text:
Enterovirus 68 ED-V68 Alternative Prevention Essential Oils, Herbs and Homeopathy
Enterovirus 68. It is here in the US and although considered 'rare', it would seem that it is currently reaching epidemic proportions if reports are true of hundreds of children across the country being admitted to hospitals for severe respiratory complications. According to the CDC, only Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky and Missouri having confirmed cases. However, it is of such concern, that yesterday, September the 11th, 2014 that the New Kent County Public Schools in Virginia where I live (which is a rural area outside of Richmond, Virginia) felt the need to call all school age parents and issue a statement regarding enterovirus 68. The message was to let parents know that 'they' were monitoring the situation, to teach children not to touch their eyes, nose or mouth, wash hands repeatedly, do not share cups or toys or clothing and to keep home any child who was sick. The school system also referred parents to the CDC website for more information on the enterovirus 68.
About EV-D68
Typically, EV-D68 causes upper respiratory illness, such as low-grade fever, cough, runny nose, sneezing and body/muscle aches. Infected individuals generally recover on their own without incident by treating symptoms. However, some individuals, especially those with weakened immune systems or underlying medical conditions, such as asthma, may experience severe complications and require hospitalization with supportive therapy. This is what the CDC says about EV-D68. Although one documented case in Indiana the child had no such underlying medical conditions and yet was hospitalized.
However, many parents with children infected with EV-D68 report severe upper respiratory distress within hours of coming down with what seems to be a cold/flu. Including high grade fevers uncontrollable with Tylenol/ibuprophen, extreme headaches, neck pain, rashes and vomiting, blisters in the mouth, limpness of limbs and ultimately the inability to breath (shortness of breath, wheezing).
How do you contract enterovirus 68?
According to the CDC: Since EV-D68 causes respiratory illness, the virus can be found in an infected person's respiratory secretions, such as saliva, nasal mucus, or sputum. EV-D68 likely spreads from person to person when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or touches contaminated surfaces.
Prevention according to the CDC includes:
Wash hands often with soap and water for 20 seconds, especially after changing diapers.
Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.
Avoid kissing, hugging, and sharing cups or eating utensils with people who are sick.
Disinfect frequently touched surfaces, such as toys and doorknobs, especially if someone is sick.
According to the CDC there is no treatment, vaccine or 'cure' for enterovirus 68 (which is in the same category of viruses that cause polio and hand/foot/mouth disease) only 'palliative' care, ie, managing the symptoms and keeping people comfortable.
Okay, so we now have that out of the way…as a mom of several school age children and an alternative health care advocate/practioner and prepper, I have some thoughts on 'prevention' and ultimately managing this 'rare' virus that seems to be sweeping across this country so quickly.
The basic question is what can YOU do to keep you and yours safe without going overboard and setting up a clean room to enter and leave through. We are NOT talking about a biohazard level 4 after all. However, getting sick is not fun and the following is what I will doing to hopefully prevent my children and myself from getting this virus:
First and foremost, goldenseal tincture used once a day, daily for the duration of the cold and flu season. I personally make my own goldenseal tincture and use it regularly whenever someone gets a cough, cold or the flu given that this herbs nature is to work on viruses first and foremost in the mucus member body systems (eyes, mouth, sinuses, stomach, intestinal tract). There is no danger in using this herb preventively and maybe used in children 6 months and up. The tincture works best and the best part is that a small amount, when properly prepared will go a long way! Goldenseal is safe for pregnant and nursing women also.
Another herb worth noting is Devils Club (Oplopanax horridum or Fatsia horrida) though I would tend to reserve this herb for the first sign of cough or cold and not so much as a preventative.
Please be sure that when you buy any herb in tincture form you buy from a reputable source. The best would be to buy from an herbalist who makes their own tinctures (ie a private person). Next best a nationally known company. An herbalist who makes their own tinctures will have the strongest available tinctures. Unfortunately, due to FDA regulations and other national and state 'authorities' large companies engaged in herbal products often are required to dilute their tinctures down to the point that in many cases you have to use twice the amount of tincture recommended below to get the desired results.
How much to use and how?
The BEST way to use a tincture is to place the desired amount directly under the tongue and hold it in the mouth for as long as possible without swallowing!! Yes, it tastes nasty, but no one said medicine tasted great. If necessary, it is fine to dilute the tincture in a small amount of water or juice and sip very slowly, again, not swallowing immediately.
As a general rule of thumb for tinctures:
Adults: 60 drops
Younger than 3 months — 2 drops
3 to 6 months — 3 drops
6 to 9 months — 4 drops
9 to 12 months — 5 drops
12 to 18 months — 7 drops
18 to 24 months — 8 drops
2 to 3 years — 10 drops
3 to 4 years — 12 drops
4 to 6 years — 15 drops
6 to 9 years — 24 drops
9 to 12 years — 30 drops
In some cases if you do not want alcohol in your tincture or cannot tolerate it you may be able to make your own glycerin tincture at home or, to rid the tincture of alcohol, boil water, place the tincture in the bottom of the cup and pour boiling water over it. It is up to you, personally I just use as is as I have found it more potent this way.
There are herbs that are great for the respiratory system that you can buy bulk and put into a large pot of simmering water that will also help to disinfect the whole house without you going crazy cleaning.
They include:
Inula (not recommended if anyone in the house has asthma or other medical conditions involving the lungs)
At the very least your house will smell great!
Next up, homeopathic prevention. In past cold/flu season I have always had a homeopathic for the flu at hand to take one dose weekly when no known exposure has occurred or if know/likely once a day. Boiron Oscillococcinum is the traditional remedy for the flu. I am not sure how much this may or may not help, but it is cheap and only 5 pellets need to be taken. At best, it may help at worst you might not get the seasonal flu.
I also found a homeopathic called LUNG LIQUESCENCE,RESPIRATORY DETOX FORMULA that supports the lungs in getting rid of viruses and mucus that I am incorporating into our routine. It should be taken the same way.
I would be remiss not to discuss essential oils under prevention. My favorite is the following:
A blend of specific essential oils including clove, lemon, cinnamon, rosemary and Eucalyptus Radiata. Frankly, just a few drops in honey (or on a piece of bread) will work at keeping you healthy. You may also put this blend into an ultrasonic diffuser to spread the germ fighting virus killing essential oil particles around you home or workplace. Word of note: do NOT put this blend into water and use to disinfect anything besides metal as many of these essentials oils will break down plastics and paint and may harm stone surfaces also.
Now lets talk FOOD! Yes, food…food as medicine! Onion and garlic are two of nature's BEST anti-virals available to everyone! I use a lot of these two 'herbs' in my own cooking. However, you can make teas or tinctures out them. There are a million and one ways that can be found online to do this. I also include onions and garlic in my homemade anti-sick honey syrup (do not give honey to children under the age of 1).
Take a clean quart sized jar and thinly slice up the following into about ½ inch sized pieces:
2 fresh lemons (including the rind)
2 medium sized onions
Fresh ginger root (I typically get a piece about the size of my hand)
4 tablespoons of minced garlic.
I put all of this into the jar and then cover with honey to the top. Be sure you stir the honey down to the bottom. Typically it takes just over 1 pound of honey.
Next, grab that crock pot! Place the jar (with lid on) into the middle of it and add enough water to almost fill the crock pot. Place the lid on it (most likely will not close, but the idea is to retain as much of the heat as possible) and then turn onto to low and allow it steep/warm up this way at least 16 hours or up to two days. Stir occasionally. The food 'material' will separate from the honey…that is okay, that is why you stir it and once done, it will be A LOT easier to get the pieces of food out before use. To use your anti-sick honey infusion, I use 1 tablespoon of honey stirred into one cup of hot water and drink slowly.
This is all I have for prevention at this time. In my next article I will be talking about what do IF you get that dreaded cough/flu called enterovirus 68.
If you have any questions, comments or concerns, do not hesitate to contact me at firstname.lastname@example.com
Per law I am required to tell you that I am not a medical professional and all information above is based upon my private experience and documented research by medical professionals online. Always seek professional medical assistance if you are unsure.
September 12, 2014 - Posted by Survivingshtfmom | Essential Oils, Guidelines, Herbs, Homeopathics, Infectious Disease, Self-Help | 68, anti-viral, children, ED-V68, enterovirus, enterovirus 68, essential oils, goldenseal, help, herbs, homeopathy, preparedness, prevent, prevention, self treatment, virus
No comments yet.
Leave a Reply Cancel reply
Read this First
The authors and editors of SurvivalMedicineBlog offer only our personal advice and opinion on how to help yourself when you cannot get professional medical care or if you prefer to help yourself. We accept no responsiblity for the use or misuse of the information and opinions contained within this blog. Use your own discretion and judgement and when in doubt, always seek professional medical advice and help when and if at all possible. We are for the most part not trained professional medical doctors or nurses, but offer our opinions in our respective fields of self-care and management and nothing contained here in should be construed as professional medical advice. We do however recognize that it is not always possible to get professional medical care and it is because of this that we offer this blog and the opinions here in can be backed up by the appropriate references of professionals.
Join 914 other subscribers
Recent Posts
- Homeopathic Remedies for Tooth/Teeth Problems November 8, 2014
- When There Is No Dentist Indian Toothache Plant to the Rescue November 7, 2014
- Four Ways to Kill the Ebola Virus and Other Viruses Too! October 18, 2014
- Food and Herbs To Strengthen The Immune System During Ebola Crisis or Anytime October 15, 2014
- Homeopathy and Herbs During Ebola Threat Pt.1 October 13, 2014
- Entero Virus 68…has Polio Mutated? October 13, 2014
- November 2014 (2)
- October 2014 (5)
- September 2014 (4)
- February 2014 (1)
- July 2012 (2)
- April 2012 (1)
- January 2012 (1)
- December 2011 (5)
- July 2011 (5)
RSSEntries RSS
Comments RSS
Site infoSurvivalMedicineBlog
Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.


text:
South Florida Portrait Photographer serving the Palm Beaches down to the Keys
I'm a South Florida wedding & portrait photographer who works from the Palm Beaches down to the Keys.
I have a strong background in the visual arts and will bring a unique and professional approach to all my photography. My style is a mixture of traditional and photo journalistic.
If you have any questions about my services, pricing or availability feel free to contact me at 305.926.1429 or at email@example.com
© 2023 John Bouma Photography | Miami Portrait Photographer | South Florida Portrait Photographer|ProPhoto Photo Website

subset: commoncrawl


text:
NO PEOPLE LIKE SHOW PEOPLE: It took filmmaker Brigitte Berman to get the ball rolling, but after the Toronto International Film Festival premiere
of her documentary on Hugh Hefner, a major Hollywood biopic is finally going ahead. Producer Brian Grazer (24) recently met with Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody about the project, and Brett Ratner (X-Men) is apparently lined up to direct, with Robert Downey Jr. favoured to play Hef … shhhh, it's a secret, but my spies tell me irresistible funny girl Monica Parker is currently fine-tuning a new one-woman show cunningly called The Weight Is Over. Can't weight, uhhh, wait … and Rick Mercer and Rush rock legend Alex
Lifeson go skydiving tonight — the hard way — by attempting to float atop 225 km/h winds generated by a jet engine (!!!) at the Niagara Freefall Indoor Skydiving challenge. And believe me, 'freefall' is the word for it. Catch them tonight at 8 pm on the Rick Mercer Report on CBC.
UP IN ARMS: On Thursday night Toronto theatergoers will see the Canadian premiere of Strange News, a 30-minute multimedia work about the plight of
child soldiers. The work, composed by Norwegian Rolf Wallin with text by Belgian actor/director/writer Josse de Pauw, is narrated by the young Ugandan actor Arthur Kisenyi, and comes to us after breaking theatrical ground in Oslo, Birmingham, Porto, Chicago, and Copenhagen. Filling out the bill is a performance of Igor Stravinsky¹s classic A Soldier¹s Tale, narrated by the legendary Martha Henry and directed by Peter Moss. For tickets call the St. Lawrence Centre box office at 416-366-7723 or just click here.
FLICKERS: Why does news of a Tribeca Film Festival in the Persian Gulf remind me of a New Yorker cartoon? Nonetheless, the 31-film festival opens this
week in Doha, Qatar's capital, with Robert De Niro, Tribeca's co-founder, expected to be on hand for the opening film, the Hillary Swank-Richard Gere opus Amelia. Unlike red-carpet filmfests in Dubau and Abu Dhabi, Doha is looking to showcase independent films (Steven Soderbergh's Informant, Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story) — but hey, it's still the middle east. Both Doha and Abu Dhabi programmed Bahman Ghobadi's No One Knows About Persian Cats, a film shot covertly in Iran, but none of the Gulf festivals have programmed a film from Israel, and if your passport is Israeli, you can't get there from here. Intrigued? Yeah, me too. To catch up with Larry Rohter's report in last week's New York Times, just click here.
GET 'EM WHILE THEY'RE HOT, HOT, HOT: Finally got a chance to see Brad (Love & Human Remains) Fraser's new comedy about family secrets at
Factory Theatre at a packed Sunday matinee, and now I know what all the fuss is about. Everything about this witty, provocative production is absolutely top-notch, from Bretta Gerecke's cleverly engaging set to playwright Fraser's fast-paced cinematic staging and direction. Ashley Wright and Julie Stewart are spectacularly good as the parents, Andrew Craig and Susanna Fournier are outstanding as their confused offspring, and David W. Keeley's subtle but sly portrayal of the returning restauranteur who unhinges all of them makes this laugh-out-loud dramedy work brilliantly. Don't miss it. But you will if you don't act now, because counting tonight there are only six (6) performances left. To snap up your last-chance tickets just click here. And enjoy!
Come to the Cabaret.


text:
Mustang Sally – 16/365, Archive 365, Wagner's Drive-In, Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, August 2010, photo © 2010-2012 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved. Original photo edited in Photoshop Elements.
Every Monday in the summer months, local hot-rodders and car collectors converge on Wagner's Drive-In in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. When I saw the red Mustang, I stopped and asked the woman in green if I could take a photograph. She happily said yes, and asked me to get out and join them. Turns out she owns the Mustang. I had somewhere to be, so had to keep moving. But not before I snapped this shot with my BlackBerry. In all the hustle and bustle, I forgot to ask the Mustang owner her name. I call her Mustang Sally.
ARCHIVE 365 is a photo collaboration between skywire7 and QuoinMonkey featuring images from our archives. We will alternate posting once a day in our Flickr sets from July 1st 2012 through June 30th 2013. You can view our photographs at skywire7 Archive 365 set on Flickr and QuoinMonkey Archive 365 set on Flickr.
-posted on red Ravine, Monday, July 16, 2012. Archive 365 post inspired by Jonathan Brand's Paper Mustang Sculpture – One Piece At A Time. Related to post: WRITING TOPIC — MEMORIES OF CARS


text: I have no issue saying that Gran Torino is my favorite Eastwood movie, and I have almost all of them on dvd. The message of the movie is what many folks in this country either have forgotten, or don't get: Deeds are greater than words, and when the rubber hits the road, real American men fight and die for what is right. Walt fought in Korea for people he refers to as Zipper Heads and Gooks. He ultimately sacrifices himself for these same people, and gives his most treasured possession to Tao…his car. His own family thinks he is an inconvenience. Kind of how our government treats our vets.


text:
Advanced Search
Letters to Redmond
Will Microsoft's Windows 8 Surface tablet sink or float? Here's what readers think.
Unimpressed with his new iPad, Redmond Editor in Chief Doug Barney hoped the newly announced Microsoft Surface tablets would offer a better tablet experience. In his August 2012 Barney's Rubble column, "Smashing the iPad," he wrote: "These Surface machines are full PCs... If its endgame is the enterprise, this is a masterstroke on Microsoft's part, wouldn't you say?" Redmond readers respond to Barney's Surface enthusiasm.
I've been a Microsoft guy for years. My brother and I used to argue PCs versus Macs like the Hatfields and McCoys. But I've got to say, after five Windows phones, I switched to an iPhone. I would really have a hard time going back. That led me to the logical progression of an iPad, which works well for me.
The promise of being able to connect a Windows tablet to a network sounds fantastic. The only fly in the ointment is Microsoft has pledged for years that it's finally gotten the portable device right, only to disappoint me again and again. I sure took my lumps staying with the company. I really hope the Surface device does perform as Microsoft has said it will, but at this point I'm going to have to play Doubting Thomas on this one. I'll give it a fair shake but it's going to have to be great for me to switch at this point.
David Brown Received via e-mail
I believe, given Microsoft's history, that Barney is right on the money. Microsoft has, in the past, not run after the latest fad that has all consumers buzzing. Remember, the company didn't at first think the Internet would be adopted the way it has been. But Microsoft knows how to recover lost ground -- and do it in a confidence-inspiring way. For example, Microsoft didn't rush to create an Internet browser; Netscape initially had the greatest market share. But Microsoft came in behind and created an Internet browser that just works. I know many people who avoid even trying other browsers because they only really trust Internet Explorer.
As for the tablet market, my boss has asked me many times whether I think the iPad is going to do away with computers at the office. I've told him over and over again that the iPad is a cool toy, but nothing more than a glorified browser. When Microsoft comes out with a tablet the company will have businesses in mind, and it will build in the ability to secure the tablets. People will be able to use the Microsoft Office suite the way it's intended, and it will be more stable and more powerful than the iPad was ever intended to be. The iPad is great for the consumer market, but has no real business value that we've been able to ascertain. I expect the Microsoft tablet will be able to provide business-level capability when it arrives, and I'll be able to secure it through Active Directory.
Mary S. Martin Received via e-mail
If Microsoft comes out with a tablet that can join a domain, be controlled by Active Directory, have a keyboard, be small and portable (in other words, a tablet) and run programs like a PC does, the company will have a business winner, in my opinion.
I can use my iPad to get e-mail via the Exchange Sync and I have a remote desktop app and another free telnet app that allow me console access to my Unix system. I still would opt for a Microsoft device that's all-native for work, and regulate the iPad for personal use only. I use Windows, an Ubuntu VM and I have a Mac. I find that, on the couple of trips a year I take for work, the iPad has been nice to take because I don't usually need to access the work "system." I look forward to the release of the tablet from Microsoft and seeing what I can do on it.
Edward L. BaileyReceived via e-mail
About the Author
This page is compiled by the editors of Redmond magazine from your letters. Write to us at [email protected] and if your letter is printed in the magazine, you'll be entered into a drawing for a free Redmond T-shirt.
IT professionals overseeing operations in organizations increasingly will need developer expertise associated with cloud services as well, according to an IDC study, announced on Monday.
Microsoft was ordered to pay $20 million and take measures to assure child privacy under the terms of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), per a Monday U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announcement.
Microsoft 365 services, including Exchange Online and the Outlook on the Web App, were disrupted on Monday, June 5 due to a problematic Microsoft service update.
Microsoft is ending support for Cortana -- the company's voice-activated virtual assistant -- in Windows 10 and 11.
Here's how to set up your own developer account (no, you don't need to be a developer to take advantage of it).
More Tech Library
More Webcasts


text:
Family Feud April 4 2023 Pinoy Show In Full HD. If You Have an Internet connection and want to Enjoy Family Feud April 4 2023 and Your Favorite Pinoy Teleserye Dramas Then Visit PinoyHDFlix.su. All Pinoy Lambingan Family and Romantic Shows on PinoyFlix. Pinoy Tambayan has a Complete Variety of Filipino Classical shows.
Family Feud April 4 2023 Full Episode
April 4, 2023


text:
DETROIT – Toyota has told North American dealers to stop selling six popular models with heated seats because the fabric doesn't comply with U.S. safety codes and potentially could catch fire.
The order affects 36,000 cars, trucks and minivans, about 13 per cent of the inventory on dealer lots in the U.S., spokesman John Hanson said. Also affected are additional vehicles in Canada, Mexico, Korea, Israel and other countries, but no total number was available.
No fires or injuries have been reported, but Toyota can't legally sell cars that don't comply with U.S. safety codes, spokesman John Hanson said.
Dealers can no longer sell certain Camry, Avalon, Sienna and Tacoma models with heated seats from the 2013 and 2014 model years, as well as Corollas and Tundras from 2014. The Camry is the top-selling car in the U.S. with more than 408,000 sales last year.
One soft material beneath the seat covers does not comply with U.S. safety standards, Hanson said.
Toyota doesn't know yet how long the repairs will take. Hanson said a replacement material is being manufactured and already is being installed at factories. Dealers will use the material to fix cars now on their lots. "We don't think it will take long to get the parts and make the changes," Hanson said. "I don't have any numbers on the timing."
As for vehicles already on the road, Toyota contends a recall isn't necessary since there have been no fires or incidents, Hanson said. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will decide if a recall is needed. A NHTSA spokesman said he would check into the matter.
Earl Stewart, owner of a dealership in North Palm Beach, Fla., said he can sell only a few of the 30 Avalon full-size cars on his lot because most have heated leather seats. "Hopefully we'll get some parts in where we can get them fixed by the end of February," he said. Other models such as the Camry aren't as affected because they are more often sold with unheated cloth seats, he said.
The timing couldn't be worse. With much of the nation in the midst of a record cold snap, people will take heat wherever they can get it. "There's sure to be high demand for models with seat heaters," said Karl Brauer, senior analyst for Kelley Blue Book.
All the vehicles affected by the order were made at U.S. factories, Hanson said. Some were exported to South Korea, where safety regulators discovered the problem after disassembling seats and testing individual fabrics, he said. U.S. safety standards require fabrics to resist flames at a certain rate, but the one fabric didn't meet the standard, Hanson said.
Toyota is the global leader in sales, ahead of General Motors Corp. and Volkswagen AG. It has struggled to regain its once sterling reputation for quality after announcing massive recalls over several years, starting in 2009, for a variety of defects including braking, accelerators and floor mats.


text:
In 2004, BC Hydro was planning a net metering program for residential and commercial customers. A representative explained to a public meeting:
BC Hydro has recently applied for net metering which means if you are a BC Hydro customer and have surplus power, you use what you need it and then sell the left-over power to BC Hydro. The size limit for net metering is 50 kilowatts.
In 2011, BC Hydro reported the impact of net metering was negligible. After complaints the 50 KW capacity limit for net metering customers was too low, the BC utilities Commission (BCUC) observed:
The 2012 Commission Panel was of the view that the capacity of a Net Metering installation should be driven by considerations of economically available clean energy and not by the theoretical maximum capacity a homeowner may require. Further, given the emphasis placed on electrical self‐sufficiency and clean electricity generation by BC energy policy and legislation, the 2012 Commission Panel was of the opinion that encouraging participation by lowering barriers should be of primary importance.
In 2014, BCUC determined the net-metering limit should be doubled to 100 KW.
BC Hydro reported to BCUC in 2017 that 640 accounts using net metering had capacity of 3.8 MW, an increase of more than 500% in five years. The report stated:
BC Hydro's Net Metering customers and stakeholders tell us they are satisfied with the program and it meets their needs. We are not currently considering modifications to the Net Metering program…
That was 2017; this is 2018.
To justify Site C, BC Hydro pretended that alternatives to new hydro power were expensive and unreliable.
In fact, cheap electricity created by wind and solar frightens the utility. It's one thing for consumers to buy zero power from the grid but it is something else if those customers are regularly selling electricity to BC Hydro.
The utility fears rapid growth in net metering because the costs of producing alternative energy, macro or micro, are declining steadily, Indeed, BC Hydro disclosed this week that 1,330 customers are now involved in net metering. That doubles the number of a year ago.
With flat demand for electricity in BC, low prices in export markets and steadily rising deliveries from independent power producers (IPPs), BC Hydro has a surplus of both electricity and generating capacity.
The average revenue for each KWh sold to BC consumers increased 84% from the final quarter of calendar year 2005 to the same quarter in 2017, more than three times the inflation rate of 25%.
Given the current impoverished state of BC's largest utility, its prices will continue rising rapidly while improved technology almost certainly will keep the cost of alternative power declining.
With those factors, BC Hydro worries the amount of power fed to the grid by net metering participants will expand substantially. As a result, they announced this week a change so the program will not be available to customers generating power beyond their own energy needs.
BC Hydro promises a later BCUC application for further changes to net metering. That will likely impose a major reduction in the price credited consumers who feed power into the grid.
We're told the $11 billion Site C project is needed to meet growing demand for power. Meanwhile, the Net Metering Team moves to end new sources of clean power that, unlike the Peace River project, will destroy no lands or livelihoods.
Go figure!
From BC Hydro's point of view, the net metering program has faults. The unit price credited for customer generation is equivalent to the standing offer program (SOP) offered IPPs. That is about three times the price BC Hydro realizes from exporting its surplus power and is double the selling price offered to heavy industries and potential LNG producers. Nothing can be done about IPP contracts, some of which last until 2075, but homeowners are easy picking.
The program also poses a threat to the company's current and planned construction program. BC Hydro could not continue spending billions on new generating and transmission capacity when power can be produced without capital expenditure within the markets where it is used.
A 10 kwp solar pv system on your BC household rooftop costs $27.5k, generates 11,000 kwhrs of electricity/yr, about 60% of the power for a big house, for about $137/month amortized over 25 yrs. BCHydro charges you $130/month for the same. #bcpoli
— balirand (@trivcap) April 21, 2018
Note: At my house, we've averaged 1,000 KWh a month and paid BC Hydro $120 monthly, including all charges.
H/T to Motorcycle Guy for drawing my attention to the net metering subject.


text:
Facebook profile updates…Twitter wars…LinkedIn networking…Skype avatars; all evidence of how the virtual world has integrated itself into the so-called "real world" to a degree that it is practically impossible to disconnect from it. Such is the case for Ned, the protagonist for MANGELLA, a hilarious, touching multimedia production presented by Project: Theater.
Ned is the scourge of the cyber world – a hacker terrorizing Asian gambling sites. He and the love of his life Gabriella, his computer that acts more like a possessive girlfriend than a mainframe, spend their day extorting money through solicited network attacks, social networking, watching porn and playing an antiquated PC game. Ned's hacking pays for his isolated lifestyle as well as the drugs he uses on his father in an unorthodox treatment to try to evoke memories from his dementia-riddled brain, which is the result of multiple strokes. But Ned's father refuses to believe that his is anyone other than Mangella St. James a fictional black blues legend. Ned's cruel to be kind treatment of his father borders on insane – his father is the only living link left to his deceased mother whom he adored. He straps his father down to a wheelchair with duct tape and forces him to watch old movies. But one Flag Day, Ned has a surprise for his father and she is much more than either of them bargained for.
Lily, the hooker that shows up at Ned's door to service his father, brings with her an air of mystery that turns Ned's whole world upside down. Like a glitch in the Matrix, she reveals to him that not everything is what it seems. She allows him the opportunity for change – to start anew, but her tactics destroys Ned's virtual existence, which yields tragic results for everyone.
Cheeky…thought-provoking…stylish, Ken Ferrigni penned a script that is ripe for the madness that is pop culture in the 21st century. Director Joe Jung and scenic designers J.J. Bernard and did a masterful job bringing Ned's reality to life. The cast is equally entertaining. Anthony Manna, who plays the role of Ned, is the epitome of a cyber geek, yet in his coldness, his yearning for love is palpable and heartbreaking. Bob Austin McDonald portrayl of blues great Mangella is a real humdinger. Ali Perlwitz is amazing as Gabriella and like Lily, Hannah Wilson stings. In fact, stole my interest from the very start.
MANGELLA is playing at the Drilling Company, located at 236 West 78th Street, for a limited engagement which has been extended to October 29. I am used to going downtown to witness theatre such as MANGELLA, but I would gladly ride the one train uptown to see awesome experimental theatre like this. If you're looking for something deliciously macabre to watch this Halloween, I recommend MANGELLA. It is Stephen King and Quentin Tarantino rolled into one. You will not leave disappointed.
Photos: Lee Wexler/ Images for Innovation


text:
HPI 1978 Pontiac Firebird Clear Body Shell (200mm) - 107201
HPI 1978 Pontiac Firebird Clear Body Shell (200mm)
1/10Touring Car Size 200mm/Use offset wheels for 190mm width chassis
One of the original muscle cars, the Pontiac Firebird had a long and storied history, with its popularity peaking in the late 70's after the release of a certain Hollywood movie featuring the original of this car, the hugely successful black 'Bandit' version with gold detail, flared air dams and that famous 'shaker' hood!
Originally released as a 1967 model and sharing the Chevrolet Camaro chassis, the Pontiac Firebird used various engines from different General Motors divisions to keep its reputation as one of the original 'pony cars'. In the 1978 model year, you could choose a base V6 or one of 5 different V8 engines making up to 200 horsepower. To help celebrate the 50th anniversary of Pontiac, the Special Edition was offered to the public in 1976, using black paint with gold accents, add-on lower body panels and more. The popularity of the gold-on-black Special Edition was immeasurably boosted by its starring role in the smash hit movie 'Smokey and the Bandit', and the car would forever be known unofficially as the 'Bandit' edition!
Our replica of this iconic Hollywood motoring legend takes all the familiar shapes and lines and shrinks them down to 1/10th scale to fit on your RC touring car chassis! A huge vinyl pre-cut decal sheet comes with all of the good stuff: official Pontiac & Special Edition logos and even the gold firebird and pin-striping that made the 'Bandit' edition one of the most highly coveted cars of the 70's!
Like all HPI bodies, the '78 Firebird comes with a clear protective overspray film, window masks and a large pre-cut decal sheet. The body also has drill locations marked for HPI touring car chassis, making it easy to line up the body mount and antenna holes.
- Premium vinyl decals include window frames, headlights, grill, tail lights, official logos and more - for a perfect finish with a lot of details
- High quality, crystal clear polycarbonate with excellent dimensional stability and impact resistance, for extra strength and longer life
- Clear, easy-peel overspray paint film makes painting quick and easy
- Pre-marked body post holes for easy mounting on HPI cars
- Officially licensed body
Note: Trimming and painting of this body shell will be required. See our range of Spray Paints


text:
What to know about Illinois football
CHAMPAIGN - If the Illinois spring football game Saturday is your first chance to see the Illini since the 24-point win over Baylor in the Texas Bowl, here's all you need to know after four weeks of spring drills.
Q: Has anybody stepped forward at running back with the loss of Mike Leshoure to the NFL?
A: Yes, but it's not who you think it would be. Jason Ford, a senior this fall, failed to shed any concerns about his durability and failed to take control of the starting spot. He missed the major scrimmages because of a sore knee, and he's not expected to play in the spring game. Lingering injuries have slowed Ford during his career, and he didn't win any points with the coaching staff.
"That's kind of disappointing,'' said offensive coordinator Paul Petrino. "He has to have a great fall (camp).''
Troy Pollard's status for the spring game remained uncertain Friday following a concussion suffered last weekend. What they've done is leave the door open for incoming freshman Donovonn Young, from Katy, Texas, who is expected to grab carries this fall.
The eye-opener in the spring has been the play of fullback Jay Prosch, who left camp for eight days while visiting his mother, who has been diagnosed with brain cancer. Prosch didn't get a carry last season while serving as the blocking back for Leshoure last season, but the sophomore from Mobile, Ala., is a rising star for his powerful running style.
If the Illini use Prosch as a runner in short yardage, they must find him a blocker. But, Petrino said, Prosch's first responsibilities come at fullback.
Q: Has the passing game improved?
A: Quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase gained 15 pounds of muscle in the offseason, and there's a little more zip on his passes. He's also more decisive in his reads, Paul Petrino said, and the Illini passing game ranked 10th in the Big Ten and 111th in the nation a year ago took a step forward in the offseason.
Sophomore wide receiver Ryan Lankford gained 10 pounds in the offseason and might be the team's most improved. This also might finally be the season where the Illini take a look more at the tight end. Athletic sophomore Evan Wilson is a natural blocker who worked on pass catching, and converted quarterback Eddie Villiunas may earn a scholarship for his ability in the passing game.
Q: How good is the offensive line?
A: The unit could be the team's strength. With center Graham Pocic and tackle Jeff Allen serious all-Big Ten candidates, the line has star power. Starting guard Hugh Thornton is aslo back. The return of tackle Corey Lewis from a knee injury will also be key. He was withheld from contact in the spring, and redshirt freshmen Michael Heitz, of Table Grove VIT, and Simon Cvijanovic shared the spot in the spring.
Q: Where's the strength of the defense?
A: Sophomore defensive tackle Akeem Spence is the next star on the line, and linebackers Ian Thomas and Jonathan Brown improved late in the spring season, but the defense's strength comes with the experience and depth in the secondary.
"The secondary is one of the most improved groups on the team,'' coach Ron Zook said.
With Terry Hawthorne and Tavon Wilson starting at cornerback with Trulon Henry and Supo Sanni at safety, there's depth. Justin Green started last season at cornerback, and Steve Hull and Pat Nixon are getting more experienced at safety. There should be enough DBs for nickel packages.
Q: What's the concern on special teams?
A: After sophomore walk-on receiver Tim Russell handled the duties at holder, the concern remained at punter. Incoming scholarship freshman Justin DuVernois is the odds-on favorite to win the job this fall, but that's a lot of pressure on a rookie. Illinois experimented with former placekicker Matt Eller and Lankford, whose rugby punts could be the best option other than DuVernois.
John Supinie can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com. Follow him on Twitter @JohnSupinie.
Orange and Blue scrimmage
Gametime: 1 p.m. Saturday.
Admission: Free. Use east entrances to Memorial Stadium.
Parking: Free in Memorial Stadium and Assembly Hall lots.
Format: Offense vs. defense. Offensive scoring -- first down (1 point), PAT (1 point), play over 30 yards (2 points), field goal (3 points), touchdown (6 points). Defensive scoring -- Any stop (1 point), 3 and out (2 points), fourth-down stop (2 points), turnover (3 points), turnover for touchdown (9 points).
Honorary captains: New York Jets punter Steve Weatherford and Dallas Cowboys safety Alan Ball.
TV: Streamed live on Bigtennetwork.com before a tape-delayed telecast on BTN at 6 p.m. Saturday.


text:
Pamper every pet at the Heartlake Pet Salon!
Celebrate the grand opening of the Heartlake Pet Salon! Everyone's excited to check it out! Help Emma to shampoo her friend Joanna's pretty white poodle in the bubble bath, then trim and clip her on the rotating grooming table. Use the blow dryer and brushes to make her perfect! While Joanna is waiting for her puppy to be groomed, help her to shop for new pet food and lots of accessories in the salon's shop. Then fill up the water dish at the tap for the poodle to drink. With all of these accessories and functions, you can really pamper all of the pretty pets in Heartlake City! Includes Emma and Joanna mini-doll figures and a poodle.
Das Disney Schloss
ab 369,95 €
Poe Damerons X-Wing Starfighter™
ab 99,90 €
Audi RS Q e-tron
ab 136,95 €


text:
This afternoon at Netroots I attempted to ask the embattled Senator Sherrod Brown about his campaign, specifically his record as the deciding vote for Obamacare. Ohio voters passed an amendment to their constitution outlawing the Democrats' health care law by a wide margin in 2011:
Ohioans overwhelmingly rejected the healthcare mandate provisions of Obamacare.
They did this by handily passing an amendment to the state's constitution that reads, in part, as follows:
No federal, state, or local law or rule shall compel, directly or indirectly, any person, employer, or health care provider to participate in a health care system.
My own state's senator, Claire McCaskill, championed Obamacare while Missourians overwhelmingly (by over 70%, 3-1 in every county) passed the Healthcare Freedom Act which excluded Missourians from the penalties of Obamacare, including jail time and fines. I wondered how Brown was going to reconcile this troubling disparity in his state.
Unfortunately, while the Senator stood and asked questions from a number of progressive attendees, when I finally had an opening to ask my question, he refused.
"Senator, do you have a moment for a question?"
"Not for you," he remarked, pointing at me, before rushing off with his assistant.
Later, Al Gore Tweeted "Awesome."
He later deleted it, but not before I and others screencapped it.
Twitchy called Brown's behavior "rude and dismissive." Mediaite attempted to pass it off as a "botched interview attempt" which would only make sense if I had "botched" politely asking Brown for a moment of his time.
Brown can't rely on Gore to bail him out of his situation and he would do well to not run from honest, politely asked questions from those who simply want answers.
*UPDATE: The Socialist Party spokesman at Netroots said Brown "understands things better than most."
*MORE: Shark Tank gets a few minutes with Brown (who thought he was speaking with a friendly).


text:
The Time Exxon Went Into the Semiconductor Business (and Failed)
And it wasn't just Exxon. In Silicon Valley's early days, all sorts of major corporations tried to get a piece of the pie.
Zilog was founded by Intel veterans Federico Faggin and Ralph Ungermann in 1974.* Their first microprocessor, the Z80, was a hit. Intel's products, the company's Dave House admitted, "kind of got stomped on by Zilog with their Z80." But Zilog's success brought trouble in an unlikely form: Exxon.
First, Exxon made a large investment in exchange for 51 percent of the company. Then, they bought Zilog clean out, despite its next-generation 16-bit microprocessor, the Z8000, not having tremendous success. It was downhill from there. And by 1985, having invested a billion dollars, Exxon sold the company back to some of its employees and the investment firm Warburg Pincus.
I ran across this story while reporting on the history of Intel, and in those key days during the early 1980s, right before IBM decided to use Intel chips, Zilog was providing legitimate competition for the now giant company.
What I soon discovered, though, was that Exxon was not alone in trying to make money off the computing boom. As Forbes recalled in 1997, many companies went chasing tech growth and came up empty-handed or worse.
It seemed like a good idea at the time. Schlumberger was flush with cash from its oil well logging business. Fairchild Camera & Instrument was a pioneer in the semiconductor industry and in need of capital. Semiconductor chips didn't seem too far afield from Schlumberger's expertise. Didn't oil well measuring tools use electronics heavily? Schlumberger wrote out a check for $425 million to purchase Fairchild.
This was in 1979, just before the great boom in personal computers got underway. Schlumberger should have made billions of dollars from its acquisition. But it didn't. In 1987 it sold Fairchild at a $220 million loss to National Semiconductor.
You could make a long list of merger fiascos in computers and electronics: Xerox paying $900 million for mainframe manufacturer Scientific Data Systems in 1969. Exxon buying Zilog, a microprocessor company, and then some word processor companies, into which it sank $1 billion before selling and writing off the businesses. AT&T losing $4 billion on NCR during a bull market.
There was something about the way these companies managed their businesses that seemed destined to run highly innovative chip companies into the ground.
Faggin, for his part, still sounds a little bitter about it all. He left Intel disgruntled and wanted to take the company on. "And we almost succeeded," he recalled in an oral history. "The Z80 was our first product and it became very successful. It took the business away from the [Intel] 8080. Zilog was winning in the market, but then IBM's choice to adopt the Intel 8086 reversed the direction. That was the turning point. By the way, the key reason IBM chose Intel was that our sole investor, Exxon Enterprises, had declared war on IBM."
But it's not just sour grapes. G. Dan Hutcheson, president of VLSI Research, told Forbes, "Zilog might have been what Intel is today, if Exxon hadn't tied them down."
What exactly did they do wrong (aside from tiffing with IBM)? Bernard Peuto, who was at Zilog in the early years and later went on to Sun Microsystems, had a simple answer for what tended to go wrong: The big companies gave Silicon Valley upstarts too much money.
"Quite frankly I blame Exxon," Peuto said in a panel about Zilog at the Computer History Museum. "Exxon essentially choked us with money. They basically gave us too much money and too many directions, which we then kind of went into and in some sense there are times where you have to refuse and that's very hard to do when somebody gives you dollars. But the reality was the reason we were doing too many things is because we could afford to do it because Exxon was kind of giving us the check. That's my personal view. The elephant [had grown too] complex."
And maybe that's the history lesson we can apply today: Too much money too fast breeds too little focus and too much complexity.
* This article previously misspelled the name of one of Zilog's cofounders. It is Federico Faggin, not Faggins.


text:
Have a Tower Garden question? We'd love to help you!
You can reach our Customer Care team from 8 am–5 pm CT, Mon.–Fri. Dial 866-235-0414, follow prompts to select your language, then 1 for customer, and 2 for Tower Garden. Alternatively, send us an email using the form below, or connect with us on social media.
For media inquiries about Tower Garden or to request an interview, please email details and the deadline to [email protected]. A member of the Tower Garden media team will review and be in touch.


text:
FONTANA – Jimmie Johnson is the all-time NASCAR Sprint Cup leader at Auto Club Speedway with five checkered flags. It's a totally different picture on the Nationwide side.
Joe Gibbs Racing is the dominant force, having won the past nine Nationwide events at Fontana. Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth will drive the JGR Toyota entries in the TreatMyClog.com 300 Saturday afternoon in the quest for an impressive 10th consecutive victory.
The streak started in 2008 when Tony Stewart took the win. Since then, Busch has won six of the past eight races (includng last year) with Joey Logano claiming the others in 2009 and 2012.
Saturday's race will mark Kenseth's debut at Fontana for JGR. In 13 career starts, he has four wins in the ACS event (1999-2000, 2003, 2007), split evenly in Chevrolets and Fords. He has seven top-5 and 10 top-10 efforts.
"It's certainly nice to get the extra track time during the weekend by running on the Nationwide side since I feel it can be a benefit to our program on the Cup side," Kenseth said. "It's definitely a track that you can change your line, change your approach, find grip, lose grip, find speed and all that kind of stuff.
"It's like every track in the sense that you have to have the car right, but certainly there are a lot of options when you go there of where you can run."
Crew chief Kevin Kidd had similar thoughts.
"JGR has an impressive win streak going at that track, and we are looking to build on that. Fontana has turned into a great racetrack," Kidd said. "The wear and tear on the track surface over the last few years allows for a lot of tire fall-off, which typically produces great racing. The biggest trick to Fontana is getting good corner exits, so that you can carry a lot of momentum down those long straightaways."
Logano has never finished outside the top-10 in his seven Nationwide race at the track, and knows how tough the compertition will be.
"I probably know better than anyone else how good that No. 54 team (Busch) is on the Nationwide side of things," said the Team Penske Ford driver. "That is basically the exact same team that I drove for during my last year with JGR when we won nine races."
RPM on threshold?
It's been 15 years since the No. 43 made famous by Richard Petty has won a Cup race, and 36 yewars since Petty took a checkered flag at Riverside International Raceway, the last of his three wins on the famed road course.
Last Sunday, Richard Petty Motorsports driver Aric Almirola posted a career-best fifth-place finish at Bristol. Now he's headed west to ACS, where he was 14th a year ago and where crew chief Trent Owens has experienced success on the Nationwide level.
"Last week gave our team a lot of momentum going into this weekend. It showed that all of our hard work is paying off," Almirola said, "We have shown speed everywhere we've gone this year, we just haven't seen the results to prove it. We did just that last week.
"California is a fun track. I so much enjoy going to the kind of race track where the asphalt is old and worn out. It seems like the track is getting rougher each year we come, and that makes it a challenge for the crew chiefs and the engineers to figure out how to get the car as low to the ground as they can but without bottoming out on those bumps."
Pit notes
Chris Rice, crew chief for the No. 99 RAB Racing Toyota driven by James Buescher, has been fined $10,000 and placed on NASCAR probation until Dec. 31 after a rules violation during the Bristol Nationwide race. Car chief John Guerra was also placed on probation. … David Reutimann will attempt to make Sunday's field, having missed at Bristol by 0.001 seconds for Front Row Motorsports. He has 11 Cup starts at the track, finishing as high as ninth in 2006. … Childress Institute for Pediatric Trauma, designed to improve the treatment for critically injured children in the U.S., is soliciting bronze-level donations of $33 (Austin Dillon), $27 (Paul Menard) or $31 (Ryan Newman at ww.wakehealth.edu/OnlineGift.htm?fid=45).


text:
The physician told her to return tomorrow.
'An affliction of the heart,' was all he said.
She returned fearing the worst. She entered the little cabinet and saw on the desk a fine dinner and red wine and two lit candles. The doctor, neatly dressed, held a bouquet of roses.
(First published last year.)


text:
Why This Recipe Works
- Starting the pork in a low oven breaks down tough connective tissue.
- Finishing the pork in high heat rapidly crisps up the skin.
Remember in the first season of Thundercats when Lion-o had to prove himself as the true Lord of New Thundera by battling each of the other cats in their own game? After he proves himself stronger than Panthro, beats Cheetara in a race, outwiles the ThunderKittens WilyKit and WilyKat in the Maze of Infinity, and overcomes Tygra's mental projections to face his greatest fear, you think that the whole thing is over and you can finally rest easy.
But no, Lion-o's anointment comes back with a vengeance as he is forced to face none other than Mumm-ra himself on the fifth day.
Well, we've tackled whole roasted suckling pig, not just one, but two versions of all-belly porchetta (one cooked sous-vide and deep fried), and a crown roast of pork. Surely our adventures in Swineville are over, you thought.
Nope. Here, we're going to talk about what is perhaps the greatest of all bits of culinary alchemy. The transformation of one of the cheapest cuts of meat in the butcher's display case into one of the most glorious festive centerpieces imaginable.
We're talking pork butt, in all of it's juicy, porky, spoon-tender in the middle, impossibly crisp and crusty-on-the-outside glory.
What Is Pork Butt?
First off, a quick word on nomenclature. Pork butt is not pork butt. Let me explain.
See, at some point in our colonial past, Boston was well known for its pork production and would often ship preserved pork (most often front shoulders—the least desirable part of the hog—but often hams and heads as well) in large wooden barrels. These barrels were of the size officially known as "butt" or "pipe." That'd be a 126 gallon barrel half the size of a 252 gallon tun, larger than a 84 gallon firkin, and twice the size of a 63 gallon hogshead (which, incidentally, have nothing to do with actual hogs or heads).
The pork-filled barrels shipped out across the country came to be known as Boston Butts, a term which was soon applied to the meat inside, despite the fact that it actually came from the shoulder of the hog. These days, conventions in many parts of the country still refer to the pork shoulder as Boston butt, though in many cities (including Boston itself), they're known as just plain "butt."
Had our forebears deigned to ship pork in 84 gallon barrels, we might have found ourselves spooning slow-cooked pulled Boston firkin into our BBQ sandwiches, perhaps making our Italian sausages out of Boston puncheon, or if those shoulders were shipped to New Mexico via 18 gallon barrels, they'd be chowing down on chile verde made out of Boston rundlet.
With that out of the way, let's talk about what is actually inside a Boston butt... er, shoulder.
A full bone-in Boston butt is a formidable piece of meat, usually weighing in at around eight to twelve pounds, riddled with a significant amount of connective tissue and inter/intramuscular fat, all swathed in a thick, tough skin.
Our goal is to make this tough piece of meat spoonably tender. How do you do that? Well, you cook it.
- Fast twitch muscle is the stuff that the animal rarely uses except in short bursts. The breasts on a chicken that let it flap its wings rapidly when escaping danger. The loins on a cow that, well, barely get used at all. Fast twitch muscle is characterized by tenderness (think chicken breast, pork chops, or New York strip steaks) and finely textured grain and is best cooked using fast-cooking methods like roasting, grilling, or sautéeing. With fast twitch muscle, optimal eating conditions are met pretty much as soon as you reach your final serving temperature (say, 145°F for a chicken breast or 125°F for a steak). Extended holding at that temperature can increase tenderness slightly, but you won't see any major changes in texture or flavor.
- Slow twitch muscle, on the other hand, comprises the continually working muscles in an animal. The shoulders and haunches that keep the animal upright and walking. The tail muscles that keep the flies off. The muscles around the flank that keep the animal breathing. Slow twitch muscle is characterized by robust flavor, but a very tough texture with lots of connective tissue that needs to be cooked for extended periods of time to be broken down. With slow twitch muscle, the tenderness of the finished product is dependent not only on the temperature at which it's cooked, but also the length of time it is cooked for. Beginning around 160°F tough collagen begins to break down into tender, juicy gelatin. The hotter the meat, the faster this breakdown occurs.
So to sum up: With fast twitch muscle, temperature is the most important factor when cooking. With slow twitch, both time and temperature affect the final product.
The Best Temperature to Cook Pork Butt
So if higher temperatures leads to faster breakdown of connective tissue, shouldn't you just blast your pork shoulder at the highest oven temperature it can take without burning the skin?
Not so fast. Temperature has other effects too, namely, drying meat out. I roasted two identical pork shoulders until they were both equally tender. One at 375°F (which took about 3 hours), and second at 250°F (which took about 8 hours). After roasting I calculated the amount of total moisture lost in the meat by adding together the weight of the finished roast plus the fatty drippings in the pan below and subtracting that from the initial weight of the roast.
Turns out that at a higher temperature, a pork shoulder loses about 8% more juices than at a lower temperature due to muscle fibers contracting and squeezing out their contents. Eating the meat from the two roasts confirmed as much, though to be honest, both were pretty crazy juicy and moist.
On the other hand, the high temperature roast showed at least one definite advantage over the low-roast: The skin.
Here is a piece of skin from a pork shoulder cooked at 375°F the whole time:
And here is a piece cooked at 250°F:
See the difference? Problem is that cooking a great piece of pork skin requires two separate activities.
First, you've got to break down connective tissue. There's a common misconception that animal skin—chicken skin, turkey skin, pork rinds—is made up of fat. This is not true. There certainly is a lot of fat in the skin and directly underneath it (necessary to help warm blooded animals maintain their body temperature), but skin also contains a great deal of water and connective proteins which, just like connective tissues in slow-twitch muscles, must be broken down via long cooking.
On top of that, once the connective tissue has softened sufficiently, moisture needs to be forced out of it, and the remaining proteins need to be heated until they coagulate and stiffen up. It's the combination of these three things—connective tissue breakdown, moisture loss, and firming of proteins—that leads to crisp-but-not-tough skin.
When cooked at 375°F, all three of these things happen at about the same time. By the time the connective tissue has broken down, you've driven off enough moisture from the rind to render it hard and crunchy. In a 250°F oven, on the other hand, connective tissue breaks down for sure, but moisture loss and protein stiffening don't occur to a great enough degree to deliver a crisp finished product. Instead, you end up with skin that's soft and tender, but floppy.
So clearly, once again we should be cooking our pork at a higher temperature, right?
Hold up, there's one more thing to consider.
Getting the Crispiest Skin
We all know what surface area is, right? Take a look once again at a close up of the crisp skin from the pork cooked at 375°F:
See how despite a few wrinkles here and there, it's all relatively smooth? Well, smooth objects have relatively low surface area given a particular volume, while winkled, bubbled, crinkly, curvy objects have a relatively high surface area given the same internal volume. And when it comes to texture, more surface area = more crunch.
It's the same principle behind, say, scratching up the surface of potatoes before roasting them to get them extra crisp (more on ultra crispy roast potatoes here), or packing your burger extra loose to give it a crisper exterior and more browning (check out that effect in my recipe for Ultra Crispy Burgers.
When roasting at 375°F, because the dehydrating and protein-setting is taking place at the same time that the connective tissue is breaking down, there's never really a stage when the skin is relatively structure-free. It goes from being firm through connective tissue directly to being firm through dehydration.
On the other hand, after 8 hours in a 250°F oven, the pig skin has very little structural integrity—there's really very little holding it together and it closely resembles a bundle of tiny balloons just waiting to be filled.
How do you fill those balloons? Let heat do the work for you.
By taking that slow-cooked pork, and banging it into a preheated 500°F oven, both air and steam trapped within the skin will rapidly expand, causing millions of tiny bubbles to form and causing the skin to rapidly expand. And here's the key: As the bubbles expand, they stretch their walls out thinner and thinner. Eventually, they are so thin that the heat from the oven is able to quite rapidly cause them to set into a permanent shape that won't collapse even when the pork is pulled out of the oven.
In this sense, pig skin is very much like a loaf of bread: high temperature causes gas expansion which then gets trapped in a protein matrix that firms up in the heat of the oven to create a crunchy, crisp crust.
Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?
Personally, I generally prefer my meat relatively unadorned—good meat, salt, and pepper is all I need. Pork shoulder, on the other hand, is great at taking flavor. You can feel free to rub the meat and skin with your favorite spice blend or dry rub before roasting it, or—my method of choice since it keeps your options open—keep it plain for roasting and instead season the shredded picked tender meat before serving.
I like to bring the thing whole to the table and allow diners to pick and pull at it with their fingers, offering a few sauces to work with on the side. Try sweet and spicy nuoc cham, Chinese style char sui, Cuban mojo, a sweet Memphis-style barbecue sauce, or a bright Argentinian chimichurri. Or better yet, this is a pork party, so throw out a whole selection.
Shredded roasted pork shoulder is excellent on its own, even better in sandwiches with a bit of cole slaw, or makes an excellent addition to soups, stews, taco fillings, Cuban sandwiches, empanada fillings, arepa stuffings, hash, omelettes, etc.
It's nearly as impossible to mess up slow-cooked pork shoulder as it is to bring the sucker to the table without eating half the skin yourself before it arrives.
December 2011
Recipe Details
Ultra-Crispy Slow-Roasted Pork Shoulder Recipe
Pull-apart tender meat and ultra-crisp skin: slow-roasted pork may not be the most gorgeous looking, but the flavor more than makes up for it.
1 whole bone-in, skin-on pork shoulder, 8 to 12 pounds total
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 250°F (121°C).
Line a rimmed baking sheet with heavy duty aluminum foil (see notes) and set a wire rack inside it. Place a piece of parchment paper on top of the wire rack. Season pork on all sides liberally with salt and pepper and place on parchment paper. Transfer to oven and roast until knife or fork inserted into side shows very little resistance when twisted, about 8 hours total.
Remove pork from oven and tent with foil. Let rest at room temperature for at least 15 minutes and up to 2 hours. Increase oven to 500°F and allow to preheat. Return pork to the oven and roast until skin is blistered and puffed, rotating every 5 minutes, about 20 minutes total. Remove from oven, tent with foil and allow to rest an additional 15 minutes. Serve by picking in the kitchen or just bring it to the table and let guests pick meat and crispy skin themselves, dipping into sauce of their choice on the side (see note).
Special Equipment
Rimmed baking sheet, wire rack
To make a pan sauce, skip the aluminum foil when roasting; when the pork's finished, drain off and discard the excess fat and deglaze the rimmed baking sheet by heating it over a single burner and adding two cups of white wine, chicken stock, or a combination of both. Scrape up browned bits, transfer to a small saucepan, season to taste, and whisk in two tablespoons butter off heat.
Read More
|Nutrition Facts (per serving)
|Nutrition Facts
|Servings: 8 to 12
|Amount per serving
|% Daily Value*
|Total Fat 55g
|Saturated Fat 20g
|Cholesterol 230mg
|Sodium 383mg
|Total Carbohydrate 0g
|Dietary Fiber 0g
|Total Sugars 0g
|Protein 59g
|Vitamin C 1mg
|Calcium 61mg
|Iron 3mg
|Potassium 839mg
|*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.


text:
DISTRICT of ARIZONA
Office of the United States Attorney, Ann Birmingham Scheel
District of Arizona
May 04, 2012
Public Affairs
Bill Solomon
Telephone: 602.514.7547
Cell: 602.920.1424
Four Indicted in Federal Student Financial Aid Scheme
PHOENIX – On May 2, 2012, federal authorities arrested three women accused of participating in federal student financial aid fraud involving inmates of Perryville Prison. Arrested were Elizabeth Meza, 32, Sandra Lopez, 25, and Denise Wheeler, 43, all residents of Glendale, Ariz. Analisa Delgado, 33, who is currently serving a prison sentence in Perryville Prison, is also alleged to be part of the fraud.
The four women were indicted by a federal grand jury on April 25, 2012, on charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, theft of public funds, and aggravated identity theft. The indictment alleges that the four used a variety of identities to register for on-line classes at Rio Salado College and to apply for federal student financial aid in the form of loans and grants. The federal government approved more than $150,000 in funds based on fraudulent applications, with approximately $71,000 having been disbursed. An investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Education revealed that dozens more fraudulent applications were in the works.
A conviction for wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison, a $1,000,000 fine, or both. A conviction for theft of government funds carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both. A conviction for conspiracy carries a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both. A conviction for aggravated identity theft carries a mandatory, consecutive, 2-year prison sentence, a $250,000 fine, or both. In determining an actual sentence, U.S. District Judge Neil V. Wake will consult, but is not bound by, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which provide appropriate sentencing ranges.
An indictment is simply a method by which a person is charged with criminal activity and raises no inference of guilt. An individual is presumed innocent until competent evidence is presented to a jury that establishes guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
The investigation preceding the indictment was conducted by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Inspector General. The prosecution is being handled by Monica Klapper, Assistant U.S. Attorney, District of Arizona, Phoenix.
RELEASE NUMBER: 2012-111(Delgado_etal)
Indictment (PDF)
# # #


text:
Further to my earlier post about shaping the future of Flash Builder by submitting feature requests, another way which you can help us is by completing our online Flex survey.
Answers to the survey questions will help us determine the future product roadmap for the Flex SDK, Flash Builder and Flash Catalyst – by completing the survey you'll get some idea as to the areas we're thinking of exploring and you'll have the opportunity to help prioritize what we work on.
The Flex product management team will be taking the results from the survey very seriously and I'd please ask that you spare 15-20 minutes to complete it for us.
Thanks for your help!
Note: for those living outside North America, I can only share your frustration that the sweepstake prizes are not available to you and I hope that we might be able to resolve that issue for a future survey.


text:
Community Celebration with Kids' Activities, Nature Walk and More
(Portland,OR) –
Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) will hold a free, public celebration to enjoy the newly revitalized Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge Bluff Trail. All are invited to attend for refreshments, kids' activities, the ribbon cutting, bird watching with experts, guided nature walks and a photo display.
Trail construction in the popular urban wildlife sanctuary was completed on December 2012, with native plant re-vegetation, the final phase of the project, finished in early 2013. The project includes 500 feet of slip-resistant boardwalk on the existing path, with a safety railing, rock walls at the north and south trail entry areas, and an observation deck for wildlife and bird viewing. Oaks Bottom is a significant bird watching area and this observation deck is a wonderful improvement for that activity.
WHAT: Let's Celebrate Oaks Bottom! PP&R's Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge Bluff Trail Restoration Celebration
WHEN: Saturday, March 9,10am-1pm
WHERE: Bluff Trail trailhead in the South Meadow of Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge (look for the tents, and see map below for more details)
Schedule of Events:
10am Refreshments served
10:15am Speakers –Portland Parks & Recreation Director Mike Abbaté, Metro Councilor Bob Stacey, and Mike Houck of the Urban Greenspaces Institute.
10:30am Ribbon cutting
10:45am-1pm Activities, both guided and open-house style
Tables/Tents for: refreshments, children's activities, photo exhibit, SMILE/Friends of Oaks Bottom information
Guided bird watching at overlook on Bluff Trail (Binoculars, field guides provided)
10:45am 1-hour guided walk of the refuge and restoration sites
11:45am 1-hour guided walk of the refuge and restoration sites
Spring will have sprung in wetland and riparian habitat and springtime birds will be in full song as well.
Mike Houck, Director of the Urban Greenspaces Institute and Oaks Bottom advocate for more than forty years, will lead the two-mile guided walk. He'll be joined by Portland Parks & Recreation ecologist Mark Wilson. Wilsonwill share his observations regarding ecological changes in the refuge, some intentional and some serendipitous, over the many years he has been an ecologist for PP&R.
The walks are suitable for families with children. Bring binoculars if you like. Wear clothes suited to the day's weather as we will go rain or shine. Meet Mike in the parking lot at the north end of Sellwood Park,SE 7th Avenue and SE Sellwood Boulevard at 10:45 sharp.
From Sellwood Park (~10 Minutes): Walk down the trail located just west of the parking lot in Sellwood Park. Turn right after the stone stairs at the bottom of the hill and continue on the graveled path through the south meadow. Look for the tents in the meadow near the trailhead of the Bluff Trail.
From South Refuge entrance (~5 minutes): Use South Refuge Access underpass and follow graveled path east through the South Meadow. Look for the tents in the meadow near the southern trailhead of the Bluff Trail.
This project was funded by Metro's 2006 voter-approved Natural Areas Bond measure.


text:
Back Pain a Common Problem
Four in five people will be affected by lower back pain at some point in their lives. Most back pain will ease with rest and over-the-counter pain relievers, according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Applying cold compresses or ice for 20 minutes several times a day also may help. Talk to your health care provider if the pain doesn't ease after these self-care steps.


text:
Carole Baggerly had her own experience with breast cancer. She then started to research the reason why. Her discovery; scientists have expressed the understanding that breast cancer is a deficiency disease. That is over her life time, her intake of vitamin D was not adequate. She was so upset and concerned about the issues that she started GrassrootsHealth. This is a consortium of more than forty scientists and doctors that are experts in vitamin D and nutrition. She discovered that it was not only breast cancer, but a host of chronic illness related to deficiencies. Take the time and watch her explain the issues in the first thirty minutes of this video presentation. Carole Baggerly and Dr. Heaney, September, 2012 Presentation to Direct-MS Canada.
If you are concerned about the health of your children, yourself, your parents, the next hour is Dr. Heaney who has contributed significantly to the understanding of vitamin D. He talks about the longevity issues and decline with chronic disease because of nutritional deficiencies. There are many diseases that have now been linked to deficiencies that number into the hundreds. This is particularly pointed to vitamin D deficiency.
This discussion is fairly non-technical and is understandable by the average person. Dr. Heaney expresses the understanding that "things go better with vitamin D". That is that vitamin D deficiency may not be the cause of a disease like TB, but not having enough vitamin D will prevent your body from properly healing. However, this understanding falls into the logic of the chicken versus the egg. In other words, if you had enough vitamin D would you have gotten TB in the first place? Dr. Heaney discusses everything from diabetes, heart disease, MS, pregnancy, and cancer to infectious diseases like TB. I give the video presentation six stars out of a five star rating system for understanding of chronic disease and the effect of vitamin D. Presentation to Direct-MS Canada.
Your take away from this, is you, your friends, and your family should not suffer from vitamin D deficiency. Standards within the medical industry have long been 20 ng/ml to 100 ng/ml. There have not been any cases of toxicity below 200 ng/ml or 500 nmol/l. There does not appear to be any downside at this level of vitamin D. Some laboratories have decreased the upper number, 100 ng/ml, to whatever they are measuring the population. Best health for you can be reached with a vitamin D serum level, 25(OH)D between 40 ng/ml to 80 ng/ml; note this is still within the normal range as defined by medicine. It is not how much you take; it is where you maintain your serum level. Everyone responds differently to their intake from all sources of vitamin D. The only way to know is to test. Dr. Heaney says to maintain a level above 40ng/ml will require an intake from all sources of 5000 IU or more of vitamin D3 per day.
Please note this presentation is in Canada. The measurements used are in nanamoles per liter or nmol/l. To convert ng/ml to nmol/l multiply ng/ml by 2.5. So the normal range of 20 to 100 ng/ml is 50 to 250 nmol/l. Get your serum level tested to give your body a chance to thrive. If you choose to do it through GrassrootsHealth, you become part of the study that will help to advance health in the population. – Pandemic Survivor
Test by GrassrootsHealth: Video of how to do the test:


text:
Wreck search methods
Underwater obstructions (UWH) are investigated in wreck search with modern sonar systems. The systems include a side scan sonar (SSS) and a multibeam echo sounder. The SSS provides an image of the seabed and the objects lying on it. With the multibeam echo sounder, a 3D terrain model is created when the object is crossed during surveying and the lowest water depth at the UWH and the surrounding bottom is determined.


text:
Research on Maya village uncovers 'invisible' crops, unexpected agriculture
(Phys.org) —The University of Cincinnati's mastery of ancient Maya mysteries continues with new research from professor of biological sciences David Lentz.
UC faculty have been involved in multiple research projects concerning ancient Maya culture for more than a decade. This latest Maya study from Lentz focuses on Cerén, a farming village that was smothered under several meters of volcanic ash in the late sixth century.
Lentz will present his research, "The Lost World of the Zapotitan Valley: Cerén and its Paleoecological Context," at the 78th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, held April 3-7 in Honolulu. More than 3,000 scientists from around the world attend the event to learn about research covering a broad range of topics and time periods.
The scientific gifts of volcanic cataclysm
Cerén, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site known as Joya de Cerén, was discovered in El Salvador in the late 1970s when a governmental construction project unearthed what turned out to be ancient ceramic pottery and other clay structures. The initial archaeological excavation was directed by Payson Sheets, a faculty member at the University of Colorado and a friend of Lentz.
Cerén is sometimes called "the Pompeii of Central America," and much like that doomed ancient Roman city, the wreckage of Cerén was remarkably well preserved by its volcanic burial shroud. So that bad news for the Cerén villagers became good news for archaeologists centuries later.
"What this meant for me, is this site had all these plant remains lying on the ground," Lentz says. "Not only do we find these plant remains well preserved, but we find them where the people left them more than a thousand years ago, and that is really extraordinary."
Lentz specializes in paleoethnobotany and oftentimes in his work – including at other Maya sites – he's left to interpret complex meaning from splinters of charred wood and hard nut fragments. The Mayas' tropical environment, which isn't conducive to preserving plant remains, doesn't make things any easier.
But the situation was different at Cerén. The village's sudden and complete ruin sealed it under layers of preservative ash. So Lentz's research there is still challenging but in an unfamiliar way.
"It was tricky because we kept encountering things we'd never encountered before at a Maya site," Lentz says. "They were just invisible because of the lack of preservation."
Gardens, crops and other surprises
A few examples of what Lentz and his team have discovered at Cerén:
- They found tremendous quantities of a root crop (malanga, a relative of taro) that previously had not been associated with Maya agriculture. They found another "invisible" crop of manioc alongside the more anticipated fields of maize, and they found grasses no longer in existence on the modern-day El Salvador landscape.
- They made what is thought to be the first discovery of a Maya kitchen, complete with intensively planted household garden. "We could tell what was planted around the houses," Lentz says. "This is fabulous because people have long debated how the Maya did all this. Now we have a real example."
- They found a household with more than 70 ceramic pots, many used to store beans, peppers and other plant matter. Having that many vessels in one home was an unusual discovery for what is thought to be a small, farming village. Lentz likened it to having four or five sets of China in a typical American home.
- They found large plots of neatly rowed land, evidence of ridge and furrow agriculture. Lentz also posits that the people of Cerén surrounded their homes with orchard trees. These discoveries seemingly debunk the common theory that the Maya employed a slash-and-burn agriculture method.
- They found a raised, paved pathway called a "sacbe," which was used by the Maya for ceremonial and commercial purposes. Lentz plans additional research on the sacbe to see what other significant discoveries could be made by following the path.
From these new discoveries come many lessons, a lot of them ecological. Lentz has studied how the Mayas effectively implemented systems of agriculture and arboriculture. He is intrigued by what made these methods successful, considering the Maya population was much denser than what exists on the modern landscape.
His findings at Cerén give him new pieces to plug into the Maya puzzle. Furthermore, they help us understand how humankind affects the natural world.
"Cerén is regarded internationally as one of the treasures of the world," Lentz says. "What's been found there gives you a real idea of what things were like in the past and how humans have modified things. I think what we're learning there is revolutionizing our concept of the ancient past in Mesoamerica."
More information: www.saa.org/AbouttheSociety/An … bid/187/Default.aspx
Provided by University of Cincinnati


text:
Did you know we live in a plutocracy?
Michel Brûlé knows it. He knows the big Quebec media is out to get real Quebecers. La Presse is friends with Jean Charest, Radio-Canada is "radio propaganda", CBC has Don Cherry.
And more importantly, English Canadians are in bed with U.S. Americans because we watch their TV shows and we're pro-war or something.
Oh, and we're under control of "U.S. feminists", who have convinced Quebec's women that they have to go after all men, when in fact it's just the English-speaking ones who are oppressing them. (He insists, meanwhile, that objectifying women is OK because he finds them very pretty — but only in ads for sex shops, not beer.) He also says Quebec women are too stupid to realize the need for Quebec independence to free it from the English Canadians, because they only voted 45% yes in the 1995 referendum while men voted 55% yes.
This is what he explains, in his opening videos (which I can't link to*) to Les Dents du Québec.TV, his new citizen media website.
His thesis: (French) Quebec men and women must band together and end the battle of the sexes so they can fight their real enemy: the English language.
I'm all for citizen media, and giving people the right to express the opinion that the French language is endangered in this province. And his point about how much American TV we watch concerns me as well.
But I'd take him a bit more seriously if most of his ideas didn't make him look like the other side of the Reform Party coin.
* Seriously folks, what's with all these video sites that don't allow people to link directly to the videos? That's not even Web 2.0, it's the kind of bone-headedly simple hyperlink technology that gave birth to the Internet in the first place.


text:
One desperate young woman.
A chance meeting.
A life-changing outcome.
You might think that's the promotional hook for one of my own novels, but you'd be wrong. It's from Caroline Clemmons' Amanda's Rancher, one of eight stories on sale at Amazon and featuring strong heroines, gorgeous heroes–books full of danger, twists, cry-out-loud woe, plenty of romance, and feel-good endings. While the snow swirls and the surf pounds the shore, snuggle up with one of these delightful historical romances, on sale through January, and get lost in the lives of courageous pioneer women. The books are well-written, sweet romances set in Debra Holland's Montana Sky Kindle World locations, Sweetwater Springs and Morgan's Crossing, Montana Territory.
The Complete List of Engaging Titles
|On Sale for Less Than a Buck
|The Author's Facebook Page
|Loving Matilda
|Elizabeth Ayers
|Hope on the Horizon
|Cassie Hayes
|Amanda's Rancher
|Caroline Clemmons
|Slater's Bride
|Patricia Thayer Wright
|Rye's Reprieve
|Louella Nelson
|Nolan's Vow
|Linda Hubalek
|Thorpe's Mail-Order Bride
|Cindy Woolf
|Laced by Love
|Linda Carroll-Bradd
News Item: All Kindle World books are now in Kindle Unlimited.
For a complete list of Debra Holland's Montana Sky novels, click here.
For a complete list of other authors' novels set in Debra's Kindle World, click here.
Now, I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't mention my own book on sale, Rye's Reprieve, and its metamorphosis.
I woke up one chilly morning at four AM with a complete scene whining and begging and crying to be written. I obliged, of course.
When the scene was polished, I sent it to best-selling author Debra Holland, for whom I serve as developmental editor for all her fiction. She read the scene on the plane en route to a writers' conference in New York and meetings with Amazon's editorial personnel. There, they hashed out the details of launching a new Kindle World based on the many successful Montana Sky novels she's written, and Rye's Reprieve came into being on February 8, 2016 in the first KW launch.
The book rose to #5 in Amazon's Top 100 Historical Romance list and for weeks was in the first two slots for KW Westerns and KW Romance. It gets even better.
Through a private Facebook group, I've thoroughly enjoyed meeting the authors who have joined Debra's Kindle World. We now have a map of one of the town settings, Morgan's Crossing, where my own Harper Ranch Series is set, and many pages of a "bible" in which we list out titles, characters, date-span, and settings to keep them straight. We often collaborate by including some of the other authors' (or Debra's) key characters in our own books. It's fun, and the readers love the huge "family" we're building and visiting with in the books.
There are now five pages of our Montana Sky Kindle World book titles on Amazon, and I'm currently working on Book Four of my Harper Ranch Series.
It's cold outside. Get under your favorite comforter, snuggle up with a cup of tea or cocoa, and enjoy these wonderful historical romances.