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New Products
Libelium is moving the transparently networked world forward with its newly released Meshlium Xtreme multiprotocol wireless router—a global first according to the company. Meshlium Xtreme uniquely supports five wireless standards, namely Wi-Fi, ZigBee, GPRS, Bluetooth, GPS and wireline Ethernet, giving a wide choice of methods for connecting wireless sensor networks to the Internet. The product also supports the storage of the sensor data in its internal database system as well as with external Internet servers. Novel features include dynamic Wi-Fi frequency switching, a "discover and store" application for Bluetooth, an aluminum IP67 waterproof enclosure for harsh environments, special holders for attaching to oddly shaped locations and an optional solar panel kit for locations without a power source. The management interface is open source, and the product runs on Debian Linux.
The motto for Red Hat's JBoss Enterprise SOA Platform, newly updated to version 5.1, is "turn the data you have into information customers can use". New in version 5.1 is JBoss Enterprise Data Services Platform 5.1, an open-source data virtualization and integration platform that includes tools to create data services out of multiple data stores with different formats, presenting information to applications and business processes in an easy-to-use service. JBoss' net benefit, notes Red Hat, is that "data services become reusable assets across the enterprise and value chain, increasing return on data assets, enabling faster time-to-solution, and driving better business execution". JBoss Enterprise SOA Platform 5.1 includes Apache CXF Web services stack, JBoss Developer Studio 4.0, a technology preview of WS-BPEL, a technology preview of Apache Camel Gateway and updated certifications (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, Windows 2008, IBM, JDK and more).
France's Dassault Systèmes says that the demand for its 2-D CAD software DraftSight to move to the Linux platform "has been overwhelming", which made the latest release on Linux inevitable. This new version of the no-cost DraftSight, which now runs on Linux, Mac OS and Windows, allows users to create, edit and view DWG files. DraftSight features a light footprint, a dynamic community-support site, professional support and education-oriented packages. The program is available for download from Dassault Systèmes' Web site.
Please send information about releases of Linux-related products to email@example.com or New Products c/o Linux Journal, PO Box 980985, Houston, TX 77098. Submissions are edited for length and content.
James Gray is Products Editor for Linux Journal
Linux has become a key foundation for supporting today's rapidly growing IT environments. Linux is being used to deploy business applications and databases, trading on its reputation as a low-cost operating environment. For many IT organizations, Linux is a mainstay for deploying Web servers and has evolved from handling basic file, print, and utility workloads to running mission-critical applications and databases, physically, virtually, and in the cloud. As Linux grows in importance in terms of value to the business, managing Linux environments to high standards of service quality — availability, security, and performance — becomes an essential requirement for business success.
Sponsored by Red Hat
If you already use virtualized infrastructure, you are well on your way to leveraging the power of the cloud. Virtualization offers the promise of limitless resources, but how do you manage that scalability when your DevOps team doesn't scale? In today's hypercompetitive markets, fast results can make a difference between leading the pack vs. obsolescence. Organizations need more benefits from cloud computing than just raw resources. They need agility, flexibility, convenience, ROI, and control.
Stackato private Platform-as-a-Service technology from ActiveState extends your private cloud infrastructure by creating a private PaaS to provide on-demand availability, flexibility, control, and ultimately, faster time-to-market for your enterprise.
Sponsored by ActiveState
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|Back to Calendar June 30, 2012 @ 10:00 am - 3:00 pm
|Weekly on Saturday until October 7, 2012
|Visitor Information Center
|✔ Add to Calendar Add to Google Calendar
Forks Open Aire Market (FOAM)
will be open again this year in the parking lot south of the Timber Museum.
FOAM is held Saturdays only from 10am to 3pm(ish).
FOAM traditionally opens the Saturday before Memorial Day weekend
and runs through the Saturday of Hickory Shirt / Heritage Days on October 13th.
FOAM is located in the beautiful park-like atmosphere
south of the Timber Museum, surrounded by the trees and green space.
FOAM specializes in local crafts, baked goods from Sweet P's Bakery, flowers and produce when available.
Due to request, we have changed our minds. The Forks Open Aire Market has named the rest of our season as Swap Meet Saturdays. In addition to our regular market vendors, we welcome the sale of garage-sale-style items during our regular operating hours of 10 am – 3 pm. Bring your items and your tables, and join in! Spaces are approximately 10 ft. square, and cost $5. Setup begins by 9 am. Non-profits are welcome, too.
Come to sell! Come to buy! Come to browse!
New vendors are always welcome at the Open Aire Market, located on Forks Ave. south of the Timber Museum, across from the airport.
For more information contact FOAM Manager firstname.lastname@example.com

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Press release : Biological passport: The UCI presents the experts who will interpret the riders' profiles
At a press conference organized today at the World Cycling Centre, the International Cycling Union (UCI) revealed the names of the independent experts who will analyse the profiles of the riders participating in the biological passport programme.
Present at the press conference were the UCI President Pat McQuaid, the UCI staff in charge of anti-doping, the experts who participated in the validation of the scientific model on which the biological passport is based, members of the independent group of experts (Mr Olaf Schumacher and Mr Pierluigi Fiorella), and representatives of teams participating in the Tour de Romandie.
The group of experts is made up of the members listed below. All of them have published numerous reference articles in their fields.
• Michael Ashenden (Australia), Project coordinator, Science and Industry Against Blood Doping Research Consortium, on the Gold Coast, in Australia, and member of the World Anti-Doping Agency working group on blood parameters.
• Michel Audran (France), Professor, biophysical and bioanalysis laboratory, Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Montpellier I, France. Professor Audran is also a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency working group on blood parameters.
• Bo Berglund (Sweden), Professor, departments of medicine and of chemistry at Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, and member of the medical and anti-doping committee of the International Canoe Federation. Professor Berglund is also a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency working group on blood parameters. In addition, he is chief physician of the Swedish Olympic Committee.
• Giuseppe D'Onofrio (Italy), Professor of haematology and Director of the transfusion department at the Policlinic A. Gemelli in Rome. He is also a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency working group on blood parameters.
• Pierluigi Fiorella (Italy), sports doctor, cardiologist, Director of the Olympus Medical Centre in Ravenna, member of the scientific and technical commission of the Italian Athletics Federation, member of the health protection commission of the Italian Cycling Federation and consultant for FC Inter-Milan.
• Giuseppe Fischetto (Italy), specialist in sports medicine, internal medicine and pneumology. He is Head of the emergency department at the Frascati-Marino Hospital in Rome, member of the medical and anti-doping commission of the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) and Head of the medical department of the Italian Athletic Federation. He is also a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency working group on blood parameters.
• Olivier Hermine (France), Professor, service of adults haematology and service of infectious and tropical diseases at Necker Hospital in Paris. Professor Hermine is also haematology consultant for the French Cycling Federation.
• Robin Parisotto (Australia) is an independent research scientist. He worked of many years with the Australian Sports Institute.
• Olaf Schumacher (Germany), works in the department of sports medicine at the University of Freiburg, in Germany. He is a member of the UCI Security and Safety Conditions Commission and is currently chief physician of the German Cycling Federation.
During the conference, M.N. Robinson, from the Laboratoire Suisse d'Analyse du Dopage, in Lausanne, set out the scientific model on which the biological passport is based. M. O. Schumacher gave a demonstration of the analytical work that the independent experts will carry out on the profiles.
Ms A. Gripper, Manager of the UCI Anti-doping Service, gave an overview of the tests carried out within the biological passport programme. These continue according to the established schedule. As of 30th April, 2'172 tests had been carried out.
Ms Gripper then clarified that the classic anti-doping tests were still being carried out alongside the biological passport programme.
She finally recalled that all riders who will take part in the Giro d'Italia on the 10th May will have been tested under the biological passport.
UCI Press Service
Picture: (from left to right) : Pierluigi Fiorella, Olaf Schumacher, PatMcQuaid, Mario Zorzoli et Anne Gripper.


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July 24, 2014
STAUNTON, Va. -- The Virginia Coalition for Open Government ranked cities based on how many clicks on a computer it takes to see a budget.
The City of Waynesboro's budget is one click away, so it got an A. The City of Staunton got a C, meaning it took five clicks to reach the budget page.
Steve Owen, Staunton's city manager said the city tries to gives as much access to its documents as possible.
"If we could reduce the number of clicks and get a better grade, I guess that's worthy of a few hours of work. We'll do that. We can't let Waynesboro get too far ahead of us on this," said Owen.
The 2013 budget is available on the city of Staunton's website. You can click here: How many clicks to get to your budget? to see how other cities and counties in the Valley ranked.
Follow Elizabeth Lamb on Facebook and Twitter.
© Copyright 2014 WHSV / Gray Television Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.


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Bob Doyle, Columnist
Cumberland Times-News
Your hunger and desire to eat goes back to early humans who had no assured supply of food. Back then, humans ate to build up a surplus (in the form of fat) in the event of famine.
Today we have more than a dozen neurotransmitters to nudge you towards eating (raising your weight) and a similar number of neurotransmitters to allay hunger (lowering your weight). A neurotransmitter is a chemical that helps transmit signals between the synapses (gaps between your neurons)that send messages to other neurons.
Your three-pound brain has about a hundred billion neurons and supporting glial cells. The neurons form many different groups, each focused on a different function of your body. Each neuron can receive signals from as many as two hundred thousand other neurons.
The electrical signals flow down the axons (long skinny part of neurons) at car interstate speeds. Most neurons communicate with other neurons in the brain. A small fraction of neurons send signals out to your spinal cord to cause your muscles to contract.
Returning to weight regulation, our neurons work together to keep us at a certain weight or "set point."
When you eat less so your weight drops below your "set point," your brain lowers your metabolic rate (energy needed to keep all your vital systems going).
This tendency will sabotage most diets. Then eating less results in no change to your weight. When you eat more, your brain tend to increase your metabolic rate to absorb some of those added calories.
The hormone leptin is produced by fat cells. Leptin is released into the blood telling your body its fat level as well as indicating how the fat levels are changing. When there is less body fat, less leptin is released, telling your body to get more energy (in the form of food).
But when your body fat levels are high, more leptin is released and you don't feel hungry.
Leptin receptors in your brain are in your hypothalamus, a brain region that regulates body temperature and sexual urges. Leptin also works in other parts of your brain, influencing your metabolism and regulates fat storage.
Insulin is another hormone that is sensitive to stored body fat. Insulin is produced by the pancreas after meals. In the blood stream, insulin instructs cells to reduce the glucose going into the brain and to store energy.
Lean animals have lower levels of insulin than fat animals. Leptin level is a good measure of subcutaneous fat (fat near the skin) while insulin indicates the visceral fat that is distributed around your organs.
People with a lot of visceral fat are at greater risk for diabetes, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. Those of us with fat arms, fat thighs or calves (subcutaneous fat) have less risk than those of us with "beer bellies" (visceral fat). To have a "beer belly," you don't have to be a big beer drinker.
Other messengers can act to alter our appetites. Fatty acids and the hormone peptide YY seem to reduce eating while the hormone ghrelin, released around mealtime, increases hunger and food consumption.
For more information about weight regulation, read "Welcome To Your Brain," a 2008 book by Sandra Aamodt and Sam Wang, both experts in neuroscience.
SKY SIGHTS AHEAD: The moon will be full on Friday, December 28 so there will be plenty of evening moonlight through the end of the year.
The nearly full moon will appear close to the planet Jupiter this Tuesday evening. Venus is a brilliant sight low in the 6:30 a.m. dawn.
Well above Venus at dawn is the planet Saturn. Saturn is then high enough for good telescopic viewing of its rings through modest telescopes with magnification of 30 and over.
Our 2013 Sky Sights features the sun's positions along the zodiac, dates of the moon's key phases (evening half full and full), when and where to spot the five bright planets and sunrise and sunset every 10 days for a number of Tri-State towns.
You can get a free copy of 2013 Sky Sights through the mail by leaving your name and mailing address on my voice mail at (301) 687-7799 or sending me an email with your name and mailing address. 2013 Sky Sights will also be posted on the FSU website early next year.
Bob Doyle invites any readers comments and questions. E-mail him at email@example.com . He is available as a speaker on his column topics.


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Teachers in Community Unit School District 300 will go on strike Tuesday after the district and the teachers union, LEAD 300, could not reach a tentative contract agreement following a day-long bargaining session Monday.
"We've been trying all day to avert this," Mike Williamson, LEAD spokesman said Monday evening.
"We began this morning by informing the Board's team that our members had rejected their final offer," he said. "We hoped they would realize this meant our members needed the Board to make significant movement in order for us to ratify a contract."
The outstanding issues remain class size and compensation.
While the board came down on class size, it is not a number acceptable for the union membership, Williamson said.
As for pay, he said the board "refused to compensate people who are teaching additional classes as a result of an overhasty movement to an eight-period-day schedule at the high school level. "
Joe Stevens, D-300 board member and spokesman, sent out a statement to parents about Tuesday's strike stating: "Board of Education and LEAD 300 negotiation teams have been meeting since 8 a.m. this morning with the assistance of a federal mediator to discuss outstanding contractual issues. After the Board agreed to LEAD's latest proposal to further reduce class sizes at all grade levels and create class size caps for middle and high school classes, the LEAD team increased its salary proposal by returning to an earlier salary request. At this point, the Board has met LEAD's expectations regarding class sizes, but we have not reached agreement on salaries."
Williamson said teachers will be on the picket line Tuesday and no additional bargaining session at planned at this point.
"We gave them the opportunity to avoid a strike by extending them an invitation to reconvene up until 9:00 p.m. tonight," Williamson said. "The board did not accept this invitation. LEAD 300 has also requested to meet with the board's team tomorrow (Tuesday, Dec. 4) to continue negotiations, but has been told that the board will get back to us tomorrow as to whether or not it can meet."
"It's not about walking out of a building, it's about getting the contract settled," Williamson said.


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Saturday, February 28, 2009
Getting it all organized!
I love this box! So elegant, so pretty. It's sturdy and actually has a magnetic closure, but good luck getting the thing actually shut with all these packets in it. We got it with the Bais Yaakov shalach manos a couple of years ago (last year?), and I appropriated it for seeds the second it came through the door.
I've divided up the seeds into big plastic bags: Perennials, Annuals, Herbs, Tomatoes, Beans and Peas, Leafies, Other Veggies, and one for "Already In 2009" - seeds that have been wintersown or started indoors already.
(peas and beans are bulky and I don't even try to fit them in the box - that's the swollen-full baggie off to the left side...)
Please! If anybody is reading this and lives in the Toronto area, do not buy seeds without asking me first. I have everything, too much of everything, and nowhere near enough land or time to plant it all... help! :-)))
(Especially if you consider Mel Bartholomew's advice - he's the originator of Square Foot Gardening - that you should only plant the number of seeds that corresponds to the number of plants you want. What a concept! If you want one tomato plant, plant one seed, maybe two or three if it's old seed and you're not sure it will germinate. My technique is more like five seeds in each spot and then thin, thin, thin. It's a matter of faith - yes, Hashem gave us a world where you stick the thing in the soil, it rots like crazy and yes, a baby plant is born almost every time. It really does work - you just have to leap into it and not plant a bazillion seeds or start a quatrillion peat pots if all you want is four cucumber vines. :-))))
Detailed list of available seeds coming up, hopefully....
Garden Plan 2009
Square Foot Gardening: 2009!
Though I think if you click on the image it may become bigger, and thus, less top-secret.
What am I doing for my sister's birthday tomorrow???
Yawn... walked to Seedy Saturday tomorrow. Yes, NOT the most Shabbos-dik thing in the world.
But it wasn't the end of the world, either.
I had a good time, nice walk in the chilly sunshine. Elisheva came with me and chastised me the whole way back for going in the first place ... she's like a little demon on my shoulder.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
So I wonder
I have been speculating inappropriately about the nature of the neighbours' marriage. Can't help it, maybe... or maybe I can but choose not to. He's 80-something, Jewish, Canadian. She's 60-something, Vietnamese, claims to "looooove Jewishpeople" (all one word). She says "Love" in a way I have never heard it said without the words "you longtime." (see, I told you this was all pretty inappropriate)
So I wonder and then I think there is almost no way they could have met in the natural course of things. So I wonder if he sent away for her, which is a phrase my father always used - JOKINGLY, please! - when saying he'd made a mistake choosing my mother and would have done better for himself with an obliging mail-order Asian bride. He also occasionally - again, JOKINGLY! - had the endearing habit of referring to my mother as his "first wife." Guess she had the last laugh.
So I wonder if they met through some kind of service - he sponsors her to Canada, she takes care of him for the rest of his days and then gets to retire in his comfortable bungalow just south of Eglinton.
But then, I get a little Tevye in my head who says, "if that's not love, what is?"
Yes, she has complained often about how old he is and hard to take care of. But she's not abusing him; as far as I can tell, she's playing the part... when I went in last night, he was obviously being well taken care of. She goes to shul with him on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. She spent the last several weeks at his side in the hospital.
She refers to him by his first and last name, together. At first, the paramedics last night thought she was saying all one name (his last name is one of those ones that sounds like a given name -like he was some kind of hillbilly with a hyphenated name: Jim-Bob; Bobby-Frank. But she also remembered more or less his medical history, grabbed all his meds, remembered that he was on Metformin and pronounced it okay. It can't be easy in a new language, all of it.
So I guess it doesn't matter, either way. Nobody should live or die alone if they don't want to, and maybe in however-many years she'll have some nice Vietnamese (or not) husband to share her own old age with.
In the meantime, they just came home by AmbuTrans, I gave her back her keys, and she thanked me again. I'm glad he's (relatively) okay (for now).
Vote, vote, vote!
Probably because it's such a $#!% to log in and vote at the site, but do it anyway...
Thank you.
How to dress a wilful toddler
Anyway, the truth is, if your toddler is not going to get dressed, oh, well... you have to take over sometimes.
But one technique that has been working for me lately is: taking turns.
The truth is, some kinds of clothes she's good at, others she isn't yet.
So I lay out all the clothes we will need for the day (thank God she hasn't started wanting to actually choose clothes yet!!!), and let her pick something to start with - usually she picks her undershirt, and puts it on pretty quickly.
Then I let her pick something that I will put on her. No participation needed, no coaxing her to get involved; I will do it completely by myself. She usually picks the super-hard stuff for me - dresses with buttons, socks. She hates putting on socks, even though to me it seems easy, and she does it well enough.
{Actually, Naomi Rivka is a bit strange about getting dressed, in that she hates for any part of herself to be "trapped", even for a second. Hands in sleeves, head in shirts, and, I guess, feet in trousers or in half-on socks. (though she relaxes again when they are completely trapped in socks, like for the rest of the day...)}
Anyway, then it's her turn again, to pick the next item to put on by herself. And so on, until we're out of clothes.
So it's not a huge breakthrough, but it has made getting dressed a bit more fun in the past few weeks, and I thought I'd share it here.
Elisheva's fantasy vacation world
I love having a daughter this smart and funny and strange.
Make that two daughters... I suspect the little one will follow in her footsteps.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Drat, that is NOT all, after all...
Envelope-Corner Seeding How-To
This is an extremely short instructional video I created to demonstrate the art of envelope-corner seed sowing.
I have a set of seedspoons, which I love (http://www.brianseye.com/spoons/) , but this is super-cheap and easy for seeds so small and wispy that even the spoons can't handle them. I had read about using the corner of a piece of paper, which worked just fine, but this method is almost foolproof, by which I mean even I can do it.
I made a video because I had a hard time visualizing the exact process by which the seeds would march out of the envelope corner in an orderly fashion... but sure enough, it works pretty well!
These Astilbe (arendsii, mixed colour) seeds look pretty big in the video, but in real life they were just teensy specks, more like chaff than nice rounded seeds.
To make an envelope-corner seeder, just cut off the corner of any nice, crisp, new, white envelope. Doesn't matter what size, really. I insist on crisp, new and white because if it's crinkled even a little, your seeds could get trapped in a crinkle. And if it's not white, how are you going to see the seeds???
Dump all the seeds from the packet into the seeder. Tip the seeder just a bit towards the soil, then tippy-tap with your finger on top of the envelope.
~ If seeds don't slide out at first, gradually increase the angle and/or firmness of your tapping.
~ If too many seeds are sliding out, decrease the angle, tap more gently... well, you get the picture.
Enjoy! Ask me in a month if these sprouted!
Getting growing...!
So I finally got off my tushie and started some seeds tonight!
At left, Portulaca x 10, Red Rubin Basil x 5, Parsley x 10.
The portulaca - if you've been reading carefully, you'll see I just ordered some on eBay and then today discovered a packet in the basement bought a few weeks ago in Home Depot (whoops!) - is for my mother, as I said before. She bought some in an annuals flat last year and just enjoyed them so much. They thrived (throve?) around the base of her doomed old oak tree, along with some lamium and a couple of stubborn hostas. And they flowered and flowered despite heat, damp, drought... everything. So I am growing them despite the fact that I really can't stand the way they look. And I can't stand mixed colours, for what that's worth. I hope she's grateful when I surprise her with them!
The basil will look nice if it does well, but the packet description does focus mostly on its distinctive look and calls the flavour "muted" or "subtle" - I forget which. Darn... I was looking for some nice basilly basil. I do have other packets, including lettuce-leaf, so I should probably start one of those also. I do like to have lots of basil; supposedly it's a Good Thing to grow with tomatoes.
The parsley is from last year's packet and it says flat-leaf Italian on the packet but I seem to recall it ALL came up curly and I had to run out and buy flat because the curly is a kashrus problem as well as being less tasty. If I am not completely mistaken AND they do that again this year, I am writing to MacKenzie Seeds and try to get a replacement packet or something. Now I'm worried. Anyway, they're all on heat now in the basement.
And what's that behind them in the picture???
I finally took a lonely mango seed that I was trying to sprout in a baggie that hadn't managed to die just yet (it had sprouted a root but no shoot) and laid it horizontally on soil in a nursery pot, covered with about an inch of soil... stuck an upside-down container over the whole thing, set it in a container on the heating pad with a Jobe stick in the soil (naughty, naughty). And hopefully the warm soil and reliable lighting will get some action going.
Oh - in the background behind everything: my sewing table and all my sewing stuff. Both sewing machines are broken, my children need new diapers sewn... I am the worst mama for not making more in so long. They need new woollies... everything.
Maybe I should sell the serger if I'm not going to use it. I could use the money to fix the serger - oh, no, I guess I couldn't. How "Gift of the Magi."
Finally, for tonight's burst of planting activity: Astilbe.
Yes, I ordered astilbe seeds on eBay the other day (I think!). Astilbe needs cold stratification, but the packet says to leave it at 16-21 degrees celsius until it germinates. That's about the temperature in our basement these days, so I just set it on the basement window ledge. Germination time is 21-28 days, so I don't even need to check it for 3 weeks... though it's true, I'll probably be peeking at it hopefully tomorrow morning!
{Okay, these are the same neighbours who have had a crazy-hate vendetta against us since we moved in, but I told her when I found out he was in the hospital that she could call me for anything at all, so I got to go over there and phone 911... I hope this means she'll let YM play basketball in our driveway this summer!}
But in all the excitement before I left, I realized there is one more plant project I have failed to keep you up-to-date on: Petunias. The white petunias continue to struggle along, but the mixed pastels are doing fabulously well and should be gorgeous just in time for Purim (these are the shalach manos petunias I mentioned earlier today).
The bigger ones in the centre could (and should) probably be trimmed down to 1 or 2 seedlings. And I should probably rotate the peats in case the light is better at the middle... just to give the edge ones a bit of a boost.
(though I suspect the middle ones look fullest because that's where I dumped the leftover seeds when I had seeded each peat a couple of times).
NOTE TO SELF: Must learn how to save seeds from these petunias so I can have them again next year, mixed-pastel colours and all! I love the smell!
Meet the Coleus!
Since I talk about them so bloody often it sounds like an obsession...
here are the basic SIX designs of coleus that I am maintining this
year - hereinafter referred to as "models":
1) Basic red "pointsettia" model (my 2nd year wintering this one; from Fall 2007 cutting)
2) Lime with red veins model (1st year; from Fall 2008 cutting) - this one's just a baby, a very recent graduate of which I'm quite proud!
3) Orangey-pinky model (2nd year wintering; this one is fussy and doesn't do well in cool temps, ie my basement... but it looks great in the garden!)
4) Ruffley red model (dragon?) (2nd year) - a little showy, even though I hate the word showy! Last year it didn't do well in the cold basement, and I actually lost a few... I guess the hardiest ones survived, because it's having no problem this year.
5) "Basic" pink-cored model - I bought a super-cheap dozen of coleus annuals last summer to fill in gaps in the bed (1st year)... may as well grow my own dozen this year!
6) Kong Pink speckly type model purchased last spring. Its leaves are wrinkly and it has a very bushy habit so I haven't been able to take any cuttings indoors... I just realized that tonight, so pulled one off to root on the windowsill. Hopefully I'll get two of these to plant out; probably not more...
Hopefully you can figure out which is which, or maybe I'll edit this post so the pics line up with my commentary. [I did!]
And I actually managed to get a few of today's windowsill "graduates" potted up - I'm doing them two to a pot now so that a) I don't run out
of space, and b) it'll be easier to hand them over for trades etc in the spring if I have spares.
Haven't done a count yet, but I'd imagine this brings us up over 40... not sure how I count the pots that have two in them yet: do they count as a single coleus or two??
Hope you enjoy looking at these as much as I do... though it's hard to imagine, as I really am droning on. ;-)
I'm fweeky bwilliant!
Dumb, if you remember that last year's theme was "SPRING AT LAST"... but who's going to remember?
Okay, most people will probably remember the poor, doomed sunflowers we left on their doorstep... and maybe the poem as well:
"It's a great time of year to get outside & growing!
With raking and hoeing, with seeds we are sowing.
This Purim we've chosen a "gardening" theme:
Spring's taken so long that it felt like a dream.
But soon we'll see buds and branches and shoots,
Soon little veggies will spread out their roots.
May your flowers grow strong, may they cling to the soil,
Like the Jews cling to Torah in times of turmoil.
May your spring grow so bright & so easy and sweet…
And may the seeds of redemption soon "grow" complete!"
Yes, a little heavy at the end for such a lightweight ditty, but anyway... they were generally well-received. Even though I'm sure most people's did not survive. My mother's did, for a while, but got too tall in its window and finally keeled over. Dini's lasted - she's like that.
For those who don't know what shalach manos are, they are packages that we send out for the holiday of Purim coming up on March 10. The requirement is to send one package to one friend with two food items in it. From there, we've extrapolated and generally send out thirty packages to thirty friends and relatives with 2-5 food items... and a wild assortment of cheapo kitsch that in the past has included noisemakers, whistles, fake flowers and, last year, live sunflowers grown by me at home. Oh, in Hebrew, they're called Mishloach Manot... "shlach manos" is a Yiddish corruption of the same words.
(or, as my bubby used to say: "shalachamoonis")
Anyway, for this year, I decided the theme will be SUMMER.
Elisheva and I went to WalMart and picked up a bunch of cheesy "decoration-only" (ie no UV protection) sunglasses. And waterguns. And I have a tray of 30 petunias downstairs - I'll give them out in Dixie cups.
And then this picture gave me the final concept which makes me classify the whole thing as UTTERLY BWILLIANT: Lemonade. Instead of candy, I can put in a packet of KoolAid or CountryStyle or some other type of packet-based lemonade... to make the summertime theme utterly complete.
Sometimes, I am envious of people who give out big baskets of good stuff: whole packages of cookies, big bottles of grape juice. But like I told Elisheva at WalMart the other night, sometimes I am proud of our cheesy little family and our doubtless impovrished-seeming efforts. "Poor but cheerful," that's our family motto. Though "Frummie Trailer Trash" was a close second...
Rich in love and laughter, though maybe not enough laughter lately.
So yay, me! Now all I need is costumes for the ENTIRE FAMILY.
And HAMENTASHEN.
And for Ted to be off work that day so we can work out our megillah timing and delivery schedule.
I don't want Purim this year. I feel myself pushing, pushing to keep it away.
What a cliché, right? "It's especially hard at the holidays."
I thought they meant the serious, family-oriented holidays... not the ones where you're supposed to dress up as Elvis and drink 'till you're blurry. But my father did love a good l'chaim.
Supper tonight:
(ha! Did you think I'd forget supper?)
~ Chili with cornbread. Seems like we have it every week, but according to a quick blog search, the last time was January 27th! :-o
(Hey! What helpful ammo in case the kids try to tell me we always have something like pea soup or polenta...)
For chili, this winter I have been buying Tabatchnik FROZEN chili, which is tasty on its own but not enough for everybody, and then doctoring it with: tinned tomatoes, tinned beans and taco seasoning. More fibre, more veg, more flavour! The frozen packages are only about $2, because they've been on sale so much. Everybody likes it... well, except Naomi, but she doesn't like anything.
~ Refried black beans from scratch, because I tried tinned ones a couple of weeks ago and BLAH. Mine are so tasty they sing in the frying pan. Those were more like flavourless paste. I think they were Eden brand - NOT recommended, even with salt added (they call them "lightly salted" on the package).
Hmm... I think that's pretty much it for supper. Naomi has swimming lessons, so we eat late, and for once, Ted's home this evening. Maybe I'll mix it up while he takes her to swimming.
Garden Update:
Transferred some windowsill coleus to pots and stuck them under the grow lights.
Still no visible growth on the coleus in the Lee Valley self-watering "seed starter."
MUST get wintersowing some more - there are a few more tomatoes I want to sow before the weather warms up.
MUST start parsley and maybe other herbs... indoors.
But maybe it should wait 'till after the petunias go out with the shalach manos.
Oh, and just maybe ... I should wash some dishes while my kiddies sleep!!!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Just the supper
~ Cabbage Rolls - my mother made and brought these for Shabbos dinner
~ Plain Basmati Rice, for the picky eating crowd
~ Leftover from Shabbos Pumpkin-Barley Risotto*
~ Corn, some leftover some fresh from frozen
That should keep starvation away for another day.
Blah. Paid over $2100 today to fix somebody else's car. They must be shellacking it with diamonds while it's in the shop. The repair-shop guy says he'd estimate about 75% of collision repairs are paid by a "third party," ie the person responsible, rather than putting it in to the insurance. What a scam those companies are running.
I don't even want to get up out of this chair even to reheat supper... glad I don't have to cook.
Oh - last night's supper was amazing, though!
~ Hot & sour soup - we had chicken broth coming out our ears from Shabbos because my mother wanted to make/bring soup but we also thawed some that had been in the freezer for months... and then made fresh soup just for good measure! So I made fabulous fresh hot and sour soup. What more need I say? Even Elisheva said, after initially complaining about yet another meat meal, that the soup alone could be a meal in itself. (bok choy, shiitake, corn)
But no, because it was accompanied by...
~ Peanutty-sauce stirfry (broccoli, sweet peas, bean sprouts) over...
~ Fettucine noodles
Lots of prep but extremely yummy & worthwhile.
Sara called yesterday. I think I was grouchy and antisocial.
The neighbour (wife) called from the hospital; he was supposed to come home yesterday afternoon, but I suspect it didn't happen 'till today because that's when I spotted the AmbuTrans ambulance out in front of their house. I hope everything is okay, and I want to be nice and supportive, but this week, I simply do not have the energy.
So I guess this post was NOT just the supper after all.
But now YM is here and he has school work to do.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
I have been avoiding eating there
It's not the same and it's not even an acceptable kind of different.
But I think it makes my mother happy to open her home, and it makes me happy that my home stays relatively neat for a few hours.
So everybody wins.
I should have let her reimburse us for supper, but I ummed and whatever about the price because honestly, $30-40 for some slicey meats is a drop in the bucket compared to what I'll need to fix these people's car tomorrow.
I am so sad and frightened.
Sunday Supper @ Mommy's
Know what I just realized???
Like my mother quotes quite a lot these days... "I was feeling pretty blue when along came a little bird who sat on my shoulder and told me, 'cheer up, things could always be worse.' So I cheered up - and sure enough, things got worse."
My Moron Reward
(oh - did I mention our phone was cut off on Thursday night because I was too dumb and put off paying it?)
yes... so.
To reward my stupidity for getting the phone cut off.
And my stupidity for hitting the car on Friday.
For not at all deserving the love of the good people who are no longer here to see me mess up my life.
And also because today I was a good friend, a decent mother, and paid some bills.
And paid back YM for some of the money we swiped from his bank account.
And paid back EC for some of the money I swiped from her bank account last week.
I splurged and spent $10 U.S. on eBay seeds... having been too dumb to learn my lesson about eBay seed sellers.
Anyway, I had a smallish credit for the petunias, so it was about $8 and free shipping because I ordered ten packets.
These are their pictures:
I am such a sucker for flower pictures now. I promised Elisheva Chaya this hobby would pass quickly, in a year or two... but secretly, I hope it never will.
330298470354 - White Flowering Astilbe Seeds FEATHERY FLOWERS
330294845403 - Zinnia Seeds "Green with Envy"
330293903561 - Delicate White Sweet Williams Flower Seeds
330290355125 - Chamomile Flower Seeds Delightful Apple Scented Flowers
330289651308 - 20 Assorted Colors Grape Hyacinth Seeds
330267885075 - 10 Heliotrope Flower Seeds VANILLA SCENTED FLOWERS
270325666168 - Delicate Pink & White Sweet Pea Mix Flower Seeds
270309966696 - Purple Allium Seeds Sale!! LATE SPRING BLOOMER!!
270308530909 - White Swan Coneflower Echinacea Seeds HERBAL PLANT
270272772669 - Sundial Portulaca Seeds COLORFUL IN HANGING BASKETS!!!
A few have been on my WANTS list for a while: Heliotrope, Astilbe, White Coneflower.
A couple are for my mother's garden, to surprise her: mostly the Portulaca, because the ones she planted brought her so much joy last year.
And a few of the others were just to bring the total to ten because I'd rather pay for seeds than shipping!
So there.
Sticking out my tongue in defiance of this world where money just seems to matter so bloody much.
My mother-in-law in Calgary just emailed to say she needs some paperwork from me ASAP... drat, drat, drat.
She asked a couple of months ago, but then Israel, and funerals... and blah. She still needs it.
And so another week begins.
The Saddest Comment of All
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I hit a car
I also had coffee with friend this morning. Such a nice thing! I picked her up at about 10:15, and then we talked for literally 2 hours. Amazing!
But yes, on Friday morning, after dropping Ted at work, I went to Superstore and in the parking lot I have no idea what I was doing, pulling forward to a better parking space, looking literally nowhere, I guess - the world was kind of out of focus and I did hear a distant beep beeping sound.
And then my car was in the middle of someone else's car and I was rushing out the door and telling them how sorry I was. Nice older Israeli couple with a brown Buick that I have solemnly vowed to repair on their solemn promise that they'd call me with the estimate without notifying the insurance.
I'm dead if it goes to the insurance.
We have no money to repair our own car, let alone someone else's car, but again, it'll be thousands upon thousands every single year if the insurance gets wind of it.
I really shouldn't be driving.
I keep saying it's just money, it's not the end of the world.
What the heck was I looking at, though?
I told the people in the car that I was distracted by the kids, but the truth is, the kids had been dead silent at the time. I wasn't looking at them, I wasn't turned around.
I was just staring at the world and not seeing it, like I was some kind of zombie.
Our car is fine, by the way. Stupid flimsy Buick, definitely all dented in, it's going to be some big repair, plus renting them a replacement car for three days or whatever it takes to fix it. Blah.
Gam zu l'tovah, right? This is all part of the plan for where our money is supposed to be going... into the pockets of the nice Roy Foss Pontiac Buick Repair Zone Folks.
I'm a total moron, but I have cute kids. I hope they will redeem me somehow, someday.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Roundup: Must-have RAVE products o' th' Week!!!
First up, because Sara started me on a decent-chocolate kick, is the White with Nibs 100g bar from Coco Camino. It's fair trade and goodness knows what else... but it's probably not that good for you. :-)
100% yummy-licious. Though purists would probably have you understand that there really is no such thing as "white" chocolate. Because they take out the chocolate and it's just made with the cocoa butter (from what I understand).
Here's the manufacturer's description, which is luscious and accurate enough to make me forgive the lousy tiny picture on their website: "We've invented an ice cream that won't drip all over your shirt! Incredibly creamy white chocolate with delectable cocoa nibs."
Anyway, continuing on the "coco" theme... (I'm sure my teeth are full of nibs now from the bits I've consumed while writing this)
I tried to get into Coconut Water before Gavriel Zev was born, but it seemed distinctly unappetizing to me while I was pregnant. It's apparently quite good for you - the original sports beverage, all electrolyte-balanced and whatnot. According to WW2 legend, it was apparently even used as IV fluid (straight from the coconut into your veins) to hydrate wounded soldiers in the Pacific. Oh-kay!
Anyway, this brand, Vita Coco, has a star-K hechsher and is quite yummy. It's sweet but not sweet, kind of filling the place where a soda beverage would go with a one-ingredient, natural-sourced drink. Shouldn't take the place of water, tea, and other zero-calorie beverages, but at 60 calories in a 330ml tetra pak, definitely the lesser of many evils.
Oh, and if you find the tetra pak itself kind of evil... it's also available in a larger "Tetra-brick" size so you can pour off individual servings. It is also available in a range of flavours, none of which I have tried beyond Boring Basic Coconut.
Finally, there's this pick from the "healthful Cheesies" department: Neal Brothers Organic Cheese Twists.
The official website tagline is a little insipid: "A crunchy little twisty cheesy with a velvety cheese taste! Kids, of all ages, LOVE these healthier-than-your-average cheesy snack!"
(I personally tend to throw away the cheese when it starts to acquire a "velvety" taste)
(and yes, I noticed that superfluous comma... hyphens must have been on sale at the same time, though they did put the brakes on that run-on word after not too long)
Anyway, I am always on the prowl for kosher cheese-flavoured anything, and these are fresh and somehow crispy and soft at the same time, so there you go. The hechsher is Kof-K.
And now, since I have mentioned the hechsher on the other two products, I would be amiss if I didn't go back and mention that the supervision on the Coco Camino bars is listed as a "Rabbi Abraham Hochwald" who is apparently the head of the Kosher Germany agency. The front page of the hechsher website also mentions he is no longer among the living (a fact not mentioned in his bibliography, also at the website). In any event, he looks reliable enough... zecher tzaddik livracha.
Ah, the bitter, bitter ironies...
I found this old library book in Naomi & Gavriel Zev's room so I set it outside the room to remember to bring it out. OK, when I say "outside the room," I didn't want it getting lost and put away on the kiddie bookshelf, so I tossed it in the laundry hamper, knowing I was doing laundry in a few minutes so it would for sure get taken out.
Stop me if you've heard this one before, folks. Or if you know where I'm going with this.
I had no clue, and was, in fact, feeling pretty proud of myself for finally getting this Chanukah title out the door. (decent book, by the way! )
Now, normally, when I take the laundry downstairs, I presort it really carefully upstairs and only take down one basketfull at a time, whites or dark colours or brights or whatever, just the load I'm about to do. I don't like having a ton of laundry lurking for me in the basement.
But somehow, this week, I have managed to keep the laundry more or less under control and the basket only had a few items in it: not enough for a full load of any one colour/ shade, so I thought "what the heck... I'll just toss it all in" figuring maybe the whites wouldn't be as bright or the darks would be a bit linty, but at least it would all be clean before the weekend.
I'm telling you, I never do that. And I never use the laundry basket to store library books in... as I learned why when I went to transfer the clean laundry to the dryer and felt something go "thunk." The library book!
Supper tonight:
~ Homemade polenta (already made - I made it this morning while the baby slept!) with -? Um, no idea? Mushroom sauce? But we had a ton of mushroom gravy with the Tofurkey on Sunday night, so I don't know.
~ Pacific tetra-pack Creamy Tomato Soup
~ Maybe frozen peas?
~ We need something else - maybe salmon patties? Everybody likes salmon patties!
I'm running out of supper inspiration FAST. I need some warm weather and fresh garden produce!!!
I also turned around after the kids fell asleep and discovered it was 4 p.m. already. I guess they both played in their beds and "dawdle." I opened the door to the baby's room and snuck up on him chewing his feet. He jumped a bit when I talked to him (I said, "you can eat your feet later - it's sleep time."). I wasn't extra-quiet walking in or anything, but he was engrossed.
He's a little bit jumpy anyway. Ted says when the lion roared at the zoo (a pretty quite roar at a distance), he jumped a bit. He does it in my lap when we start watching a "Jono" parsha video, though I do warn him now that "the noise is going to come."
OK, must go have leisure time before everybody wakes up - slash - comes home. I'm sick of YM needing the computer the second he walks through the door. All his practice exercises and everything are on the computer... I wish they had a textbook or something. Maybe I should ask our friend Judy, who does math tutoring, if she has a decent Grade Nine math text.
Hesperis / Phlox "Milkweed" Dilemma - the exciting conclusion!
In person, these two flowers look
very similar, trust me:
Hesperis matronalis - aka Sweet Rocket, Dame's
Rocket, etc
vs Phlox aka ... umm... Phlox.
I guess it gets enough puns
about "flocks and flocks" of them without making things worse by giving it a
Anyway, they look nothing alike here, but here's a
quick answer to my question from a poster on YouGrowGirl forums:
it's not a phlox. there's an easy way to tell: hesperis flowers have fourSo there it is.
petals (crucifer family) phlox flowers have five petals (polemonia family)
It's a Hesperis. Kind of anticlimactic, actually...
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Or is it...
Oh, argh, I'm so confused!
Now I'm convinced that it's the Hesperis, because the "tubes" at the centre of phlox are empty, and this site says the Hesperis "tubes" are actually a "mock tube around petal claws."
Plus, it's branchier than a phlox.
Whatever it is, I like it... hope it comes back this year! If it does, I'll take lots of close-ups and figure out once and for all what it is.
I also had no memory of the peony (right rear of the picture, and another one to the left) being so large last year. They kind of shrivelled up a LOT and I moved them. Hope they come back, too. After all this icky icky snow is done...
If anybody actually reads this who has plant knowledge, feel free to weigh in on this controversial PHLOX vs HESPERIS topic!
HOW could I have been so deluded?!?
And I just assumed this was another kind of milkweed until this evening when, scrolling through milkweed pictures in Picasa (yes, just dying to get growing already!) this picture jumped out at me.
It's not a milkweed.
It's nothing like a milkweed.
It's PHLOX.
I have no idea how I could not have known that from the start, but to just go on assuming it's a milkweed when it looks nothing like milkweed.
Well... you can see how it's turned my whole world topsy-turvy.
Its Latin name is Phlox divaricata, and if you click the link, you'll see dozens of other pictures of the exact same plant in the exact same colour.
I think this page says it best when it describes the flowers as "Corolla lavender to purple, with tube to 2cm long, glabrous. Corolla lobes 5, spreading, spatulate to obovate, to 2cm long, 1cm wide. Stamens 5, unequal in corolla tube. Calyx tube to 3mm long, densely pubescent to glabrous. Calyx lobes 5, to +3mm long. "
OK, maybe a bit too technical. And mine isn't quite so hairy... which I think is called "pubescent", in fancy horticulture words. Oh, yes. Mine is more GLABROUS. The opposite of PUBESCENT. Our beloved plants teach us so much!


text:
Back-to-Back! Kaya Turski Grabs Women's Slopestyle Ski Gold, Grete Eliassen Takes Bronze at Winter X 15
Make that two. Back-to-back.
Oakley Ski shredder Kaya Turski added an extra shiny Gold medal to her Winter X Games collection as her first 93.66 run in the Women's Slopestyle Ski finals powered her to her second consecutive win in the event.
"I feel elated right now," said Turski, stoked on her victory while rocking her Oakley gear. "I put a lot of pressure on myself. The level of competition here is so high, all the girls killed it. I luckily had a good first run, a great cab 7 and nailed the cannon. That really eased the pressure."
Fellow Oakley girl Grete Eliassen ripped her way to her second Bronze medal in Winter X Slopestyle after racking up a score of 93.00.
"It's awesome to win again," said Grete, who hasn't been competing as much this past year. "I spent most of my season focusing on "Say My Name," so it is cool to come back and progress after that."
Congrats to both of our beautiful Oakley gals for killing it in Slopestyle!


text:
DURHAM — New City Manager Tom Bonfield reports to work this morning, and one City Council member predicts "a new day in Durham."
"We all believe he will hit the ground running," Councilman Eugene Brown said last week. "We look forward to a new chapter in the life of city government."
Bonfield himself was less effusive.
"The first day is kind of overwhelming no matter what job you take," he said, speaking by phone from Pensacola, Fla., just before setting out for Durham. "I don't come into the job with any preconceptions."
Bonfield, 53, whose hiring was announced June 3, will be Durham's fourth city manager in the past 10 years. He succeeds Patrick Baker, who got the job full time in January 2005 after five months as interim. A former assistant city attorney, Baker will now head the City Attorney Office.
Baker succeeded Marcia Conner, who resigned under fire in 2004 after serving three years in the post. Her predecessor was Lamont Ewell, who arrived in 1997 and left for San Diego in 2000.
Bonfield had been Pensacola's manager for 10 years, and that city's mayor, John Fogg, has called him "absolutely the most professional city manager I've ever worked with."
Pensacola, on the Gulf Coast, has about 54,000 residents, compared with Durham's estimated population of 222,700.
Bonfield said rehabilitating Durham neighborhoods would be a priority. Ken Gasch, president of the InterNeighborhood Council of Durham said the incoming city manager has made an encouraging gesture in that direction.
"I heard he was real intent on making sure the folks driving him around took him to the disadvantaged areas, the areas that are rough around the edges," Gasch said.
To start, Bonfield said, he expects to huddle with his senior staff and set priorities for the week ahead. Through August, he expects to spend a lot of time with Mayor Bill Bell, City Council members and people prominent around town.
Bonfield was in Durham for the Fourth of July weekend, and was on hand for the rained out fireworks. It gave him a chance to impress council member Diane Catotti.
"He noticed a lot of things the city could have done better," she said, such as having backup batteries and emergency lighting ready to go. He mentioned his thoughts to those in charge and, by the time the rescheduled show went on, they had been implemented.
"Clearly," Catotti said, "he has his eyes wide open."
firstname.lastname@example.com or (919) 956-2408


text:
Orlando, by George Frideric Handel
'The Battle Between Love and Reason'
The great soldier Orlando loves the queen Angelica who loves the prince Medoro, also loved in vain by the shepherdess Dorinda. Orlando cannot accept this and goes completely mad, threatening to fight everything in sight. Orlando's psychedelic hallucinations are ultimately cured - by the wise magician Zoroastro.
"Opera for the People" is a lecture series run by Larry Oppenheim. Larry is currently President of the Kensington Symphony Orchestra in the East Bay, where he is co-principal oboe and solo English horn. He also writes the program notes. Larry's goal is to make classical music more enjoyable and accessible to "all the people".
Upcoming Events
- Noe Valley: A Village Within the City
- Saturday, August 2, 2014Noe Valley/Sally Brunn, Noe Valley Meeting Room
- FBI workshop - Safe Online Surfing
- Saturday, August 2, 2014Ingleside, Ingleside Meeting Room
- Opera for the People
- Sunday, August 10, 2014Noe Valley/Sally Brunn, Noe Valley Meeting Room


text:
Bob Murray states the Ducks "have younger players coming along who are pushing people out of jobs," announces three players who will not be returning as Ducks next season.
Jer combs through our site logs to discover the questions our readers are yearning for the answers to.
And maybe Jeremy Roenick has something to say about it!
Here's some advanced stats or whatever about the idiots visiting our site
No really, that's all I do in this article.
Some scattered thoughts about Anaheim's roster going into free agency.
Amazingly, Sleek draws an 8-cartoon story without a single blue duck. :)
Bobby Ryan wants his next contract to run three years; the Anaheim Ducks want to sign him for five. With seemingly no real progress in negotiations, Sleek offers a third crazy option to consider.
I can draw cartoons again! Sadly, my head's still stuck in Red Dead Redemption.
Sleek puts together some tables for contracts next year and beyond.
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text:
Something needs to lead the newspaper or TV newscast, even on a slow news day.
Perhaps that accounts for how the death of a single woman on a roller coaster in Texas Friday became the lead story on at least two TV network news broadcasts Saturday night.
Then again, there are certain events, like airline accidents, that seem to fascinate the public and get way more attention than their actual threat to public safety merits.
The accidental death of a single person is disturbing and sad. But in a nation of 330 million people, we all run the risk of accidental death every day.
That, however, doesn't stop us from riding (and dying) in cars and on motorcycles, or from swimming — three activities that are far, far more dangerous than riding a roller coaster.
Yet when a woman fell from a roller coaster Friday, the national news media focused like a laser on the incident.
What's known is that the woman boarded the 14-story Texas Giant on Friday and, at some point, fell to her death.
One TV network found what it called a roller coaster expert who said the accident shows that we have no single set of national standards for roller coaster safety, but instead a "patchwork" of standards from state to state.
Worse, the "expert" pointed out, Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington was in charge of figuring out what happened, then proving to state inspectors the ride was safe to re-open.
This was, you guessed it, like allowing the "fox to guard the hen house."
Something, the expert said, must be done.
May we suggest this: Find the people who build and operate roller coasters and ask them to help make the rest of the world's activities so safe.
The numbers vary depending on what's counted as a roller coaster ride and where it's located, but there are between 300 million and 900 million roller coaster rides taken each year.
The variation in number depends upon whether we count just big, stand-alone amusement parks like Six Flags, or add local carnivals and roller coasters inside casinos and shopping malls.
Out of all those hundreds of millions of rides given, there are an average of two deaths per year — and that includes all those fools riding down the big hills waving their hands in the air.
While roller coasters are built and advertised as death-defying, the actual odds of dying on one are remarkably long. The amusement park industry says there are actually more injuries each year on the merry-go-round rides with people tripping or kids (or adults) slipping off the animals.
As you can see, an average of two deaths per year on 300 million rides means 1 death per 150 million rides.
The odds become even longer if you accept one of the larger estimates for the total number of rides.
According to the website asktheodds.com, the odds of winning a multi-state lottery are about 1 in 120 million.
Another remarkably safe activity: Flying on a commercial airline, particularly in the U.S.
Four people killed recently on a Korean jet landing in San Francisco were the first commercial airline deaths in the U.S. since 2009.
That's amazing considering there are 30,000 flights crisscrossing the U.S. each day, bearing more than two million passengers to their destinations.
Before that accident, the death risk for airline passengers in the U.S. was one death per 45 million trips.
Air travel and roller coaster riding give us the sensation of being very risky, even when they are not. Perhaps, when a person does die, it's like an ah-ha moment: See it really isn't safe!
Many of us participate in much riskier activities every day, like smoking, taking drugs, not wearing seat belts, driving while intoxicated, talking on a cell phone while driving or riding a motorcycle.
But other seemingly safe activities are far more dangerous than flying in an airliner or riding a roller coaster.
We seldom think about dying of a hornet, wasp or bee sting, yet our lifetime odds of dying that way are 1 in 71,623.
Exposure to excessive natural heat? You stand one chance in 11,111 of checking out that way.
In a macabre twist, we statistically stand one chance in about 80,000 of being legally executed in your lifetime. The odds of that happening are nearly non-existent in Maine, where there is no death penalty, but much better in Texas where slightly fewer than 50 people died that way last year.
Clearly, what becomes news doesn't necessarily reflect the reality of a pressing problem, even if one expert says it does.
When it comes to spending time and energy, we would all be better off doing mundane things, like wearing seat belts on the way to riding the roller coaster.
The opinions expressed in this column reflect the views of the ownership and the editorial board.


text:
After a successful freshman year, Arizona's Kevin Newman is ready to take this team to the next level.
Brandon Dixon, Johnny Field, Konner Wade, Nick Cunningham and Augey Bill are all getting off to decent starts in their professional careers.
Andy Lopez took a couple of minutes to talk about the Sean Miller/Ed Rush/PAC-12 officiating controversy
Live game updates from game two of the Arizona-Utah series at Hi Corbett Field.
The Arizona Wildcats took down the Texas Tech Red Raiders Tuesday night behind a great outing from Tyler Crawford, and a sixth inning rally from the offense.
The Arizona Wildcats look for a three-game sweep of the San Francisco Dons on Sunday.
Through 10 games, Brandon Dixon leads the Arizona Wildcats offense in almost all major categories, including batting average, on-base percentage, and stolen bases. Some major off season work has...
The Arizona Wildcats baseball team improved to 7-1 over the weekend after sweeping the San Jose State Spartans at Hi Corbett Field. Brandon Dixon had a walk-off triple on Friday, and Stephen...
Live updates from Arizona's 2013 season opener against the Coppin State Eagles
Previewing the 2013 Arizona Wildcats pitchers
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Join us on a Friday and Saturday night for a 2 night break and enjoy a complimentary dinner on the first night of your stay for just £99.50 per couple per night.
Book direct on 01793 721701 and receive a complimentary bottle of wine with dinner on the 2nd night of your stay.
Offer details:
Bed and full English breakfast in one of our house bedrooms
Three course buffet dinner with coffee in Christopher's restaurant on the first evening of your stay
Use of our Leisure Club including indoor pool and gym
9 hole par 3 golf course (supplement charge)
Secrets Beauty Salon (supplement charge)
Optional extras:
- Upgrade to a Pavilion executive bedroom for just £20 per night
With over 90 high-quality stores, the Swindon Designer Shopping Outlet is great for picking up bargains – and you'll find some of the world's finest premium brands with permanent discounts of up to 60% off. You'll also receive a fantastic McArthur Glen 10% discount voucher for various outlets, which means you can save even more on your shopping!
During your stay visit the nearby picturesque Cotswolds Villages or the Cotswold Wildlife Park.
BEST WESTERN PLUS Blunsdon House Hotel is ideally located just over an hour from London on the edge of the Cotswolds in the beautiful county of Wiltshire.
To check availability & book call our our reservation team on 01793 721701
Please note:
- Valid on a Friday and Saturday night only
- Subject to availability – based on 2 adults sharing
- To receive complimentary wine on the 2nd night dinner must be booked in advance quoting WWUD
- Offer not valid in conjunction with any other promotion
- Excludes Bank Holidays – valid until 30/11/14


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The notable name game, and other political tales07/31/14Politics
With the primary elections mere weeks away, mailboxes are filling with interesting missives.
Among the usual campaign pieces with The Other Guy In The Race photographed looking either sinister or stupid, one notable local ad features a noble-looking fighter pilot standing next to an impressive-looking jet.
Vote Absentee for Norman Cannella for Judge, it says. DISCIPLINE HONOR RESPECT....
Carlton: Has the world moved beyond intolerance?07/29/14Politics
Once upon a time, an antigay, anti-Muslim, "pro-Christian" platform could do wonders for getting you elected in the conservative corners of Hillsborough County.
But the world keeps turning.
Slowly, state by state, people are being allowed to marry whom they want. Even here, miracle of miracles, county commissioners are warming to the idea that gay and transgender citizens deserve the same basic protections as everyone else....
A dubious judicial legacy, and other Tampa tales07/25/14 Human Interest
Tampa lawyer Laura Ward wants to be a judge. And campaigning with her in her race against former chief prosecutor Karen Stanley is her father, former Hillsborough Circuit Judge Ed Ward.
Those on the campaign trail say he is everywhere. He has sent letters to legal notables, working connections. He's on her website and in her speeches. A pamphlet she leaves at voters' doors shows him smiling in what appear to be judicial robes, holding his daughter when she was little....
Carlton: Tampa council member barhops for a better city07/24/14Local
So a Tampa City Council member walks into a bar. And another bar. And another bar.
No, it's not the stress of this city — the busy, beery part of his South Tampa district in particular — that has council member Harry Cohen haunting Irish pubs and cocktail lounges along teeming South Howard Avenue. (SoHo, to those in the know.)
For weeks he has been sipping a ginger ale here, a seltzer there, on a fact-finding mission along the SoHo entertainment district through trendy Hyde Park. The goal: some kind of rapprochement between residents and bars and restaurants that range from Bern's steak house and the chi-chi new Epicurean Hotel to World of Beer. Not to be confused with nearby Yard of Ale....
Carlton: A real neighborhood takes it to the streets (okay, curbs)07/22/14 Human Interest
The signs, a bright, guilt-inducing red, sprouted overnight like mushrooms along the grassy curbs of my regular shortcut through an old Tampa neighborhood.
Please, they implore me and the other cut-through drivers behind me: DRIVE LIKE YOUR KIDS LIVE HERE.
City streets, even very residential ones like Ridgewood Avenue where kids play, dogs get walked and neighbors are out being neighborly, are open for all of us to drive. Of course. This town's prettiest street in fancier South Tampa, the winding waterfront Bayshore Boulevard, belongs no more to the residents of the mansions along it than to the barefoot guy sitting on the seawall watching the boats go by....
Carlton: Younger Redner fast becoming one of Tampa's favorite sons07/18/14 Human Interest
Imagine you are a boy growing up in Tampa, Florida, USA.
Now, imagine that pretty much everywhere in your town, your name — the one teachers say at roll call, the one by which you introduce yourself to strangers — immediately evokes images of naked women wrapped around stripper poles.
Now 41, Joey Redner is very familiar with the question: What was it like growing up as the son and namesake of Tampa's undisputed strip club king Joe Redner? He has a hard time answering. People made assumptions; boys were impressed. Maybe it's like growing up with red hair, the kind everyone seems to need to comment on. It just was....
Carlton: Signs of progress for police, bay area07/17/14Politics
I can't decide if this makes us a big cosmopolitan region or a small town where pretty much everyone is related to everyone else. Or both.
Among the finalists for the St. Petersburg police chief job is current assistant chief Melanie Bevan. Should she end up as Mayor Rick Kriseman's pick in this very big decision for his city, it would make for an interesting juxtaposition with the town across the bridge....
Carlton: Hillsborough approaches a new day of rights for everyone07/15/14Local
Once upon a time, a politician named Ronda Storms held sway over the land, or at least Hillsborough County.
A conservative Christian and a county commissioner, Storms managed to prevent county government from even acknowledging gay pride events. She wasn't alone: the same board had previously repealed an ordinance to protect gays against discrimination.
But time passes, politicians fade and new ones step up. Sometimes even government progresses....
Carlton: Add muscle to Florida's texting-while-driving ban07/11/14Accidents
After only nine months, Florida's law against texting while driving is officially toothless.
Across the state, police can spot a motorist looking not at the road but at his phone, madly typing in messages, directions, smiley face emoticons, whatever — all while careening down the interstate in the lane next to you.
And unless this motorist is also committing some other infraction, under the new law police can do pretty much nothing. They cannot pull him over just for texting, even though the driver and his rather critical eyes are concentrating elsewhere....
Even on hot-button immigration, sheriffs can play fair07/10/14 Public Safety
Score a small victory for justice evenly applied, even when it involves the incendiary issue of immigration.
In an America in which some hold fast to a send-'em-all-back-and-let-some-other-country-sort-'em-out philosophy, sheriffs around the country — and in our own back yard — have struck an interesting tone with a notable change in jail policy.
Inmates who were also immigrants were routinely held an extra two days — even though they had been granted bail and could come up with the cash — at the request of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency known far and wide by the chilly acronym ICE....
FDA regulation threatens Tampa's last cigar factory07/08/14Business
Does it seem like Tampa spends a lot of time trying to explain itself to the rest of the world?
No, it is not Orlando West or Jacksonville South. Yes, the city has hosted national and international events. No, a real Cuban sandwich cannot include pesto mayo, or avocado, and yes, those are actual chickens running around Ybor City just past a respectable downtown skyline.
And yes, we are an interesting blend of Cuban, Spanish and Italian immigrant roots, something you don't find just anywhere....
Carlton: Enough stalling on fixing our transportation woes07/04/14Transportation
When it comes to making progress on transit, we seem perpetually stuck in traffic.
Or, for a more archaic analogy: When political leaders start talking about how to pay for improving buses and roads and, yes, adding rail, sometimes it starts to feel like we're pulling on the reins of the world's most obstinate mule.
Those who believe it possible to move our transit system into, say, this century, have high hopes pinned on November's Greenlight Pinellas referendum for a new penny sales tax....
Carlton: Now here's a holiday made for Floridians07/03/14 Human Interest
You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.
— the late Erma Bombeck ...
Carlton: Can Vinik turn a sad Channelside around?07/01/14Business
Somehow, the Hooters on the corner soldiers on, dishing up lunchtime wings to tourists in T-shirts and guys in ties. But otherwise, the sprawling Channelside entertainment complex along a slice of waterfront at the edge of downtown Tampa looks to be on life support.
A marquee still welcomes visitors who were here for the Outback Bowl six months ago. "Look, there's movies," says a little girl walking by with her mother, pointing to a theater sign. No. There were movies....
Carlton: The politician who didn't duck06/27/14Local
Already, the story has brought phone calls from out-of-state friends who heard about longtime Tampa City Council member Charlie Miranda and the ducks. This story will likely get him slapped on the back at the West Tampa Sandwich Shop and called the Duck Guy — or, you crazy (unprintable word questioning one's parentage) — into the next decade.
Sure, this is a city on the move, a backdrop for glitzy national events and all that. But it is also the sort of town in which a born-and-bred politician will valiantly protect the honor of its ducks....


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Thread: My brother asked me a favor
My brother asked me a favor
Hey guys. My brother called and asked me a favor, which he never does. He is friends with a lady who is in the running to be a spokes model for Muscle Egg Egg Whites. He has asked me to ask my friends (yes, you guys) to please vote for her. So I am.
The pic is a muscular lady in a bikini so it's probably NSFW. If you could simply click "like" it would mean a lot to me. He's my big brother and a really great guy, even if he did kick my ass when we were kids.
NSFW - bikini pic
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater\\` ` ` ` < ` )___/\
`` ` ` ` (3--(____)
"...but to forget your duck, of course, means you're really screwed." - Gary Larson
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You may have seen Foucault's pendulum. There's one in the Science Museum in London (part of the National Museum of Science and Industry), and there are many more in various locations around the UK (for instance, in Glasgow) and the world (including one at the United Nations Headquarters and a famous example at Le Panthéon in Paris).
On 11th August 1999 a total eclipse of the Sun will be visible from parts of the UK. It will provide a spectacular display, but why is the Sun so interesting? Helen Mason explains.
At the Hewlett Packard campus in Bristol, a group of keen researchers are bringing together the worlds of advanced mathematics and fine art. Kona Macphee investigates.
We take reliable radio communications for granted, but accommodating many different users is not easy. Robert Leese explains how the mathematics of colouring graphs can help avoid interference on your mobile phone.
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) is now chiefly remembered as a mathematical astronomer who discovered three laws that describe the motion of the planets. J.V. Field continues our series on the origins of proof with an examination of Kepler's astronomy.


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As anyone who's ever listened to The Midday Show on KEXP knows, DJ Cheryl Waters loves her Canadian music. And, in what's become an annual Canada Day tradition, Cheryl will play only music from our neighbors to the north today from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM PT. Not only is Cheryl our Midday Show host,Read more...
All In! KEXP's Music Match!
Listen Live:
KEXP AND THE UWKEXP is a service of the
University of Washington
iTunes and KEXPYou can now find KEXP under "Eclectic" in iTunes after the demise of the "Public" category, to better represent the diversity of our daytime variety shows and numerous specialty programs.
KEXP Suggests