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One thing I find myself doing very often while editing remotely…me in L.A., the production company in Virginia…is exporting Quicktime files of my project for my producers at "home base" to watch. I will do this on an Act by Act basis…when I finish an act, I'll export it, upload to their FTP.
Now, like most, if not all of you, I don't like to sit and wait for a long time while this process happens. I have stuff to do. So I want this to go fast. And I have found a formula that makes it not only go fast, but keeps the file sizes small too. Without making the video look too crappy.
First off, I want to note, this is REVIEW quality. Meaning, you watch it for content, not quality. The outputs aren't high res, they aren't high quality. They are OK quality. This is how I keep the file sizes small, and export times fast. How fast? Real time fast. A 48 min sequence exports in about 50 min. OK, a little SLOWER than real time. But what if I told you this includes a timecode window? One that I didn't render before exporting? Yeah, that impressed me too.
OK, so the first thing I do is highlight all my tracks, and from start to finish on the timeline. Then I do an EXPERT RENDER…meaning, "render all effects that aren't real time effects." Since I render as I edit, this often takes little to no time…but some stuff slips through the cracks. Then, I make a new blank layer, and drop on my Timecode Generator effect. And then, without rendering again (if you did another expert render, it would want to render that timecode…for the entire length of the sequence)…I simply choose FILE>EXPORT. A window pops up asking for export type, and location of where the file should go. From there I click on the drop down menu and choose EXPORT TO QT MOVIE, and set my destination, and file name. Then I use the following settings.
1) This is the main export window. I'm not going to repeat all the settings you see here, I only want to point out that I use 640×360, as I am editing a 16:9 sequence, and I make sure it is chosen in both the WIDTH AND HEIGHT section, and the DISPLAY ASPECT RATIO section. This frame dimension must be consistent in all export window options. Oh, and USE MARKS means that the IN and OUT points I set are the range that will be exported. I will have my full timeline up, but only want to export one Act, so I mark IN and OUT for the act I want to export. Make sure that is checked, otherwise it'll export the whole sequence.
OK…moving on.
2) I click on FORMAT OPTIONS to get the above menu. I make sure to enable AUDIO and VIDEO here. Even though I might have it chosen to do video and audio in the previous menu, if it isn't chosen here, you won't get it. Gotta to it in both places. Click on AUDIO…choose 44.1 and 16-bit stereo. If you want smaller QT files, make it mono, or 22.0 and mono. I don't do this. Because audio is very important. If the picture quality sucks…fine. People can see past that. But if the audio sucks, is noisy…then the QT is unwatchable. This is the one area I keep the settings in the GOOD range.
OK, click on VIDEO and you get:
3) A couple things to mention here. At first Avid defaults to SORENSON 3. So click on the drop down menu and choose H.264. If you leave the DATA RATE on AUTOMATIC, that allows you to adjust the slider. If you type in a number, RESTRICT TO, then you can't. I generally keep it on AUTOMATIC and put the quality at MEDIUM. For smaller files, you can restrict to 1000 or 1500 kbps. I just find MEDIUM to be a good middle ground. Another important thing to do, is change the encoding from BEST QUALITY, where it defaults, to FASTER. This is the key to the fast export times.
Click OK. Click OK again..the other OK, in the MOVIE settings. Then click SAVE AS…and name it whatever you will. This way you don't need to redo your settings. Just choose the preset you make and you are ready to go.
Then watch it progress in real time.
Now, if you want fast encoding of QT H.264 files…also in real time. Then look at the Matrox solutions. Compress HD is a PCIe card that fits in the MacPro computers. And then there are the MAX versions of their hardware IO devices. If you use the Matrox H.264 option, that will trigger these devices to kick in and aid the encoding process. Making high res H.264s in real time. Chew on that.
(NOTE: I am working with footage from the Canon C300…accessed via AMA and consolidated, not transcoded. So our footage is XDCAM 422…a GOP format. And GOP formats don't allow for SAME AS SOURCE exports. So I can't do that and use, say COMPRESSOR and add the TC burn there. If your footage was DNxHD in any flavor, you'd be able to do that. But I wonder if doing that, then taking into Compressor or Sorenson and compressing is any quicker than the real time, direct output from Avid that I have laid out here.)


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At a Glance
Trichomoniasis, vulvovaginal candidiasis, and bacterial vaginosis comprise 90% of cases of infectious vaginitis or vulvovaginitis. A history of symptoms should include vaginal discharge and odor, mode of onset (abrupt or insidious), vaginal irritation, and abdominal pain.
Trichomoniasis is notable for vulvar and vaginal erythema with a purulent, rarely frothy, vaginal discharge. Candida vulvovaginitis often presents with little to no discharge; the primary symptoms are vulvovaginal pruritis, edema, irritation, and occasional dysuria. Up to 75% of adult women will report at least one episode of vaginitis due to Candida during their lifetimes. However, vaginal candidiasis is rare in prepubescent girls. Other risk factors for candidiasis include prior antibiotic use, oral contraceptive use, poorly controlled diabetes mellitus, and impairment of cellular immunity. Bacterial vaginosis, a disorder of microbial imbalance of which Gardnerella vaginalis is but one component, often presents with an odorous, thin, gray discharge.
Abrupt onset of vaginal symptoms suggests an infection. Abdominal pain is suggestive of pelvic inflammatory disease or cystitis, rather than vaginitis.
What Tests Should I Request to Confirm My Clinical Dx? In addition, what follow-up tests might be useful?
Vaginitis can be assessed by a series of office-based tests. However, atypical or recurrent cases or those cases that occur in immunocompromised individuals may warrant laboratory-based testing.
In the office, the vaginal secretions should be sampled and examined for pH and odor. A wet preparation and potassium hydroxide (KOH) preparation should be performed.
A vaginal pH should be obtained by a pH test strip. The normal vaginal pH ranges from 3.8 to 4.6. In Trichomonas infection and bacterial vaginosis, the vaginal pH is greater than 4.5. A vaginal pH greater than 5 is strongly suggestive of bacterial vaginosis.
A whiff test is performed by placing a small drop of vaginal secretion onto a slide, adding 10% KOH, and assessing for odor. A fishy odor is indicative of bacterial vaginosis.
The wet mount should be examined within 10-20 minutes for the presence of motile trichomonads, which have a twitching or jerky motion. However, in 30% of patients with culture-proven trichomoniasis, the wet mount is negative. The presence of polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) and epithelial cells should also be assessed. A finding of many more PMNs than epithelial cells raises the suspicion of cervical or vaginal inflammation. A paucity of PMNs does not rule out vaginitis, however. In fact, the relative absence of PMNs is suspicious for bacterial vaginosis and possibly also candidiasis. Clue cells are epithelial cells covered with small coccobacillary forms. Clue cells are indicative of bacterial vaginosis.
Finally, a KOH preparation can be examined after combining a drop of 10% KOH to help detect the presence of fungal elements. The table summarizes the diagnostic criteria of vaginal infections using office-based testing.
In the laboratory, a Gram stain of the vaginal material can be performed and the specimen "graded" for bacterial vaginosis by the Nugent criteria. The Nugent criteria correlate closely with the Amsel criteria. Commonly used in clinical practice, the Amsel criteria include homogenous discharge, positive whiff test, pH greater than 4.6, and clue cells. At least 3 of the 4 criteria are needed for diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis.
The technologist performing the vaginal Gram stain assesses for the presence of gram-variable G. vaginalis, as well as for Mobiluncus, a curved gram-negative rod associated with most cases of bacterial vaginosis. Normal vaginal flora consist primarily of gram-positive bacilli, which are primarily lactobacilli. Although fungi stain gram-positive, the Gram stain is typically negative in women with positive Candida cultures. In addition, Trichomonas is distorted when stained by the Gram stain, rendering diagnosis difficult. For these reasons, as well as for the laboratory expertise needed in interpretation, the Gram stain is typically performed in the laboratory setting, rather than in the office setting.
Occasionally, trichomonads are reported from Papanicolaou smears, but the sensitivity of this technique is only 50-60% and many false-positive results have been reported.
Cultures for Trichomonas and Candida may also be performed in the laboratory. Culture for trichomoniasis improves the diagnostic yield over wet mount, particularly in asymptomatic patients. In a symptomatic patient with a diagnostic wet preparation and physical examination, it is not necessary to submit a sample to the laboratory for Trichomonas or Candida culture. Culture for Trichomonas may be performed using the InPouch TV Trichomonas vaginalis system (BioMed Diagnostics, Inc., WhiteCity, Oregon, U.S.) or Diamond's medium. Cultures for Candida may be helpful in the symptomatic patient with a negative microscopic examination and in recurrent cases of vulvovaginal candidiasis.
Although culture for Gardnerella vaginalis is available on a variety of media, it is not useful, as the organism is demonstrated on culture in at least 50% of asymptomatic women. It is now known that Gardnerella vaginalis is only one type of bacteria associated with bacterial vaginosis, a multi-organism disease resulting from synergistic infection with many types of bacteria. Molecular analyses of vaginal secretions of women with bacterial vaginosis have shown novel species of bacteria, some of which are highly specific for bacterial vaginosis.
Office-based rapid diagnostic point-of-care tests, such as rapid antigen and molecular probe testing, are widely available. Card tests that assess for elevated vaginal pH and increased amines can be used to confirm bacterial vaginosis, especially if microscopy is not available.
The point-of-care Affirm VP III Microbial Identification System (Becton, Dickinson and Company, Franklin Lakes, NJ, U.S.) employs nucleic acid probe technology. This test detects the presence of C. albicans, T. vaginalis, and abnormally high concentrations of G. vaginalis in patient vaginal secretions. Sensitivity and specificity of this test exceed 95%, and the run-time of the assay is 45 minutes. The OSOM® Trichomonas Rapid Test (Sekisui Diagnostics) is another rapid 10-minute immunochromatographic test that detects the Trichomonas antigen with a sensitivity and specificity of 88% and 99%, respectively.
Laboratory-based molecular testing for G. vaginalis is not useful because of the high prevalence of G. vaginalis in the asymptomatic patient population.
Clinical diagnosis is generally based on a combination of symptoms and office-based testing. However, when treatment is failing or if the patient is suffering from recurrences, culture or other specific laboratory-based testing should be performed. If vulvovaginal candidiasis is diagnosed, susceptibility testing may be performed if the patient has failed treatment.
Follow-up testing for test-of-cure is not necessary for these disorders once treatment has begun and the patient's symptoms have resolved. (Table 1)
Table 1.
|Diagnostic Criteria
|Bacterial Vaginosis
|Candida Vulvovaginitis
|Trichomonas Vaginitis
|Vaginal pH
|<4.5 (usually)
|Vaginal Discharge
|Clear or white, flocculent
|Thin homogeneous, milky white or gray, adherent, often increased in volume
|White, curdy like "cottage cheese," sometimes increased in volume
|Yellow, green, frothy, adherent, increased in volume
|Amine odor (KOH "whiff" test)
|Present (fishy)
|Often present (fishy)
|Common Patient Complaints
|Discharge, fishy odor-possibly worse after intercourse, itching may be present
|Itching/burning, increased discharge
|Frothy discharge, bad odor, vulvar discomfort, dysuria
|Microscopy (Wet prep/KOH prep)
|Lactobacilli, epithelial cells
|Clue cells with adherent coccoid bacteria, no white blood cells (WBCs)
|Budding yeast, hyphae, pseudohyphae (with KOH prep)
|Trichomonads, WBCs > 10/HPF
Are There Any Factors That Might Affect the Lab Results? In particular, does your patient take any medications – OTC drugs or Herbals – that might affect the lab results?
Many substances may raise the vaginal pH, such as blood, semen, douche preparations, cervical secretions, and intravaginal medications. As the pH of normal vaginal secretions increases in premenarchal and postmenopausal women (usual pH 4.7 or more), measurement of pH at these ages is less useful.
Trichomonas only survive short periods of time outside the body. Wet preparations should be examined for motile trophozoites within 10-20 minutes. Fresh urine and vaginal swabs, which are not in appropriate transport media, may be submitted to the Microbiology Laboratory for culture only if the specimens are received within 1 hour. They are then processed immediately on receipt. However, Trichomonas may survive up to 24 hours in the appropriate Trichomonas culture medium, which also serves as the transport media, before being processed for culture in the Microbiology Laboratory.
What Lab Results Are Absolutely Confirmatory?
The motile trophozoite forms of Trichomonas seen on wet preparation are confirmatory for trichomoniasis. Filamentous forms of Candida may be seen on wet mount as hyphae and pseudohyphae. These forms are often associated with active disease, as they are more adherent to the vaginal epithelium than the budding yeast or conidial forms. Many of the laboratory tests mentioned, such as culture, molecular, and card-based assays, have high specificities.
What Tests Should I Request to Confirm My Clinical Dx? In addition, what follow-up tests might be useful?
Candida albicans is present in 80-90% of patients with vulvovaginal candidiasis on culture. However, the relative incidence of candidiasis due to Candida species other than C.albicans, such as Candida glabrata and Candida tropicalis, is increasing. This rise in non-C.albicans is important, as these species may not respond as well to triazole treatment.
Copyright © 2017, 2013 Decision Support in Medicine, LLC. All rights reserved.
No sponsor or advertiser has participated in, approved or paid for the content provided by Decision Support in Medicine LLC. The Licensed Content is the property of and copyrighted by DSM.
- At a Glance
- What Tests Should I Request to Confirm My Clinical Dx? In addition, what follow-up tests might be useful?
- Are There Any Factors That Might Affect the Lab Results? In particular, does your patient take any medications - OTC drugs or Herbals - that might affect the lab results?
- What Lab Results Are Absolutely Confirmatory?
- What Tests Should I Request to Confirm My Clinical Dx? In addition, what follow-up tests might be useful?

subset: commoncrawl


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After a summer of fixing and painting and holidaying I can now sit down and devote the time to pick up where I left off with blog posting. I've collected lots of photographs and I'm about 20 posts behind, so here goes…
Since I acquired my new camera earlier on in the summer I've been crawling around in the undergrowth taking pictures of wild flowers and here are a few of them.
Wimpole Hall Farm is a stately home to the west of Cambridge which is owned by the National Trust and is set in extensive park and farmland. A stroll round the park there earlier in the summer was as rewarding as ever with a buzzard and a couple of great spotted woodpeckers putting in appearances, but I didn't have my zoom lens with me so I was restricted to photographing things which were close by and didn't move too quickly.
Growing in the shade of a line of trees were bugle flowers…
Bugle is related to self heal (Prunella vulgaris), they are both members of the family Lamiaceae and both have medicinal properties.
According to Nicholas Culpeper, the 17th century English botanist and renowned herbalist:
'Self-Heal whereby when you are hurt, you may heal yourself, it is an especial herb for inward or outward wounds. Take it inwardly in syrups for inward wounds, outwardly in unguents and plasters for outward. As Self-Heal is like Bugle in form, so also in the qualities and virtues, serving for all purposes, whereunto Bugle is applied with good success either inwardly or outwardly, for inward wounds or ulcers in the body, for bruises or falls and hurts. If it be combined with Bugle, Sanicle and other like wound herbs, it will be more effectual to wash and inject into ulcers in the parts outwardly…. It is an especial remedy for all green wounds to close the lips of them and to keep the place from further inconveniences. The juice used with oil of roses to annoint the temples and forehead is very effectual to remove the headache, and the same mixed with honey of roses cleaneth and healeth ulcers in the mouth and throat.'
I'm not sure what Culpeper means by 'green wounds' but it makes me glad I live in the penicillin age. Indeed he died of tuberculosis at the tender age of 37. No herbs could cure that.
This picture is an attempt to give a feel for what an English meadow looks like in summer, two of my favourite flowers – self-heal and white clover (Trifolium repens) set in the long grass against a blue 'Simpsons sky'.
Another name for bugle is 'carpenters herb' due to its ability to stem bleeding, although it appears it does this not by catalysing the clotting process but by lowering blood pressure and heart rate in a similar way to digitalis, the active pharmaceutical compound which gives foxgloves their toxicity:
Foxgloves, Digitalis purpurea, growing next to the path to the cafe at Wimpole
On another foray into the countryside in June, this time to RSPB Fen Drayton, I was specifically looking for oxeye daisy and in amongst the daisies were these lovely dames violets (Hesperis matronalis). Dames violet originates in the Mediterranean but has colonised the UK after escaping from gardens. It has been used as an 'antiscorbutic', i.e. to treat scurvy.
Oxeye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare) and dames violet growing slongside the Cambridge Guided Busway at RSPB Fen Drayton
Dames violet flowers
Also growing alongside the busway were lesser knapweed (Centaurea nigra), which I think is rather lovely and not 'lesser' or a 'weed'! I'd be happy for it to grow in my garden…
Lesser knapweed – I couldn't find any reference to medicinal or herbal uses of lesser knapweed
…and ragged robin (Lychnis flos-cuculi):
I couldn't find any reference to medicinal uses of ragged robin either but it's also rather beautiful and small clusters of it punctuated tracts of grass mixed with other flowers.
There'll be more flowers to come, and butterflies… birds… mammals etc. etc.


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Justice, not Philanthropy
This week José Graziano da Silva, the Director General of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation, announced that the famine in Somalia has ended. A combination of good rain, the most successful harvest in seventeen years, and the effective dispersal and deployment of food and agricultural aid means that most Somalis now have adequate access to food. But this is likely to be a temporary reprieve: it's uncertain if food stocks will last until April, when the next rainy season begins and the main planting is done.
This already fragile situation is compounded by Somalia's complicated politics: the southern part of the country is still controlled by the Islamist group al-Shabaab, which banned the Red Cross from operating in the area this week, and has disrupted food supplies in the past. Tellingly, around half of the 2.34 million people still in need of humanitarian assistance and seventy per cent of the country's acutely malnourished children are in southern Somalia.
The end of the famine is no cause for celebration, then. Thirty-one per cent of the Somali population remains reliant on food aid, famine looms in another three months, and there are the after-effects of the famine to cope with: the plight of the refugees scattered around Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya; and the generation of malnourished children.
It's estimated that between 50,000 and 100,000 people died in this famine, half of them children.
Clearly, something isn't working.
And as one famine comes to an end – or, at least, a halt – in East Africa, another one seems to be developing on the other side of the continent. Niger, and, indeed, its neighbours Chad and Mali, is both drought- and famine-prone. Even in good years, it struggles to feed itself. Fifteen per cent of the world's malnourished children live in Niger. But poor rainfall at the end of 2011 and a spike in global food prices means that the country's population faces famine.
Niger's last famine was in 2010, when the World Food Programme provided food to 4.5 million people. But things seem to be more hopeful there than in Somalia, and largely because Niger has a government which functions relatively well. Realising that it needs to store its food supply properly, provide jobs so that its population can afford to buy food, and also limit the growth of its population, the government of Niger is introducing measures to improve people's access to food. One new piece of legislation will make it compulsory for children to remain in school until the age of sixteen, partly because of the strong link between girls' education and declining family size.
Somalia's weak and ineffectual government can't do anything to prevent famine from occurring there again. With all the will in the world, there is no way that Somalia's food crisis will end until its political situation stabilises.
The comparison of Niger and Somalia is particularly useful for demonstrating the extent to which responses to famine – from the media, NGOs, charities, and other international organisations – are heavily politicised. Reporting on the Niger famine in 2010 was fairly muted and I've only seen a couple of references to its most recent food crisis. Somalia, though, never seems to be out of the news. The reason for this is depressingly simple:
Niger, the large West African country whose name is best known for being just one unfortunate letter away from a pejorative racial insult, has a few terrorists, but not enough to really matter. Elements from al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb wander across Niger's border every now and then, taking advantage of the large desolate areas which characterise most of the country, but for the most part its contribution to the War on Terror is minimal.
Al-Shabaab is loosely affiliated to al Qaeda and the United States fears that the Horn of Africa could prove to be a useful base for planning future terrorist activities. It probably also helps that Somalia has media-friendly pirates too.
So all famines aren't equal. All famines are complicated. Indeed, the whole question of 'hunger' is complex. I was amused to note that Monday marks the beginning of the WFP's Free Rice Week. The project encourages individuals to play a game on a website. For every correct answer, Free Rice Week's sponsors donate ten grains of rice to the WFP. The aim of the project is to 'provide education to everyone for free'. Hmm…. ok – it includes some basic, if vague, information about 'hunger'. And also to 'help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.'
So this is going to end world hunger by giving all hungry people rice?
Other than the fact that it would be as – or even more – effective for the project's sponsors and participants to skip the cute competition and simply donate rice to the WFP (or, even better, to a local feeding scheme or food bank), this really isn't going to end world hunger.
I know that this seems like a soft target to shout at, and, really, there's nothing wrong with donating food or money to the WFP, but my annoyance with projects and competitions like this one, stems from the fact that they're dishonest. There is no way that Free Rice Week is going to end world hunger. It's a pity that the WFP sees fit to inform people that by taking part in it they're contributing to solving the food crisis.
In fact, I think that Free Rice Week and other, similar projects actually contribute to the problem.
Firstly, they fudge the meaning of 'hunger'. Over the past year or so, we've become familiar with the FAO's horrifying statistic that one billion people go hungry every day – that one sixth of the world's population does not have adequate access to food. But there are problems with this statistic:
it is not the only way to measure food insecurity. Over the years, it has been criticised on many fronts: for the poor quality of underlying data; for the focus on calorie intake, without consideration of proteins, vitamins and minerals; and for the emphasis on availability – rather than affordability, accessibility or actual use – of food. Some say we'd be better off focusing on improving household consumption surveys, opinion polls, and direct measures of height and body weight.
These figures need to be accurate because they 'are also used to help guide where to send foreign aid, track progress towards international development goals, and hold governments to account for promises made.'
Moreover, it glosses over the fact that there are many kinds of hunger: the extreme events – the famines – which are the products of natural disasters, conflict, and state collapse; the hunger which is the product of poor diets and an inability to buy or access enough food; and the hunger in developed nations. In Britain and the United States, the numbers of people now reliant on food stamps and food banks has spiked during the recession.
Secondly, these projects ignore the fact that responding to various kinds of hunger requires far, far more than throwing money at the problem. In fact, the WFP's website even acknowledges this: 'People can go hungry even when there's plenty of food around. Often it's a question of access – they can't afford food or they can't get to local markets.' Famines in the twentieth- and twenty-first centuries occur as a result of a collapse of distribution systems, usually caused by conflict or a crisis in government. Famines tend not to happen in stable democracies. The WFP must receive money for food aid – that is absolutely non-negotiable – but long-term change, as we've seen in the cases of Somalia and Niger, can only occur once stable, effective governments are in place. No amount of free rice is going to end famine in Somalia.
In other cases of hunger, it's clear that people are simply too poor to buy food: employment, education, good health systems, and higher wages will go far in remedying this situation. But even then, we have to accommodate the choices that poor people make when spending their money. In an article for Foreign Policy's special edition on food last year, Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo took a closer look at the lives of the 'one billion hungry' and came to some interesting conclusions:
We often see the world of the poor as a land of missed opportunities and wonder why they don't invest in what would really make their lives better. But the poor may well be more sceptical about supposed opportunities and the possibility of any radical change in their lives. They often behave as if they think that any change that is significant enough to be worth sacrificing for will simply take too long. This could explain why they focus on the here and now, on living their lives as pleasantly as possible and celebrating when occasion demands it.
We asked Oucha Mbarbk [a Moroccan peasant] what he would do if he had more money. He said he would buy more food. Then we asked him what he would do if he had even more money. He said he would buy better-tasting food. We were starting to feel very bad for him and his family, when we noticed the TV and other high-tech gadgets. Why had he bought all these things if he felt the family did not have enough to eat? He laughed, and said, 'Oh, but television is more important than food!'
We need to take people's choices about how they spend their limited funds, more seriously.
Thirdly, by focussing on raising funds, the WFP transforms itself into a philanthropic organisation. Donations of food and other forms humanitarian aid are absolutely necessary to alleviating food crises, but they won't end these crises – or end 'hunger' (whatever we may mean by that). In an excellent article for the Guardian, the UN's Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Olivier de Schutter argues:
our global food system…is in crisis. Last year's famine in the Horn of Africa, and the current woes in the Sahel, are the surface cracks of a broken system. These regional outbreaks of hunger are not, as such, extreme events.
Beyond semantics, this is a crucial distinction. In viewing these events as extreme and unexpected, we fail to acknowledge the regularity and predictability of hunger. This flaw is fatal, for it means failing to acknowledge that the food system itself is broken. It means failing to build readiness for persistent famine into international development and humanitarian policy. And it means waiting until people starve before doing anything.
Food aid doesn't address the deeper, structural problems underlying the food crisis. It doesn't consider bad governance; the impact of food speculation on rising food prices; and agricultural efficiency, particularly in the light of climate change.
By appealing to people to donate money to fund their response to food crises – which could have been avoided – the WFP and others cast hunger as something which can be remedied with old-fashioned philanthropy. It's certainly true that philanthropic organisations can do immensely good work – like reducing rates of polio and malaria in the developing world. But this doesn't necessarily solve the problems which give rise to these crises:
the poor are not begging us for charity, they are demanding justice. And when, on the occasion of his birthday, a sultan or emperor reprieved one thousand prisoners sentenced to death, no one ever called those pardons justice. Nor is it justice when a plutocrat decides to reprieve untold thousands from malaria. Human beings should not have to depend upon a rich man's whim for the right to life.
Precisely. The world's poor should not be dependent on the goodwill of wealthy people who have the time and inclination to play games on the internet.
Tangerine and Cinnamon by Sarah Duff is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.


text: On Sun, 8 Jan 2006, Joel Jaeggli wrote: >> However (and this isn't argument or rhetoric either, just a plea for >> enlightenment) -- just what is APC trying to sell with the white paper? >> I know they sell a variety of rackware and power equipment, but what >> have they got against raised floors (specifically, what sales advantage >> do they gain if a client doesn't use a raised floor)? > > They make dedicated airhandling units for really hot racks. > > They also offer a rather upmarket datacenter design and deployment service > presumably they have some customers that want or think they want raised > floors so a white paper that says you don't really need this thing that we > don't provide seems likely. > > Not that I have anything against apc, I've got all sorts of their products > deployed. but I do take their marketing materials with a grain of salt. Fair enough. Still, though, a lot of the points they make seem valid. A raised floor wasn't even possible to contemplate in our server/cluster room -- too low a ceiling, too much crap up there already that couldn't be moved without spending even more money than we spent (and we spent a LOT renovating it, as AC's are expensive). So their observation that limited overhead space argues against a raised floor sure worked for us even without our reading it from a white paper or anything;-) In case my original presentation wasn't clear, though, I wasn't advancing MY opinion when I said the "raised floors are obsolete" thing -- I was just summarizing the white paper, for the specific purpose of pointing out that according to MULTIPLE information sites on the web (including this white paper), raised floors and earthquakes are not happy partners. They have a higher probability of failure than the concrete floor the raised floor sits on, and if they fail the failure is likely catastrophic for the equipment involved. "Earthquake proof" also appears to be more a matter of marketing hype than reality, as well -- postmortems of datacenters in Kobe and the Bay area after major earthquakes showed that plenty of supposedly earthquate proof floors collapsed anyway, and that those collapses led to LONG downtime and lots of expensive equipment failure as it isn't easy to basically take apart the floor and cabling, lift out the smashed equipment, rebuild the floor, and replace the equipment, safely and quickly. Cooling failure failure or water leakage failure may well be larger risks, I don't know, and THESE can probably be mitigated in various ways (as can the degree of earthquake-proofness be varied) making the issue still more complex. The main conclusion one might draw from the whole discussion is that the issue of raised floor or no raised floor isn't one with any single "right" answer. YMMV. There are different costs, benefits, risks. On the east coast we don't get a lot of earthquakes (although when we get one it can be a doozy). On the west coast there are lots of small earthquakes and relatively frequent big ones. Some spaces have limited ceiling overhead. Others have no way to put in an access ramp. Still others might have warehouse sized spaces where those things are no problem at all. You should feel free to put in a raised floor if it meets your needs and specifications and its advantages appeal, but you should feel free to NOT put in a raised floor even though they were traditionally used in lots of data centers in the past if they DON'T make sense for your particular needs and environment. YMMV. We knew that....:-) rgb -- Robert G. Brown http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/ Duke University Dept. of Physics, Box 90305 Durham, N.C. 27708-0305 Phone: 1-919-660-2567 Fax: 919-660-2525 email:rgb at phy.duke.edu


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Wikipedia defines Schadenfreude (pronounced shah-den-froy-da) as a feeling of joy or pleasure when one sees another fail or suffer misfortune. It's a dark and heavy emotion, which can come in quite handy when attending the 50th birthday celebration of a friend:) I'm not a jerk, I'm just not 50 yet (but almost). This is more of a savory pie, both dark and bittersweet, with quite a bit of heft. It's both dense and heavy. Just like Schadenfreude. I attribute this pie to John Scalzi over at Whatever. The original posting is from 2006 and sent along to me by Alicia:) Thank you.
The crust:
Pre-made 9 or 10 inch graham cracker pie crust. I recommend 10 inch as you will have leftover filling if you choose the 9 inch crust.
The filling:
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup dark corn syrup
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks
3 large eggs
2 tsp. cinnamon
1-2 splashes Kahlua or other coffee liqueur
Pre-heat oven to 375 F. In a large mixing bowl add melted butter, corn syrup, molasses, brown sugar and cinnamon. Mix well. Melt chocolate and blend into syrup mixture. Add eggs and coffee liqueur; blend until mixture has smooth consistency. Pour mixture into your pie crust. Smile in sinister fashion.
Place on center rack in oven, bake for about 45-50 minutes. At 45 minutes, poke pie with butter knife. If it comes out clean, pie is ready; otherwise give it five more minutes.
Once pie is out of oven, let it set about 20 minutes if you are desiring to eat right away. When I took it out of the oven, it actually looked like it was breathing. It freaked me out a little.
John's rec (and I agree) is that this be eaten in small slices. It's really rich and very heavy, and you'll regret eating a large slice. And this would make me happy:) Have with a scoop of ice cream or a large glass of cold milk for maximum joy.


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"A RADIUS message was received from the invalid. RADIUS client IP address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx"
Do you use the internal IP of the IVE System as Radius Client on IVE?
If you have a cluster, enter the physical IVE IPs as radius clients on IAS, as i remember IVE sends the physical IP of the active IvE node to the Radius Server as source IP.
NAS Idenifier can be let at the defaults.
What about Encryption Tab on IAS Ras Policies .. Profile i think?
Unmark this all, as IVE does not support that.
But i think your actual problem is that IAS wont accept radius requests from you IVE ip address, as you configurd wrong IP on IAS client tab, means check with which IP the radius request packets arrive at the IAS, with network monitor sniffing.
Do you use the internal IP of the IVE System as Radius Client on IVE?
-> oh hell, how could I miss that??? surely, it needs to be entered the physical IP. after doing so, the eventlog message changed. thanks a lot for that tip!
now its not an error at the eventlog anymore, its the following warning now (translated into english):
access denied for user "bla" Fully-Qualified-User-Name = <undetermined>
NAS-IP-Address = IP of IVE-Master
NAS-Identifier = FQDN of IVE
Client-Friendly-Name = SA4000 Master
Client-IP-Address = IP of IVE-Master
Calling-Station-Identifier = <not present>
NAS-Port-Type = <not present>
NAS-Port = 0
Proxy-Policy-Name = <none>
Authentication-Provider = <undetermined>
Authentication-Server = <undetermined>
Policy-Name = <undetermined>
Authentication-Type = <undetermined>
so it seems as the policy is just wrong. and the other problem is that i dont know how the IAS recognizes the local users.
|2010/03/25 10:21:16 - Tmaster - Root::hallo(SMS-Passcode)[] - Attempting to authenticate user "hallo" with auth server "SMS-Passcode"
|2010/03/25 10:21:16 - Tmaster - [10.10.10.10] - Root::hallo(SMS-Passcode)[] - Sign-in rejected using auth server SMS-Passcode (Radius Server). Reason: Failed
So I think now my problem is about the RAS-Policy configuration and the connection to that local userstore.
thanks a lot for your time and support!!! you already helped alot!
I noticed the SMS PASSCODE server and wanted to make you aware of the support page for our product where you are welcome to get live support. http://www.smspasscode.com/support. We would be happy to assist.
Lars Nielsen
Proxy-Policy-Name = NOne
Check your RAdius Proxy Policy, enter minimum the policy "allow authentication for windows users" or something like that. its the default policy when you instaled ias radius. maybe you deleted it?
Its under i think "connection request policies". When you dont have there any policy, radius requests will allways be denied.
I now added "Ignore User Dial-in Properties - true" to the profile, but what else has to be added here?
Nothing. Here you confgiure "return attributes" which radius server will return to the requesting Radius Client (like IVE) when radius accept message is sent to IVE. You can use this for additional features.
Good idea to use Network Monitor (Sniffer) on the Windows Server, to see whats going on.
It will help you a lot to understand how this works together. Without sniffing for testing you work as "blind", cause you dont see which radius attributes and messages travel between IVE and IAS.
This are attributes and values, which could be used for some rolemapping rules on ive.
Means - it also works, if you dont configure at "advanced" tab ANY attributes.
But i use mostly attribute "class (25)" with any value, for example value "admin".
Then on IvE rolemapping you can configure rules with "user attributes".
Means for IVE...
class (25) with value "admin"
then assign userrole
class (25) with value "user"
then assign userrole
So you can use these ias radiusattributes to configure rolemappingrules, isnt that fantastic`?
The other attributes on ias "advanced tab" are only for other purposes like dial-in callback number and stuff like that, as historically radius is a "dial-in" authentication service, but nowadays its a standard network authanticationmechanism which is supported by most network devices.
Authentication-Type = <not determined>
What is configured at RAS Policy Authentication Type?`
Mark PAP.
Though PAP does not encrypt authentication, the user passwords will allways be encrypted through radius protocol between IVE and Radiusserver. The strenght of radius encryption depends of the compexity of the radius secret.
So use a long and complex Radius Secret, like AGhafdsa!$Q123TRZHsl$¤!!!123adfjnvuda
thank you spacyfreak. I think something is still wrong with the policy, but I will get back to this later. thanks for your support so far.
@LarsNielsen: Thank you, but we decided not to purchase your product, cause the support wasn't good at all (actually there was no support for implementation), so we sent the test evironment back.


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Heather and a hen harrier on the Western BerwynsJuly 2, 2011 at 11:28 pm | Posted in Walking, Wildlife | Leave a comment
Tags: Berwyns
So what I did not like about this walk:
- The slog through the heather
- The swarms of flies
- The boring monotony of bog and heather in the second part of the walk
- The afternoon grey skies
- The wet tramp alongside a mountain stream
- The flies
- Did I mention the heather (and the flies).
What I liked about this walk:
- A lovely drive through quiet mid-Wales road, round Lake Vyrnwy and over the Hirnant Pass
- Peace and quiet (not another soul seen on the whole 12 mile walk)
- Seeing a hen harrier
- Ticking off eight more peaks
After the majesty of the Carneddau it was time for a peak-baggers walk. This is a route that I can't imagine anyone doing unless they were attempting to walk all the Welsh peaks. There are good views at times and few if any people to see, despite the walk being split by the Hirnant Pass that runs from Lake Vyrnwy to Bala, but much of the walk is a dreary slog across pathless heather and over nondescript peaks.
The walk begins well enough with a steepish climb from the bottom of the Hirnant Pass up the side of Foel Goch. After a hard section climbing beside the woods, I emerged onto the ridge for an easy walk over the first three summits. Foel Goch, with good views of the Arenigs and other mid-Wales peaks, is followed by the unmarked summit of Trum y Gwragedd and then Foel y Geifr, the highest point of the ridge.
As I approached Foel y Geifr, I seemed to be adopted by the local fly population, which accompanied me on and off for much of the walk. Human flesh must be in short supply on these rarely visited hills. The summit is marked by a moss-encrusted trig point and there is a good view over to the Arans and the less dramatic views of the hills on the other side of the pass give an idea of the walk to come.
From the peak it was a steep descent over grass and heather to Hirnant Pass. From there I took the forest road that formed the backbone for the rest of the walk. After a mile and half, a detour took me up to Pen Y Boncyn Trefeilw before returning to the forest road. The next stage however was the toughest. First I came off the road over to Stac Rhos , a plateau with an unclear summit. After walking around a bit to make sure I had reached the summit, I descended down to a boggy section before climbing again across the slopes of Cefn Gwyntog through thick heather, with only a rare sighting of any path (climbing higher to the ridge may offer a slightly better route). After a hard slog for half a mile or so, I reached the desolate summit. From there it was a return slog through descending through the heather to join a stream, Nant Cyrniau, that I followed up towards the summit of Cyrniau Nod. The Nuttalls suggest staying close to the stream to avoid the worst of the heather but this in turn means wading through boggy grass and marsh.
The one respite came when I heard an unusual cry and saw I whitish bird circling over the moor a couple of hundred yards ahead. Larger than a kestrel and too pale for a buzzard and with a very different cry, it seemed to be circling as a warning of my presence rather than as part of a hunt. I fumbled for my monocular, and managed eventually to track the bird as it circled and then flew further away. I was pretty sure it was a hen harrier but needed a longer view. Going slightly away from the stream, distracted by the bird I took the wrong direction for a few hundred yards of unnecessary heather hopping, the reward was a much closer sighting as the bird rose into the air again – circling towards me and then away for around five minutes. I'd never seen a hen harrier before – certainly not with any certainty – and the pain and frustration of the tramp through heather and bog now seemed worthwhile.
It was another half mile or so of the same stuff before I reached the summit of Cyrniau Nod. There were good views of Moel Sych and Cadair Berwyn, but this felt like small reward for reaching this remote, isolated summit. From the peak it was a much easier walk alongside a ridge fence before turning off to rejoin the forest road. A short detour after a few hundred yards took me to the last peak of the day, Y Groes Fagl, and then it was steady walk through the forest for a couple of miles back to the car.
This is not a walk I would recommend to anyone but on the other hand it is characteristic of the stark isolation of much of mid-Wales and with that isolation comes occasionally the chance to see something as wonderful as a hen harrier in flight.
Mynydd MawrJune 16, 2011 at 11:47 pm | Posted in Walking | Leave a comment
Tags: Nantlle Ridge, Snowdonia
After the Carneddau, Tuesday was a recovery day – some gently riverside walks in Betws-y-Coed, spending too much money in walking shops and reading my book on a deep leather sofa over a couple of pints in a quiet bar. After that I was ready to test my knee on a reasonable but not too strenuous walk.
Mynyndd Mawr stands in isolation opposite the Nantlle Ridge and is climbed in a straightforward ascent from the village of Rhyd-Ddu. But it's more than just a summit to be bagged. The crags of Craig y Bera looming over the dramatic pass between Ryd-Ddu and Nantlle are a tantalizing prospect and the walk provides superb views of the Nantlle ridge and across to Moel Elio and the western approach to Snowdon with Llyn Cwellyn below.
It was one of those days when I was constantly putting on and off my waterproof – one minute baking in the sun, the next cooled by a brief shower and in once instance a hail storm. Generally though, visibility was excellent and I was glad I'd kept the walk until I had done the surrounding hills – being able to pick out the summits and know I'd already walked them was a real bonus.
The walk starts on a forest track from Rhyd-Ddu and then there is a steep climb up the ridge to the minor summit of Foel Rûdd. From there it's an enjoyable stroll across the edge of Craig y Bera – with a wonderful views of the Nantlle and the pass far below – to the summit of Mynydd Mawr.
After that, the only decision I had to make was whether to return the way I came or clamber down the path through a gulley that would bring me out at the other end of the woods running to Rhyd-Ddu. Caution seemed to be the best option given the twinges in my knee, so I took the same route back to Rhyd-Du and quick reward in the Cwellyn Arms.
The CarneddauJune 14, 2011 at 11:39 pm | Posted in Walking | Leave a comment
Tags: Carnedd Dafydd, Carnedd Llewelyn, Carneddau, Snowdonia
After a six month break, I finally found time for a decent spell in the hills. I'd been thinking for a while it was time to tackle the Carneddau but I was a bit concerned that an easier target would make sense after a lay off from serious walking. But I had a few days booked at the lovely Bryn Tyrch Inn near Capel Curig and a long summer's day and a good forecast, so it seemed the perfect opportunity.
The aim was to tackle Pen Yr Ole Wen, Carnedd Daffydd and Carnedd Llewellyn and possibly a few other peaks as well. Pen Yr Ole Wen looms over Llyn Ogwen and is constant presence when walking Y Garn and the Glyders. I took the more reasonable route up the east side of the hill starting from the eastern end of Llyn Ogwen. From the very start there were wonderful views of Tryfan. Last time I was here, thick mist had descended as my brother and I walked down off Tryfan via Y Foel Goch and Gallt yr Ogof to the east, now I could see our route plainly. As I climbed Pen Yr Ole Wen, the Glyders came into view along with Y Garn and Snowdon looming in the background. After a steep climb up to the east ridge there is an enjoyable bit of scrambling above Ffynnon Loer, and then a straightforward climb to the summit with fantastic views on a clear day across to Glyders with Snowdon behind. Ahead lay the ridge to Carnedd Dafydd. There had been a large party of kids starting off around same time as I did and the odd group of other walkers but I had the summit to myself for a while and time to enjoy the views. With the long hours of summer's day ahead and a good forecast, I planned to take an easy pace on this walk.
After Pen Yr Ole Wen, a wonderful ridge walk starts taking you first to Carnedd Daffydd. The only thing bothering me was that I knew that there was another Nuttall summit below the peak, Foel Meirch, but it would be mean descending and re-climbing 800 feet. I decided in the end that it would be too much. I wanted to make sure I did the major peaks and I didn't trust that my knee would stand up to the extra punishment without more preparation. So from Carnedd Dafydd, I headed on toward Carnedd Llewellyn and Yr Helen. A few hundred metres along the ridge, I felt my knee twang and knew that I would be limping for much of the rest of the route , so I was glad I hadn't wasted effort on Foel Meirch. I did decide to make a detour to Yr Helen by cutting along the slope beneath the summit of Carnedd Llewellyn.
The summit of Yr Helen stands at 3,156 feet and has fine views over the coast line and was well worth the additional pain. From there it was back along the rocky path to Carnedd Llewellyn, the third highest peak in Wales. The summit was empty late afternoon and I could sit looking across to Carnedd Dafydd, the Glyders, and Snowdon, with good views of the rest of the Carneddau as well.
Leaving the summit I had to make one final decision. Following the Nuttall route would mean climbing up to Pen yr Helgi Du (Head of the Black Hound). I was very tempted but the nagging pain in my right knee was insistent and in the end I decided to leave that for another day. So I took the long path through the valley back to the road and then a mile or so walk to the car. Even this final section had its interest as I watched a helicopter involved in a rescue on the Heather Terrace that runs up the eastern side of Tryfan. Watching it hover close to the rocky eastern ridge of Tryfan was an incredible sight – bringing home how much the rescue teams risk in such operations. Hoping all ended well, I finally made it back to the car. Torn trousers, sun burnt legs and injured knee aside it had been fantastic day and I had covered four of Wales 3,000 foot peaks. A few pints and a good meal seemed well deserved.
The Newlands RoundSeptember 8, 2010 at 10:02 pm | Posted in Walking | Leave a comment
Tags: Lake District
The main peaks of the Newlands Round dominate the view from the house we rented for the week, and so this was a must-do route. But first I had to find a way of crossing over Keskadale Beck as the footbridge below the house had been brought down in the spring floods. Safely over via some old tree roots and stepping stones, I headed across High Snab Bank to the start of the stone path leading up to the summit of Robinson. Quite steep in places, some care is needed to pick the right way through the rocks as the path fades away. Fairly soon the ground levelled out and there were fine views back down the Newland valley before the final section to the rounded peak with views over to the Buttermere ridge and beyond.
The full extent of the Newlands Round was now visible, with the path over to Hindscarth and then on to Dale Head much clearer. Hindscarth was a relatively gentle climb from the path descending from Robinson, with fine views from the cairn just beyond the summit taking in the whole of the Newlands valley down to Derwent Water.
From Hindscarth, I returned to the path from Robinson that leads on to Dale Head. More excellent views from the summit of Dale Head, which is marked by a fine stone column.
From the summit it is then a steep descent on stone steps to Dalehead Tarn. The tarn was a good place for a break and some sustenance before the climb back up to the High Spy ridge. This ridge runs all the way along to Cat Bells, which I climbed a few years ago, and the shores of Derwent Water. There were more walkers now, coming up from Cat Bells presumably and a slight shower as I reached the second of the High Spy summits. It didn't last long though and it was a pleasant stroll along the ride to Maiden Moor before cutting across to the Newlands Valley at the col before Cat Bells. From the col there was also a distant view of the house, a pleasing prospect at this point.
The path home was straightforward – particularly as I avoided what should have been a shortcut via Newlands Church, deciding that the simpler way along the road to the house was bett er for my aching legs.
On a fair day like this the Newlands round is a lovely challenge – not too tough but hard enough to give you a real sense of achievement.
Buttermere ridgeSeptember 6, 2010 at 10:27 pm | Posted in Walking | Leave a comment
Tags: Lake District
A birthday walk above Buttermere. The night before the weather forecaster had explicitly warned that this was a day to avoid the mountains, but though the wind was strong it was still clear and it turned out to be a fine day for a walk.
I started from Buttermere with a walk around the lake then took the path up Scarth Gap. I cut off to follow the Nuttall route where a wall cuts across the path. Then according to the route I followed the remains of another wall parallel with the ridge but I missed 'the easily identified path' through the scree and ended up doing a fairly tricky and unnecessary scramble over scree and heather before meeting the path near the ridge. From there it was a straightforward walk up to the summit of High Crag with excellent views across the lake and across to Great Gable. The sky was clear but the wind was very strong and I made sure to keep well away from the cliff edges.
From High Crag the path is followed easily to the next peak, High Stile. After that came the most exposed section to the wind and at the summit of Red Pike I just about kept the camera still long enough for a couple of photos. Then in my haste to get away from the wind I took the wrong path of the summit, This was a short but steep and crumbling path to the ridge path below and I didn't stop to check I was going the right way until I was already off the summit. I rechecked the map but really no choice but to retrace my steps to the summit of Red Pike. It was only a few hundred metres but there is something particularly dispiriting about having to do an unnecessary climb back uphill because of a silly mistake. Once that was done, the right route was clear – a crumbling and steep scree path that I slid down as much as I walked. When it levelled out, it was an easy walk to the summit of Dodd, a quick photograph in the strong wind, and then on down to Bleaberry Tarn, lying beneath the ridge. After that it was steep set of rock steps down to the shore of the Buttermere and a welcome pint in The Fish Inn.
So despite the forecast, it turned out to be a good walk with excellent views and a few lessons learnt about the consequences of making a hasty choice of the wrong path.
TryfanJuly 25, 2010 at 11:52 pm | Posted in Walking | 1 Comment
Tags: Glyders, Snowdonia, Tryfan
With its knife edge perspective and gothic trio of peaks, Tryfan is an iconic Welsh mountain, holding the eye of anyone driving along the A5 near Llyn Ogwen. You can even see from the road the narrow path along the eastern flank called the Heather Terrace that was our route to the summit.
I was with my brother and we started off in sunglasses, shorts and coated in sun protector. Our optimism about the weather lasted until we reached the start of the Heather Terrace, when the mist started to thicken over the summit. We took a rather circuitous route up the heather to join the Heather Terrace – being a bit over-cautious about not missing it and taking the harder north ridge scramble. But once on the track, it's a gradual climb and clear route and only occasionally does it feel like you are on a narrow ledge a thousand feet above the valley.
We climbed the terrace in clear conditions, with good views of the eastern Carneddau on the other side of the A5. We also passed several groups of climbers tackling the cliffs rising above into the mist and the summit.
At the end of the track, we reached the stone wall running across the pass below the south ridge of Tryfan. The weather changed starkly now, on the other side of the wall the mist was thicker and the wind stronger and colder. The mist was also starting to pass to the east covering the track we had taken up the hill. With visibility down to no more than 20 metres if that we decided to wait and see if things got any clearer before tackling the summit. As we sat talking we heard some scrambling in the rocks behind us, expecting to see other walkers or some sheep we turned to see a herd of wild goats. This was the first time I'd actually seen them on the hills in Snowdonia, and it was a pleasant distraction watching them grazing below us before clambering over the rocks and away.
After about 20 minutes, with little change in the weather, we decided to move on having spoken to a group of walkers coming off the summit who indicated the path and suggested we 'just follow the crampon marks". I'm not sure if this is advice to take too literally but as we scrambled over the rocks towards the summits, the scratches made by crampons did give some reassurance we were going in the right direction.
As we neared the summit, we watched some walkers clambering down on their bottoms over what looked like a more difficult section. This was the 'technically difficult' or tricky section that some of the books warn about. In fact, it's a short section that need a bit more attention as you manoeuvre over the gap between the rocks. The real challenge is not being too conscious of the large drop to your right as you make your move. Once over this, the summit was straight ahead with its famous Adam and Eve monoliths. The tradition of jumping from one to the other had to be honoured in the breach. I think I would have done it if my frozen shoulder hadn't prevented my clambering up – but that may be wishful thinking. Anyway, it's saved for another time, along with the north ridge path.
There were no views of course, but as we had had such good views of Tryfan on previous walks in The Glyders we couldn't complain too much. From the summit we made our way back down the Bwlch Tryfan that runs between Tryfan and The Glyders. From here we followed the miner's track to the ridge the leads up to Glyder Fach, but this time we went east towards Y Foel Goch. With thick mist all around we were relying on compass and GPS and making sure we kept well away from the cliff edges. The walking was now over track and bog and without the mist and rain would have been a pleasant stroll after the scrambling on Tryfan.
This would have been just one more misty summit, except it was also my 100th Welsh mountain summit (Nuttall) so it was a little bit special. It was probably fitting that it was a fairly obscure top surrounded by mist with nothing much visible beyond the summit.
Moving on, we used compass and GPS again to reorient ourselves on the featureless and shrouded moor and – aware of the ridge edge nearby – headed north east toward Gallt yr Ogof, the final peak of the day. From another misty summit, we began the slow ascent to Cwm Gwern Gof, picking our way between rocks, bog, heather and winberry. This was slow going in the mist and not much fun. I slipped at one point and badly scraped my calf against a rock; T slipped a few times as well. But eventually, with sodden boots, we made it down to the valley and an easy but tired walk along the road to the car. After drying off, we just made it to the Bryn Tyrch Inn for the last food order and a well earned pint. It was one of those days with the walking and the achievement of the walking are their own reward and as such a good way to reach the 100 mark.
The Southern Arans: Glasgwm and Pen Y Bryn-FforchogJuly 17, 2010 at 11:58 pm | Posted in Walking | Leave a comment
Tags: Arans
It was good to be back on the hills after three months away while working on a new report. This was a good reintroduction, nothing spectacular or very hard but enough of a stretch to get the stiffness out of my legs and cobwebs out my head It also got me refocused on the goal of walking all the Welsh mountains. This is far from just a tick-list exercise though, even if the grander walks on the other Arans have a stronger pull.
It also gave me another chance to take the path beside the waterfalls at the head of Cwm Cywarch. I had done this on the descent from the Aran Fawddwy horseshoe but it was late that day and I was tired and wet and didn't really have chance to appreciate it. This time starting from the Cwm Cywarch car pack I walked up the valley first – with fresh legs and sharper senses. The path meanders up between rocks and streams and a series of small waterfalls, which had a fair amount of volume after a week of rain. To the left are the impressive cliffs of Craig Cywarch and across from the valley are the steep slopes of Pen yr Allt Uchaf, which I painfully walked straight up on my last trip.
As the ground levels out into the boggy area around a small lake, the paths diverge. To the right is the path to Aran Fawddwy, but this time I passed the lake and went left up the hillside to reach the summit of Glasgwm. On the way to the summit, I could see back to Aran Fawddwy, shrouded in mist, and north to the Arenigs, which were still visible. Heavy cloud was moving in though, and when I reach the summit I was in the thick of it. I was just able to see Llyn y Fign, the moorland lake that lies just below the summit. As I sat eating my sandwich, I thought about how nervous I would have been a couple of years ago finding myself on the hills with mist all around. Now I was confident of the route and my experience and knew there would be little problem (and I wasn't that surprised when I did get a little lost later on!).
Heading off from Glasgwm, I wavered for a minute to check which way to go around the lake and then followed the fence to the right and then as it bends to skirt the forest ahead. As the mist had cleared now, I cut across the moor to the corner of the forest, then on to the summit of Pen Y Bryn-Fforchog – which apparently means Top of the Forked Hill. It was much clearer now, hot even at times with the sun finally breaking through the cloud. Wheatears and other moorland LBTs (little brown things) were all around – and of course there was a raven waiting as I reached the summit. It's a nondescript peak but there are decent views to Maesglaes and Waun-Oer and beyond them Cadair Idris.
The next stage was always likely to be the trickiest. Following the Nuttalls route, I was aiming for a cut through the forest to join the forest track but a large area of woodland had been cut down and the path wasn,t clear, if it still existed. So I headed off across a desolate landscape of stumps, logs, branches, mossy hummocks, bog and streams. I could see diggers parked at the start of a track and that was my rough goal. This was strange walking – bouncing across the firmer ground around the stumps and then working my way across beds of pine branches and boggy patches. I'm reading the collected JG Ballard short stories at the moment and this felt very familiar; a post-apocalypse world with the remnants of destroyed forest all around.
Eventually I joined the forest track and seemed reasonably close to where I should be. I followed this for a while but was always wary in case the path had been changed. When it started to wind down the hill side it looked like I was heading back in the direction of Dinas Mawddwy rather than to Cwm Cywarch. I backtracked a bit and found the faint path at the forest gate that the Nuttalls mention. I took this, passed over a stile and then joined the steep but clear zigzag path down back to valley bottom and the car park.
All round a good mix of views and effort and a bit of a navigational refresh – and the sun was shining as I finished. Not a bad day.
Owl story – conclusionJune 15, 2010 at 6:24 pm | Posted in Wildlife | Leave a comment
After ten days or so of fascinating owl watching, we had to go away for a short holiday and after we got back they had gone.
A few days later we could hear them calling across the valley and in nearby trees but we didn't see them clearly for a few weeks. Then one morning I saw three owls fly from the beech tree at the bottom of the garden.
Since then they we have seen them several times, including close sightings on the garden fence and barn roof late at night.
Owl story IVMay 15, 2010 at 5:43 pm | Posted in Wildlife | Leave a comment
After a couple of days without a clear sighting, we found not just one but two owlets, together in a tall hazel just outside the garden. It seemed like there might be two but we couldn't be certain until we saw them together.
At first they were some distance apart but later we found them huddled together. Over the following days they moved around the same groups of small trees – with the adults also going back and forward between them and the other groups of trees across the valley. When I first found the owlet on the bench we worried because he didn't move for a couple of hours – but this is obviously how they protect themselves. They just stay more or less in the same place, at least during the day, and the adults check on them periodically and presumably feed them as well.
Each morning it was a case of checking if they were both there. They are quite distinct: one is significantly bigger and seemed to have more adult feathers showing, the other looks like Uncle Fester in the Adam 's Family- both had grown a lot in just a week!
Owl story IIIMay 8, 2010 at 5:22 pm | Posted in Wildlife | Leave a comment
After walking the dogs first thing, I saw Izzy, the spaniel, barking at something on the bench near the back door. When I got there I found a young owl hunched up on the back of the seat – totally motionless and looking rather bedraggled. It stayed there most of the morning, before eventually scampering (flying is not the right word) across the garden to the bushes running down the side of the garden.
Later that that evening, we watched through binoculars as he sat in the trees at the end of the garden, while one of the adults flew back and forth around him, calling as well.
The next morning he had moved slightly into a large hazel tree a bit below our fence.
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AUTO-SHIPMENT Q-Urol - CP.com Auto-refill (2 bottles at $49.99/ea)
Time Release, extra-strength version of clinically proven Prosta-Q, with the addition of Pollen Extract, Q-Urol has been shown in published urological studies to help maintain prostate health and specifically targeting pelvic or genital discomfort.
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Traditional Chronic Prostatitis treatments like strong antibiotics are often ineffective and come with dangerous side effects. Q-UROL offers an efficacious option for alleviating prostate symptoms associated with chronic prostatitis, CPPS, dysuria, pelvic pain and/or genital discomfort especially for men who have tried Prosta-Q and are seeking additional anti-inflammatory support. Q-UROL offers all of the benefits of Prosta-Q, but with time release technology and extra strength anti-inflammatory power. Additionally, for men suffering from symptoms associated with the urinary flow and function often affiliated with BPH, and/or nocturia, Q-UROL's anti-inflammatory action may provide relief while also promoting general prostate health. With the addition of Pollen Extract, Q-Urol has been shown in published urological studies to help maintain prostate health and specifically target pelvic or genital discomfort.
✓ Scientifically proven and recommended by physicians worldwide
✓ Time Release Formula
✓ Activated Quercetin and Pollen Extract Complex
Q-Urol Complex is a proprietary combination of clinically proven ingredients including Quercetin, a bioflavonoid with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties1, highly refined Pollen Extract, a phytotherapeutic agent containing amino acids, vitamins and minerals with documented anti-inflammatory properties2, and Bromelain and Papain, to aid digestion. Q-Urol combines each of these compounds into a single time-release tableted formula to increase blood levels.*
Q-Urol is designed to address symptoms associated with:
✓ Pelvic or genital discomfort*
✓ Unhealthy sexual or urinary function*
Q-Urol has been rigorously tested using the highest medical standards and is one of the most effective nutraceuticals for maintaining prostate health and integrity.*
Q-Urol is currently being studied in a clinical trial that will evaluate efficiency and how quercetin is metabolized.
Q and A by with our Consulting Medical Advisory Board
What is Q-Urol?
Q-Urol is a nutritional supplement formulated to maintain prostate health. Q-Urol contains a series of natural, clinically proven ingredients including quercetin, pollen extract, as well as papain/bromelain to aid digestion. The problem researchers and clinicians experienced initially was that it takes unusually large, unrealistic amounts of these healthy foods on a regular basis to increase your body's levels of these compounds to the amount that has demonstrated benefit from clinical studies. It is for this reason that maximum benefits are seen at the recommended doses in a time-release form.
Why use Q-Urol to address symptoms associated with pelvic or genital discomfort and sexual and urinary dysfunction?
Few dietary supplements or ingredients compared to Q-Urol have as much clinical research and support from some of the top urologists in the world. Q-Urol is one of the most popular products in the world utilized with or without prescription medications for pelvic and prostate health support. For example, it is actually used by pharmacists, primary care physicians, urologists and other healthcare professionals in several countries outside of the United States.
What indications support use of Q-Urol?
We suggest that physicians perform localizing urine cultures (and if possible expressed prostatic secretions) in all men prior to therapy. This test can be as simple as culturing a specimen of urine taken after the physician performs a prostate massage. We recommend that the physician sterilize any infection that is found in the prostate by using an appropriate antibiotic for at least four weeks. In men with extensive inflammation of the prostate, some physicians will often choose a course of antibiotics for patients if the patient has not been so treated before. Men with no evidence of active infection and those who have failed treatment with antibiotics are ideal candidates for the prostate supportive benefits of Q-Urol.
Can Q-Urol help me with addressing urinary flow and function symptoms often related to BPH?
While Q-Urol was not specifically designed to address urinary function issues associated with BPH (Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia), Q-Urol does contain anti-inflammatory action, which has been clinically shown to play a role in the progression of urinary symptoms. Q-Urol also promotes general prostate health. For men with urinary symptoms associated with BPH who also display prostate inflammation symptoms associated with prostatitis, Q-Urol offers a clinically proven option to address pelvic and genital discomfort as well as promote prostate health.
What is CPPS?
CPPS, also referred to as Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome, is the term used for unexplained and persistent pain in the pelvic region. CPPS is distinguished from prostatitis, however these conditions commonly overlap.
How should you use Q-Urol?
We recommend one to two tablets taken twice per day with meals. If this is successful, many people can then take maintenance doses of fewer tablets per day. If the patient has no symptom improvement after two to three months, the product is unlikely to help him and other options should be discussed with a healthcare professional.
How long will it take for Q-Urol to work?
Some people notice improvement after the first few doses. Others find that they must take it for two to three months to see maximum benefit.
Are there any contraindications to using Q-Urol?
There is a theoretical risk that use of quercetin (which is found in Q-Urol) will interfere with the action of quinolone antibiotics (e.g. Cipro®, Floxin®, Levaquin®). Therefore, don't take these antibiotics with Q-Urol and consult your physician.
What side effects have you seen?
Q-Urol is generally well tolerated by most users. Some users have reported mild nausea if taken on an empty stomach or slight tingling in the extremities shortly after their first dose.
Q-Urol has helped me, but I still have urinary symptoms.
Some men find that Q-Urol is more effective for their pain than for their urinary symptoms. We have found that combining Q-Urol with an alpha blocker (e.g. FloMax® or another Farr Labs' product, BP-Qmax) is a helpful approach for these men.
Can I combine Q-Urol with other natural products?
We don't recommend it. The product is specifically designed to be the most effective prostate supplement available and already contains the best natural compounds that have proven support for prostate health and integrity. There is no way of knowing how ingredients in other nutritional supplements or treatments will interact with Q-Urol. Even if the other products are considered "safe", they may interfere with the absorption of Q-Urol, or block its actions in other ways.
Q-Urol has helped me feel better. Do I have to keep taking it?
We recommend staying on a maintenance dose of at least one tablet per day for an additional two to three months. Some users find they can stop taking the product without recurrence of symptoms while others find they need to stay on the maintenance or even full dose to remain symptom-free.
Would you recommend taking all these ingredients separately?
Theoretically you should derive as much benefit from taking all these preparations separately, but unfortunately many brands do not have adequate batch-to-batch quality control such that one bottle works one month but another bottle doesn't work the next month. Other quercetin brands commonly combine quercetin with vitamin C. The high doses of vitamin C delivered with the quercetin can severely acidify the urine, making symptoms worse in some men. Most importantly, taking all these preparations separately will cost much more than taking only Q-Urol.
Is there any published medical literature to support the use of Q-Urol?
Quercetin, bromelain and papain
Shoskes DA, Zeitlin SI, Shahed A, Rajfer J. Quercetin in men with category III chronic prostatitis: a preliminary prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Urology 1999; 54 (6): 960.
Shahed AR, Shoskes DA. Oxidative stress in prostatic fluid of patients with chronic pelvic pain syndrome: correlation with gram-positive bacterial growth and treatment response. J Androl 2000; 21 (5): 669.
Shahed AR, Shoskes DA. Correlation of beta-endorphin and prostaglandin E2 levels in prostatic fluid of patients with chronic prostatitis with diagnosis and treatment response. J Urol 2001 Nov; 166(5): 1738
Pollen Extract
Wagenlehner FM, Schneider H, Ludwid M, Schnitker J, Brähler E, Weidner W. A pollen extract (Cernilton) in patients with inflammatory chronic prostatitis-chronic pelvic pain syndrome: a multicentre, randomised, prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 study. Eur Urol. 2009 Sep;56(3):544-51.
Elist J., Effects of pollen extract preparation on lower urinary tract symptoms in patients with chronic nonbacterial prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, Urology. 2006 Jan;67(1):60-3.
Rugendorff EW, Weidner, W, Ebeling, L, Buck AC. Results of treatment with pollen extract in chronic prostatitis and prostatodynia. Br. J. Urol 1993;71:433-8.
Buck AC, Ress RW, Ebeling L. Treatment of Chronic Prostatitis and prostadynia with pollen extract, Br J Urol 1989;64:496-9.
Cited References
1. Shoskes DA, Zeitlin SI, Shahed A, Rajfer J. Quercetin in men with category III chronic prostatitis: a preliminary prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Urology 1999; 54 (6): 960.
2. Wagenlehner FM, Schneider H, Ludwid M, Schnitker J, Brähler E, Weidner W. A pollen extract (Cernilton) in patients with inflammatory chronic prostatitis-chronic pelvic pain syndrome: a multicentre, randomised, prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 study. Eur Urol. 2009 Sep;56(3):544-51.
*This statement has not been evaluated by the FDA. The products detailed on this site are not meant to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. If a medical condition exists, see your health care professional.


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An 85-year-old Green Bay Packers fan who has never missed a playoff game at Lambeau Field thought her streak was coming to an end this week until two charitable brothers heard her story.
Fritzie Neitzel, of Green Bay, went to her first Packers game with her father in October 1945, when she was 10.
"When I was born they didn't put red blood in me. I got green in one side and gold in the other," Neitzel said.
As longtime season ticket holders, her family tried buying seats for the NFC championship game once they went on sale Wednesday. They were unsuccessful. That's when Neitzel heard about the Spirit of Wisconsin Booster Club led by Steve Ewing, of Milwaukee, and Neal Ewing, of Green Bay.
Organized in 2015, the Spirit of Wisconsin Booster Club has been asking people to send the Ewings their most compelling stories and explain why they're deserving of the opportunity to attend playoff games. Neitzel was this week's recipient of two tickets to Sunday's game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
However, because of COVID-19 restrictions, the Packers said all tickets on cellphones are nontransferable, with no exceptions. So Steve Ewing drove from Milwaukee to Green Bay on Saturday to hand off the phone with the tickets.
"Still a total mess, to tell you the truth. It's just, I keep pinching myself. I'm thinking, am I dreaming or is this real?" Neitzel told WITI-TV.
Said Neal Ewing: "There's no comparison to the reward of the joy because it's bigger than money. It's bigger than any of the other things people chase around."


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Via Associated Press:
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz says he waited until January to begin criticizing Republican rival Donald Trump because he didn't want to become "roadkill" like other candidates who had challenged the front-runner.
Cruz made the comment Wednesday during a forum hosted by a conservative talk radio host near Milwaukee. It marked Cruz's first campaign stop in Wisconsin, which holds its primary April 5.
Cruz was asked about a previous statement he made calling Trump "terrific." Cruz responded by noting that his campaign has had a plan since launching a year ago, and said he needed to build his base of support first and get his record out before drawing contrasts with Trump.
You know, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it's not cowardice. Maybe it's what we call, "Texas courage".
This is the guy who wants us to "trusTed".
Which, in turn, begs a simple question: Why not?
Image note: Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, in detail of photo by Getty Images, 2016.
Associated Press. "The Latest: Cruz says he didn't want to be Trump 'roadkill'". 23 March 2016.
Savage, Dan. "Ted Cruz's Secret Longings". Slog. 5 February 2016.


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Calcium Channel Blockers
Calcium channel–blockers are used to treat hypertension, angina, heart arrhythmias, and other heart-related conditions.
Examples of drugs in this family include:
Possible Decreased Action of Drug
Taking calcium and vitamin D supplements might interfere with some of the effects of calcium channel-blockers.1-7
Possible Decreased Action of Drug
According to a study in rats, ginkgo extract may cause the body to metabolize some calcium channel blockers more rapidly, thereby decreasing their effects.8
Naringen (a Citrus Bioflavonoid)
May Necessitate Reduction in Drug Dosage
Some evidence suggests that the bioflavonoid naringen may interact with medications in the calcium channel blocker family, increasing blood levels of the drug.9 This may necessitate a reduction in drug dosage.
1. Bar-Or D and Gasiel Y. Calcium and calciferol antagonise effect of verapamil in atrial fibrillation. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed). 1981;282:1585-1586.
2. Hariman RJ, Mangiardi LM, McAllister RG Jr, et al. Reversal of the cardiovascular effects of verapamil by calcium and sodium: differences between electrophysiologic and hemodynamic responses. Circulation. 1971;59:797-804.
3. Guadagnino V, Greengart A, Hollander G, et al. Treatment of severe left ventricular dysfunction with calcium chloride in patients receiving verapamil. J Clin Pharmacol. 1987;27:407-409.
4. Salerno DM, Anderson B, Sharkey PJ, et al. Intravenous verapamil for treatment of multifocal atrial tachycardia with and without calcium pretreatment. Ann Intern Med. 1987;107:623-628.
5. Luscher TF, Noll G, Sturmer T, et al. Calcium gluconate in severe verapamil intoxication. N Engl J Med. 1994;330:718-720.
6. Orr GM, Bodansky HJ, Dymond DS, et al. Fatal verapamil overdose. Lancet. 1982;2:1218-1219.
7. Kuhn M and Schriger DL. Low-dose calcium pretreatment to prevent verapamil-induced hypotension. Am Heart J. 1992;124:231-232.
8. Shinozuka K, Umegaki K, Kubota Y, et al. Feeding of Ginkgo biloba extract (GBE) enhances gene expression of hepatic cytochrome P-450 and attenuates the hypotensive effect of nicardipine in rats. Life Sci. 2002;70:2783-2792.
9. Yeum CH, Choi JS. Effect of naringin pretreatment on bioavailability of verapamil in rabbits. Arch Pharm Res. 2006;29:102-107.
Last reviewed August 2013 by EBSCO CAM Review Board
Last Updated: 8/22/2013
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Funny Dad Flask
• Excellent gift for any whisky & spirits enthusiast
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A Fine Day to Salute
'If she were still alive, Brazilian music wouldn't be in such a bad shape.' That's guitar player Nathan Marques about Elis Regina, likely Brazil's greatest singer, who'd be 76 today. She died of an accidental overdose in 1982, and the country's rich musical tradition still mourns her loss.
Most survivors of Brazil's golden generation of songwriters and musicians, from the 1960s on, would endorse her guitarist's stinging comment. Besides being impossibly gifted as an artist, Elis is also missed for her uncanny talent scouting skills, as many a career was either launched or enhanced by her renditions.
Her rise from anonymity to national stardom was meteoric. At 20, with Vinicius de Moraes and Edu Lobo's Arrastão, she won the TV Excelsior Festival de Música, the first of a series of festivals that took the country by storm, and revealed a new batch of interpreters that would dominate Brazilian music for years to come.
She then co-hosted with Jair Rodrigues O Fino da Bossa and turned it into the most important music program on TV at the time. She seemed born to star in the medium, a crucial part of the young nation's cultural integration, even as it also served well the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil between 1964 and 85.
In many cases, hers were the first recordings of composers who'd go on to become national treasuries, like Milton Nascimento, Ivan Lins, Beto Guedes, and João Bosco, among others. Or she added considerable wattage to the work of contemporaries, like Lobo, Chico Buarque, Caetano Veloso, and Gilberto Gil, by recording their songs.
Even though they all wrote lyrics, she also helped usher an entirely new lineage of lyricists. Fernando Brant, Ronaldo Bastos, Aldir Blanc, and Victor Martins, to name but few, had their urban poetry-infused words first played on the radio and performed on TV by her, in a country whose majority by now were living in big cities.
By the 1970s, Brazilian music, or MPB, had several streams of high-quality output, and composers of talent to boot. As Bossa Nova entered its second decade, and Tropicália, its own maturity phase, even artists identified with purer musical idioms, such as samba and Chorinho, were registering on vinyl their arguably best work.
Thus as Tom Jobim, João Gilberto, Baden Powell, and so many others were consolidating the then most famous representative of the country's music, Veloso, Gil, Tom Zé, and Os Mutantes, plus Buarque, Paulinho da Viola, Nascimento, and Bosco were hard at work rewriting popular music to a younger audience.
One of the most remarkable facts about Elis Regina's trajectory was that she was developing her sophisticated interpretative touch while at the vanguard of all these currents. Credit must be also given to husband and partner Cesar Camargo Mariano, who contributed (more)
Read Also:
* Lil' Pepper
* 50 Summers


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Forget cupcakes or mac 'n' cheese. The new "it" comfort food turns out to be as familiar as plain ol' white bread.
That's because it is plain ol' white bread — specifically, the toasted variety. And in gourmet-minded establishments, it's now going for up to $11 an order.
Of course, we're not exactly talking about traditional toast. (And not commercial-grade butter as the spread of choice, either.) Think gluten-free toasted bread topped with plum jam and cream cheese, a $3 menu option at Seattle's toast-centric Toast Ballard restaurant. Or thickly cut sourdough toast, served with boutique American butter and house-made preserves, a $4.25 offering at the Hi Rise Bread Company in Cambridge, Mass.
There's even seven-grain toast paired with pickled beef tongue, a savory treat that runs $11 at New York's British-themed The Peacock restaurant. "I push the envelope with toast," says chef and owner Jason Hicks.
The toast-gone-gourmet trend has its roots in San Francisco — specifically, say some gourmet gurus, at a restaurant called The Mill that has built a loyal following for its $4-a-slice artisan toast (paired with a homemade version of Nutella, among other things). But the restaurant has also been derided for taking such an everyday item to such a pricey extreme. The online tech journal VentureBeat carped that the business model seems squarely aimed at "consumers with too much money and pretensions of superior taste" — in other words, the Bay Area's flush-with-cash tech entrepreneurs. (A representative for The Mill could not be reached for comment, but proprietor Josey Baker — that's his real last name, apparently — told Bon Appétit that "I just wanted to create a way for people to eat my bread" without committing to a whole loaf.)
But it didn't take long for the idea to spread (like, um, butter) from San Francisco to the rest of the country, particularly to cities like New York and Seattle that have a discernible — and discerning — foodie culture.
This obviously speaks to our fascination with all things edible and artisanal — sales of gourmet products hit an all-time high of $88 billion in 2013, an 18.4% gain from two years earlier, according to the Specialty Food Association. But it also speaks to other trends, including a growing interest in breakfast fare (consider that Taco Bell recently added a morning menu), and in light bites, both sweet and savory.
"A lot of customers don't want to have a full meal in a restaurant and restaurants don't want to lose them," says Bret Thorn, senior food editor of Nation's Restaurant News, a trade publication.
Naturally, there's also the fact that toast is one of the easiest things a restaurant can prepare. But it can also be a platform — literally — for a chef to show off his or her creative side. At New York's The Peacock, chef Hicks is also proud of the toast he pairs with mashed salted codfish. "It's one of our more popular dishes," he says.
And while the toast trend has seen more than its share of criticism — "How silly; how twee," said writer John Gravois in Pacific Standard, a West Coast magazine — many a gourmet guru has also defended it. Think of quality toast as an extension of quality bread, they argue, noting that even those with less-sophisticated palates still appreciate a hearty loaf. Add a quality topping — "There's so much great fruit and so many great local jam makers," says San Francisco-based food blogger Jerry James Stone — and you've got a worthy meal (or at least a worthy snack).
Still, not everyone is buying the idea that quality toast is worth the high price. Before she pays $4 and up for a slice of bread run through a toaster, Florida-based food blogger Jan Norris says, "it better come out with an image of Jesus so I can hawk it on eBay."
Also see:
Anheuser-Busch bets on Budweiser of cider