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Miles To Become CEO Of Hulman & Company On Dec. 17
|Mark D. Miles
Veteran business leader and international sports executive Mark D. Miles will become chief executive officer of Hulman & Company on Dec. 17, 2012.
The appointment of Miles adds extensive experience to the company's management. It also positions Jeff Belskus, who currently serves as CEO of several Hulman & Company lines of business, to focus his attention primarily on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corporation and INDYCAR.
Miles will lead the overall business direction and management of Hulman & Company, including a key role in the refinement and implementation of the company's long-term strategic plan. Hulman & Company is comprised of Clabber Girl, Georgetown Realty, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, INDYCAR, IMS Productions and various other business entities.
"We are pleased to add Mark to the executive leadership at Hulman & Company," said Mari Hulman George, IMS chairman of the board. "The combination of his international sports experience and leadership of large-scale events like the 2012 Super Bowl, along with his diverse experience with public and private corporations, make him an exceptionally positive match for our business. His business acumen, his ability to cultivate and develop partnerships and the extensive network in sports and business he will provide will strengthen all of our business units. His service as a member of the Hulman & Company board of directors has prepared him to contribute to the organization from day one."
Miles brings an impressive blend of experience from all phases of his career to this new role. In the sports world, he transformed the ATP, governing body of men's international professional tennis, from a start-up league to an international leader. During his 15-year tenure, the ATP posted impressive revenue gains, launched innovative marketing initiatives and expanded its global presence through successful events in Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.
Bookending Miles' career are two major sports entertainment events which he successfully and profitably led: the Pan American Games in 1987 and the Super Bowl in 2012, a 10-day event that attracted more than a million fans and set a new standard for the NFL.
His most recent business career includes six years leading the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership, a consortium of the leading companies in Central Indiana working with the premiere university research institutions to strategically develop economic growth in the region. During this same period, Miles has served on the board of The Pantry, one of the largest independently operated convenience store chains in the country, with more than 1,500 stores in 13 states and annual revenues exceeding $6 billion. He is also a director for City Securities, a diversified financial services corporation based in Indianapolis. Earlier in his career, Miles was executive director of corporate relations for Eli Lilly and Company.
"It is an honor to join Hulman & Company, known for its tradition of success," Miles said. "I'm excited about joining the team and contributing my lifetime learning from international professional sports, large-scale major sports events and business environments. I have worked for companies with global profiles and brands, and I'm happy to continue that on behalf of the Hulman-George family and its significant business interests."
Belskus will continue as president of Hulman & Company, president and CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corporation and interim CEO of INDYCAR. He has served as president and CEO of Hulman & Company since October 2011, one of his many senior management roles in Hulman & Company operations over the last 25 years.
"The racing components of our business are very important to our company, and Jeff is uniquely positioned to help lead us into 2013 and beyond as he has complete understanding of our sport and our 2013 plan and an excellent relationship with our key stakeholders," George said. "By allowing Jeff to focus on the racing businesses and significantly less on the other business units, we are clearly aligning our executive management team to move the company forward."
Said Belskus: "We see opportunities to continue the growth of INDYCAR, which I view as an exciting challenge. My passion is rooted in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and INDYCAR, and I have been energized by the opportunity we have in the short and long term for both organizations."
Belskus added he is looking forward to working with Miles. They have served together on the Hulman & Company board since March.
"Mark and I have known each other for many years and have worked together closely since he joined the Hulman & Company board," Belskus said. "Mark brings a wealth of experience and has a good understanding of the opportunities and challenges that face our business. I believe he will be very helpful in bringing new and successful ideas to the company."
Miles also believes Belskus' experience and knowledge will help to lead Hulman & Company's motorsports-related businesses to even more future success.
"Jeff understands racing and has relationships throughout the industry that have developed during his tenure with the company," Miles said. "Allowing him to focus on IMS and INDYCAR will greatly benefit Hulman & Company. I look forward to working with Jeff as we implement a long-term strategy for Hulman & Company that positions all our business units for growth."
About Mark D. Miles
Mark Miles will become CEO of Hulman & Company after most recently serving as the president and CEO of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership, Inc. (CICP), a regional coalition of the CEOs of Central Indiana's most significant employers and leaders of universities with substantial research operations focused on long-term growth and economic development throughout the Central Indiana region. In addition to his duties at CICP, Miles also recently served as chairman of the board for the 2012 Super Bowl Host Committee and oversaw the execution of the highly successful 2012 Super Bowl hosted by Indianapolis.
Miles formerly served for fifteen years as CEO of the ATP Tour, the governing body of the men's international professional tennis circuit, and executive director of corporate relations for Eli Lilly & Company. During his tenure at Eli Lilly, Miles was responsible for the company's local, state and national government affairs, communications and foundation.
Prior to working at Eli Lilly, Miles served as president of the organizing committee for the Pan American Games in Indianapolis in 1987.
In addition to serving on the boards of CICP initiatives – BioCrossroads, Conexus Indiana, Energy Systems Network, TechPoint and numerous other civic and non-profit boards and committees, Miles serves on corporate boards for The Pantry, Cary, N.C., and City Securities Financial Corporation, Indianapolis.
Miles is a graduate of Wabash College and a member of its Athletic Hall of Fame. Miles and his wife, Helen, live in Indianapolis and have four grown children, Donald, Kelly, Sam and Jack.
About Jeff Belskus
Jeff Belskus is the president of Hulman & Company, President and CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corporation and CEO of INDYCAR. Belskus has served as an IMS executive for 25 years and has led the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corporation as president and chief executive officer since July 2009.
A Terre Haute native, Belskus joined the company in 1987 and was elevated to treasurer in 1989. Already functioning as the company's chief financial officer, he was promoted to vice president in 1991 and named executive vice president of Hulman & Company and its subsidiaries in January 1994.
Belskus serves on several boards, including the board of trustees of the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, where he is the vice chairman, as well as the Indiana State University Foundation board. He also serves on the board of directors of the Morris Plan Company of Terre Haute, the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, the 500 Festival Board of Directors, the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP) and Visit Indy
His professional affiliations include the American Institute of CPAs and the Indiana CPA Society, and the Indianapolis chapter of Financial Executives International.
Belskus graduated with honors in 1981 from Indiana State University, where he received his bachelor's degree in accounting, and earned his CPA designation in the state of Indiana in 1985. Belskus and his wife, Debbie, live in Zionsville, Ind., and have two grown children, John and Kristen.


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I just presented about Oracle 11g new features specific to performance in COLLABORATE 2009, Orlando Florida. You can download presentation and paper from here:
11g performance specific new features – presentation
11g performance specific new features – paper
I met couple of new friends and many familiar faces.
Catherin Devlin introduced sqlpython tool to me. This tool is an user friendly replacement for sqlplus with many UNIX like goodies. This tool will be an useful addition to command line tools. You can see installation instructions for sqlpython here.
I also attended an interesting application performance panel discussion with fellow Oakie Mark W Farnheim, Mike Brown and Sandra Vucinic. We discussed few customer issues.
An interesting problem discussion is worth mentioning. A client clones production database to development database using full rapidclone methodology. But, access plans for a SQL statement is different between production and development, even though everything was exactly the same. I am hoping, that client will send 10053 trace files from both databases and I will blog about it if I get anything from that client. I think, bind peeking is causing the plan difference, but need to analyze 10053 trace file to confirm that. Another possibility is that, may be , he is not cloning Oracle Software and some software patches are not existing in cloned environment. Need trace files to proceed further here.
Of course, I met few other friends Jeremy Schneider, Dan Norris to mention few.

subset: commoncrawl


text: The franchise opportunities and resources listed above are not related to or endorsed by Franchising.com or Franchise Update Media. We are not engaged in, supporting, or endorsing any specific franchise, business opportunity, company or individual. No statement in this site is to be construed as a recommendation. We encourage prospective franchise buyers to perform extensive due diligence when considering a franchise opportunities.


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Belize PM urges 'bonkers' McAfee to talk to police
- Prime minister calls software anti-virus pioneer "extremely paranoid"
- McAfee, in hiding after neighbor's slaying, describes "radical" change of appearance
- He calls Central American country a "pirate haven"
Calling John McAfee "extremely paranoid" and "bonkers," the prime minister of Belize on Wednesday urged the 67-year-old software anti-virus pioneer to come out of hiding and talk to police about the weekend slaying of his American neighbor, Reuters says.
"I don't want to be unkind, but he seems to be extremely paranoid -- I would go so far as to say bonkers," Prime Minister Dean Barrow said. "He ought to man up and respect our laws and go in and talk to the police."
Gregory Viant Faull, 52, was found dead Sunday with a gunshot wound to the back of his head in his home on Ambergris Caye, off the coast of Belize. His computer and cellphone were missing.
Faull, a builder from Florida, had argued with McAfee about his barking dogs. McAfee had 11 at his beachfront compound, and four were poisoned Friday night.
The tech-gadget site Gizmodo reported that Faull had formally complained to the mayor's office about McAfee last Wednesday, "asserting that McAfee had fired off guns and exhibited 'roguish behavior.' Their final disagreement apparently involved dogs."
McAfee, whom police have called a "person of interest," denies any involvement in Faull's death and says he is hiding because he fears that Belizean authorities are trying to frame him.
"Suspect or no, I believe the government wants me out of the way. Too many people have died in custody in this country so I Intend to do nothing that puts me in their custody," according to an e-mail sent to the Associated Press.
Wired quoted McAfee as saying Tuesday, "You can say I'm paranoid about it, but they will kill me, there is no question. They've been trying to get me for months," "I am not well liked by the prime minister."
Barrow dismissed the claim, saying he had never met McAfee. He added that McAfee, who moved to the Central American country about three years ago, had "the best possible safeguard" because of the media attention.
"It's not as if the police have said he is a suspect and certainly there is no question at this point of charges pending," Barrow said. "The fact that this is smeared across international headlines means the police would have to act extremely cautiously in the full glare of the public spotlight."
He also rejected McAfee's allegation that the government was targeting him because he refused to donate to the ruling party.
McAfee, who was born in Britain and raised in Virginia, kept weapons at his compound and has been arrested previously on gun and drug offenses. Wednesday, Belizean police arrested his British bodyguard, William Mulligan, and his wife, Stefanie, 22, for having unlicensed weapons and ammunition.
In e-mails Wednesday to Wired and the Associated Press, McAfee described Belize as a "pirate haven" governed by brutality and fear.
In an "essay" sent to Wired's Joshua Davis, McAfee describes Belize as "a system that functions more or less smoothly if you play by the rules. I am not fond of these rules however and I openly oppose them. This is the root of my struggle here in Belize."
His wrote that the country, formerly British Honduras, is "run more or less along the lines established centuries ago by the likes of Captain Morgan, Blackbeard and Captain Barrow."
"Brutality creates respect; Fear is the means of governance; Extortion is the method of collecting what is due," McAfee wrote. "It's a system that functions more or less smoothly if you play by the rules."
Earlier Wednesday, Davis wrote that McAfee " has continued to call me with semi-hourly updates," the latest to say that he had dyed his hair, eyebrows, beard, and mustache jet-black.
"I have modified my appearance in a radical fashion," McAfee said. "I'll probably look like a murderer, unfortunately."
McAfee said that when police arrived Sunday afternoon to question him, he buried himself in sand and covered his head with a cardboard box. He said he spent 18 hours hiding on his property before fleeing. Since then, Wired writes, he has been "riding in boats, huddling on the floorboards of taxis, sleeping in a bed that he said was infested with lice."
McAfee has had a checkered relationship with police since he arrived in Belize three years ago after selling his software company.
Last April, Belize police raided his home looking for drugs and guns. McAfee said officers found guns, which he said were legal, and he was released without charges after being detained for a few hours.
Yet, just last Thursday McAfee appeared at a public ceremony with the mayor of San Pedro and police officials where he donated equipment — including Tasers, handcuffs and batons — to the San Pedro Police Department.
The Christian Science Monitor's Latin America bureau chief looks at McAfee's claims of police corruption and whether he should fear them.
She writes that studies show that "Belizeans have one of the highest levels of trust in their police" and that police corruption is "nowhere close to levels in neighboring countries, such as Honduras."
Nonetheless, the country of 312,000 people "sits at a crossroads of the illegal drug trade and has dealt with spiraling homicide statistics."
According to the U.S. State Department, Belize had a 2011 homicide rate of 39 per 100,000 people, sixth highest in the world.
"I think the biggest concern for Belizeans is not necessarily corruption as it is lack of convictions," a woman in Belize City told the Monitor.


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Today is the long-awaited final installation of Henri Matisse's large-scale ceramic La Gerbe (The Sheaf) (1953), commissioned by Los Angeles patrons Sidney and Frances Brody from the artist in the early 1950s. The Brodys' extraordinary collection of modern art, including works by Picasso, Braque, Giacometti, Calder, and Moore, graced their elegant home designed by A. Quincy Jones in the early 1950s. Intended to occupy a prime position in their new home, the Matisse ceramic became, as Frances Brody would describe it, "the heart of our home."
The journey to today has been a long one. I remember discussing the possibility of this gift to LACMA in 1986 when she indicated that she would be willing to promise it to the museum in honor of our 25th anniversary. At the time she shared with me the fascinating story of the commission, showed me correspondence about the acquisition, and regaled me with amazing details about meeting Matisse.
In 1952 the Brodys approached Matisse, who at the time was creating colorful paper cut-outs, with the idea of the commission. Matisse expressed interest and worked on several proposals even before knowing the exact size of the wall. He showed the Brodys a full-scale paper cut-out when they visited him in Cimiez (Nice, France) in May of 1952. They rejected this first design (that cut-out is today in the Moderna Museet, Stockholm; a ceramic version Apollo is in the Toledo Museum of Art) but accepted a subsequent proposal.
The Brodys also acquired the full-scale maquette of La Gerbe, which they subsequently donated to UCLA. The final ceramic, created in fifteen sections, was shipped to L.A. shortly after the artist died in November 1954.
Sadly, in November 2009, Frances passed away at age 93. As promised, she left the Matisse to LACMA in her will. She was a remarkable figure in Los Angeles' history, whose grace, style, erudition, and opinions were truly legendary.
In January we began the adventure of deinstalling this 2,000-pound ceramic wall, which had remained in its original position for more than half a century. It was, to say the least, a delicate and difficult procedure. Thanks to the ingenuity of our team, we were able to literally detach the mural from the wall in one piece (it was bolted to the wall) and crane it out over the house and trees to an awaiting flatbed truck. Watching the Matisse hovering in the air high above the trees was one of the most heart-stopping moments I have ever had as a curator.
Safely ensconced in a secure a-frame, the ceramic eventually made its way to the museum. After close examination by our conservation department, the decision was made to do a light surface cleaning and prepare the ceramic for permanent installation in the museum. A prominent wall in the lobby of the Ahmanson Building was selected as the appropriate permanent location for this monumental Matisse. The ceramic was carefully rigged, gently positioned on the wall, and attached to a steel structure; a wall was then built around the work.
Wanting to share with the public a little of the background about this significant commission and subsequent acquisition, we have installed temporarily some of the original documents that came to us from Frances Brody's archives, also given to LACMA. These include correspondence with Pierre Matisse (the artist's son and dealer in the United States), photographs of the work during fabrication, and, most remarkably, several of the original hand-painted color samples that Matisse cut and sent to the Brodys during the work's preparation.
Frances Brody, cognizant of the commission's significance, wrote a fascinating account of the commission, which I think best describes the transaction. Taking advantage of new technology, we have recorded this account. Dial 888.788.7457 to hear this recording.
Stephanie Barron, Senior Curator and Department Head, Modern Art


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Hotels Near Altissimo & Andante Guesthouse in Bloemfontein
Places To Stay Near Altissimo & Andante Guesthouse
The Altissimo & Andante Guesthouse is situated in Bloemfontein. Triphobo offers plenty of wonderful accommodations in Bloemfontein with its online booking facility. Triphobo's booking.com hotel search allows the avid travelers search for the best hotels located near Altissimo & Andante Guesthouse in Bloemfontein, South Africa. To make the search easier and comfortable, you can use various filters for your search. First of all, check out how many stars a hotel has achieved. Head over to the customer ratings and reviews to see what they have to say about their stay. Booking.com also allows you to see the attractions near Altissimo & Andante Guesthouse. This will help you pick the ones that are near the urban hotspots. If you are still confused, check the map link given just above it. Finally, to enjoy a comfortable stay, check the amenities offered by the hotel such as WiFi, Restaurant, Free Parking, and Air-conditioned rooms. Triphobo provides a great collection of properties near Altissimo & Andante Guesthouse to go local and give your stay a local feeling. To choose the best homestay here, use the filters provided by Triphobo. Read the reviews on the homestays near Altissimo & Andante Guesthouse given by the guests for the localized and detailed information. You can use the map to find the exact location of the place. Looking for the popular attractions listed below will help you decide the best accommodation on the basis of your choice of travel. The uncluttered layout of Agoda makes it easier to search and reserve the best accommodation in Altissimo & Andante Guesthouse in Bloemfontein. Agoda suggests some useful reviews and advice on hotels. On the basis of your stay preference, select the star ratings first. Another feature that you would like to use is the "view detail" that will give you every bit of information about the hotel. You may check if the given price suits the hotel. See if the visitors found the hotel fabulous, good, or average. You can find the nearby attractions listed below the name of the hotel and its map. Hotels have different cancellation policies. You can check this as well as other amenities such as WiFi and breakfast. HotelsCombined is a great place that covers many good places for a happy stay in Bloemfontein near Altissimo & Andante Guesthouse. The most important thing about HotelsCombined is that you will see the distance of Altissimo & Andante Guesthouse from the hotel. In addition to this, you would like to compare the prices of the same hotel on different booking websites to find the best deals. Don't forget to check the details of the of each deal provided by these booking sites. You can sort your search for the hotels near Altissimo & Andante Guesthouse on the basis of stars, popularity, price, and guest rating as well. The average rating based on customer reviews is given on the right corner. HotelsCombined also allows you to customize your search based on Property Type, Hotel features (Bar, Deposit Box, Cables, Connection Rooms, hair Dryer), various themes (city, shopping, historic, boutique, romantic), and famous hotel chains.


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Best Midwest Inn Recipes
Lazy Morning Sausage Pie
Lyndy Ireland cooks up breakfast favorites such as this classic biscuit mix recipe for her guests at Triangle Ranch in western South Dakota. She tops the sausage pie with refreshing salsa.Lazy Morning Sausage Pie
Cinnamon Rolls
The recipe, with its heady aroma of yeast and spice, comes from the Patchwork Quilt Country Inn near Middlebury, Indiana. The rolls rise best at a temperature between 80 degrees and 85 degrees.Cinnamon Rolls
Peach Breakfast Parfaits
"This very simple fruit dish goes over big," says Mary Jo Smith, describing this parfait from Hidden Lake Bed and Breakfast in Jonesboro, Illinois. Mary Jo serves it in sundae glasses with a swirl of yogurt on top. For a variation, add raspberries to the peaches.Peach Breakfast Parfaits
The New Glarus Hotel in New Glarus, Wisconsin, serves up a taste of Switzerland with this potato cake -- pure comfort food made from just five ingredients.Roesti
Blueberry Surprise French Toast Casserole
Cream cheese is the secret ingredient in this casserole, which gets a generous topping of blueberry or maple syrup. The recipe comes from Turkey Run Inn at Turkey Run State Park in east-central Indiana.Blueberry Surprise French Toast Casserole
Bread Pudding with Maple-Banana Sauce
This rich, make-ahead bread pudding recipe comes from the Eagle Ridge Inn and Resort in Galena, Illinois. Each week, the resort offers a Sunday brunch, including a lavish dessert table.Bread Pudding with Maple-Banana Sauce
Breakfast Crepe Cups
Crepes form the shell for this pretty baked egg dish. Spoon bacon, pork sausage or ham into the bottom of the crepe cups, then ladle egg mixture over the meat, and sprinkle with cheddar cheese. The recipe comes from the Jefferson-Day House Bed and Breakfast in Hudson, Wisconsin.Breakfast Crepe Cups
Sausage-Cheese Scones
Cheddar cheese and sausage dot these flavor-packed buttermilk scones from the Washington House Inn in Cedarburg, Wisconsin.Sausage-Cheese Scones
Sour Cream Swirl Coffee Cake
A layer of brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans swirls through the center of this sour cream coffee cake from the Lantz House Inn in Centerville, Indiana.Sour Cream Swirl Coffee Cake
Cream Cheese-Filled Breakfast Pancakes
Topped with fresh fruit and wrapped around a rich cream cheese filling, these crepelike pancakes add color and flavor to any special-occasion breakfast or brunch. The recipe comes from the Artists Colony Inn in Nashville, Indiana.Cream Cheese-Filled Breakfast Pancakes
Spinach Quiche a la Goldmoor
An easy-to-use frozen spinach souffle makes this quiche's eggy-sausage filling easy to prepare. The recipe is from the Goldmoor Inn near Galena, Illinois.Spinach Quiche a la Goldmoor
Finnish Baked Pancakes
The Poplar Creek Guesthouse Bed and Breakfast on the Gunflint Trail near Grand Marais, Minnesota, adapted the traditional big pancake for a lighter version: puffed pancakes.Finnish Baked Pancakes
Double-Flavored Muffins
Pumpkin and chocolate blend beautifully in these spiced muffins from Thorp House Inn of Fish Creek, Wisconsin. Cinnamon, mace, nutmeg and cloves flavor the batter.Double-Flavored Muffins
Poppy Seed Torte
The recipe for this four-layer cake-with a puddinglike filling, unmistakable poppy seed flavor and soft whipped cream frosting-comes from Wisconsin's White Gull Inn.Poppy Seed Torte
This Dutch specialty bakes into a bowl shape that cradles a pile of sliced fresh peaches. The recipe comes from the Hidden Lake Bed and Breakfast in Jonesboro, Illinois, where the pannekoeken gets a dollop of sour cream and a generous sprinkling of powdered sugar.Pannekoeken
Lemon-Walnut Biscotti
Biscotti gets its crunch from baking twice. Our citrus-speckled Lemon-Walnut Biscotti recipe comes from a Door County restaurant.Lemon-Walnut Biscotti
Smoked Turkey Quiche
This variation on a classic quiche recipe combines smoked turkey breast with Swiss cheese, eggs and cream. Serve with fresh fruit and homemade sweet rolls for a hearty start to the day. The recipe comes from the former Engesser House Bed and Breakfast in St. Peter, Minnesota.Smoked Turkey Quiche
Wake-Up Scones
Crown these tender, biscuitlike scones with sweetened whipped cream and strawberries. The recipe comes from a Missouri inn.Wake-Up Scones
Harvest Pie, Sweet Potato Pie and Sweetie Pie
The annual Pie Fest at Southmoreland on the Plaza, a historic 13-room inn northeast of Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri, features several dozen pies, including Harvest Pie (front), Sweet Potato Pie (left) and Sweetie Pie (top).Harvest Pie blends the tastes and aromas of apples, cranberries and spices. Sweet Potato Pie has a soft filling with just a touch of sweetness. Pie lovers with a serious sweet tooth need to try the Sweetie Pie, full of melted chocolate, butterscotch, pecans and coconut.Harvest PieSweet Potato PieSweetie Pie
Mistress Suzanne's Bananas Foster
This cinnamon-spiced New Orleans classic is a popular dessert at Rider's Inn in Painesville, Ohio. Mistress Suzanne's Dining Room at the inn is named for the third wife of the original owner, Joseph Rider.Mistress Suzanne's Bananas Foster
Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake
Plump blueberries create a juicy filling in this old-fashioned sour cream coffee cake from The White Gull Inn in Fish Creek on Wisconsin's Door County Peninsula.Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake
Cinnamon Bread Pudding with Butter Sauce
Using cubed cinnamon bread or cinnamon rolls means this bread pudding goes together quickly. The recipe is from Sugar Lake Lodge near Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Warm butter sauce tops each serving.Cinnamon Bread Pudding with Butter Sauce
Maple-Baked Stuffed Pears
"When I was thinking about adding to the guests' breakfast enjoyment, I thought that a breakfast dessert sounded good. Why not?" asks Barbara Young of Poplar Creek Guesthouse Bed and Breakfast near Grand Marais, Minnesota. "I love baked fruit. So I started going through the many cookbooks that I have. I liked the idea of using local ingredients and then adapted the recipes for breakfast."Maple-Baked Stuffed Pears
Vanilla Sables
These butter cookies are named for the French word for sand because of their crumbly texture. The recipe is from Julee Rosse, owner of the Wickwood Inn in Saugatuck, Michigan, and an author of the Silver Palate Cookbook.Vanilla Sables
Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes
Top these gooey-center, intense chocolate desserts with powdered sugar.Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes


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The global "Fine Arts Logistics Market" report offers precise analytical information about the Fine Arts Logistics market. The market experts and proficient analysts generate the information based on the past and current situation of Fine Arts Logistics market, various factors affecting the growth trajectory, global sales, demand, total revenue generated, and capitalization of the market. Moreover, the report delivers a summarized assessment of the impact of federal policies and regulations on market operations. It also comprises detailed information pertaining to the Fine Arts Logistics market's current dynamics. The global Fine Arts Logistics market acts as a huge platform that offers several opportunities for many reputed firms, organizations, manufacturers, vendors, and suppliers MTAB , Crown Fine Art, Freight Systems, Aetna Fine Art, Agility, DHL, DB Schenker, KUEHNE + NAGEL, Rhenus Logistics, G4Si , UOVO, SGS, United Fine Arts, LLC., ESI , Jayhawk to compete with each other to become one of the globally and regionally leading business holders.
Click Here To Access The Sample Report:: https://www.promarketresearch.com/request-for-sample.html?repid=25137
For a thorough analysis, The report presents a demand for individual segment in each region. It demonstrates various segments Air Shipping, Sea Shipping, Road Shipping, Rail Shipping and sub-segments Art dealers and galleries, Auction houses, Museum and art fair, Others of the global Fine Arts Logistics market. The global Fine Arts Logistics market report delivers all-inclusive study about the business growth enhancers and obstructers, earlier and current trends being followed by the market, and the comparison between the global as well as regional revenue generation by the market. The brief study, about recent technological developments, detailed profiles of the leading firms in the market, and unique model analysis, is included in the report. The global Fine Arts Logistics market report offers a detailed review of micro and macro aspects that are essential for driving the business along with comprehensive value chain analysis.
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Apart from this, the market categorization based on the geography and region is included in the report. The global Fine Arts Logistics market research report delivers precise analysis for varying competitive dynamics. It offers a six-year forecast review revealing the anticipated futuristic growth of the market. The report delivers high-appreciated information to help the clients in taking appropriate steps for driving the business. The experts and analysts employ various statistical and mathematical approaches, along with advanced analytical methods, such as SWOT analysis, to generate valuable information, which is available in the global Fine Arts Logistics market report.
There are 15 Chapters to display the Global Fine Arts Logistics market
Chapter 1, Definition, Specifications and Classification of Fine Arts Logistics , Applications of Fine Arts Logistics , Market Segment by Regions;
Chapter 2, Manufacturing Cost Structure, Raw Material and Suppliers, Manufacturing Process, Industry Chain Structure;
Chapter 3, Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Fine Arts Logistics , Capacity and Commercial Production Date, Manufacturing Plants Distribution, R&D Status and Technology Source, Raw Materials Sources Analysis;
Chapter 4, Overall Market Analysis, Capacity Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Price Analysis (Company Segment);
Chapter 5 and 6, Regional Market Analysis that includes United States, China, Europe, Japan, Korea & Taiwan, Fine Arts Logistics Segment Market Analysis (by Type);
Chapter 7 and 8, The Fine Arts Logistics Segment Market Analysis (by Application) Major Manufacturers Analysis of Fine Arts Logistics ;
Chapter 9, Market Trend Analysis, Regional Market Trend, Market Trend by Product Type Air Shipping, Sea Shipping, Road Shipping, Rail Shipping, Market Trend by Application Art dealers and galleries, Auction houses, Museum and art fair, Others;
Chapter 10, Regional Marketing Type Analysis, International Trade Type Analysis, Supply Chain Analysis;
Chapter 11, The Consumers Analysis of Global Fine Arts Logistics ;
Chapter 12, Fine Arts Logistics Research Findings and Conclusion, Appendix, methodology and data source;
Chapter 13, 14 and 15, Fine Arts Logistics sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source.
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This report provides pin-point analysis for changing competitive dynamics
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It provides a six-year forecast assessed on the basis of how the market is predicted to grow
It helps in understanding the key product segments and their future
It provides pin point analysis of changing competition dynamics and keeps you ahead of competitors
It helps in making informed business decisions by having complete insights of market and by making in-depth analysis of market segments
Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.


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Czechia tourist visa for Belizean citizens
Czechia schengen visa
Visa Required
2 verified_user
Czechia schengen visa for Belizean citizens
Belizean citizens are required to have a visa when travelling to Czechia. Czechia schengen visa is required for Belizean citizens. The stay is usually short with a period of 90 days and visa expires in 90 days. Applicant is required to be present when applying for Czechia schengen visa. A total of 10 documents are required for applying Czechia schengen visa.
Schengen Visa
The Schengen Visa is a visa for the Schengen Area, which consists of most of the European Economic Area, plus several other adjacent countries. The visa allows visitors to stay in the Schengen Area for up to 90 days within a 180-day period. The visa is valid for tourism, family visits, and business. European Travel Information and Authorisation System or ETIAS is an electronic authorisation system of the European Union for visa-exempt visitors travelling to the European Union or the Schengen Area which is expected to enter into operation at the end of 2022.
Czechia schengen visa conditions, fees and processing time for Belizean citizens
- You must submit a passport or other travel document issued within the last 10 years. This must have at least 2 blank pages and be valid for at least another 3 months after the date you intend to leave the Schengen area.
- Each person travelling with you on your travel document must submit their own visa form.
- When you submit your application your fingerprints will be taken. These will remain valid for 5 years. Some applicants, such as children under the age of 12, do not need to have their fingerprints taken.
- You will be charged a fee for your application. If you apply through an external service provider you will also have to pay an extra fee to the provider.
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Max Stay: 90 days
Visa Validity: 90 days
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Czechia schengen visa requirements for Belizean citizens
Documents required for Czechia schengen visa from Belize include passport, a completed visa application form and other supporting documents. A total of 10 documents are required.
Visa Application Form
Completed application form for Czechia
Passport Photo
Photo must be no older than 6 months
Travel Insurance
Proof of travel insurance for destination with the certificate of Insurance and the table of benefits. You can also provide a letter from the bank confirming that you have an insurance with them along with a copy of credit card and the table of benefits. Travel medical insurance for everyone from all over the world with Coronavirus (COVID-19) coverage. Get coverage for travel delay, lost checked luggage, emergency response & natural disasters, personal liability. Get ready for for unexpected medical problems and accidents.
Travel Bookings
A round-trip flight reservations(s) for destination. An Onward Ticket is a flight reservation made by a real travel agency that can be helpful for visa applications or if you want to enter a country without purchasing a return flight. Get verifiable one way, round trip, and multi-city flight bookings for visa purposes.
Previous Passport
Provide a previous passport of country if any.
Cover Letter
Covering letter mentioning the details of the applicant, travel and details of the other members travelling with you.
Original Passport or Travel document of country with at least 6 months remaining validity on the date of travel and have at least 2 visa pages clear of any markings.
Current Details
Employed: • A letter from your employer on company letterhead, with contact details, stating that a leave of absence has been granted, purpose and duration of the trip, and that you will be returning to your current job. • Current bank statement of the latest 6 months • Income Tax Return (ITR) • Original pay slips Self Employed: • Include a copy of your business license • Company bank statement of the latest 6 months • Income Tax Return (ITR) Student: • Submit an official letter from your school indicating that you are in good standing and that you are registered for the upcoming semester. • No Object certificate from School or University. Retired: • Submit proof of your retirement fund. Yes.
Accomodation Bookings
Hotel reservation(s) in destination for the duration of your visit. Embassy recommends not to purchase tickets until visa is approved. Don't risk your money, time and effort by buying actual tickets. Get hotel bookings for any city in the world within minutes for visa purposes.
Bank Statement
A recent monthly bank statement of the applicant from country. The statement must clearly show the applicant's name as the account holder, the balances of the accounts, and the date of the statement. If statements are printed online then it has to be Authenticated (stamped) by the bank officials.
How to apply for Czechia schengen visa from Belize
Czechia schengen visa application process for Belizean citizens is quick and easy, as long as the necessary documents and information are provided accurately. By following these 8 steps, Belizean citizens can ensure a smooth and hassle-free process in obtaining an Czechia tourist visa. It is advisable to apply for the visa well in advance of the intended travel date to ensure that there is enough time for processing and to avoid any unexpected issues. The Czechia government may reject applications for a variety of reasons, including providing inaccurate information, not meeting the requirements, or having a criminal record. In such cases, the applicant will need to reapply and pay the visa fee again.
- Gather documents
Gather all the necessary documents required for a Czechia tourist visa including passport and any other supporting documents.
- Valid passport
Check that Belizean passport is valid for at least six months from the date of your arrival in Czechia. If not apply for a new Belizean passport.
- Fill application
Fill the application form for Czechia.
- Submit documents
After filling, providing the required documents with your passport and make the payment and submit visa application at the embassy of Czechia
- Visa Processing
Once visa application for Czechia is approved, you will receive a visa sticker in your passport and will be notified by e-mail.
- Receive visa
Pickup your passport from Czechia embassy
- Arrival
Upon arrival in Czechia, present Belize passport to the immigration officer at the counter.
- Receive visa
You will receive Czechia visa stamp in your passport, which allows you to stay in Czechia for the duration on your stamping.
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Do belizean citizens need a visa to go to Czechia?
Yes, visa is required for Belizean citizens. You can get visa details, documents required, official website and other details for Czechia visa but if you still have question which are unanswered then you can discuss with the community
Frequently Asked Questions
Czechia travel restrictions
Czechia is open for travel. Most visitors from Belize can travel to Czechia without restrictions. No quarantine is required. Find travel restrictions, quarantine and entry requirements to travel Czechia.
Countries to travel near Czechia with Belize passport
Disclaimer: The information in the site should be used as a guide only. You are advised to contact your local official mission/consulate/embassy and ensure you have the latest information. We take no responsibility.


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Carowinds plans $50 million expansion
CHARLOTTE — The Ohio company that owns Carowinds says it will spend $50 million to expand the theme park on the North Carolina-South Carolina state line.
Cedar Fair Entertainment officials told the Charlotte Chamber on Monday the company will add rides and attractions, upgrade food locations and make infrastructure improvements.
Chief operating officer Richard Zimmerman did not go into details about the expansion.
Cedar Fair announced in 2011 that it had bought 61 acres of vacant land next to Carowinds' parking lots and near interstate 77.
Zimmerman said work will begin next year and will take several years to complete. The expansion will create 15 permanent jobs and 270 additional jobs.
Carowinds is 40 years old and has 13 roller coasters.
Cedar Fair owns 11 amusement parks.


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Hagerstown police search for suspected robbers
Staff Writer
Waynesboro Record Herald
Two unidentified men are suspected of robbing Side Pockets Bar on South Potomac Street in Hagerstown at 11:15 p.m. Tuesday night.
A Hagerstown police officer watched the men enter the bar and they left, running northbound on South Potomac Street. The officer confirmed the bar had been robbed.
The men were black. One was wearing a gray zip-up sweatshirt with dark pants, a Cincinnati Reds baseball hat and white shoes. The other was wearing a camouflage-style jacket, blue jeans and black shoes.
A K-9 unit was unsuccessful in tracking the suspects.


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Maximum Impact
Dave Grohl and I are crouched together on a hot blacktop driveway that encircles the SoCal locale where the photo session for this exclusive S+V cover story is taking place. To the onlookers who shuffle past us and sometimes hover at a respectful distance, it appears as if these two hunched, animated, close-talking bearded longhairs are plotting to take over the world — and perhaps that's not an entirely wrong assumption. Actually, we're bended-knee deep in the midst of dissecting the reasons why Wasting Light (Roswell/RCA), the Foo Fighters' first #1 album in their 16-year career and a welcome rock 'n roll punch to the gut of music-sales erosion, exudes such lasting sonic vigor. (Well, there's that, and there's the "hell yeah!" realization of our mutual love for Led Zeppelin's In Through the Out Door. But I digress.)
The most important factors for Light's primal, visceral appeal are directly tied to how it was recorded: all-analog and onto tape with no Pro Tools "smoothing" allowed per Grohl's explicit orders to producer Butch Vig. Plus, as Dave mentioned boldly above, it was also made in quite the cozy setting — his garage, which was retooled and recast as an intimate recording suite. Usually, the Foos cut their tracks at Studio 606, their own collective Southern California recording haunt, but this time around, Grohl had a different idea.
"The analog recording concept was simple to me," he says. "I just imagined that's the way it should be done. The simple signal path of a microphone into an EQ and then into the tape machine — plus not having to scroll through Pro Tools menus — means you're restricted to actual performance, which is good. It makes you sound like a human being. And that's f---ing awesome."


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Will the bookies have the last laugh on those of us would love to see an American poet like Richard Wilbur or Donald Hall win the 2009 Nobel Prize in literature? A few days ago, the London odds-making firm of Ladbrokes ranked Thomas Pynchon 12th among bettors' favorites for the Nobel to be announced tomorrow in a live Webcast at 6 a.m. Eastern time. But Pynchon (7-1) has made last-minute surge into fifth place behind Amos Oz (3-1) of Israel; Herta Müller (3-1), a Romanian-born German, who has also moved up; and the Americans Joyce Carol Oates (5-1) and Philip Roth (5-1). Here's a link to a list of the standings of all the candidates ranked by Ladbrokes as of 5 p.m. Eastern Time Wednesday. For more on the poets who may be in the running, see yesterday's post "It Ain't Me, Babe! Bob Dylan and Maya Angelou Lead Among American Poets in the Race for the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature, London Bookies Say."
October 7, 2009
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Friday, December 26, 2008
When Did Healing Become So Hard?
"Wow, when did healing become so hard?"
Maybe I've just gotten used to face-rolling my way through instances as DPS, or maybe I'm just undergeared and out of practice, but it feels like paladin healing has gotten a lot more complex.
The following is my thought process throughout the instance:
Begin Stream of Consciousness.
Okay, I have to keep up Beacon of Light, Sacred Shield and a Seal. I've pretty much abandoned Flash of Light and am mainly using Holy Light. Nothing else seemed to keep up with the tank's damage intake. Does Sacred Shield even do anything? You know, Sacred Shield is a lot more expensive than I remembered. Why is the tank's health not going up? Oh, Beacon fell off again! I'm supposed to Judge to do something or the other, but I can't stop spamming Holy Light.
Who thought an AoE silence/interrupt on the final boss of Utgarde Keep was a good idea? Why did the DPSer who does 2K+ DPS just take a 24K Smash? Couldn't you have Smashed one of the other two who are doing less than 1K DPS? Let's try Holy Shock. Yeah, that really did a lot. Back to Holy Light. Sweet, sweet Holy Light. Why are there axes attacking me? Where are you, AoE heal! Oh I see, Beacon fell off yet again. Divine Plea, thank the Light!
End Stream of Consciousness.
What this game really needs is some way to challenge the DPS without affecting the healer. Healing is hard enough without the added worry of standing in the fire. Or more accurately for paladins, spell interrupts and silences.
The thing is that because environmental hazards affect both healers and DPS, they are necessarily less challenging than they could be. They have to be easy enough that a distracted healer can avoid them, and that leads to a difference in challenge level for the two roles. Since a DPS only has to look out for herself, an environmental challenge that is complex enough to challenge her is probably going to kill the healer.
37 comments:
- Anonymous10:30 PM, December 26, 2008
The new holy tree does take getting used to. I leveled Holy from 70 and I still forget beacon sometimes and have it fall off.ReplyDelete
Basically get in practice of sealing seal, BoL and sacred shield before every pull. The more you do it, the more natural it will start to feel. Basically whenever everybody is topped off, go back to the tank and rebuff sacred shield and beacon.
Sacred Shield is really nice. It's 2k health every 6 seconds, which means that at worst its an extra 2k health. The only way your tank should die in that much time is if he's severely undergeared w/ 20k so even then it's an extra 10% hp, which is really nice. It lets you soften down any burst.
If you sockets favor intellect and u divine favor on cooldown you shouldnt be having trouble with the healing. Int is much better than crit at early gear levels. I just hit 19k and feel comfortable to the point where I can socket more pure spellpower red gems.
Ingvar's interrupt in UK is fine. It's a 3 second cast, so if you mark him as focus you can see when he's casting it. Immediately stop healing when he does it and then you're free to heal without worry for a good 15 seconds.
Strasbourg -Area 52-
A lot of the frustration you ran into can be dealt with on the player side.ReplyDelete
Judging will give haste, increasing your healing output, and potentially making FoL safe to use for a few casts: FoLx and HL, or some variation depending on the amount of incoming damage. JoL also gives a decent bit of AoE healing, so sometimes you won't even need beacon.
For the last boss there, set him as a focus. The interrupt is preceded by a shout and has a cast time, so if you watch for it, you can avoid it. The axes can be moved away from or dealt with for a short time with DS. The smash is a frontal cone. As long as the tank doesn't move and the DPS stand properly, only the tank should get hit. In their case, they can at least back up to buy a second or two while the boss runs closer.
I do agree with the environmental issue though. Too often these 'challenges' take the form of random damage, which instead of pressuring the DPS, they just stress the healers. Instead of random AoE damage, have random AoE damage reductions.
It is frustrating that challenges so often translate to: annoyance for healers. 95% of challenges are ways to stress healers. 4% stress the tanks. 1% just kill everyone instantly, with no particular emphasis on anyone.
Still, holy has gotten a lot better. The healing debuff on DP isn't nice, but 25% mana every 60 seconds is a big deal for a class that used to have no regen that didn't involve already having mana. Beacon can allow for huge output and efficiency, however it is counter-intuitive to heal everyone except the tank, and the duration is pretty short. SS is a nice tool to even out damage spikes a bit and can be extremely useful on fights like the last boss of AN where you're likely to have a few weak adds on you.
Keep working at it and try to find good tanks, you might start to enjoy it. I've been surprised every time I went holy and wasn't miserable. Except for that H HoS group tonight...
I would love to see a "fire" that didn't do damage when you stand in it... it would stun/freeze you so that you couldn't dps.ReplyDelete
Less healer work..... moar dps shame...when silly mistakes are made.
Setting the boss as the Focus is a really good idea. Great for cast timers, and I even think my Judgement macro hits the focus first.ReplyDelete
Couple of tips:ReplyDelete
1. Use Grid or another click healing solution, this lets you keep the boss as a target but heal your group. I used Pitbull + Clique through all of TBC but finally moved to Grid when I got sick of just seeing unitframes in AV ;-)
2. Use Grid anyway. I have it set up with a dot in the top left for aggro, top right for dispellable debuff, bottom left to show Beacon is up and bottom right for incoming heals. The beacon dot goes red when it's about to fall off to remind me to recast it.
3. As everyone say, judge and sacred shield every pull. Free haste and a free smart HoT on the tank. It's amazingly good.
Healing is just different, and different now to how it was even in TBC. It's still enjoyable amazingly enough...
- Anonymous3:40 AM, December 27, 2008
Yes, at the final boss of UK it is essential to set the boss as focus to see him cast.ReplyDelete
Normally I set my tank as focus with my castable buffs set to huge so I see if ss and BoL are up.
It will get better with better gear. With the haste buff up I pretty much only use FoL and HS.
But yes, you have to pay way more attention now. So much more things to watch out for. I was ret from 70 to 80 and for quite a while of lvl 80 (till I had decent holy gear). At the start I actually forget to train the higher ranks of Holy shock...
Two things about your group:ReplyDelete
1. It sounds like your tank was way under the defense cap (or you have a way too little spellpower).
2. No one, but especially the dps, should be getting hit by smash or dark smash. It's a 5 yard frontal cone with a 3 sec cast. The dps should never be in front of it and the tank should clear it every time. It's hard to heal a group that allows itself to be needlessly damaged.
I have yet to do many heroics but hUK is one I have done. I do not normally need BoL up except during boss fights. I use DoTimer to keep me aware of BoL as well as the JoL healing debuff on the boss. I rejudge enough to keep that up because it keeps me from having to heal the melee dps too much and keeps my haste buff up.
It boils down to keeping BoL up and not healing the tank directly unless there is no one else with that much damage on them.
I use GRID nearly with the same setup. :)
top-left : aggro
top-right : debuff
bottom-left : beacon
bottom-right : sacred shield
With this setup I manage to keep Sacred Shield up on 5 targets, sometimes it is more effective than healing (Telestra in Nexus, NPC event in HoS).
For judgements, I have a macro that casts judgement on the targettarget (usually tank's target).
- Anonymous6:45 AM, December 27, 2008
For environmental challenges, it would be nice if bosses had an ability that they fired at the top X DPSers. Challenge DPS, and thus challenge healers with more targets, without leaving healers helpless. It's pure win for everyone.ReplyDelete
I was actually working on a post for my own blog about this exact thing. Healing use be "spam Flash of Light/Holy Shock" and throw in a Holy Light when things got iffy. Now, I use holy light quite a bit, partly because of the damage being done but also party because of the incredibly amounts of health tanks have these days. When a druid has 37k in a 5 man run, even my crits on flash of light aren't going to do a whole lot to his health pool. It's interesting, and I think the changes make healing a more intense experience.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous4:45 PM, December 27, 2008
I don't see why seals can't be 30min buff in the first place, and beacon of light for that matter. The constantly having to refresh just those two eats up way too much mana and causes you to miss out on casting heals (which wouldn't be a problem if we had a HoT).ReplyDelete
The learning curve is also daunting, especially coming from the DPS side of things. My mage got invited to the Obsidian Sanctum for the sole purpose of decursing on the trash, and I still somewhat failed my job because I didn't have the pet health bars displayed on my UI.ReplyDelete
I don't see how you're supposed to learn to heal at 80 even if you wanted to, short of running regular level 70 dungeons until you get the hang of it.
The attitude "DPS only needs to watch out for themselves" is one I've come across way too much as a tank. To the point where after facerolling through instances to 80, then not running any 80 instances and jumping right into heroics.ReplyDelete
Just today I had mage who wouldn't sheep, a hunter can't trap, ret pallies that wouldn't use a stun when specifically asked to on a boss fight (the caster that splits in the Nexus)... the list can go on and on.
Make sure you're running with tanks over 540 def (War/pally - Druids, well, they don't need defense), if you're not, they will get squashed in heroics. Don't be afraid to say "Hey, lets CC some of these 5 mobs here, since we can."
Keep healing. Us tanks need good healers!
- Anonymous2:25 AM, December 28, 2008
For me the problem is that in WoW to heal efficiently you need an addon.ReplyDelete
Any other class can deal with the game without addons, but for healers its a must have.
It feels so wrong!
- Anonymous2:28 AM, December 28, 2008
I will also add that lately with AoE tanking avaliable to all classes of tanks you see less and less CC. This makes things hard for the healer but who cares!ReplyDelete
The tanks say "look how good I am I can hold 5 at a time"
The DPS say "look how much DPS I do with AoE, please join them"
Meanwhile the healer goes crazy trying to keep everybody alive!
- Anonymous2:28 AM, December 28, 2008
I will also add that lately with AoE tanking avaliable to all classes of tanks you see less and less CC. This makes things hard for the healer but who cares!ReplyDelete
The tanks say "look how good I am I can hold 5 at a time"
The DPS say "look how much DPS I do with AoE, please join them"
Meanwhile the healer goes crazy trying to keep everybody alive!
- Anonymous5:59 AM, December 28, 2008
For Pete's sake, people, enough!ReplyDelete
It used to be 'Paladin healing is boring, all we do is spam Flash of Light over and over'. Now we've gotten new tools to work with, and now everyone's complaining that they can't manage it, the learning curve is too high, the durations are too quick. You want a 30 minute duration on Seals? You want a 30 minute duration on Beacon? You want a true AoE heal? You want a true HoT? Do you want Paladins to be the only healers in the game?
The new stuff means we have to think about healing differently. I personally love it, it feels much more active, a little more frenetic. Embrace the change! Keep working at it! Soon you will wonder what you were complaining about, it will be second nature. And then we can find something else to gripe about!
Note: this is not directed so much at Rohan as at some of the commenters above. /rant off :)
Anonymous 6
- Anonymous7:15 AM, December 28, 2008
Dear Holy Pally Friend, I feel your pain.ReplyDelete
I just made my own post actually on the terror that is healing in Wrath as a Holy Pally.
I do agree with the comments above: Grid makes getting to those who need a heal much quicker and indeed if you get in the practice of Seal/BoL/SS/JoL it becomes second nature.
Another thing I do is macro Divine Favor to Holy Shock. If you are talented correctly that will give you an instant FoL, very helpful when you're on the move and things get hairy.
Lastly a word on the UK boss. I actually don't target him at all or have him set as a focus. He makes a noise before the silence, which I quickly learned to listen for and stop casting.
Glad to know I'm not the only one having trouble!
Zuramat the Obliterator, one of the random boss encounters in Violet Citadel, has a mechanic that I think could be used more to stress dps instead of healers: His Shroud of Darkness-spell sometimes means you must stop attacking him or you get a debuff that makes it impossible to heal you (20% reduced healing pr stack, stacks to 5), and at the same time he has adds that do damage to the whole party. So if someone don't pay attention, they die, and it is clear (or should be) that if you get yourself a 100% healing reduction debuff, you can't blame the healer..ReplyDelete
- Anonymous2:11 PM, December 28, 2008
keep in mind that healing heroics are much much harder than healing raids.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous3:10 PM, December 28, 2008
I think alot of the problem is that with healing, timing is everything. i.e. cast the heal too soon, and you'll completely overheal, and then while you are mid cast on the next heal your tank takes 2 giant dmg spikes. Blizz really needs to figure out a good way to deal with overhealing.ReplyDelete
I think that Blizzard went to considerable effort to make the classes more convoluted and unpleasant to play - e.g. affliction warlock.ReplyDelete
And a certain small, vocal minority approve of the changes. Myself and IMHO the majority do not really want to be doing a raid dance while managing a 10-spell rotation.
Oh well, after Blizzard "adresses" healing like they promised, I predict things will be much worse.
I respec'd to resto from enhance to make getting heroic groups easier. And yes, 1 - healing is much trickier in heroics this time around, and 2 - DPS have it pretty easy.ReplyDelete
Honestly, the way blizz made instances this go around, they should be embarrassed with the default UI.
I use healbot, which is similar to grid but easier to set up I found.
I've since respec'd back to Enhance (waiting for dual specs) but managed to heal through every heroic pretty much. Although I failed at the last boss in HoL. Only got 2 attempts in though.
In a boss fight, DPS usually have to know 1 or 2 gimmicks. Don't stand in the cloud, Kill the adds, break the thing that's encased a group member.
Healers have to deal with the gimmick of lots of splash damage, AoE silences, Random charges interrupting casting. Dots and all the other crap the DPS have to worry about.
As a DPS I could go in to a heroic pretty much blind and be caught up on the strat after once sentence.
As a healer I wouldn't step foot in a roic without knowing the ins and outs of each boss, and sometimes the trash.
It's a steep learning curve. Stick with it.
- Anonymous6:34 AM, December 29, 2008
If dps dies to the last boss of UK that means they don't know the fight. Please inform them to run away when dark smash is being cast. Ivagnar(or whatever his name is?) does not hit very hard except for his smash/dark smash. Provided everyone cleared away from that attack you should be keeping the tank up with ease...while running behind the pillars for the silence and avoiding the axe.ReplyDelete
Now I'm not saying healing that boss is easy for a paladin. A paladin healing Ivagnar is probably the worst class for that boss. However UK is one of the easiest heroics out there so you should be able to make it through. Remember you can bubble if your silenced and the tank is near dead.....
Point being tank should never be close to dead and the guy doesn't hit hard, so maybe the tank just sucked? Obviously the dps needed some coaching.
- Anonymous6:48 AM, December 29, 2008
You are exactly right when you say "face rolling through instances as DPS". DPS is easily the easiest, most boring job I've done in WoW as a Paladin. Tanking is a bit harder, but not overly so. Healing is the most challenging thing I've done in game and that's why I'm sticking with it. It's the only thing that can get my heart pumping.ReplyDelete
Some thoughts: I really struggled with healing heroics until I got to where I am now at 1400 Spell Power. I also have _almost_ 30% crit. Those two together makes healing heroics a lot easier because my FoL's crit for great amounts.
One thing that you can't underestimate as a healer is the brain activity of your DPS. The final battle in hUK is a prime example as well as Loken in HoL. DPS can't just "take the damage" anymore.
Keep up the good fight! Paladin healers don't need an HoT. We don't need an AoE heal either. We are a very powerful healing class with a TON to offer.
- Anonymous7:34 AM, December 29, 2008
Nevermind that part about Spell Power. I just checked your armory and you're better equipped than I am ;)ReplyDelete
I have felt your pain. I also agree with fellow posters you will develop a routine and it will become second nature to you to cast SS before the pull and judge at the pull. I only use BoL when I know that two people will be taking a lot of damage or when we hit a sticky situation due to the high mana cost. It is definately a steep learning curve with all the new spells.ReplyDelete
Hang in there you will get it.
I have felt your pain. I also agree with fellow posters you will develop a routine and it will become second nature to you to cast SS before the pull and judge at the pull. I only use BoL when I know that two people will be taking a lot of damage or when we hit a sticky situation due to the high mana cost. It is definately a steep learning curve with all the new spells.ReplyDelete
Hang in there you will get it.
Holy pally healing is now about preparation. If you don't have a beacon and a seal up before the pull, you'll need to burn some GCDs to get caught-up.ReplyDelete
Talk with your tank before you start the instance. Tell them to 'Wait for Bacon' before pulling. Then make sure to re-seal yourself before beacon-ing the tank.
I must say that it is a lot more of a challenge to heal these days
@Absitively: I think one of the reasons some folks like me when in "Ret Mode" is that I *do* watch what's going on around me and throw a Repentence on an extra mob or drop a few heals if things get a little messy on a pull.ReplyDelete
@Rohan: Some of the things that have made healing more manageable for me when raiding (as we are still short healers - though I got to go Ret this weekend for a couple bosses)...
-- Mini-PW:Shield (SS) and Bacon can be tracked by ZOMGBuffs. Visual button with timer and click to recast FTW.
-- Linking a "+SP on use" trinket via macro with Divine Plea will mitigate a good amount of the 20% healing loss when DP is active.
-- Despite its cost, I keep Bacon up on the tank 90%+ of the time. In 5-mans, it is invaluable for topping off AoE damage while ensuring the tank gets healed.
-- For raiding, BoK is the responsibility of the Ret paladin so I don't spec for it. In 5-mans, probably a good thing to spec for.
-- Judgement of Light... DoTimer... already mentioned in another post, but I'll mention it again. Passive healing for melee (and next patch applies JoL procs to ranged stuff, too, I think), and you keep the Haste buff on yourself without worry.
-- Divine Favor/Holy Shock combo (macroed, even better) will set up a fast HL behind it in tight spots. If Light's Grace is active and you have haste of any sort, that HL will cast < 1 sec.
-- Though not live yet, plan on getting FoL glyph for another 5% crit!
- Anonymous9:46 AM, December 29, 2008
Great post. Couldn't agree more, when I first started doing heroics as a holy paladin I was overwhelmed. But as you get more sp and haste (or crit) you'll notice you won't use the Beacon as much. I basically only use it on Patchwerk in 10 man naxx currently, besides that I feel like it's overkill on trash pulls and most folks I know use it to inflate their HPS in recount. /cryReplyDelete
One little tip, if you quest as all at holy, I learned this weekend if you keep sacred shield on yourself, most mobs can't touch ya. I use blessing/judgement of wisdom and while doing Hodir dailies, my mana nor health go down, as long as I keep both up. Saves good money on food (barely even use divine plea while grinding anymore) and makes it fun to run around "invicibile" as a holy pally blowing multiple mobs up.
As Ret, i take pride in using my Repent, using my HOJ to interupt a fear (those pesky DK trolls in Drak'theron Keep)judging wisdom or Light if i know the fight will be a longer one with no enrage timer. Throwing a SS on the tank, or anyone else taking splash damage. These types of things can be the difference between a wipe and a one shot agains King Dred on heroic. we arent a pure dps class so we need to use all the tricks at our disposal. i do it so i dont have to pay a 50g repair bill, but you can justify it anyway you want.ReplyDelete
oh and BTW,
Sacred Shield+Art of War Proc+FOL HOT glyph= 2INSTANT HOT's on a Ret Pally at once. Art of War Proc's Constantly. Get an addon like Proculus that tells you when you have an Art of War proc. your FOL crit chance should be over 70% even in marginal gear. great for grinding.
- Anonymous11:39 AM, December 29, 2008
I want to ask one question: If you don't like being Holy but are speccing that way to get groups, have you considered Prot? Tanks are not quite as in demand as healers, but they are in far more demand than DPSers. Prot is probably the best it's ever been now, as well.ReplyDelete
I find Prot enjoyable, first and foremost. I also find it pretty easy to start my own groups as Prot or to join PUGs as Prot, particularly raid PUGs.
Now, getting uncrittable right at 80 can be tough without having chosen the right quest rewards. A lot of crafted stuff (Tempered Saronite, Dauntless stuff) has very high Defense on it. Getting gear/glyph from Revered with Wyrmrest and then Argent Crusade plus that crafted stuff might get you there all by itself.
Just a thought. I'm sure you know about Maintankadin, but I'll throw it out there as a resource.
Anytime I've thought about going Ret, I've immediately thought about how DPS is a dime a dozen. Looking forward to dual specs, but for now it's good to play a role that is in demand.
Last note I'll make about Ret, since that seems to be your spec of choice - a DPSer who is known to put up good numbers can still get groups, and Ret can definitely do that right now. But you'll have to get to know people first, or else advertise yourself as doing 2000+ (or whatever) DPS.
While DPS is a dime a dozen, really GOOD DPS is not as commoditized.
- Anonymous11:51 PM, December 30, 2008
I leveled my paladin from 10 to 70 holy but this time I went ret to get to 80.ReplyDelete
Tried to go back to holy at 80 did all right but the only way I found to keep the tank up is by spamming flash of light as fast as I could.
As strange as it may sound the guild I'm in has a lot of healers and not that many DPS so I switched back to ret but now I just need to get my DPS up it stays around 1500 to 1700 and it drives me crazy the DK doing 2200 DPS...
- Anonymous6:57 AM, January 01, 2009
"I bit the bullet and respecced to Holy today. I very quickly got into a Heroic Utgarde Keep run. My immediate thought:ReplyDelete
'Wow, when did healing become so hard?'"
I apologize if this sounds blunt, but it became hard when you decided to learn how to heal in a heroic.
My latest character (after 3 dps & 2 tanks) is a healer. At 76 now, I haven't really had any major problems, largely because I've been playing as a healer since 68. I learned how to heal in regular instances before I jumped to the heroics.
There are level 80 non-heroic instances you can learn in. There are instances below 80 you can learn in. There are group quests you can learn to heal in. Find the level of difficulty that you are comfortable with, and start learning there. Heroics and raids are not the place to learn the basics of your class.
@anon - I only have 2 80s, but my experience was that non-heroics were significantly easier than heroics. I.e., non-heroics were a bit easier (AOE not CC) than I expected and heroics were a bit harder. YMMV. But when your 76 gets to 80 you may find heroics more challenging. Regardless, Good Luck!ReplyDelete
- Anonymous8:45 AM, January 05, 2009
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.ReplyDelete


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First, it was a collection of columns from a quirky weekly printed on salmon-colored paper
Sex and the City is a book that, like so many of its male characters, has baggage. But the baggage has changed in the 12 years since the publication of this collection of Candace Bushnell's columns for the New York Observer, a quirky weekly printed on salmon-colored paper.
In the beginning many people treated Sex and the City less as a book than a parlor game: Who were the restless urban bedmates whose identities Bushnell had disguised? By the time the gossip columnists had lost interest in that question — or learned the answers — the book had picked up new baggage: the expectations created by the HBO Series www.hbo.com/city/. How does the original stand up to the adventures of Sarah Jessica Parker and friends?
Both have merits, but the HBO series has the edge, at least in its first seasons, before the show became a near-parody of itself (to say nothing of the movie, which I haven't seen). In Sex and the City Bushnell wrote with style and authority about single female New Yorkers who had rejected the sexual mores of yore but hadn't found a satisfying — or, in some cases, even humane — replacement for them. Her women were intelligent but shallow and independent but yearning for, if not love, at least a dependable piece of arm candy, and many of her men were worse. These New Yorkers were clearly not to everyone's tastes — the overall tone of the book was chilly — but they were far more interesting than the flat characters in Bushnell's subsequent novels www.candacebushnell.com.
Even so, the book gave some critics pause for another reason, too: You couldn't tell how much of it was true. Its columns had appeared in a respected weekly, but Bushnell drew on techniques used by novelists. In hindsight, she looks like an ancestor of the new memoirists who believe that only emotional truths matter. But her book was still a revelation to many of us who were living in places like Cleveland when it came out: Who knew what was going on in Manhattan and the Hamptons?
From first episode of the HBO series, Sarah Jessica Parker gave Sex and the City some of the warmth that the book lacked. The writers also kicked up the humor up several notches, making the best episodes were funnier. And the series raised no questions of truth-in-publishing: It was clearly fiction.
This doesn't mean that book has outlived its appeal. Sex and the City gives a unique account of a certain New York subculture in the 1990s. It may especially appeal to people found the HBO version too upbeat, or unrealistically sanguine about single women's sexual prospects in their 30s and beyond. Writing in the Washington Post in 1996, Jonathan Yardley noted that every city has singles bars and their lonely patrons: "But Manhattan does tend to bring out the worst in certain people, and Sex and the City leaves no doubt that these days the worst can be very bad indeed."
Read some of the the original "Sex and the City" columns in the Observer www.observer.com/2007/sex-and-city.
Watch the Sex and the City movie trailer here www.sexandthecitymovie.com.
Visit the site for the publisher of Sex and the City www.hachettebookgroupusa.com/books_9780446673549.htm for information on some of the editions of the book, including an audio edition read by Cynthia Nixon.
© 2008 Janice Harayda. All rights reserved.


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Obama seeking lawmakers' approval for Syria strike
Staff reports
South Bend Tribune
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says he has decided that the United States should take military action against Syria in response to a deadly chemical weapons attack.
But he says he will seek congressional authorization for the use of force.
He says congressional leadership plans to hold a debate and a vote as soon as Congress comes back in September.
Obama says he has the authority to act on his own but believes it is important for the country to have a debate.
Military action would be in response to a chemical weapons attack the U.S. says Syrian President Bashar Assad's government carried out against civilians. The U.S. says more than 1,400 Syrians were killed in that attack last week.


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Moderator: Juliet Eilperin, Environmental Reporter for the Washington Post
The Honorable Mary Robinson, Founder of Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative; Former President of Ireland
Eleni Gabre-Madhin, CEO of the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange
Paul Collier, Director of the Centre for the Study of African Economies at Oxford University
Paul Weisenfeld, Assistant to the Administrator, Bureau for Food Security, USAID
By 2050, the global population is expected to increase to more than nine billion, requiring up to a 70 percent increase in agricultural production and a doubling of water needs for agriculture. These trends and others will be highlighted in this session that will examine opportunities and tensions related to the intersection of climate change, food security, and population. What do recent increases in urban populations mean for resource demand and our current global approach to resource management? Specifically, pertaining to sustainable development and long-term economic growth? Given the importance of the global economy to resource decisions, how might the natural resources (water, clean air, biodiversity, etc.) already tied to essential human services be better valued by our economic system? How might we better calculate an appropriate cost for their degradation? What are methods for greening production chains – particularly in developing countries where markets can be more opaque? Can we tackle questions of resource demand without discussing rapidly increasing populations?


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Is giant reed a 'miracle plant' or the next kudzu?
OXFORD, N.C. - It's fast-growing and drought-tolerant, producing tons of biomass per acre. It thrives even in poor soil and is a self-propagating perennial, so it requires little investment once established.
To people in the renewable fuels industry, Arundo donax - also known as "giant reed" - is nothing short of a miracle plant. An Oregon power plant is looking at it as a potential substitute for coal, and North Carolina boosters are salivating over the prospect of an ethanol bio-refinery that would bring millions of dollars in investment and dozens of high-paying jobs to hog country.
But to many scientists and environmentalists, Arundo looks less like a miracle than a nightmare waiting to happen. Officials in at least three states have banned the bamboo-like grass as a "noxious weed"; California has spent more than $70 million trying to eradicate it. The federal government has labeled it a "high risk" for invasiveness.
Many are comparing Arundo, which can reach heights of 30 feet in a single season, to another aggressive Asian transplant - the voracious kudzu vine.
More than 200 scientists recently sent a letter to the heads of federal agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency and the Departments of Agriculture and Energy, urging them not to encourage the commercial planting of known invasives like Arundo.
"Many of today's most problematic invasive plants - from kudzu to purple loosestrife - were intentionally imported and released into the environment for horticultural, agricultural, conservation, and forestry purposes," they wrote Oct. 22. "It is imperative that we learn from our past mistakes by preventing intentional introduction of energy crops that may create the next invasive species catastrophe particularly when introductions are funded by taxpayer dollars."
Mark Conlon, vice president for sector development at the nonprofit Biofuels Center of North Carolina in Oxford, hates the comparison with "the weed that ate the South."
"There's no market for kudzu," says Conlon, who is among those promoting a proposed $170 million, 20 million-gallon-a-year ethanol project here - and Arundo's role in it. "There's no reason to manage it. It was thrown out in the worst places you can think of and left there."
His message about Arundo: It'll be different this time. We can control it.
But Mark Newhouser, who has spent nearly 20 years hacking this "nasty plant" from California's riverbanks and wetlands, has his doubts.
"Why take a chance?" he asks.
The back wall of the North Carolina biofuels center's lobby is dominated by a large timeline, beginning with the General Assembly's 2006 recognition of the state's potential as a biofuels leader.
The display ends with a panel declaring "10% in 10 Years" - meaning that by 2017, a decade after the center's creation, officials hope companies here will be producing the equivalent of a tenth of the liquid transportation fuels consumed in the state annually, or 600 million gallons of renewable biofuel a year.
"An extraordinarily audacious goal," W. Steven Burke, the center's president and CEO, says proudly.
Near the middle of the timeline is this: "November 2011: 50-acre energy grass propagation nursery established with Arundo donax."
The center's staff has explored a variety of biofuel raw materials, from food crops like corn, sugar beets and industrial sweet potatoes, to cottonwood and loblolly pine trees. Even pond scum - or duckweed. All were either hard to raise in quantity, too expensive or more valuable for other uses.
The staff also studied so-called "energy grasses" - giant Miscanthus, coastal Bermudagrass, switchgrass. Out behind the center, farming director Sam Brake planted test plots of four varieties of sorghum.
But for hardiness, ease of cultivation and maintenance, and, above all, yield per acre, none comes even close to Arundo donax.
"Wow! Exclamation point," says Burke, who, in his matching gray suit and shirt and with his snow-white hair and beard, evokes the evangelical preacher.
Believed to have sprung from the Indian subcontinent, Arundo has spread around the globe. Europeans have been using it for centuries in the production of reeds for woodwind instruments.
Like kudzu, which came to the United States as part of Japan's exhibit at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Arundo arrived here in the mid- to late 19th century. And also like kudzu, Arundo was once touted as a perfect crop to help stem erosion. In California and Texas, farmers, ranchers and government workers enthusiastically planted it along waterways and drainage ditches. Shallow rooted, the canes would break off and move downstream, starting new stands.
Arundo has become "naturalized" in 25 warmer-weather states, according to a USDA weed risk analysis released in June.
In banning it, California, Nevada and Texas have said the plant crowds out native species and consumes precious water.
The Tennessee Exotic Pest Plant Council lists it as a "Significant Threat." Virginia officials have labeled it "moderately invasive." The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources has categorized giant reed as "occasionally invasive." But that might change if it were to be promoted as a commercial crop, says Elizabeth Byers, a vegetation ecologist with the agency's wildlife diversity unit.
"I certainly wouldn't want to see any invasive species used as biomass," she says. "Because they can escape."
North Carolina is keeping an eye on Arundo, but the folks in Oxford say past need not be prologue.
Earlier this fall, Chemtex International christened the world's first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in the northwest Italian city of Crescentino. Turning inedible biomass into sugars, the company hopes to produce up to 20 million gallons of fuel a year.
By mid-2013, Chemtex wants to break ground on a like-sized plant that would employ 67 people in North Carolina. It has set its sights on the little city of Clinton, in the heart of hog country.
David Crouse, a soil scientist at North Carolina State University, says energy grass production and the Tar Heel State are "a logical match" - depending on which grass it is.
Spread across the state's coastal plain are about 100,000 acres of so-called sprayfields, onto which industrial farming operations pump millions of gallons of hog and chicken waste per year. In order to comply with federal clean water regulations for runoff of nutrients such as nitrogen, many of those fields are already planted with energy grasses, chiefly coastal Bermudagrass.
In terms of yield, Arundo far outpaces the competition - up to 20 dry tons per acre, versus 3 to 6 tons for Bermuda. So planting Arundo would require far less land to supply Chemtex's fiber needs. The problem is, the fields' owners also need to worry about absorbing the nitrogen in the manure and the jury is still out as to whether Arundo would be a good fit.
"If it's not, it's not where we need to be on the swine farms," Crouse says.
Brake and his colleagues in Oxford are trying to figure that out.
On a farm a few miles from the biofuels center, a dense patch of what look like anorexic palm trees waves in the light autumn breeze. They tower over the 6-foot-2 farming director.
Brake planted this quarter-acre plot of Arundo donax in 2010. He's been applying fertilizer at four different rates - zero to 120 pounds per acre - to gauge the plants' nutritional needs, as well as their ability to absorb nitrogen.
Even in the tightly packed, red-clay soil, they have thrived. Brake steps into the thicket and struggles to wrap his arms around a clump.
"It's about maybe 3 foot in diameter," he says.
So far, yields from North Carolina test plots have averaged from 5.8 dry tons per acre at the Oxford site to just over 11 tons in the sandy loam soils in which most Chemtex suppliers would be planting, though NCSU soil scientist Ron Gehl notes these are not yet "mature stands."
Brake grabs an Arundo stalk and walks until it's parallel with the ground. Tiny seeds cascade to the ground, clinging to a visitor's wet shoes.
"You afraid of becoming Johnny donax-seed?" he asks with a chuckle. The seeds are sterile, he says reassuringly.
Brake points to a joint on the stalk where a small sprout or "node" peeks out.
"Each node is a potential plant," he explains. "That makes it easy to propagate."
And that's what gives so many pause.
In the 16 years since Arundo was first identified in California's Sonoma Creek Watershed, Mark Newhouser has developed an attack strategy.
First, workers spray the mature cane with herbicide, then move in with the large flail mowers. If that doesn't do the trick, it's time for chain saws.
"And then you'd still have all of these stumps of cane sticking up everywhere," he says. "You can't even walk through there."
The cost: Up to $25,000 per acre.
To address such concerns in North Carolina, state agriculture officials teamed up with the biofuels center last year to craft a set of "best management practices" for energy crops. Among them are not planting directly adjacent to streams and irrigation canals, and establishing buffer zones of at least 20 feet around production fields.
They are listed as "voluntary." But anyone wishing to do business with Chemtex would have to sign a contract agreeing to certain ground rules, says executive vice president Paolo Carollo. He points out that a $99 million USDA loan guarantee announced this spring also came with certain mitigation measures.
Noting that Chemtex has already made conditional agreements to plant 10,000 acres near Clinton, Carollo points to a factory near Venice, Italy, that, from 1937 to 1962, used Arundo grown on 12,000 nearby acres in the production of fabric, including Rayon.
"And they never had issues of spread," he said in a phone interview from the company's headquarters in the coastal city of Wilmington. When production ceased, he said, those acres were converted back to pasture land.
Attempts to commercialize Arundo donax in other parts of the U.S. have met with limited success.
When a company proposed to use Arundo for power generation in Florida, the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services drafted regulations requiring permits for plots larger than 2 acres. Although some permits have been issued, the large-scale project that prompted the regulations never materialized.
And when Portland General Electric decided to convert a power plant from coal to biomass, Oregon state agriculture officials conducted a risk assessment for Arundo. Last year, the state authorized a 400-acre "control area," prohibiting plantings within a mile of water bodies and requiring growers to post a $1 million eradication bond.
In a statement released last March, the Native Plant Society of Oregon accused the state of understating the risks. It cited research suggesting that Arundo's sterile seeds might, through "genetic modification," become fertile.
When Chemtex announced its plans for North Carolina, the Environmental Defense Fund and others petitioned the state to have Arundo declared a noxious weed, and to ban it. Officials expect to make a decision by early next year.
Federal action could take longer.
In January, the EPA gave Arundo preliminary approval under the federal renewable fuel standard program - meaning producers could qualify for valuable carbon credits. When environmental groups complained that the decision was at odds with an executive order aimed at preventing the spread of invasive species, the agency agreed to re-evaluate the crop.
Without the EPA's renewable fuels designation, Arundo would be less profitable to grow. And without Arundo in the mix, says Conlon, "I would be greatly concerned" about the Chemtex project - and the state's grand plans.
"North Carolina's on the precipice of becoming an economic powerhouse around this whole idea of advanced biofuels," Conlon says. "There's room down there to build five or six of these facilities, if and when we can figure out the right balance between environmental concerns and economic viability."
Burke notes that Arundo has been sold in the state for years as an ornamental, without any problem. To him, it's a no-brainer.
But EDF Southeast Director Jane Preyer wonders if a hurricane-prone state like North Carolina is the smartest place to grow such a crop on so large a scale. In 1999, Hurricane Floyd caused widespread flooding that put much of eastern North Carolina under several feet of water.
Arundo, she says, appears "not worth the risk."
It's naive to think man can truly control nature, says Newhouser in California.
"You know, that's the thing with weeds. They know no boundaries, and they don't recognize fences. They don't follow rules."


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