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Current Events
Now we are talking about an essential but frequently overlooked region: Africa. Africa is really a huge and various region which has probably the most interesting cultures on the planet. It may sometimes be over generalized and treated as you giant country. Now we'll attempt to break it lower and have a look at most pressing issues over the region at this time. Here are three groups that provide an introduction to a few of the "hot topics" associated with Africa.
Lots of people think that democracy just doesn't appear in Africa, but that's not entirely true. You will find clearly nations that continue to be ruled by authoritarian routines and monarchies, but you will find indeed directly chosen leaders. In Ghana, for instance, there has been multiple democratically chosen presidents since their independence in 1957. In stark contrast, you will find nations like the Democratic Republic from the Congo which have only seen armed conflict and chaos given that they acquired independence. The troubles of governance facing many African nations has brought some to question how achievable it's to allow them to really implement Western-style democracies or maybe a brand new kind of governance will emerge. Africa Current Events.
Financial aspects
Africa has huge untold economic potential. It is stuffed with valuable natural assets, from oil to diamonds, as well as an progressively educated labor force. Regrettably, some crucial worldwide traders that may help launch further development around the region are frightened of trading because of the ever pending instability. There are also success tales that aren't as conspicuously displayed in media. Botswana is really a prime illustration of this, getting found a method to mine their abundant diamonds with minimal corruption and maximum growth. The finest challenge facing many nations in Africa is finding the easiest method to develop sustainably because most financial systems are determined by goods. Africa Book.
Worldwide Participation
Nations outdoors from the African region have clearly performed a sizable role in the development. In the colonial occasions by which nations were underneath the direct charge of European forces to provide day, there has been numerous world forces with stakes in most of the nations. Presently, there's been elevated discussion concerning the particular role of China around the region. China happen to be continuously growing both their economic and political role in African matters to say their new prominence in worldwide matters. This, obviously, has triggered some backlash within the USA as numerous questions why they haven't countered China's role in Africa. For more information please visit - http://streamafrica.com/ or find out from Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events


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1. Human Capital Management (Oracle HCM)
When businesses went global, traditional Human Resources (HR) Departments faced new challenges. HR leaders must go beyond employee recruitment, development, and guidance on company benefits. Yet, with legacy systems still in place, HR is unable to break the mold.
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Dynasoft Infrastructure Management services enable leading companies worldwide to optimize, secure, manage, and support mission-critical infrastructure. Dynasoft partners with you to align IT programs and goals with enterprise strategy to deliver solutions that drive business processes, as well as improve the availability, reliability, and performance of data center, network, and security infrastructure. Leveraging our multi-shore capabilities, we combine expert consulting, integration, support, and managed services with world-class customer service to help IT organizations reduce costs, increase efficiencies, and manage data center risk. Dynasoft's spectrum of innovative Infrastructure Management solutions are delivered through our Centers of Excellence (CoE), Global Security Labs, Global Solution and Innovation programs, utilizing our proven Global Delivery Model and Framework.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Body found in North Fork, arrest made
North Fork man arrested for suspicion of murdering his brother
Sheriff John Anderson has announced Madera County Sheriff's Detective took Mark McMurrain, 35, into custody Sept. 5, at his home located on Willow Creek Drive in North Fork, booking him on suspicion of murder.
Based on evidence detectives have gathered so far, it is suspected that McMurrain is connected to his brother, Christopher Lee Garrity, 29, who reportedly vanished from their shared home two weeks ago.
This morning detectives along with Search & Rescue K9 personnel, returned to the property, searching their property and property next door.
It was during their search detectives discovered human remains on the adjacent property.
The decomposed body is beyond recognition, therefore the Sheriff's department cannot confirm at this hour if it is Christopher Garrity. The investigation is ongoing.
- Madera County Sheriff's Office


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Jamming occurs when a system develops a yield stress—behaves as a solid—in a disordered state. In practice, it is difficult to determine whether a system truly has a yield stress, or whether one has not yet waited long enough for the stress to relax. Thus, a more practical definition is that jamming occurs when the stress relaxation time of a system with no quenched disorder exceeds some fixed value, such as 103 to 105 seconds, in a disordered state.
According to these definitions, many systems jam. Granular materials can flow when they are shaken or poured through a hopper, but jam when the shaking intensity or pouring rate is lowered. Similarly, foams and emulsions (dense colloidal suspensions of deformable gas bubbles or liquid droplets; see picture below) can flow when they are sheared, but are soft amorphous solids when the shear stress is lowered below the yield stress. These systems are athermal; random motions supplied by some driving force are necessary to induce any motion since thermal energy is insufficient to cause particle rearrangements.
In colloidal suspensions of smaller particles, such jamming also occurs when the pressure or density is sufficiently large. At low packing fractions, particles are free to diffuse and explore different configurations. As the packing fraction increases, however, the space available for motion decreases and the system becomes a disordered solid with a yield stress.
Even molecular systems jam as temperature is lowered—this is the glass transition. One of the oldest unsolved problems in the condensed phase is the nature of the glass transition. As temperature decreases, the stress relaxation time increases dramatically. Rapidly increasing relaxation times are not unique to jamming transitions; the relaxation time diverges near a second-order phase transition, as well. However, for such a transition, there is a structural length scale, the correlation length, which diverges. Because long length scale perturbations relax more slowly, the diverging correlation length gives rise to a diverging relaxation time. Near the glass transition, by contrast, it is not yet clear if there is any length scale that can be used to characterize the growth of the glassy response.
Is there really a meaningful connection among these different jamming transitions? At first glance the answer appears to be "No" because the phenomena have very different microscopic physical origins. In supercooled liquids, the increase in the relaxation time with decreasing temperature clearly has a thermal origin. In colloidal suspensions, increase in relaxation time with increasing density has an entropic origin. Finally, in athermal systems such as Bingham plastics (foams and emulsions) or granular materials, the increase in the relaxation time with decreasing applied stress appears to have a purely kinetic origin.
Despite these significant differences, however, there are striking similarities in the phenomenology of these different systems, summarized below.
- No significant structural signature of jamming. In spite of the dramatic change in the dynamics near the glass transition, all measured structural quantities, such as the static structure factor, do not appear to change much. In particular, there is no discernible diverging length scale that might account for the diverging time scale. This is true for supercooled liquids, as well as colloidal suspensions near the hard-sphere glass transition. Simulations of sheared foams also find no noticeable change of structure as the jamming transition is approached.
Kinetic heterogeneities. There is a significant body of evidence for kinetic heterogeneities in the dynamics of supercooled liquids. If one asks how far a particle travels in a given interval of time, one finds that some particles travel a long distance while others hardly move at all. This discrepancy becomes more pronounced as the temperature is lowered towards the glass transition. There is also new confocal microscopy evidence of similar heterogeneities in colloidal suspensions near the hard-sphere glass transition, as shown in the figure to the right. Granular materials also show pronounced kinetic heterogeneities near the onset of jamming.
Super-Arrhenius increase of the viscosity or characteristic relaxation time. The α-relaxation time of fragile supercooled liquids is well known to increase more rapidly than predicted by the Arrhenius form, eA/T. At temperatures near the glass transition, the data are fit well by the Vogel-Fulcher form, eA/T-T0. Data on viscosity of colloidal suspensions near the hard-sphere glass transition have also been fitted successfully to the Vogel-Fulcher form, but as a function of packing fraction: eA/φ-φ0. Finally, sheared model foams exhibit super-Arrhenius behavior as the shear rate is lowered towards zero. We find that the viscosity can be fit by the Vogel-Fulcher form, but as a function of applied shear stress: eA/σ-σ0. Note that the control variables are different (temperature in the case of a supercooled liquid, packing fraction in the case of a hard-sphere suspension, and shear stress in the case of a sheared foam) but that the same functional form appears to fit the viscosity for all three systems.
It should be pointed out that the dynamic range available to the colloidal glass transition or the jamming transition of a sheared foam is so small that it is impossible to distinguish between a super-Arrhenius form such as the Vogel-Fulcher relation, and a power law. Thus, the same data for the colloidal glass transition that can be fit to the Vogel-Fulcher form can also be fit by a power-law divergence in packing fraction, (φ-φc)-γ, with the exponent of 2.5 characteristic of ideal mode-coupling theory. Finally, we have recently shown that a power law in stress, (σ-σ0)-γ, applies reasonably well to sheared foams with the same exponent. The dynamic range available to colloids corresponds to the first several decades of dynamic range available to the glass transition of a supercooled liquid. In this regime far above the glass transition, it has been shown that the α-relaxation time of a supercooled liquid can be fit reasonably well to a power law with γ=2.5. From fitting viscosity or relaxation time data it is difficult to tell whether the similarities are deep or merely superficial, because so many different functional forms fit the data reasonably well. However, this evidence certainly is suggestive.
Force networks. When a granular material is held at a high density by an applied external pressure so that grains are in contact, the pressure is supported by a network of repulsive forces between grains. A similar network appears when a system is sheared at a steady rate. We find similar networks in simulations of foam or glass-forming liquids, as shown in the figure to the right.
Inhomogeneous response to applied stress in the jammed state. When a small shear stress is applied to a granular packing, the stress is distributed inhomogeneously due to the random packing of grains. In static foams, similar behavior has been observed in simulations, with consequences that have been verified experimentally. Finally, simulations of model glasses (binary Lennard-Jones mixtures) also show an inhomogeneous stress distribution that leads to plastic response.
These similarities of behavior do not prove that it is useful to tie these systems together by coining a new piece of jargon called "jamming." However, the similarities suggest that it is very important to establish how deep is the connection among these different systems. A common conceptual framework for jamming would be extremely powerful. Not only would it imply that ideas useful for understanding one system may be helpful to another system, but it would also imply that simple models may yield valuable insight.
Different systems unjam as different parameters are varied. Glasses unjam as one raises the temperature, foams and emulsions unjam as one raises the shear stress, and colloidal glasses unjam as one lowers the packing density. These parameters are so different that it is difficult to see how one can compare the jamming transitions at a quantitative level. We pointed out that all three parameters are important to all systems, but the range over which they might be varied might be limited for a given system. In other words, these different parameters might be tied together by a "jamming phase diagram," shown to the right. The choice of axes is dictated by the parameters that control the transition to jamming in the different systems, namely temperature T, density φ, and shear stress S.
The ordinary state diagram for the glass transition would be in the (1/r)–T plane of the jamming phase diagram. At high density there is a transition between a supercooled liquid and a glass that occurs at Tg. As the density is lowered, Tg normally decreases. This glass-transition line is represented by the curve separating the jammed and unjammed regions in the (1/r)–T plane. There is, of course, considerable debate about whether the transition is a true thermodynamic one occurring at a nonzero temperature or whether the dynamics are completely arrested only at T=0. For the purposes of this discussion, the line separating the jammed (glassy) phase from the liquid state corresponds to a relaxation time that has increased to some fixed value, such as 103 seconds as is sometimes used to define Tg in supercooled liquids.
The ordinary phase diagram for a foam or emulsion would be in the (1/r)–σ plane of the jamming phase diagram. At fixed density, one must apply a shear stress higher than the yield stress in order for the system to flow. Thus, the yield stress as a function of density is the curve that separates the jammed and unjammed regions in this plane. As the density decreases towards close-packing, the yield stress decreases, as has been shown experimentally for emulsions and foams. We note again that it is impossible to tell whether the yield stress is truly nonzero or if it is only nonzero on the time scale of a rheological measurement. The same caveat that holds for the glass transition—that the transition corresponds to a relaxation time that has reached some fixed value—therefore holds for the entire surface of the jammed region.
Mode-coupling theorists suggested years ago that the colloidal glass transition and molecular glass transition are the same despite the fact that the control variables are different. The jamming phase diagram suggests a reason why the different jamming transitions might be related, independent of the accuracy of the mode-coupling approximation.
For systems with repulsive, finite-range interactions—that is, interactions that vanish beyond a certain distance—there is a special point on the jamming phase diagram, which we call point J.
Perhaps the most daunting problem in all jamming transitions is that jammed surface depicted above is typically not sharp, and is governed by when the system relaxation time exceeds experimental constraints. If a thermodynamic transition exists, it must lie underneath the jamming surface and is therefore inaccessible. This has made it very difficult to determine the nature of the jamming transition. We have shown that there is one point on the jamming phase diagram that is well-defined, namely, the point labeled J, along the 1/φ axis at zero temperature and shear stress. This point exists for systems with repulsive, finite-range potentials (systems with frictionless particles that do not interact beyond a certain distance, which defines their diameter). At low enough densities beyond Point J, none of the particles interact. At Point J, particles just come into contact, and at further compression particles interact and the pressure and zero-frequency shear modulus are nonzero. Point J has very special properties.
Point J occurs at random close-packing density and provides a definition of it.
Point J is an isostatic point, where the number of particle contacts equals the number of force balance equations to describe them. As a result, it is a purely geometrical point: the properties of the state at Point J are independent of potential.
Point J appears to be a zero-temperature mixed phase transition, with a discontinuity in the number of contacts, characteristic of first-order phase transitions, and diverging length scales, characteristic of second-order phase transitions.
Remarkably, several models proposed for the glass transition, including the p-spin interaction spin glass, the mode-coupling approximation, a frustrated dimer model, and the Fredrickson-Andersen kinetically-constrained spin model have scaling exponents that, within mean-field theory, are the same as those we find at Point J. Many of these models exhibit dynamical slowing down and kinetic heterogeneities -- trademark features of the glass transition. This is a quantitative hint that jamming may be a universal phenomenon related to glassy behavior.
In summary, Point J is a very special point that may have important ramifications for the entire jamming surface. The properties of Point J are related to the mathematics of random close-packing geometries, the engineering of silos, the physical chemistry of colloidal suspensions and the physics of glass transitions. Understanding this point should lead to a better understanding of jamming in all of its manifestations.Further reading:
- C. S. O'Hern, S. A. Langer, A. J. Liu, and S. R. Nagel, Random packings of frictionless particles, Phys. Rev. Lett. 88 075507 (Feb. 2002).
- C. S. O'Hern, L. E. Silbert, A. J. Liu, and S. R. Nagel, Jamming at zero temperature and zero applied stress: The epitome of disorder, Phys. Rev. E 68 011306 (Jul. 2003).
- C. S. O'Hern, L. E. Silbert, A. J. Liu, and S. R. Nagel, Reply to "Comment on 'Jamming at zero temperature and zero applied stress: The epitome of disorder' ", Phys. Rev. E 70 043302 (Oct. 2004).
- L. E. Silbert, A. J. Liu, and S. R. Nagel, Vibrations and diverging length scales near the unjamming transition, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95 098301 (Aug. 2005).
- J. M. Schwartz, A. J. Liu, and L. Q. Chayes, The onset of jamming as the sudden emergence of an infinite k-core cluster, Europhys. Lett. 73 560 (Feb. 2006).
- L. E. Silbert, A. J. Liu, and S. R. Nagel, Structural signatures of the unjamming transition at zero temperature, Phys. Rev. E 73 041304 (Apr. 2006).
- R. D. Kamien and A. J. Liu, Why is random close packing reproducible?, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99 155501 (Oct. 2007).
See also a commentary on this paper by D. Frenkel at the Condensed Matter Journal Club.
- A. J. Liu, Jamming (talk slides), University of Toronto Colloquium.
Marginally jammed solids are all around us, from heaps of sand or gravel to glasses on the verge of liquefaction. By focusing on low-temperature at densities just above Point J, we discovered that the vibrational excitations of the marginally jammed state are completely different from that of most other materials. Subsequent theoretical progress was made in understanding these modes by considering the consequences of isostaticity at Point J. An isostatic system (precisely the right number of contacts to provide mechanical stability) is very special: isostaticity implies a dramatic change in the excitation spectrum of a solid compared to an ordinary crystal or isotropic elastic system - after all, many modes are on the verge of going soft. The new type of excitation has important implications for energy transport. Moreover, understanding their genesis and structure can have important implications for understanding glassy materials generally. In particular, vestiges of marginally-jammed behavior are manifested in the existence of the boson peak, believed to be responsible for many of the characteristic low-temperature phenomena in glasses.Further reading:
- C. S. O'Hern, L. E. Silbert, A. J. Liu, and S. R. Nagel, Jamming at zero temperature and zero applied stress: The epitome of disorder, Phys. Rev. E 68 011306 (Jul. 2003).
- L. E. Silbert, A. J. Liu, and S. R. Nagel, Vibrations and diverging length scales near the unjamming transition, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95 098301 (Aug. 2005).
- N. Xu, M. Wyart, A. J. Liu, and S. R. Nagel, Excess vibrational modes and the Boson peak in model glasses, Phys. Rev. Lett. 98 175502 (Apr. 2007).
See also a commentary on this paper by W. van Saarloos at the Condensed Matter Journal Club.
- N. Xu, V. Vitelli, M. Wyart, A. J. Liu, and S. R. Nagel, Energy transport in jammed sphere packings, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102 038001 (Jan. 2009).
- V. Vitelli, Vibrational dynamics and transport in jammed solids (talk slides), Statphys23, Genova, Italy.
- A. J. Liu, Jamming (talk slides), University of Toronto Colloquium.
- M. Wyart, S.R. Nagel, T.A. Witten, "Geometric origin of excess low-frequency vibrational modes in weakly-connected amorphous solids," Europhys. Lett. 72 486 (2005).
- M. Wyart, L.E. Silbert, S.R. Nagel, T.A. Witten, "Effects of compression on the vibrational modes of marginally jammed solids," Phys. Rev. E 72 051306 (2005).
One of the outstanding challenges in condensed matter is to understand the collective, many-body behavior of systems far from equilibrium in terms of their microscopic properties.
When a liquid is quenched through the glass transition temperature T0, it falls out of equilibrium and becomes a glass. Below T0, the thermal energy is insufficient for the system to surmount energy barriers on accessible time scales, so the glass explores relatively few configurations. However, if the glass is held in contact with a thermal reservoir and sheared at a fixed rate, it can reach a steady state in which it explores many different minima in the energy landscape, even if the temperature of the reservoir is well below T0. The steadily sheared glass is far from equilibrium: energy is continually supplied on long time and length scales via the boundaries, and is removed on short scales by the thermal reservoir. Nonetheless, simulations show that fluctuations in such systems are well described by an effective temperature Teff that is higher than the bath temperature, as predicted theoretically by Cugliandolo and Kurchan. Nine different definitions yield a common value of Teff, providing strong numerical evidence for the utility of the concept.
However, if we want to understand the behavior of a material, measuring the temperature is only a start. Now that effective temperatures have been shown to describe steady-state sheared glassy systems remarkably well, it is past time to explore the possible consequences of the effective temperature for materials properties. Our recent work shows that there in the regime where shear-induced fluctuations dominate over thermal fluctuations, the behavior of the system appears to be controlled by the effective temperature. Thus, Teff appears to play an important role for determining materials properties. Further reading:
- S. A. Langer and A. J. Liu, Sheared foam as a supercooled liquid?, Europhys. Lett. 49 68 (Jan. 2000).
- I. K. Ono, C. S. O'Hern, D. J. Durian, S. A. Langer, A. J. Liu, and S. R. Nagel, Effective temperatures of a driven system near jamming, Phys. Rev. Lett. 89 095703 (Aug. 2002).
- I. K. Ono, S. Tewari, S. A. Langer, and A. J. Liu, Velocity fluctuations in a steadily sheared model foam, Phys. Rev. E 67 061503 (Jun. 2003).
- C. S. O'Hern, A. J. Liu, and S. R. Nagel, Effective temperatures in driven systems: Static versus time-dependent relations, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93 165702 (Oct. 2004).
- T. K. Haxton and A. J. Liu, Activated dynamics and effective temperature in a steady state sheared glass, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99 195701 (Nov. 2007).
- A. J. Liu, Effective temperatures in driven systems near jamming (talk slides), Ecole de Physique, "Flow in Glassy Systems," Les Houches, France.
- J. S. Langer and M. L. Manning, "Steady-state, effective-temperature dynamics in a glassy material," Phys. Rev. E. 76 056107.
Glass-forming liquids, granular systems, colloids, emulsions and foams exhibit a huge increase in relaxation time while the structure is hardly affected, thus a growing correlation length remains elusive. One of the leading suggestions for a relevant length scale comes from the heterogeneity of the dynamics. Granular and colloidal experiments have indeed demonstrated dramatic increase in dynamic correlation lengths as jamming in approached. However, in molecular glass formers a significant increase in the dynamic correlation length is typically followed by a range over which the relaxation time may grow by more than ten orders of magnitude while the spatial extent of heterogeneity in the dynamics increases by less than a factor of two. In this paper we resolve this puzzle using a kinetically-constrained model. Our tractable lattice model includes physical mechanisms that separately mimic the effects of density, temperature and non-equilibrium driving. Here, the ingredient responsible for slow dynamics is that the ability of a particle to hop between adjacent lattice sites depends on the occupation of neighboring sites in a manner that models the geometric setting constraining allowed moves in particulate systems. We separate the effects of density, temperature and driving and show that jamming resulting from increasing density gives rise to dynamic heterogeneity that grows unboundedly. Whereas decreasing temperature or driving eventually leads to a saturation of the dynamic correlation length even though the relaxation time diverges.Further reading:
- Y. Shokef and A. J. Liu, Jamming Mechanisms and Density Dependence in a Kinetically-Constrained Model, Europhys. Lett. 90 26005 (Apr. 2010)
It has been argued that jamming is a phase transition because it displays a finite jump in the number of contacts per particle, power law scalings in both the excess contact number and the shear modulus, and diverging length scales. At the heart of the theory of phase transitions is scaling collapse -- the idea that measurements in finite systems can be collapsed onto a single curve by scaling variables by the size of the system. While many quantities, such as the contact number and the shear modulus are independent of system size, we have recently shown that finite size effects exist very close to the transition. Furthermore, these effects collapse with system size, confirming that jamming displays the essential characteristics of a phase transition.Further reading:
- C. P. Goodrich, A. J. Liu, and S. R. Nagel, Finite-Size Scaling at the Jamming Transition, Phys. Rev. Lett. 109 095704 (Aug. 2012).
See also a Viewpoint in Physics on this paper by E. Corwin.
Much of our theoretical understanding of the vibrational properties of systems near the jamming transition comes from a length scale called l*, originally proposed by Wyart et al. (EPL 72, 486 (2005)). We have identified the origin of this length scale as the minimum size that a finite system must have in order to be rigid. As the movie below shows, a large system with free boundary conditions is dominated by a single rigid cluster (particles in red). However, when the size of the system decreases sufficiently, the rigid cluster suddenly breaks up. The size of this minimal rigid cluster is l*. We have now formalized this notion quantitatively and checked it numerically.
- C. P. Goodrich, W. G. Ellenbroek, and A. J. Liu, Stability of Jammed Packings I: The Rigidity Length Scale, (2013).
While numerical simulations are inherently limited to finite sizes, periodic boundary conditions may be employed to estimate bulk properties of a system. However, it was recently shown by Dagois-Bohy et al. (PRL 109, 095703 (2012)) that systems prepared in a square, periodic unit cell can be unstable to shear. These instabilities are associated with the shape of the unit cell. We generalize this notion by considering arbitrary deformations throughout the first Brillouin Zone. We show that these instabilities, which vanish at large system sizes and at high pressures, can be understood through plane waves and the behavior at ω*.Further reading:
- S. S. Schoenholz, C. P. Goodrich, O. Kogan, A. J. Liu, and S. R. Nagel, Stability of Jammed Packings II: The Transverse Length Scale, (2013).


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Life is a never-ending exploration. At least it should be… could be. This is just one of the themes, the take-aways from Wednesday night.
Finding joy and happiness is another. So is the power of music. Regular readers will know this is one of the themes I embrace and love writing about.
On this particular evening, I found myself in a church… a magnificent church and one I had never been in before… The Cathedral Sanctuary At Immanuel Presbyterian. Okay, so there are not many reasons I need to be in a church, but the fact that this wonderful structure exists and I did not even know about it, shows how much of LA I have yet to explore and discover.
This was also a theme of Benmont Tench, when I saw him at the Grammy Museum on Thursday… discovering the cool and unknown spots of Los Angeles. He even has a fantastic new song about it on his first and brand new solo record…
The night started off in one direction… and not a good one. We missed the opening song and walked in, only to find that the GA balcony was pretty packed. In fact, the only empty seats were ones behind the huge columns… as in full, obstructed view… or all the way to the side. If we had known it was a GA show we would have arrive earlier, of course. We stood for a while… got hassled by security… and finally walked downstairs and found two seats in the lower level, all the way to the back. Though we stood there was well, our view was perfect. It seemed like the lower level was also GA… and I joked that it would be hard to number the pews.
The tensions and frustration began to melt away, as we let ourselves drift into the music… and what music it was, filling the sanctuary with beautiful melodies and stunning harmonies. Two guitars, skillfully picked… a bass… a piano, sometimes a mandolin… sometimes some drums… but always Band Of Horses.
I still find it odd… and frustrating that so many people do not know this band. Perhaps their Valentine's Day performance on Ellen will open some ears and eyes. This is a band who truly needs to be heard… deserves to be heard. Their amazing music is only part of it. I can now say that they are some of the kindest, nicest, most genuine people I have EVER met.
The show was amazing. The band puts every ounce of their soul into each and every song, and the true love they have for one another flows across the stage and into the audience. You are literally enveloped in it.
So much so, that I can say this was also one of the most respectful, well-behaved audiences I have ever been a part of! Cheers for that, as it also makes such a difference. People were quiet during the songs, there to listen to the music… Yes, you would think if you paid good money for a show you would actually listen to the songs, but you would be surprised at the number of idiots who feel they need to talk or even shout above the concert. Was it a church that brought out such good behavior, perhaps… and if it was I will be going to church more often. Sorry, Rabbi.
I saw very few people holding their phones up… a huge plus and something I do not get or enjoy… and neither do the bands, FYI… They want to look out and see our faces… connect with us… They do not want to see a bunch of phones. Unless, of course, they want the lights to simulate the lighters of days of old. And yes, I do have and joyfully use the Zippo App.
Why would you want to watch an entire show on your little 3-inch screen??? Take a few photos… maybe video a minute of your favorite song and boom… PUT DOWN THE PHONE! Enjoy the show as it is happening and unfolding.
As I sat and listened to the music, stared at the stained glass windows, and sung along, I was filled with an amazing peace. I loved every minute of this show. I loved the young couple in front of me and their intense, passionate make out session. Damn! Oops… In a church. Me for the damn and them… I loved watching another young couple walk to the front of the stage and slow dance to… darn… blanking on the song… They were romantic and sincere and no one told them to move or sit down, even though you KNOW someone was being blocked… That is class all the way around.
That is a moment they will cherish and hold on to for the rest of their lives. A couple of girls did the same thing later, but their moves seemed a bit drunk and not as honest.
The band is out on the road supporting their brilliant new live album Acoustic At The Ryman. It is a gorgeous record that showcases this band's immense talents. I cannot stop listening.
I will buy whatever this band puts out… and support whatever they do. The music, of course, is the major reason, but it is also because they are so sincerely appreciative. During the encore they performed "Heartbreak On The 101" with The Section Quartet. Magnificent? Lush? Gorgeous? Uh… yeah! Breathtaking, actually. This is another group you need to be aware of.
I do need to give a special shout out to Eric from that group, as he got his friend JS and thus me to meet the guys. And THAT is where a lifetime fan was made. This band, to a person, is the nicest group of folks I have EVER met. Seriously.
First it was Ryan Monroe, who plays keys and mandolin. One of the highlights of the night was watching him ascend to the pipe organ and play from above the stage. Words cannot describe the power of that moment. He was so happy that we loved the show as much as we did and in a split second it felt like we had known him all our lives.
The we met Tyler Ramsey. Yes, at that moment I wished I was taller. His solo records are just as amazing and the fingerpicking he does on the guitar… wow. He spent so much time chatting with us that I almost felt guilty we were holding him up. But this is the kind of the band this is… and the kind of people they are. Amazing!
We said a quick hello to drummer Creighton Barrett… who strangely we did not take a picture with. Not sure why, so next time this is a must! We need to complete the gallery.
Then we strolled outside by the bus, and got to chat with bassist Bill Reynolds. Okay, can these guys be any nicer??? Seriously, I was blown away by the time and true consideration they gave to each and everyone who was there to meet them. They really made us feel like lifelong friends.
Finally we met the man… Ben Bridwell is the founder of the group and lead singer and when you watch him perform you see someone giving every ounce of his soul to every song. Soft spoken, but just as effusive about the evening and so dang happy that we enjoyed the show as much as we did. THIS is what it is about. Any bands who do not get along like this… who do not play with such bliss and joy… go get therapy!!!
As the crew packed up the equipment, I wanted so badly to climb on the bus and keep this magical evening going. I did not… no one asked… but I will follow this band to the ends of the earth, because of the music and because of true gentlemen they are. Rock n' Roll, baby… Rock n' Roll.


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7 Behaviors That Keep Us From Living Our Truth
Do you believe you have a pre-destined purpose? Or do you believe that you completely control every event of your life and existence?
If you believe you have a pre-destined purpose, are you living the life that you were destined to fulfill, or are you struggling to live in alignment with what you believe you're supposed to be? Are you living the life that you created with focused consciousness, or are you living according to patterns and programming set by someone else?
Living organically can be difficult, because our societies are founded on control, judgment, and selective organization. In order to belong, we have to act a part that's deemed acceptable.
Do these acts resonate with our truest realities, or the realities that we'd like to create? If not, how can we unravel the programming that's inhibiting our destiny or blocking our manifestation capacity? Is it possible to return to our truest selves while remaining part of society?
I certainly believe so. But first we must become aware of behaviors, attitudes, and emotions that block us from our desired state.
The following Personality Types are meant to help you to recognize when you are experiencing someone who is not coming from a true Source center (self or other). Use these classifications not to judge, but to empower yourself and your decisions.
7 Personality Types That Keep Us From Living Our Truth
1. Sugar
The taste of sweet comes in many forms—from the obvious cane sugar and fruits to alcohol, and even in the form of many recreational drugs like heroin. Those who justify excessive use of honey, agave, or natural sugar supplements aren't fooling us either. Essentially, this person seeks a substance-induced high.
2. Fire
The fire personality type is intense, and their intensity drives them to move. Their movements create friction and that friction exudes magnetic warmth and desirability. They're brilliant at creating stories and illusions as a means of distraction, and they dread being caught in any of their lies. Essentially, they, too, are hungry.Their hunger is far more intense than the insecure, emotional Sugar type. They are typically very passionate, logical yet often angry and reactive. Fire personalities like control. Physical addictions are common with the Fire personality as well, but instead of seeking gushy sugar, they seek fire—in the form of sex, coffee, cigarettes, spicy food, fitness, and image.
3. Stuffer
The stuffer is often the person who seems to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders, yet, for whatever reason, they do not communicate, process or demonstrate their feelings. As a result, this personality type stuffs their emotions with food, sedative drugs (pain killers, marijuana), suppressive avoidance (tension) and/or becoming the victim of controlling relationships.
Growing numb to how they feel, they tend to have a difficult time understanding their emotions, which means they have a difficult time expressing their feelings. A stuffer seeks to suppress the feelings with which they are uncomfortable. Succumbing to guilt eating denies and ultimately weakens one's personal power of self-control.
4. Airy
The Airy personality is completely removed from reality. They do not want to know, and/or cannot handle, reality. They tend to lack down-to-earth common sense. They tend to be religious, superstitious, spiritual, dependent and possibly delusional. Airy personality types gravitate towards new age communities and cults. They want to believe that there is a definitive, external reason for their life and that someone else has created and controls it. Since food is a grounding factor to one's emotions, the Airy may likely avoid food. This behavior can easily be justified as perpetual purification fasting. They fool themselves into believing their enigmatic ways are based on a true, unseen reality, which only feeds the external delusion and avoidance of the present-moment reality in front of them.
5. Avoider
The Avoider personality type can be very frustrating in relationships—work and/or personal. They are not comfortable outside of superficial relationships where they can control how they are perceived and what expectations are placed upon them. The Avoider does not become involved with others unless they know: (1) they are held in high esteem, due to their fear of rejection, and (2) that no one needs anything from them due to their fear of responsibility. If an issue arises in a relationship that threatens their esteem or lack of responsibility, they will fly away, making conversation and/or resolution very difficult. By flying away, sticking their head in the sand, or laughing off the situation as unimportant, the Avoider deflects intimacy, accountability, their emotions and fears. We never really know what they eat!
6. Wall
Ever met a person and felt an immediate jolt of resistance? After making an introduction and attempted a truthful impression, you find that nothing you exhibited was accurately perceived? The Wall personality projects their perceptions before a person is able to display who they are or what their true intentions were. The Wall tends to be very judgmental and pre-occupied with their mental perceptions; so much that they cannot perceive each moment organically as it happens.
Wall types are rigid, and they're driven by fear. They associate certain objects or situations with fear, and they learn to avoid the things that they fear or to perform rituals that help minimize those fears. The Wall personality rejects anything unknown, and they have poor negotiating skills because they do not want to hear from anyone else. This fierce belief of control creates a rigid and stubborn personality. Their food selections can be obsessive and repetitive, often eating the same choices every day.
7. Predator
Predators come in many forms and they can be classified by their intention. There are benign Predators, and there are malignant Predators. A benign Predator has minimal desire or intent to cause harm to another person, but they are fiercely programmed to win. These kinds of Predators thrive in business and sales. They love closing deals, starting and acquiring companies, winning a new customer and the like. They feel a sense of accomplishment when seizing control of other properties and entities.
They differ from a Fire personality in that a Fire thrives on being active and being seen as a winner, whereas a Predator type seeks to seize and control other entities, always giving less than they receive. Predator often eat large amounts of meat and animal products.
Ready to learn more about how to unlock the power of food to heal your body, prevent disease & achieve optimal health? Register now for our FREE Functional Nutrition Webinar with Kelly LeVeque.


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>>> "Read carefully what Humes said [during the 1967 CBS-TV special,
"A CBS News Inquiry: The Warren Report"]. All that he said is that there was only one entrance wound (which, BTW, I've noticed you've been careful all along not to commit yourself on where in the BOH that entry was...cowlick or near-EOP)." <<<
You're right, I haven't committed to an exact location [as of
April 2007; but since that time, I have expressed my strong belief that
the entry wound in JFK's head was located high on the head, near
President Kennedy's cowlick, which is where the Clark Panel and the
HSCA's Forensic Pathology Panel have placed the wound]. Mainly
because I truly don't think it matters a darn bit. The key fact is that
all the doctors agree that there was ONLY ONE entry wound at the
back of the head (regardless of the exact square inch on the head).
This fact proves that the one and only head shot had to have come
from the REAR, not from the front (Grassy Knoll).
>>> "David, read the WC testimony and the autopsy report...they avoided any mention of the BOH...except for the entry." <<<
Yes, and there's a very good reason for that, IMO. And that reason is:
Because there was no real REASON to mention the "BOH" except with
respect to the one small entry wound in the BOH.
IOW, why bring up a wound that never existed? There was no mention of
JFK's left foot being an area of concern with respect to bullet holes
either. Same logic applies there, in my view. JFK didn't have a bullet
hole in his foot, so why bother asking the doctors about that area of
the body?
The whole argument over any potential "Large BOH" wound is really
pretty much a moot point altogether, due to the undeniable FACT that
President Kennedy sustained just the ONE gunshot wound to his head,
and that shot definitely came from the rear (consistent with having
come from the TSBD).
The large exit wound on JFK's head covered a decent-sized area of the
right side of the head, but it was "chiefly parietal", per the autopsy
report and the words of the autopsy doctors.
But the autopsy report includes the words "occipital" and "temporal"
as well, but the word "somewhat" is also used in the report, just
preceding the references to those locations.....
FROM JFK'S AUTOPSY REPORT -- "There is a large irregular defect of the
scalp and skull on the right, involving chiefly the parietal bone but
extending somewhat into the temporal and occipital regions."
Now, my next question would be this -- Since the autopsy report and
doctors are so vivid and ultra-clear in the description of the ONE AND
ONLY ENTRY HOLE in Kennedy's head (with that hole being positively
consistent with the "Oswald Did This Alone" scenario, regardless of
exactly WHERE the resulting exit wound were to reside on the
President's head)....why would the doctors feel there was the
slightest NEED to obfuscate and/or fudge in their descriptions of any
"BOH" wound (large or small)?
You said that the doctors feared that by revealing a large BOH wound
they would be opening up the door to rumors and speculations that JFK
had been shot from the front.
But...why would the doctors necessarily feel this way? They've
described the ONLY entry hole in the head as being at the rear of the
head, proving without doubt that the only bullet that hit JFK's head
came from the rear, from the direction where Oswald was firing a gun.
There was no other ENTRY hole in the front of the head. None. So even
WITH a larger-sized "BOH" wound present on the head, I cannot adhere
to any such potential "conspiratorial" concerns about such a larger
BOH hole.
Such a large BOH hole, if it did exist as a result of ONLY ONE bullet
striking JFK's head from the rear (which was also in the BOH), could
obviously have been easily explained by the same doctors as merely the
extensive fragmentation of an already-weakened skull by the ONE bullet
which entered the back of the head and then fragmented badly after
entering the skull.
Jackie Kennedy's handling of the President's head during the ride to
Parkland could also have been a partial explanation for any such large
BOH wound. Jackie later confirmed that she was "trying to hold his
head on".
These doctors weren't stupid. One BEVELLED-INWARD entry hole in the
BOH (which we definitely have in this case) and no other signs of ANY
other entry hole anyplace else on the head HAS to mean just what it
does mean -- John Kennedy was shot just once in the head from behind.
Period. No obfuscation required, regardless of where the larger
exiting hole(s) are located.
Now, Vincent Bugliosi, in his upcoming book, could have a different
view than I have regarding all of this "BOH" talk. But one thing's for
certain--Vince will certainly be talking about the one bevelled-in
entry hole at the back of JFK's head, and the total lack of any other
entry wounds on the President's head.
That fact is key and should be placed atop all other "head wound"
facts, and Mr. Bugliosi will undoubtedly (as I have done in my forum
posts) be greatly emphasizing that fact re. the SINGLE entry hole in
JFK's cranium....which, as I said, pretty much makes all of the "Large
BOH" wound talk a meaningless and moot endeavor altogether.
In fact, Mr. Bugliosi has already talked about that very thing, during
the 1986 TV Docu-Trial:
"The surgeons who conducted the autopsy on President Kennedy's
body....plus ALL NINE --- even Wecht, even Wecht --- all nine forensic
pathologists who reviewed the photographic evidence and the X-rays of
the President's wounds for the House Select Committee on
Assassinations agreed that the two bullets that struck President
Kennedy were fired from behind....the upper-back wound and the wound
to the rear of the President's head being ENTRANCE wounds.
"If EITHER of the two bullets that struck President Kennedy came from
the front, why weren't there any entrance wounds to the front of the
President's body, nor any exit wounds to the rear of his body?
"Furthermore, if there WAS a gunman firing from the Grassy Knoll, how
come only bullets from Oswald's rifle struck President Kennedy and
Governor Connally? In fact, how come NOT ONE of this other gunman's
bullets even hit the Presidential limousine?" -- VINCE BUGLIOSI; 1986
There's also this interesting portion of Dr. Boswell's ARRB deposition
(re. the cerebellum)....
DR. BOSWELL (1996; ARRB) -- "In Dallas, they had said that the
cerebellum was the part of the brain that was injured and exuding. But
they were wrong because the cerebellum is enclosed in a dural sort of
compartment, and in order to get the cerebellum out, you have to cut
the dura around, and then you--that's the only hard part about getting
the brain out. And the manner in which we were doing it, both the
cerebral hemispheres were already exposed without dura, and it was
really very simple to take out."
QUESTION -- "During the course of the autopsy, did you have an
opportunity to examine the cerebellum?"
BOSWELL -- "Yes."
QUESTION -- "And was there any damage to the cerebellum that you
noticed during the time of the autopsy?"
BOSWELL -- "No."
QUESTION -- "So both the right and left hemisphere of the cerebellum
were intact?"
BOSWELL -- "Yes."
To summarize:
In my opinion, there was no "large BOH" wound in President Kennedy's
head. The sum total of hard, verifiable evidence just does not support
such a massive "BOH" wound.
1.) The autopsy report doesn't support such a large BOH wound.
2.) The autopsy doctors' statements do not support such a BOH wound
(and Boswell's statements to the ARRB seem quite confused and muddled,
IMO; lots of confusion there, as he tries to remember exactly what
happened, in perfect sequence, 33 years after the events took place).
3.) The autopsy photos do not support such a large BOH wound.
4.) And the Zapruder Film does not support a large BOH wound.
The Parkland witnesses do tend to support such a large BOH wound,
granted. And those witnesses have bothered me greatly over the years.
I cannot deny that fact.
But I also think there could be a reasonable explanation for those
witnesses claiming to see what they said they saw at Parkland Hospital
(while never turning the body over, of course).
More about that subject in this review of Jim Moore's book (Moore,
btw, has a very silly explanation to explain away all of the Parkland
Now, I suppose it's possible that I'm dead-wrong, and I suppose it's
possible that a large BOH wound did exist on JFK's head on 11/22/63.
But even WITH such a wound present on JFK's head, conspiracy theorists
who think such a wound at the FAR RIGHT-REAR of Kennedy's head was
caused by a FRONTAL gunshot still have a huge hurdle to overcome --
that hurdle being: Where is the ENTRY wound for any such frontal shot?
Do CTers think the parietal exit wound that resulted from Oswald's
from-the-rear head shot miraculously masked the entry hole for a
frontal shot?
Did the plotters truly get THAT lucky, yet again? Much in the same way
those same Patsy-Framers got incredibly lucky (per many CTers'
beliefs) when two or THREE different bullets caused wounds that just
happened to line themselves up on two victims in a manner that could
even begin to suggest the "SBT"??
Boy, did those conspirators have Lady Luck shining on them that
Friday, if conspiracists want to believe all of that crazy stuff.
Plus: WHERE could a frontal gunman have possibly been located to have
caused only the FAR RIGHT-REAR portion of Kennedy's head to be blown
out by the bullet? Why isn't ANY of the LEFT hemisphere of JFK's head
affected by a shot coming from (per most CTers) the "Badge Man"/Grassy
Knoll area of Dealey Plaza?
That bullet sure did some crazy zig-zagging inside Kennedy's head, it
would seem, if CTers want a wound caused by "Badge Man" to be present
in THIS part of Mr. Kennedy's head:
David Von Pein
April 2007
MY YouTube CHANNELS:
DVP's JFK CHANNEL
DVP's OLD-TIME RADIO CHANNEL
DVP's CHANNEL #3
DVP's VIDEO & AUDIO ARCHIVE:


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Mikaila Ulmer is a 12-year-old girl with a lemonade business, and it's a whole lot bigger than a neighborhood lemonade stand.
Ulmer started selling lemonade sweetened with honey after her great-grandmother gave her a family recipe from the 1940s, and it proved so popular that she got deals to sell it at several stores. Now a number of NFL players have decided to invest.
Former and current NFL players Arian Foster, Glover Quin, Duane Brown, Jonathan Grimes, Omar Bolden, Bobby Wagner, Darius Slay, Sharrick McManis, EJ Manuel and Malik Jackson have combined to put up $810,000 to back Ulmer's business.
Foster told the Houston Chronicle the group of players was looking for an investment opportunity that could help a promising entrepreneur like Ulmer, and help a good cause, as Ulmer is invested in fighting colony collapse disorder, which has devastated bee populations.
"Of course, any time you invest in anything you look at if it's going to be profitable," Foster said. "We look for companies that match our main focus of developing a good product, but are also good people and do it for the right reasons. It's more than about money to us. We believe that investing in small black businesses is extremely important."
With NFL money and a family recipe, Me & The Bees Lemonade plans to get a whole lot bigger.


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We have been here in Yuma, moochdocking at our friends Bev & Tim, for two week now. Time seems to be flying by lately. The weather has cooled a bit, from the mid 90s to now in the mid to lower 80s. Much nicer. We are fortunate to have such good friends. Their hospitality is wonderful.
And the sunrise and sunsets are typical Arizona awesome!
They bought a nice winter home last winter. They have a 14 x 65 mobile home, with a cool Arizona room on one side along with 2 RV spaces with hookups. A nice covered carport for their car. They have some cool Arizona cacti, including a saguaro. I have been helping Tim fixing the place up.
They got a great deal on their place. And since we are always down here in Arizona each winter ... we started looking for a winter place for ourselves. There are many places for sale down here, at really good prices too. Tim & Bev are really helpful and we have seen quite a few places so far. We will see what happens...
Besides going to flea markets and yard sales, we all went down to Los Algodones. We found a great place to have lunch, and had some killer shrimp tacos.
And Donna had some dental work done there. Can't even come close to US dentist prices.
We all also took off on a mini getaway to Laughlin, NV. We stayed in the Colorado Belle one night (for $24.74!!) and had a great time. Didn't win anything, but had fun trying.
And that's about it for now....
Fergs .... out!