted the last 10 minutes by the Astros dugout since there were no fans there – in an attempt to get a ball from a player as they ran off the field. The Astros ended up hitting longer today and I ended up losing out on several home run balls that landed in the seats a vastly empty right field.
As for the game, we had seats in the club level, but I didn't snag anything else.
Game: 6 balls (3 hit, 1 thrown, 1 device, 1 found)
Season: 362 balls (152 hit, 76 thrown, 85 device, 49 found)
Games: 68 games
Average: 5.33 per game
Career: 1,484 balls
Attendance: 12,330
Remaining games to reach goal of 413: 8
Needed to reach goal: 51 (6.4 per game)
7-5-11 PNC Park
Amy was working today, so I don't have any good pictures.
Upon entering the stadium, I found ball #1 about four rows back in left field. It was good to get on the board early, because the last Pirates group did absolutely nothing. Zero home runs.
When the Astros came out, I glove tricked my second ball over by the bullpen.
Most of the Astros pitchers seemed really lazy when it came to shagging, so I was hopeful that I could glove trick a few balls today, but a coach named Suba marched all over the field collecting the balls, as if it was his sole and only purpose with the team.
The first Astros group was weak, but the next group featured Hunter Pence and Carlos Lee along with Jason Michaels, probably the Astros three best BP hitters in that order.
After a couple rounds of going opposite field, Hunter Pence started letting loose and hitting some home runs.
In the span of a minute, I caught three balls cleanly, all on the fly, here:
Ball #3 was hit by Pence. It was basically right at me. I stood up on the bleacher as I made the catch, just out of habit. Moments later he hit another home run that was slightly to my left. I tracked the ball and caught it reaching forward and made the basket catch as several fans turned away, blinded by the sun.
Jason Michaels hopped in the cage and promptly hit a home run which I caught on the fly. Since there was so much action in such a short amount of time, people started noticing me and asking me questions such as how many that was for me, etc. No one gave me a hard time though.
During the Astros last group, I caught a ground rule double here:
It was a milestone ball, as it was the 1,400th ball that I've snagged.
Moments later I snagged another ground rule double, and then finished things off with a clean catch of yet another home run.
I gave away one of my extra decoy balls to a young boy whose father was asking me for ballhawking tips for his son.
I watched the game from the Club Seats.
I picked a great spot for a foul ball. The only thing in front of me was a camera well,
and a wide open row to my right.
But as luck would have it not a single ball would be hit within three sections either way of me.
Here are today's baseballs:
Sweet spots:
Game: 8 balls (6 hit, 1 device, 1 found)
Season: 280 balls (121 hit, 56 thrown, 64 device, 30 found)
Games: 48 games
Average: 5.83 balls per game
Career: 1,402 balls
Attendance: 18,151
7-4-11 PNC Park
Today was the fourth straight sell out game at PNC Park, the first such string of games in the ten year history of the ballpark. Also, the Pirates decided not to take batting practice today, which left just the Astros.
My first ball of the day was a clean catch on the fly in left field. I don't know who hit it, but Amy got a pic of me labeling it after the fact:
There was a bunch of waiting around,
because the Astros as you may know suck. They are the worst team in baseball. Apart from Carlos Lee and Hunter Pence, there's not much to look forward to in an Astros BP.
My second ball was a scrum ball that I corralled under a bleacher. Here I am after grabbing it:
The ball had a distinctive marking. Do you know who hit it?
Read backwards. Jason Michaels. There is a clear MICHAE and beneath that a PRO (from Pro Model on the bat). This is an ultra rare marking, and I only at least one other one where the player who hit it has his name visible on the ball from the bat.
That's pretty much it for batting practice. Things got too crowded, and I couldn't really move.
After a seemingly short Astros BP, Amy and I left.
We returned downtown later on in the day to watch the fireworks on the North Shore.
Good stuff.
Here are today's baseballs:
Sweet spots:
Game: 2 balls (2 hit)
Season: 272 balls (115 hit, 56 thrown, 63 device, 29 found)
Games: 47 games
Average: 5.78 balls per game
Career: 1,394 balls
Attendance: 36,942
5-8-11 PNC Park
Today was Mother's Day, and my mother-to-be fiancee Amy had to work this game, so I was there too. Luckily, even through it was a day game following a night game, there was a full batting practice.
Upon entering the stadium, I snagged my first ball of the day on the Riverwalk, or outfield concourse. Fans can't enter the stadium until 11:30, they can only access the Riverwalk, which is the area behind the right field wall. It's kind of dumb to open at 11 AM, and just make everyone stay out there, but whatever.
Chris Snyder threw me my first ball of the day over the iron gate. He's on the left in the picture below, talking to Lyle Overbay.
I called out for a ball from Neil Walker
but so did this guy:
(I didn't realize we were at a Steeler game…)
Anyway, I snagged the ball over him, and he wasn't too happy. He started boasting about how he 'can jump' because he 'plays basketball,' and the next ball thrown out, he was getting.
I didn't wait around to see, as it was 11:30, and I ran into the left field bleachers. There, I found ball #3 by the bullpen, and continued my search into foul territory.
There were no balls there, but a cool groundscrew member tossed me a ball that was laying in front of the tarp.
My fifth ball of the day came from Evan Meek. He handed me a ball after we had a nice five minute conversation about everything from Amy, my upcoming baby, Mother's Day, his recovery, etc.
I only snapped a picture as they ran off the field.
The Astros then came out, and Dave Clark started hitting balls to the relief pitchers, encouraging them to rob the home runs, or injury themselves and end their careers. Just ask Ruben Niebla.
It worked out though, as Clark over hit a ball into the stands that I snagged off a bleacher in this area.
My seventh ball was a Hunter Pence home run catch on the fly caught on the far end of the section by the handicapped seats.
I caught it while running, and spun around after making the catch doing a 360 spin. One of my better catches this year.
It was so crowded today, so there was no chance for an outfielder toss up.
Or was there?
Ball #8 of the day was thrown to me by Jose Tabata in the 8th inning. I snagged it here.
I had to run down a few steps to snag it from other fans who were reaching from it, but I'm pretty sure it was to me, just under thrown. It was directly in the middle of the aisle. Luckily, no one batted it away from me.
After the game, I took Amy out to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Old Mexico located in Washinton PA.
Here are today's eight baseballs:
Sweet spots:
Game: 8 balls (2 hit, 5 thrown, 1 found)
Season: 91 balls (33 hit, 25 thrown, 21 device, 12 found)
Games: 15 games
Average: 6.07 balls per game
Career: 1,213 balls
Attendance: 17,946
5-7-11 PNC Park
Before heading to PNC Park, Amy and I went to Color Me Mine in Squirrel Hill.
Once inside, one picks out a piece to paint.
There is a guide to the colors hanging above the paint. The shade on
the left is one coat, and the shade on the right of each color is three
Amy and I chose a piggy bank to make for our daughter, due in early August.
Amy and I painted the pig together. She pained the body of the pig.
And I worked on the front.
After we got the pig just like we wanted it, I detailed in purple our daughter's name on one side of the piggy bank.
This was the end result:
On the other side I wrote her year of birth, 2011.
And here's the face I painted:
It's going to be fired in a kiln and we'll pick it up next week!
After that it was off to PNC Park. It began raining at 3:50. It never rained more than a drizzle, and it drizzled for about 10 minutes. This was just enough for the PNC Park groundscrew to decide to cancel batting practice for the day.
To pass the time, I played catch with Nick Pelescak and Zac Weiss on the bridge.
Always a good time.
Of course, since there was no batting practice going on, there wasn't much to do, so I went over behind the Astros pitchers when they came out. On my way over, I found my first ball of the day in the seats along the right field foul line.
It was likely left over from the Pirates batting practice, because they had been hitting before the light drizzle started.
Here's the Astros doing some light running:
When they came out, Wilton Lopez tossed Enerio Del Rosario's glove into the stands. I took his glove, and Wilton Lopez and I made an exchange.
Lopez was confused by the string, so I just told him I use it for extra padding. Thanks to Nick Pelescak for the picture.
Later, when the Astros were done throwing, Lopez tossed me his warm up ball, my second one of the day.
Afterwards, I walked around for a bit.
There ended up being 32,000 fans at this game, so there wasn't any chance for toss up balls from the outfielders, so I ended with two balls.
Today's baseballs:
Sweet spots:
Game: 2 balls (1 thrown, 1 found)
Season: 83 balls (31 hit, 20 thrown, 21 device, 11 found)
Games: 14 games
Average: 5.93 balls per game
Career: 1,205 balls
Attendance: 32,299
5-6-11 PNC Park
Today I just didn't have it. It wasn't my day.
Nothing happened on the riverwalk…
Not much else happened for me inside either. I didn't get shut out at least.
My first ball of the day was Pedro Alvarez opposite field ground rule double that bounced over the fence. The ball took a weird hop, and I tried to barehand it. I dropped the ball, but recovered it at my feet. I got it here:
My second ball of the day was a home run catch off the bat of an unknown Astro. I caught it on the fly here. Standard catch.
My third and final ball of the day came at the very end of batting practice. Fernando Abad, seen here in a group of Astros pitchers,
field. The ball sailed over my head, landed on the steps, bounced off
the plexiglass to the upper bleachers and back towards the handicapped
seats. I reached over the railing separating the handicapped seats
from the aisle and caught the ball.
That was it for batting practice.
Three balls.
Sweet spots:
Game: 3 ball (2 hit, 1 thrown)
Season: 81 balls (31 hit, 19 thrown, 21 device, 10 found)
Games: 13 games
Average: 6.23 balls per game
Career: 1,203 balls
Attendance: 12,728
9-25-10 PNC Park
A bad day. I'll be brief.
Ball #1 was chased down to my right off the bat of Pedro Ciriaco:
Ball #2 was glove tricked off the warning track in left field.
Ball #3 was also glove tricked in basically the same area.
That was it.
Game: 3 balls ( 1 hit, 2 device )
Season: 538 balls (256 hit, 131 thrown, 74 device, 77 found)
Games: 86 games
Average: 6.26 balls per game
2010 Game Balls: 6
Career: 1,116 balls
Streak: 182 consecutive games attended with at least 1 ball snagged.
Attendance: 25,350
Balls needed to break single season record: 6
9-24-10 PNC Park
Today was a frustrating day at PNC Park. I didn't arrive until 5:17 due to coaching, and when I entered the bleachers, the Astros were already hitting.
I thought I was going to get my first ball of the day in center field, but as I set up to do the glove trick, coach Al Pedrique ran the whole way out from the infield as he saw me setting up, grabbed the ball, and hit it back into the infield.
I only ended up getting two baseballs, both in left field, and they were both hit, but I have no idea who hit them. Frustration has set in. I was hoping for a big game, but couldn't make it happen.
Game: 2 balls ( 2 hit )
Season: 535 balls (255 hit, 131 thrown, 72 device, 77 found)
Games: 85 games
Average: 6.29 balls per game
2010 Game Balls: 6
Career: 1,113 balls
Streak: 181 consecutive games attended with at least 1 ball snagged.
Attendance: 22,279
Balls needed to break single season record: 9
7-17-10 PNC Park
The day began for me at 4AM. I had spent the previous week in South Carolina at Myrtle Beach.
I arrived at PNC Park at 3:45 PM and I was back in action for the first time since July 3rd, exactly two weeks off from ballhawking.
It was a much needed break. But I was ready to get back to one of my hobbies.
Upon entering the stadium at 4:30, batting practice had not yet begun.
After 5-10 minutes, it got underway and I snagged a ground rule double from Bobby Crosby, who was hitting in the first group. The ball barely cleared the wall, as it was a line drive.
I lined up with the ball and made the snag about three rows back.
Things were really slow during the first two groups, and I had the opportunity to talk to two of the Pirates relievers.
Things then slowed down to a ridiculously boring pace. The Astros weren't hitting many home runs, as they appeared 100% dedicated to taking inside out swings to hit the ball to right field.
Luckily, near the end of batting practice, I snagged a ground rule double off the bat of an unknown Astro.
Also, at the end of batting practice, I got ball #7 thrown by Matt Lindstrom as the Astros were running off the field.
At the end of batting practice I gave one of my extra balls that I bring from home away to a young fan with a glove who had gotten shut out.
I left right after Batting Practice to go home and get caught up on some sleep.
(PS: As for Sunday, Nick and I went to the stadium, waited outside for over a half an hour and then left, as there were no signs of cages in sight. I'll be back in action on Monday, and Milwaukee's best ballhawk will be in attendance at the game…)
Here are today's baseballs:
Sweet spots:
Game: 7 balls (3 hit, 1 thrown, 1 device, 2 found)
Season: 287 balls (153 hit, 67 thrown, 27 device, 41 found)
Games: 45 games
Average: 6.38 balls per game
2010 Game Balls: 3
Career: 865 balls
Streak: 141 consecutive games attended with at least 1 ball snagged.
Attendance: 36,665
5-29-2010 Great American Ballpark
I figured I would take a trip to Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati today to snag a few baseballs and get three Joey Votto figurines (I had three tickets as I traded in two tickets from my 13 game plan that I couldn't use). I planned to sell the Figurines to help pay for the gas.
Of course, when I arrived at the park, this was waiting for me:
No figurines today. Just great.
The gates opened at 5:10 to season ticket holders, so I rushed in, only to find a large tour group already occupying right field. Fantastic. No easter eggs.
I got ball #1 of the day off the bat of Jay Bruce in right field.
Game: 5 balls (1 hit, 1 thrown, 1 device 2 found)
Season: 148 balls (87 hit, 33 thrown, 10 device, 18 found)
Games: 23 games
Average: 6.43 balls per game
2010 Game Balls: 3
Career: 726 balls
Streak: 119 consecutive games attended with at least 1 ball snagged.
Attendance: 36,918


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1/ The most important adman in the world in the 1970s was Marion Harper (a bloke), head, first, of McCann-Erickson and then of Interpublic, the marcoms groups that grew off the back of McCann's.
Harper, who was born in Oklahoma City in 1916 and died there in 1989 was hardly a Mad Men-type operator like the show's Roger Sterling or even less Don Draper.
Like many leading US admen of his time he sought to make advertising into a science, resting on the findings of market research to guarantee clients results for their spending. This was quite sensible (it's what clients want isn't it?) but is hard to enforce in the unruly realms of adverts.
Anyway Interpublic became the first big global marcoms unit, shortly to be followed by Japanese operation Dentsu.
But none of the agencies Harper bought, like SSCB: Lintas (the old Unilever in-house agency) or Wasey Campbell-Ewald ever managed to duplicate the success of McCann's.
2/ But Interpublic, aka McCanns with a bit of Wasey, did manage to lord it over London for most of the 1970s, winning big local accounts like Tesco to add to Esso, Coke and Martini. Harper's eventual successor Phil Geier was sent to London and helped to turn McCann's London into a new business-winning machine.
This was overseen by managing director Nigel Grandfield, an account man of the old school who, because he wasn't as posh as his rivals at JWT and Masius actually worked a bit harder, and creative director Barry Day, who positioned himself as the intellectual about matters creative although his rivals along Howland Street in London's Fitzrovia, Collett Dickenson Pearce, scoffed at the notion.
3/ Mary Wells was the queen of Madison Avenue, a striking-looking copywriter who went from ad manager of Macy's to creative stints at McCann's and DDB (in those days leaving a client for an agency was regarded as a step up in the world) before founding Wells Rich Greene with Richard Rich and Stewart Greene in 1966.
In !967 she married one of her clients Harding Lawrence of Braniff Airlines for whom she penned the immortal line 'this is not a plain plane.'
But the blonde and beautiful Mary was the business, becoming the highest-paid adperson in the world and the first woman CEO of a company quoted on Wall Street.
Alas Wells Rich Greene never quite cut it on the world stage, eventually succumbing to a merger with French upstarts Boulet Dru Dupuy Petit in 1990 shortly after her retirement. BBDP subsequently absorbed hotshot UK agency Gold Greenlees Trott before overreaching itself and being absorbed into Omnicom.
For her part Mary wrote a best-selling book 'A big life in advertising' and became part of the US business and political establishment. She's probably the inspiration for copywriter Peggy in Mad Men, a woman creative making it in a man's world, although there don't seem to be too many other similarities between the vulnerable Peggy and steely Mary.
But she was (and as far as I know still is) class.
4/ In 1970 Bill Tragos (American), Claude Bonnange (French), Uli Weisendanger (Swiss) and Paolo Ajroldi (Italian) came together to form TBWA, a sort of United Nations agency. TBWA subsequently had its ups and downs, doing pretty well on the European mainland although failing to crack it in the UK despite the presence of John Bartle, Nigel Bogle and John Hegarty, who went on to form BBH.
It had a foothold in the USA but, like nearly all European-based interlopers, got munched beneath the armoured tracks of the big Madison Avenue and mid-west agencies.
But in 1990 Omnicom, an amalgam of BBDO (Batten Barton Durstine & Osborne as it was known in the 1930s) and DDB Needham bought TBWA and, three years later, added Chiat Day, the creative West Coast agency founded by Jay Chiat whose creds included the legendary Ridley Scott Apple '1984' commercial.
By which time the TBWA founders had all long gone but this venture, which looked quixotic almost from the start, became one of the world's biggest agency groups, much as the founders might have imagined.
Except it was American of course.
5/ In 1974 chocolate firm Cadbury was trying to expand into different areas of the UK food market and it came up with the bright idea of instant mashed potato. Instead of boiling up the damn things and then mashing them for ages you just poured in some potato powder, a bit of hot water and off you went.
It didn't fly although it probably would if they did it now and got Jamie Oliver to front the thing.
But it did give Boase Massimi Pollitt creative director John Webster the opportunity to come up with his celebrated 'robots' campaign for the brand with the less than ground-breaking slogan 'for mash get Smash.'
In fact Webster's fantastic commercial with robots just seemed to reinforce consumers' feelings that this stuff was just too artificial.
But it's since been voted the best commercial in the world ever in numerous polls and certainly helped BMP to win a (deserved) reputation as the best creative agency in the world.
BMP, for those of you who like to round these things up, was eventually bought by Omnicom and became DDB London after fighting off a bid from French shop BDDP (see Mary Wells story above).
Its chairman Martin Boase, usually the most urbane man in adverts, famously instructed the French to '"frog off."
Anyway here's Webster's brilliant and highly unsuccessful commercial for Smash:


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NOTE: YouTube blocked the first video I uploaded because of music copyright. I used "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits. This one plays great with my own original recordings! Lesson Learned. This video is best viewed in HD.
Thursday, Aug., 25, 2011: Florida's Space Coast missed the full impact of Hurricane Irene but sail boarders took full advantage of the big waves and wind. All of the local TV News crews were at the Cocoa Beach Pier shooting film for the evening news and so was I. Equipment: Panasonic HDC-TM90, Nikon D90. Music: Shakin' Like Hell (c) by John Mayer AKA Surfside Johnny.
Life is just better in Cocoa Beach, Florida!
Have some Fun in the Sun!
Contact me to learn how you can start enjoying the good life here in Brevard County on the Space Coast. Talk to the BEACH EXPERT!
This video is copyright (c), all rights reserved and may not be used or reproduced without permission from John Mayer. Permission can granted with a link back to my website and / or blog, providing the site is appropriate for everyone. Videos are a great way to share the world. Thank you for viewing.


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Home > YLPR > Vol. 32 (2013) > Iss. 2
Volume 32, Issue 2 (2013) Yale Law & Policy Review
Talking About Speech or Debate: Revisiting Legislative Immunity
Michael L. Shenkman
Running Out of Options: Expiring Detention Authority and the Viability of Prosecutions in the Military Commissions under Hamdan II
Reema Shah and Sam Kleiner
The Statement and Account Clause: A Forgotten Constitutional Mandate for Federal Reporting
Katherine Clark Harris
If We Only Knew What We Know: Open Regulatory Review at the FDA
Beth Simone Noveck
Federalism from the Neighborhood Up: Los Angeles's Neighborhood Councils, Minority Representation, and Democratic Legitimacy
Erwin Chemerinsky and Sam Kleiner
The Trickle-Down War
Rosa Brooks


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Plastic surgery is a staple in contemporary Hollywood with almost every actress signing up for a cosmetic surgeon. The fad is not only restricted to the movie stars but successful American TV celebs as well. Kerry Washington is one of the most popular American TV stars who recently hit the headlines given altered facial appearance. Judging Kerry from her yesteryear and current photos, a great range of plastic surgeries can be concluded.
Kerry Washington bad plastic surgery
The most prominent change in Kerry's contemporary appearance is visible from her nose. If you look at her older pictures, you will find the Scandal star with a wider nose base and a bigger tip. But the latest pictures show her with a well-defined attractive and narrower nose. This slimming effect of the nose is not possible naturally and it's evident that Washington has certainly taken to a skilled rhinoplasty surgeon for her nose job.
Then, Kerry's face looks plumper now with high cheek bones that was not seen earlier. The previous pictures show her with a comparative flatter face. It can be concluded that Olivia Pope has certainly taken to filers injections to plum up her face which has definitely rendered a more arresting look for the 36 years old actress. According to leading plastic surgeons, Kerry has possibly used sculptura injection on her face to ensure the fuller feeling.
Kerry Washington has definitely taken to Botox lately. If you compare her older pictures with that of the newer ones, you will find the younger Kerry with dark spots on her face which is nowhere in her current snaps. Moreover, her forehead is completely devoid of any lines & looks perfectly smooth. A flawless skin is the courtesy of Botox which Kerry has most probably used of late, alike almost every other actress out there.
Kerry Washington has also taken to a lip augmentation procure and her juicier lips duly testify to that speculation.


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Browse our latest collection of desk lamps and table lamps, wall lights, pendant and ceiling lights, floor lamps and outdoor lamps below.
For this 2018 National RIBA award winning project, architect and design practice Squire & Partners restored and reinvigorated a dilapidated Edwardian department store in Brixton, to create a
Original Range
Type Range
Unusually sited on a steep wooded hillside, Ansty Plum is an architecturally significant retreat in rural Wiltshire that was commissioned in the 1960's and 1970's by Roger Rigby, a former
You are on the USA store


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Budget Targets 'Most Vulnerable'
Posted on: Wed 10 May 2017
The 2017 Federal Budget has been announced and welfare payments are being consolidated, Centrelink is cracking down on job seekers, 5000 new welfare recipients will be drug tested in a new trial, and the cashless debit card will be introduced in two new locations.
Ross Womersley from the South Australian Council of Social Services said, "What we've seen again is that some of the most vulnerable people are demonised … as though they are the problem, they're the people to blame for their own circumstances and for the fact that we have to spend money on them."
A demerit point welfare system has been introduced and it will punish job seekers who miss appointments, don't fulfil their job seeking activities or form job plans. "It just places people in a position of jeopardy and treats them as if they are to blame for their circumstances. What we know is that in so many instances the business of job seeking in a context where you might not get one positive response to your job applications in months, particularly to those who have been unemployed for long periods of time can be absolutely devastating," said Ross Womersley.
Ross Womersley joined Jennie Lenman to uncover the effects the budget will have on welfare recipients.
Produced by Kvitka Becker
Image sourced from Flickr


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Kensie Girl Bliss
Let's hang out and not have a care in the world! Live blissfully in the trendy semi-rimless kensie Bliss frames.Textured heart pattern adorn the temples for an extra cute touch.
- Spring hinges
- Adjustable nose pads
- Branded case and cleaning cloth included
- Frame Shape: Cat Eye
- Frame Type: Semi-Rimless
- Frame Material: Metal
- Age Range: Preteen
- Frame Type: Progressive Eligible
- Brand: Kensie Girl
- Frame Weight: Light
- Frame Size: Small


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In this tutorial we are going to cover the basics steps needed to config a VLC mediaplayer instance to accept connections over the local area network. This tutorial is created to help configure the VLCRemote application for Android.
This tutorial is created using Windows 7 and VLC 2.0.3
Step 1 of 5: show hidden files
We need to edit a configuration file of VLC, the .hosts file. This file is hidden so we first need to enable our Windows system to show hidden files and folders. This can be configured in the Control Panel:
Start > Control Panel > Search for Folder Options > Enable "show hidden files,.. > Apply
Step 2 of 5: edit the .hosts file
Now we should be able to see the hidden files. We will be editing the .hosts file to helps configure VLC to allow or deny certain IP-addresses. We need to edit this file with a text editor enhanced with administrator rights.
Texteditor > Right click > Run as Administrator
When the texteditor is open:
Menu > Open file > C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\lua\http\.hosts
Edit and save the file so the file looks like the following screenshot:
-> uncomment private addresses
Step 3 of 5: enable the web interface
If you already have VLC mediaplayer opened on your computer, you should restart it so the new configuration can be loaded. When VLC is reopened you can continue to activate the web interface of the VLC mediaplayer. This is achieved by clicking on a menu item in the view tab.
Menu > View > Add interface > Web
Step 4 of 5: determine the IP-address of VLC-hostOur VLC mediaplayer is ready to accept connections. Before we can test the web interface we should determine the IP-address of the computer hosting the VLC instance. This can be achieved by using the ipconfig command in the commandprompt.
Start > search for "cmd" > open de cmd.exe
When cmd is opened > Type "ipconfig" > press enter
Step 5 of 5: test if the web interface is accessibleNow that we have our IP-address. It's time to test the web interface. Open a browser and browse to a webpage constructed out the following format:
I hope the how-to guide was helpfull. If not please leave a comment below.
Enjoy VLCRemote!


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There is a sacred relationship between the natural and the spiritual worlds. I want to write about and for Black people. The people of Afrikan descent who are found all over the world. But we are going to use all knowledge and all the language we have inherited through our oppression and subjection to colonialism and imperialism to express some of the colors we exude. To express the way we were, the way we are and the potential we have to become whatever we collectively seek to be in the future. There is a song by Bheki Khoza called The End of The Blues, it is an interesting title for a deeply moving song. Although it is a guitar led instrumental, one can discern the sighs and existential pains of the people who are going through great tribulations. The musician as a prophetic vessel of the spirit has the freedom to paint a picture of a future where All Blues are gone, the proverbial How Long Blues of yesteryear, when the social, cultural and economic death of a people has come to an end. Even though surely the memory shall remain. But it is the nature of all things to change. Nothing really stays the same, even shades of blue can become black or white with the passage of time.
Since what I write emanates from a place of blackness, there will be a lot of Blues, more Blues then Greens, more Sepia, Browns, bloody red and all the rhythmic colours that define us a people. As Amiri Baraka wrote : We are the Blues people. What does that mean exactly, when there are so many colours in the spectrum of life? Beyond the Afrikan Amerikkkan musical evolution, is there anything that can explain why the Blues are so called? Has it anything to do with the colour of the night illuminated by the Moon? Does it have anything to do with the night rituals of our ancestors as they sat or danced around bonfires in the Deep Southern plantations during times of slavery?
Poet and former president of Senegal, Leopold Senghor writes: "Rhythm is the architecture of being, the inner dynamic that gives it form, the pure expressions of the life force. Rhythm is the vibratory shock, the force which, through our sense, grips is at the root of our being. It is expressed through corporeal and sensual means; through lines; surfaces; colours and volumes, in architecture, sculpture or painting; through accents of poetry and music, through movements in the dance. But doing this, rhythm turns all these concrete things towards the spirit."
This is about Nature. Nature and Music, Music and Sacred spaces in which we make and enjoy or engage with music. There are patterns in nature which parallel the human existence, it is our work to strive to understand or at least find some meaning in the suffering, the joys and the tensions in between.
"Patterns in nature are beautiful. They help create order. The universe possesses such beauty and perfection. It has been the objective of many brilliant scientists for thousands of years to find ways to explain and express the universe using math, geometric shapes and even music. While most of us jazz musicians are not trying to explain the meaning of life in our solos, we are trying to express something meaningful. Improvising a combination of knowledge, technique, thoughts and feelings." – Ted Nash ( How To Use Patterns to Enhance Your Creativity …)